If you haven’t heard yet, Gnarcore—the old snowboard website out of Whistler—is being awoken from its slumber, but with a new direction and new editors. In the past, as a snowboard website, Gnarcore was run primarily by snowboarders, but now the site will consist of Dave Rouleau, Monika Benkovich, and the creative team they have assembled to create the most gnar core online culture mag. So, in order to gain some incite pertaining to the site, its direction, its inspiration, and what it will be hosting, I asked Dave a couple questions:
How did the old Gnarcore come to an end?
Old Gnarcore came to an end because of creative differences and dudes moving on to do / start different things.
What have you been doing since old Gnarcore died?
Since old Gnarcore died I have been on a 4 year journey to figure out what the fuck to do with my life and I have come full circle back to Gnarcore. It's definitely been a whirlwind; I did a lot of searching on many different levels. It was very painful at first, to be suddenly detached from a project I had devoted my life too. But it gave me the chance to step back and do a bunch of other things that have taught me so much more then I ever imagined. Those 4 years where as tormenting as they where enlightening and I feel blessed to be where I’m at today 🙂 A year and a half ago I met an amazing friend and now we are engaged to be married. I always knew I wanted to create a media brand again but I just never knew it would come back to Gnarcore, and then when I met Monika she had the same idea for a similar style culture site… but I'll save that for another story 😉 
What is going to be showcased on your website?
Gnarcore.com is getting rebranded as, not only a snowboard culture mag, but an everything culture mag. Mainly Canadian stuff, shit we wanna see in our everyday life. Eventually snowboarding will make up a tenth or so of the content. We want to see a more balanced mainstream 'culture' site. What we're looking for is something we're not finding on the web right now--especially something strictly Canadian--with a raw edge that is still quirky and fun. A national news magazine. Something positive too. It's got to be outdoorsy and adventurous. Thought out. Conscious. The old site is still up and we are starting to blog on it again to get it going. But soon we'll do a soft launch with our new look. Until then we're just going to post our brains out about everything, and get some feed back. We'll try some stuff out until the new site comes out, then we'll start streamlining it. We want to let it form back up organically for the first year so we can monitor how it runs and how everything is being received. Our mission will be to provide a weekly feed of balanced content in TEN main categories; Love, Health, Home, Money, Media, Art, Music, Attire, Spxrts and Tech. Plus other cool shareable stuff. All from people we know or meet and interact with through out Canada. The idea is to post in a succession of those ten categories so that that when you down scroll the feed is flowing in a balanced way. Pretty much like a weekly newspaper, you can always expect the sports section to be there, etc. Eventually we'll move it to a daily feed as the flow dictates. We're really trying to test some new ground with what can be done about categorizing content and flow and look of the website. Everything has to be relevant. We have been working for the last year on the idea for the site and to nail down an awesome crew of content creators - a nation wide network of artists and athletes. I think being Canadian is awesome and we want to cover all the insanely awesome things that are happening everywhere around Canada. We are such a weird ass country—It's great. At first it will be an aggregate of interesting stuff and original content from our team but it will have room to grow into a type of sifting site for contributed content from who ever. An aggregate of submitted content where the cream will rise to the top. It's very similar to a lot of things out there but Gnarcore will be unique in its style. The name alone starts to conjure up images of what could possibly be submitted.
Where is your favorite place to work on the website?
My favorite place to work is outside, haha. I love to get up early, go out and shoot something, and come home to edit and post. We like being outside sounded by nature and I like being inside covered in blankets surrounded by fruit and chocolate and Wi-Fi. They’re both fun. I get as much as a rush on a snowboard shoot, as I would on a music or art shoot or an interview with a city developer--they are all exciting in different ways. As for boarding and filming, that’s something I need some mojo for, good food and music. A zen'd out morning routine. Then getting on it aggressively, with a good crew. As for computing, home / bed offices are the most natural, that and coffees shops with good energy but shit, give me a laptop and some Wi-Fi and will work anywhere if the urge is there.
Why do you want to bring back Gnarcore as a snowboard and online culture mag, is there a need for one?
Massive need for a rad Canadian culture site that is cohesive with what we all do. We've been surrounded by American culture so long in the main stream, and it's great but we want to explore some weird and bizarre Canadiana, cause we got some crazy shit up here. There are lots of specific niche sites everywhere and that's dope, but what about the main stream? We want to create the mainstreams conduit into all those little sub niches. A platform to glimpse into real life with whatever is relevant. Give the mass audience an accurate and honest taste to counter culture news and finding ways to present it in the easiest form. Just passing the information on in a cool way really. Vice news is definitely doing a great job of that, we're looking at them as pioneers in this genre. It's been very inspiring to see that form.
How will your culture mag differ from others?
Blending everything in life and still making it look cool: spirituality, health, skateboarding, freaks, geeks, and whatever. Gnarcore is a platform to show off underexposed and obvious stuff and present it in a beautiful way, even if it's ugly. And to keep it real.
What kind of content will definitely NOT be shown on the new Gnarcore?
We'll just try and post original content and stuff that our friends are doing.
Do you think our current mainstream culture is developing in negative way, given what you see and know about popculture?
I think cultures and societies will continue develop in good and bad ways. It's just a matter of what we all decide to focus on. With that being said, there's the flow of life and it's doing just that, flowing, there are ups and downs and waves and shit. When waves get big enough they can over come and destroy cities. I think we all have the choice about which wave we want to jump on and be a part of. I think there are some amazing trends right now in the world and some horrible ones. Consciousness is contagious though, and I believe there are a lot of people wanting more substance out of life than what is offered by the stream right now. The internet has been amazing for this and it's been shit. The internet has shown us that everyone in the world can be an idiot or a hero, no one and yet everyone is special. So fuck it, why not band together with people doing good and feed off each other. Numbers rule the world. If more people are doing positive stuff, waves can form and eventually it becomes part of the main stream - possible even over take the world? The best way to effect change towards the large is to do small things in our own life. Create your own waves. There are some shitty expressions of culture right now for sure and it's fucking everywhere. The worst thing is to give it power by talking about it, making fun of it, and drawing attention to it. Focusing on the solution in a hardcore way is a better way to 'combat' that. Over take it.
What is your end goal or dream for this website?
Our goal is for gnarcore.com to be a major cultural news platform known for sharing reality in a creative and artistic way--a creative media producer--Gnarcore Media. Connected - in coming and outgoing - with the pulse of reality. Our goal is to build this up in the next 5 years and then sustain it forever. To educate and to entertain. To never stop progressing.
What is the meaning of life?
I think the meaning of life is to find out who you are and be you to your fullest, until you die--to fully blossom and then blow away in the wind. That and try and not hurt anyone along the way.
What does love mean to you?
When I refer to love, especially when talking about the category LOVE on our website, I'm referring to the universal energy of life. It can't be described in one word really - the creator, spirituality, emotion, etc.. Not necessarily romantic love. I grew up in a Christian home and although I don't subscribe to any specific dogmatic belief I always remember'd what my Mum use to say: God is love. Like I said, I'm no Bible thumper, but it doesn't take a degree in quantum physics to figure out what the Christians ment by that. It's a paradigm. There is no straight answer to it, that's cause it can't be described. It truly is 'a feeling'. Later in life I studied Buddhism and their philosophy of everyone being created equally kinda rings true to all that. If we believe we are all created equal, that we all run on the same life energy, and that that energy is 'God' ( or whatever you choose to call it), then we are all a part of 'God' and connected to all living things, including nature and animals. In short, love is the positive energy of the world. The opposite is fear. Fear causes destruction. Love causes life. As far as romantic love goes, I believe you find 'true love', as the storybooks call it, when you meet the one that the universe has aligned for you to be with. Sounds triply I guess, but it's what feels right for me ;). I heard a parable once that stated once upon a time we where all joined to another human: we had 4 legs and arms and could crawl and walk in every direction. Then, somewhere along the line, we got separated and scattered and now our life journey is to wonder the earth until we find our 'other half'. A beautiful concept, and I'm buying into it. 😉 
Much Love.
Dave Rouleau
gnarcore.com
If you dig what they dig or are scoopin' what they're poopin', then check out the full scoop at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/185388045/the-drive-to-connect-canada/posts/769222 (Dont worry, it's a video, you wont have to read anymore. :D)
