BL!SSS Magazine | September 2009 | #25 by Blisss Mag

SUIT UP AT QUIKSILVER.COM/WETSUITS

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TAKE THE BEST SURFERS ON THE PLANET. PUT THEM IN HEAVY DUTY CONDITIONS AND CHALLENGE THEM TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY. WHAT YOU GET IS CYPHER™ — A WETSUIT DESIGNED TO REDEFINE THE POSSIBILITIES OF COLD WATER SURFING. WHO YOU GET IS KELLY SLATER, DANE REYNOLDS, JULIAN WILSON AND JEREMY FLORES — RIDERS THAT TURN THE UNBELIEVABLE INTO THE BELIEVABLE.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF nick kalionzes nick@blisssmag.com

EDITOR joey marshall joey@blisssmag.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR mark paul deren madsteez@madsteez.com

SKATE EDITOR chris ortiz chris@blisssmag.com

SNOW EDITOR jon francis jon@blisssmag.com

MUSIC EDITOR tim bergevin tim@blisssmag.com

ADVERTISING ads@blisssmag.com

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jason Kenworthy, Dominic Petruzzi, Daniel Russo, Toby Ogden, Tom Carey, Brian Beilmann, Jack Coleman, Andrew Mapstone, Adam Moran, Dave Nelson, Pat Eichstaedt, Andrew Miller, Julien Lecorps, Ryan Boyes, Zach Hooper, Tim Peare, Michael Lallande

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CONTRIBUTORS Matt Patterson, Willie Marshall, Josh Spencer, Aaron Astorga, Daniel Russo, Liz Rice, Jason Arnold, Greg Escalante, Tom Carey, Travis Millard, David Choe, Kai Garcia, Mickey Neilsen, Peter Townend, Hamilton

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Endo, Tawnya Schultz, Mike Murciano, Geoff Shively, Casey Holland, Steve Stratton, Robbie Sell, Andrew Miller, Pat Towersey BL!SSS Magazine 413 31st Street

SEPTEMBER 2009

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 Blisssâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reďŹ&#x201A;ect 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 reďŹ&#x201A;ect 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.

Cover Art : SABER

If your favorite shop isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t receiving BL!SSS Magazine please contact info@blisssmag.com

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OBAMA CHA CHA CHA CHIA

KICK ROCKS I was over at Bob Hurley’s house a few months back and he was raving about this new iKick he had just gotten. I actually had no idea what he was talking about until he showed me. I couldn’t believe my ears. It was amazing how loud the thing was and it didn’t even get all distorted when you turned it all the way up. That little unit sure packs a lot of quality sound and all you have to do is plug your iPod or iPhone into it and let her rip. So a couple of weeks after seeing the kicker at Bob’s, I got an email about that same unit and I hit the guy back saying send one my way for review. Well the iKick just arrived over here and the BL!SSS crew is ﬁghting over who gets to take it home. You can get your very own at shop.kicker.com

President Obama has done some amazing things since coming into office as our 44th president: stopping world hunger, boosting the stock market, cashing in our clunkers, etc… But we’d have to say that his greatest achievement to date would be the endorsement of the official Barak Obama Chia Head! All you have to do is add water, spread the goop around on the big O’s dome, and wait for the Presidential Afro to emerge. Since we can’t even keep a simple plant in the office alive, we’re guessing that our Obama is going to end up as bald as Mr. Clean.

TODD PROFITT IS ALSTYLE We gotta admit it, we’re kinda t-shirt snobs here at BL!SSS. We’ve been making tee’s of our favorite artists since starting this baby, and we’ve been wearing shirts for even longer than that. So we were super stoked when Todd Profitt, one of our favorite humans, came by with these new Alstyle v-neck blanks in a 30/1 fabric blend. Profitt has been the face behind these buttery blanks for some time now and these guys are legit. You pretty much can’t find a better shirt for the price, so if you’re looking for some blanks for your brand, do yourself a favor and give the good folks at Alstyle a ring.

KELLI MURRAY

NEFF

We gotta give Kelli Murray a little shout out for all the inspirational work she’s been doing lately. The newest addition to the Beachworks Artist Allies roster and Jedidiah art director, Kelli has been giving back to this world in a big way. Nearly everything she’s put her hands into lately has been contributing to some form of charity/world peace organization and the recognition she’s been getting is so well deserved. Not only is she a sweet piece of eye candy but her art speaks volumes for itself. Original pieces are now adorning the Beachworks shop on Mission Blvd in San Diego so drop on in and check out what I’m talking about for yourself.

God am I really starting to love these Neff boys. It seems like every month they’ve been bribing us with a little care package of their latest and greatest. This month they did not disappoint with some of the freshest lids I’ve seen in a long time. I’m stoked to see that such a simple idea has really taken off and these guys are doing so well. Keep sending the love our way and it and will keep rocking it, thanks again dudes.

skate: bri burkett

surf: jenny williams

DC DYRDEK

SNOW LEOPARD All of us here at BL!SSS are so addicted to everything mac – iPods, iPhones, iMacs, macbooks, iAnything… we got it. Well, the latest to our ever-growing collection will be arriving as soon as the issue is off to the press. Snow Leopard, Macintosh’s latest operating system will be running at full speed from here on out. I know Nick and I will have this thing plugged into our computers in no time but it always takes a little while (like, when I do it for him) to get Madsteez to update his tower. He’s still waiting for the release of Baby Cheetah Lion operating system – ask him about it.

GET DRUNK, PLAY VIDEO GAMES We’re pretty much just a bunch of dorks who can’t get any chicks, so we spend most of our free time sitting around and playing video games just like the rest of you. But with the help from our new friends at Arkeg, at least we are going to be the coolest group of dorks on the block. This thing is preloaded with over 15,000 video games, a karaoke machine, music player… and a beer-dispensing kegerator. Man, if this isn’t on every frat boy’s wish list, we don’t know what is. The newest model should be arriving at the BL!SSS ofﬁces any day now, so make sure you cruise on by for a quick game and a cold brew soon.

With the ongoing success of Robb Dyrdek’s MTV hit series “Fantasy Factory” it was only a matter of time until his clothing line dropped. The press release just hit my desk as DC and Robb have teamed up again and are setting to release the Drydek Collection available October 1st. This ain’t no one or two piece collection either, it’s a full blown line with denim, ﬂeece, tees, jackets, and of course a new signature shoe. We’re all ﬁguring it’ll do just as good as his hit show so don’t expect to be the only kid on the block rocking it.

KOMBI GLOVES

LAGUNA FIN COMPANY

I ran into my old buddy James Wood in the water about a month back and he was all hyped up about his dad’s fin company he was working for. Turns out the company once called Neo Fin is now rocking the name Laguna Fin Company. James is helping out with the marketing so we laced up Tom Carey and a couple other key figures to get some feedback. Everyone seems to really pumped on the comfort, fit and function of the new fins, so whether you’re whomping, saving lives, or shooting photos these are the most comfortable fins on the market.

We gotta little care package from the marketing heads over at Kombi Sports. We know it’s a little early to start pumping the new snow gear but with their latest samples landing on our desks, we thought what the hell. And like original Volkswagen Kombi, these babies are gonna be must-haves for the 09/10 season on the slope so feel free to click your ﬁngers over to kombisports.com and see what they’ve got for you. Your hands won’t regret it.

DILLON

PERILLO

PULL-IN

PATIENCE Our buddy/surf filmmaker extraordinaire Chaz Loskarn sent me an advance copy of his latest surf flick he has been slaving away at for the past couple of years. The movie is titled Patience, and I don’t know if he named it that for himself or for all the rest of us out there, but the end result was well worth the wait. It has been quite some time since I’ve seen such a quality flick from the east coast but Chaz sure pulled it off. With a stellar lineup including Eric Geiselman, CJ Hobgood, Kelly Slater, our boy Mike Gleason, Jamie O’Brien, Luke Ditella, Ryan Carlson and a plethora of lesser-known east coasters that’ll blow your mind, this has got a little something for everyone. Check it out at finer shops across the nation.

We paid a little visit to David at the Pull-In shop on Melrose this past week to check out how our favorite Euro-brand was doing. Things seem to be on the up-and-up for these Hossegor boys and I even managed to snag a pair of their newest boardshorts just in time for the weekend. Contrary to what most think, these guys are not just making underwear but a ton of other ﬁne threads as well – boardshorts, bikinis, hoodies, tees, and even a three-piece suit. With so much going on, there’s sure to be something for everyone, so next time you ﬁnd yourself on Melrose be sure to swing by the shop.

BRINGIN’ IT BACK

MONA-VIE I got stuck on what felt like a Twilight Zone episode with the biggest pyramid scheme group on my American Airlines ﬂight home from Surf Expo. I noticed about 90 percent of the full ﬂight wearing some MonaVie polo shirt. Upon inquiring with the couple sitting beside me I knew I was in trouble when the reply I got was, “I’m glad you asked.” I should have known better and thrown on my Eskuche headphones right then and there but instead I played a little a game of 200 questions, just long enough to kill the time from Orlando to Dallas. Anyway, it turns out this potent mixed-fruit beverage is said to contain magical healing powers derived from the oh-so-popular Brazilian Acai Berry. All you unemployed people head on over to MonaVie.com to learn how you can be apart of their one milion plus salesforce and drink their Kool-Aid today.

FORD ARCHBOLD X ARNETTE Our little (big) buddy Ford Archbold has just been signed to the team at Arnette Optics. Ford’s career is following right in line with his current growth spurt, which means in a few years this kid is not only going to be the tallest surfer in the world, but also the world champ. Next time you see Ford cruising the beach in Newps with his new Arnette’s on, get up on your tippy toes and smack the kid a high ﬁve! Like every good song or movie, the crew at Vision Skateboards is bringing it back to the eighties with their re-release of their original line of completes. Ready to shred and available from Select Distribution, we’re sure we’re not the only ones with our eyes set on these Old Skool’s, you can check them all out at selectsk8.com.

FOX FLANNEL.

Choose wisely

Adam Virs wears the FADED FLANNEL DUSTER JEAN

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G BIKE

BILLBOARD BAGS Ever wonder what they do with all that vinyl that gets pulled off those millions of giant billboards littering every road in America? Well, there’s a little company out of New Jersey, called TeraCycle, that is recycling as much of this vinyl as possible by making one-of-a-kind bags for everyday use. With prices constantly on the up and the economy going down, these Billboard Bags by Yak Pak are a steal at only 35 bucks a pop. They come with a lifetime warranty and no two are alike, the perfect back to school gift. Check out teracycle.net or yakpak.com to ﬁnd out where you can get yours today.

Denim conglamorate Guess has released a super limited beach cruiser this summer to help promote an environmentally sound way for traveling. The whole BL!SSS crew has their slew of cruisers stashed in the back ofﬁce and have been making lunch runs and surf checks the environmentally sound way since inception. We like to think we’re a little ahead of the curve on this one, but it’s good to see even the big boys trying to do their part. They’re on sale now and exclusive to gbyguess.com, so if you really want one you gotta log on.

WATERPROOF iPHONE Always trying to keep you informed with the latest techie trends, we caught ourselves laughing out loud when we received an email promoting this new waterproof casing for your iPhone. At over two inches thick and made from an indestructible plastic I think it is a bit more than waterproof and quite a bit more than I’ll ever need. Still, I know it won’t be too long before I start seeing someone in the lineup on some type of cell phone. Actually, I’m quite surprised it hasn’t already happen.

UP IN SMOKE Like a classic Cheech and Chong film, this board will keep you blazing through the streets all through summer. Not only is she as smooth as butter (in more ways than one), but the boys at Madrid Skateboards made this thing a multi-functioning piece of machinery. Instead of puff-puff-give think push-push-puff. It’s truly the first of its kind and the only deck that can get you arrested. If you still don’t know what the heck I’m talking about may I suggest you go to your local shop and figure it out for yourself. But please, make sure you bring your own lighter.

SURFBOARDS IN THE SAND PT “The Mate” swung by our headquarters to do his weekly scans in the midst of our deadlines (I swear he does this purposely to piss us off but we love The Mate and his little rays of light he shines on us during our doomsday deadlines) and he was all chatty Cathy about Rip Curl’s inaugural Surfboards in the Sand Event. Going down on September 19th in the sand (hence the name) next to the HB Pier, PT and other surf legends will be signing autographs and taking photos with their fans to help raise funds for the Surfrider Foundation and Orange County Coastkeepers. Learn more or register at surfboardsinthesand.com

ELEMENT SKATE DEMO TEAM SIGNING + AM SKATE CONTEST On Saturday, September 26th, come join us at South Coast Plaza. Element, Beachworks, Elemental Awareness, South Coast Farms, CreateASkate, The Ecology Center and Inside the Outdoors will all be on hand for the afternoon. Event includes an Element team demo, team signing, am skate contest, tie dye clinic, organic food giveaways, live rare animals, prizes and more.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH

$045" .&4" $" t 4065) $0"45 1-";" 3PM AM SKATE CONTEST

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4PM ELEMENT TEAM SKATE DEMO MIKE V, DARRELL STANTON, CHAD TIM TIM, TONY TAVE, LEVI BROWN, COLLIN PROVOST, LACEY BAKER, NICK GARCIA, AND GUEST OMAR HASSAN

5PM ELEMENT TEAM SIGNING */4*%& 5)& #&"$)803,4 4503& 0/ -0$"5*0/

FREE TEE TO TIE DYE WITH ANY ELEMENT PURCHASE 15% OFF

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Dennis McNett was born in 1972 and grew up in Virginia Beach, VA. He’s been living in New York since 2001 and has been carving the hell out of surly block prints for over 17 years. All of his encouragement as a young kid came from his blind grandfather, who told him over and over again that his drawings were good. Later inﬂuences came from the raw high-energy graphics pouring out of the 80’s skateboard and punk rock scene. He holds an MFA from Pratt Institute, where he now teaches as a printmaking professor at the graduate and undergraduate level. He wants to live until he dies. Breathing is good. Check out more from Dennis at howlingprint.com.

Photo: Marisa Abaza

Interview: Jason Arnold Turbonegro, the self-described progenitors of “Deathpunk”, have been rocking their unique blend of rock, punk, glam and metal for 20 years. If you like it raw, real and dirty, well then you best get hip to the Turbo! Blisss recently caught up with founding member and bass player, Happy Tom. As it turns out, Tom is an avid surfer and spends plenty of time in the water when he’s not gracing stages across the globe! How would you describe Turbo’s music to the uninitiated? Punk rock from a dumb future played by highly evolved Neanderthals. Turbonegro is an amazing live band; what can one expect at your shows? Manly make-up, hot licks and a lot of thump in your hump. Turbo is pretty much a celebration of rock’n’roll magic and occasionally we actually pull it off. You guys have a huge following around the world but have yet to taste “commercial” success; do you think it will happen? Nope. But it’s better to be the world’s biggest underground band than the world’s smallest mainstream band. Tell us a little of the early history of the band and how

it has transformed into an international underground cult. Pål Pot Pamparius and I grew up in the epicenter of Black Metal, a suburb called Follo, southeast of Oslo. We came out of the hardcore/noise rock scene. We started dressing up as homos to start some shit but everybody ended up loving it. We’re basically the Quentin Tarantino of Punk Rock. That sums it up in one big lump. What is the writing process for Turbo? How do you guys go about coming up with ideas? Euro and I mess around at home and come up with guitar riffs and key phrases for the lyrics, then we get together in a small room with big guitar amps in the studio, a place we call The Riff Lab. Drink beer and jam on the stuff we’ve got, most of the time I jot down some lyrics based on notes I have on my cell phone note book and we’re ready to go. Then we call the other guys in and start laying down tracks. You have a home in Ocean Beach and Costa Rica; is that to be close to surf? Absolutely. I enjoy the mellow Cali waves; surﬁng San O, Tourmaline or Swamis is like a beautiful snail hitching a ride on a sexy turtle, while CR is CR; para siempre, occasionally some

tough love, I like that too. How did you, coming from Norway, get into surfing? Are there many surfers there? Skateboarding turned into snowboarding, which in turn morphed into pot smoking and watching surf videos. Geographically Norway is pretty much the Chile of the North Atlantic. Orcas, venereal disease and localism with a humongous imperialist turd called England blocking ground swell in the lower half of the coast; fickle and cold. For us Oslo pokes it takes less time and effort to get to Portugal or The Canaries than to the northern coast. How many days would you say you get in the water a year? How long have you been surfing? I’ve been surfing on and off since the early Nineties. I try to get in at least two solid months of surf a year. I’m pretty much in it for the tubes, the brews and the boobs, brah. You got Euroboy (Turbonegro guitarist) out in the surf last year yeah? How’d he go? He and Rune Rebellion spent some time at the Volcom team house in Hossegor last summer, so he had a head start; they even had a custom board made for him. He’s an old gymnast so he did great from the get-go! I

mean, listen to his guitar playing and you realize this guy is great at probably everything he ever attempts. Also, he has a history as a surf guitarist, with his old bands Kåre & The Cavemen and The Euroboys that might have provided him some kind of metaphysical advance. You guys are pretty dialed in by the surf industry. Who hooks you up? We’ve gotten incredible support over the years from the braves at Volcom, Electric, Vestal and Vans, plus Steven Mast who shapes my boards. There’s a funny story from about a year ago where you were present when a bunch of pot washed up on the beach in SD yeah? Got interviewed by the news? Tell us your interpretation of what went down? I was over at Garbage at The Cliffs one morning for a quick check, the coast guard and cops were there pulling out compact shrink wrapped bricks of marijuana from an abandoned boat. I came back that afternoon and the news vans were there, it was straight out of Anchorman, the dude even had a Clark Kentlooking coiffure and a polyester tie, they put me on as an “eyewitness”; surreal. When can we expect a new

album? Maybe you should write a Turbo style meets Jack Johnson surf song (haha)? We’ve had some writing sessions that have turned out some pretty awesome stuff, but we’ve come to a point were we don’t have to put out a new album every 18 months, so we’ll just have to see. I predict a revival of Jon & The Nightriders 80’s type surf with SHITLOADS of chorus and ﬂanger on the guitars and that ice cold massive gated reverb snare drum; a touch of Agent Orange, so to speak. The good Lord shall supply this in 2011, I like. Any plans to be touring the States again soon? Not in the immediate future, no. Who are your personal favorite bands? These days: Poison Idea, Andrew WK, Jim Steinman, Descendents, M83, Randy Newman, This Mortal Coil, Van Halen, Glen Campbell. Plus the new Mastodon album has totally blown my mind. Who have been the best tour mates (bands) throughout the years? Mondo Generator, Mastodon, Queens Of The Stone Age. We did a tour with Marilyn Manson last year, which was pretty fun too.

For the third straight year, Mountain Dew is serving up a limited edition series of collectible aluminum bottles featuring custom graphics from six top artists including Pushead, Nathan Cabrera, Jeff McMillan, Stephen Bliss, UPSO and Claw Money – the ﬁrst female artist ever featured in the project. The six bottles that comprise Green Label Art, Volume III will be available at select US stores for eight weeks only beginning September 7th. As a complement to the bottles, each participating artist incorporated graphical elements from their bottle design into a range of LTD products from WeSC, Adidas, Zoo York, Burton, G-Shock and New Era. These collab products will be available exclusively through an under-the-cap promo on Green Label Art bottles and specially marked bottles of Dew. In mid-September, Green Label Art, Volume III will extend beyond store shelves and come to life through a special two-week exhibit in NYC. The Green Label Art gallery will be open to the public, host artist meet-andgreets and showcase the bottles along with other works from each artist. All six bottles will be sold at the gallery, with proceeds donated to a nonproﬁt that supports the arts. For more info, check out: greenlabelart.com.

Photo: Dominic Petruzzi // dominicpetruzzi.com Ursula Mayes is an exotic mix of Korean, German and Native-American. You may recognize her from NBC’s hit game show “Deal or No Deal” as briefcase model number five. She’s frequently spotted at several adrenaline packed events hosting and hyping up stages across the globe. But don’t be fooled by her looks – Ursula’s passion ranges from the culinary arts to auto racing. She cooks five course meals entirely from scratch and can put a drift car into a wicked slide – we’ve still got whiplash from her last office visit. Model: Ursula Mayes :: Agency: Otto Models :: Hair & Makeup: Holly Ly

Words: Andrew Cannon :: Photos: Chris Ortiz

When I received a call from World Industries Team Manager, Charlie Thomas about a nice team weekend getaway I was ecstatic. Then, when he laid it on me that they were coming out to my neck of the woods… I mean, desert, it got me even more stoked. There is nothing better than having the crew come out to your area to do some skating; you know all the spots, you get to lead the caravan, it’s simply the best. So we did some talking and found a nice hotel only a few miles from the apartment that I share with my little lady and World Industries ﬁlm connoisseur Dan Shetron, and BLAM, we had a fun little weekend ahead of us.

with a bunch of dudes the best thing to do is get out! The posse that emerged was Cody Davis, Dustin Blauvelt, Mike Franklin, Timmy Knuth, George Moreno, Ronson Lambert, Malcolm Watson, myself (Andrew Cannon), Charlie Thomas, Dan Shetron, and photographer extraordinaire Chris Ortiz.

The gentleman left California around ten or eleven o’clock that Thursday morning so they could make a stop in Palm Springs, Ca to try to skate some of the many spots in that desert paradise. Although I was not there, I was told all about the adventure. They stopped at an abandoned resort where Mike Franklin went to town on a long ﬂat rail.

The first spot we went to in Arizona was the Pima Banks. They are kind of in the ghetto and never have I been there that I did not find a used condom somewhere close by on the ground. But, since this is skateboarding and nobody cares how gross the ground is, we pulled out the lights and got to it. The Pima banks have a rich history to them, everything from Geoff Rowley skating them in Feedback to Louie Barletta doing blunt frontside flip in and Ryan Johnson blasting the gnarliest ollie ever over the stairs from one bank to the other in the Scarecrow video. So getting to skate a landmark in Arizona’s skate history with all the guys was sick. Pretty much everyone skated them and it turned out to be a really fun session. Tricks were made, and the night closed out with TM Charlie Thomas getting a move over the hip as everyone relaxed after the long first day.

Dan and I waited anxiously for our good friends to arrive and after sunset we got the call that the World van was rolling its way down the 10 and was but a few miles from us. When the van arrived in town and we met up at the ﬁrst spot, the doors swung opened and the guys came racing out. After six and a half hours crammed in a van

The next day when everyone awoke we were greeted by one of mother natures most obnoxious elements, wind. And when I say wind, I don’t mean a cool breeze, I’m talking serious thirty mile and hour wind that will knock your hat off and send you on an impromptu hundred-meter dash to salvage your lost goods. So we all met up

World Game of Skate Flip Toss

Timmy, Mike, Ronson and Cody

at Tempe park and got warmed up. If you’ve never been there before, I would suggest checking it out when cruising through town. It has everything you could possibly want; Rails, stairs, tranny, manny pads, ledges, spots to do ﬂy outs, and even a payphone that you can prank call from your cellphone. My good buddy Slugger used to call that payphone when he was bored at home and just make up crazy stuff to fuck with kids. It was a tough session because of the wind, but when you have limited time you have to press on right? Before heading across town we made a stop at the Cheba Hut, a cannabis themed sandwich shop in Tempe. The sandwiches are quite good and the fact that each one is named after a different kind of weed always causes me to chuckle as I order from the Bob Marley loving hippie behind the counter. After getting sufﬁciently sweaty, we all got back in the cars and drove across town to the Beardsly Banks. It’s kind of like a little spine ledge that you do pop over tricks on. We battled there for a while but the wind was too much

Malcom Watson : K-Flip @ Cactus Banks

Mike Franklin - F.S Smith

Timmy Knuth - Blunt to B.S N. Blunt @ Blue Banks

Andrew Cannon : F.S 5-0 grind down @ Blue Banks

Dustin Bluvelt : Blunt Bigspin @ Blue Banks

George Moreno : Boardslide and we packed up the gear and headed to another ditch, the Cactus Banks. I know, “Andrew, did you guys only skate ditches when you were there?” The answer is, we skated what Arizona has to offer, and some of the gems of the desert happen to be ditches. So we got to Cactus Banks and gave it all that we could, but yet again we struggled to make it happen. Sometimes you just have to accept that wind sucks and you cant do much about it. So after stopping to get some dinner I suggested that we go take a gander at this long ﬂat rail in the surrounding area. The wind had started to mellow out and everyone was feeling the pressure of trying to get some stuff taken care of so when we lit the rail up people started getting to it. George steezed out a nice boardslide and other tricks got close. So after a long day of skating multiple spots, a park, and ﬁghting a battle against Mother Nature we decided that it was time to call it quits… SIKE! When you’re on trips you go until you’ve got nothing left, so it was off to the northern ditch to try to get some techy bank tricks. Northern was awesome, we lit it up, and it pretty much turned into a party. Everyone was skating in one-way or another, some skating the bank, others bombing down the ditch in the dark, everyone laughing and having a great time, it was pretty much what every session should be like. And after about an hour and a half of trick after trick we packed it up and retired for the night.

Andrew gives some Ergo

Malcom & George w/ some goodies

The last day, Sunday, was not much different, except that we went back to the spots from the prior day to settle some unfinished business. Ronson came through with a sick bigspin front blunt shuvs on the Beardsly Banks, Franklin with a kickflip backlip to 180, and the rest of the boys sat and cheered on whilst the three of us battled for our tricks. After lots of time and energy we moved the caravan back over to the Cactus Banks to pick up where we left off. I skated up the bank and got a trick and then we took it to the super steep bank to do flip tricks. Malcolm did a steezed out backside flip, Franklin did a nollie bigspin, George did an ollie to fakie that was practically in the stratosphere, Cody did a proper frontside flip and Dustin did one of the best nollie backside heels I have had the privilege of seeing in person. So with the last spot being a success, we packed up and went to one of Arizona’s best kept Italian secrets for a farewell team dinner, The Olive Garden. Upon arrival Ortiz took the reigns and organized dinner. He worked out the appetizers for each table, some of the entrées, and he even took charge on the dessert front. Not only is Ortiz a master with the bail gun (camera), he knows how to do it when it comes to food as well, and I like that about him. After the handshakes and hugs of all the guys we parted and each drove our separate ways. Dan and I the twenty minutes back to our apartment, and the rest of the fellas the full six and a half hours back to the city of Angels. It was a fun and productive weekend here in Arizona, so a big thanks to all the guys for coming and shredding their faces off and to World Industries for getting everyone out here.

Cody Davis : K-Flip B.S Disaster

Brett Simpson

Photos: Michael Lallande The US Open might not be the longest running surf contest in the world, and it might not be a triple-A-rated WCT (World Championship Tour) event, but it is, without a doubt, the most recognizable surf show on earth. Ask any pro on tour and they will tell you the same thing: There is nothing like surﬁng in front of that crowd. This year the stakes were even higher with the single largest cash prize in surﬁng history being handed out to the winner.

Originally, the OP Pro was a crown jewel in the early ASP (Association of Surf Professionals) world tour. Of course, no one will ever forget the riot of ‘86, and now, with $100,000 on the line, Huntington Beach’s US Open has cemented itself as the greatest event without a WCT in front of it, and maybe the greatest event without it. Although it isn’t sanctioned by the ASP as a WCT event, and is actually only a qualifying event (think, minor leagues of baseball),

it still draws the biggest names in surﬁng. Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Mick Fanning and Andy Irons count this as one of the only WQS (World Qualifying Series) events that they will enter. No one can pass up the arena-seated fans that line the beach and the pier. The energy gets so high it can be compared to nothing else in action sports, let alone surﬁng.

swell bombing the coast, the table was set for a showdown of the worlds’ greatest surfers. No one suspected that the man who would walk home with the check for 100k would be a kid from down the street who grew up surﬁng the pier everyday, no doubt dreaming of this scenario, but never imagining that it might actually happen.

The big names were the talk of the town all week. With a huge

At 24 years old, Brett Simpson has added his name to the historic list

Mick Fanning

Murs

Walk the Walk

Taylor Knox

Kai Barger

Yadin Nicol

CJ Hobgood

Cisco & Shwayze

Brett

of surfers who can lay claim to a win at the H.B. Pier.

Adriana De Souza

and the 2,500 ’QS points, I’m nearly in tears at the moment. When you’re riding on the ski in In the final, Simpson collected front of the crowd and you hear a 6.83, a 7.83 and a 9.10 in the applause it definitely pumps the opening half of the heat. “I you up. Every time I was feeling knew the tide was coming up a bit tired, the energy level of and there weren’t going to be the crowd would lift me right as many waves,” Simpson said. up. It’s unbelievable to have all “I knew I needed a quick start. the support and my family and We (Mick Fanning and I) both friends here with me. This is got off to pretty quick starts. the best day of my life.” We both picked up some good scores off the bat and I was The progressive natural-footer able to build a little momentum is in excellent position for a berth throughout my opening waves. next season at professional I couldn’t believe it when the surfing’s most elite level, the heat finished – I’m still at a ASP World Tour. “I don’t know loss. I can’t ask for more than to what to say,” Simpson said. beat Mick Fanning in the final at “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m just home. With that, the $100,000 stoked. It’s my best result ever.

Rob Machado

Kelly Slater

Phantom Man Kai

It’s so important to my qualifying campaign and such a huge boost of confidence to me. My goal has always been to compete on the World Tour and I’m definitely focused on finishing the season strong. I don’t know what else to say. I’m really excited and I can’t wait for the rest of the year.”

Paul Gomez, Bob Hurley & Asher Nolan

an absolute rampage in the starstudded junior ﬁnal, smashing both rights and lefts to net an impressive 15.50 out of a possible 20.

“This is hands down the best contest ever,” Barger said. “Biggest crowd, great waves, lots of sun, big money. Best event Running in conjunction with the ever. I don’t really go out into Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing was heats thinking about what I need the ASP Grade-2 Nike 6.0 Pro or what I want to accomplish. I Junior, stop No. 5 of 9 on the 2009 go out to win. That’s what I did ASP North America Pro Junior out there today and I’m having Series. The final was an incredible a great year!” Highlights from assemblage of global talent, with the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing Kai Barger taking the big win over are available at usopenofsurfing. Tonino Benson, Dillon Perillo and com. For more information, Nat Young. Barger, reigning ASP log onto aspworldtour.com and World Junior Champion, went on aspnorthamerica.org.

Brett Lincoln High : Walk the Walk

HURLEY U.S. OPEN OF SURFING RESULTS: ASP WQS 6-STAR MEN’S EVENT Final: Winner Receives US$100,000 1 – Brett Simpson 2 – Mick Fanning 3 – Adriano de Souza 3 – C.J. Hobgood 5 – Patrick Gudauskas 5 – Michel Bourez 5 – Nathaniel Curran 5 – Kelly Slater

NIKE 6.0 PRO JUNIOR RESULTS: ASP GRADE-2 PRO JUNIOR 1 – Kai Barger 2 – Tonino Benson 3 – Dillon Perillo 4 – Nat Young

Interview: Aaron Astroga :: Photos: Chris Ortiz Often times you hear the term â&#x20AC;&#x153;a product of their environmentâ&#x20AC;?, in reference to something that has spawned from the surrounding elements producing a new entity that has completely adapted to its surroundings. In this case, that entity goes by the name of David Loy, a young boy born in the heart of Orange County, California where on any given day a young boy can be faced with several of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many challenges. Just walking down the street to the corner store one could be faced with dealing with drugs, alcohol, and gang violence. Luckily for him, being raised in a healthy home environment with two brothers that skate and two totally supportive parents has given David the opportunity to shape and carve out his future as one of the most talented young skaters today. A true product of his environment, David has grown up skating world famous spots with some of the best skaters in the world which has enabled him to pushed his skating to a higher level. Take the time to read further into the mind of David Loy to see what separates him from all the rest.

B.S Salad 180 12 L.A

F.S 360 Ditch Gap

“THREE WEEKS LATER I WAS SKATING THIS LEDGE IN ORANGE, SCORPIONED AND BROKE MY RIGHT WRIST AS WELL, SO I HAD TWO CASTS ON AT ONCE.” F.S Smith bump Rail H.B

F.S Disaster vert up to vert wall Vans

David, when did you start skating? I think I started skating when I was like 9 or 10.

Who do you skate with mostly? I usually skate with Clint Walker, Trevor Vaughan, Scott Sullivan, Ryan Reyes, Dominick Walker, How old are you? my little brother Ethan, Lee I am 17. Loughridge, Mike Mo Capaldi and his crew, Richie Valdez, & Theotis Do you remember your ﬁrst Beasley. Of course not all of them skateboard? at one time; different crews at I remember it very vaguely, I different times. think it was just a shop deck but it was camo and I had titan trucks What inspires you to skate, and blank wheels and probably what get’s you hyped? some random bearings. I get hyped by just being around good people that are encouraging Who do you ride for? and down to skate. Filming tricks I ride for Birdhouse, Hurley, Cons, or getting a photo gets me super Spitﬁre, Thunder and Active. hyped! What’s your favorite thing to skate? I really enjoy skating everything, street and transition - but my favorite is probably transition because you have so much freedom going fast, and making your own lines. Grinding on pool coping sounds so cool!

I see a lot of young and talented skaters getting caught up in the whole scene these days with smoking and drinking, what keeps you on the straight and narrow and focused on skating with all the distractions out there? Well I don’t know man, it’s deﬁnitely hard but I’ve been doing

F.S 5-0 San Pedro

alright, most of the reason that I try to stay away from smoking or drinking is because of my dad. My dad did a lot of drugs and was a gnarly alcoholic and the stories he’d tell me while I grew up just didn’t appeal to me and made me want to stay away from it. A clear head for me helps me stay focused on skating. How do you balance your skating time with your home schooling, is it hard to do school work at home? The program I’m in is pretty easy, all I have to do is go on the internet and do 3 classes and take 2 or 3 test a week. I usually just do my work super late at night or I will get it all done in one day so I don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week.

run I broke my left wrist trying to frontside nose grind the bank to wall, so that was a bummer on my end. I ended up going back to the contest and watched the other dudes killing it. Then 4 months later I went out to New Mexico with Joe Hammeke shooting photos. The ﬁrst day I got there I wasn’t wearing my wrist guard and I had already landed the trick but wanted to reﬁlm it a different way. So I tried it again, got wheel bite going down the bank and broke the same wrist I broke at Tampa. I think three weeks later I was skating this ledge in Orange, scorpioned and broke my right wrist as well, so I had two casts on at once. It sucked.

Seems like you can’t stand to be off you skateboard for You’ve had some recent more than a couple of days, injuries with your wrists, are you addicted to skating? what’s the story with that? Man if I can’t skate for like one Yeah man, Tampa Am in day I am so bummed and my December, I was pre-qualiﬁed legs start twitching. I have to do for the semis and right before my something active to get all the

Airwalk to Fakie

F.S Huricane Brick Banks Orlando

energy out of my body. I don’t know, I just love skating and I want to do it till I’m not able to walk.

F.S N. Grind Up Ledge Ollie Gap

want to skate and not have to be all bummed out from being hung over or not being able to skate cause I’m high so I just figure if I just skate and keep What else do you like to do doing what I am doing, better besides skate? things will happen in the future. I pretty much only skate. For some people that stuff works Sometimes I will get all hyped and they do keep skating but it’s on surfing but that’s only like 1 just not my thing. month out of the year when the waters warm. Other than that I You’re really lucky to have like to snowboard and I like to cool parents that support race go-karts, that’s super fun. your skateboarding, is it cool to have your parents You’ve had some battles in involved and interested in the past with some haters what your doing? talking trash on you but you Yeah it’s pretty rad. I’m just glad seem to handle it well. What they’re not like soccer parents would you say to the skaters because man there are a lot of out there that want to do parents out there that are. I see their own thing like you have them with their kids at a lot of and not follow the rest of the the contest telling them what crowd just to try and fit in to do and how to do it. I’m just and be “cool”? so thankful my parents were Yeah man, I definitely have never like that because if they had some rough patches in my were, I probably wouldn’t be life but it’s been working out. skating. I’m glad my parents are I’m starting to figure out how supportive though cause they’ve everything works. I’ve learned definitely helped out a lot and my lesson from dumb stuff I’ve I’m hyped because of it! done in the past. For me I just

Pop Shuv, Lipslide Lein to Tail You have two brothers that skate as well, is that cool to be able to go out and shred with your brothers? Yeah it’s rad, my little brother Ethan is deﬁnitely killing it. He skates everyday with me, which is awesome, he rips. My older brother skates occasionally, he skates pools so it’s fun to go out with him and shred.

life or are you just focused on skating? Well yeah girls are an interest but I’m not worried about it because I just want to skate and have fun. Yeah I hang out with some girls, but they are just friends.

What’s your favorite thing about skating? Is it the feeling of accomplishment when you learn something new or is it the freedom it gives you to do whatever you feel capable of? My favorite thing is just skating a bowl and being able to go as fast as you want and grind as long as you want, or when your bombing a hill it’s such an adrenaline rush. I think it’s just the freedom of knowing you’re capable to do anything.

What would you like to accomplish in the future in skateboarding? Hopefully have a few interviews and have a video part which I’m working on, my friend Richie Valdez is making a movie called “Skate Movie”.

Do you have any interest in girls at this point in your

Where would you like to be ﬁve years from now with your skate career? I want to still be skating and healthy and if it works out, turn pro and try and have another

video part. Any last words of wisdom? Closetamesa.blogspot.com has all the wisdom. Any shouts outs ?

Aaron Astorga, Paul Gomez, Steve Luther at Cons, Darin and John at DLX, Steve Haring, Tony Hawk, Active Erica, Richie Valdez, Joe Hammeke, Chris Ortiz, and whoever else I forgot… Thanks!

Photography: Jason Wallis Styling: Nichole Carroll nichole@tylerroseswimwear.com

wallisphoto.com

Hair & Makeup: Shellena Gonzalez

shellena.com

Model: Ivana Jumpsuit – Ezekiel ezekielusa.com Belt – Vintage Stylist’s own

Model: Ivana Dress – Hurley hurley.com Belt – Vintage Stylist’s own Shoes – Zara zara.com

Model: Kate Top – Volcom volcom.com Denim – J Brand jbrandjeans.com Shoes – BCBG Max Azria bcbg.com

Model: Megan Shirt – Hurley hurley.com Bikini Top – Tyler Rose Swimwear tylerroseswimwear.com Skirt – Fox fox-girl.com Shoes – L.A.M.B.

Model: Ivana Top – Volcom volcom.com Belt – Vintage Stylist’s own Denim – Fox fox-girl.com Shoes – Bakers bakersshoes.com

Model: Megan Top – Vintage Stylist’s own Denim – RVCA rvca.com Shoes – L.A.M.B.

Model: Kate Top – Lavada lavadainc.com Denim – Citizens of Humanity citizensofhumanity.com Shoes – L.A.M.B.

Model: Ivana Jacket – Hurley hurley.com Top – American Apparel americanapparel.net Denim – Volcom volcom.com Shoes – BCBG Maz Azria bcbg.com

Model: Megan Jacket & Top – Vintage Stylist’s own Denim – RVCA rvca.com Shoes – Zara zara.com

Photo: Andrew Buckley

Interview: Jay Davies How you going buddy? (Cough) Fuck I got Ric Ric’s Swine Flu – thanks buddy! Are we doing this interview now or what? Yep… Fuck, let’s do it then. It’s a bit weird I’m interviewing

you for it. Yeah it’s a bit weird aye. What have you been doing mate? Just been up in Bali surﬁng in the Padang contest. Oh yeah? How was that? It was pumping, got to surf for an

Photo: Andrew Buckley

Photo: Daniel Russo

hour and a half with nobody else out there. Don’t think too many people get to do that, usually there are 300 cunts out there. That’s epic. How good’s that! Yeah really good, really good Jay. So I heard you finished your movie? Yeah finally finished the movie but, umm lots of hours in the editing room with me and Toucan really killing each other. But finally done, so bring on the premieres! Wicked, so when is the first premiere? The first one is in Perth next Friday, August 28. All the local acts will be there and everyone from West Oz… so we can tear right in.

Yeah the 1st of November I’m getting married to Casey. Been with her for about 7 or 8 years now so gonna tie the knot. One of the ﬁrst lads that we know to get married so that will be interesting ... all the boys there… should be a good day. So any signs of starting a little family mate? Haha, maybe in the future sometime, we’ll take one thing at a time for the time being though. Ahh fuck, they wanted me to ask some corny questions umm. Haha, like what?

Fuck that sounds great. What’s next for you? You got anything planned? Finish off this movie and do all the premieres and go over to the States, and then get it all wrapped up and then hopefully work on another project and just try and keep busy and keep the ball rolling as you would say Jay.

Who was your inspiration when you were a grommet… like who did you look up to when you first started to shred? Umm… Fuck, I always liked the Irons brothers because of the way they surf and they don’t care. They love to rip in and it’s all about having a good time. Yeah they were definitely a couple of lads I looked up to when I first started.

So you’re getting married soon?

For sure, and in your opinion who is the coolest surfer at the

Sequence: Daniel Russo

Photo: Andrew Buckley

moment to hang with? Probably Bruce [Irons] I reckon, Brucey for sure. He is a fucking mad horse and he rips. Was he in the Padang contest? Nah, he didn’t end up going in it… he didn’t make it. I think fucking J. Fred (Jason Frederico) or someone took his spot. Well fuck what else do we have to cover? Fuck I don’t know, this is hilarious!

Fuck, this is gonna be the most fucked up fucking interview! So when do you head to the States? I think like on the 8th of September, the premiere is on the 10th in San Diego while the trade shows are all on. Should be pretty wild.

matter. Fuck, oh well it’s gonna be fun.

Oh fuck, that place is scary at that time of the year. I pulled the pin this year. I know, I’m scared after last year but I’ve got no choice in the

Yeah you can drink it hot or cold! Warm or cold Jay! Hahaha it tastes good.

What’s your favourite beer mate? Favourite fucking beer… What is my favourite fucking beer? Well hard to go past Red Lead (Emu Export).

Can you compare American beers to Aussie beers? We’ve got it all over their beers… there’s no comparison. Fucking good to hear. Shit I could have done your part of this interview myself! I know hahaha. Well fuck mate I think this will do… Whatever… just write whatever you fucking want… yeah. It was fucking funny. Thanks for doing

Photo: Daniel Russo

this buddy. No worries mate, hopefully they give you a few pages. Yeah, I hope so. You are a good interviewer! Cheers bro. Maybe when your surf career winds up you can be a TV interviewer or something. Haha cheers legend. Ok legend, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see you when I come down to Perth on Friday. Yeoowww! Take it easy mate, get better.

Photo: Daniel Russo

CAM POWELL & THUNDER FROM HEAVEN

www.thunderfromheaven.com

www.ezekielusa.com

Photos & Interview: MADSTEEZ SABER is a legend. A natural born predator, preying on anything and everything. His graffiti is vicious and angry, and a fucking pit bull fight to the death. He’s a hero, a catalyst for up-and-coming writers, signing blackbooks, shirts, hats, cellphones and even other guys’ girlfriend’s titties. SABER is a real fukin’ artist, bleeding the black blood of creativity which oozes violently from his veins. I spent a night with him, engulfed in his human spider-web better known as Echo Park, piled in an avalanche of art supplies and real life-threatening gang politics. I could feel SABER’s aura of unruly passion and I had an eerie feeling I was in the presence of art history greatness. With millions of fans all over the world, somehow he has been overlooked within the politics of the fine art world. He’s on the verge of popping that pretentious cheery and when he does, I can’t wait till he stomps all over the art worlds’ face.

What’s it like being SABER? I feel I have a responsibility, I feel I have an absolute responsibility to the people that participate in this movement and the people that are affected by this movement. So you know if I tell some kid to go steal some paint and get hyped up to go hit the freeway I encourage that, but at the same time if he gets run over by a semitruck that’s kind of on my shoulders. I have to be careful about inﬂuencing people and staying positive. And to the kids that have nothing in their lives and grafﬁti is there only light and hope then you know I’m going to tell them to go full force. If there are kids that still have opportunities and I just know they don’t have the leather skin to do it then I say, “You know what? You should get into this, you should get into computers, you should do that…” As opposed to, you know, risking everything to go do on the freeway when you’re not going to do it anyway in a year from now. But we also need those people. We need the graphic design people, we need the movie people, we need the editing people. Now who the fuck thought we

ever would, you know? That’s insane. So that shows you how it has grown. And originally, if I had a backpack and if I could steal some Rusto or some Krylon and get a ride to a wall that’s the limits, and now it’s like I said – gone to meeting teams of people in order for things to move forwards and do it right. Like working with large corporations … Yeah, I straight up work with corporations. First of all, that goes against everything we believe in, in essence and I’m not saying there is some hard line, like belief behind grafﬁti, that’s not at all true. It’s just in essence, it’s sort of going against the grain of what was a true writer, you know. It is out in the spotlight like that and getting those types of jobs but at the same time we came to the realization that if other people were getting them, that we’re not as authentic as others, then we would be selling out ourselves by not taking advantage of those opportunities. I mean, why let some other asshole set the tone and the pace of our movement on a corporate level and upward level as opposed

to the people who really deserve it. What is the difference between a grafﬁti writer now verses a writer ten years ago? The internet. My generation was the last generation before the internet so even before the idea of the internet was conceived we were painting, we were searching for photos, we were trading photographs, we learned to be photographers, we were getting

ﬁlm developed, we were sending packages overseas, creating a culture. Has the internet helped or harmed the grafﬁti movement? It’s both, it’s like the idea that everybody has enough food to become obese. There’s enough information easily for everybody and they just keep eating it, but there’s no nourishment behind it because there’s more nourishment behind the idea when you actually

go search for it and go ﬁnd it physically and stand in front of something that’s where you know the true essence comes in. It’s real easy to Google search someone’s name and look at something and yeah be inspired but that takes away the environment. That takes away the air, that takes away the bum shit, that takes away the plants that are growing near there, that takes away the neighborhood sounds, that takes away the helicopter ﬂying above you, that

takes away the cars and the traffic so you know it’s a totally different viewing experience. What is the difference between graffiti art and fine art to you? The first and foremost difference is fine art is made inside, it’s made within the walls and I guess that’s also representation of moving inwards and graffiti is for the public it’s for everybody. Anything can happen, you have chaos motion thrown into the

idea of graffiti because once you put something out there you never know what’s going to happen with it. That’s what’s interesting about it and that’s the reaction it causes, the social elements that it creates, the excitement that it causes, the anger that it causes, and that could be down to one little chicken scratch scribe in a McDonalds bathroom and all that energy could burst out of that one little scribe. So right now you’re working a lot indoors, what is your goal to painting indoors? I love painting and I love to do it. My ultimate goal is to sit on an island painting fucking sunsets, I love to paint sunsets. I mean, oil sunsets, that’s the shit but I explore other ideas. My goal is to get graffiti as an element, as a movement, as an idea indoors so that it can be justified. We carved out that space in art history and history itself, so I

can’t let that slide away and I can’t let others gain that reputation and that prestigousness without putting in the work. To me it’s just the next evolution of where my painting is going. But it doesn’t mean I’m done painting on the street, it just means I have to refocus and prioritize so I enjoy painting indoors. I enjoy painting anything really, so I’m kind of a perv about paint. I like to be covered in paint, I have no clothes that are clean. I can’t go to any nice dinners, I got paint on everything I own. I’m constantly scrubbing fucking holes in the carpet, I’m like cleaning paint, it’s a mess but I love paint, you know. I store paint, I collect paint, I fucking buy paint, I steal paint, I’m sponsored by paint you know what I’m saying? Whatever I can get my hands on dude, hahaha. But I guess also what I wanted to say is moving inwards could also be interpreted as I’m giving up or I’m selling out or I’m

waking up, but I think it comes to each persons own individual terms so I’m not done painting but I’m trying to evolve. That’s what it really comes down to, and at least I have the scars to prove it. And at least I feel confident enough that what I create on the street is never finished but it’s something that’s there. So that’s a confidence that goes up and down. A good analogy would be like to be a fighter, it’s like you get your true glory when you’re fighting; You learn more, you teach more, you influence more than when you’re on the sidelines, you know. You’re conducting more on the sidelines, but when you’re the fighter, all eyes are on you and you go through the experience so it’s like basically not fighting anymore but being more on the sidelines and trying to conduct. When we talked before you said to me you were heading in a new direction, “moving inwards

instead of moving outwards”. What does that mean? That means that evolving and possibly adapting to what needs to get done in my life. So, I’ve been set with a set of limitations so that gives me an opportunity to focus on the things that are more important to me, as opposed to putting it all out on the line and pushing hard, breaking through walls and basically being a big baller type as opposed to an artistic type. And I have regrets for that to a certain degree, but that doesn’t mean I’m done or finished. There’s a certain time in peoples’ lives or especially artists lives, more specifically graffiti writers’ lives where you come to terms with your name and what it represents to you as you get older. So as I’m getting older I’ve had to adjust with the rest of the world too. That doesn’t mean I can just always run around and be SABER for instance.

You said that you feel like you might want to use your real name instead of SABER because you haven’t been able to do the sort of painting you’ve been doing in the past. Well, it’s a conflict of interest between two people. So in essence this character takes over your entire life, everything about you: the way you walk, the way you talk, the friends, the clothes, your house, your hobbies, everything. So you become this persona and you have to live up to this persona and sometimes you loose your real name. The character that grew organically turned kind of into a monster so you have to learn how to manage that monster. What does SABER mean to you? SABER is a letter combination to be able to tap into a flow, a format of an abstract painting, an abstract thought, an abstract movement. So you take a ‘S’ how we start with the same format it’s the head of an ‘S’ and then you end with the leg of an ‘R’ so it gives me an opportunity to dive into… it’s almost like a mantra for instance where you just dive head first and you already know what you get into but it comes out differently each time. What do you think SABER means to other people in the world?

I don’t really know and I don’t really want to know to a certain degree. I don’t really want to because then it’s confined at that moment. All I know is I’m going to shake the fucking the kids’ hands if he says hi to me because I was in his same shoes. So I am not biased, I am not an asshole, I just want to be a nice person. My graffiti is vicious, and my graffiti is fucking angry, and my graffiti is a fucking pit bull fight to the death, that’s how I see my graffiti. But me, as a person, I like to cultivate real friendships. I want people to think I’m a nice person, but don’t piss me off, I have a really bad dark side. Me, REVOK, RETNA, a lot of guys, RIME, we sit there and we sign all their books. We didn’t do that when were that age. We didn’t walk up to people and ask them to sign our shit, nobody really did that. So now it’s like a bombardment of eighty-five people signing their cell phones, their shirts, their hats, their girlfriend’s titts, their fucking everything and I’m humbled by it dude. I’m like what the fuck do these kids care about me for? What does SABER represent? Shit, that’s a question that changes each year. It depends what I’m going through so it changes. Really, I always wanted it as a standard to be a good piece to be a solid piece and to make it beautiful. Even if it’s a tag, even

if it’s a fucking throw up, even if it’s a roller, to put my full effort in as an artist to make those letters look good to make that production look good. That’s what it means to push yourself and SABER doesn’t necessarily mean a sword, but in a cheesy way it can lead to good ideas because when you do brush strokes, when you do certain spray paint strokes, those are pretty wicked strokes and it took me twenty years to fucking do it a certain way. I could do it with fucking rollers, just whip out a perfect fucking calligraphy line with a roller so it represents a certain aggressive energy, not a combative energy but it can be a combative energy and that’s why letters have so much power. You can lean them a certain way and all of a sudden they’re mean. You can turn them a certain way all of a sudden they’re nice, you know there’s infinite possibilities. And that’s why when you put them on the canvas it’s even more infinite possibilities because then it’s like you can do anything to it and it’s mind-boggling. You have the one hairbrush to fucking dump paint on the fucking thing so it’s like it’s infinite possibilities once it reaches the canvas. It has its limitations on the walls because you have certain quick time you have to deal with the surrounding and your primarily using spray paint or buff. Use of all those elements in a combination in a painting I think is one of the strongest things, because then it’s like all these different mediums have been mastered. A weird cheesy analogy would be MMA fighting;

it’s like here’s a person who’s mastered Jujitsu, mastered stand-up, mastered wrestling, mastered all these different techniques to be able to create, to be ale to win. To have an outcome that they want to push for. You have to have all those tools, so as an artist now I have to have these tools, a fucking pencil, an eraser, a you know, all the way up to fat cap and rollers to a fucking fire extinguisher… hahaha. Blast that shit with a fire extinguisher. What has been your biggest creative accomplishment whether fine art, graffiti art? I guess cultivating a story from scratch that grew a lot bigger than I ever thought or imagined. And going outside my house, going to Tokyo, going to Mexico City and seeing all these young faces like almost looking for mentors, almost looking for answers. And they all do the same thing, they all fucking want to paint, and they all want to do it well and that’s a pretty cool place to be and it’s overwhelming sometimes.

become successful, people win the lottery and get hit by a truck. It would be nice to have a mansion, to have a nice car, have fucking Japanese toilets, but you know I don’t feel that I’ve earned it yet. If I had ultimate success I would want to help people, I don’t want nice shit. Even as a kid I didn’t want a nice fucking car, I wanted a dirty ass fucking car so I could slip around the city and no one could notice me. I had a green teal fucking Saturn, a ’93, I kicked a hole in the side of it and had a pair of boxers to match. But that’s not my point, I care about if my pieces are healthy, I care about if my heart is healthy, I care if I broke through the fucking challenges that are driving me insane about painting. It’s the pit in your stomach that doesn’t go away till you do something and then it slowly gets healed for a second and then all of a sudden there’s something else that needs to be done and creatively speaking there’s a challenge and there is no perfect piece and there never will be, you know.

You’ve gone through some crazy shit and a lot of pain and suffering to get to where you are today. What do you hope to get in return? I’ve deﬁnitely had some experiences in my own mortality quite a bit, I’ve been humbled quite a bit and that’s why to a certain degree I can’t live up to what SABER has grown into, especially having health issues. Shit happens, life happens, you can’t stop shit, people die, people go, people go crazy, people

Shout-out to your homies… I have to say that it has been an honor to be part of my crew AWR MSK which is Artwork Rebels Mad Society Kings. I wouldn’t be who I am without them, straight up cause they’ve cultivated me into trying to be a better person and they’ve toughened my hide when I needed it. EKLIPS, he’s like my fucking big brother, he’s put up with so much with us and to try to help us become better people and without him none

of us as a crew and myself specifically wouldn’t be who I am. REVOK (revok1. com), that dude is my fucking brother and me and him have been through a lot together and I think REVOK is by far one of the strongest most dedicated fucking graffiti artist/artist there is. If I could add up a line up of fucking the sickest artist in the world and say who I would want on my side I’m going pick him first straight up, cause he’s ready to go to fucking war and his strength has held us up quite a bit. RETNA (digitalretna.com) is one of my dear friends and he’s also going through the same experiences and he’s trying to cultivate his fine art career. He’s dealing with the same issues, so me and him are at the same phase of our careers and our lives. RIME is the fucking craziest, funniest, coolest dude I fucking know, that guy is the most talented dude with a spray can there is, straight the fuck up, I would say RIME is by far the most well rounded graffiti artist there is. And then there’s PUSH, PUSH is like my little brother. Dude, he’s like somebody that I care for and I think he’s going to do some big things in his career and in his life. Hahaha… What up NORM, TYKE.... And lastly, what’s next for SABER? Working to coerce wealthy people into paying ridiculous amounts of money for my paintings. Be sure to peep SABER’s website for more goodness at saberone.com

OakleyReinvent.com 888-547-1789

Freak of nature.

Brian Conley. Big wave surfer. Mexico transient. Hideout king. Secret spot seeker. Citrus-fueled freak of nature. At about a buck thirty ve, it’s hard to believe that Brian can handle this kind of surf. I guess skill, ambition, and balls go a long way past the limits of

physical capability. Whether he’s got a camera strapped to his head or charging barrels in Tahiti, he’s not scared. Or worried. His casual style and laid back presence shows. That’s why the new Cigar Box boardshort from Oakley works so well. Laid back, stylish, and cool.

Brian Conley in the Cigar Box boardshort

hris Jed on C

I was lucky enough to spend the winter with this Masshole and let me tell you, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the funniest humans I know. From dick jokes to skateboard commentary, Chris is sure to make you laugh. Speaking of laughing, Grendyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laugh is a mix between a Hyena and a whistle; ear-piercing laughter you can hear miles away. Chris has a serious work ethic and puts 100% into what he does; it will show in his part this year when it blows peoples minds across the globe. Grendy has hometown pride and even crazier sponsor pride. What other snowboarder do you know that will go to the mall and buy blank hoodies and then go to a screen printing place and get Salomon printed on them? Photos: Bob Plum b

Chris on Jed

Jed Anderson is the chosen one... A kid as good as Jed wasn’t supposed to happen for another 10 years. He’s just a hyper little fucker that can do whatever he wants on a snowboard. He’s probably the only person I know that I think could actually be a pro skateboarder if he wanted. He is only 17 years old, but he is about as mature as a fuckin’ 1st grader. He enjoys drawing pictures of nasty shit and getting down with girls in the closet at high school parties. Either way, when your hangin’ with Jed you are deﬁnitely gonna have a good time.

Chris: Back 1 nose grab tail bonk on pasty ass boobs

Jed: Tuckknee

CHRIS ON JED Should we do this? Sure. Fuck, I haven’t thought of any questions… Me either. All right, how’s Calgary treating you these days? Pretty good. It’s raining right now so I don’t really have anything to do. I pretty much just skateboard everyday, all day. When the weather’s bad I just sit inside on my computer. It’s been nice before today though. Fuck yeah, so this is a request question from Java, how far have you

gone with a girl? Hella sex every night bro, anal. Do you have pubes? Do I have pubes? I think I’m the hairiest 17-year-old in Canada. Hahahhahah… sick. Shit’s mad thick, Japanese style. As for my dick, it isn’t long but it’s really skinny, so that’s cool. Have you had any nocturnal emissions lately? Wow, I’m not sure what that means. How was ﬁlmin’ with

Jed: Back 5050 to Backside 270 into brink bank

Transworld this year? Pretty awesome. Didn’t get out as much as I had hoped but oh well. I went to some cool places, it was fun. Fuck yeah... What kind of shit inﬂuences your shredding? Skateboarding, metal, Biggy, Dr. Dre. Good style... I should probably ask this one, who are the sponsors? Salomon Snowboards, Nike boots, Airblaster outerwear and goggles, The Source Boarding Shop, Cobra Dogs, Cheese Dick Gang, and Dakine.

Favorite skaters? Damn you... Uh... let me think, so hard though: Adam Alfaro, TNT, Gonz, Mike Anderson, Justin Brock, so many more actually… Van Wastell, Andrew Allen. That it? Carrol, Layton… I could go for days man, Rick McCrank. All right, what’s up with the Cheese Dicks? Just a gang... we’ll cut you. Cheesedickclick.blogspot. com. Good style, why aren’t you going to the Chris: Wallie Staleﬁsh

Jed can tail press like this because he t-bolts his board to a ten inch stance

Chris: Homemade skull, nose bonk tail grab

Jed: Backlip

Chris: 5050 popover for the state employees of Minnesota

Olympics to represent Canada? I dunno, it’s not completely closed off but everyone who runs that shit is a kook. You have to go through so many bullshit loopholes; it takes the fun out of anything, a bunch of whack skiers with old balls. Hahaha, good answer. What’s up with you and concussions? Well, pretty much they are the worst. I always get them doing dumb things during the winter. I have to wear a helmet snowboarding because of them, but whatever. I don’t hit it skating, if I had to wear a helm skating I’d probably quit. But yeah, pretty much it’s the worst shit when I hit my head, puke face McGee. Most inﬂuential snowboarders? I’m sure it’s different for everyone,

but for me it’s Travis Parker, Mike Leblanc, Bozung, just everyone in the KidsKnow movies... and my friends obviously. I worshipped all those guys growing up too. You should get your own cheddar brat cobra dog called the Cheesedick. Fuck, I should, hey. All right, any thank yous/shout outs? Yo let me shout out Mac Dre, Little C’s, Shaniqua, Pac… just kidding. Mom dad, all my family, friends, all my cheese dicks, all my sponsors, and one who loves me, anyone who hates me, anyone who doesn’t know me, anyone that has supported me along the way. THANK YOU!

JED ON CHRIS What’s up Chris and what’s new? I’m just in Oregon at High Cascade. I’m a digger up here at camp but unfortunately I just rolled my ankle real bad. I’m out for a month or so. Just a crispy tre over the volleyball net or what? Nollie ﬂip off the rat? Damn, you got the Government Camp lingo down. Nah, I snapped my ankle on a blunt trick in the mini ramp.

Chris: Ollie to brink bank

Damn, got any skaters you’re into right now? Of course.

Bucky? Dennis Busenitz, Ryan Gallant, Shane O’Neill, Kenny Anderson, Matt Miller, Rick Howard, Appleyard, Reynolds, Furby, PJ, Brad Staba, Carroll, and Herman... I thought Bieble was your boy? Oh yeah, Bieble for sure. I heard Lutzka got on K-Swiss, what are your views on that? Jeez... I guess if the money is right, go for it. Fuck, it’s not too often you are set for life off skating. That’s pretty wack though.

Lipslide for Jed on one side

How did your season go? It was good times. Actually, it was such a fun season, everyone on the squad was amazing. I got to watch you do hamms at every spot we went to. What was your favorite trip of the season? I think the ﬁrst trip to New York/Ohio was the best. I was so fuckin’ excited. I was tripping out, like, “This is Transworld, don’t fuckin’ blow it.” It was just hyped the whole trip and snowmobiling in Whistler and Cooke City was good times too. Yeah, that ﬁrst trip was crazy, like a bunch of horny kids in a porno shop. Yeah… Good analogy. So what’s up with you and girls these days? Been pullin’ in any campers? Whoa... Nah, I’ve been takin’ it mellow. I’m on some grown man, shit. Frontboard for Grendezz on the other

Chris: 270 to regs

Jed: Ollie into brick bank Hahaha, married with kids huh? I’m lookin’ for wifey material.

Beresfred, Lane Knaack, Cody Rosenthol, Jake Blavelt, Granger... I could keep going for a while.

So, we are on iChat right now. My name is shlongattack, and yours is ballbagjohnson59, what’s the inspiration behind your name pal? Ballbagjohnson59? I think I have the same maturity as a fuckin‘ 11 year old so I thought it was funny or somethin’. Shlongattack is pretty next level too.

For those who don’t know, tell them where you’re from, and why it’s the shit? I’m from Massachusetts. It’s the shit. We got East Coast pride. Everyone from there has each other’s back and we grew up riding ice. We got the Red Sox, you can’t fuck with us.

Yeah, I know man, it’s crazy. I think I have the level of an 8 year old. Who are your favorite snowboarders? Bjorn, Clancy, Mikey Leblanc, Terje, Pat Moore, Louif, you, Scotty Stevens, JP Walker, Bode,

Red Sox suck! Calgary doesn’t even have a baseball team. Cannon’s fool, hahaha. You’re into building bikes, what’s the deal with that? What’s that all about?

My roommates Dave Doman and Simon got really into it. Motorcycles are a good time building ‘em, riding ‘em, it keeps me sane when I’m injured. I get the same feeling riding my bike as I do when I’m skating or snowboarding. That’s tight man, anyone you want to thank? Thank the sponsors: Java at Salomon, Tonino at L1, Pashley at Dragon, Bjorn and Eric at Celtek, Roger at Magical Gogo, Mike Lee at Fat Trax Snowboard Shop, my Mom and Dad and everyone from the East. Carlino and everyone that worked on the Transworld project, my brother Phil and sister Andree. I gotta grab dinner, later holmes.

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BEAU ROULETTE

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Up, up, up and away, another road trip across the country... well, half the country... Once again I rounded a crew of friends to head over to the Make A Wish Beneﬁt now renamed The Johnny Romano Skate Jam in honor of our skate brother who passed away and is now cruising a much smoother, less crowded, better place that you don’t get kicked out from. My crew consisted of Luis Tolentino, Andrew Pott, Manny Santiago, Kurtis Colamonico, Aquil Brathwaite, Javier Nunez, Rick Thorne, J-Beats, Warren James, Chris Ortiz, Aaron Brown and Matt Google Kipper. That brolic ﬂavorful crew made up the Famous Holiday tour, which departed LA to the SEMA car show in Vegas then through Phoenix, New Mexico and Texas while visiting some shops, skate parks, and little diamonds in the ruff that caught our eye outta the “Sprinter”.

Words: Felix Arguellis :: Photos: Chris Ortiz

Andrew Pott : K-Flip Pyramid over Bike

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Manny & Luis

Felix Arguelles : Blunt Slide Bank to Curb

You may ask what is a Sprinter? Well for the ﬁrst time in the states I rented a party van to go on tour. We had surround sound, a 20-inch monitor, wireless controllers and headsets, video games, movies, captain chairs and a storage space in the back that was as big as Reda’s apartment in New York. Our skate, bike, stunt crew provided the perfect supply off antics to keep everyone up and moving in the van, I mean “Sprinter” and on the streets. We were able to capture most of the PG stuff for your viewing pleasure and our posterity long after these painful hobbies we have are replaced by bingo and scrabble at the old folks home! Shout out to FAMOUS, SHUT, ZUMIEZ, SOUTHSHORE, JOHNNY ROMANO SKATE JAM for helping this all go down! ANDREW POTT: “The trip was dope, me and Lou jumped Kurtis, we threw the bed on him and it was tight to skate new spots. The Make A Wish park was good times. We had X-Box 360 in the van and Rick Thorne was hating... LOL” FELIX ARGUELLES: The tour is tough but also very rewarding, seeing the kids you only speak to online and skating the spots you only see in videos is the best. Being that I’m the General of the ship makes it tough handling the driving, the random requests, the tickets, the tour diet, especially when you just eat anything to keep you awake and driving. Thanks to Matt Kipper for being one of the best co-pilots I’ve ever had and dealing with his ﬁrst skate tour like a vet! Even though I left my shins on the lip of this ruff bank in Dallas, I had a blast rolling with my Famous and Shut fam clocking clips all over the Midwest. I have been touring since 86’ and even though they all have their ups and downs I am always ready for the next one as soon as I get home. KURTIS COLAMONICO: “It was sick I just love being with the family, there’s always smiles and everyone’s always fucking with each other, it’s just the life. Skating and touring what else could we ask for?” Kurtis Colamonico : Blunt 270 Bank to Curb

QUIKSILVER X THE STANDARD HOTEL

Pool Beauties // Posers // Cabana Boy // Float Time // “The Vending Machine” // Twister // Kristi, Trisha, & Willa // Screen Printing // Party Peeps // Naughties // Mr T

With another hot Sunday rearing its head in the middle of summer, the marketing gurus at Quiksilver decided it was time to cool things off with a pool party collaboration at The Standard Downtown in Los Angeles. This was not just another run-a-muck hotel pool party either, it was the unveiling of a new collaboration project that Quiksilver and The Standard Hotel have been working on for the past several months – The ﬁrst ever boardshort/bikini vending machine. Upon arrival and check-in I made my way up escalator, weaved through yet another showing of vintage surfboards and photographs celebrating “Echo Beach,” and ﬁnally

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to the elevator which was taking me to the rooftop. By the time I was poolside things were absolutely crazy – chicks in bikinis everywhere, twister, screen printing custom shirts, photographs, booze, and of course the ﬁrst ever boardshort and bikini vending machine. This is what the celebration was all about so I did have to peel myself away from the distractions and take a good look. Pretty fucking clever, I know that on more than one occasion I have found myself poolside, without boardshorts, wishing somehow, someway they could magically appear. Well, The Standard Hotel and Quiksilver have solved that problem for now and with a great pool party celebration behind us it’s time for me to get back to work.

2009 VANS WARPED TOUR

Words & Photos: Beau Roulette // Gallows playing their set from the middle of a giant circle pit // Saosin has a new album coming out and was promoting it well // Senses Fail always sounds good to the ears // Anti-Flag tried to beat the record for the biggest pit in Minnesota // Devil Wears Prada is great live // The Gallows at the Hurley stage in Chicago // Bad Religion // 3oh3 in Pomona // P.O.S. was great and the only hip-hop act of the tour // NOFX

Water in aluminum cans, chubby girls in tube tops, and more sweaty neon shirts than an episode of Miami Vice…it’s the Vans Warped Tour summer recap. For the last eight weeks, the Warped Tour has criss-crossed the continent, going everywhere from Pomona to Scranton to Toronto, and ending up this weekend back at the Home Depot Center in LA for the grand ﬁnale. It didn’t disappoint. There was a great crowd, and the old-school punk stage was going off: UK Subs, Channel 3 and Fear were all stirring up punk spirits of the past. The last show is kind of like a closing ceremony for the tour, so pretty much everyone involved in the music industry shows up. The Hurley Stage represented as well with solid performances by Bayside, Gallows and Alexisonﬁre. Overall, it was a great year for the Warped Tour. Attendance was up, there were no major weather disasters aside from a little rain and I got to attend a bunch of shows. Here are a few digital memories from my time on the Vans Warped Tour 2009.

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www.themotelnotell.com

2341 S. El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672

BS! PREMIER

Photos: Tom Carey // Free goodies // Jimmy Wilson, the Cote’s, Alex Gray & Nate Tyler // Alex & stoked groms // Party time // Jani & his girl // Free boards // Bald Spots // Wooly // Alex, Nate & Droid // Weirdos // Troy Eckert & Brad Dougherty

On August 23rd, Volcom kicked off their first premiere of their newest surf flick, “BS!” at Lido Theatre right here in good old Newport Beach. The place was packed full of stoked groms, industry heads, surf groupies and everyone in between, all eager to watch the newest addition to the Veeco films legacy. Before showing the movie the Volcom crew passed out a few hundred hats, t-shirts and other goodies to the crowd. Then we were told that 5 of the free hats had markings inside the flap to win one of the five signed surfboards donated by the surf stars: Andrew Doheny, Nate Tyler, Alex Gray, Mitch Coleborn and Dusty Payne.

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Volcom also gave away two signed skatedecks from Flip and a custom Volcom Snowboard. The kids that won were super hyped and just about everyone in the crowd went home with a handful of gear after watching 40 minutes of BS! After the ﬁrst premiere, the boys at Volcom jumped into their vans and did a tour up and down the coast, showing the movie at just about every surf town in California, as well as up the east coast, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out BS! yet, make sure you click you mouse over to iTunes and buy it today for only $4.99.

NIKE 6.0 STINKWEENXTRAVAGANZA!!!!

Words: MADSTEEZ :: Photos: Kevin Voegtlin // WEENT!LL!AN’s Ween!f!ed DeLorean // STINK, MADSTEEZ & Nerds Rope // Uuuffffff, Motel “No Tell” // Kia Barger showing the WEENT!LL!ANS whats up // Nigel Sylvester, Curtis Graham & Nike 6.0 Athletes drinking the Kool-aid // STINKWEEN, battle mode // Kalohe Andino & humans on top of Candy Mountain // Glow in the Dark Teeth Eating Man // Flyin’ back to ‘84 // STINK WEENOGLYPH!KS // Subweenlation Room Hysteria

Just as Nike 6.0 appointed me, MADSTEEZ, to 4-Star-General, the WEENT!LL!ANS invaded and crash landed their WEEN!F!ED DeLorean on the rooftop of the civilian-prohibited Motel No Tell. They inhabited and conquered the space, leaving behind a red fur tunnel, 2 galleries unlocking the mysteries of WEENOGLYPH!KS, a figureWEEN pyramid, 180-degree hydro-projection visuals, a candy mountain, orange chia-pet grass, a subweenlation dot-matrix printer, and a glow in the dark teeth eating man. The WEENT!LL!ANS then force fed the humans chicken n’ waffles to fat’n them up, making sure everyone had matching cheeseburger necks. A fight between humans broke out in the subweenlation room over a dunking STINKWOLF and within minutes, mass hysteria swarmed the crowd. STINKWEEN shoes and figureWEEN’s were ferociously looted, leaving nothing behind besides PEE-WEE baking comfortably at 444 degrees. The humans prevailed in the end, however I’m sure this is not the last time we will be hearing from the WEENT!LL!IANS.

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FACTOR 54 PARTY

Todd, Mike, Cordell, Grant // F54 Skater PJ Roux & Dave // Scott, Spides & Dean // Match.com // Natasha, Loreal & Florian // Robin, Bill, Leilani, Janet & Keri // CHEEPS // All girls & no guys = bueno! // Match.com B team // Janet, PJ & Garrett // Match.com doin it!

Tuesday nights suck, even in Newport. Nothing on TV and the bars are usually dead. My Facebook beacon luckily reminded that the Factor54 crew was sponsoring a shinny @ Cassidy’s. Pants and slippers on, I biked it on down early and was stoked to see an already packed house that told me this would be a good night. Ever the gracious hosts, the Factor team treated at the bar and that fact clearly did not go unnoticed. There was free beer, free pool, phone number swapping and what was clearly a crowd of stoked folks. Music pumping, I saw a cast of regulars who are normally fading me in Newport and a ton of fresh faces. TM54 aka

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Todd Miller was fanning the stoke by tossing out some killer Factor swag. On the way to the bar for a free beer I bumped into a little dude who looked like a skinny Eazy-E who later introduced himself as one of the Factor team riders. After I removed my foot from my mouth I learned that it was in fact PJ Roux who also happens to be a Osiris team rider and major street killer. As a Cassidy’s regular I thought it might as well have been a Friday night after UCI Finals. A quick check with the bartender conﬁrmed a Tuesday regular. An arm full of swag and a belly full of ale, I made my way back to my house just in time for a Three’s Company rerun… As it should be. Thanks Factor54!

HURLEY OPEN HOUSE PARTY

Photos :: Michael Lallande // Barrio Tiger // Kerry, Jessica, Rachel, Davey, Megan & Jacqueline // Caa, Ian, Brooklyn & PK // Bob and Shelly Hurley // Asher Nolan, Brandon Guilmette & Bethany // Mitch Ross, Yadin Nicol & Robby Adams // Keith, Rosie & Teal // Kalani Robb and girlfriend // Curtis and girlfriend // Hepcat // Rachel, Jacqueline & Megan

The Hurley US Open of Surﬁng had it covered. Not only did they keep it entertaining on the beach for nine straight days, they also opened up their campus for an all-out open house party. Collaborating with Nike 6.0 and Converse, the open house was a progressive party that offered something different in every department. Nike 6.0 held a “Braata BBQ” in honor of their new shoe. Converse went all colonial with New-England style seafood and Sam Adams. Hurley design offered a boardshort sublimation station and Hawaiian-style luau while Hurley marketing celebrated the blue-collar royalty with corn dogs and PBR’s. Tons of people turned up to sample the food and drink and get an idea of what life at Hurley is like. The night closed with a cool Kai Barger short and Hepcat live, the ﬁrst time they performed in two years. A great night overall, and a perfect warm-up for all the drama down at the pier the following days.

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Interview: Tim Bergevin :: Photo: The Cobra Snake There are a lot of things that swirl around Mickey Avalon. Not looking in too deeply you probably see the hard partying rapper/ singer that lived on the streets and waxes nasty. On this random day over the phone, a different person jumps on the line, he is hung over after a morning he refers to as “Champagne Sunday” (it was Friday afternoon when we talked) and he then politely asks me to call him back in ﬁfteen minutes after he wakes up a bit and we can connect on a clearer line. What is cool about Mickey is that he is what he is. It is not an act, he is that person on stage

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doing whatever he wants. As the interview progresses the questions start to feel really mundane. There are probably a lot of juicer things I can ask this guy, but thankfully Mickey gives good copy and ﬁlls us up on his upcoming album, tour and his unfortunate ability to make his pro surfer friends lose their heats.

with chicks and telling them what to do and it really wasn’t like that with me. So we kind of got the best out of each other and even though it was a pain in the ass while we were doing it, looking back I’m kinda glad about the way it worked out because the songs are really good and everyone is going crazy about them.

What is going on with your new record? We got the date, it’s Feb 1st and everyone likes it. I worked with this big producer named Dr. Luke but it was kind of a pain in the ass cause he’s used to working

Did Dr. Luke produce all the songs on the album? He executive produced the whole thing but I had a bunch of songs going into it and what I thought was going to happen was that we would revisit all the demos and

just re-do them, but he wanted to start from scratch so that’s what I’m talking about when I say he was a pain in the ass but it ended up being a good thing in the long run. So does that mean this record is better than the last one? It’s totally different but I like it better. I mean, they are both perfect it’s just – the ﬁrst one I didn’t know I was making a record, I was just making songs for fun and before I knew it we gathered a few of them and we put them out and it turned out really good. They were pure and naïve

and good. The new one is like a sequel with the same characters but without the stuff that is not relevant to me anymore. I’m not pretending I’m still on the streets or anything like that but it still has the edge and is sexy and stuff like that.

done so this time they get to feel a little bit more a part of the whole situation.

The record drops in Feb and there are new songs up online, so are you touring? We have a three-week run coming up with two big shows, Are you still on Interscope? kinda local. One is at the Galaxy Yeah, same label but this time Sept. 26th in Santa Ana. It’s an they are going to put more money all age’s show and the last time I towards me. The ﬁrst record was played there it was crazy because a different situation because I it is all ages. A lot of my shows came to them with a ﬁnished end up being 21 and older, even product. They were not used to though I prefer to play all ages breaking a record that is already shows, and for this one they are

selling tickets at Jacks and we are doing some signings there to get out and see the people. Then we have a Santa Cruz show Nov. 6th and also I’m really excited about the Hawaii shows because I’m playing with Andre Nickatina who is one of my favorite rappers.

planned out but I’m happy that it’s worked out this way because I like going to all those surf shows and places. Those are my favorite shows to play, so I’m glad that they embrace it and I’ve become friends with a lot of those people. I just feel bad sometimes when we come to town during the contest Is it weird to you that surf and all our friends have a heat community is so into you and in the morning and they come your music? to the show and I get them all Yeah man, I’m surprised that worked up and maybe they can’t anybody (pauses). I like what wake up so good the next day. I’d I do so I’m not that surprised rather be embraced by the surf that anybody digs it, but the industry and go play in different fact that it has lasted this long paradises all over the world than and that people get it is what the snowboard industry and go to surprises me. It is nothing that I the snow (laughing).

In 2004 there was born a band called the Goons of Doom. At the sacrifice of their own internal organs and often their own credibility, they became torchbearers for good times. Stupid, hyperactive, rollicking drunk and even occasionally sexual, they drew crowds based on cheap liquor and a laugh, some fake blood and surfing. They couldn’t play to save themselves, but that was ok, they had fun and they got to hang out (sometimes on a stage) and they got to sing and dance and drink and get shitty tatts. Between then and now something has happened. Some would say a miracle. They found the music. Or maybe the music found them - battered, torn, unable to defend themselves, they became unsuspecting conduits of good tunes as well as good times. They grew comfortable in their skin, confident in their unforeseen ability. As destiny demanded, they started spreading their word of hard truth and hopeful charm around the human world, endearing folk all the way from Spain to San Fran, New Zealand to New York, Tokyo to France, Albury to Wadonga. It’s a remarkable story considering the four friends who met first met at Narrabeen Infants School had only played instruments

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for three days before their first gig. The band formed when Vaughan Dead, Killerwhale, Ozzie Wrong and Cutthroat Cowboy all moved into a house together at Narrabeen, Australia. The surf was shit that summer so they bought some cheap instruments from Cash Converters, plugged everything in and after only 10 minutes of raw undiluted primal mayhem, convinced themselves they were the best band the world had ever known. Three days later they played their first show at a backyard party in Manly. Three weeks after that they were playing to a full house in Tokyo. Within a month of that they were already embarking on their first U.S. Tour. It seems too weird to believe but that’s how it happened. Perhaps it wasn’t so much the music as it was the party in those early days, and the Goons brought it wherever they went. In the studio, the early Goons of Doom recordings were rudimentary but also met with enthusiasm. Bikey Zomby (2005), the band’s first official release from their record label Volcom Entertainment was described in America’s Campus Circle Magazine “Don’t let all the goofy names mislead you, this is no comedy record. The Goons of Doom have a sound that is a unique amalgam of surf, horror and frenetic college rock that runs counter to most of the straight ahead guitar

rock that is coming out of Oz right now. The accents are heavy, the beats are danceable and the band rocks with joyous abandon.” However not everyone was convinced, music website Decapolis warned “This is easily the worst album I’ve ever reviewed and the worst album I’ve ever heard. The lyrics like using the same 4 letter words and just make me feel sorry for the author of them. Perhaps one could take it as a campy release, but the immaturity involved makes it only funny to a grade school kid.” Hey, it wasn’t an album dickhead. It was an EP. The Goons debut full length album The Story Dead Barbie & Ghost (2006) was likewise greeted with high praise, with About. com saying “The album is all over the place, sometimes garagey, sometimes straight-up punk, and even occasionally descending into a melodic discordant sound that sounds a bit like the tour buses for Sonic Youth and the Pixies collided, leaving no survivors, it’s all about surﬁng, motorcycles and zombies.” The Dwarf.com said “The Goons of Doom are having a big ole party on this record. All the hippest zombies and cutest ghosts are coming. And I am pretty sure you guys are all invited. Bring your boardies and an orange Stackhat.” Unfortunately the album sold like a bag of moldy undies, mainly thanks to ﬁrst single “Fingered” being

described by the Australian radio station Triple J as “commercial leprosy”. But that didn’t stop the song from becoming a crowd favorite at every Goons gig thereafter. Since then the band has done numerous touring both in Australia and abroad. The Goons have matured musically, if not in real life. The songs are light on bells and whistles production wise but they are touching, honest, funny and energetic. “It’s like the crowd has been given instruments and are up on stage playing,” said one review of their live show. “It’s as if the energy in the room takes over the stage. It’s utterly contagious and impossible not to enjoy.” With that, Goons of Doom present their anticipated second LP, I Hate My Hair and Want To Die. Described by the band themselves as songs and sounds of pirates and adventures and romance on the clipper, immortalized for the hip set, the lonely loser, the sentimental soul and gutter trash fucks alike and of course for future generations to dissect and examine and analyze. I Hate My Hair and I Want to Die will be released on Volcom Entertainment on October 20, 2009. Check the out at www.goonsofdoom.com

WATERCOLOR ALPINESTARS.COM/BOARDSHORTS JESSE HEILMAN

The Glasshouse : 8.20.09 :: Words: Tim Bergevin

Hot Tamales, a Mountain Dew and no AC are what you get when you hit a Glasshouse show and that is exactly how the kids like it. With the resurgence of hardcore in the music scene it was great to roll out on a sweltering summer night and see the 700 plus kids going ballistic to bands that are ugly, sweaty, bearded and ﬂat out rocking. This is a co-headline tour but on the Cali dates Nor Cal boys SYG take the stage last to support their latest ‘This Will Be the Death of Us’ and the mini KROQ hit The Few That Remain. Oh So Cal, how I love your penitence for catchy punk. These boys are that and more and the kids showed their respect by sweating, singing and slamming along with the band. Four Year Strong carry the Massachusetts banner for the new generation of hardcore fanatics. These beardo’s are core and I would love to see them face off against some of their bearded indie rock cousins and see what remains after. Polar Bear Club are the X factor on this tour and will soon be pulling top billing on tours of their own with their smart but engaging sound (see record review below). There was no day glow or big hair on display tonight; we may have ﬁnally crossed over to the light. Photo: Daniel Franks

Reviews: Tim Bergevin

El Bronx Mariachi El Bronx Swami Records

Jay Reatard Watch Me Fall Matador Records

Polar Bear Club Chasing Hamburg Bridge Nine Records

Big Drill Car A Never Ending Endeavor Varient

Your ﬁrst thought is that it has to be a total joke and be horrible. But then the ﬁrst track Cell Mates kicks in and you stop and realize that punks reigning champs, The Bronx, have made an outstanding Mariachi record. As hard as that is to swallow it’s true!!! From the melodic smoothness of singer Matt Caughthran to bass player turned trumpeter Brad Magers, these guys ooze quality at every corner. The knock is that this record is almost too good. Put it this way, on a recent trip to Troncones I put this album on during a local kid’s birthday party and none of the Mexicans batted and eyelash. Mission accomplished and go Doyers!!

A kid cracked out on Skittles and Pixie Sticks, bought with money made from selling his Ritalin prescription is a fair assessment of Jay’s music. Or you can go traditional and call it a Buzzcocks/ Toy Dolls fusion sans the Oi. Whatever it is, it’s fun as shite. Fast and furious and almost entirely recorded at home by Jay playing all instruments but the drums; this guy has been at it forever and he’s still young. There is a little twist this time around with the song I’m Watching You. Not since the Ramones dropped their version on Needles and Pins has a punk captured that 50’s sweetness. You’ll either play this record incessantly or pull your hair out while listening to this. Both are desired results.

“We seek relation and you degrade us/You don’t have to be an asshole to be an artist”. That is the call from the song Boxes on the third album from Polar Bear Club and their ﬁrst on hardcore label Bridge Nine. With the hardcore scene starting to get ﬁrm footing back in the popular mind set (see live review above) it is cool to see a band in that scene come in with a record that is as sonically assaulting as it is melodic. With the song See the Wind the album opens with heavy riffs which then gives way to the sing along anthem Living Saints. The ability for these guys to bounce back and forth seamlessly from hard to soft is what will set them apart from all the bands that are trying too hard. If you love bands like Hot Rod Circuit (thanks Teal) or Sparta don’t sleep on this, it’s record of the month material.

The true heroes of OC pop punk graced California for three shows last month and they were even nice enough to drop off a little treat before they went back to living their real lives. This twenty track disc is hopefully not the last we hear of these guys, but if it is at least we are left with ﬁve new songs, a host of vinyl singles and the demo versions of ‘No Worse For The Wear’ with Danny playing drums (Keith Fallis played drums on the actual record). Of the new songs the forty six second Hospital Song and Eye A Door are instant BDC classics but it’s the demos of NWFTW that are the gems on this disc. Raw and slightly produced, these songs remind you of the power with which these guys played live. Having all these songs digitally means you can ﬁnally leave your yellow vinyl copy of Surrender on the shelf as well as other singles like No Worse for the Wear and Trash the House. Take a cue from your uncle kiddies and get this.

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S M Y: O B R D G E S RESENT S S ! L P B NAME: DEREK PETERS AGE: 16 HOMETOWN: HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA SPONSORS: QUIKSILVER, HSS, SMITH OPTICS, D.S.C.

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Photo: Sardelis.com Photo: Steve Lewis

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F.S Wallride :: Photo: Ortiz

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AGE: 17 HOMETOWN: STERLING, MA SPONSORS: VOLCOM, FLOW, OAKLEY, 525 EAST FAVORITE RIDER: TRAVIS RICE

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F.S Wallride :: Photo: Ortiz

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