This 18-page feature article was the first time that I read a full Jamie Thomas interview, and I remember being taken in by how intense his process was for making skate videos and running his companies. It was also the first time that I noticed how much criticism he had to field in interview questions.
Some of the first skate videos I watched obsessively were Dying To Live, New Blood, and Welcome To Hell, so I was used to watching Jamie pushing the boundaries of gap and rail skating within the context of the video he was in. So, it was compelling for my first present-day media exposure of him to be a piece where he talks about "not feeling like I got any business out there" with the younger skaters he sponsors, and being done with going on missions to get one trick. Jamie also talks about the possible future of his skating and his companies, which is interesting to read about 14 years later.
It's not a secret that Jamie Thomas has a reputation for being a polarizing person, and I'm not going to argue for or against that. But, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a lifelong fan of his skating and still didn't rewatch his parts. This is a record of him simultaneously talking about the past and the future of his skateboarding career, as well as a document of his skating as it begins to decline from being defined as "groundbreaking".
Jamie also got the cover of this issue, which was his fourth and last for Skateboarder and the first one that was him doing a back lip. The cover and interview photos were all shot by Shigeo, unless noted otherwise in the caption.
 |
| kickflip dumpster ride shot by Ty Bush |
No comments:
Post a Comment