London’s Prince Charles cinema was awash with rad dad’s, old rippers and many other skaters who had crawled out of the 80’s skateboard woodwork last night to wallow in nostalgia from Stacy Peralta’s autobiography on the life and times of the infamous Bones Brigade. The cinema was a packed house, made up of skateboarders who’d traveled from all over the country. Even Krooked’s head chef, Mark Gonzales took a seat at this London premiere, treating those around him to his own running commentary as the film featured the rising fame of Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero and Lance Mountain.
The Bones Brigade individually spill the beans on the ups and downs of the fame, fortune and fatigue from a golden era that projected them to the very forefront of world skateboarding, before a split in the group and the uprising of street skating forced them go their seperate ways.
For us, the highlights came from Lance Mountain, whose background, words and overall presence is to be admired. Fred Durst’s contributions were thankfully masked by a vociferous response from the audience, who heckled his every word. Stacy Peralta’s acting skills were also noted by many, but, unfortunately, the team’s mentor will probably never receive an Oscar for this performance. His pained, self-agrandising delivery only highlighted the fact that the Bones Brigade were the actual heroes from back in the day; and they all came out of this emotional rollercoaster with their heads held high.
That aside, Peralta’s job of stitching this story together is to be commended, and overall, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography has delivered an essential piece of the Californian skateboard jigsaw, documenting the incredible history and success of the 80’s scene. It’s a must-see flick. Look out for the DVD that will drop into skateboard shops later this month.
