Concrete Issue 98

Issue 98 . February 2009 . Free

bradley sheppard. switch 180.

Josh Clark interview Momentum in Japan

Darkstar does does Toronto Issue 98 . February 2009 . Free

Barrier Kult Matix takes Berlin

Shutdown Paul Trep Identity Stefan Janoski Top 5 Russ Milligan sound check Matt & Kim

THE FINAL FLARE - DELUXE BONUS EDITION AVAILABLE NOW

LAKAI IS REPRESENTED BY: ERIC KOSTON / MARC JOHNSON / MIKE CARROLL / GUY MARIANO / RICK HOWARD / CAIRO FOSTER / ROB WELSH BRANDON BIEBEL / JEFF LENOCE / JESUS FERNANDEZ / MIKE MO CAPALDI / VINCENT ALVAREZ / THE FRENCH CONNECTION / THE ROYAL FAMILY LAKAI LIMITED FOOTWEAR: 955 Francisco Street, Torrance, CA 90502 / ad #118 / www.lakai.com / www.crailtap.com / www.supradistribution.com / sequence by alex braza

See All Carroll Select colors at www.lakai.com

30 Raw Men Eat Ramen 38 Fredericton’s Son 48 Executive Decisions 58 Inside Berlin 68 Photo 78 Barrier Kult

The Dark Assemblage

Momentum In Japan

Josh Clark Interview

Darkstar’s 10-Day T-Dot Hustle

The Matix Infiltration

Gallery

12 Masthead 18 YoungBloods 24 Trick tip – blunt to kickflip out 26 Shutdown with Paul Trep 94 Video Reviews 96 Inventory 100 Shoe Vaults – Sal 23 102 five spot – Russ Milligan 104 Sound Check – Matt & Kim 106 Identity – Stefan Janoski 6

Concrete skateboarding

cover:

Bradley Sheppard, switch 180.

[Read “Classic Canadian ‘Crete” on p.12]

contents:

See that tree in the background? It’s a palm tree, which usually indicates skatefriendly territory is near. Palm trees may not be native to Arizona – where Chris Weigele’s tall wallie backtail is located – but hot ditches truly are. Book a ticket and see for yourself.

photo

Stephen Denton Concrete skateboarding

7

PUBLISHER Kevin Harris EDITOR / ART DIRECTOR Kelly Litzenberger kelly@concreteskateboarding.com staff photographer / PHOTO EDITOR Brian Caissie brian@concreteskateboarding.com associate / COPY EDITOR Frank Daniello frank@concreteskateboarding.com Marketing Director Richard Neuman richard@concreteskateboarding.com

Winter Skate-Recession words

Nick Shinner

photo

Marketing Associate Kristin Lamont kristin@concreteskateboarding.com

Brian Caissie

Economic downturn. These two words have been striking fear into the hearts of citizens across the land, causing them to padlock their wallets, barricade themselves into their homes, and ponder the financial apocalypse. While this “fear” is sometimes misunderstood, it isn’t completely unfounded.

Indeed, in the skate-world, some large conglomerates have felt the stock market pinch. But all hard-times-talk aside, the good news is skateboarding itself is very much alive and flickin’.

Historically, skateboarding is no stranger to dark times. During the well-documented “downturns,” it has always regrouped and come back stronger. Hell, Canadian skateboarding sees a “recession” every winter, while its “stocks” increase exponentially each summer. The point is, skateboarding will roll onward no matter what the world’s economic climate is. At Concrete, our main concern during Canada’s annual winter skate-recession is putting out cost-effective (free) glossy pages that remind you of rolling during those high-stock, skate-friendlier days. And so we shall…

Paul Trep pounded the dry pavement at the East Van Post Office rail one day, and came out with three ill sequences for this issue’s edition of Shutdown [p.26]. Immune to all economic environments, the mysterious Barrier Kult and its plethora of authorized products are revealed by one masked Deer Man of Dark Woods [p.30]. Jim Fenton (the Momentum Wheel Co. brand-man) sheds some light on the team’s high-sodium ramen consumption during a dehydrating Japanese adventure [p.38], and Josh Clark, a Fredericton-to-Montreal transplant, failed to mention a single full-contact lap dance in his interview [p.48]. While it appears they’re wearing bulletproof vests in Toronto’s Financial District to fend off the economic storm, Darkstar’s Canadian battalion still chose to press record in the 416 for 10 days [p.58]. Fictitious Berlin insiders provide a German perspective on a visiting international Matix squad [p.68], and Dan Watson from YouWillSoon. blogspot.com is the man behind our first installment of Shoe Vaults – a past-to-present look at the high-stock-valued Sal 23s [p.100]. Russ Milligan gambles on roshambo in his Five Spot [p.102], and Stefan Janoski gets ID’d [p.106].

Enjoy the look, and maintain during the winter skate-recession. Dry days are ahead, friends.

Classic Canadian 'Crete cover photo and caption

Gordon nicholas

The classic Canadian skateboard turf is often covered with surprises; cracks, craters, and crevasses are all common.

Sometimes, without a trusty can of Bondo, you’ll likely be heading home before your board even hits the ground. Popping switch over this Vancouver rail is no joke. Throw in a spin and a rugged bank landing, then slither through a hole and you’ve finally made it after flying over some stairs on your way out. The only thing left for Bradley Sheppard to do after this switch 180 is hop in the car and throw on the jams, then head to the next spot.

Administrator Dave Buhr Contributing Photographers Gordon Nicholas, stephen denton geoff clifford, shane hutton kasey andrews, andrew norton judah oakes, matt price jeff delong, rich odam eric mirbach, ryan lusteg will jivcoff, owen woytowich jeff thorburn, tadashi yamaoda jeff comber, tod seelie leo sharp contributing Writers nick shinner, Gordon Nicholas frank daniello, ben stoddard Don dudski, dan watson TJ rogers, kasey andrews deer man, jim fenton geoff clifford, rich odam eric mirbach, stacy gabriel Sarah rowland Distribution Ultimate Skateboard Dist. east 705.749.2998 west 604.279.8408

Subscriptions 1 Year subscription ($19.95) 7 issues including The Photo Annual & 100th collector Issue subscribe online

concreteskateboarding.com send cheque or money order to: Concrete Skateboarding Subscriptions 150 - 11780 River Rd. Richmond BC V6X 1Z7 NEXT ISSUE:

12

Concrete skateboarding

issue 99 - April 13th, 2009

1.1

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WHITE/BLACK 3.1

LIGHT CHARCOAL/BLACK

INTRODUCING MATT BEACH IN THE ZOOM AIR VELOCE

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CORY WILSON. B/S FLIP

PHOTO: CAISSIE

TIMEBOMBTRADING.COM STICKERS@TIMEBOMB.BC.CA

Young Kyle Bloods MacDonald

Age: 19 Lives: Dartmouth, NS Sponsors: Studio Skateboards (flow), Pro Skates

Kyle MacDonald is one of those skaters that makes you a little bit jealous. At the same time, I’m always stoked to have him around during a session. He’s usually giggling and just enjoying skateboarding while throwing down the most ridiculously difficult tricks. In fact, the only time he’s not grinning ear-to-ear is when he’s “not feeling these pants.” In that case, he’ll book it home and totally change his outfit, then return to destroy the spot. Keep an eye out ‘cause Kyle definitely knows what’s up.

—Geoff Clifford 18

Concrete skateboarding

geoff clifford photos

Nollie nosegrind pop-out.

Young Bobby Bloods De Keyzer

Age: 12 Lives: Toronto’s Suburbia Sponsors: Element (flow), Venture (through S&J), Scotties skateshop

Bobby is for sure one of the new kids blowing up – 12 years old and killin’ it more than anyone I know. He just started going on tour with Element, so you’ll definitely be seeing him soon enough. He’ll also be in Finesse, a new Gerb video dropping soon. Keep it up, Babo.

—T.J. Rogers

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shane hutton photos

backside big spin.

A U S T I N

S T E P H E N S

4 ( % " ! , ! . # % / & / 0 0 / 3 ) 4 % 3 2 6 # ! # / - s 4 ) - % " / - " 4 2 ! $ ) . ' # / 34 ) #+%23

4)- %"/- " "# #!

Young Jessy Bloods Jean-bart

Age: 19 Lives: Montreal, QC Sponsors: Element (flow), Adrenaline Boardshop

Jessy is probably one of the best dudes to have around when you’re either on a trip or on a mission. He’s always cracking jokes and in a good mood; he’s always the first dude to skate a spot, and he always gets a trick. When we went to Miami together last winter, he had the smallest backpack with a couple T-shirts, and only a few bucks in his pocket – he didn’t even book a hotel room. Half the time he was either sleeping in the van, on the beach, or sleeping under our beds in the hostel and eating one meal-a-day. He was just livin’ the dream, and never complained once.

—Kasey Andrews 22

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Kasey andrews photos

Big flip.

photo: travis howell

Trick Tip

trick’s a little different on ledges, but for 1 This quarter pipes it’s a little easier. Just make sure

Ryan Oughton

2

with

you got blunt to fakies and kickflip fakies down.

Approach like your going for a rock to fakie, and not too much faster or you’ll end up leaning too far forward and blunt stalling forever.

your foot a little higher than a normal 3 With kickflip position, lean back and lift up your front truck.

centered. Try and notice how fast the board 7 Stay is flipping. it looks like your kickflips from Grade Two and 8 Ifyou’re going to land upside down, kick out. If not, you should see the griptape coming. it and spot your landing. Make sure you’re 9 Catch not going to hang up.

4 Lock in almost vertical.

10 Put it down and lean back into the transition.

Push your front truck down and don’t stall too 5 long. Watch any Daewon Song blunt trick as an 11 Roll away thinking you’re Daewon. Watch Cheese example. & Crackers and realize you’re not.

Andrew Norton

Blunt to kickflip out

to pop out, and flick your board as you 6 Begin would a normal kickflip.

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Shutdown photos

Brian Caissie

words

Frank daniello

fakie bigspin boardslide

switch backside flip

nollie 180 nosegrind

26

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with paul trep

One spot. One session. Three serious moves with sequential evidence as proof. Impressive ocular onslaught – this is what Concrete’s fewand-far-between Shutdown spread is all about. The first episode appeared back in May 2008 [#93, Rick Howard cover], and featured one Spencer Hamilton laying a chronological dusk-‘till-evening threebanger-bombardment over Barcelona’s MACBA keyhole. Our original intention was to fill this Shutdown spot every second issue, but the requirements and selective nature of these pages certainly aren’t soft. Five issues later, the planets aligned and this second installment

came to fruition thanks to a very skilled Paul Trep. Not only did Trep meet the requirements in the “serious move” department during an afternoon session at the Post Office rail in East Vancouver, he also improvised two of the tricks.

“The fakie bigspin board to fakie and the nollie 180 nosegrind are tricks Paul has never done before,” explains Brian Caissie, who pulled the eight-frames-per-second trigger that day. “He learned them during this shoot, which is kinda crazy to do.”

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27

THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST BEARINGS FOR OVER 25 YEARS

bonesbearings.com U 30 S. La Patera Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 U 805-964-1330

SILAS BAXTER-NEAL

Flow Rider Tony Myshlyaev - Switch Backside Blunt

Visit www.west49.com for more flow team clips and photos!

While skating down a dark East Vancouver alleyway, the yellow overhead street lamps began to flicker. I knew why. The barrier ritual ground was to my right, but it appeared to be shrouded by a sinister fog. The sounds of soft wheels, dark metal, and the pronounced bark of a barrier slash grew louder. I’ve heard the fear-filled rumours before, but needed to see for myself. The hard wheels rolling beneath me were the telltale sound of an outsider, and suddenly the dark sounds stopped. The fog consumed me, but transformed into a thick cloud of concrete dust. I retreated to my barracks, coughing horribly with swollen and irritated sinuses. The high fever lasted for a week, and the broken visions it brought told me of an immense tree in the dark woods that would hold a scroll in its gnarled branches. A scroll that would answer my inquiries. A scroll to share with all skateboard citizens…

The Barrier Kult has certainly achieved a dark assemblage in modern world colonies with their penchant to both horrify and inspire those who bear witness to BA.KU customs, beliefs, and actions. From the forest and dark lake interiors of British Columbia, BA.KU was first brought to light in Vancouver through an initial hand carved ‘zine and scroll in 2002 – a manifesto of sorts. Motion picture evidence of their barrier ritual arts was brought forth in 2004’s Barrier Kult Horde Video (recently re-released

by Skull Skates). In 2005, Ryan Smith was the first to be seen donning a BA.KU shirt. Heroin skateboards in the UK approached the Kult in 2007, and handed Deer Man of Dark Woods a Pro model to assist the treacherous barrier movement. This board was followed shortly after by the Deer Man “Mad Balls” deck, also by Heroin. Followers needed the means to spread the BA.KU plague further, so shirts, decals, and patches were produced by the Kult in 2007. I could go on, but after surviving the debilitating concrete fog and the ensuing fiery fever, I’ll simply share the deciphered all-capital text contents of the scroll that was scribed by the mysterious Deer Man of Dark Woods himself.

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BarRier Kult

The dark AsSemblage photos

Judah Oakes

intro

Frank Daniello

words

Deer Man

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31

dModW My personal mandate entails pure nature worship in its truest form.

My resentment towards mass religion as a whole comes from society’s neglect for the natural world. Their fundamentalist mentality has disrespected the animal race since the early days of man.

My mandate is to promote animal and man as equal entities, and fight “species-ism” through the lines of the Barrier Kult movement.

Until society and religion understands and respects the power and importance of nature, I will wage this war until this disrespect is abolished and the unspoken are spoken for. My connection to wilderness ideologies is deep-rooted.

The Movement In the forest interiors of BC, there were many black arts rituals of smaller and very tight transition ¼ pipe entities. The “jersey” barrier was the utmost form of the common tight ¼ pipe that eventually represented to us a form of truth, self, and skateboard weapon fulfillment. The accessibility of the jersey barrier is overwhelming as the masses walk around endlessly trying to find a freestyle bank, freestyle railing, or freestyle ledge. The barrier is everywhere and is always ready for plague and bone scraping rituals. This fact was the major epiphany that led us to the Barrier Kult ideology of the ultimate tight transition, and the ritual dedication and altar worship thereof.

There are certain subtleties in different barriers, but the other true power is in the fact that one can skate the same barrier over and over, and acquire the same rituals and darkness.

While the dark rain hits the outside world’s pavement, Deer Man performs a solitary blunt to tailblock in a shielded urban enclave.

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donning the Mask Like a murderous draped prowler from the 1930s that stalks his way through the hallways, hidden passages, and secret doorways of an old dark house, the Barrier Kult wears a black mask – mostly notably in the form of a balaclava. We carry this fearful form for reasons that go beyond dark murder for gold, diamonds, or inheritance. The contemporary focus of the skateboarder, based on the fact that they can ride a skateboard well, is one of the weakest links of skateboard culture – destined for a circle of filth and untruths that can leave a human animal’s mind powerless. The Barrier Kult is a militant ritual focus that is dependent on the strength of its snake’s head. The Kult members know that creativity and personality are merely weaknesses that can lead them to disaster. This weakness can play havoc with the BA.KU strengths of vile sores, sickness, black arts militance, and tight transition barrier worship. We become phantoms of the skateboard spots – unidentifiable and only concerned with stabbing knives into altars of concrete.

BA.ku Weaponry I have been affiliated with Emerica/Timebomb for all time due to the ritual and darkness of their skateboard shoes. In 2008, Emerica asked if the Barrier Kult would be interested in doing a shoe. Based on themes of plague spreading and propaganda, BA.KU was pleased to

help design a shoe that represented the chaos and darkness of the Kult’s transition rituals. During the design stages, we articulated our need for heavy canvas, synthetic material, and durability that would sustain nights of black candles and foot blood dragging – materials that would also stay true to the feeling of the dirt beneath our soles, which is the equivalent to true nature worship. I specifically requested the synthetic material to heighten the expression against society’s pressure on true nature and wildlife. When the time came to develop the Emerica DMODW/BA.KU limited-edition shoe, we struck the sword into the graveyard of skateboarding and immediately began contemplation after choosing the “Francis” model as the template.

The shoe is designed with many black arts films and imagery in mind, with black worn soles and black stained rough material – like that of a mountain cliff that would end at the castle of Vlad “The Impaler” Tepes. Emerica also gave BA.KU numerous opportunities to relegate propaganda tools and violent knife stabs with the T-shirt and balaclava that is included in the “line” of Barrier Kult violence from Emerica. We can only appreciate the respect that they have given us towards the issues of representation – be it via the shoe and the clothing, or the vile plague texts that accompany the pictorials in the Emerica catalogs.

The wheel for Momentum gave us the opportunity to have a medium to large size tight transition blade that also features a softer urethane for rough nights of violence. There have now been three representations of vicious knife urethane circles from Momentum.

DMODW uses a violent backside boneless to summon a sinister fog of conrete dust at The Ritual Barriers.

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Would the non-skateboarding public misunderstand the pure intentions of a masked man doing a backside smithgrind on a parking lot barrier? probably. Would a woeful bank teller feel threatened when Deer Man heads in to cash his photo incentive cheque after the session? Most likely.

The recent Skull Skates/BA.KU “Diehard Barrier Kult” deck represents the pinnacle for pure BA.KU deck worship as Skull let us have the shape of the original Diehard (10 x 30) with Tub Tech1 concave – Diehard right down to the original “Canadian hard rock maple” graphic that adorns the nose. To us, Skull Skates represents the epitome of black and white cult darkness from the ‘80s, and beyond. This Diehard pig shape is the deck to end all decks – a very powerful, fearful, and liberating knife into the ground of the transition entity.

hEsh Law For Spring 2009, Creature will release a video called Hesh Law. A Barrier Kult section will be featured within it that will represent the Kult plague much like the original video released in 2004. The new part will include barrier destruction from the “Depth Leviathan Dweller”; two guest parts from “Muskellunge of the Dark Island” (one of the most ritual contemporary practitioners) and “Hammerer of Roots” (the builder of concrete altars), as well as a complete part from myself.

For the video, I was interested in pushing my chaptered abilities on barriers further, but mostly I was interested in merely representing 34

Concrete skateboarding

the Barrier Kult in its truest form. Freestyle progression and staying current is not a priority for me, or the BA.KU. True power comes from militance, not acceptance. More focus that came from the filming strategies was a coarse action to include only a few spots repeated again and again – designed to hammer the truth and raw power of the singular altars into cultists’ thought patterns. These single altar spots are respected and worshipped.

Plague Spreading Over the past few years, the Barrier Kult has managed to infiltrate its way into small circles worldwide. With the popularity of the 2004 video, as well as Heroin’s Magic Sticky Hand video and other short propaganda productions, the plague of the Kult has found its way into the dwellings of many new followers. The first groups to contact us were from California, and then the veined roots extended into England where the mighty war metal atrocity, Heroin skateboards, made blood rituals with us. Australia is another spot of worship and plague as there are followers there. Japan also has factions of “Wallride Kult” followers that are guided by the tight transition entities and darkness of the Barrier Kult plague.

Another elaborate ceremony takes place at The Ritual Barriers, and DMODW displays dark worship with a boardslide 270 out on an abrupt concrete altar.

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35

NOLLIE CAB FLIP :: PHOTO ZASLAVSKY :: THECITYSTREETS.COM

With a belly full of boiled ramen, and in pore-pounding heat, Ted DeGros surefoots this frontside flip to avoid skateboarding’s bone crushing version of harakiri.

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Jim Fenton words

Matt Price Caissie

photos

Caissie

“I wasn’t a huge fan of ramen to tell you the truth. But in Japan, holy shit, it’s the best thing,” explains Sheppard. “In Osaka, I would go to McDonald’s with Magpie, but then I found out about the noodle spot.”

Caissie

Momentum In Japan

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish that originated in China. It is served in a meat-based broth, and has toppings such as sliced pork, bean sprouts, dried seaweed, green onions, and even corn.

Almost every different region of Japan has its own variation of the soup. On the Momentum Japan Tour, ramen was pretty much a staple for Corey Sheppard, Ted DeGros, Brian Caissie, Matt Price, our Japanese friends Yoshiaki Toeda and Hiroyuki Matsuo, and distributors Yoshio Habuto and Kunjiro Eguchi. So yeah, almost everyone survived on ramen with the exception of the pizza and burger specific diets of Chris Haslam and Magnus Hanson.

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39

“Well, ramen means nothing to me ‘cause I don’t eat it,” Chris Haslam says bluntly. Peculiar eating habits and swarms of ravenous mosquitoes didn’t stop him from giving this famous Osaka spot the Haz treatment. Tail grab footplant.

40

Concrete skateboarding

Magnus Hanson might be drawn towards McDonald’s meals in any country he visits, but he always has room for a polished granite snack. Mag gets his fill by working the angles with a frontside bigspin.

Boiling Point Tokyo-style ramen is made with thin, curly noodles in a soy flavoured chicken broth.

It includes all the usual toppings with the addition of spinach. This was our introduction to this heavenly noodle dish. Unfortunately, this was also our introduction to Japan’s hottest week of summer ‘08. Temperatures soared upwards of 34 C with insane humidity.

“Sauna status,” Magnus simply states. Ted adds: “I could never describe how hot and humid it was. Maybe Florida in a heat wave.”

During this boiling point, our first order of business in Japan was one of the only two demos scheduled for the trip at the “Amazing Skatepark.” You could literally fry an egg on the metal ramps that made up the park. Did I mention eggs are usually served in ramen?

“We would sweat like fat kids in heat. Every one of us needed little baby towels – bowels.

Or pimp rags. Depending on what scene you were into,” Haslam recalls.

After a few days in Tokyo hitting up noodle bar after noodle bar (and spot after spot), we headed south on a six-hour mission to Nagoya – Japan’s third largest city. Little did we know the heat would not be letting up for our whole two-week visit.

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The 20-Minute Rule Japanese people are notoriously very polite and never want to piss anyone off. Whenever someone asked how far our next stop was, our guide, Yoshio, would answer: “Maybe 20 minutes.” Since the “maybe 20 minutes” answer was repeatedly being used, it became one of the biggest jokes on the trip. “‘Maybe 20 minutes’ was the shit. Some people want to be polite and not bum you out by saying something is two hours away, so they keep telling you something is ‘maybe 20 minutes’ away for two hours,” explains Ted. After many hours packed inside the tiny Lego vehicles the Japanese call vans, the night in Nagoya became a blur after a well-deserved sushi and sake session.

Haslam listed a highlight of this trip as: “Watching ‘Yoda’ switch flip a garbage can the same height as he is.” With his small frame, Yoshiaki Toeda works a switch frontside bluntslide for the home team.

“People want to be polite and not bum you out by saying something is two hours away, so they keep telling you something is ‘maybe 20 minutes’ away for two hours.”

Jungle Drop-In Heading further south towards Osaka, we were driving through some jungle when Caissie yelled out, “STOP!” We pulled the tiny van over to the side of a sketchy narrow road, and we found what Caissie spotted after hiking through the bush. It could only be described as something out of an Indiana Jones movie – a super-skinny brick tranny with a 50-foot drop on either side. Ted manned-up and went to work banging out a couple tricks before Haslam dropped in on the bloody thing. Ted would be awarded with, you guessed it, a steaming bowl of noodles, and Haslam reaped something greasy and delicious. Ramen recipes are a typically highly guarded family secret. Some historians actually believe a stolen recipe was the cause the second Sino-Japanese war. Not wanting to battle any Chinese, we kept our recipes to ourselves and were on our way to Osaka.

Yoshiaki Toeda strikes again! This time, he fondles an utsukushii Japanese brick boob with a nollie 180 kickflip.

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Hiroyuki Matsuo has an acute insider’s knowledge of both noodle spots and the best place to put down a twilight backlip. Konbanwa...

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caissie

Kanpai! Corey Sheppard enjoyed the fact that you could buy cold beer everywhere in Japan. It’s a rewarding beverage after sliding a switch frontboard in fierce humidity.

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Jim Fenton, Momentum TM and author of this story, mentioned that Chris Haslam ripped the whole trip with a broken big toe. Nosegrind outside of B7 East skateshop in Mie.

Mandatory Mie We stopped at a not-so-secret shop in a town called Mie, where we would put on the second demo of the trip for the most genuinely stoked and welcoming people we could ever meet: the Morimotos and the B7 East crew. B7 is a mandatory shop-stop for all tours going through Japan. It’s been open for 15 years, and the walls are littered with hundreds of autographed team photos. Our guys ripped the shit out of their cement park for hours, putting on pretty much the best demo I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately, they weren’t rewarded with ramen this time, but with something equally as awesome: a huge barbeque with beers-to-boot.

Spilled Asahi Osaka isn’t really known for their ramen recipes, but we did find out it’s known for tons of good, security-free spots. Most of our business was handled during the five days we were there. We skated a lot of famous spots like “Brazil” (that huge white over-vert wave thing), and a lot of random spots we just happened to find driving in circles trying to make sense of our Japanese GPS. During one of the last days in Osaka, Yoshio got a call from his promoter friend who wanted us to come to this metal/hip hop show that had a mini. The ramp had one-foot-wide platforms, and the whole thing shook when you skated it. Holes opened up on the ramp throughout the night, but holy shit did we rip that thing in a beer-fuelled frenzy! And it wasn’t just our crew, everyone skated it! High fives and spilled Asahi ended the night off right.

The ramen reality A hot bowl of ramen was a great hangover cure. I think this was mostly due to the fact that it’s packed with sodium, which would partly explain the truckloads of water consumed on the trip. We also found out that ramen is super high in saturated fats and really not good for you at all. So I guess it made sense when Corey would later claim that ramen requires a “110 percent commitment.” But maybe Haslam and Magnus had it right – burgers were the way to go after all.

Thanks to Yoshio, Kunjiro and Big Wing Distribution, as well as Matt Price and Brian Caissie for documenting everything. Check out the full Japan tour video for free online at momentumskate.com.

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------Photos by: Seu Trinh

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Write? How archaic!

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JC

h s o lark n

words and photos

Josh Clark is a pretty recent arrival to the Montreal skate scene, and he’s already made quite an impact during his short time here. Growing up skating in Fredericton, New Brunswick, I’m sure it was frustrating having to make due with rough and rugged Maritime spots. But it seems to have paid off now that he’s made the switch to the urban playground that is the city of MTL. While some of the spots here can also be a little less than perfect, he’s taken his keen east coast eye, his strong work

o ict

er

d re

F

n

o ’s s

Geoff Clifford

ethic (maybe a little Bondo, too), and helped give life to a few overlooked spots around the city that needed some love. I’m always stoked to have Josh along on a session because not only is he amazingly well-rounded and throws down at any spot I take him to, he also seems to always have spare wax, duct tape, or a metal plate for a run-up.

Oh, and he’s always down to guard my flashes when I’m shooting someone else’s trick. Thanks, Josh.

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While it seems more fitting to call this the New Brunswick Shuffle, Josh is really performing a damn fine frontside bluntslide to switch 5-0 fakie.

So what’s it like growing up skating in the Maritimes?

you end up being tight with everybody.

How come you decided to move to Montreal?

Growing up there was pretty cool, I guess.

There’s a pretty small skate scene, so you have to be pretty motivated. Sometimes you gotta skate by yourself. There’s not a whole lot of spots, and when you do find them they’re pretty rugged. You end up getting pretty well-rounded in your skating because you skate whatever you can find.

How did growing up there shape your outlook on skating?

I saw Montreal as one of the next Canadian cities to really blow up. Realistically, there’s like a thousand spots here that are still untouched. I lived in Vancouver for a little while and it was really fun, but all I did was work. Montreal is a lot cheaper, and I’ve also got a lot of friends here.

It’s also cool because it’s such a tight scene.

Yeah. There’s basically one scene in the Maritimes. I’m from Fredericton, but I remember growing up and skating with Justin Allain and all the guys from Moncton, then going to Halifax and skating with Kyle MacDonald and all those dudes. Basically there’s like ten guys skating in every city, so 50

Concrete skateboarding

Well, my outlook has always been about having fun – that probably would have been the same wherever I grew up. It was a bit tougher to find support in Fredericton, though. It was kind of all I knew, and then I started doing those DC Nationals contests.

I got to see what was really going on in the rest of Canada. Kids had all these sponsors, and people were actually going out filming and shooting photos. That’s probably the worst thing about growing up in Fredericton – just how sheltered it is. Sometimes you don’t really feel like a part of the Canadian scene.

Not too many tours or Pros come through, but one of the best things about a sheltered scene is that you learn to skate more for fun.

Has your skating changed since coming to MTL?

I think it changed a lot. For all of you who haven’t skated at Peace Park, get ready to skate a ledge that’s real. That thing is not easy to skate. I used to be more into ollieing huge gaps and skating rails, but over the course of last summer I’ve gotten better at skating things that aren’t at your average spots. I think I’m a more versatile skater now.

Fredericton’s city motto translated from Latin is: “Fredericton, noble daughter of the forest.” Ain’t nothin’ girlie about this 180 nosegrind.

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Josh does a smith grind kickflip out on the lap of this loading dock, which makes up for the fact that there isn’t a single mention of a lap dance at Montreal’s Gentlemen’s Choice in this interview.

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East coast determination goes a long way, especially when it’s time to do a fakie heelflip down a double-dipper.

“My Dad got me my first video at the local skateshop, and when he brought it home we all watched it together. The first scene was some chick taking off her top and her tits were hanging out.”

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the flavourful aroma of a bold roast coffee makes time stand still for a moment, don’t it? while the Police Supervisor gets mesmerized by a cuppa joe, Josh does an undisrupted nosegrind 180 out.

What are your favourite things about Montreal?

I love Montreal. I’ve never been happier living anywhere else. There are tons of beautiful girls, and the skate scene here is so good.

Everyone’s just down to skate and have fun. You’re accepted in Montreal if you’re a skateboarder. When I first moved here I only knew a few people, and now I’m friends with pretty much everyone.

Yeah, I guess that’s a pretty good spot if you want to bail, then accidentally step on a lady’s head and have her husband try to kill you.

What influences you right now?

Skating Peace Park with Darrell Smith – he kills that spot. I dunno, watching any new video that comes out usually stokes me.

Those Static videos are pretty cool. In Bloom is a good one for sure – P-Rod’s part is too sick. I really liked The Reason as well.

How about Favourite spots in the city?

I do like skating Peace Park even though I can’t skate it that well. I like it ‘cause it’s hard, and you can always meet up with your homies there. I like skating the Olympic Stadium as well.

What about the drop at the Hydro Quebec building?

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what was the first skate video you ever watched?

My Dad got me my first video at the local skateshop, and when he brought it home we all watched it together. The first scene was some chick taking off her top and her tits were hanging out. I was too stoked, but my Mom instantly turned it off and brought

it back to the shop. I wish I could remember what video it was. let’s shift gears a little. I know fredericton doesn’t have a ton of spots, but you didn’t let that hold you back. How many spots have you actually created from scratch, or made skateable?

I’ve actually built quite a few skatespots, I’m not gonna lie. I’ve made a concrete landing after a handrail; I’ve built a full handrail from start to finish at this one set of stairs; I’ve built a Euro-gap; I’ve put angle iron on hubbas and made a plywood run-up to them.

I’d say I’ve made at least five-to-ten spots and I don’t even know how many benches I’ve made [laughs]. There’s blue ones, white ones and black ones put in every situation.

You’ve gotta do what you can.

Jeff Delong

There’s nil chance a classic Montreal grande poutine was consumed before raging up to this lengthy backside kickflip.

Since winter here in MTL is pretty harsh, how do you plan on dealing with it?

I’m planning on not seeing snow. If I can do that, my life would be perfect. Hopefully I’ll be going to Barcelona to skate for a few months, and if that falls through I’ll hopefully go to SF for a few months. Maybe a DC trip here or there. Basically, just skating as much as possible.

What do you think about skating in general right now?

It’s pretty cool because there’s a lot of stuff going on right now. It seems like things are starting to get pretty technical as far as tricks go. I still prefer to see someone do a less tech trick with amazing style rather than a crazy combo trick that’s NBD but it’s kinda sketchy looking. I mean, if you can make it look good, then great. But I still think I prefer the basics done right.

Any memorable skate trips so far?

I went to Toronto and that was pretty amazing. I got to see some friends I hadn’t seen in a while and I stayed with my buddy Max Fine. His mom hooked it up big time!

There was lots of good skating, and we got into some trouble with some balaclavas we bought at Honest Ed’s.

Any long-term plans?

I want to travel and skate as much as possible. I’ve got some good people backing me right now and I want to taste everything that skateboarding has to offer. I want to take advantage of my opportunities to the fullest, and I don’t want to waste any chances.

Thanks?

I’d like to thank Trevn Sharp and Mark Regimbal at DC Canada, Jesse Bowden at WESC, and all the other guys at Tiger. Joel Hersey at Monark Skateboards – he’s helped me out a lot since the beginning. I’d like to thank Alex Bastide at Underworld, and Paul Kitchen at the Woodstock skatepark – he let me build my own skatepark, pretty much. I want to thank my Mom, Dad, sister and all my family for being extremely supportive, and my cousin Dominique for getting me into skating. Thanks Geoff Clifford for shooting photos, Brian Caissie at Concrete for hooking this up, and anyone I’ve filmed or shot photos with before. Thanks to all my homies that I skate with. Oh, and thank you Mrs. Fine!

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THE VEGA ERIK ELLINGTON PRO MODEL CHAD MUSKA / ERIK ELLINGTON / JIM GRECO / TERRY KENNEDY / TOM PENNY / ANTWUAN DIXON / FURBY ERIK ELLINGTON SWITCH FRONTSIDE FLIP

SU PRAFOOTWEAR.COM

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Executive Decisions Darkstar’s 10-Day T-Dot Hustle words and photos by

Rich Odam

It had been about eight hours since I arrived back home to Vancouver from a trip to California. My bags were still packed and on the floor in my living room when I got the call: the Darkstar guys were heading to Toronto on a filming trip for their next video, so I booked a flight two hours later. The crew heading from Vancouver consisted of Paul Machnau, Ryan Decenzo, Paul Trep and John Hanlon – who’s always good times. In the Big Smoke we met up with filmer John Sherman, and Jesse Landen to show us around.

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Paul Trep

The term “silent, but deadly” is usually reserved for foul ass-gas in a tour van, but this classic phrase is redefined by Paul Trep and his switch backside heelflip.

The Itch

The first couple of days into the trip started with rain, which can be a good recoup from a long cross-Canada flight, and a good time to scout for spots. But after a while, you start feeling the need to hit the stuff you’ve been looking at for days. We managed to skate a pretty well-known underground rain spot located at an undisclosed subway station. The rail had a short landing, but beggars can’t be choosers. After we paid our Toronto Transit Commission fares, we went through the ridiculously slim revolving doors and managed to cop some tricks – not before getting a warning through the speaker system saying our time had run out. After this session, the crew dictated a group quota for footage: a couple tricks-a-day would be a good goal for this filming trip.

“Smoke-Free” Digs

Nothing feels better than going back to the hotel for a shower and a rest after a good day of skating. Our hotel was nothing fancy but did have amenities, like free wireless Internet, that you often get charged for at more expensive places. I’m not sure what the plan was when they built this building, but they sure didn’t really think about the small details. For instance, Trep and Ryan’s room had a balcony only accessible by removing the window screen and crawling out of it. My room was the biggest. It had a pullout couch, which had a warning sign on it and was held down by metal fasteners, so it was basically just a couch. Hanlon and Machnau’s room had a decent sized balcony, which became the every-night hangout. Even though it was strictly prohibited to smoke anywhere within this hotel, it didn’t stop the occasional spark to go off – every night, actually.

Hockin’ Loogies

It had been a little while since I last drove around the city of Toronto, and traffic is definitely not getting any better there. This was more visible by Machnau who, by default, was our driver/ TM for the remainder of this venture. Now, I haven’t had the pleasure of spending much time traveling with Paul, but he does have a particular way of handling traffic and bad drivers, which the rest of us caught onto real quick. Basically, if a driver makes a stupid move, they get a loogie.

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Paul Machnau took the bull by the horns in the GTA by hosting nightly hotel balcony soirées, spitting at bad drivers, and doing this bluntslide shove-it transfer.

Aside from the bad drivers, there are the strange folks that walk the streets of Toronto as if the freak-gates had been opened real wide. Among the ones I remember most: the woman with a front-bum, the roller skater who did spins and crazy dance moves as he crossed the road, and this guy that hung out at the local skatepark completely out of it – rhyming his ass off for anyone who’d wanna listen to him. Another thing that struck me were the security guards in the Financial District who now sport bulletproof vests. At a well-known double-set spot, one of them actually came at us with a taser gun. Not sure what kind of trouble they were getting ready for, but we weren’t having it.

Shady Rentals Inc.

One day, while attempting to park at a spot, Machnau had barely hit the curb with the passengerside front wheel of the van – the tire was dead flat once we got out. Upon further inspection, we noticed both front tires were completely worn out. Good thing we didn’t hit the highway with those. Paul called a tow-truck to get this deathbed-on-wheels back to the rental office, but it was taking too long. We made the executive decision to change the tire ourselves, which was no picnic at all. Finding the spare bicycle-sized tire and getting it loose from its under-carriage cocoon by reading the Ikea-like instructions didn’t help either. My curiosity piqued when I saw no rental company sticker on the back of the van. I asked Paul where the van came from, which the following accounts for: Upon arriving to Toronto, Paul was given the number of a rental company who’d pick the guys up, which sounds easy enough. Paul called, but there was just a voice mail that mentioned to 62

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John Hanlon legitimately fits in a tall-tee, and has pop that’s proportional to his overall height. Case in point: this kicky backtail.

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Trep, Decenzo, Hanlon

Paul Machnau

Much like SUVs guzzle gas, Ryan Decenzo eats DV tapes with the sheer amount of footage he amasses in his travels. Another multi-clip venture goes well, and Toronto gets the switch frontside 180 to nosegrind treatment.

leave a message if an airport pick-up was needed, and a call-back would follow. After five tries, Paul received a call-back from a guy who explained he’d be picking them up in a burgundy minivan. Once this guy picked them up, he said they were on their way to the office to finalize the paper work and get them on their way. The driver pulled up to some less-than-desirable hotel building and told Paul to wait by the side door while he went in through the front. Paul eventually walked in and filled out the necessary paper work. He was handed the keys to the same minivan that picked them up at the airport! The guy said, “Just bring it back with the tank at about the same it is now, and we’re good.” I’m no car rental guru or anything, but after I heard this story I was convinced it was a shady situation. I was a little worried we were going to receive a call from this “rental guy” saying he needed his mom’s van back so she can run errands.

The Penalty Box

After the blown tire fiasco, Machnau took it upon himself to go back to the “rental office” and deal with the situation. I thought about tagging along but Hanlon figured Paul was about to do some yelling, and it was safer to stay put. After everything got dealt with, Machnau came back with some new wheels in the form of a Ford Flex – some new crossover vehicle – which resembled a mix between an SUV and a minivan with four moon roofs, and two rows of back seats. But unlike the easy-access back bench-seat of a minivan, the Flex’s first row of back seats is full-size, making the smaller far back row of seats feel more like a penalty box – not the best seating option when your next destination is a two-hour drive. Upon arrival, London, Ontario has some really sick spots that don’t get abused as badly as big city spots. The mission proved to be well worth it for us since everyone got stuff done at Victoria Park’s ledge heaven.

During an intense session at a high-ass eight-stair hubba, a few locals got to witness John Hanlon tame that beast right before their very eyes.

When this trip started, the guys figured if they stuck to a two-tricks-a-day quota, they’d be in good shape. But after a couple of days went by, it quickly escalated to a quota of ten-tricks-aday, since that was a more realistic goal with this crew.

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words and photos

Eric Mirbach

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Leaving the Bright Tradeshow in Frankfurt behind them, skaters from both the European and American Matix team made their way to Berlin to familiarize themselves with this historically important German city, and, of course, it’s spots.

Mike Anderson, Marty Murawski, Vivien Feil, Torey Pudwill, Lem Villemin, JB Gillet, Jesus Fernandez and Danny Brady stayed in an apartment in the barrio of Kreuzberg for five days. Mark Nickels, a Berlin resident, showed them around the different districts of this diverse German city. Since it’s uncommon for Berliners to witness a gathering of such skateboarders, this story includes three fictional field reports that were observed by some of the city’s residents.

Berlin-Kreuzberg, tuesday, 1100 “Ulrike Koslowski,” bistro server: I was late for work and found myself pacing between the kitchen and the tables that stand in front of the bistro. That group of boys that came by yesterday had returned, and were greedy for breakfast. In between serving scrambled eggs, croissants, and topping up glasses of orange juice, I picked up snippets of their conversation. They spoke in English as well as in French and German. When everybody was finally catered with food, I asked one of the German-speaking guys the reason behind the assemblage of such motley crew. Lo and behold, they were a skateboard team. Real professionals, as it seemed, from England and the USA, as well as France and Germany. Even a Spaniard was amongst them.

I knew pretty well what my day would consist of: taking orders, clearing dishes, serving drinks, sweeping, and finally going home to sleep. To spend one day in the lives of these guys...that would be something else. That would be all right with me.

Jesus Fernandez rolls out a switch crook like Jesus Quintana takes down pins at the bowling lanes in The Big Lebowski: “You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.”

Marty Murawski

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Lem Villemin hits up a nosegrind pop-out on a Berlin tighty and makes the Barrier Kult [p.30-36] proud.

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“Mandy” knows a sexy backside tailslide kickflip out when she sees one, and shyly giggles as Torey Pudwill rolls away.

Berlin-Marzahn, wednesday, 1400 “Mandy,” cute boy admirer: I had just arrived to the football pitch, my usual chill-out area, to meet up with the other girls. We watched the boys from our ‘hood play football and talked about make-up, parties, and boys. Elisa had new sneakers and we all chatted about this very interesting topic. I had been to the Orthodontist just yesterday and have braces now.

I was feeling a little shy; the others had never seen me like this. It’s not a bad thing to have braces at all – Colleen and Sandra both have braces, too. But still, I felt a little uncomfortable. Conny finally discovered my metallic sparkle and just like that, Elisa’s sneakers were old news. Colleen and Sandra both gave me high fives, and I was very relieved. Behind the football court, there is a skatepark. I don’t like the guys that regularly use it – I know some of them from school and want nothing to do with such losers. I dig football players and gangster rappers. But this time, something was different. A large

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group of skaters arrived. They were older than the boys that hang around there normally, and they were somehow dressed differently and had a special attractiveness going on. One of them rolled by our group, smiled and said, “What’s up?” We started giggling in high voices and couldn’t stop.

Two guys filmed, one took photos, and the rest skated a barrier at one corner of the park. I always thought this thing was meant as a border for the park and not for skating. One of them got very angry after he fell, and threw his skateboard in the air. He cursed in English (we all know the strong words from our favourite songs, of course) and broke his board in two. I had never seen anything like that before.

After a while, they seemed to be done. Everyone had made the tricks they wanted, and the group went back to their cars. The cute boy that had approached us came by once again and asked us girls what we were up to tomorrow. “School, maybe,” Conny said with a very

Vivien Feil might call Paris home, but looks very comfortably seated on tall German granite. Frontside 180 nosegrind.

Torey Pudwill

Mike Anderson

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England’s Danny Brady comes up on architectural gold in Berlin.

Nollie 180 switch crooks under the familiar ambiance of gloomy skies.

Mike Anderson

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Wreckin’ rentals and wreckin’ ‘crete in foreign countries...Mike Anderson stays true to his American heritage and takes the metal to this gate-dodgin’ backside 5-0 to revert.

confident voice (even though she never missed a lesson). The cute boy invited us all to come to a skateshop in Berlin-Mitte, where they would give autographs. We giggled and said we would definitely be there. The rest of the day was spent planning our outfits and giving each other tips concerning make-up. We all attended school the next morning, and none of us dared to go to that skateshop in Mitte.

of dust. The bumper had a hole. The interior was covered in litter.

The trunk was full of splinters of wood and broken skateboards. The two guys that were sitting on the curb looking quite tired had made a strange impression on me right from the beginning. How dudes like this came to recklessly ride a rental through Berlin, I will never understand. The car was toast. The gearshift was broken and seemed to be held together only by the leather.

Berlin-Mitte, friday, 1400 “Karl Müller,” tow-truck driver:

I asked these idiots what they had done to the car and their answers were all lies. Sure, a Spaniard flew home that very morning and had wrecked the car in a deserted parking lot by testing how many circles he could spin with it. But he was gone and so were his three French accomplices. The two “nice” young men that stood there with that joke of a car had nothing to do with the damage. Yeah, right. I loaded the vehicle onto my rack and drove off. The two rowdies took a cab to the rental service, presumably to rent the next car to wreck in Berlin.

Damn skateboarders.

I just came back from a job and had already received the next one over my 2-way radio. A car had broken down in Kreuzberg, and the rental company wanted it to be towed to the next authorized repair shop.

The renters would wait by the car. When I arrived, I was confronted with a seemingly new vehicle on its last legs. It had obviously gone through some rough stuff. It was incredibly dirty, and the rear screen was covered in obscene messages that were smeared into a thick layer

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Sascha Daley / Kickflip

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PhotoGallery Neil Smith switch ollie

photo Leo Sharp

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Jake Smith fakie kickflip

photo Ryan Lusteg

PhotoGallery

Dan Redmond

switch backside 180 nosegrind photo Richard Odam

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Shaun Hover nollie kickflip photo Will Jivcoff

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PhotoGallery

Hilliard Sulpher backside nosegrind photo Owen Woytowich

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PhotoGallery

Karma Tsocheff backside disaster photo Tadashi Yamaoda

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Paul Liliani

ollie up to backside kickflip fakie manual photo Jeff Comber

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PhotoGallery

Geoff Strelow

frontside feeble grind photo Jeff Thorburn

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Paul Rodriguez

kickflip backside nosegrind Photo Brian Caissie

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Colin Nogue

noseblunt pull-in photo Gordon Nicholas

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Antoine Asselin kickflip shifty

photo Owen Woytowich

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Matt Craig

crooked grind pop-out photo Jeff Delong

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VideoReviews After a few guest review options fell through for this issue, Vancouver’s Stacy Gabriel stepped in and led the charge with a deadline buzzer beater. Stacy’s no stranger to casually analyzing skate vids from the comforting confines of “the love nest,” and easily accepted the short-term responsibility of turning out a clutch review of Strange Brew.

Strange Brew – Filippone Pictures

This video is a Kurt Filippone production that stars some cast members from Jeremy Pettit’s North videos [‘02/‘04].

Strange Brew is pretty long (60 minutes) but well worth watching from start to finish, and taking the time to check out the bonus features. Spencer Hamilton starts the video off with a gangbanger of an intro, and the rest is stacked with parts from Paul Trep, Russ Milligan, Bradley Sheppard, Rory Fulber, and Giorgio Zavos. Scooter [Scott Decenzo] and Sascha Daley share a “Gangsta Party” part with ‘Pac and Snoop. Both Mike and Wade Fyfe have solid parts; Wade actually lived through one of the most horrifying bails your eyeballs will ever see! There are two friends (“Hosers”) sections that feature guys like Magnus Hanson, Gailea Momolu, Mike Vince, Bryan Wherry and North Van’s finest, Danny Empey. Kitsch has a part that features good footage of all their riders, and the video is topped off with a flawless section from Mr. Ted DeGros. Everyone should get a copy of Strange Brew, and it’s safe to say it’s gonna be hard for Canadian skate videos to top this one in ‘09.

—Stacy Gabriel

Lo-Def – Xamplfilms

This Montreal-based movie was too good to think of something clever to write about instead of the skating, so I’ll just get right to it. Not since Dan Wolfe’s Eastern Exposure videos of the ‘90s has a movie captured the feel of east coast amateur skateboarding quite like Jeremy Elkin’s Lo-Def. I’m not sure if this was a calculated decision by Mr. Elkin or not, but he did what few skateboard movies seem to be doing these days, and that’s leaving you wanting more. If you haven’t seen this yet, visit xamplfilms.com and download it for free, or buy the DVD with bonus footage for eight bucks. In the movie, you’ll see what is possibly the best trick ever to be done at the Big O (Justin Gastelum’s fence stall). You’ll also see Hugo Balek’s skating (Montreal’s best-kept secret), and Kevin Lowry ripping past midnight. Seb Labbe – a kid I’ve never heard of – could quite possibly be Canada’s next great skater, and Antoine Asselin needs to move to Cali where there are spots waiting for him. Do yourself a favour before going out to skate and take the time to watch Lo-Def, then go bomb a hill.

—Ben Stoddard

Stereo Films Classic Box Set – Stereo

“Bang for your buck” doesn’t always translate into quality, but when it comes to Stereo’s classic two-video set, that old adage translates into quality VHS classics upgraded into DVD format. 1994’s acclaimed and ultra-stylish A Visual Sound is the video that initially defined the small SF-based skate company owned by Chris Pastras and preNBC celeb, Jason Lee. The heavy use of jazz, still photography, Super 8, and smooth skating put this production into a class of its own. After A Visual Sound there was pressure to put out a follow-up, which was the much looser and more experimental Tincan Folklore [‘96]. Within the box set’s folds, Jason Lee accurately penned: “Where A Visual Sound stretched the boundaries, Tincan has none.” For all the skate video buffs out there, Stereo’s interpretation of mid-‘90s skateboarding deserves a place in your collection.

—Frank Daniello

The Final Flare – Lakai Footwear

After the instant legend status of 2007’s Fully Flared, it comes to no surprise that every last drop from the golden cow’s teat would be milked. No one wants sidelined footy from an epic to go to waste, right? Lakai comprehensively packaged this three-disc box set, but the bonus gold is really housed on two. “The Final Flare Documentary” and “Unused Footage” on #2, and the “New Full Length HD Feature” on #3 (Blu-ray disc) alone make this pricey box worthwhile. There’s so much more to look at, and a noteworthy amount of extra Olson and Pappalardo footy even though they flew the Lakai coop after the original production. But that’s just how The Fam rolls, and I like it. Concrete contributor, Dan Watson, has the ender in the deep 48-page accompaniment with an impressive, albeit slightly disturbing, statistical breakdown of Fully Flared. Dan’s a big fan, and that’s what this box is all about.

—Frank Daniello

*Public Service Announcement – skatenewspot.com

My buddy Freddy got laid off from his job and was told over the horn in a one-way conversation that started with, “Due to the hard economic times…” Freakin’ recession. If you’re unemployed like Freddy, skatenewspot.com is free to look at (if you’ve got a laptop and some poor mook in your building has a wireless router and forgot to password-protect it). The site’s been around for a couple years, and Freddy tells me it’s got some solid exclusive interviews, photo and video content. It’s also a one-stop resource for select links to content on other skate related sites. Apparently there’s some no-holds-barred hating that goes on in the comments, so Freddy loves hitting below the belt under his “Anonymous” handle. Spineless prick.

—Don Dudski

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TION

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INVentory retro reprise

clockwise from top:

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Powell – Ripper | Santa Cruz – Jeff Kendall pumpkin | Powell Peralta – Ray Underhill chain and cross | Santa Cruz – Jason Jessee neptune | Powell Peralta – Ray Barbee ragdoll | Santa Cruz – Salba witch doctor | Powell – Mike Vallely elephant | Santa Cruz – Corey O’Brien reaper | Powell Peralta – Steve Caballero silver dragon | Santa Cruz – Rob Roskopp face

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TIMEBOMBTRADING.COM STICKERS@TIMEBOMB.BC.CA

INVentory threads and treads

Hurley

Dartmouth hood – black / cyan Harbour s/s Plaid – navy / white 79 skinny jean – dirty dark indigo

Lakai

MJ2 Select – royal suede Carroll Select – 10 year Anniversary – black suede

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C1RCA

Hatchet – Ramondetta / Real – green / white Scorpion – Skate and Destroy – black / white / orange

Matix

Marauder Zip – midnight Mj Brownslub – Marc Johnson Signature Jean Asher Rasta Block – Torey Pudwill signature Asher

Shoe vaultsSal 23 Dan Watson

black shoe photo Owen Woytowich all other material courtesy of Etnies

words

Have you ever wondered how many pairs of shoes you’ve blown out since you started skating? How many of those shoes have you thinking, “Damn, I wish I still had some of those!” It’s sort of ironic that we all want to be rocking the dopest shoes while we’re skating, but skating them means destroying them.

Well, the purpose of this article is to take you for a stroll down memory lane, highlighting some of the most popular shoes of the past.

If we’re going to start out with one of the greatest shoes ever, it would make sense to look at the Sal 23 – designed by street skating legend, Salvador Lucas Barbier. Pick up any old skate mag, or throw in an old video from the mid-‘90s, and you’ll see a fair amount of Sal 23s. Everyone from Jeremy Wray, to Koston and Muska were rocking the Sal pretty religiously.

The Sal 23 made its first appearance as part of the Etnies line in 1994, when the market was mostly flooded with high-tops. But as skating got more technical in the early ‘90s, skaters started cutting their shoes down to lows. The fact that the Sal 23 was a suede low-top with a simple design was out of character at the time. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, skate shoes had evolved into some pretty intense creations. It wasn’t 100

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uncommon to see huge rubber patches all over shoes, as well as busy colourways.

For lots of skaters, the Sal 23 was a breath of fresh air that came in quintessential colourways such as all black; white with a black sole, and brown with a gum sole.

The shoe featured a nice flat grip that was instantly a lot more skateable than many of the shoes being produced at the time. As far as rubber patches go, the Sal 23 only had them right where they were needed: a small patch right over where your pinky toe sits. To top it all off, the shoe featured the number 23 embroidered on it – a feature that was inspired by the Nike Air Jordan 5.

The Sal existed for quite awhile, and even made the switch from the Etnies brand to éS during a transitional period in Sole Technology’s history. But all good things must come to an end, and the Sal 23 was dropped from the éS line in the late ‘90s.

By 2002, it seemed people were once again becoming sick of the bulky D3-style tech shoes being offered. Etnies put the Sal 23 back into their line up, and they even spawned the Sal 23.5 – a mid-top version with a Velcro strap. A few years later, however, the shoes were retired yet again.

Not only have countless shoes completely ripped off the Sal 23’s design, an even higher number of shoes have been inspired by the simplistic, low-tech style it helped pave the way for. With the recent wave of ‘90s nostalgia, I’m sure anyone sitting on a pair with the original colourways could make a pretty penny throwing them up on eBay. For the rest of us who don’t have the time or money to wait for a pair to pop up online, we’re in luck. By collaborating with the clothing brand, In4mation, Etnies rereleased the Sal 23 as part of their current line. The new model has a few changes such as a slimmer shape, thinner sole, and a more skate-friendly leather or suede replacing the rubber patch on the side.

So for all you old washed-up ‘90s nostalgics, or all you younger guys who missed out on a good thing, now is your chance to get a pair of Sal 23s before we’re once again forced to think, “Damn, I wish I still had some of those!”

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THE Five Spot

RUSS

MILLIGAN

Penthouse highlights

S.F. Hangouts

magazines you read

Philly Eagles players

1. The balcony 2. The barbeque 3. The pool table 4. Carley Brew 5. Mark Litchfield

1. Golf Digest 2. National Geographic 3. Thrasher 4. I don’t read many magazines

skate Destinations 1. London 2. New York 3. San Francisco 4. Montreal 5. Barcelona

musicians

1. The RZA 2. Curtis Mayfield 3. Nina Simone 4. Charles Mingus 5. J Dilla

movies

1. Brian Westbrook 2. Donovan McNabb 3. Brian Dawkins 4. Kevin Curtis 5. Lito Sheppard

beer choices 1. Newcastle 2. Guinness 3. Bass 4. Pilsner Urquell 5. Warsteiner

things to gamble on 1. Rock-paper-scissors 2. Pool 3. Football 4. Games of S.K.A.T.E. 5. Random arguments

reasons to skate Ambleside 1. It’s on the beach 2. Good ledges 3. Cool locals 4. Mellow vibes 5. There’s a Pitch & Putt course right next to it

brian caissie

1. Shogun Assassin 2. City of God 3. Life Aquatic 4. Taxi Driver 5. Boyz in the Hood

1. Philz Coffee 2. Golden Gate Park 3. Potrero Park 4. Dan Zaslavsky’s house 5. Street Corner Dist.

102

Concrete skateboarding

Sound Check words

Sarah Rowland

photo

tod seelie

Move to New York. Enroll in art school.

Meet your soul mate. Start a band together.

Spend the rest of your lives traveling the world, making music and giving each other asymmetrical haircuts. It’s the indie kid dream come true, and Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino of Matt & Kim are living it.

“It wasn’t even like we were trying to start a band,” recalls the diminutive, bright-eyed Schifino, who, along with Johnson, recently sat down with Concrete Skateboarding at Vancouver’s Biltmore Cabaret to talk about the band, their bond, and Eddie Vedder. “It was more like we just wanted to learn our instruments. Then our friends forced us into playing a show and it started from there.”

Five years, two albums and countless tours later, their two-man punk/dance band (which consists of Schifino on drums and Johnson on keyboards) is still going strong. And so is the relationship, despite the fact that they spend every waking minute together.

Whether it’s on the road, in the studio, or on those rare days off – they are completely inseparable.

“Oh my gosh, I know,” says Johnson, acknowledging how rare their unbreakable bond is. “Sometimes when we’ve been together all day, it feels like I haven’t seen her all day because we’re not really interacting in a social kind of way. We’re just saying, ‘Can you do this? Can you do that?’ Finally, at the end of day when we sit down and have dinner, it’s like, ‘Hey, how’s it going? How’d 104

Concrete skateboarding

Matt & KIM your day go? Kim’s good, though. She takes care of a lot of stress for me. I’m a pretty high-anxiety dude, so I need the help.”

This high-strung aspect of Johnson’s personality could explain why recording their eponymous debut album left him a shell of the man he once was.

“We recorded it in nine days and we were doing shows after our recording [sessions],” he says. “I just lost my voice. Then I got really record-sick ‘cause that’s just what I do when I’m recording. I was using nasal spray and taking cold medicine…it was really hard.”

back to it and be like, ‘That’s too much, let’s just scrap shit out a bit.’ Or in some places, [we’d] be like, ‘Well it gets kind of dull here, let’s add a little something.’ So yeah, it was all about perspective.”

The result is the ultimate dance party album for indie hipster ironists. Johnson sings in an affected effeminate voice over infectious tinny beats. Every song is upbeat and full of child-like raver sunshine. Even the unlikely titled “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare” is a bouncy little sing-along. It’s impossible not to dance your ass off when you listen to Grand.

For their latest album, Grand, they packed up their gear and headed to Johnson’s family farmhouse in Vermont, which eliminated the stress of working in a studio that charges by the hour.

Lyrically, the songs are made of random sentences strung together, and their meaning is neither here nor there. Matt & Kim is all about melodies and beats. Besides, setting poetic prose to music just isn’t Johnson’s bag.

“This time, we had what I consider a crippling amount of time and freedom,” Johnson explains. “It took us so long to finish, and took up so much of our life because we just had no one to say ‘when.’ People can definitely overwork things when they have too much time and just keep adding.”

“Lyrics are super hard to write,” confesses Johnson. “I remember being really down on people who were just singers in bands, like Eddie Vedder. Come on, dude. You gotta learn to double task. Then I realized that A: singing is the hardest thing in the world, and B: writing lyrics is the second hardest thing.”

But what saved them from completely obsessing was changing their perspective.

They had the advantage of going on a couple of tours in between laying down tracks.

Kim interjects: “So now you have a newfound respect for Eddie Vedder?”

“We’d work on it [Grand] for a long time,” Johnson says, “then go away, then come

“Oh yeah,” says Johnson before adding, “but I’ve always had respect for Eddie Vedder.” mattandkimmusic.com

Wick Winder Distribution 604-276-9425

JANOSKI

Après-skate activities?

Music, art, food, girlfriend...leisure

Favourite websites?

Go outside

Things Liam (pet dog) has ruined?

He’s never ruined anything

Favourite styles in skateboarding?

Drehobl, B.A., Kyle Leeper, Mike Carroll, and Danny Garcia

Best cities to skate?

Sacramento, New York, Miami, SF

Things left to do in life?

Learn, live, disappear

Most prized possessions?

Platinum Habitat chain, Lamborghini, Unicorn, and my island in Fiji

Best Beverages?

Vaca Mountain Vineyards wine, Jameson whiskey, Modelo beer, Piña colada

Favourite Skate Videos?

Virtual Reality [Plan B, ‘93] Mouse [Girl, ‘96] Photosynthesis [Alien Workshop, ‘00] Tent City [Anti-Hero, ‘04] Sight Unseen [Transworld, ‘01]

Best music in your collection?

Nirvana’s Nevermind, Satan’s Pubes, Fallopian Swim Team, The New York Drug Bags

Favourite go-to tricks?

Axle stalls and frontside carves

106

Concrete skateboarding

brian caissie

IDENTITY

STEFAN

TERRY KENNEDY

Terry Kennedy in the Kameo Jacket, Tactic Woven and TKO Denim WWW.ONEDIST.COM

WWW.KR3WAPPAREL.COM

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