Allan Adams – ‘Animal’ Video & Interview

Check out Allan Adams’ new video part filmed and edited by Andrew van der Walt.


We had a quick catch-up with Allan:

Photos by Grant McLachlan

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Where do you currently live and have you been able to roll much at home during lockdown?

I used to live in Milnerton but we recently moved to Mamre. I’m not able to roll a lot during the lockdown, I just skate in my yard and film instagram clips or we skate just outside in the road.

What do you usually get up to when you aren’t skating, are you into anything else in particular?

When I’m not skateboarding I spent a lot of time with my family. We go and visit my granny a lot, she was blind in her one eye and she went to the doctor for an appointment, the doctor did work on her eye and today she can see with both eyes and I’m really grateful for that. At home I play PlayStation games a lot and play around with my brother’s dogs.

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How often do you usually go out on street missions to get clips and tell us about your new part, how long have you and Andrew van der Walt been working on this for? This part is not the first you’ve filmed with him, what other parts have you guys worked on together?

I go street skating a lot, we have been on a lot of missions to film together. Andrew van der Walt and I have been working on this part for three years now, but it was on and off. Going back to 2014 we started filming for the Reel edit that year, which we got 1st place for. Since then we started missioning regularly, skating parks and street. But during the last 3-year period we didn’t really skate together as much in 2019. He didn’t get to film me much last year because he was busy working a lot. He also filmed my Mag Minute a few years ago too.

You regularly have heavy clips on your instagram from The Shred skate park, would you say that’s where you skate the most and is that where you have learnt most of the technical tricks you’re known for?

Yeah I go skate at The Shred a lot, I try to learn new technical tricks and then I take it out to the streets from there.

You have shot a ton of photos with Grant McLachlan over the years, whether at home in Cape Town or on trips around the country, like on the recent Am Van missions with Session and Monster Energy. What are your favourite photos you have shot with Grant over the years?

I can’t decide on this one, it’s so difficult to choose my favorite photo. I would say every photo Grant McLachlan shot is my favourite. It’s just unbelievable to see how good they look.

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It’s no secret that your older brother Gavin (Moses) is a super well-known skateboarder in South Africa, did he support you a lot growing up or have you guys maybe got like a little rivalry going on at all?

My brother definitely supported me with boards, shoes, etc. He helped me a lot to get to where I am today and I’m grateful to be his brother, he is a good person.

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How often do you skate with Moses nowadays and who is most likely to win a game of SKATE between you guys?

We skate together quite a bit. I’m not sure who wins more games of SKATE, I know a lot of games I would say my brother wins, but I also win a lot. Let’s just say it’s probably even.

With two brothers that are both amazingly talented, what do your parents think about skateboarding?

My family like that I’m skateboarding and that I’m active in a sport that I love. They are happy and proud of me, and for the traveling and stuff like that, they are proud of me.

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You got on the Adidas South Africa skate team a few years ago and dropped heavy clips in the ‘Namibia’ and ‘South and Beyond’ videos, and you were even the face of a window campaign in stores across SA. But more recently Adidas sadly dropped their skate program in South Africa though, do they still support you at all?

Adidas was a dream for me you know, I can’t believe that I was sponsored by Adidas, it was a dream come true. I was so happy at that point of my life, really! My brother was at Canal Walk Shopping Centre when he phoned me and said my face is on the window in the Adidas shop. I told him, “You must be joking with me!” He said no he wasn’t joking and then he sent me a photo of my face. When I saw it I cried right there. My brother and the rest of my family were proud of me, very proud! But unfortunately Adidas dropped their skate team since then, including me. They don’t support me anymore, but I’m still going to skate and fight to push it, I don’t let it get to my head.

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Who does currently support you to keep on rolling?

I’m sponsored by Collab Skate. I get hooked up with some Dwindle brands, Blind Skateboards and Tensor Trucks.

A few years ago you won a local Element contest and got sent on a trip to Barcelona. Tell us about that experience?

Barcelona! Man it was the biggest dream come true, I was so excited like I couldn’t believe. It’s a really unbelievable place and the people there are super friendly. People in the street were taking pictures of me skating. MACBA is so perfect to skate and also skating with the Element pros was crazy.

You also did a trip to Oman a few years back, how did you end up going there?

Oman was fun too! Warren Stopforth from Technique invited us over there to judge a contest. We also did a demo and we filmed a tour video.

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What’s next for you, do you have any other particular projects in the works coming up?

My next step is to film another video part after this lockdown, I’m really looking forward to that.

Thanks Allan, hopefully we can all get back out there soon!

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