Snackbreak’s 50-50: Interview with Tommi Ollikainen and Samu Mikkonen

With their international crew of homies finding themselves spread across the globe last year working on various projects, Snackbreak’s Tommi Ollikainen and Samu Mikkonen did what felt natural, and took the the streets of Jyvaskyla, Finland, logging clips and not bothering to worry too much where the footage would end up. That’s one of the things we really love about these Snackbreak dudes. They are really a low stress bunch, still out there getting it for the sheer pleasure of it. That enjoyment that brought us all hear in the first place. Can’t say that about a lot of folks these days…

Anyway, that footage ended up in a super cool, well put together five minute cut titled “50-50” featuring a number of unique spots and heavy clips. Take a peek and read up on what the boys have to add below.

Interview by Mike Goodwin
Photos by Niki Ruhtanen

What’s up guys? Where are ya these days?

Tommi: 
Doing really well! Living life, being around good people, doing stuff I enjoy the most. I live in Jyväskylä where I have been since 2015 when I moved back to Finland after the years spent in Canada and Australia. Skating a lot, snowboarding, playing music, keeping creative.

Samu: 
All good, all good. Just working and trying to snowboard as much as possible. Also, we have been building snowsurfers with couple of my friends. Pretty hyped about doing that kind of stuff. 

Are you the type of person who gets excited at the start of the new year?

Samu: 
New year is just a new year. I don’t see anything special in that. It’s a nice holiday to get drunk with friends, though. 

Tommi:
Haha, that’s right. Usually I feel nothing special about new year, but, damn, at the moment it feels like my life is exactly the way it’s supposed to be. More good things are on their way, too. And that’s damn exciting. 2019 is the year for rock and roll!

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Samu finding one of natures rainbows

You into New Year’s resolutions?

Samu:
Nah, I can’t keep them so I don’t make them. I make promises when I feel that I have to do them.

Tommi:
Haha same here. I tend to carry my bad habits with me to the next year. But the one New Year’s resolution that I actually have sticked to was when I dropped eating meat like nine years ago. Been a vegetarian ever since!

Recently you guys released a new Snackbreak edit titled “50-50”. From what you’ve told me, the video came together in a sort of indirect way. Can you briefly explain how it came together?  

Tommi:
Yeah, it was all up in the air at the beginning of the season. The whole Snackbreak crew was all over the place. Jopi was filming with Postland and living in Helsinki, Johan was in Revelstoke, BC, Jesse and the rest of the boys were all over Canada. Everyone had their own thing going and we were not able to link up with the crew.

So, it was me and Samu living and snowboarding in Jyväskylä. We were riding and filming together in the streets as always. In the early season we did this really special video project for my university. The idea was to present the campus by snowboarding and we got a permission to hit any spots we liked at the university. So crazy! 

But that thing was not really for the core snowboarding audience (whatever that means) and we had a bunch of other good footage that was not going to be used in any project. We started joking about making a split video part when we didn’t have anything else to use the footy for, and in the end we made that happen. It’s a random collection of our moments on board last winter.

And who is featured in this new one?

Tommi:
Samu and myself are the main riders in the video. Then our friend and a long time Snackbreak rider Jopi (Joonas Eloranta) joined us for five days in Jyväskylä at one point. He was filming for his part in Postland’s new film. Most of the footy we filmed together ended up there, but we used a few clips of him that were not heavy enough for his part, haha!
 
Besides us three, I’m stoked that we were able to feature our local homie Pete Ronkainen who is a talented local boarder and just generally a good guy to be around. 

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Tommi taking on the local beast!

Random question: “50-50” is five minutes long and falls in among videos being released of all sorts of lengths. When, or why, does a release switch from “edit” to “video”, in your opinion? Can we just use these interchangeably these days?

Tommi:
I think it is the content that matters. You can film a 15-minute park edit, and it will still be an edit. But even if you do well made five-minute long video that is legit street/ backcountry stuff, I’d consider that a video. Other dividing factors are filming and editing styles. Edits can be quickly shot and put together in any style and on any device, but I think videos should pay more attention to production - carefully choosing the angles, using a proper camera, editing and so on. You know, having something more in it than just a pile of random tricks thrown together to a song.

As an independent crew, one of many these days, what kind of things can you do to standout without seeming gimmicky? Is it best to just let your riding and editing to the talking? Is that enough?

Samu:
I could say that I just film for myself, doing things I want to do.

Tommi:
Exactly. Just let your personality and creativity shine. Don’t even care about trying to stand out - that shit doesn’t matter anyway. Do whatever you like and don’t care what others think about it. Express and stay true to your own visions about snowboarding (and life in general). True originality comes from that, not from trying to imitate someone else’s style or forcing some “new” style on. I think that your own riding, filming and editing ideas should definitely be enough.

Helsinki has long been a destination for street riding but the more northern cities have been must-go destinations for so many crews the last handful of years. Do you feel that it’s getting maxed out, spot-wise?

Samu:
I have never been filming in Helsinki, but I think I know every spot from there, so it kinda feels maxed out haha. Just kidding - there are always new spots all over Suomi Finland and new people to ride them in different ways, which is pretty damn nice. 

Tommi:
Jyväskylä is getting tough for spots for sure. The KBR crew hit all the obvious spots already like ten years ago. Of course there are always new ones being built, and snowboarding itself has developed in a way that some features that didn’t look doable ten years ago have suddenly become spots. And still, some of the biggest, gnarliest features have remained untouched to this day, no matter how many film crews have been in town. Waiting for the next generation to show us what’s up.

Also, there’s a really cool project starting in Jyväskylä where Harju (this hilly park area in the city centre) is getting developed in a way that serves snowboarding in the winter. Think about it! Park architecture designed for snowboarding. So hopefully there will be a lot of new features here soon!

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Samu handrag's off what looks to be kicker shaped building...Finland, designed for snowboarding!

There are some really heavy spots in these five minutes of “50-50”! Any in particular that really shook you guys?

Samu: 
All Tommi’s 50-50s to kinks shook me. But my personal favorite from my shots is the BS tail 270.

Tommi:
Yeah, Samu’s BS tail 270 was nuts! Looked so scary winching in full speed and jumping backwards up onto that flat close-out rail. Think my heart stopped a few times when he got stuck on the close-out and was flying backwards, head first into the darkness. Personally the most scary trick was the gap front 270. I tweaked my knee a bit in December and had to take five weeks off the board. That spot was the first spot after the injury. I hadn’t been boarding for weeks and still decided to try get that trick. I’m happy that I ended up landing it pretty quickly without too many close calls. Also, being able to film Pete’s first street clips a very special moment. Pete had never filmed for any snowboard film, and the kink we filmed together was the first street spot he ever hit. 

How many tries for the 50-50 ender? 

Samu:
I would say it took like 40-50 tries from Tommi. I didn’t count how many times I pressed record. 

Tommi:
Haha, something like that. The worst part was that the landing of that rail goes straight to a busy street. I had to wait for 10 minutes for the landing to clear out at least two or three times. Kinda sucks trying to stay warm, ready and stoked when you are strapped in on top of that kind of monster kink without a clue as to when the traffic will clear out so you can drop in, jump, hopefully lock in on a 50-50 and try to balance through the kinks. It was a crazy feeling when I got through the last flat and knew that I had made it. That rail is one of those features that didn’t even look like a spot before last winter.

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Tommi takes on another beast after dark with a back board.

What’s your go-to for unwinding after a day of filming?

Samu:
Cold beer and pizza. Always a good combination. Or cold beer and hot wings. Maybe some karaoke after that. 

Tommi:
Haha, a cold beer, pizza, chill. Then a sauna to relax the muscles. Another beer in the sauna. Ideally a jam session after that. Or Bingo. Bingo is the shit.

What are you cooking up for 2019?

Samu: 
Maybe we will film something, although we both say that we don’t film anymore. But I know we will. 

Tommi:
Haha right. I think me and Samu have been telling each other we won’t film anymore for two years now, but something has always come up. I think we will keep boarding and see what happens! I want to ride pow as much as possible and it would be sick to bring Samu and some other friends around, too. Otherwise, I’m really focused on making music. Playing with two different groups and fucking around on a looper/synth combo at home. You can expect to see and hear some of that shit soon! 

So, here’s that New Year’s resolution for ya: any Snackbreak project in the future will have a full DIY soundtrack in it. Get ready!

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Thanks for the chat boys, now back to the streets?

 

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