From the day they set up their first board, skaters have been coming together to “shred”, whether it be Richmond’s streets  and alleyways,  events such as the “Free-For-All”  Go Skateboarding Day at Kanawha Plaza — before it was renovated, to local group RASA tirelessly toiling away to create a skate park at Texas Beach, to the infamous Lost Bowl, skateboarding has long been a huge part of the city’s culture.

A popular pastime bringing together younger and older crowds, away from the bullshit of life, to just mess around, have fun with friends, maybe learn some new tricks while inevitably earning some new battle scars-all for the love of the board.

A few weekends ago, Virginia-based skateboarding crew Dinnerbread unveiled their full-length skate film, Breaking Bread, to a packed crowd at Strange Matter, which aims to capture all those aspects of the skateboarding culture and more.

BREAKING BREAD Trailer from Dinnerbread Skateboarding on Vimeo.

Directed, produced, and starring Lane Maloney, along with Jacob Chapo, Alex Russell, Rudy Ourednik, Noble Silva, Philip Powell and more; Breaking Bread is meant to showcase the talents of the Dinnerbread crew, a group of rippers that started out of Hampton Roads in 2008.

Their video was filmed during their skate trips in several cities in North Carolina, Virginia, and D.C. The crew linked up with other Richmond skaters to capture them doing what they love best in their city in Breaking Bread. 

“There are people [in Richmond] who only skate the bike lot or a bowl or skate Laurel and like that’s all they do. Some like to only skate shitty alleys and the worse spots in Richmond and that’s like really cool too. Everyone got something that they are really stoked on for doing,” said Maloney. “That’s one thing that is really cool, that there is not a set style to the scene here, it is kind of like a collective of a bunch of different crews and that is not true to different areas in Virginia.”

Be on the lookout for several RVA spots to make their debut in the film including the Southern States Silos on Manchester, the Canal Walk, LaDiff furniture store and many more. Harrisonburg’s Wolfe St. Brewing even gets a little screen time. 

Dinnerbread has expanded to skaters throughout Virginia that ride for all different shops and for Maloney’s projects, it just depends on who’s around.

“A lot of people who had video parts in my last project didn’t have a single clip in this video,” he said. “It just happened because where they moved to and their schedule and stuff, I wouldn’t say there is a set squad it is kind of collective in a way I guess.”

The skating in Breaking Bread was a breath of fresh air for Richmond skateboarding and a few of those featured set the bar high enough to be considered pro skateboarders. Though Richmond is home to a few pros, such as Gilbert Crockett, Tyler Beall, and Trent Hazelwood, Maloney wants to take the talent of the lesser known skaters in his video in hopes their potential will lead to something bigger.

“My personal goal is to take people who are really talented in Virginia who just don’t have that spotlight and build a platform for them. There is so much talent that is unseen and it is trying to get that in front of the right people,” said Maloney.

Specifically, he mentioned Alex Russell who has a standout part in the beginning of the film along with Noble Silva who is prominently featured in the last part of the film.

“They came on super late which is super impressive because, in my opinion, they have some of the heaviest parts in the video,” Maloney said. “Everything was like a mission to them, it was like ‘when are you free, how much time do you have on this day like what can we can get done.’ It was very planned out compared to others people’s parts where we’re like, ‘we’ll go skate and we’ll get what we’ll get’.”

Breaking Bread took about a year and a half to film, and according to Maloney, there were no significant problems during the making of the film besides a few swapping of clips last minute and some desired tricks not landed.

“Everyone had an ending trick that they wanted to get in the video and everyone ended up getting up broke off trying their trick. Those failed ender attempts are something they are hoping to get for the next video we are working on,” said Maloney.

The skater actually broke his collarbone while filming a trick, but he didn’t mention it in our initial interview, so it’s all in a day’s work for Maloney.

Of course, what would be a skateboarding video without run-ins with the law? However, not all of the encounters in Breaking Bread were bad. 

“There were actually scenarios in a video where the cops were siding with us,” said Maloney. “It was one of the tricks that I did and me and Rudy {Ourednik} were doing at one apartment complex in NC. There was a woman parked we were skating there first, she purposely parked at the spot and complained that we were skating too close to her car. The cop came, we told him the story and he was like,  ‘I don’t agree with her that’s bullshit, so I’m gonna keep this lady off your back until you get what you need to get’.”

Maloney’s next video project is going to be a VX1000 filmed video — a staple in the skate community as it was the go-to before HD cameras and still has a pretty looming presence with many pro skate teams having parts and full lengths shot on the retro camera preferring its raw appeal over the 4k+ RED shot cinematic fueled skate films.

His crew has even been talking about going out of the country soon, to what is arguably the mecca spot in skateboarding: Barcelona.

“You know, we’re just trying to think of new places to go to. We’ve been talking about trying to do something like saving up to do a Barcelona trip or Costa Rica. It is ever-evolving we’re trying to find new places,” said Maloney.

Maloney just enjoys filming as it is a passion for him and his career, so every time he brings out the camera on every skate trip it is simply organic for him.

“For me, it is about continuously putting out content which is what I like to do,” he said.

Breaking Bread can be purchased as a DVD or in digital from DinnerBread’s website.

Photo Credits: Dinnerbread