Those you remember the Emerica UK tour this year will remember Andrew Reynolds carrying a banana and a packet of digestive biscuits as the team headed out on the road from Manchester. They entertained huge crowds along the way, avoiding the wet weather where possible, and went home with tales, photos and footage to boot.
Watch the official Emerica edit of the entire trip, opened with a line that would have Keith Richards envious. (Don’t forget to switch the hd setting for ultimate viewing).
Negative Approach
The Underworld, London
June 29th 2013
John Brannon has the most devastatingly powerful voice in hardcore, period. Hunched over, dripping with sweat, bulldog face distorted and screwed up, his vocal bellows crackle with distortion and harsh noise. It’s a voice that never fails to impress and punch you in the guts and is a large part of what makes Negative Approach still so compelling in 2013. There’s not many classic early eighties hardcore bands that can still deliver this much hate, bile and punch in 2013. Hardcore bands don’t tend to age well, it’s a youth explosion, a teenager’s rage – but Negative Approach have something else entirely and their basic brute force thug punk rock has aged none.
Sadly, attendance isn’t that great tonight. The band were last here only six months ago and that combined with a pretty dire supporting bill (actually quite hilarious sports hardcore wife-beater vest wearing beatdown boys!) has made for a pretty sparse attendance. None of this, however, weakens Negative Approach’s delivery in any way. Right off the bat, they peel of song after song of classic, stripped down hardcore rage. To younger ears, many of their tunes might sound simplistic and basic in a modern world of cross-genre pollination but the beauty of Negative Approach’s music is its simplicity and utterly brutal delivery and speed. Songs like ‘Nothing’ and ‘Dead Stop’, with their creep-crawly bass intros and guttural vocal belches and grinding guitar, just feel so damn good and make you wanna break stuff. In truth, Negative Approach are probably the beginning of what became god awful ‘tough guy’ hardcore, but the difference here is NA came from a world before the influence of metal and their sound is purely rooted in punk and their brother’s in Detroit rock n’roll – they are an amped-up, fast and brutal Stooges or MC5. And their roots in punk are clear by their choice of cover versions tonight – we get classics by 4-Skins, Blitz and Sham 69 – which explains exactly how NA got their sound. They are that perfect mix of UK bootboy OI! punk and US hardcore speed.
For once, a legendary band who are not pissing on their legacy and still deliver the goods. Long may they continue.
James Sherry
The National Skateboard Company team has been strengthened today by the tornado skateboarding of the one and only Denis Lynn. Top news that.
We are so lucky to spend most of our lives appreciating incredible skateboarding on a daily basis, so much so, that it’s easy to forget what goes on outside of the bubble that we live in. This week I was walking down the street only to see X-Factor contestant Matt Cardle walk past me with a deck on his back making me wonder how skateboarding is doing on the other side. This is what was found from a couple of online searches, so grab your branded sick bag and prepare for a little private chunder.
IN INVENTOR FAIL NEWS THIS WEEK:
We are sent some real crap on a weekly basis in our contact form. Some of it comes from various corperate PR companies asking if we can put their mainstream toss on our mag, some ask if we can share adverts for corperate events in an exchange for a guest list to extreme festivals, the list goes on. Sometimes we are hit by the jackpot, so witness the new Stair Rover skateboard we were presented with this week.
Product designer PoChih Lai was working on this back in 2010 but has somehow continued in his efforts to create a new design that is absolutely unbelievable. This longboard comes with 8-wheels and is designed to go down stairs. That’s it. Do you need one? Of course not. Lai is possibly the greatest inventor since Thomas Midgley Jr.
One thing we do know is that scooter kids out there will absolutely love it. Order yours today.
IN SKATER CHIC FASHION NEWS:
“Top brands are taking inspiration from the laid-back cool of the skate park.” That’s the roll call for 2013 in the fashion world. Whilst the industry are hell bent on speeding up their production of polyprop launches the Evening Standard ran a piece this week quoting Southbank (of course) and reminding us that “there’s nothing on Earth cooler than a skater boy.” The words ‘Shoot All Skaters’ certainly apply to this bloke.
IN EXCLUSIVE DECK NEWS:
This week also saw the launch of an exclusive deck collection for the W-Hotel network. Yes, that hotel where awful dance music plays 24/7 on every floor and everyone working there, including the cleaners think they are super models. Their NYC branch has been graced with various one off decks from sports, art and fashion tarts, including this dope Beastie Boys deck by photographer David LaChapelle. Others were put together by a bunch of tards such as the Knicks player Amar’e Stoudemire, model Cara Delevingne, graf artist Cope2 and fashion leather designer Zana Bayne (Beyoncé, Lady Gaga). The only cool thing about this is that there’s a charity involved. Press play for a heavy waft of stink-bridge cheese.
IN SOCIAL NETWORK FAIL NEWS:
I take it you saw this recent Myspace launch advert for proof of what will inevitably fuel the future wave of Facebook generation suicide attempts? Do us all a favour and kill yourselves now…oh, and don’t forget to put it on Youtube, tweet the news your going to do it for attention and stick an image on insta to get approval via ‘likes’. Our thumbs are up.
Seriously, watch this video and try not to puke directly into your screen. 2013 is becoming like that tragic 80s faze when Vision Street Wear were selling their souls to anything that moved. $Dollar-hungry skate rats apply their thoughts here… In 10 years time there will be a lot of people looking back at their involvement in what skateboarding became and absolutely dying from embarrassment. Will it be you? Don’t forget to check yourself in that mirror this weekend.
IN MUSIC NEWS:
As the troops head towards the fields of Glastonbury this weekend, other festivals have decided around the boardroom table to cash in on the Long Live Southbank campaign. Right now the SB is the talk of the town. Press officers all over the UK are planning their way of exploiting the wave started by Hold Tight Henry, Chewy and co. Nass Festival decided it was a good idea to use it to promote their event this week. Ben Grove wins an award for this one but the ‘Nice Rollerskates Mate’ award goes to ‘Crissy Criss’. U wil b da coolest at Nass fo’so bruv. Peak.
All of this excitement is making me want to dance:
IN WANNA-BE CELEBRITY NEWS:
Some dicks from the cringe-filled UK TV show ‘Made In Chelsea’ were snapped arriving at some C-list Birthday party in London this week with polyprop’s under their arms. HOKAY Magazine said they skated there, but the only sweat you will see on these brows is when they are ready to pull the trigger of a cocked gun when they realise just how fucking tragically sad they are. Don’t forget to get to book a spot at the tanning salon this weekend skateboarders, the oompalumpa’s are expecting your call.
IN SKATE PRODUCT NEWS:
It was inevitable that Haroshi’s efforts to carve old skate decks into loveable shapes would be ripped off pretty well out there once the money people got hold of the concept. This latest rip off is an iPhone case made out of recycled decks, and actually, on first look, quite an interesting prospect for some…until they see the price tag. The Skate Case will set you back a cool $149. Bargain. Or you can always make your own from Mob Grip.
AND FINALLY…
We may as well end this on some good news. Legendary Bones brigade lifer Tony Hawk managed to dust off his first ever skateboard and a have roll on it before it gets archived at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History this week. His 40 year old bearings still held their ground. All hail Tony, #chooseskateboarding and back skater owned brands.
If you have any shit you want to include in the next episode of ‘Outside the Bubble’, then drop your crap to us here.
Go Skateboarding Day is a beautiful thing. Everyone rolling together with only one thing in mind. There were various options for cruises this year in London, but the success of Lakai‘s venture last year meant that it was favourable on Friday June 21st. Backed with the fact that Lakai’s history as a skater owned brand twinned with their choice of skater owned shop Parlour, this cruise was a no brainer.
Starting at Mile End in the rain, a strong mob joined Jesus Fernandez, Sebo Walker, Enrique Lorenzo, Danny Brady and Nick Jensen for the trip. Enjoy the footage, and follow their fun to Canary Wharf thanks to the wonderful photography of Maksim Kalanep.
Click here to get more from this year’s Go Skateboarding Day.
We all know that YouTube’s annotations are generally a pain in the arse, but UK band Moones decided to use it to their own alcoholic advantage in their new promo video for new song ‘Better Energy’. They have built in buttons that allow the viewer to choose how drunk they play. You watch them play in usual pre-pub time, and then have 3 other options until they are hammered.
London band Moones are made up of three members. Lags Barnard who you may know from his work in Gallows on guitar, Tariq Khan, whose sister is Bat For Lashes and Ollie Kristian, ex-member of The Leisure Society. the trio have definitely found a great way to entertain their audience.
Go through the motions with them here and hope that in phase 2 that there’s a sick button.
Those Cats and Triangles folk in Oxford are celebrating their first collab with Would Skateboards, the Cat Stretcher Wheel, available from SS20 this month for £25.
This new clip has whizzplanking from Jason Cloete, Alex Fuller, Mike Halls, Alex Brewster, Keiran Mounsey, Luke McInnerny, Neddy, Ray Rae, Goose, Phil Sproul alongside Would Riders Cam Barr, Ed Russell, Ian Devine, Scott Whittaker, Dan Thompson, Thommo, and Laurie Colley.
Kill City’s Jess Young puts his Destructo’s to good use in this new clip launched today filmed by James Harris and Harry Dean. Did you know that Destructo Trucks are run by a dude with Brighton blood in him? Straight up. Support your skater owned brands. It’s the only way to grind.
Destructo UK: Jess Young from Pixels on Vimeo.
Back in April this year we stumbled across the amazing illustration work of Grégoire Guillemin on Juxtapoz. His bold and naughty secret life of superheroes work has caught the eyes of many and for good reason too, it’s absolutely genius.
This week Boom Art have screen printed a limited edition (only 50) run of Holenite Pool series decks and cruisers with medium concave, silkscreened by hand in France on Canadian maple. These collector items will go quickly, so if you want a gem for the wall them visit boom-art.com and browse their collections.
A new edit featuring Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz, Silas Baxter-Neal, Rodrigo TX, Pete Eldridge, Benny Fairfax, Nestor Judkins, Mark Suciu, Lem Villemin has been unleashed overnight. Enjoy this 8 minute Madrid takeover from the adidas team and get stoked on TX’s style and another huge amount of tricks from Suciu.
Don’t forget to view in HD for quality.