Multi-platinum selling artists Filter and P.O.D are to return to the UK in early 2009 for a co-headline tour. The UK shows are part of a 31 date tour that will take the bands all over Europe. This will be P.O.D’s first shows in the UK for 5 years and marks a welcome return to Filter who toured Europe this summer.
14th October 2008
Band shot by Nick Brown
Last photo on this page by some lad from Leeds.
SSS (aka SHORT SHARP SHOCK) are that one of those bands that you need in your life.
Their mix of bolshy hardcore, thrash and metal has impressed and attacked ears all over the UK and are set to light up more on a forthcoming tour to promote their second full length on Earache Records.
Crossfire’s Tom Lindsey decided to get the best out of lead singer Foxy from his home of Liverpool and delves into the background of why SSS need to be on your stereo.
So let’s kick this off by asking what happened to Dave on the ‘Get in the Van‘ tour with Cold Ones and Down and Outs this year?
Dave went into hospital before we started the tour with pneumonia. He went in on the Tuesday, we found out Wednesday and we were starting tour on the Thursday. So we were in the middle of recording vox and I said. “listen- i got this idea”. So me and Mark legged it down the hospital and proposed the idea that we strip away the guitars and bass and vox from old and new LP, put the drums through the PA, play along and karaoke it up! We were all getting nearly burnt out with doing the LP and we had to get out of town. Shame Dave couldn’t come of course, but i couldn’t stay in Liverpool another week while everyone was on a tour having a laff!
So we filmed Dave in his hospital bed-head banging, we all had viruses on our computers so we edited the vid and outputted online. Then we looped it and put it on our Russian video mp3 player, took a TV with us on tour and placed it behind the kit and ….viola. Dave was still on tour, in spirit at least! It was a really odd doing this but it worked. Something was better than nothing, or worse & nbsp; canceling. People buzzed off what we scrambled together!
What do you get up to on the road?
I’m usually driving. That’s all that happens on the road. 3 in the front and one in the rocking chair in the back! Not really seeing much apart from the road, trees and petrol stations along the way. If we have time and there’s a concrete skate hole in the ground that finds itself on the radar then we load in early and go skate it. Frontside shralp and back to the the venue. Try and cram in as much as possible in is always on the agenda.
Talking of skating you have graced the skate scene a few times with your Night of the Living Dead skate jams, is there intention there to continue these in skate parks or have the boat parties replaced them for good?
Those events for UK skateboarding were a pivotal point i think. The scale and success took me by surprise. I always wanted them to be good. but they got to the core of people’s imagination and attitude and they exploded. Skate all night, bands playing, fly in Antihero, Black Label, Real teams, Death match and blow some stuff up! Liverpool made people go berserk! The City is a law unto itself but it got big too fast and the pressure to come up with new and inventive things got to much. That’s why it died. Everyone wanted a piece, crap shoe companies and energy drink shite hawks wanting in on the underground. Well….we make the underground and you’re not welcome. Plus attitudes at the park changed for the worse.
I avoided this as much as possible but it consumed itself over a very short space of time. The DIY attitude hasn’t left, it’s just been directed into other areas now. Like you say the Halloween events have found new venues, the emphasis is now music. Decorate the place up get great bands to play and tear it down. Never say never though….I was talking to someone about this the other day about doing a new event so you never know…
Looking back, what are the highlights from these past events?
That the kids got stoked on the teams that came over and could rub shoulders with their heroes and at the same time snake them, give them shit and get amped in (at the time) the best sk8park in the UK.That everyone who came got blown away by the attitude of the whole event – a beer soaked 70ft long bowl people slammin’, Slayer playing, fireworks going off! It was unreal! The yanks went home scratching their heads going why can’t we have something like this? Bringing in a PA. getting bands I wanted to see destroy on a makeshift stage made of 70 pallets that got stacked up. Dropdead, Leatherface, Send More Paramedics, Conquest of Steel etc.
Also when I threw out pigs hearts at number Night of the Living Dead 3 kids didn’t think they were real! Two sk8rats brought one back going these are fake! I said eat it and tell me if you reckon it’s rubber! One bit into it and tasted the blood and puked on the other ones shoes!
Is there a favourite city/venue SSS love playing?
Newport is always a good laff, get messy with the loose locals at the gig, Grim from freestyle sk8 shop let’s us stay at his, sk8 his backyard ramp in the morn and load up at the greasy spoon cafe at the end of his street. Birmingham is cool too. Always a good mixed crowd that gets into the spirit very quickly. plus when we done we can drive home to our own beds. Hometown Liverpool gigs are always fun. The clowns come out to play and things happen. Lubline in Poland was off it’s head. The place was rammed when we toured last year with our good friends Daymares. We played every song and they wouldn’t let us leave! Dave kept standing up and this big punk polish fella picked him up and said. “more, more, you play more!” Europe as a whole loves music. I suppose anywhere that isn’t infected with the hardcore-dogshit-too-cool-for school attitudes. In the UK, that is few and far between.
Have there been any changes to your live show since the last time you were on tour? Are you playing any new material from the new album?
Yeah. We have started to get the newer stuff into the mix. About time too really as been playing this first LP for coming up to 2 years now so things can feel as they are going through the motions on occasion. Always good to mix set lists up. We have been practicing hard and have gotten tight with the new songs. We aren’t on the same page as we were with the first LP.
What have been your influences and mind sets going into he studio to record? I’ve read that your approach to this record is far more aggressive than your debut…
We have avoided painting ourselves into a musical corner, however, things could get boring very quickly so we have delved into our big musical pockets as it were to draw influence from more areas. We did a gig on Sept 11th and that was 80% new stuff. A lot of those songs played for the 1st time. People were into it, or so they said, they could of just been being polite! Ha!. I’ve still got some views to air on this record, aggression to come out musically with us all so yes, I’d say it’s a bit relentless on occasions.
Give us the SSS Top 5 must-have bands on the van stereo…
Dag Nasty, Smoking Popes, Metallica, Lungfish and Queen.
Top 5 skate vids?
Wheels of Fire, Blind Video Days, Shackle Me Not, 1st Anti Hero vid and Speed Freaks.
Spill the beans on stuff we don’t know…
The first ever gig SSS did we jumped on at the 247 club in Liverpool and did 3 songs. Some donkey skinhead giving us V’s right in my face. His pint got slapped out of his hand, so he went the bar and got another, again he trying to be funny so I did the same-smash. Then when we done he’s causing fights with our friends so I picked him up from behind, chucked him down the stairs! he slid on his back backwards down the steps while everyone giving him shit, spitting on him, throwing empty cans on him and pouring the dregs of pints on him. Classic stuff!
Mark and Pete blagged Dave they went to a topless Chinese after a gig once in London. That the waitress poured the soy sauce off her tits onto your food! He was gutted.They forgot to tell him it wasn’t true and after 2 weeks of him telling everyone how he missed out, they remembered! Oh and Thrash musical chairs anyone?
Ha! We know you guys appreciate the collectors out there. Will we be seeing any limited edition releases of the new album?
Yeah. There’s a splatter wax edition for the release gig in Liverpool and on the Earache webshop. Plus if you buy the CD/LP from an independent record shop you get a free Skate and Destroy 7″ on splatter wax too. 6 songs about skating. Plus we got a special guest in the form of Frank Sidebottom. He lays down some serious bosanova riffage! Grimace to SSS and smile to Frank at the same time! Ha! Records come with pullout poster, stickers and all that jazz. The limited editions of records have always been our thing. People that have been with us from the start and get down early will get a good limited package. Once they are gone, they are gone.
The general consensus amongst the music world is that SSS are the figurehead of the modern UK thrash movement. Does that give you a sense of pride or pressure?
It’s cool that people are into what we do. The biggest gift is that a kid is stoked on our record as much as we are. The fact that we are on our 2nd LP is off its head. we never set out to take it this far but to have 50+ songs under our belt at this stage is mega. The whole thrash movement isn’t what we are about though. We have grown up in different climates.If people need to tag us with a label to make it understood and digestible to others then so be it. No pressure has been felt as yet, we will always take our time, and work things out in our own way. We work pretty fast, plus everything is done in-house as it were. We can demo songs easily in our practice room, they can sink in and if anything needs changing it can be done there and then. This flexibility is key as we hate being on any sort of clock. We played Prague and these Russian lads got a train for 36 hours to see us. They were massive and were scared of flying. That floored us that hey traveled all that way. Unreal!
Even though you signed to Earache, you’re still heavily affiliated with Dead & Gone Records. Do you think it’s important to keep in touch with your roots?
Nothing has really changed after signing. We still have families, kids, mortgages and jobs. Daily life doesn’t stop. When we tour we still get a transit from Birkenhead van hire, 3 in the front and one on a rocking chair in the back! The only difference is that Earache has dedicated staff to get your record out to the furthest corners of the planet. Our roots run so deep I don’t think we will ever want to cut loose from them. It’s always nice to swim in the big sea and play really big venues/bands – that sort of thing gets you exposure to a bigger crowd and the experience is mega. I’ts always nice to come back home to the garden pond. – you know what i mean? SSS will always be a photocopied band. We are far too ugly and don’t look good in gloss!
How did the hook up with Earache happen?
When the first press of record came out. we were all proud that we got it out. We wanted everyone to know about it too. So posted out 150+envelopes with a CD and covering letter to every label we could think of. A good exercise in self promotion. It was like…here’s what we have made, take a look. Our good friends Ian Glasper, Zac from Crossfire and James Sherry were flying the flag for us and a few bits a pieces ended up in the mags and helped us out. The New York office got the CD, as did Earache HQ in Nottingham at the same time. a conjunction of stellar proportions made everyone site up and take notice at the same time. i got an email from and Al in NYC. they wanted us to sign without even seeing us play. They said the infamy surrounding the band and the music itself sold us, so we scribbled.
You recently played with hardcore legends Negative Approach. How was it playing with a band that is so respected and has been so influential over the years?
It’s always good to be asked to play with a band that are such heavy hitters as NA. Sure there was a line of bands that would have chopped off an arm to do it too, So the gig wasn’t taken lightly by any means. It was great to play with them, the place was packed! People were up for it and it went off. I’ve got a checklist for the band of things we want to achieve. That was one of them.
You have recently toured with Gallows, a band which has had a lot of mainstream coverage recently. What was it like being exposed to a larger audience both live and in the press?
For me (remember this is my first ever band), the learning curve for that tour was straight up. Those size of venues and to interact with that many people is a world apart from what we were used to. The banter went over the heads of a generally younger crowd. On some of those stages I felt like a headmaster at assembly. There were pockets of people into it though at each gig and we’d be straight back on the stand hawking our wares and talking to people who came down. We’d always look at each other and go “how daft is this!” that we were even on that tour. Hats off to gallows for even taking three completely different sounding bands on tour with ’em. Definitely one to remember that’s for sure. Some of the press got it, some didn’t that’s just the way it was. All press no matter how good or bad, it all counts.
You’ve known each other for years and have been together as a band for a while as well. Now you’ve reached the point of that difficult second album are there any tensions in the band?
The black cloud did loom over our heads but the way we work is very fast, even to this day i still don’t know how 30 songs came together to be whittled down to 20 that go on the 2nd lp/cd. We have only been together coming up for 3 years. It was still a big task and that pressure is all external, we never really felt it internally. I can remember writing some full lyrics to songs, some stuff on the bus to and from town, loads of scraps of paper with one liners on in my notebooks. One song had been done two years ago and that was the very last one to be finished lyric-wise. Again for me I can say that i wouldn’t put any other words down on paper just to fill it up. Each one has to say summit, have an idea and a meaning and a conclusion. We as a band wanted the best we can do, a snap-shop of were we are at, at this point in time. I’d say the only strain was getting all the elements of recording, art, dvd to collide at the same time. The best they can be. The few weeks staying up late due to endless lists in your mind was the only part that done my head in. Me and Mark having conversations daily on what done and what’s to be done. That sort of stuff shapes the record as well. Last minute tweaks until the deadlines reached.
Anybody want to make a solo record? Arty electro journey through self expression for Foxy? Nu-Rave album for Dave?
We have some other bands on the go, that’s were the valves are to release that pressure. Mark is in a band called the Down and Outs. I’m in a band called the Bendal Interlude. Both are worlds apart from SSS.
If you had to do one of the following things which one would you choose and why?
a) Caught in a mosh with Anthrax.
b) Caught in a bong with Municipal Waste.
c) Surfing Nicaragua with Sacred Reich.
We don’t do drugs, surfing is for fags so caught in a mosh it is! Why? – You can scoop your brains out with a rusty spoon, beat your chest like kong or bark at the moon and no-one cares what you look like.
And finally the obligatory end of interview question; what can we expect from SSS in the future?
Roll on the 3rd lp! We’d all like to travel in time to see what our 5th LP will be like actually. That’s the ultimate goal, that’s the test , to get it to that stage. It’d be great to look back and think we did all those. You can look at them as a time line. Like a diary and always be in print and if someone gets stoked on it. Bingo. To get the the checklist ticked off with new places to play, bands to take stage with, countries to visit is always up there. Take SSS as far as it can, and look back and laugh. Cheers for the interview, see everyone at an SSS gig soon!
New LP called “The Dividing Line” is out 20th October 2008 on Earache Records. Check for releases, gig info and limited records galore and visit the SSS MySpace for live dates kicking off soon.
“I can’t say I have the time!” sang Vic Ruggiero, a man best known as the vocalist and organist of NYC ska stalwarts The Slackers, on one of his band’s most popular tracks (‘Have The Time’). The man does not lie; and given that he’s released no fewer than 17 albums with The Slackers since the early 90s (as well as four previous solo albums), it’s a wonder that he can spare any time to sleep. You’d think that such a quantity of releases would result in a lack of quality.but, well, you’d be wrong.
‘Something In My Blindspot‘ sees Vic temporarily abandoning the ska-based sounds of his ‘day job’ band in favour of a more stripped down, rootsy vibe. ‘Innocent Girl‘ is a beautifully simple acoustic jaunt, owing a debt to classic 60s pop, whilst ‘If This Night‘ is a banjo-led folk/country number. There are also a couple of soulful duets, featuring Lisa Mueller (of German swing band Black Cat Zoot) and a wild, squalling brass section at work on ‘Lonely Nights‘. You can almost imagine Vic and his band checking into a remote countryside studio and recording this album amidst late-night jam sessions, conversations and a few beers. And frankly, it sounds all the better for it.
Overall, ‘Something In My Blindspot‘ is a great record that constantly refuses to be pigeonholed into any particular genre. Check out ‘Taking Care Of Business‘ on the link above.
GZA will be performing at three venues across the UK in November. Fans can expect brand spanking new material including the best of his previous material as well as tracks from his acclaimed ’95 release ‘Liquid Swords’ (in addition to classic Wu Tang tracks).
He will be supported by the likes of Skinnyman & Cool Ninja Sound ft. Buggsy & Mr. Bang On plus regional artists.
The Duffs team have been busy traveling and shooting footage alongside finding new recruits to their shoe team worldwide. Check out the latest footy from the UK below.
After months of heats the worlds top turntablists finally make it to the world finals in London to battle for the coveted gold turntables. After a few years of getting overly technical, judging on the heats we are in for a more “back to music” approach and less of the complex scratch patterns that although difficult, aren’t always the most pleasing to your ears!
The first night at the 02 Indigo was dedicated to the battle DJs, the format is two sets each of 60seconds. This is DJs just straight up have to flex skills and egos to earn the panel of judges favor. Of all the elements of hiphop, this to me at least, is the most technical and universally respected. An emcee can practice lines, a writer can spray and erase, breakers can perfect their routines but a battle DJ has the unexpected elements of a track skipping under pressure, mis-cueing or simply making an error, the slightest fault is instantly punished by the judges.
The first set of battles saw Mikey from Hong Kong drop heavy bass but ultimately wasn’t a match for Frances highly rated DJ Nelson who crushed him without even looking warmed up. Craim from Italy dropped some funk and stretched the minute out in style with some precision juggling. The UK Champ, DJ Switch definitely had worked hard since his UK final victory to breeze through another 60seconds of insults. USA’s SPS, looked over confident before the needle even touched the record and was cocky in a very calm way to annoy DJ Irie from Benelux, both put in work with Irie cutting his way through a heavy weight set bringing the BoomBap to proceedings, the crowd were all for Irie, he smashed it, but SPS went through on technical merit to the next round, even the emcess taking us through the night, Trip and Billy Bizness looked a bit embarrassed.
Last years Supremacy champ was back to defend his title, rocking a shirt stating ” Nelson = French Bitch” and cutting samples calling Nelson a Bitch, dumb move. Nelson was wound up and battled back with Rage Against the Machine’s first album pulling out the riffs on the decks and wiped the former champ out. DJs were dropping like flys, Craim was suffering technical difficulties, Bunta from Japan looked the part with his fat gold chain but failed to impress, Switch was on hand to knock them both down to make it to the final.
The final put Nelson head to head with Switch. Nelson was bashful and stepped straight in to hard bass drums and taking every spare second to bate his opponent. Switch replied with a straight up battle set, no pretty juggling, jumping a level up from his already high standards, and even felt he could smooth things out while casually slating his opponent on track. I couldn’t pick between them and both of these guys were a cut above the other DJs on the night, but in the eyes of the judges, Switch took it and is the World DMC Supremecy Champion for 2008, worth noting that the first guy to shake Switch’s hand to congratulate him was DJ Nelson, its all love.
Next up is the team event – Portugal’s Supa had the misfortune of kicking off the sets with dual scratch routines, but the sound levels were mixed up and only the stage area received sound. USA’s Angry Ex’s setup in about 90seconds, just decks and mixers, these guys approached it as two DJs mixing hard, rather than over complicating things with multiple laptops, they just had fun up on stage winning the crowd over instantly, would be amazing seeing a full club set from these two technically gifted jokers. Intellivision from Italy started to warm things up with their LED glowing glasses and Mission Impossible beat juggle, very organized and intense and straight in to 3rd Place. The French crew, Trauma Team battled in to second with a 4 man set putting together their own sound from scratch (sorry!) but it was the Japanese team to take it again. Kireek are on a roll, the 2 Djs from Osaka have been pushing each other for a few years now and it wasn’t a surprise they took it for a 2nd year in a row and walked away with $10000 prize money!
Saturday is the main event, bigger crowd and a lot of much bigger name, established DJs along for the 6minute sets. Highlights were DJ Shub with a very complete set of making his own music and still hitting every aspect of mixing and might have been the first to even bother with his “up-faders” on the night. Rob Banks from Germany put in a faultless set with some stomping beats, Perplex had battled through technical difficulties to get his quick sound out. The UK Champ, DJ Skully drove the crowd wild with a no-messing-around mentality, straight in to a routine, no seconds wasted with a pointed intro and blazed some UK hiphop and breezed from tempo to tempo using musical breakdowns and combined technical ability to keep the judges happy, I hoped for a UK double victory, but Skully made a respectable 4th, another night he could have taken it.
Japan delivered a heavy showing as ever, DJ CO-MA will be hoping to follow in DJ Kentaros footsteps who took 3rd in 2001 and then stormed to victory the following year. Working his battle tools to melting point with a smooth electro juggle at warp speed showing pretty much a full repertoire of tricks and treats while keeping the music flowing, might feel hard done by with 3rd place, I suspect he will be back. 2nd Place went to the USA in the shape of DJ Slyce. Coming off more technical than the other DJs, maybe at the expense of the music – but manually spinning the decks backwards in a beat juggle mixed with high speed flares definitely got the crowd riled, faultless.
1st place however went to Frances DJ Fly, no holds barred here, treated it as battle set to start with and confidently abused the decks with a very strong style and played equally to the crowd with DJ Premier samples and to the judges with new scratch patterns and seamless juggles remixing drums as he went along. Any of the Top 4 could have taken the title, but on reflection, Fly had all the prime parts of each of the other top 4 DJs worked in to his arsenal so he justly takes the prize money, but more importantly the Gold Technics and the right to be called The World DMC Champion, props.
The DMC’s aren’t just about battle DJ’s competing, sets from DJ Vajra and former champions like last years DJ Rafik broke up the night. Live PAs from The Jungle Drummer got the club atmosphere going, while Kella came out of nowhere with a full live band and a full on large sound that had him rapping, singing and of course beatboxing with the added flavor of an artist completely out of his shell and violently attacking his latest sound of mashup/punk, definitely have to catch a full live show, he is brutally taking the art form in so many directions right now.
Again the DMC’s came up with an inspirational world class event, showing strength in depth from a world class judging panel that included legends like DJ Pogo and former champ DJ Rafik, nobody could argue with the end results. Even the technical problems didn’t spoil the mood with emcees Billy Bizness and the motormouth Trip both on top form keeping the crowd amused with playful banter and more product tosses than a crossfire event!
Adrenaline Alley, Corby
5th and 6th September 2008
Sequence Bosworth double flip grab – Jerome Loughran
Vert: Andy Horsley
Street Photos: Lee Johnson
As you’ll already know by watching the footage that is appearing, the level of skating that was on display for the first ever UKSA Championships in Corby on the 6-7th was incredible and was over and above anything that I have ever seen in this country. You can see for yourself the utterly piss take quality of the skaters, who despite some pretty gnarly injuries still managed to put on some of the most impressive skating that this country has seen recently, which by today’s standards is no joke.
The fine people of the UKSA and Adrenaline Alley managed to put on a seemingly hitch-free weekend, cramming in 150 UK pro skaters, which, considering the time scale was no mean feat. The qualifiers went off. Every knew that they were here to represent their sponsors in front of almost the entire skate community and to try for the big money purse that was on offer. It’s not surprising that it was enough to spur everyone into pulling out the very best – everyone gave their all.
Some notable skaters that shone through the qualifiers were Cliché’s latest addition, John Tanner, who skated smoothly into the semi finals unfortunately picking up an ankle injury, which stopped him getting any further. Death’s Rob Smith put on his gnarly boots and climbed onto the highest part of the park to jump out of Noseblunt into the highest ramp in the street course in the middle of his heat, causing the whole crowd to erupt which has got to be worth a space in the writeup.
Onto the finals:
‘Street Pete’ King qualified for the finals in both street and vert and used the whole street course throwing out 360 ollies, bluntslides and grinds up the rails as well as long feebles and feeble 180out slung into runs after a full day of vert skating. Serious business.
Blueprint‘s Ben Nordberg skated well with his usual asleep-at-the-wheel lazy style with nollie bigspins BS Noseblunt reverts, FS bigspins over the hips and hardflips all executed looking like he was about to nod off. Team mate Neil Smith powered through to the finals with switch 5050s down the big rail and nollie heelflips booted over the funbox and took a respectable 8th.
Winner of the best trick, Dan Wileman, was killing it with some seriously tech moves to be pulling out in a jam. Consistent is not the word. He finished up with 360 flips to 5-0 along and down the ledge for the best trick jam and took the money home with a massive ollie to FS Tailslide bigspin out at breakneck speed. Tom Harrison was blasting massive tuckknees and 360flips all over the place as well as flip nose manuals ending up 6th over.
The top 5 though really took the piss. Dave Snaddon came up with some serious power moves which was to be expected after his Savoir Faire part. Flip back lips to fakie in a contest run after a weekend of skating is definitely not fannying around.
Grove took his shirt off and attacked the course with his usual disregard for his own personal safety. BS ollie from the kicker to flat, BS Flips and ollie over the funbox to BS 5050 down the hubba along with a weekend of gnarly skating secured him 4th.
From the second the final three pushed off everyone in the park could see that they were going off the hook and wanted the top prize. Chris Oliver, Kris Vile and Ross McGouran took the top places and went mental, skating like men possessed. Kris was skating with a previously injured ankle against doctors orders and still got some staggering moves notched up with Flips to fakie over the Koston block and bigspin boardslides standing out.
Ross McGouran skated fast with incredible board control landing almost everything he tried the whole weekend. Kickflip Nosegrinds on ledges are impressive enough at the best of times, but doing them while avoiding 4 other high speed skaters in a jam format and keeping your cool is something else. I can’t even begin to describe the BS 360kickflip over the hip but I’ll have a go anyway: spontaneous, the first go, completely out of nowhere and bolts perfect, it’s easily one of the best things I have ever seen firsthand on a skateboard. I watched with the rest of the crowd in amazement as everyone in the second final heat blew the roof off.
Chris Oliver followed up an amazing year and an incredible video part by claiming the top prize at the first ever UKSA Championships. Everything he tried was claimed and he made everything look like he was fucking about. BS disaster reverts on the biggest quarter, BS Double flips, FS Flips, Flip Melons, 360Flips, Bluntslides, Kickflips up the kickers to the roll ins.
I’ll be honest, I missed the Vert qualifiers but managed to make it over to the ramp for the final and I’m pleased to report that the vert skating community didn’t disappoint. I’ve skated that ramp, and by skated it, I mean, pumped up to about a foot below the coping from the flat bottom and almost fouled myself looking over the edge. So to see those guys, tearing it a new one was pretty impressive in itself, even more so when you consider the age of some of them. Its very easy to forget how old someone is when they are blasting 8 foot airs out of the top of a 14 ft ramp and spinning back to back 540’s on every surface which is a testament to the level that the new breed of British vert skating is at. There’s no denying this was incredible.
Paul Luc Roncetti, Sam Beckett and 13 yr old Sam Bosworth proved that Vert is not purely for the “old dudes who’ve been in it since the 80s” and made everything look like they were skating a 3ft mini instead of Corby’s dirty great vert beast. Christ Airs, Alleyoop flip melons, 540’s and Caballerial flip grabs all made appearances and stoked the crowd out. I was virtually speechless at the level that they were skating at. It’s definitely not easy skating in front of hundreds of people but it seemed like they were all having a laugh and going for it which can only be a good thing.
Pete King barged it with switch lip tricks and huge airs progressing to the final in both street and vert events and being the only person to do so. Dave Allen was hucking out some crowd pleasing inverts and handplants, as was Sean Goff, who has been holding it down in Vert for over 20 years and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
A personal highlight for me was seeing Andy Scott. Back Tailslide shove it out, Sugarcanes and Backside Crailslides reverting the wrong way all got the crowd screaming and really highlighted how good you have to be to skate something that big especially in a jam.
I heard from a fairly reliable source that over the course of the two days there were more 540s performed than in the rest of British skating history before it. British skateboarding is definitely not fucking about.
Trying to write everything that happened into such a small space is the hardest thing as there is only so much that you can watch but the level of skating throughout the entire weekend was unbelievable so just watch the videos on this page. Anyone that thinks that British Skateboarding is going to be lolling about in the shadow of America is in for a serious wake up call if this comp is anything to go by.
My voice is still hoarse nearly a week later, I’m exhausted but I wouldn’t change a thing and I’ll be at the front of the queue for next year. If for nothing else than to see where they can go from here.
Thanks to everyone that made it possible and especially all at the UKSA.
Multi-platinum selling artists Filter and P.O.D are to return to the UK in early 2009 for a co-headline tour. The UK shows are part of a 31 date tour that will take the bands all over Europe. This will be P.O.D’s first shows in the UK for 5 years and marks a welcome return to Filter who toured Europe this summer.
What do you get up to on the road?
Looking back, what are the highlights from these past events?
The general consensus amongst the music world is that SSS are the figurehead of the modern UK thrash movement. Does that give you a sense of pride or pressure?
You have recently toured with 
“I can’t say I have the time!” sang Vic Ruggiero, a man best known as the vocalist and organist of NYC ska stalwarts The Slackers, on one of his band’s most popular tracks (‘Have The Time’). The man does not lie; and given that he’s released no fewer than 17 albums with The Slackers since the early 90s (as well as four previous solo albums), it’s a wonder that he can spare any time to sleep. You’d think that such a quantity of releases would result in a lack of quality.but, well, you’d be wrong.
Winner of the best trick, Dan Wileman, was killing it with some seriously tech moves to be pulling out in a jam. Consistent is not the word. He finished up with 360 flips to 5-0 along and down the ledge for the best trick jam and took the money home with a massive ollie to FS Tailslide bigspin out at breakneck speed. Tom Harrison was blasting massive tuckknees and 360flips all over the place as well as flip nose manuals ending up 6th over. 
Paul Luc Roncetti, Sam Beckett and 13 yr old Sam Bosworth proved that Vert is not purely for the “old dudes who’ve been in it since the 80s” and made everything look like they were skating a 3ft mini instead of Corby’s dirty great vert beast. Christ Airs, Alleyoop flip melons, 540’s and Caballerial flip grabs all made appearances and stoked the crowd out. I was virtually speechless at the level that they were skating at. It’s definitely not easy skating in front of hundreds of people but it seemed like they were all having a laugh and going for it which can only be a good thing. 
I heard from a fairly reliable source that over the course of the two days there were more 540s performed than in the rest of British skating history before it. British skateboarding is definitely not fucking about.
