A few weeks after our Issue SEVEN release party in Salt Lake City, we headed to Boulder, CO for the follow-up. It was November 20th, there was a line wrapping around the street to enter the Fox Theatre, and the latest footage in Screwdriver and blitz! was about to premiere in front of one of the most lively (college) towns in America. That latter stance is partially due to most of Torment attending CU Boulder back in the day, and maybe reminiscence is seeping into the keyboard—but more so because, leading up to that night, we spent weeks postering up the campus in hopes of that exact turnout.
And, with so much of the Colorado scene in one place, that liveliness showed up in full force. Videos played, subsequent pool games were lost at the Pearl Street Pub, and Rockstar cameras captured it all for their new media destination, The Platfrm. Nik Baden, Gabe Ferguson, and Sam Taxwood sat down before the premiere to offer some perspective on what it means to show up for the community, reminding us of the special place premieres hold within snowboarding. Always great to hear the homies speak their mind, but we still had a few lingering questions for Nik, so check that below...
Should we do our Issue EIGHT Release Party in Boulder instead of SLC next year?
Yes please. I have been egging this idea on for years now.
The turn out was pretty insane, what were the top three highlights of the night?
The turn out was incredible. I had a blast the whole night, so it's hard to choose a couple highlights. But my mom came with her friend and one of my sister’s best friends, so I enjoyed that a lot. During every video, they kept asking “where was that?" which was hilarious. A second highlight would be the theatre. I had never been, but have heard of its legendary status, so I was honored to be in the building. My third highlight would be going to Pearl Street and playing pool with familiar and unfamiliar faces, truly a blessing.
Your knit hat company, lampshade, had a merch booth set up all night? How did it do?
Yeah, thank you guys for allowing that. We had our most prized employees there so it was great to kick it, sell hats, and be around hyped snowboard fanatics. We ended up selling or giving away everything we had, so it was great!
Rumor has it your parents were in attendance for this. Full circle question for you: do you remember the first premiere that they took you to? What drew you to snowboard premieres as a Grom?
I actually don’t have a specific one I went to with them, but I did go to a snowboard premiere in Steamboat when I was very young that'll always stick with me. Forget the video, but will never forget that first glimpse into the energy that premieres bring.
One b-roll clip that symbolizes the Screwdriver video?
You ever been in a rental house with like 6 of your best friends for a couple weeks? I’ll text it to you to throw up on here.
