(Featured: Sidewalk Magazine Issue 207, Folk-lore, December 2013.)
Cold War is here! The long anticipated Blackbox banger graced skateboarderâs screens this month. If the online teases alone didnât persuade you to by the video, hopefully this will…
Bald scary bastard James Brockman kicks everything in true Zero fashion with plenty of high speed rail slaying and a surprising double set wall plant. Tony Cervantes follows on by dropping in a roof and continues the mach ten handrail blasting to even faster paced music alongside a kickflip backside melon Appleyard would be proud of. Meanwhile McTwist spinning wonder kid Ben Hatchell provides transition footage to the video along with a fair share of double kinks for a predominately transition skater. Bearded shredder Nick Boserio also provides a banger of a part with plenty of gap out to grinds/slides then ending with an insane over the top 5050.
For a company like Zero, the veterans are what we really come back for. The first of which to feature in Cold War is stylish Scotsman John Rattray who thankfully has a full part. The video calms down a bit with Rattrayâs part but is no less rad, after all, itâs footage of John Rattray. The first half is a rad watch following a recent lack of footage with a few double trick lines including a frontside 360 down a stair set, followed by a backside 360 down another with snapped board ride away. Rattray also demonstrates that skatepark footage can be legit in videos; a quick shot to some less than Predatory looking Birds and the part shifts into âhyperlinkedâ lines similar to New Balance Numericâs âThe Second Narrowsâ, all of which is filmed head on, at high speed and simply looks amazing.
Lone wolf Tom Karengelov gets creative with window ledge wallies and bump to rail boardslide pop-overs alongside the perquisite handrail conquering with a section that probably stands out the most but none the less feels like a Zero part. Karengelovâs choice of apparel is also quite prominent as he bravely dons all white on occasion; even performing a kickflip then a few pushes which could easily be mistaken for Mr Kirchart (around 17 minutes for those that would care to argue otherwise). While another Heath homage, again in all white, is a front tail on a curved hubba that could be pulled straight out of Mindfield…admittedly he gets a pass though for a having a good enough style to pull it off. Bonus points for skating to Joy Division too.
Jamie Thomas proves two things with his part; skateboarders can somehow punish themselves on stairs when pushing 40 and that itâs ok to wear really slim jeans post 30. Jamie Thomasâ name speaks for his skating ability what everybody expects from this part, it does not disappoint at all. Like Reynolds with Emerica or Rowley with Flip; Jamie embodies Zero Skateboards and itâs great to see him still really killing it, massive props to the Chief!
Family man and one of skateboardingâs most tech metalheads Chris Cole comes through with an Iron Maiden accompanied part that will get younger skateboarders stoked because itâs âChris Cole of Street League fameâ and older ones stoked because itâs Chris Cole. While not âRide the Skyâ the part is still a good watch with a few technical head scratchers including a mid line frontside 270 frontside noseslide. A perfect flip backside nose blunt and 270 lipslide 270 amongst other stair hammers round off the part.
Tommy Sandoval takes the penultimate section with a video part that easily contends for ender status. Like Jamie Thomas, Sandoval fully embraces the Zero tradition of no bullshit blasting down everything in sight, with skating that doesnât really need describing other than calling it âno bullshitâ, which does the job pretty well. Tommyâs part also probably contains the most fliptricks of the whole video, nearly all of which are down stairs and gaps or onto handrails. Literally banger after banger, Sandoval is definitely a Skater of the Year contender after this.
Ending Cold War is Australian Skater of the Year, and another contender for this yearâs title, Dane Burman. Rails are flipped onto; security guards are given hell and thereâs even a wallride to fire cracker, with a second half of the part that is absolutely gnarly. There are too many bangers to ramble on about but the last trick is a complete jaw dropper which looks more insane with each angle. To summarise, all of Cold War is pure street and handrail skateboarding at its rawest, buy the video and support the guys who deserve a well earned rest after putting literally blood and sweat into this production.
Zero or die!
F.G. 