SPONGERCITYINTERVIEW_BRIANSTOKES_A.K.A.STOKER

INTERVIEW done on the 1st of June 2005 – Questions with Brian Stokes – STOKER

I managed to talk to Stoker about the latest No Friends video : Roadhouse and about other things. “The premieres of the new Dvd went really well and people seemed really amped on it” said stoker when asked how things were going. He added “I had few kids come up to me and say that is was the best vid since NF1 and 2″. Stoker went back to “the old school way of editing”. “Simplicity is better sometimes” said the master, “I personally think NF3 and NF5 were the hardest to edit, but sometimes people don’t want stuff like that. We took the NF1 feel and tried to imitate it. The music is more on the lines of NF1 with old school 70’s, sort of 80’s mix, punk rock, hardcore, and some just some good music in general. Everything from Johnny Cash to It Dies Today. There has been a good vibe on the video. I have been amped. This will possibly be my last video so I want to go out with a good video. I was pretty amped with what turned out”. Here are the few questions i asked Stoker to let the playbord.com visitors learn more about the Stoker’s thoughts on the latest release and life in general :

1. I heard the footage was kinda all ozzie stuff, is it true ?
Yeah, pretty much, MC (michael crawley) shoots mainly in oz and with oz riders, so apart from the nf riders sections, there are mainly oz guys. Its not necessarily all filmed in oz, its just mainly oz riders. Not too many kids show up from America or other places anymore like they used to. I think people should start contributing footage from all over the world and get people known, etc. It would be a good way to show world support. It is hard to get tons of people in the videos ya know. The filming is mainly done on trips so unless there are other people on those trips, its just the guys that MC films.

2. If yes was it different from the other videos ? or did you enjoy it just as much ?
I think the footage is heavier in this video. Some good west oz spots as well as just heavy waves in general. I like all the australian waves as well as just outer islands stuff, etc. I think this video brings back the older NF style of editing like in the early vids.

3. Did you film a little bit for this video or did Crawley filmed it all ?
MC films them all now. There was actually some stuff contributed by a local kid in my hometown of pismo beach named zach nicholas, some from daniel armstrong, and some from christian “tomate” peralta and jeff hubbard. i don’t film anymore for NF. The past 3 videos have been shot by MC entirely.

4. No Roach part in it ? wassup with that ?
Roach doesn’t surf anymore. There is no money for him in bbing so he has to make a living. Its not like he is 18 years old anymore. He has a baby and needs a stable job. When he does surf, if someone wants to film him, send me the footage, we would be amped. Being 31 years old in the bbing industry is pretty old ya know. I think Lackey and some other dk kids are taking over now. Sort of a bummer though cause Roach owns it…. still does.

5. You said it might be the last NF vid you edited, i guess you’re pretty busy with your job, will you film and edit a new bobyboarding project later maybe ? or is the bbing editing over for now ?
I am pretty much done. My job being a dvd author takes most of my time and its really hard to work a 9-5 job monday through friday, then work 2 months out of the year doing 12 hour days 7 days a week. It is really tough doing that and having a family, kid, etc. I wanted to go out with a great video and i think this video will be the one i go out on. I have ideas for a sick all 16mm video to film maybe someday if i ever get the chance. A documentary just telling it like it really is. The ups and downs and just everything about the scene, tons of interviews and just all sick stuff. Maybe in the future, but not anytime soon.

6. Since you didn’t film a lot since NF6 do you think the last couple videos still had the same feeling / mood as the first videos ?
Yes and no. I filmed totally different than MC does so there is going to be a different feel to the videos. I try to match it in editing, but its really hard. I mixed up a lot of 16mm stuff that just had that look of lifestyle ya know. That is why for this last video we wanted to do something totally like how NF1 and NF2 were. Same sort of music and style of editing, simplistic is sometimes better. But since i stopped filming, it was nearly impossible to make a similar video to the older videos. It sucks how people always compare videos to older videos, etc. We never wanted to really make the same videos each year. That would be lame, but people always compare stuff to NF1, etc. it is pretty lame. But we tried to cater to that, so this last video was just a shot back to NF1 and that style. i hope everyone likes it.

Thanx a lot Stoker
No problem. Hope that was good .

SPONGERCITY.COM – NF8/Roadhouse Dvd review coming very soon on playbord.com !