Anti Hero Cardiel J Howell Deck 7.9

Does anyone remember the board reviews Big Brother Magazine used to do? They used to do the most random stuff to those boards, like sticking them under the tires of 4x4's and doing doughnut spins in a car park or using them as shit catapults.

I remember cringing at them when I was younger whilst I looked back at my battered set up that resembled more of a blunt tooth pick on roller skates than a skateboard thinking "Why? Why would they waste these boards?"

Now I know why they did that random stuff, because writing and reading board reviews is boring. I vaguely remember them doing something with a porn-star, who said her favourite board out of the lot she had to review was a Natural Koncept deck because the graphics were pretty. And Natural Koncept decks weren't pretty, they looked like one of the twats that graff up Southbank did it.

Seriously, Graffers or whatever you're called- find your own spots instead of trying to be all extreme and cool and urban by doing it at skate spots. If I got a pound for everytime a tourist with a lopsided beret or an A-level art student with too many belts gets in my way at SouthBank trying to take a photo of those walls- well, I wouldn't be writing board reviews let me tell you that... And I don't even live anywhere near London.

Anyways, this time I got a delightful shred stick from AntiHero (a John Cardiel pro model) to play on. Sorry to get all political and "whatnot", but I personally wouldn't really go out and buy an American board; Not because I hate Americans ( which I don't. Well, just not the ones that ask if I live in London when I say I'm from England), but because they're are a huge number of Rad British board companies out at the moment; Heroin, Casual, Death, Heathen, Third Foot, The Harmony, Blueprint to name but a few- and that they rely on British skaters to buy their stuff which in turn will help to support the UK skatescene.

But saying that, if I did buy an American board, you'd better believe it would be an AntiHero. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you why- but I'm going to anyway; AntiHero are fucking sick. No pussy footing trendy malarky; just horrible, burly, sweaty, disgusting, vomit inducing, scab collecting skateboarding. Granted, their hessian approach to skateboarding may not appeal to everyone (but I don't see why not you fag!)- but no one can deny that AntiHero are 100% dedicated to skateboarding. and maybe drinking beer. But mainly skateboarding.

The graphic on this board looks like something someone involved with Beautiful Losers would draw, i.e., it's random as fook and looks really Americana. I'm not to sure why this volcano is riding a bicycle, but he looks pretty stoked with himself. I would of though a volcano would much prefer to ride some gnarly chopper bike in beaten up leathers held together by Grateful Dead patches. Or surely it's just prefer to sit and belch loads of boiling hot lava at nearby villages and watch it's inhabitant's skin melt off as they try to escape. Now that's make a hot graphic (Hot? Get it?).

AntiHero have a burly team, and Cardiel is the burliest of them all. It fookin sucks that he's out of action, and won't ever be able to shred like he used to- but absolutely amazing that he can even roll around at all. The Doctors in Australia told him that he would never even be able to walk again! He pretty much told them to Fuck off and willed himself to the point where he's at now. And that's why Cardiel is the burliest.

He's the sort of skater you flinch at when you watch him on videos cause he always seems to be going faster than he should and always looks like he's going to eat shit and makes it. So gnarly. I know he'll still be involved in skateboarding one way or another and that he definitely won't go to star in crap American sitcoms or films involving comic book nerds like Jason Lee.

If you haven't already seen them, hunt down all the AntiHero vids, watch them, listen to Fang and go skate the curb outside your house and pretend it's pool coping. I also recommend searching for the Andy Roy interviews that appeared in several Big Brother magazines just to make sure you stay on the right track... Thrasher even used to print his letters from jail in their mail bombs section. Gnarly. But not cool.

And the board is pretty good too- you know, the usual, it's wood and like a lot of other skateboards. Up AntiHero.

Zombie

Photo by Ben Hay at Casual Skateboards