Erik Bailey is one of the most influential bladers of the past decade and a half, and is quite honestly, in your author’s opinion, the pro that made Valo what it is today. Broskow, how ever incredible, came to the team after Bailey. Without Bailey’s explosive mix of stunt blading and finesse in the first We are Valo video and his signature skate that came around the same time, I wonder if Valo would have ever taken off the way it did. Even before Erik’s joining the Valo team, his sections in the Rejects video series by Wes Driver and the Them apples videos created by Pat Lennen were just ground-breaking, just oozing Bailey’s eternal rugged coolness.
Fortunately, it’s the same attitude and style that we get to see in Bailey’s new section, filmed and cut by Erik Bill. The two Mid-westerners just work great together, Bill’s filming and editing really compliments Bailey’s blading, and even some of the less conventional filming angles work really well to show Bailey’s style.
It’s kind of funny to think that Bailey’s first major video appearance was way back in 1998, when he sweatstanced that steep rail in the intro to Beau Cottington‘s Transcend, the inaugural Daily Bread film, maybe one of the top ten most influential blading videos ever.
So yeah, after this fanboy rant, go and cop
