Uma Landsleds, the new(ish) venture from Evan Smith, Cody Chapman and Maite Steenhoudt, dropped their first video “Punch A Hole In The Sky” last week. This is a company that’s had a lot of buzz about them, and with good reason – the 3 names associated with the company are all inventive, outstanding skateboarders in their own right. Seeing a video from them was an exciting prospect, and with this 20 minute edit up now on the Thrasher YouTube, you can see what all the fuss was about.
Cody Chapman opens the video with a roaring all terrain shredfest, where he pulls quick footed lines, tackles burly ditches and even skates some backyard pools and DIY quarters. I definitely enjoyed seeing him wallride bash a few tricky walls, and a completely contorted, fucked Frontside Air one a massive, steep, mutated concrete blob in a car park.
Chapman opens things up for new Uma team member Roman Pabich, who flies about on transition, hits hillbombs and clears some hefty ditch gaps, with Cody returning to slam down some bangers near the end of this opening section. A massive kickflip Indy over a huge grass gap closes the first section.
We move onto a few of the am/flow guys for Uma before Maite Steenhoudt appears to bring her trademark quick footed transition shredding to proceedings. Lots to be stoked on in this short section, from a very bizarre speedy Nosestall 180 pop out (which Maite takes a harsh slam on), to a textbook No Comply FS Disaster on a street quarter.
SkaterXL avatar and Uma Landsleds head honcho Evan Smith rocks up for a long final section, where he boosts his lanky frame over high rails, Wallies off any ledge he can see and spins 360 variations aplenty. Early on a Back 360 kickflip crops up down some stairs, and a Back 3 Nosegrab also shows up (always a pleasure to see on the street). A Back 270 Tailslide to Backside Flip on a bank to block was also a personal favourite.
As the video comes to a close Smith kicks things up a notch with a massive Alley Oop Frontside Flip to Wallride. It’s impressive just because of the sheer height of it, but the extra rotation from coming in Alley Oop is the icing on the cake.
For a 20 minute video, Punch A Hole In The Sky is a fast moving thing. It doesn’t drag at all and the larger than life personalities of the company’s pro skaters keep you entertained with their undeniably unique skateboarding. After Maite’s rad, super long standalone part earlier this year I was not expecting much new footage from her, but what we do get here is still incredibly rad.
The real standouts are Chapman and Smith – seriously, Cody Chapman may be one of my new favourite skaters. Both of these guys pull out feature length, epic parts, and whilst I already knew Evan Smith was a pure machine, Chapman’s quick footed, all terrain tackling of wallrides, street transition and ditches just spoke to me on many levels. This is a great video and if you aren’t familiar with Uma Landsleds by this point, then GET TO KNOW.
The Terrible Company 
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