Meet: Ice Coast Kills Shit

Location: New York State. From NYC to the North Country
Riders: John the Third, Mark Blondie, Buddy Pendergrass, Toothy, Little Brudder, Triscuit, Erich Fonz, Jeffree, Kahn, VInsanity, Anderton, B Rad and many other homies.
Filmer/editor: Callaghan

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8925347&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Why the name Ice Coast Kills Shit? Is your mom offended by the swear word?

The name is about being proud of where you’re from regardless of how wack everyone else thinks it is. You also need a name that’ll catch some attention when you’re a crew of unknowns. We also we wanted a name that anyone from the East would be proud to rep, not just our homies. And lastly you gotta mix in some of our New York cocky/shit talking attitudes. My mom digs it, just don’t tell grandma about it.

Where do you ride most often?

We had a house at Hunter Mountain this past season which is about 2 hours north of New York City. It’s the mountain we started riding when we first got to college. We lurked around enough and now a bunch of our crew run the park over there and I do the terrain park videos for their marketing. Also, a bunch of dudes are posted up at Plattsburgh, NY going to school there. It’s a small city about an hour south of Montreal and an hour west of Burlington. You can catch those dudes mostly at joint called Whiteface.

What is the NY snowboard scene like?

Shit is real! And very local. A lot of cool ass people involved in the shred scene. You got a few different crews scattered throughout the entire NY state. Some people bounce out west once they are either get real good, or graduate college, so it’s hard for anything really to get established. But you do have some dope rider owned shops, like Sacred in New Paltz, NY owned by our homie Cliff. On the weekends you get a lot of Joeys coming up from the city which can either be hilarious or frustrating as hell depending on how you look at it. If you wanna see some hilarious shit you gotta come to Fire Fighter’s day at Hunter. All the NYFD dudes come up, get wasted and ride down the mountain in their fire fighter uniforms. Looks like the fucking beaches of Normandy. Bodies scattered all over the mountain. Or if you get frustrated with the Joeys or the conditions, head on down to NYC and ring up the BozWreck dudes. You’re guaranteed to see some wild shit, and wake up with a hangover.

When do you plan on moving out west, or at least to Vermont?

N.Y. til the day I die! I can only speak for myself and not the rest of the crew, but personally I tried moving out to Colorado when I graduated college and it wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, the riding was unbeleivable. But shit is too… for lack of a better word, sceney, out there. Or maybe I just didn’t link up with the right people. Plus the resorts got so much fucking money it’s crazy, so shit gets taken a little too serious at times. That being said, we got nothing but love for the West, and I most definitely see the motivation and allure of moving out there. And we jump on the opportunity to take trips out there whenever we can, and a few of the homies have actually moved out there and you can’t deny the epic conditions. But East is home for most of us. None of us are going pro (But I would keep a look out for young bucks Jasper Kahn and Johnny O’Connor) so most of us chill on the East, have fun and party with the homies, but also work on getting the careers on track. A majority of the crew have their NY state teaching degrees, some are graphic designers, sculptors, or mechanics ect.. There’s also strong film and TV industry in the city I’ve been starting to get involved with. Snowboarding is a hobby and passion for us. Full strength beer and 4am last calls might also have something to do with it.

As for Vermont, we love a good VT trip! But when it comes down to it, the conditions in New York are just about the same for the most part (Unless you go way up North to places like Jay Peak). You just hear more about Vermont because you got places like Burlington where there is industry and coverage there, and little to none in NY. I also want to stress that Ice Coast Kills Shit is not purely an NY thing. We got love for the entire East Coast. It just so happened that NY had a really good snow fall this season so we didn’t have to travel too far to get shit done. Then at the end of the season, I started going through all the footy, and said… Oh shit. We didn’t leave NY state to film once this season.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7214562&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

How many full lengths have you made prior to NUMSKULL? Have you learned anything important or interesting in the process?

We’ve released two full lengths prior to NUMSKULL. “Hurts So Good”, and “It’s Always Snowing Somewhere Else”. Important lessons include how to shit in pretty much any bathroom regardless of sanitary conditions while on the road. Also how to survive off of Stewart’s (A chain of convenient stores in upstate New York).

What do you think makes a movie good?

Damn this question is a heavy one… I could talk about this for hours but here’s an abridged version…
First and foremost entertainment value for sure. You can have the best riders and the best camera equipment, but if the video isn’t entertaining nobody is gonna want to watch it. Some of theses high production videos put me to sleep. You’ll be 3 or 4 minutes into the video still watching HD heli shots of mountains and snow falling, and not one snowboarding trick has gone down. We’re snowboarders… We all know what mountains and snow falling looks like, get to fucking the action already. Also, It’s definitely about what you’re shooting and how it is presented and not so much what you’re shooting with. For instance (a non-snowboarding example) take The Chappelle Show. Arguably one of the most entertaining TV shows of all time (at least of our time). But if you ever go back and watch an episode, look at how low-budget that shit is. Most of the sets are just white curtains. Watch the Rick James sketch… they didn’t even have the money to shoot in an actual bar. It’s just a black room with not even 10 extras! But the content was fucking hilarious and so clever and entertaining that every Tom, Dick and Harry across america was out screaming, I’m Rick James bitch! I’ll tell you right now that you will not see many double corks or ground breaking tricks in NUMSKULL. You will however, be entertained from the second it starts, to the end of the credits. Quality, entertaining content is king.

Another huge aspect to me is the type of terrain in the video. How many times can you watch someone hit a handrail? When it snows in an area, its snows EVERYWHERE. And you’re going to restrict your riding to handrails? That shit is straight lazy. You can shred ANYTHING where there is snow. Buildings, trees, signs, rocks, trucks, drops, bridges. ANYTHING. You are not restricted to where the smooth concrete is like with skating, so why restrict yourself to skate-like obstacles. I think a lot of crews and riders are starting to realize that, and there is definitely a movement towards more creative riding. And now with the bungees… the possibilities are endless. This is not to say hitting rails aint fun. I love me a steezy front board down a handrail as much as the next guy… just not every shot in the video.

And of course the homies. A movie aint nothing without a good group of homies you want to spend your entire winter with. Luckily I got the craziest, funniest, realist group of homies around. We just keep the camera rolling and the movie pretty much makes itself. You see some team videos and you can tell they were just thrown together by the higher ups. They got no chemistry and are just traveling and shooting together because they happen to be on the same team. Lifeless team videos is the result.

Your teaser has some gore, what was the most serious injury sustained while you were filming?

Shiiiiittttt, our crew definitely takes a licking. However there weren’t too many serious injuries this year. But we all definitely saw our share of bumps, and bruises. But that shin gash that was in the teaser landed Haynes in the hospital with 44 stitches. The worst fall probably was two years ago when we were shooting for our first flick, Hurts So Good. Chris Ogonowski aka Ogo was cruising the park at Mountain Creek in Jersey and smashed his face in pretty good. The fall wasn’t caught on film but Toothy managed to film the helicopter airlifting him to the hospital. He bit through his lip, broke his jaw, and chipped a bunch of his front teeth. The whole chipping his teeth thing actually worked out for him, because it provided an excellent hole for his feeding straw to go through while his mouth was wired shut for 3 weeks.

Aside from the video, you guys also put on events, and I hear rumors of a magazine as well, any truth? how do you find the time?

The events are mostly an excuse to get all the homies together to rage. This past season we had a few big events, including a rail jam, and a snowboard art show, called Shart (shreddable art). Both of which we plan on having again for the 2010/2011 season. Jeff Meyer pushes me to organize these events because he says they’ll get us all laid.

As for the magazine, we will be releasing a magazine for the beginning of next season. We find the time because we truly love snowboarding. This is what we do with our free time. We love filming, organizing events, designing, talking with companies, meeting other crews, watching online edits ect. We all have other ways of making money so there is no real stress that comes along with worrying about making profits. And to be honest, with the magazine at least, the content is already there. I just gotta bring it together and make it look pretty. There are tons of hungry and talented shredders on the east. Photographers, filmers, entrepreneurs ect. But at the moment there is no real outlet for these up and coming creative people. Through the Ice Coast site we started meeting a lot of these talented people who share the same passion for snowboarding as we do. Who aren’t interested in the cash, but in just getting their shit out there, and seeing what other people are doing. So I talked to an offset printer, got a quote, and said, fuck it, let’s do a mag.

For the nerds out there: what’s your filming/editing set up?

We use a Sony HDR-FX7. Basically your bottom of the line HD prosumer cam (good looks toothy!), and I edit the footage on my iMac with Final Cut Pro. Sorry to disappoint, nerds. But like I was saying before, it ain’t about what equipment ya got, it’s what you do with it (that’s what she said).

What will be different about your movie than the other 500 coming out this fall?

Uhhhh probably not too much. We make the videos for ourselves, and if people dig em then awesome. But for sure the entertainment value. And since it’ll be free, the price is right. And you say 500 movies as if it’s a bad thing. Don’t you dig seeing what crews around the world are doing? It’s a crazy time we live in. And luckily you got people like YoBeat to sift through the shit for us, and pick up the gems.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11314707&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

When is it going to drop and how can the people see it?

Late August it will hit the internets for free on IceCoastKillsShit.com . Also, if you’re in NYC in August, we’ll be having a premiere party.