Whoa, this is going to tbe the tour of the 2008 by the looks of it. Check out the Independent team riders lined up below for their UK visit between 15th-18th September. With the likes of Chris Haslam, Navarrette, Hewitt, Allen, Olson, Graham, Grosso (yes!) and UK team riders this is going to be straight up gnar. We will inform you of where they will be skating as soon as it is confirmed.
America is currently taking the weight of Ride The Sky, The Fallen Shoes skate flick that has premiered across the country to grand applause.
Click the pic to watch footage from the demos that have been pushing their ongoing tour to promote it and look out for a UK release soon.
A Third Foot have started work on a mammoth coffin shaped deck order for legendary rock band Metallica. The decks commissioned by Crossfire for Mercury Records will be limited to 200 worldwide.
The only way you will pick up one of these rare planks will be revealed next week here as we have found them homes as comps on various UK skate websites. Watch this space and look out for new album ‘Death Magnetic’ coming in September.
Reports from various heads have said it’s ‘Metallica going straight back to the old school‘. The proof will be in the pudding.
If you ever wondered what skateboard companies were about to release next you will generally find all of your answers at annual trade shows. Skateboarding trade shows have been around for years, the American based ASR show tends to bring out every corner of the globe and Europe also hosts these huge industry get togethers showcasing next seasons products to retailers and other potential sales outlets.
Over the last few years the UK has had various trade shows on offer in London and in Manchester but generally the lifestyle and fashion element of it has taken over leaving the core industry to cough up ludicrous amounts of money in exchange for minimal space to meet potential new clients.
Every industry has to mingle. With this in mind, August 2008 saw the introduction of The Bay Rumble, a new trade show put together by Bay Sixty 6 skatepark owner Paul McDermott who has run the park in London for the last 11 years. The focus was for core UK skate industry distributors to meet, rollout their stands, discuss the products and book in orders for the seasons ahead from new and established skate shops. Asked about how this all came together Paul recalls…’The idea came from Revival Distribution who asked me if they could organise one in the skatepark at the beginning of the year, but they felt it would be wrong coming from them as a distributor, so I said I would put it together for them and others.’
The result was a gathering of the UK’s most important distributors that included leading skate brands such as DuFFs, Globe, Supra, DVS, Osiris, Circa, Dekline,Girl, Royal, Matix, Chocolate, Karma, Darkstar, Enjoi, Tensor, The Harmony, Plan B, Landscape, Heroin, Death, Blueprint, Mystery, Zero, Fallen, Independent, Creature, Santa Cruz, Alien Workshop and many more.
Adam Wood – I-Five – ‘The Bay Rumble was like a breath of fresh air for the UK skate trade. I am sure UK skate dealers will see the benefit of any future shows. It was so great to be part of the first trade show for skateboard products only and no one was trying to sell some fucked up extreme skate/scooter contraption!’
Joe Burlo – Faze 7 (Blueprint, Fallen, Mystery etc) – ‘A skateboard only trade show is long overdue. Most Skateboard brands were represented at the trade show and it allowed skateshops to focus solely on skateboarding. The Bay Rumble was an affordable and unformal show which allowed us to conduct business without all the normal unnecessary and expensive trade show distractions. We do not need a massive PR machine to email all of our accounts. All they need to know is when and where. We can learn a lesson from the ‘Bright’ trade show in Germany. It started off like this one and has now been hijacked by all the large clothing and show companies which has jacked the price up by nearly 400% to cover all the magazine advertising and PR that the larger brands demand from trade show organisers.’
Jerome Loughran – Shiner LTD – ‘Good to see a distribution show that brings in the Core ethics of skateboarding , bringing back where it belongs, with next years idea of a shop team comp I am sure it will go from strength to strength‘.
‘Overall, the feedback was very good, everybody said it felt right and was about time, so we are currrently all looking to build on it for next year. We will chat with everyone to get the right dates in mind for a Winter show somewhere else and another summer one. Potentially there could be several shows around the country as well as London but right now the fact is that the core of the UK skate industry is pulling together and that has got to be healthy for skateboarding.’ – Paul McDermott
Nice to see that Heroin Skateboards’ Howard Cooke looks likely to return to Meanwhile 2 for the Crossfire Gap Jam this Saturday.
Click the image to be reminded of what he layed down there before they took the barriers out. No excuses boys…
Powley’s Concrete Carnival has offically been Reloaded! Due to bad weather the Concrete Carnival in the West country was unable to run to its full potential so the event has been relocated to the newly built Gasworks Skatepark in Bridlington. With prize money doubled you can’t miss it. Pass on the flyer below and let more people know of this change today.
If you want to see behind the scenes footage what went into making the DVS portion of Transworld’s Skate & Create contest then look no further than below as it was uploaded for your mince pies just last night.
Width: 8.125″ Length: 31.75″
Colour Blind pro deck
This is a board for the big legged and strong willed, two things I don’t have, especially the strong willed part as I have been trying to stop drinking for two weeks and the most I can muster is two days. I mean, that in itself is pretty good. However the first skate was like stepping into a sub universe, once in, you stay in.
The board has to be placed right from the get go and then it does the rest itself, a bit like being in control of a big car or van, it’s all on the first touch. There’s no correcting your mistakes with a board this size, which is no bad thing, Strangely this size board can have a profound effect on your thinking. Will it flip? Will it take a huge amount of effort? The answer to that is yeah it flips, but it all about commitment as it takes a little welly to get it going.
The graphics as you can see will let you fit in at any party in East London, especially if you team these colours with some two colour Ray Ban wayfarer shades. Shape wise It has a large rounded nose and tail, which adds even more to the beastly, oil rig feeling and I am some what amazed at the board being for a street skater, so I hope this board is made to Mike’s spec, as he has the perfect street steeze and I guess if you go big you need a board that is solid as a rock like this one.
There is no fear of this snapping on a back lip at all and it would really suite a skater that is perhaps slight taller than average as there has been a lot of “I’ll swap that board for this” from some taller friends. Overall thumbs up to Alien Workshop for knocking out a board of such quality. Go Big or Go Home.
Harrison
8/10
Blueprint have released their new Flourish Edition series this week.
Check your local SOS for these pro decks in various sizes listed.
In other Blueprint news Nick Jensen has his name on the front cover of Slap Magazine. Jensen was first noticed by Blueprint at Bay 66 when he was still only 14 years old and is now recognised worldwide. Well done mate.
It’s also worth mentioning to look out for their Big Push edit on Document Mag next month as by all accounts it’s their best yet.
Nick Jensen, Danny Brady, Chewy Cannon and Ben Nordberg are all confirmed for this Saturday’s Meanwhile 2 Jam, view all guest pro riders here.
The internet has become a major source for skateboarders these days.
So much so that Slap Magazine have announced this weekend that they will be switching their efforts to their website as opposed to paper from this latest issue onwards alongside special edition print runs. Read about it all here.
In other US skate mag news Transworld launched a new version of their online zine last week, check it here.