Is skateboarding a sport, a lifestyle or both? One thing it is not, it seems, is a fad. Michael J. Fox may have sold his board as a symbol of 1980s America in the film Back To The Future, but skateboarding has outlived that decade, with boards becoming accessories to new musical styles.
The explosion of "nu-metal" guitar bands in the past year has brought skate culture to the fore again: since last summer, the intense sounds of urban (and white) America have entered the mainstream of singles charts and the bloodstream of teenagers this side of the Atlantic.
Nu-metal's leading icon, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, was once a professional skateboarder. And a recent song by fellow American rock band OPM declares that "heaven is a halfpipe" - a halfpipe being a type of rail assisting mid-air skating tricks. "Skate punk", unlike mini-scooter rock or rollerblade rap, actually exists.
But skateboarding's association with American bands and films means Irish skaters are often accused of trying to create their own little patch of California as they kick-flip on the streets and hotel steps of Dublin. "Skater dudes. That's what we get called, when we have our skateboards. People slag us because they think we're trying to be American, even though it's a whole worldwide thing," says Noel Kealy.
Noel and his friends Neil Vallely and Seβn Ryan (all 14), from Portmarnock, are beginners, just discovering public attitudes to skaters. "People stare at you all the time in the city. I hate that," says Richard Duncan (24), a basketball coach who has been skating for three years. "Once I get on this," he smiles, pointing to his board, "I get into trouble."
Duncan sometimes skates outside the Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot Street, where a "no skateboarding" sign looms over the makeshift practice ground.
"There's a lot of stereotypes about skaters," says Paul (28), who works in a skate shop on O'Connell Street. The trouble tag is one. Is "skate punk" another? "Punk kicked off around the same time as skateboarding, so there are some board manufacturers that have consistently reflected punk in their graphics," says Paul. "But others have a more hip-hop style."
Duncan admits music is a big influence. "I listen to Suicidal Tendencies all the time. I love rock music, I love hip hop. Hip hop goes with skate music, I find, but my friends listen to punk and they just go flying around," he says.
"I like metal and punk," says Noel. "Skate punk is bands like Pennywise and Bad Religion. I like Pennywise, and NOFX and Green Day."
Older skaters tend to cite hip hop as their genre of choice, but then it is the influence of hip hop, rap and other styles of black American music that is credited with putting the "nu" into nu-metal.
Nu-metal takes the low-tuned guitar riffs of "old", unfashionable heavy metal but ditches the lengthy guitar solos and Goth or satanist imagery in favour of a rap singing style, record-scratching and baggy sportswear.
In the US, it is seen as both cross-cultural, because it mixes traditionally black and white musical styles, and crossover, as underground bands have attracted MTV-watching pop fans.
Their success has been accompanied by the inevitable claims of selling out. As nu-metal leaders, Limp Bizkit are the most vulnerable. "I just think Limp Bizkit are really rubbish," says Noel. "I used to be into them, but now it's too commercial."
At the Ramp 'n' Rail indoor skate park in Drumcondra, the walls are decorated by both graffiti art and stickers advertising the Spitfire clothing brand. Other big companies zooming in on this market are Circa and Emerica.
The kids who take up skateboarding because of the influence of musicians don't generally keep it up for long, says Paul. But for long-term skaters, the activity offers much to compensate for "hey, dudes" heckling, police disapproval and broken bones.
"Some people describe it as an art, and others as a sport. But everyone's an individual on their board, it's not like a team sport," says Duncan. "I love it because of the freedom. And it's summertime . . . "
