Ph: Kevin Denning
Brad McClain is next up on The Berrics video feature, In Transition and he smashes Solvang Skatepark to pieces alongside the dulcet tones of Johnny Cash. This is one of the best park edits you will see all year. Worth your vote?
2012 was awash with edits made for the web across the board, ranging from the corperate shoe companies to underground skate companies running on a budget. we decided to pick out 10 of our favourite productions for you to primarily watch and enjoy, and secondly, for you to vote which one was the best Company Skate edit of 2012.
There have been late contenders to this party as you will see once you delve into our selection, but don’t forget that a hell of a lot of work went into all of these these edits, so don’t get too trigger happy based on what is fresh out of the bag this month because a lot of skateboarding hit the internet this year that was absolutely amazing and we are lucky people put in the hours to bring it to us.
So here’s our selection. We have not got everything, we probably missed out someones favourite edit altogether.
The Skate Edit of the Week homepage features have now run their course for 2012, so it’s now time to vote whose footage was most impressive throughout the year.
It was obviously very difficult narrowing down 48 edits to just 12, but the featured edits in this vote reflect our favourite individual sections from the UK scene as a whole, whether they were filmed in parks, on street, or wherever. It’s all skateboarding.
HOW TO VOTE:
Vote for your favourite edit by clicking onto each skater’s photo or name, watch the edit, then ‘like’ the videos of your choice. You can vote for as many as you like, not just one. So reminisce the footage that has kindly dropped onto your screens and we will cast the winner on January 10th 2013.
Wake up to the news this morning that 13 video edits stuffed full of Essex pride are awaiting your vote for the annual Lords of the Swords vote. The votes are piling in right now. Don’t miss this one.
All of the teams involved have made it through to the finals of this year’s video comp and chosen by the amount of points they picked up from the book of challenges. As a result, there are 2 comps being voted for online this week. One with the the top 10 of the main LOTS comp and a pro comp with 3 teams, one winner.
Get yourself over here and watch an array of footage, some of them featuring the likes of Nick Remon, Alan Rushbrooke, Mikey Joyce, Carl Wilson and many more.
The Essex skate scene spent a full weekend from the 24th-26th August skating all over their county to tick the boxes of many tasks set for this year’s skate video comp that is the one and only Lords of the Swords. Over 20 teams hit the road this year proving just how popular this comp has become.
These videos you see here are the nominated teams that are into the grande finale. To make it clear, 10 teams are in the main comp and 3 teams are in the Pro Comp. Yes, there will be two winners from this week’s chaos. Don’t forget to vote for both comps.
If you don’t know how this works then listen up, it’s very easy. Watch the videos below and vote for your favourite video edits by ‘liking’ them. The team video with the most’likes’ will be crowned Lords of the Swords 2012 on Saturday 29th September at 7pm. Sit back, watch the entertainment, share the videos online and get voting!
This is just a quick heads up to let you know that a plethora of teams will be on the annual Lords of the Swords video mission across the whole of Essex filming their socks off for this year’s comp on the weekend of 24th-26th August. Once the damage has been recorded and edited, we will bring you the full vote so that you can all pick your favourite edit from the crop and a winner will take the honours.
Watch 2011’s entries to this here and get hyped for the return.
“This is one of the best things that happens in the Essex skate scene” – yes it is and it’s coming again in August right here at Crossfire. Watch this documentary about Luke Macduke’s work in pulling the Essex scene together for their most prestigious get together.
2011/2012 Lords Of The Swords Doc from Lords Of The Swords on Vimeo.
Nyjah Huston just released his Pay-per-view part entitled Rise & Shine but whether you like it or not, there is a clear divide between those who look at Nyjah’s skateboarding with anger and those who praise the teenager as the second coming.
You can download it here on i-Tunes for £1.50 (or £1.99 for full HD)
The question is, which side of the fence do you sit on?
THOSE IN FAVOUR:
Ever since his mainstream debut as a spritely pre-pubescent dread head, Nyjah has displayed undeniable talent on a skateboard. The young boy has grown (quite a lot actually) into a young man and his ability on board has only grown exponentially. The rails are much bigger, the drops are steeper, the jumps are further and the dreads are longer. Rise & Shine is the icing on the cake that sets a new level for skateboarders going big. Back to back never been done tricks at hollowed ground and the faculty to roll away from a ten-foot drop like he was rolling off a curb are the standard Nyjah has set for his peers to follow.
We have all witnessed the ease with which Nyjah can tackle spots thanks to his Street League performances, but sometimes you need to pay to play and Rise & Shine features a couple of crippling slams that act as a stark reminder of the risk Nyjah runs as he pounces down 18 stair rails. Whilst most of us would need a stretcher to cart us off to ICU, Nyjah takes it in his stride and continues to shred the shit out of an array of spots spread across the globe.
This is Premier League skateboarding with all the camera flashes, flood lights and media frenzy a top player witnesses on the job. Nyjah has not been slacking this year with a Berrics Battle Commander, a Thrasher Firing Line, a Skateboarder Mag interview and plenty more. Rise & Shine wraps it all up and delivers a package to the skateboard community that could see Huston added to the exclusive roster of Skater of the Year trophy winners. Now wouldn’t that be a great way to end an incredible year?
THOSE AGAINST:
You can compare Nyjah Huston’s Rise & Shine part to Premier League Football with it’s ego-centric Lil’ Wayne soundtrack, multiple angles, camera flashes, generator lights and peanut gallery cheering him on from the sidelines. The top players have legions of fans and Nyjah will no doubt recruit a few more now. But keep in mind that some skateboarders and football fans feel completely detached from the hi-life and don’t buy into the big bucks hype. Some of us are very happy supporting and playing in our local leagues. We might watch the likes of Nyjah on the television on a Friday night, but Saturday afternoon we’re having a kick about with our mates and couldn’t care less. You only need to take a look at the stats to see that Nyjah is not messing around. Stats nerds registered approximately 36 tricks performed on handrails, 16 on gaps, 8 on ledges or manual pads and 1 on a handicap ramp, so 60% of Rise & Shine involves a grind or a slide down a handrail, 25% sees Nyjah flying through the air (sometimes over a handrail), 12% requires a balancing act and a mere 3% is the closest you’ll get to a jump ramp session.
There are groundbreaking manoeuvres on display but the spontaneity of it all is completely lost (Some people have doubts about the enders being performed back to back). Nyjah is a part of this new Top Gun crew of skateboarders that use the tactics of shock and awe rather than fun and games that the toy that is a skateboard should provide. Even if the wild underdog Maverick made Top Gun, Tom Cruise is still a knob. Perhaps people are bitter from the relentless media spin that has slowly brought Nyjah’s Rise & Shine to a boil. Berrics Battle Commanders, Thrasher Firing Lines, (awkward) Ricta commercials, Magazine interviews… The list goes on.
With the release of Rise & Shine, some members of the public can’t help but think Nyjah’s entire year in skateboarding has been carefully planned out and crafted to place him nicely on a platter for the ultimate title of Thrasher’s Skater of the Year. If this is the case, then has skateboarding lost a large piece of its soul? You decide.
Ralph Lloyd-Davis
11.11.11