By Major Tom/Crosland
The new Fallen Video Ride the Sky, had it’s worldwide premier last week (Aug 7) at the Speckles Theatre in San Diego. Skateboardrev.com went to see the much anticipated cinematic offering from Jamie Thomas and crew. Before getting on to the film itself we will say a few things about the premier. First of all it played to a packed house of course, like always. There were 2 showings, 7 and 9. Kids were lined up way before and people lingered way after the showings. Pretty much the whole Fallen team and the industry of skateboarding were there. Those are the things you would expect for a Jamie Thomas skate flick premier. What was a little different was that there was not a riot this year and that it started pretty much on time. Usually Jamie and crew are working feverishly well after the premier start time to finish the movie. This time they got it done on time. Can not believe they can even sort through that much insane skate footage to even get it done period.
The skating is of course insane with perhaps the most insane parts by Tommy Sandoval, James Hardy Brian Hansen and Chris Cole who may not even be human. There is all kinds of skating, from tech to soul ditches to huge gaps. The soundtrack is definitely of the blues/rock and roll variety, more introspective as opposed to just thrash shit punk or up in the club with a 40 oz, rap. Sick soundtrack to us but surely some will disagree. Jethro Tull, Brian Jonestown Massacre, CCR, Lynard Skynard, Danzig, Judas Priest and Jimi Hendrix just to name a few of the bands that some of the younger generation will be turned on to and have not heard yet.
The look of the video is very clean with out special effects which leads to the question; out of the possibly 2 biggest videos of 2008, Ride The Sky or Lakai’s fully flared which is best? Well, Fully Flared is like Iron Maiden selling out an Arena for 7 nights in a row with 3 different Eddies and all the fancy pyrotechnics and stuff. Ride The Sky is like Motorhead playing for 3 hours with no opening band with lead weights in Lemmy’s boots, in the rain with Heroin and hookers – Ride The Sky is more raw than Fully Flared but the roots of both productions (skating), is metal for both and the best for a number of reasons. Skating, oh yea. Gilbert and Hardy will be household names soon. Hardy has been skating/living at the Black Box park and it shows. Sandoval is out this world with a huge front flip on a double set and a feeble to smith on a wicked rail. Slash with a kickflip over a gap that most snowboarders would say no to. Thomas front grinds in Alabama and of Course Chris Cole with a huge tre on a bank in China. Cole had the closing part btw. The above are just a few of many bits of insanity the flick offers.
Any real modern skater will buy both Ride the Sky and Fully Flared and watch em over and over. The Chief will never let us down.
Skating by
Matt Bennett, Tony Cervantes, Brian “Slash” Hansen, Billy Marks, Gilbert Crocket, Josh Harmony, James Hardy, Tommy Sandoval, Chris Cole, James Hardy and of course Thomas
Co Director/Filmer – Mike Gilbert
Co Director – Jamie Thomas
For more premier dates and video clips go to
www.fallenfootwear.com
The all important Marquee shot, Spreckles theatre, San Diego, CA Aug 7, 2008
Photo – Major Tom
Brian “Slash” Hansen has been on the radar screen for a couple of years now and is pretty much a household name in the skate world. Well, The Fallen video takes Slash from on the radar to a direct hit. Slash takes old school style and mixes it with new school tech and mixes it with the willingness to do some of the gnarliest shit out there and he dresses like a Hells Angel which is so hot right now. Here is a photo of Slash in Carlsbad
Photo – Crosland
Chris Cole is known for wearing slim fitting pants what else can you say about Chris Cole, the man is a machine and perhaps an alien too. There are not too many people out there that can KILL contests and still come up with argueably one of the gnarliest vid parts of 2008. Imagine if he never stepped foot on a skateboard, would he be back in PA managing a McDonalds’s or something?
Photo – Crosland
Before Zero, before welcome to Hell, Jamie Thomas was just a kid like you and I with big dreams. Here is a photo of Jamie after he rode for Real while living on the streets of San Francisco and before he rode for Toy Machine. He briefly rode for Invisible Skateboards and lived on Dave Bergthold’s couch in Bonsall, CA. Here Jamie skates the mini ramp on a rainy day in the early 90’s. The difference between Jamie and every other kid out there is that he chased his dreams, worked his ass off and look where he is now.
Photo – Crosland
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