[ JAPANESE / ENGLISH ]

Photo_Patrik Wallner
Special thanks_Vans Japan

VHSMAG (V)：　Diego, You skate super fast and slam pretty hard. Who are some of your influences for skating like that?

Diego Todd (D)：　I'd say just people from Ventura growing up, like Mike Anderson. Ave too, when I was younger for sure. Also Aaron Loreth, who skates for Limosine. He's also from Ventura.

V：　Let's talk about your Hockey X part. Any tricks from that video part that you're stoked on?

D：　Definitely the two clips I have on the bump to wallride. I was super stoked on those because that spot's right by my house, so I would go there all the time and just try random tricks. I've probably tried seven different tricks on that, and then those are the only two ones that ended up working.

V：　Those were insane. Where did the idea come from?

D：　I would just go there and at first I just did nose bonk shove, and while I was trying that I would bonk it and it would go 360. So I was like, well, now I have to do that. But I would try that every time I went there and I would get nowhere close. And then one time I randomly went there and I was skating it with Jake Anderson and in five tries that just happened. So that's probably the trick I'm most stoked on in that part.

V：　What about the other one?

D：　I was thinking about it like doing a casper stall on the wall, but it just tapped and it worked out.

 

 

V：　If you were to describe your skating, what would it be?

D：　I just figure stuff out as it goes. I'll try to figure out what to do based on the spot.

V：　When did you get on Vans?

D：　Probably the end of 2018 or 2019. I used to get flowed Nike shoes and they were always saying, maybe we'll do something with you, But then AVE talked to Vans and pretty much forced them to put me on. So it was all AVE.

V：　Pedro, you recently had Vans' Road to Nowhere part. It was a heavy seven-minute part. Can you talk about the trick that you're stoked on?

Pedro Delfino (P)：　Definitely the heelflip backside 50-50 in Paris on a marble hubba. I was in Paris that summer, just enjoying my time with my friend who filmed the video as well, Rye Beres. We met up with a friend, Christian Henry, who wanted to skate the hubba, and I was skating it with him. I was really liking how the pop felt, and I started throwing this heelflip and I caught it, grinded it and I landed it. It was really great.

V：　I need to ask you about that first slam. How was that?

P：　It definitely hurt a lot. I put it in the video to kind of remind people that skating really isn't free. Sometimes you got to take a little bullet, but it's worth it and I survived it. But I broke a rib. I lacerated my liver, which means I cut my liver a few centimeters wide. I just had to be hospitalized for two days and I let it heal on its own, but I was off the board for a few weeks after that.

V：　What about the gap back 50-50?

P：　Oh, in New York? It was a planned trick. I really went to New York to kind of try that trick. I was there with Andrew Reynolds, so I was very excited to prove to him that I could do it. I took the knob off the spot and I spent an hour just trying it, just going for it. Bailing, bailing, bailing, and I finally found the courage to go for it and land it.

V：　How about the backside kickflip switch hill bomb?

P：　That was my ender after black screen. A funny thing about that trick was that it was going to be in the Baker has a Deathwish Part 2. After I got hurt with that opening clip in the Road to Nowhere part, I wanted to film one trick for Baker has a Deathwish Part 2, so I was still recovering. I wasn't supposed to skate, but I wanted to do a backside flip and switch bomb Baxter. It's kind of an homage to Nuge and it was around the time before the video came out, so I ended up using it in the Road to Nowhere part.

 

V：　Diego, What's one of your most memorable projects that you've worked on with Vans?

D：　Definitely the Vans Video by Flech. We spent a year working on just that, only going on trips for Flech's video. It was right when Kevin Sheeley became the team manager and they're like childhood best friends, so we were just going on a lot of trips where it was like Kevin, Flech, Aiden Mackey, ET... It was so fun only with your friends and then we were also making a video, so that was definitely my most memorable project.

V：　How bad was the first slam?

D：　That sack on the rail? It looks a lot worse than it was. I was fine. I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything, but I definitely couldn't skate for two weeks. I haven't tried to do another tail drop to handrail. I don't know if I'll ever do it. Fletch and I always joke around when I come to LA and skate with him, he always is like, we could always go back to that tail drop boardslide. I'm like, fuck no (Laughs).

V：　That wallie back 50-50 on that hubba was nuts too.

D：　Oh, in New York? I always wanted to do that because one of the first trips I went to New York, I filmed a wallie boardslide on it with Johnny Wilson. I would always do wallie grind on a skatepark hubba and that was the coolest hubba to do it on. Me and Fletch bondo'd the cracks on the wall.The runway was rough so we poured concrete so I could come at it at an angle and wallie up to the side. I actually got really lucky doing that. I kind of did it pretty fast, which is pretty wild for me. I usually battle stuff.

 

V：　Pedro, What are some of your most memorable projects that you've worked on with Vans?

P：　There've been many projects that I've worked with Vans, but I'd say the most memorable were the Wrecking Crew tour edits that we did in 2019. I thought that was a very formidable time of my career where I was kind of getting to know everybody in Vans and getting to skate with the rest of the crew and really proving to the team that I could hang.

V：　Have you been filming your YouTube stuff?

P：　I have been, yeah. I really want to gravitate just towards hills because I like to document and catalog hills. I've done it to share with my friends, and now I just want to share the world.

 

V：　Anything you're working on right now that you can share?

D：　Yeah, there's going to be a new Hockey video coming out probably at the beginning of next year. I'm super pumped because everyone's really stoked to film for it. Hopefully it'll be a really sick video. I mean, it definitely will. Benny is the best.

P：　I'm currently working on trying to travel the whole world in one year. As for video projects, I would like to work with Spitfire, Independent and of course more with Vans.

 

Deigo Todd
@diegotoad

He's one of the faces at Hockey, known for his super fast and unique style.

Pedro Delfino
@_pedrodelfino66

He's one of the heavy hitters at Deathwish. All the clips in his video part are ender material.