Ride Machete

The 2019 Ride Machete, as designed by Global Graphic Designer Dave Banks, has been, in many ways, decades in the making. The deck is the culmination of youthful influences and ongoing projects kicking around in the chambers of his present-day subconscious. Far from Ride Headquarters in present-day Seattle, Washington the earliest trappings of the Machete were seeded in the mind of nine-year-old Dave in his home state of Massachusetts via his discovery of artwork from VCJ, Vernon Courtlandt Johnson. "If you don’t know who Vernon Courtlandt Johnson is, just know that he is the godfather of all skateboard graphics that put his signature into Powell Peralta. I got my 1st Powell Peralta skateboard when I was 9 years old and became absolutely obsessed with the brand. I quickly became a member of the fan club by sending cash in an envelope from Massachusetts to California. I’d receive VCJ posters and catalogs and pin them to my bedroom wall and study every brush stroke and the way he drew skulls and bones. I often think in the history of board graphics skulls and bones are a common theme because every human on earth has them. I don’t really see that (graphics trend) changing ever." says Banks.

Fast forward a few decades and the formula for The Machete was completed when Dave saw the opportunity to explore a creation that had been lurking in his mind "This season I wanted to introduce a concept I have been playing within the back of my head for a while, the Reaper Snake. Typically the grim reaper is depicted allegorically as a human skeleton that takes a person from the living into the afterlife. I’ve always thought it was strange it has never been depicted as other animals, yet all living creatures die. This is the beginning of a concept I will be exploring for many years to come entitled Reaper Creatures in my professional work and personal work. I saw opportunity in a character-driven body of work".

As with any artist, Dave is always indebted and aware of how his influences sculpt his present body of work. With the Reaper Snake, he saw an opportunity to use the top sheet to pay a small homage to his boyhood muse VCJ and his favorite skate graphic of all time the Mike McGill skull and snake. For Dave it is an effort to tie the past with the present and hopefully lay the groundwork for inspiring the works of others in the future. "It’s funny a lot of trends come and go in the graphics world, but stories last forever for whoever is actually paying attention and retains them."

The Ride Machete is available now at rad shops. Follow @robinbankz on Instagram to keep up with Dave's latest Reaper Creatures and other works.

Art by Dave Banks

Words by Daniel Cochrane