HOODSLAM

[VHS]

VICE article: http://www.vice.com/read/hoodslams-d...t-for-kids-666

Some people might recognize AJ Kirsch... AJ from WWE's latest Tough Enough. He's morphed himself into the best announcer I've ever seen, and on top of that he's a dang fine host.

This is a show I've been dying to get to, especially w/ all the exposure they're starting to get... from VICE to Larry King. After several months of touching base, I was granted access to the innards of HOODSLAM. There's no way of describing the experience I had shooting this show. At the end of the night... I smelled like armpit, beer, weed, and Axe body spray. It was the best night of my life. Hoodslam has become my favorite thing, next to root beer. Here is the highlight video I did for them.

[Hero!]

Is this like an "underground" style company, like WSX crossed with JCW...mixed with a rock concert? I kinda get the concept, but i'm a little lost on exactly what's "great" about it. Are the matches overall good..?

Lucha mask ref is insanely awesome, btw.

[Nash Diesel]

Wouldn't mind checking out a show, the vid posted was cool with that sweet zombie movie score behind it! Little ass ring, people smokin weed, and everything is apparently in slow mo? Sounds good to me.

[mth]

Looks like a nice video for your average indy fed. What sets it apart?

[VHS]

Is this like an "underground" style company, like WSX crossed with JCW...mixed with a rock concert? I kinda get the concept, but i'm a little lost on exactly what's "great" about it. Are the matches overall good..?

Lucha mask ref is insanely awesome, btw.

What made it great that night was that it felt like a tight little community. Everybody knew the chants, the catchphrases, and the characters. I felt like I'd walked into a pub where everybody was welcoming me with a blunt even though I was shooting the show lol. Basically, it was all about fun. It was the most fun I've had in a long time.

And yeah, El Sparko (Sparky Ballard) is great. Best ref in the Bay Area, and quite the dad. Big family man.

The matches are good, or at least the ones that night were good. Guys were killing themselves out there, but even though there weren't really many stories being told w/ the wrestling... they were all fun. Nobody was ever bored the whole night.

Wouldn't mind checking out a show, the vid posted was cool with that sweet zombie movie score behind it! Little ass ring, people smokin weed, and everything is apparently in slow mo? Sounds good to me.

It was in slow mo because I shot it in slow mo.

Looks like a nice video for your average indy fed. What sets it apart?

I'd been pestering them for months to let me shoot one of their shows. I told them I wanted to give it a film/dream like aesthetic. I was told they had their own video crew, but they finally got back to me and said it was cool. Since they already had their guy filming the matches, I told them I'd just do a highlight vid. I don't think they really knew what they were expecting because when I showed them the video 2 days later the guy who hired me was blown away. They asked me to come back next month so that was great.

Hoodslam is all about the fun, and it delivers it by the truck load.

[MikeHunt]

This sounds a bit like icw minus the green. You should check them out VHS.