So Bob Scerbo’s been posting uncut footage mixed with actual footage plus commentary on his Instagram (@skapegoat256). I wanna say most of it is during the “All Day” era and we’re given a glimpse into the life and processes of the people involved in that project. It’s more or less a Director’s Commentary on the All Day-era, which is pretty sweet.
With that being said I wanna revisit “All Day” cause it really proving to be a cult classic. I use that term cause I remember it was met with lukewarm reaction initially. It wasn’t anything overtly stated with BMX being what it is and Animal/Bob combo being who they are for that era but I can’t help but shake that a lot of people were kind of disappointed. Myself being one of them. I think a lot of stems from the hype that “Can I Eat?”, the Animal video prior, generated. It was a video of bangers and transformative new forms of riding. It really cemented the Animal crew into a position of universal clout, that East Coast riding is technically and creatively just as proficient as anything on the West Coast. I think people wanted more of that and when “All Day” dropped it wasn’t that at all.
All Day was relaxed. I think a lot of people would say it was too relaxed. It was a glimpse into a form of riding that I don’t think the media fully embraced yet. It would later become a lot of what constitutes as “East Coast” riding which a lot of elements mentioned would be adopted into mainstream riding in general. The line heaviness of it all. The idea of spot usage which was exponentially upped but I don’t think the climate in BMX was ripe for it all just yet. This is when web videos were in it’s earliest forms and not a medium that was taken serious at all. The full length was the primary means. The thing with full lengths was that there was a sentiment that videos were going to be a very condensed epic form. Only the best tricks and maneuvers allowed into a 20-30 minute slot. The wait time between “Can I Eat” and “All Day” made the hype into this is gonna be another Animal epic. With “Can I Eat” it was very much just that. Lino and Vinnie laid down grinds that weren’t readily around. Hamilton and Scerbo brought forth a a different style and Edwin’s section was nothing but bangers that people are doing today but over a decade ago. “All Day” was epic but drastically in a different way. It was clocking in close to an hour long which was unheard of and the departure from the epic format that was accustomed to videos as a whole.
Lines and spot usage was pushed in the forefront. Bangers were wins in a different sense. Scerbo does a bump jump rail hop and Hamilton a wallride to 180 on the OSU wall on some 26 inch or something. George Dossantos’s banger was a smith hard 180 done clean on foot tall ledge, even when Jared Washington does one mid section all sloppy. The riding was progressive but not quite in the same scale that most watchers I think predicted it would be. It was a lot of lines and spot usage. Which isn’t that strange to think about today cause that’s what the East Coast really devolved into but at the time I don’t think East Coast riding cemented that type of identity fully, it was really “All Day” that gave credos to that type of riding, being able to make most of a spot and do the right tricks, the right way, efficiently. But like I said I don’t think the climate was right for it just then. People was expecting Hamilton to go balls out bigger and Edwin to do a feeble hard 180 double bar and when it wasn’t just that it felt like expectations were shattered a bit. People didn’t really crap on it openly but I wanna say it wasn’t half as well received as “Can I Eat?”.
Bob really subverted expectations in this one. I say it’s a cult classic because time has a way of giving merit to what is quality and “All Day” in my opinion is probably the best Animal video. There wasn’t ground breaking riding as expected but it gave rise to a style that was around but never really tapped into. It was almost a cultural experience filled with bird calls, graffiti titles, NYC happenings and it truly immersed you into the scene with the best riders, the unknowns and the guys who did good that one day. All this felt much more relatable in a way that I don’t think any other video really has come close into the scope of realizing. Somehow the standout trick for Edwin is him manueling a whole bridge. A lot of videos have a way of feeling like an advert, it’s polished and curated in a way where the riders and company are the source of focus but “All Day” was a documentary that truly documented the thriving but still very much underground NYC scene at it’s finest.
I think a lot of it’s honest comes from the way Bob processed the project. He was one of the riders and showcased well what was happening. You see it in the Instagram post how he worked with other riders and made most of everything without ever forcing something to happen. It was naturalistic cause most of the video was NYC and the home of more or less everyone. This isn’t a riding video that was conducted in 10 road trips where the idea of having to produce was in the back of everyone head. In that sense some of the riding is casual cause probably every session of filming was just that. To be in the heart of a scene and capture everything is what “All Day” was. Bob worked with the riders to create an environment they thrived in instead of forcing some type of project on everyone to produce.
I think thats why Animal has a cult level of popularity with riders all around the world. It has this background ideology that what and who is around is enough. That riding doesn’t have to be epic or extra, that the unique happenings of the scene is credible enough. The riders that Animal have chosen is all a reflection of that. At the time there weren’t any super pros. Edwin was the closest but then you have Tom White who can’t do anything but go big and people like Wormz who are as elusive as ever. It stripped notions of professionality and created a culture instead of a brand. Which has a lot of value if utilized correctly. Today’s market culture is equated with some fancy hashtag or phrase but no one did the bird call sound cause that was what Animal told the watchers to go out and do, people did it cause it was a way for them to feel apart of the ideal. That’s something that Animal did a great job with in this video. Plus as a filmer, that slow shutter is iconic with Animal videos to me.
I think in hindsight people realize how great “All Day” truly was. Today’s casual instagram riding and the approach a lot of people take in the mainstream was really given grounds in this video. I think spot usage became a real thing with this video, like Vinnie’s first clip where he squeezes in between the rails. “All Day” is a film that is meant to be watched from beginning to end and you know thats Bob’s intention with how he cuts sounds from one section to another. How the session in NYC ends with that bench ledge but then the same spot is used to introduce George D. absolutely murdering it. I told myself I was going to watch a few sections to prep myself cause honestly an hour to me seems a lot these days but I ended up watching the whole thing anyway. It’s a video about the scene and not a intro rider whose good and the banger rider at the end, with the rest of the team as filler in between. Everyone offers something different and new and people find themselves divided which one appeals to them the most. “All Day” is probably my favorite video in it’s entirety. Go watch the whole video then read Bob’s background info on his Instagram, best thing on the internet right now.













