Past generations of skateboarders outside the U.S. felt like they kept one eye on America, the unavoidable center of skateboarding’s media and industry, and another inward on their native scenes. British skateboarding, on the other hand, felt like it had to look three ways: towards America, around its European neighbors, and at itself, as a place that produced distinctly English skate videos that looked unlike anything else.
It is tempting to call Jacob Harris’ “Atlantic Drift” series on Thrasher the most beloved video franchise coming out of the U.K. today. Except the videos are less an insular sum of their influences, and more a global portrait of a particular brand of skateboarding, as seen through an English lens. It was no surprise that Jacob’s influences came from all over the place ;)
Skate videos have long been a portal for musical discovery. Except in recent years, it has began to almost feel like …filler. If one editor finds success with an untapped genre or artist, there is always an avalanche of imitators. If you find that “how has nobody skated to this?!”-song, the answer to your question is often “someone has, it was just in some video you missed.” And a popular song? Forget it, it has been in twenty kids’ IG edits since the day it got uploaded to YouTube.
(Don’t even start with the dude editing his “Trip to N.Y.C!” video to Big L right now.)
Choosing a song that makes an impact, and gets people tracking it down is hard when our attention spans are their fickle 2019 selves. We reached out to five people who routinely put out edits (i.e. not the guys dropping one full-length every few years) to get their thoughts on how the process of selecting music in skate videos has evolved.
Loved this addition to the recent trend of one-spot montages: “Mecca: A Everson Museum of Art Video” by Lukas Reed, which documents the life of the still-standing Syracuse, NY spot A.K.A. “Love Park if you squint.” Everything from the nostalgic landings in the shoveled out snow piles, to the circa-2002 internet titles/music supervision, to the unexpected Austyn Gillette cameo — the entire video is a fun watch. “Goodwine” is a sick last name.
Watching Paris footage and not being in Paris is kinda how I imagine people going through relationship shit feel when they listen to Drake. Here’s montage #35 from the POP Trading boys, filmed during the last #PFW.
We’re going to start issuing an annual “Non-Skate Journalism” award on QS each December, and this is the frontrunner: Toronto spent $31 million dollars effectively skate-stopping trash cans, but for raccoons looking to eat garbage — only for the raccoons to conquer the trashcan lock mechanism that was said to be “impossible” for them to open (poor guys don’t have thumbs!) If you — as a skateboarder — can’t relate to this tale of raccoon prosperity in the face of drudging humans trying to keep them from having fun, then you are a heartless coward.
Quote of the Week: “I wouldn’t wish a week in North Hollywood on anyone.” — Jesse Alba
Enjoyed this interview with the O.G. 2000 / Mariah video dudes about skateboarding in Switzerland, a European destination that tends to escape the global spotlight, despite being the world’s eminent destination for skateboarding on six-figure cars.
Everyone loves a good one-spot part or montage, but there’s something especially admirable about a one-spot montage of a place that instills zero desire of wanting to skate said spot due to how difficult it looks.
“If Marc Johnson hadn’t waited until 2016 to move to Adidas, could his Fully Flared part have been 26 minutes long? Backed by corporate shoe money, could The End have offered more realistic pyrotechnics? If DGK had clung to the Reebok deal, could Parental Advisory have offered a Jay-Z cameo instead of Beanie Siegel?”
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Knicks games are a tough watch these days, but at least Brandon Jennings got waived so you get to see more of the second best player on the team, Ron Baker.
Quote of the Week: “I realized that you could do that job hungover, but it’s just better if you don’t.” — Dallas Todd
