THE LOST AND FOUND 5 MINUTE INTERVIEW
WITH VAUGHAN BAKER AND COLIN KENNEDY
Since the release of the Blueprint Lost and Found DVD we thought it would be fun to ask Vaughan Baker and Colin Kennedy some words about the current state of affairs. Ralph asks the 5 minute questions whilst the boys were on tour.
Do you think it’s necessary to go Stateside for skateboarding like it was 10 years ago?
Vaughan: It depends on what you want out of skateboarding really, if you want to be a superstar or if your sponsors are based in the US then that’s what you have to do. If staying in Europe and riding for companies over is what you want then you can get by skateboarding here, which is great!
What was the hardest thing for you to do for Lost and Found?
Vaughan: Having surgery and other injuries in the time the video was being made was a bitch ’cause as soon as I could skate the camera was back in my face! Still hurting and trying to get back on it that was the hardest challenge I’ve ever faced in skateboarding, plus not having any self-confidence. But all’s good now I’m fixed and getting back on it.
What are you’re plans now the video is done?
Vaughan: I’m going to concentrate on doing some things for some of my other sponsors as well as Blueprint, maybe visit some friends abroad and get some stuff done there. But mainly a lot of skateboarding and decorating my flat!
What was the last skate video that you really enjoyed, and hated?
I don’t watch them too much, so I couldn’t really say. I saw Him’n’ Bam, that Scotish video recently, I enjoyed that a lot, and the new Toy Machine video.
As Europe is the hub of skate trips today, where was your favourite place to visit and why?
Vaughan: To be fair I haven’t been to that many different European countries, I’ve been kinda stuck in the Spain vortex, so my knowledge of Europe is quite small.
How long did you work on your part for? How long did the video take in all to complete and what was the first trick you filmed, and what was the last?
Colin: Total filming period for the video is going on 3 years.so, off and on for that whole period. Ah filmed most of my part in the winter times though min, the summer’s weren’t really doing it for me, ken? The last trick I filmed was at London bridge two weeks ago, first trick? Ah day ken, Ah’ve nae even seen my part yet.
If you could share a part with somebody, who would it be and why?
Colin: Neil Blender. We could then re-create the section he shares with Jason Jesse in Full Power Trip, a cheeky wee whoor an a half lang Gullwing trucks video from the early 90s. I could play a poor Jesse impression, but I could definitely pull off a pivot fakie somewhere and hopefully Blender would be stoked, that’d be good for me.
In normal film genres, what film would L&F be?
Colin: It would be equivalent to a Michael Palin travel documentary, a microcosm of ‘Around The World In 80 Days’ of sorts, a cultural learning experience, hopefully you will come out the other side inspired and refreshed, you might even feel warm inside.
Where are you trying to take your skating since the last Blueprint video? Are you switching up the spots, toning down the tricks, turning up the heat?
Colin: Taking it to the cleaners and back, trying to keep up the pace, few new things thrown into the mix because ah forgot how to do all my old tricks, definitely switching up the spots though ken, just for inspiration and fun, nowt like riding a fresh wave on a fine summers morn.
If you could skate with a famous person/musician, who would it be and why?
Colin: Tom Weir, he has a TV show called ‘Weir’s Way’, he has travelled to the far reaches of this fine country for the benefit of the viewer, he might not be that well known outwith Scotland, but he truly is of open mind so he would certainly try his best to learn and embrace the experience.
Visit www.blueprintskateboards.com for all info on team tours, product, footage and more…
I just realized that looking at the title of Element’s new video, “Elementality”, it basically describes the thread to this production: the mentality of Element Skateboards which is respect and good vibes. Ah! Isn’t that sweet? Anyway, here’s the low-down so enjoy! The video starts off with an open letter to explain Element’s roots and ethics and then we get to some skating. Jake Rupp and Tosh Townend share a part and roll along to the rhythm of Jah. Lots of quirky spots and smooth bendy legs that work together to pop out of things, and create a good introduction part. What follows is a very short part from the unique Mike Vallely. Mike busts one big ollie over a rail but then proceeds to pillage his stock of fast-plants, foot-plants and other pre-1988 tricks. I think Mike has chosen the path of old school, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like him… Next we are jetted off to foreign lands (I think the Southern Americas mostly…) where the Element team release their inner-selves onto expensive film and ride the concrete wave. Whilst watching this segment (and there are others dotted throughout the video), I couldn’t help but think how the Element team approached these off-road transitions like the Osmonds, where as Anti-Hero are more like the Osbournes. Understand? Oh! I mustn’t forget that Chris Senn recently joined the team, so due to lack of time, bits and bobs of footage are scattered throughout.
How good is ‘Lost & Found’? Very good.
Damn! I only just reviewed Are you alright?, and already video No.16 has dropped: Subtleties. This month’s DVD highlights Pat Duffy ( I told you we’d be hearing more from him…), Brandon Biebel, Kyle Leeper and Stefan Janoski. There are also guest skaters involved, so you’ll spot the likes of Brian Wenning, Paul Rodriguez, Tim O’Connor and others in the mix. Let’s set this out in order, so first up to bat is Pat. Pat is a machine! He took MVP in the last TWS DVD, and he don’t slow down in this one either. High tailslides, slicing tre-flips and a gargantuan gap next to Hubba Hideout are all ingredients that spell out the unspoken truth of Pat’s board control. Even a bit of the footage is dated, it don’t matter because you know no news means good news. Pat is still on top of his game. Where there is game, there is Biebel. The Girl pro shares his part with Wenning, so street technicians will be stoked. There is plenty of manual madness going down at the Pier here including switch frontside heelflip manuals backside out, and the critically acclaimed half-cab heelflip nose manual- backside nollie heelflip out. That’s hard, trust me!
Greg has worked his way up into the ranks of being one of the Almost Skateboard Teams top riders with his unique flair and big balls. Zac went to meet the Almost team during November 04 whilst they were in London for the premiere of Round 3 and armed with questions from Ralph LD and a few others on the web, this is what went down….
Why did you quit Krooked?
What was it like moving to Huntington Beach? 
Ed Templeton has been in the forefront of the skate industry, blood sucking the kids across the planet with his company 
Let’s talk about the content of your photography. Some of it is quite full on with erections and soft porn etc. When taking photographs at what point would you feel that you had crossed the line in your observations of someone’s private moments? 
What criteria are you looking for when you hook up a new rider to Toy Machine?
How do you keep all of this together? 
It has snowed all fucking week and the North is apparently hit worse than the South as per usual, but screw the reports, we wanna skate that bowl that everyone has talked about for the last 6 months. It’s called the Mantub and we want some of it! It’s 1o”clock, Saturday 26th February and we are all waiting in a freezing van whilst Zorlac lays a cable that would have put BT out of business. It’s a much lighter drive for the van with this mission completed and thankfully now underweight, 8 skaters are on the M1 in search for Heroin, addicted to the smell of freshly burnt urethane and shaved wood. Passenger list: Driver: Zorlac Shotgun DJ: Zac Filmer: Alan Christensen Punks: Louie & Brandon Steeze: Seth Leathers: Damian Fartbox: Stu Cantellow. I didn’t get wood on this trip as I was up front manning the stereo, but I bet the younger punks in the back of the wagon had to move coats to get rid of the evidence, as this was getting exciting and with a soundtrack of The Hunns, Dead Boys, Ramones, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Adolescents, Spandau Ballet, T”Pau, Devo, and a million odds and sods 80’s artists, we were fucking motoring!!
Why is motorway food so expensive? Why does it taste like crap? Why do they only offer you the worst food you could possibly find? I dunno but we all fell for it, but one thing was clear, the vegetarian food is always cheaper.add a fat filled sausage for an extra £3.cunts! Dying for a drink and ushered into the park entrance by Wingy who rolled up alongside us in his van, we could hear the Dead Pets on the side of the bowl destroying vocal chords and fingernails by the second. Apart from the Punk rock, it was much quieter than we thought. Had we missed the event? Was it over or just beginning? Where was Howard Cooke? In fact, fuck asking questions, look at that bowl! It is called Mantub for a reason, a stupid one but here it is: One day a local was so pissed looking into the deep wooden hole with metal round the rims that he shouted “Mental” “Mental!” but it sounded like Mantub cos he was so pissed, and it stuck, so there!
The Kill City team where loving it to with Dainton carving it up, Little Nicky and Cashman flying everywhere. It was a good session. So what did we get up to. We just skated with all of this lot and drank into the night until it was time to rock up and get the hell out of there. Louie pulled the best tricks out of all of us. Foz seemed over the moon, Heroin product filled the skies whilst kids gathered bag fulls of stickers, boards and t-shirts and no one had to be carted off to the hospital! Even pizza’s were delivered by bike. Come on! 
I think you can pretty much bank on the fact that the I-pod has become a major fashion accessory and skaters were not shy to the trend at all. Well, our friends over at Think put the final nail in the coffin and entitled their latest DVD release ‘I-Think’ in celebration of this oh-so-useful musical appliance. Basically, the DVD takes every aspect of the original I-pod from the on-screen menu display to the brightly coloured advert edits. In fact I’m pretty sure a few of the tunes in ‘I-Think’ can be found on several peoples tracklists… So, that’s all fine and dandy, but what’s the skating like? Afterall, that’s what we all want to know, right? Ok. The kid that starts things off ( I forgot his name, sorry!!!) comes with some interesting lines, but nothing too shocking. Well, that is until about halfway through his part where he turns the heat up and starts dishing out banger after banger. Ummm… Jake Palu has a slightly obscure approach to skating that some of us will find hard to appreciate but there is still some oddball spots worth looking out for. Jake didn’t keep my gaze as long as his other amateur mate, Adam Dyet. Bloody Hell! Adam goes all hellbent for leather when it comes to getting tricks: huge switch backside 180s, bone snapping backsmiths and a pretty smooth nollie frontside noseslide at Clipper. Sweet. 
Okay, this is Globe’s World Cup of Skateboarding 2004 comp in DVD format with a Dave Duncan commentary, snippets of interviews with most of the pros there, the Gallaz Street Jam, and a couple of edits with just the tricks, no blah blah. ‘Street Riot’ is a neat product that you could watch with your parents and ‘Ooh!’ and ‘Ah!’ in unison as skaters leap and tumble around a huge skate course that only real professionals can handle. Competions are usually quite boring affairs, but the Globe World Cup is one event that even the guys taking part in enjoy. One of the reasons for this appreciation is the Jam format that it entails. Skaters whiz around together in groups of 2 or 3, in designated areas of the course, so nobody feels lonely and grilled as they race across the flatbanks and down the rails. Speaking of rails, this course has one serious beast of a rail that gets served as well as serving out some punishment too. Here’s the reason why this DVD is worth watching: Ronnie Creager. That’s right, Ronnie Creager came out of hiding and ended his non competitive hiatus by killing the course with mad switch skills and big balls to take his first ever major comp win (can you believe that???). Well done, Ronnie! In fact, Ronnie looks so shocked by his win that he could cry…
With this information in mind, it isn’t a very good premise to get hyped about a video being released by a bearing company… Well FKD bearings aren’t your average bearings and they definitely don’t have your average team. Here’s the little line up of guys that are lucky enough to receive high quality, no nonsense rolling aides: Paul Rodriguez, Brandon Biebel, Kyle Leeper, Stefan Janoski, Joey Brezinski, Paul Zitzer, Kenny Anderson, James Aitkins and Daewon Song. That’s a whole load of heavy hitters if you ask me.