Snowboarder, DJ, Chef cook, Drummer, Event manager, Model. That's what his IG bio says. And, moreover, we are happy to add, that he is also a fresh new member of our Horsefeathers family. Meet Ethan Morgan. Half German half American, currently livin' his Innsbruck dreamin'. Find out more about him and his recent rad projects like DIYX JAM or 'Meet the Morgans' in the following interview.
Hey Ethan, how are you doing these days? All good?
Hey! I am doing great, just living the Innsbruck dream as of now, snowboarding as much as I can and enjoying the good life.
Sounds good! I somewhere found the info that you were born in Japan, currently live in Austria, but have dual German and American citizenship. Can you tell us what's going on in here, please, haha.
That is correct, and yes it seems complicated but it's actually not. My mom is German, and my dad is American. My dad works as a civilian teacher on a military base in Garmisch, Germany, and used to work on a base in Okinawa, Japan, so that’s how that come about. And now I live in Innsbruck, Austria, because it is perfectly nestled in the best mountains in Europe and you still can enjoy the city life.
In your Instagram bio is written: "Snowboarder, DJ, Chef cook, Drummer, Event manager, Model." Is that the right order of your, let's say, life activities?
Yeah you could say so. I like to do things outside of snowboarding, and have practiced all of these things in some way. It's also good to make a backup plan for the future after snowboarding, haha.
Did you have any family background in snowboarding or you were a pioneer?
My big sister Natascha and I were the pioneers for snowboarding in the Morgan clan. We started about 23 years ago together, she doesn’t anymore, but I brought my little sister Annika to snowboarding and she is obviously killing it now, so pretty hyped I can pass on the torch to her.
How is your snowboarding season so far?
It's been a cozy season so far, I haven’t really had any projects lined up until now, so I have had the pleasure to be able to ride as much as I can for myself and with friends. But now since Annika is done with the Olympics, we will be going on some backcountry and street missions together to finish our latest project, Meet the Morgans. Very excited about this.
Speaking about your sister Annika (who made it to the Olympics this year), you must be a proud brother, aren't you?
Yes, very proud big brother right here.
Who's idea was to start "Meet the Morgans"?
It was mainly my idea to make this happen, I’ve always wanted to do something with Annika, and this year was the perfect timing to do it hence the olympic season and all. We got Mark Wiitanen and Ryan Scardigli involved and they kind of took over the project and became the masterminds behind everything.
Any more plans for this season?
I guess shooting for 'Meet the Morgans' and a few other fun events.
And what about the DJ-ing part. How did that one started?
I have always had a love for music, and I had some friends in Munich that always would DJ all vinyl, and I loved that. I always told myself when the time is right i will buy myself a setup and go for it. Now I still love it after 4 years of doing this, any day I am at home I have to at least touch my records for a bit, it just feels good.
You were also playing on your own snowboarding event - DIYX JAM in Innsbruck, right?
Yes, we are planing DIYX 2022 right now. We are really excited to get this off the ground again, it was such a fun project to work on. All the smiles were worth all the work and hassle. Everyone involved loved it, and that gets me hyped.
For those who are not familiar with it, can you explain the concept of DIYX events, please?
DIYX is an event series I started 5 years ago, and have done small grassroots events on different mountains, where I would invite a bunch of pros, and we would go to a park at end of season and rebuild it to the way we wanted to. Any local could come join in and help us, and the more people we were, the more fun we had and the better the park would become. Now DIYX STRT JAM is the elevated version of that where I invite a bunch of pros to Innsbruck and we ride street spots for a couple days. That’s kind of it. Sounds simple, but simplicity is the key essence to make something like this fun. And yes, we had fun, a shit ton of fun.
How did you came up with the idea of doing such events?
As I mentioned before it started from the on hill events, and I thought there hasn’t been many rail jams lately, but if I do something, I don’t want to do something that has already been done, I always try to create something new. So I met up with my Monster team manager Thomas Bauman, and we got drunk, and this is what came out of it. I can’t thank him enough for all the help and work he has put into this project.
Need to say that I attended the last one in Innsbruck with Horsefeathers crew and it was epic! Great job!
Hell yeah! Well then you gotta be strapped in because STRT JAM 2022 is gonna be fuuuuucked up.
Coming to that, how do you feel about being a new part of the Horsefeathers family?
I couldn’t be more hyped! We are actually on a small trip right now to film some backcountry for a little edit, and it is so fun to hang with everyone. It's a dope crew and everyone has a great mindset and motivation. Can’t wait to see how everything will evolve in the coming years with Horsefeathers.
At the end, any shout-outs or warm words?
Thank you snowboarding.
ETHAN'S TOP PRODUCTS
