Meet The Skater Dane Reynolds Handpicked For The FORMER Team, Mason Silva

It takes some doing to get non-surf content up on Stab.

It helps if Dane Reynolds is affiliated with it, appears in it. Offering taco sauce, surfing Makaha, paying the subject through his company, FORMER.

It also helps if it's filmed and edited by Michael Cukr, a top notch soul-stealer who works with Stab on the regular.

And when it features Mason Silva, a hard hitting skate monster who drops bangers like he's addicted to it; that's it, you're good, it's in.

This splendid ten-minute vignette takes us from Mason's home in Long Beach, where the South Bay native talks about his early inspirations and childhood edits. We get to follow him around as he kills it streetside, demolishes some backyard pool action, and then it's off across the Pacific where he meets up with Dane to skate the Pipe park and surf fun Westside backwash bombers.

Mason's boss, Mr Reynolds, is switched on, as always. Mason delivers some surf skills that are fairly impressive for a professional skater. But he is a lifelong surfer, so I guess it should come as no surprise. 

Most people would assume it was Austyn Gillett that brought Mason into the FORMER family, it was actually Dane who sought him out. 

"Mason and I have known each other since we were 12 or 13," filmmaker Michael Cukr tells Stab. "Our dads are friends and both grew up in South Bay. We were always into the same shit - surfing, skating, filmmaking. The theme of this video is Mason taking you from the earliest stages of his skateboarding to where he is now, one of the best in the world. He was in the running for Thrasher's Skater Of The Year this year. Like Mason says 'Once you find out what makes a good video part, that’s what you find out what you want to skate like.' In Mason's case, it is with a lot of power and authority. If you are paying attention to these traits in skating - Mason is second to none. Truly one of a kind in the speed and power he skates with and the size of the spots he seeks out.

"He’s surfed and skated his whole life. He was a big Marine Layer and Dane Reynolds fan. Like he says in the last quote of this video, 'Getting a DM from Dane just asking about Former is the weirdest thing in the world for me as a kid who watched First Chapter."

All in all, it's a great way to spend ten minutes of your day. Learn a bit about Mason, enjoy some top tier skateboarding, then revel in the warm air and ocean of the Hawaiian Islands.