Armands Baumanis is a well known character in the local and Baltics scene. He’s the founder of Straightforward skateboards, the person who popularized the notorious “Pis Taisni” phrase in skate circles, and a skate video maker with three Straightforward movies behind his back. When Riga’s notorious DIY BARAX seized to exist, Armands left Riga to live in Spain. Warm weather and beaches didn’t push Armands to chill more, instead he kept getting better at skating and kept filming. Alma de Cantaro is a result of time spent in new home. We talked a bit with Armands about his time in Spain too.  

All photos by: Alex Petrantsov

Did any skater local Spanish skater knew where Riga was when you had to introduce yourself?
Yes, some people have met Richi Dunkul before me, as he used to live around Malaga and now lives in Tarifa (around 170km down the cost). Also some people know Latvia from Basketball as they beat Spain recently. So maybe they know Latvia, not Riga exactly. Some of course are clueless.

How did you blend in with the scene there?
I just started to go skate to the main square (Plaza de Marina), also found a DIY park about 12km from me near the airport, gradually met more and more people and I think most of the people who skate here – know me now.

Any differences you have noticed between Spanish and Latvian skaters?
I would say they are about the same, both would be late for a meeting. Depends. I know some locals who always come on time too, so more about the individual. Some locals sleep during the day, it’s like a tradition to them, to eat and then sleep, I never do that, so there is some differences I guess.

What drives your progress on the board at age of 36?
My drive has always been to film my friends, get tricks on video, get photos and be better then the previous year. I still feel I have progress in me, I can do better. We all can. Just need to understand if that’s what you want.

To get that many clips you got to have some kind of routine. What your day looks like?
My routine is quite consistent. I wake up around 7-8 in the morning, drink coffee, workout, start working, workout during workday 2-3 times more, eat around 2-3pm. Drink 3 more coffees. Finish my job at 6 – go skate. On workdays I skate flat and small stairs mostly, practice the tricks I plan to do on the weekend and then on one of the weekends I either go to the beach or I go film, usually for the whole day. I skate around 5-6 times a week. if I don’t skate on a weekday – I go to mountains or go on a bike ride after work. I do not do much else.

You told me once that you were filming this part and wanted to release it on your 40th birthday. Why did you change your mind on that?
Yes, that was my plan for a while but everything changes so fast.  I only stared filming around 6-7 months after coming here as I did not know anyone and had nobody to film or ask if they could film me. After a while I met my friend Alex, he started both filming and taking photos of me, I started inviting people to come and join us. Not long after that out of nowhere Alex opened a skate shop and started sponsoring me, so that motivated me to publish something before my 40th birthday. This video is basically around 9 months of filming + footy from Niks’ [Kolosovskis] camera while he was in Latvia and new Zealand during this time. As Eduard [Nehajenko] did not get to film that much with Niks, he sent me additional footy from his own archive to make his part bit longer.

It is really cool to see some Latvian legends like Eduzuk rippin’. How was the video received there?
I would say the people here like it, they feed off of me in a way. At least I like to think that I get them hyped and more motivated to try something. I like pushing people, and I always expect the most out of everyone.

Did you find new Barax in Spain?
The new BARAX for me is now called ”la pista diy” – the DIY near Malaga airport. It has similar vibe to it. Specially when I come on a weekends and nobody else is there. Barax taught me to appreciate the time skating alone.

Armands on instagram
Straightforward skateboards on instagram