Jordan Taylor’s 11 Favourite Tricks
‘Legs 11’ is the traditional call for the number 11 in bingo.
You know what else starts with L? Loosey. And what number does two belts resemble if you hold them from their buckles and let them dangle? 11. Loosey 11. Coincidence, I think not.
With this in mind it only made sense to have the belt master, funny guy, wise guy and rooftop legend, Jordan Taylor speaking on his 11 favourite tricks (You can call most of them that, you’ll see). This is an awesome eclectic list of his favourite tricks ever done, mostly on skateboards, almost all on wheels, some on less wheels than others. This list is awesome and features some leaks on some upcoming Loosey products thrown in there too. Loosey Loves You, go buy a belt. Oh yeah, he taught us how to act last year too, read that if you haven’t.
Van Wastell: LA Benches Line – Krooked: Krooked Kronichles [2006]
He’s wearing those red and grey shoes which are almost like a trick in themselves, I think they were TNTs. The line is incredible, he does the best fakie flip crook, the shoes, it’s at night and the spot looks so good. At the end he turns around like he’s going to keep going and then it just cuts. I’ve always been curious what he tried after. That part is all time, and so is that line.
Emeric Pratt: Backside Bridge/Nail/Banana Slide – Consolidated: So Quick Achieved [2005]
I don’t really know his skating too well, but this part stuck out to me when I was younger. His skating was really creative, in a way that was before its time. He does a backside bridge slide, or whatever you’ll call it, on these AC vents. Doing it backside too is so sick, it’s so much harder than frontside. He was probably so hyped when he found the spot, like you have to try it. It’s not like you ever learn that trick, you just figure it out because the spot is calling for it.
Adrian Lopez: Duck Under Kickflip Manual – Circa: It’s Time [2006]
This always stood out to me and made me want to duck under something. It’s such a random spot too, under a rail at a junior high or something. It’s the sickest clip. He does a line first where he kickflips up then backside flips the stairs and then later in the part does the kickflip manual. I thought that was cool too, same spot, different route.
Chris Senn: School Yard Line – Toy Machine: Jump Off a Building [1998]
He used the whole school; it was so sick. The whole part is so good, but that line for some reason, maybe its nostalgia, always was my favourite. Growing up the first place you skate is a school yard, seeing a line that uses the whole school, is like full circle.
The backside grind he does in the middle of the line is just like a steel box that looks like they just found there. He goes up some stairs and the filmer has to go with him, you can see they put wood down the stairs for the filmer. It was the first time I remember seeing the dance between the skater and filmer, like damn, they set up the filmer so he could film this as well.
Tom Knox: Kickflip Nose Manual – Atlantic Drift: Episode 11 [2020]
It looks brick, shitty, and London, it's damn near raining [laughs]. He gaps in kickflip nose manual and nollies out past the next gap. It’s like dude you could’ve just done a nose manual and it would’ve been sick, but you had to flip in. It was very Tom Knox; I love that part and that trick.
I almost chose the kickflip into the roof where when he’s coming off his nose hits the pole, but I thought it was too obvious and I had to get more cutty.
One time we were in London, and he was showing us around. We pulled up to this spot and this dude was sitting there on a bench, acting kind of weird, but we just ignored him. He eventually got up and started bobbing his head like a snake in everyone’s face, then for some reason he latched on to Tom and the next thing I know he is chasing him around the spot saying, ‘You’re going to die rat.’ Then Tom Karangelov came out of nowhere and suplexed him, like a football player [laughs]. The weirdest part was he wasn’t being aggressive, he was just being weird which made it harder to know what to do. He got up after Tom K tackled him and he kept being weird, so we skated away, and he ran with us while we skated away and eventually, he ran out of oxygen and gave up. I’ll never forget Knox running around this spot yelling ‘Help, somebody help me’ and everyone was just in shock like what is happening right now.
Logan Taylor: Frontside 50-50 – $LAVE: $LAVE Skateboards [2023]
This is a spot that was down the street from the house we grew up in and we’d skate past every day, so for him to finally do it was incredible. I thought about it for years, but I never did it because of how gnarly it is and to see him do it was like damn. You know when you grow up looking at a spot and someone finally does it, for that to be my brother in our neighbourhood was so sick.
Devin Szydlowski: Tailwhip Bigspin – Parallel Supply: Undercover Dually [2023]
He goes off this roof onto this electrical box and tailwhip bigspins off. It is so sick, something about the bigspin has so much style – I’m calling it a bigspin and I don’t even know what it’s called – he catches it with one foot. The spot is sick, it’s something I would want to ollie onto and then to see him do that is really cool.
He’s insane, you see him in real life and it’s like ‘This dude is scary.’ He’s ripped, has tattoos everywhere, and is strong as fuck. Dude, I don’t know what they were telling me growing up about scootering, but he’d beat my ass, straight up.
John Bolino: Sign Bash – Mesmer Skates: Mesmer Skates Promo [2022]
This is a spot that I’ve been to, it’s in a massive college with a bunch of spots. I’ve always wanted to do something at the spot that he skates but couldn’t ever figure out what to do. When I saw him bash the sign, I was blown away, a skateboarder could never do it but to see it unlocked in this other world is so rad. It is gnarly. John is the GOAT of blading as far as my understanding goes. I’ve gone on sessions with him and seen him do some fucked shit, I’m trying to get him a Loosey belt.
I think a lot of these dudes like to hit spots that have been skated to be like, ‘I can fuck your spot up.’ I’m not trying to speak for them but I’m sure growing up scootering or blading you’d hate skateboarders, we are all assholes at that age so they probably have some pent-up subconscious shit, like ‘Fuck you I can skate your spot.’
Steve Olson: Boardslide – Shortys: Fulfill the Dream [1998]
The story I heard about this trick is that he was just in Big Bear on a trip with his girlfriend and had her film it. It’s so gnarly, like off a roof onto a handrail. It’s crazy being like dude you did this while you were on vacation with your girlfriend. I’d be taking photos being like ‘Yeah, I’ll be back here in a month,’ there’s no way I’d be getting my girlfriend to film that, that’s my last trick, what the hell. That part is so good too, he’s wearing a beanie hat the whole time, whatever happened to beanie hats? Maybe I should make a Loosey beanie hat.
Jon Allie: Kickflip Backside Lipslide – Zero: New Blood [2005]
We grew up going to this spot, it’s in San Diego. The form on the kickflip backlip is picture perfect, it’s literally how you’d do it with a tech deck in your hands. It’s the most flicked kickflip to the most centred backlip and bolts ride away. That is how that trick is done and there is no one who could do it better.
Jim Greco: Intro Montage – Baker and Deathwish: Baker Has a Deathwish [2008]
The montage is almost sicker than the part, it is the sickest fucking montage. The part is dope, don’t get me wrong, but this intro is so sick. It opens with him talking to some dude being like, ‘You’re a dummy, you’re a dummy.’ He gets out of his Cadillac, tries to hypnotise a security guard, fights a dude who has two tennis rackets, only Jim Greco could find himself in some of these situations. It’s all time Jim Greco behaviour, it’s the best part before the part you could ever ask for. He’s a rockstar in one clip with a leather jacket and maybe a wig to a flannel shirt in the next. I love that so much, skateboarding needs more of that.
I haven’t really met him before, but I went to his skatepark [House of Hammers] when he had it, I don’t think I even skated, just watched. Him and Jeremy Klein were just walking around moving this picnic table and drilling it into the bank, looking at it, undrilling it and then moving it and looking at it, over and over. I was just watching these dudes like they’re mad scientists being like what the fuck are you guys doing [laughs]. That was so sick, no skating was happening, they were just moving around this table and drilling it in.