Polar Sky Club Ep. 01: Julian Smith

We are proud to introduce the latest chapter of the Polar universe: Polar Sky Club.

Selecting music to set the mood is a key discipline of creating a good skate video, the holy grail of skateboarding culture. But there are other happenings where we all get in touch with different kinds of music. If it's the after party, the sunday morning or a day at the beach. During all the years, we met loads of people carrying the stoke with music they are creating. Friends of team riders, people at the office or people who crossed ways with us at some point. We want to give them all a space – and we thought no other than Julian Smith could be better to kick off our music chapter. Coming from skateboarding culture, Julian already contributed designs that ended up on our apparel. Also, the Mallorca resident, originally from San Diego, California, already gifted us with several live sets at afterparties and launches. For this first episode of Polar Sky Club, he sets the mood for the summer days. Grab a cold beverage, make your way to your favorite spot, no matter if it's the beach or your balcony, and enjoy.

Stay inspired. Life can be easy sometimes...

“I don’t want to do anything creative half-heartedly. If something goes out into the world, it better be 100% me. Also I have no interest in making anything disposable. I need a process – something with foundation and form. With mixes, I always ask: how far can I go? How deep can I dig without losing people? But anyone who grew up skating, surfing and making art will get the music – we share the same references.”

“Mallorca lets you live a simpler life – the overheads are just lower. I saw 80-year-olds swimming together in the morning, biking to the beach. That blew me away – you don’t see that in California. To me, that was exotic. The biggest thing when you move here? Adapt. Don’t bring your old world with you – that was one of the biggest lessons.” (on moving to Mallorca)

“Originality, expression, risk – those are my criteria for good art.”

“I’m not a fan of optimization culture. When everything speeds up, life speeds up – I want no part of that. I enjoy the process. It’s not about speed – it’s about thinking in layers. You’re an editor of layers.”

“The legendary Plan B house was in my neighborhood. I would sort of creep by out of curiosity and always be checking what was going on. Skateboarding was the first thing I was ever really into – mid-80s. Anything with a board had my attention: skating, surfing, snowboarding. Skate videos shaped me: the perfect mix of style and music – I was always drawn to that.”