Categories
Skateboarding News

Red Bull Illume

Initially, I heard about this photo competition through Fred Mortagne , and seeing how Red Bull had picked the Frenchman as one of their shortlist contenders, I knew the images on show would be better than your average.

TheRed Bull Illume is a competition/photography expose that touches on various areas of action photography, be it technique, sequences, creativity etc…

Well, the Red Bull Illume Scheme has cut the entrants down to a neat 50 who will have their images exposed at a special showing on January 25th in Aspen, Colorado. The images come from all backgrounds and activities, but each one captures the moment that activists like us find hard to explain in mere words.

www.redbullillume.com

Categories
Skateboarding News

Kayo Corp. camp update

Congratulations go thrice around at the Kayo Corp. camp:

Firstly, for Mr. Stevie Williams and the birth of his daughter Paris Williams.

Secondly, for Zach Lyons getting a spot on the Organika squad. Make sure you check out Zach in the soon to released Get Fam video by Chris Hall.

And finally, a holleration to Quim Cardona for being linked up by Babewatch as A “Skater Cutie”! Hmmm…?

Categories
Skateboarding News

Bomb the hills!

If this winter is proving to be far too moist for some of you, maybe it’s time to take a break and hit up some snow covered slopes?

The Snowbombing Festival is a massive hedonistic music festival that hits the Austrian slopes of Mayrhofen between the 9th and 15th April i.e. Easter Weekend.

There is a massive line up of indie bands and DJs – The Young Knives, Sunshine Underground, Kid Carpet, Scratch Perverts, James Zabiela, Annie Mac and loads more- set to perform live on the slopes, plus loads more fun to be had. Austria’s tallest glacier, the Tux, is only a short bus ride away.

Interested? Then click here for more info.

Categories
DVD Reviews

Modern Love

I peeped the trailer for Modern Love a while ago and knew that it was something special – One of the tricks featured in the promo even got pipped as Mooove (Crolly and Ferens)!

Anyway, fast forward 6 months and copies of this Canadian video are few and far between, so Europe doesn’t really get a look in. Damn…

That is until I stumbled across a wicked website repping all good skate things Canadian: www.skatenewspot.com Thanks to this treasure chest of sick footage North of the border, a link was found for the illicit download of Modern Love. Finally! Sometimes you’ve got to thank the internet for spreading the love…

The line-up for this feature is as follows: Mike McDermott, Aaron Rosenblatt, Mike McCourt, Mick Lemoine, Kenny Haralson, Jeremy Gelfant, Paul Spencer, Jason Crolly, Rod Ferens and Travis Stenger. Only a couple of those names probably mean anything to non-Canadians but trust me they are all part of the elite talent the country has to offer.

The sweetest thing about this video which make it a viewing pleasure is the editing technique filmer Ryan McGuigan has used. Ryan interlaces the footage with Black and White show reels, snippets of cult movies and other comedy shows, but more importantly Ryan has under stood the importance of the past. Each skater has at least one trick featured that was filmed on an old Hi-8 dad-cam back in the day, and this gives Modern Love a lot more depth than your average skate tape. Plus, some of the tricks brought back from the past are absolutely valid by today’s standards of gnarliness and tech.

The soundtrack is wicked too: Instead of opting for a Hip-Hop heavy backdrop, Ryan has sourced the beats and come up with the tracks that originated the urban anthems. Do you remember when Wu Tang dropped that Shaolin Soul? Well Ryan does.

Without going into too much detail about who does what where, when and why? I’ll focus on a couple of the riders; For starters Mike McDermott who opens the video and demonstrates his incredible manual skills. Mike has recently been added to the all new Habitat International team, so you know he’s got the flavour. Next is Jason Crolly who embodies the word ‘burly’ like it was his middle name. Good, hard, solid skating from this powerhouse.

Another solid skater, but verging on the tech side of things is Rod Ferens. Rod obviously enjoys samples and scratches more than slam dancing and stadium rock, but nonetheless his staunch build doesn’t half skate fast! Rod eats ledges for breakfast and threads sick street lines like a Timbaland laces the beats.

Finally, let me introduce you to Travis Stenger. You might recognize this name, and if you don’t then wake the fuck up! Travis is bolts, picture perfect street tech and ballistic pop. Looking at his attire, it looks like Travis has turned heads at one of the most stylish skate camps out there (name withheld to avoid free publicity). Kick flip backside tailslide frontside shove-it out? On a waist high ledge..? Switch backside flip a proper sized bench like it was a walk in the park..? Yep, Travis is good.

If you see Modern Love in a skateshop – buy it! This is definitely up there in the top three skatevideos to drop over the last year. Like MC Hammer said: “You can’t touch this!”

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
13th December 2006

Categories
Moves

Puig’s Moos

• Lucas Puig – BS smith grind to BS tailslide c.f. Sequence c/o Autobahn Wheels
• Gabriel de la Mora – Late shove-it manual.
• Jeremie Daclin – FS ollie to disaster.
• Brendan Keaveny – 360 flip into bank.
• Ollie Tyreman – BS flip.
• Charlie Young – Switch BS feeble.
• Ryan Sheckler – Kickflip.
• Brandon Westgate – FS flip wallride.

Top 5 Frontside Flippers

1. Andrew Reynolds
2. JB Gillet
3. Mike Carroll
4. Rick McCrank
5. Tom penny

Top 5 Backside Flippers

1. Brian Anderson
2. Pat Duffy
3. Stephane Giret
4. Nate Jones
5. Eric Koston

Pic of the week

Fils de Piet acid dropping off the roof! Photo – Ralph L-D

Categories
Skateboarding News

Major UK magazine merger

The game just got deeper for three of the UK’s skateboard magazines. The following is a press release from Action Sports Media, the publishing house that brings you Kingpin magazine:

PRESS RELEASE: ACTION SPORTS INDUSTRY
NEW MEDIA GROUP DEVELOPS ACTION SPORTS MARKET

Factory Media, a new holding Company, announces the merger of three leading specialist sports publishers; Action Sports Media (ASM), Permanent Publishing and 4130 Publishing.

The new Company’s management team will include Darryl Newton, Managing Director and Matt Fenton, Group Publishing Director. Jim Peskett will remain Publisher of the UK board sports brands and Mark Noble as Editorial Director of the bike portfolio. Joining the team are Alistair Ramsay (former Chief Executive of Dennis Publishing), acting as non-exec Chairman, and James Carter (former NPD Director of Dennis, and Publishing Director of FHM and FHM.com) as Director of online and lifestyle brand development.

In other words, ASM now own Sidewalk, Kingpin, Document and a whole other load of sports titles, but Britain’s three skate mags will remain on the shelves. However, investment levels have changed. It looks like the phrase 411VM coined; ‘paper is history‘ is starting to sound true in various boardrooms because the online media alarm bell is ringing.

The good news out of all of this is that the UK scene will be stronger and Crossfire will be right here bringing you malarkey from the heart as usual.

Categories
Skateboarding News

Crossfire Xmas Cracker!

This year’s Crossfire Xmas Jam in London was quite simply off the hook. If you missed it, you missed the biggest and best event London has seen since Cher floated down the Thames a top a Warship gunner. Boom! Everywhere was going off, and the buzz lasted well into the wee hours of the morning thanks to a booze fuelled afterparty at Mau Mau.

Obviously we’re all a bit shattered and drained from such a heavy weekend of madness, so please let us take a couple of days to recoup. In the meantime, here and here is just a snippet of footy – thanks to Jono and SlimJim for uploading it so quickly.

Here are the day’s winners. No sinners here…

Unsponsored:

Ski-Jump- Alex Decuhna w/ BS 360 and a Kickflip

Koston Block- Ollie Smith w/ FS 5-0, BS Bluntslide and FS Nosegrind on the top.

Curved ledge – Jak Tonge w/ manual Kickflip out and FS 5-0 FS 180 fakie nosemanual drop down.

Mini ramp – Kyron, Dean and Micheal

Sponsored:

Mini ramp- Greg Nowik (White Trash/Globe) w/ Blunt 360 flip in, ollie back foot flip, double flip fakie and huge tweakery.

Rail Jams – Boots (Death) w/ Kickflip FS Boardslide & big spin FS Boardslide. James Gardener (Globe) – Front blunt slide big spin out.

Taj Mahal Wallride sesh- Rob Smith (Death/Duffs) w/ Kickflip indy footplant and hitting the roof.

Whale tail wallie bar- Chris Oliver (Alai/Vans) w/ BS Smith, BS Nosegrind revert, switch BS nosegrind revert and wallie kickflip out head height!

Glasses raised to:

Special thanks to Sidewalk Magazine plus Kingpin, Document and Trisickle, Extreme Sports Channel for sending staff to cover the event, look out for future editions for coverage.

Big thanks to Death, Blueprint, Kill City, The Harmony, Casual, Independent Trucks, Landscape, Heroin, Karma, Plan B and Blind Skateboards for their rider and product support and also all of the other teams that turned up on the day (Duffs whole UK team for sure) and a monstrous shout out to Globe shoes for sponsoring this annual event for the second time running without having to even think about it.

Last but not least huge thanks to all of the people who attended and helped us before, during or after the event this year, if you make the effort to be interested, we will never let you down.

Categories
Live Reviews

Backyard Babies – Live

Mean Fiddler
23.11.06

In terms of publicity, it’s arguably preferable for a band to incite feelings of either love or hate from their audience, as opposed to mere indifference. Towers Of London definitely reside in the former camp, but tonight they’re an aloof, uninspired shadow of their usual snotty-nosed selves.

With notoriously volatile singer Donny Tourette seemingly anchored to his mic stand for the first few songs. ‘Air Guitar’ and ‘How Rude She Was’ go down predictably well with the Towers faithful, but there’s just not enough fire in their performance to tempt anyone else away from the bar.

Fact is, the Backyard Babies do this kind of thing far better, and boast more than enough trashy sleaze-punk anthems in their armoury to unleash a virtual greatest-hits set on this adoring crowd. It matters little that their Hanoi Rocks/G’n’R/Ramones shtick has changed so little in the last few years, when old favourites like ‘UFO Romeo’ and ‘Star War’ rub up so well against choice cuts from this year’s excellent ‘People Like People Like People Like Us’ album. The sight of singer/guitarist Nicke Borg breaking out an acoustic guitar for ‘Roads’ is a relative surprise, but otherwise these Swedes are heads-down rock n’ roll fun of the highest order – and they could certainly teach today’s young pretenders a lesson or two in longevity.

Alex Gosman

Categories
Live Reviews

Soho Dolls – Live

Camden Barfly
09.11.06

If you’re craving a bit of sleazy glamour in your life, you could do worse than go and check out the Soho Dolls – a multi-national quartet that have attracted a small but loyal following in our fair capital. Essentially an electro-pop band with a darkly erotic edge, they’ve managed to sell out the Barfly tonight with only a couple of singles under their belt.

Like their namesake, this lot are all about forbidden delights just waiting to be uncovered; with singer Maya von Doll dressed not unlike the subject of future single ‘Stripper’ in eyeliner, high heels and fishnets. Tonight she’s taken over her ill keyboard player’s duties, and watching her seductive onstage presence is like having all your seedier desires paraded in front of you. Cynics may sneer at their pornographic glam-trash image, but the Soho Dolls can certainly walk it like they talk it; whipping Barfly into a dancing frenzy with the robotic beats and pulsing grooves of songs like ‘No Regrets’ and live favourite ‘Prince Harry’. His royal highness-to-be should be flattered.

With tunes and star quality of this calibre, you get the feeling that venues like the Barfly will soon be very much beneath them. Ultimately, the Soho Dolls are the musical equivalent of a beautifully manicured hand stroking itself up the quivering thighs of banality, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Alex Gosman

Categories
Skateboarding News

STICKY: Xmas Jam 2006 rider list

Below you will find the guest list so far for this years Crossfire Xmas Jam at Bay Sixty 6 Skate park in London this coming Saturday 9th December..

The following riders are all confirmed to appear at this years event that is looking to be the jam of the year once again.

The jam has attracted Puzzle video mag, Sidewalk, Kingpin, Document and newcomer Trisickle Magazine so look out for this event being documented in the New Year by the best skate mags in Europe.

The event will start from 12 midday, unsponsored riders will be able to win Globe Shoes vouchers for shoes of their choice from our main sponsor this year, Sidewalk Magazine subscriptions, decks, clothing and much more on the day from 1-3pm. This will include mini ramp and street comps on different obstacles including the Heroin Whale.

THE AFTER PARTY WILL BE HELD AT MAU MAU’s ON 265 PORTOBELLO RD FROM 7.30PM WITH JOE DRISCOLL PLAYING LIVE AND DJ ED PITT FROM SCENARIO RECORDS ON THE DECKS……..

Current rider guest list with many more to be added:

Globe riders: Sam Beckitt, Nicky Cornell, James Gardener, Greg Nowik, Jed Cullen, Flynn Trotman.

Blueprint riders: Nick Jensen, Chewy Cannon, Neil Smith, Steph Morgan, Danny Brady

Landscape riders: Snowy, Joey Pressey, Jin Shimizu (new flow rider)

Herion Riders: Chris Pullman, Nick Worthington, Mark ‘Fos’ Foster, Rogie, Chris Ault.

The Harmony riders: Jak Pietryga, Paul Silvester, Jamie Bolland, Veran Tull, Steve Bailey.

50-50 riders: Danny Wainwright, Justin Sydenham, Will Ainley, Matt ‘Stalker’ Keal, Koran Gayle, Louis Marshall, Zak Pitter, Flynn Trotman, Dan Wileman, Joe Habgood, Joel Curtis, Pete Rigby.

Kill City riders: Porno Paul, Darryl Cashman, Nicky Cornell, Nicky Howells

Casual Riders: Lee Santer, Nick Bedwell, Ewan Bower, Myles Lucas, Alex Pas, Ben Hay.

Vans riders: Marc Churchill, Chris Oliver.

Duffs riders: Mark Munson, Ben Raemers, Carl Wilson, Adam Howe, Mattias Nylen, Rob Smith, Josh Parr, Amir Williams, Adam Aulaqui, John Tanner, Joe Nobes, Channon Wallace.

Plan B riders: Adam Howe, Alex Mizurov.

Death Riders: Nick Zorlac, Dan Cates, Horsey, Moggins, Carl Wilson, Snoopy, Dave Allen, Boots, Steak, Wag, Nicolson, Lee Blackwell, Rob Smith.

Dope Clothing riders: Tom Felix, Tom Banham, James Kilpatrick, Stevie Thompson.

Science Skateboards riders: Shaun Witherup, Dave Davies, Dan Tomlinson, Scott Howes……

Plus: Darran Nolan, Ivan Rodrigues-Marques, Jamie Harrison, Jasper Tattersall and more.

Media: Alan Christensen, Alan Glass, Niall Kenny, Morph, Andy Evans, Leo Sharp, Styley, Dominic Marley, Rich Murray, Sam Ashley, Niall Neeson, Ged Wells.