Reskue Me

Words & Photos: Harvey Mills (unless stated otherwise)

In the latest of our Hometown Scene features, we head over to Southampton – home of The “Saints” football club, launch site of the doomed Titanic’s maiden (and only) voyage, and birth place of square-jawed, corn-row-sporting warbler Craig David…but it’s not all bad!

Southampton has seen some memorable rippers over the years (the legendary Don “The Donz” Brider for example), and continues to produce some first-class shredders.

Notably, the triumvirate of Marc Churchill, Greg Nowik and Jed Cullen are the boys continuing to draw the UK skate scenes attention to this massive commercial port town on the south coast.

Churchill and Nowik have been tearing it up for years, but anyone who has seen Jed skate will tell you that he’s the new breed, the real deal, and one of the most balls-out, committed skaters that you’ll find anywhere.

A few weeks ago, ‘Reskue’ (Southampton’s only independent skate store and a stalwart of the local scene), released their long-awaited shop video to a fervent premiere crowd in Wahoo – a Southampton bar.

The video is rad – so refreshing to see a video without any pretentions to be anything other than what it is: pure skateboarding.

Sure, its nice to have vibey type shots and arty-farty shallow depth of field footage, but that style of film-making is starting to get repetitive and predictable. The Reskue vid is non-stop blink-and-you-miss-it action. Full parts from the impressive shop team line-up (Darren Tate, Joe Paget, Churchill, Greg Thorpe, Nowik, Cullen, Cam Butterworth, Tibs, Curtis Jehsta, Mike Halls, Andy Macintosh, Josh Clark) are great fun, super-gnarly and the whole piece doesn’t take itself too seriously either. There’s plenty of variety to keep you keen too – street, parks, bowls, diy spots, etc.

[Inset: Reskue Vid Premiere. Opposite:  Darren Tate | Boneless Gap]