You-Go First Interview – Matic Zavodnik & Vid Baric

Since a few years now, we’re working with the YouGos together ..featuring them on the web, digging their edits and trying to spread the word for them. Not as a favor, but simply cause we actually like what they do – a lot. A bunch of friends that represent a really tiny scene around Slovenia and Croatia, which finds itself still in its baby shoes, but is growing non-stop. After last year’s first ever snowboard flick of the YouGo’s, the riders around Vid Baric and Matic Zavodnik continued filming, but also changed some aspects of their crew. They’re more international now so to say, after having changed their name slightly and having hooked up with other friends they found quickly on the web after their debut from last year. Snowboarding connects. Now their new film “One Wave Or Another” is coming out in mid October soon, with more premiere parties as before thanks to a bigger getting fan base, who identifies perfectly with their approach to snowboarding. I sat down with Vid and Matic to talk about their new film, their overall season, their summer home base at Dachstein and a bunch of more stuff. READ ON..

 

ShredOn Mag: Hey you 2 ..how is it going, all good? 

Vid Baric: Hey Mike, yeah all good, doing rehab and dealing with the stuff about our movie and up coming premieres.

Matic Zavodnik: Yo, cool…busy. Waiting for vacation. We’re leaving to Amsterdam tomorrow haha. A way to celebrate the beginning of the season.

SOM: Sounds good to me. But why rehab Vid, what happened?

Vid Baric: My left shoulder started to act super sketchy in January, it was popping out every now and then, like 15 times in 2 months, so I had to face surgery, for which I needed to wait 6 months. Then I got fixed in July. These things go slow in Croatia you know and now I’m just preparing myself for the season. I lost last season so I was bummed, but I’m even more hyped for next one.

SOM: So maybe just to get that straight here for our readers: Who is having which role of you 2 at You Go First besides shredding? Is there a clear separation who does what, or how do you operate?

Vid: Matic does all the art work, and I talk with sponsors & media. That’s it in short. Of course we do help each other if necessary.

SOM: Makes sense. So the creative and the business guy, hu?

But what are you 2 doing for a living really? Besides You Go First and taking care of everything you must do something else, right?

Vid: I’m going to college, I do cultural studies in my hometown Rijeka. I’m a few steps away from the Master degree. I also teach little kids from Croatia to snowboard during winter sometimes.

SOM: So what are you doing Matic, if not taking care of the new film’s production?

Matic: I live with my parents and I eat food from our garden mostly, so I don’t spend much money. I do random student jobs every now and then to get some money, but am going to continue my studies this year too.

 

SOM: Bio food is the key!

But let’s get a little bit more into Snowboarding: What was the biggest change for you in this past 2013 season?

Matic: We were first time working with a budget ..small one but still. I guess that’s the biggest change.

SOM: So we could basically say, that you made a lot of noise after your last year’s debut on the web with your first film, hu?

You also changed your name from Yu-Go First to YOU Go First, which implements that things get a bit on distance from that “former Yugoslavian connection” only I would say. Am I right?

Vid: Yeah, I would say Yu-GO First was a cool project with almost all relevant riders from ex-Yugoslavian areas included. But we realized it’s hard to produce a directed movie with so many riders in it, so we decided to change our name and gather a smaller crew of riders. We didn’t want to be a „Yugo“ only crew, because we wanted to involve some other shred buddies and we went YOUGO to lose that exclusive feel.

SOM: So are there new faces on your current crew that we didn’t see last year already?

Vid: Yeah, Georg (Obermeissner). We wanted to include some more faces, but it didn’t really work out with their sponsors.

SOM: Is Nejc (Ferjan) also included in that, or will we see him finally in your 2013 film? I know you were already struggling with his sponsors before, right?

Matic: True… Elan decided it’s a better idea to invest money in a production 3000 Km away from Nejc’s hometown. Of course Nejc is our homeboy, so he was filming with us most of the time and he is going to be featured in our film with a sick part!

SOM: Glad to hear that. But didn’t with a real budget now, also the production process get more difficult in a way? I know that your actual homie and filmer Rene Gallo moved on to Lipstick and Nitro last season, so I’d assume you needed more filmers too, or not?

Vid: Yeah, our main filmer for this project then, was our friend Gregor Berkopec this year. It was really cool to work with him. Some other guys from the crew worked with different filmers, so in the end there is a lot of additional footage involved. It’s cool to have all these guys interested in collaborating with us, filming and sharing footy.

SOM: Before we move on here to other topics, I’d like to fire up one more at Vid in particular, before we stop talking sponsors, changes and all that:

Vid, you were riding for Rip Curl last season, but a few weeks back I could read on your Facebook, that the relation found its end. What happened?

 

Vid: Yeah it was really cool to work with Rip Curl. You get easily used on getting lots of free clothes and some budget so you can travel around more. Raph (Team Manager) is a super nice dude and he helped me out with my trips to Iceland and Finland in the 2012 season, while filming for our Yu-Go First film. Then I also ended up in Rip Curl’s team film “Alive and Kickin’” (watch that thing, it’s a golden steal!) and everything went great that year. This season as said, I got injured and wasn’t that active. Also Rip Curl’s management decided to focus more on backcountry riders. That’s the reason why they kicked me out I guess. But all guys I met there are really nice and it was cool to be part of that team really. Anyway, ..I’m without outerwear sponsor now, but realized that I only need decks to ride, so it’s all cool haha.

SOM: The new film is called „One Wave or Another“. Is that sort of an under statement to ride where ever and when ever you can or what?

Matic: Kind of like you said. Take the chance you have and make the best out of it.

SOM: Where have you been filming for the new flick, what locations have you been to?

Vid: South-East Europe got lots of snow last year, so we were filming a lot in Slovenia and also Croatia. Of course Austria was also on that list  as usual and some guys from the crew went to Poland on a trip with DVP, so there’s also some footy from there included. We didn’t do any major trips to far away locations though, which is kind of a bummer, but we had a chance to hit local spots in Ljubljana and smaller cities around which is great. There’s a lot of unseen spots in our movie, which is really cool I guess.

 

SOM: New spots are super important ..I’m getting again and again haters who get pissed about spots that have been shown too many times in certain films.

You’ve mentioned before sponsors and that you’re working now for a first time with a real budget. I know of other independent productions, that they’re getting less and less money by sponsors for their riders each year, what makes it pretty hard to produce a new film. The brands control our sport’s economy in a way and the film-making trend seems to be going into own-house productions. Are team films the future or do you still see a chance for indie productions like yours in the long run?

Matic: There has been much said on this topic already. As soon as there is more money involved, space for creativity and own ideas get

limited. Brands that put in money become the director kind of. So either you work for free and make stuff you enjoy doing, or you get paid and make stuff other people would like you to do.

Vid: The world is getting poorer and poorer and that is of course reflecting on the snowboard industry too. It’s hard to get money, yes ..but I think that if you do what you believe in and if you’re doing it on a certain level, sometimes it will all get back to you. I really enjoy what I do right now, and that’s the most important thing for me. Other stuff will come..

SOM: You threw out this summer a short flick from Dachstein by the end of June. It seems to be like Dachstein would be sort of your 2^nd home base ..what relation do you have with it?

Matic: Dachstein is a lovely place, especially during summer. Good for riding and one place where we all meet in the beginning and by the end of the season. Good atmosphere and also the closest glacier resort with a solid park for us.

SOM: What was the best trip during this season for you while filming for “One Wave or Another” ?

Vid: Yeah, I got injured pretty early, but for me the best was a few days filming in Ljubljana and near-by. Good times with homies as usual.

Matic: We didn’t go for any long trips this season, cause the conditions at home were good for riding. We were thinking about going to Lithuania but in the end didn’t make it. Hopefully we do it this year, I am pretty excited on visiting Baltic countries.

 

SOM: So the premiere is in Mid October, right? When are we going to see the full film online?

Vid: It should be on the web in mid November.

SOM: Do you have already talked with sponsors about the next season, will you continue filming as that same You Go First crew we know right now and will you work on another full film for the 2014 season?

What are your plans?

Matic: Nothing is certain yet. We are about to prepare a project plan for the up coming season now and see what kind of support from sponsors we can get. We have some ideas that really need to get developed. I cannot talk for sure yet about this. But hopefully there will be a full film project next season and it might not stick to the standard snowboard film concept. That’s all I can say for now.

SOM: I hope you guys will be able to do so and foremost will get the financial support there to do this!

We’re through now with the interview. Is there anything you might want to drop or is there anything left to say? Shout outs? A good joke? Anything?

Vid: Shout outs to all the people who follow our work, also to all friends involved in it; riders, filmers, photographers ..without all this people „One Wave or Another“ wouldn’t be what it is. Cheers!

Matic: Thanks to you Mike for the interview and nice wishes.

Vid: Jeeep, thanks Mike!

SOM: I simply wanted to hear a good joke ..not getting my ass kissed here! ..but I take it, thanks ..likewise!

Vid: I’ve got some good jokes about Slovenia.. but I don’t want to act unfriendly here, ..haha.

SOM: I leave that for our meet up in Ljubljana for the „One Wave or Another“ premiere on October 12^th ! Take care guys!

YouGos: Bye man!

| You Go First | One Wave or Another World Premiere Ljubljana |