Way Back Wednesday With Geetz 07

During the mid nineties skateboarding turned a pivotal page in history. For a long time it seemed that the industry was dominated mostly by Americans, leaving the rest of the world somewhat dwarfed by these superhuman pros. It was perceived that if you weren’t from the U S of A, you weren’t really going to get a look in. Then the European invasion began. Guys like Geoff Rowley, Tom Penny and Carl Shipman, all from the UK exploded onto the scene adding a fresh look and slightly different approach to skateboarding. These guys could all hold their own with the best at the time, I mean look how far Geoff and Tom have come. I wish Carl Shipman was the same. He had one hell of a frontside flip on him. Anyway, a dude that appeared around ’95 or ’96 that really impressed the hell out of a ton of heads was France’s own JB Gillet. There was something else about this guy though. He didn’t throw himself down stairs or handrails like most others felt they had to do to make an impression. Instead he just cruised around skating curbs and flatground with that little trademark rabbit flick push of his, turning heads wherever he went. JB is one of those guys that you just wanna watch do kickflips on the flat all day. His style is like no other. He started out earning a spot on the New Deal team as an am. Pretty much as they were going through a bit of a transition from being one of those giant companies, to more or less barely existing. Well sort of, I mean they weren’t the New Deal that Morri rode for, that’s for sure. I think JB was fairly lucky with the peers he surrounded himself with in the states. He was rolling with the guys that were doing things their own way – The Pier 7 dudes. (And you know I have a soft spot for these guys.) JB learned a lot of his english through listening to hip hop, especially Tupac. He made the switch to the World Industries around ’97, starring in the Daewon VS Rodney videos. From there it was on to another one of the greatest teams of all time, Daewon’s Deca squad. Deca really suited JB and it’s a bummer it came and went. I read somewhwere that one of JB’s greatest regrets is not riding for Chocolate when offered the chance. He said he was on for like a week then went back to Deca as it was supposed to be making a comeback. Bum deal that it didn’t. I guess things have worked out pretty well for JB now though, he’s cemented a solid spot on Cliché, Lakai, Matix and Gold amongst others. He also has his own shop in Lyon called Ballz Out. It’s great to see guys like JB succeed without having to jump off of buildings and such and has proved once and for all that it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at. I still get a shiver every time I see the rabbit flick.

 

http://youtu.be/oRlwh1B8UDA

Quick Pic

I found this the other day. I used to have it on my wall when I was a badger. I wish I still did. OG Girl and Chocolate teams. It would’ve be dope going to that university.

Over the last fortnight or so, my homie Swin and I been having these little Friday night skate geek sessions. They usually involve a box of beer, some puff puff give and an iPod battle before we settle in for some of yesteryears finest. The Friday just been we viewed the Girl and Chocolate boxset; such a great combo. The first four films from Girl Cinemas are among my top ten of all time. Whilst watching Mouse, Mike Carroll’s green and grey windbreaker triggered something off. FTC is a store founded in San Francisco and these guys pulled off something I don’t think many other shops have ever done to the extent they did: Their all star team. The thing I like the most about the FTC team is that they aren’t all from SF, it was worldwide. After their first video entitled Finally, they released an absolute gem of a video called Penal Code 101. You couldn’t really ask for a better vid as far as the depth of talent involved goes. You want heavy hitters, this was the one. Back to Carroll’s windbreaker. The vid came out around the time of Mouse, and Carroll and Howard, I’m guessing, must have had a whole bunch of footy left from Mouse (you see the windbreaker in both flicks) which earned them the curtains in Penal Code. Windbreaker and all the mean skating aside, most definitely my favourite thing about the vid was the tune they skated to. What a way to go out.

P.S: Howards tre flip at 0:33.

http://youtu.be/dPoivj_rsuA

Stomping Grounds

It seems a lot of footwear companies are trying their crack at the skate market these days. Some of these are trying for the second or third time. I remember Nike gave it a crack in the mid to late nineties, I’m sure Pat Channita and Bam were the team. It didn’t really work out as the shoes strayed from the traditional Dunk or Air Force One look and were more technichal éS scheme looking things. It didn’t work then but I wonder what percentage of skaters wear Nike now? Another company that has tried in the past and has made a recent resurge into the industry is Converse. Like their counterparts Nike and Adidas, most of the shoes are designed from their traditional ranges with a performance twist. One shoe I personally think they should have left the same as it was is the Converse Pro. We used to shred the shit out of these things. In fact a lot of people had been seen in those in their day. See Rick howard in this week’s Eclipse for proof. They didn’t last long at all, but fuck they were the business to skate in. It didn’t have a vulcanised sole but was barely cupped, hence why I’m not sure why they changed it. Also, the best thing about these was that they probably would have cost us about 50 to 70 NZ dollars max. I have only managed to find the leather models to view, but the suede ones were fairly fucking tight. Did someone say high top?! A few years back, I was halfway through my weekly pilgrimage to Queenstown’s finest department store AKA The Warehouse, when I stumbled upon the white leather high version. The price on them said $66, but I took them to the trusty price checker as they were having a Red Dot sale and they had red dots on ‘em. The price that came up was $8.99. I quickly shuffled back to the Converse aisle and grabbed the only other pair which was one size too small for me and proceeded to the till. Two pairs of brand new Cons Pro highs for under $18. There was definitely a celebration of sorts that night. I sold the 8s for $50 a year later and still have the 9s, and probably still will in 50 years time. I thought I might also show you a Converse skate shoe attempt from back in the day. It was Chany Jeanguenin’s pro shoe and it had helium in it. Interesting?