Atmosphere are releasing another Sad Clown Bad Dub.
The Minneapolis duo, who have release Sad Clown Bad Summer 9 and Sad Clown Bad Fall 10 are now putting out Sad Clown Bad Winter 11, to be released on December 18th.
The EP is described as one that will “make you forget all about those dark cold nights”, and we at Crossfire can’t wait. The group’s sixth studio album, When Life Gives You Lemons…, is due for release in 2008.
You can download Don’t Stop from the new EP by clicking here.
The Strokes have no idea what is happening with their next album.
Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr said that the group have nothing concrete decided for their next album, the follow up to 2006’s First Impressions Of Earth. Speaking recently, he said:
“They’re still my friends. I just talked to them the other day, we definitely talk about things…I just have learned that, unless there’s something in concrete that we’ve all decided, then I can’t really say anything. It wouldn’t be my place. It would be our place as a group.”
As I Lay Dying have confirmed some UK dates.
The band will hit the country in March next year with Evergreen Terrace. You can see them on the following dates:
20th – Fibbers, York
21st – Barfly, Aberdeen
22nd – Barfly, Liverpool
23rd – Barfly, Cardiff
24th – Barfly, Cambridge
Printed Matter have released a limited edition series of decks featuring the artwork of Liam Gillick, Mark Gonzales, and Ari Marcopoulos.
Each board is in a series of 100 signed by each artist, with The Gonz’s artwork being described as “a colored offset image of various types of untied sneakers…an image with child-like charm that parodies the act of skateboarding, which demands shoes touching a skateboard’.
www.printedmatter.org for more details
The Berrics site is getting regular updates now, so check the footage from Eric Koston pretty much destroying the place in about 10mins.
Click here for Battle Commander action, and head over to www.theberrics.com for more.
Yep, its that time of the year again and we have taken the liberty of organising another event for you to enjoy on Saturday 8th December 2007.
This years Crossfire Xmas Skate Jam is in association with Osiris Shoes and will take place at Bay Sixty 6 Skatepark in West London. Kick off is at 12 midday and the skate jam will end at 6pm. Unsponsored comps will start from 1pm-2.3pm then a pro jam from 3pm onwards and end it with a product toss.
Special guest riders from the Osiris US team will include Corey Duffel, Garrett Hill, John Rattray and Diego Bucchieri plus Brandon Ide and Adam Moss from the UK Team plus UK pro riders from Venture, Creme, Blueprint, Heroin, Landscape, The Harmony, Karma, Death, Creature, Casual, Plan B, DGK, Spitfire and 50:50.
Fingers crossed, a new obstacle will be built for the jam. Last year we had the Whale courtesy of Fos, this year, who knows, but we will update you as we plan on this site.
The Jam will be followed with our traditional Crossfire Xmas Party with a DJ line up and the European premiere of Osiris ‘Feed The Need’ DVD that will be released this Xmas. Click here for the trailer. The party will be held in Corbet Place, The Old Truman Brewery, Ely’s Yard, 15 Hanbury Street, London, E1 6QR and will be a £5 guest list on the door. Join the Crossfire newsletter from the homepage to get an invite. Over 18’s only.
More premieres of this film will be shown around the country from the 8th December onwards, look out for the dates on this site soon but until then, start planning your journey in advance and spread the word.
Volcom are to bring a vinyl series out.
The Volcom Ent. Vinyl Club will be a subscription based split 7″ series with artists such as Birds of Avalon, Dark Meat, Earthless, Monotonix, Red Fang, RTX, Totimoshi, Turbonegro, Tweak Bird, Valient Thorr, Witch, and Year Long Disaster contributing songs in 2008.
Turbonegro and Year Long Disaster will share the first release, which will ship to VEVC subscribers in February. Subscriptions are $30 for six 7″ which will be released every other month and are available worldwide.
Electric Ballroom
28.11.07
I remember the first time I ever heard Pendulum‘s “Through the Loop“. I was on a bus sitting down like a normal human, when my mate whacks out her iPod and demands I take a listen. As soon as Willy Wonka started speaking I was hooked. Sat on a packed bus on a cold November Saturday afternoon, looking like I’d ingested God only knows when the beat kicked in and I lost control of my limbs. This is exactly what this gig was like. It gripped hold and I had to go with the flow.
When I rocked up about 40 minutes before stage time and scooted my way to the bar I was promptly covered by 2 boys’ enthusiasm, dancing residue and the remnants of the water they kept hurling over their heads. My question “If this is what you’re like before they play, are you not just going to look like jelly by the time they’re on?” received a standard rave Dave “We fucking love it!” The challenge was on and everyone looked up for it. As soon as the lights began and the beats started, it was a mad dash for a spot, to commence with the movement. Dancing like your Cousin who’s clearly the product of an incestuous relationship is totally acceptable at this gig, heck it was positively encouraged and wet dog L’Oreal adverts would have hit gold with the filming opportunity. Everyone looked like the equivalent of one of those Red Noses with hair on speed.
For me, I find that there’s nothing worse than the new album not being out yet and you feeling lost at a gig that should be kicking your ass, but these guys avoided this with a mix-tape of genius. They played the latest single (Granite) and in the car it’s enough to cause me to skirt curbs like a pro skater, but live…you better just hope you’re ready. Some gigs require banter, it brings you that little closer to the band, but here words were not necessary. Filthy beats, dirty guitar and a trio doing their upmost to smash their feet through the stage. What more could you ask for? Drugs? That really would have blown me through the roof of The Ballroom (fitting if it was glass, don’t you think?)
When “Slam” kicked in the force of the bass was enough to send the weak of heart (who should not have attended) running for the hills. Desperately fighting to not fall over, to get as close to the action as possible and the sweaty madness on stage (those boys like to rave) I ended up crowd surfing and then desperately wriggling free when I realised they were going to send me over the barriers. Out? I don’t want out. I want to stay this sweaty and hyped for the rest of my life. When Pendulum describe their sound on MySpace as “a wall of sound” they couldn’t have put it better, because I could have built a house from it.
My only disappointments? That I wasn’t equipped with glow sticks or sweat proof make-up and that Willy Wonka didn’t turn up for an encore. Ladies and Gentlemen, Pendulum have arrived and I’m pretty sure their feet are planted firm.
Keri Stanley
My first Cliché deck was one of their first ever runs with the team model that ripped off the infamous Coca Cola logo. Like a premonition, Cliché grew, and grew and grew some more until they established themselves as the undisputed ambassadors of European skateboarding and refined taste. With such a heavy reputation to uphold, you need your product to be top knotch, so I expected no less from the latest Javier Mendizabal model.
Seeing as the average board shape will not change anytime soon, the real area for innovation is in the materials and the moulds. The Airline series uses the redline concave with 8 ply epoxy glue construction. The combination of epoxy glue and 8 tightly pressed plies makes for a strong and light board. The redline concave moulds a rather mellow shape that’s easy to adapt to all terrains with.
Initially I found the Mendizabal board to be a bit pointy on the nose and tail ends, but the general proportions let plenty of room to get positioned for slides. I got used to the pointy ness and enjoyed some lengthy tailslides and found that flip tricks spun a lot faster and controlled than on previous decks I’ have ridden with bolder shapes. The wood kept it’s snap too which is always a bonus when you expect quick reactions from your board.
Honestly, this deck surprised me and has kept me happy because to be honest, Cliché boards are not usually my first pick off the rack. From now on though, I’ll definitely be checking in and checking out their boards more often.
7.5/10
Ralph L-D
Playstation 3 / Xbox 360
EA
www.skate.share.ea.com
When the first images of Skate appeared in the gaming media approximately one year ago, an entire community covered their mouths, stifled their gasps, and clenched their fists. Their reactions were perfectly justified. In an era where it is impossible to underestimate the power of the screenshot, Skate‘s minimalist but lavishly detailed preliminary images set forums alight.
The fact that these grabs consisted of little more than two feet on a board was largely irrelevant; the cultures were unified in their pursuit of a skating game without 10,000,000,000 point combos, fantastical web-slinging flip tricks, guns, cars, or the always insufferable Steve-O. The promise of a back-to-basics approach to skateboarding which focused on capturing the very essence of the culture and of the technicalities of the sport was met with wild anticipation. For the first time in nearly a decade, the Birdman’s monopoly over videogame skateboarding is in serious jeopardy.
Skate effectively revitalizes the skater’s videogame with a sense of cool that is impossible to ignore. You’ll realize this as soon as Booker T and the MG’s Green Onions begins playing over the impeccably stylized menus, but it’s not until you hit the park that the full extent of EA’s work here can be realized. Skate uses a control system similar to Fight Night’s Total Punch Control, and thankfully it’s just as intuitive. It’s called the ‘Flickit’ system, and that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. Flick the analogue stick sharply upwards, you’ll ollie. Gently push it backwards, manual. Forwards, nose manual. Your thumbs effectively become your feet, and though controlling your skater in this manner will seem slightly unwieldy after all those years of single-button Hawk tricks, you’ll be grabbing and grinding in no time.
The perfectly implemented control scheme is one thing, but the real triumph here is the feeling of genuine satisfaction when you finally nail a trick that has previously been bailed several times. It’s testament to the quality of the development and the scope of the environment that even skate veterans will be able to challenge themselves over and over again; each grind, jump and flip requires pinpoint timing.
And with skate, there’s even more reason to do so. You’re able to initialise a 25 second recording session at any point in the game, which once recorded is yours to edit and toy around with as you wish. Once you’ve perfected a trick and sorted out the camera angles, why not upload it to skate.reel? There, you’ll find a flourishing online community in which only the most eye-watering bails and sickest-of-the-sick runs are applauded. Who knows, you might even make trick of the week.
Aesthetically, the game is in a class of its own. The animation, cloth physics and sheer scope of San Vanelona in all its gritty urban glory are sights to behold, but the sounds are equally as impressive; featuring both a stellar soundtrack and sublime in-game audio in which every surface is represented with a unique sound. It’s a shame, then, that the PS3 version features a nagging drop in frame rate, particularly when viewed against the seamless quality of the 360 version, but it’s safe to say that even these issues will do little to pick your jaw up off the floor.
Skate is an achingly satisfying videogame experience, marred only by a slightly limited career mode, but in terms of its representation of the sport as a technical endeavour, the title succeeds with aplomb. For now, it’s simply peerless. Bring it on, Birdman.
9/10
Jon Beach