The Mayrand podcast is about skiing, life and everything in between. Right out of the gate in its first season, the show welcomed serious guests, notably; Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Alex Bellemare, Alex Hall, Jason Levinthal, LJ Strenio, Phil Casabon, Vincent Gagnier and many more.
As a proud sponsor, we wanted to meet Xavier Mayrand, the man behind the podcast, to learn more about the show and his journey in the freeski industry.
Why do you think a podcast is the best medium for what you do?
I feel like ski movies have played a big part in telling stories about the skiers we admire. Sure, most of them were porn ski, but through interviews, behind the scenes, or lifestyle photos we could learn more about their season and see what their challenges and struggles were. It gave us a glimpse of their adventures that we don’t see as much these days. In my opinion, the social media part fills that gap because it allows us to follow what people are doing, but something is missing in terms of depth. That’s why I think a podcast is such a great medium right now, it’s a convenient format for skiers to discuss several topics that they rarely get a chance to delve into, and another aside, it provides ski enthusiasts with entertaining content where they can learn a whole lot.
You had a serious streak of big names in the podcast’s first series, Phil Casabon and Alex Hall to name a few, but who was your favorite guest of season one and why?
I have to say I enjoyed talking to every guest. It was so much fun talking to such a wide range of skiers and personalities and hearing their stories. If I had to pick a favorite, I would say LJ Strenio. He is a skier that I have always admired and he was a super kind and generous guest. He’s had an amazing career but remains humble and he’s always super happy to ski, which is so nice to see.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1002517/The-Mayrand-podcast–15—LJ-Strenio
Big names bring big stories, but what are the best stories you had from a guest in season one?
There were so many great stories. Mikael Kingsbury faces the pressure and wins an Olympic gold medal. Alexi Godbout and the Blank Crew have their only hard drive stolen in the Yukon. Giray Dadali explaining the engineering that goes into making skis. Legends like Félix Rioux and Jason Levinthal talk about the ski business. Alex Hall and Peyben talk about their creative process while working on a film project. On the fun side, the crown would go to Alex Bellemare. We did a 2 part chat about his whole career and the funny stories were endless. From missing your flight to film with Level 1 in Japan, to forgetting your ski boots at home during her very first photo shoot with Orage.
How do you manage to convince such renowned athletes to come to the podcast? What do you think is the main attraction of your podcast?
I knew it would be easier to start with people I already knew, rather than having someone come up with a blank list of episodes. Lots of guests I’ve known for a long time so this was a great way to get the ball rolling. Then when I asked these renowned athletes, either they had either listened to the episodes before or they had seen the guests I had and wanted to be a part of. It was a really cool experience, as everyone was eager to participate and were delighted with the discussions we had.
We hear a lot from guests on your podcast, but we’d love to know more about its host. Where did your journey start and where has it taken you over the years?
I did a little episode when I launched the podcast titled “Episode 0†to briefly introduce myself.
I am from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I grew up being the usual Canadian kid, playing hockey and skiing on weekends. Then later, when I was 10, my parents introduced me to ski racing and that’s when I really started skiing. My routine for the year would be to ski out the gates all day, then change to my twin tips and go to the park. I started filming skiing in Quebec following my brother in 2007.
Then, being friends with many great skiers like Dom Laporte, Hugo Pelletier and Laurent-O Martin, I turned more and more to filming. In 2009, I joined NSF Productions, a production company that was doing great things at the time, although it never had so much hype outside of Quebec. I’ve been doing this for a while, a highlight was when we were nominated for Best AM Film at IF3 in 2010, when IF3 was a big deal. Then I wanted to do my own thing and I started Brotherhood Films, with whom I produced 3 films: Groundwork (2011), Deja Vu (2012) and Our Own Way (2013). I worked with a group of great skiers who ended up being successful in the ski world. Then I worked on more commercial projects and ended up getting away from skiing altogether by working in other industries for a few years.
You have a hand in so many areas, from athlete management and working with brands to being a freeski filmmaker. Why are you involved in so many different areas of the industry?
I’ve always been interested in the creative and business side of things. For example, when I was about to go to college, I hesitated between film school or business school. When I was making films at the time, I liked working on everything from the production side like filming and editing to the commercial side like sales and marketing. So to answer the question, I do it because I love everything, every aspect and component interests me. Also, I think it brings a good balance to working on different types of projects on different aspects of the business. For a few years, I only worked in ‘business’ things, where there weren’t any creative components and that was something I was missing.
Who is on your maintenance bucket list (1 freeskier and 1 non-skier) and why?
I would say that on the freeski side, it should be Tom Wallisch or Tanner Hall. Both have been very influential to me in many ways and have had incredible careers with their ups and downs. Plus, they’re still doing their thing in their 30s which is so awesome. For non-skiers, I would say Josh Berman, who is the man behind Level 1 Productions. Josh has contributed to freeskiing more than anyone in my opinion, with the films he has produced, the people he has helped along the way, and the events he has done and continues to do to this day. As someone who enjoys both the creative and the business component, he is surely an inspiration. I probably would have said Nick Martini too, but having done an episode with him this year, I guess this one is ticked off the bucket list.
Your roots are in eastern Canada, we’ve seen lots of street montages in Quebec, but can you tell us a little more about the freeski scene there?
The Quebec scene has a lot of history going back to the beginnings of freestyle skiing with the 3 Phils. There have been generations after generations of skiers who have done great things since, the list includes Charles Gagnier, JF Houle, Alexi Godbout, Frank Raymond, Kaya Turski, Kim Lamarre, Alex Bellemare, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Paul Bergeron , Émile Bergeron and Vincent Gagnier. Then more recently a new generation of incredible skiers like Phil Langevin and Édouard Thérriault. On the ski side, the Quebec scene stood out for the rail skills of each. We don’t have big mountains and until recently we never had the type of jumps to level up. So when you mix enthusiasts with mostly rails as your playground, the magic happens. Then, apart from skiing, Quebec is a unique place culturally being the only French-speaking province in North America. We have a unique history, language and culture in general, which unites us all and makes people proud to represent when they are on the world stage.
Freedom of speech is something that is deeply ingrained in freeskiing culture, I know you think that is an important value / benefit of skiing, but who in the industry embodies it the most?
I think freeskiing has a lot of great models that embody that. Some that come to mind are Tanner Hall and Phil Casabon. For better or for worse, Tanner is an example of authenticity and unabashed culture that has made freeskiing what it is today. Additionally, Phil Casabon has been a visionary in the way he has managed his career. He never followed a trend or a quick win, he had his own vision and created a path for it.
You are an inexhaustible body of freeskiing knowledge, but what areas of freeskiing aren’t you so skilled or passionate about?
I would say I know less about the early days of freeskiing. Let’s say the late 90s and early 2000s. I know what to know, but it was a time when I was younger and I wasn’t as interested in it as I did later in the decade. life. As for what interests me less, I would say the whole big mountain aspect of skiing. It’s definitely an aspect of the sport that I respect a lot, but it’s just something that I didn’t grow up seeing where I was from and just on a personal side, I’ve always been more captivated by the trick side of the sport rather than the outline of Alaska.
Now that the first season of The Mayrand Podcast is drawing to a close, what can we expect for season two?
I’m really excited for season 2. I want to repeat what I did for season 1. Talk to the biggest names in skiing without limits or specific structure. Get into authentic conversations and get to know them, their history, and hopefully hear about things we didn’t know. I’m already planning it and have to say I’m delighted with the number of guests lined up.
