The entire Bright Eyes album, Cassadaga, has been streamed online by Saddle Creek Records.
The new album from Conor Oberst, is a follow up to his recent rarities/B-Sides compilation Noise Floor and will be released on April 10th. To hear the album, click here.
Atreyu are currently working on their fourth studio album.
The album, which has yet to be named, is being produced by John Feldmann, who has produced for the likes of Mest and Good Charlotte, and is being scheduled for a late summer release.
Frontman Alex Varkatzas said of the new record: “I don’t want to give anything away, but we’re tossing around all kinds of ideas and are leaving ourselves open to endless possibilities. We are going to challenge ourselves.”
Mark Ronson has been announced on the line up for this year’s Creamfields.
The bill, which also includes Groove Armada, Kelis, Simian Mobile Disco and The Chemical Brothers, is set to expand to include the likes of 2ManyDJs and Pendulum.
The event takes places in Daresbury in Cheshire on August 25th.
Mark Ronson releases his single Stop Me featuring Daniel Merriweather today on digital download, with the CD release coming next Monday [9th]
Radiohead have denied the rumours floating around lately that they’re about to sign a deal with the new Starbucks’ new label.
A spokesman for the band have said that the band are currently in the studio working on new material and are not currently negotiating a deal with any label, and won’t be until the album is finished. He finished by saying ” the rumour that they are about to sign with Starbucks is totally untrue”.
Trivium will be celebrating their new single The Rising with a tour of the UK in April. The dates are:
6th -Dublin Ambassador
7th – Dublin Ambassador
8th – Dublin Ambassador
9th – Dublin Ambassador
11th – Bradford St Georges Hall
12th – Manchester Apollo
13th – Glasgow Academy
14th – Newcastle City Hall
15th – Liverpool University
17th – Nottingham Rock City
18th – Cambridge Corn Exchange
19th – Portsmouth Guild Hall
20th – Plymouth Pavilions
22nd – Newport Centre
23rd – Wolves Civic Hall
24th – Ipswich Regent
25th – London Hammersmith Apollo
26th – London Hammersmith Apollo
30.03.07
There’s a variety of skater that just looks like they were born to roll.
This week’s Freshblood has hand-picked three amateurs that look asleep at the wheel when they’re riding around, and it didn’t take long for them to climb the ladder of notoriety.
In true international fashion, we’ve chosen Jak Pietryga from London of Polish descent, Dan Leech from England and Boris Proust from France.
Let their skills blow you away!
Portrait ph. Adam Mondon
There’s a good story behind Jak’s ascent to glory; The City of London is a very competitive place for skateboarders with more than your fair share of wicked mandem rolling on road, but only a select few get the respect they deserve from the locals and the industry heads alike.
There was a rumour going around about a kid who had dropped of a Sponsor-Me tape at Cide skateshop. Nothing new there, except the fact that the video ran about 45 minutes long! No filler all killer! The Harmony were looking for a young face to head their new team, and Jak with his sponsor me tape sealed the deal. Here’s to the baddest traffic warden on road with a mean 360 flip!
Full Name: Jak Pietryga
Age: 19
Sponsors: The Harmony, DVS shoes, Matix
Hometown: Walthamstow, London
How long skating: 5 years or a bit more
Favourite tricks: Big spins , tre’s are ok, fakie 5.0
Favourite kind of spots: All terrain…
“Jak Pietryga (said – pi-tree-gar) hails from Walthamstow and is a quiet, reserved chap. His skateboarding is where he gets noisy and forceful. Jak has an endless bag of tricks and stunts that will last all day, every day.
Always a pleasure going filming with him as Jak always has a new take on things he tries. He is racking up the footage for our Harmony film as we speak and I’m sure you folks will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Watch out on the streets of London Town for this bloke and give him a wave or a smile as he goes by” – Adam Mondon
Watch Jak show off his skills by clicking here. Video by Morph.
Full Crossfire interview from 2006 here with footage shot by Russell Cowling, Dane Crook, David Dixon and Paul Silvester.
Ph. by Richard Pit
Saint Neots is not too well known for skateboarding unless you are talking about this ginger monster of course! Dan has been on the scene repping his tech skills for a while and some would argue that his blood is hardly fresh. But shit you not, his blood freshens itself annually and you will always see him turning up to events, supporting his local scene and giving his all. There was no way he was not going to be left out of this feature purely because he aint 16 no more so get to know him if he turns up to your town on the rip, you will be stoked.
Full Name: Dan Leech
Age: 27
Sponsors: Icon skateboards, Adio shoes, Silver trucks
Hometown: Saint Neots
How long been skating: 20 plus years
Favourite tricks: All of them
Favourite kind of spots: Mini ramps
“This guy is mad, loves handrails, and skates them for fun…he loves hanging out and taking the piss out of our crew one by one which is a good trait for any skate crew member. Dan is sitting on tons of footage for the upcoming MeatBallz DVD out for Xmas 07-check it out then.” – Toby Batchelor, I-Five Team manager/Filmer
Watch Dan in the Meatballz trailer here.
FS flip Nottingham ph. Mike Wright
Boris Proust lets his skating do the talking. You don’t have to see him kill all the best spots day in and day out to realise just how much respect he has achieved from his peers.
You might not see him for a week, a month maybe a few months even, but then Boris will drop a gem combining technical and solid skating that outshines all the competition. This year Boris is working hard on his social skills, but don’t expect to see him hogging the limelight because his skateboarding can do that. Boris has got it like that.
Photos by C.Viollet
Full Name: Boris Proust
Age: 21
Sponsors: DVS, Matix, Rare, Urban, Flare.
Hometown: Lomé, Togo
How long been skating: 7 years
Favourite tricks: Switch tre, Fs pop shuv, Fs nosegrind.
Favourite kind of spots: Low to high
“Hummm… I don’t know what to say really… Our new mofo video is online on www.themofo.fr, one year late but online Ha! Ha! I like filming as skateboarding and I’m actually studyingat a Cinema University where they only teach you theory and cinema’s history, which is interesting but if you really want to learn how to make videos you have to do it by yourself in parallel.” – Boris himself
Click here to see Boris footage and expect a Trick of the Week to come soon.
More Freshblood will drip on these very pages next week…..
If you missed the first 4 parts, then rewind…
Lo-Fi of the highest quality…
That pretty much sums up this limited edition VHS video from the Krooked Camp.
Mark Gonzales, Dan Drehobl, Van Wastell, Bobby Worrest and guest skater, Alex Olson, got together with some cameras much older than your VX and filmed parts that actually get you more stoked to skate than the crispy clean digitalised images that feed the media hungry masses today.
Gnar Gnar was released on 1000 VHS tapes, so hunt yours down ASAP.
To put this into metaphorical context, I recently picked up my old stash of TapeKingz mixtapes from my old bedroom at my parents house. Every day I enjoy the poor quality avant-guard beats that were recorded deep in hood studios in New York during the early 90’s. Gnar Gnar is the same. It’s some of the finest skating caught on grainy magnetic tape and edited hastily to classic tracks. What more do you want?
I won’t say anymore because this video is a must see must have item. I assure you that it will re-stoke your stoke for skateboarding. 20 minutes of unadultered merkage. Oh, and in case you’re scared of the Gonz getting ‘weird’, don’t worry, this time he just skates!
Watch Gnar Gnar here but fuck watching it on the web, track it down, own a real copy and support your scene.
Ralph L-D
30/03/07
Alongside Plan B, Sidewalk, DC Shoes, I-Five, Arkology, and UKSA we at Crossfire are proud to announce our participation in the Battle of the Buszy jam at the infamous Milton Keynes Bus Station on June 2nd. There’s £1200 in prize money up for the taking for all those who enter, so get yourselves down there.
Allegedly Toby Batchelor’s Meatballz are in high demand…
This morning Crossfire were asked to spread the word on this Autumns buzz film which features skating from many wizzplankers such as John Tanner, Nicky Howells, Dan Leech, Danny Calow, Adam Howe and many many more.
Watch the trailer on this page or for more Meatballz visit Toby’s Myspazz.
Let’s focus on the modern-day skate wheel for a minute.
Forget about downhill slalom sponges or vertical bulldozers – what’s relevant here is the contemporary spheres of urethane that street skaters use to roll around and stay stuck to the road with.
Essentially I can only see three choices on the market: generic blank blobs, original grippy fuckers or the hyped up cores.
You don’t want to buy the generic blanks because their chemical compound was probably mixed by an eighth grader, and the original grippy fuckers aren’t reliable for white balance when you are filming your ‘part’. So, now we see why the core trend has swept the wheel cabinet by storm- and everyone has their method! Initially, I kept my shit original grippy because the cores weren’t up to scratch- popping out, air bubbles, horrible colours, dual durometer madness… Things needed fine-tuning and today the standard is set.
Skateboarders can be a big bunch of nostalgic c***s at times, always reminiscing about the good ol’ days even thought they are blatantly stoked to see suits putting cash on the table in the long run. ( *cough* Bullet 66, OJ2… Z-Ed) I mention this because since Plan B got a second life, critics and personal opinions have not always been supportive of one of skateboarding’s landmark companies. It’s a been a steep hill to climb in the opinion polls for the new Plan B team, so their product definitely has to be setting the standard or one step ahead at all times. These 53mm cores are sitting nicely at the top of the pile of quality urethane.
They are hard, but that’s what the street generation want when they approach a curb. They don’t flatspot so it’ll take the smoothest of surfaces for you to hear otherwise. They stay white so your set-up looks fresh no matter what. That’s the top three criterions for a skate wheel to suffice. First the boards, now the wheels… You do know that Unquestionable is dropping sometime soon, right? $20 says you’re rocking Plan B gear by this Fall!
8.5/10
Ralph L-D
17.03.07