Episode 114: Danimals and Benny Urban - TRIPLE

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com Dan ‘Danmials’ Leidahl and Benny Urban special TRIPLE episode! This episode came about when my friend Matt Georges asked me to write the words for his latest book project with Vans - TRIPLE. The TRIPLE project saw Matt organise three shoots to represent the different sides of snowboarding - Arthur and Blake for backcountry, Rene Rinnekangas and Fridtjof Tischendorf for park, and Danimals and Benny Urban for street. Matt asked me to interview each duo for the book - naturally I thought I might as well record these chats and see if they were worth putting out as podcasts. So that’s what I did - I relaxed my ‘no Skype’ rule, sent the guys mics and arranged to chat with each of them about the whole thing. This second instalment is with Dan and Benny. Of the three styles of snowboarding featured in TRIPLE, street riding is the one with the closest kinship to skateboarding. There are moments of progressive, creative beauty that represent the culture being pushed forward in real time. These two friends are two of the best rail riders on the planet, and they were the perfect duo to explore the multi-faceted possibilities of street snowboarding for TRIPLE. They joined Matt and filmer Alex Pfeffel for a mid-season trip to Japan where they spent two weeks exploring the bust-heavy possibilities of Otaru-Hokkaido. During our conversation, we discussed the challenges involved with taking a mountain-based form into an occasionally hostile urban environment - shovelling snow in the dark, finding spots, dodging cops and getting shots. Big thanks to Matt Georges and Vans for getting me involved, and to Dan and Benny for being such good sports. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.