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VX1K: Toms Bika Interview

When you start doing something it is good to have a person to look up to. When I got into filming one of the people i looked up to was Toms Bika. Way before I had any clue about cameras and fisheyes, Toms was rocking a proper set up: VX1000  with an MK1 fisheye. He was filming and editing his videos the correct way, with good music and classic filming style. He made a bunch of great Latvian videos that stand out till this day and will stand strong in the future as well. Toms was on a short break from filming, but now he is getting back into it and in the end of the interview you will see his latest edit with Maxims Feofilovs. So here is a talk with Toms about his work and how he got into filming! 

Toms Filming at the Barax 2018

Hey Tom, what’s up man? How is it going?
Yo Gaba! Everything’s good man! I’m ready for the interview!

Great! Let’s start from the very beginning, where are from and where did you grow up?
I was born and raised in Riga, Latvia. Lived my whole life in district called Mezciems. One of the more peaceful areas in Riga.

What were you into before starting skateboarding?
Back in a day I played ice hockey for about 4 years. Later on I decided to quit and got really into skateboarding. Didn’t enjoyed hockey that much anymore. But I still sometimes play hockey in winter with homies at a pond.

I’ve seen you play with Armands at Viesturdarz on instagram. So what about skateboarding? How did that happen?
Well that was a long time ago. I think it was in 2005 maybe later. I saw my friend who was riding his skateboard. We went in the same school together. I knew that he was skateboarding for about a year or so. His name is Toms Gabliks a former pro Latvian skateboarder. His skating looked super cool so I decided to give it a try. I remember I bought a cheapest deck available in Grocery store ”Rimi” for 9 Latvian lats. That’s about 15 Euros. Shitty deck with a bad trucks and wheels. I tried to skate, but the trucks and wheels were so bad that couldn’t push. Later on I asked Toms if he could at least give me his old wheels and trucks. Finally there were good trucks, wheels and bearings on my skateboard so that could push around and skate. That’s how it all started!

Yeah we used to do the same in winter. What about filming? How did you start?
One homie from my neighbourhood who also was skating had a small camcorder. He used to film us for quite a while. Then later on I decided to get my own. As long as I remember I got my first camcorder in 2006. Asked my mother if she could get it for birthday. And I was watching a lot of skatevideos also. I watched them really carefully tried to study how filmer was holding his camera, fisheye movements, angles etc. Soon as I got my camera in my hands I knew that this is the thing I want to do!

Rare photo of Toms’ early days of filming

That’s so sick. Do you have the videos that tour friend filmed? And what were the videos you grew up watching?
I think they are still in my old PC hard drive but I’m not 100% sure. Need to get the adapter so that I can connect it to my Mac. First ever skatevideo that i saw was Sea Side Sk8 video. I will always remember that intro part with that song The Verve – Bittersweet symphony. Legendary! Always get nostalgic when i’m watch that movie. I was mind blown that how good they all skated in that video. My favourite was Zeņa Korzuns aka ”Zenon” part in that video. I also liked all 411, and Transworld videos and some classic movies such as Baker 3, Flip Sorry and many more.

Ohh shit yeah the first seaside movie, you could watch it on tvnet.lv or something like that. That was so sick. So what was the set up you got for your birthday? Did you have a fisheye?
I think it was a small JVC camcorder or something like that. I filmed with it about 2 years I guess. One of my friends gave me this little fisheye who actually was a door eye if you know what I mean. That’s the thing where you can look through it and know who’s knocking on your door haha. I don’t know how but it actually worked pretty fine. In 2008 I finally ordered a VX1000 with Century MK1 fisheye from Ebay. I remember that I bought it from a UK filmer who said that he wants to upgrade to HD. When the camera arrived it was so cool holding it in your hands because I was dreaming of having that camera for so long. My old VX died a couple of years ago, but now I have another one in a decent condition.

Shit, that must have cost you a fortune. Wait Fricis told me you had a fisheye that traveled from SeaSideSk8 to you. Tell about that
Oh Yeah! Fisheye that I got travelled around Latvian skaters a lot. First I heard that it was Sea side sk8 filmer lens. One guy from their crew sold it to the next guy and then I got it from Ansis for 30 lats. After that I gave to Mason aka Berjoza. Now I think he is still filming with it.

So the first videos you filmed were with Toms Gabliks? Tell about him a bit and who else was in your crew back then?
Yap! Our crew was named “Greenwoodsk8” there were 4 skaters: Roberts Krūms, Armands Izinkēvičs, Normunds Cīrulis and Toms Gabliks. I can say that Gabliks was the captain of our crew hah. Skated really good had a great style and was the only dude who was sponsored. Later he even was a pro for Aste skateboards. They sent him a lot decks wheels and other stuff. He was the first ever who was sponsored by a skateboard company in Latvia.

Those times were sick. I remember one video with that Baracuda song. That was the greenwoodsk8 video right?
Yeah the one and only skatevideo I made for our crew. I wish someday maybe we can make another one, but unfortunately Toms is not skating anymore. He in political world right now. Good for him. Normunds is studying in University. Roberts and Armands are the only ones skating. Those were the good times I will remember for the rest of my life.

Yeah that vid is really goof, Armands’ kickflip and Toms’ footage was really good too. I also remember you filming with Rudolfs Henchels a lot, how did you guys started hanging out?
He was working in Ripo Skateshop back in a days and Gabliks introduced me to him. We went to Barcelona in 2008 on a small trip. Me, Zenons Dainis Silinš, Rudolfs and Gabliks. Had a great time there. I filmed a small edit for Rudolfs there. Then later he asked me if I want to film a full part for him. Of course I agreed. He named the part : “Ir Kaut Ko”. The premiere was held in a legendary place called K-suns movie theatre.

Oh yeah I remember that, how long did it take you to film? Any funny stories of Rudolfs?
It took about 2 years to film that part. Started filming in 2010. Rudolfs is a funny dude. Always has some funny things to say. I don’t know if its gonna be appropriate to say because it’s a rude joke. A lot of youngsters are gonna be reading this interview.

I can imagine. Did you ever worked as a skate filmer? Did anybody pay you back then?
That would be so cool if you could make money for filming only skateboarding. In Latvia it’s impossible to work only as a skate filmer because the market is really small and skate shops aren’t interested of paying you monthly. They give you free stuff instead. In Europe or America now that’s another story. Let’s hope that one day this will change.

Yeah let’s hope. What was your next project after Rodolfs’ part?
Clockwise “Get shit done” was my next project. It was my biggest, proudest and longest project I have ever done in my life this far. It took about 3 years to make this movie. That was a hell of a journey through out those years. Good times! Marcis and Gizmo were those guys who asked me if I want to make some clips for Clockwise skateshop. I agreed! It turned out to be one of the best movies so far in Latvia.

That was an awesome work Tom, I remember the premiere, it was super sick. How would you describe your approach to filming? What is a good clip to you?
That’s a hard question. Each filmer has his own approach. I havent thought about mine. I just go and film clips. It happens naturally. A good clip must contain good angle that’s the most important part and of course for me it’s also how good the spot looks visually.

Which clips are you most proud of from Get Shit Done movie?
What comes to mind is the last Barcelona footy because it was the last trip that we went before I started editing. We got a lot of good clips. But above all i’m the most proud of all Clockwise guys. They did an amazing job. Blood and sweat.

What is happening now? You kinda stopped filming for while, what is up with that?
I decided to take a little break because I was filming for so long. Got little bit tired of routine. And also my old VX died. Couple of months ago I bought a VX again. Right now i’m filming just random skateboarding and collecting good clips for better days.

We hope to see some more edits from you soon. What hypes you up these days? What kind of skating are you into?
Well pretty much everything. I like all sorts of skateboarding stuff. Technical skateboarding was always my favourite to watch. I was in Barca couple years ago and we were sitting in Macba spot with Clockwise homies sippin some beers. Flo Marfaing was rippin that day That was first time I saw him skating. He did switch bigspin front noseslide shuvit body varial out in line! It was so crazy to see that and how easy it looked in real life.

Any last words?
Life is life enjoy it while you can.

Watch Toms latest video with Maksims Feofilovs skating Barona park!

Make sure to check Toms’  Vimeo and Youtube channels
And give an instagram follow

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RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIOSHIP [ROUND 1 GAME 11]

This combo might seem fake but it is fate. These two guys are ment for each other: they are like sitcom sidekicks, or brothers separated at birth. They both skate, fanatically play the guitar, pretend to be grown ups and are simply two genuine weirdos. Armands, ex-skate-chef, is a newbie to our game of skate championship, whereas, Kristaps on the other hand, played last year in what was arguably the best game of the season.  

Coming next a game between – Rob ‘Visionary’ Krums vs Olafs “Horse Water” Abuls

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! GAME DISCUSSION! 

For those of you who know how these two skate the result may not been a surprise. But the way that victory was achieved can be criticized. Since we are free-spirited not-caring organization we don’t have strict rules and regulations on what is allowed and is not. Trick “rules” in RajonTV Game of Skate Championships my vary from game to game, depending on the referee. But still we are curious to know what you, our trusted readers, think about the following tricks:

Exhibit A: Chop Chop?

Someone at the site called this trick Chop Chop. I doubt the name since the only known chop chop with a skateboard is this.

Exhibit B: Old School Fleep??

Even if you discredit these tricks Armands still didn’t  have many chances. He missed a kickflip and that set the tone for the rest.  Although, he has done some cool kickflips in the past. Watch full video

Exhibit C: Armands doing a cool kickflip, proving that he can kickflip, or at least could. Filmed by: T.Bika
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October 2018 LINKS

Here is a photo of Marcis Ruiķis, Riga skate scene OG, doing a bs smith on a miniramp that he and his friends built somewhere in the woods of Latvia. This miniramp, a blue double-sided wave with a rusty unwaxed pipe serving as  coping, is a manifest to friendship, good times and some more good times. After selflessly building it for a few weekends, Marcis finally went there for a session. He was going there with a mission: to skate and destroy his own creation. And he did (as shown on the photo). Although he probably didn’t grind much, the mission was accomplished and this, what must have been a fun session, will vaguely remain in his memory for the rest of his life.

In other important news: 

Fully Ghetto Gang released a teaser for their new up coming video, which premieres in Vilnius in November titled: “A needle in the Heist”. We asked Domantas Antanavicius, the man behind the video, to tell a few words about the project.

“A needle in the Heist” is Fullyghetto’s third movie. This year it was a bit hard to film of the changes and injuries that we had! We came trough though! We filmed for a about 5 months from spring till autumn. This time we improved our filming and viseo editing so you can expect more flow in the video itself. All in all it is always fun and exiting to film and shred the streets, so like every year we are always stoked to present something new to the crowd.”

The guys are also planning to show their film in Riga, info on the event coming soon.

The winter season is coming soon, and to remind you of what awaits here is 3 minute video of Deda skating at G-Tiim park. It is not October but we just saw it in October for the first time.

October is also special for having Halloween, which was taken siriously by Tikari boys as they made a dress-up halloween video. The video is filmed by Roberts Krums aka @mobilafilms and is basicaly an excuse for Graņa to wear his money suit again 🙂

Arturs Bogdanovičs started a website called mrboga.com where he plans to posts his photography and share other projects. As well as his skate bag SUMKA updates.

Saldus Saldie crew member Kaspars Polis had a short clip of him skating in Saldus during summer.

Here is a video of some skate kids I met at the skateapark the other day. They call themselves “Upperground skateboarding”. I don’t know if you can watch it as the video is in some weird social network. Anyway, dope.

Watch Liepaja homies skate in Liepaja.  Rad!

The latest Trank BOYZ episode has a brutal spoiler of one of Rajon’s clips that we stacked some time ago and were keeping for the next big edit. Thank you very much TRANK boyz!

We would like to end this October links post with another bs smith photo by Andres. This time it is a young skater from Estonia – Allan Raudsepp. A different generation skater doing the same timeless trick as the OG Marcis. Some things stay the same and others vaguely remain in our memory for the rest of our lifes.

Whatever that means.

There is a plan to post some new games of skate next week. Not so many left in the first round which is great. So stay tuned.

 

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RAJONTV Top 10 – October 2018

Winter is getting closer, so most probably this is the final top 10 with only street clips; unless you guys start to unveil your secret footy stacks, we will have to move to indoor clips soon. Let’s hope you have something stacked. Also Madars’ part in PEACE was nuts, and it is too good for our shitty top 10. It holds the first place as the top achievement of the whole Baltic skate scene’s collective existence. So no tricks from that part, it is too good, we shouldn’t touch it plus it didn’t come out officially. Pornhub doesn’t count. Let’s just hope that one day we will catch Madars and film a commentary video, where he will tell about the part. Because seriously, that part was amazing and deserves some special attention.

As for this month’s top ten we have mostly Estonians stealing the show. There are three clips from Freedom square, one from down under, one on a table tennis, two Lithuanians, a temporary Latvian and two real ones. As for the order, we just had to put our homeboys closer to the top. Enjoy!

Yet again if you have any suggestions of clips we must post hit us up! And for those who are featured sorry for not asking fo permission hope you guys are not pissed.

 

 

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RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIOSHIP [ROUND 1 GAME 10]

Nauris Dollins, the photographer, is playing against Reinis Rorbahs, the crazy brother of Rudolfs Rorbahs. Last year Nauris got fourth place in the  last game of skate championship and Reinis is a complete newbie to the game.  Enjoy!

Game highlights and analysis, and Kilis. 

———-====Be carefull spoilers ahead====——–

 

As Reinis told in the interview the only thing he was hoping to pull of was the backside 360. The guy has a pretty mean one, full rotation no pivoting. Note how his legs were off the board as he was landing it. Wow. Magical shit.

to bad that magical shit didn’t help him win the game

Nauris on the other hand said that ķilis was his favorite trick, and he is not the only one. I don’t know why but it is probably the most Latvian flip trick on a skateboard. Maybe because there is a special name for it in Latvian? Ķilis is a Latvian word, right? In the rest of the world it is called a hospital flip which is silly name if you ask me, no wonder we made up our own.

pantera moves

This trick is something in the middle between a flip and a grab, it is in its own category of leg-grab-tricks. And even if it is pretty weird Reinis repeated it no problem, because he is a Latvian and every Latvian knows how to do it. So yeah it is a Latvian trick, at least it is/was popular among Latvian skaters. I don’t recal anyone who is not Latvian be so good at this trick 🙂 Examples below:

Madars Apse in Fresh Fruits 2005?

This is during a time when people would shit their pants when they saw a Ķilis! And the next one is a classic Latvian ķilis with an extra spin by Toms Gabliks filmed by Toms Bika. (arguably the best ķilis ever done)

Here is one more Ķilis variation, a freaking nollie one (it is the last trick in the video)

So as you can see there is something about that trick that speaks to an average Latvian skater. It is relatively simple, yet weird and abstract. Your friends most probably will enjoy this trick if you do it infront of them, and if your friends are Latvians, a pat on the back is guaranteed. There are plenty of pointless NBD variations with it as well. You can do it into a grind or out of a grind, into a muanal or off a bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

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RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP [ROUND 1 GAME 9]

Boga and Arts used to ride for a mysterious Latvian skateboard company called Sight skateboards which was run by the illuminati. Boga even got paid for it. The company was active around 2010ish and existed for roughly a year. The boards were produced here in Latvia, which contributed to company’s short existence – the quality was not the best, and not a lot of people bought those boards, at least none of my friends. Anyway, two ex-team riders meet up to battle it out. The winner gets a pro board on Sight! 🙂

Up next – Nauris Dollins vs Reinis Rorbahs (Rudik’s brother) 

 

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OASIS premiere

oasis skate video

VEF, once a glorious factory with a product line ranging from telephones to airplanes, is nowadays a home to various businesses, offices and a night club among others. World famous in the previous century, VEF’s appliances were used all over the world from Cuba to Mongolia, and it provided jobs for 20 000 people at its peak performance times. After the collapse of the Soviet union, the demand for VEF’s products declined, the factory could not compete with imported electronic goods, and they were forced to shut down.

This postindustrial territory, which takes up a whole city block, is a home to VEF DIY skatepark: an Oasis intended for good times spending and healthy self-expression by means of skateboarding. This year VEF DIY celebrates its 6 year anniversary. With the photographer Nauris Dollins and Ed Gaba’s VX we decided to pay a visit and make a tribute to this great skate spot in Riga city.

Fricis Fs Blunt

The park is tought to skate and that is what makes it interesting. Every trick is battle and you need o spend some time to master your tricks. 

Rob Boardslide to fakie

This quarter is  the most skated obstacle in the park. It is steep but melow, and doing trick on it feels good. 

Deda – Fs Shove-it to flat

Deda found his own way how to skate this thing. The way he is the most familiar with. 

Fricis 5-0 on the fountain. A spot few people have touched

The park is built on the remains of an old fountain, however this fountain had a function not a lot of people know about. It was meant to cool down water used in the factory. All of the hot water accumulated during production was drained to the fountain to cool down, and after that it was sent back for production needs. The park is built over a huge water reservoir and the water is still there.

Photos Nauris Dollins
Words Edvard Gaba

Read more about VEF factory history

 

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GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP [ROUND 1 GAME 8]

Karlis and Deda BFFs

Karlis Bogustovs is a rookie to RajonTV Game of Skate championship. We know that Karlis is insanely good at skating, but that is on ramps and stuff, what about flat? Can he take on Deda and his annoyingly unique bag of tricks (fakie fs bigspin/ fakie fs 360 shovit)? Most probably he can, he is Karlis Bogustovs after all. Watch and see.

Coming up next weekend –

ARTS AMOLIŅŠ vs ARTURS BOGDANOVIČS (Sight skateboards reunion)
NAURIS DOLLINS vs REINIS RORBAHS (Rudolfs Rorbahs’ Brotha)

Stay tuned for OASIS our short VEF diy video.