Words: Jake Smith
Clip: Ewan Bowman
Ewan Bowman has SEEN some shit go down. He’s been lurking behind a lens for longer than most of you have been skateboarding, but still has the passion of a hyped up youngin’ to get out there and go capture some shit regardless of what big name is trying what trick at which famous LA spot. If it’s gnarly, he’s down! Most recognized for his contribution to Flip’s SORRY threequel, nowadays he’s making intense video cuts for the Bible (the Thrasher one). We sat down with the big dog aka @bo_def_son as he took us on a stroll down memory lane, digging through dusty hard drives and telling us what really went down behind the scenes of some of his favorite clips he’s had the pleasure of recording.
CLIP #1- AIRHORN IN ARTO'S FACE
This was on KOTR with Flip way back in the day, I'm terrible with dates, who needs them anyway, all that matters is the memory, i think i had just made out with a chick with a rose tattoo for some points and we were just pissing about in the parking lot. I remember feeling so hyped right before pressing the button and just waiting that extra second until he turned towards the horn made it so much better. I still crack up watching it to this day. Can we get this type of starting horn for each run in the olympics?
CLIP #2- ARTO DAVIS SLAM AND LINE
This is a classic style mission from those Flip days, Drive 7 hours straight from HB to Davis get out of the van and start trying to get the line, a few tries in he takes this slam which was brutal, Arto is a Beast and the bigger you are the harder you fall. After a few more tries he makes the line. It was supposed to be a weekend mission but on waking up the next day he was to sore to do anything so we drove straight back.
CLIP #3- ARTO FROST BS LIP
Everything about this moment, The first back lip through a kinked rail as far as i know, maybe somebody had tried it before who knows, but it was the first and only one i've ever filmed, possibly the only one i need to film. When we arrived Terry Kennedy was there already on a different session and that really brought the hype, you can see in the footage at the end how stoked he was, it really didn't take arto all that long and he didn't have any serious slams. The fact that he ran from the grass and threw down makes it even more insane, one of the most amazing things i've ever filmed.
Right after the session we were all sitting on the curb hanging out and there was a huge fight that spilled out of the gymnasium into the road right there, i guess there was some weekend basketball game going on, anyways it was pretty hectic and shortly after that the cops rolled up and kicked us out, as we walked past their car the one cop said to us, "if you want a ticket today go skate another school yard" They think about tickets, we think about tricks, they will never know the triumph of this day.
CLIP #4- BASTIEN MACBA
Basically, i was super hungover on this day, the kind where your shaking and the anxiety levels are at 11, Bastien wanted to meet at 3pm so that was a bonus as i had been out until 6am. Its all a blur really, i remember thinking my head was going to explode while filming the line which didn't take long at all, maybe 6 tries at most and the half cab kickflip bs ns grind revert probably took the same amount of time. Any time skating with bastien was always so on point, he didn't fuck around and was so focussed it never took long for him to make his tricks!
CLIP #5- BASTIEN FAKIE FLIP MANNY FAKIE FLIP OUT.
I think the only thing i can say about this is BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Look at how stomped everything is, i will never get bored of watching this, it makes me trip out on how amazing skateboarding is.
CLIP #6- BASTIEN CAB FLIP CHAIN INTO BANK
Just watch this one over and over, they never stopped, day in day out getting gnarly!
CLIP #7- CAR JUMP BRIDGE
So this was on a etnies/flip trip to mallorca, we stayed in a mansion of sorts with a pool and a huge garden with a crazy driveway, where we did doughnuts and would park the cars bumper to bumper on the walkway that lead up to the front door. On the last day on the way to the airport we gave it full acceleration to see how far we could jump it. if you read this and were on that trip then you know how epic it was, and if your just reading this then i'll hedge a bet that trips like this don't happen that much anymore.
CLIP #8- SUITCASE PSYCHO
A random day with Geoff and apples out searching for stoke, we come across this guy who wanted a ride, we kinda fucked with him and then left but we turned around to try get some more antics, when we got back to the top of the hill he was already starting to bomb it suitcase in hand, its the most amazing moment, his technique is second to none.
CLIP #9- DAVID KICKFLIP NS SLIDE SHOV
Not much here other than David is tiny and the hubba is huge and there is the rail on the side.
CLIP #10- TOM PENNY MINI RAMP
I have no clue the year but that's irrelevant, this footage is timeless, in 30 years it'll still be on par with whats going on, the smoothness and control is from another dimension. if you listen you can hear me burp right before he drops in!..
CLIP #11- OSCAR NAVARRO CHANNEL STREET
This Oscar line is one of my fav's just look at the blunt kickflip. I wanted to film a part with all those rippers down at channel st as I heard the city was going to close the park or demo it to build some new bridge off/on ramp. They all killed it but this line is golden!
CLIP #12- GEOFF ROWLEY BS 360
Pretty simple, Geoff, Sturt, and a glue foot bs 360. Geoff always had a plan, always had a mission, new exactly what he was going to do. Kids, if you want to succeed make sure you have all three of those things. That spot is super cool.
CLIP #13- BASTIEN SS VARIAL HEELS
Anytime I watch this clip I just trip out. Bastien is a Character, and yes that was the one we were talking about.
CLIP #14-BASTIEN CAB KICKFLIP LINE
Like I said before, bastien was absolutely a man on a mission, this was the day before leaving for melbourne australia where he does the cab kickflip FS board on the gold rail. The board snap was the first try, I jumped over the fence to get him a new board from the van to set up and then he made it in like 6 or 7 tries later.
CLIP#15- ALI CARNAGE CLIP WITH BOARD BURNING
So this was the same trip as the car jump, we were there for 3 weeks and it rained the first week straight, we were way outside the main part of town so everybody had cabin fever and we ended up hitting the bottle everyday, Ali being the court Jester that he is ended up burning a bunch of boards in the fire along with the stereo system. I remember waking up one night thinking the house was on fire as there was toxic smoke filling the room i was sleeping in, but it was just more boards being burnt!
