Hello and welcome to the very first Place Presents of 2022! This project is from Germany, East-Germany, more precisely Leipzig. A city that we feel is on the come up! Contributing to that feeling is the fact that one of our 2021 Unsigned Hype contestants, Til Schweinitz, is from the Saxony-Leipzig area. It was during the making of that part that we got in touch with the people behind a project called Bambule. The “brand” Bambule is the brainchild of Jonas Lieder, Sebastian Weiß and friends. Our conversations ended up not only being about Til, or the brand but much more. Check out our interview with these two movers and shakers.

Intro & Interview by Roland Hoogwater.

Film & Edit by Jonas Lieder & Sebastian Weiß.

Photographs by Sebastian Weiß & Josephine Kaiser.

Hello to both of you, how are you?

S & J: We are good, how are you?

I am fine thank you. Ready to get started.

S & J: So, let’s get started!

Tell me about how Bambule started, what is it?

S: Bambule is about having fun, being together, and making products and projects that help us have fun. The goal is also to give other people this same feeling while attending events, riding a bambule board, or while watching one of our videos. It should not be too serious and too commercial.

J: It started in 2018, as a company and a crew. We started it with a bang, by hosting a contest including an afterparty. The people that came to that event were the people we considered “our crew”. We also started it because we weren’t good enough to get any other sponsors (laughs).

A great reason. So in what sense is the crew involved in the brand?

J: Well, we represent them by asking them to design for us, printing their work on shirts and boards. It is a great feeling to show your friends that way.

S: Maybe, the world doesn’t need another brand, but for our local scene Bambule does make an impact.

J: We also do a certain amount of DIY work when it comes to printing etc. One should not compare the money made to the time that was put in (laughs).

I like that, a passion project at its core. So, with this video, are we watching the Bambule team, or is it more of a scene video?

J: This video is more about our crew, not our team. We do give certain people in the video boards. But for most of them, we support them by giving them a good deal on the product.

In 2018 when you started the brand, did you guys immediately start filming?

J: We did a little promo before but the DONT WORRY project was heavily influenced by the pandemic.

S: The length of the video itself was influenced by the pandemic. We really wanted to do a premiere, but with the restrictions that was not possible for a long time. So, we kept filming. I will add though, that it was always a dream of mine to make a propper full length, like 30 minutes or something, covid just extended it into 50 minutes (laughs).

Style-wise this is also an interesting project, working with glitches or adding a disco ball in certain parts, was that concept in place from the start?

S: A lot of that came spontaneous, Jonas is to blame for most of it (laughs), he added the disco ball. He is a bit more creative.

J: It was simply a lot of “trying-things”. I think at first it was fear, fear of not being able to show the video to the public that held me back from starting the edit. But then we set some deadlines and restrictions were rolled back a bit.

I understand. That fear is justified when you look at what Bambule stands for. But in the end, does this project show some of the fun and togetherness Bambule represents.

J: In a way it does, the name of the video itself is both connected to the pandemic and that idea of fun. DONT WORRY is the message. When I think back to the filming, I think a lot about Sebastian and myself skating together, just the two of us.

S: Later on we did skate with more people, maybe like a group of 4 and that meant we had to run from the cops at times.

J: I actually got fined one time. So it was not always fun, it was also hard work.

Does that mean that the next possible video will only happen once the pandemic is over?

S: Whatever we do it won’t be as long of a project (laughs). I actually already started to film a little spot-based edit. There is a plaza here and I want to do our version of a Plazacation video.

J: There have been other ideas floating around as well.

S: But we felt that it would be good not to rush into something new right after we just did a big project.

Fair enough. So back to the video do you both have a favorite part or section?

J: It has to be the Gießer DIY part in West-Leipzig, with the disco ball at the end. This section shows a lot of different styles, and the musical choices really work well in my opinion. The start is also good with the child in a helmet.

S: My favorite part is Jonas’ part. I filmed it all and it pushed me in different ways, being more creative with my filming.

So what about a favorite trick?

J: It is Sebastian Sommer’s full pipe line. He hops between multiple pipes and ends it with a Heelflip over a gap. I filmed it and it was fun to try and film it well.

S: It is also a Sebi clip but the 360 Shuv-it over the water gap. I had never ever even seen him try it, but I know he can do whatever he wants to do. Still, it shocked me how he did it, almost like a Tre flip.

He is diverse, 50-50ing double kink rails as well, he does it all. So, in the end, how did the premiere go?

S: Our timing was perfect, we did it in a cinema, just a little bit before everything closed again.

J: Leipzig was thankful, they showed us love. We all came together, that was really important for me.

Last question, we recently had the “hane hane” video from Leipzig as well. Is the scene currently growing a lot.

S & J: Yes!

S: The scene is alive, the DIY scene is doing well. But we are also seeing a lot of new people, more diversity and we have a new big skatepark, which has a positive influence on the scene in Leipzig.

Ok, that was it guys, I think it is time for us to say goodbye and let people watch this 50-minute video you guys made.

S & J: Yes! Thank you for helping us get it out there.

Thank you both for working with us on both the Bambule video and the Unsigned Hype project.