Frank 151 chats to Kevin Bækkel about growing up skating through brutal Norwegian winters, building spots out of pallets, finding his way from Hamar to the U.S., linking up with Creature, and why going all in has always been the only way that makes sense.
Kevin came up skating parking garages, frozen concrete, makeshift ledges, and even a pig barn above 300 pigs. From his first trip to the States — where barking at strangers somehow turned into lifelong friendships — to being taken in by the Creature crew at a young age, his story is equal parts chaos, commitment, and pure love for skateboarding.
We caught up with Kevin to talk about home, fear, style, loyalty, and the feeling of rolling away from something you weren’t even sure was possible.
FRANK 151: You grew up in Hamar, Norway — small town, brutal winters. What did that environment give your skating?
Kevin Bækkel: Definitely brutal winters. I remember skating outside all winter under cover, or skating the little park I built in my garage with no heating. The grip tape used to fall off because it was so cold, haha.
But it never stopped us from skating every day. If anything, it just made us more fired up for those weekends when we’d travel to Oslo to skate the indoor parks. I miss those times a lot.
FRANK151: You started young, just watching older guys at the park. What hooked you instantly?
Kevin Bækkel: I used to go down to the old wooden park in my town with my mom, and she would just let me try whatever on this little bike I had. I had a dirt bike helmet on and just wanted to jump and go down everything.
All the older skaters would help me climb up the big bank and shit so I could get enough speed for the pyramid and kickers, haha. All the older guys were hella cool to me.
When we got this new concrete park, I got a skateboard and started going there. That’s when skating took over everything and I started skating with all the older guys pretty much every day. They really took me in and I definitely felt like I was a part of something. I went to that park every day it didn’t rain or snow.
FRANK 151: Skating through freezing winters and parking garages — do you think that struggle shaped your style?
Kevin Bækkel: Yeah, for sure. If you want to do something, you’ve gotta make it happen yourself. That’s how we grew up skating, and honestly I still look at things that way.
Before we got an indoor park in Hamar, we skated so many different places under cover and in different parking garages. We would build pallet ledges and bring them there, then try to hide them so no one would come take them. But a lot of the time they got taken away. We still kept it going.
I had this one friend, August, that lived on a pig farm, and he had built a big nine-stair out of pallets that we used to skate in the barn above like 300 pigs, haha. It smelled so bad in there, you literally had to wash your clothes like five times to even try to get the smell out after skating there. But definitely good times.
FRANK 151: There’s that story about you barking instead of speaking English. Was that survival or just chaos?
Kevin Bækkel: Haha, that was my first trip to the U.S. for a skate contest, one of those Wild in the Parks contests that Volcom used to do. I showed up there barely knowing any English. I kind of just started barking at the hotel and the skatepark to see people’s reactions. I remember doing it in the hallways of the hotel just to fuck with people.
Then I did it at the park too, and people came up to me like, “That was you at the hotel.” Funny enough, those guys were Jared Cleland, Mason Silva, Kevin White, Sean Imes, and Andrew Freeman. So I hung out with those guys for most of my trip. Somehow my barking made me friends for life.
After that trip, they invited me to come stay with them in LA, so a month later I got on a plane there and spent a month skating with them around LA.
FRANK 151: People describe your energy as intense. Do you see it that way, or is that just how it comes across?
Kevin Bækkel: Sometimes I probably come across intense, especially if I’m trying a trick or focused on something. But most of the time I’m actually pretty mellow, I think. Could definitely depend on the situation for sure.
FRANK 151: Your first trip to the U.S. changed everything. What hit you the hardest about skating there?
Kevin Bækkel: Just seeing kids my age already driving around to spots, filming proper video parts, and skating heavy spots. We didn’t really have that back home at all, so it opened my eyes pretty fast.
It was so different from what I was used to. They would watch Baker 3 and stuff, then go skate the spots from the video, and that was crazy to me.
Also just going to skateparks or spots and randomly running into pro skaters — shit was crazy.
FRANK 151: You’ve spent time between Norway and the States. Where actually feels like home?
Kevin Bækkel: Both places honestly feel like home now, but Hamar will always be home to me. That’s where my family is and where the house I grew up in is.
But yeah, I definitely had a second family when I used to stay with Jared Cleland and his family. They took me in like I was their own at any time. They definitely made it possible for young me to travel to the U.S. as much as I did when I was pretty young.
Big love to the Clelands — they always had my back.
FRANK 151: Linking up with the Creature crew early on — what did that do for your mindset?
Kevin Bækkel: Yeah, I met David Gravette when I was like 12 years old. David Gravette, Emmanuel Guzman, and Tyler Surrey came to my town to do a Vox demo. First pros I had ever seen in my life.
I skated with them there, and then they went to Oslo to skate some more demos and stuff, and I followed. Gravette came up to me after skating with them and was fired up to put me on Creature, and he gave me a board and a T-shirt. Been riding for Creature ever since.
That definitely made me realize maybe I could actually do something with skating. It pushed me to keep skating and keep getting better, even when a lot of people around me stopped skating growing up as we got older.
When I started traveling with Creature after meeting DAF, Noah, and the Creature TM in Copenhagen, that’s when everything really started to kick into gear. Filming and going on a lot of trips. Such good times.
FRANK 151: Your skating has that all-or-nothing power. Where does that mentality come from?
Kevin Bækkel: I’ve always liked skating things that scare me a little. I also learned pretty fast that if you half-try something, that’s usually when things go bad. So when it’s time to try something, I’d rather just go all in. Usually works out better that way.
FRANK 151: What’s the line between being fearless and being reckless in skating?
Kevin Bækkel: Probably having some kind of escape route if things go bad. Shit might look hectic, but usually there’s at least some sort of plan behind it.
FRANK 151: Do you still get nervous before trying something big, or is that gone now?
Kevin Bækkel: Yeah, definitely. I’ve just gotten a lot better at controlling it over the years. Just gotta focus on making it down in one piece.
FRANK 151: What’s more important to you these days: the trick, the spot, or the feeling?
Kevin Bækkel: Honestly, all of it. I definitely look for spots that other people might not skate or even think about skating. But the best feeling is always skating something you weren’t 100% sure was even gonna work, then actually riding away from it.
Definitely like putting in the time to find stuff in new places and make a trip out of it and go check it all out with a good crew.
FRANK 151: When it’s all said and done, what do you want people to remember about your skating?
Kevin Bækkel: I hope people can tell that I do all of this because I genuinely love skateboarding and that I do it for myself.
Just trying to have fun out there and create some good memories for life with my friends.