Burning in paradise

Tag: Max Schaaf

  • Mad Max

    Mad Max

    Fuck man, every time i’m about to fall asleep I find a piece of internet gold that keeps me up for another few hours. I’ve been typing Max Schaaf’s name into a bunch of search boxes and abusing the infinite scroll. I found a couple of clips!

    1. DicE Magazine did a little short on Max.

    2. Vans x. 4Q(Max Schaaf) collab on a Sk8 mid. This is their commercial for it. Showing off his shop and the personal touches he did for the collab. I’m definitely going to add this song to my library.

    3. Max Schaaf’s Non Fiction Part. In the Lone Skater article I wrote, Max talk about living in Oakland (in the video) and having a bunch of the neighborhood kids come by and just hang out with him at his mom’s place. You get to see some rad clips in this parts of some of the kids doing some fakie ollie on Max’s ramp. They probably had no idea who Max was in the skate world to them, to them he was just the crazy guy with a skatepark in his house across the street.

    4. BIG HONGRY! I’ve been seeing Big Hongry on Thrasher and on Instagram, interviewing skaters and making music. Bro can really rap! From what I can piece together he owns and runs a shop in California somewhere. He seems to be plugged into the scene out there. Which is awesome because I haven’t seen many dude like him on the more rugged side of skating in the mix with big profile name. Shoutout to Big Hongry! But tonight I found his sit down with Max Schaaf on his podcast, Break Free. Him and Max talk about growing up with Jake, Phil Sato and bunch other names that do really get the commercial recognition but are legend in their own right. You had to be there to see it but if you didn’t see it people like Max mentioning their names pushes their legacy further into the spot light to get their just due. Max even gives an update on the kids from the last video in a full circle moment.

  • Lone Skaters

    One of my favorite things about skateboarding, outside of the actual act, are the personalities behind the skaters. A few people are dicks, most people are humble and super cool, and then some people are just loners. People that skate alone and don’t skate for the social interaction of meeting homies at the park or to have a community/family to rely on. These lone skaters don’t skate any different whether the camera is on or off, or wait for the homies to hit them up to hit the park they skate. They skate cause it’s what they do. It’s their therapy, it’s their solace. 

    I don’t know when I became a lone skater, but most of us start skating alone. When you’re first learning how to skate, it’s a lot of trial and error trying to figure out the basics. Over time you find a crew of friends and you guys usually meet up to skate somewhere, playing games of SKATE (or HORSE, for non-skaters), hang out and try to progress as skateboarders.  But if you really want to get better you have to put in your own time outside of those crew sessions. You need to focus, not that you can’t with friends around but there’s a different level of focus when you are alone. 

    A lot of artists and creatives get lost in the comfort they find alone. With an unrelenting focus they can make their dreams or ideas a reality. One of the unofficial principles of skateboarding if you ask me. 

    A few weeks ago I watched a clip on Max Schaaf. A lone skater that came up skating a vert ramp in his living room in oakland. He had a long career, successful as a skateboarder and even a videographer. About 20 mins into the video they discuss what being alone did for him and his skateboarding and how it may have looked on the outside looking in. Then later in life what that solitude did for him as he moved into different avenues in his life. 

    I think you’ll like it, check it out.