Meet Dane Brady

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1000.0"] Gap to BS 50/50 in Stuart, Florida. Photo by Jason Henry [/caption]

With a crew as strong and tight-knit as the Polar sSkate Co team, it's a pretty heavy compliment to get welcomed into the family. So when a little known young skater out of Portland, Oregon started appearing in Polar Instagram posts and showed up in the "Manhattan Days" video project, I'm sure a lot of skaters were intrigued to find out more about him. And perhaps it's just a part of the Polar mystique that now even a year after Dane's being officially welcomed onto the team, he still remains heavily under the radar. An enigma w/in a, yet, already mysterious brand. So we decided to chase Dane down, all the way to the tiny industrial town of Malmo, Sweden, where we found him spending the summer with Pontus and the Polar crew. Dane shows little interest in being the center of attention and it took several emails to get some answers out of him over a period of about 6 weeks. But that only made me like him more, considering how anxious most people are nowadays to be in the limelight. So take a moment to get acquainted with one of the secret weapons for Polar Skate Co....the elusive Dane Brady.

How long is the flight from Portland to Malmo, Sweden? 

I had a few layovers so it was around 18 hours. 

You're staying with Pontus right now right? Is Malmo the depressing industrial wasteland that Pontus' videos make it seem to be? 

I'm staying in the office but Pontus lives down the street. We built a loft in there so I sort of have my own room. It is very industrial but it's not depressing. Maybe in the winter. But I like it here. 

Was this your first time out of the US?

No last summer we went on a tour through England.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="714.0"] Frontside tailslide in Malmo. Photo by: Fabian Fuchs [/caption]

Portland seems like a pretty isolated skate scene. How in the world did Polar find out about you? 

Aaron  (Herrington) and his filmer/roommate Waylon saw some footage and showed it to Pontus. I think I just got really lucky

Oh yeah, I remember Aaron telling me one day that he had been watching your Youtube edits to get himself hyped to go skate while we were going out filming for Static IV. That's pretty rad. Did you know about that?

 I did not but that is cool. I've always been a fan of Aaron. The more I get to know him and skateboard with him the more I really look up to him.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="947.0"] Dane and Aaron. Photo by Luke Callahan [/caption]

It seems like the Polar team is a really tight knit crew that works like a real team together. Is that true or does it just appear that way in the video edits? 

Yeah we are all friends as well as teammates. That's the way it should be.

Yeah, that's ideal but it seems to be pretty rare with most brands.

When I first saw your footage online, I was pretty surprised by your spot and trick choice...it almost looked to me like you'd been studying old H-Street videos for ideas and inspiration. What or who would you consider as an early influence? 

I grew up in a nice little suburban neighborhood and I think that was an early influence. There was something interesting to me about trying to find things to skateboard in that area, whether it be the sidewalk or someone's house or driveway. I used to do that all day and come home at night and lurk on youtube for hours. It's impossible to run out of stuff to watch on there so I was always discovering skateboarding that I had never seen before.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="505.0"] Backside 50/50 hippie jump in Malmo. Photo by Nils Svenson [/caption]

What about modern day influences? Is there anything happening lately that you find inspiring or exciting? 

Lately I've just been inspired by my friends. Everyone on polar and my friends from Portland. *

Your Instagram edits were a pretty unique phenomemon for a while. But it seems like I'm seeing a lot of copycats out there these days. How do you feel about that? 

Inspire others to inspire themselves. Right? 

Haha.....I'd call them biters but I'm pretty sure I've copied your Insta editing style myself.

Well, is there anybody else out there with equally entertaining edits we should be checking out?

Follow @undergrund

So.....back to Portland any time soon are you expatriating and staying in Sweden for good?

 I'm trying to trick someone into marrying me so I can stay but it's not looking too good.

Well, Is there anything else on the horizon for Dane Brady that we should be looking out for?

I have no idea. I'm trying to not stress on the future and focus on the present. Does that answer your question?

Sounds good to me. Thanks man.

Interview by Josh Stewart

Check out Dane and some of the TOA crew from the early 2015 "Escape From NY" tour.