We've already done our best to warn you about the gem that is the latest Traffic video (if one somehow doesn't count their recent Japan trip as canon), "Look Left"; a while back, we even went as far as interviewing Mark Wetzel and Joe Yates for your reading pleasure - and also to try and provide a window into the culture surrounding an authentic company that is deeply anchored in the history of street skateboarding. Well now, the whole piece is finally online, thanks to the homies at Theories, the distro and collective led by Josh Stewart - who's also the filmmaker here. Don't slip and forget to catch a glimpse of the recap of Josh's recent exhibition at Vladimir, retracing the twenty past years the man has spent working on his own series of independent skate videos, the classic "Static", before you go!
Avid LIVE Skateboard Media readers should remember the noise around the latest Traffic Skateboards (East coast pioneer Ricky Oyola's board company) full-length video release: "Look Left", as it wasn't without causing quite some waves amid the underground scene last year and we also jumped on the opportunity to interview team riders Mark Wetzel and Joe Yates. For the past few years now, Theories of Atlantis' Josh Stewart (of "Static" independent series fame) and Pat Stiener have had a hand in the image and distribution of the company, something in the name of which they just put up its first ever full-length offering from 2006: "Via", on their YouTube channel, in its entirety. Along with Josh's "Static II", that film is a true pearl of culture in that it helped shine some more light towards an East coast scene that really had never slowed down since Dan Wolfe's "Eastern Exposure" saga ten years back, or the Zoo York "Mixtape" video from a few years prior. Of course, Ricky's direction for Traffic had to be pure street only, straight from some of its best East coast representatives with a visionary eye for trick and spot aesthetics - something that's become a standard since, but those guys were part of setting that whole imagery! Namely Mark Wetzel, Ricky Oyola, Pat Stiener, the incredible Rich Adler, Henry Panza, Andy Bautista, Brannon John, Shaun Williams and some guests of choice along the likes of Bobby Puleo all make appearances. The twenty-minute format makes "Via" a perfect pre-skate watch, oh and the soundtrack is as incredible as the skating. Homework of a pleasurable kind!
Always abrasive in his approach, that Mark Wetzel dude, and never taking the beaten path, unless it leads to the perfect non-spot! Then again, you don't really ride for Traffic for no reason! A small dose, as an appetizer for more soon, maybe?
The kind of part that makes you get out the house with a strong desire to jump over anything and everything in sight, while bouncing off any wall that might show up. Thanks, mister Wetzel!
"Caste x Traffic", one could just stick to that double stamp of approval, but this Nate Pezzilo part also puts someone on the map, with a relaxed style, combined with absolute precision including on more than rough spots… So, this collab' around the City Hall theme is a bit more than that, with a skater at the top of his game, and a Chris Mulhern at his best, behind the camera and at the editing dock, also. Seriously, do not miss this!
