Category: DVD Reviews

Tunbridge Wells Scene Flick

Freshly Baked is the new scene video from Tunbridge and is a smart little representation of this crew and their sporting lives. The strongest buzz this film gives off is the sense of a scene making the most of what’s available to them: schoolyard sessions, covered carparks, bike racks, cobbles, pub beer garden tables- this is the reality of urban architecture in England today.

Interspersed through the flick are snippets of London footage, which is inevitable given that Tunbridge is a satellite town, but thankfully they don’t allow the city to swallow up their scene or their film.

Who’s rocking? Well, according to the Ash Humphrey fanclub at the start of his section it’s him, but Alex Malcolm brings the ruckus too, even if there is a couple of 360 flips more than is strictly necessary in there. The other re-affirming aspect of the video is the knackered shoes and the genuinely gutted expressions when a board breaks- this is a scene which pays through the nose to stay in the game and it shows.

Overall the sense of fun is never far from the surface, and that’s as it should be. As the random at the end says :”The main thing in life is a sense of humour…and I’m going to have another drink…“.

Might just join you there squire! Watch it here.

Freshly Baked from santskatefly on Vimeo.

Not only is this the best British skateboarding video since the advent of DVD, its also the funniest thing I have seen in my born days. Andy Evans stands as a bulwark against all the po- faced seriousness and Emperor’s New Clothes ‘core’ skateboarding nonsense that is thankfully receding fast here now.

In essence, this is everything that is great about skateboarding in the UK- eccentricity, hefty skating, bright smiling faces and splendid nonsense. The broad format of the film- couple of scene bits, full sections from the top boys in the British scene, and a proper focus on skateboarding in its broadest sense, from flatland to vert and all aspects in between- remains unchanged from his previous rib tickler This N That, but everything in this one goes all the way up to 11.

This is better on all fronts, with more judicious editing and a higher standard of skating. Also worth noting is that Andy has grasped the reality of skating in Britain today by giving park skating an equal footing to street footage which is- recherché media poses aside- the truth of skating today in the UK. Everybody mixes it up because we are in a second golden era of concrete and winter makes indoor parks more vital than some carpark hubba that a photographer has laid claim to. So this is as good as it gets for British scene videos in terms of the skating- there are full parts from Ben Raemers, Kris Vile and Michael Wright, as well as a definitive Greg Nowik section, for example.

What adds the cream to this afternoon tea, however, is the segueways between parts. If you have seen any of his stuff before you will know that it usually involves people shamelessly making tits out of themselves with some pisspoor props, but this time around it ranges from a very clever satire about skateboarding’s conformist streak (the Switch Heels tyranny), to two guys fucking around in monkey suits on a beach, some talking trousers and a superb, scenery- devouring cameo from Mark Munson which gives overacting a bad name. Genius is a much over-used word but this certainly orbits around it.

Excellent, excellent, excellent- and funny as Jereme Rogers rapping too. If you are a British skateboarder you should tip your hat to Andy Evans, he has done more to preserve and applaud the particular nature of skating here than any snarky magazine or limited edition colourway ever has or will.

This kind of thing makes me proud to call myself a skateboarder, and its not every aspect of our culture today that does. Terrific- buy it if you possibly can.

Check out some photos from the London premiere below.

With most people knowing what to expect from a Thrasher video by now, it’s no surprise to find heavy tunes, horrible slams and plenty of beer drinking inside this killer box set! They say not to judge a book by its cover, but with artwork by Sam Hitz, the age old prophesy has to be proven wrong!

In usual Thrasher style this bad boy kicks off with a slam, then a banger, slam, banger, slam, banger and so on…then in usual Thrasher style it sprays gnar like the mud from a 2 girls, one cup clip.

Fred Gall opens the proceedings, skating some of the most haggard spots out there and killing it on some really awkward street transition at speed. Lance Mountain, David Gravette, Alex Horn, Darren Navarrette and our very own Ben Raemers then take this to the next level whilst the amps zoom to 11 on the soundtrack. Check the line up from that site, works a treat.

Colin Lambert brings the pain with some ridiculously hard slams to kick his part off and also gets creative at the infamous steps of Macba. His efforts are followed shortly by an Antihero true ‘balls out’ banger after banger section with Hewitt showing you how it’s done and Robbie Russo pulling out some ridiculously long grinds at stupid speeds.

It’s rad to see that Europe also gets a spotlight, before Thrasher regulars Sammy Bacca, Steve Forstner and Andrew Cannon get all hesh for your viewing pleasure, with Drehobl , Guzman, Navarrette, Horn, Ramondetta and Strubing hucking out some filth to fuel the fury. Haslam and Hassan tackle some of the deepest pools and most challenging terrain in the southern hemisphere and Vans riders stray from the beaten track in checking out Israel.

Tony Trujillo ends the proceedings, takes some hard slams and also delivers the style that you’ve come to expect from this madman. He covers pretty much every spot where others ripped and then some… This concrete junkie knows how to shred and he seems to get better every year, awesome section.

I have real trouble distinguishing the sections as it seems to have none, but hey that’s Punk and needless to say it’s a RAD video with some amazing skating – be it street, park or pool. There’s no doubt that this production will get you hyped on skating so grab it whilst its Brutality remains fresh.

Tom Halliday

Since The Harmony started they have been releasing a video nearly every year. This latest promo DVD River’s Edge, is only packed with 13 minutes of skating promo but is a great insight into a company that is dedicated to UK skateboarding and growing at a good pace.

The video kicks off with a brief intro of the riders who star in this video, and then it goes straight into the swing of things with Jak Pietryga busting out his technical finesse over some grimey London spots and some nice looking Greece footage. Jamie Bolland has a very short but good section filled with wallies and no complies and Danny Jack comes through with other impressive section, hitting spots from Manchester to Cardiff, with his smooth style.

Tony Da Silva building up on his introduction section in Wolfstad, goes all out to prove he’s one of Manchester best skaters, with a lot of fast lines and does amazing nose bonk 360 out on a block that was obviously rewound. Next up is a new addition to the team, Tyrone O’Hanrahan, who bangs out a short but sweet section, filled with some nice gaps, slides and manuals. You should look out for him in a soon to be featured Fresh Blood here on the site. Ali Drummond gets in on the action fresh from his recent addition to the Etnies flow team and yet another Harmony rider who you will be hearing more of in the future. His section is sick, and very much showcases how much of good all round skater he is and again the future of the team.

Last part is handed to Joe Gavin. He’s been on the team since the beginning, it’s no wonder why he has last part, his seamless flowing lines and technical ability all come into play to make a very interesting section to a DVD that you should definitely watch.

The video may be short but it’s one of those films you want to see before a skate. It damn well packs a punch and also comes with some good extras including the Big Push and Greece edits also on this disc. Get it today in all skater owned shops. Visit theoldnewshit.blogspot.com for more.

Dan Escorcio

If you have not set up a Skate Mental deck yet then you have been missing some of the goodness that is on offer. I chose to shred one of their decks last year that boasted a pussy cat sat outside a burning Whitehouse as a graphic and was stoked on the outcome, so this Am Chowder video was welcome to say the least.

San Jose local Daryl Angel adds the very first of the mental ingredients needed to create such a ravenous soup with a couple of tracks worth of nifty street skating. My favourite being a smooth as fuck wall ride 180 out which looks as slick as the rest of his overall bag of tricks.

Shane O’Neill takes the middle section and brings precision flips out of smiths and array of technical prowess and ups the ante once more. But if this short DVD was based on the number of taste receptor cells it wakes up as a soup then John Motta‘s part is la creme de la creme. He rinses spots like Clearasil with a sick kickflip wallride alongside ditch slaying, manny steez, feebles, roof ollies and shed loads more to complete a feast that was way worth the wait.

I guess the next step is a DVD from the rest of the pro team that includes sections of Reese Forbes, Brad Staba and Matt Beach. If this is the meant to be the entree then the main course can’t come quickly enough.

Emilio Gonzales

AWS are probably the most unique skate company out there. Neil Blender kicked them off way back when with his altered imagery and obscure way of seeing things and since then the Worshop has evolved as a sovereign sect in its own right influencing skaters, musicians and film makers alike.

Fans of AWS will be happy to hear that this production is more a return to the good old days, back to the days of “Memory Screen” doused in overly vivid imagery and suggestion that has embedded the AWS brand on our brains for years and more to the point the skating is bang on point like those days too.

With a pro roster to rival Lakai or Plan B the skating on show here blends in perfectly to the montages that would make French Fred from Cliché drool! Following a musical intro from J.Mascis, Omar Salazar, the highjump champ, kicks off the sections with what can only be likened to Gonz-like skating. Totally untainted by other skate vids, he just takes a whole new approach with a “hang on or slam” mentality and feet quick enough to let him ride away.

Jake Johnson hits us off with some Static-esque NY grittyness and kills random spots with tricks like wallrides down a double set! He is one to watch for sure. Arto Saari starts his video debut for AWS with a gnarly faceplant and styles his way through his section with a “too-easy” looking flip front nose pick and some nice Barca footage. It seems that the many years of skating with Geoff Rowley have certainly shaped his repertoire as his steez is gnarly, clean and Arto generally looks at ease with himself.

The big name pro’s on this vid had surprisingly short sections. Perhaps Rob Dyrdek was too busy with his MTV show to put out a full section, but in reality I expect he puts out more for DC than AWS which is a sign of the times with skating, but still, he has been on AWS since day one so he had zero dues to pay on this vid. Steve Berra and Josh Kalis follow suit with bit part sections to remind us that they are still ripping but it’s a shame there’s not more footage from these three.

Grant Taylor just simply isn’t afraid of anything. He zooms around a drained waterpark at frightening speeds with gnarly backtail slides which are insane and then sessions some obstacles that just shouldn’t be ridden. Sliding the top of a door frontside is just plain wrong, heart in your mouth wrong but once again it’s AWS.

Dylan Rieder somehow had the vision to wallride/grind/melon a cradle to flat which needs to be seen to be understood. Jason Dill continues his mission to be obscure, riding anything awkward and applying his relaxed style to obstacles that most skaters wouldn’t look at twice. I think the surprise package is Tyler Bledsoe. His approach is technically smooth, blessed with lots of unique tricks and he is certainly not afraid to go big, especially with gap backtail on a block to flip out over an equally long gap!

Mike Taylor‘s section was something I was looking forward to. His part is super clean, everything is landed to bolts and he also sticks the longest crook on a rail I have ever seen! Joe Moynihan interviewed him for Crossfire in LA recently so expect words to be on here soon.

The other surprise was Anthony Van Englen. I was stoked to see him emulate the vibe of Cardiel’s epic Sight Unseen section with raging street spots with an aggressive game face showing his determination to push his skating to new levels of rawness. I think skating to the Adolescents suited this barrage of gnarly ollies and speedy handrails perfectly. His ollie head on OVER the top of a handrail to crook is as technically difficult as it is hardcore, stoked.

Heath Kirchart’s section rolls to the melancholic soundtrack of the one and only Morrissey. Seeming non-fussed whether flip front nosegrinding or front bluntslide bigspinning out on handrails only he knows his motivation to keeping on year after year putting out amazing sections. But like most other skateboarders I’m grateful for whatever it is! Some of the gappage in this section is so big that a tow off a motorbike is the only thing to help with the momentum but still Kirchart makes drifting 15-20 feet look like a mundane task. He’s an exceptional talent.

The video is simply stunning. Greg Hunt has put the show together with a mix of 8/16mm footage as well as the usual DV stuff. J.Mascis and Dinosaur Jr feature as strong as ever on the soundtrack and one time AWS pro Duane Pitre adds perfectly to the soundscape. There’s plenty of extras here too. “B-Roll” sections for everyone show some extra angles and tricks that were sketched or just didn’t make the final cut, but still a cut above most peoples “A” footage. Plus if you delve into the extras you will find the AWS visual side with some inspiring ideas on infusing creativity into skate sections.

Overall the effort put into Mind Field has dramatically raised the bar on overall production leaving this as simply a must see video. It’s not as trick heavy as some other videos out there, but definitely the most well rounded video I have seen in years. Go get it and visit awsfilmworks.com for more.

9/10
Philip Procter

A Skateboard film by Lovenskate.

Skateboard DVD’s all tend to follow a similar tract these days, the emphasis is purely on tricks and convincing us that a team is cool, and we should therefore, buy the product.

Back in the days skateboard videos like Streets on Fire and Animal Chin showed a different side of skating, it was more about having fun with your crew and travelling together, and if you got footage cool, if you didn’t, cool. Super Jumbo Bolivia takes the traditional route, and goes a step further – this isn’t like the AntiHero vids where they went to South America and killed it, this is a documentary purely about skating in Bolivia.

Bolivia is one of the poorer countries in South America, with land mass 5 times larger than the UK, and a small population of around 9million, so its not surprising it took the Lovenskate cameras a week on their initial visit in 2002 to find a skater, but fully inspired, it wasn’t too long until a more in depth look in to the Bolivian skate scene was thoroughly investigated.

In 2007, after the successful birth of the Lovenskate brand, they went back to film an expose on skating in Bolivia as a whole, searching out skaters and spots from the Capital La Paz through to the jungles of the Santa Cruz region. The spots might not be on par with Barca, but the love of skateboarding more than makes up for that. With an estimated 900 skaters in the country, its easy to understand why the skate-industry hasn’t jumped to support the scene. The price of equipment here is really high, and getting a board is a mission in itself, but the hand-me-down culture is evidently thriving but there isn’t much product to go around with skaters resorting to travelling to America to get setup. (Remember that next time you choose to focus a deck)

The spots are fairly basic, and it makes you appreciate how spoilt we are in the UK. La Paz does have a park which is killed daily by the locals and travellers alike. There is some great footage from a travelling Chilean skater on holiday called Patrico, who highlights one of the problems skating in La Paz, being the worlds highest city, the altitudes thin air makes breathing hard and slows down a session. Still, faced with all these problems, the scene rolls on.

Santa Cruz is home to the Mmmta Crew, who cordially invite skaters from everywhere to come session, these guys will ride anything. The province again is a little spot starved, and again, doesn’t stop skaters from pushing themselves. The scene over there is young, and without the influence of a constant barrage of American skate vids they are clearly developing their own relaxed style of skating. It’s only a matter of time before someone comes out of Bolivia and blows people away, much in the way Burnquist did in the early 90s and later Rodrigo TX.

The DVD is fantastically edited with some great black and white stills laced in to the production, the thing that impresses me most is that Stu and Faye (who filmed it) stay pretty much behind the camera, I’ve seen them both skate and it would have been easy to do the “hey look at me I’m rad” routine but, far more humble, let the skaters and their sub-culture take the plaudits. This is truly an inspirational piece of work, and a solid reminder the skateboarding brotherhood is alive and well EVERYWHERE.

Get a copy direct from www.lovenskate.com for £7 inc postage – it’s a bargain.

Phil Procter

Let’s face it, people have long since stopped looking to Bam for anything other than dicking around, which is a shame really as, all hijinx aside, he’s not a bad skater, which often gets overlooked. Unfortunately, this 15 minute promo, featuring a selection of Element’s pro and am team skating it up at Bam HQ for Halloween, doesn’t really do a lot to detract from that notion.

You must know the drill by now: as with all “Bam-Brand” video exports, expect male nudity, motorised vehicles with 8foot polystyrene cock attachments, questionable half baked plans that probably seemed like a good idea at the time and many examples of cranking it up to 11 and living out the rock n roll lifestyle of all proskater megastars, Lamborghinis and all…

Personally, I have nothing against Bam; given the choice of getting paid a lot to act like a retard with your mates or doing it for nothing, then I’ll take the easy money every time and I don’t blame him for doing the same. In addition to this I have never seen him without a grin on his face and unlike many other skate stars out there, you never hear him complain about anything which goes a long way. The problem lies with the Bamfans this DVD is marketed to and who will predictably gobble it right up. It’s a 75-25 mix of tomfoolery to skating, with a few tricks dotted here and there to prove that Bam himself hasn’t completely resigned himself to partymode. Overall its pretty predictable and it’s going to go down a treat with the target audience, but from a skating point of view, I feel it would be better showcasing the skaters talent on the boards instead of their lifestyles off them, but, hey what do I know right?

Pester your local skateshop for it if the mood to see it grips you, alternatively it can be found online at Element’s website and should be checked out for the comedy gold that is Darrell Stanton trying to remain cool on the back of a bright yellow moped whilst whipping through the Pennsylvania undergrowth! There are definitely worse things to watch on a wet Sunday afternoon, watch it below but switch to High Quality for the best viewing.

Dickfingers

Girl/Anti Hero NW Tour DVD

Ever walk down the street and see some uber hot chick with some busted nerd and think “how did he pull her?” Well, when I saw on Crailtap that the Girl team had come up with a joint tour with Anti-Hero that’s exactly what I thought. No diss on the Anti-Hero team, but y’know, Frank Gerwer isn’t about to take the catwalks of Milan by storm, but at the same time, how likely is it that Lakai/Girl head honcho Mike Carroll would be touring the USA staying in an Anti Hero endorsed TentCity?! We love it!

This DVD is basically the two teams in holiday mode, nothing so serious, just show up and have fun, this is pro skaters doing their thing with the pressure of expectation switched off. That doesn’t mean that the skating is by any means slack either! Essentially, this is two videos, the Beauty edit from the Girl camp and Beast edit from Anti Hero – mainly it’s the same sessions, but edited and shot differently.

The Beauty edit is fun and shows how evergreen Rick Howard really is, Carroll still has the most tweaked Japans in skating and Rick McCrank definitely showed he is one of the top all-rounders in skating. Notably, Burnside gets hit up, and it was good to see the park looking less haggard and these guys covered every inch of the hallowed ground. Robbie Russo has to get a mention, this kid is an all-terrain Duracell Bunny, having him under the (protecting?) wing of Julian Stranger at Anti Hero is a frightening future prospect.

The Beast edit is everything you would expect from the Anti Hero camp – it’s raw, gritty and as ever the focus is the skating. The sounds of MC Dirt Nasty kick off the tour via the mandatory boom-box while the teams get to work on Americas North West. The spots are pretty much all cement parks, including a miniature park that played host to a speed/carve time trial. Rick Howard got his game face on only to be pipped by the board control and speed of TNT. Winning shit is cool, but I think the most cheered run on the course went to the one true JC, John Cardiel – this DVD is worth it for that 10 seconds of footage alone.

Beware the third edit in the extras, The Retard Edit – there is no way this bunch of guys can hookup without shit going down. Frank Gerwer drunk in a forest at night with the night vision cam on while convinced he is a wizard (with “wizard staff” aka beer cans taped together) is the stuff nightmares are made of!

This video is a firm reminder why we all stuck with skating so long, a fine balance of enjoyable skating and camaraderie making for great viewing. If you want polished sections to put under the microscope, ask father Christmas for Finally Flared, but if your looking for some fun to make you go out and skate with you friends, get this DVD, check out the Beauty and the Beast decks too……….

PP

Pics by Blair Alley

So it’s that time of year again; the season of worn-out rewind buttons and wide-eyed expressions of utter confusion. Freshly scrubbed and ready to take on the world in this year’s Transworld compilation of rad are David Gravette, Matt Miller, Richie Jackson, Kenny Hoyle, Nick Trapasso and Sean Malto.

Woah. I mean, woah. Hold up. I know that Transworld have always been renowned for hand-picking an eclectic mix of up-and-comers but a line up like that is rarer than a pot-pourri mixture of golddust and the shaved horn of a unicorn. We may have reached the end of the rainbow with this one. Let’s count ’em up: one quirky rail killer, one styled out nollie popper, one powersliding and pole-jamming magician, one ledge innovator, one nonchalant motherfucker and on top of all this, probably the most talked-about am in history. Alongside the guaranteed high-quality audio/visual jiggery-pokery that comes with a Transworld production, there is very little that can go wrong here.

Rather than a perhaps overly-expected ‘and now…‘ dialogue-laden series of non-diegetics prior to each section, the video instead chooses to introduce each skater with a short, sharp montage foreshadowing the awesome that waits ahead. This is a fabulous move from Transworld, keeping things simple so that message board nit-pickers can’t overshadow the fantastic shralp-stick action with the little things that never really mattered anyway. Come on, who can argue with truly epic skating? No one. Great, let’s get this party started.

David Gravette kicks the action into a warzone with this monumental first section. At the same time this is a solidification of his position as a Creature pro: this one is rightfully deserved. A steadily-thrilling riff-fest from Consortium compliments Baby Lamb’s perfectly timed lines while the cinematic chorus only enhances the sheer shock power of his – rightfully slowed down I might add – bangers. Now, I hate that word, but this is a bangers and mash feast that you should skip to the front of the dinner queue and gorge upon. We’re off to a rocking start.

Matt Miller‘s ‘pop, lock and drop it‘ massacre is nudged in by a the kind of sequence in a video that gets me wet. Camera lens distortion and a fuzzed out title construct a gnarly oxymoron over a time-lapsed sunset that makes me wanna high-five everyone. Then before anyone has so much as settled into their armchair and picked up their drink he cracks the most enormous nollie I’ve ever seen over some sort of globe. And now I’m standing up and shouting involuntarily as if my body was possessed by the spirit of gnar. Instead of reaching for a towel to clean up the pepsi that is quite literally everywhere I’m grabbing the remote. REWIND. Nothing downhill from here either; this guy pulls off a huge selection of awkward manoeuvres with little difficulty and a blind ignorance towards pitiful human restrains like, you know, gravity. Don’t sleep on this guy, whatever you do.

Richie Jackson may look like the hippy lovechild of Captain Hook and a 1960s magician, but he is certainly not a victim of prioritising style over substance. Polejams might have placed high on the imaginary NME Cool Skate List of yesteryear, but this section is a display of nothing but innovation and progression. Richie has the ability to turn the obscure hazy thoughts of an obstacle course dream into reality and pull it off with envy-inducing ease. In addition to all this mind-bending is a dark and drunken rant drizzled over smoked guitar licks making the whole thing that more psychedelic, if that were even possible. The Feetch is slicker than The Stig. Call me a blasphemer all you like, but I’m not even kidding. He’s totally ruling in this.

After the traditionally énorme montage section, Kenny Hoyle takes the dusty road-less-travelled by knocking out some lesser-seen gems on traditional street spots. The composition remains pleasant and simple, but it’s those little tweaks and effects that transform this into something really special. Much like the video as a whole; a simple, respectable format with a staggering amount of personality that can dazzle without any hint of pretention. Right now I seriously have to cross my legs to suppress that tempting itch. No, not there you filthbags. I got the skate itch y’hear?

I struggle to comprehend Nick Trapasso in general. Sure, the fact that he has a natural talent for skating goes without saying; but how can anyone pull off such barrier-leaping shit while appearing to be in the middle of a light nap? On landing, he seems to jerk awake in a sort of, ‘oh, what just happened?’ daze. Unfathomable levels of nonchalance. If you enjoy a well shuffled trick bag with style then you’ll want to buy this section a bottle of wine and try and lure it into bed. Enders man… climax in less than 5 minutes or your money back.

It would seem redundant to explain Sean Malto‘s talent, after all the coverage the kid has been getting I’m sure you were as hyped to see this section as I was. Mine was more out of curiosity, seeing as I hadn’t really caught the Malto Bug yet. Suffice to say, I’m calling in sick for weeks on end after viewing this. I’m converted. No, really. Malto goes beyond hype in this delightful end to one of the finest Transworld videos in years: I’m talking Modus Operandi good. Style, substance and a huge push forward to be felt by everyone – this one will not so much have you on the edge of your seat but up in the air, floating on your own disbelief.

Delicious skateboarding and picture-perfect filming without the slightest hint of fromage. If you haven’t picked this up already, do yourselves a favour. And Now is out now and now and now. Get on it.

Joe