Category: Skateboarding

Whats the point of scene videos? Back in the day, it was the main way kids would get sponsored, we would send them in to RAD and the one good guy in the crew would get props, and maybe a sketchy video grab sequence. Scene videos seemed to die off towards the end of the 90s.

Fast forward 2008, and scenes/crews seem to be popping up all over, its part of skatings fabric, skaters are travelling again – and skaters are more info hungry than ever – hows things in London? are the Scottish guys still gnarly? Whats up with all those parks in the north? But, what about Wales? Who? Who, indeed……..

Scott Magill will show you Who?! 20 year old skater/videographer weighs in with a 40minute dvd set to top up the Welsh scenes right to be talked about, visited and ultimately respected.

The dvd kicks in with a Transworld-esque Cardiff City montage and the skating kicks off with Chris Jones sacking him self over and over on a fakie bigspin boardslide on a handrail, once that is pulled clean and plums are counted, some heavy skating sets the level for the rest of the video, a flip noseslide down a gnarly sea front hubba lets you know this video is for real.

The trick level is kept right up there with Alan Williams adding a tech level (halfcab-nose many-nollie bigspin-fake nose manual) Chris Jones adds some speedy firecracker action and crazy nollie pop. Nice fullpipe montage too leading in to the tiny Caradog Emanuals section – this ripper is one for the very near future, super consistent – we also are treated to a 411 Chaos Style montage showing friends and loc’dogs from around Wales.

Keeping the sections flowing is Jess Young, funky tune and funkier wallrides down steps, chunky road gaps and chunkier 50/50 on a tall 8 stair rail, im assured these spots are way prettier on camera and real grime in real life. Nick Batt kicks in some long lines and the newly hooked up at AWS Rhys Meek scoops up bigspin flips for fun.

Dai Williams stomps lazer flips, down 8! Lush flip front crooks that Mike York would be proud of too. Dylan Hughes had a section I was looking forward too, I wasn’t let down either, he kickflips the dirtiest 11 set and gets 4 down with confidence and ease without worrying about the landing and isn’t shy to nollie flip 11 either. For me the standout was Nicky Howells section, nice Foreign Beggars track and a overly large bag of tricks – Nollie heel flip-bodyvarial-shifties (in the air) down steps and the strangest thing is, even with flip nose many-nollie tre’s this dude doesn’t feel “tech” just proper street steez – think Rob Dydek (without Big Black) and you will be close to his style of nailing tricks. Im still in shock at the last two tricks of his section.

For a fiver (£5) the video is put together at a more than acceptable standard, it’s a very easy watch and the skating far outshines most of the spots – musically it all fits together too, and with an hour of worthwhile extras it’s a pretty good little package – highly recommended, a must for the bonafide street urchin.

Watch trailers below to get hyped go to www.bridgenders.com or www.myspace.com/whovideo to buy a copy of the DVD and support the effort that has gone into this film.

8/10
Phil Procter

12.02.08

I’ve always have a soft spot for Love Eneroth. a pioneer for the Scandinavian skate scene in early issues of Puzzle, a smooth operator in a world of brutes when he rode for Antiz, and a top fella when you meet him in the flesh. It seems like a bad back injury sidelined the young Swede and sent him home to re-assess his situation. Never one to give up, Love took his talent and started up his own little independent cruise ship- Bellows, with local talent Mika Edin, Ola Lowbeer, Johan Florell and filmer / brainstormer Martin Karlsson as the ships crew.

Their first official promo, Lurking Class, tips its hat to good skateboarding and runs a tight schedule of tech, suave and ballsy maneuvers. Ola Lowbeer opens the show with some precision pop and a wide variety of terrain scaled. Johan Florell is a cheeky little skate rat that looks half asleep on his board, but don’t let the youth kid you because his bag of tricks is deep and the backside noseblunt pop out in the middle of a ledge is his specialty. You’ve probably spotted Mika Edin is a couple of European magazines, and Scandinavia’s Neighbours video that dropped a couple of years ago. Already dubbed as serious talent, Mika’s part in Lurking Class is the few minutes that should hopefully certify that moniker. Mika proceeds from the shadow of the captain, Love Eneroth, and you can see how much influence this elder places on his mates. Love is the full package, lest his previous skate parts be testimony to that, and even though injury has obviously sucked a little adrenaline from his ambitions, Love still goes for it in all his fine finesse. An impossible backside wallride proves that Love’s still got what it takes to cut it as a pro.

The video seems to end on Bellows filmer, moral mascot, Martin Karlsson proving that just because you follow a crowd doesn’t mean you can’t join them. A few tricks here and there, and them the bonus footage ensues, and there’s lots of it. To conclude, Lurking Class is a very laid back and easy to watch promo (available right now on their site) that actually packs a pretty strong punch (c.f. tricks mentioned earlier). I have no idea if Bellows are out to achieve world domination, but they are definitely on course for some applause and will be turning heads worldwide as they move forwards with this.

Visit www.bellows.com for more.

RL-D
8/10