The "Beez" skate video series, created between 2003 and 2007 in Milwaukee, was a groundbreaking exploration of "avant-gnar" skating. It emerged in ...
The "Beez" skate video series, created between 2003 and 2007 in Milwaukee, was a groundbreaking exploration of "avant-gnar" skating. It emerged in response to the rigid, athletic standards dominating early 2000s skate culture. Rather than focusing on technical perfection, "Beez" embraced a more playful, comedic approach to skating, often featuring bizarre tricks, oddball boards, and absurd humor. The goal was to challenge the seriousness of skate culture, with Russ Clark's editing and Josh Ellis's filming leading the charge. This unorthodox style emphasized fun, creativity, and lawless skating, paving the way for later projects like 'Fancy Lad' and "The Golden Egg". In "Beez", skaters would often perform intentionally goofy tricks, mocking the conventions of traditional skateboarding. This quirky, anti-athletic style became a defining influence in the evolution of modern skate videos, encouraging a more inclusive, experimental approach. WI Skate, founded by Josh Ellis, was central to the scene.
Josh Ellis on the Beez Video Series (see the Village Psychic link on this page for the full interview):
VP: Why did you start doing these videos?
JE: As I remember it (I have a terrible memory, and I'm a completely unreliable narrator), for purely evil purposes. (If we) rewind to 2003, skateboarding was in an extremely different state than the lovely "anything goes" form it is in today. The joy of skating shown in videos like H-Street’s Hokus Pokus and the Junk Skating segment in Ban This couldn't have been further from the mainstream of skateboarding. There's other offenders, but I'll pin it on the Emerica This Is Skateboarding video. It was the nuke that destroyed any and all creativity in a midwestern teenagers mind. Suddenly there was a blueprint of "this is what you have to look like, and this is how you have to skate". Northeastern Illinois was ground zero for this poison idea. Every tween to young adult was suddenly in women's jeans, and was searching the suburban wasteland for moderately sized rails to test their mettle on. This behavior was dutifully filmed and put into extremely over serious videos, usually featuring the ever present "stress montage". Russ and I were discussing this situation, and decided to answer the question "What would bum out these humans the most?".
