The Vans European team visited Vienna in our twelfth printed issue of the mag. Many tricks feature in Vans’ new video: Tom’s Tales which you can watch here or at the bottom of this post (you won’t regret it). We thought we’d upload the whole article online so you can remind yourself of the amazing photos shot by Dave Van Laere to compliment the banging footage. The article features the likes of Val Bauer, Robin Bolian, Martino Cattaneo, Pepe Tirelli, Thanos Panou, Yeelen Moens, Dustin Dollin, Marco Kada and Benjamin Weir. Vans Europe’s ‘Tom’s Tales” video also features talented humans: Albert Nyberg, Alexey Krasniy, Axel Cruysberghs, Chris Pfanner, Daniel Lutheran, Dustin Dollin, Jan Hoffmann, Joseph Biais, Oscar Candon, Sam Partaix, Sebastiaan Vijverberg and Victor Pellegrin. Filmed and edited by: Paul Labadie and Max Manuel Pack.
Words by Pepe Tirelli
Photography by Davy Van Laere
This was my first time in Wien (Vienna).
Everyone told me before it’s a very romantic setting for a trip. You can drink red wine on the canal surrounded by swans in the sunset, it’s the European capital of classical music, famous for the typical food and breweries, and for the bakeries making delicious chocolate cakes.
Well I would say I kind of experienced all of this during this tour… kind of. Red wine definitely tasted more like cheap beer, first of all. More than on the canal, we were IN the canal, but the Silhouette in the sunset of Thanos (Panou) trying to fly over swan heads while grinding this overwater rail was still a pretty gorgeous show.
Our approach with Wiener music was this night when me, Yeelen (Moens) and Robin (Bolian) couldn’t find ANY open place to buy a beer within’ kilometers. So we ran into this bar, “OG PIANIST BAR” it was called. Perfect! Turns out that it was a Turkish gay bar with this weird guy just dressed in leather belts, chains and fishnet shirt playing a piano for the other three people that were inside. Pretty sick.
The most typical place we went to was this Australian pole-dance bar Dustin (Dollin) brought us to. Wien is in Australia right? We played pool, drank Corona and danced on the pole with some loud Aussie chicks.
I finally really felt the Wiener vibe!
The only thing I didn’t really get was the chocolate cake. The only bakery was us, everyday in the streets, making BREAD.
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Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Robin Bolian – Frontside Nose Bash ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Martino Cattaneo – Ollie To Thin Bank ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Pepe Tirelli – Gap Frontside 5-0 ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Dustin Dollin + Pepe Tirelli ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Val Bauer – Pole Jam ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Marco Kada – Kickflip Indy ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Benjamin Weir – Frontside Crooked Grind ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Yeelen Moens – Nosegrind Bonk ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Martino Cattaneo – Rock Spin To Disaster ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Pepe Tirelli – Gap in, Gap Out Backside 50-50 Grind ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Thanos Panou ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Thanos Panou – Switch Frontside Heelflip ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Pepe Tirelli ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
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Thanos Panou – Frontside 50-50 Grind ~ Photo by: Davy Van Laere
Filmed + Edited by: Paul Labadie + Max Manuel Pack
Sophisticated angles by: Romain Batard