A TRIBUTE TO OUR HOMEBOY - Thomas "dengsen" Stefansen

by Søren Aaby - I may not be the closest friend to Thomas, but the impact his presence in the Copenhagen skate-scene has had on me going back to mid/late 80s was pretty big. He had a no bullshit rad style to his skating when I met him first time, and he still skates like that now. Aggro carving speed lines mixed up with stylish liptricks like laybacks, berts, rocks and standup 5-0 grinds… oldschool shit with style.

Thomas always had his friends back then and now. I personally experienced this on a couple of occasions around 1990, first was at a nightclub in the center of Copenhagen where I am standing in front of a gang of pocket-thieves that stole my money on a skate-trip to Amsterdam about 4 months before. I recognized this one dude that actually robbed me, and I told it to my few buddies. Thomas hearing the story was not holding back, so he alone chased the whole group of thieves outside the nightclub to fight them all on my behalf… luckily they fled before it turned ugly, but fuck yeah Thomas totally had my back.

Another late night in Copenhagen Thomas, me, Helena Christensen and Michael Hutchens (rip) left the Jazzhouse to go get pizza-slices. Long story short Michael gets knocked out by a taxi-driver for hitting the roof of the cap because he almost hit Michael who was riding a bike. Hutchens was flat out in the middle of the street, Helena was screaming/crying, I was baffled, the cab-driver knew he had fucked up… and Thomas was half inside the cab grabbing the wheel while the driver was trying to flee the scene. Car going across the light almost running into BT-huset. I’m running after Thomas to get him out of the cab away from the driver so he did not thrash him… I knew that Thomas was not in a position where a visit to the police-station would do any good at the time. Michael came about no harm done, we let the driver split and Hutchens/Helena agreed not to call the police and we just went home.

Thomas is that kind of person you would like on your team no matter what. He will for sure step up if needed. He did for me - and I am proud to be able to call him my friend.

 

THE THOMAS STEFANSEN INTERVIEW - by Act in Public:

  1. WHAT DOES SKATEBOARDING MEAN TO YOU?
    It means everything - it means love. Skating has been giving me the will & power to keep on going, as in the philosophy of: you keep getting back up when life tries to knock you down.
  1. HOW DO YOU EARN A LIVING THESE DAYS?
    I am a carpenter, it serves me pretty good in using my creativity, and I really enjoy the feeling of just building stuff.
  1. WHAT PART OF COPENHAGEN DO YOU LOVE MOST?
    In my younger days I would say the inner-city. But these days it would be the watery parts.
  1. WHAT BAND DO YOU LISTEN TO AT THE MOMENT?
    I always listen to different aspects of punk rock. But recently it’s been mostly: Everlast/Audioslave and anything with Perry Ferrell
  1. DO YOU HAVE AN ALL-TIME FAVORITE THING TO WEAR?
    Vans
  1. YOUR FAVORITE SKATEBOARD MEMORY?
    All of them. It’s only real while it happens (a quote I got from STC Magazine)
  1. WHAT DO YOU HAVE THE MOST FUN DOING?
    Apart from skateboarding, the most fun for me now is wave-surfing… in good conditions.
  1. WHO DO YOU PARTY WITH?
    Those days are over… I party on Saturday mornings in the sk8park with the old crew & coffee
  1. WHAT’S UP WITH YOUR ACT IN PUBLIC TRIBUTE?
    How the hell should I know… you tell me guys 😁 but I’m truly happy & humble about it. Stoked.
  1. ANY REGRETS? GOOD ADVICE?
    No regrets. Think before acting… something I will most probably never master

Ripping with the old crew aka Rasmus Skousen and Pelle Klysner. (Private photo)

Browse the Thomas Stefansen aka Dengsen tribute collection here: 

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