On Tuesday, Cover Version hit the internet like a breath of fresh air. Dan Magee and Kevin Parrott’s new full-length is made in the tradition of the classic independent skate film, and pays homage to London; and its rich legacy in skateboarding. Magee talks about the process, attention to detail that went into making it, and the evolution of the genre in a new interview with Parade. He also reveals the meaning behind the name and reveals some very specific influences in the excerpt that we’ve included below.

Graphically I see a connection with First Broadcast, is this the case? I heard rumours it was to be called Second Broadcast for a time, is there a connection?

For me, it definitely feels like the spiritual successor to First Broadcast, I would have loved to have called it Second Broadcast, but I don’t think Kev would have let me get away with it. Also, when we started playing around with video identity I made all the riders names up in the First Broadcast font to get them sparked or something. Obviously First Broadcast is nearly twenty years old now, so it was only really Korahn and Jak that were like “oh shit, it’s on”. Harry and Manny, I don’t think they even knew what it was, so I redid Manny’s name in Cartoon Sans just to bitch him out.

Anyhow, from this I think people started hearing that it might be called Second Broadcast. I guess First Broadcast is respected as a classic video and because the skaters for this new project were either unknown or people had only seen their older, stinkier footage, a couple of people were like “you can not call it Second Broadcast with this group of skaters”. I can’t speak for Kev, but in my head I was like, well fuck it then, it was only a thought and Kev ain’t gonna be down for that either. So it just became spun out to Cover Version because it has a triple meaning.

First meaning for me was, it’s not called First Broadcast but I want it to feel in the same world. These are unknown guys and we are mainly filming in London. In the days of First Broadcast, there was no internet. It’s not like anyone in that video was a superstar by that time. The second interpretation is, it’s a London video, filmed in London. I’ve done it before, Kev’s done it before, Hold Tight has been doing it his whole life. Jake Harris has done it, Palace did it, holy shit, what on earth can be brought to the table at this stage! It’s just re-inventing the wheel. So it’s just gonna be a Cover Version of every London video that’s preceded it. So it’s a vaguely ironic title because we actually just worked really hard to add something new to the canon of London skate films.

Third interpretation is something that Kev has touched on before, when we were making this thing, there are certain tricks and edits we love within skate culture, “oh Korahn you should try and get this line because it would look like Drake Jones in that kit, let’s go to Deptford and do a 90s looking line”. Let’s shoot that Manny 5-0 like the Adrian Lopez one in Dying to Live. Harry should do classic power stuff like the old DLX videos and Jak’s B-roll should refer back to Pappalardo in Transworld’s I.E. Stuff like that, either by design or coincidence, there are little things in the vid that refer to or are a tribute to the skate culture that we love. Cover Versions. Also, it’s a little in-joke for Kev and I, as it’s our C.V. Probably should have called it P45!

Head over to Parade to read the entire piece.

Images Via Joe Buddle / Parade