Videographer Josh Stewart lifted the curtain on the Static series for Closer Issue #6. In this expanded version of Stewart’s print interview, he shares more from behind the scenes of the original trilogy of Static, Static II: The Invisibles and Static III.
Josh Stewart on the road during the making of the original Static.
Interview by Andrew Murrell
Photography by Josh Stewart
633 DV tapes, 60 featured skaters, 30 contributing filmers, four continents, dozens of cellar doors, three Jamal Williams parts, two half-cab double flips, one bad back, and a legacy equal parts curation and dedication. After 25 years and six full-length videos, the Static series reached the end of the line last fall with Static VI.
Since humble beginnings in 1998, Josh Stewart pushed against the grain with each Static video; documenting the figures, scenes, and approaches that embodied the raw street skating ethos at the risk of extinction.
Stewart honed in on his unique vision of skateboarding and rose from the rank of scrappy underdog to industry visionary, all while elevating like-minded skateboarders, photographers, and brand owners alongside him. Now, as the curtain falls on the largest catalog of underground skateboarding ever compiled, Stewart provides a firsthand account of what shaped each Static video from the beginning to the final dispatch.
Sean Mullendore, frontside bluntslide during the original Static era. Josh Stewart
What were your major inspirations and motivations whilst working on each Static video?
Static — There’s a Memory Screen influence in the intro and, structurally, there’s a big Eastern Exposure 3: Underachievers influence. Around 1998 to 1999, skateboarding went hard on handrails, gaps, and was almost completely focused on California skaters and brands.
In Florida, we felt mostly ignored and admired the “Ricky Oyola” approach to street skating. Static was motivated by showcasing underexposed gems of the East Coast like Washington D.C.’s skate scene with Sean Mullendore and Jake Rupp. It was rad that other East Coast filmers like RB, Strobeck and Andre Stringer were down to help contribute.
Static II — I started Static II after working on Adio’s One Step Beyond for two years. I’m proud of the Adio video, I love the guys on that team. But that big production left me wanting to do a new Static video. Back on a small scale independent level again but bringing a higher production level to the series.
As for influences, skateboarding-wise, Dan Magee’s First Broadcast was an inspiration for sure. Looking back now, I’d say the movies Amelie and The Royal Tenenbaums had to have been an influence as well. That sounds nuts, but just looking at the opening sequence I see parallels there.
“there weren’t many skaters who had a real eye for finding interesting street spots, reading them well, and putting lines together that had real flow. It’s so common today that we take it for granted.”
Static III — I was proud of Static II but it was such a hodgepodge of different filmers, cameras, white-balance settings. I wanted to make a video which felt cohesive and highly consistent in style and filming. I decided to make that happen with Static III by filming as much of it myself as possible. I got Andrew Petillo involved because he was a great filmer and our footage worked well together.
At that time, there weren’t many skaters who had a real eye for finding interesting street spots, reading them well, and putting lines together that flow. It’s so common today we take it for granted but back then skaters like Olly Todd, Pat Stiener, Danny Renaud and Soy Panday were few and far between. Putting together a cast of skaters who embodied that vision was a central drive of this project. That’s still a big takeaway from Static III: the styles and street-sense of the skaters is so strong it leaves a lasting impression. To me, at least.
Jeff Lenoce, switch heelflip during the filming of Static.
Josh in the shades alongside the whole of the original Static crew.
SKATERS FEATURED
Static — Forrest Kirby, Jeff Lenoce, Paul Zitzer, Joel Meinholz, Sean Mullendore, Jake Rupp, Washington DC Heads
Static II — John Igei, Paul Shier with Nick Jensen and Colin Kennedy, Wayne Patrick and The Houston Heads, London, The Philly Survivors with Jack Sabback, Rich Adler and Damien Smith, Ricky Oyola, Habitat Skateboards Segment, Bobby Puleo, Kenny Reed
Static III — Pat Stiener, Tony Manfre, Soy Panday, Kevin Coakley & Lee Berman, Olly Todd, Danny Renaud, A New Jersey Minute with Mark Wetzel & Steve Durante, Nate Broussard
The Static II crew in Las Vegas with Josh Stewart pictured centre.
How did the line-up come together?
Static — Mostly organically. I regularly skated with Paul Zitzer, Joel Meinholz, and Jeff Lenoce. I met Forest Kirby on a trip with Ed Selego and was amazed by his talent and personality. I saw Jake Rupp and Sean Mullendore skate Tampa Am in 1997 and was immediately obsessed with their styles. I cold-called them and asked them to be in Static.
Static II — I’d known John Igei should have a part if I made a second video but the ball started rolling when I met Kenny Reed at Tampa Pro. When he said yes to being in a new video, things developed quickly. Kenny introduced me to Paul Shier, then I strong-armed Ricky Oyola into filming a part. During our first road trip I mentioned to photographer, Bad Frankie that it would be amazing to get Bobby Puleo in the video but I didn’t know if he still skated. He’d been shooting with Puleo a lot so he invited him on the trip. Shockingly, Bobby flew into Houston to hop in the van. The band had formed.
Static III — This was mostly dudes I met during travelling for Static II. Olly Todd and Soy Panday in London; Steve Brandi introduced me to Pat Stiener; the filmer, Mike Fox was pushing for Tony Manfre to have a part; and Roger Bagley hit me up when I lived in Philadelphia and said I should get Nate Broussard involved. Nate wasn’t too motivated when we did One Step Beyond, so I was doubtful, but he came to Philly for a day and his style was unbelievable. He filmed two amazing clips so I was like, “Okay, he’s in!” Wise decision.
Frames from the opening to the London section of Static II.
TIMESPAN
Static – 1998 to 1999.
Static II — 2003 to 2004.
Static III — 2006 to. 2007
Jake Rupp, frontside noseslide in Las Vegas during the filming of Static. photo: Josh Stewart
Who had the easiest and hardest parts to film?
Static — Jake Rupp’s part came together so easily it was nuts. We filmed half of it on one cross-country trip from Washington DC to San Diego where Jake skated everything along the way. The rest happened on a short trip to Philadelphia and Ocean City, Maryland, and another week in DC. I’d say a total of maybe six to seven weeks of filming.
The hardest part was probably Joel Meinholz, not because he didn’t rip every spot but because he was wild in those days. He was a handful, and taking him on a road trip was hard for me to deal with. He was on the main cross-country trip and although he was just one of seven people in the van, he took up about 80% of my energy. He broke his arm in New Mexico and when we walked him into the emergency room, he immediately screamed out a wolf call and shouted, “I NEED SOME DRUUUUUGGSS!” They got him out of the waiting room fast. That was the end of his trip. After that experience, I didn’t give him the time he deserved to film a proper full part, but his section still ended up really strong.
Let me be clear: Joel is like a brother to me. He’s been awesome to work with for the last fifteen years. I’m stoked we maintained our friendship because he’s an awesome person and an inspiration. He’s ripping harder in his late-40s than most people I know in their 20s – such a beast.
John Igie takes Rob Welsh’s Aesthetics pro board for a double set switch hardflip circa Static II. photo: Josh Stewart
Static II — The easiest was probably John Igei’s part. He’s a legend and never got the credit he deserved for how dope he was. He’s so mellow, he’s incredible, and his style was so solid. Every spot he chose to skate, he’d get a bangin’ clip. I only had to do a couple trips to DC, and we did one big cross country trip where he filmed nearly his whole part: the UFO Spotting tour from Miami to San Francisco. The filmer in San Francisco helped big time with those Pier 7 clips and the fakie hardflip on the double set. That part is one of the strongest in the Static series.
*That* Kenny Reed photo which became the cover of Static II.
The hardest part to film was probably Kenny Reed’s. By “hard,” I don’t mean frustrating, it’s just that Kenny hates filming in obvious or well-travelled locations. When I told him the first city I wanted to film in was London, he wasn’t stoked. London was “exotic” to me, but to him it was a snoozer. He bought us tickets to Belfast, Ireland without telling me and then let me know the next morning we were headed there the next day. There are about two spots in Belfast but Kenny loved the history of that city so he was stoked. We filmed in Cairo, Zaragoza, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. But when we ended up in Las Vegas on a road trip, I met up with Kenny and Shier in the hotel parking lot the first morning. Kenny said, “I think I might fly out soon.”
I was like, “Damn, how many days will we have left to film?”
“About two hours.”
Lesson learned: don’t take Kenny to Las Vegas.
Nate Broussard nosegrinds a Parisian wave during the filming of Static III. photo: Josh Stewart
Static III — Nate Broussard was kind of the Jake Rupp of Static III. We did one crazy trip from Israel to Paris to London, I think he was on that for maybe five or six weeks, then another week in Miami and he met me in Philly for three days. That was it. He was a footage machine. He looks good skating anything, so that certainly didn’t hurt, but nearly everything we filmed was usable. It was amazing.
“Pat never filmed a clip without doing it at least three times so he had several to pick from. Then he and I would never agree on which of the three makes was the best one. I was looking at filming and the flow of the choreography, and he was looking at his trick execution, of course. He literally filmed his entire part three times over.”
The hardest would probably be Pat Stiener but not in a negative way. Pat never filmed a clip without doing it at least three times so he had several to pick from. Then he and I would never agree on which of the three makes was the best one. I was looking at filming and the flow of the choreography, and he was looking at his trick execution, of course. He literally filmed his entire part three times over. It would be funny to do a re-released part with all of his second makes, like a “bizarro” part. But, his part was also the most fun to make. We knew we were making a special part while working on that one. It was a blast.
Theories of Atlantis stalwart, Pat Stiener surrounded by diamond plate in New York circa Static III.
Where there any parts that were supposed to happen, but didn’t?
Static — I reached out to Aaron Suski, out of the blue. He was kinda down but I think he had other things he had to film for. We visited him in Arizona with Forrest Kirby and Ed Selego and skated a few spots. I felt he would’ve helped make Static seem like it wasn’t only an “East Coast video”, but it just didn’t work out
Static II — Anthony Correa and John Rattray. I had my eye on Rattray for a while but by the time I made it to the UK, he’d gotten on Zero and started to blow up. Then Kenny Reed introduced me to Paul Shier and I switched my focus to him. Shier was such a pleasure to be around and he fit the Static aesthetic so well.
Static III — Brian Brown, Jan Kliewer, and Hisashi Nakamura. Brian Brown agreed to a part. Then literally the night before the first filming trip, he called me and said he got invited to have a Transworld part and regrettably couldn’t do Static. He would’ve been a rad fit in that video.
Kenny Reed and locals, Belfast, 2003.
CITIES VISITED
Static — Tampa, Miami, Philly, Wash DC, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Ocean City
Static II — Cairo, Hong Kong, London, Belfast, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Roswell, Washington DC, Philly, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Houston, San Francisco, Reno, Vegas
Static III — London, Miami, NYC, Paris, Tel Aviv, Tampa, Newark
Cairo kids, 2004.
Joel Meinholz, frontside crook during Static.
Wildest story throughout filming each video?
Static — We were in Oklahoma City and Joel Meinholz filmed that crazy two trick line where he kickflip noseslides a hubba. I think it took two tries. We celebrated by going to the Spaghetti Factory. When we pulled up, the streets around the restaurant had tons of junkies and tweakers around. I was kinda worried about the van with all of our shit inside. We pigged out, came back to the van about an hour later, and someone had left the trunk wide open. All our bags camera gear and were sitting there, ripe for the taking, but not a single thing was missing. It was unbelievable.
Static II — I was on an internet dating site at the time and right after we bought our tickets to Cairo, to shoot Kenny’ Reed’s scene at the pyramids, I received an email from an Egyptian girl who lived in Cairo. She had no photo but said she used the site’s search criteria to find the best match for her worldwide and it led her to me, so she thought she’d say “hi”. What are the odds? I figured it had to be someone pulling a weird prank or scam. I told her we were coming to Cairo in two days and maybe we could meet up.
Kenny Reed in Cairo, Egypt whilst filming the introduction to his Static II part.
“Mate, if you go on that date, you ain’t comin’ back.”
Paul Shier to Josh Stewart
Unbelievably, she actually met us at the hotel lounge a few days later. Not only was she super cool, she was also beautiful. She hung out with us for a few hours and invited me to visit her house in a couple of days. She said her mom would cook me a traditional Egyptian dinner. Everyone was convinced it was a kidnapping plot.
Remember, this was 2003, and the United States had recently invaded Iraq. Shier was like: “Mate, if you go on that date, you ain’t comin’ back.” I debated it and decided I’d always regret it if I didn’t see it through. I took a cab half an hour outside of Cairo and had a rad night hanging with her and her family. I didn’t get kidnapped, but when I got back to the US, her profile disappeared and I never heard from her again. So freakin’ strange!
Soy Panday, backside wallride in India captured by Josh Stewart in the midst of food poisoning during Static III.
Static III — Soy Panday went to India to visit his family and invited some friends along. I brought all my gear to shoot 16mm, VX, 35mm gear and a Hasselblad to shoot an article for Skateboarder. When I landed in Delhi, the guy seated next to me asked, “Have you ever been to India?” I said “No.” He replied, “When you leave, I bet you’ll get on your knees and kiss the plane when you get on board.” That didn’t make me feel good.
I’m a bit of a germaphobe so I was extremely careful the whole trip. I ate vegan, washed my hands constantly and only drank bottled water, but still, somehow, I got food poisoning immediately. It was the closest I’ve ever been to death. If I ate anything or took a sip of water, I would immediately have to run to the bathroom. At a certain point, I really thought I might die. The worst part: there was a pigeon dying on the backside of the crappy window unit AC in my room. For 48 hours it would whine, choke, ruffle its feathers and pigeon dust would float through the crack above the AC and into my room. It was hell.
“When you leave, I bet you’ll get on your knees and kiss the plane when you get on board.”
A word to the wise for Josh Stewart
I finally started feeling better and we skated for one or two days. Then I ate half a slice of Domino’s Pizza and woke up a couple hours later with food poisoning again. I was convinced I had been cursed. Then, in the height of this misery, I started hearing explosions across the city. The hotel felt like it was hit by a missile, the building shook and dust and cement fell from the ceiling. I was so delusional already that I was in a panicked daze. I turned on the TV and saw Al Qaeda was attacking Delhi. A bomb went off right near our hotel, killing sixteen people.
Soy, Ed Selego and Guru Khalsa had all left hours ago and hadn’t come back. I was tripping and didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t even stand up to call anyone or I’d shit myself. Then, thank god, they all walked in the door unscathed. When I finally got on my flight to leave, I literally kissed the airplane.
CONTRIBUTING VIDEOGRAPHERS
Static — William Strobeck, Strobeck, RB Umali, Andre Stringer, Mark Nickels, Ray Echevers
Static II — Travis Sales, Alex Mucilli, Chris Massey, Dan Magee, Brennan Conroy, Ry Manos, Joe Castrucci
Static III — Andrew Petillo, Chris Massey, Joe Perrin, Cuong Ngo, Mike Fox
DV TAPES
Static — Around 45 – 50 DV tapes
Static II — 106 DV Tapes
Static III — 130 DV Tapes
The cover art and premiere poster for the original Static. Video cover design by Andre Stringer.
“Every time I tried to export the full video, it would crash after five minutes. people were already at the theatre, in their seats, and I was at home sweating bullets trying to figure out what to do.”
Any surprises or drama in the editing room?
Static — This was the first video I edited on a non-linear editing system. I had filmed and edited three videos prior to Static with tape-to-tape machines [Cigar City, 1996; Rising, 1999]. The learning curve was insane. I didn’t even have my first email address. I was teaching myself how to capture footage, edit, balance sound and export correctly. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t get the video to export the night of the premiere. This was the first version of Final Cut Pro and it was super unstable.
Every time I tried to export the full video, it would crash after five minutes or so. People were already at the theatre, in their seats, and I was at home sweating bullets trying to figure out what to do. Google wasn’t an option in 1999 and YouTube didn’t exist yet. I finally realized I could export one part at a time to a mini DV tape without it crashing, leaving like five seconds of black space after each part. I managed to get the whole thing onto a tape before racing downtown to the theatre.
Bobby Puleo plunges into a great pyramid (not the ones from Kenny Reed’s intro) during the filming of Static II. This photo also made the cover of Strength Magazine‘s July 2003 issue.
Static II — Bobby Puleo flew to Tampa and stayed with me to oversee the finishing of his part. It’s kinda crazy by today’s standards but back then video parts came out far less frequently. Rare skaters, like Bobby, were careful about only putting out a certain amount of footage every few years. He definitely didn’t trust. Near the end of filming for his part — after we’d flown to Barcelona, London, NYC, and driven cross country from Washington D.C. to San Francisco — he started saying some weird things about not being 100% sure about his part going in the video.
I was starting to trip. While at my house, he saw Nick Jensen had a trick in Paul Shier’s part at the Holborn Viaduct spot in London that Bobby had been the first to skate in a specific way. Nick and Shier brought us to this known spot that had been skated in the past, but Bobby skated a bench and landed into a parallel bank, and apparently nobody else had done that before. When he saw Nick’s clip [appeared in Static II first] he flipped his lid because it was early in the video and Bobby’s part was near the end.
Puleo on the poster for the Miami premiere of Static II.
His point was that either Nick’s clip had to go, or [Bobby’s] part needed to come before Shier’s so he could “introduce” that spot. I understood his logic and agreed, yes, it’s a bit unfair that Bobby imagined a new way to hit the spot and Nick co-opted that idea and skated it in the same way. But Bobby’s part was the ender. It wouldn’t make sense to rearrange since his was maybe the strongest part in the video. It got heated. At one point he said, “I have to take a walk right now or we’re gonna get in a fist fight.”
I eventually agreed and deleted Nick’s clip from the video in front of Bobby. Then when he flew back to NYC, I just put Nick’s clip back in. Once Bobby learned what I’d done, he secretly hated me from then on. We remained close friends for a few years but eventually he lost it and started attacking me on my blog one day in the comments. It became a massive spectacle on the internet for a little while. That is a whole other story and the drama around it lasted nearly ten years, no joke. He told me it all stemmed back from that fateful day when I put Nick’s trick back in the video. Ever since that day, he knew I was a “phoney”.
A later date and a less heated bank-and-bricks combination in London. Nick Jensen hops into frontside nose during the making of Static III.
Static III — While working on the initial trailer for Static III, I would upload the edit to an FTP [File Transfer Protocol] site. My friends who were handling motion graphics would download it, add stuff, and we’d go back and forth. One day, someone called me and said: “Yo, I just saw the trailer! It was dope.” I’m like: “Uh, no you didn’t! I haven’t put it out yet?” They told me to go check the SLAP message boards.
Lo and behold, someone had taken a stab at typing in different URLs based on the “theoriesofatlantis.com” root address. They tried adding “/trailer” and found the unfinished trailer that the graphics guys and I were working on. I had no clue it could be found and watched like that. I lost it, created a SLAP account under my own name, and started railing against the guy who had leaked the trailer. What started as supportive soon turned when someone commented: “Wait… you’re MAD at someone for wanting to see your trailer?”
At that point, I was a turkey leg in a piranha tank. I got shredded from every direction and had to eventually log off and run for my life. Lesson learned, never go on SLAP with your real name.
“Now that you’ve found your paradise. This is your kingdom to command.” 🎶 Bobby Puleo by Josh Stewart circa Static II.
What’s your favourite song on the soundtrack and how did you find it?
Static — Definitely Jake Rupp’s DJ Cheb i Sabbah song, “Ganga Dev”. I was struggling to find something unique for Jake so I went to a Barnes & Nobles in Tampa and flipped through the “International” section. There was trip-hop stuff happening in the international music scene and I randomly picked out a CD that looked interesting. It was shot in the dark and I came across two sick and strange songs. I spliced them together to make Jake’s section, I still think it’s one of the best-fitting songs from the series. Nobody knew who the hell DJ Cheb was.
Static II — Probably “Shangri-La” by The Kinks. That was Bobby Puleo’s pick and it was so bangin’. Nobody had used The Kinks up to that point, which is mind-boggling. It captured the feeling and texture of the video. I’ve mentioned it before, but Bobby wanted to change that song at the last minute. I had to Jedi mind trick him into allowing it to remain.
Static III — Probably the White Flight songs in Pat Stiener’s part. Another random band I found on my own and was super hyped on, but worried it could be polarizing. Some people would be resistant because it wasn’t going to expectation of what a Static soundtrack “should” sound like. Also, Pat was a big audiophile. I feared he wouldn’t be into it either, it was a little bit out there for a skate song in 2007. Thankfully, he was stoked too. Eventually, it became probably the most memorable song from Static III.
A Static era Forest Kirby noseblunts wearing the ultimate turn-of-the-millennium ‘fit.
Why are you proud of each of the original Static videos in particular?
Static — Mostly that I pulled it off, calling skaters out of the blue, who I’d never met, and asking them to film parts. I made Static right when non-linear editing became accessible to regular consumers. I bought a computer with the first version of Final Cut Pro but I had zero computer skills and no clue what I was doing. I don’t know how I had faith I’d figure it out. I was filled with anxiety the whole time, not understanding anything about computer editing workflow, what “rendering” was, where my files were going when I captured footage. It was a fucking mess. I was like, “The files are in the computer?”
Static II — This sounds like I’m patting myself on the back but I feel like Static II helped re-spark a few guys into the public sphere who’d been overshadowed by popular skateboarding, at the time. The reaction to Puleo’s part proved to me that skateboarding was hungry for something different. His, Shier’s and Ricky’s approaches to street skating really scratched that itch. Quickly, you started to see their influence in a lot of skating from the West Coast.
Paul Shier in Barcelona during the making of Static II.
I’m also proud of the London section and Shier’s part. British skateboarding was so grossly ignored by the US industry up to that point. Pretty much all of European skating was at that time. If it wasn’t Tom Penny or Geoff Rowley, Americans just didn’t seem to be interested. And Igei’s part, to this day, is such a banger.
Static III — I feel Static III was the most complete and cohesive of all of the videos. The style is consistent throughout, it has just the right amount of parts, and the line-up is sick. But none of the names had been properly established yet other than Danny Renaud. It served the purpose that Static set out to achieve from the beginning.
A condensed version of this feature originally ran in Closer Issue #6 as part of ‘End of the Line — The Conclusion of Josh Stewart’s ‘Static’ Series’.
This story, continued
- Part II: Closing Doors — Josh Stewart on Static IV and V
- Part III: End of the Line — Josh Stewart on Static VI
More from Issue 6
Favorites from the print edition of Closer
- ‘Have You Met Nelly Morville?’ — An Interview with Limosine’s Breakout Star
- Ariana Spencer — One Rad Mom
- Topography: Wallrides with Silas Baxter-Neal
- The Long Play with Mason Silva: Early 2000s Skate Video Soundtracks
- Louie Lopez on AVE’s Green Bench
Closer Skateboarding | Issue #6
Featuring
End of the Line: The Conclusion of Josh Stewart’s ‘Static’ Series
Plus
- Jake Johnson: The Chrome Ball Interview
- An Audience with Leo Romero
- Clyde Singleton’s Most Slept-On Pro Skateboarders
- Jason Adam — 50 Years to Life
- Ben Colen — Artist Feature
- ‘Control’ photo feature and more.
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