Five Favorite Parts With Brad Cromer

Photos by Brian Kelley

We’re keeping it under thirty for now. There’s been a lot of talk about Sheffey, Hensley and Gonz in this series, yet by recently shifting the lens on guys who didn’t come of age during the nineties, we’re only now beginning to get to P.J., Dill, Reynolds, etc.

Brad Cromer turned in one of 2014’s best parts, and has been spearheading the current wallride-nollie-on-steroids renaissance. He has also produced full-length videos on his own, so it was nice having a pro who has also been on the production side of things weigh in on his favorites.

Jason Dill – Alien Workshop: Photosynthesis (2000)

Photosynthesis was one of the first, if not the first skate video I ever got. My friends and I would watch it a lot, but always stop after Kalis’ part. I guess we were too young to really understand Dill’s part, Radiohead and the whole vibe they were going for. We were psyched on the rap music and everything, then it slows down. Then there was a point where I was like “hold up,” and it started to get way more into it. Now, Dill’s part is my favorite one in the video.

Something about the part and the way it was edited — him getting all angry, and the artsy shots in between — that you could feel it a lot more than most video parts. It influenced the way I edit and put together videos. That part helped me understand that there’s more than trick after trick after trick. With Lo-Fi, I was influenced by Alien Workshop videos in general, but this part was always stuck in my mind. It shows you a little bit more about that skateboarder than what he can do on a skateboard.

PJ Ladd – Coliseum: PJ Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Life (2002)

Everything about this meant a lot to me. I had heard about him, so I just got a copy of it off that.

He wasn’t skating like anything I had seen at the time. He was super tech, but not kooky or anything, on spots that looked really good, like the Navy Yard, or downtown Boston. It wasn’t tech shit on a bench in a schoolyard, so it looked different, like he was just cruising around Boston doing all those tricks in a line. In that part you could tell he skated throughout the whole day; there’s tons of night footage. There was also a bit of Miami footage, and I couldn’t believe people were coming to Florida and skating a lot of the spots I had been to.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I watched that part. Once it started, I’d rewind it and watch it another few times. Once it was done, I’d go and try every flip trick he did in the part. It’s probably my favorite video part of all time. It shaped the way I skate a lot.

Andrew Reynolds – Emerica: This Is Skateboarding (2003)

Like a lot of people, I’ve been into Andrew Reynolds since I was little. His flick, his style, the way he stood, pushed, or even him as a silhouette is distinctive. “Oh, that’s Reynolds right there.” Plus, he’s from Florida.

When this came out, I had an old video camera, and filmed the part off the TV. I remember bringing the camera to school in a backpack, which I almost never did because I never did homework. In class, I’d set the backpack up on my desk to hide the camera, and watch the part over and over on the LCD screen with the volume off. I couldn’t wait to get out of school and practice frontside flips.

Jake Johnson – Alien Workshop: Mind Field (2009)

I remember hearing about him for a while before Mind Field. I would often go to New York, and my friends and I would hear about things he had done. He was like a mythological creature. You’d wonder about some of the tricks, like “Is this even real?”

The part exploded people’s brains. He skated in a completely unique way. You can tell he’s a thinker: he’d come up with a trick, and think of what spot would be the right one for the trick. The entire part is very well thought-out. I could probably name every single trick in that part right now — it’s imprinted in my head. People are going to look at it down the line, and consider it an influential, timeless part.

Dan Plunkett – VHS Tape (2010)

I’m good friends with Plunkett, and I think he’s one of the most talented skateboarders out there. He’s super versatile and can skate anything. He always seems like he’s fucking around, almost in like a Koston sort of way, but doing insane shit at the same time. He’s someone who jokes around a lot, and the part shows that part of his personality. He was skating hometown shit in Atlanta or North Carolina that looked fun, which is the way I like to see skateboarding. You can tell he’s having a good time.

I think it was one of the first old-style, retro VHS-looking sort of videos. They did it well, and a lot of similar ones soon followed. I think a lot of people were psyched on this one.

Previously: Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams

Related: Brad Cromer “Pro-Fi” Remix