William Strobeck
- Text by Shelley Jones
- Photography by Jonathan Mehring
With fans that range from Cat Power to Jason Schwartzman, William Strobeck is a skate filmmaker whose cut-and-paste aesthetic has transcended the traditional trick flick and seeped into all parts of popular culture – from high-end fashion to mellow music and a bunch of experimental people portraits in between. Think Alex Olson dressed up like Village People and Gonz on roller skates.
His new film “cherry” is Supreme’s first-ever full-length skate film and launched this week in New York and LA (tomorrow in London), to rave reviews from all sides of skateboarding’s surreal community. Fellow filmmaker Greg Hunt put it like this on Instagram: “I always knew you would someday make one of my favourite videos, this one exceeded my expectations. Thanks for keeping it real @williamstrobeck it’s a true inspiration.”
The film will be released via iTunes on March 27. Here’s some cuts from Strobeck’s back catalogue to keep you entertained in the meantime.
Buddy
According to the recent Strobeck Quartersnacks interview, the whole “cherry” project stemmed from a little commercial Bill did for Supreme about a year ago. “Dill was in town at the time and they wanted me to skate with him and Tyshawn,” he told Quartersnacks. “We ended up making the Buddy commercial and then Kyle [from Supreme] asked if I would be down to make a full-length. The rest is history.”
$TUD
This is Strobeck’s section from TransWorld‘s 24th video, The Cinematographer Project, released in 2012 featuring Mark Gonzales, Alex Olson, David Clark, Jake Johnson, Brengar, Austyn Gillette, Danny Garcia, Dylan Rieder, and Jason Dill, and music by Grand Rapids’ Alex Niemetz.
Gonz’s Circle Board in NYC
A frequent collaborator with the Gonz, Strobeck shot this footage of Anthony Pappalardo riding Gonz’s circle board in New York in 2009 to be used in the exhibition Round n Round at Franklin Parrasch gallery. Live Skateboard Media‘s Benjamin Deberdt told us a story about the complimentary Paris session in Huck 37:
“Mark had planned to film a Circle Board session in Paris, to go alongside photos shot by William Strobeck for an exhibition at Franklin Parrasch in New York. He wanted to do it at Trocadero, the plaza watching over the Eiffel Tower, so we agreed to go there just before sunrise to avoid the swarms of tourists.
We showed up on one of the first metros to find Mark already skating the thing around. He said he was already tired as he skated it all the way from where he was staying, and so it wasn’t that long before he was ready to leave. I pleaded with him to wait a couple of minutes, but he wasn’t having any of it, and before the sun could fully rise, he suggested we ‘skate’ back to his place for breakfast. So there we were, following Mark cruising the Circle Board along the Seine embankment – or should I say, trying to keep up with him. He was skating that monster like it was nothing!”
Coconut Records’ Any Fun
Strobeck teamed up with actor/singer Jason Schwartzman to make the video for this track ‘Any Fun’ from the second album Davy off his Coconut Records’ solo project. The video features the likes of Schwartzman, Gonz and Chloe Sevigny (in a drug rug) cruising around NYC, hula hooping, shooting Super 8 and having lots of fun.
Where’s Bambi
Sevigny’s back in front of the camera as Strobeck’s muse in this wacked-out fashion video for Opening Ceremony in which she models her new collection in Strobeck’s living room. Set to the haunting track ‘Fly the Sky’ by Colony Farm, this is a trippy vignette that delves into the minds of the makers.
Jason Dill in Photosynthesis
Strobeck collaborated with Joe Castrucci to produce what might be Dill’s most iconic part ever in Photosynthesis (2000) for Alien Workshop. Plus it’s soundtracked by Radiohead. Get a tissue ready.
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