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The Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012 feature

The weather reports in the lead up to this 10 Year celebration went from a possible fat dump of snow, to freezing frog, but the end result was perfect blues on the day. We were so lucky, because it was freezing from Monday to Wednesday but the weather went from 2′ to 10′ in two days.

Those thinking this is great news may not know that after a big freeze like that, the motorway over-hanging BaySixty6 skate park suddenly starts to sweat, meaning condensation fills the walls when a sudden change in the weather happens. The day before the jam, the park was soaked, so we all lucked out big time.

Before the event kicked off, I had the pleasure of dressing the park with banners and stickers as usual, and was stoked to have two kids ask if they could help. It was more of a surprise though when none other than Paul Weller asked if he could hang Ricta banners around the bowl. Crossfire would never have started if I had not have heard ‘Setting Sons’ by The Jam back in the early 80’s. This album has some seriously powerful lyrics. This happening was personally a lovely 10th Anniversary gift, so big ups to Mr Weller for making my day.

The un-sponsored jams commenced on the Grizzly Grip Tape ledges. Everything landed in this rapid fire 15 minute session came courtesy from our guest ams and pro’s warming up and so many tricks that were never actually made, so the vouchers were taken over to the small stair set.

Santa checks the park for booby traps ahead of doors. Explosive jam incoming. Ph: Richard West

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Like lemmings, people dropped all sorts of goodness on us. This included Tomas Monkevičius‘ kickflip fs board slide on the rail that took Stand Up‘s dough. Nai Sukanant’s switch hardflip on the small stair set was a banger, Craig Loveless pulled out a nollie hardflip, but it was Gytis Bluivas‘ switch bigspin heelflip that rocked the joint. He was so close to taking a fs smith flip out on the ledge before this too, like, really close, but this was just the beginning for Gytis as you will find out further down this page. Alex Tibble closed the un-sponsored procedures with a quick-as-you like, straight-out-of-the box switch fs flip over the small gap. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

Watch the official video edit filmed/edited by Andy Evans, additional filming from Danny Bulmer and Tom Gillespie.

The park was a mess by 2pm. Boards were being sprayed everywhere. There’s so much more room in the new Bay park, but during an open jam style event, it’s quite hard to find that space needed when it’s busy. People tend to sit on obstacles and get in the way, making it difficult for people to land tricks. That aside, we had no major collisions other than two blokes locking horns in the bowl, and the usual scrap in the product toss, so considering the chaos, nobody was seen limping into an ambulance.

Six people skating the bowl at once = carnage. Ph: Richard West

Gytis Bluivas takes the DGK jam with style. Ph: Tom Halliday

The DGK Hubba Jam was instantly set upon by Thomas Harrison whose tail slides didn’t connect for him, but out of nowhere came Aaron Neville‘s impossible 5-0 before Alex DeCuhna laid down a stealth fs smith and kick-flipped out. Dan Wileman pushed a fs blunt, Sox ollied onto it and pushed a nose manual down it, Shaun Currie took a sweet noseslide 270-out before that Lithuanian ripper Gytis Bluivas returned with a crook only to nollie flipped out. He took the honours, and the dough. We hear that on this display, Gytis may end up with a sponsor. Let’s hope so, he fully deserves it.

Alex DeCunha delivers a mansize FS smith flip out. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Sox had manny mania. Ph: Tom Halliday

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It was Tom Steel who came up with the idea of wrapping board boxes for the HUF high ollie jam. The choice of Xmas wrapping paper and overall job would have received thumbs up from Blue Peter I reckon.

Mark Radden killed it all day for Death. Ph: Tom Halliday

With the driveway prepped, and the boxes continuously stacked, it came down to three potential candidates for the win. Chris Oliver sneaked one over the top ninja style and rode out on two wheels. Mark Radden pushed the boundaries and popped what we thought would be the winner until Thomas Harrison took out six boxes and closed the account. Absolutely epic stuff.

Thomas Harrison ollies The National Skateboard Co into their first win. Ph: Tom Halliday.

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Balls of steel. Joe Habgood back-D’s the wall hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

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If the wall jam at this year’s Halloween Massacre was anything to go by, we were about to see even more NBD’s destroy its steep transitions. This wall is no joke and way steeper than the previous build. It didn’t bother Joe Habgood though, whose first trick was to fakie rock the high section. I can confirm that he is the first to lay that down for sure. His backside disaster in the wall hole and fs nosepick raised beers across the park too. The unicorn juice was certainly flowing today.

Jed Cullen takes a pivot fakie. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Ryan Price threw another fs nosepick into the mix, Sox pulled in off the coping to fakie and also left a one foot rock fakie behind. Again, another NBD went down. Jed Cullen took the honours though with a blunt fakie on the coping, and then on the high wall like Joe (just to rub it in!) and also took a pivot fakie home too. What a session.

Lloyd McLeggon had catch, bolts and steez. Watch him in 2013. Ph: Tom Halliday

The big rail sesh and stair set was quite a spectacle too. The rail was kept warm by John Howlett who made sure he feebled it and also left a backside smith for us to ponder on. Jess Young took a sick tailslide revert, Daryl Dominguez also saw his tail do the work right in front of Brum’s Luke Kindon, whose crook backside lipslide was deemed the winner.

John Howlett back smith’s the rail. Ph: Richard West

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The stairs got a serious workout. Oldham’s LLoyd Mcleggon was catching his board with steez as he kickflipped and hardflipped the 5. Bloke went down though and was helped out at the final whistle with a tweaked knee and a groin whack. This year’s I.D star Awahd Mohammed looked like he was walking away with the pounds with a sick bs 360 ollie, but in the very last second Liverpool’s Charlie Birch laid down a fs bigspin that had everyone on their feet. The place erupted and he took the lot. Ridiculousness.

A Third Foot’s Dave Pegg ripped all day long with hardlflips and more. Ph: Tom Halliday

Lloyd McLeggon recovered from this with a groin strain. Ph: Rich West

Ledge fiends then filled the quad with tailslides, nosegrinds and more on the Grizzly Grip ledge sesh. So many people skated, yet so little was taken away clean. Honorary mentions include Alex DeCunha‘s front smith kick flip out (that we didn’t manage to get on film or tape), Caradog Emmanuel‘s fs tail slide flip out and Thomas Harrison’s second winning trick on the day for the National Skateboard Co, a tailslide 270 out which again, didn’t make it to film due to people being in the way. This was a frustrating session for coverage but what went down in the chaos was ace.

Daryl Dominguez takes a fs kickflip over his local hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

Double D then pushes the boat out with a fs heelflip. Job done. Ph: Richard West

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Big tings were going down in the warm up for the Superdead Gap Jam. Clean ollies were beong thrown down as set ups for various other tricks, but with this gap being fucking huge, it eventually came down to three contenders. Vans rider Daryl Dominguez opened the proceedings with a kickflip which spurned on Lovenskate’s Ewen Bower to float an ollie over the beast and revert it right at the last millisecond. Whilst people were picking their jaws up from the floor from that, Death’s Mikey Patrick (who has returned from an injury) launched a few attempts to bs ollie fakie the channel, until he hit the sweet spot. A total meltdown was in place but this was just the beginning. Daryl then threw another kickflip across the beast and then started some heelflip assaults. Ewen upped the ante with a stalefish revert (yes, wtf!) and took the piss with a fully-cocked-leg benihana. Shut down. Every skater in that park went nuts and then started to chant Daryl’s name. You know he was going to have it, and then there it was. Bang! Electric session!

Benihana’s suck, but not when Ewen Bower floats them this high. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Ewen’s stalefish revert over the beast gap was pure class. Ph: Richard West

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How do you follow that mentalness? Only one way, and that’s to get stuck into a bowl sesh fueled by Ricta. It was a mess in there! 6 people at a time, full throttle. Sox had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, Habgood was roaring through the place catching diving board gashes in his shins from the weak. He took a sick nosepick out of the bowl, so did Jed. Sick tricks. The hip jam was won by Greg Nowik, whose selection of fine xmas pickings warmed the cockles enough to hand him the dough. It was his fs shuv that really got tails tapping though. Carl Wilson’s hip work was sterling as ever, Ryan Price was bang up for it, Ewen Bower dropped some bangers. Too much, too many, too much again.

Joe Habgood nosepicks to glory. Ph: Tom Halliday

Nowik tried the double flip. Ph Tom Halliday

Stalefish action from Witchcraft’s secret weapon, Morph. Ph: Richard West

Jed Cullen takes his Blakey moustache to new levels in the bowl jam. Ph: Richard West

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‘Chav’ Dan Hill was the only person able to actually grind more than 10 feet. He managed only two thirds of the double pocket he laid down at the Halloween Massacre to win the longest grind comp. The carnage was so rife in that bowl that tricks were hard to come by, knowing that someone is about to smash you in the back of the head as you land a trick.

Max Roton needs no colour for his fs boneless steez. Ph: Richard west

Chroliver‘s head high kickflips would have been trick of the day if he had landed one, instead, he got his arse out for the transfer jam and mooned the platform like a slut. I’m amazed that nobody’s head got stuck up his harris from the amount of people flying over the barrier. Witchcraft’s New Zealand bomber Morph was in every run laying it down in camouflage attire. He was also busting out 360’s out of there, until he took the tail of his 8.5 on landing. Terrorist moves. Charlie Birch then drew blood from his head in the melee. There was also a serious head clash in the bowl before Habgood rolled out of there with some moolah for his nosepick and transfer prowess. The bear’s insides maybe fucked, but he’s tough on the outside and will battle anyone.

Jono Coote slams down a handplant. Ph: Richard West

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If you were not there on the platform to witness this and sat at home awaiting footage like a mong, then you will never understand what this frenzied session was like, ever. Thanks Ricta, you fucking rule. The skateboarding certainly didn’t let us down.

The after party saw Chroliver taking over the decks and a full house filled the Portobello Pop Up Cinema for the UK premiere screening of the banging new DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘. A huge amount of work has been put into this production, the skating is ridiculous. Pure tech dream stuff. Go grab a copy of it this Xmas.

RESULTS:

UNSPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

Tomas Monkevičius – Kickflip FS board slide on the small rail.

Nai Sukanant – Switch Hardflip on the small stair set.

Gytis Bluivas: Switch bigspin heelflip down the small stair set.

Craig Loveless: Nollie hardflip down the small stair set.

Alex Tibble: Switch fs flip over the small gap.

Jess Young takes a tailsilde revert for Kill City’s hit list. Ph: Richard West

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Greg Nowik’s front shuv was one of many. Standard solo show for Xmas. Ph: Tom Halliday

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SPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

RICTA BOWL JAM:

Best Hip Trick: Greg Nowik: FS late shuv and many more.

Longest Grind: ‘Chav’ Dan Hill.

Best tricks out of the bowl/transfer: Joe Habgood – FS nosepick on the outer wall/ FS 180 to nosestall and backside 180 to rock fakie into the barrier out of the bowl.

Chav Dan whoops a big backside-D slide once the carnage clears. Ph: Tom Halliday

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DGK HUBBA JAM: Gytis Bluivas – Crook nollie flip out.

HUF HIGH OLLIE JAM (driveway): Thomas Harrison (6 boxes).

SUPERDEAD GAP JAM: Split winners – Daryl Dominguez – 2 x kickflips, heelflip. Ewen Bower – FS Ollie revert, FS Stalefish revert, Benihana.

GRIZZLY GRIP TAPE LEDGE JAM: Thomas Harrison – FS tailslide fs 270 shuv out, in and out of ledge.

WALLRIDE JAM: Jed Cullen – Blunt fakie, Pivot fakie, fakie rock (on high section).

RAIL JAM: Luke Kindon – Crook to back lip slide.

STAIR SESH: Charlie Birch – FS Bigspin.

‘The Spaniard’ Ivan Rodriguez sings Feliz Navidad to his well wishers over the hip. Ph: Tom Halliday.

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Huge thanks to Paul McDermott and everyone at BaySixty6 skate park, Ian Deacon at Ricta, Vicki and Alan at Shiner, Wes at Rocksolid, Maf and Ross at Out of Step, Tez and Harry at Superdead, Jane and Adam at I-Five, all at Slam City and at Stand Up Skate Shop.

Massive thanks to all of the UK guest team riders that made it into the big smoke from Death, Heroin, Kill City, Skateboard Cafe, Science, 50-50 crew, Fabric, HUF, DGK, Superdead, Lovenskate, Ricta, A Third Foot, Steak, Crayon The National Skateboard Co, The Harmony and Witchcraft.

Big ups to Mark Brewster, Rich West, Tom Halliday, Andy Evans, Danny Bulmer, Tom Gillespie, Marcroy Smith, Jim O’Raw, Paul Weller, the two kids who helped me dress the park, Ben Larthe, Ross McGouran and Kyron Davis.

Tight grip yo. Ph: Tom Halliday

Product toss mayhem. Ph: Richard West

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Bundles. Ph: Richard West

Super Brewster. Ph: Richard West

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Double D and Ewen Bower stole the show. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Unidentified flying object. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Liverpool’s Charlie Birch will be the UK’s most talked about skateboarder in years to come. Remember this. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Porno Paul and Nowik know. Ph: Tom Halliday

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Chav Dan tries out some Guerrero steez. Ph: Tom Halliday

You can hear the snap of Habgood’s nose on the coping. Merry Xmas all. Ph: Tom Halliday.

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Categories
Features

Exposed: Death Skateboards ‘Ordinary Madness’

The Death Skateboards team have ended 2012 on a high. Once again, their commitment to UK events, making great products and general scene dedication has seen them flourish into one of the longest serving skateboard companies in the UK.

Five years ago, Death delivered Better Than Life, an amazing collection of footage which saw their worldwide squad up the ante tenfold. Since then, this dishevelled crew have worked hard to deliver another full length DVD, ‘Ordinary Madness’. A full length production that is UK’s video of the year. The UK premiere party was another dose of disorderly fun, screened at the Trinity Pub in Harrow in front of a packed house. The film itself, is by far their best production, featuring sections from all of their pro riders and also the undercurrent of flow riders on the team that are upcoming.

This latest Exposed feature delves into the filming trips behind the scenes with recollections of how OM was stitched together by Death aficionado’s. Their most animated ambassador, Mr DAN CATES, will get this party started sharing his tales of the unexpected from the sessions that made the final cut:

“For me, the funniest and most memorable moments in the making of any video usually come while on a filming mission abroad. ‘Ordinary Madness’ was no exception to the rule! Sometimes it’s the excitement of exploring uncharted territory, sometimes it’s the (usually hot) weather, and other times it’s just the fact that the crew is together once again. That generally sparks off high spirits and “good vibes”, but regardless of the reasons, fun times always occur.

One such time was on a dead of winter trip to good old Barcelona. I had organised it with Zorlac and photographer Rob Shaw, but at the last moment decided we would stay at our good friend Troy West’s new apartment instead of the hostel we had all agreed on. This ended up being not such a good idea (sorry boys!), as the apartment had no heating, Troy got ill and couldn’t skate with us, Rob and our buddy Josh Cox had to sleep together on a small sofa at night (and were not particularly stoked about it), and Moggins was going through some weird phase where all he would talk about was working on site. On top of all this, Boots, who had recently got divorced from his wife, spent most of the trip on the phone to his new girlfriend. I hate to say it, but people were starting to get on each others nerves and spirits were for once, unusually low. A few days in, the normally tea-total Boots, who had by now hurt his neck and couldn’t skate properly anyway, decided (after a lot of encouragement from Moggins and I) to start drinking Sangria at breakfast. This ended up having a knock on effect and by night fall most of the group was 2 litres deep into a Sangria binge with the now paralytic Boots leading by at least a litre and a half!

Whilst I tried to hold it down at the bar, everyone else spent hours chasing Boots around the back streets of Barcelona, bundling him and giving him ‘digs’ as pay back for being “that guy” on his phone all week. This all culminated at the water front with a cornered Boots taking both of his shoes off and throwing them into the Mediterranean in a hilarious attempt to prevent anyone else having the pleasure of doing it. After the entire crew (including Boots) had finished rolling around on the floor laughing, the ever mischievous Moggins decided he wanted more and bet me another litre of Sangria if I stripped down to my boxers and dived off the docks into the (not so warm in January) Med. I obliged and after drunkenly clambering out of the sea feeling strangely content, we began the walk back to Troy’s place dripping wet and cold with a shoeless Boots and a happy crew. We had finally found the high spirits we were searching for!”

Don’t ever bring a KFC bucket into the Death van.

DAVE ALLEN:

“Early on in the filming Nick Zorlac aka “The Boss” came to Atlanta to visit for two weeks and get some filming in the bag too. As most people know, Nick is a night owl, usually going to bed about 5am and waking up at like 12 or 1 in the afternoon. As Atlanta in on Eastern standard time (EST -5 hours), it worked out pretty good for Nick as he never had to adjust his body clock. Most days we sat having breakfast at 8am! I kid you not, Zorlac was not only up before Midday, he was functioning like a ‘normal’ human being too! We even raked the leaves up one morning together.

So the first week went pretty good but on the Sunday I managed to twist my knee trying a disaster revert in a pool, tearing my meniscus. I was in agony and the doc said I needed surgery to fix it. Not wanting to spoil his holiday, I said I would wait a week until after Nick had left before I went under the knife.

As I couldn’t skate, we decided to go and do some tourist stuff. Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola and they have a museum there called the world of Coke. So we borrowed a wheelchair from them and set about taking the tour. Nick was pretty useless as a wheelchair companion and kept leaving me behind and then having to come back and get me.

In the tasting room where you can sample and mix all the drinks they make, they have this huge Coke bottle. Nick wanted to take my pic next to it so, without thinking I got up and sort of walked lock legged a few paces to stand next to it. A cleaner saw me get out of the chair to walk, and proclaimed it was; “a miracle!”. She was gobsmacked. Her face was a study of wonderment and she rushed off to tell her work mates. Nick and I were pissing ourselves laughing as I got back in the chair and carried on with the tour!”.

Paws for celebration.

Cates goes feeble for the lens.

DEAN PALMER:

“Well, basically I was that dipshit guy who was holding the deadline off. I kept asking poor Mark (Nicolson) for a little longer, a little longer and a little longer. I was going back to this spot to film a last trick for the video and I think I ended up going there like 7 or 8 times with great experiences- like getting kicked out, windy conditions, screaming children, Skooner, body becoming too wrecked, splitting my head open, broken board, the mentals and just plain sucking! In the end it was all worth it I guess because I never landed the trick. Sorry guys. Haha!”.

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10 urban shits with TIMMY GARBETT while filming for Ordinary Madness by MOGGINS:

“I’ve been skating with Timmy for over 10 years and I’ve never seen one person shit in so many obscure places. Anyone who knows him is well aware of his ‘talent’ and know that he could drop a log at any given moment. Here’s 10 shits that I came up with off the top of my head but there’s many, many more.”

1. Timmy’s first Death trip was a summer tour a couple of years ago and pretty much the first spot of the trip he decided to recreate the DVD menu from the ‘Ravenous’ video by kicking the seat out of an old chair then forcing one out whilst sat on it. Unfortunately, the result was nowhere near as impressive as the original and all he could manage was a golf ball sized piece dotted with sweetcorn. He then picked it up on a stick, smelt it, almost threw up then threw it in the water where everyone had to paddle through to get to the full pipes we were skating. Welcome to the team scumbag!

2. For some reason one evening, Timmy decided it would be a good idea to curl one out on the driveway at Chesterfield skatepark, he then proceeded to spray paint it red.

3. We went to skate some new benches at a school a few months ago and of course Timmy needed to relieve himself as soon as we got there so he took his empty pringles tube and aimed a brown torpedo perfectly into the small opening of the tin. He then wiped his arse with a banana.

4. Another one on the Death summer tour, without needing much encouragement Timmy found himself squatting over the edge of a roof laying an egg, when Steak appeared out of nowhere with a fire extinguisher aimed it high at the squatting Timmy and emptied it all over him!

5. One evening a crew of us were skating Harrow skate park and had the half-pipe lit up with a generator and lights. In the darkness, Timmy dumped a load on top of the snake-run, then kicked it into the stagnant pool of water sitting in the bottom. An hour later my skateboard ran away from me and ended up in the water. Stoked.

6. One Sunday afternoon we were skating the DIY spot in Sheffield and our mate Dead Dave was trying a wallride pop into a quarter-pipe. After a few tries of jumping off, he was given an incentive to land the trick where every time he jumped off he would have to smell Timmy’s wretched dogshit breath. After a few tries (and blasts of stench breath) Dave pulled the trick and Timmy celebrated by taking a shit off the roof into the quarter pipe.

7. The final entry from the Summer tour happened at a KFC, where we had to wait ages to get our food and weren’t allowed to sit in and eat. Timmy was upset over the poor service so after we had finished eating in the car park he decided to refill an empty family bucket with his own secret recipe, and he left the 2-piece meal on the bin for the employees to deal with.

8. After skating one night at a house party, Timmy decided to do his bet chef impression. He squeezed out his own brand of ‘special sausage’ into a frying pan, but of course this wasn’t enough, and he needed some sauce to go with it. So he pissed and puked on top of the smelly sausage and proceeded to fry it up on the hob for half an hour. Delicious!

9. Another standard evening skating down Chesterfield skatepark, Timmy got a call from work telling him that he didn’t have to work the next day. This obviously excited him as he dropped his trousers and rolled a few logs into the bowl corner while people were skating the ramp.

10. The final story was when we were skating a handrail at the bus depot in Sheffield. Dead Dave was trying to 5050 the rail and was having trouble commuting to landing it so Timmy offered to drop a celebratory egg if he made the trick. A couple of tries later Dave had put the trick down and ridden away. We all gathered round to congratulate him and to check the footage, when we turned round to see Timmy already squatting, pushing a little baby out without any encouragement from anyone, just out of pure love for a street shit.

“So there you are, a collection of short stories from my wretched mate Timmy Garbett. If you ever see him, ask him to lay an egg for you, and if it’s your lucky day, you will witness something special!”

Rob Smith enjoys ditch life with Melcher and Jackson.

ROB SMITH:

“Van boredom springs to mind. Always funny shit happening in the Death fun wagon on filming missions. Whilst in the van filming for this video, I drank petrol, ate glass, deep throated a banana until puking over everyone, bleeding everywhere. People got naked. Timmy shat in the van and also in a KFC bargain bucket! That was a funny one. I also snapped my foot in 3 places whilst filming for this video in the fun bus. Not so funny story.

We also stayed in Skegness when on a filming mission and smashed an apartment to pieces, to the state where every plate was smashed, every knife and fork was bent, even the sofa was snapped in half! We left paint on the ceiling! I managed to climb inside the sofa and put it back together but when I got out I couldn’t find my phone, so we rang it and the sofa started to light up and vibrate! I’d left it inside the sofa, so I had to take it apart again to get it back! Haha! We couldn’t be arsed to fix it again. Nothing was ever mentioned by the apartment staff, in fact we have even stayed there since.”

Melcher and Jackon. Ph: Richie Valdez

PATRICK MELCHER:

“Obviously we took a new and fresh approach to making a video part on this one. Richie and I decided that, not only was innovation in the physical realm of skateboarding a necessary evil, but there must be more in the production as well.

Taking the standard “doubles” part and tweaking it into an actual “duet” proved to be a lot more mind-bending than we initially thought it would. Finding a duet song that suited us both and actually spoke to our individual styles was only the first hurdle. Whilst filming, in order to get the tempo in synch, we would bring along a boom-box and listen to the song several times during the session, mapping out the exact points where we should be doing tricks. Timing was everything. There were sessions where we must have listened to a certain part of a song 50 times before we even set foot on a board!

It’s hard enough to film a trick solo, add in the fact that you both have to pull tricks, and then on top of that, they have to fall exactly within the designated vocals of our musical counterparts. Needless to say, there are plenty of outtakes! So many times we would be so close and both pull our tricks flawlessly, but the synching was off with the music! It really got to be maddening after a while.

In skating, as we all know, you can have it down in your head so perfectly but the physical variables compound so heavily that you will surely go mad. Luckily we had a couple of filmers who understood the art of what we were tying to accomplish and were patient on these sessions.”

RICHIE JACKSON

“The sketchiest clip to acquire was the one where Melch hangs out on that wallride to fakie while I carve underneath him. That spot is the rear of a carwash in a relatively sketchy part of LA, which is only closed for a few hours after midnight on Sunday’s. We headed over there with a crew of 4 dudes in total. Once we got the lights in, Melch started going straight for it.

The footage gives zero indication of what we were actually dealing with, but the wall Patrick was hanging off was literally someone’s back fence. There was a pitbull right there on the other side going bonkers, which at 2:00 AM woke up whoever lives there. I can only imagine what the poor guy over the fence was experiencing. He would have seen two hands in a leather jacket pop up over his fence, rattle his awning, then drop back down, again, again and again! It’s only right that the only words he spoke to us were “I’m calling the cops”.

All I had to do was get up onto the wall under Patrick, and just hope that we timed it right. We handled it as quick as we could and then rushed to pack everything up and get it in the car. I’ve never dismantled tripods so fast. We drove out of the carwash after a 15 minute session, took one right turn at the bottom of the street and drove straight past the cop car that was on it’s way to get us. Tales of Ordinary Madness indeed.”

Jackson loves walls. Ph: Melcher

NICK ZORLAC:

“The last summer tour we did was so much fun, a.k.a the ‘Lady Luck’ tour. It went something like this:

The Death van was too small to fit a massive crew in.
– Monster Energy gave us a 17 seater bus to use stacked with drinks.

I wanted Crazy Pete to come along as co driver, but his driving licence was at the DVLA and he needed it to get insured on the tour vehicle.
– His license arrived back in the post the very morning we were leaving.

It rained, pretty much every day.
– We drove to spots that we wanted to skate through the rain anyway, and the sun came out as we were driving and dried up where we were going.

We needed lots of footage for the DVD.
– Every spot we went to multiple riders landed sick stuff, it was mental. We didn’t know where we were going. In each area we had the coolest locals with us showing us about. Lots of spots were a bust. People kept making stuff ‘last try’ literally as the security were arriving.

We needed lots of floor space for people to sleep.
– There just happened to be a spare room at the house that month, as our friend had recently relocated. (Miss you Hitcher!) And so it continued. Good times.

I also just found out that a lot of places we skated on that tour were demolished soon after or unskateable for whatever reason (new buildings etc), so if we had not visited there at that point, we would have missed out.

Oh, and we managed to skate a real transitioned backyard pool (stupidly rare in the UK) and Benson shot a photo in there that ended up being a Sidewalk cover! In a world where ‘if things can go wrong, they generally do’, it was a welcome change.”

MARK NICOLSON

“For this video we drafted in my good friend Jake Martinelli (the genius behind Harlow’s “Crazy Ass White Bitches” DVD) to help with filming duties so we all have more time to concentrate on skating. Every filming session was fun cos I got to skate all day instead of having to film people! Stoked! I wanna send Jake and all the filmers round the world who contributed to this video a MASSIVE thank you! From us all.”

The Death team will be repping the Crossfire Xmas Jam on the 15th December. Look out for the DVD in your local skate shop this week and enjoy Andy Evans documentary to get even further behind the scenes of Death.

Thanks to Dan Cates for the snaps.

Categories
Skateboarding News

10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012

CrossfireXmasJam2012Logo

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.

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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.

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DGK – PARENTAL ADVISORY – TRAILER from KAYOTV on Vimeo.

Categories
Features Skateboarding

In Photos: Death Skateboards ‘Ordinary Madness’ Premiere

It was 5 years ago that most of the people present tonight last stepped through the doors of the Trinity Pub. I’m pretty sure a police car was stolen, broken bottles were awash on the floors, punk rock throttled the speakers and the Death family unleashed the killer DVD,’Better Than Life’. Since then, a lot has changed. As Zorlac said in his opening speech tonight: “…some good shit and bad shit has gone down in between”. Tonight though, is all about one great feat: The unveiling of ‘Ordinary Madness’.

Mark Nicolson and Jake Shunt amongst others have worked hard to get this new Death Skateboards film out. The new wave of ams are getting better and better, making the pro’s up their game to keep their names on the wood.

Tonight in Harrow, most of the team are present and many of them annihilated by the end of the night. Even Richie Jackson, Matt Pennington and Patrick Melcher were in attendance straight off of flights from across the pond. This crew make a lot of effort and as a result, make a lot of others happy with very little politics or skateboard industry bullshit. You get what you see and you are either in our you’re out with Death, and that is to be commended.

Big shouts to all involved including Monster who provided the liquour, Wonk Unit and Meansteed, the two bands that played on the night and all who turned up to see the good ship Death sail once again. Other premiere dates and demos can be found here.

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Zorlac opens proceedings…

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Even Richie Jackson jetted in from across the pond!

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It’s all down to these lads…

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The party started….

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Yep, Stalker was on fire…

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Adam Moss practised his porno moves…

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Rob Smith turned up as the Green Cross Code bloke from the 70’s…

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The Welsh were there in force as usual.

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Benson and Bain. Legends together.

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Styley and Moggins ponder whose section was best.

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Is that Steve Crawford peeping through the gap?

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Matt Pritchard loves Pickle Porter’s.

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Dinosaur Pile Up?

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Brighton were in the house.

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Wonk Unit punked it.

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And some…

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Zorlac unleashed his new Death extra-hand, shoulder jewellery.

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This was the third shot I had to take from this lot!

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Richie Jackson after 6 pints of Stella.

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The OG’s.

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Blog that you little biatch!

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The smell of Sheffield was in the air.

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Melcher was ready to box Denver’s Matt Pennington – btw, he’s a fucking ripper!

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Snuff photo…

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Nowik was in the house!

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Meansteed rocked the bar.

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“Hey You!”

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“Clap like you are at Wembley!”

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Steak’s face says it all. Meansteed ripped.

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It was so emotional that these punks swapped tongues.

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Zorlac was in fine form!

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Essex represented!

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The tattooists were out too!

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The Trinity owner should receive medals for allowing this to happen.

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Good to hear that Mike’s injury is on the mend.

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Tamar!

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ORDER IT FROM YOUR LOCAL SKATE SHOP TODAY AND LOOK OUT FOR A FULL FEATURE WITH THE ENTIRE TEAM DISCUSSING THE MAKING OF ‘ORDINARY MADNESS’ ON HERE VERY SOON.

Categories
Skateboarding News

A week in the life of Death Skateboards

death_skateboards_logoAustralian Death rider Troy West has video blogged a collection of memories from his recent trip to the UK back in October 2011 this morning which is an eight minute montage of madness that surrounds the Death Skateboards crew based in Harrow and surrounding areas.

As you may already know, you are never far from fun hanging out with the Death lot and various, strange things tend to always happen when in their company, so enjoy this mash up from Troy today and take in what he saw on his travels over a week long period with Steak, Dan Cates, Adam Moss, Calow and more.

Categories
Skateboarding Events Skateboarding News

Death Day announced for Shoreham Bowl on Sunday July 10th

Death Skateboards have announced today that Sunday July 10th will now be christened as Death Day at Shoreham’s concrete bowl. Expect Death Skateboards and Urethane team rider to be present including Benson, Steak, Rhys Grogan, Boots, Calow, Moss, Patrick, Garbett, Questions, Nowik, Sweeney, The Plasterer, Cov Sid and various guests. This should be one hell of a session.

The jam will be followed by Duane Peter’s band the U.S Bombs playing live at The Hydrant, so get your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment on the night. Spread that word.

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Categories
Skateboarding News

That’s the Wan

Phil Evans had a clear out of his hard drive recently and dumped an edit online last night. Here’s some random throw-aways featuring Conhuir and Denis Lynn, Al Collins, John Dillon, Dan Cates. Steak, Moggins and more.