Von Griffin

Things we didn’t know about Palmy

1. JEDI Ramp Jam in the early ‘00s had Jake Phelps, Julian Stranger, and Lee Ralph come hang in Palmy. We had kegs and punk bands — an epic weekend
2. Palmy is close to everything. West Coast, Welly, East Coast — All are within two hour’s drive
3. Sundays are for board meetings
4. It’s a bogan heaven (which is good news for a diesel mechanic)
5. Most people in Palmy know me as Red

Frontside airs

1. Lee Ralph and Junior Pene — stink bug
2. Bowman Hansen — tuck knee nosebone
3. Niwa Shewry — stalefish
4. Morri – tweaked lein
5. Cale Tolley — stink bug

Skaters for a dream session

1. Pedro Barros
2. Omar Hassan
3. Darren Naravette
4. Bucky Lasek
5. Lance Mountain

Video parts

1. Any Anti-Hero vid
2. Volcom vids with Omar and GT
3. Steve Cab’s R‘n’R slide in Waitangi shallow
4. “Bucky’s Birthday BBQ Bash”
5. “Toxic” — a video we made of Dave Crabb in Palmy

Camper roadtrip songs

1. “Cocaine Blue” — Johnny Cash
2. “Boy Named Sue” — Johnny Cash
3. “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” — George Straight (thanks Pat)
4. “So What’cha Want” — Beastie Boys
5. “Road to Nowhere” — Talking Heads

Things to do when not skateboarding

1. Doing fun things with my amazing wifey and best mate — Sonz
2. Chasing waves
3. Chasing powder
4. Spinning spanners — the kids always need something done to their utes and bikes
5. Fishing on the boat I won from the RockFM

Songs to get hyped to

1. “Old Man Sam” — Spiderbait
2. “Drink” — Alestorm
3. Anything by the DropKick Murhpys
4. Anything by Deja Voodoo
5. Anything by Pantera

Amp juices

1. Mountain Dew — do the Dew

Go to tricks

1. Decked canvassed R‘n’R
2. Smith grinds
3. Backside airs
4. Stinkbug frontside airs
5. Laybacks.

Felix Griffin

Things we didn’t know about Palmy

1. It was featured in the AntiHero “Body Corporate” video, I was about nine at the time
2. During the Women’s Football World Cup, Spain left Palmy because it was boring. They obviously didn’t know any skaters
3. The Daggery. If ya know, ya know
4. Palmy Bowl is a mini-Mangaz
5. Manukura — a Māori-led sports school is based here in Palmy

Frontside Airs

1. Jimmy Wilkins — lien air
2. Bowman Hansen — tuck knee
3. Raven Tershy — stink bug
4. Tate Carew — stalefish
5. Marshall Little — early grab. [Laughs] Bro, couldn’t help myself

Skaters for a dream session

1. Pedro Barros
2. Jimmy Wilkins
3. GT
4. Raven Tershy
5. Bowman and Bouchie

Video parts

1. “Extra Flare” — Raven Tershy
2. “Real Skateboards” — Jimmy Wilkins
3. “SwampFest” — Masher
4. “Silver Era” — Pedro Barros
5. “The Search for Animal Chin” — Powell Peralta

Camper roadtrip songs

1. “Show Da World” — Jeroxsy & Lerosy
2. “Day ‘n’ Nite” — Kid Cudi
3. “iSpy” — Kyle
4. “Walk em down” — NLE Choppa
5. “No Scrubs” — TLC

Things to do when not skateboarding

1. Riding Motox bikes at the beach
2. Hanging with my mates
3. Working at Central Bike Studio — shoutout to the boys
4. Travelling (hopefully more of that in 2024)
5. Sleeping

Songs to get hyped to

1. “Need It“ — Migos
2. “Pure Cocaine” — Lil Baby
3. “Us Against The World” — Digga D and Strandz
4. “Feels Like Magic” — Horsemen Family
5. “Freestyle” — Lil Baby

Amp juices

1. Mountain Dew — there’s nothing else

Go to tricks

1. Frontside Smith
2. Frontside tailslide
3. Backside air
4. Frontside lipslide
5. 50-50 to fakie.

Like father, like son. Dual Smith grinds at dusk, Masterton.

Follow Von and Felix on Instagram.

First published in Manual #71, November 2023.