A trip to China is nothing new for any major video production these days, but with over 40 cities in China that have a million or more inhabitants, I wanted to steer the Substance crew clear of the Shanghai/Shenzhen/Guangzhou triangle and head for greener/less-blown-out pastures. We divided 16 days between Kunming, which I’d visited once before, and Chongqing, which had been recommended to me by some homies from Down Under. With the help of local skaters in both cities, we hit their spots and bent our necks hanging out of vans, taxis, tuk tuks, and motorcycles scoping anything that looked remotely shredable. The terrain in China is so far from tapped that it’s unfathomable.
Davis Torgerson, switch backside nose & tailside.
This trip was my first time meeting Dolan, and I marveled at the parallels between him and some of my favorite ’90s boarders. From the doodles to the baggy jeans to the bag of tricks, it’s pretty obvious that he’s definitely on his own path. Dolan also travels with a stick-and-poke tattoo gun that he was more than happy to whip out on a late night, even trading an epic piece with a Russian skater in Kunming whose only form of payment was a handwoven leather notebook—the perfect swap between artists. Dolan was sporting a newly healed ankle sprain, so flip tricks were out of the question, but that doesn’t much matter when you’re slappying up and across a five-foot-tall sliver of metal atop a panel of glass.
Dolan Stearns, slappy 50-50.
With Tom and I being the only vegetarians in this crew, we became instant dinner buddies. It only took one Chinese hot-pot experience for us to log on to the HappyCow website and track down the closest Buddhist vegetarian restaurant. I think the rest of the crew thought we were crazy taking a 20-minute taxi ride to and from dinner each night, but as the days wore on and they were subjected to our tales of vege delicacies, the vege dinner crew multiplied, and by the last few nights of the trip we were rolling there with the whole posse.
Tom Karangelov, nosegrind pop out.
Nevertheless, we shut him down, and when we all stood for a final group portrait together he wouldn’t even join us. I think he’d hoped that by rolling into the club with seven Americans he would somehow catch some side action. Unfortunately for him, all we’d be taking home with us that night would be the memory of Jon Nguyen’s firecracker of a backside five-0—that’s nine times total.
Jon Nguyen, firecracker backside 5-0
The way Tristan skated on this trip (and I imagine this is true no matter where he is) I can only compare to the fervor of an excited puppy. Every spot, every time, he was all over it, darting this way and that, filming insane tricks, landing insane tricks without bothering to film them, and even occasionally being so excited that he managed to get in other people’s way when they were filming tricks. At 18 years of age, a 16-day trip to China is no walk in the park, but Tristan handled it like a veteran. I’m sure that when Thiessen puts together Tristan’s part for Substance, the problem will not be what footage does he have, but how to get it all into one part!
Tristan Funkhouser, feeble pop out
Amir Danish 