Categories
DVD Reviews

Creature CSFU

Anyone who witnessed first-hand last year’s Creature UK tour will know how down the team are for skating at any time. From what I’ve heard from locals at the various spots and parks the crew hit, they were constantly amped and ready for the shred, even on a rainy, jetlagged day in Hastings. It’s been a couple of years since Hesh Law was released, so their new video CSFU was pretty much guaranteed to be a belter. Last month saw a premiere at my local pub, and through the haze I managed to focus enough to see that it was something special.

Coming in at just under an hour, everyone in the team has a section and the terrain ranges from pools to skateparks, vert ramps, handrails and ditches, although saying that, as you might expect, the video is light on Lakai-esque ledge combos. The opening section goes to Taylor Bingaman, whose ability to attack every obstacle in his path be it street or transition does us skaters of shorter stature proud. Power midget Cardiel arms, love seat destruction, and some of the video’s more tech lines all set to a soundtrack of Brotha Lynch Hung, EBK all day every day! Given the thankless task of following up this onslaught is Adrian Mallory, whose mixture of awkward tricks and spots is definitely up to the challenge. I seem to have a particular hype for creative street skating recently, possibly due to the weather forcing me into car parks for the last few months and away from my natural transitioned habitat, so I can see this section becoming a regular watch. Skateparks are also approached with a fresh eye, when was the last time you saw a boneless frontside invert?

A Super 8 montage in black and white gives a sense of how much travelling has gone into the making of this video. Not that this is anything unusual in a high budget skate video, but there’s still something undeniably rad about seeing Needleside featured in a production of this kind. After this interlude, we get to see Willis Kimbel (photo below) tear up Burnside and other concrete monstrosities with a frankly bonkers bag of tricks. Transition assisted no-comply heelflips, BS airs with added domino effects, and a final trick that the Thrasher website assures me is called the ‘Gary Coleman’ makes this section a standout in terms of sheer brain-melting innovation.

Sean Conover holds down one of the few full on street sections in the video, slaying handrails and throwing down full speed flip tricks down some beastly looking stairs. This juxtaposes nicely with new team acquisition Adam ‘Scissors’ Effertz. His section bought to mind the early 90s vert side of the H-Street team; and let’s face it, things don’t get much better than that. Next up is a flow team montage which is dominated by Milton Martinez’s gap crushing and hefty kickflips, and young ripper Cory Juneau’s seemingly effortless ability to skate bowls more than twice his size. Truman Hooker then takes things to the crustier end of the spectrum, skating spots and bowls that can best be described as haggard as fuck and still absolutely having it, the last trick is unreal!

The young guns are clearly holding it down, but by this point I’m sure many people were wondering where the older dudes were at- the ones from before the green and black resurrection. Laying any fears to rest, Sam Hitz comes out swinging with a section of backyard pool ripping, blazing grinds and lengthy slides, the stoke of which even the god awful techno beat its set to can’t dampen. The sounds are back on track for Silent Mike and Devin Appelo’s split section, at least if you’re into cheesy hair metal anyway. Actually it’s hard to fault the video’s soundtrack minus a couple of glitches, it manages to be as varied and interesting as the skating – which continues to impress, as Silent Mike takes on a variety of pools and stair sets, and Appelo hits a number of spots that most people wouldn’t, if only because they value being able to walk into their later years.

Next up is the section that got by far the biggest cheer at the Leeds premiere, Stu Graham’s part. I’m sure you know what to expect; high speed skating that looks like he’s pursuing a personal vendetta against the coping of the world’s skateparks, and the best slam on the video. Ryan Reyes party’s techno style with some cartoon fiends before some quick and improbable skating will have you reaching for the modern equivalent of the rewind button, and considering the logistics of the ‘rallie’ as your brain leaks out of your ears.

One thing that immediately comes across in this video is the manner in which each skater, even the younger ones, clearly has a respect for skateboarding history. This is manifested in each skater’s large bag of tricks, and the point is hammered home by a section dedicated to a session at the legendary Pink Motel Pool, in which the venerable spot first seen on Animal Chin is given a good seeing to. With a mellow vibe aided by the classic 999 song ‘Feeling Alright’ with the Crew, this part is gives the viewer a chance to breathe before the final three sections.

When I spoke to people about the upcoming video, Al Partanen was one of the most frequently mentioned names with regards to what everyone was amped for. He doesn’t disappoint, with a large bag of tricks matched by one of the best styles out there. Truly a beast, front blunt fanciers get hyped! Also showing the younger generation how it’s done is the vertical vampire, Darren Navarette, whose foot/handplant onslaught is the perfect antidote to Shaun White-style X-Games yawn fest. No Belgian windmills here, just two songs-worth of concrete being tamed by a master.

The well-deserved final section goes to David Gravette. In an environment where the internet gives us more skateboarding than our eyes can handle it takes a lot to stand out, but Gravette manages it easily with a combination of gnar, left field tricks, and bloody minded dedication (just look to the first trick/battle of the section). Truly next level ATV skateboarding, it brings an already banging video to a finish that will have you picking your jaws up off the floor.

Re-watching the video to write this, it’s hard to pick out any bad points. The skating is top notch, the spots on show make you want to go out and hunt for buried treasures, the animations are funny and not overused, and the music is varied and predominantly good. If I had to pick a flaw, I would point out the lack of Colin Adam footage, but that one gripe aside, this is a video that can’t fail to get you hyped to skate. In an increasingly digital age where it has become temptingly easy for companies to put out much hype single sections, it’s brilliant to see that people are still willing to put out an hour long slice of stoke that you can actually hold in your hand.

5/5

Jono Coote

Watch the full video courtesy of Thrasher. The DVD is on the current issue. Do it.:

Categories
Skateboarding News

David Gravette in CSFU

David Gravette’s new part in the Creature‘s CSFU video is absolutely ridiculous. All terrain is slayed, both palms are probably resembling pizza’s and the tricks are absolute jokes. If you are going to watch anything online this week, this is it.

Scroll down the page for more extra footage and look out for the new video in your local skate shop or free with Thrasher.

Categories
Features

Crossfire Halloween Massacre 2012 Skate Jam feature

crossfirehalloweenmassacre_skatejamPhotos: Ben Larthe
Filmed by Al Hodgson, filmed and edited by Sirus F Gahan

Insane skateboarding went down at Saturday’s Massacre jam at BaySixty6. This session will not be forgotten due to the amount of NBD’s that were on show during the day. It was ridiculous stuff! Here’s a recap of what went down.

The day kicked off with a rail and stair session on the lower right Bay set with Adam Moss (who should take notable props) and many others getting stuck in. As the seconds counted down to zero, it was Alex DeCunha who stole the reddies at the final honk, with a tailslide shuv and then a tailslide flip-out on the rail amongst more during the sesh.

Luke Jarvis was one of the first to discover that a frontside boneless off the wall hole was actually possible. There’s not much space between coping and the Westway, so this jam session steadily brought the new wall to the ground. Death Skateboards’ Rob Smith made sure he was the first person ever to heel block the steel and nose block the wood in legendary style. His signature classic was followed with dog pisser’s, a blunt fakie pulled in off the nose and a fastplant fakie attempt that most would have passed on. Savageness from the Dogger was unleashed.

Some of the Carve Wicked crew were present today, led by Director General Sam Pulley, whose fs smith bash to fakie attempts on the coping were the catalyst for Lee Blackwell to pull in a handplant, Ewan Bower to fully tweak a sick extended fakie rock, a fakie one-foot dogpisser. Whilst others rocked the coping and fell to the flat, Salar Kooshki took a tre flip fakie, Jake Snelling dipped his nose in off the coping, Alex DeCuhna had an airwalk fakie and Tom Steele ended the proceedings with a perfect blunt fakie right on 0.01 on the clock. Other stuff went down, names evade us. It was ‘kin ridiculous!

NBD time. Rob Smith blocks out his nose on the wall hole.

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By this stage of the day, the bowl was roasting hot and an hour of intense skating followed. The new bowl, lauded by many who rode it today, was the sterling work of Croyde Mirandon and Michael Groenewegen, who had flown in from Holland to touch up the park in prepapration for today’s sesh. Sadly, they were not present at the opening jam after their hard graft on the new park, so it was an honour to have them present today.

Adam Moss brought crooks to the party early doors.

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As you can imagine, the fight to get into the bowl sesh was pretty fierce – two at a time, head to head. It’s pretty amazing that we didn’t have any serious injuries considering the speed most were hucking tricks at. Heroin’s Craig Questions dropped one of the very best lines of the day with back to back tricks that had every tail smacking the frozen coping as he crawled out of the woodwork after a somersault! Amazing handwork, footwork and 80s steez work to match. Talking of steez, Sox rocked the bowl on the day, but the footage was frozen on the tape and too glitched to run. Kill City have an am on their team who has unique flair on a deck and a smile for miles when he is popping cheeky one-foots, tail blocks, alley-oop shit and fun-filled runs that have Blender appeal. Both Sox and Craig Questions’ Scott are pure entertainment on urethane and a joy to watch.

Jesus (aka Matt Dinnadge) assisted every NBD with his special powers. This fs smith was laid down for his followers.

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The ‘asleep at the wheel’ skills of Dannie Carlsen graced this session today. Riding for Alis and coming in from Copenhagen, the Dane took the overall ‘Ripper of the Day’ award with some absolutely insane skateboarding. It was one of those sessions where every time he dropped in, you just wondered what else was about to drop, due to the stupendous amount of tricks in his bag! Blunt tre flips, flip fakie’s – I could go on and on. Watch the footage, it ws non-stop.

Rob Smith hand assists a blunt fakie on the all new vert wall. First one ever.

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Superdead’s Dennis Lynn flew in to show us that his technical lines at mach 10 deserve some serious praise. His fs smith grinds are not to be messed with pushed everything for the longest grind. Again, sorry Denis, but the deep freeze mangled your footage!. Creature’s Carl ‘Potter’ Wilson and Witchcraft’s Mikey Joyce both threw stalefish, frontside airs, boneless moves and smith’s into the pot. Ewan Bower treated us to his incredible pop and admirational style with fakie hip action and much more, Camden upcomer Salar Kooshki was pushing his weight up amongst the big boys as were the Waterton Brothers, Keiran (age 10) and Callum (12) who both had tail cracks from the entire platform for their consummate performances. Both have no fear and can provide back d’s, smiths, handplants and airs on request. Abrook brothers revisited? Time will certainly tell.

Ewen Bower sports more style than grey hair. Fully extended fakie rock into space.

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Lovenskate’s team are made up by some killer skaters at the moment. ‘Chav Dan’ Hill took his speed demons out on the bowl. He took home some dough in the Longest Grind comp with a frontside 5050 that took the shallow end apart with over 25ft of coping destruction. This frenzied session aided by the sound of trucks gnashing included Lynn, Smith, Potter, Salar and more. Brendan Ryall is said to the be the only other person who has fs 5050’d the shallow end to date (only last week) so props to the Chav Dan for holding it down when it counted the most.

You will not find a more laid back slayer than Dannie Carlsen.

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What a day. Thanks so much if you came down and big ups if you dressed up for a day of Halloween hammers. Massive thanks to Ben Larthe (photographer), Sirus F Gahan and Al Hodgson (filmers), all BaySixty6 staff, and of course, all of the guest riders from Witchcraft, Creature (UK), Lovenskate, Kill City, Heroin, Death Skateboards and Stand Up skate shop.

Zac

Potter takes a stale in the bowl.

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The next skate event at the Bay will be on Saturday 15th Decemberfor the 10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam. Put that in your dairy as one not to miss and expect a huge day out for all.

Pulley hucks one in for Kill City.

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Denis Lynn praises ‘Chav’ Dan Hill who took longest grind with a lengthy fs 5050.

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CRV WKD.

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Mitch Wheeler slings a backslide heel flip down the lower set.

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Creature’s Salar Kooshki warms up over the hip frontside, before doors.

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Matt Ransom places BaySixty6 on terrorist alert.

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Potter finds himself feeble in the hole.

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Louis Antoine tail slides the abyss.

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Trojan Skateboards’ Jonathan Shepperd rocked the wall jam.

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Ewen pops another for the hell of it.

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Alex Pasquini and Adam Moss on the lookout for a Miracle.

Alex Pasquini adam moss

Talk of the Devil…here’s Jesus!

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Yes Dan!

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A fast plant fakie in motion by Rob Smith.

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Mr Knight back smith’s the Bay rail during the day.

Sox killed it. Get well soon Jake, we missed you ripping the park today.

crossfire halloween massacre

Free stuff!

No apologies for the outfit kids but thanks for slaying it all day.

zac_crossfire_crossfirehalloweenmassacre

Categories
Music News

New Trash Talk video from Creature Skateboards

trash_talk_slanderTrash Talk have joined forces with Creature Skateboards today to unleash a killer animated video for their ‘Slaughter’ track that is well worthy of a viewing.

The song is lifted from the bands amazingly short but fierce Awake EP that came out at the end of 2011. Put this in your pipe and smoke it.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Creature Skateboards UK tour footage

creatureskateboards_logoThe Creature UK tour footage from this year’s trip has been released by Thrasher this weekend. Get ready to be blown away by the Colin Adam show.

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Categories
Skateboarding News

Creature welcome Ryan Reyes

creatureskateboards_logoCreature have a new feind on their roster. Check this.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Hereford Bowl footage from the UK Creature Tour

creatureskateboards_logoMore Creature UK tour footage has been unleashed just seconds ago, this time from their visit to Hereford’s concrete hole. Watch US and UK Creature team riders rip it up alongside Kill City’s finest here filmed by Richie Inskip.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Creature UK footage from Monkey Glove

creatureskateboards_logoMonkey Glove have just uploaded a few tricks of UK riders from the Creature UK tour this weekend for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy a couple of lines from Stu Graham and Carl Wilson at Hastings and the Source Bowl before rain stopped play.

Categories
Events Skateboarding Events Skateboarding News

Creature Skateboards Crue-sades UK Tour

The Creature Skateboards team will be visiting the UK in the next 2 weeks and will be shredding parks across the UK from June 11th-16th. The line up of US guests is monsterous so expect some incredible sessions going down at Clissold, Hastings and other spots listed on this flyer. UK team riders will also be on the road including newly appointed ripper, Ben Devine who joins the Creature UK set up this week. Plan for this as it looks to be a blast.

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