Category: Home

9. Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
10. Thwart institutional cowardice.
11. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
12. Take your fate into your own hands.
13. Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
14. Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.

Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed.

Riding a skateboard is hard and dirty, often anti social and habitually painful. It’s noisy and obnoxious and you spend most of your time covered in the shit and detritus the modern urban sprawl leaves in its wake. Up until fairly recently, it was also about the least cool thing you could spend your time doing. (As a kid, I’ve been decked more than a couple of times whilst out on plank, for no other reason than being a kid, out on plank, and was steadfastly called a greb all throughout comprehensive school, which was admittedly a fair few years ago, pre mainstream usurping/commodification of skate culture and fashion.)

If you ride a skateboard, you know this; it’s your day in, day out existence and if you don’t, it really doesn’t matter and you don’t need to know about it. The same can be said about Anti Hero. It’s exclusive in a completely non-wanky or pretentious way. You either know, or you don’t. Get involved and get some, or don’t bother and don’t worry about it.

I recently spent sometime out on the West Coast of the U.S.A., hitching-hiking, skating and drifting about the spiritual home of the useless wooden toy with my plank, my tent and not much else. It was my Al Hajj, and it was pretty much perfect.

Skating down N. Fairfax Avenue in LA beneath huge billboards advertising Diamond and D.G.K. and what have you, surrounded by the celebrity oi polloi of Twatplankville was kind of a trip, but was a million miles from what I know and hold dear as skateboarding. Skidding, falling over and boozing with the SF scumbags down on Potrero Park and Lower Bobs, watching Andy Roy et al. screech about the place made more sense.

There’s an investment in and a thirst for life with those guys; for the kind of life that means getting off ya arse and making the world around you the sort of world you want to live in, which instantly makes posturing or vogueing or whatever fad is in that week null and void, completely redundant.

Lower Bobs, the DIY spot out in West Oakland that the 18/Our Life guys poured on a bit of wasteland squeezed between the highway and Pine St. perfectly encapsulates what I’m trying to get at here, except in blood, sweat, ‘crete and grinds, and is a hundred times more profound than this hokum and jive. Language is pointless stood up next to wailing slash grinds and speed lines at that place.

Skateboarding doesn’t need words or sports companies, or limited edition collabs…it needs action. Go put Fucktards and 2 Songs and Destination Unknown in ya pie-holes, get stoked then go get some.

Words/photo: Dave Bevan

Want to write for Crossfire? Shout us.

As tributes go there’s nothing better to keep than an illustrated book, especially when so many dons with pen and ink skills around the world club together to assist in making Ed Syder‘s dream come true. His new 52 page book, that pays homage to legendary skaters Natas Kaupas and Mark Gonzales, came to life after a successful crowdfunding exercise and is currently flying off the shelves this month and admired by many.

Obviously it took a lot of work to piece together so we asked participating illustrator and top dude Jon Horner to delve into how this all came together with Ed himself.

JH – Tell us where this all started. Was it an image or a story? Was the idea for the book fully formed from the start or was it something that you ran with?

ES – I had the idea of doing a ‘Janet & John’ style kids book, but with skaters. That grew out of doing an alphabet of pro skaters just before. Getting others involved meant it all happened quicker than it would if it was just me making a zine.

JH – And why Gonz and Natas in particular?

ES – I’d just seen those videos about them skating together like that ‘On Video’ about Natas. It was gonna either be them or Neil & Lance.

JH – Any plans to do a sequel? A Neil and Lance book would be rad!

ES – Yeah that’d be good. I’d rather someone else did all the crowd funding/posting the books out. My evenings are just filling Jiffy bags at the moment.

JH – Haha! It seems like the Indiegogo campaign was fairly successful then, how did that come together?

ES – I raised a grand which was enough to make 100 books/sticker sheets and 30 t-shirts. I’d hoped to get more printed by raising more but hey, whatever. The books are almost all gone, so maybe I’ll get some more printed up if there’s enough interest.

JH – That’s great news. I saw that the Palomino have been selling copies too, did you approach any other skate shops/distributors or did you want to keep it DIY?

ES – Nick (Sharratt from Palomino) was into stocking it, as was Larry from Pure Fun Skate Zine in the states. Beach gallery in London were in touch this week, so if I get some more made they’ll be stocking it. I’m new to all of this but everyone’s been really cool so far.

JH – So have you heard from Gonz and Natas? Natas seems pretty keen on it on Instagram…

ES – Yeah that’s amazing. Thomas Campbell tagged him in a post a while back, then he sent me his address so the book’s on the way.

JH – That’s so rad!

ES – Your strip in the book was pretty great. How did you find doing that? I’m interviewing you now…

JH – Haha! The old Tennessee switcheroo! I loved doing it. Natas and Gonz have had some of the best graphics ever so it was really fun to try and get them all together somehow.

JH – If you had to pick one of each, which Gonz and Natas boards would you take to a desert island?

ES – I really like that Blind Gonz with the green woman and the guy on a dog leash. I had it on a t-shirt for years, it pretty much crumbled into pieces.

Oh, and an SMA Natas kitten with the ball of wool. My little brother had that deck.

JH – What else are you working on at the moment?

ES – I’ve done a couple of boards for The Friend Ship and I’m doing another tee for Metro Skateboarding and one for Pure Fun zine.

Oh nice! I like how The Friend Ship is becoming a little American haven for UK artists.

ES – Oh yeah, I liked your Blender one.

JH – Cheers!

ES – And Phil Morgan (who’s in the book) did that sweet Louie Barletta deck. Logo boards suck anyway, so this is all good.

JH – Yeah, I think that was meant to be a Jason Park pro board but he jumped ship (pun fully intended). He’s done another for them too that isn’t out yet.

ES – Ha, I did a Jason Park board as well for a company that never happened.

JH – Oh really?

ES – Joel from Metro was trying to set up company that did one off pro models, but I guess there wasn’t the money. It was a Bert and Ernie graphic with Jason Park written like Sesame Street.

JH – How did you get involved with Metro?

ES – Joel was Corey Duffel’s first shop sponsor. So he got in touch off the back of the board I did for Foundation. Well, the contest I won.

This is like six degrees of Kevin Bacon!

JH – Haha!

ES – Who’s the Kevin Bacon of skateboarding?

JH – Someone who’s been on a lot of companies…

ES – They could have it on the Berrics.

JH – Marc Johnson?

ES – Kris Markovich!

JH – Yes! Good call! Plus he had a Wight Trash guest board so you can link him to loads of UK guys too.

ES – There’s your next Sidewalk comic right there.

JH – Alright, trial run. Nyjah to Kris Markovich, go!

ES – Nyjah doesn’t think girls should skate, something something Warpaint video.

JH – Ha! Good work. If you could do a board for anyone in the world who would it be and why?

ES – Lizzie Armanto pro model. Or one of the Bones Brigade.

JH – Nice. Why?

ES – 1. She is stupidly good and 2. I like drawing girls.

I’ve kinda done a Tommy Guerrero tribute for the Friendship boards.

JH – Oh cool, the flaming dagger board?

ES – Of course.

JH – Do you know when it’s coming out?

ES – The next ‘season’ I think (whenever that is).

JH – Final question. Taking everything into account (skating/art/impact on you when you were a grom etc), Natas or Gonz?

ES – Woah….

JH – I realise it’s an extremely unfair question.

ES – I’ll say Gonz. The first picture of skating I ever saw: Mark Gonzales skating a vert ramp in an old RAD mag in about ’87 or ’88.

The Natas & Gonz book is A) rad B) only a tenner and C) available from these fine outlets:

1. edsyder.bigcartel.com
2. thepalomino.com
3. And will soon be available from cavages.com

Be quick…

Illustration: George Yarnton
Words: Chris Lawton
Why this article exists: Thank YouGuv

It’s a great time to be a skateboarder. Whether you’re a teenager rocking high-waters, retro board shapes and no-complies, or a 30-plus Wu-tang and switch-mongo advocate, the indie brands have something for you. At the exact same time, identikit athletes perform for energy drink sponsors and a global audience. At the grass-roots, these contradictions feed and are fed by an ‘anything goes’ attitude that had been absent since the victory of street skating in the culture wars of the early 90s. Skating has become more at ease with difference, from trick selection to age and gender. Or so it may seem to those of us who immerse ourselves in this stuff out of weird compulsion.

But increased popularity has attracted unwanted attention from the mainstream media. The Guardian recently recommended Supreme 5-panels and Palace t-shirts to metropolitan creatives struggling with what to wear at the weekend. Whilst appropriating our style they sneer at the act of skateboarding: along with the New York Times, the BBC and Marie Claire, they can’t help but flap and point at the ‘new’ phenomena of the over-30 male skateboarder and female skaters of any age whatsoever. Marie Claire got themselves rightfully slapped down for suggesting that girls should only be interested in skating to pick up cute boys, but it’s the Telegraph who have been particularly generous. Not satisfied with paying an ex-FHM writer to tell us to quit in our teens, they tasked Harry Wallop, self-styled consumer expert and grandson of the Earl of Portsmouth, to cry ‘mid-life crisis’ at those who refuse to cease skating after an arbitrary age milestone. Because skateboarding is for teenage boys – and what’s funnier than some 35, 40 or 50 year-old who’s too poor for a sports car?

As aristocratic journos and media arseholes seek to define us as either desperate mid-lifers or ignorant teenagers, respected market researcher YouGov comes to the rescue. They promise to give their clients a “detailed portrait of their customers’ entire lives….allowing brands and their agencies to assess consumer behaviour with greater granularity, accuracy, and immediacy than ever before.” And luckily for us, they have a profile for ‘people who do skateboarding’. YouGov’s skateboarder is male, aged between 18-24, in low-skilled work or unemployed, and has a disposable income of less than £125 a month. Unfortunately, he also says some pretty dumb things. His favourite brands and entertainment include Skittles sweets and Glorious Goodwood Horse racing….Thanks YouGov, you’ve just provided empirical evidence to support Wallop et al.’s view that skateboarding is overwhelmingly for ill-informed nose-pickers who’ll buy anything gaudy or colourful.

Of course, there are big caveats. For every ‘real’ skateboarder who make up their relatively small sample, you’ll undoubtedly have at least three berks who list skating amongst a menu of random ‘extreme dude’ activities. You know the guy: he frequently pops up on TV dating shows (“Hi, my name’s Tristan – I’m into Coldplay, extreme sports – like skateboarding and bungee jumping – I live with my mum and have a pierced buttock”). Secondly, the brand and entertainment choices are likely to be selected from YouGov’s clients. Welcome or Magenta are unlikely to be amongst the options. But with all those caveats said and done, this profile does have elements of truth.

Young males do make up a very large part of skateboarding. Skate industry reps will tell you that ‘kids’ make up their target market. The briefest visit to a skatepark shows this to be true. The bravest, most thought-provoking Jenkem articles are inevitably followed by comments from 15 year old Americans slurring the author’s and each others’ sexual preferences.

Salty older skaters may protest, “no way, brah…. we’re the 21st century’s travelling warrior poets: modern-day beatniks, like Kerouac in vulcanised sneakers.” But there’s a good reason our video and graphic output remains streets ahead of other contemporary sub-cultures (even during the dark years of the mid-2000s when brands churned out nothing but logo boards and every video was edited to cry-baby indie-rock). Energetic, wilful stupidity. However much of a well-travelled, bohemian Zen warrior you may like to think you are, however eclectic your music taste, or how many art galleries you’ve visited, if you skate – you’re 70% idiotic teenager ‘til the day you die. And this is a great thing. Take Jacob Ovgren’s amazing art for Polar, or World Industries in the mid-90s – when our culture is at its best, it’s mainlining pure youthful stupidity alongside the obligatory time lapse photography and Smiths lyrics.

Of course, the average age of skateboarders is getting older. No real skater quits any more, unless they’ve been super unlucky with injury. Our challenge is to move beyond the persistent level of sexism and homophobia – to mature a tiny little bit without losing sight of what it means to be a skate rat.

The other message from YouGov’s profile is the accessibility of skateboarding to lower income groups. You don’t need to afford skiing trips or golf club membership to be a committed skateboarder. The appeal to people from deprived backgrounds as well as more comfortable suburban families drives skateboarding’s sense of creativity and grittiness. Very little good music is created by the posh – there needs to be some struggle, some risk. For less than £200 you can skate exactly the same set-up and sneakers as Eric Koston. However elitist and judgemental skating can sometimes be, it is ultimately democratic.

And this gets us full circle. Why do ‘they’ have such a dim view of the act of skateboarding? Your average middle-class adult can go on a snowboarding holiday, and no one bats an eyelid. Terrible people join golf clubs, and impress other terrible people by doing so. No criticism of these things, but they cost money. You can lose a lot of precious life worrying about why the arseholes judge skateboarding the way they do – but the opinion and lifestyle pages of the Telegraph, Times, Independent, Guardian etc. also tend to say some pretty terrible things about other pastimes with relatively low financial barriers to entry. Cycling? Also full of desperate mid-lifers who can’t afford an affair. Running? Sad try hards who need to get out more. Music fan over 25? You’re a “Dave” who should visit Dignitas.

In short, if you’re an adult, and do any of these things: the UK commentariat hates you. So don’t worry about it: skateboarding’s amazing, and free, and sketchy, and grubby. If you did something else, the arseholes will still call you terrible things. And this is why: from William the Conqueror to David Cameron, the rich have always played – be it fox hunting or croquet. Only in relatively recent years have normal folk been able to devote significant time to leisure activities. Just 40 years’ ago, many in the north and midlands traded their school uniform for a hard hat and a lifetime of back-breaking coal mining. The modern Western world, with all its ills and inequalities, gives most of us the opportunity to play.

In addition to saying bitter things about skateboarding, Harry Wallop wrote ‘Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System’, in which he argues that it is spending that gives us our social status. In his world, we are defined by what we consume. If we buy similar products and play at similarly expensive games, we have ascended to their social level. If we spend our money on a skateboard, or a pair of running shoes, or a bike, we’re a scumbag – we’ve brought nothing of value, and thus have no value. And when you realise that an enormous share of newspaper columnists and other ‘opinion formers’ belong to a tiny elite (47% went to Oxford or Cambridge compared to less than 1% of the population, according to the Cabinet Office’s ‘Elitist Britain’ study), its not surprising they can’t see anything positive in skateboarding – it merrily spits in the face of the values of their elite.

So whether you’re 15 or 45, if you skate, you’re a stupid genius, sticking two fingers up at our social ‘betters’. They can keep Harry Wallop and YouGov, we’ve got Kareem Campbell, Chewy Cannon and Dave Mackey.

– Chris Lawton.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for daily skate news. If you would like to contribute articles to CF then get in touch.

Ph: Neil Blender, Del Mar, 1987. Previously unreleased photo courtesy of J Grant Brittain.

Back in the summer we wrote a blog article on how various letters that were written to Neil Blender back in 1986 had been found. After year’s of sleeping in a box under a bed in Surrey they were scanned and shared revealing their rarity. It was a stark reminder of just how innocent these times were before the web made it so much easier to communicate. Neil’s personal replies to these letters 28 years ago were as you kind of expected: fun, quirky, and accompanied by a few sketches of his infamous art, so we sent them to him via email and awaited a reply.

Note that this all happened in the same week that Alien Workshop’s demise started to appear online so this all felt like weird timing.

Neil was pleasantly surprised that we’d found the letters. He was also down for some words (on email), so Gorm, Jono Coote, Ray Calthorpe and Paul Gonella throw down some initial questions that we hoped would be answered and then followed up on another mail. But alas, it didn’t happen. The web is no place for wasting precious time for someone with the creative skills of Blender, so what you read here is what came back.

Neil is one of skateboarding’s cherished few who really set the tone with his personality and quirky, creative skateboarding. He brought us a sense of fun that was intangible and priceless at the time, defining what skateboarding stood for by creating a magical world of his own – one that encapsulated so many worldwide. He was a rare breed in comparison to some of today’s cloned sportsmen within a capitalist, self aggrandising culture, but this was back in the 80s and 90s and shit moves on. As a result, Blender’s legacy will remain in the upper echelons of skateboard history forever, and his style, well that speaks for itself. You still can’t buy that stuff either.

Been getting any skating in recently Neil?

Not as much as I should.

Now that you have seen these letters we found under Giles Bennett’s bed, do you remember receiving them or are they a blur?

The letters are a blur….things just fade I guess. It’s strange to see letters from that long ago too. Makes you realize how the mind changes as you grow. I remember Giles’ name when I saw it again though, not too common of a name I guess. G&S had a post machine that did letters, Hester said to get a bunch and answer some.

How many letters did you receive back the, did you respond to many?

There were about 20 letters in all, I can’t really remember, I was in my 20’s.

Did you ever get really weird ones?

No weird ones really, I was hoping some girls would write in.

What did it mean to have fans back then?

It was cool, it meant someone took time to write. Mostly they wondered about new concaves and junk.

Social networks have somewhat killed the letter, what’s the main difference for you?

Just different. When you are on social networking you tend to get more aggressive, as it’s faster. The Mail involves a stamp and maybe walking to a mailbox. You have more time to think when it’s a letter.

The social media grapevine brought the unfortunate news of the demise of Alien Workshop recently. Any insight into whether it will continue in a new era?

I don’t know. I stopped doing art for them in 1996, I don’t talk to them.

How do you see what has happened to the brand over the years and what does it mean to you?

Looks like there’s some prody out there, doesn’t mean too much.

Moving to Dayton, Ohio to start the company was an unusual move for back then knowing most were moving to California, separating yourself from the industry physically as well as aesthetically. What were the pros and cons of being so far removed from the place which by general consensus at the time was seen as the centre of skateboarding?

It was kinda weird, way different than California. The rent was way cheaper there. Pretty cool at first. The winters there are gnarly.

Looking back, what were the highlights of how the brand evolved creatively over the years.

Dyrdek and Pitre did some hot moves back in ’90.

Was there a particular graphic that really sticks out as being ‘the one’ that defines the company?

Probably the first one Mike Hill did. It just has lettering and a sun flash in the word.

(Hearsay has it that if you view this logo on its side, it actually spells Neil backwards with the A as a B for Blender)

What about videos, any particular one that you’re you most proud of?

None really.

Memory Screen was very different from other videos released at the time, what were your experiences of how it was received?

Some liked it, but not too many at that time.

What about adverts, do any in particular define AWS in your opinion?

Don’t know, they’ve been doing it for a while. Could be anything really.

Are there any skaters that never made the team that you really wanted on back then?

Can’t think of any.

Tell us something about the making of one of the videos that nobody knows.

J Mascis let us use “A Little Ethnic Song”, he just wanted some gear in trade.

You’ve had a lot in common with J. Mascis over many years now, do you remember the start of that relationship?

I met J in LA in ’89. They played a show, became friends. Went to Amherst and some other spots near Boston. He’s a good dude.

In a weird twist of fate we bumped into J Mascis in London the same week Alien Workshop went down. This little chat was totally unprepared and filmed on an iPhone. J had a cold.

What music are you feeling at the moment?

Devo, The Minutemen, The Skilletlickers.

What do you do when girls come round? (Ref to G&S’ ‘Stun’ video)

You show off, then get hurt.

Who, if anyone, do you find influences your artwork? And is there anybody’s work who you’re digging at the moment?

My Mom, my friend Hago, my brother and sister drew a lot when we were younger. I’m the youngest of 3. Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Escher.

Do the same things that get you hyped to create a piece of art get you hyped to skate as well?

No they are different. Skating is harder to get involved with, a lot of driving. Art you can stay in an area and do it.

How much work did you put into your Vans shoe this year?

Helped with the colorway and the art around the bottom. The designers do all of it really.

Nice turtle by the way.

Thanks. I made the original out of surfboard foam from Skip Frye’s shaping room when he was in Pacific Beach. Stoked they included it in the shoe package.

An interlude on SMA…Debunker features a voice claiming that ‘1-in-40 people have been abducted by aliens’ – which Workshop rider past or from the final team would you bet on being in the 1-in-40 club?

Maybe Dyrdek.

Talking of Dyrdek, how would you compare the contests back when you were on the circuit to Street League, X-Games etc to today?

All different. People are getting way gnarlier now and there’s more money in it.

Ray was 16 when he saw this Tracker advert and it seriously fucked him up. Definitely one of his fave skate photos ever. What the fuck were you thinking?!

Don’t think I pulled that.

Do you think that kids should exit by nose wheelie of Newest Deals and not nollie out? What’s the lay of the land?

Nollie outs are fine.

Who would be on your all time fantasy skate team?

Lance Mountain, Chris Miller, Alex Perelson, Peter Hewitt, those would be the main dudes, then there would be a “Handplant” crew: Jason Jessee, Grosso, Mike Conroy, Navs, Lance again cuz his f/s handplants are radical!

Talking of Lance, will your band with him and “O” ever reform?

Only if “O” supplies all the gear.

There’s a photo of you that you may not have seen before skating the infamous Crystal Palace ramp here in the UK back in the day. This was shot by Don Brider and included in a recent feature on the spot. 

Was good seeing those photos from Crystal Palace, the “blackmail” shot of Douglas learning inverts was great!

What tricks do you keep in your invention closet?

New Deal (front truck pivot to board), Gay Twist sorta, Lance did it too. Only cuz we couldn’t do Caballerials.

Handouts…discuss?

Billy Ruff and me at a pond, but later I saw Mike Folmer doing them and reverting them.

Ok, so you’re on a desert island, you can only pick two things from the following: skateboard, curb, paintbrush, guitar, super8 camera, a person.

Going with the guitar because there’s no way to develop the super8 and you can’t really skate on sand. I would try to get Chrissie Hynde to go even though I don’t know her. We would do some ELO covers.

So what comes next for the Sovereign Sect?

It gets shut down.

Is it still art?

Not at all.

Last words?

ABE…..Always Be Editing

Thanks to Giles Bennett who inspired all of this with his Lost & Found letters blog.