Solon Lalas is co-owner of SOS Skateboards, proud new member of Globe Shoes and a great illustrator, hoping to combine his artistic background with his skateboarding creativity.
After a busy year getting his name out there and getting the company off the ground with his brother Nestor Suki, we caught up with Solon on his birthday to talk about how he’s feeling about everything.
(photo credit: Alex Grymanis)
Hey Solon, χρόνια πολλά dude. How old are you today?
Haha yeah it was my birthday today! Turned 21! Legal age, haha!
We’ve heard some big things happened for you in 2015/16.
Give us a run-down of your year, man?
Yeah man, just moved back to Greece again. I’d been living in Wisconsin for four years with my parents. I came back this year to try and stay in Greece. So I thought I’d try out for the fine arts university here in Athens. With only three months until exams, I wasn’t quite sure I would make it in. I was really happy when I found out I had passed! Now I’m living here with my brother Nestor Suki and my grandpa here in Athens. Me and my bro started S.O.S skateboards this past year also, and finished the Spoonful video! All in all, quite a good year I would say!
Oh, and also I got a sweet shoe sponsorship from Globe! Really appreciate it!
First sponsor actually! Other than SOS.
That’s rad. Absolutely loved your Welcome To The Family part. How long did it take you to put that together?
Thanks man!
I went out with Giorgos Papadimitriou maybe 7 or 8 times? It was fun! He filmed my part and did the edit. My brother would have done it but he was in the states at the time, it was nice filming with Giorgos for sure though! It was my second part, I think? If it counts as a skate part that is. Pretty stoked on that too!
Everyone was stoked on that part. Some new tricks on old spots, and some never before seen stuff. Which was the hardest clip to get?
Probably the last no comply. I got the first clip of that rather quickly and then tried a couple more times to get it a bit better. Hurt my ankle a bit too, I was ready to give up, but thankfully I did it on the last try! Super fun day for sure!
Yeah that’s a crazy ender dude. But from ends to beginnings, can you give us a run-down of your journey through skating? Where’d it all start for you?
I started when I was 9 years old. My grandpa bought me a skateboard for my birthday. I wanted to start because my brother skated with my cousin and some friends from around the village I grow up in. We started skating outside the house, but the only spot that the village really had was outside a supermarket. After a while my brother left and went to live in Athens. I was about 11 I think, I kept skating the supermarket spot and there were a couple kids at the time that we would skate with. By the time I turned 14-15 everyone had stopped skating. I was the only one left, hahaha. At 16 we left and went to the states. I skated there with a lot of good people. It was a big change, for sure.
So moving to the states had a big effect on you? What differences did you notice between U.S. skating and Greek skating?
In the U.S., Street skating is tough because everyone is so strict about the law. Also in Wisconsin during the winter time it usually goes below freezing temperature, so skating is hard unless you have an indoor park…or any park, really! Here in Greece, it’s more to the core; street skating, spots that look good but are actually crusty. People don’t really seem to care here as much as they do in the states. I’m sure everyone in Greece now has bigger problems than a skateboarder outside their house, unlike America where you might get a ticket or even get detained. Authorities in America don’t joke around, man. The whole vibe changes when I skate in Greece. I’m not scared of getting shot or arrested, or any situation escalating fast because here, people simply don’t care anymore. Even graffiti is normal, and it’s everywhere! People like it and tourists love it.
Skaters in Wisconsin are tough, for sure, because of the weather. I feel sorry for them though: ain’t no joke how cold it gets, man. They do have an indoor park, unlike us in Greece, where instead of building skateparks they destroy the ones we already have. It’s sad really… In America you have the chance to do anything and more. Here in Greece you’ll be lucky if you get the chance to leave, to go to another country and try and succeed in whatever it is you wanna do. That’s the big difference. The crisis has sucked all the possibilities out of Greece and this will effect generations to come. Other than all that, the skate scene here is small and fierce!
I feel you, man. When I was living in Athens I was shocked by how fierce the scene was. Coming from the UK where scenes are cliquey and the weather is mostly wet, there’s nowhere near the kind of community vibe, and I think the thing that really impressed me is that skaters had their boards on them all the time. Whatever they were doing, at a party, club, hospital, work, whatever, they’d be coming from/just about to go skating. So, just a little shout out to one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever been a part of, even if it was only for a short time.
Did it feel that in the US there was a real sense of the money in skating? I know a lot of the Greek companies are DIY start-ups, roots-up skating in style. In the US you’ve got huge companies everywhere, right?
Yeah, for sure, they have the opportunities that we don’t and the economy of course, but yeah the U.S. is a big pond, and to be a big fish in a big pond is hard, and our pond (Greece) is more like a small swamp, haha. But it’s very much alive! We might not have clean water but, hey we are trying!
So what’s the overall goal of people in the greek skate scene, what are they trying for?
I don’t know man, everyone has a different goal, so I can’t really say. But the vibe is to have fun and be united, as hard as that might seem sometimes. I think most skaters in Greece are like that, for sure. Other than that, maybe skating contests and filming could be somebody’s goal as a way of recognition and whatnot.
Speaking of the local scene, you’re part of SOS Skateboards, can you give us an idea of what that’s all about?
The whole Spoonful video was filmed and edited by my brother Nestor Suki. It took about two years to complete it I think. I was living in the states most of the time. I came and stayed for a summer and filmed some stuff with the crew and then the next year I went to Barcelona and met them there. We stayed at Flo Marfaign’s house. I was really honored to meet him and stay with him for a while! It was myself, Nestor, Notis Aggelis, Grass Macheras and Steve Kekis. Super fun times! I arrived a month after my bro. He was already there with Notis. I arrived around the same time Grass and Steve did, I think.
After Barcelona we went to Greece and we won the Shop Riot Contest! We went to Belgium, and that was a fun experience! Got to meet some very nice people for sure! My part kinda ended after that because I left and went to the states. I filmed a trick or two there and sent it to my bro, but other than that my part was hard to make because I always had a sort of deadline. I knew every time I would visit Greece that I had two three months to film and then had to go back to cold Wisconsin. It was a great video nonetheless.
SOS are producing boards at the moment, they’ve got great designs. What can you tell us about this series?
Well, this is the second series I guess. I did the red board, and my homie and teammate Billie Gee did the shark Vx-1000 board. Both graphics came out quite nice, so we’re really stoked on that!
If I didn’t skate 9″s I’d be riding one dude. I love your graphics.
So what’s in the pipeline for SOS at the moment?
Haha, thanks mate! A lot of things will happen with SOS soon, we’ve got a lot of different ideas. One thing is for sure though, that the SOS promo vid will be out sooner rather than later. So be on the look out kids.
Great news. And what about you, man? What’ve you got coming up, anything with Globe now you’re riding for them?
Yeah, it hasn’t been more than 3-4 months. I know there has been some talk about going on tour, so we will see. That would be fun for sure! Other than that, man, I’m focused on school. I really like it there.
Do you think I’ll be pushing this background in art in your skating?
Hopefully man, to be able to do two of the things you love and combine them would be awesome. If I could design decks for a living, I most definitely would! Or anything for that matter. With SOS, for sure, I’ll be doing more stuff in the near future.
Rad dude. I can’t wait to see it. Good luck with everything, Solon. Thanks for talking to us.
Keep pushing…
