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Skateboarding News

Spacial Dependents – Undercroft edit

Hold Tight Henry has released another Spacial Dependents edit featuring footage at the Southbank during the filming sessions with Mekka for the Slam video, City of Rats.

“Determined to give as accurate a snapshot of the scene as possible, the inclusion of such staple figures in London’s skate community was a must. I met him down there late and chilled for a few hour, bunning and reminiscing about the golden years of Shell Center (look out for some bloggage on that front soon) until the place was quiet enough and he set about his work. Mekka is not someone you would fuck with on road; tough and experienced in the most shady of situations, he aproaches his skating much like I imagine he does the rest of his life – by not fucking about.

“He was trying a line ending on a powerful frontside nollie down the bank to flat, a path rarely taken when the infamous 7 set sits right beside it waiting for the lemmings to fall. He landed on every attempt, either buckling under the impact of his epic pop technique or hitting one of the many elevated slabs that litter the roll out. At one point I’m pretty sure he broke or fractured his arm, having already crippled his shoulder and snapped his board. Either way he did not skate after this night for a good month or so after getting a cast on it. But before that he just drank some beer, smoked a joint and ploughed through the pain until he rode out a few goes later, the results are one of my favourite clips from the video.”

Spatial Dependents – Mekka – The Undercroft from HOLD TIGHT LONDON on Vimeo.

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Skateboarding News

Hold Tight’s Archives – The Getalong Gang, 2006

Mr Edward-Woods has been clearing the old hard drives out and discovering footage at Bloblands, Southbank and more London street spots.

“Found this low res clip of Rory, Lucien and Steph on my itunes. The footage was filmed around August 2006, some made it into my first DVD, “Writer’s Block” the rest end up it the first few installments of Hold Tight London. This edit never found its way to the internet, I just made it to hype up the mans to get more footy.”

Hold Tight’s Archives – The Getalong Gang, 2006 from HOLD TIGHT LONDON on Vimeo.

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Skateboarding News

Casper Brooker’s City of Rats section online

slamcityskatessticker Casper Brooker’s full section from the City of Rats DVD by Slam City Skates has been uploaded this afternoon by Henry EW. Grab a copy of the DVD today from here.

Casper Brooker – City Of Rats from Slam City Skates on Vimeo.

Want more? Enjoy Neil Smith and Jerome Campbell’s section here:

Categories
DVD Reviews

Slam City Skates City of Rats DVD

A film by Henry Edwards-Wood

What is there to be said that hasn’t been said already about this milestone of British – or more importantly London skate heritage? City of Rats is the first full length video from Slam City Skates in 25 years of business and the man hired to carry the camera bag and shoot the team of heavy hitters was none other than Henry Edwards-Wood a.k.a. Hold Tight Henry.

The featured skaters picked from the Big Smoke list include Nick Jensen, Snowy, Lucien Clarke, Steph Morgan, Joey Pressey, Jin Shimizu, Casper Brooker, Rory Milanes, Karim Bakhtoui, Olly Todd, Neil Smith, John Tanner, Darius Trabalza, Rob Mathieson, Scott Howes and Danny Brady. If that wasn’t enough, there are all the affiliates and shop staff to include in the mix. There is something good to say about everyone I just mentioned, but it would take the equivalent of the running time (60 minutes) to cover everything, so I’ll stick to the few things that have stuck out in my mind following the numerous viewings I made.

First and foremost: the spots. London is one of the world’s biggest metro poles and it looks like Henry and the boys have searched far and wide to unearth new terrain and unique features of the city. Next is the quality of the filming and editing. Henry has really set the standard pretty high for himself and future productions that look to portray street skating in the city. Blending HD tricks with elements of every day life in such a bustling place really helps solidify the origins and roots of the Slam City squad. The generation game might serve as a clever phrase to describe the next thing I enjoyed about City of Rats. Whether it’s the older generation like Chris Pullman or the young upstarts like Darius Trabala on screen, everyone gets their shine. The wide variety of age and experience also provides the viewer with a wide spectrum of spot selection and styles. A clear example of maturity is the shared Lucien Clarke and Steph Morgan section where these best friends forever paint a picture of their city like a couple of mature artists, or you can also pick up on the good times shared that come from Neil Smith and Jerome Campbell’s joint shop section (Lost Art/Slam) who have both brought some amazing skateboarding to the table as a result of friendship from having shop sponsors there to bring people together.

Finally, the music: Paramount to a film’s effect as it sets the pace and mood for every scene, Henry has weighed the scales correctly to merge old skool London rap music with relaxed folk beats. As a whole, the soundtrack helps pace the video – calming at times whilst hyped at others. An example is Henry choosing not to use stereotypical grime artists as the chorus to Karim’s street assault.

As a skateshop video, City of Rats goes above and beyond anything else in this category. As a standard skate video, City of Rats sits firmly among the best of them too. It took 25 years for Slam to finally commission a testimony of their dedication and support of London skateboarders and the team has done the shop and their city an honour. Commit No Nuisance.

Enjoy an exclusive treat from Henry today and witness Neil Smith and Jerome Campbell’s joint section yourself, aired for the very first time on the web below. Grab your copy of this fine DVD from Slam City today to keep some heritage and raise a glass to another 25 years of service.

Ralph Lloyd-Davis

If you would like to share this video on Facebook, just copy and paste this into your status http://bcove.me/vt6todbf

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Skateboarding News

Watch video from the City of Rats London premiere

Last Sunday’s gathering to watch the City of Rats premiere from Slam City Skates was a huge success. We filmed some reactions on the way out of the Prince Charles cinema to see what people thought of the film, press play for a few reactions from Sidewalk Mag’s editor Ben Powell, Chris Pulman and more.

Click here to see our round up of gallery photos from the night too.

Categories
Features Skateboarding

City of Rats London Premiere gallery feature

Last night, the Prince Charles Cinema played host to Slam City Skates’ first ever skate video, City Of Rats, celebrating 25 years of service in London’s skate scene. The grins of the 6.30pm sitting were ever present as they left the screening making way for the final showing for Slam staff, various pro’s from all over the country and London skaters keen to see what has been in the making now for a few years.

The 56 minute video put together from the hard work of Henry Edwards-Wood was kicked off by Nick Jensen following a well received dedication to Bingo (RIP), whose huge pop reached many London window sills, ledges and benches to a mellow, 60s tune. Joey Pressey’s part and a cameo by Benny Fairfax dropped before Snowy and Joe Gavin (who has big news coming soon) got into the mix and raised spirits in advance of a mates section, where Jason Caines‘ massive road gap ollie received a huge applause, and tricks from Ben Jobe, The Gonz and many more skaters, old and new, provided the entertainment.

Southbank legend Femi Bukumola raised the roof with some vocal skills introducing Palace Am, Karim Bakhtaoui, whose 5 stair magic ender once again brought more howls before Jin Shimizu rolled the City streets. Robbleyard, Tanner, Howes, Todd and Danny Brady shared footage to Radiohead’s Black Swan tune followed by the Vagrants section that has some great skating from Madars Apse and the euro contingent before two of Blueprint’s finest, Neil Smith and Jerome Campbell both stepped up with a fantastic joint part that brought cheers from a stoked crowd.

The Slam shop crew have a section in this alongside a huge pick of friends and family who all have tricks filmed in various spots around London, Bromley and beyond. This makes the shop video feel as real as it can get as it includes extended family which rightly part of the successful blueprint of 25 years of Slam being in business who rightly boast at the intro of this film are the oldest skateshop in Europe. So, it’s not just a collection of bangers from the likes of Chewy Cannon, Lucien Clarke and Steph Morgan who have a section dedicated to them towards the end, the film has tricks from everyone which again, proves popular tonight from the full house that are witnessing Henry’s hard graft.

Casper Brooker‘s section is packed with goodness. Really impressive stuff. Rory Milanes then closes the show with a fantastic section that deserved its placing within this huge montage of (mostly) UK skateboarders and gives you an insight into what’s to come from Palace in the future and where Hold Tight Henry leaves us hanging before his next chapter wherever that will be. He was nothing but relieved on the night after a gruelling fight to get this one finished and hats off to him for the dedication.

As far as shop videos go, City of Rats will take some beating, but as we all know, your local skater owned shops are the ones who supply the goodness for everyone and they will have their turn to try and match this once the dedication is recorded onto a hard drive. This week though, the honours have gone to Slam and now it’s up to the rest of the UK’s independent scene to step up to this mark. Roll on Great Britain.

Here’s a few shots from the night (thanks to Mark Brewster), pre order your copy of the DVD here.

Categories
Skateboarding News

City of Rats teaser with Steph Morgan and Lucien Clarke

slam_cityofratsThe City of Rats London premiere this Sunday at the Prince Charles Cinema is almost with us. Watch Slam’s latest teaser featuring a couple of lines that didn’t make the final cut from Steph Morgan and Lucien Clarke that was relased last night. We will announce the winner of our ticket comp on Thursday so if you have not entered yet, now is the time.

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Competitions

Win a City of Rats London premiere package!

The Slam City Skates video premiere of City of Rats directed by Henry Edwards-Wood will be taking place early evening on Sunday 4th March at the Prince Charles cinema in London.

There are just a few £4 tickets left for the 6pm premiere in store, but we have one pair here for a lucky winner who will also take home a limited edition collab Slam/Real deck and set of Slam/Spitfire Wheels celebrating 25 Years of the skate shop.

Answer the question below and like the Crossfire Facebook page to enter this comp as we will contact the winner from your page there if your email addresses match up. You can also find Slam City Skates on Facebook and at www.slamcity.com. Go say hello and we will see you there.

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Categories
Skateboarding News

Casper Brooker City of Rats teaser

Casper Brooker features in Slam’s latest teaser. Got your tickets to the premiere today? they are on sale now, get all the info from here.

Categories
Skateboarding News

City of Rats premiere March 4th in London

The Slam City Skates video premiere of City of Rats will be taking place early evening on Sunday 4th March 2012 at the Prince Charles cinema in London. Tickets for the premiere are now available and can be found online from this Monday here for both 6pm and 7:15pm showings.Tickets are £4 per person and come with a free Slam City Enamel Pin Badge while stocks last. You can also buy tickets from the Covent Garden store from this weekend.

The Prince Charles cinema can be found at 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY. Get yourself sorted before these tickets all go.