Video Review: Natural Koncept – Creepin’ For Life

We could have reviewed the new Transworld video. We decided to review the new Natural Koncept video instead.

By Galen DeKemper

Creepin’ for Life will make you forget you own other videos. Along with graffiti, Club Feria and urine consumption, Creepin’ for Life features the skate obstacles that try men’s souls. For a trick that allows Josh Zickert to have women call him “JZ Radical,” he goes above and beyond any call of duty save his own to master a vast intimidating sculpture in the heart of a landscape automobiles had previously owned. The rest of the video is similarly raw. Each rider’s part includes a heavy nod to his home turf mixed with the touring footage that ensues when this eleven man squad travels by van feeding off each other. Observe landmark skating on landmarks, monumental tricks on monuments and some wavy banks that you’d like to skate in the course of this 50-minute production that includes Sean Payne and thanks Paul Sevigny.

Denver’s Dave “The Dave” Davis starts the pool party by bonging beer through a floaty noodle and makes the inclusive move of skating to “It’s always the same, it’s just a shame that’s all.” He lights a joint in case you haven’t, nosemanny shoves the big LA library pad Dill has skated and receives kisses from demo mothers. He has perfected lofty frontside flips on whatever transition he finds and front heels a significant set to switch dismount down steps.

Although gambling man Trevor Uriona pledges allegiance to Satan, he is also “just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord please don’t let him be misunderstood.” The skate game’s Dean Moriarty knows all of these cool looking, difficult spots that have been laid down in the void known as the American West. He probably takes girls to unique dates out by the airport where they can look up and feel the planes departing overhead. He skates barefoot in Pittsburgh, shotguns a beer and channels Dustin Dollin and Snakebite for a crusty back alley noseslide with Shake Junt griptape and cigarette in mouth.

JJ’s part starts with his own spilled blood to foreshadow further suffering. He does this huge nighttime block to block ollie in front of some institutional building. Then, the next morning I presume, high off last night’s confidence, he strives to ollie another gap to targeted landing to drop, but instead clips the edge of target and dives into the concrete far below. His skeletal reaction brings to mind Charles Collet’s slippery fall at Le Dome in Bon Appetit, but here JJ has no sweat to help him slide out from this impact that proves to be his ender. Shit, man. I looked up photos that confirm he survived.

Now that we are primed for anything, Josh Zickert’s first trick is a similarly frightening fall, except down a 20-stair rail in pitch black. Then he gets up and sticks the boardslide. JZ skates shirtless with a Benz hood ornament for a necklace. He stacks clips in Japan then heads to New York, first stop Greenhouse. He does a SoHo line jumping from pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to pole to acid drop, tries some ridiculous shit on St. Marks, says what’s up to the St. Vincent’s bank, then heads to Central Park for another thing that is just terrifying, then ollies a heavy flat gap in front of a bodega. And we really must return to the topic of his drop-in to rock-to-fakie, which I think he did by literalizing the car cutouts and telling himself the available chute was the same as cruising in a straight line between stopped New York traffic.

Day One reppers Choppy Omega and Kale share a part. Kale taildrops off a picnic table into over vert. Choppy wears a shirt that says, “THIS IS MY TOWN” as he blesses Burnside with highest grade bangers to grimy, ominous music with choppy editing, slamdancing and cult.

Boner is the tie-dyed backflipper from Virginia’s hill country who does Straight G Shit, puts on for his homies and will be in Harmony Korine’s next movie. He’s down to skate the big rails and stairs with Pat Burke, Shane Cross, Grant Taylor and J Mascis. He’s down for a ratchet haircut and shaving his eyebrows, 360s into this crusty bank behind a building, nosebonks a mailbox, full-cab and nollie back heels down this heavy 3 block like Bastien and Jon Allie. His ender is another heartstopping thing that causes concern in onlookers, takes determination and circumstance to attempt, grabs as necessary, then a celebratory smoke break for stomping king shit.

Bob Gnarly is on his way to join Paul Bunyan as an American folk legend and agrees with BoysLifeNYC that pick up lines are not the best way to approach babes. He sports press together dreads that he keeps in check with a shoestring headband and rips this flatbar set-up that would have raised eyebrows in the Chocolate Tour. He kicks it in dirty ass alleys, trades weed for grip, wins at cee-lo, and pole jams to drop over a car for his ender.

Brendan Leung is a younger, solid skater who starts off with some long wallrides that Chris Senn would like. He wears big clothes, airwalks gaps, bites off ripped palm skin. He does a full cab one foot and other tricks at unique clover-style bowls that take up full rooms. He ends by dropping in on some hot girl’s roof in the L.E.S. as the bourgeoisie make their morning commute.

You will see Katch 1’s iconic art, but you will not see Katch 1’s face. The F.B.I. is watching this shit hoping he’ll slip, though he does suffer puncture wounds, tangles with chains and an assortment of other brutal falls. He skates crusty Joy Division spots, the canal in Indianapolis and breakdances out of falls. Drop-ins are too boring so he does finger flip drop-ins.

Chris Kays follows Ben Gilley’s lead to do the coolest ollie in Nashville. He backside flips out of a tail drop onto an underpass bank then whips around to regular, skates the Cooper Union bank in boardshorts and ends with a backside ollie to make Peter Bici and Tyler Tufty proud.

San Diego’s Adrian McElhaney eats sculptured fruit bouquets and is in some league with Shuriken, Pfannner and Darrell. He skates downstream from QS beloved Three-Up Three-Down and does a nollie front heel into that huge yellow brick bank in Barcelona. One heelflip over a rail to bank resembles Singleton’s in Ryde or Die. Witness an Arto length nosegrind, a 5-0 so smooth I hesitate to call it a grind and a Mike Carroll cameo.

Sean Reilly begins with a medley of barefoot tricks then laces up and proceeds to deserve his bluegrass laced last part. At his local Hawaiian over-vert park he does a tribute to the Tompkins fence bounce at the end of the benches. If you feel the circle of bone that surrounds your right eye, this will indicate the bloody part of Sean’s face after one fall, a reminder of why we have recessed rather than bug eyes. He body varials a street gap and we find out that he sustains his eye injury on a second story ollie into a mini ramp.

If you make it to every skate shop listed in the credits you will live a good life. If you watch the bonus features you will see these dudes in Medellin, Colombia, which is as epic as it sounds. If you’re not Creepin, you’re sleepin.