Useless Tapes - Flo Mirtain

On a recent NB# trip to Liverpool, we caught up with one of France's finest tech wizards and all round top lad, Flo Mirtain. Like many of our visitors, Flo was hyped on our collection of classic VHS tapes, so it made perfect sense for him to be the latest subject of our Useless Tapes series. Check out Flo's five favourites from our collection below now, then revisit his banging welcome to Habitat part at the bottom of the page.

Transworld The Reason:

The reason is one of the first video that I watched when I started skating around 2000 ( with 411 best of 4 and puzzle best of 1)

I remember being so stoked on Stevie Williams skating that I did a VHS mixtape with all the footy/commercials/parts from him at that time. Transworld videos were so sick back then. I remember trippin on Danny Montoya’s part too, even more when i realized that front blunt flip out was switch...

Neal Mims’s slam tho...

Cliché Europa:

There was this skateshop from my hometown city that used to organize little trip to skateparks when I was a kid. We were on our way to the Zumiez skatepark in Belgium and the video was playing in the bus. I knew about Cliché, but did not know about their first video though. I was so much into Vincent Bressol, that line at the bercy ledges just blew my mind. ( the one with the back 180 fakie 5-0 fakie flip out).

Years later I had the pleasure to travel the world with those guys and film for their videos.

Flip Sorry:

I guess when Sorry came out, Bastien was my favorite skater. So I don’t need to explain you how stoked I was when I watched the video. I can’t tell you how many time I watched it. Its a Classic.

Flip at that time was huge, one of the best team in the world, mainly composed of non US skaters and a French filmer:

Penny, Arto, Bastien, Rune, Appleyard, Rowley, Boulala, French Fred... so for me as a french kid it meant a lot.

A lot of kids from my generation grew up with this video. I guess it might be the same feelings Baker 3 was for the next generation or Mouse for the one before.

Es Menikmati:

I know Menikmati came out before Sorry. But for some reason I think I watched Sorry first.

I guess I kind of had the same feelings as watching the Flip video.

Skaters from all over the world in a video made by French Fred for pretty much the best shoe (instead of board) company at the time.

(Note for the kids: Es back then was pretty much the Nike Sb of today)

Remember being stoked on Rodrigo’s part for sure. I guess as a kid I was into kids skating, which is something that I am absolutely not into anymore...

Later in my life, when i moved to Lyon, those videos (és and flip) end up being even more important for me as a lot of footage has been filmed there.

Aesthetics ride or die.

I randomly won this video at the first contest that I skated. The video was already out for a while, but at that time, with no internet, no instagram or anything it was way harder to be aware of everything in skateboarding.

With no expectations at all, I watched it when I came back home after the contest.

Nowadays, some of the guys in this videos are some of my favorite skaters: Kevin Taylor, Rob Welsh, or Joey Pepper (that fakie switch salad on a ledge !!)

I guess I did not really hear about those guys before, so I was stoked to discover, lets say, some more underrated guys... There weren’t Koston, Reynods, or Muska, but they had that little flavor that I did not know before.

That secret bonus section after the credit was sick too.

Still waiting for the Volume 2 tho!