Birdhouse Europe Tour 2018 | Germany

The Birdhouse crew is a two-time winner of Thrasher’s King of the Road. I have to admit, i have always been wondering how they managed to do that. Right at that point, I heard Jaws saying “I think I could get a kickflip melon!” He kept asking Clive “Is it alright if I try that?!” It then dawned on me, the Birdhouse crew rolls with a true team spirit like no other. “All for one and one for all” seems to be a great way to describe their crew. With the support and hype of his fellow rippers, Jaws blasted a sick kickflip melon after just a few tries. However, if you know the ditch in Hürth, you will know that it is filled with some seriously nasty shit that’s gross even when it’s dry. Jaws was hauling ass and inevitably ended up taking a fall right into the sludge. Being the warrior he is, he got right back up and landed the trick after a couple more tries. "I think i can Melon 180 it easily, too", he claimed right afterwards and another two tries later he landet "to fakie" in the steep bank rolling away all clean. Mission accomplished? Not quite, but we’ll get into that more in part 2 of the tour article!

Once we got back to the van, Jaws had no choice but to strip down to his underwear. The Hürth ditch was so gnarly that it made him stink as if he had just swam in a sewer! Actually, he just left his clothes right at the spot. The next morning, we made a stop at Titus Cologne where we got Jaws fitted with all-new gear. We then went down to the basement bowl of the Cologne shop to skate for a good hour or so. By then, the boys were ready for a true, German-style lunch. We headed next door to the Titus shop to make a stop at “Bei d´Tant”, getting the boys some traditional schnitzel. Soon after was a “small” demo at the KAP 686 skatepark in Cologne. Actually, the demo turned out to be quite bigger and longer than we expected! After a long day of skating with the Cologne locals, we were headed for Frankfurt for the night.

We finally reached the Frankfurt hotel around midnight. At this point, I have to say that the team was seriously destroyed. But with the hotel in such close proximity to the main train station area, the boys had to take the chance to do some night time exploring. I headed to bed, which proved to have paid off the next morning. After a quick breakfast, we headed off to the famous Frankfurt Hauptwache spot, but the boys were struggling a bit to find their energy. We ended up taking a stroll through the street to find a street food/drink festival. It just so happens that they had a huge array of different vodkas for a “free taste test”. Jaws and Clive we’re especially drawn to this, and after some time, had indulged themselves in one shot after another. But, this didn’t stop their drive to skate a demo at Hafenpark later that day. In fact, the dudes took straight to the big section of the bowl, keeping the crowd super hyped through the demo! Even as Jaws wore a knee-brace from his last knee surgery, he blasted huge airs out of the deep end; the man really is a machine!

Later that night, we had to make time to celebrate Shawn Hale’s birthday. We ended up about 50 meters from our hotel at the “Jambo Bar”, a perfect place for a “farewell drink”. Just like that, the Birdhouse tour was over. They were only in Germany for two and half days in two cities. However, this short time feels like a week in my mind! The guys landed so many tricks, part one of the tour article is just the beginning. The second article will follow as soon as the Birdhouse tour edit is finished. Stay tuned!