📷 Photo by Anthony Acosta
If you watch Pedro’s two-minute iPhone part that Thrasher posted a few days ago, it’s hard not to wonder what inspires his eye for spots (and to continue putting his back through those slams.) Turns out the answer — like for so many others — is old Grant Taylor and Cardiel parts ❤️
John Cardiel — Transworld: Sight Unseen (2001)
There was a point in time when I was skating the local park growing up and I couldn’t keep up with my homies. I couldn’t do the flip tricks into grinds and it stunted me a lot. I still hold onto this John Cardiel part a lot. It blew my mind because it wasn’t super tech, it was unassuming: just go out there and get gnar. I based a lot of my skating on John’s style and approach after seeing it. It really spoke to me, and it still speaks to a lot of other people.
Grant Taylor — Nike SB: Debacle (2008)
This part was pretty special to me. It is the first Grant part I ever saw. It’s up there with Cardiel’s [Sight Unseen] part because it was a mix of some of the most insane transition skating with pretty gnarly street stuff. When I watched this, it actually shifted my skating away from transition.
I remember when I saw this, there was all this talk about Grant because he was one state over from Florida in Atlanta. There were these mythical tales about “this guy Grant Taylor” who’s the best skater ever. To us, it was like there’s no way a person like this exists just one state over.
Sammy Baca — Thrasher & Converse: Prevent This Tragedy (2010)
I got a Thrasher subscription in middle school right around the time I saw Grant’s part. That’s when I first started getting introduced to the idea of pro skaters: like who they were, where they resided, and what companies they skate for. With my first few Thrashers, I got Prevent This Tragedy on DVD with the issue. I thought it was so sick, but it kinda corrupted me. I thought that’s what skating was: going out partying and causing debauchery with the homies.
I watched Sammy Baca’s part a lot; there’s this one clip where he drops in off a shed, into a pool, doesn’t meet the transition right, faceplants into the wall, and breaks his tooth. This is a common theme with a lot of these guys. None of them are that technical besides Jake Johnson. They just skate fast, careless, and not following any real rules. Sammy’s doing it for himself, representing himself. It doesn’t seem like he’s trying to be like anybody else in the rest of the video. He has the same outfit on for the entire part, which makes me think he just filmed this in a week.
Jon Dickson — The Deathwish Video (2013)
I started watching this part a lot once I started getting boards [from Deathwish], and also in the past three or four years, I’ve been rewatching this a lot. I love the soundtrack.
There’s so much footage packed into this five-minute part, it’s insane. He starts with the nollie flip backside lip at J-Kwon — and it’s so early on in the part — then, towards the middle, it just turns into a rampage of tricks. All these dudes are so good, and they have so much footage. It’s classic 2000s editing, too: you wanna showcase all of the talent and you wanna fit all the clips in. Sometimes, it doesn’t really fit to include the hijinx stuff.
Jake Johnson – Stativ IV (2014)
I feel like I saw Static IV in high school and didn’t see Mind Field until later.
Jake’s part makes me feel really good; it could be the song. It’s a lot of mindblowing shit: the switch wallride, the wallie tailslide over the barrier, and the way he goes up Clipper is almost like a fluke where he just rides the side of the board up it. And it’s a short and sweet part. It’s something you can throw on before you go skating.
I started watching this part a lot more again as I was coming into being a pro skater. I had just got on Deathwish. I felt like I was skating such big spots, and I had already gotten hurt trying to skate this big handrail off a roof. I was gravitating towards a different style of skating, or at least started focusing my attention on different ways to use the board rather than gung-ho jumping off a roof type of shit. I was watching this part a lot every day, living in Long Beach at the skate house.
There’s actually a clip in my “Welcome to Deathwish” part where I felt like I was skating like Jake a lil’ bit. There’s a line where I do a heelflip on flat and slappy up a pole, and grind the top of the rail. I landed it, but there’s also a clip [in the part] where I get knocked the fuck out. It’s funny: I was trying to emulate some lower impact skating, and still got broke the fuck off. And that’s because I was watching this part every single day. Thanks Jake, for getting me knocked out.
Honorable Mention: Omar Salazar – Alien Workshop: Mind Field (2009)
Previously: Johnny Wilson, Nick Michel, Wes Kremer, Jordan Trahan, Ariana Spencer, Elijah Odom, Greg Hunt, Zered Bassett, Neil Herrick, Trung Nguyen, Nick Boserio, Elissa Steamer, Casper Brooker, John Gardner, Bobshirt, Brandon Turner, Shari White, Nick Jensen, Tony Hawk, Naquan Rollings, Jack O’Grady, Josh Wilson, Maité Steenhoudt, Jahmir Brown, Una Farrar, Chris Jones, Mason Silva, Beatrice Domond, Mark Suciu, Justin Henry, Breana Geering, Sage Elsesser, Bobby Worrest, Nik Stain, Anthony Van Engelen, Dom Henry, Bing Liu, Andrew Reynolds, Cyrus Bennett, Jacob Harris, Jamal Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Gilbert Crockett, Ben Chadourne, Tom Knox, Louie Lopez, The Chrome Ball Incident, The Bunt, Lacey Baker, Andrew Allen, GX1000, Brian Anderson, Gino Iannucci, Josh Kalis, Sean Pablo, Wade Desarmo, Chris Milic, Chad Muska, Hjalte Halberg, Danny Brady, Bill Strobeck, Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams