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jake johnson / gravisskateboarding.com
jake
Standing Sideways is always in season.
SPRING/SUMMER COLLECTION AVAILABLE NOW
Fashion the winter blues at burton.com
Space Invader
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Providing blank apparel as your canvas since 1946.
west coast 800.225.1364 east coast 800.621.6578 Shown: Style 5300
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THE BEST FITTING DENIM IN THE WORLD EVER!
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
nick kalionzes nick@blisssmag.com
EDITOR
joey marshall joey@blisssmag.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
mark paul deren madsteez@madsteez.com
EDITOR AT LARGE
liz rice mcCray liz@blisssmag.com
SKATE EDITOR
chris ortiz chris@blisssmag.com
SNOW EDITOR jon francis jon@blisssmag.com
MUSIC EDITOR
max ritter max@blisssmag.com
ADVERTISING
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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jason Kenworthy, Dominic Petruzzi, Daniel Russo, Toby Ogden, Tom Carey, Brian Beilmann, Jack Coleman, Andrew Mapstone, Adam Moran, Dave Nelson, Pat Eichstaedt, Julien Lecorps, Ryan Boyes, Zach Hooper, Tim Peare, Michael Lallande, Bob Plumb, Peter Morning
CONTRIBUTORS
Matt Patterson, Willie Marshall, Daniel Russo, Liz Rice, Jason Arnold, Greg Escalante, Nathan Spoor, Tom Carey, Travis Millard, David Choe, Kai Garcia, Mickey Neilsen, Peter Townend, Hamilton Endo, Tawnya Schultz, Mike Murciano, Geoff Shively, Casey Holland, Steve Stratton, Robbie Sell, Andrew Miller, Pat Towersey, Raul Montoya, Ian Dodge, Spencer Pirdy BL!SSS Magazine 413 31st Street Newport Beach, CA 92663 www.blisssmag.com Disclaimer: Although all best efforts are made to avoid the same, we reserve the right to publish unintentional mistakes and/or factual errors which may occur on a monthly basis. No responsibility is assumed by the publishers for unsolicited materials/articles/letters/advertising and all submissions will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright and/or appropriate licensing purposes subject to Blisss’ right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reflect the opinions of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial team. Blisss Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising matter which may reflect negatively on the integrity of the magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without prior written consent from the publisher.
MARCH 2011
Cover Art : Space Invader
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JR TAKES OVER LOS ANGELES
HEALEY GETTING ELECTRIC
Street artist JR has been a busy dude this year, blasting a handful of new pieces in the streets of downtown LA. If you’re not familiar with his work, it’s definitely something you’ll wanna check out at jr-art.net. He’s traveled the world and has infiltrated cities that are not commonly accessible by tourists or journalists. He befriends the townspeople and gives back to the community before leaving his larger than life mark on their homes. He has been recognized for his humanitarianism by many and was awarded the 2011 TED prize of $100,000. Past recipients include Bill Clinton, Bono, Edward O. Wilson, Jose Antonio Abreu, Jill Tartar and Jehane Noujaim so we feel blessed to have his art so close to our home.
Shaddy and the Electric crew have been up to their old tricks and have brought hell-man Mark Healey aboard the team. You could say they speared the right fish on this occasion because whether he’s petting 20foot Great White sharks at Guadalupe Island or going left on a 50-footer at Waimea, Mark Healey continues to blow our minds and entertain us on a daily basis. For Healey, the most terrifying of activities become his every day adrenaline fix and he never ceases to amaze us. We’re sure to see a lot more from the Healey/Electric duo and in between daredevil attempts you’re bound to see a fresh pair of Electric polarized shades planted on his mug.
ABSHIRE’S STANCE
THE ART OF FLIGHT
Mitch Abshire is the exact opposite of your modern day try-too-hard, care-toomuch surfer. Mitch is all about single fins, cruising to the beat of his own drum, and living life to the fullest. That’s why we were refreshed to see that Captain Fin Co and Stance Socks have teamed up to create an original canvas on three new single socks. The designs closely resemble art surrounding Mitch’s shop, The Captain’s Helm, and are a must have for anyone into paving new roads. Stance is always coming up with fresh new art to keep our eyes wide open and our feet comfortably covered.
WESC
Travis Rice is one very talented snowboarder. In fact, he might even be too talented for his own good. After putting out his signature movie, That’s It, That’s All a couple of years ago, we now present you with Travis’s newest flick The Art of Flight. From the glimpses we’ve had, Travis’s film will reset the bar for what modern day snowboarding is all about. The trailer alone had our jaws on the floor. Check it out at artoflightmovie. com and see why we’re pretty sure Red Bull uses ex-Vietnam pilots in their helicopters to capture this insane footage. The riding alone speaks for itself and the whole movie is completely action packed. The premiere is going down this fall so be sure to keep your eyes peeled in upcoming issues of BL!SSS.
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Our favorite Swedish apparel brand seems to have outdone themselves again. Always leading the market with the hottest new gear and accessories, they’ve just recently unveiled their new line of footwear. Their SoCal sales pimp, Drew Delgado, paid us a little visit to show us the new kicks and as suspected they are top notch. Opening the gates with the basics, we suspect there are going to be a lot of WESC fans rocking these new shoes in no time. We’re holding out for the Fall line as we’ve heard rumors that they’re working on a high quality desert boot just for us.
BANKSY OSCAR
RIP YANCY SPENCER III
Thought it was crazy when Three 6 Mafia won an Oscar for their role in the movie Hustle & Flow? Well, the newest Oscar hype is all about street artist Banksy being nominated for Exit Through the Gift Shop. If you still haven’t seen this flick it’s a must – definitely one of the most inspiring graffiti/writing documentaries ever made. The only thing is, it still doesn’t look like the man behind the name will actually make an appearance as the Oscar committee has denied his request to attend the ceremony in disguise. Oh well, at least we’ve seen a ton of new pieces popping up in LA since the nominee. It will be quite interesting to see if he actually wins the award.
JSLV DENIM
Sadly, on February 14th the Gulf Coast’s surfing Grandfather, Yancy Spencer III, passed away from a heart attack while surfing Malibu. At a young 60-years-old, this came as a shock to the whole surfing community and he will be sorely missed. Yancy became the first ever winner of the East Coast Pro in 1972 and opened Innerlight Surf and Sport the same year. He was inducted into the East Coast Legends Hall of Fame in 1996 and has had countless other contributions to the surfing world. Yancy epitomized what being a surfer is all about and we thank him for that from the bottom of our hearts and give the Spencer family our condolences.
AMP X THE SEVENTH LETTER If you’ve been watching Fuel TV lately then you might have spotted our friends from JSLV Denim’s commercial airing. Started in 2007, JSLV is a lifestyle collective brand supporting the skate, snow and graffiti culture. Jayson and the crew over at JSLV have just dropped their first denim collection and the fresh styles and attention to detail have us wanting our own. Without a doubt these guys are pumping out some of the dopest denim we’ve seen lately and we know it’s just a matter of time before everyone will be rocking a pair.
DO SOMETHING WITH YOURSELF Our friends at Code SC have been coming on strong lately with their all-natural skin care products made for men. The products are made with medicinal plants and herbs from sustainable, organic, or wild crafted sources. The Code SC folks definitely have some great marketing ideas with catchy phrases like “Distinguished, My Ass” anti-aging moisturizer and “I Always Wear Protection” sunshield. We can’t wait to beauty up our faces with all our newly found skin care help, and we know the Code SC peeps won’t steer us in the wrong direction.
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As a part of The Seventh Day Project, Amp Energy and The Seventh Letter Crew have created six limited-edition Amp cans. Six artists from the crew took part in the collaboration with each of them designing their own can. The cans look top notch and will be sought after by art enthusiasts across the globe. The artists involved are Norm, Sever, Reyes, Revok, Krush and Push. Inside each of the cans you can find a print of the artwork as well as an info card about each artist. On the seventh day of each month a video will be released at knowngallery.com of each artist in action, so check them out.
SUMMER TEETH
Dane Reynolds is many things: He is arguably the most talented surfer on this planet, he’s an accomplished blogger with Marine Layer Productions (his site that receives thousands of hits a day) and you could also say that the guy has been a trend setter for many of today’s youth with his modern day hippy approach to dressing himself. To add to his repertoire Dane has now taken on the title of clothing designer, with his new line of shirts and towels called Summer Teeth. We’re not exactly sure where Summer Teeth was derived but the shirt designs are what Dane calls “amateur penmanship” and they have a unique look that will have all of Dane’s fans adding one to their shopping cart. Right now there’s a limited edition run of 50 hand drawn shirts available on his blog and real production line shirts to hit very soon. Eat your hearts out surf turkeys!
MAKING RAINFORESTS Whether you’re on the mountain, in the ocean, or walking the streets, we all love and appreciate clean air and a healthy planet. Etnies is now taking action to preserve our planet by introducing the “Buy a Shoe Plant a Tree” project. For every Jameson 2 Eco shoe sold, Etnies will plant a tree along Costa Rica’s Rio Sol biological corridor in what will become the Etnies Rainforest. Etnies has teamed up with La Reserva, a reforestation foundation, and the Maleku, an indigenous tribe from Costa Rica. The goal is to plant at least 35,000 trees and to keep us all riding on this beautiful planet for generations to come. A big salute goes to Pierre-Andre and company for the idea and we think everyone should get out there to buy a shoe and plant a tree!
SNAPFINGER We got a little visit from the boys behind the new food-ordering app Snapfinger while we were putting this issue together. Snapfinger is a handy little free app that everyone could use at some point in time. It uses your current home location (or zip/address you enter) to find restaurants in your area where you can place an order to pickup directly from your phone. You can also use the online service at snapfinger.com. It’s great for when you’re traveling in an unfamiliar city and want to get a quick bite.
NEFF ACCESSORIES The boys over at Neff are always finding ways to get us their latest and greatest and this time the box showed up with two new items that are worth checking out. First out of the box came the Spectra shade, stylishly colored and designed in true Neff fashion with a comfortable fit - a must have for this upcoming summer. The next little goody we were sent was this backpack with more nifty gadgets and stash pockets on it then we thought possible. The two gifts have become quite a hot commodity as everyone who comes by the office has been asking about them. Once again Neff has hit the ball out of the park, and we highly suggest you people go get your hands on some of this gear and much more of their 2011 line.
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HDX HYDRATION Want to stay healthy, keep the environment thriving and remain as simplistic as possible? Well, good luck with doing that in most of your daily routine, but we may have found the solution for you as far as hydration goes. Our boy Vipe Desai introduced us to HDX Hydration Mix, a healthy and environmentally sound choice. HDX is a naturally powdered beverage drink that comes with a reusable water bottle. If that’s not enough to get you psyched, then you should know that a portion of every drink sold goes to foundations that support and protect the ocean. With a great crew like Greg Long, Sal Masekela, Jim Lindberg of Pennywise, and Dr. G backing the drink, we really have to give the HDX guys our nod of approval.
arel.com ZippoApp
TORN AND TATTERED
VANS PIER CLASSIC On March 23rd, the southside of the Huntington Beach pier will once again play host to the 5th annual Vans Pier Classic. This year the contest has been bumped up to a 4-star event, which should bring in even more entries from top professionals vying for a spot on the championship tour. The first three years went to Huntington locals, so with more stars and more dollars, it’s gonna be exciting to see who lands atop the podium this time around. One thing is for sure, the Brillo Productions crew knows how to ensure that an exciting event will happen rain or shine. So make your way down to the HB pier on the 23rd and you’ll be sure to see all of the BL!SSS crew watching the action!
NEO RECYCLING We got a little visit this month from our old friend Casey Kalinyak. We haven’t seen him all that much in the water lately because he has been chasing his dream and has started his own electronics recycling business called Neo Recycling. Like all new business owners, he’s really excited about drumming up new business and doing the right thing. If you’ve got some old computers, TV’s, VCR’s, cell phones, etc and want to get rid of them the environmentally conscious way, you should get a hold of Casey at neorecycling.com and have their free pickup service come and get your electronic waste. They have also teamed up with Newport Harbor High School for an electronics-recycling event on Saturday, March 5th from 8:00am till 4:00pm in the NHHS parking lot. It’s a win-win-win situation: get rid of your trash, do it in an environmentally healthy way and help one of your fellow surfers with his new business, we’ll see ya there.
Our boy Craig “Skibbs” Barker came by the other day to tell us about a couple of art shows happening in the month of March that he’ll be taking part in. First up is the Torn and Tattered show in Culver City featuring new works from Skibbs, Liz Brizzi, and Derek Gores. In the project room, new work from Bay Area artist Reuben Rude will be on display and rest assured that plenty of fun will be going down the whole evening. All of the goodness will be happening on Saturday, March 12th from 6-8pm. If you’re still hungry for more, then you can head north to Portland, Oregon at the end of the month where they’ll be having the LAX/PDX at the Together Gallery. It’s gonna be a busy month for these guys so be sure to head out and support their cause.
THE KERRAZY KRONICLES
Josh Kerr is one of the most exciting surfer’s in the world right now and a very well rounded one too. Kerr has won contests, is back on the WCT, launched airs higher than some small buildings, made deeper, bigger, kerrazier barrels than most of his peers, had plenty of spreads in the magazines and now to top it off he’s coming out with his own signature film. The Kerrazy Kronicles will be premiering at the Lido Theatre on March 16th at 8:00pm. From the looks of the trailer, the film has the makings of being an outrageously exciting flick. The BL!SSS crew will be at Lido covering the premiere and we hope to see you there too!
THE SNUG You might remember back a few issues when we introduced the audio brainchild of Philips and O’Neill called the Stretch, which were tested on animals. Well, we must be the animals because they’ve sent us another pair to test out. This time around the O’Neill crew brought us the Snug, a true example of flawless fit and sound. The Snug is easy to cruise around with as the headphones fold flat for easy stowage and they pack quite a punch with their premium audio quality. The little guys also have some insane style and color ways as well. So next time you’re in the market for some audio enhancers we suggest you go out and grab the O’Neill Snug from your local shop.
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Words: Liz Rice McCray “I make paintings and works about painting. I try my best to collapse the personal with the art historical and to fit both within a single frame. This is something many artists do, but I just wanted to make it central to my practice. Although the works and paintings change dramatically in terms of material, the common thread is some story I heard my mom say, for instance, or some ugly piece of furniture in their living room or
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some dorky thing I did in my youth. Then I try to fuse this with some historical event, person, or artistic style. This sounds cheesy, but I always say that all art is about other art and about your parents.” José Lerma was born in 1971 in Seville, Spain, grew up in Puerto Rico, and then moved to New Orleans for college and Law School. Following a suggestion from
a friend, José took a class from Teacher/ Mentor T.L. Solien and, at 27 years old, his life changed drastically. José dropped out of Law School just shy of graduating and decided to study art. Jose’s thirst for knowledge took him to The Art Institute of Chicago, he earned his MA and MFA from The University of Wisconsin, and also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In 2004, he was awarded a two-year
residency in the Houston-based Glasell Museum of Fine Arts CORE Program. Currently José spends his time between New York, Puerto Rico, and Chicago. In addition to practicing art, José is also a professor at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Escuela de Artes Plasticas in San Juan, Puerto Rico. José Lerma is also represented by the Andrea Rosen Gallery (andrearosengallery.com), to see more of his work go to joselerma.com.
Words: Liz Rice McCray Somehow the staff BL!SSS came across Máximo Riera’s octopus chair and we all thought this would be a good chair, and artist, to feature. Máximo Riera was born in Asturias, Northern Spain. For thirty years he has been creating photography, sculptures, paintings, and is published poet… although until just recently, his creative life played second fiddle to his career in the medical field. A short time ago, Máximo retired to his studio, located in Cadiz in southwestern Spain, where he has been able to work on his art full-time. Máximo’s octopus chair is part of a project called the The Animal Chair Collection. This project started three years ago, the first of the chairs (in a limited edition of 20) being the recently finished octopus chair. Currently Máximo is working on the next two pieces, the rhino chair and the walrus chair, which will be completed in approximately 9 weeks. “This collection is homage to these animals and the whole animal kingdom which inhabits our planet, as an attempt to reflect and capture the beauty of nature in each living thing,” states Máximo. When finished, the collection will consist of an octopus, a rhino, a lion, a beetle, a whale and a walrus. Imagine sitting at dining room table with a montage of species to sit in – which one would you chose? “The main reason I chose to create a chair is because it is an everyday object, something taken as common and banal in our lives. Whilst considering the chair’s basic functionality, I also wanted to bring it alive, make it more present and create a stronger link between the spectator, the piece, and the surrounding space.” With computer modeling software Máximo turned his sketches into 3-D digital images, and the pieces are produced using CNC (computer numerical control). Máximo was assisted by one of the best English manufacturing companies, JH May. Make sure to check out the BL!SSS (blisssmag.com) blog for more images and updates on the chair family collection or for more information about the collection go to Máximo Riera’s website at maximoriera.com.
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2011
WeA c t i vi s t S HELLY ZA NDER SHOT BY CHERYL DUNN www. wesc. com
Interview: Liz Rice McCray How would you explain your work? Unreal stuff happening to real stuff. Can you give us some insight to the image above? Who is the girl in the painting? Is she fictitious? The girl in this painting does in fact exist, although her hair is no longer the same color. She’s in a band with a childhood friend of mine called The Peach Kings. The building behind her also exists. It is still the same color. What would you consider yourself, more Los Angeles or Oakland? Or a little of both, will you explain? I feel like whenever I’m in LA that I can relate more to Oakland, and whenever I’m in Oakland I feel more like an Angeleno. I think there are actually a lot of similarities between the two cities. Don’t ever tell that to someone who was born here (in Oakland), though. There seems to be a big Bay Area versus Los Angeles rivalry that only the Bay Area is aware of. Have you always known you would be an artist? I think so. There were a few years as a child that I was sure I would grow up to be a Ninja Turtle, but that didn’t pan out. What mediums do you work in? I work mostly with oil paint on various surfaces, like canvas, wood, and paper. I often use ink and guache, too. What is your favorite subject - do you paint from model, memory, or photograph? I paint from models, memory, found photographs, personal photography, and the imagination. What do you love most of Northern California? What do you love most about LA? I love the summer weather in Northern California, and the winter weather in LA. Can you explain your average Monday? Wake up, bike to studio, drink coffee, paint, eat, paint, eat, paint, bike home, eat more, sleep. My Tuesdays are crazy, though. To check out more of Seth Armstrong work go to setharmstrong.com.
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Rodney Mullen was first credited for the flatland ollie in freestyle skating in 1981. Since then the ollie has always been the most basic of tricks that any skater has in his arsenal, but some have the ability to go higher than the rest. Case in point at the 2011 Magic tradeshow held in Las Vegas this past month. Before the show, Danny Wainwright and Luis Tolentino both held the record for highest flatland Ollie at 44.5 inches, but it seemed to be time for a changing of the guard. With a whole crowd on hand including stars like P-Rod watching in amazement as skaters attempted to set the world record at the Maloof High Ollie Challenge. Aldrin Garcia looked like the man with the pop, as he came closer than the rest of the field. Unfortunately a clean land wouldn’t come without countless tries and a few requests to land it over. Aldrin successfully cleared the bar twice but was told that he hit the bar on his first attempt and that the bar was bent during his second attempt and that he needed to go again. Instead of telling everyone to piss off, the humble Garcia went right back at his runs. At last he stuck the ollie and the crowd erupted with cheers! Aldrin cleared the bar at 45 inches without disputes and walked away from the tradeshow that day with $10,000. The record for highest flatland Ollie now stands at 45 inches and we seriously think it will take an alien to snap this one. Photo: Deville
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PHOTO: WINER / A-FRAME
Words: Liz Rice McCray Riikka Sormunen was born in 1987 in Helsinki, Finland. She and her two younger sisters were always encouraged to draw by their artistic mother, most of the time on scraps and old documents in order to save some paper. At the age of 14 she moved on from her first favorite subject - Disney princesses - as she became more interested in drawing pictures of her favorite celebrities. Around that same time she discarded the idea of becoming a make-up artist and decided to keep on drawing and painting. She did her first published illustration for a Finnish fashion magazine in 2006.
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After graduating from Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Visual Arts, she tried studying fashion design at The University of Art and Design Helsinki. Finding the process of making clothes less rewarding than just drawing them, Riikka dropped out after the first year. She applied to study fine art twice but was seen as being too commercial. Inspired by fashion, nature, Japanese woodcuts, mid-century illustration and artists like Gustav Klimt, Tamara de Lempicka, David Hockney and Sylvia Sleigh, Riikka uses watercolor to paint lovers, fighters, surreal landscapes,
variations of her dream home, florals and all sorts of patterns. She first started painting with watercolors out of necessity: her small bedroom being her studio, she didn’t want to make mess with oils or acrylics. She experimented with other mediums after gaining access to proper studio spaces, but never felt like she could make things look like her own without watercolor. One of her favorite subjects is herself, although she rarely paints an honest self-portrait. It is more likely to see one of her characters wearing her pants, her nose or acting out a scene she has once
been through. Some of the reoccurring themes in her work are those of vanity, greed, horror, pleasure, violence, insanity, insecurity and love. Riikka has illustrated various magazines, including Guardian, and her works have appeared on book covers and in group exhibitions around the world. Riikka currently lives in Edmonton, Canada with her boyfriend who works as a concept artist in the video game industry. She works from her kitchen table and enjoys dancing alone just before lunch, shopping, hummus, reading Margaret Atwood books and watching Hercule Poirot on TV.
splitusa.com
EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG MATT BENNETT
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Photo: Dominic Petruzzi : dominicpetruzzi.com :: Model: Lauren :: Ford Models This month we’re woken up under the sun from a nap on the beach by this dainty dark haired diva. It seemed that this was our lucky day. This San Diego native was exactly what we had been looking for. Her perfect rig glistening off of the ocean glare, her face melting our hearts while her surprisingly witty sense of humor had us laughing uncontrollably and thinking we were hanging with some of the boys. Perfection right? Then it happened. A car alarm went off, our eyes opened and we were back sitting in the office. It was all just a daydream, but hey, it was a damn good one at least. Hair & Makeup: Tiffany Toth :: makeupbytifftot.com // Retouch: Julie Sadowski :: juliesadowski.com // Bikini :: Tavik :: tavikswimwear.com
JULIAN WILSON
NIKE 6.0 TEAM KOLOHE . MICHEL . KAI . DUSTY . JULIAN . NAT . EVAN . KOA CARISSA . COCO . MALIA . MONYCA . LAURA . LAKEY
ACTION: JASON KENWORTHY
IN THE
6.0 GYM BOARD SHORT
SLOB AIR-REVERSE, AUSTRALIA
RETNA The Hallelujah World Tour, FEBRUARY 10, 2011 New York A few months ago, RVCA founder and show curator PM Tenore introduced west coast artist RETNA with Andy Valmorbida and Vladimir Roitfeld, two emerging young art dealers who have done major shows around the world with artists like Richard Hambleton and Nicolos Pol. From this meeting came
The Hallelujah World Tour, RETNA’s first solo show in NY and a proceeding tour taking the show to London and Venice. RETNA is from the crew AWR/ MSK, he is a street artist with murals and paintings all over LA that have caught the attention of the art world heavyweights, including Jeffrey Deitch
Words: Pat Towersey :: Photos: Yuri Shibuya
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who is now the head of MOCA. In RETNA’s work, the symbols look like a mix between Arabic and Egyptian hieroglyphics, although RETNA writes in English and Spanish, drawing inspiration from anything from Old English script to gang graffiti writing.
A record attendance of over 4,000 people attended on the opening night, with a line permanently wrapped the building. Once inside, everyone walked through a long all black corridors, into the large open gallery space where waitresses holding trays of drinks met them. The room was lined with 35 large
pieces that filled the walls from the floor to ceiling, with lighting that illuminated a blue halo on the outside of each piece. In the center of the room there were 8-foot high sculptures, spelling out RETNA in his style. It attendance was a very diverse group of people, ranging from celebrities, street art legends, socialites, editors, surfers, skaters, musicians, all having a good time and celebrating the works of RETNA.
The Courtin-Clarins Sisters: Claire, Jenna & Virginie
Andy Valmorbida, PM Tenore,Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld & PC Valmorbida
Artist Jose Parla & friends
Retna
Singer Chris Brown & his posse
Danny Fuller, Olga & Valentine
Angela Simmons & friend
Casey Eklips Zoltan & Retna with friend
NY Graffiti legend Haze
Felix FLEX Lesly & Mike Avedon
Beautiful Girls
David Mushegain, Colin McElroy & Punker Pat
Vladimir & Viv
Norm, PM Tenore & Revok
Madsteez & friend
Rumi & boyfriend
NY peoples
Kassia Meador & friends
Words & Photos: Sean Peterson When walking down Hollywood Blvd with Norman Woods, you won’t get far without someone giving you a look of recognition. For a second you will see a friendly face illuminate, you’ll feel compelled to acknowledge the stranger, but that familiar look is slipping right past you and up to Norman Woods, whose Cheshire Cat smile is floating just above your head. He’s a recognizable figure on the walk of fame, standing about six-feet tall with dangling dreadlocks, trinkets, and a mysterious Afro-Cherokee build. Norman’s known, and he’s got Tinsel Town street credit because he is always smart, always stylish, and always skateboarding. Three traits that make one stand out on any street, even the most famous street in America.
Ellington, and Blowfly, Too Short… Crazy rap. I was really into it cause I was 6-years-old hearing Blowfly talking about fuckin’ fat bitches. I was like, “Damn, this dudes a trip,” and I try and imitate him.
Tell us about this Casio thing? So, I was a little kid and my dad would send me these mixed tapes, cause him and my mom’s split up. He was in Nebraska and I was in LA. He’d send me a lot of letters, he’s always been about letters, and he’d send me little mixed tapes. They’d have Duke
Do you still have the recordings? My cousin, aunt, or maybe my mom. My mom keeps some of my old shit, she might have it. I used to have this green tin box my uncle gave me when he lived in LA. I flew back to Nebraska with him for the first time. I was stoked on my uncle cause him and
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I’d go stay with my cousin on the weekends. I had a Casio keyboard and a tape deck with a microphone. At the end of every song, there’s a segment of the song that’s just instrumental, so I’d record loops of the instrumental and then my little cousin and me would rap over it. Then we’d take the display on the inside with the liner notes, trace it, draw our own covers, and write down our own lyrics. We did that till we were about eight or nine, producing and packaging our own shit and just stacking it up. It was fun!
my dad where so much alike. I kept that tin box and kept all my music stuff in there. I just let it sit there, and then when I was 10 I got into movies, cause I saw Pulp Fiction. Your dad got you into music? He sent me a saxophone to play, but I never got to into playing music until middle school. I started playing the trumpet but then I got braces, so I picked up a guitar. Which was the last instrument I wanted to play cause it seemed like a copout instrument. Every kid and their dad had a guitar. I didn’t want to, but ended up playing it cause my mom’s brother gave me a guitar. He saw I wasn’t playing music, and he was all about music, cause my grandma wouldn’t let him play music. My uncle was always encouraging me to play music - he’d come over and yell at me for not playing the guitar. Music is how I got into skateboarding. There was this kid Travis who was super punk. I thought he was badass cause he had a huge Mohawk. He lived across from my teacher aid in 4th grade. She thought he was the worst
kid in the neighborhood, so I was all into his steez. He’d give me punk tapes cause my parents didn’t let me listen to rock music. They thought that punk rock was the reason why white kids were so crazy. Travis would ride around on this skateboard in beat up Doc Martins doing slappy grinds and kick-flips and shit. That kid kind of got me into music and seeing it was okay to skate. Then I saw my homie Brendan, he was the only black kid that I’d ever seen skate. What do you mean by, “it was okay to skate?” Cause you didn’t see black people skating around. When I started skating I got so much shit from all the black kids for skating, they’d be like, “What the fuck are you doing that for?” I remember that shit, extreme racism, did you see a lot of that? I remember my middle school was connected to a high school. The kids from the high school would come over and starts fights between the blacks and Mexican or whites at our school.
F.S Big Spin Heel - Board Slide
Then they’d leave and just watch us fight each other, but all the skaters in my school never got into it, we’d be in the middle just chucking oranges at those high school kids. Just being pranksters, that’s why I like skateboarding too. That’s the whole reason I like skateboarding. The kids that skated just seemed like they didn’t take life to seriously. I was
always into school and just trying to do well at it. But there was all this pressure. Skateboarding was a relief right away. As soon as I started skateboarding everything else was done. I played basketball… That shit was DONE. I was into snowboarding… That shit was DONE. All I wanted to do was skateboard and sit at home and play guitar. I didn’t want to hear about anything but skateboarding.
Wait, you used to snowboard? You were pepper on the mountain. On hills and shit in Nebraska. My dad bought me a snowboard cause I wanted one so bad. He bought me a snowboard and pushed me down the hill cause I was to chicken shit to go down it. My dad’s always supported that side of me. When I first got a skateboard I
F.S Heel over Rail
was in Nebraska for the summer time, there were all these hills and I wouldn’t bomb this hill. My dad was in a suit and dress shoes and he fuckin’ jumped on the skateboard and rolled down the hill and ate shit. Jumped on my board in his slippery ass dress shoes, skinned his arm, tore his pants, and just jumped right back up. My dad was pretty rad. When did you start skating? I was 13. But the first time I touched a skateboard I was 8. My cousins had an old school skateboard. I couldn’t stand up on it, so I tried to push around on my knee. I hit a crack and flew all far and scrapped my face up. I had all these scratches on my face, My aunt had put all this aloe vera all over them; I was like I never want to do this again, so I didn’t touch a skateboard again till I was 13. Some kid gave me this Variflex, I tried to ride it. This dude saw me try to ride it but it was a shitty skateboard, so he did a huge ollie and broke the tail off. Then he gave me thirty bucks to get a new
one. I went to the skate shop and thirty bucks totally wasn’t enough, it was like one hundred and fifty bucks for a board. Then on my birthday my mom bought me one. It had Spitfire Wheels, Consolidated bearings with the perforated shields and shit, Destructo Trucks, a Hammer Time board that had Wet Willy smashing Flame Boy with a big ass mallet. I went to school and all the skaters were like, “that’s sick.” Then I saw all my old basketball homies and they where like, “What? You’re riding a skateboard? That’s for white boys and shit.” All these kids are your friends one day and then they see you with a skateboard and they’re not your friends anymore. What school did you go to anyway? When I started skating I went to Mulholland Middle School in the Valley. It was in Van Nuys? How did you end up at Hollywood High so much? My homie Don J would always go there. He’s from the Valley too, but he knew
all the Hollywood High dudes. One year all the skaters in my high school took summer school so we could take off after class to Hollywood High. Then, when I was done with school my mom moved us to Inglewood so she could take care of my Great Grandma. I didn’t know anybody in Inglewood so I’d just go up to Hollywood to couch surf and skate. I went to Hollywood High everyday for like five years to skate with all the homies, all the same homeis I skate with now: Marcus, Marcellus, Sybil “The Brazilian Beast”, Musa, my homie Scottie, pee-wee, Eddie, Juice; so many kids. We’d just sit at the Hollywood High, skate, drink beers behind the wall, and cause havoc. You took a little hiatus and did the rock-n-roll thing, what was that like? I put so much energy into skating for a while that I started getting all weird about it and taking it too seriously. I needed to take a break. I never wanted to completely quit skating but it just happened that way. I was just skating and pretty much forgot
about music accept for playing guitar by myself at home. I just decided to chill for a while, I didn’t want to film or do anything for a while, I just wanted to try and get a job and hook up with girls and shit. How did that go? I mean the whole job thing? Well…? Hooking up with girls and playing music is a full time job too, sooo… Fuck a job, I worked in a porno shop, that was pretty crazy. Did you ever see famous people come in? I seen Zach De La Rocha, the dude from Rage Against The Machine. I think I seen some other people come in there, but mostly it was just the little Mexican worker dudes getting off work and buying condoms to fuck the tranny hookers. Shit was pretty crazy, it was right on the corner of Western and Santa Monica, so it was all the little cowboy dudes and all the trannys, so grimey. They love the trannys. Right where I live there’s tranny hookers all over my street and that’s who
“FUCK A JOB, I WORKED IN A PORNO SHOP”
Switch B.S K-Flip
Elsenor Bump
picks them up, those little Mexican cowboy dudes and weird Asian dudes. They love the trannys. But yeah, getting a job sucked. Where did you work? At some place in West Hollywood called Domiano’s, it was like a dark ass… Nevermind, I’m sorry I asked you where you worked. I don’t care where you worked; let’s go back to the music thing? Did you burn out? Did the band break up because of creative differences? Did the label drop you? What happened? No. To be honest, I started out trying to play music for myself. I was living with this guy James and he would show me some guitar stuff, he had a roommate, and he eventually wanted me to be the band and shit. It just didn’t really click. I wanted to do my own thing and I started skating more, then I got my girl, and she started encouraging me to skate more. Which was kind of crazy cause no one encouraged me to skate. When I lived at home it was always, “get a job,” or “go to school, you’re good at school.” But I just want to skate and have fun. My girl was like, yeah, skate and have fun. So I just figured, I can always play music, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to skate the way I like to skate and it’s kind of working out now. B.S Heel
Photos: Tom Carey
Hawaii’s John John Florence started surfing the deadly Banzai Pipeline at age eight and barely four feet tall — about the same time the surfing world’s spotlight fell in love with him. Ten years later, at 18 years of age and heaped with expectation, he proved there hasn’t been an ounce of energy wasted on him, winning the $120,000 Volcom Pipe Pro title at his home break in perfect surf. An Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 5-star event, this was exactly the kind of springboard into professional surfing that Florence has long dreamed of, and it came in the first rated event of his first season on tour. It was a hard-earned victory for Florence who had to work his way through five grueling rounds – four of them held on the last day of competition in barreling waves two stories high. His final ascent required him to take down five-time Pipeline champion Jamie O’Brien and proven Pipe specialists Chris Ward (San Clemente, CA) and Aamion Goodwin (Kauai,
John Florence
John Florence
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Chris Ward
HI). Determined not to let the opportunity slip, Florence embarked upon a flurry of insane tube-riding in the opening 10 minutes of the 30-minute heat, locking in back-to-back scores of 7.67, 8.43, and 9.93 to shut the door. He never caught another wave. He didn’t need to. His top two-wave total of 18.36 stood untouched and earned him $16,000, 1,000 ASP ratings points and, more importantly, a wildcard to take on the world’s best in the Pipe Masters, to be held at the end of the season: December 8-20, 2011. It has been an incredible month for the nowtowering teenager who tasted victory just three weeks ago, right here in a specialty “Backdoor Shootout” event, setting his trajectory for 2011. Somehow, despite a decade of photo shoots, magazine spreads and interviews, he seemed to be the only one surprised with the result.
Jamie O’brien
“Two contests in a row out here, I’m so stoked right now. I’m still kind of in disbelief,” said Florence. “It’s satisfaction. I love doing it and putting it all together and just having fun.” On his plans to travel the world this year in a bid to qualify for the elite ASP World Tour: “This means everything, my first (ASP) win and my first (ASP) final. I’m gonna try, you know. I’ve got a pretty good start on it. I love it, and I love traveling. Going to all different places, surfing, meeting different people. It’s the best thing ever. It’s just crazy to be in a heat with Jamie. I’ve grown up with him and I’m just really stoked. I’ve wanted to win here ever since I was little, ever since I started surfing out here.” Florence’s rhythm and rapid fire annihilation of the heat was uncanny, breaking out of the gates with a lifetime of motivation behind him. His tube-riding was flawless – the biggest waves,
Ian Walsh
Aamion Goodwin
Damien Hobgood
Kalani Chapman
Flynn Novak
the steepest drops, Backdoor rights, Pipeline lefts; they all seemed to play out the same way: deep, long and successful. “With guys like Chris Ward, Jamie, and Aamion you know anything could happen. If a good set comes Jamie could get a 10. Anyone could have gotten the scores. So, it wasn’t until the last 40 seconds that I was like… YES!” “I kinda just lucked into it, you know. I got that first one and it was alright and then I paddled back out and got that second one, and then just paddled straight back into that left.” O’Brien didn’t give up and is well known for rising to the challenge. He answered back with an 8.57 and a 6.77 (15.34 points total) in the final, but ultimately never found the score he needed to bridge the gap. His consolation was a wildcard into December’s Pipe Masters and $8,000.
Bruce Irons
For Ward and Goodwin, it might have been a matter of peaking a round too early. Aamion posted the second highest heat score of the entire event in his semi-final against O’Brien, Fred Patacchia (HI) and Ian Walsh (HI) – 18.54. Ward had one of the highest single rides of the competition in his semi-final against Florence, Kai Barger (HI), and Damien Hobgood (FL) – a nearperfect 9.07. Like Florence and O’Brien, Goodwin and Ward win wildcards into the Pipe Masters. “It was amazing,” Goodwin said of his semi-final heat and best finish in an ASP event. “I’ll remember that for a long time.” For Ward, it was nothing but satisfaction. His last appearance in a final was here at the Pipe Masters in December of 2009, against world champion Kelly Slater. To podium again was confidence boosting. “The waves are amazing today, so perfect,” said Ward. “I mean, if you’re in the right spot, your going to get shacked off your head. It’s right up my alley. I love Pipeline and I love surfing Sean Moody
Freddy P
Reef Mcintosh
Eric Geiselman
with four guys out at Pipeline. This is one of the best contests you can surf in. I’m glad to be hear and glad to be on the podium.” Other awards handed out today included the Electric Visual Perfect 10’s – $1,000 bonuses to the two surfers who posted perfect 10-point rides during the event: Maui’s Ian Walsh, and Oahu’s Kekoa Bacalso; and the Todd Chesser Memorial Spirit Award that went to wildcard charger Kalani Chapman (HI). Wildcards into the 2011 Pipe Masters were also won by Hawaii surfers Kai Barger, Fred Patacchia, Bruce Irons, and Evan Valiere and to Chris Ward for the highest placing nonHawaiian.
Sion Milosky
RESULTS: 1. John John Florence (HAW) – 18.36, $16,000 2. Jamie O’Brien (HAW) – 15.34, $8,000 3. Chris Ward (USA) – 14.46, $6,000 4. Aamion Goodwin (HAW) – 10.6, $5,000
ANDREW DOHENY
MARCH 23rd thru 27th, 2011
watch the live webcast of the event at vans.com/pierclassic
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elly
2011
ns n . vanssurf.com
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Words: Deville & Ortiz Let’s get the basic questions out of the way, how young are you? Thirty-three. Where are you from? The Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Where do you live now? Encinitas, CA, USA. And what line of work are you in? I ride a wooden toy and get paid to. Since this isn’t a traditional skateboard magazine, what’s the life of a pro skateboarder like? Day-to-day is great, no certain timetable to be at work and get to go somewhere different everyday. Long-term, there are many injuries and worn out body parts, wouldn’t change anything. What’s a most common misconception? It’s still a lot of hard work on the
body and traveling all the time can wear you down. What does your free time involve? It seems like you have a lot of interests. I like to read every once in a while, playing golf, surfing, riding bike and other activities that help my body stay healthy. You’re most definitely the most positive person I know. Where do all this positive vibes come from? I’ve realized it takes way more energy and mental anguish to be hating and talking shit on people and things by observing people and the way they have acted over years and the way it has affected them. I try not to waist my energy in that fashion. Yin and yang or dualities would lend to believe with all this positivity there would be a dark or negative side? How do you deal with or address negativity? Surfing is my release for that and
it helps with injuries from skating being in the water. There are always dolphins and seals where I live. Learn that what ever happens to you, figure out a way to let go completely. Everyone is different but you can learn your way of doing it. You’re a very spiritually enlightened or aware person; do you mind sharing some of your unique and positive vibrations? In my personal opinion it is to easy to just be a dickhead and react without thought and talk shit when confronted with difficult situations in life. It is a challenge to think for myself and try to FEEL what is the right thing to do in situations. Thinking and feeling are very different. The Gold Coast AUS and Encinitas are actually sister cities, did you know that? No I didn’t, did you Google that? With all the similarities including climate, lifestyle and
surfside vibes, what might be some of the distinguishing differences? Meat pies-burritos, way hotter in Australia in summers, surf way colder in Encinitas. What does Blisss mean too you? Doing something you love. What’s more frustrating learning a new trick or losing an old one? Learning a new one, if you loose an old one you still remember how it works but a new one is figuring it all out for the first time. People always make the connections to the similarities between skateboarding and surfing. What are some of the differences? Street skating there are no similarities, there is no similar feeling. The only time there are similarities is on transitions (vert, mini, skate parks) – that flowing floating feeling is the connection.
Photo: Ortiz
Photo: Deville
Photo: Deville
Photo: Deville
Photo: Deville
Street skating (stairs, rails, ledges) is completely different. You’ve recently changed sponsors to the most iconic and legendary skateboard company in the world, Powell Peralta, what does that mean to be a childhood fan and then be a part of it? I am really happy to be apart of the Powell Peralta program as they were the team I grew up following and I am looking forward to the next few years with everything they have planned. It’s 2011, the apocalypse is just around the corner, do you have anything on your to-do list? Skate, surf, play golf with friends. Live a fun, busy life. And what kind of weight or truth do you invest in Doomsday theories? There are a lot of different ones out there, I think the one I’m leaning on so far is the sonic blast from an exploding star that will wipe out all communications and it will take around a year to be rebooted. Who knows? You’re very talented at everything you apply yourself to: skating, surfing, soccer, biking, motocross, video games, is there something you can’t get the hang of? Music, but I have never really put any effort into it. I like to write a lot so maybe I have songs I don’t even know I have.
Where does your very controlled sense of competition and competitive perseverance come from? It comes with age I guess. I’m always learning and paying attention to my mental, physical and emotional states in anything I do, so I can try to do better the next time and if something goes wrong I can understand why. And always paying attention. It’s helped you in your contest career. Yes it has, but I think what has helped me the most with contest is my outlook of having fun at contests. I watch people that could kill comps and make a bit of extra cash but they mentally take it too serious. I could get dead last with a smile on my face, that way I have no problem coming back to try again. How have contests changed? Bigger prize money, more TV cameras. There are still the good old contests going on like Tampa, which is fun. And what remains the same? The skaters and friends that go to these events! In this new digital age, it’s fair to say the advantages outweigh the negatives but as a neo hippie, how do you “unplug?” For me, to unplug is getting back to nature. Surfing is the best, then golfing. Laying on your back and watching clouds roll by slows your whole system down. It’s a bit hard in Cali as there are hardly any clouds rolling by.
You’ve always been a gadget guy, you want to expand upon that? I think I am amazed at technology and what it has and is becoming, yet at the same time I think the human race is loosing so much knowledge of themselves. It’s evolution on steroids right now. Are there any new distractions you want to elaborate on? Video games are insane, I use to think Space Invaders was a hard game. Health and happiness are key to your success, are you a firm believer in exercise of the mind and body is the key? Use it or loose it in every possible way you can imagine. What’s some of your earliest childhood memories? Having a bath in a metal laundry sink as a baby, the metal was cold on my bum. When did skateboarding become a passion as opposed to a pastime? Was there a “this is it” type moment? It was always a passion when I was young but after the first skate trip to the US is when I really wanted and new it was possible, I was fifteen. If you hadn’t become a pro skateboarder it’s fair to say your life would be drastically different. Any
idea where some of those directions might have lead? I honestly have know idea, there was no other plan as I had set everything on skateboarding so who knows where I would be now. Sliding doors, glad skateboarding opened for me. What’s a definitive Aussie trait that you have? I love vegemite. What can we expect from Chad Bartie in the years to come? Video parts, shredding. Who/what actor would play you in the Chad Bartie the movie? Some weird dude. It’s fair to say that skateboarding is the best thing ever. Why and what makes it so unique? It’s an escape into your own capability and creativity; you can do as much as you want with it without anyone telling you how or what to do. Team sports are too controlled for a lot of people. That is where skateboarding is amazing, it’s freedom. What would the name of your autobiography be? Chad Bartie, are we there yet? Anything we’ve missed? Create as many good memories in your life as you are capable of.
“HOLY SHIT THAT WAS IVAN! THAT WAS A FUCKING BOMB! DID YOU SEE THAT? OH SHIT HE’S DOWN”
Ivan’s calmness in this image demonstrates that this is not an accident but understands this is part of the experience in leading the pack.
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Words & Photos: Daniel Russo Last month, John John and Nathan Florence took a jet plane to Micronesia to score perfection, leaving Ivan Florence behind. Ivan looked at his options and settled for an outer reef paddle sessions for three days at home, something he has been looking forward to his whole life. Fourteen years ago, Ivan was born on the island of Oahu, the youngest of the Florence brothers. Ivan has always been a part of the brothers in
everything they do. This time would be different and it would be a week that will never leave Ivan’s memory. On January 16th, Ivan Florence and Reef McIntosh paddled surfed a wave on the North Shore that has never been paddled before and was the first of two outer reef session during the biggest swell of the 2010/11 Hawaiian winter season. Known to most people as a wave that could not be paddled, the waves were only in the 10 to 15-foot range but the lineup was far from sustainable. Reef
is 33-years-old and Ivan is 14, and they were both getting caught inside by what Reef said was some of the heaviest hold downs he has ever experienced. Ivan was hanging in there with Reef and catching waves that he could paddle himself into. After Ivan broke his first board, he fought the current for 2 hours before paddling into a pretty sick right. Ivan and Reef called it a day after a fivehour power session. A few days later on the 21st of January,
a swell that was suppose to give the green light for the Eddie Aikau rolled in. I was with NTN, (a filmer from Kauai) when we got the call that the Eddie was off. We launched my jet ski from Haleiwa harbor and headed out to check the outer reefs. After checking a few spots, we ended up at an outer reef where Sion Milosky paddled into the largest wave anyone has ever paddled into last winter. A hollow left that was about 18 to 25-foot (Hawaiian) was keeping a few of the most respected surfers in
Ivan Florence‘s first wave at one of the most prestigious big wave locations in the world. Amongst the best surfers in the world, Ivan paddles into his own wave and does it on his own. Ivan makes it to the bottom and rides it out but what happens after will change his life forever. That’s Kai Borg driving Larry Haines getting the clip for Ivan’s upcoming short documentary.
John John looks on as Ivan punts one on the end bowl at Macaronis.
This is a fun wave the Florences’ spend time at when they want a little quiet time from the crowds on the north shore.
the world at bay. As NTN and I hung in the channel documenting, Nathan Fletcher, Sion Milosky, Danny Fuller, Khol Christianson and Shane Dorian were sharing massive waves while a handful of followers got in the way and lifted the danger factor up few notches. After an hour or so I get a phone call from Ivan, he wants to know how it is. I give him a quick update and before I can finish my sentence he says, “I’m on my way, be there in 1 hour, traffic from the Eddie false alarm is backed up to my house at Pipeline.” Ivan gets out to the channel in an hour and jumps on the ski to watch it. All of his idols are out there charging and doing things no one could imagine just a couple years ago. Nathan Fletcher is riding a board that will soon break new barriers on waves bigger than Sion
Milosky’s millennium wave last winter. While Ivan’s brothers John John and Nathan are getting barreled off their heads in Micronesia, Ivan sits in the channel and gets ready to paddle into waves that are six times his height. The little guy paddles out into the most dangerous lineup in the world that day. Waves that can kill roll in, while he paddles over them with confidence and looks for his opportunity to catch one. Ivan’s brothers are gone and he is alone but he mans up and is about to send motivation and support to his family without even knowing it. Ivan does the unthinkable and it slips by almost everyone including myself. Ivan paddles into one of, if not the biggest wave, any 14-year-old has ever caught. It’s his first
Ivan likes the way Bruce surfs. Bruce told me, “Ivan has crip style.”
Afternoon Green Bush. Barrel riding is one of Ivan’s strengths.
The ocean is a safe place, you just have to trust your inner thoughts.
wave at this spot and it’s a bomb. “Holy shit that was Ivan! That was a fucking bomb! Did you see that NTN? Oh shit he’s down, hold on NTN!” “Hold on NTN!” I rip over on my jet ski to rescue him. Holy shit he’s bleeding, “Ivan, take off your leash now!” I yell at him. A 20-foot plus wave is about to roll over all of us if Ivan can’t get his leash off his ankle. If he doesn’t and he holds onto the sled of the ski, his board will whip back and potentially kill us because his leash will act like a rubber band and snap his 9’6” board into the back of our heads. Ivan is bleeding out of his cheek, it’s squirting out like a firehouse and blood is everywhere. Still, Ivan remains calm and reaches back, holding onto the sled with one arm and with the other he gets the leash off his ankle. Just as the wave comes smashing down we jam off to the beach. Ivan is holding his face with one hand and holding onto the sled with the other, blood is gushing out everywhere. We get to the beach after about a mile and half. I tell NTN to take the ski and I walk with Ivan up the beach towards the lifeguards. Ivan is in full control, calm and almost smiling. Lifeguards tend too the wound, which is an inch and half long gash that is all the way through his cheek. An ambulance, Alex (Ivan’s mom) and even Kelly Slater show up. The word has already spread on the coconut wireless about Ivan’s wave and cut. What happened was as Ivan was riding out the wave it eventually rolled over him, and while he was under the water his board shot up and nailed him in the face. “His back fin got him good,”
I explain to everyone. Alex Florence takes Ivan to Kaiser hospital where Ivan receives 47 stitches in his cheek. Ivan’s stoke is at an all-time high, even after the near fatal experience. A couple days pass and Nathan and John John return from Micronesia. John John shares the stories about how barreled they got, blah, blah, blah… JJ doesn’t see Ivan’s photo yet. When he sees the photos, John John looses it and can’t believe his little brother paddled into this monster. John and Nathan admit that Ivan’s wave is what they want. Their amp level just increased and John John is so motivated that his little brother stepped up and packed a wave that was almost 40 feet tall, bigger than anything he has ever caught. The three brothers push one another to charge harder and go bigger but that day the tables turned, the youngest pushed the older brothers. One of the gnarliest stories on the North Shore this winter was lived by 14-year-old Ivan Florence. John John is so stoked for his little brother that he uses it to fuel his fire to win the Pipeline Pro. Ivan has so much talent passed onto him from his brothers that will be setting the bar in his riding for years to come. His small wave riding mixed into his big wave stuff makes him one the most versatile surfers on the planet. Ivan is planning on taking some trips this year to places like Mexico, Tahiti, Indo, and Australia to be challenged and experience the powerful southern hemisphere. Look for plenty more to come from young Ivan Florence.
Bilbao : 2007
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“ON THE MOON AND YOU COULD SEE IT EVERY NIGHT FROM THE EARTH.”
Interview: Matt Henry :: Photos: Space Invader (*unless noted) For those of you not familiar with the French artist Space Invader, I envy you. Your next week will be one of your most inspiring while also being one of your least productive as you spend hours on Google searching for more info about this elusive and anonymous Parisian. He is as mysterious as he is prolific with his anonymity only serving to make him more likable. Invader’s history goes something like this: Cheeky Frenchman breaks the mold of often aggressive or political street and graffiti artists, by sticking up seemingly innocent mosaic tile aliens in city streets. The aliens bear a likeness to those out of the 80’s cult video game classic, “Space Invaders.” The square mosaic tiles cleverly mimic the pixel aesthetic of these images we know and love, making them both practical and recognizable. Invader has now taken his, originally Paris-based, reality game to over 40 cities around the world. Each individual alien “invasion” forms part of a larger invasion of an entire city. The alias of “Space Invader” is perfect not only because his art represents the pixelated creatures, but also because his project requires that he must literally invade spaces. Having conquered alien mosaics, Invader has began to include other 80’s video game characters such as Mario and Luigi in his invasions before inventing a new element to his street and gallery work: Rubik Cubism. A seemingly perfect addition to his base project, Invader continued to create pixel recreations of pop culture images, this time using the 80’s cult toy classic, the Rubik’s Cube. Rather than simply removing and replacing the square stickers on each
face of the cube, Invader actually manipulates each Rubik’s cube until the panel displays the exact color combination required to recreate his image, cube by cube. Then there’s the stickers, stamps and balloons as well as footprints from his custom made invader shoes, all having the same, simple goal; to bring the space invader game to life, in cities around the world. Invader’s meticulous documentation of each invaded location is astounding. A street invasion is only the first step in the finely tuned project. Points ranging from 10 to 50 are awarded to each invader depending on its size and how difficult and risky it is for each piece to be permanently stuck to city street surfaces. The location of the invasion is also logged with a geo-code. A one-off exact replica of each street invader is also created and set in resin and signed, dated and then catalogued with a code of letters and numbers based on its sequential order and the city it resides in. The alias is also stored with an image of its street copy in-situ. Once an invasion is complete, a map can then be produced using the recorded location of all invaders. And that’s just one city. Can a regular Joe from Paris change the world with a handful of mosaic tiles and a glue gun? Probably not. Will he entertain you, inspire you and lift your spirits on an otherwise predictable day? Indeed. With the internet a-buzz with world-famous street artist Banksy, a good chance to win an Oscar for his documentary, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” we sought out Invader’s thoughts on the film and chuckled
as he shared with us the annoying side of his new found fame, his dislike for “graffities,” his relief that Banksy played by the rules as well as the struggle that comes with being the father of thousands of children in 40 cities around the world.
forms of street art such as the graffiti, stencil and sticker movements? Yes, I discovered this culture and this movements after my first urban interventions. And I found it very interesting and full of energy.
Invader, you’re turning 42 this year and you’ve just taken out both of the Europe Awards for Street Art and Urban Art. I didn’t know about that...
Do you have favorite street artists or are you more old-school with your art preferences, as your cubism moniker suggests? Yes sure there are few ones I love the work. I loves Revs from NYC. I like both “fine art” and street art.
Did you ever think when you were younger that you could make a living based on street art, let alone win awards? Street art is an accident in my life. I felt in it 12 years ago and then time spent so fast. What were your original plans for adult-hood? I had no plans about that. How long do you think you can continue making a living from street art? My main motivation is to do things I could be proud about. The question has never been “How to make a living?”
You studied art growing up in Paris after failing to pick up music easily. Do you think it’s important for contemporary artists these days to have an appreciation or at least an understanding of art’s founding fathers? Yes, because one day or another you will need to have a look on what have been made before.
You did not have the typical introduction to street art growing up that other “graffiti artists” have, such as tagging and spraying the streets. That is true, that is why I speak about an accident. At that time I did not like graffities, they looked to much “north American culture” for me.
The first ever invader was put up in the mid 90’s in the Bastille district in Paris. Under what circumstance was that first Invader created? Yes, unfortunately it disappeared last year when they destroy the building where it was. I was interested by the bridge between pixel and traditional mosaic tiles, then I did a few pieces on panels using that idea, and I realized that I could put up the tiles directly on a wall outside, then I did it in the street with the figure of a space invader. I was far to imagine that it was the first of many...
Do you have an appreciation for other
After invader #1 went up, why did
Bilboa : 2007
you wait years later, in 1998 to kick the project into permanent gear? Because I was not thinking about a series and it took me few years to get my brain invaded! I mean few years later it was still there then I had this “illumination:” it is a space invader you can put many more in the streets then don’t think and Invade. You started making street art before it was commercially viable for most artists and you’ve been around to see it evolve. Do you think we are witnessing a fad that has a limited lifespan, or is street art part of a long evolution of humans putting symbols on walls, be it cave walls, or the walls of fortune 500 companies? Sure there was always and there will be always people to write or draw on walls. The point is that street art just took a turning maybe because of the graffiti influence which showed us how obsessed this kind of “job” can be. In your 763rd Invasion of Paris on Autoroute 3 you were interrupted by the French authorities. Four uniformed officers stopped you and after a brief chat, they watched as you put the finishing touches on Paris invader #763 and then drove away. Yes, the funny aspect with that one is that it was not a space invader but a self-portrait. In “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, Thierry Guetta films you sitting on the curb while LAPD officers question you after catching you in the act of an LA invasion. A new video released in November 2010 shows old footage of yourself and your cousin Thierry involved in a helicopter pursuit for adorning the Hollywood sign with the presence of an invader. What goes through your mind
when you’re in these situations? I use to say that being caught by the police is a part of the game. There are some spots I sometimes want to reach even if I know there is a risk, then I try to prepare the action the best I can but in the end it is like playing roulette. In France we say, “I goes or it breaks,” it is a question of chance. It is funny because I did one like that yesterday, very risky, and it was successful. Anyway, when I see the cops coming, the adrenaline makes my brain focused on “how I gonna deal this time.” a) explain them it is art b) play the fool c) run d) find another option.
you more worried about people on the street seeing and recognizing you now? Yes, I realised that after the movie it was less easy for me, because some people stops and start to scream “Hey! Are you the guy Space Invader from the Banksy movie?” Did you enjoy seeing your artwork in the film and were you consulted by Banksy’s team on the inclusion of your work in the film? I was first a bit surprise to see Banksy taking control over Thierry’s documentary, but they played the game of hiding my identity and Banksy showed it to me before its release, then it was ok.
In another piece of footage, you’re seen casually walking on Oxford Street in London and installing an invader in broad daylight on Earnshaw Street in what seems to be peak traffic at a standstill. Rather than quickly sticking it up and running away, you stay for several minutes, firstly sticking the invader to the wall and then re-enforcing the sides with cement. Over time, have you become more relaxed about being caught or is it simply more important to ensure the installation is exactly as it should be, at the expense of being seen, caught or recognized. It mainly depends on the spot. Some spots are less suspicious during daytime with people around, because they think I am doing something official. That was the case in this video.
You’ve said you like the idea of having a little army all around the world, yet a massive part of the invasion project seems to be your very calculated record keeping. Being the record keeper of the invasions, are you protective of the project on a world scale? In other words, if other people stick up invaders, does this create confusion between “real” and “fake” invaders or do you feel like it is a case of “the more the merrier?” If our opinion counts for anything, we hate non-genuine invaders and only want to see your handiwork. Until now I’ve put 99 % of the pieces you can see around the world. Sometimes a “fan” or someone who thinks that I am a crew spontaneously puts an invader in his city. I would like one day to explain my techniques and tricks and really ask people to continue the project. But I did not do it yet...
On the subject of being recognized, with the worldwide release and success of Banksy’s award winning documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” have things gotten a little crazier in the world of Space Invader and are
What was your vision for the invasion kits you create and sell through the space shop? Are they supposed to be for people to invade their own cities? Yes and no. The idea was to make a conceptual object: “the invasion kit” which can
be put up anywhere. For sure I was thinking people would stick them in or on their house, which occurs sometimes... Many people doesn’t even open the kit, they consider it as a collector, which is not really wrong. Do you have a network of people/other artists around the world that you stay with while abroad or do you prefer to travel and work (play) in private? There are no rules. When I invade a city I am generally very focused on the mission then I don’t visit so many people, but it is always cool to visit local artist that I like, and to know few local people to get strategic information. Every parent or teacher says they love all of their children equally. Really, they›re lying and one particular child is more talented, funnier and better looking than the others. Do you have a favourite space Invader and a favorite city invasion as a whole? But every parent does not have thousands of children in 40 cities around the world! You have mentioned before that you try to be as good in the galleries, “the white cube” as in the street. You call it “Exercice de Style.” Do you feel like you’re still achieving that, or is it a continuous battle to match your love for the street to the white cube? It is a continuous fight. In the streets like in the galleries. There has been a massive increase in art ‘fans’ removing space invaders from the street in a desperate attempt to own a piece of the Invader brand, particularly as the masses learn of your art in the new Banksy film. Especially in London it seems, these people, commonly known as “Invader Raiders” (okay we
Bilbao : 2007
Varanasi : 2008
Paris : Louvre Museum : 1998 Photo : LPPI
Patricia Dormann Gallery Paris : 2005
New York : 11-2003 :: Photo: L.Belluteau
Varanasi : Benares : India : 03-2008
New York : 11-2007
Installation at Baltic Museum Newcastle : 2006
Paris : 12-2005
Los Angeles : 2006
just made that up) are hitting the jackpot while also ruining it for the rest of us. What are your thoughts on the Invader Raiders and do you think it’s due to how totally fucking awesome you’ve become? Fortunately, that doesn’t happen so often because it is not easy to take them of the wall. That happens sometimes which is sad because the pieces for the streets are for the streets and when one disappear it becomes like a hole to me. At the same time I think I should be happy that people take risks to get my art even if I am not!
A new book with the title “World Invasion: Space Invader, 10th Anniversary” has been dangling like a carrot over our heads for the past six months and has now expired it’s mid 2010 release date. Is it coming out soon and what other print/kit releases are in the pipeline for Space Invader fans in 2011? I wanted to make a book with a general view of every cities I invaded. But I am very late on this project... Many things are coming, the best is to subscribe to my newsletter to know about them.
Recently, in your first solo show in Italy, you presented new pieces including the first prototype of a machine you named “SPEED BALLS,” which throws bouncing balls at a speeds of more than 200km/h. Tell us your thoughts behind the new piece, what it means/your inspiration for doing it and what’s next for speed ball project in the gallery and/or the street? The idea was to make a piece really different than what I usually do. With Speed Balls there are no squares, no cubes, but moving spheres! Furthermore, I had a few bouncing balls that I bought in Japan 10 years ago lying in my studio. I don’t know why I bought them at the very first place but I really liked this object. The first attempt was in 2003, it didn’t work and I kept it aside... until now! In the end this machine is amazing and I think I will continue to work with bouncing balls.
You’ve been commissioned to do several legal installations around the world. Do you enjoy these just as much as the illegal ones? Yes, I call them my 1% legal. It is different, but they allow me to do things that I couldn’t otherwise do illegally.
The Milan manhole project you took part in with Shepard Fairey is, in our opinion, the best form of council-approved street art we’ve ever seen… ever. Have you done any other uncommissioned versions of the manhole covers? Would you do more if they were out of reach from Invader thieves? Yes it is a nice project, I like when street art is on the ground. I have never done any uncommissioned version of manholes but I have put some space invaders in fresh asphalt and it works pretty well too.
What is the most exciting part of the process for you? The discovery of the piece done in-situ when I come back to picture it. We know you take great care in each placement of an invader, taking into account architecture, visibility and composition for a good photo, but how do you go about selecting the next city to invade? There are no rules about that. It can be because I am curated in a show then the gallery or museum pays for my trip and commodities, or sometimes I go in a city I don’t know but I would like to know... Lastly, let’s pretend that for some ghastly reason, you can only put up ONE more space invader for the rest of your life. Where do you put it? On the moon and you could see it every night from the earth. Self Portrait : 2007
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Interview: Kevin Keller :: Photos: Tim Peare Nic Sauvé came onto Forum’s radar a little over four years ago, just about the time his hometown of Quebec City was being hailed the “Barcelona of Urban Snowboarding.” My boss was telling me that of all the riders up there, Nic was “The One.” He was talented, motivated, and “really fucking handsome” – a
marketing dream-come-true, if you will. A few years have passed and the only thing that has changed is that Nic is even more talented, even more motivated, and is somehow a great deal handsomer. Hey Nic, I think you’ve done about 13 interviews this
year, mostly for international magazines. How does it feel to finally have one, not only in the United States, but an interview in Snowboarding’s World Capital of Southern California? Well I definitely didn’t see this one coming. But yeah, it’s funny how I did a lot of interviews for
European mags this year. I’m pretty stoked to do this one actually, hopefully people from Cali will get to know a little more about me with this one. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in SoCal in the past few years. Love the place, always looking forward to go back.
You’re French Canadian, and bi-lingual, but what’s your stance on France? Oh man. Let’s just say I’ve been having a hard time with most French people I’ve met. But I don’t want to generalize because I know some awesome people from France working in the snowboard industry. Maybe it’s all misunderstanding, cause France and Quebec don’t share the same French… Or maybe they’re just are a bunch of assholes… haha! Is it weird that I mentioned
your general “handsomeness” not once but twice in your intro? People could say I’m bluffing, but I’ve met your girlfriend and she’s pretty hot… and a doctor. I’m 95% positive that hot doctors only date dudes that are really fucking handsome. Would you agree? Now that’s three times I’ve mentioned it! Well, maybe you’re right! Haha... Just kidding. But you know it’s pretty handy to have a doctor for a girlfriend when you’re a pro snowboarder. I get home all
broken off and I got someone to take good care of me. It’s pretty awesome. In your recent years of world travel and filming video parts, did you ever foresee winning any Winter X Games medals? What was your experience like in Aspen this year? What did you think of the Street Competition you were involved in? I’m usually focusing all my time on filming video parts for Forum and I never do contests. But this
one was different, when I learned what the whole format for the RealSnow thing and the Street Comp in Aspen was all about I was all-in. But when I got there, I got really stressed out about the live portion of the event. It’s just so big. All the media, such big crowd and stuff… But when it came to do it, I felt really confident and just went for it. It’s funny, I never thought I’d get X Games gold in my life… A few of your close friends (LNP, Louif, Paradis, Ben
“I NEVER THOUGHT I’D GET X GAMES GOLD IN MY LIFE”
Biloq, Alex Cantin, Phil Jacques…) share a very similar success story to yours that roughly began at the same time. We’re sure it has brought on some interesting stories and conversations with one another, but is there an underlying level of competition amongst friends? I wouldn’t say so. We all started shredding the same resort as we grew up and eventually started
filming together for a couple years before getting involved with bigger projects. We were just pushing each other to get better and better back then. And I still feel the same after all the years. I’m so proud to see everyone following their path, following the dream we all shared as kids. And I want to get better and better for them, so they can be proud of me too. At this point of your career,
you’re definitely considered a “rail rider” because most of the world doesn’t actually know how well rounded of a snowboarder you are, yet. Are you okay with that stigma, or do you want to focus on breaking away from it? To be honest, it doesn’t bother me at all to be considered this or that. Urban riding is a big part of snowboarding, so is big mountain riding, or so is half
pipe, or contests in general, and so on. I love to hit jumps in the backcountry for example, so I will try to include some more of that stuff in my video parts. But I just love to snowboard, and I grew up riding in an urban environment. Every time I get back home to Quebec City and it’s all covered in snow, I see new stuff to hit and new opportunities to progress snowboarding.
WAVE RAVE MAMMOTH: ON-SNOW AFTER PARTY
Words: Tobie Orr :: Photos: Nathalie Brilliant & Pono Barns // Railroad to Alaska // Burton body paint model // Justin, Adam & Madison // Railroad to Alaska rockin’ // Burton model // Go-go dancers // Jani Lange, Steve Klassen & Brad // Electric bartender // More Burton models // Railroad to Alaska // Val Surf Crew After a great day on snow there was only one thing to do... party! Wave Rave, Burton, and Volcom got together to make sure this would happen. Every year Wave Rave hosts an after demo party but this year things got turned up a notch or two. They started by building a massive stage suspended over the 2nd floor stairway gap in the Wave Rave shop. Next, Burton supplied models and gogo dancers for an impromptu fashion show and some insane gogo dancing. Volcom brought Railroad to Alaska to perform a live set while the Electric crew rolled in a massive amount of brew to be consumed. The party was by far the best Wave Rave has had in all the years of throwing this event, leaving some big shoes to fill for next year. Steve Klassen, Wave Rave owner, was ear-to-ear smiles all night and super stoked on all that helped to make the party happen. Special props from Burton, Volcom to Steve Klassen and the entire staff at Wave Rave for creating an amazing party for all to enjoy. If you missed out on this one you’re gonna wanna be there for next years’ event.
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EZEKIEL SOUND MOVEMENT: KOREY DANE
Words: Jay Diebel :: Photos: Jay Diebel & Racquel Mishel // Korey Dane // Full house // Amber Thomas & Tess Shapiro // Shin Ishikawa, Korey & Matt Bennett // Dana Morris & Taylor Petrini // Austin Stephens, Korey & Cody Hager // Korey & Tess // Levi Brown & Chad TimTim // Kyle Kennelly and his lady friend // Iona Wilder // Sam Outlaw & Jenny Stockdale Korey Dane is Ezekiel Clothing’s newest Sound Movement Society artist. The band is comprised of: Korey Dane, Tess Shipero, Alex Medina, John Garbutt, Tyler Juarez and Jacob Minnis. Since the release of his first album, For the Kite Flyers, he has been on the up and up. The highly anticipated second album, Loomer, has previous fans loving his music even more and new fans lining up for a listen. The Korey Dane “Loomer”, record release happened this past month, Saturday Feb 5th, at the new Fingerprints record shop in downtown Long Beach. The new location is about 5 times the size, if not bigger than the old. The show sold out from presale tickets only, filling the new venue/ record shop to its capacity. Even the owner said it was one of the bigger turnouts he’d seen, and the line wrapped around the building. Sam Outlaw preformed as the only opener. The mellow, twangy, country influenced sound was a perfect start to the night. And that the “after party” beer, from New Belgium, started flowing just
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a little early, maybe too early… there was hardly any left when time came for the “after party.” Needless to say, everyone was okay with it. Then it was time for Korey and the band to woe the audience with a set list of songs from the new record and a few unreleased ones. With the first song sung solo he seemed to have everybody’s undivided attention. Like in some sort of a trance, the place was silent. As they moved through the set list, Tess, the drums, guitar, keys, bass and lap steel all joined in, in perfect harmony. Battling the Flu, Korey powered through the night sounding as good as ever even playing an encore. Still he couldn’t sneak out after. People were buying t-shirts and albums and asking for autographs, leading to an impromptu signing. All in all it was a great night and an even better show. Thanks to Korey Dane, Ezekiel, New Belgium, Sam Outlaw, Rand at Fingerprints and all the fans for putting on this great event. For more event info visit koreydane.com and facebook. com/ezekielusa.
For more info visit activerideshop.com
ARNETTE CASH POT SURF SERIES
Photos: Steindler // Corey Arrambide // Pro-Am Finalists // Spencer Regan // 16 & Under Finalists // Brent Reiley // Corey Arrambide // Set up // Garcia // Fowler // Garcia // Kody Clemens
On Saturday, February 19th, the inaugural 2011 Arnette Cash Pot Surf Series took place at Seaside Reef in San Diego. It felt like we were in Florida because the weather didn’t know what it wanted to do... It would rain, then the wind would pick up, and then the wind would die down and the sun would come out. It was like that all day. Even though the weather was less than ideal, the surf was still super fun. It was about 2-3 feet all day and the guys were ripping since they all wanted to go home with money in their pocket. This contest series is the first of its kind as contestants in the Pro-Am Division earned $50 for winning their first and second round heats, and competitors in the 16 & Under Division were awarded $25 for each heat win. During the quarterfinals Arnette offered up a pot of $100 for the best trick, and the winner was Brent Reilly with an insane 360 air reverse. All in all, the event was super fun and everyone who participated went home stoked, and many
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with cash in their pockets. More Arnette Cash Pot Surf Series events will take place in the coming months on both coasts and in Hawaii, so check out Arnette.com for the full schedule and more details.
RESULTS:
Pro-Am Division 1st Corey Arrambide $500 2nd Brent Reilly 3rd Matt King 4th Spencer Reagan 5th Josh Hoyer
16 & Under 1st Kody Clemens 2nd Taylor Mathiesen 3rd Matt Lewis 4th Blake Bowie 5th Niko Trauburnan
KEEGAN GIBBS: OPEN SPACE
Words: Pat Towersey :: Photos: Cobra-Snake & Willy T // Keegan photo // Full house, where’s Kimmy // Flea, Savanah & Anthony // Sage Vaughn’s Malibu surf cave // Keegan photos // Keegan Gibbs and Brendan Lynch // Brendan Lynch installation // Cobrasnake, Retna and PM Tenore // Sage’s surf dungeon // Pat Jensen of Freedom Artists
If you’ve been driving down North Fairfax Avenue this past year, you may have noticed the large crowds out front of 441 North Fairfax, that’s Known Gallery’s spot. They have been putting on incredible shows featuring works from established artists like Phil Frost, Barry McGee to up and comers like Alex Olsen and Keegan Gibbs. In his first solo show, Keegan drew all his inspiration from the ocean, where he goes to escape the trappings of life on land and get piece of mind. He filled the main walls of the gallery with two car door sculptures, three collages and 13 photos. On a Saturday in mid January the show kicked off with a bang. As soon as doors opened, people mixed and mingled, checked out the unique photographic works
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and sipped on adult beverages. By 8PM, the place was packed and with punk music blasting, everyone started feeling loose. In the back room, Sage Vaughn built a make shift Malibu local’s surf crazed living room, complete with beads, ponchos and Hustler magazines. Also, Brendan Lynch formulated a huge wax, glass, resign ball that looked really dangerous. Overall the night was A+, people were refined but rowdy and no squirrels were killed in the process. Keegan has been shooting lifestyle photos on the past few RVCA surf trips and the photos can be seen in the latest surf campaign, for more info go to thekeegangibbs.com, rvca.com, or knowngallery.com.
WESC + ARKITIP ISSUE RELEASE PARTY NYC
Photos: Ivan Rodriguez // WeSC CEO Greger Hagelin // Party time: WeSC New York Concept Store // Rodney Smith // Amber Kekich-Purling & Jessica Farrow // Mehdi Aboualiten & Monihan Monihan // Shelly Zander & Amy Gunther // Jorge Sr, Tracy Anderson & Jorge Jr // Imelda Walavalkar & Suzanne Africa // Lee the Tambourine Titan // Tony Arcabascio // Mel D. Cole The fashion brand for intellectual slackers, WeSC, is for life after skate and for creative people all over the world. At the very core of this brand are the WeActivists: peeps with their hands in everything from arts, photography, music, skateboarding, snowboarding and much more. They believe that creativity, expression and the freedom to exercise this expression are necessary for a life well lived. On February 17, 2011 WeSC celebrated a collaboration with respected arts periodical Arkitip: Issue No. 57, the WeActivistIssue. The issue features the work of Alex Prager, Beth Reisgraf, Chad Robertson, Chris Pastras, Marcel Struwer, Mercedes Helnwein, Mode 2, Sage Vaughn, Stash and Yasumasa Yonehara. Each issue is hand packaged, numbered and comes with an exclusive WeSC x Arkitip headphone. The issue release party was held at the WeSC
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Concept Store in NYC with musical performances from Satan’s Helpers, a father-andson Mariachi duo, and an accordion and tambourine twosome. Attendees included featured artist and WeActivist Stash, WeActivist models Kim Matulova and Shelly Zander, Corduroy Magazine’s Peter Ash Lee, Highsnobiety’s Tim Brodhagen, Frank Mag’s Craig Wetherby, Rad Collector’s Brad Clarke, WeActivist and KCDC owner Amy Gunther, the illy funkster Ricky Powell, artist and WeActivist Par Stromberg, skate heads Spencer Fujimoto and Ronny Torres, NYC skate legend/Shut Founder Rodney Smith and Shut TM Michael Cohen, celeb lensman Mel D. Cole, Movie Man Monihan, and of course, all the way from Stockholm: CEO/co-founder Greger Haeglin. It was a great night to celebrate the arts, and the WeSC artists who helped make this tremendous Arkitip issue possible.
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Interview: Max Ritter This month we phoned up James Mattock to talk about his group Sharks: a fresh new rock band emerging just over the pond in that ominous place called the UK. Since forming in 2007, James and his band mates have been making a name reviving the classic punk sound of their early predecessors. Simply put, they are blue-collar DIY rock n’ rollers in the vein of Strummer. Wailing guitar sounds back Mattock as he belts it from his bowels with heartfelt enthusiasm and character. They have quickly risen into the limelight overseas by garnering the endorsement of their veteran peers: The Gaslight Anthem, Trash Talk, Chuck Ragan, Gallows, and most recently Mike Ness and Company. The band is currently embarking on their American debut supporting Social Distortion before they spend all summer long stateside on the Vans Warped Tour. The Joys Of Living 2008-2010 is the bands debut LP and it’s a full of big rock anthems. James explained in our conversation that the album is a closing Photo: Jordan Curtis
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chapter to the band’s beginnings but an introduction to their music for most. A must listen. Check it out! First off let’s talk a little bit about your sound. You stand out to me because your band is reviving the 80’s punk sound that we all love. However, no one is really doing that right now, or at least doing it authentically. Talk a little about your influences and why you guys sound the way you do. I guess one of the main reasons why we sound that way is I grew up on that sound. Mostly more accessible sounds at first like The Clash and The Ramones; stuff I could get my hands on easy because of the popularity. It was a real natural thing; I think it’s in my genes. My family has always been into it and with the three of the guys that are in the band I think we all found common ground on that same level. So we connect and we play to the best of our knowledge and ability the sound
that we love. You guys didn’t have a great music scene where you grew up? You could definitely say that… in terms of live music. I am vaguely familiar with England but I’ve never heard of your hometown. I am thinking the isolation of your town from a flourishing music scene was probably a good thing in terms of forcing you into some older influence. We had to dig around the areas. The music we like has nothing to do with where we are from. I am not surprised you haven’t heard of where we are from. It’s a very small town. The closest big city is Coventry. The Specials are from there. I got into them because they are local. But yeah, in my generation there is nothing really. Especially with punk there is nothing that excites me at all. I just have to read books and listen to
records to get anything I want out of music. There is nothing local and there is no scene. That is what we are trying to get going I suppose. That’s good, I think that is what kept you guys from becoming another emo hair band. (Laughs) Exactly, don’t want to be one of those. You’ve got your debut record out. It’s a collection of pretty much everything you guys have done since you started a few years back plus a couple new tunes. Talk a little bit about how this thing came together and why you decided not to put out entirely fresh material? It came together from the opportunity we had from Rise Records. Those guys came to us with the idea. I think the next thing we are going to record is probably going to our album. So I thought it would be nice to close the chapter on the kind of early material
with a solid obtainable collection that people could pick up. Rise is a bigger label and has the ability to get that out. Everything that we have put out prior has been very limited and hard to get. To have it all in one release is nice for a fan to have. And it is nice for us to put all those songs to bed and move on with our debut, which is what we are working on right now. Rise Records seems like an odd fit for your band? When they got in touch, two years ago or so, I had never heard of the label. I was very surprised obviously from looking at their roster. We kind of ignored it respectively. We didn’t want to be associated with that kind of music. No disrespect or anything. We kept in touch and they really proved to us with an impressive amount of enthusiasm and passion towards our music and punk music that they really understood the band. And with the opportunity to have our music in America and get us over there to tour it was a no-brainer.
Regardless of who is on the label, I think they are strong and successful label and I think it is good for them to start branching out into other musical genres and I am proud that they have chosen us to help them branch out. It feels cool. Any story behind the name? You’d think that one would be taken. We started out right off the bat with that. I guess it’s not much of a story. When we started out we were messing around just trying to think of a name. We were listening to this band Gallows. They have a song called, “In The Belly Of a Shark.” Shark came to my head and it sounded easy and we just went with it without much thought I guess. Talk about how Gallows have made an influence on you guys. We ended up touring with them. To have the name come from their song and then we tour. Now we are friends. It is pretty cool. When we started the band we were about sixteen and it
was when Gallows were really blowing up. It was the first time I remember a British band really made a stir in the current UK music scene. It really just opened our eyes and opened the door. We didn’t hesitate to try and fit right in. You’re coming out for Warped Tour. Did Gallows give you some advice on how to survive on Warped Tour all summer long? (Laughs) I haven’t seen them lately. From what I can tell a lot of bands have a bit of a hard time I suppose. Especially English bands… (Laughs) Yeah, Frank (Gallows) is a pale guy (Laughs) I mean I guess they suffered a little bit. I am up for it. I got my shorts ready. You guys have this logo, its three slashed bars, reminds me of the infamous Black Flag logo? It’s just something we made for a poster ages ago and it just kind of stuck. We looked at that whole old logo
thing that bands like Black Flag have. You see that logo and right away you know who it is. We were kind of trying to push that into people’s heads. It’s something we stumbled upon and it just kind of stuck. There is no definite meaning behind it but some people recognize it as the gills of a shark, you know? You’re about to come over to the US for what I assume is the first time. Is it a dream come true to get to tour with Social Distortion? Totally a dream come true. They are one of my favorite bands. I’ve been listening to them since I was fourteen. It feels incredible, especially coming to the US for the first time. Were pretty lucky, I am not going to take it for granted. Thanks a lot James. Be sure to check out Sharks: Joys Of Living 2008-2010 and catch them out on tour!
Reviews: Max Ritter
Natural Child 7” Self-Titled Infinity Cat Since I heard Jeff The Brotherhood I have been all over anything this label puts out. Natural Child is another gem of a garage rock band from Nashville. The vocals have serious character and the subject matter of the lyrics is nothing short of comical. It’s got four loud, distorted tracks and the gutter punk sound is pretty much like this biker chick with a pet snake, spot on.
Middle Brother Self-Titled Partisan Records
Bright Eyes The People’s Key Saddle Creek
This folk super group side project features John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit. If you’re a fan of any of those groups then this is a keeper. Their songs are based around strong vocal harmonies and the blending of vocal tones is easy on the ears. This is a band where all three guys can write a tune and belt a lead with a timeless rasp; it’s no wonder why the songwriting just feels effortless. You can pick up the Middle Brother iPhone app and keep up your tabs.
Conor Oberst has a masterful ability of word play and he has always stood credible on that foot alone. On this release, Oberst and his band depart musically from their signature country folk vibe and delve into a sound that is distinctly much more independent and untried for them. The recording is polished and the nervous quiver in Oberst’s voice seems to have been lost with maturity. Diehard fans might be missing the innocence and rawness of his earlier records; however, I am backing the new tunes.
Lexo The Great Doobie Brothers 2 GT Record Co.
Wino Adrift Exile on Mainstream / Volcom Ent.
If your looking for some new rap tunes to bump while stunting hard in your Mercedes then count your stacks with our buddy Alex Medina aka “Lexo The Great” and his projects going down at GT Record Co. Doobie Brothers 2 is full of rapid fire snare samples and hard hitting club bass for that crunk-rap enthusiast in you. You can get it for free at: lexothegreat.com
Scott Weinrich is a legendary figurehead and a pioneer artist in the genre of doom metal. On his newest release Adrift, Wino gets uncharacteristically unplugged and lets loose some killer blues riffs. This guy has unbelievable guitar chops and he utters lyrics like a battle worn warrior straight out of medieval times. The record hits a high point when he covers Motorhead’s “Iron Horse/Born To Lose”. Volcom Ent. is backing him with your choice of a cd or vinyl edition that you will want to get your hands on.
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Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo Matador Kurt Vile is a fixture singer songwriter of Philadelphia, PA. Vile has a Dylan-like croon that he naturally meddles over his acoustic based Americana rock songs while his backing band The Violators adds to the backbone. He has played a part in The War on Drugs and these tunes carry much the same vintage treatment and psychedelic temperament.
Cut Copy Zonoscope Modular
The Dirtbombs Party Store In The Red
Well known Australian electronic dance group set the bar high with 2008’s In Ghost and Color and you had to expect it would be a tall task to make a play-through album of that stature all over again. The two opening tracks on Zonoscope are bangers. ”Need You Now” is a slow build epic and “Take Me Over” sounds like a modern take of Men at Work’s “Land Down Under.” The middle portion of the record isn’t quite as compelling and the stamina doesn’t return until the latter tracks like, “Alisa” and “Hanging On Every Heart Beat.” Zonoscope’s not topping Cut Copy’s acclaimed sophomore effort, but there are more than a handful of praiseworthy songs here.
The legendary Detroit punk band releases another covers album, this time turning their beloved city’s techno tunes into fuzzy garage rockers. Unless you are from Detroit and you are an avid fan of 80’s and 90’s underground techno music you won’t recognize any of the tunes, but don’t worry, you will still get it. These guys pull it off genuinely with their crude punk style and it’s one to check out.
AGE: 15 HOMETOWN: PACIFICA BEACH SPONSORS: HURLEY, NOR CAL SURF SHOP, DAKINE, ELECTRIC, GLOBE & SEX WAX FAVORITE SURFER: BOBBY MARTINEZ
S BY: M O R NTED G S S BL!S PRESE
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Photo: Mike Panesi
Photo: Peter Morning
AGE: 13 SPONSORS:POWELL-PERALTA,BONES,FORCE TRUCKS,PHARMACY BOARD SHOP,ETNIES HOMETOWN: LAS VEGAS, NV FAVORITE SKATERS: THAT’S THE HARDEST QUESTION EVER....IN NO ORDER – JOHN MOTTA, CHRIS PHANNER, SEAN MALTO, FILIPE GUSTAVO, ANDREW REYNOLDS, JORDAN HOFFART
360 Flip :: Photo: Ortiz
RAY YZGUERRA