Category: Skateboarding

Style, quality and pride are the first things that come to mind when you look at a Brixton hat! They’ve come up with a simple concept that works for them, fuck the scumbag/skater look, get some proper materials together and cram it into some decent head gear to create peaks for those who choose to live as individuals, not clones!

I went for the everyday option, The Pinch, a reliable look that doesn’t project me into a new style that I’m not familiar with. I didn’t feel the need to go out re-buy my wardrobe to accommodate my new peak, instead I opted for a new peak that brings out the best in my old wardrobe, in the words of one Jeff Lebowski, “it really ties a room together!”

The finish on this particular model, as I’m sure it is on the rest of the line, is absolutely phenomenal, a true piece of craftsmanship that one should be proud of. It’s made with herringbone twill and finished with black stripes to add that extra touch of character. The black bill is kind of short, giving you the opportunity to not just use this cap for the practical sense of avoiding UV rays on the retina’s but also wear it out on the pull, enabling you to hide that bush that covers your scalp. Inside the hat is a smooth lining of quality satin that feels great on your melon and makes this piece look way more like expensive than it actually is!

Look, I won’t tell you what to do, but you should at least make the effort to get out and try one of these, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

2P
Live FAST, Ride FAST

10/10

So Steve has been banging on about this Harlow park so we headed down there and started doing what the new generation does so much better. I managed to successfully imitate a fish out of water with my rusty ol’ bones and snap my board within 10 minutes of arriving. Great! So Zac saved my ass with this 5Boro that was thankfully waiting for a shred in the back of the beast.

This beauty is an eight inch board, with pop art style graphics that Andy Warhol would be proud of. Eye candy for some, eyesore for others depending on who you ask, especially when you combine it with my multi colour Hubbas! At first i struggled a bit because the tail is pretty short,but I guess that’s what they mean by a “street board.” The concave is pretty mellow which suits me just fine, and the nose/tail press angle is somewhere in between. This is an ideal 8 inch for anyone wanting to step up a belt weight from 7’75” , because the board tapers quite a lot towards the nose and tail, giving the illusion that it’s thinner. So i spend about 15 minutes making a fool of myself, but, after a few adjustments, I figured it all out. I absoutely love this deck. I think it’s partly due to my board looking like something that has come out of the Hersheys chocolate factory!

The board has taken a beating and even survived one of my tantrums, so the wood is definitely strong. Partly because none of the layers are stained. More stains means softer wood and more delams. So basically 5Boro have made a no nonsense board with a short tail and 8 inches of girth that looks like it belongs in the Tate. If you have a sense of humour, you would be stoked on this rig. Check out a recent interview with Steve Rodriguez from 5Boro here and support the cause.

Brendan Ryall

Now usually being a fan of the wider plank, this Listen deck had me tempted back to a skinnier stick because the shape and concave looked absolutely perfect. Still though, my gigantic feet were not happy about it at first and I put off setting this deck up for a while.

Then, late one night, I heard a tiny voice in the distance calling my name. “Mooooose. Oh Mooooooose!”. Stumbling out of bed to track down this voice, I blearily found where it was coming from. The Listen deck was talking, I shit you not. I picked it up, put it to my ear to hear it’s little whimperings, when it suddenly shouted “SKATE ME YOU PRICK!”

And no wonder it was angry. This deck shouldn’t be left unskated as it’s amazing. You know when it takes you a few ollies and flips to work out the geometry of a board? Not this one. You bolt your trucks on it, find your shoes and go. Being a little slimmer, it felt quick, responsive and the smallest toe-dab sent it spinning around ready to slap back into your feet. Yes, that’s right. It makes you do flips without even trying. Fuck knows how good it would be if I was actually putting any effort in.

The graphic ain’t half bad either. A nice simple illustration job of some weird dude and a collection of stuff. It was great for the 5seconds it was there, until the board talked, I listened, and we set about scraping the crap out of it with a few frontboards and tailslides, which it loved as much as I did.

And with a team that includes Brian Brown, Rob Gonzalez and Danny Montoya, Listen definitely are worth checking out and letting your feet graced my it’s woody goodness.

Moose