John Rattray – Blueprint Waiting For The World (2000)

The dawn of Hawaiian shirt John.

John Rattray closed Blueprint’s third major release from British outfit Blueprint Skateboards with as part that was several levels above what anyone else was doing.* The video was titled Waiting For The World and the wait was finally over for John who hit US soil running shortly after its release.

John’s transition from Blueprint to Zero was fairly obvious when you see how many handrails and hubbas feature in John’s final Blueprint offering. To be honest, Joh was a bit of a round peg in a square hole over at Zero. He brought some well needed open-mindedness to trick selection yet he could satisfy the Army’s thirst for adrenaline just the same.

Something worth noting about this video part is the Britishness of it all. The old spots like Shell Center, Bristo Square, Chalky Ledges, The Sheffield Crucible and cameraman Dan’s (Magee) trademark sync up of song lyrics and onscreen action. Even the Seahorses sound like Oasis to the untrained ear….

My favourite line of John’s is short but dope. The frontside boardslide to fakie along and atop a semi sunken bench followed by a fakie 360 flip at speed – in baggy denim and puffy windbreaker – looks as good as it must have felt.

*Channon King, Frank Stephens and others were also getting buck.