The snowboarding world and I are EAGERLY ANTICIPATING the KNIGHTS OF BROWN TABLE premiere and release. After a half-decade hiatus, Brock Nielsen & Brown are back with a younger, noble crew to release another movie rumored to be in a league of its own.
I often find myself at dinner tables with these knights, most recently at Sam Taxwood’s dining room table. I am excited for all the riders, but I wanted to take an opportunity to chat with Sam about the past two seasons of filming with BROWN, especially since he has had to deal with some injury setbacks. And because the entire snowboarding world is EAGERLY ANTICIPATING another Taxwood part.
How long have you been filming video parts?
Oof, good question. I’ve been filming video parts since 2013. It’s 2023 now, so ten years.
Did you ever compete?
I did USASA. That's how I met Grif, Sage, Blake, and the Warbingtons, and that's how we started making videos and LTC.
More recently, there's your footage in Vans Evergreen & Dakines Wicker. And before that, Landline?
Yeah, that’s my most recent stuff. Since Evergreen, I haven’t put out as much as I would have liked because of back-to-back injuries.
What are some of the injuries you’ve faced? I feel like you’ve done a good job being involved and present in snowboarding the past two years, and some people might not know you’ve been dealing with that.
I’ve had five knee injuries total since I was 18. Two of which were scopes on the meniscus in my right knee in the last couple of years. For those recoveries, I knew what to expect, so it was much easier getting back to snowboarding. There were tons of other minor injuries sprinkled around those. So, I think I filmed three tricks in the first year of filming for Brown. Yeah, and then I filmed the rest of my part in the second year.
That bail when you run into the pole was this year.
I got super lucky with that one. I wrapped my leg around a light post, and I thought for sure I broke my femur or something. I still had to get surgery, but only a minor scope on my meniscus.
What’s it like coming back to filming after these injuries?
It sucks; it's hard to be confident in yourself, but usually, once you take a good slam and walk away from it, you go back up and do it - that helps me. I am good at returning from them now that I know what to expect because I've had so many variations and just different surgeries. I will say I have that going for me. It's definitely not necessarily positive, but you can turn a negative into a positive. I'm lucky that my sponsors back me.
When was the last time you went to a movie premiere you were in?
So yeah, Evergreen came out in 2020. They were supposed to release my boot and premier the video and have this crazy party for it. But then it was COVID. The online premiere was cool, and they sent us pizzas. But yeah, probably since Landline.
I know you hit Pymarid, and your FS 360 clip on IG is sick. That must have taken some confidence, especially in those conditions. Were there times that you felt some sort of comeback confidence this year?
This whole year, for me, feels like a comeback. I don't know; I just felt like I had like a fucking dark cloud of negative injury energy surrounding me for a while, I guess. And yeah, hitting Pyramid Gap was scary as fuck. And that was a nice way to end my season, for sure. Hitting that jump in great conditions is still scary, I can imagine. I front 3'd it first try, which is a feeling I'll never forget. Riding away from that, I was like, Oh man, the landing is so bad.
What was it like filming with Brown overall? A friend-based movie versus a team-based one?
We definitely like to have some fun, and that makes it a lot easier going. Every day that we went out, especially coming back from the injuries and stuff, I just tried to have super low expectations. So, if I did anything, I would be happy rather than going in and expecting myself to do great. That's going to be my MO moving forward. Try not to stress out if I get a clip, cool. If not, I’m still happy to be there. There’s always going to be another day, you know.
So Brock is editing it right now. Have you seen it? What can you tell us?
Brock is a special filmmaker. He's on his own program, and it's going to look completely different than any other video that's coming out. It’s a part video that's not for a brand. The music is nuts. The editing is... insane. I think it's probably Brock's best video. Brown, for sure, will make you want to go snowboarding 100%.
What is your most memorable day filming with Brown?
Man, I don't know. That's a good sign—too many good days. Yeah, there were a lot of them. The whole crew just being up at Trout Lake was really cool. Staying in a cabin where you can sled right out the door. Thanks to this legend dude, YD, for letting us crash at his place.
What do you think the original Brown crew will think of the movie?
It's super intimidating to have them watch the video. Hopefully, Keegan, Scott, Harrison, and the whole gang are hyped on it. I think they will be, but we have some heavy shoes to fill.
When asking Bryn Valaika her thoughts on it so far, she said, “BROWN makes you want to go snowboarding. And I cried.” So, get ready to cry with tears of joy and fill your heart with the love of snowboarding and friendship that is BROWN. Premiering Friday, October 27th, at the Torment release party in SLC.