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Skateboarding Product Reviews

Altamont – Hobo Plaid Shirt

Looking for something you can wear under a jacket without suffocating yourself…something nice and thin, yet practical and stylish? Then I’d say the Hobo Plaid is a fairly good answer to your prayers.

This lightweight, Henley style hooded shirt comes in a stylish plaid design and is made from 100% cotton. It features a drawstring hood, 4 button neck for ventilation control, nice and steezy kangaroo front pockets and another drawstring in the hem, useful to keep the bite out. The hood is lined with a nice thin jersey layer which makes all the difference when you wear it up and over your ears, trust me, it goes a long way in the adverse weather conditions we’re currently experiencing!

Altamont has a few very diverse ranges and I’d classify this garment as much more of a simple item, it’s practical, very functional and looks really good, not a bad effort in my books. I like rolling with this hood in winter because it’s like skating in your favourite shirt, but with a hoody to cover your ears and keep them warm too

2P

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Skateboarding Product Reviews

Emerica – Up Chuck Hooded Flannel Shirt

To be honest, I’ve always been a big fan of Emerica’s apparel, they are a little bit ahead of the game and definitely one of the first clothing manufacturers to stop making traditional skate rags only!

The Up Chuck hoody is a good example of their innovative ideas, sure, it looks like a normal hooded, flannel shirt made by every other skateboard company out there, but it’s not, it features a thermal lining inside to keep you warm this winter. It’s super lightweight, slim fitting has a really nice and subtle flannel design throughout.

The shirt acts more like a hoody if I’m honest, but wear’s like a shirt. It’s practical and most importantly it’s warm so I guess it’s perfect in every way. Go get one.

2P

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Categories
DVD Reviews

Creature – Hesh Law

The hype on this video made it one of the most anticipated skate vids of 2009 for me personally. Creature’s 3rd full length mash up may not have made the Halloween deadline they would have liked but they got there in the end with hard graft, blood, sweat and tears and the results are fantastic. The format for their videos may not be for the purists out there who love to see full sections of their favourite pro riders but I think that Creature have hit the nail on the head again as this is a brilliant video that will get you hyped to skate.

Truman Hooker kicks things off with his creative, street style. Every trick he pulls out of thee bag is massive, carved out on really obscure spots, fast as fuck and definitely none of this slow, flip in, grind two inches stuff. This is raw, balls-out street skating the way it should be providing an amazing start to the video firing you up for more.

Next it’s one of the montage sections with Al Partanen steezin his hammers on transitions in Japan. Adrian Mallory brings his own creative style to the party alongside Darren Navarette’s slow motion vertical prowess, some shot in 16mm to give it some art barf but the footage overall is still presented with a raw edge. How could it not with the skaters on show here.

More montages appear throughout the video, which is what takes up the sections of Navs, Parts, Alex Horn, Sam Hitz, Neil Heddings and co which allows the young blood a chance to show they rip just as hard. This is somewhat annoying though as I wanted to see a full Heddings part as it’s been so long but don’t get me wrong the montages are rad. You have Pool Law which is just amazing. If you have never set foot in a pool before and are eager, this will be the catalyst you have been waiting for. Bridge Law is a montage of Washington Street and Burnside footage where the skating gets seriously gnar…you even get to see some blood and Heddings’ Vans tattoos on his feet, what a treat!

Devin Appello has a mad section with ‘fuck off’ music that could melt your mind. Some of the spots this dude skates are insane with tricks that are just banger after banger. Newcomer Sean Conover seems like he can flip in and out of any trick and BAKU make a guest appearance which is just immense. If you don’t know who BAKU are where the fuck have you been! This section is barrier skating at its very best with various tricks from the Beast of Guaveden who, after watching his blunt 360 flip, I realised was Chris Haslam but apparently that’s old news. Deerman of Darkwoods caps this section off with skating that will blow your tiny mind. After watching this section you will never say ‘this tranny is too tight’ again, unless you are one of those freaks who loves the filth of Thailand. Shocking stuff. There are a few other guest skaters in this flick as you would expect which include the likes of Hewitt, Guzman, Duane Peters and co but Sammy Baca stands out from the pack with footage from South America which has some insane tricks made much more impressive by the fact he seems to have a broken arm.

Adrian Mallory and Silent Mike have a crazy section with big tricks hucked out at fast speeds. Mallory seems like he’s just hanging on to every trick purely because he just doesn’t feel the need to slow down ever while Silent Mike is another of those guys who make the whole thing look effortless, much like Taylor Bingham whose blinding skating is fueled by a mean dose of gangsta rap which splits up the hardcore nicely.

The section most people want to see is David Gravette’s and you won’t be disappointed. It has his usual bail slide thing going on and its pretty much all hammers and handrails from start to finish with a really good mix of street and transition to boot. 2010 should be his year for Creature if he can keep himself injury free, it’s all his for the taking.

The end is another montage, this time with sessions on the Ramona vert ramp but with special smoke and green lighting. I wasn’t too sure about this section on first view. Even though it has some great skating, I had to watch it a few times to as it feels slightly disjointed from the rest of Hesh Law but that’s Creature all over, you just don’t know what’s coming next and they do things their own way and for good reason.

The real travesty lies in the end credits where Scottish ‘Overlord’ Stu Graham has just 4 tricks on show. The unfortunate lack of his presence is felt throughout the full production and it truly is a massive shame that he could spend so long living in the USA and not return with more footage than this. In my opinion there was not one smith grind in a pool throughout the whole edit that could have stood up to his. I’m sure I speak for many people in the UK when i say that I feel totally gutted about this outcome as we were all expecting much more from a guy who now has his name on a Creature deck.

The DVD has some extras like ‘Tales of the Larb’ which is a random cardboard animation and a concept by Sam Hitz and Mark Widmann, and Butt Country makes a comeback and Partanen has a section remix which is amazing – not sure why it wasn’t like that in the main video Bloodshed is an extra movie made by Buddy Nichols and Rick Charnoski shot in B-Movie/Slasher style and is funny as fuck. The plot is based around a pool that should never be jacked and the skaters pay in Blood for their actions. The best actor award goes to Steve Olson in this, his skills are equally as rad as the pool skating which is of course, awesome.

Overall Hesh Law is one of those skate videos that some people are going to think is the best thing ever and the style clowns will just think it’s a load of shite. I personally think it’s a great video and that you should own it. Go get a copy and remember what fun skateboarding pushed to its limits is all about.

TH

Categories
Skateboarding News

Looking back with Chris Oliver

If there’s one skater who has ripped our Crossfire events to bits annually since 2001, Chris Oliver‘s name would be in the mix for sure. Check some old footage of him from Puzzle as we look back on Chris from his days skating for Alai. We will bring you an interview with him this year for sure, it’s long overdue.

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Skateboarding News

Gang of Bledsoe

Alien Workshop rider Tyler Bledsoe features in this remix of the Gang of Fourstar European Tour in 2009. Should be a banging year for him if he keeps pushing it. Enjoy this.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Sunday Stooges go Shrimpin’

When the snow falls and skating looks unlikely it’s time to head for the hills and go shrimpin’. Kill City‘s Lee Dainton and the Sunday Stooges hit up the hills of Bleanavon this week for an old school breaks sesh…

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Skateboarding News

10 Tricks with Eddie Belvedere

Fresh to the web today, IPATH UK rider Eddie Belvedere knocks out 10 for Phil Harvey’s camera in Manchester’s Central Skatepark.

Eddie Belvedere Ipath 10 Tricks from PhilH on Vimeo.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Bristol’s Finest film now online

Here’s a treat for the weekend, the West Country’s best skaters feature in Bristol’s Finest which is now online to watch in its entirety. Read our recent review of this cracking edit here featuring footage of Dan Wileman, Paul Carter, Danny Wainwright, Flynn Trotman, Tom Gibbs, Jess Young, Dylan Hughes, Andy Makepeace, Nicky Howells, Dave Snaddon, Korahn Gayle and many more.

BRISTOL’S FINEST from Bristol's Finest on Vimeo.

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Buzz Chart

You Me At Six

And so, after forging themselves one hell of a fanbase completely independent of any major label, You Me At Six return with second album ‘Hold Me Down‘ and a little extra push from Virgin Records.

No strangers to writing a catchy tune having released an album full to the brim of them in 2008 with ‘Take Off Your Colours’, YMAS have fast become a teen favourite, selling out headline tours in their own right as well as supporting the likes of US pop-punk heavyweights Paramore and Fall Out Boy.

The album’s lead track ‘The Consequence‘ sets it off to a flying start a with a tightly paced verse-chorus pattern seeing the band let loose to a certain degree in the choruses. But the song peaks with the breakdown right at the end which features a full-on incorporation of the band’s most melodic traits and some more aggressive riffing and background screams to add an edge. It’s imperative to start as you mean to go on after all.

The album unfolds with angsty lyrics as is to be expected but there is definitely a jubilant air about these songs as the band are clearly living their dream and, considering that in many ways this is just the beginning, they have achieved pretty heady heights of success so far.

Instead of clicking play above this time, drop your eyes down and check out the song by watching the video.

Winegums.

Categories
Music News

Animal Collective release the ‘Brother Sport’ video

Animal Collective have released a new video today for track Brother Sport from their 2009 lauded LP Merriweather Post Pavilion. View the eggsellent results here.