Caught in the Crossfire

Before the tricks, before the pros and before the endless media, the first thing to impress a kid in a skateshop is the graphics. No single graphic did it for us more than the ‘Screaming Hand’ by fabled artist Jim Phillips.

Skate artists aren’t spared when it comes to trends, so Jim’s talents were brushed off as a new wave of illustrations (or lack of during the awful blank board period) spread across the shelves and Hip-Hop cool bumped the wild times of blood, guts and gore. Oh well…

However, after a good few years, Jim Phillips is back and so are his hair-raising graphics at Pockpistol Skateboards. Pocket Pistol caters for the more roots variety of skater and with Jim’s graphics on-board, you know the goods are good!

Check the website at : www.pocketpistolskates.com

Santa Cruz Skateboards and Jason Jessee have joined forces again as skateboarding’s favourite misfit has signed up with the SCS Veteran Division.

His latest pro model, “The Rape of Liberty” is a winner that reflects Jason’s unorthodox ethos.

Between skating and working on his killer motorbikes, Jason is currently battling it out to get the rights to his auto-biographical movie Pray For Me (www.jasonjesseemovie.com).

You know everybody loves the Marseille Bowl, well things just got for the French Riviera with this new skatepark/bowl in Apt of the Vaucluse region. Those hard working dudes at Syndrom Skateboards, Skatenova and the USSR Coop just sent news of this spot that they found and transformed for good use.

In a previous life, this spot was an already skateable ditch thing, but now it has coping, ledges and a strange cheese formation that doubles as an interesting wallride/ledge jobby. USSR and Sydrome work together to push the local scene and get things done. Their riders are a good mix of ATV and tech skaters, but then what do you expect when you have parks like this on your doorstep?

Check the site at: www.ussr.coop

The subtle subterfuge of the skateboard market in Lyon is starting show its ugly side as the two resident companies and business rivals*, Antiz and Cliché, fly their colours in regards football and the local team’s dominance of the league tables.

In the Blue corner we have Olympique Lyonnais FC affecianados Cliché who have just been nominated for Best Team at the annual Transworld Skateboarding Awards and returned from Sicily on a filming mission.

Whilst, in the Red corner we have the football haters, Antiz who have released a very limited edition Scarf and are currently clocking footage for a new video due to drop this winter. Check their site www.antizskateboards.com for an edit of their recent filming mission to Italy.

Crossfire is going to get on the case to try and understand how deep this divide rides in France’s premier skate city. Stay tuned.

*Don’t fret- Cliché and Antiz ARE good friends.

Yep, it’s Easter sucker, so we have decided to help ressurect your feet this year by stealing a pair of the brand new Ryan Sheckler Etnies shoe to give away.

If you are hardened Crossfire visitor you will know that every year we hide an egg on our site and you have to track it down to win a prize.

Yes, the egg in question is situated somewhere in this mammoth site.

We also know it’s a labyrinth in here as we built the bloody thing, but you know what, if you search for the golden eggy boy here and enter the comp, you will be sporting these shoes at your local spot within a week, so be damn quick!

So, when you find the egg, email the link to the page to us at egghunt@caughtinthecrossfire.com and we will pick one persons email from the pile and send you your lovely new shoes in the post. Please note that this competition has no rules other than find the egg, copy the link of the webpage you found it on and send us an email.

Make sure you send us a personal message as it could affect who we pick to win…..