Category: Interviews

10th April 2007
Pics courtesy of Blair Alley

What ever happened to him?? Without being patronising to our younger readers, let me just say that Willy Santos was one of the best street skaters during the dark early 90’s.

He was pushing new tricks and winning proper gritty skatecomps (not your TV extravaganzas of today) with illustrious style and grace.

Then, one day, because skateboarding during the early 90’s really wasn’t a credible career move, Willy made sure he had a backup plan and opened a barbershop. Strange, but very smart despite what critics might have thought at the time. So, Willy slowly but surely dropped off the media radar, but new footage has revealed that Willy’s back and his hairstyle hiatus has proven very fruitful for some more envelope-pushing steez. Ralph Lloyd Davis got on the case and contacted Willy to see what’s up…this is what came back.

Welcome to Crossfire Willy, firstly, can we please have your full name, age and place of birth?

Willy Manaloto Santos, 31 yrs old, Subic Bay, Philippines (Olongopo City).

Where are your origins?

Philippines & San Diego, CA USA, Mira Mesa to be exact.

What was it like growing up?

I come from a big family, 1 sister-Aleth and 3 brothers- Wilmer, Wilfredo, Jr. & William. I’m the second of four boys, Wilmer being the oldest. Growing up, Wilmer used to pick on me. He would do stuff like sneeze in my face, or trick me into drinking the last glass of what I thought was Coke, but was really Patis (fish sauce). Aside from the pranks, Wilmer & I loved to play with Legos, making spaceships & robots. Aleth would always make sure we weren’t fighting. She would also help my mom with stuff around the house and baby sit the younger boys, Junior & William. My mom would always make tasty Filipino food like Chicken Adobo, Pancit, Torta, and Sinigang. My father Wilfred, who died on Nov. 16th, 2006, was in the US Navy. “I love you, Dad.”

Have you ever felt segregated or pigeon-holed as an Asian skater within the industry?

That would be a negative.

How has the southern California scene changed since your early memories of coming up in skateboarding i.e. 15 years ago to present day?

When I first got in to skating, we had just moved back from the Philippines. I’m really thankful to have started when I did, witnessing and experiencing how skateboarding has evolved into what it is now. Launch ramp days, handplants, boneless, slappies, doublesided curbs, nose bonks, bluntslide/noseblunt slides, switchstance, mini ramps vert, late shove-its, pressure flips, lateflips. I’ve witnessed even the trend of clothing evolve from tight pants, high shorts, baggy pants, white t-shirts, jeans, cargo pants, roll-up-the-pant-leg & finally back to TAPS (Tight Ass Pants).

Who did you skate with as a kid?

John “The” Man Reeves, Donger, June Cate, Jason Carney, Eric Koston, Brian Lotti, Tim Gavin, Matt Shnurr, Jason Rogers, Eric & Chad Conner, Rob Dyrdek, Duane Pitre, Anthony Olgosby, Kris Markovich, Shannon May, Daewon Song, Kyong Kim, Dan Rogers & a bunch of different posses from Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, PQ, RB, Poway, Ramona & Chula Vista.

What were your introductory steps to sponsorship?

My good friend, John Sapienza filmed me to make a “sponsor me” video. I was planning to send the video to H-Street, but thought I didn’t have a chance. So instead, I mailed it to Gordan & Smith (G&S), a local company that was well known around the world. Just to name a few that rode for G&S…Billy Ruff, Chris Miller, Neil Blender, Blaze Blouin (RIP), Sean Miller (RIP), Bill Tocco, Florin Bowin, Shannon May, Kris Marovich, O.G. Mike Taylor from AZ, Brian Howard, Andrew Reynolds and Matt Beach. At the time I got sponsored, the team manager was Chris “Sarge” Carter, founder of Alien Workshop.

What did it feel like to be invited to join Birdhouse?

I was really happy. Skateboarding was in a down curve again, but I knew riding for Tony would be amazing. So I quit G&S on good terms. I remember my dad telling me that Tony Hawk called and he basically told me what his plan was. Jeremy Klein, Steve Berra & I were the OG squad. Later, I told Tony to hook up Matt Beach and Andrew Reynolds. Let’s not forget Ocean Howell.

Did you know Tony Hawk already?

I met Tony skating at a local spot, he gave me his phone number, and asked me to ride for Powell. I never called him because, at the time, I was happy skating for G&S. Tony has always been my favorite skateboarder of all time.

What’s he like to work with?

He’s an amazing individual. He’s always been great to me as well as very supportive. When I got on the team, he hooked me up with a Honda Accord. It was awesome! “Thanks, Tony. For everything. I’m forever grateful to you. You’re awesome!”

Explain what sort of a phase skateboarding was going through when Birdhouse began and your first video Feasters dropped?

The industry was declining, but I was totally oblivious to it. I just wanted to skate. Huge companies including Vision, Powell, Santa Cruz, etc. were forced to downsize. Skate magazines were as small as comics. Not many companies, if any, were really advertising double page spreads. Skateparks were closing. Because of this decline, Tony left Powell Peralta to start something new & fresh, spawning Birdhouse, partnering with Per Welinder.

What was it like filming for Feasters, Untitled and Ravers videos?

Feasters was a promotional video. Tony, Jeremy Klein, Steve Berra & I would go around San Diego, filming non-stop. It was so fun & pure. Untitled was awesome because this time around, we were travelling around the world, skating new spots & skateparks.

The Firm seemed to run alongside Birdhouse from the beginning- was there ever a chance of riding for Lance’s company? I always enjoyed Firm videos. Were you sad when The Firm died?

Yes, it was a bummer. Now that Lance rides for Flip, he can just concentrate on his skating & family.

After a few high placings in competitions and a good debut as a professional, you decided to open a barber shop / skateshop. How did this come about?

My good friend, Mike Reyes, was a skateboard photographer. Along with his father Sal, he’s also a barber. It started off as a barber shop called K.A.F.E.(Kuts And Fades, Etc.). He asked me to become partners with the shop, I accepted, and it was awesome! About a year or so into business with Mike, I decided to open Willys Workshop in Rancho Penasquitos, a neighboring community close to where I grew up in Mira Mesa. K.A.F.E. is still going strong.

Why the combination of the two? Everybody eventually needs a haircut so why not have the skateshop be apart of it?

It worked both ways. While someone was waited for a haircut they can scoop up deck or some tees or the latest skate video.

Was this commercial move a back-up plan for the future?

I’ve always wanted to have my own business. With the help of my loving wife, it would have never been possible. We are also co-owners of Tiki Hut Island Grille. It’s a Pacific Island Grille (Hawaiian style with a little Filipino twist). We are opening a 2nd location of Willys Workshop in Mira Mesa.

Did you feel it was necessary to have another occupation in your life besides skateboarding? What else might you have done if you didn’t skate?

A math teacher. Yeah right, I suck at math. No, I really have no idea.

Fast forward a bit to The End era. What was it like filming for such an expensive project?

It was an awesome experience. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that we couldn’t see the footage until it got developed.

Yes, I felt the pressure of just pushing myself.

During the release and touring that ensued The End, Jeremy Klein and Heath Kirchart got up to a lot of hijinx. Did you ever get involved in their devilish activities?

Not really. I would just watch and laugh.

Did you feel under pressure? What was it like touring with those two?

Touring with those guys will always be memorable. There was never a dull moment. Most of the time we were all having fun skating & travelling the world.

Any firework scars?

Whenever I could, I would wear the goggles that Jeremy got for us, especially when we would light them in the Burt Mobile (Van). I’m sure Jeremy & Heath have some scars.

It wasn’t long before the original Birdhouse team imploded and everyone went off in their own direction – What was the general feeling amongst you at this time? Animosity or respect?

I thought it was awesome that Reynolds started Baker. I’m really happy and proud of him. We used to be pretty good friends, but he got in to things that I wasn’t particularly in to. We didn’t have a big fight or anything of that nature, whatsoever. Basically, our friendship just grew apart. When we were younger, he would stay over at my parents’ house for a couple of weeks or so. We would skate all day & night. The last time I saw Reynolds personally was at the TWS Awards ’06. We had a few minutes to chat.

You took a brief hiatus from professional skateboarding it seemed. Just because we didn’t see you in all of the latest magazines and videos, did that really mean you’d stopped skateboarding? If you were skating, who were you with and where did you skate?

I never stopped skating. That’s exactly true if the general public of skateboarding doesn’t see you in the most recent mags or videos. They assume you’re not skating at all anymore. Little does the industry & skaters know, I’m out skating with my homies at spots around San Diego with the Workshop Team and other S.D locals.

What has your relationship been like with the various big magazines? You’re good friends with old Transworld staff, yet Thrasher made fun of you for their King of the Road contest by highlighting the allegation of you being a scrooge. Is there any truth in that?

Dave Swift shot my Check Out, Grant Brittan shot my 1st Pro Spotlight, and Atiba Jefferson always had my back for photos. They have always been great people to me. I’m really thankful for what they do for me & for skateboarding. Thrasher used to have love for me when I was younger. People always remember and focus on the negative stuff versus positive. Thrasher stated for my bacherlor party that I tried to make money? I didn’t pocket anything. So, when I heard King of the Road wanted me to give money to Zero. I didn’t want to be a part of it in any way. Besides those guys came over to my home really late at night and the very next morning I was leaving to skate in Shanghai, China. That was really lame.

As for me being a scrooge, that’s a negative. I just try to be careful & not overspend, now and while I was growing up. I guess some industry people think I’m still some kind of a scrooge. If anyone has experienced it, oh well. Can I be frugal? When I did turn pro in the early 90’s most pro’s weren’t making much at all. Considering the industry was at low point. Lots of pro’s would have normal jobs to make ends meet. I was young and didn’t want to work so to help get by I would sell some product to help pay for gas food etc when I would go skating. I remember winning pro comps & only getting like $300- 500 dollars for 1st place.

In 1995 the 1st X-Games in Rhode Island for the Street comp. Chris Senn placed 1st, Tony Hawk 2nd and I got 3rd. I only got $300-500 bucks. I’ve always try to be a giving person, but some people just like to focus on negative stuff. Pro’s get asked daily for free stuff, but I can’t hand out products on a daily basis. So as hard as it is on some days I just have to say no, but I always carry stickers with me so kids will at least leave with something in their hands.

As far as Thrasher goes we’ve kissed and made up. I have no hard feelings with them. It started when I decided to sell my house and buy a new one with my soon to be wife. My roommates didn’t want to break up our living conditions (skate house). Its not like I kicked them out. I told them my plans and gave them all enough time to make other living arrangements. From there things got sour. They would call up their friends at Thrasher and talk about me. Plus who really likes their landlord?? We’ve all grown up and learned from it.

You recently re-appeared on the media radar with some wicked sequences that mixed old skool and new skool skateboarding? Was there a message behind your new approach to skateboarding?

I was really happy with how the TWS 20 Questions Interview turned out. My message was… I’ve been trying to think out of the box with my abilities. I would dig in the crates of tricks what I’ve done before & expand to new ones that I’ve never done before.

What sort of terrain are you skating nowadays?

I’ll skate anything. Lately, I haven’t been in to jumping down big gaps or rails. If I like it, I’ll go for it. I just try to be creative with my skating especially when I go filming missions & photo shoots.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

For video projects in the near future, Willys Workshop is coming out with “Film This.” the new Birdhouse DVD will come out some time after. I don’t know the title, otherwise I would tell you, but you can watch it above. ^ I’m currently working on the 2nd location of Willys Workshop in Mira Mesa, and my online mailorder for Willys Workshop has finally launched. Check www.willysantos.com. Perhaps Willys Workshop will go international. Time will tell…

Willy’s Top 5’s

Top 5 films

1. Meals On Wheels (Jackie Chan movie)
2. All Star Wars Films
3. Goonies
4. Bakaroo Banzai
5. Napoleon Dynamite

Top 5 skate vids

1. Animal Chin (Powell Peralta)
2. Rubbish Heap (World Industries)
3. Useless Wooden Toy (New Deal)
4. Video Days (Blind)
5. Now & Later (Planet Earth)

Top 5 CD’s

1. Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles)
2. The Low End Theory (Tribe Called Quest)
3. The Immaculate Collection (Madonna)
4. Michael Jackson
5. Best of Bowie (David Bowie)

Your fave pro graphic so far?

Here’s the photo of my favorite skate graphic of mine… Its was my Birdhouse deck back in 1993

Thanks Willy. That’s all we’ve got for you.

Thanks for this opportunity. Love & Respect each other. Enjoy skateboarding & God Bless.

Watch old school footage of Willy here. and win a Birdhouse Santos pro model in Competitions this month here. Look out for Willy at the brand new www.birdhouseskateboards.com website.

Louie Barletta literally fell onto the scene thanks to a scene video featuring the merry pranksters that are the Tilt Mode Army. Since his unique introduction, Louie has been bagging praise and making friends all around the globe.

With good times and an independent route, it wasn’t long before Louie crossed paths with Crossfire. He turned up unannounced at our 2006 Southbank 7-Set Jam and got amongst it, which led to a day out in South East London on a filming mission for this very website.

The shots that you see on this page were from that very day. It was a good one, the sun was out, The Clash were on the stereo, the chicken was slightly spicy and most of all the kids were united!

Here’s an interview answered late at night with adult entertainment cranked up in the background that was completed on March 6th 2007. Louie takes time out from his busy schedule of fun and hiding his salami to answer a few questions compiled by Zac and Ralph L-D.

All photos by Zac, apart from the beer stall here at Bloblands shot by Styley. Footage courtesy of Alan Christensen.

Full name please including all nicknames, middle names etc

Louie Sweet Lou, Dick Trickle, Hot Lou, Lou Dog, L-Diggs, L., Flat Bar-letta, Barletta…

Where did you grow up?

Northern California, we have winters.

Have you got any brothers and sisters?

Two brothers; one works in construction whilst the other flies with the Air Force.

What did your parents do for a living?

They sucked.

What were you like at school?

Quiet. I just read books and did my homework like a good boy.

Did you ever play spin the bottle?

Nah, I didn’t care about girls much, just skating.

Were you the sort of kid that had green buggers dripping from his nose or were you a clean cut kid?

I was a thrift store kid.

What TV shows did you grow up with as a kid?

The A-team!

Were you ever influenced by Kermit the Frog in any way?

My aunt used to call me Kermit and my cousin Miss Piggy… She was fat, but I wasn’t skinny or green so I never understood that one.

How did you lose your virginity?

I put my wee wee into a girl.

How many whales do you think you have speared over time?

(Laughs!) Too many Or actually… Not enough!!

The ocean can bring up some strange looking things can’t it?

And boy have I seen my fair share! You never know what’s lurking down near Davy Jones’s locker.

I love eating seafood, are you a foody?

I’ve been known to sample…

What’s your dish punk?!

Shell fish!!

Can you cook after all that traveling?

Hell no! The only cooking I do is cooking up schemes and ideas.

Where’s the best country to whale?

Finland… The white whales!

How come you turned up at the Crossfire 7-Set jam at South Bank last year?

I wanted to win some money and buy some beer!!!!

What did you make of it as a first Crossfire event?

It was fun because it had a real carnival like atmosphere.

(laughs) You have been here before but what is your impression of London and the UK scene?

I think London is rad. Back in the day it wasn’t a bust to skate downtown San Jose, so we would just skate from spot to spot… London reminds me of those good old days.

Any UK riders that you like skating with?

Rob, I know I’m going to blow his name mathewson (Matthiesen a.k.a. Robbleyard), his whole crew is sick… Fos is always a good time… Chris Avery! Stu Graham.

Have you seen much of England or just London?

Been around a bit but it’s nothing to brag about though.

What have the skate spots been like compared to home?

They’re rough and challenging which is way more fun because you get to skate to and from them.

OK IT’S WORST CASE SCENARIO TIME

SWIMMING THROUGH PIRANHAS
Difficulty rating 2.5/5

You are on a boat trip down the Amazon with Jake Phelps and Geoff Rowley. Two days into the trip, the boat develops engine trouble and begins to drift uncontrollably down the river. With a waterfall approaching, the captain tells the passengers the best chance for survival is to jump off the boat and swim or wade to the riverbank.

You anxiously look over the side of the boat and see a school of piranhas. You must jump. Do you:

a) Throw a large object into the centre of the school to disperse the fish.

b) Drop some raw meat over one side of the boat and lower yourself into the water on the opposite side.

c) Remove your clothes and throw them overboard ahead of yourself, then swim quickly to shore

d) Cover all bare skin with oil, then quickly swim ashore.

e) Throw Jake into the water as bait whilst Geoff and yourself survive and you pick Geoff for his experience with boar hunting for food.

f) Call the Enjoi team manager and tell him to archive all footage just in case.

I wouldn’t have to do any of those! (Laughs) Haven’t you seen any of our movies? Fucking Rambo or Arnold will come down in a helicopter, kill the commies that sabotaged the engine, dodge a spear thrown by a local, punch him out (because you can’t kill natives, that is politically incorrect) and then rescue my American ass!!!!

Wrong Answer! The answer you were looking for Louie was b)

Piranhas are drawn to blood and flesh, so dropping meat over the side should distract them enough for you to get away. However, the fish may go into a feeding frenzy and bite and snap at anything while they feed, so jump on the other side of the boat.

Here’s an expert tip: In piranha country, avoid approaching docks and piers where fish are cleaned; the blood and offal will attract the fish. So there…

Ok we are back into the questions… Do you get busted a lot?

I got busted last night for talking to this girls boobs….Her face didn’t like me not paying attention to what it had to say. But them boobies were screaming at me!! (Laughs)

Ha! Who cuts your hair? Will you ever do something different than the bowl cut?

I cut it. I used to go to this Vietnamese place where you got a haircut and a neck massage for 5 dollars. But she cut my ear and I never went back… Now I just put on a truckers hat and cut around it… And no joke, the saying on it is “drunk man walking”

You mention in a past TWS interview that ‘…there is a saturation of conformity within the ranks of skateboarders’, define that comment? What exactly is it?

Everybody is content with doing what everybody else does… like I have Gucci sunglass- Me too! I’m no different.

“Young Turks” by Rod Stewart-Explain?

I wanted to use a song by the Monkees but couldn’t , so I had no choice…

Can you describe a typical day for me? Include music.

Ok, I wake up. Check to see if I’m alone in my bed. Either go in for a second helping or if nobody is there I get out of bed, check my email… Lately I start off my day with that song Danny Brady used in the Blueprint video. Then I’ll go ride my bike to super taco and get a carne asada burrito. Go home, call up some people, see if any of my roommates are going skating.. If so I go out with them, if not ill just try to get a ride to the skatepark and just skate there.

Eat dinner, come home maybe ride my bike again and run errands. Skate to the bar, see if I get lucky, go home listen to the Smiths and either play hide the salami with my new friend that came home with me or check out stuff on e-bay, then pass out…. And repeat unless I’m hurt or it is raining … In that case skip straight to hide the salami!

How has the daily routine changed since you got into the limelight?

Today I was with a friend who was taking his car to the mechanic. He said “Hey! You’re that skater Louie right?” I said yes, my friend paid and then we went to eat spaghetti.

What was your worst job?

Demos.

And your last job?

Manager at a coffee shop. 7 years. Just quit recently. Didn’t do it for the money, I just liked working there. I was the boss and all my roommates worked there. Best job ever, just scamming on hot business chicks.

Do you think it’s important to do extra-curricular activities outside of skateboarding? If so, what do you do off your board?

No not necessarily, I do other stuff but mostly I just like to “think” about new tricks to try… I hang out with my friends and talk about skating or spots…

Have you grown up in San Jose all your life? Did you see the old Metrospective they did in 411vm of the area, with Simon Woodstock doing a barbecue?

For better or worse yeah, I was around during the BBQ days.. I just didn’t know any of those guys. They were part of the cool guy crew. Only one of my friends was in it, and I don’t think he even knew any of those guys.

People associate you to the Tilt Mode Army – How did it start, and how did you become a member?

It started when me, Marc Johnson, Jerry Hsu, Chris Avery and Matt Eversole got a house together. This was about 1999. Someone introduced us to the Capt’n and Tilt Mode was born right then and there! We just came together like voltron. Best of times, worst of times.

What was life like in the Pink house? Who was the best house mate? Who was the worst?

Two in the pink, one in the stink!

New film coming? Are you going to film a part?

Hell yeah. I’m hyped.

Critics said the Tilt Mode videos brought back the fun side of skating instead of the business side? Do you agree? Is it really all fun and games or is it hard work?

Nah, we were all filming for real videos so that was just whatever footy… I was still working at the coffee shop back then. It was all footy from my days off skating with my friends

Your debut video part had you falling all over the place – Did any of those spills hurt? Were you worried people might think you actually couldn’t skate?

I didn’t care. Seeing Marc Johnson and Jerry Hsu skating everyday, it really made me realize that I was not that good and I should just skate and have fun and not worry about grinding the biggest rail or doing the craziest block line… what for when you can just watch the masters do all that!

Bag of Suck was truly amazing. Your footage in particular was unique. What was your fave spot from that movie?

Finland, just because it was so laid back. I had a place there and just went out skating with my friends. No pressure.

You must have all been stoked with the full cut?

Yeah it turned out good. Jerry really came through which made us look like a legit company!!! (Laughs)

Is there another in the mix?

Nah, I think everyone wants to film another Tilt Mode… it sucked not being able to give marc or Ricky Esponosa or Matt Evs a part in the Enjoi movie, so we decided the next one is for the hommies! That’s the way it should be anyway.

OK, we interrupt this interview for another worst case scenario question:

ALLIGATOR ATTACK
Level Of Difficulty 3.5/5

Yourself and Jerry Hsu are enjoying a picnic on the banks of a large pond. The pond is full of wildlife and as you eat your meal you see frogs, turtles and large fish moving in the water.

Just as you are about to have dessert, you are startled to discover that what you thought was a large turtle, sitting in the shallow water 50 feet away is actually an alligator. It climbs out of the pond and up the bank directly towards you. Do you and Jerry..:

a) Flap your arms and yell to scare it away

b) Punch the alligator under its bottom jaw

c) Get on the alligator’s back and force its head down

d) Back away slowly

e) Call the fashion police and hope they turn up with Muska so he can wrestle it.

f) Call Dave Duncan and hope he can talk the alligator out of it on a megaphone.

Oh man, I’m going for f, because if he attacks he’ll go for Duncan first, there is more meat on him….

Nope, i’m afraid the correct answer was c)

On land, your best hope of survival is to get on the alligator’s back and place steady downward pressure on its neck and head. Once in this position, you may be able to clamp its jaws closed with your hands. Most of the animal’s mouth strength is in closing its jaws, not opening them. If the alligator continues to attack, jab it in the eyes with your fingers.

You want an expert tip on this one?

Yeah why not!

OK, here we go. Feeding alligators may cause them to lose their fear of humans and become more aggressive. Most attacks occur after humans have fed them. That includes ones with megaphones!

A lot of your tricks are unique – Do you plan them out or are they spur of the moment affairs?

I’m a spur of the moment, go with the flow kind of guy… I hate when it is like “film me, I got this trick” I like it when it is someone else filming and I’m just there skating.

What do you like skating above all?

As harsh as it sounds – Manual pads. I love them. I suck at manuals though. Maybe mini ramps too.

You’re often spotted riding quirky decks – Does the conventional shape of a skateboard need to change?

Sure. Life without change isn’t a life worth living. That’s why god created seasons. Besides the same old shape gets boring sometimes, so mix it up! Wonder what’s around the corner.

Who inspires you in and outside of skateboarding? Who did you look up to as a kid?

I’m inspired by a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. God, Basquiat, Oscar Wilde, Hans von Luck, I’m all over the place when it comes to inspiration As a kid I really looked up to Ronald Regan. I don’t know why. I think I just liked how he was hyped on space and I really liked star wars. We connected.

Are pro skaters good role models?

Yeah the ultimate! As a kid you’re demoralized by the notion that a dream is just that, a dream. Something that won’t ever become a reality… Pro skaters are the ultimate follow your dreams, dreams are possible to catch.

When are you having the op and coming back as a girl as stated in Slap?

Ha!!! I don’t know!!! Not any time soon!! (Laughs)

Yep, we can’t wait for the news!

Oh man.

Why is the gay question such a taboo in skateboarding?

I don’t know. I didn’t want to offend anyone, on either side of the fence… I think it is just as bad to ask who’s G do you believe in?

Best groupie/tour story?

A kid giving me and Jerry a bottle of Bacardi…

Worst groupie/tour story?

What we did with her after we drank that bottle!

Did you go through the whole process of making your pro shoe on Duffs? How much of the shoe is Louie Barletta and explain the process.

Yeah, my new shoe “Sweet Lou” is all me and Russ Pope designing it. I love the shoe, it fits and feels so good. Definitely the ultimate cruiser shoes. I love skating in them! Sneak preview here.

If you had a pint and a packet of crisps at the pub- Which beer and which flavour crisps?

Kronenberg and Walkers Salt and Vinegar.

You travelled a bit for yourself this summer – What was it like? How often do you get to do things like that?

All the time. Carpe Diem! It was rad this summer. Me and my roommates in London for 3 weeks. A lot of Stella, a lot of Southbank, couldn’t get much better.

OK it’s the last of the worst case scenario questions and it’s the big one!

THE DEADLY OCTOPUS
Level of difficulty 4/5

In search of underwater adventure you decide to a 2 week scuba trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with Matt Hensley, Jason Adams and Adam Alfaro.

Before your first dive your instructor warns you about several dangerous sea creatures due to your interest in whaling that includes sharks, urchins and the extremely poisonous southern blue ringed octopus.

Mentally filing away the information, you strap on your tank and regulator and being a half day dive. An hour into the dive you see a small pale coloured octopus, wedged into a crevice in the reef. Looking closely, you see no apparent blue rings and prepare to prod the creature gently so it will move and give you a better view.

The diver instructor grabs your arms and pulls you away.

After surfacing does he remind you that:

a) The rings are not visible when the octopus is as rest.

b) All octopi should be considered deadly.

c) The ink from the blue ringed octopus causes instant death.

d) The blue ringed octopus does not actually have rings on its body.

e) Matt Hensley is still a legend.

f) Jason Adams wears the trousers, even underwater.

g) Adam Alfaro is one of the most ripping Black Label rider who loves taking his teeth out but has a hot blue cheese fetish.

I’m going to say that all the above are are words to memorize and live by!

Correct answer, although the survival answer is actually a)

Though indeed small (less than 8 inches long) the blue ringed octopus is one of the deadliest creatures on earth. Its colourful rings are visible only when the creature is startled or under attack, otherwise it appears pale or camoflagues its body colour to match its surroundings.

You want the expert’s tip on this last subject?

Yeah!

OK, here we go. The blue ringed octopus is not aggresive and does not attack humans except when handled, but the octopuses’ bite injects a tetrodotoxin, a neuromuscular paralysing venom that causes instantaneous respiratory failure, paralysis, and blindless, and is often fatal.

ha!

OK Louie, time to wrap this up.

Thanks Zac, UK, Avery, everybody over the pond that let’s me hang out with them! Mark Munson and the rest of the UK Duffs crew. Matt Law, I miss you, and thanks for everything!

Final word…

Um…. Bye bye.

Louie and the rest of the Enjoi team will be visiting the UK in April 2007, look out for them as they will be on a filming mission. Big thanks to Mark Munson at Duffs or hooking this interview up.

Steve Forstner, Julien Bachelier (Juju), Julian Dykmans and Hugo Liard by Ralph Lloyd-Davis.

All photos courtesy of Loic Benoit.

When I first met the Antiz crew six years ago, you could tell their motivation was being drawn from the roots of our beloved culture. Here was a small group of up and coming European skaters trying to get things done by themselves, on their own terms and in their own time. All the riders were friends and kept in contact as much as possible, using the apartment in Lyon as a base and bureau for the company build from.

With an image that didn’t fit the mould, Antiz gathered support and it wasn’t long before a video – Antizipated – was released to critical acclaim. The company could no longer live as a happy-go-lucky entity, but the boys couldn’t jump the gun either, so an office was found and various team members took turns to hold the fort and demonstrate responsibility in promoting their dream.

The guys at Antiz have to split their time between sponsors that send them off to contests and demos, 9-5 jobs in skateshops, school studies, and deadlines with magazines and other various media projects- but all this helps the team work harder and keep in touch with their main focus: skateboarders.

Antiz have just released their second video, Z-Movie for free and it packs a punch that is sure to get people interested. I caught up with Hugo Liard, Julian Dykmans, Julien Bachelier (Juju) and Steve Forstner as they toured their way through Europe drinking beers and getting their skate on in the process. Antiz are still down to earth, still having fun and still killing it on their boards.

How has the Euro-premier tour been so far?

Steve: (Laughs) Oh, it’s been pretty rough. No, it’s been a lot of fun, but I don’t know why last night I had too many beers in Tours (France) and… I don’t even know why! I threw my jacket and shoes in the river. I’m not too stoked because my passport was in my jacket, so who knows how I’m going to get across the borders now? (Laughs)

Are you happy with how Z-Movie turned out?

Juju: Sure! Polo (Paul Labadie, Antiz filmer) did a great job! We’ve been working with Polo since before Antiz started and he always comes through. It’s good to see that we’re all on the same wavelength when it comes to ideas and joking around.

Steve: Yeah, sure! Polo did a good job.

The video is free and even has “Burn this DVD” written on the jacket- Was this intentional?

Julian: We have it posted up on Youtube, Google, Limewire and all those sites because over the 2 years that it took to make, we saw the video industry crashing big time. By putting the video out for free, we cut our losses.

Juju: We had the possibility to get Z-Movie distributed through magazines, but that wasn’t going to work because firstly, you had to find the magazines, and then the issue would only be out for a month which was too small a window to operate through.

Was the storyline involving film skits Paul’s idea?

Steve: Well we talked about things, but we they had to be possible to do without the use of crazy scenery or anything.

But did Paul know which films he wanted to parody, or did each rider bring a personal choice to the table?

Steve: We all talked with Paul asking, “What would you like? What about this scene..?” All that stuff. For my skit, the Big Lebowski, it was actually Julian (Dykmans)’s girlfriend’s idea. My initial idea was to use something from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because that’s basically my favourite movie. But it was so hard to choose a scene; we went with the Big Lebowski instead.

Juju: Me and Polo are both big Tarantino fans and I was in my Reservoir Dogs phase, so it was cool to be able to pay homage to one of our inspirations. Polo managed to capture each of our amazing talents as actors- not an easy task! (laughs)

Do you think you can take Hollywood on now?

Julian: Oh sure! (laughs) I’ve got a lot of confidence in my acting skills now.

Hugo: Did you notice how little I spoke? (Laughs) You can tell I hate my accent! We were all such amateurs, but Julian (Dykmans) was the only one who actually thought he could do better on the next take! (laughs)

How long did it take to make Z-Movie, from start to finish?

Steve: Paul edited it super fast actually, because we only just got back from a tour in the States, in Oregon, and he got to work. Paul spent about two weeks just getting everything together, starting to edit and ask people what they wanted in their parts. We took one last trip to Barcelona, and then Paul worked on it for 3 weeks or a month, editing all day and night- vampire style.

Did you guys go out of your way to get as many new spots in it, or was it just chance?

Steve: When you go on tour you always find some crazy stuff. When we go to Barcelona, Julian (Dykmans) lives there so we try not to go to all the famous spots because we’d rather find new stuff to skate.

Hugo: A lot of the time we’d roll into town and stumble upon a spot and be like, “Whoa! Look it’s that rail, or that bank” And we’d just break out and session the thing. We didn’t go to places on purpose, or with definite ideas of what had to be done. We just skated. Obviously, in Barcelona, you can’t help it if you end up at a well known spot, and that always makes it easier, but we’re down to skate anything. One rider might want to skate a ditch or something, so we all go there and see what it’s like, maybe film a trick, maybe not.

Do you guys get to travel together a lot?

Juju: We try and hit the road every couple of months or something. Not all the countries we visited were through Antiz trips though. Sometimes it was on another sponsor’s trip, or just with a couple of friends. We went to the Canary Islands, Dubai, all over Spain… It was good.

Do you ever feel pressured at spots?

Steve: Nah, it’s mellow. We just want to skate, you know. Like some days, one of us will be hyped to film something so we’ll tag along, go cruising, and if the feeling is right then maybe we’ll film a trick too. Skating together is good.

What was the best place you visited whilst filming for this video?

Steve: Ah! The best place has to be Oregon (USA). All those concrete parks… Orcas Island is the best park ever. We were just out on that island, camping and skating. Good times!

Hugo: Oregon! I mean, you’ve seen all the parks that are popping up in Europe nowadays, but over there it’s something else. They have a park in every town almost!

Juju: Any travelling is good. Italy was pretty good, but I have to agree with the others and say Oregon.

Are there enough skaters for all those parks?

Julian: You have to realise that skateboarding is huge in the States. It spans several generations; you’ve got parents skating, young women using their boards like it’s some new age tool for stretching and stuff. It looks strange at first, but when that girl drops into a bowl or something, she kills it! (laughs)

How many of you were there on that trip? You were quite a lot weren’t you..?

Steve: The first week there was 13 of us or something, with Fred (Demard, editor of Freestyler Magazine (RIP)), Benny (Gonselin, Lyon WallStreet skateshop owner), and in the end we were down to 9 or something like that.

Not everybody made it then?

Steve: (Laughs) Some people got lost and others had to leave after the first week.

What was the worst place you went?

Steve: Man! When we were in the States, we arrived in Lincoln City and it was raining like crazy. It was raining so much, and so heavily. It was dark so we couldn’t see where to put the tents, all the tents were leaking… We rolled out of the tents all wet and tried to take cover at the skatepark under the cradle. The concrete was so cold that everyone felt sick the next day.

So you guys were camping the whole way? There was no big budget behind that trip?

Steve: Well, we were camping most nights, but every third night or something we’d get one Motel 6 room so that we could charge the cameras, take a shower and stuff. The rooms were for 4 people, but all 10 of us would cram in there. There was only enough room to bring in the camera bags, everybody would be sleeping on the floor, so if you got up in the middle of the night to piss it was mission like, “Oh! Sorry. Oh, sorry again… Coming through!”(Laughs)

Juju: After that first cold night, we went round the back of super markets and nicked a load of cardboard to sleep on because it insulated really well from the cold. Ah! We had some funny experiences on that trip. (laughs) When you plant your tent in the middle of the night, and get woken up real early the next day to find yourself camping out in the middle of busy building site, it’s pretty funny! (laughs)

You didn’t get in any trouble with the law?

Juju: No. We only got busted once- in a skatepark! Sam (Partaix) was skating in his boxer shorts because it was really hot that day, but the police didn’t approve. I guess we were looking for trouble, and we found it!

The way you guys support one another without taking the easy route or chasing money, are you trying to point out the fact that something might be wrong with the current trends in skateboarding, or the industry?

Hugo: We are stoked to find skaters that think like us and don’t just expect everything to be handed to them on a silver plate. Too many people are happy to be fed sterilised product, whilst we’re trying to offer something that they might actually enjoy. Just because you don’t have all the major sponsors doesn’t mean you can’t travel, meet new people and have fun.

Julian: We are not pushing an image of skateboarding like it’s some sort of sport with trained athletes competing for fame and fortune. We just want to promote skateboarding as a culture and something with which you can have a lot of fun.

Juju: We’re just a small company with a passion for skateboarding. But when you cross the line between just skateboarding and actually stepping into the business side of this industry, it gets a lot darker. We sell skateboards, but it could be tires or bananas, either way at the end of the day it’s all about shifting units, targets and making money. It’s sad to say that but it’s true, and when you see three big companies running the entire operation- and I say three just to simplify the facts- we end up in a Big Brother Orwellian state where everything is controlled and people no longer have a choice.

Where do you think skateboarding is heading? Where are the new places people will try and skate?

Steve: I don’t know really..? It looks like the things that are really blowing up are all these crazy spots people are building to skate. Especially in the States where they build all these crazy parks- they’re massive. Some of these street-style transition parks are even better than street spots sometimes!

Hugo: It looks like it’s turning into a sport! I mean, open a magazine and all you see nowadays are these ads showing Team X or Team Y with their beefed up riders, not even skating, but lined up like it’s the playoffs or something. (laughs) Back in the day, you saw a team and they had a skinny dude, a short dude, a fat dude… Today skateboarding teams are ‘cookie cutter’ to say the least.

How’s life changed for you since the last video, Antizipated, came out?

Steve: Not much. I live with my girlfriend now, instead of the skate house. Basically, we’re trying to take care of Antiz more, and everyone tries to work and help out. Instead of skating everyday, some people have to stay at the office in case the phone rings. (Laughs) Except for that, it’s been pretty mellow.

I saw you guys arrive in a car; it wasn’t the team van..?

Juju: Oh! We haven’t got a jaguar yet, but it’s a Rover, so we’re at that intermediate stage (Laughs). For me personally, I moved to Lyon from Paris to be closer to the others and get more done. Antiz started out of the skatehouse and now we rent a little office downstairs.

Is the Antiz skatehouse still up and running?

Steve: Well, Hugo (Liard) still lives at the old apartment with his girlfriend, but its way different. Antoine (Bellini, Lovebite pro and Cliché webmaster) lives there with his girlfriend, so that’s 2 couples, and one other guy…

So, since the women moved in, everything has changed?

Steve: (Laughs) Of course! It’s not as ghetto as it used to be.

Tell me a bit about the new guys on the team: Sam Partaix and Tom Derichs?

Julian: Sam Partaix is a young kid from Tours, in France who met the team when he passed through Lyon one time to shoot a photo or something. He’s only 19 years old, but he’s rad and skates everything.

Juju: He came down to Lyon with a friend of ours, Bertrand Trichet the photographer, and I joined them from Paris. Went skating together and by the end of the weekend Sam was heading home with a few photos and a couple of boards under his arm.

Steve: He’s a little machine with so much energy, skating every day all day.

Hugo: The kid takes care of himself, and runs a skateshop in his hometown called Skatepistols.

What about Tom?

Steve: Tom was introduced through Julian (Dykmans) via some Carhartt tours they went on together. He’s from Germany. Julian told us about him, so we watched his footage and we thought it was rad. We met him and then we decided to put him on.

It’s always the same; like when Sam came to Lyon, everyone skates with the new guy and then we all decide together to put them on the team or not. We want to make sure that if they come on tour with us, they don’t have an attitude or problems with anyone. Young kids nowadays expect sponsors and money, because they get it shoved up their ass and brainwashed by the media anyways…

Julian: We needed someone on the team with competent nollie and switch skills, so Tom was perfect! (laughs)

You guys have got the Yama team in the video. How did that come about? Who are they for those who don’t know?

Steve: Ah! In the first place, Yama are my good friends from Austria, Muki (Rustig) and Chris (Pfanner), David (Martelleur) from Belgium, and all those guys. They are really good friends and they have a company with the same sort of spirit as Antiz. We had so much footage from them for the Friends part, but that was getting so long already, so we decided to just make a Yama part. Antiz has done tours with them and they are cool.

Talking to you personally, I know that Zero got in contact with you, Steve. Do you want to talk about that?

Steve: Oh, I just talked to Jaime (Thomas) on the phone the other day.

Was he still asking you to ride for him?

Steve: No, he wasn’t asking that much anymore. For me, it’s like I ride for Antiz and I don’t look at it like a company or a sponsor. We, the Antiz team, we are like a family, and I’m definitely not going to quit it for a handful of dollars.

But how did Zero get in contact with you in the first place?

Steve: That guy, Seth Curtis from England, who does the whole Zero Europe deal emailed me, and then Jaime (Thomas) called to try and persuade me, but I turned him down.

Does it ever worry you guys, that after all this time together; a big company comes along and tries to take one of your riders away?

Hugo: On the one side, you’re pretty amazed to see someone like Jaime Thomas take an interest in one of your friends. He’s trying to launch Zero Europe much like many other American companies because they want a piece of the pie too.

When we heard that Steve had said, “No”, we were all shocked, but super stoked too to see that kind of loyalty. Nobody tried to persuade him otherwise, especially when you look at the fact that riding a deck is your only means to make money, we told Steve he was free to do what he felt best. When he decided to stick with Antiz that gave us all even more motivation to continue what we’re doing!

Julian: The American market is stagnating, so to keep things fresh, they look abroad to us in Europe. You see European companies gathering support which turns the market and America has seen that. The Americans have realised that they need to support what’s going on abroad, but this new Euro phase is their way of keeping control of the market.

Juju: We all really respect Steve’s choice and thank him. Obviously we’ll never be able to offer any of our rider’s massive pay-checks, but what we can offer is our heart and good fun.

So where are you heading now?

Steve: Eindhoven tomorrow, Amsterdam, then Germany…

Hugo: We just want to try and help our riders and keep supporting them to the best of our abilities.

Juju: Keep growing and support our riders. That would be best!

Does Antiz get involved in other areas of skateboarding? I saw you guys were going to put out a new board featuring the BRUSK (Belgian benevolent skateboard activist association) slogan and logo…

Juju: BRUSK is from Brussels, but it’s also connected through Julian (Dykmans) because his older brother, Ian, is a key member of the group. I’m part of a similar organisation in Chelles (France) called Cosanostra, and these organisations are what help skateboarding stay alive. They aren’t money led lucrative groups; they are just a vocation to help the culture and passion that drives all of us- skateboarding.

If we could mention any of these organisations then it’s a like a nod of approval and thanks in regards to what they have and are doing for skateboarding as a whole. When we use the BRUSK logo on one of our new boards, it isn’t to make a profit off their back, but more of a gesture sympathizing with the movement, and hopefully raise awareness for the cause. These groups are the basis for our movement, much more competent than any company could try and be.

Here are some quick fire questions: Which of the following 3 skaters would you find most suitable to ride for Antiz, and why – Rob Dyrdek, Scott Bourne or Sean Sheffey?

Steve: (laughs) Sean Sheffey, just because he’s crazy! I guess we could take Scott too.

Juju: Oh! Just for the fun of it I’d say Rob Dyrdek, but I think Sean would be quite a character too! (laughs)

Ok, if you had a movie made about the team, which of the following 3 comes closest to the true thing- Clockwork Orange, Ghostbusters or Wiseguys?

Steve: I’d say Clockwork Orange because I’m down for ultra-violence. (laughs)

Juju: Ghostbusters! The others are far too serious! (laughs)

Did you guys send any copies of Z-Movie to the Stanley Kubrick estate, or Quentin Tarantino?

Steve: (laughs) No!

If you had all skate a spot together, would you pick a ledge spot, a rail spot or a backyard ramp?

Steve: It would have to be the backyard ramp. Nothing beats that!

And what would be the favourite era for the team- the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s?

Steve: I’d have to say the 80’s because we’ve been joking about that period quite a lot recently. Hugo’s motto is “Shredding! It was all the rage back in the 80’s!” (laughs)

And finally, what is your favourite movie?

Steve: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is number one. Best quotes ever! (laughs)

Juju: I really dig Brazil by Terry Gilliam. That’s my favourite movie, otherwise, Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth.

Hugo: (Laughs) Cannibal Holocaust! There a few of them but they’re all wicked!

Julian: Please don’t let your kids watch Cannibal Holocaust- you’ll have nightmares! (laughs)

Watch the entire Antiz Z Movie at Google Video and individual parts at YouTube. Visit www.antizskateboards.com for more.

Interview by RLD
Sequence at Epic courtesy of Lee J, other shots courtesy of Gorm.

Kevin McKeon alias Meanwhile Kev literally dropped in on skateboarding and lay many a transition to waste. My first encounter with Kev was via an internet chatroom – NOTHING devious or dirty! – just regular skate banter and tittle-tattle.

If anyone was down for a session or willing to squeeze into a crusty Ford Mondeo that failed it’s MOT for the cause, it was Kev. Once footage started to trickle through the wires, and eye witness accounts testified, the legend of Meanwhile Kev was etched in stone. Crossfire caught up with Mr. McKeon prior to another rendez vous with a taildrop or roll-in from hell.

10. Number 10 strikes like Big Ben, so describe a typical day for yourself?

I usually wake up feeling a bit rough, I try to get up before midday and then I ring up a few people to see if there are any sessions happening. Then it’s a downhill skate to the local train station and go to wherever! I skate until I can’t skate anymore and then just settle down for a night of drinking and fuck off back to mine or a mates and then fall asleep! Wake up again the next day and do the same!

9. Keeping track of time with number 9, how long have you been practicing the skateboard art?

I started skating in Summer 2002, so 4 and a half years now. I managed to blag bits and bobs off of my mates like a set of trucks and a deck and some wheels, I put it all together and rode that for ages until it fell to bits!

8. Number 8 is what’s on your plate, so what do you do besides skateboarding?

Not too much really, I go to a 6th form in the sticks and I have to do a fair bit of work with that, after that’s finished I just go out skating and get drunk, just taking the piss and partying! Slagging off mates for no reason at all is pretty fun too!

7. 7 rhymes with Kevin, so why do people call you Meanwhile Kev?

Well I used to only skate Meanwhile a lot and my names Kev so that kind of stuck. Also because of that fucking sidewalk forum and all that.

6. New for number 6, what are your favourite tricks?

I can’t really get tech, so I just settle for just trying to do simple tricks on hard things, or tricks that feel good. Long frontside grinds on concrete feel amazing! Anything where you have to smack your tail like bodyjars, they feel sick too! Blasting big airs always feels good!

5. Down for a dive in at number 5, where’s the best place to skate?

Anywhere north of Birmingham really! I don’t really like skating in London too much apart from Romford and Harrow, as people there usually have different atmospheres at those kind of places and just seem like real people who skate for the fun of it. Most places in London you seem to get people who are really fake and don’t act like themselves at all. I’m not really too into that.

4. Number 4 is for the dancefloor, what constitutes a good night out?

I suppose just going to a good bar or club really, with drinks flowing, good music and women I suppose! A bit of drunken antics always livens things up! All those things go down in the good books!

3. is for free, so how did you get sponsored?

Johnny ( the owner of halfpipe skateshop) saw me skating vert at Bay 66 a couple of years back and probably felt sorry for me seeing how I was dressed and decided to hook me up I guess! To be honest, back then I didn’t really deserve it at all and was just lucky that he was there. Then the others just came along from just sticking at skating and travelling about.

2. Number 2 represents your crew, who do you skate with on the regular?

I’ve been hitting up Romford and Harrow a bit lately with Aaron Sweeney and Awadh from down here. I meet up with Cov Sid a lot as well, he was down here last weekend actually and we just hit up all those kind of 70’s parks just sinking beers and falling over a lot! It’s rad! I skate with Ollie Tyreman quite a lot as well when I go up North, he sorts me out with a place to sleep and lifts and all that!

1. And finally, in at the pole position, the questions on everybodies lips is, what made you want to roll in on the extension at the Works?

I couldn’t really work out the line to get enough speed to get right out of the top. I could only drop into it, rolling in seemed like the next thing to do I suppose. After rolling into it, I got the line clocked out and it just flew me back up there

And now you get a chance to shout you any sponsors or thanks!

I want to thank Adam and Toby at Karma Skateboards, Nick Zorlac for Death Urethane, Powley for flowing me Vans shoes, Johnny and all at Halfpipe and Zac for Crossfire Clothing and for this Countdown. Also anyone that has sorted me out with a beer, place to sleep, lift, bit of product or anything like that! Cheers!

When the DVD Pritchard vs Dainton first set foot into skate shops moons ago and the boyos from Dirty Sanchez were on the radar in the underground, no one expected them to be snapped up by TV stations.

Since they hit the screen, they have travelled the World with their infectious sickness and eventually make it to the big screen of cinemas across the planet.

Just before Xmas we got a phone call from the duo who wanted to drop off some stuff at HQ for the Xmas Jam and waste an hour talking shite! This interview was done off the cuff by Zac with all photo’s taken outside of HQ on that day courtesy of Jerome Loughran.

So, it’s Xmas time and we’re working here at HQ when two doughnuts turn up and spilled the jam. Who are they?

Dainton: My name’s Matt Pritchard and I like to drink, I’m an alcoholic.

Pritchard: [in a camp voice] Ooh and my name’s Lee Dainton.

Dainton: Oh shut up dick.

So what the fucking hell brings you two dicks in here?

Dainton: Oh, well there’s a fucking… er… I dunno, that’s a good question. Pritch you can answer that one?

Pritchard: …..Well we actually had some meetings with MTV today about doing further shows in the future. To let everyone know we’ve been quite successful and me and Dainton have bagged ourselves a new show!

Dainton: Shush we can’t talk about that!

Pritchard: ….er which we can’t talk about much but look forward to it in the future. But that’s why we’re down here and we thought we’d pay Zac a visit too!

Dainton: Yeah, we had some time off and I was like ‘right, let’s go and see our good friend Zac and let’s go and give him some product for the Crossfire Xmas Jam!’

…. it’s a pleasure to have you in here at Crossfire HQ.

Dainton: Well Zac I’m very stoked to be in here myself sitting on this chair whilst Pritchard is sat in the hairy dog’s chair!

Pritchard: S’alright I’m used to it Daint, I got my own dog.

You have got the dog’s chair mate, really sorry about that!.

Pritchard: That’s alright!

So it’s been a long year for you guys and obviously its been a packed year and you haven’t stopped. There’s been some woe, some blood’s been spilled and there’s been hospital visits and I guess that’s we start with you Pritch!

Pritchard: Hospital visit?

Hospital visit! It’s been a nutty one innit?

Dainton: Oooooooooh! Remember the hospital visit in Brighton?

Pritchard: Ooooh! Right.

We know everything here….!

Pritchard: I went to a stag night party in Brighton, basically the party went on for a bit too long and certain narcotics went down my neck which I didn’t expect and I lost my brain, still up at about 10 in the morning, left the hotel, still no sleep, looking at chewing gums coming off the floor flying around my head – I lost it basically, ended up in hospital and I was on a drip and heart monitors and everything and they let me out about three hours later after I calmed down!

Dainton: Yeah but you told me, ‘Daint, I’ve learnt my lesson, I’m never ever doing that again’ and I’m like ‘Oh yes you will!’. ‘No, no Daint, the chewing gums were flying round in here and everything, I thought my head was gonna stop’. Pritch, tell the Crossfire listeners: Have you learnt your lesson?

Pritchard: No.

[laughs]

Pritchard: It’s all fun and games. Me and Dainton have just been on the road for the last two and a half months just doing gigs all over the country and its just constant boozing and its just gnarly constantly. It’s just booze, booze, booze, booze, narcotics, narcotics. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good laugh but it doesn’t half take some toll on your body. But it’s all finished in about two weeks and then we’re all finished. Time to relax.

More parties?

Pritchard: Well yeah more parties but with our families.

What’s relaxing when you guys get off the road? I can hardly imagine you two sitting down in front of the fire with a cigar watching one of the films at Xmas, like James Bond. Does that happen or is it not really going to happen?

Dainton: Well, I dunno. I spent some quality time with my family the other week then I made a little trip to Pritchard’s house to play a little prank on him….

Pritchard: You see, it’s non stop Zac. As soon as you think you’re in the comfort of your own home, he goes and tries to pull a fucking stunt on me, which really freaked me out.

This still goes on then, without the filming, just like the good old days?

Pritchard: Oh yeah, course it does – We’re real man!

Dainton: Just to freak him out, I made a little video. I went stalking outside his house, balaclava, camo’d up and took a filmer with me, Porno Paul, and filmed myself stalking around Pritchard’s house, spying on him. I then put it on the internet and blogged it out to 7,000 people. He saw it and went fucking ape shit!

Pritchard: I did, Zac, I did properly went “ueeeeeeergh” and had chills up my back and was like “who the fuck was that?” and then he told me it was him and then my missus saw it and went fucking nuts. He had to apologise in the end!

Dainton: His missus was almost crying, he thought I’d actually got in his house and taken his toothpaste. You really think if I went into your house I’d nick your toothpaste?

Pritchard: Daint, after all the years of abuse you’ve given me, I wouldn’t put anything past you to tell you the truth! But that’s the way it is innit?!

Dainton: But to relax, I dunno, I’d probably watch Keremy Jyle. What’s his name? Keremy Jyle?

Pritchard: Well actually, we had this weekend off so me and the missus went to…

Dainton: Oh, gay!

Pritchard: …a spa weekend in Birmingham for a de-toxifying weekend.

Just for a weekend?

Pritchard: I had a de-toxifying body wrap and it looked like I was going through cold turkey! It absolutely fucked me right up – cramps, shitting, everything!

Really? The whole lot.

Pritchard: Yeah but… I’m clean now.

Dainton: Well, till tonight!

Pritchard: I’m booked in for a colonic!

Dainton: See, how times have changed. I remember back in the day when you couldn’t afford to put 10 pence in the fucking gambler. But now you’re talking about colonics, health farms, taking your dog to fucking dog borstal.

Pritchard: Yeah but doing the job that we do, you need to clean yourself out.

Dainton: No you don’t. You do. You’re telling me I’m a paranoid fucking freak and you’re telling me you need detoxing!

Pritch: My body’s full of shit….

[laughs]

I can’t believe you’re paying for it. Normally people pay you to do it right?!

Dainton: Well yeah and you normally clean your own arsehole out with…

Brown Ale.

Dainton: Brown Ale dude.

Newcy Brown!

Pritchard: Well, it’s all fun. You’ve gotta clean yourself out to fill it back up with shit haven’t you?

Exactly, you’ve gotta have a bit of a rest. What’s been the highlight of the year for Dirty Sanchez so far?

Dainton: The highlight was pretty much just travelling around the world just filming it. Travelling around the world with your mates just fucking around, seeing all these fucking amazing places and then having a few months off and getting to the premiere and seeing all that bullshit panned out in front of you over 90 minutes. Of hell. Knocking you out with one punch.

Pritchard: Yeah, the premiere definitely.

Dainton: Getting Johnny Knoxville on your leg

Pritchard: Ha fucking ha Daint!

Your face [laughs] I wish I’d filmed that.

Pritchard: Nah, the highlight definitely the premiere. Just turning up and sitting at the cinema…

In London?

Pritchard: No, in Cardiff… thinking how the fuck did we end up on this screen?

Dainton: Come on, it’s gotta be the biggest blag ever – we’ve blagged 3 series with MTV and a movie. Who in their right minds, would give us dicks a budget to go around the world and make a film?! We’ve got a million quid to go round and just waste. Fucking great, thanks MTV! We love you.

What was the highlight when you took it round the world though? When you go on your missions, I know you’ve been to Brazil and various places like that, but what’s been the biggest one this year?

Pritchard: Thailand. I’ve never been there before, I’ve always wanted to go and when I went there, I wasn’t let down. Actually, I didn’t do that much but I didn’t wanna leave, I wanted to stay there, it’s amazing, what a place!

Dainton: Pritchard went to Ibiza for the first time this year and he told me on the way home he looked out the window and almost started crying seeing Ibiza going in the distance. Shit! That was my highlight – we went to Ibiza to go a gig, we headlined Ibiza rocks on the finishing weekend and they gave us this multi-million Euro villa up in the hills with a pool over looking Ibiza. Pritchard gave himself an enema in the swimming pool!

When there’s other people swimming in it?

Pritchard: The swimming pool has a Jacuzzi coming out and I thought ‘that’s quite powerful, I can give myself an enema in this’, pulled down my Speedos, stuck my arse right on the thing, filled my arse up full of swimming pool water, went into the bushes and had a fucking big shit!

Dainton: This is the deal though right, we’re all laughing about what we’ve done in the swimming pool and these guys that are looking after us, the gays, wicked guys, looking after us, doing all the running around for us, and we’re like ‘you’ll never guess what we did in the pool today’ and Pritch says ‘I gave myself an enema’. And they’re just like ‘Oh yeah’……But we found out that GLC were there 2 weeks before us and they’ve got a photo of them pissing into the pool, they hid the photo behind the beers at the back of the fridge and the day after they left, the band The Automatic were there.

The Automatic finished off the beer and then found a picture of them pissing into the pool after they’d been swimming in it all week! So we were like ‘Oh you think that’s funny? Well Pritchard had an enema in it’ and we told the gays this and they went ‘well, we’ve bummed in the pool’ and I’m like ‘Oh whaaaaaat’ and they said ‘we bummed in that room, we bummed in that room and we actually bummed in the pool’ so it took the edge off the enema a bit though didn’t it?

Pritchard: It certainly went silent didn’t it? It was like ‘Oh… did you…?’

And the Automatic are going to be seeing another monster over the hill soon by the sounds of it?!

Pritchard: Are they the ones that did that ‘Who’s that coming over the hill is it a monster?’?

That’s them, stupid bloody song.

Dainton: That’s those dudes.

Pritchard: Oh… I quite like it.

[laughs]

Dainton: [In robot voice] What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monster? If I fucking hear that again…

But you are renowned for having the worst music collection ever in skateboarding?!

Pritchard: You wanna see my iPod. I’m very open minded, I like a lot of different music. I mean, I even like Girls Aloud for Christ sake! I’ve got the Spice Girls on my iPod, from the Village People to Slayer to Motorhead to AC/DC, anything.

Well the latter were ok.

Dainton: Exactly! Zac, ask Pritch what magazines he’s bought today!

Come on then big boy, share me.

Pritchard: Front magazine.

Dainton: Ok, we like the guys at Front magazine, they’re cool. We’re down with the Front guys. Tell him what other fucking magazine you bought.

Pritchard: Daily Star.

That’s not a magazine.

Dainton: Yeah that’s a newspaper with pictures in. Come on, tell me, what the fuck did you buy?

Pritchard: OK Magazine!

[laughs]

Pritchard: What’s wrong with OK?! I like reading OK magazine. What do you read? Whippet Weekly or something?

You bought OK magazine?!

Pritchard: I buy it every week!

Dainton: I bought National Geographic dude, just don’t tell anybody.

Pritchard: Oh you’re so intelligent!

Dainton: I like looking at the pictures!

Planet Earth here, Planet Earth, Planet Earth!

Pritchard: Oh no, I like Planet Earth

Even skateboards can be into Planet Earth and get cred.

[phone rings]

Dainton: Hang it a minute, it’s my agent. Jez…

His agent’s on the phone?!.

Pritchard: Oh lah de dah! Oh sorry I do have to interrupt, my agent is on the phone. Hello my name’s Lee Dainton, I used to be a skateboarder, but now I’m a cunt!

Dainton: I’d just like to say to everybody out there, I have got an agent, I’ve actually got two agents to be precise!

Pritchard: Three!

Dainton: Oh yeah, we’ve got three actually. Don’t ask why. So c’mon, speak, I’m on the phone to my agent Mr OK!

Pritchard: Yeah, I read OK magazine and Dainton speaks to his agent in interviews. So there we are… Oh, you’re off the phone are you? What did he say? Ten dollars, ten dollars? Ten grand, ten grand? Fifty grand, fifty grand?

Dainton: No he said ‘speak to me when you’re a little less tied up dude’

We haven’t tied you up yet mate.

Dainton: Ooh!

Why’d you think we’ve got the Golden Cock here? Have you seen our Golden Cock?

Dainton: I’m looking at the Golden Cock now and one word springs to mind: Joyce.

[laughs]

Tell us more…

Dainton: Oh fuck! Another highlight of the year, we were invited as guests of honour to the 1st UK Porn Awards.

That’s where that Golden Cock came from., from the UK Erotic Awards 2002.

Dainton: This is just the UK Porn Awards, nothing as posh as the Erotic ones.

No but I swear to God, you wouldn’t wanna go there either. As soon as I walked through the door I saw this droid-nerd looking kid who had a pair of socks on and some school shoes and was just sat there with his whopper out.

Pritchard: His cock!?

Satan whoppercock mate. This was about 13 high and he was tweaking it in front of me with his glasses on and I just walked past with my missus thinking “no, no, no this is fucking weird.”, we got in and she said ‘get me a glass of wine’, so I went to the bar to get drinks and stuff and she goes ‘I just had to walk over in my heels, some bloke I actually stuck it right in his arse.’

Dainton: What?

And he was going ‘More! More!’

Dainton: Oh dude!

I actually had to go and pick that award up for a best friend of mine that died at Glastonbury and it was so fucking gnarly – I was dressed up as a sailor!. There’s one for skateordie..

Dainton: Haha! We had to give an award out for best gay actor and Pritchard wanted to come on naked and they said ‘nah, you can’t get naked, we haven’t got a license’ so he chucked his boxers back on. We’re giving out this award and I’m saying ‘the nominees for best gay actor are……’

Pritchard: And it was some woman.

Dainton: It was some woman yeah, so anyway she comes on stage, pulls his pants down, spread his buttcheeks and then rimmed him on stage!

You got a rimming?!

Pritchard: When she pulled them apart, I thought ‘she ain’t gonna do it’ and I felt a tongue right on my starfish and I thought ‘oh my God!’. The funny thing is, she got up and then went and gave Dainton a kiss with her tongue!

Who lost there aye?

Dainton: I know I just…

Pritchard: We had to give another award out for best gay act, so the gays who won came on stage and so I thought…

Dainton: Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop…

Pritchard: When in Rome, so I snogged a gay!

Dainton: I couldn’t believe it – you couldn’t get naked, but you could get rimmed on stage. What the fuck?

Pritchard: But the women were all getting naked, fannies out everywhere and one woman bent down on all fours on stage with her fanny facing the crowd, and I just said ‘do you mind if I fuck you with my Fosters’ bottle?’ and she went ‘yeah, no worries’, so I’m going with my Fosters’ bottle full of lager, and then pulled it out and drank out of it. I’ve probably got Chlamydia or something!

What again?

Dainton: It was just a fucking free for all. I’m on stage trying to give this award out, and this bird is under the table, getting my cock out, trying to give me a blow job live on stage. I was like ‘woah, woah, I’m not the porn star, I might be in Dirty Sanchez but I’m not a fucking porn star dude, get the fuck off my dick’

When you’re on tour though, do you get much time to skate? Take your boards with you?

Pritchard: No, we never take our boards with us because normally the Tour Manager needs to know where you are constantly and to tell you the truth, we get so wrecked after the gig, because we can’t get wrecked before we go on stage because we’re professionals, so when we get off the stage, we all just get absolutely bollocksed, go party with all these women, and by the time you wake up in the morning, you feel like shit. And then you’ve gotta go to another town and another town so it’s constantly non-stop.

Obviously you guys are both sponsored skaters, Dainton you run Kill City Skateboards and you [Pritchard] look after Globe shoe affairs in this country, riding for them.

Pritchard: I don’t look after them

No, no, but you ride for them.

Pritchard: Oh yeah…

Dainton: No, no, yeah, yeah… To be honest, I skate as much as I can when I’m home, coz obviously I gotta look after the team (Kill City) and stuff and I’m not surrounded by the party as much as Pritchard so its easier to go out and skate. And I’m also in the process of building a 20 foot mini ramp in the garden. Yesssss. So its not so bad for me but y’know you’re just an alcoholic aren’t you?

Pritchard: No, Daint, I just like to have a good time. I’m in Cardiff you get invited to all these parties and stuff and if they’re there on the doorstep then why not? You only going once, might as well make the most of it.

It’s true.

Pritchard: Because I know that when I’m 40 I’ll think ‘I wish I went to all those parties’

But will you be able to skate at 40? Do you miss the skating when you’re doing the Dirty Sanchez stuff? Because obviously it all came from skateboarding?

Pritchard: I do miss skateboarding. But every time I do get out and manage to have a skate, its fucking wicked like, I haven’t skated for ages so I wanna see if I can still do the tricks.

And how’s that? Do you get rusty?

Pritchard: Zac, you know me. I’m a trained professional. I can skate like fuck baby! ….No I can’t!

Dainton: He said we don’t take our boards…….we do take our boards. But, we were in Arizona – I don’t know if anyone out there’s old enough but there’s a scene in the first Wheels On Fire, Streets On Fire Santa Cruz videos but there’s this place in the desert in Arizona called the Love Bowls, we came across them just by accident, we skated there. And we skated some of the best skate parks in Arizona, fucking amazing. The one that TNT does a backside ollie in the Transworld video he’s got a section on.

The In Bloom one?

Dainton: In Bloom, yeah.

Pritchard: When we’re filming we get a chance to skate a bit. But when we’re on the road doing live gigs there’s just no chance. But when we’re filming, we have a little rip now and again.

Daint, you went out on the Big Push this year.

Dainton: Oh yeah, fucking hell.

I watched that video, it looked hilarious.

Dainton: It was like being in a straight jacket for a week – I had to drive and fucking film. So when I was driving, obviously I couldn’t drink, and when I got to the skateparks, I couldn’t skate, I had to film. Cates was like ‘you gotta get some footage mate’, I was telling him ‘Cates, its not 4 in the morning, I’m fucking knackered, you think I’m gonna be able to skate after bending over filming a fucking a switch crook after 6 hours? No chance’. It was fucking rad though, we had Ricky Oyola, he was cool as fuck.

We took him to Cwmbran, my home town and he said he’s seen the best skate spots outside the States in my home town, in Cwmbran! Apparently he’s gonna come back and film some stuff for his section in the Traffic video so that’s pretty fucking cool isn’t it?

And he’s had a guest board out on Death Skateboards.

Dainton: That’s right, Oyola has a guest Death board.

It’s been a good year for Death overall hasn’t it?

Dainton: Ah its been sick man, look at it. Pritchard’s got a pro-model out again, the poker board.

[laughs]

Dainton: Go on! Say something!

Pritchard: Well what’re you laughing for?!

[laughs]

Pritchard: What’s so funny about my poker board?!

Dainton: Nothing!

Pritchard: I’ll poke you with it in a minute!

Dainton: You gotta teach me poker tonight because we’re playing in a tournament and I’ve never played in my fucking life!

Pritchard: Yeeeeeah! Time to get Dainton’s money. I’ve got into poker, it’s good.

Ah, that’s why you asked for the cards.

Pritchard: Yeah, and he hasn’t played before so…

Easy money then!

Pritchard: Well from my experience of beginners, they normally end up getting to the final.

Dainton: Don’t try and fucking jinx me to spend all my fucking money you bastard!

Pritchard: Well when I first started, I kept getting into the final but now I know what I’m doing, I’m more cautious and end up not being as stupid.

So have you always been into playing poker and stuff? Your Globe shoe this year has…

Dainton: ….a gambling theme to it.

Yep and yours had a spider theme with your Etnies shoe.

Pritchard: I’ve just always enjoyed gambling and I never understood poker but I’ve started to learn this year. It’s a right laugh.

How did the shoe deals come round? Because you’ve both had a shoe out this year and you must be quite chuffed to have your name on a shoe.

Pritchard: It’s quite a funny story innit….

Dainton: I don’t think we can reveal what really happened because we might upset a few people!

I think we’ll prise it out of you.

Pritchard: Machetes, threats…

Dainton: It started off as a joke really, I told Pritch that Etnies were paying me £15,000 a year just to endorse the brand and he went to Globe and said the same thing to them and said ‘I want 15 grand a year’ and Globe went ‘Alright then!’ and I was only joking! So after that I said ‘well, they’ve given me a shoe now’ so he went to Globe and said they’d given Dainton a collaboration shoe, so they gave him a collaboration shoe and after I’d jokingly said all that, Globe gave him a £15,000 a year basic salary, a pro shoe with massive royalties, a clothing range, and I’m sat there going ‘Where’s mine?!’

Pritchard: Yeah but the thing is, the shoe companies aren’t stupid…

Dainton: They’re not stupid? They gave you a shoe!

Pritchard: Well… yeah. But they see how much we advertise their company on TV and in their eyes its worth it. We definitely didn’t get the skate shoe for skateboarding did we?!

Dainton: It’s more of a collaboration shoe but we do have a good history in skateboarding.

Pritchard: Yeah, 17 years… this is Panch!

[Cue indecipherable drunken mumbling and yowling]

That’s the worst ring tone I’ve ever heard!

Dainton: Pancho the other night got so pissed he couldn’t speak! But no, Etnies have been there sorting out a collaboration shoe with Daint and it’s done really well, it’s sold out, so I’m pretty stoked. It’s a massive honour to be sponsored by them for years and then and then turn around and say, obviously its not 100% for skating, but because of the global brand the show is…

Pritchard: I would just like to say my shoe is the best selling Globe shoe in Australia, Europe and the UK!

Dainton: Ah, you like to smell your own farts don’t you?

Pritchard: Yeah, love it! How, I don’t fucking know, but it is!

You must be stoked! Now, last time I saw you Daint, we were wasted at an Etnies party in Paris.

Dainton: Do you know what? The last time I saw you was probably the best fucking time I’ve had a party in so long!

We did take that party apart!

Dainton: Absolutely fucking ringo’d.

It was one of the best parties I think I’ve ever been to…ever. And we’ve been to a few!

Dainton: Absolutely fucking spanked!

The beer ran out and we swept mines. Every can of beer that was left in that place, we drank it!

Pritchard: The beer ran out?

Well, the party was shutting down and everyone went back to this beautiful hotel, it was ridiculous. Could you imagine, Ali Boulala, every pro skater on the planet who is on Etnies, turns up at this hotel, we get to the bar and it’s shut! So everyone’s like ‘fuck, what are we going to do?’ and the concierge comes out and says ‘Ah, if you go down zee road zere is a little discothèque’ and we thought we were in… and it turned out to be a whore-bar.

Dainton: Is that what it was?!

It was a whore-bar and there were a few girls in there. So I said I’d get the beers in, I got 3 beers and they were those little crappy Kronenbergs and it was like, £52! I said ‘you’re having a giraffe aren’t you?’. Everyone had piled into this bar, no-one could afford it, so I said to him ‘go and set a fire off at the bar’, so he set a fire off and we nicked a whole bottle of vodka!

Pritchard: Did you get a polish?

I didn’t get a polish no. But I tell you what, I could’ve done with a polish in the morning, I looked like dog shit!

Dainton: I remember for some reason I had a pot of superglue on me and I was super gluing money and fag butts to people!

I woke up with a 1 Euro coin on the back of my head!

Dainton: It was a good laugh. The worst thing was, I went to the airport the next day five hours too early, with the worst hangover ever!

I died. That was right after the Download party as well so it was four nights of Download, and you know how gnarly that place is, with Metallica playing. So yeah, that was the fifth night in a row and I came home and my house had been burgled!

Dainton: Oh shit!

Pritchard: Did you catch them?

Nah, the whole place was rumbled. But yeah, that was a good summer, that. So what about now then? You’ve just come from MTV, you’ve got stuff lined up for next year. Can you tell us anything about what’s gonna happen?

Dainton: To be honest, I’ve got a contract it my pocket, but after I’ve written it, I’ve got to eat it and forget about it for the rest of the year. It’s just one of those things, you can’t talk about it because they’ll kick your arse basically. But there’s shit in the pipeline – P vs D; Pritchard versus Dainton, but we’ll wait and see. There’s all sorts of shit happening next year to be honest, quite a lot of stuff going on. With the movie this year taking everything to the next level, so it enables us to go and fuck shit up even more.

Is it coming out on DVD?

Dainton: Yeah, 22nd of January actually it’ll be out in the UK and trust me, there’s some things on there… well I’ll tell you one thing that’s on the DVD. There’s a section on there which looks like an obituary to Pancho, it looks like he’s dead and its reminiscing on the good days of Pancho. It’s fucking gnarly.

Is it him falling asleep everywhere?

Dainton: It’s all sorts of shit, it’s brilliant.

Pritchard: Drinking, swearing, the usual stuff.

A usual day’s work in the Sanchez world.

Dainton: We’ll probably do another UK with that and then we’re off out to Australia in April to do a tour out there. Hopefully getting some more skateboarding in this year, with my ramp in the back garden. And we’re doing another Pritchard vs. Dainton skate video.

Pritchard: Hook up with Renton, mate.

You’ve gotta love Renton, there’s always a good party when Renton’s around!

Pritchard: He’s a fucking right laugh!

Where can people find you online in between now and the release?

Dainton: Well basically, if they want to find out our movements of tours and shit, sadly I have to say you can find me on www.myspace.com/dainton

Pritchard: And you can find me on www.myspace.com/pritchardswyd

Dainton: On there it tells you what gigs we’ve got coming up, where we’re going. It’s got some video blogs and some bullshit on there, it’s pretty amusing and shit with Pancho, unseen stuff, so if you want to check us out there for the time being, because the Pritchard vs Dainton site is still not constructed because we’re absolute lazy cunts.

Pritchard: There’s actually more stuff on the myspace isn’t there? Video footage, photos, dates, like you said.

Dainton: And the infamous “Spunk Chops” is on there if you want to check that out. I won’t any more you cunt Pritchard!

I don’t want to hear any more!

Dainton: Eleven men’s spunk, yeah great!

Pritchard: Stitched him up big time, he deserves it. Got eleven men’s spunk on his face and he didn’t know!

Dainton: And you kissed a gay guy!

Pritchard: Well, yeah I know…..

Dainton: And you’ve got “I love Dainton” on your cock.

It’s official! He’s out, at Crossfire, we’ve revealed it!

Pritchard: No, no, no I’m joking!!!!

Dainton: Before we shoot off in a shit hurricane, past your place, up to Birmingham.

I hope my place is still alive after today’s tornado!

Dainton: Me and Pritchard developed a new form of relaxation the other night.

Pritchard: Ooooh yes, wicked!

Dainton: It’s called the ball-cuzzi. Do you know what a ball-cuzzi is?

It sounds like a sort of teabagging experience….

Dainton: It’s quite therapeutic actually, we were at this hotel in Durham and the teapot was the perfect size. So basically, you get a teapot and fill it with warm water and then you put your balls in it and your mate blows through the spout and it gives you a ball-cuzi!

Pritchard: It’s fucking wrong!

Dainton: Its as close to giv…yeah its pretty borderline but if you’re secure…

Pritchard: It’s like giving your mate a blowjob…

Dainton: No! It’s nothing like giving your mate a blowjob!

Pritchard: It’s close to the same idea though innit?!

Dainton: No, no, no, no, no! No! Look, if I had a longer tea-spout I’d blow my own jacuzzi!

Pritchard: I tell you what, if anyone was looking through the window of that hotel room that night… “Oh, I’ll go first, I’ll blow” and then we swapped over. It was so fucking gay and it’s all on camera as well!

It’s official, Pritch is out…..

Dainton: I tell you what, just because we left it with a bit of a dark, gay tone – not that there’s anything wrong with being one of those dudes, it’s fine, my girlfriend’s dad is gay, we hug, its ok – we’ll give Zac at Crossfire the edited footage of the ball-cuzzi and he can put it up on Crossfire real soon!

We’ll put it up for sure.

Pritchard: You can’t have stuff like that up on Crossfire!

We can do what we want!

Pritchard: Oh can we now? Wahey!

Ok, let’s cut this shit. Thanks for coming in and good luck!

Pritchard: Cheers Zac!

Dainton: Cheers boyo!

Danish skater Kristian Bomholt, recently visited the UK on a little promo trip. He rides for DVS Shoes, in fact you may have seen him in the European Vacation DVD that was on the front of Sidewalk last year or even in Neighbours.

Welcome to his Crossfire Countdown.

10. Kicking off the chart at number 10, let us know why you were passing through the UK?

I was there to do a photo shoot with DVS, skate and drink a few beers with Mathieu and Eric.

9. Feeling fine at number 9, we want to know what you’ve seen here that you wouldn’t see anywhere else?

Crazy Scottish skateboarders…

8. Number 8 is all about what you ate. Where is the best place you’ve had something to eat in the UK?

We were on the road the most of the time so I ate junk food every day. So I’m sorry but I can’t recommend anything!

7. Up from 11 and in at number 7, tell us what you brought with you before coming to the UK?

Almost nothing apart from my skateboard and a clean pair of boxers.

6. In the same line as 7, number 6 asks what you’ll be taking home from the UK?

No liquids for sure because they took it all at the airport. A bunch of fresh Matix clothing and that’s it.

5. Number 5 is where things get live, so what were best spots you got to skate in the UK?

I only skated one street spot and that was a ten stair in London and I smacked my head on the ground with that one. Other than that I skated a few indoor parks but it never really got fun because I had to deal with the pain in my head and my legs from the stair session!

4. Knocking on your door is number 4, so who have you been hanging out with in the UK?

Mathieu, Eric, Ches, Luis and a bunch of the Blueprint guys.

3. Last week’s number 1 down two places to number 3, who is your favorite UK skater?

There are so many great skaters from UK so it’s hard just to pick one. But (Danny) Brady, (Neil) Smiffy (Smith) and (Mark) Baines are killing it.

2. New in at number 2, where is the best place to chill and enjoy a drink in the UK?

It’s hard for me to answer because I can’t remember the names of the places we went to drink. But that means it was a good time though.

1. Which means that our number 1 question for you is – What have you learnt from your trip to the UK?

Don’t smack your head in the ground the first day or any other day. That’s the word! Peace.

Countdown by RLD
Photo courtesy of Ben Powell.

Please welcome Liverpool’s most lively upcoming skater Adam Aulaqi.

Judging by the footage and photos we’ve seen of his skating, we decided to introduce his skills that have just earnt him a place on the Karma Skateboards team to the first of many Crossfire Countdowns in 2007 clocked in by RLD.

10. Kicking off the chart at number 10, let us know who you are – age, where you’re from, star sign?

Well Bob…wait is your name Bob? Bob seems like a fitting name for a Crossfire Countdown interviewer! Well Bob I represent for da scouse-side, that’s Liverpool fool an’ I’ll jack that fish pie off ya Nan. At 19 most women want me and most men want to be me…I live my life guided by the weekly star sign column (Sagittarius) in ‘Closer’, I find this helps in my quest for perfection.

9. Feeling fine at number 9, we want to know how you’d describe your skating in a lonely hearts advert?

My skating is much like a piece of promiscuous white American jailbait…fast with a loose under-carriage.

8. Number 8 is all about what your plate – What’s the recipe for a good session?

Right Bob, picture this, all the safe people you’ve ever skated with, some bad-boy spot somewhere, wallrides, fakie heelflips, and a whole host of dead celebrities dug up just to chill with…Ol Dirty Bastard, Desmond Dekker, The Lilt Ladies (might not be dead but never hear from them anymore) and Scarface.

7. Up from 11 and in at number 7, tell us who your influences are on and off board?

Onboard, all the Milton Keynes home-dogs, represent, represent!!! The whole northern massive holdin it down rain or errrr rain! Special big up to Mackey and the Lost Art crew, tink ya can take a slam bwoy come see how we do!!! Literally like a million different skaters from all over the world inspire and influence me, safe as fuck, I’m only here doing my thing because others went before me. As for off board you know who you are, I tell you all on a daily basis and if I don’t, you don’t deserve it…

6. In the same line as 7, number 6 asks what you’d be doing if you didn’t skate?

Smoking crack, eating fish-finger sandwiches and beating up people like me

5. Number 5 is where things get live, so what do you think of demos and comps?

Watching comps and demos never got me that hyped let alone skating in them myself. It’s all about everyone skating together, just buzzing off the atmosphere of a hectic street session going the fuck off!

4. Knocking on your door is number 4, so who do you hang out with on the regular?

Well Bob I don’t mean to name drop, but in all honesty I am exceedingly tight friends with some of the biggest movers and shakers on the Liverpool moving and shaking scene. The Beatles, Atomic Kitten, Matty Pritchard, Craig (Liverpool’s no. 1 Big Brother winner), and that scouse bint from Spice Girls!

3. Last week’s number 1 down two places to number 3, who is your favorite UK skater?

I’d like to phone a friend Chris! I mean Bob! Hey; this isn’t ‘who wants to be a millionaire’. Little joke there for you down at the office. Ummm. Anyway I’m going to give you a wee selection: Colin K, John Rattray, Big Ash (reckon you’re good at skate?) Benny Fairfax, The Mack (Big Dave) Dog, myself, Penny, Winny, Chewy, and my mate Fishy (skates like the cast of Football Factory).

2. New in at number 2, where is the best place to chill after a skate?

Kimos! Before, during, and after skating, seriously, I ate 6 chicken kebabs in 3 days from this place. Rumors will argue Quick Chef is just as good (Lies! They have pigeons in the air vent). Big up the Kimo’s massive! Fuck I’m hungry!

1. Which means that our number 1 question for you is – What has skateboarding taught you?

I’m going to answer this one with a question Bob. Did you know that the chicken in Liverpool isn’t chicken? I don’t know what it is but its odd…

And finally, here’s your chance for shout outs and thank you’s:

I’m a student! Safe as fuck to everyone at Sidewalk! Cheers to Selly and the whole M.K crew (Nobes, Doe or Die, J-murder, Tanner, Potter, Frenchy AKA Foot-finger, Smeeton, Nozza, ahhh mate too many to mention but you know who you are), Malcolm and Matt Clarke for doing all the filming and photos, keep up the good work boys! Yes blud, everyone holding it down up north. That’s Mackey, Chris and all the Lost Art bums, as well as all the guys who I skate with, wallrides and cold weather for life!!!

Massive thank you to Adam and Jane at Karma who have sorted me out a treat with plenty of fresh wood. Much love to all my family and friends back home, cheers for supporting my shit the whole way! Big up to Nelson Mandela, the GZA, Aggie D’s Turkish shop in Walthamstow, the attractive French girl I live with as all the Heritage Court Crew and Smithdown Lane Connection. Best wishes and mad love goes out to J and Hazel in MK who are about to have a baby, brap, brap! Finally nice one to everyone I’ve forgotten…

To watch footage of Adam click here.

21st December 2006

Stereo Sound Agent 547 a.k.a. Chris Pastras was passing though London on a secret mission to spread the gospel of stylistics and hang ten hill bombing when Crossfire intercepted him getting his flair on.

Chris happily replied to our inquisition and even spilled the beans on a movement that’s sweeping catwalks and boardwalks alike: this is Chris Pastras of the Stereo Sound Agency. Interview and questions from Ralph Lloyd Davis and Zac

Please state your full name, any alias’, Agent names or nicknames you might have. What does your mother call you?

My mother calls me Chris. Christopher Malik Pastras is my full name.

Malik? That’s rather suave.

(Laughs) Yeah. Now let’s see… My Agent name? 547! I almost forgot. Then my nickname: Dune.

‘Dune’ – that’s stuck for quite a while now, huh?

Oh yeah. It’s been with me since I was like 13.

What brings you to London, Agent?

547! (Laughs) See, it’s not that exciting… I could make something up?

Yeah, go for it!

We made a massive Stereo PR budget, and we’re doing a massive PR sweep of Europe!

Right…

Nah !(Laughs) My girlfriend works for Kangol hats, and I came over just to visit our distributor- Out of Step. I thought it would be super freezing and snowing (in London), so I didn’t bring my board, and ended up having to get a board.

We’ve got a couple of rigs here you can roll around on. A couple of old 70’s sticks you might fancy?!

Nah… The guys from Kingpin have all this free product because they get it sent in for reviews, or whatever…

Oh! So that’s what all that is?

You guys don’t pull that scam over here?

No! We do it legitimately, unlike Niall on the scam. If you’re listening Niall – We’ve rumbled ya! :) (Laughs)

No! Thanks Niall! He had a full kit for me and hooked me up.

Well, we won’t mention what board you’re riding right now. It might offend someone.

Oh no! I’m riding a Shut board. They were my first sponsor!

Ah… Then it’s a nice gesture.

Yeah, I mean I’m putting it to use.

Yeah, but I bet there’s some poor kid out there who could have had a Shut skateboard, and you’ve nicked it!

(Laughs)

So, obviously Stereo’s got it’s legs back off the ground and it’s up and running again, and we all know what’s going on… Well, we know a bit about what’s going but we’ll find out more soon from you, every little detail.

Yeah, I can explain: We basically just went off on our own. Being the sort of underground left of centre brand Stereo is, it didn’t really make sense to have it in a licence because at the end of the day the distributors only making a certain amount off the product, and you’re only making a certain amount too. But, when you’re on your own, you can control the product, put it out when you want, how much you want… We’re basically an underground fun brand just doing it to keep the integrity of the brand up, but if you’re in a licence then you really want to drive up the volume in order for it to make sense.

Absolutely! Put the effort in…

Yeah! I mean, we put the effort in, but this is for Stereo’s true essence, and not for what the distributor wants. It’s just like anything, like a record deal: if Sony starts putting out, then they’ll start sniffing around, whereas if you can put it out yourself and sell just as many, then you that much more excited about it.

No, absolutely, but it does take a lot of effort. Are you guys playing the underdog card vis à vis promotion this time around?

No! I wouldn’t say we’re underdogs! I would just say we’re not trying to compete with the top three bands who are totally obsessed with trying to get the newest kids, and impress you with some stupid new product like, “We’ve got a super bolsar wood ply!” or something… They are totally volume driven, and they’re fighting each other over pricing, and that 12 year old kid they’re trying to sponsor… We’re just not playing that game! Stereo’s true to Stereo. We’re not competing with the top brands.

So, who would you class as a Top 3 brand then?

Sales wise? Because I can list my favourite brands! But, sales wise- and I’m probably completely out of the loop- I’d say Zero in Southern California with the rails, and Jamie Thomas who I totally respect. Ummm..? Element… Another big brand is Dwindle with all the World stuff.

Enjoi?

Yeah, Enjoi is doing it legit.

Flip?

Yeah, there you go! So, those are like what I’d consider competitive skate brands.

They’ve got their own styles, and some great styles too I might add! But what happened to style in skateboarding?

Oh, I think it’s still around. I don’t know what happened to it, but it’s around more than ever now. You’ve good styled skaters doing all the big stuff too.

The Gonz is still ripping it up out there! Holding onto the back of cars and things… I love it! Does Krooked go down as well in the States as it does over here?

Yeah, sure! It does well, and it’s got its own core base. I mean, I guess you could use (Krooked) as an example- but I’m not saying it’s the only one- as something running along the same lines as Stereo rather than a company like Flip. We’re not trying to compete with Flip. We’re just doing our own unique thing; having our friends do the graphics and keeping it true to what we know skateboarding to be, so it winds up being left of centre even if we’re not trying for it.

Who had style when you grew up-on and off a skateboard?

Ah! The Gonz, Jason Lee obviously. I like the way Natas skated a lot. Eric Dressen and (Ben) Schroeder on transition. I don’t know there are so many…

How about companies?

When I was growing up? It was probably Powell Peralta, Santa Cruz, G&S, Vision! (Laughs)

Who has style today?

Definitely the guys on our team: Olly (Todd), Benny (Fairfax) and Clint Petersen. There are a lot. (Geoff) Rowley and the Flip guys have got good style. It’s cool because everyone has their own style nowadays. Skateboarding went through a lot of weird phases, but right now I think pretty much anything goes. I see a lot of the new younger kids coming out, and they’re doing beanplants to handrails and 360 bonelesses! Just wacky shit down stairs, and wallrides. (Skating) has kind of got fun again because people accept transition skating too, so I think it’s a really good time for physical skateboarding.

Yeah, it’s merging quite nicely.

For me, the best ones come up with something original, or merge something old skool with some thing new skool… Look! You’ve got a Louie (Barletta) poster there. Louie does a good job! Ali (Boulala) does a good job too! Ali’s got good style, and he’s doing new shit, but with that style, he looks like he could have skated in any era.

Absolutely! Ali’s actually passed through Crossfire a couple of times, and Louie’s up for a grilling next. You know Richie Jackson?

Oh, that guy’s awesome! I was just thinking of him when I mentioned the beanplant to handrail stuff. I saw that and I was like “What the fuck???”

He rides for Death Skateboards, a UK company looking to take over pretty soon.

Hold onto that one tight!

Ok, so say you and Jason were sitting around in your Agents office…

(Laughs) With the big round table, and the sales chart!

(Laughs) Yeah! So, you’re sitting there and you’re like “Where are we going this week?” Which skater would you plan to nick?

God! (Laughs) that is a tough one! Oh man, I might have to come back to you on that one later…

We’ve got time. People will be sitting there waiting for you to reveal your plans! (Laughs)

It’s funny because when we first re-started Stereo, we were talking to Jerry Hsu, and Jason had never seen him skate, so he was like “I don’t know… he’s kinda weird. I don’t know if I like his style..?” (Laughs) Jason just didn’t know anything about Jerry because it was out of his era, but then we ended up going on a WE trip with Jerry some two years later, and it was so funny because Jason was so upset, like “Jerry Hsu is the best skater of all time!” (laughs) This was back when it seemed Enjoi was going to break up after Marc Johnson left. That’s one name I know Jason is kicking himself over not getting for the team. There’s your bit of background gossip! (Laughs)

Cheers! Back in the day, you used to ride for World Industries with Steve Rocco at the helm. Actually, I heard there was a documentary coming out about Steve…

That’s right! I just got interviewed for it.

Tell us a bit more about that, because over here we’re only just starting to hear about it.

Sure. They just asked me about trips and stuff, just standard issue stuff, nothing too outrageous. I was asked your basic skate related questions like who was on the team, where did you go, what did you do..? I don’t know what they’re cooking up for with this film. They could be editing me with Martha Stewart into the footage for all I know! (Laughs) I could be super-imposed into a monkey cage or something…

If you’re editing the Steve Rocco documentary and you’re listening- You know what to do! (laughs)

Yeah, but it was a pretty low-key interview just asking me about the original days, how I got on, what was it like filming for the first video..?

How’s it changed for you?

What? World?

Well World has changed a hell of a lot, but how about the World!

(Laughs) Oh, how has the World changed???

We’ve got another 35 minutes or so… Why not? (Laughs) How has life changed for you since then?

Man! It’s come full circle for me a few times. I think I’m on my eighth resurgence! (Laughs). What happens is I get so busy running Stereo, doing ads or dealing with the team or budgets, that I kind of almost lose sight of the beginning; where you started when all you wanted to do was skate. For me, all I ever want to do is skate and make art. So, I’m now getting to the point where I can get back to that, because sometimes I’m at the point where I’m so busy that I’m supposed to be here to make art and skate but I’m not even doing that! I’ll just be stuck on the phone, and answering a hundred emails a day… like having budget meetings! (laughs)

So, that’s when it sucks, and I recently took a step back and said “Ok, enough is enough!” I’m going to skate more and make more art. It’s been a couple of months now and I’m having fun with it. At least I didn’t forget about skating because I was high on heroin or something! It could have been a lot worse… I could have left skateboarding with a really bad coke habit and no company! (Laughs)

How did the original Stereo brand come about?

Me and Jason were already starting to cook up ideas when we were still over at World. But, with a company that was as big as World it wasn’t like “Yeah, I like this Zippo lighter logo- throw it on my board”. We kept coming up with ideas, but they didn’t fit the image of World back then. Things got weird for Jason because Mark (Gonzales) left Blind, and then Rocco kind of handed over the team to Rodney Mullen. This was when Daewon (Song) and all the other younger kids were starting to come up.

They were flipping their boards a lot faster than me, so I just looked at my watch like, “I think I’m running out of flip time here…” Jason and I travelled together a bunch, and shared the same interests, similar music tastes, similar art tastes… We were just super into retro based stuff in our little unique world, so we decided “Let’s do our own shit!” Screw if it sells. Someone will make it, we don’t care. (Laughs)

So, we did Blue first, and that’s where we got to cook up a lot of the ideas for Stereo with all the Blue Note style, unique colour ways and hand-drawn art like the first crown logo. More than anything, I was looking at it like I could ride out my career at World with all their young new riders- at a time when pros had a three year lifespan back in the early 90’s. I wasn’t that confident about it. I didn’t know if the whole pro thing was going to last, so what if I just wound up doing creative stuff..? My mind just went “Wow! That would be fun!” Planning out ads, making my graphics, and before you knew it I was running a company.

Amazing! What about the riders? They’re an integral part to a company that’s going to last. Obviously you’ve got a couple of Agents on the team that we know very well being from the UK: Benny Fairfax and Olly Todd.

Ha! The Scrappy Elf! That’s what I call Olly. (Laughs)

Oh really? (Laughs) You might want to explain that one. It is Christmas after all!

(Laughs) Yeah, he’s like a little scrapper, and we would joke about him because he’d always come over with like no money and three t-shirts in his backpack, one pair of shoes and a shoelace. I was like, Olly could survive anywhere. He’s like one of those guys, like “Grrrrr!” he reminds me of an old-skool boxer from the 50’s, like you could see him busting out those old-skool boxer moves! (Laughs) He also skates like a magical elf because he’s so short…

(Laughs) I never thought we’d get stuff like this out of you! This is brilliant!

He’s so mini, but he’s got really quick feet, and somehow the scrappy elf was born.

Olly will never live this down!

(Laughs) I don’t if he’ll be too happy about that!

Yeah, so Benny…

Oh! You’re trying to change subject? Ok, then he’s the scrappy Titan! (Laughs)

Yeah! (Laughs) But, where did you find Benny and Olly because that’s what the UK wants to know?

Let’s see… Benny came first because we were both riding for WE, Jason and I were some of the first WE Activists. Benny had gotten on WE through the English distributor, and so Greg the owner was showing us pictures of Benny in Sidewalk and Document. It’s because of WE that we got hip to Sidewalk and Document. I mean, I had a subscription with them in like 2001 or 02 from back when I came over with Osiris, and that got me kind of Hip to British skaters. We told Greg, like “We really like the way this kid skates, it’s the original stereo style, he’s got good style” We’ve got to talk because we want him on our team. So, we got a hold of his number and called him up.

Perfect!

Then Olly came in through Benny. He was always talking about Olly and we had the same sort of deal with seeing him in Sidewalk and stuff. We really liked his style, he’s really unique, so it was perfect. But we didn’t want to make him amateur seeing as he was already pro in the UK. We just went for it!

Yeah, they are both amazing skaters. I think the first time we met Benny was when he turned up at the first ever Crossfire Easter Jam and he won it. I had never seen him before but it was obvious.

Nice! Yeah, they just won the Red Bull Seek and Destroy comp this year. You like how I propped my riders there? A little PR plug! (Laughs)

Yeah! So, let’s stick with the boys for a minute: What are their best and worst qualities? They must stick out like sore thumbs when they visit America!

Yeah! The best for them is that the ladies love their accents when they come over to the States. I think they do well with the British accents.

(laughs) I think we do alright over here!

Their worst qualities? Errr… Benny never learnt to clean before he left England.

What? Himself..?

(laughs) Dishes, clothing, anything! His apartment looks like a crack house. But I don’t think that’s a British thing. I think that’s just a Benny thing.

Have they introduced you to stuff like Marmite or something?

Errrr..? Beans on toast! I have had marmite- I like it, but I don’t think those guys do. Most of the things they had brought over, I knew about for quite some time already.

What about your partner in crime, Mr. Jason Lee?

He’s doing his Earl thing. They film 10 to 12 hour days.

People are starting to pick up on that series over here.

Then he’s got a son who just turned 3; Pilot, my godson. So, Jason’s super consumed by work. He gets home around 9 o’clock at night, and has to get up again at 6 in the morning. Then he spends the weekend with his kid, so we have to work our way through all this, so we mostly connect through email. Jason manages to keep more in the loop than people would guess! He’s fairly particular about his ideas, but he manages to get in there so it’s cool.

Whatever happened to that Stereo TV pilot? Were the riders featured in that?

It was all the Stereo guys with me and Jason as the sort of ‘hosts’. We’re trying to re-tool it for a different network now. But, way more skating this time because that first pilot was more MTV’s version of Stereo with producers and people like, “You really need to build up these characters!” It was fun, but they built some ridiculous $100,000 set: A Stereo Sound Agent head quarters. It was insane!

What???

Yeah! I have photos of the set which I was waiting to release at some point. I was waiting for it to marinate because we couldn’t use it yet… But anyway, (MTV) built this crazy set with a full-on crazy budget pilot, movie crew style, but it was a bit much. It’s disappointing because we knew it could help Stereo immensely, but in other ways it was refreshing because it would have made life a little bit crazy. (laughs) Right now, I do stuff with Fuel TV here and there, so we’re trying to come up with something way more skate driven and we’re in the works with that now. It will be a much less Hollywood, and a lot more skateboard.

Well, it’s cool to see you’ve got demand. At the end of the day, are skaters looking for mainstream attention, or are the suits looking for you?

The skaters on our team? Oh, our guys aren’t mainstream at all! In general though, it’s gotten to the point where it works both ways. The best way is to walk the line and use the money from bigger companies and still maintain your integrity, and do your own thing. That’s the trick! (Laughs) That’s why you have to stay on your toes, and I don’t spend days on end wasted off my ass because I’m trying to walk that line successfully. We’ll just try and keep this Stereo thing afloat, do as much promotion as we can without being totally horrible. (Laughs).

What about the actual skateboarding? How much do you actually get to skate these days?

Me personally… Not enough! (Laughs) Lately more, if I’m lucky enough to get a few days a week. It’s been tough! The last year, we have been re-launching Stereo on our own. It’s been about 6 months since we left Giant (Distribution), so that really cut into my skate and art time altogether. I pretty much disappeared for a few months, and I’d skate like once or twice a week briefly. But now, we’re working on our new video, and I got some help. We’ve go a brand manager guy, and what looks like a marketing manager coming in pretty soon, and those will be the two people to do what I used to do. Then I can re-focus and really skate again.

What about spots? When you go skating, is it street or ramps?

I like skating transitions, just because the older I get, the less time I have to skate. If I only have two days left to skate, it’s frustrating when there’s all these variables thrown in… like getting busted. Plus, transition is easier on the bones. I’m 34, and there comes an age where you know you’re no longer going to be able to keep up with the likes of Arto (Saari), in your mid-30’s to early-40’s. You probably can, but you’ll probably break your knee cap off! (Laughs)

There’s comes that point where you want to have fun with your board, and cruising cement parks and bowls and stuff became the way. I always skated transition anyway, so it just took more form. The less time I had to skate, the more I really enjoyed transition.

San Fransisco has seen a few legendary spots un-knobbed. Which spots from the past would you like to see resurrected?

Hmmm…? It’s tough because Los Angeles spots aren’t really shutdown like they are in SF or New York.

Any parks that have been bulldozed..?

Hmmm… I’m glad that the Brooklyn Banks stayed around because they destroyed the small banks, which was a real bummer because I think that that was always like a legendary spot. That’s gone and I wish that hadn’t been destroyed.

Southbank will have its come-uppance too one day! What constitutes a Stereo Sound Agent?

You must have style and charisma. You must be brave, loyal, know how to drink Martinis… He’s got to smoke! Nah! (Laughs) The (Stereo Sound Agent) was just our quirky way of not saying ‘rider’ because we also give free shit to our friends who are musicians and actors. Stereo Sound Agents could be serious like our team, or it could be an old hunched over man with a bunch of plastic bags that we’ll call the “Minister of Black plastic bags”. It’s just tongue in cheek, our inside joke that we promote.

What about the Pink Panther, could he ride for Stereo?

Definitely!

He’s a smoker! (laughs)

The Pink Panther is an inspiration for us.

What other celebrities?

Ahh… Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson, Molly Ringwald… Mr. T !(Laughs). We’re doing a board with a graffiti artist friend of mine called RealStar, and when we made the Way out East video, we were working with Midlake and another band called Truth and Soul for the music. They are friends of mine from New York, and we are going to do some Truth and Soul skateboards with a free CD. We’re giving RealStar a board… We figures Stereo Sound Agents worked really well because we can sponsor our friends that don’t skate, promoting their art or music.

What are your top 5 desert island discs?

Ah man! I’m really into a band called Wilko. I like the Smiths, Bad Brains…

Have you seen American Hardcore?

Yeah. I wasn’t too crazy about the movie, but I liked the material. Let’s see… The Clash I like a lot.

Are you a fan of the Globe / Clash shoe?

I haven’t seen them. Right, I’ll take a pair then shall I? (laughs) Don’t ruin my high! Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me Vans have got a Bad Brains shoe out! (laughs) I like the Descendents too. It all depends on the mood I’m in. I have so many musical influences. I listen to Wilko stuff when I’m painting. I don’t know why… I listen to their albums on repeat. But if I’m going skating, I’ll dig out Devo or the old stuff I used to skate to when I was 17. It really depends… And if I’m moody, then it’ll be some sad Emo music.

It’s official- Pastras is Emo! (laughs) And he’s on MySpace… So, you like a bit of Emo then?

No, not really!

So, you just lied???

I don’t even know what current Emo bands exist!

Damn… All those Emo kids listening to this are probably going “Fuck! Pastras sold out!”

(Laughs)…

Is Scott Johnston still the ‘rippingest skater in town’?

He definitely is! There are a lot more rippingest skaters. He’s just one of the rippingest skaters, not the rippingest.

Now, before we wrap this up, you must give us the name of the skater you want as an Agent!

Oh! The skater! You’re back to that… I have to answer? Oh man! Let me think… I’m trying to rack my brain for current skaters… Do you have a pause button? (laughs)

Sure! Bip, bip, bip… Who would you take for your team right now?

Can you guys help with suggestions? (opens it up to the office)

No, this is on you! You can dig one up if you like? I know that’s bad taste, but it’s what Crossfire is all about. (Laughs)

Naming one is just too nerve racking… I can list a few we’d like to see ride for Stereo: Dylan Reider! Good style, definitely a good blend of old and new. Alex Olson! He got snatched up by Girl, but we were flowing him boards years ago because we are really into his skating.

One more..?

Errr..? You said one!!!

Well, yeah but you’re rolling them out now brother! (Laughs) One more- an established pro.

You guys are trying to get me into trouble here! (Laughs) Well, I named Jerry Hsu already… I can’t say.

Ahhh! You’re not getting out of here alive. Pierre (Andre Senizergues) from Etnies gave me one!

Who?

I’m not telling you, you’ve got to hit up our site and find out! (Laughs)

I have to say though, that when I think of current days, the only other people who do what Stereo does as far as riders and stuff is Alien Workshop and Habitat. They do a good job of promoting original street style, not just going for the crazy handrail guys. You can pretty much say that anyone on that team would fit Stereo in our eyes.

Perfect. But you’re still avoiding the question! (laughs)

I gave you like two or three names! (laughs)

Alright, we’ll wrap things up here.

If I could have one skater of all time, it would be Bill Danforth.

Oh, what a choice! I bet his shiny head is glowing right now! (laughs) That was amazing, thanks Chris for dropping by Crossfire HQ.

Thanks for having me.

Where can we find you on the web?

The Stereo site is www.stereosoundagency.com , and then we’ve got a MySpace. I’ve got my own MySpace, I think it’s /agent pastras..? I have a website for my art too: www.thelovestation.com is that enough plugs? Mom, dad, how’d I do? Am I good to eat now? (Laughs)

You will be able to podcast now from our radio section on this very site. You can stream it from the site or download it as a podcast.

Interview by RLD.
Photo’s by Benjimin Hay

Supporting skater-owned and local scenes is primordial to skateboarding. Running a shop, starting a company, writing for mags, crouching in piss puddles to get the shot are all tough ordeals, but persistence pays off!

Crossfire noticed a blimp on the radar, and after closer inspection we knew it was something heavier than drip of stale ketchup.

Keeping it on the lodown but gradually building in momentum, the Casual crew are a good bet for the future in keeping skateboarding’s roots alive. Just a bunch of friends having a laugh and supporting themselves and others.

Ralph LD caught up with Casual head-honcho James Holman to find out what this laid back bunch are about. Keep it Casual!

Why did you start Casual? When? What were you doing before?

Casual was an idea way back in 2001 when I was at uni and skated with a bunch of guys in Canterbury. It really came out of the fact that there didn’t seem to be much going on in the south east to support the riders and give them opportunities to go to comps and events. It didn’t actually come together until the summer of 2005 once we had a bunch of riders, sourced the best boards and clothing and worked to save the money needed to launch it.

What were your influences when you started?

Our influences initially came from the riders and all our friends in the area, as they gave us the reason to start. From there influences came from companies such as Lovenskate; knowing Stu being from Maidstone himself, made the idea of starting a skate company a realistic possibility.

Did anyone involved have intimate knowledge of how a skate company is run before Casual started? If so, who and what?

Pas works at ASDA 1 day a week giving us a solid grounding in retail and customer services, Ben was assistant manager of a skate park that was promptly closed down and reopened under new management and James was and still is unemployable. Seriously though, other than that it’s all this big strange learning process! None of us had a clue when we first started this, but we’ve had to learn from scratch and quickly, and so far, it’s been fun.

Is this strictly skateboarding? Or, do you branch out to artists as well for product designs, events etc?

Strictly skateboarding! Although we’re definitely looking to branch into the extreme pogo scene and also have plans to release a range of Casual Cookbooks in early 2008, cooking is oh so hot right now! The design process involves a lot of people, for the simple reasons that we want the riders to be stoked on what they are riding/wearing, so they have a massive input into what we create. The best ideas usually come from not sitting around a table but usually actually skating, driving or something like that.

You’ll get a killer idea, and that’s when we get everyone together and sit down and get some stuff on paper. You then get the usual arguments but we eventually get something that everyone likes. When it comes to finalising the designs, both Melk and Thom make the actual final design a reality, and Lee, one of the flow riders also helps out a lot.

Give me the entire Casual family, official and extended.

Casual is ‘run’ by 3 skateboarders; James, Pas and Ben. We all have our different roles, but Pas is mostly involved with the filming side of things, Ben does all the photography and helps to manage the team, and I make the tea. We also have the design guys, Melk and Thom, then the sponsored riders who are Myles Lucas, Ewen Bower, Nick Bedwell, Lewis Threadgold, Lee Santer, John Bell, Ollie Jarman and Tom Strand. We also have a whole collection of mates who try to skimp as much off us for free, including Muzz, Lordy, Australian Micah, Joe, Snape, Kris, Skid Adam, and Jamie.

How has Casual helped the local scene?

I think it’s just opened up so many opportunities. Everyone is much more motivated to go places, go to new cities, new parks, so one way it’s helped is through giving people the option of travelling a lot more than we normally would. Some of our riders we have known for years, so supporting them is amazing.

It’s so frustrating watching your friend throwing down hammers, but getting nothing in return and no recognition. I think starting casual has really helped them go where they want to go with skating. It’s also helped to get a little bit of recognition for the South East by showing it isn’t just that bit of field below London, there are actually skateboarders here!

What are you plans for the future?

We just want to be stoked on skating really. We don’t have global domination plans or anything like that. Keep the riders happy, keep the products quality and generally keep everyone stoked although a volcano with some kind of evil lair would be nice sometime soon.

Why ‘Casual’?

We’re all pretty laid back guys, in fact probably too laid back so it seemed to represent who we were pretty well. The way we work and run everything is with a ‘don’t worry about it’ attitude, which isn’t always the most productive but certainly the way we like to keep it.

Thanks/Shoutouts??

Basically everyone who has been involved in any way, we couldn’t do it without the help of so many people. (you know who you are!)

All the team riders, local head’s and extended family get big props. Props to all the shops that have supported us by stocking our stuff.

Ranui at Rise Worldwide is owed a big ‘thanks’ ,Will at the Skatewarehouse, Rob at the House Skatepark and Sarah at Surf Shack.

Visit Casual Skateboards online at www. casualskateboarding.com or thier myspazz at www.myspace.com/casualskateboards.

Casual team riders will be present at this years Crossfire Xmas Jam, come down and check them out…

Giant half pipe shot by Steve Gourlay other shots and sequences courtesy of Leo Sharp

Brits and Aussies share the same affinity for some of lifes most horrible things: Yeast based extract and dodgy soaps.

The common bond has made for frequent foreign exchanges with the Brits coming out tops weatherwise and spotwise, but that didn’t stop one Aussie from settling down on our shores for a bit and serving up kangaroo whallops to every spot he skated.

Morgan Cambell passed through the UK and made strong ties with the industry, claiming a place on the exclusive Blueprint team, before injury had him hampered and heading back to homely comforts.

Today Morgan is back in Oz and supporting skateboarding with as much heart as ever, be it through his skating, his art or his media at www.monkeysay.it.

Ralph Lloyd Davis caught up with the honourable ex-pat for a proper grilling- Throw another shrimp on the Bar-Bee mate!

What’s up? What have been your days duties?

I like to wake up and have some coffee, do a bit of writing, walk my boarder collie called Genie, go for at least four hour rollio, then come back homeward, cook some tucker for my lil sis (am house sitting for the folks right now here in Melbs), listen to some music, do some more writing, then spend some quality time with the lady. Sometimes I go for a lurk in Northcote or Brunswick street, maybe hit some bars.

You keep yourself very busy skateboarding wise. What are the different levels we might see you at i.e. skating, writing, business…?

Well I write freelance for an e-zine called www.monkeysay.it. I do print articles for the supreme new aussie mag Skateboarder’s Journal and for a travel mag called Paper Plane. I am working on a book of short stories from my skate related adventures too. I have been doing a lot of video work in the past, but am taking a bit of a break from that at the moment. Also I keep myself busy travelling and skating, you could say that skating rules my life! I wouldn’t have it any other way.

One of your first sponsors was Kew Day Skateboards, run by Chad Bartie’s brother Jaime. What was that like? Who else rode for Kew Day?

Riding for Kewday was a pretty amazing experience, mainly due to the fact that for me it involved discovering the whole world of the East Coast, travelling with my skating for the first time, skateparks (we had none in West Oz then), and skating with amazing people like Chad Bartie, Mick Yuen, Matt Mumford who were all on the team. Jamie is and always will be a good friend, as will all the Barties. I’m really proud of what everyone involved has gone on to do.

The Aussie industry is very self reliant. How come? Are the Americans starting to realise the local potential and open up shop over there? How do you feel about this?

The Aussie industry has always been a player I guess, ever since the 70’s. So I guess having such deep roots in skating means that it has always had a business side. We are still dominated by American brands though, we don’t really have a Blueprint or Cliché equivalent. Although I think Brett Margaritis (who does Modus Bearings) may have a huge impact with Four Skateboards. It is weird because the “American” companies that are undermining the prices of all the local and other intenational companies (eg Blind, World etc) are all actually Australian owned (by the Hill Bros who do Globe)!

Is the Aussie industry reliant on Chinese manufacturers for their products, or do they keep it home-grown?

Our manufacturing is mostly done in China or US, there are no real board presses here. Which is sad. Coretech Wheels are made here though and have quite an international following.

What’s it like growing up as a skater in a land where surfing is the predominant pastime? Do all the surfers skate or vice-versa? Are the surfers biting skate tricks..?

The most common question when travelling is being asked: “Oh you’re Australian, so do you surf?” There are plenty of ‘surfie slashers’ at every park, but I don’t think they really bite our tricks. I guess though some of the new aerial guys like Ozzie Wright are heavily inspired by skating, more so than surfing I think!

What’s the difference between a skate betty and a surf babe?

Not too sure, but I reckon a skate betty (aka bowl mole): is a rare species fond of sweat, beer, cut off band shirts and waxing ledges. A surf babe (aka wave slave) is more fond of sand, soft drinks, beach towels, bikinis and waxing surfboards. However they can both be filed under mingers.

Does Australia have chav culture like it does in the UK?

We don’t have chavs, we have bogans, and they wear thongs, not shoes.

Where did you lose your virginity?

In a vagina thankfully.

I read that a board can cost up to $300 dollars Australian. Is that expensive because it sounds like it!

It is about 120 pounds. I’m not sure what the going rate for your boards is… but yeah it is a fucking rip off! They are even more expensive out West!

Why do so many Aussies move to the UK?

We have a tendency to leave paradise for cheap drugs, pints and pish weather! Certainly not for your food.

Why did you come over? When where why etc…?

I came for a girl. Also I do love rough spots and your skaters are often more interesting to hang out with than some of the rednecks here! (tee hee) I lived in the UK for 96 – 98 and again for 2005. Good times. Met some classic crew like Toby Patterson, Colin K, Rattray, Leo, Horse and Ben Powell.

What was your funniest story you took home from living here?

I think it is absolutely hilarious that Brophy 180’d up the south bank 7. Also a fan of telling the crew about the stories from the Oxford House that Chris Fodder, Andy Horsley and Ben Powell inhabited. The prank calls are the funniest shit ever!

Did you ever set up a BBQ inside the house!?

Nah but I can cook a mean vege dog!

Did you ever get laid from visiting a Walkabout?

Thankfully have never set foot inside one. They don’t even sell Coopers.

What food makes you gag?

Anything cooked or grown in the UK and Fosters.

Favourite tipple?

Love my Coopers Pale.

Top 3 Pet hates?

My elbows, my ankles and my titanium plate.

Trick that you hate the most?

Tail grab bluntslides.

Fave set up trick?

You can go past a frontside grind.

Top 3 skaters of all time?

Gonz, Carroll, Oyola, MJ (sorry can’t count)

What was it like riding for Blueprint back in the day? Compare the team when you rode for them and the team today.

I was so stoked to ride for Blueprint. But I do love it down here, and to truly do stuff with them I would have had to have moved to the UK. When I rode for them it was the OG team with none of the new blood. I’m stoked to have the Blueprint model up here at me mas on the wall…consider it quite an honour indeed. Love Dan’s work and the steeze of all the shredders. Shit Chewy should be in my top three in the question above.

Does Blueprint get a big following Down Under?

It is respected, but rarely seen. Hopefully it will change for em.

What’s it like being the tour guide for travelling skaters that pass through? Any good stories?

If they are respectful I love it. I have been able to skate with some of the best in the world as a result of my local spot knowledge. The best experience was taking the entire Lakai team including Koston and Mariano to the world’s oldest park on its 30 birthday. Guy Mariano single handedly tore it a new arsehole within minutes of getting out of the car!

Talk to us about www.skateboard.com.au is that like the Crossfire for Oz? What do you do there?

I don’t do anything for skateboard.com.au except use it as a tool for finding parks and getting news and goss. Drew and Potty who do the site are fucking legends. My only real affiliation is using the email address that they were kind enough to give me. It is a great service they provide, and it is a little like your site, but with less emphasis on music.

Tell us about the injuries that hampered your professional career. How do you deal with downtime?

I don’t really want to go into the harsher ones in too much detail, but put it this way: I have died before! In my downtime I like to get creative and catch up with all the things I miss out on from spending too much time on a board!

If you weren’t a skateboarder, what would you be?

Kate Moss’s underpants.

Do you think the UK is an easy ride for tourists travellers compared to the strictness of Oz?

Totally, you let in swarms of Oz maggots without a question, where as we make it incredibly hard for you guys to visit here.

Which Aussie skater should we be buying stock in? Who’s coming up in the scene?

Lewis Marnell is the best. There is also a kid called Alex Campbell from Perth who has equally epic steez!

Is Australia an environmentally aware country?

I like to think so. We do have pretty good recycling programs set up. Having the ozone hole directly over us, make you realize pretty quickly that we have messed up the world, and it is affecting us on a day-to-day level. (Oh since I answered this question I have found out that per capita we have the second highest rate of emissions in the world…lame as)

We hear on the vine of grapes that Nike are now sponsoring your feet in Oz and in the UK, how did that arise?

Well Globe let their entire Aussie team go the same week that they signed Appleyard. Poor Mark would be gutted if he knew this was going to happen. I had a dream the day before I got sacked that I actually left Globe for the Swoosh. So when it all happened the next step was kind of obvious. First off Seb gave me some shoes, and recently Australia’s best filmer, Chris Middlebrook got the job as TM and has added me to the Oz team, Seb will help me out too when I’m in Europe. Oh I also went on an Oz tour with the UK Nike mob, which was super fun, and helped it kick along!

How do the Australians see the skateboard scene with Nike, Adidas and Reebok involvement – are they accepting it?

They seem to be lapping it up. If these companies are actually supporting the scene, then it is a good addition. Adidas and Reebok haven’t really started their Aussie assault yet though.

Are there other Australians on the team?

Lewis Marnell, Nugget, Luke Croker, Nick Boserio, Corbin Harris, James Whineray and Mike Martin.

Top 5 tunes ever? Desert Island discs…

Another corker of a question. Today it would be:

Orbital – The Girl with the Sun in Her Head.
Tortoise – The taut and the tame
MIA – Gangalang.
TV on the Radio – Staring at the Sun.
Salt N Pepa – Push it.

Tell us what today brings for MC?

I’m about to shoot out and meet my girl Alana Di Giacomo at some design fandangle for some free bevies!

Where would you like to die and who with?

In the Delorean, with Marty McFly and the Doc, on my way back from purchasing the NuMark 23 Hover Board from 2099.

Famous last words…

Hey Doc, what is up with the noise coming out of the flux capacitator?