Crayon recently did a rad collaboration with Super Furry Animal’s resident art fiend Pete Fowler. We have a package with a lovely deck, a couple tees and some DVDs imported from Wales to give away. You want it, right? Of course you do.
Just answer the following question concerning Crayon’s spinning tech demon himself to be in with a chance at winning all that stuff up there.
The deadline for this competition is August 14th.
[competition_1]
We have a whopping package to give away full of brand new Element products fresh for Summer 2010! It’s jammed with everything you need for a summer session: a Levi Brown deck, shorts, tee, shirt and of course this is the UK so there’s a hoody and a sweater in there too should the sunshine not put his hat on.
Just answer the question below for a chance to get your hands on all that good stuff.
The deadline for this competition is August 14th.
[competition_2]
with Gentlemen’s Pistols
The Barfly, London
05.07.10
The Sword have once again returned to Britain and fresh off a night of supporting Ozzy fucking Osbourne (tick that off The Swords amazing bucket list!), they treat us to one hell of a show at the Barfly!
But! If there is one band you don’t want supporting you its Leeds’ own Gentleman’s Pistols. Why? It’s because they’re dead fucking good, that’s why. I find myself watching these guys and feeling incredibly proud that our populous can produce such music in a day that has been heavily saturated with the plagues of ‘krunk’ and ‘emo’. Sure, the band look like the bloke in the Joy of Sex books but when they tear through ‘Out Of The Eye’, ‘The Widow Maker’ and ‘Lying And Fooling’ you can’t not like these lads. As always, a sterling performance from one of the country’s best and a hard act to follow.
Anybody who has seen the Sword play live before should have very high expectations. They are super-tight and have the ability to fill any space with their huge sound which is enough to win over most metal heads. With relentless riffs, even doubters have to respect the stage presence of the band the calibre of their music. Not that any bothered turning up to the packed barfly tonight. ‘Freya’, ‘How Heavy This Axe’, ‘Barael’s Blade’ all see outings tonight with the epic ‘Iron Swan’ being one of the nights best jams. ‘Winters Wolves’, amongst others, have been given the cosmic-prog treatment that bring a different dynamic to these thundering classics. All these tweaks add something special to The Swords live performance that you simply can’t replicate on record and shows that band are constantly evolving their sound.
We also get the live debut of some of The Sword’s new material of their eagerly anticipated third full length. Even thought the majority in attendance are unfamiliar with the material all of tonight’s songs are met with a pretty fucking rawkus pit that was full on from start to beer-drenched finish.
At the end of the night the sweaty bodies pour out of the Barfly and onto the streets of Camden with everybody knowing that this could be last time they see The Sword in such a small environment. If they keep this up then they won’t be playing tiny venues like the Barfly for very long. A shame, I know but that’s evolution, brother.
The Sword are most definitely set to take their live act to the next level and have all the riffs in the world to back it up. You just wait. I bet you any money that when you’re an old metal head propping up the bar in the Fox or Crobar you’ll be talking to the younger generations about “how it used to be” or “back in the day”, you can wow them with tales of when their favourite band, The Sword, jammed in the Barfly and watch their little jaws hit the floor.
Then you can buy me a pint for being right about this band all along. Cheers.
Tom Lindsey
When we heard that DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh was visiting London to talk up the band’s first album release in 20 years, we could not sit back and let it pass for this was our opportunity to meet the man at the helm of one the world’s most amazing bands. The new album Something for Everybody really was a fantastic surprise, many bands come back expecting to re-live the sweetness they tasted back in the day only to find out that their audiences have moved on…in DEVO’s case, their music can never date as it is one of life’s timeless delicacies that continues to be served up to new generations of people that know good music who usually become obsessed with their legacy as we did.
When we met Mark he was very complimentary of the fact that we are skateboarders, and commenting that skaters have always supported his band from day one. He grabbed the longboard we took along that Globe rolled out last year for their DEVO collab series, left his teeth marks in the paintwork and rolled some dice before turning our stickers in to rave sunglasses…
Enjoy the first webisode from the 30 minutes allocated to this session and find the second webisode here.
The new album Something for Everybody is released on Warner Bros and available right now. Go to www.clubdevo.com for more.
Thanks to Tim Mogridge and Martyn Thomas for filming and Alan Christensen on the edit.
The staff here at Crossfire have collectively absorbed the entire internet in the effort to bring you the best new music that you can listen to and save for free.
Here are ten tracks that have rocked our office this week and we think should be rocking your ears too. And! In addition to the ten free bangers we’ve listed below you’ll also find Stereo:Type’s exclusive mix for Crossfire if you hadn’t picked it up in their Crossfader Interview. Be sure you do, that mix is a must-have.
Get stuck in below as you plan your next move in this perpetual game of chess we call surfing the web for free shit.
Keep up to date on what’s hot by subscribing to Crossfire’s Soundcloud.
Decapitated Vs Beastie Boys – Post Organic Sabotage by Crossfire Music
The Young Veins – Change by Crossfire Music
Justin Bieber – Baby (El-P Death Remix) by Crossfire Music
Black Milk – How Dare You by Crossfire Music
Best Coast – Boyfriend by Crossfire Music
Mr. Oizo & Gaspard Augé – Tricycle Express by Crossfire Music
Fur – Polybreak by Crossfire Music
Chromeo – Don’t Turn The Lights On by Crossfire Music
Dipset – Salute by Crossfire Music
Pusha T – Dearly Beloved by Crossfire Music
And of course our featured mix courtesy of Stereo:Type. Get it. It’s rad.
Stereo:Type are a DJ duo formed from the hands and minds of two of electronic music’s most inspired producers and record splicers: Tommy Dash of Ctrl-Z, and the notoriously warped Screwface. It’s easy to say that their touch on breakbeat is in fact a rock-infused ironfist punch on all that encompasses electronica. In reality they are influenced by every genre that HMV succeeds and fails to mention, under the crucial condition that the music is hard, relentless and full of pounding groove. In a nutshell, Stereo:Type play and re-contextualise music that blows the fucking doors off.
It gives me an enormous feeling of pleasure to write that Stereo:Type will be the first DJs to be under the spotlight in our ‘Caught In The Crossfader‘ interview feature. What you get here is an insight into the minds of those behind the wheels of steel and a free mix courtesy of the DJs themselves. We got the horses mouth hooked up to a whopping soundsystem so take your bloody shoes off and shake things up a little bit.
You smashed it at our Halloween Massacre last year, did you enjoy yourselves?
Chris: That was definitely one of our highlights of the year! For us it was such a great gig because everyone in the crowd was on our wavelength, it was a little bit down and dirty, and there was plenty of skating and metal which is all good by us! Hopefully we’ll be back to destroy it again this Halloween…
What’s it like playing a set while a gang of skateboarders are killing it on a mini-ramp to the sound of whatever beat you’re dropping?
C: Well, hopefully they’re enjoying it and it’s helping to amp up the vibes on the ramp. Visually it’s a really cool thing to have going on when you’ve got a party going and it just adds that extra dimension to the atmosphere.
What’s the vibe when playing at an event like that compared to something more traditional, like the regular nights you’ve got at Judgement Sundays in Ibiza?
C: While we love doing gigs for people like Gatecrasher and Godskitchen, parties like Crossfire really give us the opportunity to just go balls out raving. We both come from a Rock/Metal background and in a personal way just love really gnarly music, and crowds like the ones at the Crossfire parties are really receptive to that stuff thrown in as well as the more standard party rocking stuff we usually play. We’d love it if we could turn up at somewhere like Tiesto in the park and play a bit of Pantera or Machine Head, but it’s probably not gonna happen anytime soon. So it’s a great that we get to do other kinds of gigs too.
There’s a lot of variety in what music you play in your sets, with the tongue-in-cheek mentality in how you approach trendy music you must have a lot of fun picking what goes in your record box. What are the constant sounds for you that don’t fall victim to the trendmill?
C: Yeah, picking what to play is a lot of fun, mostly because it’s totally no holds barred. If we like it, and we think we can get away with it, its going in! I think as far as not getting caught up in ‘what’s trendy’ goes, even if people want to hear a style that’s in fashion, we’re going to give it to them in a way they’ve probably not heard before. Also, even if a genre is in fashion, there’s always producers who are pushing the envelope for that sound.
The amount of side projects you do (including this one!) is bonkers. Briefly run through what you’re doing and what Stereotype is becoming now that you’ve established yourself as something more than just one half of Ctrl-Z and Screwface…
Tommy: Yeah, It is getting a bit bonkers at the moment. I still DJ and produce under Ctrl Z , we’re on a real dirty electro / dubstep hybrid tip right now, and I also have another super secret act which has really taken off. Maintaining three acts and running a label is enough to send anyone a bit loopy! Stereo:Type started as a side project, we made the album in an attempt to launch the new DJ act, and now it has become much more than that and has kept us manically gigging over the past year. Our style has been compared to people like 2manydjs with scratching, and that’s kind of where we want to be, build on the brand and incorporate visuals into the sets etc.
You run the Never Say Die Records label which has been throwing out bangers from Foreign Beggars and your own Ctrl-Z moniker, how do you extend your ‘keep to your guns’ and ‘never say die’ mantra through the label alongside your own music projects?
T: I set up the label with a friend last year as it seemed that the scene where we came from was disintegrating around us. There was a lack of music and certainly a lack of labels that were putting out diverse music and trying to start a movement. We haven’t made money from the label, the sales are great but we spend money on artwork, videos and building the brand so that our artists can benefit from such a platform. Musically we put out whatever we want, dirty dubstep, electro, breaks & drum n bass and we’ll continue to push music we believe in, even if the press won’t touch it with a bargepole.
Who’s on the label and why did you pick them?
T: The big hitters on the label are The Freestylers, Foreign Beggars & Ctrl Z. Artists that we are developing include Cutline, SKisM and Mindflow. I go way back with the Beggars & The ‘Stylers and they share the vision we have for the label; we are privileged to be releasing music from such legends! The new guys are all really talented so we really want to use the label to help kick start them in the industry.
You have a lot of collaborators on the Stereo:Type album, including Foreign Beggars, what do you look out for when choosing vocalists to sing on your beats?
C: It’s probably the same thing that everyone is looking for you know, people who are going to compliment your sound and are going to bring hype to the tunes. Certainly when we did “What’s that Noize!?” we wanted people who were going to bring that jokes vibe to the table too, which we definitely got from both Orifice Vulgatron and Beardyman who are both total characters and just hilarious to have around in general. Then on top of that we had people like MC’s Tali and $pyda, who both have very recognisable sounds and have heaps of talent.
Personally I’m sick of people who can’t seem to comprehend what a DJ does and with Stereo:Type you guys are doing a lot up there on those five turntables…so how would you describe your live sets to someone who doesn’t know what it is you guys do as DJs?
C: It’s kind of like a rave Jukebox on steroids, in as much as it’s quite fast paced with the main emphasis on the dancefloor energy. You’re guaranteed to hear tunes you know, along with some things you might not. All the time we’re up there, we’re constantly layering things together, and for probably 75% of the time, there are two or more things playing. Then we chuck in some scratching and turntablism for good measure. It’s been described in the past as ‘magical musical mayhem’.
How exhausted are you after 90 mins of mash-up madness on those decks?
C: Usually pretty knackered. Obviously there’s a lot going on all the time and so it’s really concentration heavy. We don’t really plan what we’re going to do in advance, so communication between us is key, which basically means not getting fucked before a set… On top of that we always just want to give 100% of ourselves to the crowd so that they have as good a time dancing as we are performing.
On the XFM session you did with Eddy Temple Morris did you set a record for the amount of your favourite tunes fit into a 10 minute mix? What are the stats on the street to beat?
C: We kind of opened the floodgates on that one. We did 64 tunes in 10 minutes which has since been bested in number, but certainly not in style. As Eddy said, “I don’t think anyone will ever beat you on quality…It’s the best 10 minutes of radio ever broadcast on The Remix.” You can check it out yourself HERE.
Is it competitive out there for mash up DJs – do people outdo each other for the hell of it?
C: Honestly, we don’t know that many other acts out there doing what we’re doing. Obviously there are people like 2manydjs who are in a lot of ways responsible for giving birth to the whole concept, and there’s also people like The Cut Up Boys who work for Ministry of Sound doing a similar kind of deal. I mean, it gets to a certain level of complexity and then the whole mash up idea just becomes un-musical. It’s crucial that it has all blends together in a musical way, because anyone could get up there and play a bunch of things which sound like two dustbins fucking….
What dastardly thing would you do to another DJ so you could wear the crown?!
C: We could splice some James Blunt into the middle of one of their tunes. Or we could give the people doing the visuals some photoshopped images of them fucking a monkey or something…
Do you go there with mash-ups in mind or is it a session of unexpected improvisation and just letting the music flow out as it wants to at the time?
C: It’s kind of half and half. Obviously with such an intense format we do have to prepare some things in order to make them extra special, but we also go out with the express purpose of freestyling, because some really great stuff comes out of doing things on the fly, which we can then go on to use again in future performances.
You both grew up with the likes of metal and punk rolling through your ears right?
C: Hell yeah, for both of us that’s our musical roots really. Nearly all of what we listen to for personal enjoyment is Metal. We’ve always loved bands like Metallica and Pantera, and in more recent years Killswitch Engage and Machine Head (since they stopped making shit albums and completely smashed it with ‘The Blackening’) And then in the same way as for many people, that bled through into Jungle and Drum N Bass and from there the rest of dance music culture.
Tell us a little about what’s on the exclusive mix we have here for Crossfire readers to download…must be a touch knowing you can get a bit hesh with the rock tunes for once?
C: Yeah, it was fantastic just being able to go for it without the usual restriction of ‘will this frighten people?’ We know that the kind of audience Crossfire gets are a lot more open minded and willing to have a bit of stuff they don’t know imparted on them. I guess we just tried to base it on a mixture of how we found the crowd at last years Halloween Jam, and the things we love personally. Obviously we had to throw in some Rock and then twist it up in our unique way, and then we filled the rest of the mix up with tunes we think are currently smashing it, or represent the future we’d like to see for dance music.
Why is new Muse stuff so shit?
C: Because Matthew Bellamy likes to dress up like Freddie Mercury in drag and pretends he’s in Queen…
What projects are you both working on in the near future and beyond?
T: We took a break from production to concentrate on DJing, but recently we’ve been inspired to get back into the studio so watch this space!
Last words….
Big shouts to Zac and everyone at Crossfire for getting us involved in the new site launch, it’s been a pleasure. If you like the mix then come and see us live, it’s even better when you see it for real. Also, you can check us out here online:
Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud
Now, here’s where things get really awesome for you readers; Stereo:Type have kindly provided us with a BANGER of a mix for you to listen, download and get buck wild to. Get your hands on the good stuff below and have a party on us.
Words: Jenna Selby
Photos: Sophie Allen & Jenna Selby
On Saturday 19th June, Pioneer Skate Park hosted it’s 9th annual Girl Skate Jam. This year saw skaters make their way over to St Albans from all corners of the UK, the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and Belgium, there was also for the first time entrants from further a field – New Zealand and Australia.
The clouds on the day looked somewhat dubious and the BBC Weather Centre had forecasted rain. However, Nikita’s Michelle and hubby Alan Rushbrooke duly set about putting the BBQ together – which we hoped wouldn’t jinx it, there really is no love lost between the British BBQ’s and the weather! Although advertised as starting at 1pm, cars started arriving from 11am onwards, one family had travelled down from Hartlepool for the day, another Emily Russell and Mum had made the long journey from Glasgow. It was good to see all the old faces returning for the event but also to see a host of new ones, especially in the Under 18’s category.
Between 1-3pm was a free skate for all the girls, the rain until this point had held off even though there were reports coming in from Kent and other home counties of a downpour on its way. The decision was made to put the miniramp comp on first. From the off the standard was evidently high; Melbourne’s Hilary Pearce was awarded first place after two faultless runs, her fast and aggressive style is amazing to watch – frontside Smiths, frontside 5-0’s, frontside tails – the list kept going! Danielle Mellor was on a no holds barred mission to pull off the most technical tricks of the day, placing her second – frontside-half cab-rock and rolls, backside disaster-revert out and switch front rocks. Third went to New Zealand’s Georgina Matthews AKA Hori who was all about the hand plants and Indy Grabs.
Next up was a pretty fierce Under 18’s comp. Placing 1st, Laura Johnson was on flip-tastic form, with a kickflip to fakie and a frontside flip over the driveway, 2nd place Charlotte Brennon pulled out a nice early grab transfer out of the 6ft quatre to flat bank and Pioneer local prodigy 13 year old Caitlyn a good ollie from the driveway to flat to award her third. In the Over 18’s, first went to Georgin
a Matthews after a solid run including a 5-0 180 out across and down the driveway, a boardslide on the rail and bs and fs 50-50 on the box. It was really good to see Emma the Brum Richardson back on top form – fs 5-0 revert on the quatre and a nollie bigspin on the bank, which gave her 2nd. Resident Skatergirl writer Danielle Gallagher placed third after her run of front rocks and feeble fakies on the big quatres.
The Over 18’s were over by 4.30pm, at which point Evelien Bouilliart rolled in, just off a train from Brussels – much to the delight of the younger girls. She had little time to warm up before the sponsored comp started, although it was apparent that as soon as she set foot in the park everyone upped their game just a little. There were four groups in the Sponsored Section, each had 2 runs of 2 minutes, A – Georgina Winter (UK) and Lottie Borra (Italy), B- Helena Long (UK) and Lois Pendlebury (UK), C – Klara Kasparova (Czech) and Caroline Dynybil (Czech), D – Evelien Bouilliart (Belgium) and Lucy Adams (UK)
Caroline was straight into noseslides on the Koston, Lottie who had looked incredible in the warm up with front boards down the rail and 5-0’s on the block got a small attack of the nerves, Lois had some good lines on the go – flip on the driveway – kickflip to fakie on the quatre. Evelien went 
into full feeble and lipslide assault on the rail – just after her run ended she also landed a flip front board. Lucy Adams landed a host of tricks – fakie 360 flip, fakie shuv-it flip and a switch heel on the bank. Bs 50-50 on the Koston and a backside tail on the block. The judges admitted it was incredibly tight and difficult to decide a winner. However due to Lucy’s use of the whole park and the consistency of all the tricks she threw in between her main ones, she was awarded first place, with Evelien 2nd and Caroline 3rd.
A big thank you has to go out to all the volunteers –Leigh Burton, Carmela Fleury, Alex Barton, Geoff Rubicon, Ben Cundall, Joff Talbot, Ian Harris, John Glanville, Michael McInally, Mark Sinfield, Leigh Burton, Sophie Allen, Michelle and Alan Rushbrooke, Sarah Glenny, Di Headley, Kat Bedding The Selby Family and to Arron Selby for soldering together new wires for the mics late on the Friday night whilst ever so slightly inebriated!
Thank you to all the sponsors – Rogue, Lovenskate, Death, Rubicon, Les Ettes, Nikita, Misticon, Vans and Cooler Magazine.
From its beginnings at Playstation Skatepark (Bay 66) back in 2002 and Epic (Creation) in 2003, Pioneer has now become the established home to the Girl Skate Jam UK. Plans for a big 10-year party next year at the park are already underway.