New England skateboarding

1. ISSUE 01
EAST COAST
OVERDOSE

2. EDITOR/HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER:
Zack Brescia @zbphoto
CONTRIBUTING DESIGN:
John Silva @johnsilva_
Ryan Kelly @thisisasandwich
Gordon Gregory @onarealhiatus
Max Maffucci @buhbuhraydudley
Doug Horn @daghorn
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHY:
Josh Gunter
Billy Butcher @butcher_photo
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Brian Saunders @brainsander
Adam DeRezendes @rudeboy69four20
Contact/Photo Submissions: EastCoastOverdoseMag@gmail.com
ALEX NIVISON: BS NOSEPICK WETHERSFEILD CT

3. GARRETT AYOUB: LAYBACK TAILSLIDE-BOSTON MA

4. WHAT’S INSIDE:
VX V.S. IPHONE
BAKER AT EASTERN BOARDER
GOOD SKATEBOARDS INTERVIEW
LONG EXPOSURE TECH
ELI BUNTEN: TEXAS IN BOSTON

6. Considering how far technology has come since I’ve
started skating there’s something that I can’t get over.
The fact that you still see people filming with 15 year old
cameras. I always have to ask myself, why? Why are some
filmers so far behind?
The cameras I’m talking about are none other than the
infamous Sony VX’s. With the VX1000 being released just
over twenty years ago and even the most recent one, the
VX2100, being released over eleven years ago, why the hell
does anyone still bother using them?
You could argue that money has a lot to do with it. Con-
sidering Sony’s current prosumer cameras start at $2,000.
But now that almost everyone has a smart phone that can
bother using a VX?
First things first, let’s get some boring specs out of the
way. For our purposes I’ll use the VX2000 and compare it
to Apple’s latest iPhone 6s.
Right away the iPhone has a major win with resolution.
The smartphone shoots ultra high definition 4k (about
twice the resolution of 1080) while the VX only shoots 480
standard definition.
Now I’m not someone who’s normally too concerned with
resolution. I think at this point 4k is more of a gimmick
but high definition is a must. And with the VX only
shooting standard definition it just looks like garbage
compared to HD footage.
DAVE SULLIVAN: HEELFLIP

7. Beyond the resolution, the iPhone has the VX2000 beat
in slow motion. While the VX can only do 30 frames per
second the smart phone can record up to 120fps in 1080
and 240fps in 720. Which makes for some seriously slow
motion footage.
Now let’s move past all these boring specs and onto some-
thing a little more subjective. Something called form factor.
Basically just a technical way of saying what shape the
camera is and how it affects how you use it.
This is where the VX wins back some points. After all the
VX2000’s only function is a camera. It was purpose built to
take videos. Unlike the iPhone which was built to cram as
much technology into as small a package as possible.
What this means is that the VX is a lot easier to shoot with.
For example, try to film a line with an iPhone. And I don’t
mean hold the phone at chest hight and stand in one spot.
I mean try getting that classic low angle shot while skating
behind. Not exactly easy while trying to hold a tiny
rectangle. Now if you were to try and film a line with a
VX2000 you could easily just fold out the screen, grab the
top handle and skate away.
The VX is better to film with in just about any other situ-
ation too. Say you want to do a long lens shot. The weight
and balance of the VX make it easy to hold steady and the
controls fall to hand nicely. Whereas, filming on a smart
phone is
awkward and shaky even at the best of times.
I want to touch on one last issue and I saved it for last
because it’s a big one for me. It is the reason I got rid of my
Panasonic DVX a few years ago. Mini DV tapes, I hate mini
DV tapes. They are such a pain in the ass. In a time when
you can film all day on your phone and have it posted on
youtube before you even get home, why would anyone want
to deal with these things?
You have to sit there for hours capturing the footage and
separating the clips. Not to mention it requires a firewire.
Firewire is so outdated that my last two computers haven’t
even had a port for it. This is a huge loss for the classic VX.

8. That being said, I’ll leave off with this piece of advice.
If you own a VX and enjoy shooting on it then by all
means keep using it.
However, don’t bother getting one if you don’t
already own one. Save your money and just use your
phone.
Cause in the end people are gonna care more about the
skating then what it was shot on anyways.

9. GORDON GREGORY: WALLRIDE HARTFORD CT/ZBPHOTO

10. 1
KEVIN SPANKY LONG, SWITCH NOSESLIDE. BAKER EASTERN BOARDER, 2015
2

11. The spots are all
stoney you know?
Like rough as fuck!
But to me its all new spots,
freshies with solid concrete.
–BEAGLE
BEAGLE, FIGGY, RANDOM MOM. EASTERN BOARDER DEMO, 2015

12. THE BOSS HIMSELF.
ANDREW REYNOLDS.
FRONTSIDE FLIP.
EASTERN BOARDER DEMO, 2015

13. Connor Noll: Wallride CT

14. Frontside Ollie (Huntington Beach), Josh Gunter
Meeting Tommy DeMaria for the first time you could
be forgiven for thinking he’s a native left coaster. Yes,
he lives in California now. He surfs. But when I met
Tommy he wasn’t yet the owner of a new and idealis-
tic skateboard company. He wasn’t an industry insider
with luxurious hair and an all-year tan. He was just
another skate rat pushing around our New England
college campus in baggy pants and a backwards hat,
looking for anything that could reasonably be called a
“skate spot.” When it rained he’d skate the parking ga-
rage, blasting neck-high melon grabs off the curb cuts.
When it snowed, he’d skate in a jacket. In short: he
was East Coast as fuck. In Good Skateboards, found-
ed this year along with Tosh Townend, he’s trying to
bring some of that East Coast attitude to the West
Coast scene. And I think that’s pretty good.
TOMMY D
INTERVIEW:
WRITTEN BY: BRIAN SAUNDERS

15. Out in California everyone skates.
Not everyone skateboards…

16. Brian: The name of the company is
“Good Skateboards.” Is that a state-
ment on the quality of the product,
or is there something else behind the
name?
Tommy: I mean yeah, it kind of is.
That wasn’t the direct idea. It wasn’t
like “yeah we’re gonna make the best
skateboards ever!” Obviously we want
to make good products but it kind of
just speaks to everything. It’s more
about the idea that “it’s not what you
do but how you do it.” You know,
good.
I feel like a lot of the younger kids
might not fully appreciate who Tosh
is, but people in our generation see
him as something of a legend. How
did that connection happen?
How did I meet Tosh?
How did you meet Tosh, how did he
get involved with Good?
Just living in Huntington,that’s Tosh’s
home town,we bumped into each oth-
er at some industry party, which are
usually funny scenes. I forget exactly
what happened but I cracked a joke
and he was with his wife, Nicole, and
we all just started laughing and just
clicked. We just started rapping out.
He was living in Hawaii at the time
and I had just moved from Hawaii so
we knew some of the same people. It
just went from there. Then he moved
home and was working selling cars.
He usually only had Mondays and
Tuesdays off so we’d try to link up and
skate and there was a couple weeks in
a row where I’d hit him up like “let’s
skate!” and he’d be like “dude I’m still
at work.” And it went on like that for
like 2 weeks straight. Finally I was
like, “yo, let’s start our own company
and be our own bosses.” He was like
“I’ll be there in 30 minutes.” And that
was it.
So you pretty much rescued Tosh
Townend from selling cars.
Haha no, no, no. Not at all. I think
he just needed someone that he could
trust that had their head in the right
space and had that ability. We both
bring something so different to the
table but we’re still on the same wave-
length. We had known each other for
a while and after we met for about 30
minutes I already had everything all
squared up and ready to go. It was
like, “oh shit, it’s on!” And it’s been
on ever since.
So you live in HB now and you look
likeaCaliforniadude. You’vegotthe
long hair. You’re pretty much Spicoli
on a skateboard. But you’re a Con-
necticut dude. You’re from the East
Coast.What was the skate scene like
in Connecticut growing up?
Dude, honestly, it was a blood bath.
Connecticut skate scene is so heavy.
Out in California everyone skates.
Not everyone skateboards…but ev-
eryone skates. You’ll see just the
kookiest kids skating down the street
pushing mongo. Everyone has the
ability to transport themselves on a
skateboard. But on the East Coast,
Northeast of all places, if you skate,
you skate. It’s so different. And it’s
more cutthroat kind of. Kids are more
vibey and in a way it’s cool because
that’s how you weed out the kids who
really don’t skate.
Crooks (Suffield, CT), Photo:@butcher_photo

17. Ollie (Suffield, CT), Photo:@butcher_photo

18. Wallride Nollie Fakie (Suffield, CT), @butcher_photo
I mean there are pros and cons that come
with it but I think that overall, unless you’re
a weak human, I think it’s a pro more than
a con.
So for somebody who’s been in the skate
scene for a long time, somebody who’s now
in the skate business, what do you think
about the trajectory of the industry today?
I think it’s kooky. I think it sucks. It’s such
a contrived image. Who wants to see an
advertisement of someone’s face? Or them
holding a product? It’s like, no dude we want
to see you skate the product. You’re not a
model you’re a skateboarder. I don’t get it.
And that’s where me and Tosh had a lot of
similar views. We just couldn’t wrap our
heads around what was happening. That’s
not our deal. And if you psyche on what
we’re doing then that’s cool. We’re not really
looking for that mass appeal, you know?
So who’s your favorite East Coast skate leg-
end of all time?
Oh man. First person that comes to mind
Robbie Gangemi. Anthony Correa. Those
two dudes come to mind first and foremost.
There are so many other people I really
psyche on. Quim Cardona. But I would say
that Gangemi and Correa, both their parts
in Mixtape were some of the most inspiring
parts to me growing up.
What about favorite New England skate city.
I don’t want to say because I don’t want peo-
ple to go there, haha. But if you know me,
you know my answer.
Just say Hartford then.
Haha, I mean Hartford is sick. I grew up
skating there. Sure, screw it, Hartford.
It’s an objective fact that East Coast skaters
are better than West Coast skaters. Why is
that?
Haha, oh man you’re gonna get me in
trouble. I mean not to perpetuate the
whole battle, but everyone knows that
growing up on the East Coast with 4 sea-
sons you really gotta want it. That’s pretty
much it. And I think a lot of it on the East
Coast comes back to “it’s not what you do
but how you do it.” Because you know
what? That 8 stair or whatever might be
perfect in California. But on the East
Coast we got this crazy, like, basement
door wallride that has this huge crack in
front of it. It’s just different styles.
Who are some of the guys who skate for
Good that we should watch out for.
Justin Smith. That kid is pretty much the
essence of what Good stands for. Style.
Finesse. He has all the tricks, he can do
gnar or tech. Brent (Strittmater) has so
much heart. The dude literally skates
more than anyone I know and has the
ability to prove it. He can throw himself
down a massive hubba but then get all
mathematical on a ledge or manny pad.
It’s crazy. He’s in his 20’s and still has the
stoke of a 12 year old. And Greg Cotto is
a straight up O.G.! Everyone knows that!
Haha. All the boys, honestly. The team
was hand selected and there’s no huge
names on it aside from Tosh, and that’s
cool. We’re not really worried about that.
We’re just homies. Everyone skates and
that’s it.
So are we getting some new Tosh footage
out of this?
Yeah, you’ll get some Tosh footage.
Good. Any last words?
Uhm, no.
Good.

19. SEEGULL X RUDEBOY X GROTON CT DANIEL LUTHERAN 5050 BOSTON MA

20. ETHAN GIORGETTI: BS TS HARTFORD CT NICK GUGLIETTA: FS FLIP HARTFORD CT

21. WILLY LARA ROLL FOR ROB NORTH HAMPTON MA

22. MARK KOZ BS FEEBLE
ALEX NIVISON FS NOSESLIDE
RUDEBOY BS NOSEGRAB
NICK GUGLIETTA KROOK
MARK KOZ BS FEEBLE

23. Flash photography with long exposures is a technique/style that is nothing
new to photography; yet it can be difficult to properly execute
unless you know where to start.
First things first, set the camera up on a tripod with a shutter speed around 15
seconds and bump up the aperture so you have a larger focal range along with
keeping the photo dark.
What I did was have 7 people skate around the park holding flash lights to
achieve background light trails in camera while Adam came up for the front
smith. Once locked in to the smith, I popped the flash, and ended exposure
all at the same time.
Now the tricky part, you have to time the end of the exposure with the mo-
ment of your subject in action by popping the flash manually at the last sec-
ond. This is the secret to getting the subject to be as sharp as possible with as
little “ghosting” effect as possible.
Along with this you have to take into consideration how long it takes your
subject to get to desired spot as it is probably going to be shorter than the ex-
posure time, for this a stop watch is pretty useful.
Here’s the play by play of the process for this specific photo.
I started the 15 second exposure while people were skating with flashlights, at
the same time starting my stopwatch to keep track of the seconds.
After 5 seconds goes by of people making light trails I cued
Adam to start towards the corner.
At second 14 he was locked into the smith, at the same time I held my small
Canon flash (580EXII) in hand pointing at subject and fired.
At Second 15, exposure ends.
This may take a few tries to get the timing down but in
the end you could have yourself a portfolio worthy photo,
not to mention a solid post for Instagram.

24. JOSH ECKERT AKA GIMPY OLLIE IN