Fifteen years of skateboard photography by Sidewalk‘s head photographer Leo Sharp will be hitting Manchester this Thursday night following its success in Bristol last month. The exhibition will be held at Central Skatepark this Thursday, January 7th from 7.30pm-9pm.
London heads should be aware that Leo’s exhibition will be hitting the capital on 14th January at the The Orange Dot Gallery, 2 Sutton Lane, EC1M 5PU, don’t miss these.
From our Scandinavian sweethearts Bellows comes this edit from one of skateboarding’s quietest but rippingest dudes, Mika Edin.
Bellows ‘Mika The Movie’ from Martin Karlsson on Vimeo.
From the people who allowed you to like indoor parks and flatland again comes a round up of the best stunts from the last year!
It’s a big deal when legendary skate spots are under threat. The tricks, tears and beers are all remembered by everyone who added to the history of the place. Mike Vallely looks back on his history skating the legendary Brooklyn Banks in New York City before the spot is shut down for building works. Campaigns are ongoing to keep the skating alive down there from Steve Rodriguez and the crew at 5Boro so we hope it works out for them. Enjoy Mike V’s memories of them here.
If there’s a shoe company out there that knows how to diversify their ranges into more practical designs through demand, then we all know there’s only one name that comes to mind, Vans!
The Dollin Tre is another tweak on an instant classic shoe which gives the skater and perfectionist another opportunity to find the shoe that fits. They’ve taken the very popular No Skool and stripped it down to thinner construction by introducing something they call BoardFeel XD, enabling better board control and over all performance.
On appearance the shoe matches it’s predecessor, but when you break it down, you’ll start to notice the tiny, but crucial differences. Less padding in the upper construction for a more responsive ride, a low profile cupsole that perfectly blends durability with grip, feel and shock absorption, thus giving you more control.
Overall this a much thinner feeling skate shoe, but not to be mistaken for flimsy or weak, oh no, it’s sturdy as hell still and will protect your feet as you’d expect. Dustin skate’s pretty much anything, even if it’s unskateable, he still gives it a go. These shoes are a prime example of his passion, they are an improvement on a shoe that didn’t need improving, so try them for size and see what you think.
2P
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I first witnessed young Tonge at Crawley, he was floating round like a care free kestrel just landing things with far too much ease. Soon after, Jak came down to our local skate park and tore it a brand new ring. It was painful seeing someone with so much raw talent skating such beat up old boards. When he asked me if he could buy a deck there was no other real choice than to put him on the team.
The one man demo from Pompey who on a recent 9 day tour to the Czech Republic racked up a ridiculous 50 clips has a video part out now in Rob Crawford’s 6:57 vid so make sure you get a copy of that.
He has been on Drawing Boards for a while now and fitted in to the family straight away with his easy going nature and his outlook on skating and life in general. Hmmm, I’d better say something bad about him before this sounds too gay, he’s a fire hazard and has a scumtache of old granny like proportions! – Adam from Drawing Boards.
Above: Pivot Fakie: Photos Ranny.
Full Name: Jak Dimitri Paris Tonge.
Age: 20.
Sponsors: Drawing Boards Skateboards, Nike SB flow, Bored Skatestore! Rprznt.
Hometown: Fareham, where the girls scare em/Pompey.
Skating since..: Started skating when I was 12, so that’s 8 and a bit years.
Favourite tricks: Maydays, Backtails and cruising hills all day!
Favourite spots: Something different.
Inspired by: Saari, Rattray, the big AD, Jennifer, Skinner and Wheeler haha!
Hates: People who forget why they started skating in the first place. Because it’s fun!
Loves: Tea, Southsea, Kronenbourg, Canablizzle.
Can’t live without: My Xbox…..Nah just kiddin’, my board I guess (if i didn’t have it, I’d go mental).
Skate video: Sorry, W.F.T.W, First Broadcast, Lost and Found, Mosaic, Skate the Plank.
Fave sesh: Any sesh down Emswoth is a banger, everyone has such a laugh, big up the Chi and Gosport boys!
Music to die to: The Who, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and anything a bit twangy.
Ultimate aim in life: To enjoy it!!!
(P-2 Construction)
The boys at Flip recently sent us over their last creation in skateboarding innovation, the Pro-2 deck with it’s spring loaded pop construction. Now, I’m what I like to call an organic skateboarder, not Vegan, but a big fan of good old Canadian maple, so my sceptics on the science behind this creation was Eiffel to say the least, but even though I roll with ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, I still recognise that evolution is crucial to our existence and therefore I cut up some Jessup tape and set it up.
The idea behind the oval shaped aramid fibre reinforcement panel is that its design allows for it to spread the stress loads throughout the board, therefore taking strain off the truck area and this in theory should allow for a longer lasting board which will retain power pop forever.
On throw down, the board felt completely normal to me, I couldn’t really feel the science from day one, but after a few rounds in the ring, I started to notice the small differences that makes this board quite unique! After about a month of banter, I normally tend to look at setting up a new ride, but not on this occasion, this guy was still happily performing under my feet so I though I’d stretch the journey. It’s been 2 months now and too be honest, I’m not ready to pack it in just yet, thinking about re-gripping it and carrying on with the endurance test I set out to achieve. The main advantages about the P-2 construction is obviously the ever lasting pop and snappiness, but you’d be surprised how light this fella is, it’s that little bit easier to bring this board right up to your chest with a power snap of the tail, always good!
Overall shape is normal, no mad concave, usual Flip nose and tail ratio with the lift on both sides being what you’d expect from a skateboard deck. The board still consists of 7 thin veneers of maple, but it’s less sluggish than the old skool 7 ply we’re all used to.
Like I said, 2 months in and the board is still in great shape, all they need to invent now is an ever lasting tail and nose, this way you can regrip your board after a while and have the freshness back without breaking the bank for a new one every month.
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There’s no such thing as a cold warehouse party when you get into Bristol. The UK Ramp Hire yard gets a winter roasting by Layth Sami, Pete Adams, Jason Lewer, Jess Young, Flynn Trotman, Joe Habgood and many more in this recent edit from James Guthrie and co.
The Kill City team got Stooged and left London with the biggest hangovers known to Welsh boozers 2 weeks ago. Enjoy Dainton’s Sunday Stooges edit from their trip to this years Crossfire Xmas Jam.
Dimensions is the first full-length DVD production from Motive Skateboards. Much to my delight, Motive have embraced the internet as a less-profitable but more effective method of distribution and have shoved the entire thing online so anyone can see each section at the cost of some pixels here and there. Furthermore, Motive love us so much the disc came free on the cover of Sidewalk in October which is already more than deserving of your sterling. But my doovde player is broken and every time I ring Currys for a new doovde player they tell me to stop making shitty popular culture references, especially ones that aren’t even popular anymore.
Ciaran O’ Connor on the other hand, the ever-efficient editing mastermind (you may have heard of him from such films as ‘Savoir Faire’ or The Harmony’s ‘Wolfstadt’) in charge of making all this street surfing nonsense make sense to us, appears to have everything in working order. Dimensions opens stylishly and has enough aesthetic joy to distract the onset of what I like to call ‘skateboarding-headway-induced-todger-envy’ or SHITE for short. SHITE is the unsettling depression and anxiety that occurs after watching a progressive, gnarly, baller skate video, remembering that you can’t skate for peanuts and subsequently developing a slight disdain for those in the flick for being so goddamn talented. Now, everyone on Motive kills it, so if it wasn’t for Ciaran’s magic touch I wouldn’t be praising the video for another demonstration of how the UK skate scene is constantly upping its game, but probably calling the entire team arseholes.
Let’s get stuck in, Jack Edwards kicks things off with uninterrupted ledge combos without lingering too long in the protective block sanctuary of Milton Keynes’ bus station. Instead he breaks out into less-conquered territory and smashes it with a pace that doesn’t once decelerate. His closing moves on some of the finest pieces of marble Luxembourg have to offer aren’t messing about.
Paul Carter is next and initiates the onslaught of some of Bristol’s most well-known spots; in his short, but satisfying section (reminiscent of 90s videos that didn’t require 14 minute MJ epics) there’s a front blunt that will force you to breathe manually for a while and a nollie 360 over the wall at Little Lloyds that can only be described as majestic. Layth Sami furthers the shutting-down of Bristol with a monster switch 360 flip at that 9 stair near the station and a switch flip nosegrind on that ledge-to-bank-spot that looks wonderful but is notoriously horrible to skate. Leo Smith closes things off with quality over quantity again, styling up Spain and catching flips like people naturally shouldn’t be able to do.
Dylan Hughes keeps Wales’ reputation for skater’s killing it on the inconspicuous tip with this solid section littered with variety and ledge combos that stay well above the standard of those who missed their stop off the bandwagon. The frontboard spinner to noseblunt on those Malaga-esque blocks a short drive away from Cardiff in a town you probably wouldn’t be able to pronounce is a prime example. The huge combo move at Bercy can’t go amiss either; switch inward heel to hug Lizard King. So courageous.
If you’ve read this far and still haven’t watched the DVD yet then either you must have some serious time on your hands or you’re one of those stubborn ‘I absolutely must try before I buy’ types. Which is fine, but if you’re still reading this and aren’t familiar with Barney Page yet then stop reading and sort your bloody life out. There are few if any words to describe how impressive Barney is on a skateboard, and if there are any they’ll be in the rich semantic field of ‘awesome’. Barney is one of the finest skaters to evoke my penis-envy, and the first red head to do so. Apart from maybe Dickfingers. But then Dickfingers hasn’t ollied over the rail into that steep-as-shit brick bank in Bristol.
Dave Snaddon has been consistently killing it in every section I’ve seen him put out into the ether. The slightly-hunched style, lengthy lines riddled with monster pop and precision landings have often caused me to draw similarities with Brian Wenning, only Snaddon has a better trick selection and isn’t a bit of a silly bugger. He had one of my favourite sections in the incredible Savoir Faire and has my personal favourite section in this. Progression without batting an eyelid. Sean Smith is straight up fucking bananas. That’s all I’m saying; a section worthy of closing another UK banger.
Get on it at www.motiveskateboards.co.uk and click here for a full interview with Dave Snaddon about this production.
Stanley