Element Europe have recently returned from a summer jaunt around Scandinavia, hitting up some remarkable parks and street spots in Finland, Sweden and Norway.
The clip features everyone you’re used to seeing get busy living, including Ross McGouran, Phil Zwijsen, Pirkka Pollari, Janne Saario and more.
Element Europe – Scandinavian Tour 2010 from ELEMENT SKATEBOARDS on Vimeo.
Videos from companies as big as Emerica are always going to fall victim to insistent message board hype-bringers. Some people, inevitably were going to be dissappointed because no video can realistically deliver premeditated perfection, but we’re in safe hands for satisfaction here. How can anything following in the footsteps of the boldly – and accurately – titled ‘This Is Skateboarding‘ deliver anything less than pure innate gratification to anyone who loves to watch skateboarding that they’re quietly aware and content that they will never be able to do themselves. Emerica have always done things naturally, and ‘Stay Gold‘ is no exception. From the off, it’s a city slicking, swampy bluesy rock jaunt through leather jackets and impossibly huge gaps. This is, very much, still skateboarding, the Emerica way.
Upon opening the DVD case there is a little touch that serves as part of the farewell to one of the most significant and enigmatic characters in skateboarding, Heath Kirchart. You’ve all seen that picture with him facing away from the camera by now, but to pull up a gold disc and find him smirking at you behind it is strangely heart-warming. Very nice touch, Emerica. His retrospective / new all-white section that opened the premiere is hidden as an easy-to-find easter egg, and it’s a golden reminder of how god damn progressive the people wearing these shoes have been throughout the years. No one can skate gaps and rails as naturally as Heath, and after a totally unexpected mega-ramp session in all-white do not expect to be returning to the comfort of your sofa for the rest of this video as from now on it’s legit face-as-close-to-the-screen-as-possible time. Stay gold, Heath Kirchart…
Brandon Westgate is first to the plate after some sleazy LA time-lapse (not the bad kind) driving segments and continues where he left off in the Zoo York video, which was absolutely blowing yo’ heads up son. I suspect even Andrew Brophy is a little jealous of Westgate’s pop. He chomps his way through SF with a style that recalls the aggressiveness of Grant Taylor, the control of Busenitz and the high-caffeine content of Donny Barley. Skater of the year anyone? A candidate for sure.
Bryan Herman pisses around in schoolyards for half of his part but don’t get all haters-gonna-hate just yet and say ‘woah, woah, where’s my bloody PROGRESS and INNOVATION I ordered’ because he’s given you more than enough of that already. In two parts Bryan not only trips out to some boiling hot Tom Waits (an instant winner) but has fun and summons up the spirit of schoolyard table popping that there can never be enough of. Marquis Preston follows with some outrageous trick selections into handrails that wouldn’t make me feel any more at ease walking up the stairs that he slides down. Spanky uses his full name for a mature, rocking section. Mr. Kevin Long knows Captain Beefheart… and shit is positively electric.
Collin Provost attacks transition and does a very surprising manouevre up a handrail that Leo later eats total shit on. Jamie Tancowny also tucks into a hefty platter of shit but has some tricks that are slick like rick so don’t miss. But though the new blood are doing their thing, Aaron Suski holds his own amongst the noobs. He can kill it as hard as ever with combos that are genuinely creative and balls to the wall natural style. Love it.
Braydon Szafranski looks and skates like a mess, but this is far, far from a negative comment. Expect a lot of quirky flips out of more or less everything he does, the game is being raised. So enter Figgy who swept under my radar to raise a game I had no idea he was even playing. I’m claiming he’s hacked his way in because there’s some unimaginable stuff in here. Perfect balance cheat on? I think so. This is the raddest part to come from the not so universally bummed hitters.
By now you’re probably impressed, a little surprised and already satisfied. WELL, if Stay Gold was a rollercoaster then you haven’t even hit the thrilling loop de loop which made you get in line in the first place. Jerry, Leo and Drew are worth the pricetag alone. You want proper, proper progression? Here you go…
Jerry Hsu’s part is (after the gnarliest bail montage ever) entirely switch or nollie, and it’s all stuff you wouldn’t even dream of doing regular. Leo Romero continues further down the unnatural path and does indeed skate up more handrails than anyone ever has done before. His last trick brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘WOAH WOAH WOAH, REWIND NOW’. Even if now we’re struggling to find the exact point on our iTunes player the correct term will always be ‘rewind that shit’, and this shit will be rewinded. A lot.
Andrew Reynolds is The Boss. That’s all you need to know. Go out and buy this, don’t bother skating stairs any more because all that can be done is surely achieved in Stay Gold. Surely. Well, at least until the next Emerica video.
You should also be aware that the DVD extras alone are worth the price tag (which is pretty wallet-friendly as it is). Mike Manzoori goes behind the scenes of Andrew Reynolds unparalleled perfectionist side and I cannot describe how baffled it will make you. The man is simply an unstoppable skateboarding machine, with a gloriously human personality. It’s fascinating, as are talks with the legendary Ed Templeton and footage from the Euro rippers. You should already be aware that the DVD version has the Heath Kirchart easter egg, but it also features one of the raddest Barrier Kult montages yet found by going left off the Bonus Features menu. Deer Man of Dark Woods raises the barrier bar even higher and his last three tricks will make you convert to the way of the jersey barrier doctrine. Nobless Oblige, may you continue to be a barrier shredder, Deer Man.
Stay Gold is an eye-opening watch on your first viewing, and only gets more impressive with every re-watch. Go and get it.
Stanley
If you need any further convincing, watch the video coverage of the premiere below to see what both everyone had to say about the film.
The plans for a park in Telegraph Hill, SE14 (map here) are well on the way to becoming a physical, skateable reality with funding secured by local skaters. The park is planned to be built in a prime location, and easily accessible for central London skaters via Victoria, St Pancras or London Bridge. You can see the plans below.
Sadly, some local residents have recently raised awareness of potential anti-social behaviour and noise issues and have made their concerns known to the council, which could result in everyone’s hard work going to waste and the plans being scrapped.
A vote has been arranged on Tuesday 21st September (next week) at 7pm to decide whether the project will go ahead. So if you’re local to the area please turn up and help the project go ahead. The meeting is to be held at Askes’ School, Jerningham Road, just round the corner from New Cross station near where the park is to be built.
The big friendly camera-wielding, sandwich-eating giant, Leo Sharp has a new internet home. Better yet, he has invited you, internet user, to come in and be that annoying nosey guy who picks up personal photos and greases them up with your grubby mitts.
Thankfully, it’s all online, so you can be that guy without causing any harm. So click on Chris Jones, as he solves Pythagoras’ theorem by leaping into a Bristol bank below to dive straight in.
Eight Equals D have posted a nice little behind-the-scenes feature on Lakai’s fiery Skate & Create entry.
Click the screenshot below to head over and hear exactly how excited Ty Evans is when he talks about setting stuff on fire, and to see some tricks that weren’t included in the final edit.
The heavily anticipated La Cliché Promo is now live for your viewing pleasure on the Cliché website. Alternatively just watch it below.
We’ll save the spiel on this one because it’s French Fred filming the Cliché team… and that means it’s going to be the best thing you’ll see all day. Watch it.
LA CLICHÉ PROMO 2010 from Cliché Skateboards on Vimeo.
Emerica – Hsu Apparel
The Rolling Stones has a song that comes to mind when thing’s don’t go your way, it’s simply called, you can’t always get what you want. Fuck that, you can have whatever you want, but only if you really want it, a theory proven true by the one man in skateboarding that gets what he wants no matter the cost, Jerry Hsu. If you don’t believe bruv, check out his latest section in Stay Gold and you’ll understand why I preach this written verbal!
I recently acquired a set of Hsu’s Emerica threads, a pair of slim fit jeans and a nice long sleeve flannel to see me fresh into the months of falling leaves and colour. The flannel shirt comes in real handy this time of the year, as the nights get a little cooler, this yarn dyed plaid fleece will keep your body temperature at a healthy equilibrium without the necessity of a jacket. Flannels are great and this one, like many others, instantly becomes a shirt you’ll wear on more occasions than you intend too, it’s comfortable and stylish, what more can a skateboarder ask for in a piece of clothing?
The jeans are exactly as described, 98% cotton with 2% stretch, making them ideal for any skateboarder on this planet! They are actually quite thick as it goes and judging by some of the things Jerry attempts without making it first try, they have to be super tough to endure some of the slams this man takes to gets what he wants! They are a perfect pair of slim fitting denims, comfy in crotch and thighs, but slightly tapered from the knee down, a great pair of jeans by my standards.
Both garments come with the standard Hsu Trim, a heart logo pin and labels. Jerry’s pretty hot property in Vice scene, so if you feel you lack a good appearance, tap into his collection and get yourself looking good whilst shredding the streets, it might get you laid?
Froth Stopper
On September 4th Wheelscape summoned up 944 year-old vibes for the opening jam of their amazing new concrete park that has made its own history in the historic town of Hastings by having the first proper cradle in the UK. Boasting both a €1066 purse to be taken by the ‘Conquerer of All’ and a £300 best trick comp courtesy of The Source skateboarders travelled from all over the UK to attend this exciting day in the history of concrete parks in the UK.
Wheelscape’s Jeremy Donaldson got stuck in and wrote a round-up of the day for us to go with the official Wheelscape edit of the jam which went online this week. Read on to hear what went down and be sure to watch the fantastically put-together video for the day below. Well done to all involved, the park looks stellar. Over to you, Jeremy…
Below: Mark Munson flying frontside
I’m writing this in the middle of the night as I’m still so hyped on the Battle of Hastings I can’t sleep.
Hastings put on a beast of an opener to match their new park. An army of Scottish animals, born and raised on gnarly concrete parks battled it out with the local and not so local English knights, Welsh new blood and even some crazy fella from the Isle of Wight… Pivot Shove to Fakie in a pool? Crazy indeed – Greg Nowick.
You could tell Mark Munson’s had a few Oregon trips the way he took to the place in the Master’s comp. Along with Sean Goff, they dominated the concrete; Auntie Sean was absolutely flying round the place, smithing and lip-sliding the full length of the pool sidewall, getting right up on the ceiling in the cradle and taking first place.
In Wheelscape’s €1066 battle, Mark Murray T-Bag’d first place with relentless runs taking tricks most people would be stoked to do on a 2 foot quarter and sticking them up the gnarliest walls in the park. Jake Collins smoothed out everything in the park with big, clean airs and lip-trickery, all spiced up with a couple of huge bonlesses blasted several feet out of the vert extension. Greg Nowik just couldn’t stop, massive long runs mixing big airs and inventive tricks like blunt to melon, in the pool!
Mike McGuiness tackling the cradle
Alex Hallford and Carl Wilson killed it
Want more blunts? How about an ollie blunt flip, in the same 9 foot bowl? Call Jed Cullen with his robot knee and give him £300 from The Source for best trick.
The finals saw Daryl Nobbs and Jono Coote both smack their skin heads on the flat bottom, along with death match style scenes with 3 skaters in just the egg pool at the same time. Fortunately, before the end, Daryl was back killing the all the lines he’d wired whilst we worked on the park and Jono was miller flipping clean over loveseat.
Even a wee report like this wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Colin Adam and Trevor Johnson – these two guys killed it all day – smashed the coping to bits. Colin was kicking out huge airs inc. a sick rocket lien and smashing the blocks with the best grinds of the day. Trevor flew all over the show and reeled in Hurricanes, switch Frontrock slides and full tilt backside nosegrind reverts in the pool.
Potter absolutely slaying transition I’m too scared to even look at with this front 5-0
The standard of skating was so high it was unreal. We’ve got incredible skaters in this country now coming up off the new concrete parks and everyone in attendance were so blown away by the sickness of it all. Wheelscape were really stoked to get the opportunity to design and build a bowl on this scale, blown away by the shredding, ready for more and want to give a massive thank you to Joe Sandland, Matt Davey and all in Hastings – all their hard work made this happen.
Mark Murray claiming his €1066
And here’s why: Hurricane on that thing? You must be Teabagging mad.
Watch the Wheelscape edit below and view some photos from the Wheelscape team in the gallery below. Don’t let these good people’s work go to waste. Start booking your trains, start pestering your mates, get down to Hastings and get shredding. You can find the park at Falaise Rd, White Rock Gardens, Hastings, TN34 1ES or check the map.
Hastings Skatepark: The Battle of Hastings €1066 from Wheelscape Skateparks on Vimeo.
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The beast from the east, Douwe Macare from Holland recently paid London a brief visit and clocked up a lot of footage while he was here.
Here he is skating Bay66, Meanwhile 2 and a hefty amount of street spots too. Get it while it’s hot.
Fred Gall has been welcomed back to the New Jersey heavy hitters of Domestics Clothing in this short little clip featuring the kind of things only Fred Gall can do.
I would like to personally draw your attention to the last trick. Oh my…