Thrasher Magazine

 

The grass may be fake but this kickflip is too legit     Photo: Bjerkvik

We have to talk about the kid that got the Deedz tattoo—the screen grab from your last part where you do the front blunt flip on the bench. How did you feel when you first saw that?
Oh shit. Yeah, I was kinda shocked when I saw that. It’s just crazy seeing yourself as a tattoo on someone’s stomach. It’s sick, though, I’ve talked to the guy and he seems stoked on it.

You have to give that guy a tattoo if he’s ever in town.
Yeah, for sure. If you read this, come to Oslo and I’ll hook you up!


Who was your favorite pro skater when you were younger?
I think my first favorite skater was Rodrigo TX. After that it was Louie and the whole enjoi team—everyone that was in Bag of Suck.

How did you get on enjoi?
I think Thaynan Costa hooked it up; he put in a good word. I first met the team on a trip to Budapest—that was the first time I
met Wieger, Ben and those guys. And I’ll always remember that Ben was the one who broke the news to me and told me I was on the team.

 

While security is on strike, Didrik pulls a bank heist—fakie flip over the channel     Photo: Truong

Sick. Do you have any good Louie Barletta stories?
The first one that pops into my head was the first time I stayed at his mansion in San Jose. I would skate his mini ramp every morning and I remember the UPS guy pulled up with loads of boxes. He started unpacking them and it turned out that they were all tiny pieces of a full-sized tank, like an actual WW2 tank. I think he worked on it every day for like three or four months, building it piece by piece—pretty crazy.

Who’s your best homie on the enjoi team?
Easy, that’d be Thaynan. My brother.

 

  
How long were you on before they turned you pro?
I think I was on flow for around two years, just getting boards and going on a few trips. Right after that Panda Patrol part came out they bumped me up to am status, and then two years later they turned me pro.

Was turning pro always the goal for you?
Yeah, kinda. And ever since I was a little kid my biggest dream was to get on enjoi. I would watch Bag of Suck so much when I was younger. But yeah, of course turning pro was always a dream, but I didn’t think too much about it.

Leaf it to Deedz to find this line—ollie to 50-50 down the wheelchair ramp      Photo: Truong

Has your life changed at all since you turned pro?
It made it so that I could focus 100 percent on skating as well as the financial stability—I can pay my mortgage and eat whatever I want every day, which is all I really need.

Let’s talk about how you found out you were pro—how the surprise was spoiled.
I don’t think that story ever came out. So I was in Lisbon. You and Janno were also there and we all stayed at Thaynan’s place. My first board was in the catalog that enjoi sends out to the shops and it got leaked somehow. I remember we were all eating at this all-you-can-eat vegetarian place when I got a screen shot from a Brazilian homie asking me if I had seen it yet.

Yeah, and we all knew. We were just hoping that no one would spoil it. I remember Thaynan called Louie desperately trying to get him to get the catalog taken down. We did get to celebrate it, though, just not the way that I’m sure Louie intended it to be.
Yeah, and I also got my surprise party in Taiwan a few weeks later—and I was genuinely surprised. And then you came like two days later.

That was a good trip. I remember you called me saying, “The guys are leaving in two days. There’s so many good spots here, so I can’t leave yet. Would you be down to fly to Taiwan tomorrow if I get someone to cover your flight?”
Yeah, and then you actually came! You even met the team as they were flying home. I think everyone was pretty shocked by the fact that it actually ended up working out. Props to Colin Kennedy at Nike for that one.

Rarely seen to forward on a rail, Deedz puts down a beautiful front blunt kickflip

Simpler times—when you could just hop on a plane and go somewhere. How has it been for you, being stuck in Norway for a year and a half? You were traveling so much before COVID, probably like two thirds of the year at one point.
It’s definitely been a little weird. I was traveling a lot because I wanted to see the world, but also because I never really had a solid base back in Norway. Staying at home with my parents was fine, but I need some space or some time to myself every once in a while. But yeah, staying in Oslo for the last year and a half has really opened my eyes to just how much I love the city. I pretty much have everything I need here and there’s always new spots to be discovered.

And Oslo footage always looks better than everything else.
Yeah, pretty much.

Where’s the first place you want to go after all this shit is over?
Probably Lisbon or Gran Canaria. I would just stay in Europe for a bit. There’s so many spots all around Europe that no one knows about.


There’s a lot of focus on European skating these days. Why do you think that is?
First and foremost, I think it’s because of how the spots look. In my opinion, Europe just looks sicker than anything else. You get tired of seeing the same LA spots over and over. The pavement in the US is the same as the skateparks over here.

Have you ever thought about this: of the five current Norwegian pros, two of them have Brazilian parents—you and Heitor. Why do you think that is?
It’s probably the best genes to have. I wish I had some more. I didn’t get the pop genes.

You got the work ethic, though. I’ve filmed with a lot of people over the years and you are by far the most productive.
Yeah, I don’t know. I just have to skate. It’s been like that since the time I started skating. I have too much energy to just sit around. And as corny as it sounds, it is my job at the end of the day and I want to do my job well.

Lipslide between the slime pits. You can take the boy outta the streets…     Photo: Bjerkvik

You stopped skating with rails under your board. Why did you make that decision? You were pretty stoked on those things for a lot of years.
I’m not even sure that the guys at enjoi know that I’ve stopped skating with them. I don’t think they do. They still send me a ton of them every time I get boards. I skated without rails one day and I did a nollie flip over the trash can at Rådhuset—Oslo Town Hall—and that’s when I realized that they had to go. I also got tired of screwing them on every time I set up a new board. I still use them on my cruiser, though. It’s always fun to boardslide with rails on.


And that sound they make when they get shaken loose—I don’t miss that sound at all. Do you still ride shaped boards?
I still ride the shape that me and Eric at Dwindle designed, but lately I’ve been riding all kinds of shapes and widths, just trying everything out and seeing what works. It’s kinda fun to feel uncomfortable on your board every now and then.

What is the most asked question from kids in your DMs or comments?
I think it has to be either what board size I ride or which wheel size I ride.

Or what kind of pants you’re wearing. Kids are obsessed with your pants. Why do you think everyone is so obsessed with pants these days?
It’s important to have some good-looking pants. I think everyone just wants to find the perfect pair of pants—the perfect shape and material. I feel like if the shape and material is good, it can look good in pretty much any color.

What’s not to lichen about this front blunt to fakie?     Photo: Bjerkvik

You’ve got quite the following on Instagram. How serious do you take that stuff?
I don’t really take it all that serious, but I think it’s fun to post tricks that I’m stoked on—either tricks that are too weird to go in a part or just tricks I know that I will probably only do that one time. And we’re pretty much always starting the day off at a skatepark, so I might as well try to get a clip while we’re there.

Who loves avocados more, you or Yaje Popson?
That’s a tough one. I think we love them equally as much. The first time I met Yaje was in Long Beach a couple of years ago when he was staying with the Lutheran brothers and we instantly clicked. We just ate a bunch of avocados and cooked together. It was sick!

Well, that’s all I got. Thanks for the talk, Deedz. Wanna close this out with some advice for the kids?
Just skate and have fun. Hang in there for long enough and things will start happening.

Now that you've seen the insanity of his new part, please just enjoi this bodacious boardslide. Deedz is dope!     Photo: Bjerkvik