Marcel Weber – Land in Sight

[Marcel opens the door on crutches, talks about the skate-accident in which he busted his knee, the following doctor’s appointment and offers us coffee…]

Which Jenkem-Mix is that?

Josh Stewart. It’s pretty sick for sure. 

Did you download any more of them?

I never download them, I usually just stream. But I often listen to the mix of this Welcome-dude as well.

Max: Chris Milic. 

Exactly. But I don’t know about all of them. There are really sick tracks on some. Lucas Puig is going for it and the one of this porn-chick is sick as well – you gotta listen to that one with your girlfriend. [laughs]

You have some guitars standing around. Are you playing a lot or even other instruments?

 Let’s say I’m checking it out. I have been playing guitar for almost ten years and probably could learn other instruments, but not really that good. I actually really like to play but now I haven’t played for half a year because I didn’t have any strings. Depending on what the MRI results in, I might get new ones for sure. [by now he knows that he has to pause for two or three months; Ed.]

What are you playing?

I’m really struggling with repeating stuff because it’s so exhausting to replicate everything one to one. That drives me mad. I rather try to play for myself – like blues is super sick – Doors are really sick for sure – not some cheesy pussy-sound. I used to have this buddy who taught me a lot. But he moved to Düsseldorf and ever since I barely learn anything new. This guy right here [Max Pack, friend and filmer; Ed.] says that he used to take lessons, but I never get to hear anything from that. [laughs] […] I’m a bit lazy too though, practicing alone and stuff, whereas making music is usually extremely fun to me. 

Are you still drawing?

I just started again… The funny thing is that I used to draw back in school due to extreme boredom and after that not at all anymore. Now I’m three, four months into catching up my A-levels and started drawing again. [laughs] 90% of my pictures were drawn in school for sure.

I never knew you were from Poland. Where were you born?

 I’m half Polish, half German and was born here in Germany. I speak Polish ever since I can remember though because when my dad was at work I only talked in Polish with my mother. I didn’t anymore in the past ten years though, but you never really forget it when it’s in your system for real. 

Do you believe in God? 

Well, I think I was baptized in a Catholic church as most Poles are, but I’m not religious in the sense of any specific religion. I just extract some of the stuff from different religions or approaches to life. Some things of Buddhism are really cool. I really like that Buddha is a human being with a good life design of how to deal with everything in a good way and not some higher power as you find in other religions. Also I think the thought of reincarnation is really cool, where you definitely go to heaven after the end of a process. Christianity basically threatens you with going to hell, depending on which sins you are guilty of, and in Buddhism it’s all a little bit more free and you rather get advices. I’m interested in spiritual things in general though. I really dig everything that’s kind of mystic and near the knuckle. I think that there are some higher energies or powers which are affecting our life, but not in form of some god who is sitting up there and works everything out. I rather believe that the world is one whole and that its inhabitants interrelate, but that’s a tough topic. I used to read books about that stuff as well, but that declined as time passed by because other things started to play a bigger role and there always used to be something going on in the apartment. I didn’t have much time for myself, but now it’s starting again since I’m living on my own. 

Apropos, we are sitting in your new place, right in the city centre, 30 or 40 square meter. Why did you move out of the shared apartment? 

One reason was that I needed a bit more time for myself, but to be honest the main reason was hygiene. [laughs] You can easily go two years living with a dirty bath and dirty kitchen, but at some point it bothered me too much. My old room was the biggest gipsy bunker on earth for sure and now this place is a little better composed and I think a bit of order and system might be good for me.

And now this guy is living in your old room… 

Max: But dude, we now have a new kitchen and since a girl moved in, everything got a bit tidier for sure. Marvin is driving to work every morning too nowadays. Some things have changed for sure… 

There was this time when all four guys living in the place had no job and then you can imagine how it goes. Everybody is coming over to hang out and chill big time and of course the place is going to be messed up. It was super cool, but not really the most productive constellation. Since I moved out, I started going back to school again too. 

You were somewhat like an athletics-champ back in the days, is that true? 

Well not a champ or anything, but my grandpa drove me to practice in Leverkusen three times a week, that used to be my thing for sure – especially high jump. I got up to 1,84m and it was a lot of fun for sure. At one point skating came around and I started doing both at the same time for a bit. But going skating after competitions was really hard for sure and resulted in the worst charley horse. Then skating got more important and I told my coach that I want to stop. He didn’t really like the idea, but it had to be like that. 

Are you still profiting from the practice back then? 

For sure! We did so much circuit training, something a skater would never do voluntarily, and that gives you a sick basic-tension, which is super good for skating because you can handle slams a lot better. 

Are you still doing those exercises?

 Yes, from time to time I do some gymnastics or sit-ups before skating and I notice for sure that I’m feeling a lot better. 

Right, you should just admit that you only do sit-ups for the girls. As often as you skate shirtless… 

Yes for sure, maybe a little bit [laughs] – that’s the cool side effect.

You have been on the radar in Germany for a while, even had a photo in Thrasher… Why is it, in your opinion, that it hasn’t really worked out with sponsors for you?

You tell me because I’m not sure – but I can guess what the reason is. I have always been a person that just wants to skate and I thought that it will just happen somehow someday. Somewhat “let it be”-ish. But in the meantime, I have the feeling that you somehow have to take care of what happens to your footy and your photos yourself and that you have to go for it yourself to connect with other people and check out what could be possible and so on. I have been doing that a little bit more and asked Henne not to blast the photos because I’d like to collect them for an interview and now I’m sitting here and see that things are changing a bit. I’m also realizing that it’s really easy to call Henne since he basically lives right around the corner. I could’ve done that earlier for sure. It’s probably the right path. And Max got me to be on Insta now as well and takes care of that a little and I’m really thankful for that because it’s not really my thing. I feel kind of stupid when I’m asking someone to film one trick for Insta during a session. I mean, whomever I ask wants to skate himself too and I never really know if the trick is good and if people even want to look at it. I probably could’ve had some more photos too, but if I want to do a trick and have to call up a photographer and Max, I immediately feel under pressure and I have a guilty conscience, if it doesn’t work out. I’m a bit more reserved when it comes to that but I realized that it’s the only possible way.

What would be your wishes when it comes to sponsors?

 My wish would be that I can buy myself some time with skating to figure out what I really want to do. It would be a dream, if I’d get some money to live and travel-budget to go on trips. I have been struggling for the past years and barely made ends meet so I can go out and skate regularly. If I manage to take care of that and not put up with financial problems, that would be the absolute dream and would take away the pressure of looking for a real job after the A-levels.

And do you think that it will happen? 

Really? No. Well I think that there is a chance, but at the moment I feel like I’m going to finish my A-levels, then the next step awaits and skating will become a side issue. I find that really hard to accept. 

What are you ready to give, if you’d get picked up by a big sponsor?

I would just go for it as I have been lately, but with the difference that I’d probably be even more motivated and hopefully able to focus more on my skating. And, as I said, I’m taking hold of my responsibilities as well nowadays. So far there has only been the part in the Jute Zick video and besides that I had some tricks here or there. And now I’m being conscious not to waste my good footy for random stuff and think that my next part has top priority. 

Is Max somewhat your advisor when it comes to this stuff – I have the feeling that he is steering you in the right direction?

Definitely and I’m really thankful for this. Just because of all that filming which is a lot of help. He collects and sorts out all the stuff for me and completely takes care of it. Without him there would be a lot less footage that I’d have. Every skater who wants to achieve something is dependent on a good homie like him. Otherwise you can skate as much as you want, nobody will pick up on it.

Are you editing his new part, Max?

 Max: Yes, we are doing it together. We have been looking for a track and will start soon.

You skate so good yourself, how do you motivate yourself for filming?

Max: Because I think it is important that good tricks are being filmed. The hardest trick is not good for anything if it is shaky, out of focus or just really tiny to look at. And it is also fun to film people that I like to see skating anyways, even though it is hard not to be able to skate the whole time.

Marcel, what reason did Mark Frölich give you for not being able to ride for Forvert anymore?

You know what dude? No one has really told me in person yet. I met Hans, the guy who partially owns Forvert, in this burger-restaurant and told him: “Hey, I’ll hit you up during the next days, you know, because I want to order some stuff…”, and then he said something along the lines of: “Yea, well, we have a new team by the way, four riders, this and that”, and we talked for a bit and see ya. I went home and thought to myself: “Wait a second man, four riders? He didn’t say anything about me, right?” And then I met Paco  [Elles] whom they asked as well and asked: “Does that mean I don’t ride for them anymore?”, and Paco was like: “I’m sorry man, but probably yes.” Then I didn’t get in touch with them anymore because I thought that it was really weird that he didn’t really told me flat out. 

Where do you get your motivation from since it hasn’t really been working out with sponsors so far?

That’s hard to put into words, but I would say that it is self-fulfillment for me. The motivation comes around like it does for an artist who feels like making a painting, even though he doesn’t make money off of it. That’s just a part of me that wants to be let out. Even big handrails and stuff like that, sometimes it’s just fun. You realize that you might be able to do it and then you just go ahead and do it. 

You sometimes hit yourself in the face before you skate a handrail. What’s the reason behind that?

Because it helps me to overcome my weaker self. I evoke the rage in myself. I had a really bad fight with this chick one time and that pushed me to jump on this handrail. I remembered that and noticed that I can push myself with some bitchslaps and fool my fear and then it already went down. But I only do that in moderation without really harming myself or anything.

Last one. What can you say about the Skywalkers and the Lentpark?

Those are the homies who push me and that I have a good time with and if it weren’t for them, I would skate a lot worse for sure. Same applies to the Lentpark, it plays a huge role in my life and kind of feels like a second home. I would even say that the Lentpark plays the biggest role in my development. I was able to make huge progress there because we only went to skate the Dom [Cologne Cathedral, Ed.] before. At the Lentpark we had a nice flatbar for the very first time and some transition and it’s just our spot and we cherish it for sure and even kind of melted together. Unfortunately, I only did some cover-up work at the end and didn’t build anything for good. But at least I put a bit of lifeblood in it as well. 

Thank you.