Silas Baxter-Neal on Wallrides for Closer Mag

[figureitout]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEnzth6DiFc&ab_channel=CloserSkateboardingMagazine

[MyUserName]

I clicked play the moment I saw this and loved every second of it.

[Banned from the room]

This is good content. Who ever made this is sick af

[Badmeaningood]

It always boggles my mind that someone so underrated and understated is literally one of the best skaters of all time.

[jorge]

This man has been killing it non stop for decades now.

[backside_frontside]

I love that SBN has had many many great examples of wallrides throughout his career but he’s not a “wallride guy”. It’s not a gimmick for him. He’s just good as fuck and sometimes films a gnarly wallride.

[schralp pal]

Ooh that still of all four wheels on the wall and the nose touching the asphalt was serious skate porn.

Love his props to jj

[EXTRA SPICY]

It always boggles my mind that someone so underrated and understated is literally one of the best skaters of all time.

You know he’s a got a SOTY on the shelf, yes?

[Shuh]

Expand Quote

It always boggles my mind that someone so underrated and understated is literally one of the best skaters of all time.

[close]

You know he’s a got a SOTY on the shelf, yes?

People forget because he was the few last SOTY before it actually became the year end race to become SOTY as rigged as it actually was.

[tkp]

quality content.

brought back memories of the first footage of a wallride i ever saw, roger bagley in thrasher's skate & destroy:



correct me if i'm wrong, isn't jake johnson's switch wallie in montreal?

maybe they've already been done, but primo or dark slide wallride could be kinda cool. the physics for both seem absurd.

danny gonzalez's wallride to roof wallride was next level:



image via jenkem which is probably via transworld

[Frank and Fred]

I'm so bad at wall rides but want to be ever so good at them.

[No Wave Comply]

It’s Skate God’s world and Silas is just living in it.

This was a great little segment.

[Atiba Applebum]

I love that SBN has had many many great examples of wallrides throughout his career but he’s not a “wallride guy”. It’s not a gimmick for him. He’s just good as fuck and sometimes films a gnarly wallride.

I was thinking that at the same time as I was watching this. 

I wonder if this started as a “my favorite spot” about Alabama Banks but Farran saw that it could be expanded even further

[heinzketchup]

this was really well made, faran is doing an excellent job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhmqM6UUrDE

here is his episode from the beyond boards podcast, which is a great podcast if you guys are not familier, give it a listen, really interesting guests

[ejazzle]

I love that SBN has had many many great examples of wallrides throughout his career but he’s not a “wallride guy”. It’s not a gimmick for him. He’s just good as fuck and sometimes films a gnarly wallride.

Kinda like Mason silva.

I'm convinced these master wallriders are either witches or wizards. It's some of my favorite skating to watch but when I get out there and try them I just cant comprehend it.

[Mitch Brenner]

Might just pull the trigger and pop the $80 for a subscription after watching that. 

[dill8849]

It always boggles my mind that someone so underrated and understated is literally one of the best skaters of all time.

So underrated that when he won SOTY, I honestly didn't know who he was. Then I watched his SOTY video for the Thrasher website and immediately understood why he won lol.

[funeral_tuxedo]

There’s so much bad skateboarding content out there gumming up the feed but then there’s videos like this that make the search absolutely worth it. What someone previously mentioned, that Silas is a former SOTY but still so underrated, is spot on. Plus- he did like 75% of all that crazy stuff while riding Krux LOL.
Does anyone know what the video the clip they showed of him doing the switch wallride to kickflip out is from?

[coldbrew]

That was excellent. Could've gone on twice and long and I'd have ate it up.

[brucewillis]

He deserved his SOTY trophy.

[Democratic Republic Of Mongo]

The Wallride Hall Of fame includes Silas, JJ, Spanky, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting.

[funeral_tuxedo]

The Wallride Hall Of fame includes Silas, JJ, Spanky, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting.

I think Wes Kremer could be in that list.

[yghartsyrt]

loved it. There should be a lot more stuff like that instead.

One tiny thing that threw me off, was how often the same footage was re-used. Seemed kind of unnecessary. Just cutting to him talking would have also worked perfectly fine

[rocklobster]

loved it. There should be a lot more stuff like that instead.

One tiny thing that threw me off, was how often the same footage was re-used. Seemed kind of unnecessary. Just cutting to him talking would have also worked perfectly fine

Agreed, could be edited down a bit or have him talk about other things like his thought process or wallrides he'd like to see in the future.

Switch Wallride fakie flip out was mind blowing.

[aleksander]

I'm so bad at wall rides but want to be ever so good at them.

This is one of the few tricks I can do well and the secret is 100% just swinging your dumper into it. Pretend you're Wes Kremer and swang that turdcutter towards the heavens.

[chihuahuadad2000]

That was great, Silas is so fucking good

[hot_key_93]

The Wallride Hall Of fame includes Silas, JJ, Spanky, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting.

Cory Kennedy has one or two decent ones. I seem to remember him doing something like a wallride bigflip out in a park on King of the Road. I might be thinking of McCrank though.

[No Wave Comply]

Expand Quote

The Wallride Hall Of fame includes Silas, JJ, Spanky, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting.

[close]

I think Wes Kremer could be in that list.

Eddie Cernicky has been making the case for his nomination.

[let’s go home]

The Wallride Hall Of fame includes Silas, JJ, Spanky, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting.

Akwasi Owusu and Shin Sanbongi.
And Natas.

[Speedway]

Hey pals,

Stoked people have enjoyed this so much and, more importantly, to see all the love for Silas. For a skater so accomplished, I think he's so underrated. One motivation with this story (which ran longer in Closer #4) was putting some much deserved spotlight on his talent for wallrides. To me he's up there with Jake Johnson and I'm a huge Jake fan. (Hyped that Silas turned out to be too.)

Also, noted on the editing regarding repeated clips – @yghartsyrt. With the Alabama Banks section, he has so many tricks condensed in a short section that I thought it might have been hard to follow, or even dragged, to just go straight to him talking for a prolonged period and I wanted to keep the pace solid throughout. It's the first of a new format for Closer, so it took some figuring out, but down for the feedback.

To answer a couple of questions, @Atiba Applebum – it didn't start out a Favorite Spot (although I'd loosely had him in mind for Alabama Banks for a while). Originally, I was gonna have another skater talking about a different specific form of spot for Closer but that got switched up at the last minute. We had a new photo of Silas doing a wallride and it was kind a just a lightbulb moment. I'm glad I got span so much of his career, via one trick/terrain, in this thing. I was conscious of it almost being, like, self-plagiarism towards Fave Spot but hopefully the format and vibe is different enough. And to @funeral_tuxedo – the fakie wallride flip out is his ender from Away Days.

Got another Closer video piece in the works right now (on a different subject) which should be out in the next month or so.

Safe!