Wales has always had a strong skate scene, but over the last few years you would have been forgiven for not seeing past the Dirty Sanchez boyos and the Kill City scene due to their exposure.
Philip Procter caught up with independent filmer Scott Magill to have a chat about Who? – the Welsh scene video that exposes some of the hidden talent locked away over the border…
Hey Scott – Hows it going fella?
All good man.
Cool, lets start with the basics, where you from, age etc:
Single, Male – looking for attractive female. (laughs) Nah, 20 years old and from Bridgend, Wales.
What got you involved in skating, how long has it been?
Started in 2000, guess my mates started and I got a deck from Argos, Argos for life!
I was skating with guys from my year at school, but they all quit after a while, so it was just me left basically. I loved skating so carried on and started to skate with Chris Wilson and he introduced me to everyone from there.
So Chris was the first guy you filmed?
Yeah, I started filming him and all the other guys and we made a shitty little scene video called Second Nature. We burnt 70 copies on my PC and flogged them in a local skate shop – we sold 60, pretty stoked considering they were £10 a pop.
What was the first skate video you saw?
It was a Logic, My nextdoor neighbour loaned it to me and I must have watched it at least 5 times a day! One of the first I got stoked on was Osiris, The Storm all the OGs, Scott Paazelt and Jerry Hsu were my heroes back then.
I bet you didn’t appreciate the work that had gone in to videos back then either, tape to tape steez.
Didn’t even cross my mind, probably so much harder back then as well.
On to “Who?” – how long did it take to get the footage?
2 and a half years I guess, last time I checked I had 2000 tricks on my external hardrive, most of the footage is a year and half old and I combined it with the newer stuff so it saw the light of day. Richard Tyler is responsible for most of the double angle shots.
So, who features in Who?
We have Chris Wilson, Chris Jones, Jess Young, Dai Williams, Alan Williams, Caradog Emanuel, Nick Batt, Dylan Hughes, Nicky Howells, Rhys Meek and a ton of other locals.
What hardware did you use to make this?
I use the Sony VX2100 with a Mark1 death lens and edit in Final Cut Pro.My camera is starting to fall apart, it took 3 or 4 direct lense hits from bails during filming, its doing ok tho considering ive used it everyday pretty much for the past 2 years.
You need to get that puppy insured…
Yeah I gotta do that one day soon, did you see in the credits section of Who? Tyler falls face first on his VX, probably the funniest thing I ever filmed!
Haha yeah I saw that, if only Beadle was still alive!
One of the Boyos actually sent that in to You’ve been Framed!
There is no shortage of hard slams in Who?, ever feel bad about keeping the video rolling?
Nah, its all part of the fun, a lil bit of filmers revenge never hurt anyone!
Travel much shooting for the vid?
Nah, not nearly enough, some London and bits in MK.
I think I spied the Gasworks in Manchester?
Ah yeah, that was filmed by George Nevin, he filmed some of Nickys stuff as he now lives in Bristol. So yeah Bigup George, he’s filming for the new Bristol in Bloom video at the moment, so look out for that this summer.
Didn’t see any mandatory Barca footage.
Nah, would have been nice, but it’s a PROPER scene video, Welsh BOYO! We filmed mainly in and around Cardiff, just wanted to show the best and worse of what Wales has to offer.
Takes me back to industrial estates and school yard sessions on Sundays, some good looking spots.
Yeah, but most of the spots look way better on camera, but if you actually go to the spot they are so ghetto.
But the skaters did them proud! I’ve got Who? Playing in the background, who is that lil dude?
That’s Caradog, such a little shit, he is 18 too! He is the only skater on there who speaks fluent Welsh before you ask.
No way?! Id never serve him in a bar, he looks like Zammo off Grange Hill! How are the guys doing for sponsorship etc?
I think everyone who had sections are pretty much hooked up, Rhys (Meek) just got hooked up with Alien Workshop flow from Shiner, so yeah, pretty sick, we filmed his part in 4 months, he wasn’t originally going to have a part but his stuff was sick so we had to squeeze him in with a joint part.
Great skating all round in this film, I thought Nicky Howells part was a standout, is that fair?
Well yeah, Nickys part is shocking. But everyone stepped up at the same time.
Fuck, someone just pinged a 360 nollie heel flip down like 9 steps! Any standout tricks your feeling?
Yeah that’s Dai (Williams), he got nollie lazers on lockdown, So many tricks, its hard to pick out, everyone has got hammers, you have to see some of the spots to truly appreciate some of the tricks to be honest.
I think spot wise, I’d compare this DVD to Static 3 – some proper grimey spots.
Welcome to Wales!!
Lots of cracked paving and stuff……..
Yeah we love it! We take a hammer to them for added gnar! Who wants to skate a perfect spot in perfect weather huh?
Perfect is over rated man…
Amen.
Filming for anything else?
Filming some stuff for the Motive video as Dylans (Hughes) is on them. Im not sure what im filming for at the moment really, just building up the footage, I have a few things on the horizon.
Ok Scott, wrap this up for me, got any shout outs?
Yeah man, thanks – big shouts to friends and family, all the boyos in Who?, Tyler, Dainton, Caddy, George Nevin and the Bristol lot, Dykie, Sk8uk and Crossfire for the hype, and everyone else who helped along the way! Peaceee
Who? is on general release right now. Click here to read the Crossfire review. Visit www.myspace.com/whovideo and www.bridgenders.com for all Who info and pick up a copy for just £5, you will not regret it.
Converge have announced a European tour this summer, check the dates below for the UK visit and www.myspace.com/converge & www.epitaph.com for more.
Peter Moren – better known as one third of international pop sensations Peter, Bjorn and John has announced his new solo album which will be released through 
Congrats to Fos and all at 
Congrats to Zorlac and all at 
In other Death related news, US ripper 
Hurrah, another free board to thrash. Moose said he was going to send me up a Jason Adams pro from 
I hadn’t gone to look at him in about a week, and he was a real mess back then. Ripped intestines spilling undigested deer poo everywhere and the rest of it’s innards seemed to have corroded it’s bum hole into gigantic proportions. But would you believe it, someone must of been uber hungry because there wasn’t much left of him. The hot smell was still there, but little else- I even I had to go and retrieve a couple of legs that some disrespectful little cretin must of pulled off. So to add insult to injury I stuck the pink skateboard deep in it’s bowels to hopefully purify it of it’s girliness. And I think it worked a treat.
Following a some bone-graft surgery on a fairly ruined scaphoid, my Mum decided I needed a rucksack, seeing as the daily 5 mile cycle to central London wasn’t going to happen again anytime soon and feeling like I’d had my hand stamped on made me think ‘What the hell, a freebie’s a freebie’. Besides as anyone in the ‘smashed scaphoid gang’ will know the only gesture a scaphoid cast will allow is a permanent thumbs-up.
The first thing that struck me when I arrived at Barfly on this evening was that for a sold out show not many people were about, but that only meant that I could at least bag myself a decent spot from which to stand and watch Between The Trees, a band who although little known already have an extensive touring list under their belt.