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Jake Martinelli – The Rugged Raw 2 Interview

Photo: Rob Gifford

With the premiere of Rugged Raw 2 happening tonight at House of Vans, we caught up with Rugged Raw mastermind Jake Martinelli to discuss the new video, trips to New York, Josh Cox’s murder flip fetish and Dibble’s Olympic training regime amongst other things. Scroll down for the lowdown and get to HOV tonight for not only the video but also their regular Skate Fry-Day even, which includes chicken and beer…

Hi Jake, it’s a couple of years now since the first Rugged Raw video dropped – what’s changed since then? Can we expect full sections from the same crew as last time?

To be honest not a lot has changed in terms of going about filming for the video – I still just go out, meet up with my mates, skate about and have a laugh. Eat, drink, take the piss out of each other, getting a clip is a bonus, (laughs). Only the crew that I skate with on a regular basis has changed really. In terms of who had parts on the last video – Harry Hughes, Horsey and Josh Cox are the only ones who also have full parts in this one. A few who had parts in the first video either don’t skate much or have moved away, so there are quite a few different heads on this one . Joe Sivell who rides for Science Skateboards has been coming out and skating with us more, which I’ve been hyped as fuck on, always been a fan of the way he skated since the Hold Tight London edits so I’m stoked to have him out on the regs filming and hanging out!

The first video featured a whole section dedicated to a US East Coast trip, as well as Euro-clips scattered throughout. Did you guys undertake any big trips for this one, or did you keep things more local?

Not long after Rugged Raw a bunch of us went to Berlin for a week and it was fucking amazing, we had the best time and it was kind of like an unofficial big fresh start to the new video. Then Horsey had the sick idea to make a zine/edit from the trip called the Wursttourever, which I thought was a rad idea and a perfect excuse to have everyone together to get pissed up. I only ended up using a select amount of that in Rugged Raw 2. Last summer we went to New York again! I love it there; the city is rad, the spots are sick, the food and beer is amazing. If someone doesn’t have a good time there skating there is something wrong! This video is definitely more local than the last though, mainly just all around London with some New York and Berlin thrown in the mix.

Which skate destinations have matched up to UK terrain in terms of pure ruggedness?

New York is possibly the closest to London in terms of how crusty and rugged spots are, but still it’s not as rugged as the UK spots! I feel like the GX1000 London edit showed that it’s harder to skate than it seems.

Looking at previous output, you’re pretty good at hunting down fairly untouched spots in the East London/Essex area. Do you find that a lot of people in London can get quite lazy with hitting the same two or three spots repeatedly, getting stuck at Southbank and never really venturing out into the commuter belt?

I think that happens a lot with some people in London getting lazy and stuck at the same place over and over again, but then again I kind of think that happens all over too. For me personally I like the adventure and journey of looking for new spots and things to skate. I wish I could take full credit for finding most of the spots we skate but that’s all Josh Cox, he’s like a London skate spots A to Z and knows everywhere. I’m lucky really to have a rad group of friends who enjoy the same elements of skateboarding, hunting for spots and discovering new things as I do.

Your lurker-radar seems to be almost as finely tuned as Morph’s – got many high quality weirdo clips for the new video?

There’s a few, but nowhere near as much as I would have liked to have had! I got this jokes clip of these two guys having a “fight” – one of the guys took his shirt off to fight and the other had his shirt and was whipping him in the face with his own t-shirt, it was hilarious…I was stoked on that.

Do we get to witness footage of Set Roy KO’ing himself jumping on his board, or was that moment unfortunately not caught on camera?

Ahh I wish, the annoying thing was I got the aftermath but not the slam itself. It was fucking amazing, in between filming a line with someone a few people were doing time trials at this spot. Set sprinted on to his board, got instant speed wobble, scorpioned and slid on his ear. It was pretty bad but funny as well; he was on the floor, it had literally been only a couple of minutes with everyone gathered around checking he was ok and Bell says, “You alright yeah Set? Sick, right someone time me”, (laughing) too good. Since then though I’ve tried to always keep the camera on record, you never know what’s going to happen even though you go through a shit load of tapes…

What’s the most obscure Josh Cox manual variation captured on film for this one?

He did a murder flip nose manny nollie murder flip out, it was insane. He’s back on that murder flip hype hard now!

Last week saw the Vans 50th anniversary celebrated at House of Vans London with such luminaries as Jeff Grosso, Tony Trujillo, Christian Hosoi and Geoff Rowley visiting for the occasion. Which A-List celebrities can we expect at the premiere of the new video there this Friday?

Well me and the queen go way back and she a huge fan of skateboarding and VX1000s, she’s getting the Courvoisier in for the squad…

Finally, and with the prospect of skateboarding entering the Olympics looming, is Dibble on a strict training regime in preparation?

Dibs is on a strict Wotsits and tinned ravioli diet and goes for a 10k run every morning, he’s really serious about it and in the best shape of his life!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Horsey for helping with everything , Jono for this interview, Scott Howes at Dwindle UK, Shuk Dist., Send Help, Chris at Science Skateboards, Dave Vise, Josh Cox, Bell, Chris Fox, Gocke, Harry Hughes, Set Roy, Chadsy, Froby, Joe Sivell, George Coffey, Chicken Dee, Paul Storey (even though you’re late all the time), Bubble, my mum, dad and my sister for the mad support, Rob Smith, Mark Nicolson, Jack Hamilton , Carl and Bryce at Parlour, the list goes on ….