SPRING 2012
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www.bigspinmagazine.com
ISSUE TWO
QUARTERLY
INTERVIEWS: The Stalwart: Andy Walker Dan The Double Flight Man Upstart: Tom Lupton Osborne SkatePark Elan Photo Comp Winners Mt Gambier, Go Skate Day and More...
Angus Thomas Photo: Alcorn
www.mv2.com.au 36 Beach Road Christies Beach, SA 5165
new decks coming soon...
CONTENTS
The rant: The Oxymoron in skateboarding and other conflicting concepts explored
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Music: Jason’s Song. Not really a music review, but a story about a cd and one of the most influential skaters nonetheless
Dis-location: Elizabethan Escapades. Our Correspondents head North and discover a world of fun and pain with the Elizabeth Riders Committee
Music and Video: Beau Interviews front-man from Ben David and the Banned. Bryan Mason reviews Stuart Fogarty’s new film Mobbn Deep and the recently released Daily Grind DVD, Still Valid Go Skate Day Adelaide 2012: City park and the Big 5 get hammered in the name of skateboarding for no other reason than we can
The Stalwart: Andrew Walker Interviewed. Andy lets loose on the skate scene, the history of élan and the future of skating in little old radelaide
Get your friends together, go on a road trip and create, even in the far flung corners of the state there is a reason to make shit happen. What happened? Mt Gambier happened, that’s what!
Cover Shot: Braydon Knoblauch Kickflip Photo: Andre Castellucci
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Your Local: This issue its Osborne. Anyone who’s been there proclaims its radness. Go check it for yourself. Article written by local lad Caleb Sweeting
Looking Back: Dan Leach aka Dan the Double Flight Man. We catch up with another legend of Adelaide skating find out that when life gives you rough brick pavement – just strap on some big wheels and keep rolling Upstarts: The first in the series of unearting interviews, we say hello to Tom Lupton who has been shredding up a storm down south lately. Expect to see him venture outwards and onwards, hopefully sporting a full man-sized beard in the near future Photobombs: More rad pictorial evidence of the level of schralping going on across the state right now
Joel Van Moore explores Plutonic Relationships, what’s in a name, and the Cannon St. art collective space
élan photocomp: The top five winning entries from the elan photocomp
Skater Dude! The first in the collectable series of cartoons from Adelaide’s own Dan McGuiness. Got a Penny board? Ouch! Look out for skater dude…
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<rant> Oxymoron; a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Skateboarding; a culture that embraces change, rejects mainstream and pushes boundaries. I don’t consider myself at liberty to summarise skateboarding or define shit in 9 words or less, but let me pose a question: What happens when something with foundations so deeply rooted in anti mainstream is lucrative to sell back to a mainstream audience? There’s no right answer in case you’re searching for it in this sentence, but its something skateboarding faces every 7 years or so. When skating is trendy again there are equal parts of good and bad. The good is that the revenue raised by selling back to the masses, affording companies the ability to trickle benefits back to the skateboarding community, like sponsoring local skaters and bringing out tours etc. The bad is where it becomes an oxymoron, I’ll leave the negativity isolated here as this isn’t what we are about at Bigspin. What this ghetto little ‘zine is about is to keep skating alive and well within the core audience, bridge communities within the community, showcase talent with no boundaries set to direction or discipline and possibly if any copies make it past the SA border – hopefully let them know that skateboarding is alive and well with a healthy disregard to whether we think we are on trend or not.
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MILK: JASON’S SONG Ruby Republic Recordings By EvilDan
By no means think that this is a CD review. This is a review of a certain time and place for myself. It starts with a friend uttering the words “Have you seen the Blind vid?” Now most of you would have seen or heard of the Blind’s Video Days (1991) and if you haven’t, get the fuck onto Youtube and check that shit out. Every day just before skating I would bung in my VHS copy of it and fast forward to Jason Lee’s section. That’s right! The guy from Mallrats and My Name is Earl used to be a skater and a blazingly good one at that. His section was the one that would get me the most amped. When I was skating that day I would have his style in my head and I would try and emulate it. Guess he was my first man crush. So with any skate vid that you watch over and over, you get to know the music tracks pretty well and that’s where Milk fits into all this. Their track
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The Knife Song was used for the first half of Jason Lee’s section. I hunted down the Milk CD on the internet and when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find Jason Lee’s face plastered all over the cover. The CD itself was called Jason’s Song, and for me this CD was a time capsule homage to the skate section I had loved for many years. Excitedly I put it on. Track one was a sample of Jason Lee singing the song, There’s a War, lifted straight from Video Days. Track two was The Knife Song from his section. I hardly ever listened to the other three tracks because like the rest of the CD they were mastered terribly (if at all). The drums sound like milo tins, the bass is way too high and the quality of the sound would even make Thurston Moore cringe. Still, I hold this CD as one of my treasured possessions, not because of what’s on it, but because of how fucking rad that skate vid section was.
(Dis)Location: Elizabeth
Left: Dylan Ollies the hip. Above: Dylan and the crew.
On the 21st of August, Angus Thomas, absolutely shredding! Tom nailing a ridiculous Matthew Symmons, Tom Lupton and myself kickflip over the hip and Angus just shredding took a drive out to the town of Elizabeth and everything with an obtuse angle and coping! met one of Symmoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mates Nugget at the Not to mention Nuggetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stink bug grind on the skatepark. Our main reason for heading out vert wall. Holy bananas! It was inspirational! to the northern As for myself I was suburb of skating the rail and Adelaide was the ledges mainly. to meet, get to Unfortunately I was know and ride skating the hubba our skateboards and stuck! Jumped with a group to flat and put my of young local left arm down to skateboarders stabilise myself that have taken when my elbow into their own decided it would hands organising, rather not sit in promoting its socket anymore and creating and dislocated... local events, resulting in my trip A true Elizabethan, Nugget FS Grinds right and creating a to the local hospital skatepark committee within through the corner. Photo: Symmo to pop my ulna and radius the council. This committee back into my humorous. To add consists of a close knit group of skateboarders, salt my already opened wound, it was the day BMXers and scooter riders. The skatepark before my birthday. Thank you to Tom, Angus, committee take pride in looking after the Symmo and all of the local crew for inspiring Elizabeth skatepark, helping younger and me and helping me get to less fortunate kids with learning how to skate, the emergency room! teach them to respect their skatepark and Skate hard! its surroundings and generally inspire more If you would like more gremlins to pick up a skateboard and do information or to book frontside grinds all over the place. a workshop please We skated, got to know the kids a little and contact Georgina Pearce generally just hung out at the skatepark with gpearce@playford.sa.gov. Story: Beau Hinge some of the future skateboarders of South au. Photos: Symmo & Angus Thomas Australia. From the get go, Angus and Tom were
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BEN DAVID & THE BANNED
Interview: Beau Williams Me little sis Kat introduced me to Ben David a few years back when she was playing in his old band The Thieves. I took an immediate liking to the man, as well as all the misfit fans that came with him. Now I’ve become one of those misfits and I hope the following will give just one of you readers an itch to go see him play. There’s nothing like original live music. BW: How’s the healthy lifestyle going? BD: Pretty good, but that shit’s all out the window next week when we start touring. We’re doing
Melbourne and then some rural Victoria stuff. And then Tazzy. BW: First album you’ve ever bought? BD: Well the first album I ever got was the self titled Living End EP. My dad got it for me for my 8th birthday. But first album I’ve ever bought would have been some Frenzal Rhomb cd. BW: Word, my mom got me Purple Rain by Prince for my 12th birthday. There’s the age difference amigo. What was the first sounds or rather artists that you tried to emulate when you were younger. BD: The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and other shit that my old man got me listening to at a young age. From then it was early Green Day and Blink, stuff like that. BW: Your always banging out new songs. When did you start writing? BD: That would be the first week I learnt the guitar, yeah a real early age. Which I taught myself, and that has its goods and bads. I mean like I’m not a shredder, I’m no Slash but I’d rather be a singer/ songwriter. BW: First Gig?
VIDEO Reviews: Bryan Mason Skate videos are a collection of times spent skating, hanging out and filming, condensed down into the highlights, set to music and packaged for viewing pleasure. For me a good video will give you a sense of what it was like hanging out and skating in the time and place the video is set. Still Valid, the latest Daily Grind video does exactly that. With some serious local talent taking to
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the streets and filming for the best part of 3 years, this vid is sick and totally makes me want to go out and skate! Marc Gierke and Lenin Paunovic have done a great job putting this entertaining half hour vid together. Check it out and be amazed at the shit that has gone down at the spots of Adelaide. This vid had a lively premiere at the Mercury cinema last December and is now available for all.
MUSIC BD: Well I grew up in the hills so that would be this youth event put on at Mt. Barker skate park called Chickenstock. Belanie was with me as well, we were 14. BW: Why does the hills have so many musically talented folks? BD: I don’t know actually, gotta find something to do with your time I guess. But yeah, there’s a lot of talented musicians that come out of there. That’s where I met Kat. We were all playing at this little venue in Aldgate called the Lounge and we went from there. It was a cool little base. Kinda of like Get Folk’d sorta vibe. BW: I loved The Thieves, why did you call it a day? BD: I think I was listening to much Pogues and Flogging Molly at the time and had the idea of doing a red gum type folk band and then we went from there. We lasted for about a year. It was one of those things that from the outside looking in it was awesome, but from the inside it was a horrible, horrible mess. It was a bomb waiting to explode, in a bad way. But, you live and you learn.
BW: And from that you formed Ben and The Banned? BD: Yeah, that’s Belanie(whose been with me from the start) and Bri and Alex. BW: Oh man I love Bri, she’s got such a rad voice. BD: For sure, you wouldn’t know it but in the Banned she’s quite timid, but if it’s just her and her guitar on stage she fucking kills it and will tell anyone to get fucked but when she’s up there with us she shakes in her boots. But she’ll shake it, she kinda got thrown in the deep end with us. BW: Any tours outside of Oz coming up? BD: Yeah, hopefully China next year and Asia throughout. They love it over there and it will give us a chance to do big festivals. From there Europe and the UK if all goes well. BW: Been skating? BD: Always. BW: Thanks for all the rad nights amigo. BD: Pleasure Check Ben out on facebook: www.facebook.com/bendavidandthebanned
VIDEO Where to start on this beast of a flick, for 52 mins Mobbn Deep showcases some international standard street skating from all around this fine country. Starting in Perth and winding its way through Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and finishing its tour de force in Brisbane this film gives a snapshot of a thriving national street scene. Orchestrated by Stuart Fogarty the format of this vid is great; take a state at a time and engage a filmer (or in Perths case two
filmers) and set them off to get as much sick footage as possible. Then open each states section with a montage of unnamed ripping and then throw down any banging stand alone sections. There is so much great skating in this film it’s amazing and the stand out single sections for me were George Newsholme (SA), Adam Davies (VIC), Bobby Fynn (QLD) and Alex Lawton (QLD). If you get a chance, check this one out.
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GOSKATE DAY Adelaide 2012
Story: Jarrod Knoblauch
On Saturday June 23rd the skaters of Adelaide united once again to enjoy the festivities and fun of celebrating Go Skateboarding Day.
large 5-block located in the city. Many bodies were hucked and some were victorious but it was Elan rider Mike Milner who stood above the rest with his face melter of a nollie flip that got the crowd most Celebrations started at the Adelaide city skatepark hyped. In all the day was a great success and the where best trick comps down the three stair and nine questionable weather held out for us. Big thanks stair sets began the frivolities. Prizes were awarded to Andy Walker for organising the event and the to many including the notorious Gorstradamus for his sponsors élan skateboards, Daily Grind skate shop, Emerica shoes, Theeve trucks and Altamont apparel. hectic nollie crook down the nine ledge. After a product toss the masses headed to the Daily Also a massive thanks to Daily Grind for putting up the cash prizes and local Emerica/Altamont rep Will Grind city store where they were treated to pizzas Mills who chucked $100 of his own cash in the kitty and drinks and also a smaller product toss that almost started an in store riot. Refuelled and ready on behalf of the brands. What a legend! for mayhem the squad reassembled at “Big 5” a
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Right: Cash Money Milneronaire, Mike Milner puts it on for his city and takes home the GSD cash with a nollie flip. Photos: Andre Castellucci
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Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
Braydon Knoblauch, Switch Hardflip
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The
Interview: Beau Williams There’s a few things I live by 1. Always hug your mates, you truly don’t know if you’ll ever see them again. 2. Happy wife, happy life and 3. Lend a hand when you can. Now this last one personifies Andy Walker. For as long as I’ve known the man he has always been there to lend a hand. Whether its been through building ramps, hooking up skaters, or just giving me an ear to bleed when me heads full of shit. The dudes been giving me wood for years, and a few boards too. Ba da bing.... BW: So your originally from Hamilton, New Zealand? What was that place like and when did you start skating? AW: It was cool. NZ’s an amazing place. I started properly skating around 13. I mean I always had boards around me growing up and I can recall seeing some dude do a board slide across two benches together and thought, shit that’s cool. But even then I still didn’t take it up. It wasn’t until I saw my friend do something that I thought fuck that’s rad I gotta do that. BW: What changed by seeing your friend do it instead of that board slide from the other dude. AW: I don’t know, I mean I guess it was just more realistic. It just seemed out of reach when someone you don’t know is doing it but then you see your friend do it and it’s like
fuck, if you can do that I can do that. And that was just an ollie over a two by four. What’s funny is that if I didn’t see my friend do that I might not of even started skating. What’s wack is I can’t even remember the dudes name. So long ago and I have the worst memory. BW: Yeah, when we the outcast scum of the earth. AW: That’s about right, but the community of skaters was so rad. If you saw another dude skating you’d immediately go and meet them. The community is still alive nowadays but it’s become so accepted that it’s impossible to meet everyone on board. BW: Your not known for loving park skating. AW: I don’t dislike parks, in some ways they’re great. I just prefer street skating and being at a park is completely different. I wish we still had somewhere like Grenfell. A street spot where everyone would meet up and then go hit other spots around the place. I don’t want to be someone going on about the good old days, because right now is still dope, but that’s one thing I think sucks. For me it had a much better vibe. I also get sick of seeing park clip after park clip on the net. Some are fine, but I’d way rather see shit from the streets.
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INTERVIEW: ANDREW WALKER Fronstide Blunt in China, Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
BW: Na, I got you mate. Skating places that weren’t built for you? AW: Yeah, well you know every place has got that one spot. Love Park, etc. and it becomes a place that people get drawn to, whether they’re skating or just chillin’. Grennies was a sick place to skate, drink, hang out whatever. Again you can do it at a park, but for me it’s a different thing. BW: Who were you rolling with when you first got here? AW: I think the first person I met here was Max Olijnyk. Then just a whole bunch of crew. It was funny
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cause I moved to Brissy for a year and ran into Max again when he was living up there, then again when we were both back in Adelaide. We were moving to the same places roughly the same time without even realising. BW: After Brisbane you went to America with Raoul. Were you looking to get hooked up, sponsors etc? AW: No, not at all. I had hook ups I was stoked on, so wasn’t going looking for it. For me it was just being able to skate those amazing spots and even though it sounds cliché, travelling broadens the mind.
When I got back Adelaide seemed so insignificant, not in a bad way, but just that there is so much more out there. Travelling is amazing. Gotta do it when you’re young and make the most of it I think. BW: Word to that. So while stateside you got to hit up Hubba Hideout just before it got capped. When you rolled up to it did you already have the front blunt in mind? AW: Na, I just wanted to skate the thing. You know we all see spots in mags or vids and you think fuck, I wanna skate that spot. And that was the spot for me. It actually got capped while we were on a road trip to Portland. I heard and was devastated. I still wanted to skate it more. BW: What was the first vid that you did with Bryan Mason? AW: That would be ‘Nearly’. I don’t know if I caught the end of that one or the beginning. Not sure if he’d already started on it or not. Can’t recall, but when I got here there was very few people that were sponsored. There was Bryan Mason and he was hooked up by Company X, and Gourlay and Paul Brabenec were riding for them as well. Anyway, I had the first part and then there was Beez, Luke Beck, Paul B had a part, fuck I’m racking my brain here. Can’t remember some things, but Bryan had the end section and his part was fucking sick! From that era I remember Bryan and Paul were fucking rad, they were killing it. BW: I’m rollin’ Osborne with Bryan tomorrow. He doesn’t get out as much as he likes, but when he does it’s a beautiful thing. Fuck, he rips! AW: Dude, I know. He’s got such a great style. There are so many of us that owe him a debt of gratitude because through his filming so many of us got hooked up, plus it’s amazing to look back on. Legend... BW. (That skate at Osborne ended with Bryan dislocating his ankle. This happening just after he healed from a broken elbow. Respect) BW: Shit demos and Stupid Comps? AW: Umm, yeah there were bad ones. One of them, I think it was in Blackwood at some indoor basketball court or something. I only remember it because I tried to do a kicky front board on this rail and it was on a fun box. It was like this massive launch ramp to a flat bar. And I basically launched my self to the flat, just worked myself so bad. I guess that’s why I remember it. But there were plenty of bad setups and bad demos. As far as the comps, I don’t know. Comps don’t agree with me. The pressure I’d put on myself wasn’t cool. There was a few comps though
that I was relaxed or rather didn’t give a shit about and those were the ones that I won. But at one of the Marion comps I think I felt pressure or really wanted to do well and then I just sucked, I barely made anything. I think that whoever was judging was like well we know he can do this shit so they put me through. I mean it was pretty gay, you know I didn’t skate well and then to be put through I figured I didn’t deserve to be in here. But when it got to that stage I just didn’t give a fuck and I ended up skating really well. After that I figured comps weren’t really for me. BW: Yeah we’re very fortunate to have the board in our lives. AW: Shit, I think it’s a blessing and a curse. You never really know what you’re gonna get. But it also depends on why your skating too. BW: Well skateboarding for me has always been about the fun and family that comes with it. AW: But that’s the best thing about it works on so many levels. It’s not just like you gotta be the best out there and that’s all there is. You can skate once a month and it’s still gonna be amazing. The subculture that comes with it as well. It’s so diverse and that makes it impossible to classify a skateboarder. BW: First time you got flow? AW: That was Paul Brabenec again. He started a company called Origin. Which was like a clothing company and he gave me a couple of things. Then Scotty hooked me up at Daily’s. BW: Scotty’s played a big part in this town? AW: Yeah, well for a guy that doesn’t skate he’s got a really good understanding of it all. He knows how to do things right by skaters. I mean for him to not stock scooters in the shop when it was going through its hardest times is an admirable thing. He’s put on heaps of tours and events too. Anyone involved in skateboarding knows that you will put money into it and won’t see it come back immediately, if ever. He’s done a lot of good for skating in Adelaide that some people either don’t know or don’t give him enough credit for. BW: Any others help you along the way as far as product goes? AW: I left Daily’s for a bit to ride for Skateboard World down at Brighton. When I was in Brisbane Skatebizz hooked me up. And then just before I moved back to Adelaide I starting getting flow from DC through Kwala. I rode for Boom for a few years and got a board out on them at one stage. They were killing it at the time and looked after me well.
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Ha, Warrick hooked us up with Southwark beer. Fuck that was funny. Probably some other along the way as well. Then I started élan. BW: Élan brother, how did it come about? AW: The ironic thing about it is that I did it to be more a part of skateboarding but it pulls me away from it sometimes you know. It’ll be like yeah I’d love to go skating but I got to do these board orders. But Élan started because I always wanted to do something myself to stay involved in skating. I’d spoken about it with my partner (Janine) and she encouraged me to do something instead of just saying “one day”. I thought about what I wanted to do and what I could hopefully improve on. To me it was a board brand. There were things I knew I could improve on and then there were ideals as well. I mean I wanted to set up something so that these skaters could have health insurance. While it’s still not financially viable right now, when it is, I would love to put it in place. I’ve seen in some contracts that if you can’t skate for 6 months then your cut and that was part of the reasons why I started Élan. One of the other reasons was just making sure the skaters always had what they wanted to ride. Not being able to get the right board or wheel size sucked, so I’ve always been really conscious of that. That’s it though, you see something done wrong and you wanna change it. If you can. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not entirely a selfless thing. I’m doing this for myself and if I can help others along the way even better. BW: How’s the team looking? AW: The team is good. I’m super stoked on all the guys on the team. Some I wish would do a bit more, but other than that all good. I’m still keen to add some big names to help boost the profile of the brand, so I’m working on that. I’m always wanting to see that new gen come through and be able to help out those I think are hungry for it too. BW: Can you see yourself in any of them? AW: That’s a tough one, but I don’t really think so. Skating is my everything (well nearly). I’ve always had the desire to skate all the time and do whatever I had to so I could do that. I know that’s not the direction for everyone, but I don’t really see that locally. I’m not sure if pursuing that just seems unobtainable or that they’re just content in what they’re doing? Fine either way, but I’d be stoked to see that drive and passion for skating. It’s not even about being the best, just so long as someone is dedicated. I’ve never been naturally talented but I’m fucking persistent and it’s enabled me to do almost everything I wanted. I’ve also gained a reasonable amount of knowledge of the skate industry in my years and want to be able to help those that want to do something. Doing Élan helps with that as well. BW: Filming. It’s just you, the run ups dodgy, nobody else is skating and 5 dudes are filming you for two hours just trying to land one trick. Do tell.
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INTERVIEW: ANDREW WALKER Switch Kickflip to Fakie: Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
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AW: It sucks, there’s your answer. Yeah, I wouldn’t put that down to being the funnest skating, but it is rewarding when it works. When you finally get a part together it’s all worth it. Can’t say I’m ever 100% happy, but it’s still good. Hasn’t been going great lately unfortunately. Everything’s always easy in your head, then you get there and realise that’s too hard and have to downgrade the trick. That really sucks. Right now I’m trying to get stuff for ‘Streets Made Us’. Evans is working hard on that and it should turn out really good. BW: Amazing style? AW: Oh man, people like Joeski (Joe Jones) has got one of my favourite styles ever. His skateboarding is a direct reflection of his personality. He’s so clean cut and perfect and that’s how his skating is. There’s so many though really. Style is so individual and they’re all sick in different ways. BW: Business wise you’ve been pretty DIY about it all. How hard was it to ask for someone’s help when it came to board graphics? AW: Board graphics weren’t hard at all. Other things I really hesitate on letting others do because they can be quite complicated and I’m pretty pedantic about how I want the final product to come out. It has to be done right. I think Joeski did the first graphics for me as I didn’t know how to use the program. They weren’t quite right for some reason, so I did have to learn and modify them a bit. From there on I did them all out of necessity (not having the money to pay anyone). Once I could afford to pay artists it was great and took a huge workload off me. I couldn’t be happier with the Supervixen guys that do the art now. They’re amazing! BW: Fuck yeah! Thanks for coming over amigo. AW: Dude, thank you. It’s been fun. Walker and I cutlip for over 7hrs. This was a tiny bit of it but I could write a book.
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Gap out to the road. Ollie in the North Eastern suburbs. Photo: Andre Castellucci
INTERVIEW: ANDREW WALKER 25
On a gloomy weekend in July the élan team decided to ditch town and dodge the winter weather. They headed 500kms south-east of Adelaide to the forestry driven town of Mt Gambier to film a team clip and spend some quality time together. Obviously heading south in winter is not generally the best idea in the Southern Hemisphere, but the boys had lined up a warehouse for the stay courtesy of Mt Gambier legend and all time lensman Dan Whitehead. Dan’s Dad and Uncle own Whitehead Timber, a reasonably large timber mill in Mt Gambier, and were nice enough to let us borrow one of their sheds for the weekend. Not only that, Dan’s folks were also providing the majority of the crew with a bed to escape the frosty southern nights. The crew was led by élan chief Andy Walker and included Mike Milner, George Newsholme, Scott Graham, Clint Kenneally, Jay Runciman and èlans’
new east coast recruits Jake Smyth and Anthony Bull with Dan Ivett, Jack Bridges, Don Purdie and myself thrown in for moral support and extra shredding/ filming duties. Our posse met at the city park on Friday morning and the convoy of cars was soon blasting its way up through the Heysen tunnels and out onto the freeway. I rode in Jack’s car with Jay and Bull, we passed the time by jamming out to reggae, talking general skateboarder nonsense and staring out the window as we passed through the picturesque Coorong and into the pine plantations of the south-east of South Aust. As the sun set we arrived in “The Mount” and were greeted by our host. There was no time for revelry as the crew were itching to skate after the drive and the hype, so we quickly visited the colonel (this actually took ages as apparently everyone goes to the colonel for dinner on Friday night in The Mount) and then it was down to business.
Photos and captions: Jarrod Knoblauch
TAKING THE MOUNT ÉLAN & FRIENDS HIT MOUNT GAMBIER Story and Photos: Jarrod Knoblauch
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We spent the following two days building, shredding and un-building an assortment of obstacles, utilising the bench, up-ledge and form ply we had brought with us along with almost anything that we could find in or around the warehouse that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t going to be for sale in the future. Old metal staircases, portable loading docks, numerous types of pallets and even a sawhorse that resembled a strange metal trampoline were thrown into the mix, all ideas were considered and no object was safe from potential destruction. The guys shredded
each setup, filming lines and tricks quickly before someone wanted to change the obstacles. Previous Page; Top left, The squad. Bottom right, Young Elan upstart Jay Runciman kickys the box. This Page; Top left, The setup. Bottom left, Andy Walker with a switch crooks on the metal tramp. Top right Holiday homie Jack Bridges fs blunts up and out on Walkers new up-ledge.
CHURCHILL RD SKATEPARK
The whole crew was amping off of each other and ripping. Walker with his fast powerful lines, Scott with his tech bag of tricks and Jack with his smooth laid-back style. Everyone enjoyed watching Jake and Bull skate as no one had really spent much time with them, they both ripped despite being exhausted having spent the entire week filming already. Jay skated pretty much everything the bigger guys skated and Story: Lee Skrabanich Clint and Milner destroyed everything that was putPhotos: in front ofAlcorn them.
By Sunday afternoon, when it was time to pack up and head home, everyone was exhausted but we had got some good footage for the clip. We pulled apart the little skatepark that we had built over the past days and Dan fork lifted the heavy, metal stairs and rails back out into the yard. After we had packed up, we gathered together for a group photo after which Dan presented Walker with a photo of the crew that he had brought up to skate the warehouse last year. We said our goodbyes, thanked Dan for having us and settled in for the long drive home. Driving out of town we looked at the some of the street spots The Mount had to offer, thinking maybe when the weather was a bit nicer it would be worth the drive down again to hit the streets. Right: Clint Kenneally, bs overcrooks.
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Cale Nuske backside noseblunt on the A-frame. Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
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OSBORNE
SKATEPARK Story: Caleb Sweeting
Amongst the trees of Le Fevre Reserve and the hustle and bustle of Victoria road lies Radelaide’s latest and greatest contribution to SA concrete Osborne Skate Park. When the Port Adelaide Enfield Council decide to pump 750 K into building a skate park at Osborne they were really onto something. This park is something the Le Fevre Peninsula Skate Community had been longing for and we were watching momentously in 2011 as the guys at Convic put together a concrete masterpiece on Adelaide’s very doorstep. The park was so anticipated that even weeks before Osborne was open to the public skaters were jumping the fence and getting a premature taste. Today it’s obvious that Osborne or “Ozzy” to the locals, brings people of all ages and walks of life together all sharing the same passion, skateboarding. More than anything this park has potential, the potential to be anything you want it to be. The park inhabits a half-pipe, quarters, a mellow taco and a radical four stair covered in a seriously slick concrete - one word dope! With plenty of trees and grass surrounding Osborne it’s also a great place to kick back and chill. Say g’day to the down to earth crew of folks who are always down for a chat and game of s.k.a.t.e. With Foodland, Liquorland and Osborne Train Station close by you’ll be set for the day. Don’t be surprised when you witness the spectacle of skaters, such as Cailean Holland and Seb Skilton throwing down some mind blowing shit that is out of this world. Osborne is so versatile, it flows and really provides something for everyone. Young, old, shit or it get your ass down here and get baked in the atmosphere of a fucking good skate park. Round of applause to the council for doing something right!
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SKATEPARK
Rob Carley Switch Frontside Shove Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
Tommo finds the line and chalks up some time in the green room
Above: Sam Goodall. Tre-flip noselide. Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch Below: Andrew Westergaard backsmiths the mini extension. Photo: Alcorn
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Left: Angus Thomas lives one minute from the park. It shows. Smith grind in off the top rope after a quick trip home for a mop and bucket to dry out a rain drenched park. Photos: Alcorn Above: Jack Bridges uses the extension for some styled out back smith action. Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
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DAN THE DOUBLE FLIGHT MAN Interview: Beau Williams
Dan Leech a.k.a. Leechy a.k.a. My Man a.k.a. Double Flight Dan. What ever name you call him by you’re bound to have that same vision of the dude. Unadulterated, never ending stoke. I’ve never seen My Man bummed, not even in his darkest hour. We caught up recently and he gave me a history lesson on Adelaide skateboarding. BW: Looking through your photo album was rad! So sick to see the tricks and fashion flip by over the pages. Tell the folks about the pants. DL: Yeah my mum made me some pants that I saw Christian Hosoi wearing in an ad and I was like mum I gotta have some pants like these. She made them and I went down to Fulham and all these dudes were like dude, those are the sickest pants ever. And I came back from there with like 10 names and numbers of dudes that wanted a pair. So I ask my mum if she could make these guys some pants? BW: Did she? DL: Na, I think she said something like I’m out of material. BW: Let’s talk about the South Tce double set. DL: Oh man, it was so rough with these gaps in the pavers on the run up and the landing. On this day that the photo was taken by Gourlay I just ollied it. Then he asked me if there was anything else I thought I could do and I said well maybe I can back 180 it. He said give it a shot and on the third attempt I stomped it down and landed it. He got the photo and a couple of weeks later it was in slam as a poster. Its coming up on 20 years almost.
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I guess that was around 92’ that it happened. Bryan Mason was in that same issue too doing an ollie over the hip at Holden Hill. And those were the first street skating shots from South Australia to be put in Slam. BW: You guys did a little mag as well back then? DL: Yeah, we called it Variations. It was me, Frosty, Paul B and a few others. Originally we wanted to put it in shops and stuff but then we decided to just keep it for ourselves. You know, something we can look back at and have a laugh about. Just stories and stuff. BW: Your time at Daily’s? DL: I spent 7 years there man and I gotta say they were some of the best years of my life. I was getting paid to do what I loved. And being the team manager with dudes like Dion, Cale, Toddy, Walker, Kirby, little Jack and the rest of the lads was awesome. But also kind of a nightmare, I mean do you really think I had any control over these guys. But they would always say ‘Leechy, your the best team manager.’ Thanks guys. BW: Skate Camps? DL: Running skate camps was rad! It was up in Stirling, they had a massive camp site there with a half pipe and a street setup. It started in 06’ and went for a few years after that. At one stage I was in charge of about 100 kids, just trying to keep them under control for a week. It was hectic, but so awesome as well. I did the Blue Light skate comps as well. I remember when Marcos was judging one with me and he was so hung over that he basically passed out while the comp was on. He just had his sunny’s on it was like Weekend at Bernies. I’d be holding his arm up yelling hey
kids, look Marcos is here! He was out, he was gone, he was just not there. The police put on this gig and one of they’re head judges is passed out in a chair, fucking hilarious. BW: Tell us about your year man, I know about it but everybody else has been out of the loop. DL: Yeah it hasn’t been a very good year, I was pretty much in and out of hospital all of the year until it got to a point where I had to have major surgery to remove most of my bowel. So yeah, it was kinda crazy. But it’s worked out all good now, I’m on the mend. BW: I remember when you came out to Flaggies and you were ripping with a colostomy bag attached. That shit was gnarly dude. Fucking
awesome! How did you stay so positive through that shit? DL: I think I knew that eventually I’d be back to being normal, and I just kept that in my head. I looked at the funny side of it all. You know, to look down and seeing a colostomy bag hanging off ya it’s like whoa, hey I got a bagpipe here! (laughs) I had to see the funny side to it and not get down about it.
BW: I remember the Docs there would ask you to cutlip with other patients that were about to go through the same thing because they thought you’d be able to lift them out of their funk. DL: Yeah, there was a few kids that were in their teens that were about to have the same op as well and they were obviously real shattered about the whole deal because you know they’re 15 and suddenly your told that your gonna have a bag of shit dangling off ya. Yeah, not cool. So I went to them and sorta told ‘em what’s going to happen and not to worry, that they were in good hands with the medical folks at Flinders and that eventually they will be back to some sort of normality. I suppose being a bit older I was trying to get their spirits up and not let them get too down about it. I mean that shit happened to me and I made it. For some of them it did the trick and the doctors were really happy with their recovery after all that. But I’m glad it’s over mate, it’s behind me and it’s time to get back to skating. In saying that, your visits as well as Rudy’s kept my spirits up. The hospital is a lonely place. BW: Well you were a month out of surgery and you and Rudy took me to NZ for the snow. You deserve the Medal of Honour brother. We all destroyed ourselves daily and you were still pushing us all. DL: Yeah man, I went to the moon. BW: What are you keen on now? DL: So keen for Wednesday nights at Flaggies. My wife Cha and I listened to the recording of Dan for this interview and both of us were in stitches. Just listening to My Man laugh was music to the both of us. He gives more than he takes and he fucking rips on a board. Welcome back Dan...
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Interview: Angus Thomas & Matthew Symons
UPSTARTS TOM LUPTON
AT: You skate with a few different crews, can you name 5 dudes that you skate with? TL: Ummm Beau Hinge, Andy Westergaard and Jordan Midson, that’s three I dunno I don’t know AT: That’s three who else Tom think! What about the flaggies crew? TL: Michael Denby umm but lately I’ve been skating with you (Angus) heaps AT: OK cool that’s 5 done let’s move onto the next question. Recently you moved from Fly Boardriding skate team to MV2, that must have been a tough call to make. What motivated your decision? TL: Ummm what motivated me to do it? I just felt like something different all my friends were there so yeah I just wanted a change pretty much; all my friends were the reason. Eric is rad too. With Fly Boardriding I was the only skater whereas with MV2 I am part of a team. AT: I know that your parents give you heaps of grief about working/ skateboarding and the balance of both, how is that going for you? TL: It’s alright I just do whatever I want, I just don’t listen to them. AT: You just tell them to shut up? TL: Laughs AT: You are pretty into your art, how much time do you put in to that? TL: dunno whenever I can’t skate really, shit when I’m bored I just draw. AT: Have you been doing it for a while? TL: Pretty much since I started skating. AT: yeah I have seen some of your stuff and it’s fucking sick! Do you think there’s an opportunity for you to
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work or study in the arts? TL: It would be cool too but it would probably be heaps hard to break into. AT: Maybe you could be a tough tattoo artist? TL: Probably not, I’m scared of needles. MS: Do you wanna tattoo my arse? Everybody laughs MS: You started on Street mostly & recently you’ve been hitting the 10ft Bowl & charging, what was the motivation to head in to the big trannies? TL: I dunno I just love to skate everything and I just felt like trying something different. Something I haven’t done before. Wednesday night Flaggies sessions inspired me to hit it. Watching you, Andy and Nick I just wanted to be a part of it. MS: Are you trying to grow a beard? TL: I’ve been working on it, shaved it the other week, it’s kinda taken a while to grow back. MS: Does your chick dig it? TL: Probably not. AT: Does she enjoy a little stubble or full on Dorfus hairy style? TL: I’ll have to ask her but it’s my choice. AT: How many times a week do you hit McDonalds? TL: I used to have it like every second day but lately I’ve been eating really well. AT: Trying to get your hot body in tune? MS: Do you think that will help your beard grow? TL: Hopefully!! AT: Oprah Winfrey; Whoopie Goldberg & Will Smith; you have to root one, Kill one & marry one – Go… TL: Wait wait start again.. AT: You only get asked once go! TL: Oprah who? AT: Winfrey
Backside Smith in the deep end of Flaggies. Photo: Ben Heide TL: Umm I probably marry Will Smith because he’s got lots of cash, Fuck who would I fuck? um probably Oprah because she’s got lots of money too, and I’d kill the other witch. MS: Did you know Whoopie eats carpet? TL: I don’t even know who Whoopie is so I don’t give a fuck. AT: What’s up with your bug phobia? TL: Well I dunno its mainly just spiders that freak me out. AT: Are you scared of ants? TL: Not really just fucking hate spiders. Fuck Beau! AT: Your brother rode scooters? Did you ever wanna switch? TL: Nah I kicked his arse a fair bit, I tried to get him into skating but he’s a bit unco, yeah it didn’t really work, then he took up BMX and then he quit that so
yeah. AT: So your dads a driving instructor; how was it learning to drive? How does he rate your driving? TL: Easy. AT: Did you have to pay him? TL: It was free and got kind of annoying, he was pretty laid back. I haven’t driven with him since but I aced it anyway. AT: Anything you wanna add? TL: Thanks to MV2 and Shit. AT: Are you going to thank your girlfriend? TL: Thanks Amy. AT: Good job interview done.
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Andy Lovatt Nose Bonk, North Terrace Photo: Don Purdie. 43
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Cale Nuske taking it ‘easy’ with this ollie after his ?th knee clean out surgery. Warehouse Spot X. Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
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Eric Hoburg, Frontside 180 at Festival Centre. Photo: Andre Castellucci
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Ross Forknall wallride backside 50-50. Photo: Jarrod Knoblauch
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Nick Kris, part of the new guard of rippers coming out of the skatepark generation. Taking all skatepark terrain and vert in his stride, Nick has already clocked 540â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and even skated with Tony Hawk. This is but a brief glimpse of what he is capable of. Alley-oop stalefish at Flagstaff Hill bowl. Photo: Alcorn
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OTOBOMBS Jack Bridges. Back Tail Bigspin Flip Out. Ghetto Spot. Photos: Alcorn
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PLUTONIC RELATIONSHIPS: JOEL VAN MOORE Interview: Beau Williams I think of freedom... When another takes the time to get up on a wall, that’s what hits me. Freedom. And why would you ever settle... BW: I’ve always loved how you change up your style. What’s on your mind? JVM: Ah I mean I guess it’s just painting the name and so many people have seen it presented that way for years that I thought I’m not just gonna settle for one thing, but push to achieve and something that is diverse and that’s just a fundamental way that I wanna go about things. I don’t like seeing things repeated (diversity). I mean anywhere you look you see the diversity in nature. And that’s what’s going on at the published art house. BW: Cannon St? JVM: Yep, it’s an amazing space. BW: Llewelyn was hitting a box there in a photo and I saw so much more. Ripping... JVM: Yeah, at one moment we’re all painting and the next thing that happens is a skate jam. It’s our space. Just
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like what this mag is doing. CHA: It let’s everyone know what they’re all doing. From the folks down south to the folks in Lizzy (Elizabeth). They get to know one another a bit better. JVM: This pizza is so good. BW: The best one is the second one when the stone heats up. Skating? JVM: For me growing up the skaters that I watched and wanted to emulate where the ones that were going fast. Dan Ivett, has that kind of style. I mean I can appreciate all the technical skating out there but it seems a bit laboured to me. When you see someone going balls out it just seems more real. Just dudes freaking out at a hundred miles an hour. And that’s what it is, that space and time. BW: I’ve been lucky to see your work evolve over the years. You have a massive following in the streets, so how do you put forth that worth to punters who see you for the first time on a gallery wall? JVM: Man, obviously you have to impress people and sometimes that leads to an aesthetic betrayal of something that is highly skilled to me. When I
paint on the streets and the walls I want people to think ‘fuck, how did he do that’. And for me it’s to show myself in that technical ability. It is a martial art. To find that natural movement to perfect a line, it’s the best Kung fu that you can do. I mean sometimes I’ll paint a line and just let my whole body fall in order to get the piece that I’m putting up. Others think it’s crazy, but I dance when I paint. And it’s all in that piece.
JVM: My mums named Janis and my dads named Van. I wrote that shit over and over when I was a grommet along with band names & skate graphics. Glandore station walls got me buzzing looking at the “WOW” piece. And train lines have been in my blood since my grandfather worked on the rails. BW: Thanks for travelling and bringing them back mate.
BW: Name, why did you get up? JVM: Thanks for the pizza.
IMAGINE COLLECTIVE: CANNON STREET
Imagine Collective have just released a bunch a skate gear. They also manage to share a space at the Published Art House on Cannon Street in the city. They recently had a rad skate jam there to celebrate. About the day, Joel says “ they were looking for a venue to hold a skate jam & wanted me to paint at it so I organised Published ArtHouse space (Cannon St) for us to have the first Imagine creative jam and artists were painting the walls while 20-30 skaters shredded a couple boxes for the day. We rocked beers and a bbq & had indoor b ball going on too. The creative boys setup a stall with clothes and it was a real successful day. “ Go check their clothes and other gear online at: imaginecollective.com Kaelen Front Feeble. Photo: Andre Castellucci
élan Photocomp
Thanks to Andy Walker from élan Skateboards for judging the photo competition. The winners are walking away with some fresh élan gear. There were so many good entries, it was tough for Andy to call the winner. In the end it was this shot by Ryan Cantwell. Ryan wins a board and set of wheels from élan.
1st Place: Ryan Cantwell
2nd Place Photo: Ben Heide Skater: Andrew Westergaard
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Go online to www.bigspinmagazine.com to peep the rest of the entries. And don’t forget to keep sending in your photos to us. We’re always stoked to see what you’re shooting. If you’ve got something rad then we’ll run it in the magazine or on the facebook site. Thanks again and keep shooting.
4th Place Photo: Lachy Pfitzner Skater: James Koufos
3rd Place Photo: Dave Beinke. Skater Brad Smith
5th Place Photo: Corey Middleton. Skater Daniel Brahim
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CREDITS: This issue of Bigspin Magazine was brought to you by: Mark Alcorn, Matthew Symons, Beau Williams, Dan Ivett, Jarrod Knoblauch, Andre Castellucci, Ben Heide, Beau Hinge, Angus Thomas, Dan McGuiness, Caleb Sweeting and Bryan Mason. Sales and advertising contact: sales@bigspinmagazine.com All other enquiries contact: admin@bigspinmagazine.com Send us your photos for consideration to: photos@bigspinmagazine.com Website: www.bigspinmagazine.com
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