Since their inception, Maverick Industries have made some monumental achievements for skateboarding in the UK through a simple, but hard-working modus operandi. I feel their impression on the UK is best described by stealing a tagline from an Academy Award nominated film and then re-contextualise it as thus: you don’t get to 35,000 fans on Facebook without building a few skateparks…
This is exactly what Maverick have done. Comprised of a hardworking team, Maverick keep a good eye and ear out for where skateparks are both needed and wanted and do whatever they can to not only ensure that a skatepark is built, but that it has good financial backing and that it matches or betters the increasingly high standards of contemporary concrete parks. Now, there is a flurry of excitement associated with whenever the park company post a new design online. That number isn’t a lie. Almost 35,000 are stoked on the designs, and the plan for Stanground was no exception.
As of October 2010, Stanground, Peterborough suddenly became home to a transition skater’s dream. Even if you’re not a big transition head, the unique path and flow of the park makes it the perfect place to get a nice grip on transition skateboarding. For the veterans, there’s a toothpick tombstone to try your hand on as well a large amount of lines and gaps with plenty of potential for creative eyes to find more. Definitely a tidy piece of work that’s worthy of a little trip for anyone in the UK.
For a full in-depth insight into the park we thought that there would be no better option than to talk to those involved with the building of the park, the Maverick Industries heads themselves. We spoke to Maverick Projects Director, Russ Holbert to get the official low-down on park. Read on for some knowledge…
Below: The Fresh Blood tip for 2011, Nick Remon gets stuck into the tombstone. Photo: Tom Halliday
Who made the first move to replace the existing park in Stanground with something of a high and accessible modern standard?
Rieaston Meins, a local skater has been campaigning for skateparks in the Peterborough area since the closure of the highly successful Y2SK8 indoor park. Once Reece had raised awareness and demonstrated a need the Council got involved. The group were lucky to have a really supportive Council officer, Judith Neal.
For Stanground a group of youths got together and interviewed students to find out what potential users would want, correct? What ideas were kept on for the final design and is this approach something you’d encourage future groups petitioning for skateparks to do?
The Stanground skatepark design has been designed in conjunction with the local user group throughout the process. The group were supported by the local Youth Services team and by Peterborough Council’s Community Engagement team and local Police. At Maverick we wouldnt think of designing a park without getting the locals fully involved with the design process, this is the best way to ensure that the skatepark is successful.
What was the total budget for this park, who provided it?
The budget for the skatepark was around £95k; the funding came from a number of different sources.
How long did the entire process take, from the first meeting to the grand opening?
We were involved for about a year, but the plans for a skatepark go back to when Y2SK8 closed
How easy is it to get for people outside of Stanground?
It is accessible by public transport or car and there is a car park right next to the park. It seems to be a nice enough area and the locals are friendly.
Is there any obstacle here that’s a first for Maverick?
Every skatepark we design is completely bespoke this park has some interesting features such as a toothpick style tombstone, and fun skate path and interesting miniramp combo unit.
Stanground Skatepark is located at Stanground Community Centre, Whittlesey Road, PE2 8QS or you can check the map.
Watch the footage from the official opening jam below, get hyped and start planning your first trip of the spring now.
What comes to mind when you think of Manchester? Joy Division? The Stone Roses? Football? Urbis? Note Skateshop? One name that should always come to mind amongst those is Joe Gavin, a skater who knows his city inside and out, as if he had been unofficially granted the role of being the Mancunian CEO of street skateboarding or something. It’s a role he kind of subconsciously does already, regardless of any formal title. He has the keys, he knows every alley, every waxed curb and every gap… treat him to a bacon butty and he’ll be more than happy to show you around. As pro rider for The Harmony he has spread the Mancunian love around the UK and has achieved spectacular things for the scene.
This is Joe Gavin and Manchester is his city. Read on to learn more about his town, the still-forthcoming ‘Pusherman‘ video with Sean Lomax, his time spent with Willow, memories from Radlands and more.
Interview: Joe Moynihan
Portrait: Joel Peck
Let’s start with the usual gubbins, where in the world are you and what’s going on?
I’m in Manchester. Just skating… the usual stuff really. Filming, working and that…
Tell us a little about your Pusherman project you’ve been working on for the past couple of years now… Things went a little quiet after the trailer dropped last year but the UK is still hyped for it. When are we going to see the finished product and who is going to have full sections?
OK, better make this clear… ‘Pusherman’ is on its way, but its Sean Lomax’s project really so I guess he should answer that.
Expect to see full parts from Eddie, Bell, Barrett, Da Silva, Dom Henry, Jed Coldwell, Bruce Pouncey, Grove, Tyrone O’Hanrahan, Kendrick errrrrrrr Stannerz! And myself…
Is the film connected with the Curtis Mayfield song of the same name? What’s the story behind the name?
In no way do we promote drug dealing. Dan Cintra has to get props for this actually he was singing away trying to think up a name and was like “what about a song with push in it, then people pushing loads” then we instantly were singing “I’m your Pushermayn!”
I remember telling Sean later at the pumpcage and he was like “keen… yeah.” And that was it! Obviously we use that track! And pinch the name!
The relationship between skateboarder and filmer has always been a bit awkward that can sometimes see a lot of disagreement. Have you ever encountered any of this trouble and do you find the filming process easier having had experience on both sides of the camera?
It all depends on who you skate or film with. I’ve been lucky enough to have some good friends that film and edit pretty damn well, so it gets you hyped to skate knowing what you’re doing is gonna look all nice! It’s good filming with Sean because he really knows his stuff and can make Manchester look amazing, even when maybe it’s not so pretty. We both have ideas or angles that may work also so it usually turns out sick.
What advice would you give to people wanting to document their local skate scene and put together a scene video?
Go for it! Pick up a camera and go out and have at it! No hess! It’s fun.
Where do you stand on the internet edit taking over and making everyone desensitised to skating and to some extent de-motivating people? What’s changed since you first started getting coverage and filming videos?
I’m kinda feeling it actually. The internet has just made it easier for skateboarding to progress and for kids to get noticed. In many ways it’s way more motivating knowing you can just bang out a part on the internet if you want and it’s only a good thing for you, your sponsors and your mates who get a couple bonelesses in there. The bad thing is it’s made skateboarding less special with too much to choose from.
Not much has changed really filming wise; people still use the the same cameras, film the same style… fisheye lines, it’s a classic style that you can’t really fuck with.
Although I’ve been well impressed by the 550d,7d’s there pretty amazing.
Manchester has always come across as one of the strongest skate scenes in the UK, what skaters in particular have you encountered in your career that have made Manchester so special to you?
Ahh too many to mention… just all my mates that trek around backstreets for time and skate a 1 foot bank like we just found MACBA! Eddie’s daily morning texts are pretty inspirational!
Name three spots that are essential sessions for a visitor to Manchester…
BBC banks
Urbis (still skateable)
The slappy metal curb!
Crooks – Photo: Joel Peck
Who amongst the younger skaters in Manchester have caught your eye lately?
There’s always loads of good kids killin’ it, I’m feelin Bruce Pouncey’s footage and his brother Max is getting good. Jay Stone has a really good style and bag of tricks. It’s been cool to watch him progress over the years. Nev’s a beast. There’s loads.
Tell us how your new Etnies shoe embodies the essence of Manchester… we’re really digging the cloudy colorway!
It’s black with different materials like gortex and leather to kind of represent a jacket that most people wear beacause it rains so much. Then yeah, the grey tongue is the clouds and then there’s a bee symbol on the tongue which is Manchester’s sign of working industry. Then I’m a City fan so there’s some sky blue on there too.
Did you enjoy hanging with Willow when making those edits? We interviewed him a while back and not only is he funny, he also rips…were there any funny moments?
Oh yeah for sure, that dude is hilarious, just had me laughing the whole time. Plus he’s a powerful skateboarder and a rad dad!
I thought it was cool that Etnies chose two of the most notoriously rainy cities in Europe to focus on. Did it rain more in Berlin than over here?
Yeah, it was snowing in berlin so we didn’t skate any street which I was so gutted about. But the skatepark there is amazing so it was all good.
You recently come back from another Berlin tour with The Harmony, what were the highs and lows?
Jed Coldwell was the highs and rain was the lows! It ended up with us buying flame hats, drying up spots and generally brits on piss type behaviour. Loads of German booze!
The Skatehalle park is always mentioned when people list their favourite indoor parks in Europe. The UK is kind of going through a plaza trend right now but given Mother Nature’s tendency to smother us with rain the indoor park will always be a staple for us Brits. What are the best memories for you when skating UK indoor parks?
My Dad was pretty cool when I was a kid and would try and take me to one skate park a month. When I was about 11 years old and I didn’t wanna play footy anymore so we used to go to Wakefield and even Radlands with like nine other lads in the back of my Dad’s furniture van keen to shred … it was amazing!
Nollie F/S 360 – Sequence: Joel Peck
What session comes to mind when thinking of the ultimate good vibe at Projekts?
Reggae Vibes ‘Trailer Load’. Just all the homies going for it slamming and shit. We had a – 6 session the other day.
There’s more deck companies than ever in the UK right now, is this a good thing?
I guess it is yeah. It’s all good, the shit ones make the good ones look better!
Tell us a little about your Big Push experience last year… you came out trumps with being allocated Manchester. What was it like seeing people like Barney Page skate your local turf?
Yeah that was a fun time for sure, Barney ripped so hard! He’s fucking amazing.
What other projects have you got in store after Pusherman?
SHRED. SHRED. SHRED…. chill. SHRED! Gonna be having stuff in Kendrick’s ‘Shads’ and maybe the Sidewalk vid and a few edits that I’ve filmed or am in coming out soon. Nearly finished an interview for Sidewalk too.
My girlfriend’s moved to London also so I will be down there skating, doing the edits for the Harmony site. Keeping busy really, that’s the plan.
Any final words of wisdom?
Keep the fire burning in your heart, for the key to perfect tres lies deep within you my friend.
Normally we don’t do this sort of thing but 2010 deserves to remain in the forefront of our minds as we enter 2011. So much has changed, what with web edits being crowned king and DVDs, though still significant, are unquestionably on the way out. 2010 saw some embrace the new medium of presenting skateboarding while others countered against it and the combined results was extraordinary. We don’t remember the last time we have been so constantly hyped on skateboarding during a 12 month period.
So, have a look below to see who we have decided deserves extra props for the graft they’ve put in to make skateboarding an even radder thing to be a part of. ‘Ave it.
One of the hardest working men in all of skateboarding, Mark Baines rarely stepped off his board this year. His parts in both the Rockers video and Blueprint’s ‘Make Friends With The Colour Blue‘ were overwhelming and filled with progression for both himself and British skateboarding in general. Everything he puts out is fuelled by skateboarding and it all goes straight back into skateboarding. A true inspiration.
In recent years the ams of the UK have been making a far greater impact on the global skate scene than ever before. None more so than the Exeter jokeshop known as Barney Page. Ask anyone who has skated with him and they’ll all say the same thing. Normally it’s something like, “ooooooof.” but Barney’s natural ability is often hard to comprehend, let alone articulate. The hardest thing to fathom is this… he just keeps getting better. After stealing the spotlight from US pros in recent RVCA tour edits, Barney, whether he is aware of it or not, is on his way to do some bloody great things for UK skateboarding.
1. Pontus Alv – In Search Of The Miraculous
After worrying about hyperbole for weeks after watching Pontus Alv‘s latest video, I still stand by my instant reaction: ‘In Search Of The Miraculous‘ could well be the most important skate video in these uncertain times. (Review)
2. Blueprint Skateboards – Make Friends With The Colour Blue
Any sort of video production would have been welcome from the Blueprint camp after fears for the future of the company penetrated the global skate conscious. But what Magee, Shier, Baines and the rest of the team delivered turned out to be perhaps one of the last great board company DVDs before the internet is officially crowned king. We shouldn’t have expected anything less. (Review)
3. Emerica – Stay Gold
There is simply no other team in the world more talented and capable of taking stair/gap/handrail skateboarding to another level. No amount of hype prepared us for what was in store in Stay Gold. Heath Kirchart at the megaramp, Brandon Westgate confirming himself as one of the best skaters of our generation, Aaron Suski still killing it, Leo Romero earning skater of the year and – whether you needed it or not – concrete proof that Andrew Reynolds is The Boss. (Review)
4. Krooked – KROOK3D
We were always expecting another fun-filled video from the Krooked crew, but to take on an entire cinematic trend with typical nudge nudge wink wink aplomb and recall the early 90s session vibe while still making an amazing video of contemporary standard… unbelievable. (Review)
5. Patrik Wallner – 10,000 Kilometers
The ‘skate documentary’ has suffered the most in the fall of DVD and rise of the throwaway web edit. Try telling that to Patrik Wallner, who continues to traverse the globe in search of stories, great skateboarders and manages to capture it in a way that all filmmakers should revere. (Review)
1. Cardiff Skateboard Club – Join Us
Christian Hart has been making crude videos that any pirate would be proud of for years now. But with ‘Join Us‘ he went all out. The first ‘proper’ CSC video is a triumph on so many levels, but mostly for how it fully portrays how skateboarding should always be: fun, creative, and ever so slightly stupid. (Review)
2. Monster Network – In Between Days
The latest video to come from the creative network of monsters down in the South East was perhaps Russel Cowling’s most refined video piece of work. Visually fluid, In Between Days was rammed with nothing but the optimism inherant in the wonderful Essex skate scene. It also had cracking new footage from the perpetually underrated Dave Watson, legends Simon Skipp and Channon King and the first proper section from someone who’s going to be astronomically huge in 2011, Nick Remon. (Review)
3. Gnargore – Wizard Council
With the technology available in 2010 it wasn’t too difficult to make a professional-looking video, which is great, but it became harder to instill the fun, the comradery, the general idea of being in a tight scene and having a good time; this for the most part, was lost. Gnargore traded in expensive cameras for a fucking great time, and that’s exactly what you get when watching it. (Review)
1. Etnies – Crapshoot
The world is moving too fast and no one knows what direction it’s heading it. Etnies know exactly where they want to be, and so do I. In a warehouse, with friends, painting walls and skating shit obstacles. Utter perfection. A perfect concept, perfectly executed.
2. Gravis Footwear – Dylan
I realise I often criticize the way in which skate videos are moving, but if there is one positive to focus on then Dylan’s part is the perfect example of it. Skateboarders who can hold their own don’t need to be in the context of anything other than their own skating. Aptly titled ‘Dylan’, this free DVD part from Gravis took what AWS did with ‘Kalis In Mono’ and blew everyone’s mind with the result. Dylan Rieder is just incredible and no one saw this coming.
3. Hold Tight Henry – Nick Jensen Lakai Ad.
Hold Tight Henry has had a tremendous year, as has Nick Jensen. Combined we see what is possible for the web video, which is great and all, but what Henry and Nick achieved with this Lakai ad was a presentation of everything that makes London skateboarding so special. Nick and Henry ARE London.
4. Crayon Skateboards – Barber Advert
The ones to watch, Crayon have had a year filled with positives and this visually stunning edit from Nick Richards is the icing on the cake. A relatively unknown skateboarder on the verge of blowing up cut to a track from a producer in the same situation. This ad proved that Crayon mean serious business, it also proved that Barber is proper amazing at skateboarding and stuff. That frontside smith!
5. Justin Brock vs D*Face
Another Henry Edwards-Wood entry yes but can you name anyone that worked harder last year? For this edit, Henry was presented with the creative talents of Real’s Justin Brock and D*Face in a film that depicted the synapse where art and skateboarding meet and what wonders emerge when they do. In the short time allocated to filming Justin Brock landed one of the sickest tricks performed at Bloblands and knocked out a rarely seen f/s bigspin down the one-push stair set by the Gherkin while D*Face made the coolest looking vert wall ever. Serious stuff.
Some absolute corkers dropped in UK shops this year as more board companies searched high and low for artists to contribute their own styles to the company with each one staying true to the messages and ideologies behind each brand. Crayon appropriately hired Pete Fowler, the artist behind the Super Furry Animal’s artwork for this wonderful deck that uses bright optimistic colours and typically trippy graphics to make something unquestionably Welsh. For Science, Matthew Green drew a cat vomiting a waterfall of bright blue water and if that isn’t rad then we don’t know what is. The last pick for the best graphic of the year goes to Blueprint’s fantastic Quiet Corners series, featuring choice cuts from Paul Gonella’s superb photography and resulting in something as British as you can get.
éS – Bobby Worrest First Blood (Black/Gum)
In early 2009 we were given a sneak preview of Bobby’s first éS pro shoe during our trip to the Sole Tech Labs. We, alongside many other media heads from around the world, knew right there and then that this shoe was going to be a classic. Simple design, comfortable and does exactly what all skate shoes should do… make skateboarding feel good man. So good in fact that this year we didn’t just review it once, but twice.
Word around town is that he’s fucked a thousand bitches. Damn. Swag.
Turns out Dibble is a Polish rap sensation. Who knew?
ABP. N26ers have winced at Rab Milne’s mosher drop in of doom enough already but here it is for anyone who missed it. Only in Scotland could someone survive this. ‘ave it Silvergult and big up Focus. (Photo: Graham Tait)
Even as a grom, Ben Raemers made a significant mark over in the states and this year just took the biscuit. After a series of edits filmed across the pond (TMA’s Birthday Edit, Thrasher’s Hall Of Meat, Slap’s 15 Mins, Welcome To America) and generally making a lasting impression (Tilt Mode themselves have said that he’s cooler than all Americans) he’s now amongst a golden few to get a cover on Thrasher. Truly incredible work. How many people do you know have had their name in print between Tony Hawk and Chris Haslam? Not too bad for a kid from Essex. And seeing the Three Swords on Thrasher too? Too much. Up the Raemers!
Bigged up from everyone from local Sheffield crews, online message board communities and UK legends like Mark Baines, Dan Beall has made a huge footprint on the UK scene by racking up loads of gritty and properly British footage. Look out for more radness from him in 2011 but also look out for…
Did anyone outside of Chelmsford know who Nick Remon was before 2010? Out of fucking no where, with help from Essex mentors at Monster Network and Switch his natural talents were unleased and the nation weeped with tears of awesome. In just a few months he got on Superdead and Vans. 2011 is his time.
The Crossfire Advocates are back again, this time trading private mini ramps in for a rare dry winter session at Mile End to celebrate the birthday of Tom Ball.
Shot and edited by the reliable hands that belong to Alan Christensen and features skating from the birthday boy Tom Ball, Brendan Ryall, Guy Burchard, Laurie Sherman and Terrence Anthony.
Some of you may be familiar with Tom through his good work at BaySixty6. If you haven’t signed the petition to save the park from closure then please get involved here. Out to Tom with this one. See below for London shredding and good birthday vibes.
Dan Magee is yet another inspiring character from the Blueprint camp who has stayed true to his school and persisted through difficult times, becoming stronger and more refined at his craft. With Make Friends With The Colour Blue, Dan reminded everyone that it is still possible to resist the cheap and easy method and make a focussed, cohesive and visionary skate video. For all we know, it could be one of the last great skate DVDs of our time but then again, with Dan still lurking everywhere with a lens it’s probably just a matter of time until the next one comes along.
In 2010, Dan expanded his work outside of skateboarding while still knocking out some of the best trip and demo edits of the year. We switched the questions up a little, so have a read below for some filmer-centric words from the fried chicken and purple drink lover himself. Chop chop mate.
Photo: CN
What was a personal highlight from 2010?
This year I’ve been working a lot as a freelance cameraman / editor / director, so I’ve got to do some nice stuff within skateboarding but also outside of it too. Blueprint premiered MFWTCB and did a tour which was obviously a highlight, but in the same year I also got to interview Eric Clapton, go on tour with Lance Mountain and tour round the U.K in a mobile home with the U.K Nike team. All rewarding in different ways.
Of all time, maybe Kristin Hersh in that old Day In The City Edit. This year, I liked the one in the Nike SB Malmo edit, because it’s something that I normally would not edit to.
Best song you’ve heard in an edit made by someone else?
Really liked the Joy Division ‘Atmosphere’ string quartet cover in Pontus’ new video.
What trick was the most torturous to film?
Never really torturous. But Shier’s crook pop in ender in MFWTCB was really scary, because it’s:
a) Probably one of the gnarliest things I have ever seen on a skateboard in real life.
b) Shier took one of the most horrible slams I have ever seen in real life on it.
c) We drove across the island early the next day to get it again.
But once he got it, there was sheer elation all round.
Worst ‘shit, I wasn’t recording’ moment of the year?
Don’t really have those, thankfully. But on some of the first few demos of Bird Is the word… it’s pretty gnarly, because you have the four musketeers, Ishod, P-Rod, Nugget and Cory Kennedy skating the course like a video game… ridiculously consistently. Until you get into the rhythm of how they skate, they are really hard to film. Plus I was always used to filming street, I barely filmed at parks or demos.
What edit are you most stoked on from everything you’ve filmed this year?
Bird Is The Word is the most obvious one…but I like the éS Big push too.
Best thing about the internet and skate videos?
I like the fact that you can watch different genres of skateboarding edits on the internet, that might not necessarily have belonged on a longform project. That’s why I am quite into documentary style snippets or behind the scenes type edits a the moment. It’s good to something a little bit different.
For example, Slap’s new reality show OIAM format would never have made it as a physical disc, but it’s great as episodic internet fodder.
Worst thing about the internet and skate videos?
No more full length videos and overnight heroes. Everything is so transient.
I think filmers need to cut their teeth on proper projects, rather than thinking they have mastered filming skateboarding by putting out a series of short edits.
There’s a lot more skill and organisation in putting out a project that’s filmed over 2-4 years. Making sure everyone involved gets filmed and that their footage stays relevant and timeless etc. A full length 40 minute video is a whole different ball game. However, I think we may have seen the end of those.
Toss up between Colin and Shier’s extended part, because that’s two seasoned vets putting out full parts with some gnarly shit in it. The other would be Coakley’s, but Smithy already said that. Plus it’s a bit of an obvious choice, but I really like it because I spent a lot of time in the States to film that part and had some amazing times with old and new friends.
Skater of the year?
Forrest Edwards
Fresh Blood tip for 2011?
Forrest Edwards
What are you looking forward to most in 2011?
Heard there might be a couple of Blueprint trips that Shier has planned. Hopefully they will get off the ground, the locations sound dope. Also hoping to do some stuff with Sole Tech and the Nike Euro teams too.
Squeeze That Shit
This is my all time favorite. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched this and my mouth still waters as I watch it now. Make sure you watch part 2, it gets really good once she gets past the blockage.
Pontus Alv – In Search Of The Miraculous
This part is raw as fuck.
I love how Pontus has that DiY attitude to everything, building legit spots, filming. Learning to edit stuff. Obviously he can be a bit of nutter about stuff sometimes, but I think it’s true passion and that comes through in everything he does. All the little animations, photos and footage of his family.
So sick how he had the whole interview in Kingpin, where he looks like he’s Amish or something. I like stuff where the footage or the photo is already amazing through skating and the compostion, but he adds another element to make it even doper.
Everyone must have seen this one by now, as it spread pretty quickly virally. Not the best filmed or edited piece, but the Elmo shirt smashes it, then he goes on to kill it with an assortment of what normally should be stinking tricks. Looks like he’s having a lot of fun.
The Kalis Files
All about the tre flip at city hall down the 6 stair. This dude is pretty raw, never switched up his shit, always done his own thing…any upriver beefs aside.
Also loving the fact that you can watch a part where someone is wearing massive DC moonboots, swishy trackpants or Camo and it still looks like it was filmed yesterday. Timeless shit.
One of Britain’s finest exports, the Hertfordshire Baby Rhino and coping slayer known as Dave Allen has been making quite an impact on the Atlanta scene in Georgia over in the USA. This year his name has been cropping up a little more frequently as his Death From Above pro model for Death Skateboards dropped and the kind of frontside feeble that’ll make any other grown man cry was featured on the ATL Skater website as one of the photos of the year.
He joins us today for another series of personal reflections on the year that has just past. Have a read below and keep scrolling to find his top five video edits of the year too. Boom!
After what seemed like a forever of uncertainty, signing the paperwork and getting the keys to our house. Stoked.
Favourite skate trip?
I think it was when Zorlac was over here and we went drove down to Columbus for the Georgia Bowlriders. Myself, Nick, Will Boatwright and Shawn Coffman. We laughed all the way there and back. Shawn had the quote of the day “I don’t give a shit where we eat Dave” You probably had to be there I guess.
Favourite song or album?
I went to a club for a friend’s birthday and this dude was playing live. It’s not my usual taste but it left an impression on me for some reason.
Most satisfying trick filmed or landed and at what spot?
I’ve filmed some bits for the new Death video, but the most satisfying was shooting an invert fakie in the pool at Brook Run. It felt the nuts.
Newest trick learnt?
I re-learnt how to go in forwards on feeble grinds again just like the boss (Zorlac) does.
Favourite trick or line witnessed?
Grant Taylor at Mountain park, he’d just got back from King of the Road and was just cruising around doing more stuff in one line than I could hope to do ever.
Skate DVD you watched the most?
Creature Hesh Law
Your MVP of the year?
What the fuck is an MVP?
Fresh blood tip for 2011?
Obvious one, Grant Taylor. I’ve witnessed it first hand. He is the real deal. And Kevin Kowalski, don’t underestimate this kiddie.
What are you looking forward to most about 2011?
Skating again. I had knee surgery at the beggining of November, so I’ll be ready to start again in the new year at the new park they are building at the end of the street.
Smashing Up The Car
When I clicked on this I knew it was gonna be good. It’s worth watching just for hearing Renton Millar laugh. He loves this sort of stuff and I’ve never met anyone that gets off on the noise of stuff being smashed as much as him.
Stratosphere Skate Shop Halloween Edit
Crazy shit going down in this clip. Pure fun reminder of what skateboarding is really about.
Rumble In Ramona – The Final Stand
This one is a re-edit from the Thrasher website of the 2009 Rumble which they posted right before the 2010 one. I like it because it rekindled all the memories I had of what a good time it was. So much stuff went down and it was amazing to hook up with people I hadn’t seen in years.
Protec Pool Party – Jeff Grosso 28 Block Slider
Have you ever even done a boardslide? This one takes the piss, he passes the mental point and sticks with it. I sat up and watched this comp on a live feed and I was glad I did. Amazing to think he’s been to hell and back and he can still skate like a demon. Jeff Grosso will always be one of my heroes.
We Are The Music Makers
OK, so it’s not exactly new, but I love this scene. I was stoked when it appeared in Video Days.
In a very short period of time, Ben Nordberg emerged from the UK as a rare talent, complete with a bag of tricks unmistakably his own executed with a degree of nonchalance apparently reserved only for him. It wasn’t long before he was secured a position on the mighty Flip Skateboards. In 2010 he recovered from a brutal leg injury and was featured in the visual narrative of James Gardner’s ‘Flight Of Passage‘.
Read below as he reflects with us on the last twelve months and how stoked he is to be back on the plank.
The first tre flip after being out from an injury.
Favourite skate trip?
Flip West Coast Tour. Sick crew with good spots and parks!
Song or album you listened to most in 2010?
Black Sabbath – Die Young
Most satisfying trick made/filmed and at what spot?
A trick in Sacramento and the tranny wall spot… it was fun because Geoff was pulling me in using the van so it felt good to land it so it wasn’t all for nothing.
Gnarliest story?
When we pranked Langi and Luan on the tour, we made up two girls and said how they thought they were really cute and how they wanted to hook up in Sacramento; it went on for 8 days and in the mix of it Langi sent a photo of his dick randomly which was pretty gnarly… so when we were in Sacramento for dinner we revealed how they weren’t real and they were so bummed. I’d like to thank Ewan Bowman, Greg Hunt and Rune for been involved in the prank haha.
Newest trick learnt?
The Merlin Flip
Best trick or line you witnessed?
David did one of the gnarliest things I’ve ever seen… can’t tell you what though.
Obviously Dylan’s part… for sure my favourite part of the year! Such a good style and a great trick selection and also he’s a good mate and a really nice guy.
Stefan Janoski – Habitat Origin
This isn’t online (you can buy it on iTunes here though) but any new Stefan footage is golden in my eyes.
Shane O’Neill – Berrics Part
Nothing to say really apart from that he’s probably the best skater in the world.
For years, Dan Wileman has remained an absolutely massive blip on our radar due to his idiosyncratic trick selection, balls out style and how often he comes to our jams and walks away with some cash. Our Xmas Jam in December was no exception, as he slayed the rail in the way only he could manage, smiling while saying “ha, I haven’t seen these in a while” as we handed over the Crossfire pounds. If he didn’t have such huge support from his family of sponsors we’d fear that the taxman would question why his bank was filled with DIY cash.
In 2010, Dan has maintained his position as one of the Bristol’s finest, ripping hard despite injury for Crayon Skateboards, 50-50, Venture Trucks and Hubba Wheels. Read below as he reflects with us on the twelve months that have just past.
What important lesson have you learnt from 2010?
Aint really learnt shit this year to be honest, but peace to the haters.
Best personal moment of 2010?
Being sung Happy Birthday at Basel by the whole arena and being caked in the face for getting best trick on my birthday.
Best skate trip of 2010?
Either Basel or the shop comp in Switzerland, both were on par. Rad crew and it’s funny times going anywhere with Kohran and four litres of rum. Couldn’t skate because of my foot so just got pissed and watched Fiddy represent. So sick.
Best song/album of 2010?
Skitz and Buggsy ina system buggsy coming straight outta Bristol and is one of the most chilled heads you have ever met. Killing it in UK hip hop scene.
Most satisfying trick landed/filmed?
Probably front feebs down this rail in Kent on the Venture tour. I think the biggest rail I’ve front feebed before was at Playstation so this was the first street rail for the front feebs and it came pretty easy so I want to step it up to a bigger one.
Chris Jones I reckon, him or Dylan Hughes; he kills it more than anyone I see skate, he’s gotta be most underrated skater. Well, maybe not underrated but he should be making bare cash money.
Fresh Blood tip for 2011?
Barber or Tom Gibbs, watch out yo. And Dave Snaddon AKA DJ Mind State with his tunes big in the game, watch this space.
What are you looking forward to doing in 2011?
L.A. in February, gonna chill and skate with Benny. Gonna be sick.
Torey Pudwill – Hallelujah
Safest dude I’ve ever met. He was in bristol on his 16th birthday, we got him well pissed on tequila he spewed every where. Genius on the plank and cool as fuck off it.
Venture UK in Kent
One of the funniest trips I’ve been on. Mad crew and well productive; this was only like a three or four day tour. Sick as, big up Shiner.
Crayon – Malaga 2010
Another funny ass trip. Sunshine in January is always good and Leo’s reaction to the board being flung into the shop is priceless. Big up Symeon Jamal AKA Syme AKA L.A gangster and big up Crayon.
Basel on a Budget
Yet another funny mish, ended up being mad English crew in Basel. The last day there was this bit at the park with all balloons and there was like forty litres of booze and two bottles of rum and everyone but us and two dudes and a chick behind bar left. We got right on it. I took a HD mini cam with me and Crissy Oliver made one of the funniest edits. Lost a memory card with loads more footage on it due to the booze in the bar but ey, good times…
At the beginning of 2010 Luan Oliveira turned pro for Flip Skateboards after a monsterous section that pushed street skateboarding’s ever redefined boundaries in Extremely Sorry, smashing the Tampa Am competition more than once and producing one of the most banging Bangin! edits to ever come from The Berrics. You’d think after the Hooters party to celebrate his deserved professional status he’d be taking it easy but when skating is as natural and fun as it is for Luan, undoubtedly one of the most exciting skaters of our time, you’d be wrong to think he’s doing anything other than smashing it.
Read below as he takes a little time out to reflect on his first year being pro and the five video edits he’s been watching all year to get him pumped for the session.
Photo: Andrew Shusterman
Favourite Skate Trip of 2010?
Flip West Coast Tour.
Favourite Song or album?
Jay-Z – On To The Next One
Gnarliest story?
Ask Ben Nordberg! He will tell you about the pillow one!
Newest trick learnt?
SS Flip BS Crooked
Skate DVD you watched the most?
Flip – Extremely Sorry
Fresh Blood tip for 2011?
ANDREW FUCKING LANGI
What are you looking forward to most in 2011?
Be happy, film a lot, shoot photos and have fun!
Rodrigo TX – Give Me My Money Chico
Rodrigo’s part is fucking sick. I like his style, the way he skates and the type of songs he puts in his video parts.
CGK – Allday Iapi Everyday
Me and my friends made this video a long time ago and it seems pretty good, as you can see we have a lot of fun, haha that’s what skateboarding is for us!
Rodrigo Petersen – Give Me My Money Chico
Rodrigo Petersen is a gnarly man. He has so much pop and he’s such a good guy, I love to hang out with him. By the way, the song is perfect for a video part… OBRIGAAAAAAAA.
Antwuan Dixon – Baker 3
Antwuan Dixon is amazing. After Tom Penny he is the best ‘hands down’ on skateboarder. I like to watch this part before I go skate, the song is fucking sick and he is gnarly.
Cezar Gordo – Matriz #3
Inspiration right here man. Cesar Simonetto Daz Pozzolo AKA Gordo is fucking gnarly. This part is old, like four years ago. For Brazilians, this is the shit right here…the way he skates and his attitude make him one of the best skaters in Brazil, that’s why I like to watch him and skate with him.
Once we started interviewing Blueprint pro and UK legend Mark Baines we soon realised that there was no other way we could finish off 2010 than by publishing our conversation with the globe-trotting lad from Worksop who has had a pretty spectacular year to say the very least. Bouncing back from business fallouts and Blueprint’s distribution scare not so long ago, Baines has spent the year focussing hard on the positives in skateboarding and it paid off big. He had the amazing last section in what could be one of the last great DVDs of the new era, Make Friends With The Colour Blue, he’s been building street spots with Jerome Campbell in Sheffield and working on the UK WESC Camp with Benny Fairfax to list just a fraction of his very respectable 2010. Even Sheffield Wednesday have been on form for once.
Read on for an extensive look into one of our all-time favourites, the illustrious and inspirational Mark Baines, with pictures from none other than Oliver WhiteheadChris Haslam and Alex Foley.
Interview: Joe Moynihan
How’s it going Mr. Baines? What you got going on this week?
I’m good thanks. We’ve been snowed in here in Sheffield so it’s been tough to get anything going. Played some 5-aside yesterday, the back of the goals were filled with snow but it was good to get out and do something. Other than that keeping warm and shovelling snow.
Let’s get a feel for your environment, name three things within arms reach where you are right now.
A cup of tea, a TV remote and a curled up black cat.
As a cat expert, could you advise us on the raddest name to give a feline?
Sonny Luca.
Is it good to be back in the UK? I can imagine Berlin must have been a total killer in the winter…
It is nice to be back in the UK and Sheffield in particular for sure. Berlin is so amazing but in the winter it is so cold that there’s not much to do. I am hoping to move back there for a little while next year. I miss a lot about Berlin.
Berlin has a totally different atmosphere and vibe from most places I’ve been to. How did life there differ from life at home in Sheffield?
Berlin is mellow, you can do what you want but people respect this fact and don’t abuse it. Being able to skate everyday at different spots pretty much hassle free is amazing. There’s so much other stuff going on… art if you’re into that, nice bars, nice places to eat and generally loads of cool stuff to see, but it’s not pretentious; it’s just a place that naturally seems to have cool shit going on. Sheffield doesn’t really have that much going on when you compare the two. Berlin has everything you need for skating and the bonus is it has everything you would want outside of skating too.
When did you make the decision to live in Berlin and how did it come about?
Basically just from going out there a couple times on some Blueprint trips and then a DVS tour. We were there when the World Cup was going on in 2006; it was a good place to be for that. I got speaking to Mark Nickels who films out there and he thought it would be good for me to move out there for skating. I was dealing with a fall out with my business partners at Story and the whole Blueprint thing happened and I just wanted to get away and skate and try and forget all the negative stuff that was going on. It worked but you always have to come back and face that stuff which I did.
Baines pulls a switch frontside noseslide out of the ‘rarely seen’ bag. (Photo: Oliver Whitehead)
We’ll talk about the Story/Blueprint troubles a little later but tell us about Huntington Beach… That must have been a little bonkers compared with both Berlin and the good ol’ Steel City…
That place is the worst, but it was a good time to be out there when I was. I was pretty young when I went out there. We stayed with Dave Carney when we first got to LA. We were with Billy Pepper and Kenny Hughes for a week or so at first which was amazing. They took us to some spots to some parties and it was pretty cool hanging out with them; Kenny is massive and Billy is pretty small so they looked funny together.
I ended up staying with Alex Moul and Ali Boulala which was madness. A lot of drinking and partying but a lot of skating too. Seeing some of the stuff Reynolds was doing and how he was going about it was pretty crazy. Dustin too, he would just charge at stuff. Great times but I don’t think I could do that whole thing again now. Mouly was the best dude to spend my time with out there; he helped me out a lot so cheers Alex. Alex had this van he called ‘The Breather’. This massive van that sounded worse for wear to say the least. We would hit a lot of spots up every day, drive to Furnace to collect incentive money and go to the park to sell stuff. That van was amazing, and needed as you can’t walk anywhere out there.
Comparing that to Sheffield is impossible; for one some of the shit Greco was wearing back then wouldn’t have gone down too well around these parts haha…
In Sheffield I guess there are a lot of stories, my favourite times were when everyone still lived here before everyone went to London and other places, we all lived close to each other and everyone was tight, skating all the time going to parties and obviously Sumo was there too. I miss those days and those friends but time moves on. We all had a lot of fun though. S11 Crew.
Is there anywhere else in particular you’d love to live for a while?
I would like to live in Lyon maybe. I stayed there with Sylvain a lot and I like the place a lot. It’s pretty mellow and looks nice; the buildings, the rivers… and there’s a lot to skate. There seems to be a strong scene out there.
Directing your attention to frame 8… heelflip caught proper. (Seq: Chris Haslam)
You’ve had quite a busy couple of years but let’s start with Make Friends With The Colour Blue. Who has your favourite part in it?
I like Kevin’s part a lot. I also like Paul’s part a lot because so many people have talked shit on Paul and after the crook pop in I hope they all changed their minds, he put a lot into that part as well as all his other parts he has had. Kevin and Paul’s for sure but I like everyone’s stuff.
One thing that stood out for me was the video as a whole welcoming the two American riders into the Blueprint family, both Kevin and Marty seemed to belong on t’Print from the beginning. Are you stoked to have these guys involved and has the positive reaction to Blueprint worldwide been a surprise at all?
Kevin and Marty being on has been positive for sure. The thing is it’s not like we could just put any American skater on; we are not an American brand so we want to stay different from every other brand out there. Having one of the ‘hot’ up and coming skaters on isn’t really going to fit in with what we are about. Kevin and Marty are both really cool, they know about the history of Blueprint and they are down for the company and on top of that they’re both amazing skaters.
As for the positive reaction we have generally always had positivity from people. We have had some negative stuff but that as usually been from within the UK to be fair, which sucks because we all remember the days when convincing skaters it was ok to buy a British brand was very difficult. We took a lot of flack then but eventually people started to believe you could have a British company that could be as legit as an American brand. Generally I am stoked how people seem to be into Blueprint, it means a lot to all of us who are part of it.
I was so stoked on Mackey getting a section in before the intro. Tell us a story about our mate Mackey…
We were in China on a trip and Mackey was trying to ollie this gap. It was a bank to bank gap that was actually the roof of a building that came down to the ground. It was made from shitty tiles and Mackey pushed so fast to ollie it, then hung up at the bottom of the first bank and wedged himself on the edge of the other bank. I actually thought he might be dead it was so bad.
I have only ever seen a genuine look of caring for someone on Magee’s face once and that was then.
Are you proud of your section? You can see how much work was put in and I don’t think anyone can disagree that you fully deserved the last part…
I am proud, but it is weird because I never really know if I have put out good stuff or not. I go from being stoked to thinking my stuff is crap and I need to put something better out. I suppose am proud though because I did put a lot into this part and I had a lot of bullshit going on, people telling me I need to do something else because my knee will blow out or some other crap, just bullshit that wasn’t anything to do with being on a skateboard but for some reason part of skateboarding.
I basically looked at what I wanted to do for the video, set myself a goal if you like and almost reached it. I say almost because I don’t think you can ever be fully satisfied with your stuff, I’m not anyway.
Below: Switch Pop Shove It (Photo: Chris Haslam)
Do you think that the skate video can survive? For me Lost and Found was an embrace of DVD technology and it’s creative capabilities but even the DVD seems to have been a short-lived method of releasing videos.
I thought the skate video died after Mouse! Haha, no but seriously… it is so hard now to put something out people are going to be hyped on. There’s no saving your pocket money to buy the next board company’s dvd. I remember when Questionable came out it cost £30 and we had a premiere at the youth club in Worksop, that was one way everyone could see it together and get hyped on it. Now you just have to wait a day after it comes out and click a few buttons and sit in your room on your own and watch it on a small screen. There’s no fun in that and no reward either, it’s too easy to get hold of stuff now and too easy for people to put any old stuff out. It should be quality over quantity, like Gino, but it’s not, it has become more to do with internet presence and how much you are out there.
It’s insane how quickly it all turns around; one week a DVD is out the next week it’s forgotten. It’s the way it is I suppose and I can’t see that changing. I don’t watch all the clips online because there are too many; if there’s someone I want to watch I will watch them but everyone is putting throwaway edits online. There was talk of our video being free but that would have sucked; the money and effort that went into it to just give it away like it’s not worth anything, I don’t know, it just feels weird to do that. Not that we will make money fromt that video or even break even but still to just give it away is weird to me.
Skaters don’t think anything of spending a fiver on crap in Subway but a tenner for a video became expensive all of a sudden. Skaters buy a pack of smokes and a pint and it costs a tenner but a video for the same price is expensive. I just wish skaters realised they were putting money back into skateboarding so that pros can exist and cool companies who try to do the right think in skateboarding can exist. Why moan about spending money on a pro deck for example when you wouldn’t think twice about buying a pack of smokes when you know those tobacco companies don’t need it… Skate companies definitely need the support of skaters is all I am saying. I used to have kids come in the store moaning about the prices of decks or shoes and then see what they would spend there money on, like I’ve already said: Subway, cigs, a pair of Vans from a cool guy shop, it just makes no sense to me is all. If we all love skateboarding then support it. You may say it is easy for me to say this as I don’t pay for stuff but I will support where I can, if it’s buying independent vidoes like Pontus’ film or someone else I will do that because I know the work they are putting into it and I want to see more from them in the future. It’s like a band, if you are into what they put out you will buy it to support them.
The work put into MFWTCB by the entire team really shows. What trick gave you the most torture?
Oh man, the nollie switch crook rick flip out. We filmed it one day, it took me four goes but Percy was in the shot, Magee was saying it should be my last trick but it was filmed so badly so we tried to get it again weeks later and I couldn’t get it like before. Total pain but I don’t think it looks too bad when I see it.
You also knocked out a full section in the Rockers video ‘This Was Sketchy Man!’ which featured footage from all over the place. You must have only had a year or so to film that… how much time did you actually spend off the board in the last few years?
I spent hardly any time off my board; we were on trip after trip after trip. I would love to do that all the time but it costs money to do these things. I could do that though as it is the time I feel most productive, waking up early ready to go and coming home with some footage or just having had a good skate is the best feeling. I was stoked on the Rockers part, it came out ok and Thomas who owns it is fully down for skateboarding.
Get a chance to kick a ball around at all?
Yeah, twice a week at the minute. I always played with some friend in Sheffield who doesn’t skate every Wednesday evening. Now the skaters in Sheffield started playing so it’s cool and I get to play with them now. I always loved football and never understand why skaters hate on it; that is surely a jock mentality right there. My friend always says you can’t trust a guy who never played football, his reasoning being what were they doing then? Playing with dolls? I kind of agree but I am someone who thinks if something is positive and brings you joy then it doesn’t matter what it is, it can give you the same feeling as skating gives to us, it’s having the passion about something.
I saw your tweets on the 2018 world cup nightmare that happened the other week… what has the tendency to nark you off more: stupid shit happening in football or stupid shit happening in skateboarding?
When stupid shit happens in skating I hate it, although I have tried to distance myself from it all as I became really down about a lot to do with skating. I love skating and I want what is best for skating and when you see how people go about some things it gets to you because you question why they are doing what they’re doing. I try and stay out of things now because skaters seem to shaft skateboarding on a daily basis and everyone believes they’re doing the best thing. It’s what happens I guess when you have so many people who are passionate about something but have different views on how things should be, and it is obviously a good thing that there are different ways people do stuff in skateboarding.
The world cup thing sucks though, corruption for sure. I see how these things happen like that in the skate industry, obviously on a much smaller scale with less at stake, and have been on the receiving end, so when so much is at stake, financially especially, people will do whatever they need to do to get theirs. I would have been stoked to have the World Cup here. I can’t understand when people say otherwise. The money coming into the country, the jobs it creates and the Samba would all be amazing positives for the country. GUTTED. Hopefully it will be a good thing for the people in Russia though, the world will be watching so they will want to put on a good World Cup. I just hope I get to witness a World Cup in England one day.
On a more positive note, Sheffield Wednesday have been doing alright this season… are you on it all the time? Like what would come first… a skate session or a Wednesday game?
Well put it this way, Rye asked me if I wanted to go to the UKSA contest in Corby and it was on the same day I had planned to go to Hillsborough. I won’t tell you what I did but put it this way, I didn’t win any comp. I always check the scores and general football news, probably more so than skate news. I get to a few games at Hillsborough too but usually it wouldn’t interfere with my skating. Skating is my priority, most of the time anyway.
How do you feel about Beall being a Leeds fan?
There’s him and another guy Paul, they love Leeds. Scum. To be fair though Leeds are a big club and it could be worse he could support Sheffield United.
Baines opts to leave the K’nex dream spot the hard way. Straight Nollie. (Seq: Chris Haslam)
Back to the plank now, so one of the most controversial and interesting topics in UK skateboarding right now is the situation of how many new companies there are and how many skateboarders are being made pro. And because of recession and other financial restraints, many that deserve a pro deck can’t (Smithy is the first name that comes to mind). What are your views on this and can you see the situation changing any time soon?
My views will probably upset some people but like I said before I do love skateboarding and want to see it progress. There’s too many companies and too many undeserving pros in the UK, simple as that. I heard Barney Page turned down a board and Nicky Howells too… I was actually stoked to hear this. They are amazing skaters but they haven’t done nearly enough yet to warrant a pro board, and that is not having a go at all because I rate them both highly and I would say they have potential to be Pros, not just UK Pros, being Pro should mean something again, not just a given thing. The board company thing is a joke, look at the size of the UK and how many companies there are. It will get to the point soon where every shop as its own company and they wont buy from anyone else or there will be more companies than shops to stock them, then everyone loses out. It’s cool people are trying to do something but a lot of it is like those TV shows, Stars in their Eyes, talentless people believing they can do something and it’s so easy to make it happen nowadays and appear to be proper. I have an email in my inbox someone sent to a Chinese manafacturer saying they have UK riders on their board company who have had a Lakai shoe colourway, it’s so easy to get boards printed and make it look like you’re an established brand nowadays without actually having to do the hard work. The hardest thing is getting a website knocked together or a blog but even then you can just use Facebook or something. Imagine if it becomes so easy to produce shoes as it is boards, the industry would be screwed then.
Was Chewy’s move to Palace amicable?
Yeah for sure it was. Chewys is so talented, natural talent and he is a rad guy. It was harsh when I heard he had left for that company in particular and Chewy knows why I would say that but at the same time he has to do what he has to do. He needed to have a board out with his name on it. I think he is probably happier there so fair play to him. Personally I was gutted to see him go but to his credit he hit me up about it before hand and I really respect him doing that.
More and more skateparks are cropping up over the UK which comes equipped with just as many pros as it does cons… how do you feel about the new concrete parks?
A lot of them at first glance look amazing, but then you actually skate them and there’s things that aren’t as good as they look. The one in Cardiff looks amazing. There’s a few small ones near Sheffield that are fun. It’s positive in a lot of ways but I just hope street skating is still there. Nothing can beat street skating, I guess nowadays kids will grow up skating parks where as for me and people who grew up skating in the early 90’s it was car parks and whatever street spots your town or city, or even better you would go and find stuff to skate. To me that is part of the fun, finding new stuff, a skatepark never changes but when you’re out skating street looking for new stuff it’s always new stuff or different stuff.
I found it interesting how Magee put aside his aversion to skateparks when you guys hit up The Berrics last year. Did he need convincing from Shier at all?
Magee has an aversion to everything doesn’t he? I don’t think he had any choice, we were doing it regardless of Magees thought on the matter. He loved it as it turned out, he wasn’t used to someone else having control of the footage though, that was funny to see. But he enjoyed it all i think.
Seeing how much positive stuff came from that (deservedly, the edit was one of the best to ever come from The Berrics) and how well the MFWTCB UK tour went down at street spots could the UK be seeing more in the form of Blueprint demos/events/tours next year?
I would think so yes. We did the video tour this year and that was amazing. Kids seemed to enjoy the demos and responded well to us. I am sure we will be doing all that stuff this year.
Switch crooks as legit as they come. (Photo: Oliver Whitehead)
Tell us about the spots you’ve been building in Sheffield… who else is involved and when can we expect to see some footage? Will you be doing a Pontus at all?
Sheffield has limited spots. I don’t like skating the parks here so much as I find it a little boring so I thought about building some stuff. I started trying to find marble on ebay but then came up with another idea which worked perfectly for making blocks. Now we have two decent spots to skate that are legit street spots too. It took a week to make 3 legit things in one place. Me and Jerome with the help of a few other skaters just went at it and made it happen. So stoked but now we won’t get to skate them for a while but at least they are there and now we know how to work with cement and concreting so we will build some more stuff once the weather gets good again. It was inspried by Pontus for sure, his video in particular was very good I thought. Building stuff to skate is something we all did as kids so it rekindles some of that.
As you mentioned earlier, the rewarding feeling of finding spots (or making them) is lost if young skaters rely only on skate parks. The whole point of skating is getting creative with what you have in front of you… do you think that with creative/fun ideas like what you and Jerome have been upto that we could maybe instill those factors back into the kids that have just started skating in the last couple of years?
Hopefully kids will figure it out for themselves what’s fun in skating. Finding new stuff to skate is fun, skateparks are fun too but for me they aren’t the thing that keeps me going on my skateboard. Skating is about seeing new stuff.
If councils provide parks they have more ammo to ban street skating, keep skating to a designated area which takes away a big part of skating I think. I remember skating a car park one day and seeing the blue shoe box recycle things they have. I saw that as something to skate so we toppled it over, got a bit off wood up to it and had a good skate for an hour or two skating it as a kicker to ledge. Skateboarding is very creative and unfortunately not all the skateparks are creative so you could argue that they may take a lot of the creativity out of skating.
When metal is on sand you get creative. Nollie frontside 270 heelflip. (Seq: Alex Foley)
The Print Here Comp with Bored and Quiet Corners was hugely successful in getting skaters to think creatively and get involved with something positive and fun. What was your favourite photo from the comp?
This one. I don’t know who took it but it made me laugh.
Let’s have your best Shipman story…
We went to Holland for a contest when Carl was on Blueprint and within half hour of being there he had got a new outfit including a new watch from the distributor/shop. So funny, only Carl could get away with that.
He was the best skater to come out of the UK. Obviously I am biased but he never changed even when he had all those people kissing his arse. He was always true to himself and you have to respect that. He had and still has one of the best styles in skateboarding.
So what projects have you got on for 2011, what’s going down with DVS?
I will be filming something for the DVS site again next year, hopefully CPH again and maybe a tour around the same time. DVS have been so supportive and they’re good people over there. Much love.
Enlighten us a little on Camp WESC that you’re starting with Benny… what’s the plan?
Basically we are working on Camp WESC UK. We both have helped out with the Swedish skate camps for the last five years and I spoke to Benny about doing one in the UK so we’re hoping to make it happen in the summer of next year. WESC are super stoked on the idea and hopefully we will make it happen. There will be two five day camps and kids will get to skate everyday hang out with other skaters and we will have a bunch of pros helping us out. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Keep your eyes peeled for more soon, it will be limited how many skaters can attend but it’s something we want to do for years to come. WESC put a lot back into skating in Sweden that maybe other countries don’t get to see or hear about so hopefully skaters will get to see it in the UK.
It seems that you finished the year on more positives than negatives… this must be good for you after Story didn’t work out and all the Blueprint stress in the last few years. Are you stoked on how things have worked out now?
I know it seems like I should be stoked and in many ways I am but I had a hard time with both the things you mentioned. The day I found out about Blueprint my business partner at the time calls me up to tell me he is starting a board company and taking some of our riders. This was hard to take, I was so bummed on that and obviously made things difficult for me, it felt like the vultures were out ready to pounce; they did start a company but they didn’t get the riders they thought they would. Luckily the people they wanted stayed put with Blueprint so when I think about it like that I am stoked but the way these guys went about things seemed so lame. We all pretty much stuck together through a rough patch and put out a good video and a platform to build from and it’s comforting to know that these people were and are loyal. I think all the negative stuff I had going on over the last few years is finally done with now after all the paper work was signed to get me out of the business I was in so maybe now I will be stoked on the video and see the positives out there. I think it was just seeing people you thought were true but were not. That sucks but that’s life.
What lesson have you learnt in the past year that you will take on in 2011?
Loyalty is the most important thing without it things are very difficult. Don’t go into business with friends unless you are prepared to possibly lose that friendship at some point. Never write Sheffield Wednesday off.
Since their inception, Maverick Industries have made some monumental achievements for skateboarding in the UK through a simple, but hard-working modus operandi. I feel their impression on the UK is best described by stealing a tagline from an Academy Award nominated film and then re-contextualise it as thus: you don’t get to 35,000 fans on Facebook without building a few skateparks…
Who made the first move to replace the existing park in Stanground with something of a high and accessible modern standard?
What comes to mind when you think of Manchester? Joy Division? The Stone Roses? Football? Urbis? Note Skateshop? One name that should always come to mind amongst those is Joe Gavin, a skater who knows his city inside and out, as if he had been unofficially granted the role of being the Mancunian CEO of street skateboarding or something. It’s a role he kind of subconsciously does already, regardless of any formal title. He has the keys, he knows every alley, every waxed curb and every gap… treat him to a bacon butty and he’ll be more than happy to show you around. As pro rider for 
The relationship between skateboarder and filmer has always been a bit awkward that can sometimes see a lot of disagreement. Have you ever encountered any of this trouble and do you find the filming process easier having had experience on both sides of the camera?
What session comes to mind when thinking of the ultimate good vibe at Projekts?
1. Pontus Alv – In Search Of The Miraculous
Any sort of video production would have been welcome from the Blueprint camp after fears for the future of the company penetrated the global skate conscious. But what Magee, Shier, Baines and the rest of the team delivered turned out to be perhaps one of the last great board company DVDs before the internet is officially crowned king. We shouldn’t have expected anything less. (
1. Cardiff Skateboard Club – Join Us
1. Etnies – Crapshoot
éS – Bobby Worrest First Blood (Black/Gum)
The 
Dan Magee is yet another inspiring character from the 
One of Britain’s finest exports, the Hertfordshire Baby Rhino and coping slayer known as Dave Allen has been making quite an impact on the Atlanta scene in Georgia over in the USA. This year his name has been cropping up a little more frequently as his Death From Above pro model for 
In a very short period of time, Ben Nordberg emerged from the UK as a rare talent, complete with a bag of tricks unmistakably his own executed with a degree of nonchalance apparently reserved only for him. It wasn’t long before he was secured a position on the mighty 
For years, Dan Wileman has remained an absolutely massive blip on our radar due to his idiosyncratic trick selection, balls out style and how often he comes to our jams and walks away with some cash. Our Xmas Jam in December was no exception, as he slayed the rail in the way only he could manage, smiling while saying “ha, I haven’t seen these in a while” as we handed over the Crossfire pounds. If he didn’t have such huge support from his family of sponsors we’d fear that the taxman would question why his bank was filled with DIY cash.
At the beginning of 2010 Luan Oliveira turned pro for 
Once we started interviewing 
Do you think that the skate video can survive? For me Lost and Found was an embrace of DVD technology and it’s creative capabilities but even the DVD seems to have been a short-lived method of releasing videos.
