A Brief History Of The Terrible Company

What the hell is The Terrible Company, and how has it lasted 20 years? Well, buckle up for a whistle stop tour of how this blog came to be, and a brief history of what has brought it to this very moment.

Before Terribleco

2001

The War Memorial Park in Coventry got a brand new modular skatepark, built by Bendcrete.
I was into BMX riding and would go to the park and pretend to be Matt Hoffman.

2002

I started skateboarding with some of my local friends when my bike proved to be too expensive to maintain.

Shady Productions Era

2003

Using an array of old video camera equipment owned by my mate Richard Sherwood, a bunch of us got together and made a skate video – Consortium Black.
I volunteered to edit our video and made a blog to tell people about our crew (at the time called Shady Productions).
The Terrible Company is born!

2004

Our crew grew bigger and we made our second video – Consortium Pink.

Terrible Productions Era

2005

The OG Consortium crew disbands, leaving only myself, Rosko and James White.
We made our 3rd video, Beastly, padding out our individual parts with plenty of footage of new friends we met skating around Coventry.
Shady Productions is renamed Terrible Productions.

2006

The 4th video, Rushed Goods, is released. It centers around a crew of people I met skating at the War Memorial Park.
Chris Mander and Ralph Cooper make their first appearance in a Terribleco video.

Terribleco OG Era

2007

I finally settled on a name for the blog/crew/video thing: Terribleco (more formally known as The Terrible Company).
Now established as a Coventry scene blog, we released our 5th video – Corrosive Materials. It was the longest video to date with many full parts spanning across a huge chunk of the city’s scene.
Daryl Nobbs’ first full part in a Terribleco video.
Terribleco teamed up with Ride skateshop to make the Ride Day Trip tour video.
We held our first skate comp – Covpark Combat – at the War Memorial Park.

2008

Our 6th video, Storybook, was released. It got reviewed in Sidewalk and put Coventry on the map.
Joxa’s first full part in a Terribleco video.
Terribleco put together the 4Down tour video – a road trip chronicling a journey from Stoke On Trent, through Milton Keynes and ending in London.
Covpark Combat 2 went down at the War Memorial Park.

2009

Our 7th video, Guitar Solos With Skateboards, was released. Again, it got a review in Sidewalk.
Henry “Swampy” Moore & Tony Lui’s first appearances in a Terribleco video.
Covpark Combat 3 happened in the summer.
At the end of 2009, we dropped our 8th video, Batface. Once again, it was reviewed in Sidewalk.
Harry Myers’ first appearance in a Terribleco video.

2010

I began a campaign to improve skateparks in Coventry, initially focused on the War Memorial Park.
We filmed a tour video documenting our road trip down to Cornwall for the ultimate skateboarding camping trip – Sittin’ On The Toilet.
Covpark Combat 4 took place at the War Memorial Park.
Our 9th video, Cthulhu, dropped near the end of the year.

2011

As online skate videos become more and more prominent, I created the first of a 2 part episodic zine video called Red Cross. Alex “Moose” McGhie’s first part in a Terribleco video.
Covpark Combat 5 went down in the summer.

2012

The skatepark campaign switched things up, and we aimed to make an indoor park. This would have been called Culture Skatepark. The work we did formed the basis of The Coventry Skatepark Project.
Part 2 of Red Cross “Uncle Buck Who Can Remember His Past Lives” is released online.
We filmed another tour video, My Big Fat Gypsy Road Trip, which would remain lost until 2016.
Terribleco are brought in to consult and organise an official skateboarding event for Coventry City Council to coincide with the 2012 London Olympics – The Summer Jam.
Our 10th full length video, Cannonball Holocaust, is released.
Lucas Healey & Joe Atkins‘ first full parts in a Terribleco video.

2013

10 years after the blog started, we celebrated our 10th birthday with a collab board with legendary local skateshop Ride.
Our 11th full length video, Concrete Jungle, drops. It’s a farewell video that ends The Terrible Company’s status as a Coventry scene blog.
Duffman & Stan Byrne’s first video parts in a Terribleco video.
The skatepark campaign came to a halt, blocked by inaction and lack of support from Coventry City Council.
The Terrible Company goes on a temporary hiatus. This ends the OG era.

The Dead & Loving It Era

2016

My Big Fat Gypsy Road Trip finally dropped online, signalling the return of The Terrible Company.
I got involved with the campaign to build a new skatepark in Leamington Spa, contributing towards the design for Victoria Park skatepark. The park opened in November 2016.
A new 10 minute edit, Dead & Loving It, dropped at the end of the year. This era of the blog is named after this video.

2017

Collaborating with Lucas Healey, I put out a new full length video called Sorcerers of Shred in the first half of the year.
Pip Sangster’s first part in a Terribleco video.
Another new short video, Peace Horse, appears on the blog in July 2017.
Pro Marky & Joe Fleming’s first parts in a Terribleco video.
At the end of the year, another short video dropped – Dream Land.

2018

Another video, Shredventures Into The Unknown, dropped in June 2018.
The last proper full length video of this era, Franchi$e, dropped in December of this year. This video sets the stage for the next proper full length video, which wouldn’t arrive until 2022.
Ben Keegan’s first part in a Terribleco video.

2019

A new video, Anti-Social Butterfly, dropped in June 2019. It’s filmed entirely on mobile phones.
In December 2019, I interviewed Pip Sangster for Hangup Online. This was the start of a handful of interviews that I did for Hangup.

The Skateboard Guff Era

2020

The blog pivoted to creating more written content during the pandemic: interviews, Top 5 lists, editorials.
I interviewed Joxa for Hangup Online.
In November 2020, I published an interview with UK skateboarding legend Chris Pulman to the blog.

2021

In February 2021, a new short edit appeared – Synergy Vol. 1. This was the start of a new series featuring offcuts and friends footage from our full length video Ghostface.
Throughout 2021, 3 videos released archiving our many past videos – The Terrible Company’s Greatest Hits, Now That’s What I Call The Terrible Company, and The Bootleg Collection.
I interviewed Shaun Boyle of Birmingham’s Bournbrook DIY Skatepark for Hangup Online.

2022

Passing the baton to the War Memorial Ramp Renovation Campaign, Covpark Combat returned in July of 2022.
After 3 years of production, the newest full length video from The Terrible Company, Ghostface, was released in October 2022. It’s the best Terribleco video yet (in my eyes), and the first true Coventry scene video from The Terrible Company in almost 10 years. Go watch it.
Collaborating with local skate shop Project No. 5, we put on a rad event to show Ghostface.
The final Terribleco parts from Chris Mander, Joxa and myself.
Charlie Kerr, Formy, Jack Taylor, Lewis Guest and Zac Parkinson’s first parts in a Terribleco video.

2023

The Terrible Company turns 20!
After 20 years, I’m still making videos, blog posts and other skateboarding nonsense in collaboration with a revolving selection of rad local skateboarders.
To celebrate, The Terrible Company will be doing some collabs with some of our awesome friends. Things are in motion with Project No. 5 and Town Rat Crew already, with hopefully more to come.
To celebrate 20 years of The Terrible Company, I have a special video thing coming in the summer which looks back on the last 20 years and presents it far better than those other 3 “best of” projects. I might even hold an event to show it off…
Work is in very early stages on a brand new full video project – I hope it’s even bigger and better than Ghostface.

Thanks for sticking with us through all of this, The Terrible Company wouldn’t exist without ya. X