Countown: Dying to Live

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2003 by Michael Burnett

ALL HAIL THE KING

FOR PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDING, the video is king. It's the demo, contest win and feature interview all rolled into one blazing package. If you've got something to prove, the VHS tape is your audition and the skaters of the world, your audience. A sick video can turn a hometown hero into a household name and a middling pro into a legend.

Few have had a bigger influence on the modern skate video than Jamie Thomas. Starting with Toy Machine's Welcome to Hell, the ground-breaking skating got the treatment it deserved. JT sped up the action, tightened the filming and editing, and put more than a bong-hit's worth of time into choosing the music--an all-killer, no-filler approach; the result of which was a freight train of a tape that made folks cover their eyes, scream out loud, and most importantly, want to get out and skate.

The follow-ups, Zero's Thrill of it All and Misled Youth, further refined this ultra-aggressive video style while the team, a crew of relative unknowns (many of whom were just as happy to acid drop as switch crooks), helped push the then-narrow boundaries of tricks deemed acceptable. The intense level of the skating, punctuated by Jamie's monster rails and unreal drops, was coupled with a new work ethic long forgotten in the style-conscious early '90s. Gone were the days of "Here, film this" buddy cams and Saturday afternoon hangover sessions. Late nights with generators and two-day trips to secret rails in the Midwest became the norm. Their passion for production and focus on the gnar has influenced a lazy industry and a generation of kids who, with heavy metal ringing through their heads, are ready to throw themselves down every handrail in sight.

To ask the Zero team when they started working on Dying to Live is pointless. The truth is, they started the day after Misled Youth premiered. To be on the Zero team means always being in production mode.

After some roster changes, the present crew is probably the most well-rounded bunch yet. The mix of seasoned vets like Jamie, Rattray and Mumford with young bucks Lopez, Smith, Cole, Bobier and secret weapons Allie and Lindsay promises Dying to Live will be another tape that will hold court in the VCR for a long, long time.

RELATED ARTICLE: LEE DUPONT INTERVIEW

BEHIND EVERY VIDEO there are the selfless Individuals who hold the cameras. These renegade artists not only drive to the ends of the Earth for the stars of skateboarding; once there they sweep away the rocks, plaster in the cracks, then play cheerleader as the stunt man decides whether or not he's "feelin'. it." Lee Dupont has been around since long before the death lens and company card, and knows shit from Shinola when ii comes to video work and professional skateboarding. With experience comes wisdom, and maybe a little bit of jadedness, but the Zero boys know Lee's got their back and will nail the shot when they're laying their nuts on the line--even if, as he's happy to point out, he'd rather be golfing.

How does it feel it have it all finished?

Ha-ha! That's the worst fuckin' feeling alive! It's not almost finished though, that's the weird thing. I wish it was finished. So two days bolero the premier it's not finished?

I mean it's a lot more finished than it was a week ago. As the time gets shorter, the stuff you have to do gets longer. Seems to be you leave the stuff that takes the longest until the very end. You end up fuckin' yourself in the ass. Do you see what happens, Larry?!!

Let's get some of your stats.

I'm 6'1", 195. I'm a Scorpio. I like walks on the beach after videos are done.

What was the first video you ever had footage in?

It was an old Shaft video--my first foyer into video publication. It was Ian Ross doing a trick over a hip.

What was the pay like for a Shaft trick?

As you may have heard, McGill's not afraid to spend the big bucks. I don't know. I think I maxed out at maybe store cost for a board

Where else might we have seen your work?

Depends on how far you wanna go back. I've had some stuff in the Prime videos, 20 Shot Sequence, some World videos. I had some stuff in Plan B, J Wray and what not, couple tricks of Rodney. Jamie's part in Welcome to Hell. That was a big one. I've filmed a big majority of Fight Fire with Fire, that Prime video. I filmed the majority of the Prime video called Five To this day, that's probably my favorite video. I spent so much time on that one and then it just came out with no ad or nothing. Before that I did Stars and Bars, the XYZ video. That was a pretty, big one.

Did you film the previous Zero videos?

Jamie had asked me to be the main filmer for Zero, but it never really got figured out due to budgetary constraints or whatever. I filmed the majority of Jamie's part in Thrill of it All and not, that much in Misled Youth due to a brief falling out. Back in the day he had asked me to film with some of his guys and at the time--I had filmed a little with them before--but at the time, Ellington's my homie now, but back then I thought he was crazy. Mumford, I thought, was out of his fucking mind, back in the day. We knew each other from around Encinitas but we never really clicked. So I filmed with Lopez and Jamie and shut all the other guys down. I wish I would have now, 'cause it would have been fun, but at the time I was off it. Whatever. I have no regrets.