Interview Dan Trendle

 

Here we go: 

Hi, whats your real name , where are you from how old you are and how old you skate? 

Hallo there! My real name is Daniel Trendle and I come from a tiny town in southern Germany. Right now I feel like 48 again and I skate for 23 years straight.

Tell us about your begginings on skateboard..where and how all started  

Actually there´s been a Skateboard around our house since I was born. My sister bought two boards off my cousin. It was a 70s stlye plastic banana board and a mid 80s one with copers, tailbones and all that. Both were Saturn supermarket skateboards. I loved them and I still have em both. Tough I really got attracted by it around ´99/ 2000, when my good friend Dennis introduced me to his brand new "Tony Hawk´s Skateboarding"-game. It changed everything for us from then on and we both stuck with it to this day. 

I like your art . Whats was the first moment when you started doing art ? What inspires you in art? 

Thanks, means a lot to me! That has totally to do with my Mom. She used to paint before I was born and let me draw and doodle a lot as a child. From a very early age on I started to draw what I had experienced during the day. Probably a way to cope with stuff since I didn´t talk too much to people back then. Still a little shy though.

I´m a lot inspired by nature, animals, things and creatures "normal" people use to dislike which I can´t see why, and a lot is based on horror movies, fear and the love to the feeling of beeing scared to death. 

I see a lot of interesting works from you like design for ace trucks and some for confusion mag . Whats your other collabs? 

I also made graphics for Frontline Skateshop, Horst Klub, Cherry Bowl, Popeye Skate Club, Seemuseum Kreuzlingen, Bikini Beach, Soul Prison, Scheisse Minnelli, Bodensee Skatecup, Beton Oase, Skate in den Mai, KNallbrett Verein, Deebeat Ramone, RollOut, 69 Skateboards and I lately had the honor to recreate former Vert Pro Bernt Jahnel´s "Madrid-Pig"-Model graphic from 1990, originally by Christoph Ziegler, for a reissue. 

Whats your biggest inspiration in skateboarding and life? 

Hm that´s a good question. I´d say all the animals that I ever lived with together at our house. Except from that, probably the few "ups" in life, getting slingshot into them using remaining energy from going down very harsh- like riding a rollercoaster.

Tell us something about your local skate scene , which spots you like to skate ?  

Actually growing up there was no scene here at all and around 50km there still isn´t any. So I use to skate a lot with the Bodensee guys and people from Switzerland. They got a great scene going on and are very productive spot builders. The spots you find me most at are my backyard mini, Cherry Bowl in Switzerland, Bernt Jahnel´s Vert Ramp in Konstanz and a friends secret backyard pool. I like searching and discovering natural transitions and banks with my friends Jano, Stadelhofer, Luli, Frank and Manu a lot, too.

Your top 5 skate artist and skate designs?

Puh that´s also a hard one. 

Top five artists:               

1. Craig Stecyk

2. Jim Phillips

3. VCJ

4. Pushead

5. Eagle Barber

6. Lele, Deso, Vulpes and Mico from R.O.W. (Can´t leave them out!) 

Top five designs:

1. Tony Hawk "Chicken Skull"

2. Jeff Kendall "Atomic Man"

3. The Saturn board I got as a kid (the graphics are so sick!)

4. Madrid "Explosion"

5. Rob Roskopp "Target" (the entire series)

Your best music to skate? 

Classic 80s hardcore, some wave, doom- it depends on my condition and a lot on the season. 

Whats your best skate setup , which you skate everyday and did you remember for your first complete? 

Yeah I totally remember every single board I ever rode and I keep them in the house. After the childhood boards my mom and dad bought me a modern supermarket board which was actually not bad at all. When I was through with it they bought me a Shorty´s Team 7.38" with Tracker B52s and 54mm Powell wheels. Loved it. 

Right now I tend to ride different setups for specific purposes. The Madrid Explosion 10"x30" complete with Cadillac trucks, 80a Fly wheels, Bat Rails and Madrid copers is the one I skate the most since it´s a good classic setup for cruising in the streets and on my little miniramp at home. Otherwise I really like the Madrid Mike Smith "Ape" M-Tech 2 Conacave with ACE trucks and some harder wheels since it fits my needs in bowls with the little steeper concave. 

Did you have sponsors? Whats your skate sponsors?  

Yes, I get sposored by Spirit of 76 Socks, I get flowed by Madrid Skateboards, Flypaper Grip, and Frontline Skateshop provides me with everything else I need. Also big shout outs to Angela, Jerry and Eagle at Madrid, Bones and Bernt from Frontline, Seb from Spiro76, Paddy from Raffzahn Prints, Jonathan at Confusion Magazine and Joey at ACE for supporting me and our events! It means more to me than they can imagine and I wouldn´t be where I am now without them. 

Your last words

Also thanks Rob for having me and your awesome drawing!!! Peace out