Blood Orange started as a bushing manufacturer over a year ago and is currently expanding into a much larger and diversified brand. The team is already stacked, and—as you can see from this new video featuring Byron Essert—they are here to bring the Stoke. In order to find out more about what the Blood Orange crew has up their sleeves, we sat down with their new Brand Manager, Jamie Romero, to discuss the future of this expanding brand.
Blood Orange rider, Byron Essert, somewhere in the East Bay. Photo: Jack Boston.
You guys recently released a Jesse Breiman video and now this second new offering featuring Byron Essert. Both of these videos have a professional feel and stylish visuals, along with some rad shredding of course. Blood Orange is definitely stepping it up in the video department. What’s the scoop on that shit?
Well man, it’s kind of just grown organically. My longtime friend Jack Boston has been working in the action sports film industry for a while and when I took over managing Blood Orange I immediately thought that he’d be a great person to work with. His cinematic style and storytelling ability are perfect for conveying the downhill freeride experience. Plus, with the team of talented skaters that we’ve assembled we thought focusing on producing video segments rather than photographic stills would set us apart as a brand. It’s a lot more work for all of us, especially the riders, but we’re all stoked on the productions that we’ve created. Jack and our team riders work really well together, so it’s allowed us to get a lot of skating shot in short time frames and we hope to be releasing a video segment at least once a month. Since we already knocked out Jesse and Byron’s first videos, I’m sure you can guess who’s is next (as soon as he can get back on a board).
So what can you tell us about this particular video you are releasing today?
We shot this over a couple days in the East Bay hills and Byron was throwing down some amazing runs. He’s really pushing the limits of freeriding and it’s an awesome spectacle to witness in person. He put in a ton of hard work and you can really see it in this segment. On the other side of the lens, Jack is a master of coming up with different angles for downhill and I think that stems from previous films he’s worked on. If you can believe it, this is only the second downhill vid he has filmed and edited. Our video segments will only get better from here! Byron’s segment definitely has a different feel from Jesse’s, which we were all shooting for. There’s such a contrast between the streets of SF and the East Bay backroads and that lends to the riders developing their styles in different ways. I’m really stoked that our riders have different styles and individual talents because it allows us to showcase them uniquely. Big shout out and thank you to Byron and Jack for all the hard work they put in!
You guys seem to be making moves over there at Blood Orange; you started as a bushings manufacturer—mostly for Caliber specifically—but now the word is that you’re expanding the line. What can we look forward to from Blood Orange in 2012, and beyond?
Blood Orange has become my labor of love and I’m looking to grow this brand tremendously over the next year. I can’t divulge all the specifics right now, but there are quite a few things in the works. Our riders are currently testing our new Ultra High Rebound formula bushings and we hope to be dropping those for aftermarket purchase by late summer or early fall. They’re already in the newest shipments of Caliber Trucks, so if you want to try them now that’s where you can find some. We’re working on new colors for our bushings too with Caliber getting exclusive colors for their trucks. Essentially, what Blood Orange is looking to become is a high-end aftermarket accessory brand. We want to offer you more options for quality goods that every downhill skater needs other than just a skateboard.
Yo, so what’s up with the team these days? Who’s on, who’s not, and what’s been the focus for building it?
Shoots, we’re just getting started. Our goal is to have the best of the best downhill freeriders in Northern California repping our gear. Blood Orange started in Nor Cal and wants to represent the Nor Cal downhill community on a global level. There’s so much talent up here and so many insane places to skate! We want to show that to the downhill world—that’s another reason why we chose video as our main format—the viewer gets to see so much more. Right now, our team consists of Liam Morgan, Byron Essert, and Jesse Breiman. They’re all shredders from the Bay Area. We’re looking to get one or two more rippers on board and you’ll be seeing videos drop of them as soon as we sign them up.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Jamie. Let’s end this biatch with your favorite inspirational quote—something to get the Wheelbase readers amped to go out and shred life to the fullest.
Yo, I’m a big Dr. Seuss fan, so here goes nothin’:
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
Ha ha! Just get out there and shred wherever and whatever you want. Live life to the fullest everyday.
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