I'm sure that most of you don't need a history lesson but, just in case, here's a brief run down of Burbank's finest. First introduced to the outside world as one of the emergent street rippers assembled by Stacey Peralta as the 'LA Boys' in Powell Peralta's 1989 video 'Ban This', Guy Mariano was, from the outset, something of an outlier. Insanely young for the amount of talent he possessed (even amongst his teenage contemporaries), by the time Ban This had come out, Mariano was already charting new waters of skateboard possibility at age 12. When the global skate public next saw Guy, he was on the original Mark Gonzales led iteration of Blind Skateboards and dropped the part that will forever enshrine him as the ultimate skate prodigy. Guy's opening section in Video Days (1991), set to the Jackson 5's 'I want you back' is still, to this day, rightly heralded as one of the most influential video parts of all time. This influence was felt on numerous levels: a) it was ridiculously progressive, (impossible lipslides on handrails and switch fs 360s 30 years ago); b) it was ridiculously well executed, fast and stylish and c) Guy Mariano was ridiculously young when Video Days was released. Seeing 14 year olds create new skateboarding realities might not seem too crazy now but back in 1991 it was paradigm-shifting. Following Video Days, Guy Mariano rode for Blind until eventually leaving for Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Spike Jonze and Megan Baltimore's post Rocco exodus vehicle, namely Girl Skateboards. Whilst there was never another Blind video featuring a full Guy Mariano section, he popped up on related Rocco/World Industries releases and blew minds in the early 90's. A brief Blind team appearance on the seminal Blind Skateboards Tim and Henry's 'Pack of Lies' saw Guy drop 3 tricks, two of which had never been documented down stairs before. That brief snippet of his otherworldly talent was further underlined by the truly shocking display of how far ahead of the curve Guy was in the Friends section of Plan B's second release 'Virtual Reality' (1993). It's more than possible that there are people reading this whose parents weren't even born in 1993, so let me assure you of one thing: nobody else on the planet was doing switch noseslide kickflip out down handrails in 1993. With a template of post Video Days video output established, (i.e. a handful of tricks which were likely to be a decade ahead of his contemporaries) Mariano's fame rose exponentially despite him only having two tricks in the first Girl Skateboards video 'Goldfish' (1994). Mariano fans had to wait until the release of Girl's magnum opus in 1996 to see another full section and fucking hell, did this one deliver. If you've never seen Guy Mariano's Mouse section then stop reading this now and scroll to the top of this post and watch it immediately. Hands down one of the most important video parts ever made. And then, with that, it felt as though he was gone for the next decade. Mariano would pop up with the odd trick here and there, (always ludicrously progressive still) but his presence was noticeable by its absence from the mainstream skate media. Subsequently he publicly spoke of this period of his life as being one riven with addiction, loss and personal issues which you can find out more about in his 10 part Epicly Later'd here. Post disappearance Guy Mariano came back with an almighty bang with the closing section on Lakai footwear's much feted 'Fully Flared' released in 2007. Global standing ovations met this one with Mariano definitively back in the driving seat in terms of his pro skater career. Give it a re-watch below for a reminder of what a comeback is supposed to mean. Following his Lakai piloted reemergence, Mariano has consistently dropped footage (mainly via Instagram in the last few years) for current shoe sponsor Nike SB, along with clips in releases from the now defunct Numbers skateboards project. With a recent Thrasher cover under his belt and the news that Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards, we're left wondering: is there a post-40 full part coming? Let's hope so...
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Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards - who saw that coming?
After lots of online gossiping, Instagram has just confirmed that Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards. Following the slow, ignominious deflation of his and Koston's board brand Numbers, (which we'll assume has been canned despite them never saying so) it was only a matter of time. Whereas Koston seems content to follow his current 'lol it's an early grab' trajectory into semi-retirement, the original wonder kid has kept up the pace. Looked at historically, despite stylistic differences, April's owner Shane O'Neill is in a lot of ways, the modern iteration of what Guy started and thus the reality that Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards at this point in his career is just....well, right. I'm sure that most of you don't need a history lesson but, just in case, here's a brief run down of Burbank's finest. First introduced to the outside world as one of the emergent street rippers assembled by Stacey Peralta as the 'LA Boys' in Powell Peralta's 1989 video 'Ban This', Guy Mariano was, from the outset, something of an outlier. Insanely young for the amount of talent he possessed (even amongst his teenage contemporaries), by the time Ban This had come out, Mariano was already charting new waters of skateboard possibility at age 12. When the global skate public next saw Guy, he was on the original Mark Gonzales led iteration of Blind Skateboards and dropped the part that will forever enshrine him as the ultimate skate prodigy. Guy's opening section in Video Days (1991), set to the Jackson 5's 'I want you back' is still, to this day, rightly heralded as one of the most influential video parts of all time. This influence was felt on numerous levels: a) it was ridiculously progressive, (impossible lipslides on handrails and switch fs 360s 30 years ago); b) it was ridiculously well executed, fast and stylish and c) Guy Mariano was ridiculously young when Video Days was released. Seeing 14 year olds create new skateboarding realities might not seem too crazy now but back in 1991 it was paradigm-shifting. Following Video Days, Guy Mariano rode for Blind until eventually leaving for Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Spike Jonze and Megan Baltimore's post Rocco exodus vehicle, namely Girl Skateboards. Whilst there was never another Blind video featuring a full Guy Mariano section, he popped up on related Rocco/World Industries releases and blew minds in the early 90's. A brief Blind team appearance on the seminal Blind Skateboards Tim and Henry's 'Pack of Lies' saw Guy drop 3 tricks, two of which had never been documented down stairs before. That brief snippet of his otherworldly talent was further underlined by the truly shocking display of how far ahead of the curve Guy was in the Friends section of Plan B's second release 'Virtual Reality' (1993). It's more than possible that there are people reading this whose parents weren't even born in 1993, so let me assure you of one thing: nobody else on the planet was doing switch noseslide kickflip out down handrails in 1993. With a template of post Video Days video output established, (i.e. a handful of tricks which were likely to be a decade ahead of his contemporaries) Mariano's fame rose exponentially despite him only having two tricks in the first Girl Skateboards video 'Goldfish' (1994). Mariano fans had to wait until the release of Girl's magnum opus in 1996 to see another full section and fucking hell, did this one deliver. If you've never seen Guy Mariano's Mouse section then stop reading this now and scroll to the top of this post and watch it immediately. Hands down one of the most important video parts ever made. And then, with that, it felt as though he was gone for the next decade. Mariano would pop up with the odd trick here and there, (always ludicrously progressive still) but his presence was noticeable by its absence from the mainstream skate media. Subsequently he publicly spoke of this period of his life as being one riven with addiction, loss and personal issues which you can find out more about in his 10 part Epicly Later'd here. Post disappearance Guy Mariano came back with an almighty bang with the closing section on Lakai footwear's much feted 'Fully Flared' released in 2007. Global standing ovations met this one with Mariano definitively back in the driving seat in terms of his pro skater career. Give it a re-watch below for a reminder of what a comeback is supposed to mean. Following his Lakai piloted reemergence, Mariano has consistently dropped footage (mainly via Instagram in the last few years) for current shoe sponsor Nike SB, along with clips in releases from the now defunct Numbers skateboards project. With a recent Thrasher cover under his belt and the news that Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards, we're left wondering: is there a post-40 full part coming? Let's hope so...
I'm sure that most of you don't need a history lesson but, just in case, here's a brief run down of Burbank's finest. First introduced to the outside world as one of the emergent street rippers assembled by Stacey Peralta as the 'LA Boys' in Powell Peralta's 1989 video 'Ban This', Guy Mariano was, from the outset, something of an outlier. Insanely young for the amount of talent he possessed (even amongst his teenage contemporaries), by the time Ban This had come out, Mariano was already charting new waters of skateboard possibility at age 12. When the global skate public next saw Guy, he was on the original Mark Gonzales led iteration of Blind Skateboards and dropped the part that will forever enshrine him as the ultimate skate prodigy. Guy's opening section in Video Days (1991), set to the Jackson 5's 'I want you back' is still, to this day, rightly heralded as one of the most influential video parts of all time. This influence was felt on numerous levels: a) it was ridiculously progressive, (impossible lipslides on handrails and switch fs 360s 30 years ago); b) it was ridiculously well executed, fast and stylish and c) Guy Mariano was ridiculously young when Video Days was released. Seeing 14 year olds create new skateboarding realities might not seem too crazy now but back in 1991 it was paradigm-shifting. Following Video Days, Guy Mariano rode for Blind until eventually leaving for Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Spike Jonze and Megan Baltimore's post Rocco exodus vehicle, namely Girl Skateboards. Whilst there was never another Blind video featuring a full Guy Mariano section, he popped up on related Rocco/World Industries releases and blew minds in the early 90's. A brief Blind team appearance on the seminal Blind Skateboards Tim and Henry's 'Pack of Lies' saw Guy drop 3 tricks, two of which had never been documented down stairs before. That brief snippet of his otherworldly talent was further underlined by the truly shocking display of how far ahead of the curve Guy was in the Friends section of Plan B's second release 'Virtual Reality' (1993). It's more than possible that there are people reading this whose parents weren't even born in 1993, so let me assure you of one thing: nobody else on the planet was doing switch noseslide kickflip out down handrails in 1993. With a template of post Video Days video output established, (i.e. a handful of tricks which were likely to be a decade ahead of his contemporaries) Mariano's fame rose exponentially despite him only having two tricks in the first Girl Skateboards video 'Goldfish' (1994). Mariano fans had to wait until the release of Girl's magnum opus in 1996 to see another full section and fucking hell, did this one deliver. If you've never seen Guy Mariano's Mouse section then stop reading this now and scroll to the top of this post and watch it immediately. Hands down one of the most important video parts ever made. And then, with that, it felt as though he was gone for the next decade. Mariano would pop up with the odd trick here and there, (always ludicrously progressive still) but his presence was noticeable by its absence from the mainstream skate media. Subsequently he publicly spoke of this period of his life as being one riven with addiction, loss and personal issues which you can find out more about in his 10 part Epicly Later'd here. Post disappearance Guy Mariano came back with an almighty bang with the closing section on Lakai footwear's much feted 'Fully Flared' released in 2007. Global standing ovations met this one with Mariano definitively back in the driving seat in terms of his pro skater career. Give it a re-watch below for a reminder of what a comeback is supposed to mean. Following his Lakai piloted reemergence, Mariano has consistently dropped footage (mainly via Instagram in the last few years) for current shoe sponsor Nike SB, along with clips in releases from the now defunct Numbers skateboards project. With a recent Thrasher cover under his belt and the news that Guy Mariano is on April Skateboards, we're left wondering: is there a post-40 full part coming? Let's hope so...
