Interact Skate Park
Burnley Saturday 26th February 2005
It has snowed all fucking week and the North is apparently hit worse than the South as per usual, but screw the reports, we wanna skate that bowl that everyone has talked about for the last 6 months. It’s called the Mantub and we want some of it! It’s 1o”clock, Saturday 26th February and we are all waiting in a freezing van whilst Zorlac lays a cable that would have put BT out of business. It’s a much lighter drive for the van with this mission completed and thankfully now underweight, 8 skaters are on the M1 in search for Heroin, addicted to the smell of freshly burnt urethane and shaved wood. Passenger list: Driver: Zorlac Shotgun DJ: Zac Filmer: Alan Christensen Punks: Louie & Brandon Steeze: Seth Leathers: Damian Fartbox: Stu Cantellow. I didn’t get wood on this trip as I was up front manning the stereo, but I bet the younger punks in the back of the wagon had to move coats to get rid of the evidence, as this was getting exciting and with a soundtrack of The Hunns, Dead Boys, Ramones, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Adolescents, Spandau Ballet, T”Pau, Devo, and a million odds and sods 80’s artists, we were fucking motoring!!
Why is motorway food so expensive? Why does it taste like crap? Why do they only offer you the worst food you could possibly find? I dunno but we all fell for it, but one thing was clear, the vegetarian food is always cheaper.add a fat filled sausage for an extra £3.cunts! Dying for a drink and ushered into the park entrance by Wingy who rolled up alongside us in his van, we could hear the Dead Pets on the side of the bowl destroying vocal chords and fingernails by the second. Apart from the Punk rock, it was much quieter than we thought. Had we missed the event? Was it over or just beginning? Where was Howard Cooke? In fact, fuck asking questions, look at that bowl! It is called Mantub for a reason, a stupid one but here it is: One day a local was so pissed looking into the deep wooden hole with metal round the rims that he shouted “Mental” “Mental!” but it sounded like Mantub cos he was so pissed, and it stuck, so there!
Now you know some facts you can win cigars and fluffy bunnies everywhere…. This bowl is big, it’s beautiful and when you skate it, you are lost in carve heaven not knowing where the fuck you are going and always trying to wipe the water from your eyes because it is so fast. This is not the sort of bowl that you can find in the UK. This is the sort of bowl you find in Europe or America. Burnley has a beast! Div won all the honours on the night. The Scottish, red haired fire ball went hell for leather in this bowl and managed everything he tried by the end of the night. His younger brother Colin can huck them out as fast speeds too. HIs Madonna’s at the high end of the bowl where massive. Slap that tail bitch! It was also good to see Napalm Jeff going off, even without a board, this Dad rocks!
Howard Byrom and Lee Blackwell fought out the snake award. Lee won in height, and Howard won in carve style. These boys rocked it until they couldn’t move. Mark Munson and the Essex monkeys made sure they were noticed as usual. Mark was seen with his hands on the coping, Ben Raemers stuck his oar in and Potter was seen in the street section transferring to hell and back. Andy Scott and Woody ripped the place a new arsehole alongside Rogie who can command this bowl like a puppeteer just like Tez who runs the Bolton Park, amazing to watch
The Kill City team where loving it to with Dainton carving it up, Little Nicky and Cashman flying everywhere. It was a good session. So what did we get up to. We just skated with all of this lot and drank into the night until it was time to rock up and get the hell out of there. Louie pulled the best tricks out of all of us. Foz seemed over the moon, Heroin product filled the skies whilst kids gathered bag fulls of stickers, boards and t-shirts and no one had to be carted off to the hospital! Even pizza’s were delivered by bike. Come on!
Big thanks to Foz and Anthony for organising a good get together. Big thanks to Nick Zorlac who drove us to Nottingham and then to Derby after the trip until 5am! Thanks to Ian Rees and Harry the Bastard for putting everyone up at 4am and taking us all to the bowl in Nottingham on the hill and watching me kill myself in front of everyone and big thanks to the pub who served us guiness and roast dinners….
No Thanks for reading this if you read the whole thing without being tempted to watch the video! Go on then, watch the video on this page now, oh…..and by the way, get in the van soon as there is nothing like a road trip once you get going!
Z