Features

YATETAPE A2B: Full length VX piece from Bristol’s finest

Yatetape is a crew from the greater Bristol area in south west England. As purists of the Sony VX vibe, they’ve recently made a truly excellent full length street video of their crew, carefully pieced together by Emerson Morgan. Originally published as a zine with some great photos (some of which you can see below) it’s now been released online via Ride UK. A2B is the result of more than a year’s effort behind the camera and in the editing chair – hats off to Emerson for putting this together.

Yatetape A2B features some truly great UK street riding, from crusty non-spots to some big set ups and everything in between. With riders such as Will Bennett, Jack Dumper, Jordan Godwin, Steve Olds, Scott Summerhayes and Emerson Morgan himself (plus many, many more), this is a video packed with good lines and a cohesive yet varied style of riding.

Hit play above and read some insights below.

Emerson Morgan, tight wallride. Photo: Scott Summerhayes

Yatetape Q&A with Emerson Morgan:

– What is the Yatetape?

“The Yatetape is basically a group of friends that just started filming together, didn’t really plan for it to become anything but then we just started piling up footage so seemed silly not to make a few short videos. We never really planned on making videos or even a full length, it just kind of happened. It’s quite funny really because the majority of the crew aren’t even from Yate, it’s just where the filming began.”

– Why is the video called A2B?

“The reason it’s called A2B is that’s all we did when we went riding, it was very rare that we went out riding with a plan to hit certain spots. Most of the time it was just riding from one side of Bristol to the other, hitting whatever we found on the way then taking a different route home and doing the same. I was struggling to come up with a name for the DVD so I felt that A2B was quite fitting seeing as that’s all we did. All the crew seemed to like it too, so it stuck.”

– How long did it take to film A2B?

“Altogether I think it took about a year. there’s some clips in there which are a lot older than that (mainly the skate clips) but the majority were filmed in 2017.

– What’s your reasoning behind making a full length DVD style video rather than shorter edits? How does it make the filming / editing process different?

“There wasn’t really a reason to be honest other than the footage just kept piling up and I didn’t really have a cut off point. We made 4 shorter ‘web videos’ so when I realised that there was enough clips to make something over twenty minutes long we kind of just kept rolling with it. I spoke to all the of the guys and like suggested it as an idea and they all seemed super keen!

The editing was a nightmare – well, not the actual editing but just watching the same clips over and over again for a year was the most difficult part for me. By the end of it I was finding the footage pretty stale but then whenever I showed someone the clips they got so hyped, which reminded me that it was all banging and fresh to everyone else.”

– Where (apart from Bristol and London) did you guys ride to collect footage for this? (Actually… Is there any footage from Yate? haha)

“Well the majority was in Bristol with one weekend in London thrown in as well. Plus quite a few clips filmed in Bath just because it’s so close to Bristol. There was a lot of just random day trips to places like Portsmouth, Portishead, Chew Magna, Gloucester, Swindon and just anywhere with in a couple hours driving distance.

A lot of early morning trips with Dylan to random spots on two man missions just because we both seemed to be up and ready by about 7am on a Saturday. Probably missed out loads of places but can’t think of any more.

“The Bristol scene in my eyes is at its best right now.”

Well… there wasn’t actually a single clip filmed in Yate in the whole DVD, it’s a small town and we covered all the spots in the previous videos… So no, no clips from Yate.”

– Were there any spots you wanted more time at but didn’t get the chance?

“I just wish that we had done more trips to London, that’s the main one really. Because even when we were there the weather was so hot and it was just draining trying to get from spot to spot let alone having a session on each spot! So yeah, definitely need more time there!”

– Do you have any personal favourite clips?

“There’s a few that I’m really happy with, the one that took the most effort and was definitely the most rewarding was Nath Maby’s opening clip of the tyres up feeble to fakie hop back over the rail to crank flip off the curb. We went back for that clip at least five times and I’m pretty sure I have a whole tape of just attempts over two nights. He pulled it out the bag as clean as could be and was over the moon with it. Yes, that’s a favourite.

Snake’s first clip of the rail hop is another, that was ridiculous, also Dylan’s line at the tranny wall in Portsmouth has to be a fav. There’s so many, maybe too many to list, haha.”

– How did you decide on music? Did the guys have input or did you have the vision for what vibe you wanted?

“The music changed for each section at least once a month, I definitely found that the hardest part to decide. People had rough ideas but I mainly chose it, to be honest. If I had left it another month before exporting it all would have been changed again no doubt.”

– The Bristol scene seems pretty strong, as it always has. Thoughts on that?

“The Bristol scene in my eyes is at its best right now, like the number of riders who are always down to just pedal about or chill at the Deaners definitely at an all time high.

“Anyone who does come to Bristol, I would be more than happy to show the spots. We aren’t one of those crews who hide their shit. That’s the worst.”

Obviously you have Crucial BMX Shop always putting on events and people rolling through to go to the shop so that definitely plays a big part of it! Seems to be a lot more crews coming to Bristol to hit the spots too, and I hope this video draws more people to come to the city because it has so much to offer riding wise, just got to keep searching. Anyone who does come down I would be more than happy to show them the spots, we aren’t one of those crews who hide their shit. That’s the worst.”

– It was refreshing to see a skate section in a BMX video. Are the BMX and skate scenes tight?

“Coming from Yate, which only has one proper park, everyone’s mates with everyone. Like whether you’re a skater or BMXer everyone chills in the same location and grows up together so it made sense to get some footage of Yate skaters.

I think I just enjoy filming whether it’s skating, BMX or anything really so having the opportunity to film skating I thought might as well put what ever clips I have in the DVD.”

– Any shout outs?

“First the whole crew obviously, this wouldn’t have happened without them. Well impressed with the effort put in from everyone. Everyone who helped with the filming, Nath and Will for getting another VX to add to the filming circle definitely helped, also Snake getting a TRV to add to it as well!

Anyone who showed us round cities and spots, thanks a lot to you guys! And of course Scott for sorting out the premiere and keeping all the boys rolling with parts from Crucial, couldn’t have done it without that shop, definitely brought everyone together! And shoutout to Ride UK for posting the video and this interview! Thanks a lot guys, hope you enjoy the video!”