We’re proud to be hosting a part of the Ganj Wax CEO himself: Jethro Coldwell in Florida-based filmer Marshall Nicholson’s upcoming video ‘Hot Plate’ ahead of it’s full length release – a video featuring a whole ton of heads from up and down the U.S East Coast and further afield across the globe, with parts from Jimmy Lannon, Mike Lent, James Coleman, Brandon Knowles, Josh Miller, Jethro Coldwell, Logan Lewis and Takahiro Morita. Dom Henry sat down with Marshall Nicolson to chat a little more about how this scene-spanning video filmed between 2015 and 2020 came together. Have a read below then watch Jed’s part alongside fellow NOTE Shop and Stoke On-Trent heads Reuben Horvath and CJ Maddox as well as Ben Snawder. Keep an eye out on here to see more from this video and buy the full length DVD here or download it digitally for $5.00 here.
Marshall Nicolson ‘Hot Plate’ Interview
Interview by: Dom Henry
Your video ‘Hot Plate’ spans scenes up and down the East Coast, from New York and Baltimore down to your native Florida. So how did Stoke-On-Trent native Jed Coldwell come to be a part of the project?
The link came about because Matt Creasy hit me up to link with you (Dom) in New York in 2015 to film for the Threads Idea Vacuum project ‘Supervisual’, and a whole bunch of mates from Manchester and Stoke all ended up coming over at the same time like Jed, CJ (Maddox) and Reuben (Horvath) and we all ended up skating together and connecting. I had actually only moved to New York a few months prior to that trip so at that time I was skating with more people from out of the country than with native New Yorkers. In those first months I skated a lot with you guys from the UK and visitors from Japan as well.
How did you get involved with contributing to a project with the Threads Ideas Vacuum guys initially?
It’s sort of the bond of the VX, you know – those guys are super interested in filming with the VX1000 and that format of camera. We had mutual friends like James Coleman and Jimmy Lannon, Florida guys that were already involved with Threads stuff initially. Then through them I ended up connecting with Alex rose from Chattanooga, and Matt Creasy from Atlanta who are behind a lot of the Threads stuff. I guess they knew of me as a VX filmer through Theories or something, from a previous short DVD project I had made called ‘Jive’, with Jimmy Lannon, James Coleman and Josh Miller.
Creasy knew I was moving to New York and that you were going to be there, and he ended up mailing me a Hi8 Camera to give to you to try and get some Hi8 clips for Supervisual, but of course myself and all you guys from Manchester hit it off and we all ended up out skating together and logging things with the VX too. That summer was sick, skating through New York with like 15 people every day.
Marshall Nicholson’s ‘Jive’ Video
So is all of Jed’s footage from that same trip in 2015?
Yeah, that’s what special about this project, it pulls together a bunch of different time periods. My buddy Brandon (Knowles) and I put together a part throughout the past year. Whereas Morita’s New York footage in the video was all filmed in a 12 hour window. All of Jed’s stuff was from that Summer of 2015, along with some of the other clips of Manchester/Stoke heads like Reuben (Horvath) and Ceej ( CJ Maddox ).
So that’s some of the earliest footage you got for Hot Plate, which has evolved into this brilliant 40 minute video – when you were filming in New York in 2015, did you know you wanted to make a full length video?
I had decided to work on a new project in 2015, right after Jive came out, because Jimmy and James and I wanted to keep the productivity going and work on something organically, but it was definitely an unformed idea, it came together organically.
How has your life changed since 2015 and what impact did that have on the project?
Agenda-wise my life has changed a lot, with having a child in 2017 and focussing fully on that, trying to develop myself as a father to be a good role model for her – but still, whenever I do have the ability to break out and skate, it’s more of a mission vibe, just because I cant get out every day so I have to use my time a little more efficiently, especially when it comes to street skating. So it helps to have a bit more of a plan.
The Hot Plate video connects loads of different scenes, from up in New York, down to Chattanooga, Tennessee, all the way down through Florida. Can you tell me about the locations in the video and how that mix came about?
So the locations in the video are Florida, New York, Baltimore, Chattanooga (Tennessee), and Japan. Which is a special blend! The Japan link comes from Morita visiting New York and wanting to get out and skate. I made a New York edit out of his footy, then when I showed him he was stoked and wanted to add more to it. The latest addition to the video was the Chattanooga/Threads section – I really wanted to incorporate some kind of Threads nugget to the mix, since those guys were the ones that connected me to you and to plenty of other people through that, so it’s almost like an ode to or like a Threads capsule within this project, since that crew and their videos are really dear to my heart. That Thread section hopefully takes you out of the video for a second and then back in, it’s kind of like a record flip almost.
Then of course down here in Florida I’m good friends with Jimmy, James and Josh Miller so I’ll always try and involve them in projects I’m doing. Logan Lewis from Chattanooga also has a part after he was introduced to me through the Threads guys. There’s a Baltimore section too, as a result of going on a few trips with Colin Read before Spirit Quest dropped, skating with Kevin Coakley, Marty Murawski and a bunch of other heads. I also went out there on a Theories trip with Steve Brandi and a couple guys, so I was able to make a Baltimore section out of those trips.
There’s a good chunk of Traffic and Hopps riders in the video, including some really sick footage of Jahmal Williams. How did you end up filming with those crews?
When I first moved out to New York I connected with the Theories guys after Josh Stewart hired me to film some of the guys under the Theories of Atlantis umbrella. Josh put me in touch with guys like Jahmal Williams and Kevin Coakley. What’s special about the Jahmal connection is that he and I hit it off really well. I had a vehicle in New York which meant I could scoop him up and he’s on the Dad schedule too so we’d be out early, I’d be up at 7 and be picking him at 8 to head out and skate Brooklyn. We ended up filming like 5 minutes of footage, some of which is in Hot Plate and some of which ended up being in the Hopps x Converse collab edit.
That edit was sick!
thank you! It was very humbling to be able to contribute to that piece. My friendship with Jahmal transitioned into becoming friends with Steve Brandi also so it was great to help with that project. With us both coming from Florida we had a good connection right away. Josh (Stewart) is from Florida so that New York – Florida link definitely helped me out when I made the move to New York.
Fellow Stoke-On-Trent native Reuben Horvath makes an appearance in Jed’s part as well as at other points throughout the video – didn’t he come back to visit you in Fort Myers, Florida more recently?
Yeah Reuben came down here for like a month and stayed with us early this year. Every morning he would wake up and ride this bike 45 minutes to the beach! He was crushing it. It was cool just having him around again and vibing, we went over to Miami too and had a good time. He was always down to help out around the house and we got out skating a bunch.
Any funny shit happen on that visit?
I remember one night Reuben, Samantha and I went out to this dive bar because we heard they had a pool table. Reuben ordered a beer and then this crew of Southern hicks heard his accent and kept trying to use what they thought was English Slang. This lady kept saying ‘Touche, you bloody wanker’, combining like two different styles of speech, she said it so many times. So this redneck lady and this trucker guy she was with invited us to play pool, and we were just stuck at the table trying to finish the game and get out of there while they rifled off loads of nonsense that they thought was English. It was mad awkward.
It sounds it! Great catching up Marshall and congratulations again on this unique grass-roots video.
Hot Plate premieres on Saturday 5th December in St Petersburg, Florida, with a second premiere in Fort Myers, Florida on Dec 26th – you can download the video digitally for $5.00 here.
Follow @atripodquest for more info.
HOT PLATE TRAILER here.
Filmed + Edited by: Marshall Nicolson
