The Village Psychic SOTY edit.
2014 produced a spectacular list of Skater of the Year nominees. In the end the title was captured by Wes Kremer, and although each skater on the list brought something noteworthy to the table, we at Village Psychic are pleased with this result. Wes is an ATV. He does the weird tricks, skates tranny, skates rails, and all the while oozes with style. We say yes to Wes.
Please enjoy the Village Psychic SOTY edit:
Here's a quick a look at the skaters Wes was up against for the title:
Torey Pudwill and a goofy backside noseblunt slide, taken from his Instagram.
Torey Pudwill: Torey had the final part in the year's (make that the last five years') most overly hyped video, Plan B's True. The video was overall an uncomfortable let down, but seeing Torey's hyper-technical manuvers (despite the frantic limbs and Redbull beanie) was worth sitting through a part of an old dude doing stalls while wearing Airspeed shoes. Five years from now we will remember Torey's True part as it's own video, not as joined with the mostly forgettable parts it was packaged with. Also, we totally forgot about this Thrasher part. We would have been fine with Torey winning SOTY this year.
Cory Kennedy: Although Cory didn't close out a video we had been hearing about for the last five years, he did have two great video parts in 2014. His part in Rat Poison had a total fuck around bro vibe, but when you are as good as this dude is, a half-assed effort still makes for jaw dropping footage. Corey's part in BellingHAM was incredibly refreshing, full of creative skating at spots you have likely never seen. Additionally, his day in the life for Fourstar had a super fun vibe and contained some truly amazing tranny skating from a dude we think of as a street skater. He even made his own video this year. Cory produced some great footage this year, but given the competition this was not his year to win SOTY.
"You smell me girl, I smell like money."
Nyjah Huston: We would have been disappointed if Nyjah won this year. Not because we are not a fans of his, but because SOTY is an award that should be won by someone truly deserving of the title. Nyjah is going to blow our minds with a video part (even if we forget about it the next day) AND win every single contest in the near future, and that is the year he should win SOTY. Making out with himself for Thrasher's King Of The Road was really beautiful, but it shouldn't win him SOTY. Your time will come doggy.
Louie yanking a tiny guy. Photo: Andrew Mapstone.
Louie Barletta: Louie came through with a part in Oververt part that contained a wonderfully executed combination of really impressive shredding and goofballery. When Jerry Hsu and former TM Matt Eversole left enjoi, we worried that the company would lose the special vibe we all love. Much to our delight, Louie has stepped in and has kept that spirit alive and kept up his skating all at once. While we don't really think he should have won SOTY this year, it would have been cool to see it just the same.
Ishod Wair: 2013's SOTY clearly just loves skateboarding. Ishod went hard this year, and not for any videos from his big time sponsors. He produced parts for two independent videos, PAYCH (see above) and ECVX14. He skates for the love and not the glory, which is always respectable. Ishod could have won 2 years in a row and we would have been stoked.
Oh word? He ollied into that and then road down it, huh? Photo: via Zoo York.
Brandon Westgate: Westgate broke his back earlier this year and proceeded to come back with this ridiculous Zoo England part. He skates bump to bars like he's at a skatepark, skates up handrails that would be gnarly to skate down, and even let Chaz Ortiz have a clip in his part. What a gnarly sweetheart. Even though this wasn't Westgate's craziest year in recent memory, we are still stoked on the dude and his nomination.
Bobby Worrest: To be totally honest, we wanted to see Bobby win this year. He had been so under the radar for years and then dropped THREE video parts filmed in three separate cities and landed a spot among the ranks of the Nike SB team. Sure he didn't darkslide a rail or do a funky wallie to grind on clipper, but what he did provide us was some classically stylish ripping. You're SOTY in VPs heart, Bobby.
So there it is, 7 dudes worthy of the SOTY title, and even though we were gunning for Bobby, we are totally stoked on the end result. Yes to Wes.