by JOHNSON CUMMINS

My living room is looking a lot like an Avril Lavigne wet dream, what with three skater “dudes” taking up all available space on my couch. Actually, scratch that - what the hell would she want with these crusty, 30-something skaters? The dudes in question are Greenland’s Paget Williams, Shades of Culture’s Orion Curiel and Spin skateshop owner Dan Vez, and all three have been immersed in Montreal skate culture for over 15 years.

Which leads to the reason that they are taking up space on my couch. They are the skate ambassadors behind the Meka event happening at Metropolis. Not only will Meka combine skateboarding and music but, for the first time ever, it will transform a mega-club into a street-style skate park for a night. Subb, France’s Burning Heads, Shades of Culture, Whole Hog, B.U. the Knowledgist and a briefly reunited Men O’ Steel will all be performing while ducking flying decks.

Here’s the rub - while the bands are playing, Montreal’s finest skaters will be dropping into vert ramps from the lip of the five-foot stage. Weird? Not really. “Skateboarding and music obviously go hand in hand because both are based on marching to the beat of their own drummer,” says Williams. Quebec has always been one of the world’s leading exporters of pro skaters but, with little access to half pipes and other vert ramps, most skaters are forced to carve the streets.

This will soon change, as Vez has been working for the past two years on a new park, which will hopefully go into construction shortly. “When I helped run Taj Mahal [the now-demolished skate park at Berri], it worked wonderfully but we had a lease that ran out. I have been actively and intensely trying to start a skate park ever since it closed. We are bidding on a space now and it’s looking promising. I’ve always surrounded myself with skateboarding and it’s given me a purpose and a mission. With this new space, we aren’t looking to churn out world contenders but just give the kids some place to go.”

Part of the proceeds from the Meka night will go towards the foundation of Vez’s skate park, but these three insist that the Meka event is more about celebrating skate culture than just trying to raise money for a skate park. “What we are trying to do is let people know that skateboarding is not a bad thing,” says Williams, before Curiel quickly grabs the baton. “Skateboarding is beyond just being a sport,” he says. “It’s a way of life. Skaters are out there working really hard on it, just like any athlete or artist, and what’s cool about Meka is that it will be mind-blowing to people who don’t already know that much about skateboarding.” :

At Metropolis on Sunday, Feb. 16, 9pm, $11, all ages

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