RATED R World Premiere
Venue 6SIX9, SLC, UT
I’m sitting here at the SLC airport, it's 6:45 in the morning, having only slept half a wink and reeking of dry beer from standing too close to the mosh at the Gapyear show a few hours earlier. A newly ingrained memory of Reid jumping into the crowd at the afterparty is still at the tip of my thoughts while I watch the sunrise poke through the large glass windows at my gate. Last night was like a movie, one where all the pieces fell into place perfectly. A lot had to happen for RATED R, which was once just a file on a computer, to get ushered into the physical world in the fashion that it did.
After a decade plus of making snowboard films, I’m not sure I’ve ever found the words to justly describe the sheer amount of work and time it takes to make these kinds of movies. On top of it, when the video is finally done and ready to premiere, some of us have a sense of nervousness that's slightly unshakable. Who can blame us, we made a lot of sacrifices to pull this off. We can't help but think “is this good enough?” Those who have ever chosen to put their efforts towards a videopart know this feeling, but they maybe haven’t been aware of a certain phenomena that occurs the night of the premiere. There is a sort of emotional flip that switches somewhere between the hoots and hollers during the video and the last moments of the credits when the lights rise. At that moment you cant help but think to yourself, “we fucking did it,” while feeling a washing sense of relief. It might be the sleep deprivation, or the Del Taco I wiped off planet earth at 2am with Jed, Cole and Savannah, but I’m still feeling that emotion from the night. I can’t play it cool. I still love this shit and I love these people—people I get to explore the world with to create something inherently unique to us and our experiences. Hard to believe this is my job still.
The venue was dressed to a T (or in this case with a capital R) in Ride and RATED R branding, the most popular of which being a photo booth and tattooing station. There were also screens surrounding all four walls in the space, allowing for no bad seat in the house. Some of the team had their family members travel in to support them. Reid’s parents flew in from New Jersey and Jed’s parents drove 15 hours down from Calgary to be there on this special occasion. The sold out crowd made their way to their seats around 9:15pm, when Spencer promptly introduced the crew. Immediately after the formalities, things loosened up, and the whole venue sang Parrish Issacs a warm happy birthday. Finally the lights dimmed down, it was time. We watched roughly 30 minutes of Jill, Jed, Cole, Reid, Savannah, Danimals, Mikey, Jacob and Spencer doing what they do best. I'll hold back on any spoilers; this video has a long, two month premiere journey ahead before it parks itself online on November 29th. The only thing I will say is you're going to want to make it to one of the premieres if you can.
As for the afterparty, I’m not sure there was a better way to end the night than by listening to Gapyear + Harry and the Two Mikes. There was a packed crowd, and the angst built throughout both sets, leading up to Reid shutting the night down with his rendition of "Aliens and Acid." He concluded the vocal performance by jumping into the crowd for one last ride. A fitting end to an unbelievable night.
I can’t thank RIDE Snowboards enough for allowing Torment to have a very intimate hand in the making of this film. The trust they had for us was beyond belief, and I want to personally thank everyone involved with the brand. I’d also be remiss to not give a very special thank you to Parrish Issacs and Jake Durham, the other two who helped curate and document this video to make it the best it could be.
I’m exhausted…I’m going back to sleep now. Night Night…
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