The Movement

It was rainy today. There was nothing to skate. I was then left to do the next best thing—hangout with a good friend and talk skating. The Starbucks on Katipunan provided the perfect venue to hate the rain amidst the planning for the future of Whiskey Hill. Migs and I hatched brilliant plans of world domination while he sipped his coffee from a dirty-white Starbucks mug. Ominous laughter echoed through the huge Petron complex where the little quaint coffee house was situated. Not a nook or cranny was left peaceful.

Alright, I’m just kidding. It really rained and we really chilled in Starbucks, but no plans for world domination were hatched, and laughter was kept discreet. We did plan for the future of Whiskey Hill and it looks crazy.

The reason we ever got into the business, if you could call it that, was because we wanted to share the proverbial “stoke” with the Filipinos. I’m hesitant to call it that because everybody uses “stoke” nowadays and it loses its meaning. It really doesn’t compare to anything else. To give you an idea, imagine the feeling of freedom, satisfaction, excitement, fear and all that jazz then multiply by the feeling of spirituality and maybe, just maybe you come close. In fact, I think it was Gerry Lopez aka Mr. Pipeline who said, “You hear them call us “surf-bums” but you never hear “religious bums” when it’s practically the same feeling.” Skating and surfing have very similar cultures and I have to agree with Mr. Lopez. There is really a spiritual drive to it. And Whiskey Hill wants to be the church!

From the start we’ve always wanted to do this for the people. More than selling a board we want to inspire a culture driven by motion, art, friendship, responsibility and of course da stoke brah. Of course, we needed to make a profit to keep it going but that was always second to the progression of the culture. As skaters, for skaters, we really couldn’t rip people off. Especially when these people were the ones who would share and help in realizing the dream.

It’s been almost a year since we got our maiden shipment. Looking back, we’ve made a lot of good friends, skated some of the most awesome places, met a lot of cool people, and have had a ton of fun doing it.

Lookin forward to more pavement to skate, more people to meet, and more rain to hate!