The lads over at Lost Art, Liverpool took this skateboarding treasure, lost to the likes of VHS over a decade ago, and have uploaded it in full to the worldwide web.
Jump back through the years and witness Sidewalk “In Motion” featuring a bunch of your favourite British rippers and those from further afield.
The first time Greg Conroy‘s humourous illustrations caught my eye, they brought a wry smile. His simple, but effective artform tells a story, poking fun at skateboarders by highlighting the hypochrisies we are sometimes surrounded by. Our cartoon correspondent Jon Horner was sent to delve into the background of Conroy’s mission, paying homage to George Bernard Shaw who once famously said: “No, I am an artist, not a businessman; businessmen always want to talk about art, but artists only talk about money.”
Let’s start with Suburbs (Gregory’s stream of consciousness style comic about London, dog walking and Toby Shuall). How did that one come about?
Well, I’d just broken up with my ex. We lived together in Zone 1, right by Tower Bridge and I’d moved back to my parents’ on the border of Lewisham and Greater London, so I spent the first few weeks trying to find a local alternative to Southbank. Just somewhere to go and have a roll about. I’d just got a dog too, so I spent most of my days walking around the suburbs looking for spots with the dog. I was always stoked on Toby Shuall’s Head Cleaner section but started watching it obsessively when I moved home. it seemed a lot more relatable to me, back home in my late 20s.
The comic was sort of a visual diary I suppose. I had the thought process that’s in the comic going through my head all the time cos I was always out with the dog and always watching the section. With the other half of the book (that Jeremy Jones contributed to) I wanted something a bit funnier, making fun of the ‘deep stuff’ a bit.
So you were a proper Southbank kid then?
Yup, pretty much. Me, Henry Edwards-Wood and Faris Hassan went to the same school in Lewisham and all started skating the local carpark, then after a year we upgraded to Southbank. I’ve always preferred Shell Centre though. In the mid 2000s it would be ‘let’s skate Waterloo’, and I think its a bit sad that the new generation doesn’t have that. Southbank, Shell, lower Shell and, at a push, pigeon shit banks!
Where did drawing come into it? Was it something that came from skating and skate art or something separate that eventually joined up with skating?
My dad’s an artist (a proper one), and we didn’t have much money so, as a kid, we’d spend all day just drawing and making stuff out of cardboard boxes and paper mache. There weren’t many computer games as a kid, actually we had a black and white telly until the mid 90s. I remember going to a mate’s house and watching colour TV and getting proper tripped out, I thought it was only colour in cinemas! Haha!
My dad got me into it though, he lectured at Goldsmiths in the mid 80s but got laid off. He always encouraged us to draw, I was always super keen on cartoons and my older brother got me into comics early on. When skating came along I sort of fell off drawing religiously and skating became number 1, but it was always there in the background. Then I got back into it again heavily in my early 20s but never really wanted to show anyone. I was a bit embarrassed.
What sort of things would you draw? I used to obsessively copy Beano characters.
Early on it was Asterix and Obelix and Tintin. We had loads of those books and I used to think they were amazing. I liked the Beano and Dandy but the drawings in Asterix were so great, really solid cartoons, they still stand up today. Then as I got a little older it was copying comics: Green Lantern, Superboy and Robin. I liked the teenage superheros, they had fit girlfriends and were always a bit jack the laddish, which to an 11 year old nerd is sort of the dream. You can tell I was popular at school! Then as I became a lot older, 20s, I got back into cartoons and sort of started to form a ‘style’.
I love the Asterix books! I used to get them at the library when I was younger and now I still keep an eye out for them in second hand book shops.
Yeah you can get so many good books in charity shops, for like 20 pence, I go for a dig once a month or so on the high street. Loads of great children’s books too. Anthony Browne the children’s book writer/illustrator’s work is what really lit a fire under me to get back into drawing in my early 20s.
Oh interesting, why him in particular?
His books can be read on two levels, he writes for a child to understand but there a visual hints and clues to a deeper story for the parent to see as they read. A lot of his books have quite adult content really, class issues and troubled relationships. I like things that have multiple depths and can be viewed simply or with a more significant undercurrent. I’m not sure if that comes off in my cartoons though, I’m sure most people go ‘haha, yeah man I think weed is cool too!’ and I’m thinking noooo, laugh at the stoner, not with him! Not that there’s anything wrong with it, I don’t want to alienate myself from skateboarding entirely, I’m not that dense! Puff away lads! Laugh with the stoner!
Hahaha! What was the process of finding your style like? Your work is really distinctive, was that a deliberate choice or something that sort of just happened?
There’s a guy called Walt Kelly who worked at Disney, he left and started doing a newspaper strip called Pogo which I personally think is the basis for all good cartoons. He’s the Gonz of cartoons. If you look at Robert Crumb’s early stuff as a teenager, im sure he was looking at him loads. And there’s a guy called Jeff Smith who made a comic called Bone. Jeff Smith says that his Bone character is kind of his take on Walt Kelly’s Pogo, and my characters are pretty much a vague rip off of Bone. It’s all a farce! I’m just nicking from other people. But realistically, I think most western cartoons end up back at Walt Kelly.
I always wanted to put my drawings out into some sort of public forum or do something with them, but for years I had no idea what I wanted to draw. I spent loads of time in Cide skateshop when I was younger and French worked there and I think he’s the best. I spent years trying to draw gory stuff like him, but it just wasn’t for me.
So after drawing French-esque stuff, what was your next move?
The French stuff was always half hearted. I’d start a drawing then give up halfaway through knowing it was just a poor imitation. That was around the time skating took over from drawing and I just doodled cartoons on post-it notes at work. Then I got really heavily into cartoons again, watching loads of them. The Studio Ghibli stuff is great, and Japanese cartoons like Conan Boy of the Future and Mysterious Cities of Gold, Japanese kids’ cartoons, that’s where the cartoon style started to develop. I was reading Bone over and over trying to pick apart how to draw good cartoons at that point too. It was quite methodical really, too bad I fell short of the mark copying them!
After reading Bone loads and tracing it back to Walt Kelly I just wanted to make newspaper strip style stuff. 3 panels or single panels, I got a bit obsessed and started to think that newspaper strip cartoons were the basis for ‘real’ cartoons and that cartoons should stay true to that. I still think that actually. Comics and animated cartoons are just an extension of those newspaper strips I think, a political or social story broken down for the everyman.
What do you think about political or editorial cartoons?
They are the purest form of cartoon. I’m just not smart enough to do them, so I have to break it down to skateboarding, which I think I understand.
I don’t really see a lot of difference between what you do and what guys like Steve Bell and Martin Rowson do, I think you just exist in different contexts. It’s all about ‘speaking truth to power’, right?
Thanks! Yeah totally. I find the world in general, or more specifically humans, pretty hilarious. The way we conduct ourselves and what we think is important is so alien to me. I find most social interactions pretty funny in terms of the ridiculousness of what people think they are supposed to say, and skateboarding is exactly the same. It really is the silliest thing a grown man could do. Super rad but really silly.
I just want to make fun of people that take it seriously, growing up in the London scene is a big part of that. There was and still is a very big focus on ‘being legit’, and when you think you want to impress an older guy on the dole who gets left over trainers from his mate who’s sponsored it’s so daft. It’s all ridiculous.
Hence ‘Serious Adult’?
Yup! Plug time! Serious Adult is pretty early on, but at the moment it’s half a crew/half a clothing company I guess. It’s just an outlet for something creative and fun. We’re putting a video together and doing a few runs of t-shirts to try and fund filming trips and get it out there a bit. Everyone that gets free stuff is into art and looks at skateboarding creatively and are all amazing skaters too. I hope we can make a short edit and get people stoked on having a laugh when skating. Everyone says ‘oh, skating’s just for fun’ but then HAVE to wear the right clothes and do the right tricks. Everyone filming for the video is creative and really has fun skating.
Who’s involved so far?
Jeremy Jones, Jaspar Woolf and Luka Pinto are stacking clips. We’re doing a trip to Sheffield on Saturday and I’ve spoken to Shaun Currie (who I used to know back in London and who might be the funniest skater in England) about it a little, so I’m hoping we can get some footage of him. Both him and Luka have filming commitments at the moment so it might just be a few tricks, I’m not sure, hopefully everyone can get 30 seconds and we can put a 5 minute video out. I’m hoping we can get some Lukas Kacevicius footage too, he rips Southbank and is always happy! Jasper’s been stacking clips, he’s killing it, and shout out George Toland for filming! He’s always keen to go on missions. The crew is coming together well!
So yeah, putting t-shirts out, hopefully more stuff when the money comes in. I just want to make money to take everyone on trips and make rad edits of them. It’s tricky trying to make clothes or a product from cartoons really. I don’t want to just put out a logo t-shirt, because who cares? Buy a Palace or Landscape one if you want to support a skateboard company. I want people to buy it because they think the designs are fun and they like the team.
Have you got many left of the first tee? it looks like most sizes are sold out on your website.
I’ve got about 3 left. I gave a lot out to friends but I just broke even, so the money has funded a smaller run of tees and the filming trip to Sheffield. I’m trying to do it properly, paying for travel, per diems, buying DV tapes. I don’t think people should do something for free, much like illustration.
Have you been approached by any companies to do stuff for them or approached any yourself?
I haven’t approached any myself yet, but I worked a few roughs out for Science, that’s sort of on hold for now I think, we couldn’t quite work out an idea that really grabbed both of us. I’ve been chatting with Matt Bromley from Blast, it looks like something will materialise there which I’m super stoked on, Matt’s a great guy and really thinks deeply about art within skating and Blast is my favourite company, I only ride their boards so I’m super stoked. And Bryce asked me if I wanted to do an exhibition at Parlour. It’s just talks at the moment, but hopefully that will come together soon.
I would like to do boards or graphics in general for companies of course, it’s every skate art nerd’s dream, I just don’t want to jump the gun. If someone’s stoked on my stuff I’d be really chuffed to be approached but it’s still early days for me I guess.
If you could do a board for one pro (doesn’t have to be a current one) who would it be?
Hmm, a tough one… Lavar Mcbride. He’s one of my all time favourite skaters and he was pro during a time when skateboard graphics flourished. You could really do something cheeky with it.
He’s from the right era, he’s the right skater, and you could definitely take the piss in those days. No logo boards then!
What do you think of the state of skateboard graphics at the moment.
There are some amazing people out there, but in general it’s so banal. Just really clean and sanitised and graphic design based. Skateboarding and cartoons really belong together, the 90s proved that. It was the best era for graphics, the most controversial and visually the funniest. I don’t understand how we have gone towards this logo board era. I see kids skating really creatively and having fun all the time, so why are the boards not a reflection of that? Todd Bratrud can put out something well drawn and funny, so what’s everyone else’s excuse? Paul Parker, Matt Bromley, French and other people do hold the candle of course, there are great people out there, but I don’t understand why some graphic designer that doesn’t skate is being hired to make a graphic for a mega-corp company and pass it off as a board. Just put a Monster energy drink logo on it and get the real money if that’s your goal.
James Jarvis’ Blast board is one of my favourites in recent years though, it’s great.
Maybe I should retract that graphic design stuff? Will I get in trouble?
You can if you want but I’m with you 100%!
Yeah fuck it. It’s true.
Also, I doubt Plan B were about to hire you to do a series. Sorry.
Haha! It’s great that you dont have to even say Plan B but we both know that’s what i was talking about in terms of logo boards. I hope Danny Way doesn’t find me and hit me, I’m fragile!
You aren’t gay are you? Then you’d be in real trouble.
That’s a different interview.
Hahaha! Next time.
I totally had sex with a girl this morning! I swear to god. It was great!
Props. I think it’s fair to say that most people who know your work know it from Instagram. When did you start putting things up there?
The longlivesouthbank account put up a rough of a drawing I did for them and i had just got Instagram but didn’t really use it. I saw it had a bunch of likes and being naive didn’t realise anything they put up gets automatic likes so it felt very validating. That’s when I started putting my own stuff out there for the first time really. It felt nice to know people were looking at my stuff and found it funny, which is quite sad for a 28 year old man really. But that’s what Instagram is for.
I find it interesting though, I was chatting to Matt from Blast about it. People think that’s how it works, and I totally fell for it too – if you have likes you have a product, which isn’t true at all. There’s a far shout from 100 or a thousand or whatever people liking your drawing on the internet to handing money over for it on a physical product. It’s the same as skate videos. No one buys them and the market is completely turned on its head. I suppose Sidewalk cutting back from print is the same thing. The internet can be great to put something out there, but it makes us lazier as skaters I think.
Was it Insta love that that prompted you to make Suburbs? Or were you planning that already?
Hmm, I kind of wanted to make it and just put it on my shelf and forget about it but the insta love made me think maybe other people would want to see it too. It’s like when people get addicted to taking selfies. I avoided smart phones for years but now I’m totally sucked in. I’ve become the person I hate. Check me out on Instagram I need validation!
Ha! Well I’m glad you made the jump to putting out a physical comic, and if Instagram helped make that happen then it can’t be all bad. Do you think it’s affected your style or your work in any way?
That’s interesting, because like I said I think single panels or 3 panels are a perfect medium for cartoons and that really lends itself to Instagram, so I would probably do the same thing either way. The next comic is longer and has a mix of single panels, 3 panels and longer comic stories so I don’t think it’s had too much of an effect.
But to a degree, maybe, I’m not sure. I really find it fascinating. It’s really narcissistic and the London scene has a lot of that (clothes, wanting to be seen etc, mainly in the younger generations) so I guess Instagram is a good medium for what I do, or what I’m trying to make fun of.
What’s the plan with the new comic?
It’s just an extension of the Instagram, with some 6 page stories thrown in and interviews with Jeremy Jones and French.
Sounds good! What stage is it at? Will it be out soon?
I just need to wait to see if I can do more than break even on the next run of t-shirts to put it out. For the tees the money model is: break even, keep some money aside for trips and some for the next run. If I dip into it to put the comic out I can’t put out another t-shirt run, because the return money on the comics is so much less than the tees, and if I don’t get a return we cant go on more filming trips.
Hopefully if the Parlour exhibition comes together I’ll sell/give away the comics there.
Good luck with everything! Anything else you want to add?
Shout out Greg Finch. He’s my favourite skater.
Find Greg at seriousadult.com
Yesterday it was announced that Sidewalk Magazine will cease as a print entity. In exactly twenty years, several generations of British skaters have contributed to global Blu-tack shortages re-decorating walls with adolescent stoke.
90s hip hop gave way to 2000s gnar, then to 2010s indie brands and mega-corps, whilst Sidewalk remained the go-to title for information, paper cuts and borderline libellous in-jokes hidden in plain sight, outlasting several titles at home and abroad. The market forces at work are so much bigger than skateboarding, with a global shift in the preferences of young people away from print to the instant gratification of social media-linked online platforms – forces that finished titles beloved to our little world, Slap and Sidewalk’s neighbour Document to name a few, as well as enormous titles that mostly deserve our derision, including the almost total death of the 90s crop of ‘lad mags’ Nuts, Zoo, Loaded, Front.
The Sidewalk brand, and the skateboarders behind it, will hopefully live long and well online – as is the strategy (whilst Kingpin, also hosted by the suits at Factory Media, became a free print title over Christmas). But it’s hard not to feel that something has been lost – that skateboarding is at once suddenly less personal and less iconoclastic. Fans of early-to-mid 90s Rocco hijinks, mixed with a particularly British sense of fun and love of shit-talking, Horse and Powell imbued Sidewalk with a unique voice that took the piss out of puff-chested American big names and made the home town heroes feel appreciated. It would be hard to imagine dudes that ‘made it’ whilst staying in the UK most of their careers – Shier, Kennedy, Baines, Vaughn, Chewy to name just a few – getting quite that degree of shine without the reliable patronage of a title with Sidewalk’s level of clout, built up from hard graft and present in every skateshop and on every British skater’s floor (or chronologically ordered on the designated shelf, if you suffer from my obsessive personality traits).
The Berrics obviously believe print still has a role to play, that there is a particular power in a skater having a photo in a physical format, as they only recently chose to buy out and continue the respected-but-struggling Skateboarder magazine.
But predicting the future for print.…especially if you’ve got fidgety shareholders to keep happy….is anyone’s guess. Somehow chasing the same customer base of ‘thinking-man’s skate geek.’ We have the free titles, many of them heavily supported in exchange for advertising by Adidas, Nike and Converse, such as Grey and Fluff. We have the one-man-labour-of-love titles like North, Varial and Florecast, and the more expensive, high-concept or limited run titles like Dank and 43. If you were to claim it’s the cover price alone that puts print in such a tricky place, how do you explain Dank? A quality Scandinavian coffee-table mag, heavily influenced by fashion, art and design magazines, that retails for the equivalent of £10 a pop and is sufficiently successful to make the jump to English-language from its original Norwegian.
As the teen market has jumped to phone-app based media, Sidewalk’s challenge has been to keep hold of enough of the 25+ expendable income market for print, whilst maintaining enough reach across the younger demographic with their online content. As long as the online content plays second fiddle to print deadlines, that’s tough to do. And when you look at the Factory Media website, under ‘who we are’, you see exactly the market Sidewalk’s holding company expects its skate titles to aim for: aged 10 to 28 – the youngest and (one of) the smallest demographic targeted.
Illustration by Jon Horner
So although we’re not now, and hopefully will never be, mourning the loss of Sidewalk as an entity and group of humans, it’s probably much more than generational angst affecting me and many others with a sense of sadness (as older skaters bitterly note the change in cultural weather towards something chillier and less permanent than those comforting spare-room archives of ink and paper). Two things are lost to be precise: skateboarding is inherently tactile – the feel of grip tape, the smooth graphic of a new board, the physical act of turning a page and pouring over a photograph – an experience lessened through a screen; and that iconoclasm again. If your online content needs to hoover up likes, tweets, follows and shares from Factory’s target 10 to 28 age group – what about the swearing and piss taking?
Skateboarding becomes somehow more ‘public’, less of a cluster of secret, sometimes warring societies – if you say something cheeky about a snotty top-tier pro, they can immediately see, share, sue or lobby sponsors to remove those all important ads. Everything gets safer – and only the indie websites, with little to lose by way of advertising (or at least advertisers who know what they’re getting themselves in for – take Quartersnacks: Supreme may be many things, but afraid of a little controversy it ain’t).
So that’s where I’d like to leave – on what Sidewalk in my early days of skating meant. I desperately wanted to feel part of skateboarding – that unknowable, mysterious thing owned by the cooler, older dudes in my hometown, that I could never be part of (at least before moving to somewhere more tolerant of over-earnest, socially awkward groms). Reading Sidewalk – particularly the tour articles penned by Horse or Powell, made me feel part of that secret society. And introduced me to some excellent wonky, booze-fuelled writing. The photographers of Sidewalk have been rightly praised as some of the best in the game: Wig, Bartok, Leo, CJ, Horse himself, etc. – but the writing, especially early on (Uncle Someone’s Wold of Something; Vincent Carducci’s record reviews), was/is fucking excellent – up there with the lauded Big Brother alumni Carnie and Nieratko.
At 17/18, with the exception of stuff, a cool English teacher got us to read (Orwell, Aldous Huxley) the written world was dull – something you had to study, on pain of a Monday morning bollocking, not something that brought on the stoke. Before Kerouac, HST, Burroughs and Bukowski opened my eyes to how weird, wrong and punk the written word could be, I read, and re-read the Sidewalk tour articles. Two clearly remembered anecdotes stick, both from Dope clothing tours: Frank Stephens and Colin Pope standing high on a hill, drunk out of their minds, throwing small stones at a village below – transformed by elevation and perspective to mean-spirited giants throwing boulders at tiny peasants; and the trip to Japan, where jet-lagged travellers were jolted awake by Harry Bastard with his head out of the window, squawking back at the early morning crows – fully inhabiting his title of ‘the Bastard’. It may lose something in the leaden re-telling, but, alone in my room, I laughed my ass off several times over both mental pictures. And that was British skating, underdogs fucking around – not athletes giving lifestyle advice.
Now go find Buck Rogers after, or whilst perusing this site of course…you’re a child of modernity, you can do both.
Words: Chris Lawton
Thanks to all of the skateboarders that have grafted daily for two decades to bring us humour and the best skating out there in print under intense deadlines for Sidewalk Surfer and Sidewalk Mag. There are no words to describe the dedication involved and the joy that your team brought to so many skateboarders over those 20 years, and long may it live online. Sidewalk Mag RIP. – Zac
Reminisce Andrew Horsley and Ben Powell’s finest moments in our 200th Issue feature. Facebook is indeed wank.
The last time Flip came to town back in 2008, some may remember that online cynics stated that their team of ‘little kids’ were never going to compete with the big boys. Here we are five years later and guess who is dominating every contest worldwide and has taken X-Games, Tampa Am and even the cherished prize of all that is Skater of the Year amongst others? Never, ever underestimate Flip Skateboards. They are Britain’s flagship skate co – the original, the most forward thinking, and the very best.
This demo was announced only 2 weeks before they landed at Heathrow. David Gonzalez and Curren Caples could not be present due to family unforeseen commitments and they are both in our thoughts today as family alays comes first. As Flip take this family aspect of life so seriously, they pulled out every stop to make this demo as good as it could be for you without two of their finest team riders. With Ben Nordberg dislocating his elbow in the week proceeding the demo too (get well soon mate), demo monster Greyson Fletcher flew into London with very little notice as cover. He had just spent time in Europe smashing everything he skated to pieces, including taking the prestigious first place spot at the Prado Bowl in Marseille last week, and had flown back to California. All options were looked into to make ammends for these changes in the week leading up to this demo, so hats off to all involved for making a mammoth effort to appease the visitors who attended this one. I cannot express how much effort went into this.
As Alec Majerus was clearing customs at 4.30pm, a crowd was forming at BaySixty6. It’s the hottest day of the year by far with the temperature hitting 29/30′. BBQ smoke filled the skies all over the city, skate sessions turned into lazy drinking sessions and those who turned up to welcome this crew should be highly commended.
The legendary Arto Saari was in the mix and skating on British soil for the first time in years, alongside the masterful Louie Lopez whose trick ratio is filling the bag these days. His Minnesotan friend Majerus showed why he took Tampa with ease last year, and Fletcher, well, you have to see this bloke to believe. He flies like an eagle with absolutely no fear of anything in front of him. Shouts to upcoming UK ripper Charlie Birch too who was invited to join this crew today and once again impressed all.
Overall it was a roaster and these beautiful photos from Maksim Kalanep tell the story of Flip’s visit alongside Ryan Gray’s swift footage from Sidewalk. Many thanks to Ian and all at Flip, all of the Bay66 staff, Ben Powell for mic action, and all who spread the word for us in short notice on this exclusive London event.
We are proud to announce that Crossfire will host an exclusive UK demo for the Flip Skateboards team at Bay Sixty 6 skate park in London on the evening of Saturday 6th July in association with Mob Grip, Sidewalk Magazine and Pixels.
The demo will start at 5.30pm and run until 9pm with Arto Saari, Louie Lopez, Curren Caples, Ben Nordberg and Alec Majerus in attendance. Join the Facebook event page here.
As this is the only UK demo from the Flip team, plan well in advance and arrange your travel and accommodation now if necessary. The address is 66-67 Acklam Rd, London, W10 5YU
We will update you on additional information on this page in the build up to the event. Spread the good word by liking this page and get hyped on Flip coming home!
10 years have flown by since we threw the first Crossfire Xmas Jam at BaySixty6 skate park. We have seen three different sponsors, many face-lifts, and a plethora of pro skateboarders, locals and visitors leave a legacy in the park with various tricks from demo’s, events and sessions.
Just before the park was shut down for a wonderful renovation by Nike back in September this year, we filmed this Total Recall edit with various UK skaters with the 10th Anniversary in mind, mainly because this should be a celebration about the skate park too, as without their dedication, we could not have reached this milestone.
This park has always been there as a place for London’s skateboarders to meet up and hang out doing what we do best: skate, have a few beers and enjoy life. Press play for a snapshot of memories from various people who have skated the park from scratch and enjoy a feature looking back over a decade of bringing the UK skate scene to London.
HISTORY
The Crossfire Xmas Jam was put together for the UK scene to defy the winter and to get together for one last session of the year. At the time, there were hardly any London events to attend at all. The ones we did have were retarded ‘extreme sports’ events, promoted by people that didn’t even skate, in an era where capitalism and corperate branding were just re-igniting within our scene. Big brands were keen to associate themselves with skateboarding once again due to the emergence of Tony Hawk’s record breaking impact in the gaming market, but what happened at the time was never planned and turned out to be a very happy accident and a total path changer.
Product toss.
THE EARLY YEARS.
The very first skate jam we rolled out was at PlayStation (now known as BaySixty6) in the Easter of 2003. The Crossfire club nights that came before these skate jams were pulling over 500 people per month with bands and DJ’s for skaters to attend and get amongst it. Sessions at PlayStation proceeded these parties next door to the Subterania where the parties were held, so it was only natural that we organised daytime skate jams too.
I remember the Dirty Sanchez guys turning up and stage diving into the mini ramp crowd on that first jam. Over 800 people were in the park. I also remember Terrence Anthony (who worked at the park) flattening the woman from BBC Newsround, by bundling her to the floor in drunken celebration! A very young Benny Fairfax won the honours in the street course that day and Danny Wainwright ruled the mini ramp. In fact, the Bristol (5050) and Welsh (Kill City) crews from this jam onwards became first on the list guests, and still are to this very day.
The classic Crossfire Pound note is part of Xmas Jam history. These notes were devised so that we had time to move quickly from one best trick jam to the next without having to sort out paperwork, so cash is exchanged at the end instead. One of our guest pro riders (who shall not be named) actually tried to pay at the bar with one of these!
Paul Shier and Rayman, Croydon’s finest. Blueprint always supported and will be missed by many. RIP.
THE 10 YEAR COUNTDOWN
2003
With this relationship with 5050 sealed, they asked us to premiere their Jus Foolin’ video and the very first Crossfire Xmas Jam was held at Playstation on Saturday 14th December, 2003 with Heroin, Eastpak, Death and Ortega Skateboard teams in attendance as guests. We were also investors in CIDE skate shop at the time, but nobody really knew that. Slam City Skates were involved from the start too.
Chris Pulman graced the first flyer, shot by Richie Hopson. Rich at Bulletclip designed a lot of these flyers and layouts, Gorm helped us loads too. I could not have done it without them. I think this particular photo was taken on a Death trip to Brussels with Matt Pritchard’s arse mooning the background whilst Cates and Zorlac looked on. The jam itself was amazing. Over 850 people turned up. It was followed by 5050’s video with a room full of 600 skaters. The Xmas Jam was born.
Custom pre-doors shot.
Danny Wainwright destroying the mini ramp. Honorary member.
Dan Wileman was always first on the list and still is. Honorary member.
2004
Globe got involved in the 2004 jam. As a result, the event welcomed its first European sponsored riders and also Toy Machine pro’s from the US. The session went off with a show from the most insane vert skills from Jocke Olson and various vert friends. Ben Grove took dough with a front blunt, Johnny Layton smashed the rail with feebles and more, Josh Harmony, Neil Smith and Vaughan Baker killed it. Others won Crossfire pounds but all I can really remember from that day was that it was absolutely freezing cold, but the session was incredibly warm.
Is that a very young Ewen Bower?!
Josh Harmony nosegrinds.
The Crossfire tee stall run by the lovely Dani, who froze annually to bring you stickers and tees! Thanks Dani!
The after party was held in Kings Cross with Kerrang! Magazine. Karaoke was the order of the night. Massive hangovers followed. A clan of honorary members in this photo.
“Highway to Hell!”
Highway to the Bar!
Calow and Grove in the house.
2005
I have no idea how we managed to actually fill the skatepark from this bloody awful flyer but it would have been my fault it looked like this and nobody elses! Circa Shoes flew Peter Ramondetta into London for this one and he ripped! We decided to build two kickers in the street course and it turned out to be one of the best ideas ever. Ben Raemers (seen below thanks to Leo Sharpe) killed it across the park and made his presence known big time. Wainwright nose picked the motorway roof off the mini ramp and sent everyone into chaos. Flynn Trottman and Rodney Clarke also took the honours at this jam and spent their hard earned dough at the after party held upstairs in a pub called the Mother Black Cap.
The Size Matters lads and Phil Procter fueled the decks on the night with hip hop sets. We all got mash up and another Xmas Jam ended on a high. Watch the video from this event here and the full article is online here.
BaySixty6 crew – honorary members
We could not have done any of this without James Sherry and Alan Christensen.
Or Ralph…all of these 3 are super-honorary members
Pete King and Dave Chesson always repped. Honorary members.
Snowy and Joey have seen a few jams too. Honorary members.
2006
The 2006 flyer is one of our favourites, designed by French. Globe were back as sponsors and the big focus was on the Koston block in the street course and the Heroin Whale that was designed by Fos. His whale design was inspired by an obstacle he had skated in Japan and he came down to paint it one cold December night once Mike in the park had knocked it up. Jak Tonge and Kyron Davis took unsponsored honours, Ben Raemer’s went one higher than Danny Wainwright with a frontside air into the ceiling. Chroliver, Rob Smith, James Gardner, Nowik, Boots and many more took best trick prizes on the day.
Read the full skate feature here and the party photos from Mau Mau’s here.
Fos works on the Heroin Whale. Legendary Xmas Jam obstacle. Honorary member.
Carl Wilson never misses this event. Honorary member.
Cates came as Santa. Honorary member.
Or maybe it was Scrooge.
2007
This Osiris sponsored jam at the park brought more guest pros. John Rattray, Garret Hill, Corey Duffel and Diego Bucchieri all arrived as guests and got stuck into the freezing temperatures alongside a full house of UK pros. Stuart Kolakovic designed this awesome flyer. Chris Ault, Danny Brady, Nowik, Potter and many more took the honours on the day.
Read the full article here and the gallery of party pics from the ‘Feed the Need’ video premiere here. The party was closed down early at the Truman Brewery over East due to people dancing on the bar to a Madness tune. Bog rolls were thrown, the lights went on and we were all told to leave.
Fun times.
Sidewalk filmed this jam:
More Skateboarding Videos
Our footage is here on YouTube but now without sound:
Churchill is a ruler. Honorary member of course.
Crew deep.
2008
Emerica and Altamont were involved in 2008. We spent most of their sponsorship money on the Altamont block, another Fos inspired design, this time built by Rodney Clarke, Pete King and Willis. I had flu on the week the jam was scheduled for. It rained all night long and all morning, so the mini ramp was absolutely soaked and the street course was also wet along the train line side. I remember getting into the park and wondering how we were going to pull it off at all. Everything was damp and slippery but once everyone turned up, the session lifted spirits.
The amount of slams on the mini ramp were ridiculous,as a result, we had to move the vert wall onto the mini ramp which made for a fun sesh. Ben Raemers took the wallride pounds, Nowik took them on the mini ramp, Brady took the Altamont block dough with a frontside 180 fakie nosegrind to revert. Eniz Fazliov and Ricardo Fonseca were European guests and really impressed. Mike Wright took the rail, Dominguez tre-flip fakie’d the wall. Full story here.
Check out little Jake Collins. Aw. Now an honorary member.
Mike Wright shut down the rail. An honorary member who returns this year with Steak.
Daryl Dominguez gets stuck into his local park. Honorary. Of course.
Ben Reamers footplants to fakie on the wall. Honorary Thrasher cover star member.
I remember the party being a total clanger. We had booked the Portuguese Sporting Club of London on Elkstone Rd opposite Meanwhile Gardens but they had triple booked it with a bunch of other Xmas party’s and had an entertainer on a keyboard booked in! Rob Smith was ejected after a huge fight at the door with the security guys. Absolute disaster of a night!
2009
To be honest, the 2009 event was lucky to happen. I had broken a disc in my back and the recession had fully kicked in. Luckily, a Mutate Britain Art Exhibition had been set up underneath the Westway. One of the very best street art gatherings London has ever seen. We approached Garfield on the site who was running it and asked them to build us a skate-able car in return for sending people down there on jam day as part of the ticket. They loved the idea and Alex Wreckage delivered something special. Every part of the car was grindable. Jess Young’s hippy jump through the windows was mental. Neil Smith went switch lipslide on the roof, Casper Brooker kickflipped the entire vehicle. Nowik took the mini ramp jam (again) and the car got wrecked. Read the feature here.
The after party at the Metropolitan Pub ended with a 6ft Xmas tree being thrown down the stairs fully dressed.
Nowik, picking up his annual Xmas bonus. Super honorary member.
Casper Brooker flipping one. Honorary member.
2010
This jam will always be remembered by a pigs head. Lee Dainton had brought one down from Wales in the van and needed to get rid of it, so instead we decided to plonk the pork on the wallride and that’s where it stayed. The primary objective for this was to make sure everyone knew that the skate park was at risk of being closed down. The skating shut the park down on the day though.
Jason Cloete took the honours in the unsponsored amongst others, Daryl Dominguez wrecked the wall and Jake Collins had an all round display. neil Smith, Dan Wileman and Sam Beckett annihilated alongside Chroliver. Jed Cullen, Nowik and Chris Coombs took the mini ramp sesh. Amazing day out! Alan Christensen’s finest video edit too. Feature here.
The Kill City crew represent every year.
Jake grew rapidly and now Carve’s Wicked.
Sam Pulley front blunts. Honorary member.
Party time then…
2011
I remember looking at the skate park as this jam kicked off and thinking this park is on its last legs and looks to be closing but on the postive side, everyone turned up to make it a day we will never forget once again. Throughout the years, the sponsorship money has always gone into building something to put back into the park, but on this occasion, we had none, and regardless of that, we had a blast due to the skating that went down. It’s a reminder that no skate jam needs thousands of corperate pounds to have a great day out, it’s the skateboarding that makes it work every time.
Manny Lopez clashed heads with Tim Prozorov. The Estonian was fine, but Manny had an egg on his face for a couple of weeks, poor bloke. Thankfully his constant amazing skating at every xmas jam helped him get the attention needed for Fabric to hook him up. Chris Oliver’s BS lipslide/FS bluntslide/5050 down the super long hubba won the Superdead comp outright. Chroliver, Nowik, Cullen, Raemers, Zwijsen and Jake Collins took the honours. The entire Kill City team ripped too, even though they had just flown in from Barcelona and brought their DVD for us to premiere at Mau Mau’s. We are now banned from there too. Full feature here. Video here.
Chroliver after the backside disaster hubba treatment. One of the best tricks ever. In fact, what is the best trick ever over the ten years?
Jed Cullen. Honorary member.
2012
So here we are awaiting the video, photos and highlights to put in here from the 10th Anniversary Xmas Jam. Get down to this event and make it the best we have ever witnessed, as without you lot, this event is nothing.
I would like to thank everyone at BaySixty6 skatepark over the years for having us. All the photographers (i’m sure that Tom Halliday, Dom Marley, SMAY, Matt Clarke, Jerome Loughran, Styley and others may have photos on this page), and filmers Alan Christensen, Andy Evans, Moose and so many more. There are actually too many to mention here, but you know who you are. Thank you so much for helping. Honorary members.
I also want to thank everyone who has sponsored the event, Mark Brewster for mic duties over the years, every distribution company and skate shop that help us reach skaters with flyers. All pro teams, skaters and UK skate companies that have traveled miles and donated product annually. All at Sidewalk who covered the event throughout the years, and of course, you, for being there to make it happen. Here’s to another decade.
Zac
If you plan in advance for this year’s Crossfire Xmas Jam you will grab advance tickets for just £7 opposed to the usual £10 entrance fee on the door at BaySixty6. These are now available at Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop over the counter, so get them fast before they are gone this weekend.
Enjoy and share this video shot from the opening of the park and mostly from sessions we have had recently in the bowl. Look out for the team announcements on Monday.
Sidewalk are rolling out every section from their amazing video ‘In Progress’, so get stuck into Conhuir Lynn’s footage that went live yesterday.
Invite friends at our Facebook event page. Scroll down for FREE DGK premiere/after party info.
We are proud to announce a jam celebrating a decade of Crossfire Xmas Jam events. This milestone will be heavily celebrated with one of the very best skate sessions you will ever attend on Saturday 15th December from 12-6pm at BaySixty6 skatepark in London. The address is 65-66 Acklam Road, London, W10 5YU. Map here.
Entry is £10 on the door and £7 in advance from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop.
The 10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012 is in association with Ricta Wheels, and sponsored by DGK, Superdead Skateboards, Grizzly Griptape, HUF, Sidewalk, Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop. All involved will have various best trick comps planned on the day in the street course. The Ricta Wheels bowl jam will kick off from 4pm, so expect absolute carnage throughout the day, with many NBD’s put down at the new park. £1000 cash prizes will be handed out on the day for guest pro’s and ams.
From midday, traditional unsponsored best trick jams will see £500 worth of shop vouchers from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop up for grabs in the street course. Yep, it’s time to raise your game. We will also host two video premiere’s on the day via the big screen that will also be announced soon.
HUF BEST TRICK COMP: Highest ollie comp over the driveway.
DGK BEST TRICK COMP: Best Hubba trick
SUPERDEAD BEST TRICK COMP: Best gap trick across the entrance
GRIZZLY GRIPTAPE BEST TRICK COMP: Best tricks on the quad ledge
From 2pm, the pro jam will be the best you have ever witnessed due to the huge support from UK skateboard companies coming out to celebrate this one with us. Expect a huge turnout of guest team riders from the creme of UK skateboarding from Death, Heroin, Kill City, Skateboard Cafe, Drawing Boards, Science, Fabric. Superdead, Lovenskate, Ricta, A Third Foot, Steak, The National Skateboard Co, The Harmony, Witchcraft and Landscape Skateboards.
Confirmed team riders:
Kill City: Lee Dainton, Nicky Howells, Caradog, Jess Young, Sox and Kyle Howells.
Stand Up: Aaron Sweeney, Marcus Adams, Doug Parmiter, Jeremy Jones, Alex Lally, Casper Barnett, Hector Barnett, Jamal Bendriss, Ivan Marques, Evan Knight.
Death: Sam Murgatroyd, Dan Cates, Nick Zorlac, Mike Simons, Timmy Garbett, Moggins, Nick Anscombe, James Jones and Blinky.
The National Skateboard Co: Josh ‘Manhead’ Young and Tom Harrison
Volcom: Ben Raemers.
Slam City: Darius Trabalza
Science: Ben Cruickshank, Joe Sivell, Pete Buckley, Chris Morgan and Sam Taylor.
5050: Ollie Lock, Phil Parker, Tom Gibbs, Will Ainley and Justin Sydenham .
Skateboard Cafe: Korahn Gayle, Shaun Currie, Josh Arnott and Harry Ogilvie.
Witchcraft: Marc Churchill, Joe Habgood, Joxa, Mike Joyce, Arbel Samsenov, Max Roton, Jamie Morley, Vincent Coupeau, Romain Covolan, Josh Malphaus and French.
Landscape: Joey Pressey, Jin Shimizu.
Superdead Awadh Mohammed, Chris Oliver, Nick Remon, Harry Lintell, Ben Rowles.
Ricta: Neil Smith, Carl Wilson, Jess Young.
Heroin: Craig Questions, Rogie, Casper Brooker.
The Harmony: Jak Pietryga and Dom Henry.
HUF: Jak Tonge, Jed Cullen, Nikki Chappell.
Lovenskate: Ewen Bower, Alex Barton, ‘Chav’ Dan Hill, Liam Sproat, Matt Ransom, Lee Santa, Stuart Smith.
A Third Foot: Andy Coleman, Adam Keys, Dave Pegg, Ryan Price.
Vans: Greg Nowik, Shaun Currie, Nev, Salar Kooshki, Daryl Dominguez, Charlie Birch.
Steak: Rowan Murray, Danny Abel, Nic Hanson, Adam Collingburn, Mike Wright.
More to be announced soon.
Plan ahead and arrange your travel and accommodation. Look out for an announcement soon and cut and paste this flyer and post to share with others. It means so much to roll this jam out for you. Thanks for ten years of your fantastic support.
After Party information:
The Xmas Jam will be followed by a warehouse party and the UK premiere of the much the highly anticipated DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘ in association with I-Five Distribution.
This event will take place in the Pop Up Cinema on the same road at BaySixty6 skate park (near Portobello Rd) followed by a warehouse party in the same location from 7pm-1am.
FREE ENTRY: To get yourself on the guest list for the screening and party, email your full name to DGKparty@caughtinthecrossfire.com and you will be added.
Doors open from 7pm, after the jam, where you will be able to get food and drink from the bar. Please note that only over 18’s will be able to purchase alcohol. I.D will be required.
The film will screen from 8.30pm. Please Facebook and Tweet this post to spread the word, get yourself on the list and we will see you there for a 10th Anniversary night out.
DGK – PARENTAL ADVISORY – TRAILER from KAYOTV on Vimeo.
Sidewalk have started to release full sections from their ‘In Progress’ DVD this week. Ryan Gray’s project will all be online over the coming week or so. Look out for Ben Raemers, Harry Lintell, Conhuir Lynn, Nicky Howells, Tom Harrison, Mark Baines, Nick Remon, Ben Nordberg, Chris Jones, Denis Lynn and more soon.