Category: Features

Exposed: DGK’s ‘Parental Advisory’

Post author By Zac
Post date January 24, 2013

Photos courtesy of Brad Rosado, Matt Daughters and Seu Trinh

The back end of 2012 brought some great skateboard video treats across the globe and as you may well remember, we finished our year by screening the UK premiere of DGK’s first full video production after the 10th Anniversary Xmas Jam.

Pushing skateboard films forward is no easy task, but the DGK crew had their own plans of how their first major flick was to be rolled out. Actors, film crews, special guests, closed-off roads, crazy skits and of course, some absolutely banging skating was meticulously planned over a long period of time. With all of this in the mix and a great reaction worldwide, we spoke to Brad Rosado who filmed about 90% of the video to explain a few facts about how this came to fruition alongside a selection of DGK’s ever-impressive team riders discussing their most memorable days from filming ‘Parental Advisory‘.

Who directed the original plan for the overall production?

“The original plan for the production was a group collaboration between the DGK Team, Troy Morgan, Matt Daughters, and myself. We knew we wanted to make a video that no one would forget. When the skate portion of the film was near completion we started to brainstorm how the intro’s were going to be. There were talks about making it into a documentary but that turned into having skits. I think Daughters had this idea for a few years that the video should be focused around the team as if they were mini versions of people on DGK. One day I remember Baker (our graphic designer) showing a bunch of us a dope music video he found online. Troy saw it and I could tell he saw the vision he wanted for ‘Parental Advisory’ from that video. After that, he contacted Randal Kirk (the director) and we started to plan out the rest of the video.

When did the shooting originally start?

All together it took us about 3 years to gather all the footage for the skate sections. Everybody was filming for their parts up until a week before the finished DVD was due. The whole team busted their asses to the very end and it shows in their parts. We started to shoot the narrative part of the film in early Spring of 2012.

How were the actors picked to play the roles between sections?

The actors were found a few different ways. We had a few casting calls and that’s where we found the actual actors for the film. We found the skate kids through Susan Williams”Save A Heart’ program. We did a casting call with her one weekend and were able to find the majority of the younger actors there. They all skated and already had the background that represented the film correctly. A lot of people in the film had no acting experience at all. All they had to do was act natural pretty much. Randal directed everybody well and got the performance he wanted out of them to make this film what it is.

Which celebrities are involved in the cameos?

Some cameos we had in the film were DMX, Beanie Sigel, Kareem Campbell, Fabian Alomar, Vanessa Veasley, Peedi Crakk, and Cappadonna.

With weapons involved in the skits, did you need licenses to shoot in the public domain?

For most locations of the film we had permits and it was closed sets so we could do whatever we wanted. Most of that stuff was shot between 1am-6am so there was barely anybody out on the streets to see what was going on.

How difficult was it to cut HD footage together with VX footage?

That was one of the hardest things to figure out while editing the video. At first we had all the HD footage cropped and the VX stuff kept 4:3. This was probably considered the correct ways to do it. We ran into a problem when we started to add the narrative part of the film. It wasn’t transitioning right between the two sections so we had to make a rough call and stretch the VX footage to 16:9 and kept the HD footage normal. I know a lot of people don’t agree with this decision but we made the best judgement call to make sure the aspect ratios weren’t jumping around. Overall I feel it worked out and most people didn’t even notice. We went through over 25 different aspect ratios to find the right look to make it seamless.

What are your most memorable days from filming this flick?

There were so many good times with these dudes it’s hard to remember them all. The ones that stick out to me are some of the battles we overcame with the cameras we were using. During the last few months we would hit up Jkwon downtown LA every Sunday. During one of the sessions Marquise was in the zone and started to try halfcab fs nosegrind nollie flip out on the long ledge. We tried for a while and he landed a pretty good one. Quise knew he could do it better so we kept trying. After trying for a while longer he did the best one he could of possibly done. The camera I was using at that time never gave me any problems until we watched back the footage. For some reason on that one try it had an insane glitch from right before he popped until right after he landed. I tried everything I could do to make it playback properly but it wasn’t happening. That try was completely destroyed.

Quise was pretty bummed but he knew he had to do it again. We tried for a while longer and got another one. It wasn’t as good as the glitched version but it was still amazing! I remember people asking why we were doing it again since the last one was so perfect. I didn’t even know what to say. It sucks that no one will ever see how good he really did it but that’s the gamble you take sometimes when using a camera that’s 10+ years old. I don’t even think anybody thinks that the version in the video is less than perfect anyways. To do that trick 3 times is impressive! Thankfully we have upgraded to HD and glitches are a thing of the past.”

STEVIE WILLIAMS

“ATL has always been a home away from home when we were working on this project. For the majority of the video we had team apartments and the squad would fly in and out filming nonstop. Staying together and going on missions is what helped make this team a real family. The first clip I filmed for the video was in a school yard in East Atlanta. It was first time filming with Brad so I knew we had to break the ice and get it poppin. I was really just cruising around, but ended up getting a dope line on film for my part. I started off the line with a few flat ground tricks and then there was a quick flat gap I was trying to fs flip. On one of the tries I ended up landing in a manual by accident and held it to the end. That day symbolized beginning of the video and after that we just kept stacking clips and made it a reality.”

MARQUISE HENRY

“We were on a DGK NY trip for like two weeks we had are own apartments right downtown Manhattan. It was dope being in the city waking up hoping out of bed and just hitting the streets. We had a big crew mobbin’ up and down the city blocks, hopping on and off trains going to and from skate spots all day and night. I remember skating down Time Square with Dane, Brad and Seu and we see this random guy that had these dope-ass parrots. Seu shot some dope pics with them on head and on my board. That night we ended up chillin’ in Time Square till 4am and then skated 50+ blocks back to the crib. It was just dope being with the crew in New York having good times skating, chillin’, and livin’ man. Those are some good times I’ll never forget.”

JACK CURTIN

“So Stevie and I tagged along on an Expedition filming trip to China a few years ago. Every morning we would all get breakfast at the cafe downstairs from the hotel. Spencer Hamilton and I would get this super strong ice coffee every morning because it would get us so sparked. So one morning Stevie was at breakfast saying how he felt super tired and jet-lagged or something so I told him to have one of the ice coffee’s cuz it would get him hyped. He never drinks coffee so he was hesitant at first but eventually he got one cuz he wanted to get hyped to go skate.

So like an hour later we’re at the skate spot and Stevie is really hyped on it. He was trying these crazy manual tricks and he had already filmed one banger, but while he was filming the second one, he started freaking out cuz he needed to take a shit super bad. The coffee had messed his stomach up. The skate spot was in the middle of nowhere so there really wasn’t anywhere close to go, plus in China they rarely have toilets or toilet paper at the public bathrooms. Somehow he managed to land his 2nd manual trick while holding everything in, and as soon as he landed the trick, he took off in search of dumping grounds. He was gone for like 45 mins to an hr but I guess he found one because he came back with a look of relief on his face. He blamed me for everything and he swore to me that he would never drink coffee again.”

DERRICK WILSON

“One time we were heading to las Vegas from Phoenix am. It was Brad, Keelan, Marquise, Dane and myself. When we made it to the hotel, I went to the bathroom. After using the bathroom, I failed to realize that some toilet paper was stuck in my boxers. To my knowledge, Keelan and Dane were the first to know, they broke down in the lobby laughing! We went on day and night sessions, getting as much footage for the video as we could. Afterwards we chilled, gambled some. Minus the drinks and gambling, it was a fun productive trip. We made the best out of what we had!”

WADE DESARMO

“There were a bunch of situations we got into while filming for this video. One that I will probably never be able to forget was a trip we took to Philly and New York. Being from the east coast I always jump at the chance to skate Philly whenever possible, so when Brad told me about this trip we were going on that had Philly on one of it’s stops I was so hyped. Although if I could of seen what was going to happen I don’t think I would of been so enthusiastic. First day, I don’t even remember how but the VX broke, had to send it off for repairs so we didn’t have a camera anymore. We got lucky and Rasul knew someone who had just got a brand new VX and somehow we managed to borrow it for the last couple days we were in the city.

The first night we got it, we went straight to Love and started skating around and warming up. I had a line I wanted to try so we start going at it, things were feeling good and then one try the board just got away from me and nailed the cam real good. The person who lent us the camera happened to be skating with us at Love so once we knew the camera was jacked I had to try a few more tries and then act like I was over it so she wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong with the camera. Sent that one to the repair shop the next morning and we were once again without a camera. Definitely not the best time I’ve ever had in Philly but I still love it.”

LENNY RIVAS

“Barcelona was one of my favourite places to travel during this video. When we were there, everyday was a good day skating with my boys. We would skate all day, get tricks, and then go party all night. After my first trip out there I was already thinking about what tricks I would get the next time I went. On my second trip back to Spain I fell asleep on the plane and had a dream that I switch fs 360’d the Macba 4. During the middle of the trip we skated by the set and said fuck it, let’s do it. I warmed up for a bit and just went for it. It was a battle but one of the tries felt right so I put it down. My whole squad was there and that gave me the motivation to stack clips for the rest of the trip. When we put together my part for the video the clip looked a little old and didn’t make the cut. All I know is that I dreamt it and I made it come true. That’s what it’s all about.”

Find DGK on Facebook and Twitter and make sure this video is in your collection today. It’s out on DVD in your local skate shop and on i-Tunes for download. Support it.

Features Home Skateboarding

Company Skate Edit of the Year 2012

Post author By Zac
Post date December 22, 2012

2012 was awash with edits made for the web across the board, ranging from the corperate shoe companies to underground skate companies running on a budget. we decided to pick out 10 of our favourite productions for you to primarily watch and enjoy, and secondly, for you to vote which one was the best Company Skate edit of 2012.

There have been late contenders to this party as you will see once you delve into our selection, but don’t forget that a hell of a lot of work went into all of these these edits, so don’t get too trigger happy based on what is fresh out of the bag this month because a lot of skateboarding hit the internet this year that was absolutely amazing and we are lucky people put in the hours to bring it to us.

So here’s our selection. We have not got everything, we probably missed out someones favourite edit altogether.

Tags best skate video, skate video, skate videos, skateboarding, video vote, vote

Features Home Skateboarding

UK Skate Edit of the Year 2012

Post author By Zac
Post date December 20, 2012

The Skate Edit of the Week homepage features have now run their course for 2012, so it’s now time to vote whose footage was most impressive throughout the year.

It was obviously very difficult narrowing down 48 edits to just 12, but the featured edits in this vote reflect our favourite individual sections from the UK scene as a whole, whether they were filmed in parks, on street, or wherever. It’s all skateboarding.

HOW TO VOTE:

Vote for your favourite edit by clicking onto each skater’s photo or name, watch the edit, then ‘like’ the videos of your choice. You can vote for as many as you like, not just one. So reminisce the footage that has kindly dropped onto your screens and we will cast the winner on January 10th 2013.

Tags best of 2012, Best of 2012 video, skateboarding, uk scene, uk skateboarding, video, vote

Features Skateboarding

The Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012 feature

Post author By Zac
Post date December 19, 2012

The weather reports in the lead up to this 10 Year celebration went from a possible fat dump of snow, to freezing frog, but the end result was perfect blues on the day. We were so lucky, because it was freezing from Monday to Wednesday but the weather went from 2′ to 10′ in two days.

Those thinking this is great news may not know that after a big freeze like that, the motorway over-hanging BaySixty6 skate park suddenly starts to sweat, meaning condensation fills the walls when a sudden change in the weather happens. The day before the jam, the park was soaked, so we all lucked out big time.

Before the event kicked off, I had the pleasure of dressing the park with banners and stickers as usual, and was stoked to have two kids ask if they could help. It was more of a surprise though when none other than Paul Weller asked if he could hang Ricta banners around the bowl. Crossfire would never have started if I had not have heard ‘Setting Sons’ by The Jam back in the early 80’s. This album has some seriously powerful lyrics. This happening was personally a lovely 10th Anniversary gift, so big ups to Mr Weller for making my day.

The un-sponsored jams commenced on the Grizzly Grip Tape ledges. Everything landed in this rapid fire 15 minute session came courtesy from our guest ams and pro’s warming up and so many tricks that were never actually made, so the vouchers were taken over to the small stair set.

Santa checks the park for booby traps ahead of doors. Explosive jam incoming. Ph: Richard West

Like lemmings, people dropped all sorts of goodness on us. This included Tomas Monkevičius‘ kickflip fs board slide on the rail that took Stand Up‘s dough. Nai Sukanant’s switch hardflip on the small stair set was a banger, Craig Loveless pulled out a nollie hardflip, but it was Gytis Bluivas‘ switch bigspin heelflip that rocked the joint. He was so close to taking a fs smith flip out on the ledge before this too, like, really close, but this was just the beginning for Gytis as you will find out further down this page. Alex Tibble closed the un-sponsored procedures with a quick-as-you like, straight-out-of-the box switch fs flip over the small gap. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

Watch the official video edit filmed/edited by Andy Evans, additional filming from Danny Bulmer and Tom Gillespie.

The park was a mess by 2pm. Boards were being sprayed everywhere. There’s so much more room in the new Bay park, but during an open jam style event, it’s quite hard to find that space needed when it’s busy. People tend to sit on obstacles and get in the way, making it difficult for people to land tricks. That aside, we had no major collisions other than two blokes locking horns in the bowl, and the usual scrap in the product toss, so considering the chaos, nobody was seen limping into an ambulance.

Six people skating the bowl at once = carnage. Ph: Richard West

Gytis Bluivas takes the DGK jam with style. Ph: Tom Halliday

The DGK Hubba Jam was instantly set upon by Thomas Harrison whose tail slides didn’t connect for him, but out of nowhere came Aaron Neville‘s impossible 5-0 before Alex DeCuhna laid down a stealth fs smith and kick-flipped out. Dan Wileman pushed a fs blunt, Sox ollied onto it and pushed a nose manual down it, Shaun Currie took a sweet noseslide 270-out before that Lithuanian ripper Gytis Bluivas returned with a crook only to nollie flipped out. He took the honours, and the dough. We hear that on this display, Gytis may end up with a sponsor. Let’s hope so, he fully deserves it.

Alex DeCunha delivers a mansize FS smith flip out. Ph: Tom Halliday

Sox had manny mania. Ph: Tom Halliday

It was Tom Steel who came up with the idea of wrapping board boxes for the HUF high ollie jam. The choice of Xmas wrapping paper and overall job would have received thumbs up from Blue Peter I reckon.

Mark Radden killed it all day for Death. Ph: Tom Halliday

With the driveway prepped, and the boxes continuously stacked, it came down to three potential candidates for the win. Chris Oliver sneaked one over the top ninja style and rode out on two wheels. Mark Radden pushed the boundaries and popped what we thought would be the winner until Thomas Harrison took out six boxes and closed the account. Absolutely epic stuff.

Thomas Harrison ollies The National Skateboard Co into their first win. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Balls of steel. Joe Habgood back-D’s the wall hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

If the wall jam at this year’s Halloween Massacre was anything to go by, we were about to see even more NBD’s destroy its steep transitions. This wall is no joke and way steeper than the previous build. It didn’t bother Joe Habgood though, whose first trick was to fakie rock the high section. I can confirm that he is the first to lay that down for sure. His backside disaster in the wall hole and fs nosepick raised beers across the park too. The unicorn juice was certainly flowing today.

Jed Cullen takes a pivot fakie. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ryan Price threw another fs nosepick into the mix, Sox pulled in off the coping to fakie and also left a one foot rock fakie behind. Again, another NBD went down. Jed Cullen took the honours though with a blunt fakie on the coping, and then on the high wall like Joe (just to rub it in!) and also took a pivot fakie home too. What a session.

Lloyd McLeggon had catch, bolts and steez. Watch him in 2013. Ph: Tom Halliday

The big rail sesh and stair set was quite a spectacle too. The rail was kept warm by John Howlett who made sure he feebled it and also left a backside smith for us to ponder on. Jess Young took a sick tailslide revert, Daryl Dominguez also saw his tail do the work right in front of Brum’s Luke Kindon, whose crook backside lipslide was deemed the winner.

John Howlett back smith’s the rail. Ph: Richard West

The stairs got a serious workout. Oldham’s LLoyd Mcleggon was catching his board with steez as he kickflipped and hardflipped the 5. Bloke went down though and was helped out at the final whistle with a tweaked knee and a groin whack. This year’s I.D star Awahd Mohammed looked like he was walking away with the pounds with a sick bs 360 ollie, but in the very last second Liverpool’s Charlie Birch laid down a fs bigspin that had everyone on their feet. The place erupted and he took the lot. Ridiculousness.

A Third Foot’s Dave Pegg ripped all day long with hardlflips and more. Ph: Tom Halliday

Lloyd McLeggon recovered from this with a groin strain. Ph: Rich West

Ledge fiends then filled the quad with tailslides, nosegrinds and more on the Grizzly Grip ledge sesh. So many people skated, yet so little was taken away clean. Honorary mentions include Alex DeCunha‘s front smith kick flip out (that we didn’t manage to get on film or tape), Caradog Emmanuel‘s fs tail slide flip out and Thomas Harrison’s second winning trick on the day for the National Skateboard Co, a tailslide 270 out which again, didn’t make it to film due to people being in the way. This was a frustrating session for coverage but what went down in the chaos was ace.

Daryl Dominguez takes a fs kickflip over his local hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

Double D then pushes the boat out with a fs heelflip. Job done. Ph: Richard West

Big tings were going down in the warm up for the Superdead Gap Jam. Clean ollies were beong thrown down as set ups for various other tricks, but with this gap being fucking huge, it eventually came down to three contenders. Vans rider Daryl Dominguez opened the proceedings with a kickflip which spurned on Lovenskate’s Ewen Bower to float an ollie over the beast and revert it right at the last millisecond. Whilst people were picking their jaws up from the floor from that, Death’s Mikey Patrick (who has returned from an injury) launched a few attempts to bs ollie fakie the channel, until he hit the sweet spot. A total meltdown was in place but this was just the beginning. Daryl then threw another kickflip across the beast and then started some heelflip assaults. Ewen upped the ante with a stalefish revert (yes, wtf!) and took the piss with a fully-cocked-leg benihana. Shut down. Every skater in that park went nuts and then started to chant Daryl’s name. You know he was going to have it, and then there it was. Bang! Electric session!

Benihana’s suck, but not when Ewen Bower floats them this high. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ewen’s stalefish revert over the beast gap was pure class. Ph: Richard West

How do you follow that mentalness? Only one way, and that’s to get stuck into a bowl sesh fueled by Ricta. It was a mess in there! 6 people at a time, full throttle. Sox had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, Habgood was roaring through the place catching diving board gashes in his shins from the weak. He took a sick nosepick out of the bowl, so did Jed. Sick tricks. The hip jam was won by Greg Nowik, whose selection of fine xmas pickings warmed the cockles enough to hand him the dough. It was his fs shuv that really got tails tapping though. Carl Wilson’s hip work was sterling as ever, Ryan Price was bang up for it, Ewen Bower dropped some bangers. Too much, too many, too much again.

Joe Habgood nosepicks to glory. Ph: Tom Halliday

Nowik tried the double flip. Ph Tom Halliday

Stalefish action from Witchcraft’s secret weapon, Morph. Ph: Richard West

Jed Cullen takes his Blakey moustache to new levels in the bowl jam. Ph: Richard West

‘Chav’ Dan Hill was the only person able to actually grind more than 10 feet. He managed only two thirds of the double pocket he laid down at the Halloween Massacre to win the longest grind comp. The carnage was so rife in that bowl that tricks were hard to come by, knowing that someone is about to smash you in the back of the head as you land a trick.

Max Roton needs no colour for his fs boneless steez. Ph: Richard west

Chroliver‘s head high kickflips would have been trick of the day if he had landed one, instead, he got his arse out for the transfer jam and mooned the platform like a slut. I’m amazed that nobody’s head got stuck up his harris from the amount of people flying over the barrier. Witchcraft’s New Zealand bomber Morph was in every run laying it down in camouflage attire. He was also busting out 360’s out of there, until he took the tail of his 8.5 on landing. Terrorist moves. Charlie Birch then drew blood from his head in the melee. There was also a serious head clash in the bowl before Habgood rolled out of there with some moolah for his nosepick and transfer prowess. The bear’s insides maybe fucked, but he’s tough on the outside and will battle anyone.

Jono Coote slams down a handplant. Ph: Richard West

If you were not there on the platform to witness this and sat at home awaiting footage like a mong, then you will never understand what this frenzied session was like, ever. Thanks Ricta, you fucking rule. The skateboarding certainly didn’t let us down.

The after party saw Chroliver taking over the decks and a full house filled the Portobello Pop Up Cinema for the UK premiere screening of the banging new DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘. A huge amount of work has been put into this production, the skating is ridiculous. Pure tech dream stuff. Go grab a copy of it this Xmas.

RESULTS:

UNSPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

Tomas Monkevičius – Kickflip FS board slide on the small rail.

Nai Sukanant – Switch Hardflip on the small stair set.

Gytis Bluivas: Switch bigspin heelflip down the small stair set.

Craig Loveless: Nollie hardflip down the small stair set.

Alex Tibble: Switch fs flip over the small gap.

Jess Young takes a tailsilde revert for Kill City’s hit list. Ph: Richard West

Greg Nowik’s front shuv was one of many. Standard solo show for Xmas. Ph: Tom Halliday

SPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

RICTA BOWL JAM:

Best Hip Trick: Greg Nowik: FS late shuv and many more.

Longest Grind: ‘Chav’ Dan Hill.

Best tricks out of the bowl/transfer: Joe Habgood – FS nosepick on the outer wall/ FS 180 to nosestall and backside 180 to rock fakie into the barrier out of the bowl.

Chav Dan whoops a big backside-D slide once the carnage clears. Ph: Tom Halliday

DGK HUBBA JAM: Gytis Bluivas – Crook nollie flip out.

HUF HIGH OLLIE JAM (driveway): Thomas Harrison (6 boxes).

SUPERDEAD GAP JAM: Split winners – Daryl Dominguez – 2 x kickflips, heelflip. Ewen Bower – FS Ollie revert, FS Stalefish revert, Benihana.

GRIZZLY GRIP TAPE LEDGE JAM: Thomas Harrison – FS tailslide fs 270 shuv out, in and out of ledge.

WALLRIDE JAM: Jed Cullen – Blunt fakie, Pivot fakie, fakie rock (on high section).

RAIL JAM: Luke Kindon – Crook to back lip slide.

STAIR SESH: Charlie Birch – FS Bigspin.

‘The Spaniard’ Ivan Rodriguez sings Feliz Navidad to his well wishers over the hip. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Huge thanks to Paul McDermott and everyone at BaySixty6 skate park, Ian Deacon at Ricta, Vicki and Alan at Shiner, Wes at Rocksolid, Maf and Ross at Out of Step, Tez and Harry at Superdead, Jane and Adam at I-Five, all at Slam City and at Stand Up Skate Shop.

Massive thanks to all of the UK guest team riders that made it into the big smoke from Death, Heroin, Kill City, Skateboard Cafe, Science, 50-50 crew, Fabric, HUF, DGK, Superdead, Lovenskate, Ricta, A Third Foot, Steak, Crayon The National Skateboard Co, The Harmony and Witchcraft.

Big ups to Mark Brewster, Rich West, Tom Halliday, Andy Evans, Danny Bulmer, Tom Gillespie, Marcroy Smith, Jim O’Raw, Paul Weller, the two kids who helped me dress the park, Ben Larthe, Ross McGouran and Kyron Davis.

Tight grip yo. Ph: Tom Halliday

Product toss mayhem. Ph: Richard West

Bundles. Ph: Richard West

Super Brewster. Ph: Richard West

Double D and Ewen Bower stole the show. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Unidentified flying object. Ph: Tom Halliday

Liverpool’s Charlie Birch will be the UK’s most talked about skateboarder in years to come. Remember this. Ph: Tom Halliday

Porno Paul and Nowik know. Ph: Tom Halliday

Chav Dan tries out some Guerrero steez. Ph: Tom Halliday

You can hear the snap of Habgood’s nose on the coping. Merry Xmas all. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Features Skateboarding

Total Recall: Crossfire Xmas Jam 10 Year special

Post author By Zac
Post date December 12, 2012

10 years have flown by since we threw the first Crossfire Xmas Jam at BaySixty6 skate park. We have seen three different sponsors, many face-lifts, and a plethora of pro skateboarders, locals and visitors leave a legacy in the park with various tricks from demo’s, events and sessions.

Just before the park was shut down for a wonderful renovation by Nike back in September this year, we filmed this Total Recall edit with various UK skaters with the 10th Anniversary in mind, mainly because this should be a celebration about the skate park too, as without their dedication, we could not have reached this milestone.

This park has always been there as a place for London’s skateboarders to meet up and hang out doing what we do best: skate, have a few beers and enjoy life. Press play for a snapshot of memories from various people who have skated the park from scratch and enjoy a feature looking back over a decade of bringing the UK skate scene to London.

HISTORY

The Crossfire Xmas Jam was put together for the UK scene to defy the winter and to get together for one last session of the year. At the time, there were hardly any London events to attend at all. The ones we did have were retarded ‘extreme sports’ events, promoted by people that didn’t even skate, in an era where capitalism and corperate branding were just re-igniting within our scene. Big brands were keen to associate themselves with skateboarding once again due to the emergence of Tony Hawk’s record breaking impact in the gaming market, but what happened at the time was never planned and turned out to be a very happy accident and a total path changer.

Product toss.

THE EARLY YEARS.

The very first skate jam we rolled out was at PlayStation (now known as BaySixty6) in the Easter of 2003. The Crossfire club nights that came before these skate jams were pulling over 500 people per month with bands and DJ’s for skaters to attend and get amongst it. Sessions at PlayStation proceeded these parties next door to the Subterania where the parties were held, so it was only natural that we organised daytime skate jams too.

I remember the Dirty Sanchez guys turning up and stage diving into the mini ramp crowd on that first jam. Over 800 people were in the park. I also remember Terrence Anthony (who worked at the park) flattening the woman from BBC Newsround, by bundling her to the floor in drunken celebration! A very young Benny Fairfax won the honours in the street course that day and Danny Wainwright ruled the mini ramp. In fact, the Bristol (5050) and Welsh (Kill City) crews from this jam onwards became first on the list guests, and still are to this very day.

The classic Crossfire Pound note is part of Xmas Jam history. These notes were devised so that we had time to move quickly from one best trick jam to the next without having to sort out paperwork, so cash is exchanged at the end instead. One of our guest pro riders (who shall not be named) actually tried to pay at the bar with one of these!

Paul Shier and Rayman, Croydon’s finest. Blueprint always supported and will be missed by many. RIP.

THE 10 YEAR COUNTDOWN

2003

With this relationship with 5050 sealed, they asked us to premiere their Jus Foolin’ video and the very first Crossfire Xmas Jam was held at Playstation on Saturday 14th December, 2003 with Heroin, Eastpak, Death and Ortega Skateboard teams in attendance as guests. We were also investors in CIDE skate shop at the time, but nobody really knew that. Slam City Skates were involved from the start too.

Chris Pulman graced the first flyer, shot by Richie Hopson. Rich at Bulletclip designed a lot of these flyers and layouts, Gorm helped us loads too. I could not have done it without them. I think this particular photo was taken on a Death trip to Brussels with Matt Pritchard’s arse mooning the background whilst Cates and Zorlac looked on. The jam itself was amazing. Over 850 people turned up. It was followed by 5050’s video with a room full of 600 skaters. The Xmas Jam was born.

Custom pre-doors shot.

Danny Wainwright destroying the mini ramp. Honorary member.

Dan Wileman was always first on the list and still is. Honorary member.

2004

Globe got involved in the 2004 jam. As a result, the event welcomed its first European sponsored riders and also Toy Machine pro’s from the US. The session went off with a show from the most insane vert skills from Jocke Olson and various vert friends. Ben Grove took dough with a front blunt, Johnny Layton smashed the rail with feebles and more, Josh Harmony, Neil Smith and Vaughan Baker killed it. Others won Crossfire pounds but all I can really remember from that day was that it was absolutely freezing cold, but the session was incredibly warm.

Is that a very young Ewen Bower?!

Josh Harmony nosegrinds.

The Crossfire tee stall run by the lovely Dani, who froze annually to bring you stickers and tees! Thanks Dani!

The after party was held in Kings Cross with Kerrang! Magazine. Karaoke was the order of the night. Massive hangovers followed. A clan of honorary members in this photo.

“Highway to Hell!”

Highway to the Bar!

Calow and Grove in the house.

2005

I have no idea how we managed to actually fill the skatepark from this bloody awful flyer but it would have been my fault it looked like this and nobody elses! Circa Shoes flew Peter Ramondetta into London for this one and he ripped! We decided to build two kickers in the street course and it turned out to be one of the best ideas ever. Ben Raemers (seen below thanks to Leo Sharpe) killed it across the park and made his presence known big time. Wainwright nose picked the motorway roof off the mini ramp and sent everyone into chaos. Flynn Trottman and Rodney Clarke also took the honours at this jam and spent their hard earned dough at the after party held upstairs in a pub called the Mother Black Cap.

The Size Matters lads and Phil Procter fueled the decks on the night with hip hop sets. We all got mash up and another Xmas Jam ended on a high. Watch the video from this event here and the full article is online here.

BaySixty6 crew – honorary members

We could not have done any of this without James Sherry and Alan Christensen.

Or Ralph…all of these 3 are super-honorary members

Pete King and Dave Chesson always repped. Honorary members.

Snowy and Joey have seen a few jams too. Honorary members.

2006

The 2006 flyer is one of our favourites, designed by French. Globe were back as sponsors and the big focus was on the Koston block in the street course and the Heroin Whale that was designed by Fos. His whale design was inspired by an obstacle he had skated in Japan and he came down to paint it one cold December night once Mike in the park had knocked it up. Jak Tonge and Kyron Davis took unsponsored honours, Ben Raemer’s went one higher than Danny Wainwright with a frontside air into the ceiling. Chroliver, Rob Smith, James Gardner, Nowik, Boots and many more took best trick prizes on the day.

Read the full skate feature here and the party photos from Mau Mau’s here.

Fos works on the Heroin Whale. Legendary Xmas Jam obstacle. Honorary member.

Carl Wilson never misses this event. Honorary member.

Cates came as Santa. Honorary member.

Or maybe it was Scrooge.

2007

This Osiris sponsored jam at the park brought more guest pros. John Rattray, Garret Hill, Corey Duffel and Diego Bucchieri all arrived as guests and got stuck into the freezing temperatures alongside a full house of UK pros. Stuart Kolakovic designed this awesome flyer. Chris Ault, Danny Brady, Nowik, Potter and many more took the honours on the day.

Read the full article here and the gallery of party pics from the ‘Feed the Need’ video premiere here. The party was closed down early at the Truman Brewery over East due to people dancing on the bar to a Madness tune. Bog rolls were thrown, the lights went on and we were all told to leave.

Fun times.

Sidewalk filmed this jam:

Exposed: Death Skateboards ‘Ordinary Madness’

Post author By Zac
Post date December 7, 2012

The Death Skateboards team have ended 2012 on a high. Once again, their commitment to UK events, making great products and general scene dedication has seen them flourish into one of the longest serving skateboard companies in the UK.

Five years ago, Death delivered Better Than Life, an amazing collection of footage which saw their worldwide squad up the ante tenfold. Since then, this dishevelled crew have worked hard to deliver another full length DVD, ‘Ordinary Madness’. A full length production that is UK’s video of the year. The UK premiere party was another dose of disorderly fun, screened at the Trinity Pub in Harrow in front of a packed house. The film itself, is by far their best production, featuring sections from all of their pro riders and also the undercurrent of flow riders on the team that are upcoming.

This latest Exposed feature delves into the filming trips behind the scenes with recollections of how OM was stitched together by Death aficionado’s. Their most animated ambassador, Mr DAN CATES, will get this party started sharing his tales of the unexpected from the sessions that made the final cut:

“For me, the funniest and most memorable moments in the making of any video usually come while on a filming mission abroad. ‘Ordinary Madness’ was no exception to the rule! Sometimes it’s the excitement of exploring uncharted territory, sometimes it’s the (usually hot) weather, and other times it’s just the fact that the crew is together once again. That generally sparks off high spirits and “good vibes”, but regardless of the reasons, fun times always occur.

One such time was on a dead of winter trip to good old Barcelona. I had organised it with Zorlac and photographer Rob Shaw, but at the last moment decided we would stay at our good friend Troy West’s new apartment instead of the hostel we had all agreed on. This ended up being not such a good idea (sorry boys!), as the apartment had no heating, Troy got ill and couldn’t skate with us, Rob and our buddy Josh Cox had to sleep together on a small sofa at night (and were not particularly stoked about it), and Moggins was going through some weird phase where all he would talk about was working on site. On top of all this, Boots, who had recently got divorced from his wife, spent most of the trip on the phone to his new girlfriend. I hate to say it, but people were starting to get on each others nerves and spirits were for once, unusually low. A few days in, the normally tea-total Boots, who had by now hurt his neck and couldn’t skate properly anyway, decided (after a lot of encouragement from Moggins and I) to start drinking Sangria at breakfast. This ended up having a knock on effect and by night fall most of the group was 2 litres deep into a Sangria binge with the now paralytic Boots leading by at least a litre and a half!

Whilst I tried to hold it down at the bar, everyone else spent hours chasing Boots around the back streets of Barcelona, bundling him and giving him ‘digs’ as pay back for being “that guy” on his phone all week. This all culminated at the water front with a cornered Boots taking both of his shoes off and throwing them into the Mediterranean in a hilarious attempt to prevent anyone else having the pleasure of doing it. After the entire crew (including Boots) had finished rolling around on the floor laughing, the ever mischievous Moggins decided he wanted more and bet me another litre of Sangria if I stripped down to my boxers and dived off the docks into the (not so warm in January) Med. I obliged and after drunkenly clambering out of the sea feeling strangely content, we began the walk back to Troy’s place dripping wet and cold with a shoeless Boots and a happy crew. We had finally found the high spirits we were searching for!”

Don’t ever bring a KFC bucket into the Death van.

DAVE ALLEN:

“Early on in the filming Nick Zorlac aka “The Boss” came to Atlanta to visit for two weeks and get some filming in the bag too. As most people know, Nick is a night owl, usually going to bed about 5am and waking up at like 12 or 1 in the afternoon. As Atlanta in on Eastern standard time (EST -5 hours), it worked out pretty good for Nick as he never had to adjust his body clock. Most days we sat having breakfast at 8am! I kid you not, Zorlac was not only up before Midday, he was functioning like a ‘normal’ human being too! We even raked the leaves up one morning together.

So the first week went pretty good but on the Sunday I managed to twist my knee trying a disaster revert in a pool, tearing my meniscus. I was in agony and the doc said I needed surgery to fix it. Not wanting to spoil his holiday, I said I would wait a week until after Nick had left before I went under the knife.

As I couldn’t skate, we decided to go and do some tourist stuff. Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola and they have a museum there called the world of Coke. So we borrowed a wheelchair from them and set about taking the tour. Nick was pretty useless as a wheelchair companion and kept leaving me behind and then having to come back and get me.

In the tasting room where you can sample and mix all the drinks they make, they have this huge Coke bottle. Nick wanted to take my pic next to it so, without thinking I got up and sort of walked lock legged a few paces to stand next to it. A cleaner saw me get out of the chair to walk, and proclaimed it was; “a miracle!”. She was gobsmacked. Her face was a study of wonderment and she rushed off to tell her work mates. Nick and I were pissing ourselves laughing as I got back in the chair and carried on with the tour!”.

Paws for celebration.

Cates goes feeble for the lens.

DEAN PALMER:

“Well, basically I was that dipshit guy who was holding the deadline off. I kept asking poor Mark (Nicolson) for a little longer, a little longer and a little longer. I was going back to this spot to film a last trick for the video and I think I ended up going there like 7 or 8 times with great experiences- like getting kicked out, windy conditions, screaming children, Skooner, body becoming too wrecked, splitting my head open, broken board, the mentals and just plain sucking! In the end it was all worth it I guess because I never landed the trick. Sorry guys. Haha!”.

10 urban shits with TIMMY GARBETT while filming for Ordinary Madness by MOGGINS:

“I’ve been skating with Timmy for over 10 years and I’ve never seen one person shit in so many obscure places. Anyone who knows him is well aware of his ‘talent’ and know that he could drop a log at any given moment. Here’s 10 shits that I came up with off the top of my head but there’s many, many more.”

1. Timmy’s first Death trip was a summer tour a couple of years ago and pretty much the first spot of the trip he decided to recreate the DVD menu from the ‘Ravenous’ video by kicking the seat out of an old chair then forcing one out whilst sat on it. Unfortunately, the result was nowhere near as impressive as the original and all he could manage was a golf ball sized piece dotted with sweetcorn. He then picked it up on a stick, smelt it, almost threw up then threw it in the water where everyone had to paddle through to get to the full pipes we were skating. Welcome to the team scumbag!

2. For some reason one evening, Timmy decided it would be a good idea to curl one out on the driveway at Chesterfield skatepark, he then proceeded to spray paint it red.

3. We went to skate some new benches at a school a few months ago and of course Timmy needed to relieve himself as soon as we got there so he took his empty pringles tube and aimed a brown torpedo perfectly into the small opening of the tin. He then wiped his arse with a banana.

4. Another one on the Death summer tour, without needing much encouragement Timmy found himself squatting over the edge of a roof laying an egg, when Steak appeared out of nowhere with a fire extinguisher aimed it high at the squatting Timmy and emptied it all over him!

5. One evening a crew of us were skating Harrow skate park and had the half-pipe lit up with a generator and lights. In the darkness, Timmy dumped a load on top of the snake-run, then kicked it into the stagnant pool of water sitting in the bottom. An hour later my skateboard ran away from me and ended up in the water. Stoked.

6. One Sunday afternoon we were skating the DIY spot in Sheffield and our mate Dead Dave was trying a wallride pop into a quarter-pipe. After a few tries of jumping off, he was given an incentive to land the trick where every time he jumped off he would have to smell Timmy’s wretched dogshit breath. After a few tries (and blasts of stench breath) Dave pulled the trick and Timmy celebrated by taking a shit off the roof into the quarter pipe.

7. The final entry from the Summer tour happened at a KFC, where we had to wait ages to get our food and weren’t allowed to sit in and eat. Timmy was upset over the poor service so after we had finished eating in the car park he decided to refill an empty family bucket with his own secret recipe, and he left the 2-piece meal on the bin for the employees to deal with.

8. After skating one night at a house party, Timmy decided to do his bet chef impression. He squeezed out his own brand of ‘special sausage’ into a frying pan, but of course this wasn’t enough, and he needed some sauce to go with it. So he pissed and puked on top of the smelly sausage and proceeded to fry it up on the hob for half an hour. Delicious!

9. Another standard evening skating down Chesterfield skatepark, Timmy got a call from work telling him that he didn’t have to work the next day. This obviously excited him as he dropped his trousers and rolled a few logs into the bowl corner while people were skating the ramp.

10. The final story was when we were skating a handrail at the bus depot in Sheffield. Dead Dave was trying to 5050 the rail and was having trouble commuting to landing it so Timmy offered to drop a celebratory egg if he made the trick. A couple of tries later Dave had put the trick down and ridden away. We all gathered round to congratulate him and to check the footage, when we turned round to see Timmy already squatting, pushing a little baby out without any encouragement from anyone, just out of pure love for a street shit.

“So there you are, a collection of short stories from my wretched mate Timmy Garbett. If you ever see him, ask him to lay an egg for you, and if it’s your lucky day, you will witness something special!”

Rob Smith enjoys ditch life with Melcher and Jackson.

ROB SMITH:

“Van boredom springs to mind. Always funny shit happening in the Death fun wagon on filming missions. Whilst in the van filming for this video, I drank petrol, ate glass, deep throated a banana until puking over everyone, bleeding everywhere. People got naked. Timmy shat in the van and also in a KFC bargain bucket! That was a funny one. I also snapped my foot in 3 places whilst filming for this video in the fun bus. Not so funny story.

We also stayed in Skegness when on a filming mission and smashed an apartment to pieces, to the state where every plate was smashed, every knife and fork was bent, even the sofa was snapped in half! We left paint on the ceiling! I managed to climb inside the sofa and put it back together but when I got out I couldn’t find my phone, so we rang it and the sofa started to light up and vibrate! I’d left it inside the sofa, so I had to take it apart again to get it back! Haha! We couldn’t be arsed to fix it again. Nothing was ever mentioned by the apartment staff, in fact we have even stayed there since.”

Melcher and Jackon. Ph: Richie Valdez

PATRICK MELCHER:

“Obviously we took a new and fresh approach to making a video part on this one. Richie and I decided that, not only was innovation in the physical realm of skateboarding a necessary evil, but there must be more in the production as well.

Taking the standard “doubles” part and tweaking it into an actual “duet” proved to be a lot more mind-bending than we initially thought it would. Finding a duet song that suited us both and actually spoke to our individual styles was only the first hurdle. Whilst filming, in order to get the tempo in synch, we would bring along a boom-box and listen to the song several times during the session, mapping out the exact points where we should be doing tricks. Timing was everything. There were sessions where we must have listened to a certain part of a song 50 times before we even set foot on a board!

It’s hard enough to film a trick solo, add in the fact that you both have to pull tricks, and then on top of that, they have to fall exactly within the designated vocals of our musical counterparts. Needless to say, there are plenty of outtakes! So many times we would be so close and both pull our tricks flawlessly, but the synching was off with the music! It really got to be maddening after a while.

In skating, as we all know, you can have it down in your head so perfectly but the physical variables compound so heavily that you will surely go mad. Luckily we had a couple of filmers who understood the art of what we were tying to accomplish and were patient on these sessions.”

RICHIE JACKSON

“The sketchiest clip to acquire was the one where Melch hangs out on that wallride to fakie while I carve underneath him. That spot is the rear of a carwash in a relatively sketchy part of LA, which is only closed for a few hours after midnight on Sunday’s. We headed over there with a crew of 4 dudes in total. Once we got the lights in, Melch started going straight for it.

The footage gives zero indication of what we were actually dealing with, but the wall Patrick was hanging off was literally someone’s back fence. There was a pitbull right there on the other side going bonkers, which at 2:00 AM woke up whoever lives there. I can only imagine what the poor guy over the fence was experiencing. He would have seen two hands in a leather jacket pop up over his fence, rattle his awning, then drop back down, again, again and again! It’s only right that the only words he spoke to us were “I’m calling the cops”.

All I had to do was get up onto the wall under Patrick, and just hope that we timed it right. We handled it as quick as we could and then rushed to pack everything up and get it in the car. I’ve never dismantled tripods so fast. We drove out of the carwash after a 15 minute session, took one right turn at the bottom of the street and drove straight past the cop car that was on it’s way to get us. Tales of Ordinary Madness indeed.”

Jackson loves walls. Ph: Melcher

NICK ZORLAC:

“The last summer tour we did was so much fun, a.k.a the ‘Lady Luck’ tour. It went something like this:

The Death van was too small to fit a massive crew in.
– Monster Energy gave us a 17 seater bus to use stacked with drinks.

I wanted Crazy Pete to come along as co driver, but his driving licence was at the DVLA and he needed it to get insured on the tour vehicle.
– His license arrived back in the post the very morning we were leaving.

It rained, pretty much every day.
– We drove to spots that we wanted to skate through the rain anyway, and the sun came out as we were driving and dried up where we were going.

We needed lots of footage for the DVD.
– Every spot we went to multiple riders landed sick stuff, it was mental. We didn’t know where we were going. In each area we had the coolest locals with us showing us about. Lots of spots were a bust. People kept making stuff ‘last try’ literally as the security were arriving.

We needed lots of floor space for people to sleep.
– There just happened to be a spare room at the house that month, as our friend had recently relocated. (Miss you Hitcher!) And so it continued. Good times.

I also just found out that a lot of places we skated on that tour were demolished soon after or unskateable for whatever reason (new buildings etc), so if we had not visited there at that point, we would have missed out.

Oh, and we managed to skate a real transitioned backyard pool (stupidly rare in the UK) and Benson shot a photo in there that ended up being a Sidewalk cover! In a world where ‘if things can go wrong, they generally do’, it was a welcome change.”

MARK NICOLSON

“For this video we drafted in my good friend Jake Martinelli (the genius behind Harlow’s “Crazy Ass White Bitches” DVD) to help with filming duties so we all have more time to concentrate on skating. Every filming session was fun cos I got to skate all day instead of having to film people! Stoked! I wanna send Jake and all the filmers round the world who contributed to this video a MASSIVE thank you! From us all.”

The Death team will be repping the Crossfire Xmas Jam on the 15th December. Look out for the DVD in your local skate shop this week and enjoy Andy Evans documentary to get even further behind the scenes of Death.

Thanks to Dan Cates for the snaps.

Features Skateboarding

Exposed: Richard West

Post author By Zac
Post date November 26, 2012

The South Coast has always produced a variety of interesting degenerates within the skateboard scene. Some say that it must be the sea air that assists the extraordinary to achieve such valuable creativity, or maybe there’s some sort of phytogenetic seed that is carried through each generation that stimulates the next batch of skateboarders to be as extrovert as the last.

Brighton’s scene is full of said personalities, so who better to discuss them with other than local skate photographer Richard West. Rich is 24, an email buddy of Beyonce’s and would tell you himself that he is one of life’s ‘failed skateboarders’. Somehow, Rich was nominated to capture Brighton’s vibrant skateboard scene because he loves taking photographs, and he does it very well.

“I started shooting photos at about the age of 19 but I have no idea how I got sucked into it. Something made me want to start though, so I spent a few years studying at Brighton, which was rad. I guess it was a standard situation where I didn’t do enough work, even though and I now wished I had, but that’s hindsight for you.”

Most photographers would admit to waking up daily with a desire to push forward. Rich is no different. There’s always another spot to find, and even a new angle on an old one too.

“If I was to describe my style of shooting I would say OTT, verging on obsessive compulsive. If I see something that I feel is wrong, I will go insane. I won’t show anyone anything until I feel it’s to a standard where I feel it might be OK for the human eye to see. Usually it isn’t, but sometimes it’s borderline.”

Is this behaviour what makes skateboarding exciting though? Is it natural for us to aspire to new levels of creativity? Of course it is. The best skateboard photographers out there all face this outlook. Striving to return from a trip knowing that the goods could arrive once soaked in water to swell the gelatin layer.

Thesedays, once the card is inserted into the computer and the download bar reachs completion, the goods are there to see much faster than yesteryear. Rich currently shoots on a Nikon D700. His flash setup “looks like something from a 90s skate video and it’s all tucked into a bag that looks like i’m going on holiday everytime I go out! I keep forcing myself to shoot film so I recently bought a Pentax 6×7. It’s a rad camera but a bit of a nightmare to take around.”

Speaking about the snappers that have inspired this notion of perfection, Rich believes there are actually: “far, far, far too many amazing skateboarding photographers out there! Far too many!” But the names that are mentioned include the work of Alex Burrell, Sam Muller, Brian Gaberman, Lex Kembery, Scott Pommier, Percy Dean, Wig and Rich Gilligan, to name a few. “They are all amazing, especially for their love and continual persistence to shoot film- something I wish I did a lot more.” And as the wind blows, Brighton’s finest will not make any plans and roll with the program. He certainly will not feel like a failure if they don’t work out.

Enjoy the view through Richard West’s lens in our first of many Exposed features we have lined up, where skateboard photography or film are explained by those in and around the action.

“This spot is notorious to Brighton. It’s one of the only hubba’s around the south and it’s also one of the worst things to skate. As soon as you and your board connect with its crusty haggard edge, you are almost automatically thrown straight to the floor like a sack of organs. You will be able to see this clip in an up and coming Andy Evans video which is sure to be filled with skateboarding puns and terrible 80s music.”

“Stevie Thompson officially makes the best shapes around! This Hurricane was a shot from a recent trip to Bristol and after seeing the DIY spot in footage we had to give it a go! I can’t describe how hard it was to skate! To be honest, I didn’t even bother trying, but Stevie came through. Not bad for a 37 year old! Haha!”

“This is one of the best ramps in the world (or far from it). This was shot at a place called Crowhurst. A small, pointless, uncounted-for village in the middle of nowhere, that is graced with a 11 foot rusty vert ramp bowl thing. It’s owned by a metal worker who built it for a local BMX rider that he noticed, who needed a place to ride many moons ago. It’s made from a number of rusty steel sheets of metal that have now started to come up. Just under the coping, the ramp has started to corrode away, leaving a nice hole that you have to avoid of risk falling to your rusty death! If for some reason you are in the area. you must check this thing out! It’s like nothing you will ever skate, but don’t go there on a Sunday as you will be shouted at. Oh and this is Ewen doing a trick, but who cares.”

“I recently went on a trip to Berlin with the Drawing Boards lot and it was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. Living in a gypsy wagon surrounded by hippies is essentially my worst nightmare. That said, it was a really good trip with many a trick landed. This is Jak Tonge. Watch out for the new video ‘Draw the Line’ this December, it’s sure to be good!”

“Matt Ransom is one of the biggest hippies I know. I was fed up with seeing fisheye shots of Shoreham skatepark. Yes, I know anyone who is reading this that knows me will think what a hypocrite, as I am a fisheye fiend, but that’s not the point. This was my attempt to do something different, that is actually, not that different.”

“Interesting story with this. We visited a spot before this just down the road. We had previously been warned that day of the sketchiness of the area but Ewen assured me it would be find. On arrival we took ourselves down to the spot and had a little look. Not even setting foot on out boards we hear a loud “YOU MUST BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” We look aside to see a huge dude coming towards us squaring up to Ewen. He obviously didn’t like skateboarders, so we left. Ewen did the 5050 in about 4 goes. He’s pretty good.”

“Contradicting what I said earlier, I’m a sucker for coping fisheye photos! Haha! Well to be honest, I hate them, but hanging out with people like Craig and Jake you pretty much won’t ever be able to escape them. They are far too consumed by 80s skating which is funny and also sometimes really annoying.”

“I hate Ewen, but he does have some good tricks. Not bad for a cowboy.”

“Same here!”

“Polejams are one of the best things to skate and a rare treat! Pat is also sick at skating even if half the time he doesn’t know what’s actually going on in front of him.”

“Jamie is an interesting dude. You can never tell where he is going to be the next day. He has a Grubb’s burger tattooed to his leg in the hope they would give him free burgers for life. Sadly they did not.”

“Joe Sandand, AKA Hastings off the forum (sorry for naming you out) is a horrible person. Not really, but he does look like the lost member of Right Said Fred! This photo was shot not too long ago, at a legendary spot called Bottle Alley, shown on ‘Britain’s Toughest Seaside Towns’. It’s a horrible place that smells of piss, filled with all sorts of nasty Hastings characters throughout the day selling drugs and having sex on the steps (no joke). It’s a rad spot though and well worth a visit!”

“More from Stevie Thompson. He is always rad to shoot. His knowledge of skateboarding is far beyond anything that any skateboarder could ever dream of too and that. All you need to do is give him a can of cider and stick him in Stockwell and you will see just how competent he is on his skateboard. He’s also a violent drunk. Haha!”

“Finally, Zak (Isaac Miller) is sick at skating and it’s a rare sight to see him out of the Level haha! When he skates, he waits for no one and just goes for it straight away. It’s kind of the situation where you either get it or you don’t, because he would have probably nailed it in the first 5 attempts. Switch ollie.”

Features Skateboarding

Pretty Sweet UK Premiere gallery

Post author By Zac
Post date November 21, 2012

Photography by Ben Larthe

As the Trunk Boyz were getting tattooed in an ink joint down the road and necking sake bombs, art was being hung in the Hoxton Hotel, hair was being pulled at the Richmix, and a steady wave of people from all corners of the country started to fill the cinema to see Pretty Sweet.

Despite the fact that the team riders were fresh off the plane from the US premiere, the overall vibe was chilled and the Girl fam were certainly hyped on bringing this to London. The film played, the tricks flowed, the beers and cocktails spilled, and the spoilers will remain elsewhere for now whilst the film premiere’s across Europe.

One word that will spring to mind when you get to see this production for the first time is ‘fun’. The Girl and Chocolate teams and crew obviously had large portions of the good stuff filming this over a 5 year period. Look out for the DVD that will be hitting your local skate shop in the next week, or get ready to download it from i-Tunes on the 27th.

Thanks to all at Girl and Chocolate, Diana and all at the Hoxton Hotel for accommodating us on the night and the Never Mind The Art Dump exhibition that runs until December 7th. Thanks to Tiger Beer, all at Form Distribution, Ben Larthe, and everyone who returned home on the night without stealing from The Art Dump. Karma is certainly a beautiful beast. Enjoy.

Tags chocolate skateboards, cory kennedy, dvd, Elijah Berle, footage, free download, gallery feature, girl skateboards, Kenny Anderson, lakai, pretty sweet, pretty sweet uk, Raven Tershy, Sam Smyth, Sean Malto, Stevie Perez, uk premiere

Features

Sean Malto interview

Post author By Zac
Post date November 6, 2012

With 10 days to go before Pretty Sweet drops onto premiere screens across the planet, Kansas born, Girl Skateboards pro, Sean Malto spills some beans on his trips to the UK, what’s coming from Pretty Sweet and a little bit more.

How different has this year been, knowing you started 2012 wearing a pair of Nike‘s?

Man, it’s so crazy. I’m just starting a different chapter in my skate life. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that I have to skate for some of the best companies in the world. With that though, it creates much more traveling for me.

This was your second trip to London in 2 months, what’s your take on the terrain we have here to skate?

It’s tough, but I love the way footage looks in London. I’m a big fan of all of the Blueprint videos.

Have you found how rough our streets are a hindrance or a challenge?

It’s definitely a challenge. Getting stuff in London does not come easy! It’s a lot of walking and skating just to get to the spot. Then you have to deal with the weathered ground. I have a lot of fun in London though so I try and go there when I can.

Have you managed to film any footage for Pretty Sweet in London’s streets?

I got a few things in London that are in my part. Feds (Girl Filmer) and myself came out and skated around for 10 days and filmed kinda everything from skating spots to taking the tube. I’m not sure how they ended up editing my part but I’m sure some of that footage is in there.

Any particular UK spots that you enjoyed most?

The bench that turns into a flatbar is amazing. I’ve never skated anything like that in my life.

What about the culture, the people and the food. Some Americans hate our food…

I’m the least pickiest eater. I like all types of food, so that doesn’t bother me at all. The people are always nice and I definitely enjoy a good pub every once in a while!

Growing up in Kansas, did you have any knowledge about the UK skate scene at all?

I didn’t know a lot about it, other than the Blueprint videos. When I started hanging out with people that have visited the UK, everyone always mentioned that Nick Jensen was killing it.

Which UK skaters do you rate the most?

There’s so many talented people. Neil Smith, Nick Jensen, Danny Brady, Jerome Campbell, Paul Shier…..they’re all so awesome to watch skate.

Is your Pretty Sweet part finished yet?

Last day of filming was October 15th, so I’m all done!

Where was the majority of your footage for this production filmed?

Kinda a little bit of everywhere. Over the past few years I’ve spent time all over Europe, China, and the US, so it’s just a collection of everything I’ve filmed.

Which trick was the biggest pain in the ass to get down and where?

I filmed one of my last tricks a week before the deadline of the video. It was one of the scariest tricks I’ve every put myself through. It sucked so bad. When I landed it, I was more happy that I didn’t have to try it again than I was about landing it!

Did you have to go back to any spots to re-shoot tricks you didn’t particularly like?

There were a few things I had to go back to. Towards the end, it was more about trying to do tricks I’d been putting off until the deadline.

Did you manage to get any NBD’s down in this section?

Haha! I’m not sure. I’m not the best at skate history. I’m sure there’s a couple tricks that seem to be NBD’s, but someone probably did it at EMB 20 years ago.

We always discuss the skateboarders, but the filmers are equally important to mention when it comes to film productions. Out of Ty Evans, Federico, Ryan Lovell, Sam Newman and Roger Bagley, which one person gets the very best out of the team for their parts on the day, which filmers do you like working with mostly, and who filmed the majority of your part?

I love all those guys. Ty Evans, Ryan Lovell, and Feds filmed the majority. To be able to work with all those guys has been an amazing experience. I did work with Ty Evans a lot for Pretty Sweet. He’s so motivated, and knows what it takes to get a video done. I’ve never been on more productive trips than Ty Evans’ trips.

Sean hits up a bs nose blunt at the Ladbroke Grove rail, poached by Matt Anderson’s phone cam.

Do you know what other names came up first before they chose the title Pretty Sweet?

There was one other name that I really liked, inspired by Keenan Milton. I don’t know if I should say it, because I think it could be used for another video somewhere down the road!

Brandon Biebel mentioned in a recent interview that Guy Mariano’s part is going to blow minds. Have you been on any filming missions with him for this production?

I’ve seen a few things on trips, but Guy is a very talented and motivated person. His part is going to exceed any expectations. To me, his part is going to be one of the best parts ever in skateboarding.

Who is everyone hyped on for this video from the Chocolate camp?

Obviously MJ is the man. All the new guys on the team killed it as well though! Stevie Perez, Elijah, Raven, and Vincent took this video to a whole new level!

Any words on Gino, Koston and Howard?

Watching Gino is, and always will be amazing. No one makes it look better than him. Rick Howard is a big reason why Girl is so awesome, and why this video is even happening. I have so much respect for Rick and always have such a great time hanging out with him. Koston’s the best skater in the world! But you guys already knew that right?

For all the new skaters out there who may not have seen classic Girl Skateboards videos, Mouse or Goldfish. If you had to choose a section from each film, which ones would you choose

Koston in Mouse and Jeron’s section in Goldfish.

Tell us something about Pretty Sweet that we don’t know?

Trunk Boyz are always fun and funny to hang out with. If anyone from London wants a dose of the Trunk Boyz, I would suggest going to the premiere in the UK! They’ll be there, and in full force!

Last words….

Don’t piss into the wind.

Pretty Sweet premiere’s in the UK at the Richmix Cinema, London on Monday November 19th. Girl and Chocolate team riders Raven Tershy, Elijah Berle, Rick Howard, Cory Kennedy, Vincent Alvarez and Stevie Perez will be in attendance on the night. Pre-order the deluxe DVD boxset from your local skate shop this week.

Watch Sean’s latest footage for Kansas City skate shop Escapist, whose latest video ‘Red and Yellow’ just dropped this weekend. This part also features footage of Tyshaun Johnson.

Watch this clip of how Sean was sponsored by Girl too.

Features

The Couch Potato #3 Halloween video special!

Post author By Zac
Post date November 1, 2012

There are so many skate jams all over the world celebrating Halloween these days that we decided to bring a selection to you on one plate so you can get the teas on, hit the sofa and indulge in the delights that others have spent hours tirelessly working on. There will be more to surface over the next few days, so once you have taken in the gore from this lot, expect a few more to be added as they drop.

If you have photos or footage to send in from your Halloween experiences, do it.

HALLOWEEN IN THE TRANSWORLD SKATEPARK!

The Transworld park was treated to a private hell sesh. See who turned up for the ride here:

KILL CITY SKATEBOARDS vs CRV WKD vs GOON TV

The Kill City team Carve Wicked in this amazing new clip from Lee Dainton and Richard P Walton featuring the Horror that has been unleashed from the Welsh skate scene for this Halloween. Explosive stuff from Goon TV.

HELLFEST 2 AT PRIME SKATEPARK

Members of Witchcraft, Real and many more get stuck into Plymouth’s Prime park for Hellfest 2.

CROSSFIRE HALLOWEEN MASSACRE 2012 – BAYSIXTY6 SKATEPARK

Missed this? How, it’s all over our site?! No real explanation needed, just click play for the outcome of our very own Halloween Massacre Jam at the BaySixty6 park this week. More goodness from this can be found here.

HALLOWEEN HELLRIDE AT THE DIAMOND MINE

Total annihilation from Russo, Tershy, Jaws and many more!

MAJER HALLOWEEN JAM – BROWNSVILLE

Unlike the Saffron Walden locals, the Majer Crew actually all dressed up for their local skate park jam and that’s why they are featured here instead.

BUCKY LASEK’S BACKYARD HALLOWEEN BOWL JAM

When Bucky Lasek throws a Halloween Jam in his backyard bowl, you either go, or watch the footage. Check this session out. Ridiculous skateboarding, amazing outfits, fun times.

Bucky Lasek’s Bowl-B-Q Halloween Skate Jam 2012 from Dylan Pfohl on Vimeo.

BURNSIDE SKATEPARK HALLOWEEN JAM – PORTLAND, OREGON.

Fueled by the Dead Kennedy’s classic tunes, Portland’s skate scene get amongst the crete for a session celebrating the park’s 22nd Birthday. 9 minutes of gnar right here.

FRANKY VILLANI’S HALLOWEEN SECTION

Costa Mesa skater Franky Villani chose Halloween as a date to unleash this beast of an edit that he has been working on for a while. If you are tired of watching bowl shredding, here’s one from the streets.

LOWCARD HQ MINI RAMP SESH!

There’s nothing like a Ween filled mini ramp sesh, especially from the lifers at Lowcard who put in some serious work. This looked like it was a blast! Push play for Jerry Gurney, Jack Given, Toad, Zak G, Manbaby, and Adrian Mallory.

Halloween at the LCHQ… from lowcard magazine on Vimeo.

DEADLESS!

If this is just the teaser, we cannot wait until the full edit drops.

Teaser Halloween Deadless 2012 from Deadless Skateboard on Vimeo.

DIAL 666!

The Devil rolls the only way he can, and that means that he is mostly alone. Volcom’s park in Costa Mesa takes some from Tyler Mumma’s roasting hot attire.

Dial 666 from Giovanni Angelone on Vimeo.