About a year ago we published our first feature with Ike. Back then we titled him „Germany’s most promising newcomer“. Today we don’t regret this statement. Not at all. He has gained a lot of traction in 2018, traveled a lot, collected sponsors, put out great content. Still, we feel he’s a hidden gem. So let’s step it up and say we are happy to introduce you to one of Europe’s most promising newcomers: Ike Fromme.
INTERVIEW: BURNY, DENNIS LUDWIG, JOST ARENS, JUSTIN SOMMER, JOHANNES SCHOEN
PHOTOS: GERARD RIERA, DENNIS SCHOLZ, BURNY
We started a group chat to interview Ike. After tons of shit talk, first questions eventually emerge.
Justin: How old are you, where are you from and where were you born and raised?
What’s up. I’ll start with Justin’s question because I think that’s the easiest one. I am 19 years old and I was born near Frankfurt, in Lindenfels to be exact. That’s where my grandma lives. I was raised in a small town called Schönberg near Kiel, which is pretty close to the Baltic Sea.
Ludi: I’ll start with my first question, too. Tell us about your brother and how you got into skating. Was your decision to start skating influenced by him?
My brother Laif Draasch is a legend! When I was nine or ten years old, he inspired me to skate. I was able to push pretty much right away, but I pushed mongo at first, so he taught me not to do it that way. Actually, he pretty much taught me everything back then. When I was younger, he also supported me with Hessenmob Boards [editor’s note: German board company Laif was pro for at the time] which helped me out a lot. It was pretty cool to have him as a role model.
Burny: I have just watched your two HD parts and find it remarkable that you didn’t film in any German cities besides Kiel and Berlin. You mostly filmed your part in Copenhagen and Barcelona. Does skating in foreign countries make it more appealing to you?
Most definitely. I love that lifestyle, just traveling and skating. The footage from my old parts was filmed on all these tours and I also wanted to travel to more countries but back then it was difficult to organize. At that time, I didn’t have any sponsors that took care of the organization so we had to do it ourselves. We mainly traveled to Copenhagen, Barcelona and Paris because those were the locations of the skate camps we went to. Skating foreign countries has always been interesting to me because there’s always a certain motivation to try something new and usually we ended up getting a lot of clips.
Justin: What are your hobbies besides skating?
When I lived in Germany, I used to play soccer or basketball occasionally. Just having fun with the homies. Nowadays in Barcelona, I would rather go to the beach and enjoy nature in general. I just let Spain work its magic on me.
Ludi: When did you move to Barcelona, who were you with and what were your plans for living here like?
I came to Barcelona with my homie Moritz Bush aka “Shorty K”, who is the filmer from my area. He filmed my parts back when I was a kid and eventually we started thinking about going somewhere else. At first, we wanted to go to Australia but that did not work out because he blew it with getting a visa. Our plan B was to go to Barcelona, which we sort of planned out in a couple of weeks. The two of us even moved into a shitty Airbnb for the first month. After that, we got ourselves a more proper place to sleep at. Down the line, our savings were enough to stay for a year in total, which was the plan anyway. The main reason to go out there was to film a VX part, which we did, but my friend “Shorty K” has problems with capturing and that’s why he has 30 uncaptured tapes at home.
Johannes: Can someone please get this homie a capture cam?
Jost: When I came to Barcelona back then, Ludi told me that you are motivated to go out and film every day and that you are also always on time and shit. Do you still try to go on a mission every day or has it slowed down a bit since you’ve been living out here for a while now?
Yes, homie. For the first half year, we were pretty much skating every day without doing anything else. Just like true skate rats! Although I have to say that that lifestyle got really exhausting after a while. So at one point, we thought that we needed a week-long break, which was really necessary after doing nothing but skating for half a year straight. Well, I’m definitely motivated any time and after finishing the new parts, I’m looking forward to filming for a new project. But back to skating for half a year straight: after that, I also had a minor injury. I was trying to drop in on this hubba and got stuck with my truck. So I got into a grind and fell down half of the hubba, which is why I was dealing with a bruised hip for a good amount of time. Anyways, now I’m fully recovered, but I also got a girlfriend so I usually chill for a couple of days a week. Skating for months straight really has its impact on your body, so taking a few days off in between skating is definitely worth it. “That’s what all extreme athletes do after all.” Why shouldn’t skaters do that?
Burny: How did you meet Ludi and the whole crew [editor’s note: filmer Dennis Ludwig and fellow German skateboarders who moved to Barcelona)?
The thing is that I’ve known most of them since before I made the move to Barcelona. When Justin and I were 14-year-old kids we used to skate the indoor park of Berlin a lot together. I also met Ludi in Berlin later on. In Barcelona, I also met Max Pack and a lot of other Germans who always travel here to skate. Actually, a lot of good Germans from all over Germany visit the city to skate.
Ludi: Tell us about the legendary curry flat.
Good question. For half a year we were sharing a place with a family from Pakistan. It was located at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and they also had a corner store in front of our place. Long story short, they cooked curry dishes every night, which made the apartment smell like curry all the time. It was cool, but after half a year you just couldn’t eat it anymore.
Burny: What else happened there? Did they also cook for you and do the household?
So it was two guys and four women who lived there. The women were in the kitchen 24/7 and always cooked chicken curry with rice. That’s all they ate every evening. The gross thing was that they always used their hands to eat and we just sat at the table with them for the first few months. At some point, we left that place because we felt very uncomfortable. It was just crazy in general, but their little corner store was sick and I think that one of the dudes also worked at the pizza place next door.
Burny: Who is your favorite local in Barcelona?
I’m a big fan of Javier Sarmiento. I’ve already been a fan of him and his footage before I came out to Barcelona. Besides him, I’m also a fan of Luy-Pa and Daniel Lebron. Top legends.
Burny: With Adidas, Favorite and Skatedeluxe you got hooked up by three major sponsors within not even half a year. Was that a bit too much for you? How do you deal with it?
Yeah, it all happened pretty quickly, but I got comfortable with it right away because I really want to live that skate life. It’s cool to be in good hands because before I was hooked up by my new sponsors, it had sometimes been inconvenient to ask for product because in some cases I had to go through several people which could be unpleasant and made some of the stuff arrive later than I needed it. Now I’m 100% focused on skating and it’s been working out great. I’m stoked on the support I get from my sponsors and also hyped to have some projects and trips lined up. My current lifestyle consists of skating, traveling, and getting clips, which I’m happy about.
Jost: Do you prefer to party on the weekends or are you more into staying at home and watching TV?
I’m definitely into partying and I actually don’t even own a TV. However, I don’t try to party every day as it is easy to get caught up in that lifestyle here in Barcelona. There’s a party every day. If I there’s a cool party on a weekday, I’ll go but keep it chill.
Ludi: I would like to know what influence Versace Plug had on you and what your friendship with him is like.
Yes, Versace [editor’s note: Hyun Kummer] is definitely a good homie. I’ve known him from skating Bremen back in the day when he was much younger. Unfortunately, he stopped skating at some point, but after he had started skating again I saw him during a contest in Hamburg for the first time in a while. I think that was in 2016 and ever since we’ve been skating quite a lot together. He’s super motivated and a cool dude so it’s really fun to skate with him. In general, I’m really down with a lot of skaters from Bremen.
Burny: What is your skateboarding medium of choice in 2019?
I think that nowadays Instagram is very important to the skateboarding scene. That’s the place where everyone connects and even younger skaters upload their stuff and comment on other people’s posts all the time. In general, kids are on Instagram 24/7. Down the line, Instagram is very important in 2019. I think it will stay the way it is. People still look at skate magazines but it’s not the same as before Instagram where everyone would buy skate mags all the time. With Instagram, you got all your skateboard news at hand.
Burny: If you had to choose: magazine cover or Instagram repost from a big account like Thrasher or Metro Skateboarding?
I think I would prefer to be reposted by a big account like Thrasher or Metro over having the cover of a magazine, simply because the repost would reach a much bigger audience and a lot more people would get to see it.
Don’t get me wrong though, if it’s a Thrasher cover it means much more than an Instagram repost. I still think that a magazine cover is way cooler than filming a small Instagram clip because most of the time those little clips don’t take much effort. A good example is Versace Plug, who doesn’t put hours of time and effort into filming a little clip for Instagram.
Burny: Does it get you stoked to look at your skate photos that were shot by professional photographers such as Dennis Scholz or Gerard Rierra?
For sure, most of the time photos by professional photographers look super sick. It’s also interesting to see the angles they play with, especially if you are in a cool posture, like in a grind. When I was 16, Hendrik Herzmann came to Kiel to skate with Louis Taubert, so Louis told me to go with them. Hendrik shot a photo of me doing a back smith down a ten-stair rail and I was super stoked on how the photo turned out! I think that photos look better than footage, although I think that down the line the footage is more interesting. Maybe that’s because if you film for a part, you want the footage to look good and if there’s a photographer on the session you, will try to get a photo, too, but that’s a minor matter. Nevertheless, if you get a sick photo, you will definitely be super stoked.
Ludi: What do you think of skateboarding at the Olympics, also considering the fact that you were in the German Olympic squad for a short period?
I’ve never seen something that ridiculous before. It’s cool and good that Germany wants to participate and everything, but no one will achieve anything there anyways! That’s why it’s pretty much over already. In my opinion, the Olympics have lost all credibility with me and it will be the worst skateboarding contest format in history. I definitely have a low opinion of that. I still remember that when I was in the squad, they told us some bullshit about how Germany and France were the only countries that started preparing so early. The fact is that there are a lot of countries under the radar that are already ahead of Germany and France in terms of preparations. All the dudes were pretty chaotic and I think now they are more prepared, but I still think that Germany won’t achieve anything there.
Ludi: You also run a small clothing company. What’s up with that?
Yes, it’s a homie brand called “Furious”. My homie is really creative and wants to do it professionally. I like wearing the stuff because I’m really into his Graffiti style. Basically, we order hoodies and caps every year, sell them, and then we use the profit to finance the next run of goods.
Johannes: A year ago you were still pretty unknown and when we did our first feature with you we titled you “Germany’s most promising newcomer”. You definitely lived up to it. Now it’s time to pass on the torch. Who should people look out for?
My little homie Daniel Meier aka „Bonbon“ from Hamburg, Germany. He’s the first one to cross my mind. His style and flow it spot on, look out for him!
Jost: What is your plan for the future? Do you want to stay in Barcelona for a longer amount of time and just skate or do you want to go back to Kiel to go to university or something?
I would like to stay here in Barcelona for as long as possible and live my skate life. But if I had financial problems or if there were some family issues, I would go back. I could imagine to go home in a few years to get my high school diploma.
We’re looking forward to seeing even more stuff coming soon!
