The first time I saw anything of Fred Gall I was about 13. I think at the time, he was about 16 or so, and was blowing up. I saw the interview from the Thrasher pictured above. In it, he was an essentially unknown kid from the east coast turning SF into his playground. The switch 5-0 on hubba on the cover was just the beginning of what he did on that ledge, and around SF. At the time, doing anything switch on Hubba was insane, and he did a handful of things on it. For video evidence of all of this, check out his part in The Alien Workshop video Time Code (1996).
Here is a visual of the part, even though the audio got cut out by the lovely people at Warner Music Group. I highly suggest finding a copy of the original and checking it out. The part ain't the same without the black sabbath part:
Without the song, the train at the beginning makes no sense
Years have gone by since that part and Thrasher video, and people and times have changed. You will no longer see Fred Gall going to the hottest spots and one upping (or ten upping) the last person to skate it. Fred has grown from there. While the physical part of his growth may have to do with his apparent love of beer, his skills have grown due to a certain eye that only comes from a true love of skateboarding and a curiousity about how he can use his surroundings. The dude still lives in New Jersey, far from the media and industry epicenter of skateboarding in California. He's still putting out video parts and skating, and from the looks of this clip of him checking out the most recent issue of Thrasher, he still loves his job. And that is what makes him so awesome
Fred Gall, scummy Jersey dirt and legendary skateboarder lets us know what is up with skating.
If Warner hadn't censored the music, you'd be able to see a lot more clearly how this recent video part pays tribute to his 10+ year old part in Time Code.
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