Cover Version: interview + gallery

Charlie Munro, switch 50-50 by Kurupt FM. Photo: Rafski. (click photos to enlarge + gallery at bottom of page)

One of skateboarding’s most renowned pastimes is, whether we like it or not, talking shit. ‘The editing is so bone in this!’ ‘Oh my Grizzly Grip!’ ‘Could he have filmed any further away?’ Thousands of WhatsApp groups throughout the world are filled with the constant chatter of critiques and criticisms of every piece of new skate content that comes out. But do these keyboard/smartphone warriors ever do anything about it? Do they themselves ever bring it? Well two guys who are actually putting their footage where their mouth is are veteran videographers Dan Magee and Kevin Parrott. As we speak they are putting the finishing touches on their new video Cover Version. No strangers to shit-talking themselves the big question is: Do these two guys in their forties still got it? With decades of filming under their belts and a myriad of videos between them can they still hold their own in a sea of skate releases primarily produced by those half their age? Well we’ll have to wait until premiere night to find out, but in the meantime we caught up with Kev, Dan and Korahn Gayle to find out more about London’s next full-length independent video.  -Will Harmon

Captions by Dan Magee & Kevin Parrott

Will Harmon: So why did you decide to call the video Cover Version?

Korahn Gayle: Because it’s Dan’s CV.

Dan Magee: OK the legit answer is because it’s like another London video, filmed in London, which has been done a million times before.

Kevin Parrott: And then also when we were talking about ideas we thought about iconic videos and what we liked about them. There are so many old skate videos that are amazing and you may remember a certain video from how that nollie heelflip was filmed. ‘If you’re going to do a nollie heelflip you need to do it like that,’ referencing an old Dan Wolfe video or something like that. So it’s kind of like a cover version of all the shit we like.

Dan: OK that’s the PC answer. The snide answer is I said to couple of people ‘maybe it’ll be called Second Broadcast’ and they said: ‘you can’t call it Second Broadcast with those dudes.’

Arthur Derrien: These are the people that were in First Broadcast?

Dan: I’m not gonna name any names…

Kevin: I was like, ‘maybe we should do Albion 2’ and everyone was like, ‘yes, yes, yes!’ And you (Dan) were like, ‘fuck no!’. The other thing as well is the initials are CV…

Harry was having a bit of a nightmare this day. Just life shit… So, to make himself feel better he chose a trick he claims he sucks at down a super thin double set. Because that extra stress is going to help, right? Turns out, he was right. Harry Lintell, frontside 180 kickflip. Photo: Rafski.

Dan: After this video I’m out…

Korahn: Nah Dan’s definitely trying to get back into the skate industry.

Kevin: The comeback tour!

Dan: I doubt I will get back into the skate game. Nah the joke is that it’s Kevin Parrott’s CV.

Kevin: (to Dan) It’s your CV!

Will: Ok so from what you said earlier will there be any homages in this video? Like certain tricks that are a tip of the hat to tricks past?

Kevin: We did this thing really early on right… Dan was like, ‘send me six tricks that stand out and you really like… You know they don’t have to be the gnarliest tricks or the best filmed, but ones that stood out to you.’ Like in Eastern Exposure 3 when Donny Barley does the ollie revert over the two banks then does a switch frontside flip on flat… It was things like that.

Dan: Basically it was like, ‘What makes a video classic to someone of my generation? Not like kids who are into Instagram doing backflips wearing Kenzo jackets at Southbank.’ I literally just walked past someone doing that at SB.

Kevin: Yeah what were those classic moments you remember not just because they were the heaviest trick.

Dan: Right obviously it’s in vogue to represent a different era now in skating; everyone is pilfering from other eras, but I think there’s a way of representing that, that is not so obvious. I’d like to make a video that I’m happy with, that is based on stuff I’m stoked on in general not like because I was some millennial looking back and ‘ah that’s cool because Sony walkmans are cool’. I look back and think Real’s Non-Fiction was a good video.

Kevin: We just want to reference stuff without making it an obvious bite.

Dan: The main thing is, when it started and Kevin was filming Harry and Manny, when I looked at Harry I thought: ‘What’s his strengths?’ And when I think of him I think of someone from Real’s Non-Fiction or the Forties video or Ethan Fowler where they are doing basic tricks but you see them skating spots that I don’t recognise. SF was like EMB back then and then Non-Fiction came out and you’re seeing all these SF spots you don’t normally see or like Matt Field skating the other side of the Bay and I felt like Harry could kind of fit into that look. Or like Korahn, Drake Jones is sick and he kinda looks a bit like Drake Jones…

Sam actually filmed this one on Hi-8 with his mate. The footage hadn’t been used but the trick was so banging that we convinced him to sit on his clip and reshoot it for this project. Sam Murgatroyd, frontside bluntslide to fakie. Photo: Sam Ashley.

Korahn: Yeah there’s been times where I’m like, ‘ah is this trick really good enough?’ and he’s (Dan) been like, ‘yeah but it’s just not about how good the trick is; it’s the vibe.’

Kevin: That’s the Instagram generation, doing it for likes. Sometimes you just want something that feels good. Sometimes when you watch a clip in a video you can tell the skater, it might just be a long 5-0 on a ledge, but you can tell they felt good doing that, and that’s just amazing.

Dan: Making a video like this is super different than making an 8-minute crew clip or like a standalone part in that everyone has to think about what the other people in the video are doing.

Will: But surely these guys are going to be skating a lot of the same spots…

Dan: It’s kind of good though, but you just gotta make sure they skate them in their own way.

Kevin: That’s always the way… You get a new hot spot and everyone wants to film a line in the same direction. It’s better to hit the spot a bit differently.

Will: Kev I know you were already filming Harry and Manny, but at what point did you two link up and decide you were going to make a video?

Kevin: Well I made this edit with Harry and Manny called Video Selek and Dan was just doing paid for commercial work and all the skate stuff was pretty corporate.

Dan: The only skate stuff I did was campaigns where you only had five days to shoot something, which is rad, it’s cool and you get to see good skaters, but it’s like you don’t get the reward of working on something with your full vision.

Kevin: Yeah that’s what you said, you weren’t really out in the streets; you were kinda just painting someone else’s picture. So basically I just told Dan to come out on the sessions.

Charlie was asking Korahn if there are stretches you can do to help with pop the other day as he feels he has none. Weird. Charlie Munro, kickflip. Photo: Sam Ashley.

Dan: We did the Jazz Square edit (Duppy). Basically I needed to relearn how to film. Well it’s not that, but HD cameras are shit if you don’t use them right or you don’t have the right one.

Will: Yeah that’s another question we wanted to ask you guys about…

Dan: Basically when HD came out it was the Panasonic that everyone used, like Ty Evans used it, and then everyone else got one and realised it’s fucking awful. But everyone loves that camera now because someone showed them how to use it in the right way. Basically HD cameras kept changing then all of a sudden after years I found one that is good.

Will: So for the camera geeks out there can you tell us what camera it is?

Dan: It’s just a Sony A7, but I wouldn’t recommend that camera to someone to just go out and pick up because it took me two years to figure out all the bits and bobs on it. It took awhile to figure out the best way for me personally to use it.

Kevin: It’s not about the kit; it’s about how you’re using it and configuring it.

Dan: Once I found a camera that I liked using personally, I had to teach myself how to film again.

Kevin: OK so here’s the real geek part of it: so we put some rules into place. We did not use a tripod once during this whole video. It’s HD, and everyone that’s got an HD camera is like, ‘ah I got a slider, I got the gimbal, I got the dolly…’ none of that.

Will: OK so no drones, no tripods, none of that…

Kevin: Nothing against those things, but…

Dan: The main rule was this: whatever we use, a kid would be able to buy off eBay second-hand.

Arthur: That’s sick!

We’ve spent a lot of time at this spot. Partly because it is the same distance from Buddle’s girlfriend’s coffee shop and the pub Buddle used to work in. It got skated a couple of times too. Korahn Gayle, switch pop-shuv. Photo: Sam Ashley.

Kevin: What we did to go further… So a VX, what it cost back when the VX1000 was the hot thing, like around when Modus Operandi came out, our rig had to be the same price. It had to be a similar price so essentially as accessible.

Dan: I didn’t want to make a video that came out and only one per cent of the people can afford to shoot that video. Also I want to add that we filmed it 1080p, not 4K.

Kevin: There was that Holy Stokes video and I filmed a bunch for that. That video is what it is, I’m not knocking it, but that whole way of filming just wasn’t me. And so after that all of this is like cleansing the palette.

Dan: I’ll say this right, because it’s essentially a stills camera that shoots video; that shit can look awful and sound awful.

Will: But you knew this so did you change the mics and whatnot?

Dan: Yeah, it sounds like a VX.

Kevin: We tried to figure out so much shit and just certain ways of filming. Even with the fisheye, it often looks boring and bland… I mean maybe this will come out and people won’t be into it, but we’re trying to make it look more like a skate video or something that skateboarders will be happy with rather than a lot of people get HD cameras and are thinking they’re the next film director with all the kit.

Manny had to open a door and take the run up from inside the security office to get this. On the third visit, he ran through the entire building to get that door open. We thought we’d be arrested so ran before we peeped the footage and photo. Manny Lopez, Smith grind. Ph. Alex Irvine

Dan: Everything can be bought second-hand off eBay; everything can be carried around in a backpack.

Kevin: There you go; that kind of sums it up.

Will: OK Korahn what’s it been like filming with these two?

Korahn: I’ll review them separately, ha ha.

Arthur: Let’s start with the demon…

Korahn: All in all it’s been really fun, but sometimes Dan can be actually the devil.

Dan: Tell me why! Tell me why though!

Korahn: He can be pretty toxic, nah it’s not that… It’s more like if someone puts in effort, tries something for five hours, the next day Dan
will tell you that you don’t give a shit about the video. That kind of thing… That happens all the time.

Arthur: Is it motivational?

Dan: It’s not motivational it’s more like if I tell a dude that, and they think I’m a cunt, but then they try to prove me wrong by backlipping this gnarly hubba then they’re gonna thank me for that later on. ‘Thank you for being a cunt to me, thank you!’

Conor Charleson, frontside feeble grind to fakie. Photo: Buddle.

Will: All right, how did you guys decide who was going to be in the video? Kev I know you were already filming with Harry and Manny, but how did you get Korahn involved? Also were there people you wanted in it that aren’t?

Kevin: You know what, we had a load of people who were just like, ‘oh you’re filming? Can we film something?’

Arthur: So people approached you?

Kevin: Yeah some people…

Korahn: I didn’t do that!

Kevin: Dan asked Korahn, some other people asked…

Korahn: There have been a few people that we’ve been like, ‘this guy’s sick!’ But Dan’s like, ‘nah, nah fuck that guy,’ and then he’ll see them skate and go: ‘Oh shit, he’s not bad!’

Kevin: Like (Charlie) Munro and Conor Charleson.

Korahn: Probably Sam Murgatroyd as well, so many people…

Kevin: And then also when anyone new wants to come out we’re like, ‘yeah come out!’ but we’re not going to chase them. We had a list and when we got Korahn in we thought it would be sick to get Kyle (Wilson) in it, Kyron (Davis) should be in it, Casper should be in it, (Nick) Jensen… But then we thought, ‘wait a minute, that’s Atlantic Drift.’ So we were like, ‘let’s just leave that alone, they have their own thing going.’

Korahn: So many people in London have a crew that they’re doing shit with, that’s what it is.

Will: OK Korahn, question for you: Kev and Dan live on opposite sides of London, who complains more about having to commute in to film?

Korahn: Dan of course! You’re quite bad with it!

Dan: Yeah well there’s not one spot where I live and all the spots are going to be out east or central. You know what I mean?

Kevin: Do you know where we went yesterday? Wandsworth. It’s kinda by his house. You know how long it took me to get there? You know how long it took me to get back?
Yeah you don’t know because I didn’t go on about it for hours, ha ha…

(Everyone laughs)

Dan: OK that’s one big trip for you yesterday, but that’s me every day I’ve been out to film.

This is the spot everyone decides they have a trick for, until they get there and refuse to drop in from the top. First spot of the day, coldest day of 2019. Charlie Munro, nollie heelflip. Photo: Sam Ashley.

Will: You guys filmed the majority of footage in this video in London where everyone (except Harry) lives, was that a conscious decision? No trips abroad?

Dan: I can’t speak for Kev, but for me the first videos I’ve made were made in London because that’s where I learned to make videos and London was fresh and it was amazing. Firstly I feel like this is the spiritual successor to First Broadcast in a way, on my side of things. So I kind of want to follow the same pattern I did for that one. Also there are budget restraints because we have zero money. Kev and I have literally pumped, well it’s just travel money, but it still comes to four grand a year in terms of travelling about and not working. And then all the videos since then like Lost and Found and Make Friends or whatever and even though I’m stoked on them, it’s still disappear in January to Mallorca and film X amount of footage in Spain blah blah blah and that’s good, but that’s not going to wash now, you know what I mean? Turn on the Element video and it’s all Barcelona and it’s getting killed. But I think most people will be stoked to see one thing mostly filmed in one city – especially London as well, because people see London all the time but they probably won’t have seen stuff filmed like this at spots…

Kevin: The London thing is not entirely conscious because we’ve kind of gone beyond the suburbs as well. We did a northern trip and there are plans for a bit more as well, but it’s 90 per cent London. Dan brought up that winters are impossible and that maybe we should go somewhere and Manny was thinking about Malaga or something wherever it was, but I was the one that was like: ‘No, we can do it. We should just stay here.’

Dan: Also there’s an element of this: you know Palace when they released their video it was all London, at it was cool, but they kind of did it like it’s all London but it’s Westminster road gap, it’s Southbank, it’s all major spots, which is cool for their type of vibe, but it would be good to be like, ‘let’s do all London with a mix of classic heritage spots and cutty stuff that people could be stoked on.’

Kevin: If people see the video and then they hit me up, ‘Where’s this?’ I would be stoked to reply: ‘That’s London.’

Will: From the sneak previews you’ve shown us, it looks like you’ve found a lot of new spots…

Harry filmed 80% of his part in the first four months of filming then moved to Manchester and it’s been a saga to pin him down ever since. Thankfully his talent on a skateboard makes up for that in the moments we can actually get a camera on him. Harry Lintell, crooked grind. Photo: Joe Buddle.

Dan: That’s Kev really, I wasn’t the spot-seeker…

Kevin: There are spots in this video that I found in the late-nineties but I never had someone who could skate them. It’s so much easier these days, but it’s not just seeing spots in other videos… There’s a BMX secret Insta account that I managed to get a hold of and they take these photos of spots with no giveaways as to where it is but we’ve managed to find a few of them. You can’t just be the guy in your car driving around, or just Street View, it’s got to be a mix of everything. And thank fuck for HD because you can read shop signs in the background. ‘Oh that’s where that is!’

Will: Well it doesn’t seem like you guys have blown out these new spots on Insta…

Dan: Well…

Will: Have you had to police the crew?

Dan: Mate, police the pedestrians! That is the gnarliest thing.

Kevin: That’s new to me.

Will: What is this?

Dan: Like people film stuff on their phones and you literally have to go tell them to not put it on Instagram or tell them to stop filming stuff.

Will: How does that go down?

Kevin: It goes down pretty well. So you imagine right, some random guy films Korahn, whose got a good amount of followers, he’s recognisable, this guy could tag him in or even if he doesn’t tag him they’re gonna tag it somewhere stupid like ‘Southbank skatepark’ you know what I mean? People look at that location and they’re like all of a sudden ‘here’s Korahn doing this down this set of stairs.’

Dan: People that are in the crew do stories and it kinda shows where we’re filming and it kinda gives the game away. If I was another filmer and I saw that I’d be like, ‘ah that spot’s good, let’s go!’

Will: So you’ve had to tell the guys…

Dan: Yeah. And this is one thing I hate; this is why no one gets sent anything. OK it’s one thing not to send any skater their footage; because I know from experience you don’t send a skater their footage because they send it round. And the other thing that blows my mind is the film off the back of the camera and then it gets sent around in the group chat of skaters. That’s mind-blowing. Because I’ve seen shit from people, Korahn…

Korahn: Why you saying me?

Dan: Because I’ve seen shit.

Korahn: I haven’t done that in a long time.

One of our partners found this. They lived next to it growing up, and mentioned it could be good for skating. Turns out that in an area we have rinsed for years, she knew where a banging double set and hubba was. Manny Lopez, backside tailslide. Photo: Buddle.

Kevin: The Blondey taxi driver clip everyone in London had seen for ages… So many people had it on their phones for two years before the video came out. That’s insane and that was the moment in the video that everyone was talking about and reposting. It kills the whole ‘oh they went there? They did that?’

Dan: For me that’s why I’m kinda gnarly about this because it would be great to make a video that could hold up to the same standards as the full-lengths from back in the day. No one knew what was going to be in the Plan B video, no one knew what was coming out in any of these old World videos…

Kevin: It can be done. I think it’s pretty cool you’re like that with the footage. Hopefully when this video comes out even for the skaters their footage will still remain fresh. I don’t watch a lot of the footage at home. I film it, send the high-res to Dan, but I don’t sit there and just keep watching it because we’re just trying to make sure it feels as fresh as possible. I mean is it worth blowing out the spot for like what, 130 likes?

Will: Are there any stories of the crew controversially one-upping at spots?

Dan: It’s something I will regulate on; I’ll weigh it up like is it worth taking out this dude to get that.

Arthur: Oh so if someone else has done something not in your crew is it worth… Say like (Tom) Knox does a trick on a spot or a Jensen spot, you’d be like ‘it’s not worth doing a Smith grind just to do a trick at this spot…’

Dan: Some people in the crew don’t have much imagination about spots. Some will see a picture of a spot and want to go do a similar trick, or like…

Kevin: Some guys see a photo come out and go ‘someone did a wallride, I want to do a frontside wallride.’ And we’re like ‘no’. There are certain spots that certain people own. In the same way that I said earlier that if there’s a new spot and everybody wants to the same line in the same direction… Let’s say Tom Knox goes somewhere an films an epic line, I just don’t think you should go there and film a line on the exact same route. Find your own route.

Zach Riley, frontside hurricane. Photo: Rich West.

Dan: We haven’t touched a thing that infringes on Jake’s (Jacob Harris) style of filmmaking
or his spots or anything like that. That’s the person I’m most sensitive about.

Will: Why is that?

Dan: Because Jake and I have always had a relationship as in we’ve worked together in the past, but also he’s probably the dude I respect the most for being a hard-working videographer and has his own ideas and has made the people he’s worked with look fucking amazing.

Will: Indeed.

Dan: I probably don’t need to film anything ever at Victoria benches because a) It’s Lucien’s spot and b) I’ve filmed a lot of stuff there before with other dudes. I don’t need to revisit that so now it’s like Lucien owns that spot.

Korahn: No one’s going to do better than nollie front heel switch crook!

Kevin: That’s exactly what happened, after the Palace video came out everyone was like, ‘it’s an OG spot we gotta go there!’ But I was like, ‘no. It’s a Lucien spot right now.’

Korahn: He brought it back to life then killed it again!

Kevin: Exactly. There’s a certain amount of that: respect other people.

Dan: For instance there’s that handrail in Brixton that Chris Jones runs up the stairs… So we got tricks there, but I wouldn’t let Harry do a line where he runs up the stairs.

Korahn: Yeah that’s just biting innit.

Kevin: There are things we’re into, but we want to pay homage to them but not bite them; there’s a fine line. We are real careful about that.

Will: You guys are both making the video together, how does that work? Who is doing the editing?

Dan: Well I’ve been trying to get Kev more involved (with the editing) but he hasn’t really been so I’ve been doing a fair bit.

Kevin: I’ve been filming all the time!

Dan: No Kev’s going to do some more of the post work on this one. I hate doing slow-mos and cropping out stuff; Kev’s really good at that. I guess it’s gonna look a little bit like the same family as First Broadcast kind of thing so I’m coming up with the ideas and Kev’s gonna go out and shoot loads of b-roll stuff and I’ll edit it in last minute.

Kevin: I feel like, as far as the video’s gonna look, it pulls from both of our back catalogues.

Dan: We’re still bouncing off ideas.

Manny got nicknamed Screensaver because some days he just says nothing and is down to watch everyone else get their session on. If you can find the grimmest looking spot and come up with something horrible to try, that usually works to snap him out of it. Manny Lopez, 50-50. Photo: Sam Ashley.

Korahn: One thing I found really funny was Dan testing you Kev, by sending you a song and seeing what you thought of it.

Kevin: Oh my god yes! Ha ha… He (Dan) sent me a song and was like, ‘What do you think about this for the video?’ And then I sent a reply going: ‘It sounds like it’s newly recorded, trying to sound like a song from the seventies, it sounds like it’s trying to be something it’s not…

Will: Bruno Mars, ha ha?

Kevin: Something like that, so I said to Dan, ‘It’s kinda wack; I wouldn’t use it.’ And then he sent a reply going: ‘Test passed. It was Kris Vile’s song from an old Vans video. You passed by the skin of your teeth.’ Ha ha ha…

Will: Korahn, what’s the meanest thing Dan has said about one of your outfits? Or what’s the meanest thing he’s said to you or the other guys?

Korahn: He’s always calling me out, but most of the time it’s in jest. Or at least it’s not serious enough to where he’s telling me to change my clothes…

Dan: It’s future-proofing!

Korahn: OK fine, but let me just talk! It’s not that he has a say really, in what I wear. I wear what I want and if he wants to film me he can or not. Because of the Blueprint videos, well First Broadcast is probably my favourite video; I definitely respect what he’s saying. So, although he talks a lot of shit on me, I accept it, because I’m hoping that he’s going to come through. That and because he’s an old friend of mine that’s the only reason I deal with this shit really. ‘Cause there’s times when I want to punch him, hard, in the face, and he knows it. Recently it got to the point, and he didn’t even know I hated him; I hated him a month ago. I can’t remember what it was, just like five different things in a row and he was just saying the wackest stuff and to everyone in the group… I felt like I had to back Manny up or Charlie because they weren’t really saying anything back. Anyways it got to the point that I just listed six things that he said that are just super-wack and I was like, ‘fuck you Dan and your negativity!’ And he was like, ‘fuck you and your fake positivity.’ And then I was like, ‘cool bro,’ and then I just left every group chat I was in with him and I saw him out on the streets and he’s like, ‘can’t even look me in the face can ya? It got to the point that I had to say: ‘I don’t even want to do a trick for your video, so I’m gonna go out skating with Kev for his video. That’s how this is gonna work.’ Anyway, since then I had a dream in which I was hugging Dan and I woke up with a big smile on my face.

Photo: Buddle.

Dan: Yeah… Freddy Krueger comin’ for ya!

Korahn: And then that next day I saw him and we were friends again.

Will: That’s a good story.

Korahn: It was crazy; I literally woke up smiling,

Dan: It’s not my video, it’s your video. What would I ever gain out of this? Nothing. It’s your video.

Kevin: Just day-to-day enjoyment maybe?

Korahn: It’s a team effort and Dan knows that when he’s in it, then he goes back to the drawing board, back to his little office or whatever, wank pad, and then he just starts being a troll on the internet and starts telling us all we’re wack. That’s what he does, but when he’s out and about he’s great.

Dan: There’s no way because if you dissect the situation you might notice I never talk shit on Charlie (Munro).

Korahn: Because he’ll bang you out.

Dan: Yeah, that’s why.

(Everyone laughs)

Korahn: This video, because we’ve all put in so much effort and just been a crew and had so much fun along the way I don’t think it fucking matters what people think of it. I generally don’t give a shit what people think of it.

Will: It’s more about what you guys got out of it the whole time.

Kevin: Yeah it’s been so much fun.

Dan: It’s all the U’s innit: unique, underrated, unknown, underpaid. You know what I mean? That’s what’s good about it.

Carlos came into the picture as he is Harry’s mate who moved to London. Harry then bounced from London to travel all over. After six months of skating with the crew, Carlos was still asking where Harry was. His English was way better by this point so we finally knew what he was asking. Carlos Cardeñosa, kickflip front crook to fakie. Photo: Buddle.

Arthur: I want to ask about the @_blips_ Instagram, what’s the motive behind making it so snide? Makes you seem a bit desperate for attention.

Dan: The whole thing is, so many people talked shit when I first started filming. ‘Why you filming Manny? Why you filming with Kev?’

Kevin: We spoke about this, everyone has their little WhatsApp group and they talk shit or they praise. On every video clip that comes out everyone judges it and so that was part of it… So when those things come out we’d send around (on the WhatsApp chat) these jokey memes and then finally we were like, ‘fuck it, let’s run it.’ Everyone talks shit, everyone has an opinion and we didn’t wanna make a very sanitised Insta account.

Arthur: Why was the post about what Kevin Coakley said taken down then? (Editor’s note: The deleted Blips Instagram post being referred to here was from August 2018. It said: [Trivia] In 2017, which of the following told Kevin Coakley: “Magee films the worst dudes now”? There were a dozen names listed as well.)

Dan: I took it down recently, because when I put the Cover Version ad that joins up, the nine posts, when I first did it I couldn’t get it to match up so I was like, ‘fuck I need to delete something,’ so I just decided to delete that because it doesn’t make any sense now. It wasn’t because it was snide…

Arthur: OK…

Kevin: So that whole thing is a homage to shit that was good when we were younger. When you open up Big Brother and there’s an ad for Bitch Skateboards with the Girl logo you’re like, ‘what?!’ But there are two things with those; this is what you were thinking straight away: who said this? Because the whole time we were like, ‘it’s only funny if you follow it through right? It’s only funny if you’re completely honest.’ And we all kind of kicked off at Dan because he replied and said it was him and then he said it was (Alex) Decuhna’s dad…

Korahn: No no, he said it was himself, which is total bullshit.

Arthur: At least commit to it….

Dan: I actually didn’t know who it was…

Arthur: You genuinely didn’t know who it was?

Dan: Coakley told me, but he wouldn’t tell me who it was, but I knew it had to be Jake (Harris), Sylvain (Tognelli) or Casper (Brooker), those three people, but I didn’t know who it was. Then when I put it up Sylvain rang me up like, ‘ah, I told you it was me!’ Like, ‘no I didn’t know it was you.’ He told me afterwards.

Korahn: Then why did you say you said it was you?

Dan: Because I didn’t know at that stage…

Kevin: Then you should have said ‘one of these three, we’re not sure who,’ it’s a total bailout thing to do. You have to own it.

Arthur: Ok after this whole conversation the main thing I’m struggling to understand is why you do this Dan? What are you actually getting out of this?

Photo: Buddle.

Will: Yeah what do you want the outcome to be?

Dan: I’m 44, he’s a 40-year-old dad, it’s kind of like a) If two forty year-old dudes can do it and one’s got a kid, with jobs or whatever, if we can do it and make this video with no budget then maybe someone else can do it after we’re done and make a fucking amazing one. Please by all means, make your video, well it’s kinda half-snide half like I do want someone to do it a) and b) If you want to top this, please fucking do because I want to see that video. I really want to see that video because it’s been a mission.

Will: What about you Kev?

Kevin: I just really like making skate videos. I just like it.

Korahn: That’s a huge fucking part of it.

Dan: I do too… I have fun. OK here’s my perfect day… Crew chat the night before, we plan a mission for tomorrow, everyone for some reason is like ‘yeah let’s do this…’ Wake up the next day, we go to the spot, and preferably we’d drive so I don’t have to carry my camera bag. We’ll meet Kev and most of the crew, myself in cars with (Joe) Buddle, who’s fun as fuck to hang around with. We’ll go and get the trick that we specifically went to get, we might get something else, then we’ll go to Wetherspoons and get loads of stuff sent to our table free on Instagram, then we’ll go back and talk on the group chat about how good it was that day. I’ll log the footage then send him (Kev) a preview and that is like the stoker.

Korahn: And then the next morning Dan will tell everyone that they’re not trying to do anything for the video and they’re not taking it seriously.

(Everyone laughs)

Dan: But honestly you don’t get that reward every day. I’m trying to think of a good day like that…
Arthur The day you cried surely?

Korahn: Yes, the Manny back lip!

Manny’s the only person I’ve ever seen do this: you’re at the bottom of some hubba; he’s trying a trick. Then as you’re waiting down there you hear: ‘Look I’m trying a really gnarly trick right now; I can’t have this conversation!’ Are you fucking kidding me? If I’m the skater I’m not even picking up the phone, let alone to my girlfriend. Manny Lopez, backside lipslide. Ph. Sam Ashley

Dan: I cried when Manny did the back lip because in all my years of watching people ride this ridiculous fucking toy, that was like the most Rocky moment I’ve ever seen.

Kevin: That was gnarly.

Dan: That day Manny really fucking tried… He tried, we went there and we got kicked out…

Kevin: Yeah like three times.

Dan: He literally took his ankle off and I didn’t think he was gonna try it any more and he did it on his last go.

Kevin: He could barely ollie on flat then there was a load of people there and there was a 10-minute break and he just wanted one last go. And like the ollie he did on flat it looked like a child’s first ollie. It was gnarly. We thought there was no way he was gonna make it.

Korahn: He tried an ollie and landed and was like ‘uhhh’ and Manny was basically about to cry and then he caught mine and Kev’s eyes like, ‘I feel like crying…’ and then didn’t cry. We were like, ‘dude if you’re gonna go for it, you’ve got to land it. Because if you don’t you’re fucked mate.’ And then he just did it.

Dan: It was one of the gnarliest things I’ve ever seen.

 

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