Flatground, The Berrics and Lifestyle Choices With Christopher Chann

The Berrics undeniably plays in part in today's skateboarding culture. The Berrics has helped and catapulted  the likes of Cory Kennedy, Yoshi Tanenbaum and now more recently Christopher Chann. Christopher Chann is definitely the future of skateboarding not only because he's an incredibly talented skater but because he manages to embody a strong sense of fun and progression.

Hey Chris, how’s it been since competing in Battle at the Berrics VII, have there been any notable differences?

Hey Tim! Absolutely. I was lucky enough to pick up a few sponsors during and after BATB7. Also,  It definitely gave a boost to my YouTube channel, which I'm really hyped about  because I love making YouTube videos.

Has flatground always been a main focus of yours, could you ever imagine it being a platform for you  being able to skate The Berrics.

I wouldn't say a main focus, but it's definitely something that I love doing. Especially because you don't need much. All you need is your board and flatground. I could be on break between classes and just skate some flatground at school. It's very accessible, especially for kids in some countries that don't have access to parks. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to get into The Berrics on my own through flatground. Usually you have to be some kind of pro or am to get in. So when I got a text message from my friend telling me The Berrics was looking for me I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Then 5 minutes later I realized that I would have to actually play and try not to get skunked in the first round so that made me a little nervous haha.

Does it take a lot of motivation and patience when it comes to learning and filming your flatground videos?

Hmmm, I guess it depends on the trick and what phase I'm in during the learning process. I usually feel like I'm naturally motivated because I'm psyched on learning a new trick. Patience doesn't really occur to me because I'm just having fun and time is just flying by. I'm just in a state of flow, fully immersed and focused on the trick.  But sometimes If  I'm trying a really hard trick I go through this rollercoaster of ups and downs. And it's during the the downsides where I'm not even close to landing the trick where I try to stay motivated/ patient.

I noticed your pretty healthy is this a conscience decision so that you can skate for longer or just something your parents have instilled? 

It's a conscience decision to live a longer and higher quality life. But my parents definitely instilled it in me as well.

You also do a lot of unboxing videos, are these one off packages or is it a bit more legit?

I guess that depends on your definition of "legit". I'm definitely not AM for any companies at the moment. I guess you can call it flow? I haven't really talked to all of my sponsors about the labeling of my sponsorship deals haha.

With quite a big social following, do you feel as if skating is something you could pursue full time once you've graduated?

I don't really like to have any expectations from skateboarding such as becoming am, pro, or even just flow. I'm more focused on skateboarding itself, I just want to keep progressing and have fun with it. Being Am or Pro would be amazing because it would help me continue skating, but I don't want set myself up with any expectations.

Have you ever skated outside of the States? I can imagine living in Los Angeles means there’s no real need for travelling.

No I haven't, but I'm dying to travel. Los Angeles is great, but I've lived here my whole life and I just want to see what the rest of the world is like.

Skating is definitely going through a transitional period, living in what some might consider the hub of the skate industry have you noticed any struggles or changes( for you) in skateboarding?

I wouldn't say that there are any struggles of living in the hub of the skate industry, It's certainly more advantageous. More opportunities, skaters, spots, and  parks. I can definitely see skaters getting better much faster now because of the increased standard of the media.

Thanks man, any last words?

Yeah thanks for hitting me up to do this interview. I think this is my first web text interview.  And thanks to to everyone who's been supporting me.

The Ollie Pereira Interview

Usually Laurie and I  joke about Ollie's love for the New York scene however, it's Ollie's admiration for that 'style' of skating that makes him a joy to skate with. He is not tied up with learning every flip trick under the sun but rather prefers to be pushing down the streets with his camera in one hand and a beer in the other. Sit back and relax as you find out why Ollie is 'all about the hype.'

Hey Ollie you've been skating for 4/5 years, but do you remember the first time you stood on a skateboard?

Yeah I do! I think it was my eighth birthday and my dad bought me this Argos board for Christmas and that was the first time I stood on a skateboard. I could always ride it, like straightaway I didn't have a problem with that. 

So that was your eighth birthday, how long was it after that, that you started skating properly?

Well I remember one of my friends from secondary school had a party at a skatepark and a week before I really wanted to learn how to ollie. So on this Argos board I learnt to ollie, it took me a few days but I managed to do it and I just wanted to learn it for the party really. But I didn't skate after that till a couple of years later when I started with my friend Laurie. We just got hyped on it. I could already ollie so I taught him and it just started from there. 

Do you remember your first legit setup?

I bought a complete from this random skate shop in Kingston I think, it was a Flip board with Flip wheels and hardware but I can't remember the make of the trucks but I'd never heard of them before. Might have been called Red Devils or something (laughs).

Recently you've been drawn away from brands such as Lakai and Nikesb, these days you seem more hyped on Converse and Palace. What initiated this change? 

I'm still hyped on Lakai as it's skater owned and stuff  and I've had quite a lot of Nike's as they're great shoes but sometimes there not quite clean enough. I like quite clean and non bright shoes, I go for white black or grey shoes, block colours. Also I find the skaters that skate for Vans or Converese are a lot more relatetable, you can't emulate skaters such as Nyjah. I'm more into the style and how something might look rather than the hardness of the trick.You could get a really hard trick but if it looks shit it means nothing to me whereas something like an ollie or a push is nothing but it can look just as sick if not better. 

Yeah I agree. Leading on from that New York seems to be a place skaters either hate or love, I think it fair to say you love NY. Is there something specific about that place you relate too?

I've never been to New York but I'd love to but it seems to me that there is so much going on there and its seems like the place is influenced more by the people, the hustle and bustle of the city and the culture. All the art and everything going on seems to rub of onto the skating which I find is more relateable to London. The rough streets, everyone's pushing round to spots and using the tube/metro opposed to using a car. 

You are quite the Dylan Reider and Alex Olson fan, should me and Laurie expect you turn up at the next session with painted nails?

Haha! Oh man you crack me up! Just to make it clear I'm not some kind of Dylan fan girl, but I just have a lot of respect for him and people like him. I mean the 'skateboarding industry' is pretty judgmental and would easily shun things that don't seem to fit in the norm of what others do. I have respect for people who just do whatever they want or wear whatever they want and don't care about what others think. I feel that is how it should be really, it's how things progress. Not just in skateboarding but in everything. If people always thought about how others would view them we wouldn't have some of the great musicians/artists/scientists etc. that that we do, and we would probably still be naked stuck in caves. As for the nail painting, personally I can't see my self doing it haha, but if someone else wanted to, why not? It doesn't effect anyone else, and I mean who really cares!

We recently went on a trip to Barcelona, any memorable moments?

Quite a few, the whole trip was a bit of blur, skating all day and all night and just drinking in the streets. But there are too many to mention.

Go on what's one that might stand out? 

I'd probably say one of the funniest moments was meeting these two drunk chicks when we were on our way back from a bar. They were just weird man(laughs), so weird. You can't really describe it because if I said the conversation now it just wouldn't make sense it didn't at the time and that's why it was so funny.

You've got a pretty relaxed attitude towards skating, you and Laurie both started skating together yet he appears to be a bit more competitive. Do you think there's a reason for that?

It's not that I'm not competitive because I am. I'm just not fussed about learning all these flip tricks, I mean I still can't 360 flip (he can) I've been close but it just hasn't bothered me to sit down and learn them. I just love pushing down the streets having fun with mates, having a good time.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry, I remembered us joking about you being emotionless is this actually the case or is it just a front haha?

Haha that's so funny, it's definitely not a front and I'm definitely not emotionless, but I guess I'm just quite a calm chilled out person. Most of the time if something pisses me off I wouldn't get angry cause I feel that it's not worth getting worked up about it and wasting my energy. But I mean of course I get angry from time to time (who doesn't!) but I feel I might channel it and control it in a different way to the majority of people. Life's too short eyy

You’ve been in a few relationships, do you see yourself as quite the ladies man?

I've only been in one long term relationship and it was great and taught me a lot about myself, but we went to different uni's and the distance just broke it down really. Long distance is hard man, it's a big strain, respect to anyone that makes it work, especially at this age. And I think for me personally at this point of time I don't really see my self having a full on relationship, I don't think it's right for me, there is just so much to experience and do, I feel it would influence a lot of choices I make and maybe even limit me slightly. Haha I know that sounds bad, but I mean I'm barely scraping through taking care of myself and I feel adding someone else into the equation would probably not be the best choice right now! Haha I'm not sure about ladies man, but I'd say I'm just enjoying single life at the moment, whatever happens, happens, if you know what I mean!

It seems these days everyone is producing music and then sticking it on Soundcloud but I have a feeling your music roots go quite far back?

Well, I started playing guitar around the same time I started skating (properly), it's similar to skating as it's a way to express myself. That's probably sounds really dumb (Laughs) but I've had a lot of free time at uni and we don't have a TV so I've just been making songs; writing and recording, Hopefully this year I'll start recording and might be getting a band together which is something I'd love to do. 

Some of your tracks remind me a bit of  the Alternate Hip-Hop genre, is that what you're going for?

(Laughs) That's funny because the music is probably a combination of King Krule and Mac Demarco, guitar, singing and just having fun. But recently I've just been bored so I've been making instrumentals and just doing sad rap and trip hop remixes just for a bit of fun really and a few of them turned out quite good. But yeah that's just a bit of a joke really. 

Where do you draw inspiration from for your music?

 A lot of my music usually comes on passed experiences or things that I want to happen in the future, same as anyone really, just draw on life experiences; skating, people I look up to that kind of thing.

Photography is another one of your passions, I'm guessing you enjoy it and it wasn't just an A-level?

I've always been quite into art and I'd never really done photography before but it was like art but it didn't take as long to do if that makes sense. Being a skater, photography and videography is held quite highly in that respect, so I'd had a bit of street training from that. I did photography A-Level and I really enjoyed. I feel I have quite a good eye for things that look good or maybe not and that why I take pictures. Hopefully this year, I've got a lead on maybe exhibiting a bit but yeah I don't do enough at the moment need to get back on it. 

                                                                                       Taken by Ollie Pereira

So this might be a busy year for you. DJ-ing and then exhibits too look forward to hopefully.

Well usually I just DJ at house parties, I'm the house DJ some people don't like it as I just put whatever the Fuck I feel on really.

We all know you love a good night out which we experience when we saw you in Brighton, any good stories?

Once again this is like Barcelona too many to mention but you meet some real characters when you're out. You meet people on night outs that I can't remember but also I've met people on night outs that I'm now really good friends with. At university especially in Brighton you just get caught up in the belly of the beast, it's hard not to get caught up in some of it but if you can control it you have a great time. 

So you're studying Psychology, do you have an idea of what you want to do after your degree?

I thought I did when I came to uni and that I  wanted to do something to do with psychology but I think that was for me to just settle on one course. Recently I've been trying to setup a work experience with a Banking company in London. It's a bit weird but it would look good on the CV. I don't know though I haven't given it that much thought, I'll let a few things fall into place.

Right that sounds like a good place to leave it. Any Last words.

Cheers Tim (laughs). It's sunny so lets go do a bit more skating ! 

Find Ollie's music at  https://soundcloud.com/elevensevens