For five years now, Dinosaurs Will Die has given us one example after another of the type of creative independence that keeps snowboarding in the hands of snowboarders.

In 2005, Sean Genovese and DWD co-founder Jeff Keenan left their board sponsors to start their own independent and creatively free snowboard company. They created Dinosaurs Will Die in their own vision, to reflect their own ideas and riding styles over market trends and bottom lines.

We had the opportunity to talk to Sean about the brand.

Bird’s Eye: So, Dinosaurs is still independent right, owned by you and Jeff?

Sean: Yeah, it’s just Jeff and me. We’re fifty-fifty in it, running the whole thing.

Bird’s Eye: Back when you started Dinosaurs you were riding for Lib Tech, right?

Sean: Yeah at that time I was riding for Lib Tech. Those guys were awesome, but when you have a lot of artistic people working together, not everyone can have the same vision. In the end, Jeff and I just had tons of ideas that we’d saved up over the years. I rode for a bunch of small brands and then Lib Tech, which was the perfect fit, but it got to a point where there just needed to be another step you know?

Bird’s Eye: So that next step turned out to be Dinosaurs?

Sean: Yeah. We had all these ideas and knew that they needed to get done somewhere. Jeff and I had the idea to do a snowboard company and we both knew it could work. We had to just make it happen.

Bird’s Eye: You’re in your sixth season now with Dinosaurs. Is it still mainly you and Jeff making the calls on construction, or who else is involved?

Sean: R&D’s all the team now. We didn’t do a reverse camber board until this year because we want to ride all the boards ourselves. Chris Larson rides for us too and reverse camber was something that he really wanted to ride. We don’t make boards different from the ones we ride and film on all season though. If the board needs to be changed for us to ride it then it needs to be changed, period. Or, we need to add another board to the line to fill that missing spot.

Bird’s Eye: So, you added the Rat Maet reverse camber for 2011. Any new boards in the lineup for 2012?

Sean: No new boards, but the 2011-12 line is gonna change a bit. Well, my board’s gonna change. We tested out some flat cambers during the summer and I think we came up with a good in-between board. The biggest thing for me is that it’ll be more street-specific in the 151 and powder jump-specific in the 157.



Bird’s Eye: What about graphics? Who’s driving those?

Sean: The whole team again. With this year’s graphics, I did the Rat board, the Maet board and my board. Then Jeff and I collaborated on the Kwon board. He wanted something like the boards from back when he was growing up, like the twin tip boards with the same graphic in both directions. We laid down some ideas and he really liked the slime graphic with the DWD on the top sheet.

The Rat and the Maet are more collaborative. I’ll bring an idea to the table, present it to the team, and be like, “This is what I think, what do you guys think?”  There are things that, as an artist, I’ve learned have to be set in stone. When working with the whole team though, you have to be open to change.

Bird’s Eye: Do you think it’s important to get the whole team involved in the designs?

Sean: Yeah, totally. I’ve done graphics before and been really bent out of shape when they didn’t make the cut. I don’t always like doing graphics for other people because it’s like, you have this idea and you love it and you know it’s gonna do well and then they’re like, “Nah I don’t like it.” There’s not really anything you can do if it’s their company and their brand and image. I mean, they have an idea in their head too. I just happened to have an idea, an image, and have fifty percent of the final say on it, which is great, though sometimes they backfire [laughing].


Bird’s Eye: So, Dinosaurs has been around since 2005 and you guys have grown a lot already. As the brand continues to grow, how do you hang on to the same type of creative freedom that got you to this point? How do you keep your message from get watered down?

Sean: Well, that’s where the stubbornness comes into it. There are some things that are flexible, but you gotta know there are some things that just aren’t. When we started Dinosaurs Jeff and I had a big conversation about the reasons why we were starting it and we make a point to remind ourselves of that every year. The main point is the riders. Listening to the riders.

I wanted to do this graphic at one point that said ‘fuck fun’ on the base. I was like, “We gotta do this” and we did it, and it was a hit. People loved it. I did one with a transvestite on the bottom. Some people loved it, some people hated it.

If a rider comes to me and they want a graphic like that for their pro model, I’m gonna work with them and give them the pros and cons. If they’re like “No, this is the shit, I wanna do this cause it’s gonna make waves,” then let’s do it.

Bird’s Eye: Is that the key then? You gotta stay willing to make waves and do exactly what you want?

Sean: Yeah. It doesn’t have to be about shock factor either. I think it’s mostly about creating something with a story behind it. All the graphics we use have a reason for being there. We have a reason for having a reverse camber in the line and a reason for going to flat camber. We never want to be the ‘because it’s gonna sell better’ people. If we have something that none of us would ride then there’s no point in making it.

Bird’s Eye: So, Dinosaurs was built from ideas that you needed to get out there somehow. Any wise words for people who want to put their own ideas out there and do their own thing?

Sean: I think it comes down to enthusiasm and having a vision that goes beyond just doing something. You gotta do it, and then you gotta make noise. Let everyone know that you’re there and that there’s a reason why you got this going on.

Thanks Sean.

By: Steve Reaves


Dinosaurs Will Die 2010/11 boards and apparel are available now in the Bird’s Eye DWD Shop.