So Paul Brabenec hey? You know what? I’m not even sure where I met Paul. Don’t even know which country. For a while there we were both gallivanting around Europe on our own agendas and we would occasionally (and usually randomly) cross paths. Could be a skate in Stalin Square in Prague, a picnic in a park in Lyon or a festival in Barcelona. Paul is one of those skaters who is great to be around because of his perspective. You can enjoy the contours of skating some random spot together or you can get philosophizing about any one of the mysteries of the modern world. I feel inspired to know him and through my limited and often short encounters I feel like I have learnt a lot about my own views and life path from Brabs. After having a browse through Paul current project thesevideodays.com I thought it more than justified that we caught up with someone who in my eyes is one of the unsung heroes of contemporary Australia - morgan campbell
Where were you born tiger?
I was born in Adelaide, Australia, conceived in Andamooka, SA, a town known for Opal Mining.
Just quickly which cities have you called home?
Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney, London, Sydney.
When did you finally move back to Sydney from your extended Euro adventures?
I moved back to Sydney summer 2009. I drove straight down to the south coast of NSW, patted some dolphins, and ate mangoes.
So what do you love about Europe?
I have a strong pull to Europe; my Dad's genes weigh hard on the European side. I like it all. There are a lot of diverse options, taking a train two hours to a place of extreme of cultural difference. I like the attention to detail a lot of European cultures have. The lifestyle, integration of traditions and culture. Complexities. Architecture. I like being an Australian in Europe, moving freely between all the cultures there - uninhibited by not being bound to a long history of tradition. I like that most people speak several languages. People are open and genuinely interested for the most part. London has the raddest mix of cultures, we say we are multi-cultural here in Australia, but we pale in comparison. I like the intensity of the northern hemisphere with its proximity to all of the worlds defining movements. There are so many places to go and they are all varied.
What do you love about Australia?
Space and time. I'm interested in exploring parts of the country that are far removed. The top end as it’s called: North Western Australia. I like the coastline of Sydney / NSW. The people are great, climate also, but mainly space and time.
What were you been doing for work during you adventures?
I mostly work in Graphic Design field. I do quite a lot of video work and design for broadcast. I've managed to finance all of my travels through these means.
Where did you learn these skills?
Everywhere, a lot of the time you say yes to something without quite knowing exactly how you are going to pull it off, and you learn on the job, it's the quickest way to learn, and you get paid to do it. I don't learn things easily unless I have to. Or I learn the hard way.
Any particular clients that you really enjoyed working for?
I liked working for Cliché a lot. Al (Boglio) gives me a lot of freedom. Most of the people you come into contact are pretty cool. I've worked at a lot of ad / digital agencies and I find them pretty taxing: pretty narrow minded and fixated on the industry, work, clients, selling things that I don't believe in. Creating an industry / need in people for products and consumer culture is something that I am really not interested in, that in fact I'm quite against. I try to work in these environments as little as possible.
When did you get the spark that catalyzed thesevideodays?
Thesevideodays came out of another idea I had for a site, I started building it, and realised I needed to make something that would maintain my interest for the duration of setting it up. I wanted a site that would exist for skaters that weren’t just geeking out on videos everyday. Somewhere that you could go whenever and know that all the content is legit and relevant every time you look at the site. You don’t need to sort through a bunch of half-assed clips. I also wanted to get exposure for videos that go under the radar. And store the videos so that you could easily find them, because so many really great videos come and go so quickly now, and are easily forgotten. It’s like a video graveyard. Also I know that I cant have every video on there, but that each video on the site leads on to or is a point of reference to more good videos all over the web. It’s a good place to start your journey. It’s a way at looking at skateboarding the way I would want it represented without sports drinks endorsements etc. One unadulterated source of skateboarding, hopefully some people appreciate that.I'm interested in showing the work of people that aren't the obvious ones that you always see in all the media and mags.
Who are you partnered up with in this project?
I'm working on getting some partners, at the moment as far as advertisers go. I have a good relationship with Palace in London and DQM in New York. Would be good to have some hometown support from somebody in Oz. As this is where the site is based. As far as contributors go Max Creasy and Will Harmon contribute interviews and text. Also I have a bunch of people who contribute the video posts. Anyone out there who wants to get involved should let me know.
When did u meet Max Creasy?
Max Creasy approached me when I was maybe 17, he was interested in filming our crew skating, he knew this other crew of rippers that we would roll with ever now and then. Then it was maybe four or five years until I saw him again. I was working in a store in Melbourne and he was always walking by, we'd talk shit for hours. Eventually we made a video Called ‘First and Foremost’ in Sydney, with Dion Kovac, Anthony Fitzgerald, Adam Tanner & Ben Harriss and a handful of others.
What is it about the union of skateboarding and filmmaking that is so transfixing?
Skateboarding is the ultimate interaction with your environment and re-appropriation of architecture. It’s rad, Style. Individual view on the city. And then put some interesting audio to that. Win. It's fuckin’ ghetto. No one looks at the city the way skaters do. No one uses the full potential of architecture the way skaters do.
Are moving images more powerful than still ones?
That’s a contentious issue, for me I think yes. There are iconic images and there are iconic video pieces. For the period up to 1990: images still represent that time. It was a golden time for skating; it holds mystery within each of the images, especially black and white. You've got to retain a lot of information when watching the amount of videos people do now. But it has all changed.
I noticed that Bill Strobeck has been interviewed on the site. Was that a fun project to work on? Was he enthusiastic about being involved?
Yeah he was enthusiastic from the moment we contacted him. It took a little while for it to come together.
You also recently interviewed Josh Roberts, are there any other Australian filmers you plan to cover?
Yeah for sure, there's a bunch. And there are things currently in the works. I spoke to a couple of people early on as I was setting up the site. But they seemed more intent on establishing their own agendas. I think nothing but positive outcomes can come from collaboration with a site like this for everyone involved.
Have you had some promising feedback about the site?
I don't know, all the feedback is positive. But there isn't much of it. I just hope it grows, I think it deserves a large following.
What’s next for Brabs?
For me I have a three-month residency to make artwork, and that’s mostly what I think about now, it's what makes me happy creating, there's no agenda to help propel a product into the market place.
Links to some websticles that you like:
Once you have checked thesevideodays.com make sure also visit and befriend them on their facebook.
