Nobody starts at the top, so you have to dig deep underground to find the source of all goodness. Check out these little promos and montages for local scenes around the UK. Support your local!
– Hot little promo from Dublin for the new video Double Dutch .
– More mad footy from the Brighton heads a.k.a. The Level Army
www.levelarmy.com
– Sweet little BFDM promo from the Stourbridge massive.
– A re-ditted promo from the boys of Abingdon led by James Needham.
Rumours of a skater dying at Stockwell Skatepark have surfaced.
Alledgedly a month ago, an American tourist called Peter (on hols with wife and kids) was skating the park when he hit the spine in the main bowl and fell onto his head with no helmet on. He was rushed to hospital concussed and unfortunately passed away 3 days later.
Our thoughts go out to the family of the deceased. It’s not often things like this happen at skate parks but if in the future helmets become necessary, at least you know why.
The park and it’s local council are still wondering why local builders completely ruined the surface there at the beginning of the year. The surface has started to crack already, only time will tell if the council are prepared to finally listen to local skaters who know how to surface a park that would last for years.
Michael Jacobson & Tobias Barenthin Lindblad [Eds]
Dokument
Overground is a book that, in short, everyone should own. Scandinavian graffiti has always been innovative and arguably as pure as the early New York writing, but it’s hard for people to be able to see this as a whole until you get a book as interesting as Overground. 9 Scandanavian writers were picked by a number of journalists and other writers, who present their chosen writer to the reader with interviews and visuals.
What becomes apparent after having read this book is the number of different ways to be involved in graffiti and also the reasons behind wanting to do it. For example, if you look at the work of Norway’s Mr Mucho, you’ll see he likes to follow certain patterns, such as using large numbers of dots in his work, be it on canvas or walls. He even takes his designs and uses them for other mediums, like dressing a bowling pin up in a cape. This innovation is something that one might not expect or think of from a graffiti writer and yet reading the interview with Mr Mucho makes it seem like the most natural thing in the world.
Compare that with someone like Copenhagen’s Kegr, whose section in the book is made up mostly of tags, and you’ll be able to see the contrast in styles. That said, Kegr doesn’t limited himself to tags, and in fact my favourite piece in the entire book belongs to him when he shows a photo of a piece he did with the writing backwards. That’s a perfect way of keeping your style fresh with new ideas, and proves that bombers can easily be brilliantly talented at pieces.
And again the broad nature of graffiti comes into the fore when looking at the final artist in the book, Naestved’s Tele, who uses posters to re-write slogans and deliver his own personal message to the world. As he says himself, one of the interesting things about his work is that the general public don’t immediately think of it as graffiti and as such don’t think “Sabotage! Crime or vandalism!”.
As varied and as far apart as some of them might be, all their views on the freedom of expression in graffiti are amazingly well thought out and natural and it’s a pleasure to be able to read such well presented views and accounts of their thoughts and lives. All 9 writers have their own insight into what they do and how they do it, and if more people read this book, they’d think a little more carefully before screaming rage against writing.
Just in case you want to know what Etnies have done and achieved throughout the last 20 years, click here for pictures, footage and loads more with an amazing 20 year Timeline
Take a look at these plans and tell me you aren’t hyped. Thanks to some very hard work by Matt, Hareth and Jeremy the Camden area skate hub that was Cantelowes will get a facelift this summer of epic proportions.
Building work started on July 5th and hopefully everything will be done and dusted by mid-August. The boys are working hand in hand with the skatepark contractors, Wheelscape and are making sure the park is built to the best standards. News has just come in that says skaters will be able to enjoy the concrete this summer, even if the main bowl looks like the largest labour of love to get done.
A big board slap on the coping for all those involved. Happy skateboarding! To comment on this park build, go here.
They’ve got hearts of gold those Welsh lads! Down for the Run a Mile Charity, Pritchard and Pancho are teaming up to pull one another the 1760 yards outside Cardiff City hall on July 15th.
Cheer the lads along and sponsor their efforts by clicking here:
…With their cocks out! Always up for a laugh and making sure they don’t follow trends, the Antiz Skateboard team have released a brand new line of decks in collaboration with cock-rockers Musclhard.
You may not have heard of Musclhard, but they are Demi-gods of the underground metal scene in Toulouse, France- Home to Lucas Puig. With hot riffs on tracks like ‘Lost camping’ and ‘Eat my dick’, hopefully Antiz can get the music rights for their next video due to drop this autumn!
Click here for video goodies.
Everyone knows Danny Way is a devoted Slayer fan and loves a little Reign in Blood in the morning, so get prepared to see a limited edition collabo between the re-born super company and hardcore super band.
In more Plan B news, the company is set to launch a clothing line this August, so everyone can look so fresh and so clean in Plan B hats, shirts, jeans, rucksacks etc…
Also in August, expect a promo for the must anticipated full length feature, Unquestionable .
And finally, big ups to UK Plan B representer Adam Howe who got 3rd in the UK Comp and 6th in the Euro Comp on Sunday at Urban Games in London! Watch out for Adam!
Some little tidbits of sweet news:
Rob Selley, the mastermind behind Milton Keynes Buszy and Motive Skateboards is now the DC Team manager for the British Isles.
Oh! News of a Jody Smith Motive pro model in the works! Hype hype!
Mick Forster has seen it proper to rep his ends by lauching a special H-Boyz decks in honour of his upbringing in Harrow.
Check www.h-boyz.co.uk for more.
London went Wild in the Streets with Emerica on Sunday 25th June with a few hundred (maybe a thousand..? Figures are hazy…) crazed skaters rampaging it through the city and hitting up major spots like the Holborn Viaduct banks, the Mayor’s building and London Bridge Ten. Even if some of these notorious bust spots lived up to their reputation, the police presence couldn’t dampen the hype of a huge skate gathering.
In so much as impromptu Best Trick comps go, London Bridge saw a massive backside flip by Aussie Richard Flude, Gary ‘Woody’ Woodward‘s 360 ollie, and Adam Stoddard grabbing £60 for a nollie full cab. Boom!
Finally, British skate heritage, Southbank felt the rumble of urethane and heard the roar of the crowd as Kris Vile smacked the wedge to wedge gap up with a mad 360 flip, and euro visitor Jo Lorenz chased the competition with a backside nollie over the chasm. On the bank to block Woody served up an ollie to noseblunt whilst Simon Skipp tickled a frontside 5-0 to fakie. A special Wild in the Streets award was given to Rich (surname unknown..?) for generally ripping hard all day. The day ended with a Wild in the Pub drinking session organized by Kingpin.
