To have an understanding of what makes up the qualities of a stereotypical snowboarder is to understand there are no set qualities that makes a stereotypical snowboarder. Snowboarding’s eccentric, creative and historically punk culture is testament to this: the ideals are so open that it would be antithetical to begin devising a list of traits.
Danny Larsen sits perfectly, somewhere, within this set of non-ideals. As a professional snowboarder revered within the core of the international snowboard scene, his loosely-termed job description allows him to represent himself and his sponsors in the way he sees fit. From the outside, that fit – or more so his “brand image” – is of a dark metal-inspired, Viking-like man; staring deathly into the camera after stomping some crazy manoeuvre off an Oslo city wall.
Beyond the lens, Danny shows a genuine love for the influences he portrays. But furthermore, his views and stories, alongside a showcase of his artwork, undoubtedly dispel any box-ticking theory, as revealed in this in-depth interview.
Danny, break it down, your inaugural days on a snowboard up until now…
I grew up in Lommedalen – a small village outside of Sandvika, 40 minutes from Oslo. Basically, what I would do every day in the winter is get home from school, do my homework, then go out and ski until the local slope closed around 9 or 10 o’clock. After a while, my friends and I grew tired of it and eventually discovered snowboarding around about 1994. So that ended up being what we did every day; snowboarding as much as we could.
After a while, a friend got hold of a snowboard magazine, and suddenly I realized that you could actually become a pro snowboarder and live off doing it, which to me seemed like the craziest thing in the world. It seemed really awesome, but at the same time it didn’t seem real that you could actually do that.
But I got better and started getting noticed. I got my first sponsor, and after a while I got noticed by the Norwegian scene, then the European scene...
What did it take to become professional?
My first sponsor I got was through this girl, whose dad owned pretty much the coolest snowboard shop in Norway. She kind of fancied me a little bit, but I don’t think she knew anything about my snowboarding and just heard from the other kids at school that I was good.
So I started riding for them. They had distribution for Lib Tech and Drake bindings, so I was riding for them. After that, a couple of Norwegian sponsorships came along. There was this guy doing the distribution for K2 in Norway, so he told K2 they should check me out, and I started riding for them around 2002.
From then on it was like a ladder, trying to get as much publicity as possible. I started travelling a lot to Europe and the US, spending my seasons in the US, and after a while I managed to get my first pro deals. By that point, in my head, I’d made it, I’d finally made it. That meant making it internationally, getting pro products and stuff like that; to the point I had to travel the world for my sponsors, which I guess is what I dreamt of when I was a kid.
“It’s hard for me to imagine what I seem like to other people. I have met people who are relieved and tell me ‘Wow, you’re actually a nice guy.’”
So you’ve been pro for over a decade. How would you describe your job as a snowboarder?
My only job is to represent my sponsors. I have sponsors who know what I’m doing, they know the type of guy I am and they’ve told me ‘you should represent the brand the way you can, and the way that you want.’ So that means no contests – there’s nothing I have to do – I just have to be a good spokesperson for the brands I ride for.
Within the snowboard scene, you have this dark Viking stereotype attached to you. Do you play on this image to help your marketable attributes as a snowboarder?
The thing was, when I was younger and I was getting attention in Europe, I was actually thinking about that stuff. I could almost sense that this rock thing was going to get popular, and I thought, ‘Well that’s perfect because that’s me.’ At the same time, I was thinking that it was just a fad and that it would blow over, so I didn’t know if I should be that guy known as “the rock and roll dude”. But in the end, I just thought, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to be happy, I’m just gonna do whatever I want and be me. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll find something else to do – I can still snowboard.’ So the black Norwegian metal thing is genuinely me. It’s definitely exaggerated by some people, but I love the dark imagery, I love the music and everything around it.
The way I see it, I just see myself. The way that other people see me, it’s hard for me to imagine what I seem like to other people. I have met people who are relieved and tell me ‘Wow, you’re actually a nice guy.’ [Laughs] You know, it’s the whole ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ type of thing.
During the last 20 years or so, while snowboarding has reached the worldwide popularity it’s at now, there have been tensions between the youth culture of snowboarding and the more traditional culture of skiing. But given that Norway has such a deep culture in winter sports in general, has that animosity between the two sports been as apparent here as it has been elsewhere?
I remember when I started snowboarding, there was a big, big tension between skiers and snowboarders. It was the typical ‘Oh, here’s something new.’ The skiers were worried about snowboarders coming in – they didn’t know what we were about and looked at us as bunch of hoodlums. We dressed differently, we didn’t have training sessions, we didn’t have adult supervisors during school playtime while the other kids were still racing in their speed suits. We were out trying to do 360′s and come up with new grabs. They weren’t stoked about it, the whole ski community. So there was definitely some tension.
But, it’s like you said, there’s a big winter sport culture in Norway, so as long as you’re outside in the snow, people are going to accept it. So now I feel as though snowboarding is the new “people’s sport”. We’ve got cross-country and snowboarding in the winter, and soccer in the summer.
Did you ever cross-country ski, or even now?
Well, when I was a kid, that’s the way you got to school. It was faster and more fun, and I cross-country ski now too. I love the feeling of getting out into nature, and it’s the best way to do that. It’s like going for a walk. So that’s what I do. But no racing or anything like that – just out doing typical Norwegian cross-country.
Given the common understanding of snowboarding in Norway now, do you still think people find it surprising to find you out in the streets, shredding and filming?
They find it very strange, but they think it’s awesome. I was filming this one spot – this little wall ride spot out in Sandvika – and we’d basically filled up this whole walkway with snow. This old women walked up and I was worried she was going to get pissed off, so I went over and asked her if she wanted some help. But she was just curious as to what we were doing. ‘Oh, we’re snowboarding on this wall…’, I tell her. She looked at me totally confused, trying to figure it out. And then she said, ‘Wait a minute, are you going to do that double cork?’ This lady was about 60 years old! So I told her I didn’t think I could do a double cork on this wall, to which she says, ‘Oh, because that kid, Torstein Horgmo, he knows how to do them.’ [Laughs]
I guess in the US, they know Shaun White. But he’s more than snowboarding. Torstein is just snowboarding, and that’s what he is. I think that’s the great thing about snowboarding here in Norway.
It sounds like there’s no issues with the locals then…
The great thing about snowboarding in Oslo is that people respect you for what you do. They don’t go off on one when you snowboard. Of course there’s people worried about things getting destroyed, but the main thing is that people are actually really stoked to see you out there snowboarding. I guess it kind of links back to Norway as a winter sport nation… if you were to cross-country ski right through Karl Johan, people would stop and applaud you, I’m sure.
When I have foreign friends come over, they just love it because people are actually stoked to watch us. We got stopped by the cops only once this year – the first time I’d experienced it in Oslo. Joe Sexton [fellow Videograss rider] did this crazy rail next to a T-bane station at which there’d recently been some suicides happen, so the people working there were worried that we were about to do the same.
So the cops came screeching in, opened the window and said, ‘What the hell’s going on here!?’. Then I realised we were all wearing ski masks and probably looked like a bunch of robbers, so we quickly pulled them off. They told us that they’d been receiving a load of calls from people concerned about what we were doing. ‘Oh, we’re just snowboarding’, I said. And they’re like, ‘Wait, you’re snowboarding?’ ‘Yeah, right down that rail there,’ I say. So they asked if they could take a look just out curiosity.
Eventually the cops ask, ‘So you’re really gonna snowboard down that thing?’ And I’m like, ‘Nooo, I’m not that dumb! But Sexton over there, he’ll do it!” So they watched him snowboard and thought it was so cool! They actually asked us if they could take a photo on their private phones so they could show their families and colleagues.
It ended up that people called the cops on us two more times, and each time they would come down and they were so stoked! And that’s the way police are here in Oslo.
You also hit up Vigelandsparken with the Videograss crew last season…
Yeah, Vigelandsparken is definitely my favourite spot to snowboard in Oslo. There are so many possibilities there, so many levels, so many ways you can snowboard it. I just love going back there because I get a new idea every time, even hanging out there in the summertime. I would even ride there by myself without a filmer, it’s so much fun.
Seeing some footage, it seems you had quite an audience watching…
Well there’s always tourists there, so they like watching it. I guess they think we’re committing suicide. We’ve had people running after us, screaming when we jump from different levels, and then we get applause afterwards. It’s pretty fun, even though you feel like a circus act.
Where else do you like to snowboard around Oslo?
Tryvann [aka Oslo Vinterpark] is definitely the place I hang out here in Oslo. It’s a great little hill. I used to ride a lot more where I grew up, but Tryvann is pretty much where I go now with my friends. They’ve got a sick park and pipe – it’s a brilliant place to snowboard.
What spots have you found to hit up in Oslo this season?
There’s definitely more spots on the east side of town that haven’t been explored yet. I’m not too good with the names of places – I’m more of a I-know-how-to-get-there kind of guy. But I do go on a lot of runs, and when you go on a run, you see things differently than when you’re in a car. So I found some new spots close to Ila prison near Bærum, which actually scares me a little bit, being around there!
The majority of the Oslo public voted in favour of the city bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and I know you have a few opinions on that…
Yeah, I would vote a very very very strong ‘No’. First of all, I can’t stand the Olympics. I think it’s a big corrupt system. The only thing it’s good for is to make the rich guys richer, and it fucks up every single host region.
They talk about how this will benefit all the sports in Oslo, and to me that’s just bullshit. I’ve traveled to a lot of Winter Olympic cities, and what I’ve seen there is that they all look like ghost towns. They’re going to make an new ice skate complex in Oslo, but who the hell ice skates? They made a new ski jump, and who really ski jumps? There are more ski jumps than there are ski jumpers in Norway.
For the World Snowboarding Championships, they helped make a pipe, which was only open to the public for 2 to 3 weeks the next year. Like, no one got to use it. The pipe is amazing, but it takes so much to take care of it. Tryvann is a privately owned resort, so they don’t get the same kind of support from the government as, say, a soccer field or an ice rink. The people who really only benefit from these sort of things are people who work for the system itself.
It should also be said that it was only people in Oslo who got to vote for the Olympic bid, which is bullshit. The way they present it is that the Oslo people get to decide because this is where it’s going to happen, but the money that will be put down to pay for it all will come from all taxpayers in Norway. This is tax money that should be spent way better to help people all over Norway.
I know that with Oslo we have a lot of money and we can easily afford the Olympics, but there is so much that needs to be taken care of before they start to think of putting on this two-week sport fest just to please the sponsors.
What could the money be better spent on?
Well, we’ve already got free healthcare which is amazing, but things take forever. Here in Oslo I don’t think it’s too bad, but people out in the countryside, further north, they don’t have a place to go – they have to fly to get an operation. Also, the roads in Norway are a fucking disgrace. I mean, I don’t want to sound like a whiney guy, but Norway has a lot of money so there are things that need to be put right.
Where are you traveling this year?
Wherever there’s snow I guess. I’m hoping to travel to the Alps a lot this year. I’ve had seasons now where I’ve spent quite a lot of time over in North America, and it’s really cramped. There’s a lot of people over there who fight for the same spots, and it’s just not the same deal in Europe. There are lot of people there too, but if you hike a little bit you’ll get to a spot that nobody else is riding. So that’s what I want to do. And of course Japan – that’s always the place to go if you can.
Do you consciously try to immerse yourself in the different cultures you experience when traveling?
I have certain rules for myself when I travel. It sounds pretty dumb but, for instance, I refuse to buy international beers – I always want the local beer, however shitty it might taste. I always try to take a big part of the local community, and try to do things the ways locals do it. And I’m always really bummed when I have to stay in fancy hotels – or just hotels at all. I’d rather crash at some shitty B’n'B.
Though, when I travel to the US, everyone is familiar with their culture – it’s similar to Norwegian culture. In the Alps, it’s similar to Norway too. But when I travel to, say, China, Japan or eastern Europe, it’s something completely different.
Would you still travel much, irrespective of snowboarding?
Traveling is the biggest thing for me. If you have money, I think that’s what you should do. I don’t care for possessions, I just want to travel the world, which is one of the biggest bonuses of being a pro snowboarder. So if I wasn’t snowboarding, I’d still be traveling, for sure.
You do a lot of your own artwork. Is that something you take seriously or is it more of a hobby right now?
The thing with my drawings, it’s the same thing with snowboarding. I’ve never looked at myself as a “professional snowboarder” – I just look at myself as a guy who snowboards – and it’s the same thing when it comes to my drawings. I’m just a guy who draws. And somehow, it ends up on products, in magazines, in exhibitions and stuff like that.
So to me, right now, it’s so weird that people actually pay attention to what I’m doing. I’m just at that point. But I have a lot of requests coming in, so it’s definitely got me thinking about it and it seems like a lot of fun. At the same time, I have so much respect for the people who do this for a living and the amount of creativity they pour out every day – it seems a little scary.
Do you think you have it in you?
Yeah. I mean, I draw every day and I feel like I come up with something worth seeing quite often. So yeah, I think I would be able to do it. Always one for the challenge!
So what are your main artistic influences?
Of course, it’s my surroundings. I grew up in a country where we don’t see the sun for half the year. My family had a cabin in the forest that we’d always go to, which we felt was haunted and we loved hanging out there because it was so scary.
I’ve always been drawn to that dark and scary aspect of life – even though I absolutely hate horror movies! I love reading about the Nazis and fundamental Christians, and stuff that scares the living crap out of me.
But not scary films?
Not the films! I can’t stand horror movies. They scare me. I love really goofy family comedies [laughs]. My favourite are animation comedies… I love them!
Do you like Disney?
Ooh, I love Disney! The old ones though. It’s funny, because I hate musicals, but I love Disney. And if there’s a new Pixar or Dreamworks movie out, I’m straight to it. I’ve already seen Monsters University twice! I’m obsessed with that stuff. And dumb teen movies. Just comedies in general.
So you’ve not seen anything like The Ring?
Oh no! I’ve never dared to see that one. I’ve had pictures of me on websites where they’ve referred to that film. Oh no, that was The Grudge – which I’ve never seen either. The scariest I’ve ever seen is The Thing… and Trollhunter, which is just hilarious.
I guess I see a movie at least 7 or 8 times a week, something like that. Basically all comedies. Lately I’ve been hooked on this series called Breaking Amish. There’s all these Amish people who get a taste of the real life, which makes you see how fucked up the world really is. They’re out for two weeks and they’re the worst people you can imagine.
“I have a really hard time sitting down – I can’t do it – so I wanted a job to get my mind off snowboarding for a little bit during the summer.”
You do some other type of work in the summer, away from snowboarding…
Yeah, the two last summers I’ve been working with the Bærum community housing office. They help people with housing issues, such as with homeless people, but mostly with people who are in a pickle, or less fortunate people that need help to get a place to stay, need help to pay their rent, help with personal economy and stuff like that. Basically, there are people who don’t have it that easy, so we help them.
Why did you get involved?
Well I have a really hard time sitting down – I can’t do it – so I wanted a job to get my mind off snowboarding for a little bit during the summer. So I was temping for a while at kindergartens and I absolutely loved it, but you get tired of hanging out with other people’s kids kind of fast, even though they’re lovely. Then I was asked if I wanted to work at the housing office, so I worked there for 3 months in my first summer, and I just loved it. So they asked me if I would be interested in working there last summer too.
My job was to help people look after their personal economy. I mean I don’t consider myself as an economist at all, but I was handling up to 300 persons’ economies! I would deal directly with them, talking to them over phone, helping them divide up their money for paying rent and bills… all the stuff people hate to do. But I did it for them – I did it for 300 people [laughs]. So it was definitely a big challenge but it was rewarding.
What are your future plans?
That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
I do have an education within marketing, a little bit of economy, but I do think I would love to do some type of marketing, whether it involves illustration and art, or maybe just straight up marketing. That’s what I’ve been thinking.
But my main philosophy when it comes to working is that you should always feel that it’s something you love to do, so you don’t think coming home and sitting down is the greatest part of your day.
So I don’t know, I’m pretty open to what I can do. I’ve been working with international marketing now for 10-plus years, so I guess that’s the route I’m gonna follow after snowboarding.
So there’s the possibility to keep within snowboarding?
I can definitely do this within snowboarding, with companies I’ve worked with already and so on. The only problem is that it’s hard to work from Norway for a lot of these companies, and I love living in Norway. I’ve got my family and friends here. Well, I’ve got friends all over, but I want to be here and it’s kind of hard to pull of with snowboarding.
Who knows – I love snowboarding and I would love to work with it, but I don’t want to limit myself to being just a snowboard guy. I guess the reason I would like to work within snowboarding is that I love the aspect of helping people find what that they love to do. Like, I go out and film for a whole year and show people how they can use their snowboard, and I think that’s pretty awesome.
Check out the new VG teaser!
No, not teach at all. I think everyone should find their own way, but I want to help people find what they like. For instance, I could work for a wine company and help people find wine they can enjoy. Or coffee, or whatever. Well, I’m Norwegian, of course coffee! [Laughs]
Any last words?
Live life like you’re gonna die… because you’re gonna!
Interview by Tom Lenartowicz
Photography by Darrell Mathes
Orginally posted on hja.no