Daryl Dominguez ~ Frontside Shuv It
Words by: Fraser Doughty
Photography by: James Collins
Video by: Will Smith
I do believe there is a surmountable gap between skate shops across the UK. They can be found in London-exodus filled seaside towns, cities infused with hundreds of transient student skateboarders and villages you’ve probably never heard of. Some stores are elevated and others are poo-pooed for their lack of output. No matter what size, however, they all share a common cause for the betterment of skateboarding by providing a place to purchase the ‘good shit’ they back, alongside becoming a hub to support their extended skate families.
That’s probably why events like Vans Shop Riot need to exist. It can bring together those stores whose special bubbles need literally bursting and it elevates “that guy who did the grind”. This year’s riot did all the above by taking what has been a particularly solid format and making the toy we’re all into feel like a game again.
It can’t be that straightforward to write about watching 16 gluttons attempting to devour dry waffles harnessed by the power of peer pressure, a Fury Road-esque death race causing injuries and a blindfolded group of willing volunteers clearly not knowing how to set up a complete skateboard… but it happened, with each challenge adding points to the team’s overall point score. Having that Charlie Kelly wildcard is just as important as your resident skatepark hero.
Master Blaster references aside, I think it’s worth mentioning that for the past few decades Meanwhile/Meanwhile 2 has been home to the criminally underrated Daryl Dominguez. It’s blatantly obvious the Gonz Gap needs renaming in his honour, judges had to head to the oracle himself for possible NBD analysis whilst he was hooking tricks just to be part of it. I’m almost done with the nomenclature of sacred skateboarding spots, but for the life of me let’s get this shit sorted and give Daryl his due. The dude owns the Thunderdome and he just lets us in.
How long has BaySixty6 been open? It’s possibly an inside joke or a cruel irony that their logo has been an umbrella, mostly due to the fact you’ll need one if you want to get to skate the park. Every event I’ve attended has been disrupted by rain, but every time the staff (whose names I’ve ignorantly not taken down) have been the best at handling every situation that’s been thrown at them. They had everything in control including a couple of hundred skateboarders, spectators and the inevitable drowning of the newly formed driveway.
Let’s take away the biggest change and positive turnaround from Vans’ yearly shindig, which is the sheer amount of different skateboarders at this year’s event. Perhaps the gentle nudge towards diversifying shops teams lent to that but, as skateboarding begins to evolve, we’ll see more teams come together that reflect what our communities and scenes truly look like. I’m fucking here for it.
Anyway, to end this recap let’s just remember the core tenets of Skate Shop Day, why we skateboard, and how for the first time ever a competition was interrupted by a football game.
Rio O’Bryne ~ New Deal
Pat Merryfield ~ Fastplant
Kieran Waterton ~ Fronside Smith Grind
Kieran Waterton ~ Backside Nosegrind
Jordan Lightowler ~ Backside Air
Miriam Nelson ~ Ollie
Pat Merryfield ~ Backside Boneless To Fakie
Josh Ranga ~ Frontside Noseslide
~ Crooked Grind
Alex Barton ~ Gap To Frontside Lipslide
Charlie Gush ~ Layback Varial
Amy Ram ~ Rock To Fakie
Daryl Dominguez + Pat Merryfield ~ Hippy Jump
~ Frontside Boardslide
Izzy Almond ~ Ride-On 50-50 Grind
~ Invert
Joe Hinson ~ Gap To Frontside Noseblunt Slide
Rio O’Bryne ~ Frontside Air
Jordan Lightowler ~ Backside Noseblunt Slide
Kieran Waterton ~ Frontside Noseblunt Slide
Baz Dan Backside ~ Smith Grind
Kieran Waterton ~ Backside Wallride
Kieran Waterton ~ Frontside 50-50 Grind To Ollie In
Rio O’Bryne ~ Backside Blunt
Marcus Palmer ~ Frontside Rock & Roll
Filmed + Edited by: Will Smith
Music by:
Toys That Kill – Ready To Fall
Van Houten – I Only Wanna Be
Gutters – Clock Stopped
