(Featured: Sidewalk Magazine Issue 211, Folk-lore, April 2014.)
When first I heard that a Supreme video was in production, like most skaters I imagine, I wasn’t particularly interested aside from Bill Strobeck being on filming duties. As, the months went on, the prospect of Dylan Rieder, Dill and AVE featuring together for the first time since Mindfield drew my interest. After the trailer for cherry I was pleasantly stoked, again like most skaters I presume that this video could be something special. As release drew even closer I found myself in a similar situation to the hypebeasts I had once mocked as anticipation grew and my main thought was that in similar style to their exclusively elusive products, it would probably get something like a £90 floppy disk release… Previously mentioned once team members of Alien Workshop are present accompanied by Gonz, Alex Olson, a lesser known crowd of Supreme/Fucking Awesome kids and countless more pros. All in black and white and with music from The Cure, Gang Gang Dance to INXS, cherry is another credit to Bill Strobeck’s lens mastery.
Starting off the video is the said Fucking Awesome youth that consists of Sage Elesser, Kevin Bradley, Tyshawn Jones, Na-kel Smith, Aiden Mackey and the infamous Sean ‘post a fit’ Pablo (discount Donovon Piscopo, enough said). Their footage is simply ridiculous, when Strobeck said; “This is going to be the first video of all those kids. People will remember what they were like when they first came on the scene.” He wasn’t just building hype; expect more from these kids to come. Sage springs onto and over a variety of rails and weaves in and out of traffic (as the whole internet expected), a heavy session takes place on the Courthouse bank by ‘Courthouse kid’ Tyshawn Jones (cocky, but 13 without kid style…) while Bradley boosts a huge kickflip towards the credits. This group of juvenile rippers appear throughout because as expected, cherry is made up of several montages rather than individual parts. While it would have been rad to have parts, aside from the ‘friends/pros’ section, it definitely keeps the momentum of the video going. Safe to say expect some remixes, especially Dylan, but I’ll leave the best until last…
Gonz’s footage will likely be up for debate, personally I expected far more and his antics are bound to annoy a few. But if it’s Gonz you came for, you will be entertained. While ‘lifestyle’ shots aren’t too overdone, what can only be described as ‘New York weirdo‘ scenes are extremely questionable. Another reason the video would have benefitted from regular rider parts is that there’s a fair few recurring ABDs and it would’ve definitely made the kids stand out more as it hard to tell who’s who at times.
The friends/pros section begins amusingly with Mariano left hanging by a security guard followed with the wail of ‘Vacuum’ by Gang Gang Dance which works surprisingly well. All of Guy’s footage is rad but a line on some seriously whippy bricks is the attention grabber. Koston makes an appearance by actually skateboarding instead of his usual post-modern ‘look how funny I am’ bullshit, but couldn’t resist getting overly on trend with a three no-comply trick line. Zered Basset also graces the screen with a pisstake frontside wallride, while Omar Salazar catches airtime from a rigged up 5050. 3D boss B.A. delivers some of the best footage with some face grinding action with sheer determination to land a tailslide on a rail embedded into a wall and a flowing line that contends with Gino for king of the ‘would rather watch push’ crown.
Alex Olson comes through with a few unorthodox tricks alongside pigtailed pop prowess. Throughout the video we’re given glimpses of Dill stressing over the same amount of tricks he seems to land. Furthermore, he provides hilarious commentary towards the superiority of skateboards and sheer rage towards cyclists; “how many white people with dreadlocks are behind me right now, probably like a fucking thousand right.”Though he might have laid off drugs in the last few years, his showcased eccentricity is pure comedy. Taking influence from his protégée he dodges traffic, pops an impossible then wallride 5-0s a waist high ledge. Though short, the expected AVE cameo is also good but I imagine his best is being saved for the Vans video. Light footed manual combos are also executed as if to make up for personal feelings of a sub-par Mindfield ender while also taking the last trick of cherry. As previously said, Dill freaking out is plentiful and the number of times ‘fuck’ is used could match Goodfellas. The footage of him slapping himself will be to the delight of some and is already doing internet laps at the time of writing.
Backside smith grinding on to the scene, Dylan Rieder provides easily the best and most footage of cherry with music from INXS. The closest thing to a full part since ‘dylan.’, what started then has come to fruition as Rieder has matured from high switch-flipping handsome devil to complete powerhouse; literally everything he goes for appears almost waist height. Plenty of two wheeled manoeuvres will make Dill proud alongside sharing a session on the block from his Mindfield ender. A lot of AVE’s influence really shines through with picnic benches get nothing short of shut down throughout LA schoolyards. If you read his recent Transworld interview, every photo’s footage is there for viewing pleasure; backside smith to backside tailslide on a jersey is done with such finesse, oh how far he’s come… Backside flip to switch manny and front blunt flip out are executed with trademark ‘leaning back arm in front of face’ style alongside two stand out impossibles; one taken to a road gap the other I won’t spoil for you; just make sure you’re sitting down. Dreamy.
If you’re sceptical of cherry because of the banner it’s under, don’t be, the Supreme side of things isn’t pushed too hard and this really is a skate video, not an extended promo. I feel that this is what Supreme needed to show they are still part of skateboarding despite the high-fashion product to the disinterest of most. The non skating shit does get a bit annoying but is easy enough to ignore because the skateboarding is just that good. cherry is available on iTunes and hardcopies at Supreme London.
F.G. 