H
Seventy-five percent of Finland is forest.
Second place Münster at age 16. First place in his first pro contest at 17.
BMW, women, apartment, cash, and the bastard is only 18.
Are
you jealous yet?
My partner and homie in destruction, owner of the littlest nipples alive,
Arto is Fuckin' Shit Up. -Geoff Rowley
OW LONG DID YOU
skate before you
turned pro?
I started skating around '90. But
at first I was just pushing around.
Geoff Rowley: What was the
first video you saw?
Hot Batch.
GR: Who had the best part?
Pat Brennan?
No. Wasn't Adam McNatt
in that?
GR: He had a good part,
didn't he?
I know. It looked like he was on
drugs, but he had a good 360° ollie
down the stairs.
What kind of bonehead spon-
sorship deals did you get
involved in when you were
fresh meat?
C'mon now. Let's not talk about
that. You don't want me to get
beaten up.
Did you ever send out spon-
sor-me videos when you were
a kid?
I did once. The footage was all
crap, though.
Who'd you send it to?
Cliché. My friend knew the guy
who was doing it. He told them I
was good, so the guy told me to
put a video together. I put
together some crap and I sent it to
them. They were like, "Whatever.
This is crap," so nothing hap-
pened. Then the next summer I
went to the contests and got
sponsored there.
Who was the first company
that asked you to sign on?
I got asked to ride for Adrenalin
and Expedition in Denmark.
Did you say OK?
No. I just went to the other con-
tests and got a couple of boards
from Stephane.
GR: Did you think you were
the shit when everyone
wanted you to ride for them?
What? No. There were tons of
other guys who were ripping. That
guy Daniel Cardone was there and
he was ripping.
ARTO
SAAR1
INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
BY MICHAEL BURNETT
Are you scared when you go
to skate something really big
and gnarly? Can you sleep
the night before?
I have some nightmares here
and there.
How do you block it out?
That's a fucking professional
secret, isn't it?
What secret? It's not as if
everyone will be able to go out
and skate 18-stair rails if you
tell people.
Yeah, they will. They already do.
Is it a secret?
No, I'm just scared shitless! But
when you get on, it's like whatevs.
But how do you get on it the
first time?
I just have to ride up to it a
bunch of times.
GR: You just skate it.
Yeah. You can't think about it.
That's the thing. If you get all scared
and freaked out you can't do it.
Can you do that with other
things besides skating?
I never did anything difficult
before skating.
GR: Did you graduate?
I think so.
GR: What about the army? He
has to go into the army.
You have to go to the army?
When?
Next July.
For how long?
Eight months.
GR: They're going to give him
a skinhead and a rat's tail and
force him in the army.
No, no, no. I can get away with it
for a few years if I tell them I need
to work over here and blah, blah,
blah. It's only for eight months,
though, not three years.
GR: Eight months is a long
time to be cooped up in a
box just learning how to
kill, isn't it?
I don't know. Some skaters take
off two or three years and don't
seem to be affected.
GR: That's not right, though,
is it?
No, but they come back wearing
warm-up pants.
Do you have health problems?
Yeah. I had heart surgery. They
burned off a valve or something.
Are you better?
Kind of.
Do you have to do anything
special to take care of it?
Not anymore.
What do you do that makes
Geoff and Ed so mad at you?
I don't know. Geoff's just so
serious about everything and Ed's
just a mung, as Geoff would say.
Do I do something that makes
you mad?
GR: Yes.
Why?
GR: Because you don't stop.
That's why. It's childish, if you
ask me. He'll fuck with you
and won't stop.
When they tell me to stop, I just
have to do it more.
Have you ever gotten mixed
up in drugs and alcohol?
Yeah.