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DVD Reviews

Live from Antarctica – Heroin Skateboards

Whilst one too many companies are chasing the buck with glossy ads, picture perfect team riders and technical gimmicks, Heroin Skateboards are looking for kicks with the highest quality goods they can get there fiendish hands on. Mark ‘Fos’ Foster has been at the helm of his brainchild for a few years now, and he has steered his dream through spills and thrills that have seen the team go international, a partnership with a porn producer and guest graphics for other major skate companies. I don’t know if the boss will let me say it, but Heroin is good!

So, I receive a pretty box with funny pictures on the cover (James Jarvis) and even better images inside- the Live From Antarctica DVD is a two hour treat (including bonuses) featuring Fos of course, Nick Worthington, Howard Cooke, Arthur Tubb, Chris Pulman, Rogie, Louie Jones, and the Osaka Daggers- Hamaji, Tomago and Chopper. This video is a eclectic mix of stylers that skate, roll and bounce to some sweet guitar riffs that many punks, rockers and mods would recognize. For those who dare to walk on the Darker side of the moon, Bro rider and in-house videographer, Alan Glass, has prepared a beautiful Necrophile remix of the video in a hidden place…

I don’t really want to run down everybodies section with a who, what, where, when, why, because that would undermine the task of making you lot go out and buy this great DVD, but I will mention a few things that mademe smile and slip out the door for a skate just that little bit faster than usual. Firstly, Howard Cooke is a beast who leaps chasms that only a madman with a glass eye might deem do-able.

Then there is Arthur Tubb who has the gift of skating simply but beautifully. Threading together lines at the most local of spots as well as getting his tourist thing on with some sweet bangers. I really do like Arthur. The Osaka Daggers are always a treat with their balls to the wall-ride-slide out approach to life. I am almost certain you will witness these funky Japanese guys pull a trick or two that you’ve never seen or thought possible before.

Overall, LFA is that breathe of fresh air the skate DVD market needs because Fos and Co. work hard but it looks like they are genuinely having fun on their boards- A rare sight these days. New spots, new tricks, old spots and old tricks, this DVD has them all and more. In fact, if anyone dared visit Antarctica on a skate mission, Heroin would probably clock some sort of footy be it a wallride on an iceberg, or a nosebonk on a penguin.

Ralph Lloyd-Davis