Anthony Van Engelen - AVE appreciation for the new Vans AVE Pro shoe
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With the release of Anthony Van Engelen's latest Vans AVE Pro Skate Shoe it seems a little redundant to not use that as a justified jumping off point for a little appreciation of the man himself. Fortuitously, but not unsurprisingly, Free Skate Mag, (in association with video archivist and remixer Jan Maarten Sneep AKA @memoryscreen on Instagram) have taken a little of the legwork out of this endeavour via today's release of an AVE Greatest Hits video which you can see above. Watch that first, then perhaps show your appreciation for the man with the undisputed greatest switch 360 flip in the history of skateboarding by bagging up a pair of his latest Vans Pro Skate kicks here. With the above said, it's probably a good point to insert some of the classic AVE parts that the above Memory Screen 'Best Of' clip has cannibalized, if for no other reason than to be entirely clear about just how fucking awesome (pun intended) this Californian maniac is. As we're on aVans tip, there seems to be no better place to start than the Raw Files edit of his recent(ish) Vans Propeller section, containing the raw visuals of his epic section and including everything from alley oop back smiths in Californian ditches to gap out to boardslides on kinked rails in Belper, Derbyshire. If you haven't already watched this one you're slipping, hard. Following up from the Propeller Raw Files, we've got AVE's Alien Workshop's swansong section (before he left with fellow AWS alumni Jason Dill to form FA and Hockey Skateboards) which is absolutely banging and contains yet more evidence as regards his crown as the king of the switch tres, along with a brace of switch and fakie handrail majesty, a Danny Way cameo and further exploration around the 'Over the Top' handrail genre first invented by Sean Sheffey (last trick in his Mouse part here for the nerds). If you don't like this, you're dead to us. 3.22 in for the switch tres of dreams! Next up is another timeless classic from the vaults of the pre-Internet Internet with the theme tune that anyone over the age of 30 has etched into their memory - namely the 411 Video Magazine Alien Workshop Industry Section. For those of you too young to appreciate the impact that 411VM had on the global skate scene, or of the implication of the phrase 'Industry Section' as far as skateboarding culture is concerned - hit the hyper links in this here sentence for a brief overview. Then go download the the track 'The Boxcar' by Sol for the ultimate skate earworm. Mr Dibbs and peak Alien - fuck yes! (By the way - if you're wondering what the intro song for this 411 banger is - worry not - it's called 'Little Ethnic Song' and it's by Dinosaur Jr - it also features as the intro for Alien Workshop's first video release, the epoch-forming Memory Screen - hence the Dutch dude's Instagram handle - watch Memory Screen in full here and brainwash yourselves. Obviously there are way too many AVE parts to post for the space we have here, so let's end it on a under-appreciated classic, again from his time on the Sovereign Sect, alongside team mates Jason Dill, Dylan Rieder, Jake Johnson, Omar Salazar, Kevin Terpening, Grant Taylor, Mikey Taylor and Gilbert Crockett. It's hard to top this one - the ender section from the 2012 Transworld Skateboarding's 'Cinematographer' video, filmed and edited by Benny Magliano who is now in charge of Hockey Skateboards output. I've purposely not included AVE's DC part here since most of the best stuff from that section is included in the Memory Screen remix at the very top but, if you've never seen it - go watch AVE destroy Barcelona here. Oh yeah, it also has the best switch manual switch tres out that a human will ever perform too. That was enjoyable - now go bask in switch front crooks glory and push three times faster at every obstacle than is necessary. Still thirsty for more AVE? Go check this pre FA Anthony Van Engelen interview here, and this Greg Hunt piece for further back stories here.
With the above said, it's probably a good point to insert some of the classic AVE parts that the above Memory Screen 'Best Of' clip has cannibalized, if for no other reason than to be entirely clear about just how fucking awesome (pun intended) this Californian maniac is. As we're on a Vans tip, there seems to be no better place to start than the Raw Files edit of his recent(ish) Vans Propeller section, containing the raw visuals of his epic section and including everything from alley oop back smiths in Californian ditches to gap out to boardslides on kinked rails in Belper, Derbyshire. If you haven't already watched this one you're slipping, hard. Following up from the Propeller Raw Files, we've got AVE's Alien Workshop's swansong section (before he left with fellow AWS alumni Jason Dill to form FA and Hockey Skateboards) which is absolutely banging and contains yet more evidence as regards his crown as the king of the switch tres, along with a brace of switch and fakie handrail majesty, a Danny Way cameo and further exploration around the 'Over the Top' handrail genre first invented by Sean Sheffey (last trick in his Mouse part here for the nerds). If you don't like this, you're dead to us. 3.22 in for the switch tres of dreams! 
Next up is another timeless classic from the vaults of the pre-Internet Internet with the theme tune that anyone over the age of 30 has etched into their memory - namely the 411 Video Magazine Alien Workshop Industry Section. For those of you too young to appreciate the impact that 411VM had on the global skate scene, or of the implication of the phrase 'Industry Section' as far as skateboarding culture is concerned - hit the hyper links in this here sentence for a brief overview. Then go download the the track 'The Boxcar' by Sol for the ultimate skate earworm. Mr Dibbs and peak Alien - fuck yes! (By the way - if you're wondering what the intro song for this 411 banger is - worry not - it's called 'Little Ethnic Song' and it's by Dinosaur Jr - it also features as the intro for Alien Workshop's first video release, the epoch-forming Memory Screen - hence the Dutch dude's Instagram handle - watch Memory Screen in full here and brainwash yourselves. Obviously there are way too many AVE parts to post for the space we have here, so let's end it on a under-appreciated classic, again from his time on the Sovereign Sect, alongside team mates Jason Dill, Dylan Rieder, Jake Johnson, Omar Salazar, Kevin Terpening, Grant Taylor, Mikey Taylor and Gilbert Crockett. It's hard to top this one - the ender section from the 2012 Transworld Skateboarding's 'Cinematographer' video, filmed and edited by Benny Magliano who is now in charge of Hockey Skateboards output. I've purposely not included AVE's DC part here since most of the best stuff from that section is included in the Memory Screen remix at the very top but, if you've never seen it - go watch AVE destroy Barcelona here. Oh yeah, it also has the best switch manual switch tres out that a human will ever perform too. That was enjoyable - now go bask in switch front crooks glory and push three times faster at every obstacle than is necessary. Still thirsty for more AVE? Go check this pre FA Anthony Van Engelen interview here, and this Greg Hunt piece for further back stories here.
