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Lexus Hoverboard interview with Ross McGouran

Post author By Zac
Post date August 10, 2015

Let’s kick this off by stating that the future pretty much delivered jack shit. If you were a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s where space colonisation, extra-terrestrials, UFO sightings and Metal Mickey were predicted to become part of family life, then you will know how much we were ripped off. The most exciting recent discovery that comes close to all of those technological promises is an image that looked like a lunar three-spurt dick etched into the dusty floor of Pluto. Twas one way of getting a few more ‘likes’ on your Facebook page last month for those who count the digits.

There wasn’t a need for this self aggrandising malarkey that social networking brings back in 1985. Nobody really gave a toss about getting themselves 15 minutes of fame, we were too busy sniffing glue, break dancing and prizing Mercedes badges off the front of cars with screwdrivers – until the Back To The Future film was released. That summer spawned thousands of skateboarders worldwide, mimicking Michael J. Fox’s balancing skills as he held his own on a hoverboard to impress girls and avoid a beating. Once that was aired, every kid in our area wanted one.

Nobody imagined that we would have to wait 30 years to even get a sniff of the liquid nitrogen smoke that pumps out of the Lexus Hoverboard though. Nobody would also have guessed it would be our mate Ross McGouran who would be the chosen one to take it for its first cruise either. Thankfully Ross was skating past our office the day after that hoverboard edit hit the interweb so we asked him to spill some beans on how it all came together.

This was filmed off the cuff in 10 minutes with just an iPhone with a broken screen to hand but should give you a bit of inside info on the shoot that took place. Thanks to Dan Joyce who kindly edited my awful filming.

Tags back to the future, hoverboard, hoverboard lexus, interview, lexus, ross mcgouran, skate, video, working hoverboard

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10 Dope Tricks Done Sideways

Post author By Henry Calvert
Post date August 5, 2015

A few weeks ago we were admiring Amandus Mortensen‘s backslide powercracker down a set of stairs on repeat. The result led to thoughts of others who can huck out steez sideways, all those fellow burners of urethane and the ones who are always thinking a little more creatively than the rest.

It’s not a “Best” tricks list, or indeed some lame attempt to turn over advertising, just my personal favourites from those that make me want to go out and skate.

If you think we’ve missed some classics, leave a link to a gif or footage in the comments atthe foot of the page. Big shout out to all the filmers who shot the footage, hosted on our Tumblr page daily.

stickmen2

1 – Harley Miller – Milk Skateboards in Lisbon

Milk Skateboards have been rising throughout the UK scene for the past few years now but back in 2014 they flew to Lisbon, Portugal and came home with this banging edit. Harley Miller took a classic on this mosaic bank, bonking over the top and powersliding his way down through to fakie. Sick trick.

2- Richie Jackson – TWS “And Now”

Richie has handfuls of tricks to choose from, although this one is what sparked my initial hook on skateboarding so I may be slightly biased. Seeing Richie perform this as part of a three piece line in the first skate flick I owned – Death Skateboards’ Escape from Boredom, and then again in this TWS video makes it even more rad that the erratic Aussie chose to go back and fry my brain on two separate occasions. If there were a Banana slide hall of fame, this would be first on the wall.

3 – Madars Apse – Future Nature

Element released Future Nature back in 2013 containing Madars Apse’s sick part which blew us all away. This gap to backside powerslide coming initially after a fs smith flip out in his opening line was a keeper. His level of unpredictability accompanied by absolute precision is held throughout the whole piece.

4 – Rémy Taveira – Antiz Skateboards: Out of the Blue

When Antiz announced the completion of their newest full length, Out of the Blue, everybody was buzzed. This beautiful moment from the quickfire feet of Rémy Taveira sure lived up to the name. His steezy backside powerslide moves gracefully across a drained, but still glistening pool into a bs tailside. Out of the Blue indeed.

5 – Hadrien Haverland – Cosy Ride Skate Shop

Hadrien rips up the Parisian pavement throughout this part with many tricks you certainly don’t see every day. The internet allows us to view countless video parts but the wait to find someone pop out of a powerslide into a lip trick has evaded me…until now.

6 – Hisasi Nakamura – (Instagram)

Hitting the manny pad at full charge Hisasi Nakamura loses no speed jamming his wheels into a powerslide momentarily before popping into a nose manual, as seen on our morning instagram feed.

7 – Patrick Melcher – Death Skateboards: Better Than Life

Melcher is typically known for his unorthodox approach to skateboarding, making everything look incredibly fun whilst maintaining a level of difficulty that makes you ponder your own game. This time, lurking the car parks at night, he’s spotted slipping across the tar, jamming up the poles into a sweet banana slide. Whether a spot like this is pure coincidence or a little bit of ingenuity we do not know.

8 – Louie Barletta

Louie consistently pulls through with some of the most entertaining video parts known to man and this is only part of the reason why. He shows you exactly how these hideous pieces of street architecture should be used – with all four wheels, that’s how. Total ruler of the quirky trick bag.

9 – Albert Nyberg – The Sour Solution

The Sour Solution video is heavy hitting and comes with an entire catalog of NBD’s that will blow your brain apart. Albert Nyberg is one of those who you simply have no clue what he’s going to do next; whether he’s hoisting himself over a handrail or skating something as simple as this. This flick had so many tricks to choose from but the fast feet and sheer fluidity of this whole move is to be commended. Everything is done smoothly although it looks like it took no thought at all.

10 – Phil Zwijsen – Hydroplane

This list would be incomplete without the inclusion of Phil Zwijsen who skates anything in sight whatever the weather. Taking full advantage of the slip and eat your teeth conditions, this clip quickly took the internet by storm. If you haven’t seen this before then just take a look and let this one speak for itself.

Written by Henry Calvert.

Tags backside powerslide, firecracker, powerslide combinations, powerslides, skate tricks, skateboard tricks, top 10 skate tricks

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Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC

Post author By Zac
Post date July 17, 2015

We’ve waited a long time for this one. Crowd-funding for the making of ‘Salad Days’, a look at the incredibly fertile hardcore punk movement that exploded out of Washington DC in the early 80s, first started over four years ago when brief snippets and enticing trailers started to work their way across the internets. And now it’s finally here…

We live in an age now where so many bands, movements and artists are getting to tell their stories in film. Every week there’s a new music documentary to see, a story to tell, but Salad Days is something special. From the very start, the Washington DC punk scene documented itself. More than any other punk scene in the world at that time, the participants took care to photograph, film and record everything that was happening. They knew what they were doing was important and special and wanted it preserved. “I didn’t want to own the scene, I just wanted there to be one,” explains Ian Mackaye, who through his work with Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dischord Records and many more is understandably the lynch pin and constant through the whole movie. So the upshot of this is that there is a wealth of incredible footage in this film. It rushes past, much like the music, in a high-speed, high-energy blur. This is not any easy film to sit still and watch in a cinema, as each band and song crashes by, every moment made me want to leap out of my seat and explode.

Ph: Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat, Wilson Center, DC, 1983 by Jim Saah

Film maker Scott Crawford has done an incredible job of capturing the spirit and energy of the time. Having been involved in the scene in DC from a very young age (he was just 12 when he started going to gigs and making fanzines), he was trusted to tell the story and help the various participants open up.

Running chronologically from when Bad Brains exploded onto the scene and everything went FAST with bands like SOA, Void. Teen idles, Minor Threat, Untouchables, Youth Bridge, to the mid-80s ‘Revolution Summer’ years with Rites Of Spring, Embrace, Gray Matter, Dave Grohl’s first band Mission Impossible. They then move onto the end of the 80s as the alternative rock explosion beckoned, and Grohl, fresh out of Dischord legends Scream propelled Nirvana into the mainstream, bringing Fugazi attention they never expected, Jawbox a major label deal and the rest is history.

There are so many magical moments in ‘Salad Days’ that it’s difficult to know where to start but here’s a few. The footage of Void is utterly off-the-hook insane and demonic, the bit where MacKaye talks about Straight Edge and how he still gets people, to this day, phoning him at the Dischord office and screaming “hey Ian, I’m drunk, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT!!” before slamming the phone down, the self-belief, politics and conviction that run through every band, the thought that they really believed they were making a difference and could change. Subject to change. The realisation of just how young everyone one was when this started…

“Salad days” is a Shakespearean idiomatic expression to refer to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person.”

That says it all.

James Sherry

You can pre-order the film on Vimeo as it will be Video On Demand from August 4th.

Tags bad brains, buy movie, dc, dc hardcore, dischord, dischord records, download, download movie, dvd, fugazi, ian mackaye, Jawbox, minor threat, punk rock, review, Review: Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, scene, straight edge, washington hardcore

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Talking About Money with Mike O’Shea

Post author By Zac
Post date June 5, 2015

“Mikey, my big butt brotha, an authentic individual with a rotund rumpus. A man with the weight of a moon on his back. Posterior monthly’s rear of the year. Yes it’s true that Mike can do really cool doodles, but it’s unfortunate that his raw talent should be so overshadowed by his bell shaped buttocks! Such is the luck of the draw (get it…draw?) in the birth lottery that his undeniable gift as an artist barely gets a look in because of his undeniably god given curves. But he doesn’t believe in God, because he thinks he’s a bit of a berk, not just Christian God either..all of them! What sort of God would gift Mike with a trouser-bursting hump like his and deny the same privilege to his two identical triplet brothers! A God of war! Or a God of phwooaar! Zing!

Anyway, enough butt jokes, Mikey is a breath of fresh air in a sea of pretentious try-hards, he has an in-built default setting for always calling things as he seems them (whether you like it or not) and I believe his authentic approach to life really shines through in his art. Plus it looks fun, like Mike, a fun dude who has a mean bs 360 to boot. I feel honored to have him as a friend and to be able to piggy back on his talent..and he can croon like you wouldn’t believe…plus he can dance. MIKE IS ART! Mike is his butt! Like Totally! Yeah buddy!” – Phil Evans

Our cartoon correspondent and all round dope doodle cheese Jon Horner talks wonga with this week’s guest…Mike O’Shea.

Let’s start with Lightbox. A lot of how you made the animations is covered in the behind the scenes video, but I was wondering whether you had ideas for scenes you wanted to do before you started working on it, or whether you were reacting to the footage once you saw it?

There were no set plans beforehand, I just knew I wanted to do some sections where one frame animated into the next frame. Other than that I just made it up as I went along. Phil would send me rough edits and ask if I could add stuff in certain parts and I’d just try stuff and send it back to him and go from there. I was getting bits sent to me all the time and we would talk about ideas for it and stuff, but most of the time I didn’t know what it was going to turn out like until I had finished that section. Long story short, it was all about reacting to the footage when I got it.

When did you know what the music was going to be? Everything fit together so perfectly, it’s pretty impressive that there wasn’t some massively elaborate master plan beforehand.

Haha, Maybe Phil had a plan all along and didn’t tell us! It just kind of grew organically I think. Me and Phil are on a similar wavelength so it just kind of worked. It was so easy working with him, he pretty much liked everything I gave him and we seemed to have a very similar view of what we thought worked and what didn’t. I didn’t know what music he was using until he sent me a rough edit for me to work from. Like I said before I couldn’t really do much until I saw the rough edit, I responded to the footage and the music at the same time. I really like Gibbo’s music and I think it fit really well with the whole vibe and that definitely helped when i was drawing my silly pictures. I got super amped on the tunes and it made me want to do some trippy stuff that would work with them smooth beats, ha!

Have you and Phil worked together before?

Yeah, we have worked on getting a dance floor pumping with our sweet moves but we have never worked on a video project before. Phil got me involved with a group exhibition he was apart of a few years ago, so we kind of worked on stuff together before but not really. We both had work up in the same show but that’s about it until now. We clicked pretty quick and I always really liked his video work and he seemed to like my drawings so it was only a matter of time before we did something like this together, I think he was just waiting for the right project to bring me in on. We had talked about doing something like this for a while and this seemed like the right time to give it a go. I hope we get to team up again in the future, just like they do in the Avengers.

Ha! Which one of the Avengers are you? Which one is Phil?

Hhhmm, good question. Which one keeps them all together? I guess that would be Captain America. Phil is that guy, the nerdy dork that no one likes but without him it would fall apart. I think I would be Ironman because I’m super smart, witty as hell and I have loads of money and sex appeal. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Good choice. And you make things that almost destroy the world.

Haha, hell yeah. That’s me. The key word there is ‘almost’, I also save everyone’s asses. People reading this who don’t know the Avengers aren’t gunna follow this, ah well screw em, those jocks.

It is pretty odd that a huge amount of people now do know who the Avengers are. Ten years ago I don’t think anyone would have seen that coming.

Yeah for sure. Anyway Jon, back to me and my drawings. Jeez. it’s not all about you and your dorky comic book heroes. Why did you bring that up? (I know I brought it up but I thought some tension would be good for the readers, ha!)

Hahaha! Did you read comics much growing up?

I read Spider-man a bit for sure but that’s about it for the American stuff I think. I always liked that guy. I read a lot of the Beano and some Dandy also. Can’t remember too much of it now, but I used to have a stack. Me and my brothers would try and come up with new super heroes all the time. We would all draw a bunch and try and out do each other with the coolest heroes.

You make comics yourself, right?

Not too much, I have dabbled. I did a couple for Eyeball Comix and some small ones for Vice. I want to do some more for sure, I think its fun to mix up what I do. I get bored if I just stick to one way of working. I like to paint, illustrate, animate, make comics, clay sculptures and whatever else I can play around with. This week I have been playing with clay. It’s fun to use your hands and experiment a bit with the stuff rather than just drawing all the time. It’s cool to think in a different way sometimes.

Yeah, I totally know what you mean! It seems like a lot of how you work is really tactile, like you keep computer stuff to a minimum. Is that true? And is it a choice or just how you like to work?

I wish I could keep it even more minimal on the computer front. I’d love it if I never had to use a computer again to create anything but that’s not going to happen. It is very useful and of course it is great for a lot of things, I just don’t like staring at the screen all day.

Did you go to art school or anything like that?

Yeah man, did all that jazz. Got into debt and learned a little bit, ha. It was good actually but I’m not sure I would go now with all the rises in fees. It’s way to expensive for what you actually get out of it, you spend most of the year off with half terms and summer holidays.

When did you start Highbrow? What made you make the plunge into small business ownership?

Haha, to be honest I’m not sure when I started it, it kind of happened slowly and is now moving even slower! I just wanted to make a bunch of stuff and put it all in the same world, the world of Highbrow. I was starting to make videos and I wanted to make some board graphics that I didn’t think fit anywhere else so i made them for my own thing instead.

So what’s up with it now, is it on a Roger-style hiatus? Got anything planned?

Haha, yeah kind of I guess. I just moved to London so I’m trying to still find my feet here. Once I am settled I think I’ll start doing some more with it. It’s not going to be a proper board company or anything, it’s more of a fun side project I can work on from time to time, you know, put out limited edition boards and shirts and stuff. I am about halfway through filming a new video. Now I’m in the big smoke I hope to get the ball rolling on that a bit more. I’m sure I’ll have something else to go along with that when the video is done.

Also, starting cool, independent, underground board companies is so last week.

What prompted the move to London? You were in Bristol before, right?

I had enough of the white crusties with dreadlocks and bare feet! I was there for 9 years and one by one a lot of my friends moved to London. I came up to stay with Chris Jones a bunch (yeah I just name dropped, big deal) and he pretty much convinced me it would be a good idea to move here. I don’t think he has many friends, so I have to hang out with him now to make sure he has company, I mean, who likes that guy? Well apart from everyone. Only playing. I luv ya C.J. Now go finish filming your Isle section.

I love London right now, I mean, it’s the honeymoon period so of course I’m loving it. I’m lucky that I have a good crew of friends that live close to me so I don’t have to travel for 2 hours to visit anyone. There’s also really cool stuff happening all the time. It’s hard to stay in and draw when there are exhibitions, book and zine fairs and stuff like that to go to. Also there are loads of new spots for me to skate.

Rad. You’ve done board graphics for the 3 Js (Joe Gavin, Jak Pietryga and Chris Jones), got any more coming soon? Anyone you’d particularly like to work with?

I don’t have anything lined up at the moment. I think it’s time I do one for the double J, Jake Johnson. How cool would that be? Ha. There aren’t too many that I’d like to work with to be honest. It would be cool to do a board for Polar maybe, or Magenta, but I’m not sure if my stuff would fit. Where do you think my vibe would work best? Which company would my drawings fit on?

Maybe enjoi?

Yeah, I think I could maybe do something for them if they were down for it. I like Drehobl’s new series that just came out. Oh and a Krooked guest board would be awesome.

Have you got any other projects in the works?

I don’t have any projects lined up at the moment. I’m just about settled into my new life in London and I’m now in a position where I can start thinking and working towards new things. I am pretty much just doing things for myself at the moment. If anyone is interested in working with me give me a holler, I’m well down for doing some cool stuff.

Do you have a day job then?

Yeah, I have a day job which takes up a fair amount of my time at the moment, but you’ve got to work to pay the bills and London ain’t cheap. I work in a coffee shop in Camberwell called Daily Goods. Most peeps who work there draw and skate including the badass boss ‘Carter’, so I’m in good hands. Pop down for a coffee if you’re ever in the area.

Do you collect boards or art or anything like that?

Yeah, I have a few boards that I have kept hold of and not skated. I have a Roger deck that I really like, it’s called the Bowl Troll. I also have the first Skate Wizard Polar deck, which Jakke said was the first graphic he drew for them, so that make it even more special for me. Jacob is my boy.

Oh and I have Chris Jones’ first pro board for Crayon. I don’t really like the graphic if I’m honest but when your mate gets his name and face on a board that’s kinda a big deal. Most of them are sentimental I guess. Oh, and I’ve kept one of each graphic I’ve designed in the past.

I collect art and zines from my friends too. We normally do swaps. I give them something and they give me something in return. It’s good to support friends. I have some stuff from Kyle Platts, a few paintings from Jacob Ovgren, Paul Arsecott, Tim Ryan and a bunch of other friends that make cool shit.

Who else’s stuff are you into at them moment? In skateboarding and outside?

Hhhmmm, well to be honest i have not been looking at much artwork at the moment. I find I get too influenced by other people’s work so I’m making a conscious effort to stay away, ha! I want to focus on developing my own stuff and not get side tracked with what other people are doing. Also, I think I’m more inspired by people’s attitudes towards working then their actual work. Like, somewhere who loves to make things and is honest and pure in what they do and just does it because they have to. People’s positive energy for life and creating get me hyped, I’m hoping some of it will rub off on me. All that aside, I really like that cartoon Rick and Morty. Have you seen it? It’s so interesting and goes to some deep places at times but is still just a funny cartoon. It would be pretty damn cool to work on that show I reckon.

What medium that you’ve never tried would you like to have a go at?

Stand up comedy, that’s an art form right?

Yeah, definitely! How come?

Because I think I’m funny. Ha, well normally when I’m drunk. Oh and I like the attention. A room full of people watching me makes me feel good inside. I’m a bit of an attention seeker sometimes.

No, but I really like stand up comedy and I think it could be an interesting thing to try, or maybe do sketches and weird videos and just put them on YouTube, ha. I mean, I use humour a lot in my artwork and I always wondered if I could translate that to something else other than drawings. But these are just thoughts, I’m in no position to actually try it out. I’m too scared.

Me and Phil Evans send each other little weird videos of us trying to act and stuff from time to time, mostly to make each other laugh. We have talked about trying to make something for the public also, but maybe they are just funny to us. Inside jokes and the like.

Last words…

Try not to be to self conscious about what others might think. Do what makes you happy and enjoy yourself. You don’t have long on this planet so have some fun. Oh, and go dancing in a club, field, bus stop or whenever it doesn’t matter, as long as you are dancing its all good. GO DANCING RIGHT NOW.

Check out Mike’s dancing skills at his site, buy some of his rad shit on his shop and follow his doodles on Insta. Phil Evans’ Lightbox project can be found here.

Now get those teas on mate…

Features Home Skateboarding

Gilbert Crockett interview

Post author By Zac
Post date May 19, 2015

One of the best parts of being involved in skateboarding is appreciating someone else’s natural ability to ride one, especially when they are straight-forward rolling like Gilbert Crockett. The Virginian may have been left in Alien Workshop limbo with the rest of the team exactly a year ago, but it didn’t slow down his ability to progress whatsoever. He just pushed faster.

With a killer new part under his wing in the new Vans Propeller movie and launching a new skate company, Mother Collective, he’s had his work cut out, but Crockett’s attitude on and off a board comes across as nothing but refreshing. Chris Pulman spoke with him the week before Propeller hit screens to speak about the good things that have gone down of late:

Looks like you have a busy year ahead. You must be pretty excited?

Yes, I am. I can’t wait to see this video.

I guess filming for the Vans video is pretty much wrapped up by now. Are you happy with what you have for it?

Yeah, we’re all done. I am happy with what I have, it’s been a long time coming.

It’s gonna be pretty epic purely from the list of riders Vans has. Is there anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing a part from?

I’m really looking forward to AVE’s and Daniel’s parts, but also just the whole thing. I can’t wait to see what Greg does.

Greg Hunt has some formidable projects under his belt and a real ability for communicating skateboarding in a genuine way. Do you get any direction from him? Do you have a strong vision of how you’d like to be portrayed or is more a case of ‘just get on with it’ and do what you do as best and as interestingly as you can?

I think Greg and I see eye to eye on a lot of things, and I think what you said is true about him doing things in a genuine way, and that is definitely a goal of mine when trying to put something together. So, I think I’m definitely just inspired by Greg, and working with him motivates me because I feel like we have a mutual respect about both of us wanting to do our job well and be happy with what we make.

The feeling I get from watching the Cellout and Bust Crew videos is that you use your talent to skate everything you come across. There’s a real genuine excitement from the act of skateboarding that comes across from these. It reminds me of being younger and street skating and trying to do everything on anything. Do you still get that excitement of real challenges in real surroundings?

Yes of course. Skateboarding for me at this point is sort of an intimate, emotional thing for me. If I’m skating the shittiest ledge you’ve ever seen with my friends and everyone is excited and having fun and trying to do whatever we can on it, I’m going to skate better than when I’m on a more serious session and I can feel everything around me like, “Wow, I called this session out and I’m wasting everyone’s time if I don’t get this”. But even then, I want to try to get a clip or a photo that my friends will be siked on.

Do you think that’s a reflection of growing up in Virginia? I’ve never been there, but I’m guessing, like a lot of us that didn’t grow up in major cities, you have to make do with the architecture that’s directly in front of you.

Yeah. It definitely has to do with that, and also, I think getting older and after you’ve been skating for 10-15 years, you start to want to just fuck around with spots that you’ve driven by your whole life, and just learn how to skate different shit, or shittier shit.

At a time when a lot of media is digested in disposable web-clips and instagram posts, what do you feel is the purpose of a full-length skate film?

I think the full length video is just the real deal. It’s just doing it, really doing it. And when you do it right, it’s unmistakable. You can’t just pump these things out like you can a fucking web edit, they take YEARS to make, and you can see it. Videos that are made like this have an impact for a reason; they live in real skate shops and on skateboarders’ bookshelves — they’re not just taking up space.

Apart from the easily accessible nature of instagram clips, I also think that they’re inherently genuine. In a world where kids are hammered by a lot of shallow marketing, do you think that this genuineness is what really appeals to the skaters?

I don’t know, everything is so clouded. It’s hard to tell who is keeping it real anymore. But I try really hard to not hate and just pay attention to the people I like.

I’ve heard that you’re very details-orientated when it comes to footwear especially. Do you have any reasons for this that you’d like to share or do you suffer from the same level of OCD that most skateboarders have when it comes to their gear?

I mean, I can’t just wear whatever. It’s got to be tested and approved to be a part of “the uniform” which is what AVE calls it. A lot of skateboarders work like this: you find a pair of jeans, a couple shirts, and usually some sort of hat that works for you, and you just run it into the ground until it falls apart or until you have your next gear crisis.

I’ve also heard that you like to look at authentic things and processes, be it footwear or tattoos. Personally, I love to know how everything works from making skateboards, footwear construction, leather-working and carpentry. Do you have any other skills or interests that you pursue as doggedly?

Yeah, I definitely pay a lot of attention to detail and how things are made. I paint flash and have messed around with making some clothes recently, but I don’t really pursue any of it. Hopefully one day.

Ph: Anthony Acosta / Vans

Your first Vans pro shoe is looking great. The Wafflecup seems like a perfect way to bring a little more consistency to a vulc-style shoe without losing any of the qualities that make that construction perfect for skateboarding. Have you had a lot of say in the development of that construction? There look to have been some subtle developments since the earlier Vans Stage IV shoes.

Yeah, it’s great. I really love it. My shoe is just the next generation of the waffle cup sole, we just found ways to improve it. I can’t say enough good things about the shoe and about Vans for letting me design a shoe that I love.

You’ve also included a mid-top version, which looks to be based on one of Vans’ longest running shoes, the Half Cab, do you wear either style in preference for any kind of terrain or do they both feel equally as good to you?

I usually skate the lows, but I always get into a mid phase like once a year or so where I’ll wear them for a while. I love both.

Ph: Greg Hunt / Vans

Now that Mother Collective has launched, it must be a relief to end all the speculation after the AWS sabbatical. Is that how it feels?

What happened with Workshop was inevitable. AVE and Dill knew that, but here we are, and I’m happy that it did.

Lastly, I spied your Vans team page quickly before I started these questions and noticed that you mention ‘The Four Agreements’ by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s a good philosophy for making the most of one’s lifetime. Is philosophy something that interests you a lot?

I don’t really pay much attention to it, but I do love that book, a lot of things inspire me, that was one of them.

Any philosophy on skateboarding that you’d like to end this with?

Have fun with your friends, stay up late and eat pie.

Interview by Chris Pulman.
Illustration by George Yarnton.
Gifs by Henry Calvert.
Download Vans’ Propeller skate video here.

Follow @crossfirezine on FB, Insta, Twitter and Tumblr for daily skate shit: *SINCE 2001*

Tags bust crew, Cellout, download, footage, free, Gilbert Crockett, Greg Hunt, interview, mother collective, movie, propeller, skate, skate film, skate video, skatebaords, skateboarding, vans, virginia

Features Home Skateboarding

Joe Howard interview

Post author By Zac
Post date May 13, 2015

Joe Howard is one of those people whose skateboarding makes you sit up and take notice. An angry and powerful style which makes everything he does look like he is acting out a personal vendetta against coping; grinds as long as you like, and any air to truck or tail smack at will.

Joe specializes in skateboarding that looks like a bar fight!

Coming from someone as chilled out as he is just makes it seem even gnarlier (ignoring the time he tried to fight the whole of Hastings town centre, that’s another story), and his brand of transition destruction is fuelled as much by roots reggae and dancehall as it is by hardcore punk.

Jono Coote caught up with Joe to talk about The Ripped, Yorkshire, Copenhagen and badly timed ankle injuries but before you get stuck in, enjoy his fast-as-fuck footage put together by Ross Brunton shot down at the HOV and Brixton Beach.

Ph above: Melon to rock at Stockwell’s crack house. All photos courtesy of Paul Graham.

When did you start skating, and what was your first set up?

Coming up to 10 years strong I reckon now. As far as I remember I got my first board from the local car boot – some fishtail biscuit with pink rails. I remember learning my first trick on that number, dead stop shuv-it’s in the pub car park because it wouldn’t roll right! Good you know it had probably been melting away in some bloke’s damp cellar since 1989. After that short lived introduction to the useless wooden toy I can’t really remember being stoked on a particular set up for a long time. I had a few no branders for a while, you know, I couldn’t afford a ‘pro’ deck for a long time, I was just happy to be skating. I guess I just used to buy what was cheapest at the time, saving up all my paper round money and heading over to Wisdom skate shop at the time; usually something British like Blueprint, Death or Heroin – mostly Death. They had the best team growing up. I think the first video I bought was Escape from Boredom, that got me hyped.

I first met you skating the legendary Ripped skatepark (RIP) in Dewsbury – explain that spot for those who didn’t manage to get to skate there?

It was the real crust, heart and soul of northern skateboarding growing up for me and my pals. Situated on the outskirts of one of West Yorkshire’s finest shite’ole towns, Dewsbury. The ‘crete coping was loud, Sex Pistols played on repeat, the bonfires were high and the death matches went all night! Everything that was edible was deep fat fried, no one knew who paid in and all nine cats that lived there were addicted to cali. Skinnyman played there once wearing nowt but denim, rapping away in the middle of the park, that was pretty raw. You would leave sleepless with graffiti in your lungs covered in cat shit but they were always nights to remember, hands down, every time. Snoz is the business!

Fakie thruster in Tottenham’s scum hole.

Do you have any good stories from those times? The Listerine moonshine night always stands out for me…

The moonshine was gnarly. Instant headache gear and you aren’t tasting shit for days, that stuff was battery acid for sure. I remember when place first opened, it was a right dust fest. The transition was a real slip n’ slide, so Mad Snoz decided to mix up a portion of paint and sand giving the ramps a real good seeing to! You can only imagine the scabby aftermath.

It seems like once the Ripped closed and all you guys got older, most people moved to Leeds – who still skates in the area now?

I think I’m the last man standing to be honest, I’ve been a lone rider for some time in this town now. But like you said, most of the fam live in Leeds now so I spend a lot of time over there. You know it’s pretty sweet to know there’s always a couch to crash on when you’re rolling with the boys, holla for the hospitality fellas!

I spent the last 3 years traveling up and down from London too, as my piece of fluff moved there for uni. It would be rad to move to London or some city with a strong scene one day but got too much love for Yorkshire still. RWTB!

If in doubt just throw yourself at it…

As someone who appreciates a good transition, give us a top 5 list of skate parks you’ve been too?

1) Brixton Beach, (Stockwell) UK
2) Faelledparken, the Hullet, Christiana bowl: can’t beat Copenhagen turf.
3) La Cantera, Bilbao
4) Mechelen DIY, Belgium
5) Tottenham DIY, UK

How about the top five destinations you’d like to visit to skate?

1) SF
2) Oregon
3) Scotland
4) West Indies
5) Germany

Staying with the travel hype, you’ve done Copenhagen a few times now – how would you describe it for those who haven’t been?

A comfortable hell ride every time. Everyone should go there and get a slice.

You’ve recently got hooked up with Anti-Hero, Independent and Spitfire through Shiner..

Yeah, I feel blessed to be getting flowed my all-time favourite companies off them, so stoked! 18 has been my fuel since I was younger watching all the old videos round Lee Rozee’s house, there ain’t no other company that emits so much energy and never will be.

You can add this photo to that Tumblr of skaters not wearing Nike’s.

Did you manage to skate at all after fucking your ankle on the first day of the most recent trip?

The Indy trip was a total wipe out for me on the first stop. I was just getting into the session and I just chicken footed down the tranny and my trotter bust; you know I snapped it before when I was young, so it’s real weak and that. It’s been a few months now tip-toeing about. Luckily I didn’t break it this time, just messed up the ligaments real good and that, but I am back on my board now. Besides from that shit all the guys smashed it! Seeing Colin Adam skate up there was rad. I remember seeing him do eggs in Faelledparken deep a few years ago all pissed up, they don’t call him a cannibal for nothing!

I know you’re into vinyl, especially reggae and dancehall, have you picked up anything good recently or is there any good shit you want posted up with this interview?

Yer for sure. I get bits now and again but wax is expensive especially with riddim there’s not that many record shops around west Yorkshire for that kind of stuff. I like to go rooting in London sometimes and I guess a lot of the new stuff is digital nowadays but you can’t beat that reggae turntable sound. I like lots of music, it all depends what mood I’m in to what I buy or listen to like I’m sure most folk do. At the moment I’ve been digging this new album my good friend Sam Barrett just brought out. Check it! These are my homies and my inspiration.

<a href="http://serioussambarrett.bandcamp.com/album/back-on-the-jack-single">Back on the Jack (Single) by Serious Sam Barrett (YaDig? Records)</a>

How did you get into reggae? I know Huddersfield has a legendary background in reggae sound systems, but you’re also into punk music which is what got me into reggae?

Yeah I guess when I was younger I used to listen to a lot of old British punk which got me well into the roots and early skinhead stuff, like all the Trojan releases and that which got me hyped. I guess everything I’ve listened to stems from rooting through my dad’s music pulling stuff out like Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Yellowman and even N.W.A when I was younger lived through all the genres. I remember him telling me to get hold of a Burning Spear album when he knew I was into that stuff telling that reggae don’t get better than that so I guess he has always introduced good music to me growing up. Huddersfield still has a little reggae scene going on, I used to go to the carnival there as a young whipper snapper to stand as close as I could get to the sound systems until my bones rattled and my ear drums burst.

Let’s sign this off with your top five Yorkshire skaters?

Let’s have a couple extra:

-Lee Rozee
-Doug Mclaughlan
-Lois Pendlebury
-Paul Graham
-Jordan Kaye
-Ben Lister (AKA Bruce)
-Felix Owuso-Kwarteng

Joe rides the lightning for Anti Hero, Spitfire, Independent, Hoax MFG and Rip Ride Skateshop.

He loves Madonna too… to fakie.

Tags anti hero, booking at house of vans, footage, Hoax MFG, house of vans, independent trucks, interview, joe howard, skate, spitfire, stockwell, vans, video

Features Home Skateboarding

‘Talking About Money’ with Greg Conroy

Post author By Zac
Post date April 9, 2015

The first time Greg Conroy‘s humourous illustrations caught my eye, they brought a wry smile. His simple, but effective artform tells a story, poking fun at skateboarders by highlighting the hypochrisies we are sometimes surrounded by. Our cartoon correspondent Jon Horner was sent to delve into the background of Conroy’s mission, paying homage to George Bernard Shaw who once famously said: “No, I am an artist, not a businessman; businessmen always want to talk about art, but artists only talk about money.”

Let’s start with Suburbs (Gregory’s stream of consciousness style comic about London, dog walking and Toby Shuall). How did that one come about?

Well, I’d just broken up with my ex. We lived together in Zone 1, right by Tower Bridge and I’d moved back to my parents’ on the border of Lewisham and Greater London, so I spent the first few weeks trying to find a local alternative to Southbank. Just somewhere to go and have a roll about. I’d just got a dog too, so I spent most of my days walking around the suburbs looking for spots with the dog. I was always stoked on Toby Shuall’s Head Cleaner section but started watching it obsessively when I moved home. it seemed a lot more relatable to me, back home in my late 20s.

The comic was sort of a visual diary I suppose. I had the thought process that’s in the comic going through my head all the time cos I was always out with the dog and always watching the section. With the other half of the book (that Jeremy Jones contributed to) I wanted something a bit funnier, making fun of the ‘deep stuff’ a bit.

So you were a proper Southbank kid then?

Yup, pretty much. Me, Henry Edwards-Wood and Faris Hassan went to the same school in Lewisham and all started skating the local carpark, then after a year we upgraded to Southbank. I’ve always preferred Shell Centre though. In the mid 2000s it would be ‘let’s skate Waterloo’, and I think its a bit sad that the new generation doesn’t have that. Southbank, Shell, lower Shell and, at a push, pigeon shit banks!

Where did drawing come into it? Was it something that came from skating and skate art or something separate that eventually joined up with skating?

My dad’s an artist (a proper one), and we didn’t have much money so, as a kid, we’d spend all day just drawing and making stuff out of cardboard boxes and paper mache. There weren’t many computer games as a kid, actually we had a black and white telly until the mid 90s. I remember going to a mate’s house and watching colour TV and getting proper tripped out, I thought it was only colour in cinemas! Haha!

My dad got me into it though, he lectured at Goldsmiths in the mid 80s but got laid off. He always encouraged us to draw, I was always super keen on cartoons and my older brother got me into comics early on. When skating came along I sort of fell off drawing religiously and skating became number 1, but it was always there in the background. Then I got back into it again heavily in my early 20s but never really wanted to show anyone. I was a bit embarrassed.

What sort of things would you draw? I used to obsessively copy Beano characters.

Early on it was Asterix and Obelix and Tintin. We had loads of those books and I used to think they were amazing. I liked the Beano and Dandy but the drawings in Asterix were so great, really solid cartoons, they still stand up today. Then as I got a little older it was copying comics: Green Lantern, Superboy and Robin. I liked the teenage superheros, they had fit girlfriends and were always a bit jack the laddish, which to an 11 year old nerd is sort of the dream. You can tell I was popular at school! Then as I became a lot older, 20s, I got back into cartoons and sort of started to form a ‘style’.

I love the Asterix books! I used to get them at the library when I was younger and now I still keep an eye out for them in second hand book shops.

Yeah you can get so many good books in charity shops, for like 20 pence, I go for a dig once a month or so on the high street. Loads of great children’s books too. Anthony Browne the children’s book writer/illustrator’s work is what really lit a fire under me to get back into drawing in my early 20s.

Oh interesting, why him in particular?

His books can be read on two levels, he writes for a child to understand but there a visual hints and clues to a deeper story for the parent to see as they read. A lot of his books have quite adult content really, class issues and troubled relationships. I like things that have multiple depths and can be viewed simply or with a more significant undercurrent. I’m not sure if that comes off in my cartoons though, I’m sure most people go ‘haha, yeah man I think weed is cool too!’ and I’m thinking noooo, laugh at the stoner, not with him! Not that there’s anything wrong with it, I don’t want to alienate myself from skateboarding entirely, I’m not that dense! Puff away lads! Laugh with the stoner!

Hahaha! What was the process of finding your style like? Your work is really distinctive, was that a deliberate choice or something that sort of just happened?

There’s a guy called Walt Kelly who worked at Disney, he left and started doing a newspaper strip called Pogo which I personally think is the basis for all good cartoons. He’s the Gonz of cartoons. If you look at Robert Crumb’s early stuff as a teenager, im sure he was looking at him loads. And there’s a guy called Jeff Smith who made a comic called Bone. Jeff Smith says that his Bone character is kind of his take on Walt Kelly’s Pogo, and my characters are pretty much a vague rip off of Bone. It’s all a farce! I’m just nicking from other people. But realistically, I think most western cartoons end up back at Walt Kelly.

I always wanted to put my drawings out into some sort of public forum or do something with them, but for years I had no idea what I wanted to draw. I spent loads of time in Cide skateshop when I was younger and French worked there and I think he’s the best. I spent years trying to draw gory stuff like him, but it just wasn’t for me.

So after drawing French-esque stuff, what was your next move?

The French stuff was always half hearted. I’d start a drawing then give up halfaway through knowing it was just a poor imitation. That was around the time skating took over from drawing and I just doodled cartoons on post-it notes at work. Then I got really heavily into cartoons again, watching loads of them. The Studio Ghibli stuff is great, and Japanese cartoons like Conan Boy of the Future and Mysterious Cities of Gold, Japanese kids’ cartoons, that’s where the cartoon style started to develop. I was reading Bone over and over trying to pick apart how to draw good cartoons at that point too. It was quite methodical really, too bad I fell short of the mark copying them!

After reading Bone loads and tracing it back to Walt Kelly I just wanted to make newspaper strip style stuff. 3 panels or single panels, I got a bit obsessed and started to think that newspaper strip cartoons were the basis for ‘real’ cartoons and that cartoons should stay true to that. I still think that actually. Comics and animated cartoons are just an extension of those newspaper strips I think, a political or social story broken down for the everyman.

What do you think about political or editorial cartoons?

They are the purest form of cartoon. I’m just not smart enough to do them, so I have to break it down to skateboarding, which I think I understand.

I don’t really see a lot of difference between what you do and what guys like Steve Bell and Martin Rowson do, I think you just exist in different contexts. It’s all about ‘speaking truth to power’, right?

Thanks! Yeah totally. I find the world in general, or more specifically humans, pretty hilarious. The way we conduct ourselves and what we think is important is so alien to me. I find most social interactions pretty funny in terms of the ridiculousness of what people think they are supposed to say, and skateboarding is exactly the same. It really is the silliest thing a grown man could do. Super rad but really silly.

I just want to make fun of people that take it seriously, growing up in the London scene is a big part of that. There was and still is a very big focus on ‘being legit’, and when you think you want to impress an older guy on the dole who gets left over trainers from his mate who’s sponsored it’s so daft. It’s all ridiculous.

Hence ‘Serious Adult’?

Yup! Plug time! Serious Adult is pretty early on, but at the moment it’s half a crew/half a clothing company I guess. It’s just an outlet for something creative and fun. We’re putting a video together and doing a few runs of t-shirts to try and fund filming trips and get it out there a bit. Everyone that gets free stuff is into art and looks at skateboarding creatively and are all amazing skaters too. I hope we can make a short edit and get people stoked on having a laugh when skating. Everyone says ‘oh, skating’s just for fun’ but then HAVE to wear the right clothes and do the right tricks. Everyone filming for the video is creative and really has fun skating.

Who’s involved so far?

Jeremy Jones, Jaspar Woolf and Luka Pinto are stacking clips. We’re doing a trip to Sheffield on Saturday and I’ve spoken to Shaun Currie (who I used to know back in London and who might be the funniest skater in England) about it a little, so I’m hoping we can get some footage of him. Both him and Luka have filming commitments at the moment so it might just be a few tricks, I’m not sure, hopefully everyone can get 30 seconds and we can put a 5 minute video out. I’m hoping we can get some Lukas Kacevicius footage too, he rips Southbank and is always happy! Jasper’s been stacking clips, he’s killing it, and shout out George Toland for filming! He’s always keen to go on missions. The crew is coming together well!

So yeah, putting t-shirts out, hopefully more stuff when the money comes in. I just want to make money to take everyone on trips and make rad edits of them. It’s tricky trying to make clothes or a product from cartoons really. I don’t want to just put out a logo t-shirt, because who cares? Buy a Palace or Landscape one if you want to support a skateboard company. I want people to buy it because they think the designs are fun and they like the team.

Have you got many left of the first tee? it looks like most sizes are sold out on your website.

I’ve got about 3 left. I gave a lot out to friends but I just broke even, so the money has funded a smaller run of tees and the filming trip to Sheffield. I’m trying to do it properly, paying for travel, per diems, buying DV tapes. I don’t think people should do something for free, much like illustration.

Have you been approached by any companies to do stuff for them or approached any yourself?

I haven’t approached any myself yet, but I worked a few roughs out for Science, that’s sort of on hold for now I think, we couldn’t quite work out an idea that really grabbed both of us. I’ve been chatting with Matt Bromley from Blast, it looks like something will materialise there which I’m super stoked on, Matt’s a great guy and really thinks deeply about art within skating and Blast is my favourite company, I only ride their boards so I’m super stoked. And Bryce asked me if I wanted to do an exhibition at Parlour. It’s just talks at the moment, but hopefully that will come together soon.

I would like to do boards or graphics in general for companies of course, it’s every skate art nerd’s dream, I just don’t want to jump the gun. If someone’s stoked on my stuff I’d be really chuffed to be approached but it’s still early days for me I guess.

If you could do a board for one pro (doesn’t have to be a current one) who would it be?

Hmm, a tough one… Lavar Mcbride. He’s one of my all time favourite skaters and he was pro during a time when skateboard graphics flourished. You could really do something cheeky with it.

He’s from the right era, he’s the right skater, and you could definitely take the piss in those days. No logo boards then!

What do you think of the state of skateboard graphics at the moment.

There are some amazing people out there, but in general it’s so banal. Just really clean and sanitised and graphic design based. Skateboarding and cartoons really belong together, the 90s proved that. It was the best era for graphics, the most controversial and visually the funniest. I don’t understand how we have gone towards this logo board era. I see kids skating really creatively and having fun all the time, so why are the boards not a reflection of that? Todd Bratrud can put out something well drawn and funny, so what’s everyone else’s excuse? Paul Parker, Matt Bromley, French and other people do hold the candle of course, there are great people out there, but I don’t understand why some graphic designer that doesn’t skate is being hired to make a graphic for a mega-corp company and pass it off as a board. Just put a Monster energy drink logo on it and get the real money if that’s your goal.

James Jarvis’ Blast board is one of my favourites in recent years though, it’s great.

Maybe I should retract that graphic design stuff? Will I get in trouble?

You can if you want but I’m with you 100%!

Yeah fuck it. It’s true.

Also, I doubt Plan B were about to hire you to do a series. Sorry.

Haha! It’s great that you dont have to even say Plan B but we both know that’s what i was talking about in terms of logo boards. I hope Danny Way doesn’t find me and hit me, I’m fragile!

You aren’t gay are you? Then you’d be in real trouble.

That’s a different interview.

Hahaha! Next time.

I totally had sex with a girl this morning! I swear to god. It was great!

Props. I think it’s fair to say that most people who know your work know it from Instagram. When did you start putting things up there?

The longlivesouthbank account put up a rough of a drawing I did for them and i had just got Instagram but didn’t really use it. I saw it had a bunch of likes and being naive didn’t realise anything they put up gets automatic likes so it felt very validating. That’s when I started putting my own stuff out there for the first time really. It felt nice to know people were looking at my stuff and found it funny, which is quite sad for a 28 year old man really. But that’s what Instagram is for.
I find it interesting though, I was chatting to Matt from Blast about it. People think that’s how it works, and I totally fell for it too – if you have likes you have a product, which isn’t true at all. There’s a far shout from 100 or a thousand or whatever people liking your drawing on the internet to handing money over for it on a physical product. It’s the same as skate videos. No one buys them and the market is completely turned on its head. I suppose Sidewalk cutting back from print is the same thing. The internet can be great to put something out there, but it makes us lazier as skaters I think.

Was it Insta love that that prompted you to make Suburbs? Or were you planning that already?

Hmm, I kind of wanted to make it and just put it on my shelf and forget about it but the insta love made me think maybe other people would want to see it too. It’s like when people get addicted to taking selfies. I avoided smart phones for years but now I’m totally sucked in. I’ve become the person I hate. Check me out on Instagram I need validation!

Ha! Well I’m glad you made the jump to putting out a physical comic, and if Instagram helped make that happen then it can’t be all bad. Do you think it’s affected your style or your work in any way?

That’s interesting, because like I said I think single panels or 3 panels are a perfect medium for cartoons and that really lends itself to Instagram, so I would probably do the same thing either way. The next comic is longer and has a mix of single panels, 3 panels and longer comic stories so I don’t think it’s had too much of an effect.

But to a degree, maybe, I’m not sure. I really find it fascinating. It’s really narcissistic and the London scene has a lot of that (clothes, wanting to be seen etc, mainly in the younger generations) so I guess Instagram is a good medium for what I do, or what I’m trying to make fun of.

What’s the plan with the new comic?

It’s just an extension of the Instagram, with some 6 page stories thrown in and interviews with Jeremy Jones and French.

Sounds good! What stage is it at? Will it be out soon?

I just need to wait to see if I can do more than break even on the next run of t-shirts to put it out. For the tees the money model is: break even, keep some money aside for trips and some for the next run. If I dip into it to put the comic out I can’t put out another t-shirt run, because the return money on the comics is so much less than the tees, and if I don’t get a return we cant go on more filming trips.

Hopefully if the Parlour exhibition comes together I’ll sell/give away the comics there.

Good luck with everything! Anything else you want to add?

Shout out Greg Finch. He’s my favourite skater.

Find Greg at seriousadult.com

Tags art, artist, blast skates, cartoon art, cartoons, fanzine, greg conroy, illustration, Jon Horner, magazine, parlour skate shop, sidewalk, skate, skate art, skateboarding

Features Home Music

BUZZBOMBS: The best new bands from SXSW 2015

Post author By Zac
Post date April 1, 2015

Yep, so we bought Joe Parry a ticket to Austin, sent him on his way across the Atlantic and awaited news that he was sober enough to check out some new music at the SXSW Festival. Alas, he managed to get away from the bar just enough to bring back his favourite top 10 bands, so dive into what went down and discover a bunch of great new music.

Sheer Mag

One of the most talked about garage-rock bands of the entire festival, Sheer Mag’s pop chops, Thin Lizzy-esque guitar licks and raucous energy helped them tower above the thousands of bands flocking to Austin. In singer Christina Halladay, Sheer Mag have a fierce and powerful voice that commands attention, whilst holding each track together with her astute knack for melody.

<a href="http://sheermag.bandcamp.com/album/7">7" by SHEER MAG</a>

Sunflower Bean

Three teens from NYC, Sunflower Bean quickly got tongues wagging with their unpredictable take on psyche-rock. Guitarist Nick Kivlen and bassist Julia Cumming form the frontline of what could be one of the year’s most exciting new bands. Switching up their blissed out haze with stomping, heavy freak-outs, Sunflower Bean were impossible to ignore.

<a href="http://sunflowerbean.bandcamp.com/album/show-me-your-seven-secrets-ep">"Show Me Your Seven Secrets" EP by Sunflower Bean</a>

Mitski

One of the most talked about acts of the festival Mitski proved a vital voice over the course of the week. Her impassioned vocal flits between excited, empowered melodies and deep, introspective tales of young love and loss. With her ability to silence her crowd with her voice, as well as looking cool as fuck as she strums her low-slung, hot pink bass guitar, Mitski is no run of the mill singer/songwriter.

<a href="http://mitski.bandcamp.com/album/bury-me-at-makeout-creek">bury me at makeout creek by Mitski</a>

Adult Books

It’s no accident that Adult Books have garnered the approval of acclaimed labels Burger Records and Lollipop. As melodic as they are brash, their lo-fi garage-punk meets 60s pop is punctuated with some slick surf-rock guitars and attention to vocal melody that so many of their contemporaries neglect.

<a href="http://adultbooksca.bandcamp.com/album/adult-books">Adult Books by Adult Books</a>

Ho99o9

Combining the hip-hop experimentalism of Death Grips, with a raw and dangerous punk energy, LA three-piece Ho9909 were a captivating as they were terrifying. An intoxicating mix of punk samples, low-slung beats and trap, Ho99o9’s music confounds and puzzles yet if their two shows at SXSW are anything to go by, their live performances will quickly become the stuff of legend.

Sales

Dreamy two-piece Sales kept the rain at bay on Saturday at The Liberty. The minimal approach of their sound wouldn’t have allowed for the energy exhibited by other acts, but they were by no means less captivating, with their washed out guitars, electronic beats and singer Lauren Morgan’s sweet vocal.

<a href="http://sales.bandcamp.com/album/sales-ep">SALES EP by SALES</a>

American Sharks

A heavy clash of Albini indebted sludge and T-Rex stomp, Austin’s own American Sharks powered their way through a sharp set at Hotel Vegas. With the drums pushed to the front of the stage, the three-piece had the local following out in force and quickly got fists pumping.

<a href="http://vveedvvizard.com/album/american-sharks">AMERICAN SHARKS by American Sharks</a>

White Reaper

Signed to renowned label Polyvinyl, White Reaper’s raw take on garage-punk is equal parts fuzz, pop and sweat. Despite their ramshackle energy, the band never missed a beat and provided some much needed relief from the swathes of singer-songwriters and icy blog-pop that has become commonplace at SXSW.

<a href="http://whitereaper.bandcamp.com/album/white-reaper">White Reaper by WHITE REAPER</a>

Makthaverskan

If a hardcore band were forced to listen to Belle and Sebastian for a year, the result could be Sweden’s Makthaverskan. A perfect combination of Ramones cool and all out pop-punk fun, Makthaverskan clash their sickly sweet melodies with some powerful and cutting lyrics.

<a href="http://makthaverskan.bandcamp.com/album/witness-7-2">Witness 7" by makthaverskan</a>

Institute

The perfect bridge between post-punk and hardcore, local band Institute’s dark and imposing sound complemented frontman Moses Brown’s presence as he stalked the stage throughout their set.

<a href="http://institute.bandcamp.com/album/salt-ep">Salt EP by Institute</a>

Tags 2015, ADULT BOOKS, AMERICAN SHARKS, best new bands, best new music, Ho99O, INSTITUTE, MAKTHAVERSAN and WHITE REAPER, MITSKI, new bands, SALES, SHEER MAG, SUNFLOWER BEAN, SXSW

Features Home Skateboarding

Zenga Bros – Skate Heads interview

Post author By Zac
Post date March 5, 2015

Skate and Create. It’s the fundamental reason why we all started pushing these damn planks in the first place and once mastered, the idea bank can be an endless pool of fun. This week’s stoke is found in British Columbia, Canada where Benny and brother Christian Zenga, (two of four creative brothers, aka the Zenga Bros), have created an adventure that only the forward thinkers achieve.

This is not the first time the Zenga Bros have excited us from their home country though, back in 2011 an explosive video edit shot in the infamous Leeside Tunnel for Halloween spread through the web. It captured the carnage and annihilation of an electrifying skate sesh that most would want an invite to, even if it meant getting burnt to shreds in the process.

You can see that at the end of this feature but today, our homage to their work relates to their new film project released this week, so before Benny discusses how this awesome project came together, take in Skate Heads.

Easy Benny, congrats on the new edit, how did this concept come to fruition?

So this artist/curator/mastermind Jeff Hamada, who runs a popular art blog called Booooooom, approached us about collaborating on an art project. For this project, Jeff initiated what he calls “an ongoing collaboration between Booooooom and Flexfit, to give emerging creators a chance turn a dream project into reality”. That’s pretty much what it was. We came up with Skate Heads as a way of combining a bunch of things we really like: mobile living spaces, DIY skateboarding and ECCENTRIFING THE WORLD! It’s about bringing something unexpected into the streets and having a rad time.

Ph: When was the last time you rowed to the sesh, in the sesh?

Making skateable objects and getting it right can be difficult, especially when it comes to taking it to railways and water, how did you all decide on what to build for this?

The Genesis of the project was my brother Christian’s sketchbook. Christian has been developing a series of ‘graffiti living’ pieces, which are micro studio spaces, installed in unexpected places around the city. The idea is to become graffiti. We see these installations as urban lighthouses which remind us to do unexpected things, ignite curiosity and bring creativity into our daily lives so the different pieces in Skate Heads evolved naturally.

Since moving to Vancouver a few years ago, I always wanted my own boat. Often when I see boats sitting out of the water and turned upside down, I think that’d make a rad jump ramp or grindable ledge. So I found an old wooden boat and accentuated certain features to make it more skateable. I built a pronounced bow and added a grindable keel. Then we painted it to look like a giant head. We wanted each piece to have distinct characteristics in each stage of its transformation; whether as a boat in the water, or as a giant head when it’s hoisted up, and as a completely a skateable obstacle when it’s turned over.

The rail ramp: well, we love tiny houses. We grew up building mini ramps and we’re always looking to make use of discarded spaces. Combining these things was obvious to us.

Ph: Nate Lacoste sails a fatty over the boat.

It must have been a huge amount of work to put together and with a heavy load, especially with the rail ramp.

It was a lot of work, an exhausting amount of work. It was, at times, totally brutal. We built all the ramps in two weeks and shot the video over two days. The video involved moving a number of these skateable structures around the city, one of them being a halfpipe with cabins built on either end. The rail ramp was very heavy and we moved it all by hand. The night mission to install the rail ramp was ridiculous. We pushed it 500 yards down a derelict train track in the dark. There were fallen hydro poles in the way and vines and wires which we tripped over in the dark. It was so ridiculous and demanding that we couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves. But then at the same time, pushing and dragging that cabin-ramp down the tracks and finally reaching our destination under the bridge, everyone involved shared an immense sense of satisfaction. It was such a rad adventure.

Ph: Adam Hopkins takes a backside boneless on the cabin.

In a nutshell, what is Skate Heads?

Skateboarding is inherently about adapting and repurposing the urban landscape, but somehow even skateboarding can settle into a complacent state, where certain approaches become the norm. When street skating first started it was weird and abrasive, and that’ll always be there with wheels rattling down the sidewalk, but it’s good to remind ourselves to maintain a sense of foolishness, exploration and wonder; that is skateboarding. For us, making a backyard ramp was the ultimate form of creating our own adventure playground. Skate Heads has been a continuation of that.

Photography courtesy of Gordon Nicholas. Find the Zenga Bros (below) on FB and Insta.

That Leeside jam has to be seen again…

Features Home Skateboarding

Exposed: Supertoxic Urethane

Post author By Zac
Post date March 2, 2015

Supertoxic have been carving out their reputation for producing quality urethane since its inception back in July 2011. As a true skater owned company, it’s run from the heart and also very active, as opposed to one of those brands that launches, fades and becomes something that is just seen on the internet. This all takes time and hard graft of course and that’s why ST has grown more than you would imagine, leaving it’s homegrown mark on pavements and parks all over Europe right now.

Their first full length video, We’re Working On It, is pure British beef, made up of a team of reprobates living all over the UK who live for the skull and give owner Mike Crisp everything in return. This Exposed feature is made up of tales from everyone involved in doing what they love the most: skateboarding and enjoying life.

Watch Ross Zajac’s exclusive curtain closer part from the DVD premiering here today:

What influenced you to run a wheel company Mike?

I’ve been skating for years but studying at uni due to a badly broken ankle, beer, work and a girlfriend got in the way, so it took a back seat for longer than I care to think about. When I finished university I was left newly single with plenty of holiday savings in the bank and a good friend of mine, James Headford was running his own little board brand, Deadmen Skateboards. All the local kids in the Accrington/Clitheroe area were really backing it so it was interesting to watch. As a kid I’d always wanted to have a brand, painting my own decks and making stickers, so I thought this was the time to throw myself head-first back into the skate scene. With Headford already doing the local board brand thing I had a think about it and couldn’t really think of any wheel specific brands in the UK. There were plenty of board co’s with wheels but nothing that was all about the urethane only, so I just went for it.

How long does it take for the wheels to be moulded and ready to skate?

The wheels take around 4 weeks from finalising artwork to hitting the streets. The current duro I use is nice and hard to help with the prevention of flatspots but not too hard that they are too slippy, using nothing but great quality urethane. I am currently working on a few new things with different durometers, sizes, riding surfaces etc. They are all the in the early stages but prepare to see more variation throughout 2015.

Tell us how you managed to get this DVD project off the ground?

As an avid skate DVD collector it seemed an obvious step to start working on a video at some point. I guess it’s a good introduction to the brand and who we are, with a full team and a good group of mates with cameras. We were always naturally filming when we went out so one day I just decided “This is day 1, let’s make a video”.

Did Adam Todhunter naturally fit as the main man on filming duties?

Adam is one of team rider Ross Zajac’s best mates, he was always part of the crew on trips with the team and always down to film, and he’d helped me out a lot with photos and footage of Ross before filming for the video, so for me, he was the obvious choice.

Reading the various stories below from the riders, Berlin seemed to be a popular location for everyone.

Yeah, filming properly kicked off with a big team trip to Berlin. Most of us had never visited the city before and as it is well known for amazing spots we all agreed it should be first on the list. After that, most filming missions were dotted all over the UK, mainly to cities where team riders lived or where we had friends so we could pick up decent spot tour guides and have sofas and floors to crash on.

How long did it take until you were certain the DVD was complete?

It took about 2 years. The original plan was one year but as British weather and skateboarding don’t mix too well the project just continued until we were happy with what we had.

The title happened on its own really. We dropped a bunch of teaser trailers saying were working on a video, but at the time we had no idea of a name. Rye at Sidewalk posted them up one day with the title “We’re working on it” and from there it kind of just stuck. I liked it because as a smaller brand, that’s exactly what we were doing. We still have a long way to go and will always be working on new things and ways to push the brand and team.

ADAM TODHUNTER:

Ross Zajac and I grew up skating together in the same small town in Cumbria. The majority of ‘We’re Working On It’ was filmed on weekend trips due to people working on other projects with their local filmers, or not having access to HD. At the time I wasn’t working on any solo projects and neither was Ross, so we were able to fully focus on putting all our effort into filming his part.

Before we even started filming for the video we were on a trip in Milton Keynes to film a weekend edit with Ross and Joey Hurst who rode for Supertoxic at the time. This was when Ross did the wallride that’s at the end of his part. I think it’s so funny and rad that the first trick we filmed ended up being the last trick in the video! So much for last minute hammers.

The Berlin trip we went on in Spring 2013 was the gnarliest! I originally intended just to be tagging along with the crew shooting some photos here and there. But as soon as we landed I found out that the filmer who was meant to be coming on the trip dropped out weeks ago! Luckily I had brought all my gear with me, so it ended up being one of the most intense weeks of my life trying to capture 9 dudes single handedly. Haha! Sometimes I was filming 3 or 4 lines at a time, so just as everyone landed their tricks and I thought I’d be able to sit down for half an hour or half a bit of a skate, someone else would start trying something and I couldn’t resist – followed by trying to get people hyped to do it again for a photo while all anyone wanted to do was leave the spot. I think after only the second day I was struggling to walk in the evenings.

Mostly we tried to film throughout the day and go back out in the evening for round two, just so I had the chance to recharge my batteries. While filming at the famous bench spot I had to run and buy a coffee from a café nearby and sweet talk them into letting me put my batteries on charge while we skated outside!

In just one week we managed to hit so many spots and everyone smashed it to their hardest. A few stand out tricks for me were Charlie’s big spin fs boardslide on an 8 stair rail while everyone else was sat still eating their breakfast! All of the tricks that went down at the fountain dish spot too. That thing is so gnarly! The gap in is big, the landing is rough as hell, there’s a spike in the middle of the dish (which looking back on footage people cover over with hoodys… I guess it never crossed our minds). Some guy even sat down at the roll up to clean his moped with baby wipes at one point! Oh and Radman’s switch pop drop into the huge Alexanderplatz banks mid being kicked out of the spot! Sorry for filming it badly Radderz, that trick deserved some drone action! Anyway, although it was one the most intense weeks of my life I felt privileged to spend it with the Supertoxic guys and be able to capture the whole week.

DANNY ABEL:

I’d never actually met any of these boys before this video. I’d only heard of most of them because of their radness on a skateboard. I was 17 at the time and was super stoked to be asked to come on a trip with these dudes. I boarded a flight from Gatwick to Berlin and was greeted by two northerners, Ross and Adam. They liked taking the piss out of me for being a ‘cockney’, therefore I was called Oliver Twist for the rest of trip! Ha! I still couldn’t believe I was skating with these guys. You can take these dudes to ANY spot and they will walk away with a trick in the bag. For example the drained out fountain that looks like a giant penny, (you know the spot) – you gotta pop in and pop out, like a second later…..that shit’s hard to skate. Yet these boys where chucking tricks out of it just like that – fingerflip, back 180, back foot flip, no complies. Charlie just kickflipping into it every go, then nollie biggies out – it was madness. I just sat down and appreciated the session going off. Not only do these geezers kill it on a skateboard but they know how to have fun. As I said I was 17 at the time so didn’t really have my club/rave virginity taken, so a few of them got some booze in me and took me some gnarly like techno/psychedelic garage rave! Haha! It was the funniest night watching German ravers chew their own faces off on high grade ecstasy and throwing some mad shapes with the crew. The next day felt super toxicated! Haha!

ROSS ZAJAC:

As you guessed, Berlin was our main trip filming for the video. The full team and homies were there and had all flown in from all over the UK so we all met up at the hostel. The main thing I always remember on this trip is on the second or third day in we set off to find a spot and we passed a handrail on the way there. We hadn’t even had breakfast yet but a couple of the lads got rolling up while I ran across to the bakers for some food. I got back and I hadn’t even had chance to finish a croissant before Charlie had thrown down two or three hammers and he didn’t slow down throughout the entire trip.

MARK RADDEN:

I’ve had so many funny and rad times hanging with this crew skating and traveling over the last few years. The spots, sessions and brews have always popped off. Everyone’s been shredding and seeing that myself first hand and the motivation and dedication of the filmers and the riders towards the video project really got me stoked to go skate. I think that is what it’s all about in the end – good times with the homies skateboarding.

This one time the whole gang came down to Harlow and I think I slept 14 people in my one bedroom flat up on the 13th floor! So dope that everyone was down to make the effort and get together to skate and make shit happen. I didn’t even have enough mugs to make all the heads a tea on wake up! Now that’s some next shit. (And 10 outta 10 for commitment for the bae’s who got no tea or coffee that day. Soldiers. much love). I’ve got a few good memories of heading out to Accrington too, the Pearl of the North, stuck in traffic. Six hours later, pints and flaming sambucca’s were out! Doing this before hitting street spots the next day is heavy speciality if you travel all that way there to hit the MEN ten rail, only to find that when you finally get there, the classy lass at maccy D’s has just washed the floor! That 4.5 hour drive home with no attempts is long but you gotta laugh!

LLOYD MCLEGGON:

One of the things that stood out for me was Danish breaking his bloody finger in Berlin, the tool! We were at a spot with a whole bunch of ledges that sloped up at the end (the ones that Charlie did the bs nosegrind along and up in the video). Danish was trying a nose manny along up, and then switch manual back along. However, this wasn’t working out all that well until he decided to take a slam and break his finger. The fool then lands the damn thing literally a couple tries after! So if you’re struggling with something…break a finger, apparently it helps. Haha!

JAMES HEADFORD

As the official ‘Toxic taxi driver’ I have seen this company grow from nothing to what it is today and needless to say it’s been sick to watch it grow. All the lads on the team kill it and I’m glad to call them friends. Big man Ross is my fucking hero, always killing it! I still can’t get over that he went for that rail at the end of the video, just stupid. There have been loads of top times with the Toxic lads traveling all over the UK, Berlin, to Paris and I would love to go on for ages about how sick it all was, but I can’t, because we drank a lot and I can’t remember most of them. I hope Supertoxic and the lads keep killing it for years to come!

LIAM ‘DANISH’ PALMER

The Supertoxic crew has been a really rad buzz since the beginning! Everyone’s excitement to skate, friendly vibe, different backgrounds, positivity, sick designs and the chance to skate with some really rad dudes is what got me hyped in the first place. The lads fucking smash it and we’ve had some really rad times! Whilst filming for the flick we tripped to Berlin, I checked the spots out beforehand and got rare excited to go and do that place over. Haha! We stayed in the grottiest, minging hostel. The room stank of foot cheddar, gwuaarn smoke and mouldy beverages and I swear the water in the shower came out like wallpaper paste, but sod it, who needs a wash anyway!

One of my favourite sessions in Berlin was the spot in the middle of the road and tram tracks where there’s like 10 blocks or some shit – we got bare steamin’ and got money back from the beer bottles to buy more beer! I love that city, though the beer did manage to get the better of me. I threw my board in a paddy and hit the new crew member Danny ‘gammon clan’ Abel smack in the back of his head! Jeez, I felt like a dick, but we drank and smoked and skated ’til our legs were no more! Supertoxic is one of the most positive influences in my life! What a bunch of legends.

Another instance that springs to mind was way back on a trip to Barcelona filming for one of the first tings! We had skated our souls smooth, smoked and drank for a good percentage of the day, smashed a full English at some sound British food joint just round from Macba and then got on the jugs of Sangria! It was like 4 euro or something ridiculous for a baths worth of the stuff, so the bossman Mike Crisp and me took full advantage! We skated Macba for hours that night, I snapped my board and like two or three of the lads were doing nollie biggies off the Macba ledge next to the steps. Fucking amazing times.

ROB SANDERSON

So many different things that stand out whilst filming for the ‘Toxic video, mainly Berlin stuff traveling to spots we had seen in videos and other places that locals told us about. The entire trip was one long laugh, from getting to the airport (where Danish missed his fight) to stories about all night discothèques with Headford’s trench foot stinking out the one room we all shared the following day!

The raddest thing of that whole trip was watching Danny Abel heelflip bodyvarial the double set at the Berlin museum. Seeing that set in person to see actually how long it is gives me so much more respect for anyone who’s done a trick down it.

It’s always a good skate meeting up with the guys every now and then, even though everyone is spread pretty much around the country and rarely see each other, each time we meet up it’s like we only just saw each other yesterday. Big up’s to Adam Todhunter for the majority of the filming & editing the whole thing, because if everyone else is a pain in the arse for filming like me he’s handled it like a trooper!

Shout outs

Firstly, I would like to say the biggest thank you to Adam Todhunter, as without him the video wouldn’t be what it is. I’m stoked he was involved. He filmed and edited it better than I could’ve imagined. Skateboarders are a pain in the ass at the best of times, I include myself as one of the worst, but he was always motivated and got shit done. Also Isaac Wilkinson contributed a good chunk of the filming too, so thanks for being part of it! Then of course the whole team for contributing to some of the funniest times of my life so far as well as shredding on a daily basis. – Mike Crisp

Visit Supertoxicurethane.co.uk for the full monty. Thanks to Adam Todhunter for the footage and photos.

Tags i five distribution, mike crisp, skateboard, skateboard wheel, skateboard wheels, super, supertoxic, team, team interview, toxic, urethane