“Was Waiting For That One” — Violet’s “SQUEAKY” Video

Violet‘s long-awaited, years-in-the-making “SQUEAKY” video is live. Well, it went live on Sunday morning, and usually we try to post one of the year’s marquee releases way before it has …74,000 views, but some stuff happened in Texas on Saturday night, so the proceeding two days were not the most productive stints at the office.

At the premiere, we sat a few rows in front of Joey Marrone and a bunch of Philly heads, and any time Mike Ward or Kris Brown would pop on the screen — whether it was an actual trick, BGPs, their name — they would scream, “Mike Ward! I love that guy! Kris Brown! I love that guy!” It was funny right away, and then there was a moment of “wait are they dragging this,” and shortly thereafter, it got even funnier into becoming a full laugh out loud bit that continued up until their names appeared in the credits. I can’t read Mike or Kris’ name without visualizing them ending with an exclamation point anymore :) Just a really great premiere memory, and why IRL stuff like packing out a theater is so important.

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‘THE BUTTERFLY’ — The Latest Video From Violet

Bill Strobeck’s Violet imprint just dropped their first longish-form video since the inaugural Violet promo from last spring. “THE BUTTERFLY” is an Efron Danzig part (real name, for those who don’t know) intro’d by a montage from the rest of the team: Troy Gipson, Kyle Teh, Seven Strong, Auguste Bouznad, Patrick O’Mara and Kris Brown.

Yelled at the screen in shock when that Rodney Mullen-esque ender came out of nowhere — a Muni crowd pleaser very much in the mold of the kickflip front 5-0 line from Harry Bergenfield’s Down Bad video that made Efron a fan-favorite. Have a look at the bench-to-planter combo that Patrick O’Mara 5050’s into the street next time you’re cruising down Park Avenue, too.

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“Skating Belongs To The Kids” — An Interview With Michael Nicholas

Interview by Farran Golding
Photography by Michael Nicholas, Razy Faouri & Ben Colen

One of the joys of watching independent, crew-based skate videos is observing their maturation with each passing project. The skating gets better — obviously — but videographers have their own way of figuring things out right in front of your eyes. The tone, the pacing, the ~vibe~.

Michael Nicholas’ Untitled popped up on the Free site this past September, and felt like it came out of nowhere in a way that few things today are capable of doing. This was a fully-realized video featuring unknown kids who — in twenty minutes, right then and there — cemented their stakes in skateboarding’s future. Untitled was the most confident “first” video in memory.

We had Farran track down its creator to find out a little more.

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