There used to be only two certainties in life: death and taxes. But it’s been long enough now that we can safely assume Storror will never stop releasing new videos on Monday. And God (Water?) bless them for that, I know I for one need the consistency reminder. But to me what I found most interesting about the way Storror has adapted so far is that it feels more like a return to their older content than it does a response to a pandemic. They’ve also released a new shoe and clothing line during this time – so get back to work.
This content series technically starts with the new review of the Storror Tens but I have never used them and therefore don’t feel qualified to write about them so here we are. I say that because by that week most global societies had already enacted some sort of response to the COVID-19 epidemic. If you’re reading this in the future, enjoy Googling it.
After a sick tac challenge the lads don their hazmat suits to get down and dirty with the urban environments of wherever the hell they are in Great Britain, acting out their essential services as entertainers for the good of the populace at home scarfing snacks. They put on hazmat suits for a bit of a Breaking Bad laugh and address a bit of the Corona crisis before getting back to what we’re actually here for – really sick challenges.
But my two favorite moments in this video are actually the more introspective moments in Drew and Sacha’s vlog segments. Drew begins to ruminate around 10:20 about how strange it feels to trespass on one’s own instead of with their usual group. He mentions how different the energy feels when you’re training alone – and that becomes the core of the rest of their content moving forward – what is it like to be yourself by yourself again?
Another quality moment comes at 13:54 when Toby remarks on how much scarier challenges on when you’re on your own. And it’s in these moments of the vlog that we see how similar we all are to the Storrors. At 17:20 Sacha is able to admit that he would rather prioritize the safety of other people than train and risk bumping into them. But what we’re really seeing from all of them is a return to introspection that is hard to come by in a world where you have to release content every week of the year no matter what.
This is what is so exciting to me about Storror, it’s why we’ve subscribed to them for years and why we will for years to come – they’re not afraid to admit they’re afraid. They just also have the stomach and grit to get the job done even when it seems impossible. And it’s that tenacity that we all need during trying times like these, as the elderly woman at the beginning of the second video states “the life that we knew before the Corona virus is gone” – the world is changing, and we must flow to change with it.
But Christmas came a little early because we’re basically getting Cavemen the Weekly sitcom instead of just the banger videos and the behind the scenes. Max and Benj find wood crates to manipulate their environment and it’s that sort of ingenuity that we’re gonna need for whatever strange post apocalyptic world we live in with less toilet paper. And then BLAM a fucking commercial for the Water Is God line that you should go buy.
I honestly love when Storror does that in their videos, the snap to higher quality, more commercialized content for a few clips reminds us that though the Storrors are just scruffy socially distanced trespassers like the rest of us – they’re also the best in the game. At 7:53 Toby performs an excellent shadow clone jutsu at a graffiti wall spot and gets to share a moment with some of the young Storror Army recruits just ambling about on their requisite exercise allowances. And then we get some Callum Powell challenges.
Callum’s training edits and compilations have been some of my most rewatched videos in the past decade and it’s hard not to be impressed by his dedication to his technique. He also released a full blog for Callum Tip number 500 on the one and only Storror blog and it’s definitely worth taking a look so you can better understand what he describes as the Four Pillars of Parkour. Even when his pillar puns crumble it’s still worth the read.
And then at 10:10 Josh blows the video out of the water with some excellent fight choreography and just way different content than what we expected from this video. It’s so cool to see them innovating and creating from within the confines of this calamity. Josh goes on to talk about how one of his flatmates got sick and they had to quarantine themselves, but that we’ll be seeing much more content from the two of them to come.
At 13:40 Benj remarks on how one has to be 100% with a jump when risking such high consequences and it once more highlights how serious our athletes can be when put to the task of conquering what might seem an insurmountable obstacle to muggles. The Cavemen bang out some sick roof challenges before handing it over to Drew at 15:15 as he works on a super cool technical challenge and has to work around filming alone. This is a theme that comes up for all of us now – do we love parkour enough to make it work?
Callum experiences this when he returns to the spot from the first weeks video at 16:26, even going so far as to return to where Drew, Benj and Max had trained before just because he felt left out from getting to train at the spot as well. And how many of us have felt spot FOMO and needed to motivate ourselves to hit challenges on our own that we’ve seen our friends hit on Instagram? It begets the larger truth of it all – that we seek connection, regardless of where it is we have to find it – no one wants to be totally alone.
For sure, watch the rest of everyone clips but what really matters is that old woman at 22:37 really speaking truth the gravity of this whole corona crisis, the world is changing.
Then the Cavemen are back this week to remind us to create a Corona Virus Hit List of challenges you’d like to hit during the lockdown. Now be careful out there but it is a good time to get some quality training in as long as you’re washing hands and all that shit. I’m not a fucking doctor you didn’t come here for medical advice, just watch parkour please. Max and Benj really kill it in this episode, no doubt about it – seeing them breakdown their process of roof culture comfortability is valuable for all of us long term as a sport.
Max breaks a new roof gap and Benj follows soon after before breaking down how to stay calm during a jump. They speak about the concept of judgement and being able to feel the difference with the power of jumps before committing to them fully. They celebrate their own victory and remark on the wonderful feeling of getting the challenge done. And that’s something I’m sure we’re all looking for while we’re bored at home.
And then KalebTheChef fucking rips it on the sticks before regaling us with a session at his sick spot right at his flat. It honestly looks pretty tight and I wish we all had spots like that just chilling right outside our doors. Josh is back around 8:20 with some really interesting perspective training before helping a rando work his lache tech at 9:49. The man brings up that the only way he would be able to do it is if someone had a gun to his head, which I understand the sentiment behind the idiom, but still, like why is parkour still that foreign to people who are literally descendant from the same apes that we are?
At 11:00 Max and Benj warm up with a lovely rail pre STICK before hitting the roofs again. And I’ll just say it, the rail pre that Benj does at 12:18 looks absolutely fucked and there’s no way in hell the angles in the Cavemen videos do justice to how disgusting most of the challenges are that they’re doing. After that they work their way around using a spot that would otherwise break and continue to train trademark Storror creativity.
Around 15:34 Max breaks a lovely roof gap and remarks on the feeling of Roof Culture Asia vision as the world melts away and you focus solely on the jump in front of you. And then he gets yelled at by a cop and it’s fucking great honestly, sick bit all around. Honestly this article is getting a little long so I’m gonna fast forward a bit. Sacha films a sick drone line but puts himself down for it (we’ve all been there bro) and then Callum breaks into his old school to relive challenges from his storied past as a training youth.
The end of this video Sacha actually ends up seeing Josh across the roof tops on his drone and they remark on the novelty of the fact that any other member of Storror could be out on those rooftops and they just don’t know it – it’s very cute – would that we were always just a few rooftops away from our homies. Callum jumps on more shit and does some fucked up challenges. And then Benj and Max have a respectful exchange with a cop. Who knows what we’ll get next week, but I bet it’ll be of the same quality as these ones.
Why does any of that matter? Why do you care about what Storror does during the corona? If you’re anything like me, you care because you want to remember the best part of yourself like they work to show us each week. You can have whatever opinion you want of them, but those lads put in work and it shows week over week in their subscriber count and in the quality of their content and expression. Times are uncertain for sure, some of us are out of work and unable to pay our bills so things like training may be very far from our minds. But what I hope these videos and this article can help motivate you to commit to your own practice and create challenges that inspire you to know yourself better. You don’t have to vlog if you don’t want to, but call your friends, ask them what they think your best qualities are, ask them what your worst are as well. Now is the time for all of us to radically alter our understanding of each other and the world. If we make use of this great gift we may all come out better at the other end. Cheers mates. Wash your hands. Call your mums. Love yourselves. Thanks for reading.
*Cover photo image credit to the one and only Max Storror Cave
