The Explosion are one of the hardest working bands you will ever see or hear. They are a dedicated punk rock with their own record label Tarantulas Records in the USA who have released bands such as The Distillers and The Bronx amongst others. With their first full length stint touring the UK to promote their brand new record Black Tape, we thought it was essential to hook up with the band for a quick chat before they played the Hammersmith Palais with drummer Andrew Black and Bass player Damian Genuardi who are both skaters. This is what went down…
Howdy fellas, have some home made cake..
Damian: Hi Zac, hey is there anything in this cake we should know about before we eat this and go on stage?!
Andrew: haha!
Nope, it’s clean as a whistle, packed with Belgium chocolate, cranberries, pecan nuts and brandy!
D: Ah, perfect, lets eat then!
OK, so we are here at the Hammersmith Palais and you guys are about to open up for New Found Glory and Hot Water Music, how long have you guys been on the road now?
D: About a week now, it’s cool. Europe is great, no one has cell phones, time goes by so quickly, but we are playing here with a bunch of different bands over 7 weeks and that always makes the time fly ..
A: The drives are so short as well, so we are able to go out to the bars and make friends and get drunk!
Lets talk about you guys. The Explosion has been together a while right?
D: Yeah, since 1998. It was just a thing that we started just for kicks. The singer Matt had never been in a band before, I was in a hardcore band called “In My Eyes” on Revelation Records, and we were kind of a weekend warrior band in Boston, playing shows and stuff and myself and Matt used to go out to parties together like best friends do and he was always saying to me that he wanted to do a band called The Explosion, before we even had a band or band members! Things just happened and we picked up Andrew in 2001.
A: I was in a band called “Best Mistake” and another called “Good Clean Fun” for a while and I actually met Damian through In My Eyes so it was cool, very natural and the band had been going a while and I thought they were cool. They called me up one day and wanted me to join up and go on tour with Sick Of It All, so I was like, fuck it, I”m coming!
You guys are now on Virgin Records, what other labels have you guys released records for?
D: We were primarily on Jade Tree and Revelation wrenched an EP out of us as kind of a legal obligation thing since my former band was on Rev, then we started Tarantulas Records that was our own thing and then when Virgin came along it kind of a surprise to us all, and Jade Tree realised that they could not hold us back and let us go.
A: It was hard as we all lived in different places at the time, spread out between New York, Boston, Washington DC etc.
There was a bit of a buzz from the US record industry on the band at that time right?
D: Yeah, the record industry is so ridiculous over there. Everybody else wants to take you out for dinner and do whatever it takes to sign you, hang out with you etc. We had some amazing meals!
What was the most classic phrase or moment that went down in that period?
D: Haha! One time they took us to the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan and we all played Golf, Bowling and stuff, it was funny. We would order tonnes of drinks and booze it up!
A: People would be so overly nice, like, “you want that, oh we will buy it for you”! Funny times!
So what about the hook up with Tarantulas Records, has your deal allowed you to continue what you had set up?
D: Yes, Virgin has no connection with distribution or whatever, it’s cool. Some major labels are so careless about vinyl sales and it’s not a profit making thing you know so we have the opportunity to release vinyl on our label for records that come out on majors, so its nice to be able to make something textual that you can hold, something that is fucking awesome looking, and we can do our own artwork that they didn’t want put on their major label release, so it’s cool.
I hear Damian that you are the arty person in the band responsible for all artistic input for the band?
D: Yeah, I have art background and have always been interested in music sleeve art and graphics, skateboard graphics. I have always thought it’s important to have a package that looks good aesthetically and I think a lot of that has been lost with the introduction of downloading and burning CD’s.those silver CD’s look uninteresting. I like the gatefold art thing on vinyl. It’s like skating. Every company or label has an image, they make their companies unique and people buy into it because they appreciate the art that goes into it. Look at Toy Machine with Ed Templeton or Stereo Skateboards, everyone has their own image and I”m into that. So many record labels need that identity to.
So you guys have come from the skate scene in the US then?
D: Yeah, Matt and I skated from when we were back in high school. We used to skate this place we called “The O“. It was an abandoned office building and we would skate behind it, skate the parking curbs. I had my crew and he had his friends and one day he mooned at me and we were best friends after that! Haha!
A: I grew up in Maryland, about 20 minutes outside of Washington DC, so I would go down to Freedom Plaza and Pepe Martinez was always there, it was cool. You could go to skate spots and then see other kids at punk rock shows in the evening or we would go check out a Hip Hop show or whatever, there was a bond between the two scenes.
D: Yeah, even in Philly at the time in the 90’s you would have skateboarders that would hang out with graffiti kids, who hung out with hardcore kids who would hang out with rock kids..
A: There was a kid called Roger Gastman* back then, who just put out the Mike Giant book and I used to work for him whilst he ran a magazine and way before I worked for him I met him at hardcore shows, and then kids who skated knew him from this huge disco den archive pad. People hook up everywhere through skateboarding.
D: That whole East Coast scene is so hooked up.
So what were your first ever boards you rode?
A: I had a Natas; I think in 1987, with the kitten spilling milk out of the triangle, I loved that board!
D: I had Danny Sergeant H-Street board.
So, where are hanging these days then, in Boston?
D: The band started there, apart from Matt, and he would come stay with us and write for 5 days at a time, so he has been in Brooklyn for a while, and now we are all in New York.
Do you get much time to skate whilst touring?
A: Not in Europe, but we usually have them in the trailer in the States. Early on the Social Distortion tour at night I would go skate just after we would get wrecked i n bars and it would not hurt as much, but these days you have to think about your hands as you can appreciate that without them, we can’t play!
D: Our manager Rama and I went skating in Portland Maine on a tour, and we were skating this jersey barrier doing grinds and he was trying to boardslide it. He went up to slide, his board shot off and he ended up with hotdog fingers! That was 2 or 3 months ago and his fingers are still wasted!
How is your hand now Damian? No skateboard injury there today huh? Haha!
D: Haha, well, er, no. It happened at Liverpool show. Actually it was the first time I have ever knocked someone out in one punch!
OK you gnarlers, let’s skip that conversation and talk about this new album Black Tape that is out on March 28th, how long did it take to put together?
D: We signed our deal, then we went on tour with AFI, then we did demos for a few months and it took a while to find a producer that we were comfortable with and spent about 2 and a half months in Idaho recording it.
A: Yeah, we were in the middle of nowhere, about 30 minutes away from a gas station to get a beer, it was far out in the middle of nowhere!
What producer did you end up working with?
A: A guy named Jason Carmer who had done The Donnas “Spend the Nightâ?” record. He said us that he wanted to make a good sounding rock record and we spoke to other producers who would tell us something on the lines of “once you follow our 10 step formulas of how to write songs“.haha! Jason had none of that so we found a perfect partner as we really like the way the record has been recorded. The producer and the engineer are used to spending a lot of time on records, something that we were not used to really.
D: Yeah, we have never really spent that much time in a studio, we are not used to doing it that way, as all the other releases were done so quickly, but it’s not as if we spent 2 and a half months like playing every day, we had a lot of downtime. We only ended up with 3 extra songs that did not go on the album. Jason was rad and kind of comes from the same background as us from the DC scene, the Dischord years and was in a band called “Double 0“, “Meatmen” and others….did you ever see that book “Banned in DC“? He was in that loads.
Yeah, that is a great book, I love it. So you guys are big Dischord fans then?
D: Yeah, Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, all those bands man.
So how different are the shows here in the UK compared to back home?
A: The difference is massive, it’s great here, and it’s cool to be here in the UK for more than one day as it’s the first time we have done that, we did not see the country last time we were over.
D: UK kids seem mental. Birmingham was amazing! The kids have probably not heard of us before and they were going nuts! Back home it’s a lot of fun as people are more familiar with the music but the Garage gig in London the other night was awesome, it was packed out and the crowd was going mad, it was a good way to be welcomed to the UK that is for sure!
Have you noticed that kids are more drunk here due to the age restrictions being different?
D: Yeah, but it’s cool though as back home you see more fights, here they are more laid back, maybe cos they are wasted! It’s weird!
Tell me about your video, it has skateboarding in it and someone connected with skate videos is responsible for shooting it, is this right?
D: Yeah, it was Wynn Ko. He is a friend of friends, the way we like to keep it. We we had gone down the route of hooking up with other video directors who had done Good Charlotte videos and other bands and they were coming up with all of these ideas we just were not into. We tried to shoot a video and did a full 10 hour day and it failed, it was bad. Thankfully Virgin listened to us and they let us shoot a video with our friend John LaCriox who shot film for 411VM and is a partner with Shepard Fairey in a popular culture mag called Swindle. He knew Wynn, so they teamed up and we got it going.
A: The vibe was cool, they understood what we wanted, they understand our culture. Our friend Smith is the skater. There is a part in the video where he skates dirt which was great, he works with AFI, and when he is not working he is out skating, getting drunk, doing barrel rolls and shit, he is great.
Are you going out on the Warped tour this summer?
D: Yeah, we are for a month, we are really stoked on it. We did it a couple of years ago, as it will be good to do it again with bands like The Transplants, My Chemical Romance, maybe Strike Anywhere and others.
I hear on the vine of grapes that there could be some Explosion shoes out there in the future..
A: Yeah, just before we left the States, it came up in conversation. Vans are interested which would be rad as the Slayer ones are kick ass! I fell asleep that night just picturing that Explosion shoe!
When you are on the road, what do you guys listen to, what are essential?
A: The i-POD comes in handy..I guess “1981 A Year in 7’s” from Dischord, Slayer – Decade of Aggression, Fugazi – 13 Songs, and Lungfish – Pass & Stowe.
D: My i-tunes is maxed out, I like making compilations for people. Sandinista by The Clash, early Manic Street Preachers like New Art Riot on Damaged Goods cos I think it sounds like Gray Matter! Haha! David Bowie, T-Rex, Buzzcocks, The Jam, and lately I have been listening to some Studio One Reggae stuff to chill out to in the van.
And on that chilled note, it is time to wrap this interview up as you have to be on stage in 10 minutes. Anything you wanna say to finish this?
D: Yeah, big thanks to all the people who have stuck by us in the UK, especially those who were there in 2001 when we were last here. We have been pretty lazy getting back over here! Sorry about that! Haha!
A: Yeah, all of those people who have come to see us on this tour and also a big thanks to you for hooking us up Zac, oh and by the way, the cake was delicious!
You are welcome fellas.
Check out more about The Explosion and their label at
It was a question of checking in, having a wash and off to the supermarket for a cheap continental breakfast. The meeting place for most of the trip was the infamous Macba. After hooking up with everyone, I was amped on a skate and Fondo was on today’s menu. It was just a good as I remember it! It was a relaxing skate until everyone got hit by the Ben Jobe affect. He surprised all with some unusual skill and his random conversation. We was having a great time til some undercover agents ran the spot down and confiscated a few skateboards. Most of us got away, but a handful got caught and fined. “Oh well, back to Macba it is then!!!”
Las Ramblas was heaving with some of Spain’s most amazing Export material and this meant getting your party shoes on. After a crazy evening of hooch and spading, it was time to head back to my room before I get arrested. It had suddenly occurred to me that I had over done it with the hooch, because I was sporting the shoeless look in search of a kebab at 4am?!? Yep, retard!!!… The morning after was a bad one, but I made it down to Macba with the alcohol pumping through my veins and bloodshot eyes. Got a little lost on the trains as we set off to meet at a spot outside of the City.The urge to get a T-shirt printed with ‘Special Needs’ on the chest was getting stronger by the second as we spent 3 hours traveling in all sorts of directions. It ended up being a good session and the teenage mutant ninja kids, killed this spot. Ross, Rory, James and Josh were on it and it was great to watch them skate this place.
It was heavy to take all of this in, but once back on the streets I was more amped on skating than ever before. James, myself and Tom got a cute little breakfast once we got back to our hostels, followed by a short power napp. We made the most of our last day in Barca and went mad on filming. We covered all the well known spots, where you are allowed to skate and sneaked in two lines down by the Port. It was a good day and I was enjoying my freedom. We had spent about a week in Barca and it was one trip that I’ll remember for as long as I shall live, not cause I got locked away, but because I was given my life back. So if you fancy a trip to skateboarding’s most rinsed out city, head down to LLukemajor Metro Station and hit up them rails outside on a nice little quiet Sunday afternoon… It’s worth it….
He has only been riding a skateboard for a short while now but Chris Cole seems to have made a massive impact over the last 12 months hucking out gnarly tricks when it matters. With a brand new section recently dominating Zero’s New Blood video we caught up with him ahead of a Zero Team demo at the Southbank.
If there was an award for the happiest looking skater whilst riding then this kid would probably scoop it up and leave the rest with egg on their faces. Devine was one of 3 US skaters that visited the UK during April on a DC Shoes Tour alongside the full UK Team. With a beamer that big we had to take 15 mins of this little fellas time to see what makes him get up in the morning and this is what went down. Questions were written by Ralph LD and thrown at Devine by Zac in the UK team wagon….
Yet another new company. Yet another new video. No, actually Instant Winner deserves your attention because the goods they bring to the table are top-knotch. ‘Nickels and Dimes’ is the mandatory visual presentation from this East Coast independent company that doesn’t seem to bothered with following the herd. In fact, the only person I recognised on this team was Billy Rohan, and even he hasn’t had mass coverage of late. A full part (and last part) from Billy was fresh and packed full of crazy goodies. But, Billy isn’t the only killer on Instant Winner, there is also Alex Turan, Joey Seguna, Brett Abransky and Scotty Moore to take care of the rails, banks, gaps and manuals. If you are aware of a sweet website called post22.com, you might recognise those last two riders, I mentioned. Good stuff from North Carolina and thereabouts. There is a nice Coney Island Funfair thread that leads us through this presentation, and a steady soundtrack by indie rock bands. The video runs at a perfect length of about 25 minutes, no nonsense- just skating, well… Except for the Coney Island skits. Instant Winner is still a free flowing small operation, but I fully recommend paying attention because some of their stuff might hit close to home, in other words; take note of the spots these guys skate because a couple of them could easily be on British soil!
Since the release of the Blueprint Lost and Found DVD we thought it would be fun to ask Vaughan Baker and Colin Kennedy some words about the current state of affairs. Ralph asks the 5 minute questions whilst the boys were on tour.
I just realized that looking at the title of Element’s new video, “Elementality”, it basically describes the thread to this production: the mentality of Element Skateboards which is respect and good vibes. Ah! Isn’t that sweet? Anyway, here’s the low-down so enjoy! The video starts off with an open letter to explain Element’s roots and ethics and then we get to some skating. Jake Rupp and Tosh Townend share a part and roll along to the rhythm of Jah. Lots of quirky spots and smooth bendy legs that work together to pop out of things, and create a good introduction part. What follows is a very short part from the unique Mike Vallely. Mike busts one big ollie over a rail but then proceeds to pillage his stock of fast-plants, foot-plants and other pre-1988 tricks. I think Mike has chosen the path of old school, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like him… Next we are jetted off to foreign lands (I think the Southern Americas mostly…) where the Element team release their inner-selves onto expensive film and ride the concrete wave. Whilst watching this segment (and there are others dotted throughout the video), I couldn’t help but think how the Element team approached these off-road transitions like the Osmonds, where as Anti-Hero are more like the Osbournes. Understand? Oh! I mustn’t forget that Chris Senn recently joined the team, so due to lack of time, bits and bobs of footage are scattered throughout.
How good is ‘Lost & Found’? Very good.
Damn! I only just reviewed Are you alright?, and already video No.16 has dropped: Subtleties. This month’s DVD highlights Pat Duffy ( I told you we’d be hearing more from him…), Brandon Biebel, Kyle Leeper and Stefan Janoski. There are also guest skaters involved, so you’ll spot the likes of Brian Wenning, Paul Rodriguez, Tim O’Connor and others in the mix. Let’s set this out in order, so first up to bat is Pat. Pat is a machine! He took MVP in the last TWS DVD, and he don’t slow down in this one either. High tailslides, slicing tre-flips and a gargantuan gap next to Hubba Hideout are all ingredients that spell out the unspoken truth of Pat’s board control. Even a bit of the footage is dated, it don’t matter because you know no news means good news. Pat is still on top of his game. Where there is game, there is Biebel. The Girl pro shares his part with Wenning, so street technicians will be stoked. There is plenty of manual madness going down at the Pier here including switch frontside heelflip manuals backside out, and the critically acclaimed half-cab heelflip nose manual- backside nollie heelflip out. That’s hard, trust me!
Greg has worked his way up into the ranks of being one of the Almost Skateboard Teams top riders with his unique flair and big balls. Zac went to meet the Almost team during November 04 whilst they were in London for the premiere of Round 3 and armed with questions from Ralph LD and a few others on the web, this is what went down….
Why did you quit Krooked?
What was it like moving to Huntington Beach?