Chris Thiessen

Magenta in L.A.

Magenta Skateboards and their classic "capsule" format picked the turn of fall as the most strategic moment to come back to inject some extra sunshine into your life via this new eight-minute edit of Los Angeles footage featuring Leo Valls, Jimmy Lannon, Jesse Narvaez, Ben Gore and friends; now if night footage happens to be your thing then no sweat to be spent as they've got you covered there too. Their website has this accompanying article featuring photos by Ben Gore and Wolfgang Brandt (who also appears in the video); everything was filmed by Marshall Nicholson with some contributions courtesy of Chris Thiessen (previously interviewed by LIVE here); and for more Jesse Narvaez and Ben Gore, make sure not to miss the new Loophole edit in collaboration with FTC, by Zach Chamberlin, here!

PREMIERE / "Hot Plate" / Marshall Nicholson

It is no less than six years that Marshall Nicholson spent restlessly working on his second independent, full-length skate video (after "FEED YOUR HEAD", and shorter clips such as "JIVE"): "HOT PLATE", a few parts from which had already found their respective ways online before - notably via Theories of Atlantis and Vague Skate Mag. Talking Theories, they are still hosting this interview with Marshall by Mike Wine where the approach for, and process behind the piece were discussed in length; Vague, on their end, had Dom Henry take over the interrogation room, which resulted in even more commentary from the author.

Now, Marshall is a full-time father and still undertaking new projects, be it video-wise or not as he's also been busy managing Palms Skateshop; and yet in spite of such an intense schedule, today, he's delivering and serving us the full "HOT PLATE" - now watchable in one shot fired from Fort Myers, Florida but also, by extension, N.Y.C., Baltimore, Chattanooga and Tokyo. A whole universal story wrapped up within exactly forty-two VX-1000-driven minutes; Douglas Adams himself never was this correct at estimating the meaning of life.

Take Five (Pushes)

Push Periodical, the independent, print photography-oriented skate mag orchestrated by legendary photographer from the U.K. Richard Hart (interviewed by LIVE here), celebrates its five years of existence (only? already?) as a petite entreprise with "5", an exclusive edit signed by just-as-legendary Sony VX-1000 wizard Zach Chamberlin which revisits a past half-of-a-decade mostly spent on the road - or when the San Francisco hills decide to lead you somewhere in between Portugal and Hungary... On the program: nearly forty skaters documented throughout that timespan, whose most footage has found a home in different productions in the meantime and yet, they manage to take a whole new flavo(u)r here - which isn't that surprising as Rich can definitely school anyone on how clementines really make camembert come alive, and that's in spite of all their preconceived notions. Behind the camera, in addition to Zach: Colin Read, Romain Batard, Chris Thiessen, Grant Yasura... And Dan Wolfe, for the final tribute to Keith Hufnagel - of course. The soundtrack is by a longtime friend of Richard's: Brigid Dawson.

Valls around the world

Chris Thiessen, longtime indie skate filmmaker brought under the worldwide spotlight as a participant in the Threads Idea Vacuum artisanal think tank and then via his direction of some volumes of the TransWorld SKATEboarding full-length video legacy, LIVE hasn't been without presenting his works before and we even interviewed him regarding "RIDDLES IN MATHEMATICS", that one time. For a little bit now, he's been dropping fresh edits of raw footage on his YouTube channel and after, notably, Yaje Popson and Brad Cromer's respective turns, it is now time for a Frenchman to be treated with the same deal: Magenta Bordeaux rider Léo Valls, to be accurate, on the basis of clips collected between 2016 and 2019 in Atlanta, N.Y.C., Los Angeles, Long Beach, Miami, Bordeaux, Paris and Barcelona - with some guest data in the mix, contributed by Yoan Taillandier. Quite the frenetic dance around the world, as though in hopes to tame that crispy VX-1000, eventually!

Leo in L.A.

Just a few days after the online release of his third edit for Free Travel, VX-1000 die-hard - who no longer needs an introduction as we've already featured him this many times - Chris Thiessen is announcing a new series of web clips of his, produced by TransWorld and dubbed "Left Tapes". The concept is the documentation of street skating around L.A., and this first episode brings in a sound and fury of quite the smooth type, actually, with a timeline shared between a cruising-as-usual Leo Valls, a powerful-as-usual Alex Schmidt and music that actually, well, works.

All expenses paid

Although information is simultaneously overwhelmingly plentiful and lost in a scroll nowadays, for your own good, try and remember: Chris Thiessen is one of the heads behind the Threads Idea Vacuum think tank, and also responsible for the last TransWorld Sony VX-1000 full-lengths ("Riddles In Mathematics" being the curtains of what has been a saga; at the time, LIVE actually interviewed Chris about the making of such a production, here!).

Throughout the past few months, we've been introducing you to his new adventure: Free Travel, a clothing brand strong of colorful designs and not just one, but two video offerings already. Needless to specify, despite such business, Chris hasn't been leaving his trustworthy VX behind - at all - and is now adding a third installment to that series, after a few months of always better fine-tuning his fisheye dexterity around the company of the appropriately-named Matt Town and Mike Bloodsworth, this time - but also of Matt Field, who is seemingly set on never slowing down and earns himself a guest clip, because he can.

But the skateboarder Chris really wanted to highlight here is a new recruit: Josh Wilhite from Memphis who, according to him, turned out to be a delight to document as he's interested in spots of all types and forms, ensuring a fresh take on the streets of L.A. and its surroundings. We'll leave that up to your appreciation, now!

Free travel, bis!

Just a few weeks back, we were presenting you the first web edit for filmer Chris Thiessen and pimp John Lindsay's clothing brand: Free Travel. Well, they're back with a new production entitled "Trails", filmed over just four days in Los Angeles. The entire team (Chris Athans, Jesse Narvaez, Ryan Barlow, Mike Bloodsworth) shares the (literal) shine with a bunch of Northern Co. representatives, including a never-not-silky-smooth Jameel Douglas, and you're bound to feel the heat straight through the 3CCD prism - day and night!

Magenta "Balade" / Meeting... Vivien Feil!

Finally on your screens, for you to watch no sooner than right now, right here: the new Magenta full-length, "Balade", prominently filmed in the United States of America but not exclusively. The resulting mix is a twenty-minute long upbeat edit - perfect to watch before skating - that was put together pretty spontaneously, actually. You know how LIVE works by now: the opportunity was too great not to try and ask the busy Vivien Feil (one of the founding fathers of the brand, besides offspring duties of a more organic type) what's up and surprise, he did manage to find the time to come through with answers aplenty for you to absorb alongside the video, making for a solid package we are stoked to present you today!

Free Travel !

You aren't dreaming - yes, Free Travel! News even more exciting than you originally thought they would be, as that's actually the name of the newest S.F.-based clothing brand, a spiritual lovechild birthed by the hearts and souls of Bay Area OG John Lindsay (who's since moved, but had to leave some of his heavy legacy there) and filmmaker Chris Thiessen (notably the man behind the last few TransWorld SKATEboarding full-length videos to date; a topic he has discussed with us before, here!). The resulting garment isn't their only colorful output, too: so are the painted houses and warm tones so typical of the City that the Free Travel team zooms past; a roster comprising the ever-so-productive Chris Athans (Northern Co. and State's latest recruit), Jesse Narvaez (ex-Rasa Libre, Matt Field's company), a Ryan Barlow who always looks down to get high on a skateboard the specific mind-boggling ways he knows how, and then the appropriately named Mike Bloodsworth who goes in. This first edit of theirs actually makes you want to go on (idealistically free?) travels headed towards the hills of a particularly effervescent S.F. these days, as half the Free Travel crew just so happens to be involved in yet another promising, new enterprise: Loophole Wheels, with Zach Chamberlin. Unstoppable, these guys!

Meeting… Chris Thiessen!

Chris Thiessen, the man (most notably) behind the latest Transworld videos "Substance" and "Riddles In Mathematics", sat down with us to discuss his background in skate filmmaking, editorial choices, influences, his relationship with the magazine and more.

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