There are probably few skateboarders with a career like Fred Gall's! He first blew up in the mid-90s… and in the most gnarly way. He was young and hungry and threw himself down every rail with East Coast flavor. The first time I saw him live was, I think, 1996 at the Münster Monster Mastership… It was properly disgusting, because he kept hurling himself down a rail switch bs 50-50. That trick basically didn't exist for me before then. I mean, maybe someone had done it on a curb. But really everyone was hyped to watch Jamie Thomas do regular bs 50-50s on rails. Then Fred Gall shows up and does the thing switch! Today you can hardly imagine what that time was like. Now you see a new trick and first check whether it was switch or regular. But in the mid-90s the whole thing was just getting going. At some point Ronnie Bertino did that switch backside lipslide in the Plan B video and everyone lost it.
Anyway, back to Fred Gall. He was probably one of the gnarliest and most talented skateboarders of the 90s. Then things went downhill with him for a while. You didn't hear much, except that there was often a lot of alcohol involved. Apparently the boys from New Jersey have a problem with staying sober now and then. Just take a look at Brian Wenning… Fred pulled himself back together around the early 2000s and, despite a body that wasn't quite so athletic anymore, put down a seriously good video part (Tom O'Connor, care to comment here?)

The point is: Fred Gall changed, and skateboarding changed. You might think the two had drifted apart.
You can watch his Worst Skater 2010 video part here:

But that's not the case. Fred Gall belongs to skateboarding. He doesn't give a damn about a lot of what goes on. He's one of the coolest team managers you can imagine, and he still throws himself at the nastiest spots and has FUN!
And having FUN is the most important thing. So go watch his latest video part, stop arguing about whether his style is cool or whether his tricks are hard or not. It's about having fun — and always keep in mind that a lot of the spots he skates might actually be pretty tough, because it's easy to talk from behind a screen. Same goes for doing the tricks at the skatepark! Get out into the street and skate whatever's there.
Street skating rocks, and that's what the whole East Coast flavor is about! Crap ground, rough spots, and just not giving a damn!
There's a crack in the run-up? So what? Roll over it! The pavement slabs in Munich — or all of Germany — annoy you? Then bigger wheels and off you go.

We love street skateboarding, we love Fred Gall!