The past 12 months have been a resounding success for Massachusetts metal mob Shadows Fall. Newest release ‘the War Within’ crashed the US Billboard charts at #20 and has since gone on to sell over 200,000 copies in their homeland alone, masked machine Slipknot took them on the road for 8 weeks as part of an almighty arena tour, and the five-piece shall now be spending the entirety of the summer playing alongside the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden on the legendary Ozzfest’s main stage.
During a brief and rare break from their relentless touring schedule; four-stringer Paul Romanko took the time to answer a few questions from our own metal maniac Ryan Bird.
Hello there old chap. How are you doing?
Hey! I”m alright off tour for a change!
Where are you right now? What are you up to?
Well I just woke up a little while ago and came across these questions in my email.so no time like now to get on em!
You recently completed a whirlwind tour of the UK. How was that for you?
It was great(as it always is). I enjoy playing shows in the UK. The crowds are full of energy and its pretty easy to find a person or two to share a few pints with. In addition getting to again share a stage with Slipknot put us in front of even more wild metal fans.
How did it feel to play Donington for the second time? That’s quite an honour…
That is just beyond words! We were very fortunate to play in 2003. That year we played mainstage. We were running around like school kids taking pictures behind Iron Maiden’s drumset and shit like that!! Then a second chance. Unreal! It’s an honor to play an event with such an awesome history. Quite a few legendary bands have graced the stage at Donnington.
Of course, you’re no longer strangers to such huge challenges as the spiritual home of metal as you spent around 8 weeks on tour with Slipknot and Lamb of God playing arenas in the spring. How did it feel to be playing to so many people each night?
That is a dream come true. We never thought that we”d be doing any type of tour like that. Being able to reach so many people each night is unbelievable! It’s some of the best exposure our band has ever received. Much thanks to all the guys in Slipknot for being so damn cool and having the balls to take out two non-radio bands on a very successful arena tour.
Playing the main stage of Ozzfest is sure to pull in even bigger crowds. Are you ready and raring to go for that one?
I hope so! We’ve got to be on point every night. Following In Flames and BLS is no easy feat! Then you’ve got Mudvayne and two of the greatest of all time in Maiden and Sabbath. It’s surreal to even think about the fact that we are sharing a stage with two of the biggest icons in heavy metal history!! But we’re gonna get up there and give our all rock out, drink a couple beers and hopefully make a few new fans.
Upon release, The War Within crashed the Billboard top 20. It must have been mind boggling to see your album fighting amongst the usual platinum selling hip-hop and r”n”b shit.
Yeah that was some crazy shit!! I guess that reflects how much the metal community has had a resurgence in the past few years. Quite a few bands have been hitting Billboard charts on their debut week.KSE , LOG, and very recently A7X and As I Lay Dying had great numbers. Its nice to see peer bands up there. Hopefully it”ll continue.
What do you think sets Shadows Fall apart from the rest of the modern day pack?
I think that the fact that we embrace classic rock and are willing to incorporate “rock” riffs into the metal sets us apart a bit. We also try and balance the
aggression with melody creating sonic peaks and valleys on our albums. But more from a rock perspective rather than an emo one. Even more so are probably Jon’s solos. Not many bands are shredding out leads like that these days.
Do you think the return of Headbangers Ball has had a massive impact on the metal scene? Seeing bands like yourselves, Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying etc on the biggest music channel in the world must open you up to a much wider audience than you had previously imagined possible.
Any exposure is great..but when MTV decided to bring back the ball it was huge for the US metal scene. Getting your videos played nationwide on an almost weekly basis helped us see a huge jump in our fanbase. It was cool to go into smaller markets and have kids tell you how they “discovered” your band on Headbanger’s Ball.. Good Shit!!
In the past year or two the music media has invented the term The New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Isn’t that a bit inaccurate given that bands like yourselves have been playing this music for the better part of a decade?
Yeah it is a bit funny for us to see the word “new” next to our name. Especially when next year will be the 10 year anniversary of SF. But hey the media needs tags to sell stories so!!??!! As long as the press stays interested I can live with it I guess? I just think it could have been a little more creative of a title. oh well.
What’s your opinion on internet downloading?
I used to have mixed thoughts on that but hey why not! I”m not into giving away entire albums but a few tracks.Its an easy way to check out new bands. I”ll do it and if I”m into the band I buy the cd. We don’t make a dime off cd sales. We survive by touring. So if kids are downloading songs and getting into our music its likely they will come to a show. So ultimately it benefits us in the end. Besides aren’t we all guilty of that anyways!!
With the ever increasing popularity of the genre, more and more metal bands are signing to majors. Eighteen Visions and Lamb of God are on Sony, Mastodon on Warner Bros and rumour has it you yourselves will soon be joining the major leagues. Do you think that
this may ultimately prove to be a risky move should the popularity dip and the sales drop as a result? Such labels are often used to gold and platinum records as a minimum requirement.
Rumors ..rumors ..rumors!! Unfortunately there are risks with any label. Perhaps a bit more with the majors, but it ultimately comes down to writing a good album. Good music finds a way to surface no matter what label it is on. I guess we”ll have to see what the future holds on all accounts here.
Do you think metal will soon become the new nu-metal as such? A few years back people couldn’t get enough, and now they seem to hate it with a passion. Do you ever worry about bands like yourselves being deemed “uncool”?
Well I don’t think we really care about the “uncool” thing so much. We went through that 6-8 years ago when “metal” was dirty word in the Massachusetts scene. We didn’t care then and doubt we”ll care if it happens again. We just write honest music that
satisfies ourselves first and foremost. But I do believe there will be a time when the tides change. It seems to happen every few years or so. But there is always the few bands that end up transcending there scene and lasting through it. We’ve got our fingers crossed that we”ll be able to do this a while longer.
What are your plans for the remainder of 2005?
TOUR.Tour.tour.tour.till December and then rest a bit and start writing the next album. Then
after that we”ll probably tour some more! Just for variation!
The War Within is available in stores now through Century Media.
See www.shadowsfall.com for more information.
I’ll bet you a fresh pair of kicks and some ceramic bearings that a whole lot of you have completely forgotten the once legendary Santa Cruz Skateboard company..? Yeah, I knew it. Well, let’s just have a quick recall of the SCS history to show you ingrates where this landmark company is coming from, and where it is probably heading. Firstly, Santa Cruz ran things back in the day as one of the only viable competitors to Powell Peralta during the 80’s. They also invented Slick©, and if you were young enough to ride it you knew it was fun! Then, SCS suffered a sharp fall during the early 90’s, but then again so did the rest of the industry- Dark days… As new life was blown back into the market and SCS looked ready to start afresh, they lost a load of their team, and since then have slipped slowly but surely off the radar. You see, SCS is an all-American skate company that has tried and tested the whole “gimmick” aspect of the market, emerged out the other side and come to the conclusion that all skater’s really need and want is no-nonsense quality goods i.e. no fancy packaging, signature trinkets or jazzy names- Just good skating. Oh, and damn strong boards! So, back to the subject at hand: Guarte – the latest video from SCS with a great line-up, cool skating, a fine storyline and a real “Who’s who?” of cameos. I’ll take this moment to shed light on the storyline that winds it’s way through this video. Think ‘Las Nueves Vidas de Paco’ from chocolate, and you’re pretty much there. Sprinkle the lot with loads of famous and not so famous skaters from the past and present and Bob’s your uncle! 
So here it is, another skate trip, another visit to France for the gnarliest event on the European calendar, another pickled liver and another bruised body! Some people say “why do you do that for your holidays?” and the reply is simple. Because there is no comparison! Every year Crossfire recruits as many bodies as possible for this event. This year we met up with 24 of the UK’s finest explorers in the South of France for this mission and it was a total success. Every comes to this country to skate like a bastard and to rock and fucking roll for an entire weekend, not caring about sleep deprivation, hangovers or bruised heels. THIS IS GNAR and by the time you finish reading this feature, you should be ready to book your ticket for 2006 in advance. No shitting you, 2005 was off the hook and this is what went down….
Gerald Roche and I were first on the scene on the Tuesday morning. We checked in, chilled out, got some beer and headed down to the bowls. The local riders who we know well now after 4 years of visiting this amazing skate park had reached an entirely new level. You can talk about Julien Benoleil, Alex Geraud, Mehdi Salah and Alex Cocciniuntil you are blue in the teeth as these guys own this bowl, but if you look deeper to the youth uprising that study the comp every year and emulate their heroes, you can see a new class of skateboarder popping through the ranks. I’m talking about Mini Tony T. A kid we saw imitate Tony Trujillo’s skate style and fashion sense last year, who is now a clone of the Anti-Hero bowl wizard…it’s crazy to watch. If our local park at Meanwhile had big transitions that flow for miles, then we would have a similar batch of new skaters killing it, but we don’t, so the kids here will never be as good, it’s just a fact. Build great parks, breed great skaters. No myth I tell you, it’s straight up.
Our friends Jaydog and Claire from SF turned up with Richie Hopson and Anna, plus the addition of Wingy and Emma, Seth and Ryan from Meanwhile, Lucy Adams, Lek and Matty, Rees and Matt, Andy Scott, Lois, Pete King, Crossfire film crew Alan Christensen and Jamie O’Brien, Howard Cooke, Ross McGouran, Roe, Mattias and the addition of the Irish Crew with Jay, Rich and Bruce The Ox (who skates the gnarliest i have seen yet!) all in the hood caused us to turn up the heat. The Thursday night was full of beer, hash and night skating, just what the doctor ordered! But was this gonna get out of hand? YEAH OF COURSE IT WAS! The Red Lion was rinsed once we left that joint!
So, the Friday was hungover and the event had only just started….Christ! It set the precedent for the entire weekend! The heat baked down on sore heads as the skaters managed to huck out some of the most amazing lines all day long. Our UK entrants included Andy Scott, Howard Cooke, Ross McGauran and Pete King but Pete and Ross were injured after the Brixlegg battle in Austria the weekend before so Scotty took the mantle as he always does here and got through with Howard for the quarter finals. Howard was put up against Tony Miorana, TNT, Emilio Arnanz, Mehdi Salah and Roman Hackl whilst Scotty faced last years winner Omar Hassan, Daniel Cardone, Chad Bartie, Julien Benoliel and Kyle Berard. 
That night, we started to rage again. A night session brought out the likes of Brazilain World Industries rider Carlos De Andrade who hucked massive frontside ollies over the hip and crazy tech shit in the reservoir. It was a pleasure to watch. Rees managed large airs over the foot of the spine (pic opposite), whilst Seth ollied the hip at large and Matty crail slid his heart out. We had met up with Rhino from Thrasher during the day and shared a few beers together. This dude is one of the nicest fellas you will meet on your travels, so if you know he is on town, make sure your beer is cold and your arms are open. He took this pic of Matty whilst he taught me how to take photo’s. Dude, if you are reading this thanks for the tips…next time I will make sure I’m not wasted for 3 days and take on board what you told me! Haha! This guy is the Dingo’s bollocks! Yeah, did you click that link? It’s 100% true. The night went on. Tony’s pentagon shrine was made out of beer bottles accompanied by 2 upside down crosses whilst Slayer boomed out of the i-pod. We were so drunk it was a joke and managed to crawl back home to the hotel rooms after annihilating anyone we saw down at the Red Lion! 
But it was all about to be moved into another level. A quick swim in the pool revitalized the bones whilst the head was still in total pieces. Kirby picked us up in the vehicle, we headed for the holy place, our deadly secret, the cure for all hangovers. Yes folks, step right up, you are about to learn a serious secret from the depths of the Crossfire vaults, for this is the time when we share the Wisdom of the Ocean. If you have the hangover of hell and have no idea how to quell it, then get your arse down to a seafood restaurant that serves up raw shellfish and indulge in King Prawns, live Oysters, Mussels, Clams, and Sea Urchins! Wash them down with a carafe of white or rose wine accompanied with mayo and French bread and you will be laughing! Put it this way, Gerald ran a mile when we mentioned where we were going! The thought of seafood made his stomach curdle so Jaydog took his place. 10 mins in and Jay is freaking out a bit after myself and Neil had parted with 2 Sea Urchins each. These slimy bastards look like they could rape your old lady! We forced Jay to join our gang and he dribble puked all over the table! I was sat opposite and luckily he held on to that one for dear life, so much so his eyes watered like rapids! Good lad!
But this is where it all goes wrong, because after this meal, we were seriously up for it. We ran to the supermarche and bought champagne, rose wine, beers, coolers and ice and raced to the hill! People are just waking up, others are watching the comp that had only just started, Alan and Jamie were fighting other photographers for the space and we were about to let rip a whole new day of chaos! The Hills Are Now Alive With The Sound Of Music! Tony T and the entire Anti-Hero crew are with us on the top of the hill, playing grindcore and strumming an electric guitar covered in Thrasher stickers. Champagne flutes were passed around, doobies were rolled and the rest is history! I managed to interview TNT in the middle of this chaos; it’s on this site here somewhere if you wanna find it. It has to be the most piss drunk interview ever performed! In fact a football was kicked at us by Matt Moffet’s girlfriend Janine at 100mph and it stuck Tony right on the forehead and then did the same for me, leaving us feeling like we were pissed up pin ball heads! 
At about 6pm, the days event skating had finished and we head for a drunken swim in the Mediterranean ocean. As we walked down the hill, Gerald was rugby tackled at mach 10 by Kirby and he flipped onto his head and did a scorpion on his face! He was knocked for 6 so we revived him then watched him puke up in the sea whilst the entire beach looked at us as if we were pikeys or something! I had to rescue Gerald in the recovery position…kids, take note, this is not fun! Well, only for 5 mins, then we all laughed our pants down. The party session was on fire, it felt like 4am but it was 7pm and most people had only just started. A fire was born from Jake Phelps hands and boards were chucked on top, then crates, then a security guard went ape shit and it calmed down a bit. By this time a session was going off in the bowls. Benji Galloway was skating this place padless at 10pm and raging like a bull in there. Not many pro skaters would join the night sessions fearing for their safety and the possibility of losing the cash up for grabs but Benji is about mingling and getting amongst it and the crowd loved it hailing his every backsides disaster, invert and indy transfer in the deep. This is what skateboarding is all about, just letting go and having fun. Train loads of people cruised round the reservoir throwing massive ollies over the hips, carving low and high and slashing at the coping, this is the best place on earth for that and I dare anyone to prove me wrong.
We partied hard with the likes of Blair Alley, Pat Duffy, Kyle Berard, and others. The Red Lion had some crazy shit going on tonight. The bar staff were all moshing, beer was being sprayed everywhere and people were loose! Once we were all kicked out of there at 4am, we took to the car park opposite where we had back up beer crates in the boot. 3 skaters, one with a broken leg were asleep on the grass under jackets. All of a sudden the sprinklers came on and all hell broke loose! They were soaked and we could not help but laugh ourselves into the tarmac! Cruel really but we had to all run for cover. I just remember diving through the window headfirst into a part rolled doobie on someone’s lap! We all got soaked whilst David Martelleur found refuge on top of the phone box! We staggered in zig zags back home. Alan found Gerald asleep at a bus stop on the way home and rescued him! It was total carnage!
Sunday morning was unlike any other spent in London. We all surfaced at midday ready for the finals in ribbons! Not even the pool could save bones today. The seafood place was shut so there was nothing but OJ and vitamin C on offer before the big guns fought it out in 35′ heat in that bowl. 
It was whittled down to Omar, Alex Giraud, Chris Senn (who was a wildcard) Benji Galloway, Alex Coccini, TNT and Julien Benoliel (pic opposite) and it was on fire! Everyone gave all and the place was electric for 30 minutes! The rock reigned from the speakers courtesy of Ed Lee and Christian Stevenson who played so many classics and eventually after watching the gnarliest skating ever, the results came in and it was all over for another year.
Benji ripped with transfers off the wall into the 8ft, a barrage of 360 shit over the spine, switch transfer chaos and much more, but got ahead of last years runner up Alex Geraud whose transfer from the reservoir into the Heddings Gap is still one to cry for. Add his stylish kick flip backside lipslides over the hip to that and you have your man alive. Julien Benoliel was beaten to 6th place by Chris Senn whose style and different approach is still a pleasure to watch anywhere but the Marseille local is killing it and when he skates he does not flinch an inch and is tough as nails.
Crossfire has come a long way since the days of little B&W fanzine pamphlets and blagging the odd handshake with a pro. Today it’s worldwide recognition and Champagne dinners. Well, almost… DVS were in town for the premiere of their first ever video, ‘Skate More’, and Crossfire had been invited to rub shoulders with the pros and sip on complimentary drinks. To tell you the truth, the usual roll call with a video premiere is that we end up scrambling for tickets until the last minute, get squashed with the rest of the sweaty fans as we queue up anxiously awaiting the curtain-rise, spot a pro in the distance and then head off to the off-license for a couple of cold ones and an over-the-top trick by trick analysis of what we just saw. Yeah! We are the media, promise!
Max Cavalera is undoubtedly one of the most influential and important figures in metal today. Former band Sepultura leapt into the mainstream from the unlikely territories of deepest Brazil with their unrivalled, venomous cocktail of thrash ferocity and snarling punk attitude; while current venture Soulfly have spent the better part of a decade knocking down walls and musical boundaries of their own with a sonic battering ram of tribal influenced mayhem and delicate, flamenco driven serenity. The bands” debut DVD release is a detailed, all access journey with Max and co. captured live throughout the world over the course of the past several years. Featuring over an hour of live performance, previously unseen footage from inside the studio during the “Prophecy” recording sessions, up-close and personal band interviews and the four-piece’s entire video discography – ‘the Song Remains Insane” is an intriguing insight into an even more intriguing group of musicians, and irrefutably packs enough wallop to keep even the most avid followers satisfied for many an evening to come.
Ummm… Well, perhaps the afterlife isn’t all that bad after all..? No. Seriously, Zero keep true to their course and blast out another hammerfest of gaps, rails, gaps to rails, rails to gaps- As long as it’s big and scary it makes the cut. So, what’s new? Well, apart from the obvious fact that Jamie Thomas and his team of stuntmen are keen to promote the ‘grabbing of the board’ by serving up at least one per part, you might also notice the resistance to quick editing. Phew! I was worried I might have another epileptic seizure if the editing hadn’t changed… A quick run-down of performances will let you know that JT styles it up with some nice moves like 360 no-complies and polejams. I think his body has finally let him know that Stairway rails are a sure way to Heaven (Ha! What a pun!). Jon Allie hasn’t changed much; lots of flipping mixed with his rail assaults. However, I did admire the clean style Jon had considering the god-awful hand-dragging-I’ll-make-this-if-it-kills-me roll aways we’ve witnessed recently. Garrett Hill is nothing special- just a clone. Tony Cervantes gets his grab quota up to par and sticks out as someone to keep an eye open for. John Rattray saves the day with a bit of style and even gets Stu Graham to feature in his part. Somehow John just doesn’t look like he’s having fun on those rails. I don’t know… Tommy Sandoval will die trying and James Brockman has a couple of heavy hammers in there. Backside lipslides on suspended rails anyone? No, I didn’t think so…
They say a critic can make or break a career… Well, here goes! When I first saw the first ever DVS skate video, ‘Skate More’, I told anyone within earshot that the video was good. It made me want to skate and the team had done well to hold back for a couple of years before releasing the final product. Daewon Song had a SCANDALOUS part in my view, and Chico Brenes was probably going to get his appreciation from the older crowd, not the ‘ever-hungry-for-blood’ youth. I still stand by these opinions, but those first remarks were stated post premiere party and after a long wait for something new to come. It’s true that even if videos get released at a near cardiac rate, the quality is far slower to appear…
So, it’s 11pm Thursday night and James Sherry, Alan Christensen and I are speeding on the M1 heading North to Donnington with the i-POD on shuffle providing us with a magnitude of good tunes such as the new Finch and Hundred Strong albums, We Are Scientists, Interpol, Ween, Circle Jerks, Quasimoto and many more… but we were also hoping that some serious rock would spring up as the thought of watching Black Sabbath on Saturday night made us salivate during the entire journey.
Last year, Snickers really went for it and constructed this monster bowl inside the Download Festival and although the event and the skating was electric, the area that it stood in and the set up itself was always going to have to be changed, so what did they do? Well, for starters they dug a monstrous pit that could have housed a demon and then dumped a kinked vert bowl in the middle of it that had its own stage! There was a riot brewing and it was fuelled firstly by legendary skaters such as Mike McGill, Steve Olson, Duane Peters, Kevin Staab and Tony Alva. Caballero did not make the trip due to an accident which was a bummer but with these guys and the entire World Cup Skate crew, it was all set for some serious sessions.
The practice runs were amazing to watch in this bowl. Andy Scott was like a fish out of water and Jeurgon Horrworth’s and Renton Millar’s style is something that you just cannot NOT talk about. These riders have something most skaters’ dream of. But when you are stuck in one area inside this mammoth festival it’s easy to forget that once you are able to switch off the decks, stop DJ’ing and get amongst the metal mania, there is an entire world out there full of people who want to rock with their cocks out all night long until they puke, until they are seriously hurt, and until their ears bleed! Shame that our old bar mate Bill could not come up with the goods live. White Wedding was a blast and we danced like crazy but then new songs and a version of Jump by Van Halen was too much for someone who wants Slayer and Motorhead, so Napalm Death were next in line and that is where we bumped into Powley, Munson, Potter, and G-Money who were holding drinking comps from a 2litre bottle of diet Pepsi filled to the brim with a £6.40 a bottle of cheap as fuck Horsemen Whisky…it is here that the Horsemen of the Apocalypse was born!
Now, for those of you who like to party, you may well have come across Aftershock. This vile looking stuff is potent and is almost an instant party once it gushes down the back of your throat. The tent they sponsored had all sorts of drinking games such as a rodeo lamb, motorised porcelain toilets, sumo wrestling and a crap DJ that we would have burnt off the stage within 2 songs given the chance but this place was electric anyhow. The shots flowed and Powley started getting on one! He was next found at midnight on stage at the comedy tent after booing the paid fella off the stage and taking over the proceedings that the crowd was totally down for! 
The Saturday morning was the biggest hangover you could have dreamt of and there is nothing like trying to cue up a record whilst live bands are sound checking their drums and guitars whilst you are trying to hold back the puke! There were a lot of hangovers here, but somehow people were shredding this bowl like it was a mini ramp. The longest grind comp saw a 28ft 5-0 from the ever impressive Brian Patch through a corner of the bowl to scoop $5000 followed by Omar Hassan’s huge maydays. 
Hey James, what was going on outside of the Snickers Bowl? Well, aside from all of the drunken chaos, lunatic skateboarding and general bedlam, there are some awesome bands playing over the course of the weekend from the hottest new rockers to a handful of absolute legends of rock. Saturday morning I left Zac to DJ and headed to the main stage to check out punk nutters The Dwarves. First time I saw this band the gig ended after five minutes when the frontman Blag was punched into the drum kit and the whole gig ended in a hail of flying instruments. These days their gigs last longer, in fact today they refused to get off stage and just kept pounding out the hits until they cut the power. They’ve got ex-Queens Of The Stoneage beardy bassist Nick Oliveri back in the band and they showed the metal kids exactly how punk should be played. 
As the sun came down and the opening slow doom chords of ‘Black Sabbath’ rained over the crowd there was a real moment. 
Well, how do I explain the carnage that reigned after this gig? We left Dave Duncan and the lovely Jen, and headed for the Aftershock tent with 20 UK peeps, who were all blagged in through the back door to avoid queuing, and 10 aftershocks later, The Horsemen were ready to fully Riot! My shirt was ripped off my back as Powley hung from the tent poles! The DJ was abused so much to play classics, he was forced to find a Slayer record and we started the biggest mosh pit going!
But it all came to a sudden end when I managed to find a Jacuzzi in the tent full of semi naked people and went stumbling over to check it out in disbelief! I was hovering gently over some ply wood that covered the other half of this bubble fest and was about to fall just as a security guard dragged me in time before I plunged into the dirtiest, festival filled dirty water that would have taken me out! I was of course ejected and all I can remember on the way out was Powley in his piss soaked jeans crying, “will someone please kick me in the bollocks!” 
Sunday was obviously a bigger mess! We are all pickled to the bone by now with 6 hours sleep across 3 days! Put it this way, if the lights in the bowl had blown, the comp would have been saved by the shining red colour from Sean Goff’s eyes! How he skated on Sunday was beyond explanation! The best trick comp was won by Jeurgon’s fakie 720, the same best trick as 2004 mastered by PLG. Omar came second with a massive fs double heelflip fs air over the elbow, Andy Scott threw in fs tailslide shuv in and a bs tailslide shuv in, in the same run but came 3rd with an Alley oop kickflip board varial. 
So, to cap this off, you will not find a better skate and rock related festival this year in the UK as this was The Daddy of them all without a doubt. No extreme bollocks, fruitbooters, or happy sac idiots, just plain gnar. If you missed it, then you will have to wait until next year. It will take us that long to recover! Well done to Snickers who provided massive VIP treatment all weekend and worked hard to get this to a superb level. I got home to find slapped man-hand marks all over my body! Thanks Munson you Essex munkey! 
It’s not often you meet people on the road that have their own thing going on and they encapsulate you, so it’s always a pleasure and never a chore.
So I did, and I ended up getting like 27th out of 31 people or something so I felt pretty good that I didn’t get like dead last but I ended up doing some ripples in the water with Sonia from the Warp Tour contest and I ended getting kicked out of the following Warp tour that I had qualified for because some unmentioned professional skateboarders were a bit bummed that I had skated in a pro contest and told them that I was a amateur and totally said that I was trying to be a professional athlete and go to amateur contests which weren’t true. I was just skateboarding but it ended up working out that later on the following year I went to a contest in Colorado called the Concrete Challenge. It was the first pro event that I entered and won and so I figured well if I could do that then I might as well start walking the line.
For some reason we decided it was a good idea to go to Tijuana the night before we left and I didn’t have anything packed and woke up an hour late feeling sick! Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the booze I don’t know maybe it was both! I don’t know but I was in the hurt locker literally throwing in the cars still puking being driven to the airport. I had no idea what I was bringing, no idea what was packed the only thing that I accomplished that day was to lay on the floor and take my board apart! (laughs) Other than that, thanks to you Zac and your hospitality and hook ups with Crossfire. Caught in the Crossfire! (Woo Hoo!)
If you haven’t heard about once Black Flag/Rollins Band front man Henry Rollins’ spoken word performances, then where the hell have you been? I luckily caught one of his shows at the Barbican a few years ago, a sold out audience sat through what essentially is one man venting his spleen about a myriad of topics for over three hours. My bum may have been telling me in it’s own magical way that it had been THAT long sitting still with a dose of pins and needles, but my mind felt like it had only been 30 minutes. The man’s natural charisma is impossible to resist, he is shouting at you, yet you don’t mind the spit and bile because ultimately what he says will make you laugh, and more so, it”ll make you think! Henry Rollins is an articulate man, but he wont talk down to you, he wont dumb things down either, instead he explains things simply, directly and most importantly, interestingly. He touches on Politics, his own social commentary, music, his eternal mission to find love, his life in California and many more enticing nuggets throughout his set, all with a warmth and humbleness that is refreshing in this era when EVERYONE has an opinion.