Back. Recently Epicly Later’d has been running an Epicly Lakai series, including a set of episodes on the Lord of the Board himself, Mr Mike Carroll. Was there anyone else to make skateboarding look as magical? Inspired by the golden footage featured in Epicly Later’d, here are ten classic examples of the master at work.
The Chaffey school line (from Goldfish, 1994)
fakie flip, switch flip, switch frontside flip, shove-it, switch noseslide, kickflip.
This line has represented my ideal way to skate for the last 15 years. If I only I could emulate even one percent of the smooooothness the MC exhibits in this sweet combo. Did switch ever look so natural? Even he’s stoked - check the ‘did you get that?’ lookback just before the cut.
The tennis court line (from Virtual Reality, 1993)
frontside flip, switch flip stairs, switch ollie bench, half cab heelflip, nollie flip, carve round tennis game, backside 180, switch noseslide.
How good is the half cab heelflip?! It’s like there are little suction cups on the balls of his feet. I was always stoked that he carves around the tennis game. No need to be a dick about it, even if you can make tiny flatground backside 180s look amazing.
The still-got-it line (from Fully Flared, 2007)
gap ollie, 360 shove-it, 360 flip, frontside flip, half nab, backside flip
The new kid on the block video part, but grandmaster flip trick skills. He’s in control most of the way, but the 360 shove-it and the blistering fast frontside flip keep you guessing. A modern classic.
The Black Rock line (from Finally, 1993)
backside tailslide to fakie, half cab noseslide, fakie nosegrind revert, nollie flip, frontside flip
All about the ledge tricks. Every time I try a backside tailslide I’m picturing this line. You want that beautiful sound of tail pushed through crisp marble. Eeeeek! I still can’t fathom how we does the mind-blowingly fast nosegrind revert.
The Bay Blocks line (from Penal Code, 1996)
ollie up, switch flip, switch 180, gap to tailslide, backside 180, switch crooks
Switching your feet from regular to switch usually looks (and feels) horrible, but maybe that’s because we’re all crap and Carroll is not. It actually looks good here. I really wanted a two-tone dope jacket and to not look stupid in a backwards fitted cap.
The casual line (from Super Champion Funzone, 2005)
frontside one foot, backside 360, kickflip manual, ollie, 360 flip, no comply manual
I love Super Champion Funzone. It’s just like The Berrics - amazing skateboarders having fun. Tucked away in the extras is this gem of a line. Carroll’s definition of a ‘bail’ is very different to mine (though I’m with him on the wallie).
The 2 o’clock flight to Atlanta line (from Penal Code, 1996)
frontside shove-it, frontside flip, switch heelflip, pop shove-it, nollie flip, 360 flip
A frontside flip followed immediately by a switch heelflip is always the mark of a board control master. Doing it with half a second foot setup time before the heelflip is next level. In true Carroll style, the nollie flip catch is enormous.
The EMB line (from Questionable, 1992)
switch bigspin heelflip, pop shove-it, backside big spin, switch shove-it heelflip, backside flip attempt
This one’s all about the first trick. Weren’t the early 90s all about weedy techno tricks where the board hit the floor first? Why then was Carroll belting out stonking switch bigspin heelflips with proper legit catch? Jacob Rosenberg posted the extra long cut amongst his goodies on YouTube.
The Wallenberg line (from Goldfish, 1994)
nollie, nollie heelflip, backside nollie flip, switch frontside flip, 360 flip
If only we could all make up for our sketchy (only slightly) nollie heelflips by knocking out the best backside nollie flip ever. Through the legs but flattened out too. Put this up there with the Chaffey line for ten plus years of inspiration.
The swim-through-the-homies line (from Goldfish, 1994)
frontside pop shove-it, inward heelflip, kickflip over sign
A short one to end on. Catch of the day on the shove-it (see also: Harsh Barge), perfect execution on the inside heels, and textbook kickflip. To top it all off: white half cabs.
Funny how about two minutes of Mike Carroll’s life logged on video have inspired fun, progression, aspirations and expeditions for years amongst me and my friends. Long may his reign continue.