Latest Articles

Thrasher Covers Analysis
March 12. 2024 // By Harrison Lisewski & Pete Glover
A brief overview of Thrasher covers from 1981 to present.
"Nothing beats a good ollie. From Rodney Mullen’s cover of a stationary flat ground “ollie pop” in October of 1982 (he invented the world-changing trick earlier that summer) to present-day Tom Knox’s 2023 needle-threader, the ollie is king."
Thrasher Cover Archive
March 12. 2024 // By Harrison Lisewski
A searchable database of every Thrasher cover from 1981 to now. Enter a year, trick, skater, spot, and even a few surprise easter egg phrases to start exploring. The archive currently consists of 539 covers of Thrasher, from January 1981 to March of 2024, and we’ll be occasionally updating it with new issues (and any corrections you point out).
Which skater had the best year in 2023?
An Analysis of Qualitative Data (and other factors)
January 20. 2024 // By Pete Glover
Of course, all this analysis is leading us inevitably towards every skateboarder’s favorite activity: arguing about who got SOTY.
Every Reference in
Tom K’s Rumble Pack part,
Real or Imagined
September 5. 2023 // By Pete Glover
I don’t think anybody quite anticipated the extent of easter eggs that would be delivered with the crane kick to the face of his extended intro.
The Tom Karangelov Guide to Success:
Part 2
July 15. 2023 // By Pete Glover
"This whole time I was traumatized by this small hoodie in high school."
The Tom Karangelov Guide to Success:
Part 1
July 3. 2023 // By Pete Glover
"I think in my life of skating I will just hyper focus on what I'm into in that moment."
Bobby Puleo Interview:
Skating, Art and International Commerce
May 31. 2023 // By Harrison Lisewski
We sat down with Bobby Puleo to discuss skating, art and his unique perspective on the world of international commerce. This isn’t your average interview about 'ollies'. You might be left wondering things like "Why does the price of sunflower seeds fluctuate so much? Is it because of tariffs or just the weather? Will the price of sunflower seeds ever go back to 50 cents?” Only time will tell.
William Frederiksen Interview:
CPH Open
March 23. 2023 // By Harrison Lisewski
William lays out the blueprint for anyone hoping to make their city anything like Copenhagen. Hopefully this inspires some people in the southern hemisphere to make a Copenhagen because those flights are getting mad spenny.
Who's Up? Digging Deep On The 2022 Quartersnacks Top 10
February 6. 2023 // By Pete Glover & Harrison Lisewski
Who's holding strong? Who's blowing up? Who's fading away? Gather around while we spin yarns of skateboarding derring-do based on over 11000 cells of neatly organized data derived from every QSTop10 of 2022.
16 Years of the Copenhagen Open
January 4. 2023 // By Pete Glover
It took all of 15 minutes upon arrival before liquors drunkened us and in true CPH spirit we said “fuck it” and pivoted from the quest for content to the pursuit of good times.

Crushing Numbers: Tyshawn Jones in The General
October 24. 2022 // By Pete Glover
Tyshawn is coming at this edit with the strategy of some kind of military leader, like a Lieutenant Colonel or something.
Thrasher Caption Generator
September 1. 2022 // By Pete Glover & Barry Wilson
Utilizing a proprietary algorithm that is constantly scanning video descriptions for structure and content, our video caption generator learns and adapts with each new description you instruct it to create, eventually (in theory) achieving wordsmithing singularity as the ultimate Thrasher video caption attains conciousness.
An Analysis of the Video Descriptions on Thrasher
August 30. 2022 // By Pete Glover
Describing the contents of a skate video in a compelling way is not easy. With very few exceptions, every skate video is pretty much the same. Aside from calling out spots, stunts, sponsors, and skaters, there isn’t too much left to talk about. And there are only so many synonyms for "gnarly" and "smooth" available.
Crushing Numbers: Shrimp Blunt Hijinx
April 12. 2022 // By Pete Glover
4PLY diligently tracked all the non-skate clip footage in Shake Junt’s recent Shrimp Blunt video. From the first slap-slap-dap to the final toke of reefer.
4Ply Analyzes Quartersnacks' Top 10's of 2021
January 26. 2022 // By Pete Glover & Harrison Lisewski
As it has been for the past six or so years and always shall be, the secret cabal of skateboarding luminaries over at Quartersnacks ever continues to issue forth their weekly hierarchical selections of the dopest skate clips. Thus is decreed the Quartersnacks Top Ten.
Digging Into the
2021 Quartersnacks Readers Poll Ballots
December 24. 2021 // By Pete Glover
It is with great honor and promises of adequate compensation in apparel that the 4Ply team has been tasked with tallying the 2021 Quartersnacks Readers Poll ballots
The Logos of the
Tampa Pro Semi-Finals
November 3. 2021 // By Pete Glover
4PLY presents an article analyzing the logos skaters wore during the Tampa Pro Semi-Finals that happened a couple weeks ago
Spot hunter. Mirth maker. Studded belt manufacturer.
The Jordan Taylor Interview
September 14. 2021 // By Pete Glover
"It’s that same pair of maroon pants that I’ve been stoked on for a while. Everyone thinks they are purple pants, but they are maroon." - Gordo
Frank Gerwer
August 12. 2021 // By Harrison Lisewski
"It’s the ultimate argument through skate history, who’s your favourite and why? Always trying to persuade your friend and make him think that your dude’s the best." - Frank
Marisa Del Santo Interview
May 19. 2021 // By Richard Bay
"I don’t fully not skate but I kinda don’t care about it. I’m also like terrified. I’m like very scared of it. I’ve been playing music and I need these wrists." - Mar
Rotten Gorditas: The Skits of Jordan Taylor
May 3. 2021 // By Pete Glover
Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes upon the acting skills of Gordo.
Skate After School
An interview with Tim Ward
April 3. 2021 // By Richard Bay
"A version of what SAS would become started happening as far back as 2012, when I started collecting spare parts from friends and made a donation bin at the indoor skatepark I was working at at the time."
Blake Carpenter
Interview
March 25. 2021 // By Harrison Lisewski
"Don’t make it a highlight but you can put it in there."
- 100% of tricks done stoned.
Pat Gallaher Interview
February 19. 2021 // By Harrison Lisewski
"I mean skating is like a combination of art and stunts. So like yeah you kinda have to be to be a skater, unless you want to just not skate gaps at all. That’s the thing about skating. You choose your own course." - Pat G
Crushing Numbers: Marisa Dal Santo in Strange World
February 2. 2021 // By Pete Glover
No discussion of Strange World is complete without a reference to the most joyous up-stairs no comply heelflip ever.
Andrew Allen Interview
January 18. 2021 // By Harrison Lisewski
"Everythings gonna suck if you just fuckin, you know, if you make it suck, so.. I’m just tryin' to fuckin, be alright with it you know." - AA
Run It Back Turbo: 4PLY Analyzes the Quartersnacks Top Ten
January 5. 2021 // By Pete Glover
What does it take to get your clip noticed by the exalted sentinels of skateboarding? Let’s find out.
Crushing Numbers: Mike Daher in A Visual Sound
November 10. 2020 // By Pete Glover
A game changing skate part known for its aesthetic sensibility and emphasis on style… reduced to a couple of graphs and a pile of numbers.
Living Legend: Fred Gall
August 25. 2020 // By Pete Glover
Set down your bondo and crack a cold one if that’s your thing… it’s time to crunch the numbers on Fred Fuckin’ Gall.
The Networks of Skateboarding Filmmakers
June 21. 2020 // By Harrison Lisewski
Hover over each skater to see who they share connections with, and click-and-drag them around for a better view.
A SURVEY OF SKATEBOARDING Data Visualization
April 28. 2020 // By Jared Wilber
Skateboarders are passionate people (no matter what you say, Elizabeth), and examples of skateboarding data visualization do exist. We've done our best to collect them here...
Eric Koston Has No Signature Trick
April 13. 2020 // By Jared Wilber
Rather than doing a few tricks many times, Koston does many tricks a few times. This reflects at least two things. First: Koston is very good at skateboarding...

© 2024 4PLY Magazine