BL!SSS Magazine | October 2007 | #2

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48 // BOOST MOBILE PRO 56 // DANIEL CORDONA 68 // KOA SMITH 70 // BRETT SIMPSON 82 // BEN BOURGEOIS 84 // ROB GONZALES 94 // ‘53 CHEVY GETAWAY 104 // WEEN 106 // CHRIS BRADSHAW 116 // MIKE AHO: ARTIST PROFILE 126 // SUMATRA 136 // MALIBU INVITATIONAL 138 // PICTURE THIS PREMIERE 140 // WATERMAN’S BALL 142 // MANNY MANIA 144 // BACK TO THE BANKS 146 // SURFER POLL 148 // RED BULL NIGHT RIDERS 150 // YEAR LONG DISASTER 152 // THRICE 154 // GROMS

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Photo: JackColemanphoto.com

Editor-in-Chief nick kalionzes nick@blisssmag.com

Editor joey marshall joey@blisssmag.com

Creative Director mark paul deren madsteez@blisssmag.com

Music Editor tim bergevin tim@blisssmag.com

advertising ads@blisssmag.com

contributing Photographers Dominic Petruzzi, Daniel Russo, Toby Ogden, Tom Carey, Jason Kenworthy, Brian Beilmann, Jack Coleman, Andrew Mapstone, Adam Moran

contributors Matt Patterson, Willie Marshall, Josh Spencer, Aaron Astorga, Daniel Russo, Liz Rice, Jason Arnold, Jon Francis, Tom Carey, Travis Millard, David Choe, Kai Garcia, Mickey Neilsen, Peter Townend, Hamilton Endo, Tawnya Schultz, Mike Murciano, Geoff Shively, Casey Holland, Steve Stratton

BL!SSS Magazine 413 31st Street Newport Beach, CA 92663 www.blisssmag.com

Disclaimer: Although all best efforts are made to avoid the same, we reserve the right to publish unintentional mistakes and/or factual errors which may occur on a monthly basis. No responsibility is assumed by the publishers for unsolicited materials/articles/letters/advertising and all submissions will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright and/or appropriate licensing purposes subject to Blisss’ right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reflect the opinions of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial team. Blisss Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising matter which may reflect negatively on the integrity of the magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without prior written consent from the publisher.

Cover Art : Mike Aho

RYAN SHECKLER

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Photo: JackColemanphoto.com

benji weatherley

THE ANON SURF TEAM: dion agius / damien hobgood / reef mcintosh / betet merta / benji weatherley action photography_ jason childs location_ bali, indonesia

Grrr baby grrr…

madsteez x boosted There’s a new cat in town and she’s faster and meaner than ever. So the good folks at Macintosh have now finished their countdown of the latest operating system for OS X, Leopard. And if you know us at all, you know we were first on the on pre-order list as soon we caught wind of this and I gotta tell ya there’s a lot of cool features simplifying office life these days. Jeeze, with the iPhone, iPod, iTV, iMac, and iLife I think it’s official - I’ve become an iHuman.

Astrodeck sandals

In Rainbows Download = $$$ We’ll be the first to tell you how cheap we are over here at BL!SSS magazine, so when we found out that the new Radiohead album was dropping online for the low, low name your own price, we got right to it. After a quick hunt and peck on the old keyboard, and donating a big zero to the checkout, we were jamming to the new Radiohead album within minutes. Click yourself over to www.inrainbows.com and download the album now, but make sure you pay at least $20 for it to make up for our cheap asses.

All you babies daddy’s out there, make sure you get your hands on one of these limited edition Madsteez X Boosted “Terrorist Starter Kits” - containing pockets for all your deadly stashes. There’s a slip for your Rambo knife, a specialty pocket to hold your weapons grade Anthrax, replacement cartridges for your rusty hijacker box cutters and convenient slips for carrying all your C4 explosives. This bag has the stamp of approval from our very own in house graphic designer who is also a known associate with Al Qaeda. The entire collection will be available Thanksgiving weekend in select stores and be sure and check out the Madsteez X Boosted pop up store in Manhattan, NYC.

Koop

Bigger Is Better!

Koop Islands : Atlantic Records Swedish duo Koop is often classified as an electronic outfit but what the band excels at and delivers is an updated take on jazz. As freaked out as that may make you, it’s something you should consider checking out. When I first put on this record it made me think of William Holden sitting in a chaise lounge drinking a stiff cocktail and basically being the coolest person in the world. If you don’t know who William Holden is or Koop than you are blowing it twice. Go put your Amazon account to work and get something from both of them.

I know it’s true because Chris Friel told me so. That little guy is so funny, especially is hair. But seriously, the boys at Vestal have just released their largest watch to date, the Zeppelin. Like its namesake, this baby is huge. So large in fact I heard Flava Flav has been calling constantly trying to get one to wear around his neck. Another must have X-mas gift for your closest love one.

iPOD TOUCH

Trust Me, Trust Me

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Got a little visit from Automaton mastermind Brenton Woo just recently. As he has done in the years past, he brought down his latest and greatest for the BL!SSS crew. This board (Trust Me 156) is truly unique as it features dual sided graphics by Tahoe based artist Joe Polillo, nose and tail design (as opposed to two noses) and Austrian manufactured quality. With snow already falling in Mammoth and opening day a week away I’m jonesing to get this thing on the mountain. Thanks again Brenton.

Derek Dunfee, a great example of the crew out of La Jolla, and he always remembers to bring beer when he comes by to skate. sector9.com 858.408.0083 photos: surf: Todd Glaser lifestyle/skate: Anthony Ghiglia

Alta Coffee Warehouse Gotta give a little love to our favorite neighbors down the street. Honestly, we spend more time at Alta during each month than all other eateries combined. Talk about the best breakfast and coffee in Newport.

Actually, now that I think about it, you really can’t go wrong with any meal there. So next time you find yourself wandering down the Peninsula feel free to swing in for a delicious meal, you won’t be disappointed.

Sector 9 There still quite a few longboard skateboard companies popping up but no one has yet to even challenge the S9 boys as they continue to design the dopest skates available. EG stopped by the office and dropped some new completes off so we no longer have to walk to Alta or to check the waves. So yeah, go get yourself a new S9 and start shredding your neighborhood.

Iron And Wine

The Shepherd’s Dog : Sub Pop Having broken everyone’s heart with his cover of The Postal Service song, “Such Great Heights” only to have it broken again by its use in an M&M’s commercial, Sam Beam aka Iron And Wine shouldn’t be judged by his willingness to throw down for the equally beloved candy. All kidding aside, Sam’s voice and talent is something to definitely be celebrated.

The dark and complex songs on The Shepherd’s Dog also highlight his continued experimentation with non-acoustic instruments. Listen to the track “Innocent Bones” for a taste.

Allyance

Nat Young Seen little Nat Young out in the water last week and while it was barely head high on the rest of us, he was managing consistent overhead barrels. This grom surfs so good it’s almost unnatural. He’s got the stats to prove it as well, adding the Oakley Junior Pro to his list of accomplishments this past month, attaboy Nat.

Kommunity PROJECT While Kelly Slater has been doing everything he can to stay out of Israeli prison camps, his crew back home has been doing a fine job pushing the Kommunity product. I am seeing more and more of these goods around in and out the water and was stoked to see our very own goody box at the front door. With more and more accessory companies sprouting up each and every day you’d be silly not to give the Kommunity Project a try.

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Jason Arnold swooped by the office a couple weeks back and informed us the Brotherhood is now representing the Allyance brand. Straight from the streets of New York, they thought it necessary to get West Coast input to get the product going in the proper direction. We got a little sneak of what’s to come for ‘08 and I gotta tell ya, shit is looking tight. Rogue Heroes and Hollywood hit men alike, they’ll all be wearing it.

JP Collet

Flying Virgins Got a breath of fresh air on my last flight as I reluctantly flew Virgin PLASTISCINES America for the first time this past month. Dreading travel, cramped legroom and lack of sleep that goes hand-in-hand with going anywhere these days I hopped on the most relaxing flight I’ve ever had. I mean these guys have really gone over the top. Mini bars, vibrating seats, phased mood lighting, high speed internet and cabin chat rooms – looks like they haven’t forgot one thing. Scary almost, I didn’t want to get off.

Band of Horses Cease To Begin : Sub Pop The sophomore release from the South Carolina via Seattle band sees them expand on the country vibe that they explored on the first album. If you loved the bands mini hit, “The Funeral”, than tracks like, “No One’s Gonna Love You”, “Is There A Ghost” and my favorite song title of the year, “Detlef Schrempf” will make you play this record over and over again until your boyfriend or girlfriend punches you in the face. The combination of ballads and alt-country rock make this album worth your $9.99 or an illegal download.

Ran into very happy JP Collet last week as he informed me that he’s now officially the new Smith Optics Surf Promotions/Team Manager. I really couldn’t think of anyone who deserves it more though, he’s one of the hardest working, most determined guys I know. Congrats JP and looking forward to seeing a lot more of you.

DRUNKIN DELIGHTS

Oakley Wars Russian militia inspired is back in as the crew at Oakley has just released their newest line of bags. Styled to look straight out of WWII, these beauties are sure to be a must have for the ‘08 season. Back packs, duffel bags, and messengers - they make ‘em all.

EMERGEN-C MAE

Drop youR pants and Pull In These Euro’s sure know a good thing when they see one and we were more than flattered when the Pull In Underwear crew hunted us down for their US advertising campaign. One quick phone call to Jeff Hakman assuring us their legitimacy overseas and it was on. A few weeks later a nice little package arrived in the mail and Madsteez has been wearing a thong ever since. These underoos are quite fashionable and ready to be making a big push over here in America.

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Mason Eugene Francis Some great news on the home front, snow guru and Ambiguous team manager Jon Francis and his lovely lady Hillary just gave birth to their very first little boy, Mason. JF was so touched by the birth of the little guy that he finally took a couple days off of work to get some needed R&R, little did he know that wasn’t happening anytime soon. Baby duty has just begun and it looks like JF has a long time to go until he gets another full night of sleep.

The RVCA crew just returned from a family trip to Bali. Heard only amazing things from all the boys on the trip except one. It turns out Christian Fletcher loved Bali so much that he decided to make it his second home.

Yet to return, I can only imagine what Christian has got himself in to. The one thing I know for sure is that it involves juggling, flying, surfing and skating. Look forward to a full update when he returns.

RVCA + BALI = Good TimeS THUNDERSTRUCK MCD The Blackhart Brothers sent us some MCD goodies this past week to prepare for what is sure to be a very chilly winter. It’s already the end of October and only a mere 95 degrees outside. I know the whole state is on fire but come on, it’s the end of October already.

When those chilly mornings do decide to come we know we’ll be toasty in this Thunderstruck flannel-fleece hoodie combo.

Get Your Style On It’s been a long, long time in the coming but 2007 is the year that Style Masters 2… the height of single fin surfing has finally been released. And when I say a long time I mean a long time. OG Stylemasters Greg Weaver and Spyder Wills shot the majority of this Super 8 footage from the winter of 1980/81 on the North Shore of Oahu. If you’re looking for a blast from the past, this one has it all – colorful commentary from the filmers, plenty of action to keep you hyped and original score from the 80’s sounds of Mphase.

THE NEXT JERRY MAGUIRE

Say Anything

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In Defense of the Genre : J Records/Doghouse If you’ve never heard of Say Anything go find a tortured 17-year-old let them explain why there is so much of a connection between them and singer Max Bemis. It shouldn’t be a surprise that there are 27 tracks on this disc as the last record by these LA kids was 2004’s, “….Is a Real Boy” (re-released in 2006 by J Records). This double disc features the entire Emo rock scene making guest appearances but shouldn’t be lumped in with the masses. The tortured souls spoken about above truly exist in the lyrics and music of this band. I’m just stoked to not be part of Gen Y.

My boy Dana Mesenbrink has made a big jump within the industry and is now working the Sports Syndicate.

He’s taken all his knowledge he has gained over at Quiksilver and is now applying it to the athletes he’ll be representing. Big ups and congratulations to ya Dana, be expecting my resume by the end of next week.

gloss black

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platinum

brown derby

The Boost Mobile Pro at Trestles was once again the pinnacle in American pro surfing. Each year the ASP World Tour makes its one stop in Southern California and brings the sports biggest names to our most ripable little peak and puts on the clinic of a lifetime. This year the surprises were many and varied, but certainly the two most noteworthy were Pancho Sullivan’s tear through the ranks to the final and the super heat between Slater and Taylor Knox.

broken the record until this event.

This event was also colored with numerous ASP point counting heats and historical lore. Slater’s win marks his 34th ASP World Tour win and earns him the record for the most elite tour event victories in history. Former three-time ASP World Champion Tom Curren set the record with his 33rd event win 16 years ago. Slater tied Curren with his 2006 Bells Beach victory and, despite making four finals in the 16 months since, hadn’t

Although much of the year, Kelly has been in the hunt for what would be his ninth title, the story so far has really been about Mick Fanning and Taj Burrow. Until now, Kelly has been lurking in the back of the ratings; but this isn’t that uncharacteristic for Slater. His win here at Trestles positions him for a run at the title with only Europe, Brazil and Hawaii left.

“Part of me is kind of sad,” Slater said. “I was hoping Tom and I would end up on the same number forever, but somebody is bound to come along and get to where I got. You’ve got to surf to the standards, but someone else is always going to be coming along that has the time and desire.”

Photos courtesy of : Ellis / Kenworthy Words : Matto

Slater

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Pancho

Knox

CJ

Ben Dunn

Wardo “It’ll be nice to go and sit down and think about this one,” Slater said. “This will be a neat little tournament for my career. I’m a little bummed because I didn’t feel like I capitalized on the waves I had, and it was frustrating, but just to get that win was important. We had similar conditions to 1990 when I won out here, so it was pretty magical.”

As for the other finalist, Pancho Sullivan, this is his best result in the two years he has been on tour. On his way to meeting Kelly in the final he beat Neco Padaratz, Troy Brooks and Jeremy Flores. Although Pancho is as burly of a Hawaiian as you can find, he has actually had some of his best results in some of the smaller wave locations on tour, including Trestles, Snapper Rocks and the Rip Curl event at La Jolla (Barra).

“I feel really good to get a good strong result like this,” Sullivan said. “I feel like my preparation

was really good, I’ve been to every event this year and my scores have been really good. I felt it was just a matter of time before everything clicked. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a really good opportunity in the final, but next week is another event and hopefully I can keep going.”

All who attended the final day of the event, however, agreed that the best surfing went down when Kelly squared up with his old friend and long-time sparring partner Taylor Knox in their quarterfinal heat. Kelly was in rare form, posting his 9’s when in the final minutes Taylor came to life and worked his way out of a double combo situation to nearly tackle Slater and bring what would have been the event’s biggest upset… But it was not to be. When Kelly is in the zone there is simply no stopping him.

The next stop on the Foster’s ASP World Tour will be the Quiksilver Pro France running from Sept.

20-30, 2007.

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Fanning

Machado

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Bobby

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Fanning

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Wardo

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THE EVOLUTION CONTINUES SEE IT AT MYSPACE.COM/SQUAREO

TALOR MARION I first met Talor one day while she was sunbathing in Newport Beach. I remember it like it was yesterday; those succulent tan legs just calling my name, water dripping down her… um, never mind. Fast-forward several years and I have ran into her on more than a handful of occasion but never at the same place twice. Turns out she is quite the nomad; originally from the mountains of Colorado, then Mammoth, followed by a short stint in Newport and now is currently residing in the hills of Los Angeles. Though this beauty is quite busy modeling and acting she is still snow bunny at heart and spends the winter months on the slopes. One thing is for sure, if you do happen to run into Talor, she’ll have a smile on her face and a personality you won’t soon forget.

Photo: dominicpetruzzi.com Agency: Brand Models

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1- Footed Lien with Style

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Palm’n a Stale Fish at the Quik Bowl

1-Footed F.S Ollie in Italy

Where were you born?

Cesena, Italy Where do you live now?

Bologna, Italy.

How long have you lived there? With?

I’ve lived in Bologna for three or four years. I live with my girlfriend Alice.

How long have you been skating?

The first time I rolled on a skate, I was 10 years old. So I’ve been skating almost 18 years now.

How did you start skating?

I was in elementary school and my friend (who was kind of a rich kid) loaned me his board. I remember it was a sick one… There used to be a hill near my house and I remember learning to bomb down the hill.

What was the first board you rode?

I think it was a Cab. Can’t really remember, I was only 10. But it was sick and worked good.

It was more then good! When I was 14, my second board was a Santa Cruz, Rob Roskopp with OG Gullwings. I used to ride old school decks at first, before I stated riding more regular shaped boards.

Who were some of the people that influenced you when you were young?

When I first started skating, the people who influenced me the most where probably

my family and my group of friends who I skated with. In my hometown before being sponsored, I remember watching the Plan B video, “Questionable” with Danny Way and Pat Duffy - they influenced me in the beginning.

After like three or four years, when I got sponsored and started getting out to the US, I saw many more skaters that blew my mind: Tom Penny, Chris Senn, Chad Muska, Ronnie Creager… so many more that don’t come to mind right now...

Who’s your skate influences you now?

My Skate influences now are so many I don’t know where to start. Christian Hosoi, Tommy Tomminen, Sasha, Duncan, Eddie, Senn, The Daggers, Pat Ngoho, Duane Peters, The Whole Dreamland crew, The Gonz, Choppy Omega, Jimmy The Greek, Jimmy Moore, Drehobl, Chet Childress, Navarette, Hewitt, Trujillo, Al Partenen, Brent Atchely, Ross Mcgouran, the Quiksilver Bowlrider Family and everyone else I forgot.

What’s your favorite thing to skate?

Street, trannie, bowls, etc?

Everything! I especially like to skate bowls.

But at the same time I really like to skate street as well. Doesn’t really matter as long as I can just skate!

In the last year, what are some of the places you’ve gone to skate? Tours, comps, etc?

I started out last year at the X Games in LA. One of my sponsors (Fiat) flew me out there

to do so promo stuff for them. After that I went to the Trifecta comps in Oregon. I got to skate a lot of different parks while I was there.

I had super good times there. After Trifecta, I went back to Italy for a month to chill and rest. In September, I made my way to Arizona for the Desert Dog comp in Phoenix. I stayed with Joe Hammke from Thrasher while I was in AZ. I went back to Italy for another month and recovered from that trip. In October, I flew back to Southern California for the Etnies GvR and bowl comps. I stayed for two weeks skating around and then flew back. In late November I went on a Quiksilver Tour with the European team to Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The park in Shanghai was amazingly ridiculous! Shenzhen was really good for street skating. One of the best places I’ve been for that, it’s like the Barcelona of China. From China I went back home for Christmas and the holidays with my family.

In February, I went to Sydney, Australia for the Bondi Bowl a Rama. I flew in a week early to stay with Sasha Steinhorst and skate the pool and just chill out. After the Bondi comp, I road tripped with the Aussie Quik team down to Melbourne. I stayed with Marcello Guardigli from Volume video mag to skate and film. I stayed in Melbourne for another two weeks before flying home. I only had three weeks to get ready for a two month Quiksilver tour of Europe. I helped Quik judge the qualifying series for the Malmo Bowlriders in Sweden. I traveled to 11 cities throughout Europe in two months. It was a blast skating with so many different people along the way. After the tour, it

B.S Air Over Pipe Entry

was time for the Quiksilver Bowlriders in Malmo.

After that, I came back to Bologna with Tyler Mumma, Spiro Rasis, Pat Ngoho and Chris Ortiz to skate and film at my home park ‘The Tuba”.

Then last weekend I skated at the Slam Trick comp in Marina de Ravenna.

What’s been the favorite spot?

The “Tuba” in Bologna is probably my favorite spot. I love all the concrete parks in Oregon as well. There’s too many to list.

Do you like being on the road? At Home?

Absolutely. I love being on the road. I love to travel and skate knew things. I hate to be at home for too long. After being at home for a while, I feel this need to get back on the road.

I’m gonna be around for a while to shoot my Quiksilver shoe ad. I wanna have something good for that.

How did you come about to ride for Hosoi?

I was in Malmo, Sweden for the first Quiksilver Bowlriders in 06’ and I got introduced to Christian. We talked for a while and he eventually asked if I wanted to ride for Hosoi.

Of course I said “yes”. I was super stoked and honored that he would ask me to skate for him.

It was really good timing for me as I ended up winning the comp that weekend.

Heard you’re getting a shoe on Quiksilver.

What’s all that all about?

Fall of last year, Quiksilver asked if I was down

to help with their shoe project. At first, I was bummed to leave eS, but I couldn’t give up the chance to be able to design my own shoe. I’ve been working on it for the last 6 months and it should be out in Spring 08’.

Who are your sponsors?

I ride for Quiksilver Clothing and Shoes, Hosoi skateboards, Fiat, Daggers, Mendo Mate’ and Randoms hardware.

So tell us what skating means to you.

I guess to me skating is life. I live my life for skating. I want to skate all the time!

“I remember watching the Plan B video, “Questionable” with Danny Way and Pat Duffy - they influenced me in the beginning.”

F.S Crail on the Mini Cradle

F.S Nose Grab at Lyles Pool

Anyone you want to Thank or give props to?

Yes, first off I’d like to thank Tommy my team manager at Quiksilver, he is the shit, man he’s done so much for me, I don’t know how I would of gotten through these last two years without him. So a whole lot of props to him, he’s the best team manager I’ve ever had! I’d like to thank Christian Hosoi for asking me and accepting me in his world, for me, it’s unbelievable to ride for his company and to just skate and hang out with him, he really hypes me up. THE DAGGERS! Worldwide man, I’m coming in hot, thanks Double D, Sasha (for everything in general), Hosoi, Eddie, all the Daggers out there. Don’t drop me to the butter knife team! FIAT, Thanks to them I have a car (with silver flames on the side) its sick though, and it’s still running good. Mendo Mate! Yea Choppy, I’m always down to drink some mate. Last but not least thanks to Randoms Hardware. I’d like to say what’s up to everyone that I forgot, my family, all my friends from Italy, Europe, Oregon, California, everyone!

F.S Air Around the Corner

B.S Method Hip to Bank

Photo: Kenworthy Koa Smith has a lot going on these days. Not only does this kid rip harder than most of you older guys reading this mag but he has decided to make his mark on the fashion world as well. When he’s not surfing his way across the globe or interviewing all of the heavy’s at the Surfer Poll Awards he’s spending time working on his new company, Little Fella Designs. We caught up with Koa at the Boost Mobile Pro and asked him how it all started and this is what we found out: When he was 8-years-old and had to go to the NSSA banquet he didn’t want to wear a t-shirt like everyone else he wanted to wear something special. So his mom said she would make him something to wear and took him to the fabric store where he found some black and white cow/dalmation print fabric, which his mom turned into a sweet jacket. So now every time he has an event to attend Koa is sporting one of his custom designed jackets. People have been so impressed with his jackets that he has decided to start making custom orders that are set to be in production for May delivery. You can check out his website at littlefelladesigns.com.

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Interview: Tom Carey

Age: 22 Sponsors: Hurley, Etnies, Dragon, Blackline, HSS, Nixon and Toyota of H.B. Hometown: Garden Grove, CA Resides: Huntington Beach, CA Hey Brett, what’s going on?

Ahhh, nothing much. Just hanging at home, relaxing before my next trip. Getting some boards all tuned up.

What are you up to at the moment?

Right now I’m just banging away at the QS. It was a struggle in the beginning of the year, but I just got a great result in Portugal [3rd place] and it put me right away from striking distance.

How does it feel to be home?

Oh it’s great to be home, I look at this as my vacation. Everybody always says, “You’re so lucky to go to all these places,” and I am, but at the same time they don’t understand all the tough things you gotta go through and then to go straight into an event, it’s tough.

What age did you start surfing?

I started shredding at 11, but really didn’t get the solid fire till about 13 and it was nonstop from there in my life.

You came from a pretty athletic family, correct?

Yeah, my pops played professional football for the L.A. Rams and the Buffalo Bills, and my brother played for Fresno State, so I’m pretty competitive in whatever I do.

Tell us about it.

Yeah, it’s pretty rad, I never really got to see him play but some of my older friends would tell me about some of his games so that’s pretty sweet! Also, he knows competition and he’s been a huge help for me in my competitive chase.

What sports did you play growing up?

I grew up playing a lot of baseball and a little football until about 6th grade, and from then on it was surfing all the way.

Who got you into surfing?

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Photo: Scott Soens

Photo: Kenworthy

Photo: Scott Soens

My buddy Willie Safreed was the main man. He had already been doing super well in the NSSA’s and he went to the same middle school, so it was perfect. Our parents would trade off rides to the beach since we didn’t live that close. Also, Willie’s parents have a condo down in San Clemente and we would spend tons of time surfing down at Trestles, which was all time.

Do you feel pretty lucky to be where you are right now considering where you grew up?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I put high expectations on myself, but I knew were I could be and I could see myself being there. It just shows if you really want something it pretty much is up to yourself, nobody else.

Was it hard to quit your other sports?

It was, but at the same time I was so suckered into surfing that’s all I wanted to do. Then the sponsors started showing up and that just gives you so much more drive. And I’m always competitive with my other competitors.

Photo: Scott Soens

Photo: Scott Soens

Was it something you picked up gradually or just stopped everything else and started surfing full time?

It was for sure pretty gradual, but in my mind I wanted it to happen quicker than it did. But it paid off cause it just gave me more drive.

How was your competitive career when you first started out?

It started off pretty slow, I started out doing the USSF’s and I made a few heats here and there, but they were pretty much shockers. They paid off in the long run though.

Do you ever think you might have been good enough at other sports to play professionally like your dad?

In my mind at the time, I felt like I could do whatever I wanted and do it well. It was just a pick and it was the last pick that was the most fun and felt that it was the lifestyle that I would really like to live.

Do you ever get your brother or dad out there surfing?

That’s sweet you ask cause I got them out there this summer when the water was warm and they were loving it! They managed to get up on a couple and we had a lot of fun.

How have they pushed your surfing? Were you guys really competitive with each other growing up?

I was born competitive, anything I do I wanna do it the best. With all the hype on these new guys, it just gets me sooo fired up!

You had a pretty insane year on the WQS last year. Did you think you’d come out of the gates so hard like that?

It’s weird cause I was super confident and things weren’t just going my way. The QS is a grind and nobody realizes the competition on the QS is tough and with 4-man heats it can go any way. You gotta keep working hard and the brakes will eventually start to go the right way.

How many spots away from the WCT were you?

I ended up five spots out, which is a super bummer, but at the same I wasn’t really expecting to be where I was so I was just in the moment and stoked.

Photo: Kenworthy

Photo: Kenworthy

Photo: Coppola

If you made it do you think you’d have been ready?

I can see myself doing well in some events, but I’m just waiting till my body really says I’m ready. Then it’s on!

The QS must be grueling. What your favorite and least favorite spots?

It’s tough, but we’re just surfing though, so it’s not that grueling. A lot of the times the waves aren’t the greatest, but you make with what do and have fun.

Having a chick must be hard on tour. How do you guys cope with it?

It’s all-good; we’ve been together for about 4 ½ years so we have everything dialed. I’ll bring her along on about two trips a year to keep her stoked, it’s all good fun.

What do you think is the difference between surfing on the QS and the CT besides the level of talent?

It’s just the waves, there are plenty of guys on the QS that should be on the CT, but they have it ass-backwards so it will never be correct.

It seems like you’ve been really concentrating hard on making the tour and not doing any photo trips. Do you miss that part of surfing?

I miss photo trips for sure, they’re always so much fun and there’s a bit more time to relax but I look at as if I make the CT I’m going to eleven events at pretty much the most quality waves in the world.

Who do you look to for guidance on the tour?

I’ve been working with Ian “Kanga” Cairns the last few months and it has been paying off. He has great knowledge of the tour and he actually pretty much started the ASP so he’s been great to work with. Also, my dad just knows competition and he has been a big help as well.

How has surfing for Hurley improved your game?

I’ve gotten to surf with such great surfers and mentors of the sport, and they have all helped me in a number of ways.

Hawaii is coming up, what’s your goal over there this year around?

I’m just going to have fun, you never know what kinda waves you’re

“there are plenty of guys on the QS that should be on the CT, but they have it ass-backwards so it will never be correct.”

Sequence: Scott Soens

Photo: Kenworthy

Photo: Coppola

Photo: Kenworthy

gonna get there. It could be tiny lefts or 15-foot roping rights. I’m just going into it like the year I did well and just going concentrate on what I have to do.

Is competing as fun for you now as it was when you started?

It’s by far as fun. There’s so much more competition and when you do well it’s just so much more incentive.

What are your goals if you make the WCT for next year?

Just work on my boards and get ready to battle with the big dogs. Go to Chopes and get a little practice.

What should look to see from Brett Simpson next year?

A guy that’s excited and sparked up, whether he has just qualified or going into the QS year and going to qualify.

Are there ever times when you just want to quit and just surf for fun?

Nah, I always take little breaks, but I’ve never have had that feeling of quitting. I do get really bummed out sometimes, but then I just get more fired up.

Any last words?

Thanks to all my sponsors, friends and family for the support.

YEWWWWWWW!!

Going into the third week of September 2007, Benny Bourgeois is sitting in fourth place on the WQS tour, which means it’s time for him to breathe a big sigh of relief, relax his schedule and let his hair down. Actually, it’s time to put the jersey down and pop that bottle of expensive champagne that’s stashed in the back of the fridge. Fourth place is a good place to be at the end of September, especially since he already knows that he’s earned himself enough points to qualify for the 2008 ASP World Tour.

It’s something the 28-year-old from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina has been working on for a long time – six years actually, since slipping off the WCT as a young pro. Most guys would give up after six long and tedious years of small and grueling surf in strange lands across the globe. But like most young surfers, (especially ones from the east coast) Ben has that desire to prove that he can go the distance and play with the big boys. And for you that don’t know Ben that well, know that the kid deserves it.

We’re stoked to have him back on and stoked to see what goes down in the year ahead – but first let’s get through this one, as another east coaster just blew through the Boost Mobile Pro and it looks like we have a title race on our hands.

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Kick Flip Over Wall

F.S Tail Slide up and down

Where were you born?

Strong Beach City.

Where do you live now?

Right by da beach, boyyeee!

How long have you lived there?

29 years How long have you been skating?

Since 1987 How did you start skating?

Cousins started skating and I saw Animal Chin and was hyped.

What was the first board you rode?

My first board was some cheap Variflex board my mom got me for my birthday; I rode it till the wheels feel off. My first pro board was a Hosoi Hammerhead Rising Sun board.

Who were some of the people that influenced you when you

were young?

My older cousin Isaac got me psyched on skating and showed me what it was all about.

We’ve traveled a lot throughout South and Central America since Listens inception. Since a lot of the team is from a Latin American decent, it was only fitting that Who’s your skate influences we get back to our roots and you now? explore a little bit of our heritage.

People who have fun and it Some of my favorite places were, shows through in their skating.

Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua People with a genuine love for and Thailand. I like traveling to skateboarding. places where you’re completely out of your element and you know that You just finished up working on you’re nowhere near home. Where the first Listen video, (Viajeros you’re immersed in the culture and Locos) what was that like? forced to live and experience life Traveling, skating, and chilling the way the locals live it. with friends and family was really fun. But it was also pretty stressful Where would you like to go on considering it was our debut video a skate trip that you haven’t for Listen. All and all, it feels good been to yet? to put something out that we are I’ve always wanted to go to really proud of and worked so hard India. They have such a rich on. and intriguing culture. I had the opportunity to go a couple of years Seems like you guys have been ago with Kenny Reed and a couple busy with non-stop travel since of other friends, but I ended up you started Listen, where has breaking my leg before the trip been your favorite place? and couldn’t make it. When I saw

all the photos and footage from the trip, I was sooo bummed.

Explain your average day because I don’t think most people know how much you are involved with the day-to-day operations at Listen.

If I’m not on a skate trip, I’m usually here in the office almost everyday. Depending on what’s going on and what time of the year it is, dictates how much time I spend at Listen. Right now has been a really busy time for us, with release of our video, the planning of summer tours and the upcoming trade shows. We’ve been here pretty much all day, everyday for the last couple of months. We try and squeeze in a little skating at the end of the day, after all our work is done and when it’s a little cooler weather wise.

Nose Grind Shov-it Where do you get influences to come up with new concepts for board graphics or t-shirts?

We have a lot of friends and homies do a lot of our board graphics. I usually let the artists do whatever they are feeling at the time. With the people we work with, it usually fits into what Danny and I are into and what Listen is all about. Danny and I do all the tee shirts and soft goods. The inspiration for all that stuff usually comes from music, stuff we see in the streets or on trips, or old school skate stuff that we loved when we were young kids.

Growing up in Long Beach, you have been exposed to some of the best skaters, who are you all time favorites?

As far as Long Beach skaters go, Ron Chatman held it down. He was a local who killed it back in the day and was kind of a LB hero. We would be hyped to see him around and he would always bring old school World Industry dudes like Jeremy Klein with him. That was back in the Rubbish Heap days. Long Beach is such a central city between LA and OC, so we would get everybody coming through. A lot of people have spent time or lived in LB over the years. I remember being hyped on all the Z boys, Steve Saiz, Mike V, Jason Dill, Darrell Stanton, TK, etc… Long Beach has a rich skate history.

You’ve been in the skate industry for over 10 years, what’s the secret to a long career?

For me it’s always been about skateboarding and the act of skateboarding. I do what I love and stay true to my beliefs and myself. I think a lot of skaters nowadays rely on a marketing scheme and an image to sell themselves and their products. Fads come and go and if your whole being is based on an image or something that isn’t real, than your days are numbered in skateboarding. I would rather be broke with respect, than rich and played out…

I’ve always said that, and I guess that’s what has kept my career going for so long. I feel really grateful for the career I’ve had and feel blessed to still be able to do what I love.

Kick Flip into bank

How do you think skateboarding has changed from when you first started?

Wow. I started skating in 1987, and since then, it’s been through a million different phases. When I was in high school in the mid 90’s, skaters were the scum of the earth. We would get hated on so hard. Chicks and jocks would diss us everyday, and talk shit on our gear. Back then, nobody wanted to be a skater. If you were a skater, then you really had love for it and did it because you were feeling it. I really trip out on how far its come.

Who do you think are some of the up and coming skaters out there now?

Man, skateboarding is really insane right now. Kids are really killing it and pushing it to an unbelievable level. We have some pretty sick kids on the Listen team that are holdin’ it down. Dudes like Gabe De La Mora, Nate Fantasia and Evan Smith.

What do you think the future of skateboarding will be?

It’s really hard to say where skateboarding will be in the next couple years. One of things that

insures that skateboarding will be moving in a positive direction, is the resurgence and importance of style. Doesn’t matter how crazy a trick or how tech it is, if you can’t make it look good, then it doesn’t really matter. It’s kind of sad, but that’s how it goes. Skateboarding is an art. It’s self-expression.

Anybody can pick up a paintbrush and smear some paint on a canvas. But it’s the masters who create beauty.

What’s next for Listen?

Summer tours to promote our video, a “Viajeros Locos” mixtape, mixed by J-rocc of the world famous “Beat Junkies” and a Listen/Diamond collab tee. That’s what’s up for the next couple of months.

Who do you want to give a shout out to?

Everybody I know and love.

Skateboarders world wide, Chris Ortiz, Shimrit, Toya, LB City, Listen Fam, Bianca, Jade, and all my sponsors. Skate or Die!!!

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I think by now most of you readers out there would have heard of Ween in at least one form or another, even if you didn’t know it at the time. Ween is one of those, for lack of a better description, “alternative” bands that has been around forever (ok, going on 23+ years) with no sign of stopping or even slowing down for that matter, as they have just put out a new album, La Cucaracha (Rounder Records) in stores October 23rd. Musically, they are downright fucking geniuses. Their range consists of everything from as far left and right of the spectrum as a band can get, and everything in the middle too. These guys have been keeping fans on their toes of what they can do and how well they can do it since the beginning. I first heard them over 10-years ago when a friend gave me a copy of Pure Guava, and was immediately drawn to the different sound and pure fucked up-ness of the album, only to find out that it was just the tip of the iceberg. Their catalog extends to every sort of genre imaginable, and the boys from Pennsylvania have got their hands on a number of gems on each record. If you haven’t been blessed by Ween yet, we have pretty much their entire catalog pictured above, so cut this baby out, get down to your local record shop and pick up any of these discs. Don’t forget to take some drugs (any kind will do) and enjoy! If you really want to change your whole perspective, go see one of their 3-hour sets (November 8th at the Wiltern in LA) – now where’s my tickets boys?

I’ve know Chris for quite some time now, pretty much since the beginning of snowboarding. But even before there was snowboarding, Chris somehow found a way to snowboard. I think it’s simply what Chris was put on this earth for. I grew up riding Snow Valley with Chris as a kid, and then one day we ended up riding for the same shop together.

Even back then it was just fun to watch Chris snowboard. He carried this fluid, carefree style out to the mountain, run after run, day after day. He just never cared about the fame, the money, or the sponsors. I watched all kinds of friends blow up out of So Cal that Chris easily could have taken out. It was just about snowboarding, and even today without all of the fame, money, and sponsors, he is still snowboarding day to day, moving through life one smoke at a time. Chris has always had this influence on So Cal snowboarding. Even back in the day when he didn’t care, he could hang with any pro on the mountain, and now that he does care, he is easily one of the best pros on the mountain. On a normal sunny day at Bear Mountain you may think you’ve seen Chris a hundred times. But that’s just another kid trying to be like him, trying to look like him, and trying to ride like him. He has single handedly begun the tall tee steez in our local mountains, and has helped many a kid around here grow to become a very good snowboarder with the style that it takes to make it these days. Finally, now that Chris is motivated to do something with this lingering talent that has been dragging along through all these years, you can expect his career to take off. You can expect to see him riding for many more years, or until his body won’t allow it anymore, and you can expect to see a smile on his face because he is doing what he loves everyday of his life, then returning home to the ones he loves at the end of each day.

Interview : Jon Francis

AGE: OG HOME: Twin Peaks SPONSORS: Technine, Ambiguous, Electric, Grenade, NEFF, JSLV, Bear Mt, Real Deal We are going to start this interview off with a little word association: Hesh or fresh?

Fresh hesh.

Long hair out the beanie, or shaved head and diamond earrings?

Keep it hippie.

Out with the boys, or in with the family?

In moderation.

Hair pie, or hair tie?

I don’t like hair in my pie.

Getting blunted : Photo : Westenbarger

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Kush or Bush?

Fuck the president.

haters! Haters will be hated.

Tom Penny or Andrew Reynolds?

Tom Penny.

1986 snowboarding, or 2007 snowboarding?

Damn, it’s been 21 years already?

Time flies when your having fun!

Mike Jones or Jeremy Jones?

Mike who?

Tall tee or small tee?

Right in between.

Bust a sag, or sport the dorag?

Bust the sag.

Fly rod, or spinner rod?

Fly rod.

Daughter or son?

Makaila.

Big pants wide stance, or tight pants small stance?

Be who the fuck you wanna be! Do your own thing, fuck what people think. Haters will be

Chris Roach or Damien Sanders?

Chris Roach is the muthafuckin man!

You mention Chris Roach, what year did you first start snowboarding and who got you into it?

It was Christmas 1986; my grandma gave me this big box.

Usually, I could guess what the present was, but this was a big fuckin box, when I opened it I knew it was some kind of board so I went outside and rode it down the street. I didn’t even know how to strap in, but that was the best feeling I ever had.

Was Chris Roach one of your heroes when you were a kid?

Hell yeah, he was the shit to me.

He had style that no one could copy.

Who was at the top of the game in the late 80’s, who do you remember looking up to and being inspired by?

My dad was ill. Big b/s 360’s, Chris Roach, Mike Parillo, Bert Lamar, Pat Allen, Noah Salasnek, Tom Sims, Steve Gram, the Guch, Nick Pereta (fuckin nut bag), Sean Farmer, Rob Davis, Neil Drake, Jason Tother and a lot of other’s before Haakonsen came through and killed it. Shit was sick back then.

I remember you telling me Bert Lamar gave you one of your first snowboards. Where did you meet him, how did that go down?

I was at Summit, chair 10, rocking

a fuckin wannabe Blacksnow with moon boots. He pointed at my shit and laughed, by the end of the day he must of felt bad for me and just came up and handed me his board (a look Lamar trick stick) and that was that.

When you’re a kid and you meet a pro it’s a pretty humbling experience, did you look up to Bert because of that?

Fuck yeah, he was my new idol.

That fool had some tweaked out maneuvers.

After the early Bear Mt. days when Devun front three’d the snake runs and Guch destroyed the place it used to be kind of a battle between Snow Valley and Snow Summit. The Summit kids always claimed Summit was the shit, and then there were the Snow Valley kids claiming Snow Valley’s park.

What was your spot back in the day? What resort did you claim?

Snow Valley Gang. That was the hood spot, lil dirt bag muthafuckas rode there.

But Snow Valley kind of fell apart after Josh Chauvet moved to Mammoth to build parks up there, and when it stopped snowing in our local mountains there were seasons Valley couldn’t even open. Did you start riding Big Bear more then?

Yep! And you ride for Bear Mt. now,

right?

They’re the shit, they let me do whatever I want pretty much. Set up whatever, whenever.

That place is pretty amazing! It’s like one big skate park. When your not traveling you’re at Bear just about every day, does it help you in the streets or when you get to travel being able to train everyday at Bear Mt? For sure it helps. That mountain is a perfect spot to practice for everything.

You have pretty much been ripping our local mountains apart since I can remember, nearly since the beginning of snowboarding. Why is it that you are just now really starting to blow up outside of So Cal and finally start to really get paid?

I got a kid now, so it’s time to wake the fuck up!

Back in the Snow Valley days it was you and Matt Hammer that really stood out. It seemed like Matt had a really level head on his shoulders, and you didn’t give a fuck and just wanted to party, snowboard and you really didn’t care about going anywhere with snowboarding, as long as you could strap in and shred everyday. Matt blew up and got all the money and fame, and you were still just shredding the local mountains for fun, but just

Nollie shifty : Photo : Westenbarger

as good as Matt. Do you regret not trying harder to mellow out then and focusing on a career?

Nah, I don’t regret anything I’ve done, everything happens for a reason. You gotta do what you want in life or you’ll regret doing what someone else wants you to do, or be.

Do you ever think about where you could be now if you would have taken it seriously?

No, I don’t think about that shit, because I’m doing what I wanna do. Getting paid and still shredding every fuckin day.

I remember one day you and I were doing a photo shoot at Summit for a commercial and you showed up a little late. We had already taken a few runs and started to get shots. You finally showed up and we got on the chair to the top and you pulled out a 40 for the chair ride up, after mentioning that you hadn’t slept all night. First chair, first run you spun a 1080 off wiseman right to your ass.

You then proceeded to tell us that two days before that you had to have 10 staples in your ass from a previous snowboard

accident. Did you rip all 10 staples out of your asshole with that fall?

Maybe a few of them, but that 40 oz helped numb the pain. That was kid shit though.

You used to show up at Vans Triple Crowns wasted drunk for your runs, with no practice and still kill it. Because of all of that and your attitude back in the day you went through tons of major sponsors. Can you list all of the sponsors you have gone through since day one?

Fuck those fool’s. They didn’t take me seriously so they don’t even deserve a shout out.

What inspired you to mellow out and start to take life seriously? Was it the birth of your daughter?

Yeah, when she came into the world I knew right there I had to make a change for her sake.

How old is Makaila now?

Mykilla is 7 years old.

Is she your new inspiration in life?

Hell yeah, and my lady Karly.

Between them two, that’s all I

Tailtap back 180 : Photo : Paul Amyot

need in life.

You’re also a single father yeah?

No, I got a girlfriend that take’s care of everything.

What happened, why aren’t you still with Makaila’s mom?

She just wanted to keep parting, and I was ready to make a change for the better, turn shit around and start to take life serious. I wanted Makaila to be in a positive environment.

But your lady Karly is pretty much the mother figure in her life now?

Yeah, without Karly I don’t know what the hell I would be doing. She’s always been there for my daughter since she was one year old.

It must be pretty rough to try to travel and be a pro snowboarder with a kid. How does all that work out?

So far so good thanks to Karly and my moms help.

Sometimes it’s tough being away from the family when you have so much responsibility back at home.

Is the money in professional snowboarding good enough to raise a family?

Lately it has been going smooth. But yeah, there definitely have been some rough times. Things are picking up right now and it really helps out.

It seems like there isn’t really an in between.

You either make a shit load of money, or your just scrapping by to be able to shred and film a part and get photos to keep your sponsors happy. You would still be shredding everyday, all day even if you weren’t getting paid though. Do you sometimes wish you could just snowboard for fun for yourself, or do you enjoy the professional side of things?

I always snowboard for myself. If it wasn’t fun I wouldn’t be doing it everyday. I’d have some shitty 9-5 swinging the hammer for pennies. Snowboarding is what has kept me out of trouble.

Nowadays 14-year-old kids have their big dollar agents and their soccer mom and dads out there on the slopes telling them what tricks to do and getting them coaches. I hate that snowboarding has gone that way and these parents don’t just let their kids just go have fun and do what they want. What is your take on that whole new aspect of things?

These kids are being brain washed at a young age.

Kids today need to learn to have fun first before they make it a job at such a young age. They are forced into certain situations at such a young age that they aren’t ready for; these agents need to leave children alone. Let them live!

There are a lot of snowboarders who are also just at companies for the paycheck too. They don’t even represent the brands they ride for, nor do they even give a fuck about the companies. There are some wack-ass corporate dudes running these companies that don’t even know shit about the sport, telling fools what to do and when to do it. It seems you are really tight and involved with your sponsors, that you’re down with all the companies you ride for and like being a part of them. How do you feel about all the companies you ride for?

My sponsors are the shit! I’m pretty much involved with a lot of design with every company I ride for. I

Backside 900 stalefish : Photo : Paul Amyot

Deep powder slasher : Photo : Westenbarger

feel at home with all of them, and I know they all have my back. Money is the root of all evil, without money we would all be evil. All my team managers are my family. But some fools don’t have it like that so they gotta take it where they can get it.

They gotta do what they gotta do to do what they wanna do!

How is it filming with Cole Taylor for Finger on da Trigger?

Cole Taylor is a fucking NUT! He can bench press the whole team.

FODT for life. Keeps me on my toes.

Back to the other questions, I forgot to ask you. Back in the day you used to race Ross Powers. It was pretty funny looking, he would be in a speed suit, and you had your tall tee and sagged 38 pants. Did that slow you down or did you still beat him every time?

Not every time, he had better wax than me, the clothes had nothing to do with it. Ross Powers is a fast little fool.

Frontside lipslide to fakie : Photo : Westenbarger

Did you used to do a lot of USASA contests?

When I was younger.

Those were the steps you had to take back then.

Back then they were so different. Even Shaun White came up out of Snow Valley doing those contests. What do you think of the AYSO, oops, I mean USASA contests these days?

It’s a good thing for the younger generation. It sucks when you got 30-year-old men sand bagging the open division though. USASA keeps kids out of trouble, gives them something to look forward to every weekend, so I like that about it.

We just got back from a dirt bag trip to New Zealand in two RV’s with 11 of us. Pat Bridges from Snowboarder Magazine brought you along on the trip with Peter Line, Sketchy D, Dustin Craven, Lonnie Kauk, and Jaqui Berg.

How was it traveling with Peter Line?

Peter Line is an interesting individual. I can’t figure out how

such a little dude can go so big, and drink so much. It was the shit getting to hang with one of my idols in New Zealand. And Pat Bridges is a crazy buss driver.

You seemed to fuck with him a lot; do you think you got on his nerves at all?

I hope not, sorry Peter if any offense was taken.

You kept pulling his iPod out and plugging yours in. Did you not like his music or did you just want to try to get Peter to turn gangster on the dirty south trip?

That fool is gangster. He was calling me dawg after the first hour, and by the second day he had a XXXL tall tee on drinking 40’s.

Before we go, I know there are tons of kids out there that probably think you are trying to be a gangster like a lot of the other

snowboarders in this industry. Now, there are a lot of fake ass snowboarders in this industry, but if the kids haven’t noticed hiphop has had, and always will have, a major influence on snowboarding. For the records, have you ever done a drive by?

No. Stolen a car? Actually, lets not ask that one. Jumped anyone into a gang?

No, I’m a lover not a fighter.

Robbed a bank?

Nope.

So you’re probably not really a gangster, you just like to listen to hip-hop. Anything you want to say to all the haters out there talking all that bullshit on TWSNOW. com?

Yeah, I love it. Thanks to all the haters, controversy equals sales. Keep hating so I can keep getting paid, and thanks for always watching my stuff. Good to know you all take the time to watch my shit, and then another few minutes to write about it. Time is $$$, ha ha!

Phone: 949-266-2700 Fax: 949-266-3401 路 17822-B Gillette 路 Irvine, CA 92614

Justin Quirk Luke Munro Peter Labrador Eric Taylor Cam Powell Brett Schwartz

Photo by: Anthony Ghiglia

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Mason Ho

All Photos : Jason Kenworthy Interviews Courtesy of Thirdstone Films as featured in their new film“SHADES OF INDO” releasing Spring 08’

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We came here on a mission this year to try and get something a little different.

Most of the time we come down here, we go to the same old spots and there’s a hundred guys out. We knew there were other waves out here so we wanted to come out and find them.

Luckily we had Travis Potter as our guide who’s been coming down here quite a bit for a lot of years and had some places he’d wanted to visit, some places he’s never been to, and basically we came down here and scored. I’ve spent a lot of time in Indo, and this is one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. The setups were amazing. It’s all out there, you don’t have to go to the same spots everybody else goes to.

You can find good stuff if you know where to look and you’re patient, and that’s kinda what we did. We were on the best boat ever, The Pelagic, and they made it really easy for us to come

on down here and just score. It was ridiculously good. Casey Brown charged super hard. In my eyes his stock has just risen ten fold. The grommets, Koa Smith, Nat Young, Riley Metcalf, all got bombs on different days. They all got A+ pro surfer caliber waves and they’re only 12, 14 and 15 years old.

Other guys, Mikala Jones, jeez. I knew he surfed good, but I didn’t realize how good he surfed. It blew me away.

Mason as usual ripped. Dylan Graves was an eye opener as well. All in all, I give this trip two thumbs up, super stoked. And the lineups and setups we found were amazing.

KOA SMITH, 12 YRS OLD, KAUAI KS- We just came to Indo on this trip on a boat called the Pelagic, we’ve been getting some good waves and it’s super fun. Being out there with all the

guys that are older than you, getting pushed, ya know. Someone tells you to go, you have to go. Going to Indo just makes you that much better. Super fun.

Tell me about the boat?

KS- The Pelagic, such a nice boat ya know. The workers clean like everything everyday and the cook is the man. He makes the best food ever.

When you’re hot, you just go to the top and do some back flips off the boat. So much fun. Comfortable, good movies, big TV, good food. Indo’s really good for fishing too. I caught a huge Wahoo fish, never caught a fish that big before. I’ve never trolled on a big boat like that and caught a big fish.

You gonna come back to Indo?

KS- Yeah I can’t wait for my next trip.

Can’t wait to get perfect waves again.

I have perfect waves at home, but still, being in a foreign country, seeing how they live, you’re just walking down the beach and a bunch of kids just swarm you, and you have no idea what they’re saying, it’s just so cool how they live.

It makes you feel so lucky.

What else has been going on?

What other surfers do you look up to?

KS- I’m super psyched to be in the Hot 100. I got 5th this year. I hope to improve. I always look up to Andy Irons, he’s such a good surfer and he’s super cool to me. I actually go to school right next door to him so whenever he’s home, he comes by and talks to us. He’s super nice. Ben Ipo, my coach, he’s a legend. He’s the man.

Casey Brown Koa Smith

Riley Metcalf

Travis Potter Mason Ho

He’s super cool. If I didn’t have Ben, I pretty much wouldn’t know how to surf.

NAT YOUNG, 15 YRS OLD, SANTA CRUZ, CA This trip was just a trip to go explore and find new waves that not too many people have surfed. Before I came on this trip, the only person I knew here was Riley, so I got to meet a bunch of new people, and now I think we’re all pretty good friends. We got to surf a bunch of good waves, some of them had a couple people out, but the biggest crowd was maybe three other people besides our boat. Other than surfing, we’ve been jumping off the boat, doing flips and stuff, towing

behind the dingy, and playing poker a bunch and backgammon. A couple of nights, on the birthday nights, the older guys would get kinda drunk and pick on Riley and Koa. This one night Riley got tied up with rope and drawn all over and got beer poured on him. We got thrown overboard a couple times and I’d have to say Riley definitely got picked on the most on this trip. I like Indo a bunch, the people here are always happy and super nice. Most of the people around here seem to know a little English, so that’s cool cause you can talk to them.

It’s really hot though, I’m sweating right now just from talking. But the waves are so good, most of them barreling over shallow reef, but there are a couple that are rippable. The reef

is super sharp so you don’t really want to fall and get all cut up, but if you do its worth it cause the waves are just so perfect. It was cool having Potts on the boat, cause he’s been here before and knew of all these good spots. We’d surf these spots with say a left and a right and he’d always go to the one without anyone else, maybe take his backpack camera thing and just get so deep and pitted on every wave. Same with Mikala, those guys really pushed us to go deeper and follow their lead.

The other guys like Mason and Dylan, just did some really sick airs. They got plenty of barrels too, but those guys do the sickest airs. Casey was going off, doing huge backside hacks. Alex got to surf a couple of days and was ripping but then he got hurt and didn’t

get to surf as much as everyone else.

Koa was charging super hard, getting triple overhead barrels and stuff. So did Riley, he was charging hard and got some really good ones, he also hit the reef pretty hard. This was my second boat trip, and the boat was so nice. The food was awesome; we probably had the best food you could possibly get in Indo. We also had a bunch of other cool guys on the boat like Smokey and Tom and they were all super cool. The boat was so big that there’s plenty of other stuff to do and you’re never bored.

RILEY METCALF, 15 YRS OLD, SAN CLEMENTE, CA I’m really stoked to be able to be on

this boat trip somewhere in Indo and it’s been really fun, we’ve gotten to surf some really good waves. We’ve been going up and down the coast surfing a bunch of different waves.

The boat is awesome. It’s big, like three stories, and super fast to get to wherever you wanna go. Just surfing as much as you can is the best thing about this trip, cause there’s some many waves. It’s super hot and the water is super warm and everyone on the trip is super cool. There are two kids that are about my age, Nat Young and Koa Smith. I see Nat a lot in California and I actually had never met Koa before, but he’s a super cool kid, we’ve all been having

a lot of fun. There are a couple older guys too, I’m sure you already know.

Everyone is just super cool and it’s all been super fun. On our trip there were four birthdays on the boat and we were supposed to all get Mohawks, but they didn’t turn out so well cause the clippers shorted out after the first one which was Travis Potter, so Mikala and I kinda got gay crappy ones. I think everyone was drunk and they tied me up and drew all over my face and were pouring beers on me. It was pretty funny, I wanna see the footage.

Indo is awesome, everyone is super nice. It’s one of the coolest countries cause it’s so tropical and the food is good. The waves are just perfect, I’ve

been to Bali once and it’s so good. Its gets a little crowded in Bali, but out here it’s just us. This is my first boat trip in Indo, it’s crazy cause out here you pull up at a spot and there’s no one around, so you just go surf by yourself. The waves have been really perfect, this one right just around the corner is so good, and down the coast there’s this sick long left point break that is super fun. Fishing too, we got two pretty big fish, I think a Spanish mackerel and a Wahoo, and both were really tasty.

like?

ALEX KING, 18 YRS OLD, MAUI

AK- Dude, Indo’s a trip. The whole thing. When you first get off the airplane, it’s like mad, what’s the word I’m looking for? I don’t know.

It’s mayhem. Fuckin’ there’s people everywhere, and then when you get on the boat, it’s a trip. You just pull up to the most exotic looking places ever and it doesn’t even seem real half the time. Perfect waves and tropics.

Nuts. The trip was good, we got waves the whole time, the food was good, everyone had a good vibe and yeah it was a good trip.

How’s Indo? What’s that place

Let’s talk about some of the guys

Koa Smith

Mikala Jones

Dylan Graves

Travis Potter

Dylan Graves

Nat Young

surfing. Who’d you see, who’d you like the most?

AK- Nat Young surprised me the most. All the little groms were ripping and then of course, Mason Ho and Dylan Graves and Casey all surf so well. I like watching Mason surf the best. He’s the most creative I think.

But everybody was ripping.

Let’s talk about Potts and Mikala real fast.

AK- Potts and Mikala are legends.

They’re super cool, especially to the groms. I didn’t know how good they surfed until this trip. Cool guys.

What do you think was the highlight?

AK- The highlight of the trip? Fuck I don’t know, there were a lot of highlights. But finding that nuts left, that big Sumatran Pipeline definitely was one of the highlights. And other than that, just having a good time, throwing groms off the side of the boat.

MASON HO, 18 YRS OLD, NORTH SHORE, OAHU We came over to Indo and found some waves that no one’s really been to before. I don’t really know any names either, so it’s been pretty cool.

We have a pretty good solid crew too.

If you’re not surfing, you get to watch

some pretty good surfing. Mikala Jones has been surfing really good.

He can surf on anything; big waves, small waves, barrels, mush, so that’s been super fun. And then Travis Potter, “Potts,” to me is the MVP of the trip because he just knows all the spots and where to go and how to surf them. He’s been ripping too, and going like a madman. Any waves.

So that’s been rad. There’s been some younger guys too like Dylan Graves, Casey Brown, and my friend Alex King. Those guys have all been ripping too. Alex got hurt early in the trip so he didn’t really get to surf as much, but Dylan’s been ripping and Casey’s been going psycho too on some big lefts and rights. And then the three groms, Riley Metcalf, Nat Young and Koa Smith, they’ve been crazy little grommets. Koa’s been getting so barreled, and little Nat’s been doing the same. Riley’s the only regular footer out of those two, and he’s been getting some sick ones. The trip’s been super fun.

I’m super psyched Kenworthy got me in on this again. This is like my fourth time to Indo with Kenworthy so that’s been really fun. Pete’s been filming, Pete Matthews. He’s been getting all our clips ‘n stuff so I can’t wait to see how that turns out. The captain and crew’s been so good, it’s been a dream once again. I can’t start complaining. Indo is almost like another planet for me. I just usually come here and go out on a boat in the middle of the ocean the whole

time, just eating perfect breakfast, lunch and dinner. This place is so nice, even when it’s raining, just pouring rain and squalls, you’re still seeing stuff you’d never get to see.

It’s so hard to explain because there’s so many cool features and the waves are just perfect, and the reef’s so alive it just makes the waves that much more crazy.

CASEY BROWN, 19 YRS OLD, BIG ISLAND, HAWAII On this boat trip to Indo, we came with a pretty diverse group of surfers.

Travis Potter was leading us, he knew about these waves so he invited us on the trip so I was stoked to come on this trip. I have a couple of peers, which are Mason Ho, Alex King and Dylan Graves. We’re all about the same age. And then Mikala Jones came on the boat and three other Nike groms: Koa Smith, Nat Young and Riley Metcalf. Everyone was blowin’ up on the trip. We spent about a day driving, and that was pretty much a drag because we were all eggy and we wanted to go surf.

We drove like 30 hours before our first session. Our first session was fun, we got to warm up on this little left, and no one was around. Pretty much the whole time we’ve been down here, we hadn’t seen anyone else around. Except for my friends on the boat and the little villages and towns we come across which were pretty nice, except there’s only about

100 people in each little village. It’s awesome to see these new places and it’s a cool experience. I enjoyed it.

We got good waves, the first half of the trip was like 3 to 4 feet, then the second half was like 5 to 7 feet. Sick lefts, sick rights. This trip we were in mainland Sumatra so there were all big mountains and it’s not flat, there are beautiful trees everywhere. If you were to ask me, I’d say there’s about infinity amount of coconut trees in Indo. You can’t count them all, there’s too many. Everyday there was a nice offshore wind that flows and the mountains get covered and you can hardly see them because these gnarly rain clouds come down. It’s pretty sick to see.

DYLAN GRAVES, 21 YRS OLD, PUERTO RICO We’ve basically been cruising around a different zone, in Indo, and getting some mental waves. Everyone on the trip’s been killin’ it. I think the person that impressed me the most was probably Nat. He was getting sick barrels everywhere, hittin’ it everywhere, and yeah he’s just a cool grom. He was the one that stood out for me the most. Also Mason too, he was like puntin’ huge airs. I was pretty psyched to see that. Just like textbook airs ya know? It was good to see.

What did you think of Indo?

Mikala Jones

Nat Young

Casey Brown

DG- Indo’s probably the most different place I’ve ever been. It’s got a way different vibe from like anywhere, like the people are way different, everyone is super nice, but their way of living and talking and everything is just way different.

Setups are beautiful around here; waves are obviously mental, everyone knows. But yeah it’s fun to just come over here for a couple of weeks and experience something different.

MIKALA JONES, 28 YRS OLD, NORTH SHORE, OAHU I just turned 28 on this trip to Indonesia. It’s actually kind of weird, there’s another little grommie named Riley who turned 15 on the same day, and Travis’s birthday was the day before mine, and Casey Brown’s birthday was just six days after ours.

I’ve never been on a trip before with four birthdays and I’m sure Captain

John will tell you he never has either.

Feels kind of ironic. I guess anywhere you go in Indonesia, you’ll find perfect setups, but this place is just littered with world class waves. It’s nice to see not another boat around, just surf with the guys on the boat and a couple little grommies charging.

There were a couple bigger days when they stepped up and tackled some barrels, and everybody at least hit the reef a couple times. Got all cut up. Stitches went down on this kid from Maui, Alex. Yeah, just shallow, hollow waves. I’m pretty stoked with this trip overall. It was a great time.

It felt like we got a lot of work done.

It’s an amazing place. I’m definitely coming back. And hopefully it’s not gonna get blown out of proportion, you know, like the rest of Indonesia.

It’s nice to have something in the bag like this. You can come back here and know there’s only gonna be a couple people that know about it. It’s pretty

sick. Indonesia is an archipelago filled with thousands of islands. On any given day, there’s a spot 4 to 6 feet and just firing. Even on the flattest day of the year. So if you show up at the right time, right tide, right wind, you can score a dream wave all by yourself. It’s endless coastline, a pretty mental place. The people are friendly and if you like getting barreled over shallow reefs, then this is definitely the place to be.

TRAVIS POTTER, SEAL BEACH, CA Its been a good trip, started off a little bit slow cause we did a lot of traveling and came up on some spots that never had really been surfed before. There were a couple of sloppy setups that we thought may have potential, so we waited around and it didn’t really do their thing, so we scratched those spots off the list and moved on. We ended finding a couple

more spots that were really fun and will be fun to come back to. It’s been fun traveling with these groms, it reminds me about my first time to Indo, when I was about the same age as them. I wish I was charging as hard as these kids were when I was that age though, a few of the little guys were charging on some pretty heavy bombies. It’s good to see different generations coming up and progressing in surfing. You see a lot of kids in videos and stuff busting big airs and getting barreled and its just amazing how well they surf these days. It’s going to be interesting seeing them in another five years after they start to fill out and get bigger. I’ve been hooked on Indo since I was a little kid, these kids’ age. I’m a goofy foot and this is the land of perfect lefts, so there’s not really any other place I would rather be than in Indo.

Groms unite @ the Malibu Inn // Jeremy Pivon, Lyon Herron, Ben Harper, & Steven Lippman // Evan Caples // Timmy Curran // Lyon & Brandon Richards // Carlos, Pascal, Jordan, & Steven // Grom Finalists // Scaffolding before the battle

So I’m gonna try to be as honest as possible while writing this little piece for ya’ll. I don’t consider myself a professional writer, yet I get paid to do it (funny how that works isn’t it) and I didn’t actually go to the Malibu Invitational, though I was invited on several occasions. But I have however had the opportunity to meet young Lyon Herron and I must admit there’s something about this young kid. Just one look into his eyes, a glimpse of his smile and you’ll understand. It’s like he knows he’s living on borrowed time and is enjoying every second of

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it. He’s probably the most grateful kid I’ve ever met and mature well beyond his age. He holds his head high, has a smile on his face at all times and unless someone told you, you’d never guess his problems. Truth be told, young Lyon has been battling Gardner’s Syndrome for the past 11 years - in and out of hospitals, doctor after doctor. Over the years Lyon has touched many lives and made many of friends but it was his hometown friends of Malibu and the surrounding counties that decided to give back to the Lyon. The 1st Annual Malibu Invitational

was held to benefit the Herron family to help pay for the expensive costs involved in fighting this battle. There were definitely too many people involved to list them all but I wanted to give a special thanks to Val Surf, the Freedom Artists, Sicky Dicky Productions, Tim Curran and Brendan Hearne for donating their winnings, and all surfers and local heroes I didn’t mention. Hang in there Lyon and we’ll see you in the water.

Heikki Sorsa, Joni Malmi, & Ikka Backstrom // Keir Dillon // & Lane Knaack // DJ Dax // Chris Friel, Creepy Cyle, & Kristin Derr // JP Collett & Dates // Sheckler & Dingo // Twitty & Billy // Sticky, Boyes, & Will // Darrell Mathis & Brad Kremer

Soon the leaves will fall and shortly thereafter the snow will call. It’s that time of year again and we’ve all been awaiting the latest and greatest from the snow industry’s top dawg, Mack Dawg that is. I saw the teaser earlier this summer and knew this film very well could be the best of the year. We got to the Oakley headquarters early and made our way into the theatre for the first film of the night’s double feature, “We’re People Too.” It’s a good film about some of the younger generation of snow shredders that don’t fit into the main

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feature. The flick was packed with a lot of urban shredding, plenty of rails and park stuff to keep everyone entertained. After that was done it was back into the lobby for more Oakley hospitality and then once again we were led into the theatre where Brad Kremer and the boys at MDP said a few words. Finally the moment I had been waiting for, “Picture This” on the big screen! I pretty much drooled all over myself, not being able to keep my jaw shut.

Volcom’s Seth Huot had the opening part and just slaughtered everything in front of him while

Wille Yli Luoma had “a very high energy part.”

Eero Niemela had the best song while Shaun White & Kevin Pearce threw down amazing lines with a very complicated motion picture lit night pipe session that will be one for the record books. The best and most professional part of this movie is that almost every single shot is a moving shot; boom arms, cable cams and lots of dolly shots in the middle of the mountains, a first in the action sports movie market.

This IS the best video of the year, go down and get yourself a copy today.

Kelly Slater // Rob & Eddie // MR, Bob, & Paul // Lisa // Bruce, Wooly, & Mike // Bob // Guest, Chris, & Sonny // Randy // Jon, Melinda, & Marty // Dick & Peter // Steve & Monika Eddie Vedder gets you out of your chair as the industry raises half a million dollars for the environment.

SIMA’s Waterman’s Ball has become the high point of the surf industry’s social calendar and this year, the eighteenth annual was no exception as the industry executives and their significant others turned out in their best finery at the St. Regis Resort in Laguna Niguel.

A sell-out audience turned out to see one of the best group of inductees in history, with special recognition’s going to Kelly and Layne for their record

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breaking strings of World titles, Randy Rarrick for his “Lifetime of Achievement” of surfing in all aspects, Lisa Anderson for “Waterman of the Year”, Lisa having changed the face of women’s surfing and help build the women’s category with Roxy in our industry.

The highlight of the evening though was the impassioned speech from Eddie Vedder for “Environmentalist of the Year”, if you didn’t want to get up out of your chair and do something to preserve our earth after his powerful words then your heart is not beating.

What’s great is to see is some of the industry’s best

paid executives melt their companies credit cards to benefit our environment, an environment that gives us our waves that enabled them to get that charitable wealth in the first place and none was better than the jostle over a Wolfgang Bloch painting between Paul Naude and Kelly Slater which drove the bid up to a whopping $35,000.00, the high bid of the evening with Naude holding off Slater like it was a man-onman heat.

That’s what it’s all about and this night proved to be a record setter as for the first time the half million dollar bar for the night’s fundraising was toppled.

Staging area // Top 3 : Ronnie Creager, Brandon Biebel, Joey Brezinski // Ronnie Creager : Kick-Flip Manual 180 out.

Red Bull has done it again. While other beverage companies are spending truckloads of money on skateboarding events aimed at the unknowing, non-skating, kook demographic Red Bull continues its grassroots relationship with real, street skateboarding. This past August, thousands of hardcore skateboarders turned out for Red Bull’s NYC Manny Mania contest at the Coleman Skatepark under the Manhattan Bridge. I’d never seen anything like it. People were literally scaling fences and the bridge pillars to get a better view to witness their favorite guys skating. It felt good to see some of the biggest names in skateboarding like Brandon Biebel, Kenny Anderson, Jereme Rogers, Daniel Castillo, Eli Reed, SAD, Chico Brenes, Forrest Kirby, Ronnie

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Creager, Enrique Lorenzo, Chris Roberts, Kerry Getz, Quim Cardona, Danny Montoya, Josh Kalis, Rob Gonzales, Brian Wenning, Rodrigo Peterson, Malcolm Watson, Dennis Busenitz, Joey Brezinski, Jason Dill, Colin McKay, Zered Bassett, Vinnie Ponte, Pensyl, Anthony Shetler, J Strickland, Phil Ladjanski, Rodney Torres, Justin Strubing, Jeff Pang, Jason Rothmeyer and a ton of other heads rubbing elbows with the rest of the local skate community, all for the love of skateboarding. As heated as the competition was at the end between Biebel, Creager and Brezinski, the rest of the day was full of good times, cold beers, Red Bulls and scantily clad girls in their summer attire under the scenic backdrop of one of Manhattan’s most recognizable landmarks. If you missed it, you blew it.

Just try and make it out next summer when Red Bull does it all again.

FINAL RESULTS:

1st - Ronnie Creager 2nd - Brandon Biebel 3rd- Joey Brezinski 4th- Eli Reed 5th- Malcolm Watson 6th- Jereme Rogers 7th- Kenny Anderson 8th- Dennis Busenitz 9th- Forrest Kirby

$10,000 $6,000 $4,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000

'%4 )4 ./7 !4 4(% !,, .%7 (52,%9 #/-

Bump to Chinatown Ledge: Jake Duncombe (Back Noseblunt // Billy Rohan // Jimmy McDonald (Too many tricks to list!) // Down the 9-Rail: Manny Santiago (Kickflip Boardslide, Frontside Big Spin Boardslide) // Dustin Dollen 180 N. Grind // Over the 9-Rail: Nick Fiorini (Switch Heel, Nollie Kickflip) // Manny Santiago – showing his earnings // Dennis Busenitz (B.S Lip)

Months of planning and years of experience could not prepare me for what went down this year at the Legendary Brooklyn Banks. It seems like we all start planning this event sooner and sooner each year and because the event grows bigger and bigger every year, when the day finally does arrive we are just about at the brink of chaos and a totally out of control crowd. We had about 3,000 people turn up for a day of NYC style best-trick contests on the various natural terrain and some new obstacles. $6,000

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was up for grabs, as the “anything goes” rules applied and everyone from the local 10-year old kid to legends like Andrew Reynolds were throwing down. The major difference from ANY other contest that you will attend is that at the Banks you are right there with the media/ contestants and anyone else who happens to be walking downtown that day. There are no metal barriers keeping you safely clear of flying boards and skaters, no huge video screens, and the place is packed so tight. It’s a controlled

chaos that only could be pulled off with the support of dedicated sponsors who also get in on the action. Words can’t really describe the utter chaos that this day brings as well as the destruction of the spot. A big thanks to Emerica, Volcom, Redbull, Skateboarder Mag and Spitfire for working with 5boro to make this one of the best events of the year for those lucky enough to make it out.

-Steve Rodriguez

Sal, Lyndie, Andy // Kendal, Fred, Mick // Cory, Alex, Worthless // Bethany, Carissa // Shark guy // Chicks // Pat, Damien (we think) // Rabbit, PT // Brother, Taj // Bruce, Sarah

You know what Surfer Poll feels like to me every year? Fucking high school prom. And that’s not a good thing ‘cause just like prom when I was in high school, I didn’t have a date for Surfer Poll either.

And just like prom, I really don’t see the point unless you are one of the few people receiving an award for the night. I guess it’s because just like high school, all the cool kids get all dressed up and stoked about prom and the losers don’t have dates and wear one of the

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fake tuxedo tee shirts. That’s what I wore to Surfer Poll this year. It’s like there’s all these cool surfer dudes with their newest sluts in tow and they all wanna see or be seen in their new sponsors custom camo suit that is just a couple sizes too big. Or was that the XXL awards? I dunno, it seems like I’ve been to so many of these damn things that I can’t keep them all straight. Who was the announcer?

PK, Evan Slater, no they got a celebrity host – Sal Masekela! (I

wonder what his appearance fee is these days?) Was this the year that Bruce was so drunk he could barely stand up? Or when Morcom screamed, “Lets all get fucked up!” as his acceptance speech.

Or that one dude that shimmied himself up a pole in the front and dropped his drawers, only to be taken away in handcuffs? I mean, weren’t they all the same anyway?

Let me guess… Kelly won right?

Andy got second? No wait, there was a change this year, Mick and

Andy swapped, good on ya Mick.

So Andy got third, might as well be tenth – cause if you didn’t win, no one gives a crap. Or they shouldn’t anyways. So yeah, that’s how it goes. Next time around I’ll just sit at home and watch the live webcast, that way I won’t have to pay some 12-year-old $20 for his bracelet at the front door and I’ll save $80 on the Grove’s overpriced, watered-down drinks.

Jeff Myers, “Raw” Rob Kelly, Jamie Moran, Sam Hammer, Andrew Gesler, Jason “Regs” Reagan, Randy Townsend, Matt Keenan, Sam Hammer, Ian Parnell May of 1929 - Atlantic City is the site of a legendary gathering, wherein the organized crime bosses from around the country convene to discuss the future of underground operations. It must have been quite a sight to see such dignified gangsters as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and “Longy” Zwillman gathering at The Steel Pier.

August 2007 - Atlantic City hosts a similar gathering, as the top tow-at Kingpins on the East Coast descended on this town of debauchery. This time it’s Sam Hammer, Jeff Myers, Zach Humphreys, Lucas Rogers and their “associates,” together to whip at sections at Night Riders, the first-ever nighttime Tow-At contest. Like the mobsters, they represented families from the entire MidAtlantic and there was a lot of talk of “whacks.”

The surfers formed squads of two (Hammer and Frank Walsh, Rob and Chris Kelly, Myers and Billy Hume, ...etc) Each surfer was towed by his own ski, with 11 minutes to huck air and chuck buckets.

handed air reverse. The move would remain untouchable for the rest of the night.

The original scheme was to float helium lights from boats just outside the line-up, but the Atlantic Ocean had different ideas. Instead of an evening glass-off, the wind honked side shore throughout the whole event, making for a bumpy evening.

Franky Walsh displayed some powerful axe work, murdering a frontside section like a true thug, earning “Best Turn” and $500 clams “Most Amplitude” and another $500 bills went to Matt Keenan, of Ocean City, attempting to spin on a head-high boost. Young Zach Humphreys became a made-man that night with his own gouge and a hair-raising fly-away air.

However, once the big earners went to work, the beach and boardwalk were lined with gawking gamblers and other goons, who gaped at the action. Jamie Moran, of Ocean City committed to several kerrupt flip attempts before his OC boy, Andrew Gesler, busted a dazzling no-

The Moran/Gesler syndicate took first place and $3,000, followed by Hammer and Walsh who nabbed $1,000.

The added speed provided by the four-stroke machines was perfect for Atlantic City. The very idea of a surf event at night was perfect. Gangsters love the dark.

Photo: Stephan Albanese “Anything that does not spring from tradition is plagiarized. Begin drawing and painting like the old masters; after that always do as you wish, you will always be respected” -Salvador Dali Year Long Disaster took Salvador Dali’s words to heart when they began constructing the mainframe ideas that would form their fundamental musical intentions. Modifying, in their own right, the original blues models of the early 1970’s southern rock movement, Year Long Disaster is more apt to play shuffles as the base backbeat and to define choruses as whichever dynamic moment of the song appeals as most memorable. This moment may manifest itself in a riff, a recurring vocal line, or in a sonic assault stemming from sheer energy. Riffs may extend past 4 bars. Lyrics may not repeat themselves. Year Long Disaster embraces the humanity and simplicity in songwriting with the ability to improvise, allowing the audience to be involved in moments that will never exist again.

This band’s work is also a reflection of what they as individuals accomplish, write, and think. The pedigree of this band is complex and unusual. Lead guitarist and singer Daniel Davies is the son of Dave Davies of the Kinks. He was born in London and spent the first nine years of his life touring the world with one of the most legendary live

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acts of all time. At eleven, Daniel and his family moved from London to Los Angeles. Three years later his parents split, and Daniel moved in with his godfather and his family. Daniel lived there until his graduation from Hollywood High School. He then set out on his own to play music.

For three years, he worked menial jobs and failed random drug tests for even more menial jobs. One random April day in 2003 while he was squatting in an apartment with the equally strungout Sebastian Robertson he ventured into a Hollywood grocery store to buy vodka. It was there he met bass player Rich Mullins.

Mullins had been in Los Angeles four days when he encountered Davies.

Mullins had just moved from Holland, and was nurturing a gorilla-sized drug habit when he ran into Davies in the alcohol section of Pavilions.

Mullins had been a founding member of the West Virginia instrumental hard rock band Karma to Burn. Karma to Burn had released three albums on Roadrunner Records, toured the world extensively and opened for such acts as Metallica and Pantera. Mullins left Karma to Burn to play in the Dallas, Texas band Speedealer. It was a feeble attempt to geographically remove himself from his addiction. In about seven months he was bandless and homeless, abandoned by Speedealer on a street corner in San Francisco. From there he took a plane back to Holland in another feeble attempt to geographically

remove himself from his addictions. A couple of weeks prior to meeting Davies he had been convinced by some Dutch friends to take a CD he had recorded in Holland to some industry friends in Los Angeles. He arrived in Los Angeles only intending to stay one month.

Within a week of meeting Daniel they were inseparable friends living in a one-room apartment in Laurel Canyon, drinking two fifths of vodka a day and smoking as much crack as their other friends could afford.

After only a month of ‘friendship’ Daniel and Rich went to Music Cares Foundation and asked for help with their addictions. They were placed into CRI-Help rehab. They spent a month there together. They then spent six months in a sober living halfway house. They finally moved out back into the world, sober, in December 2003.

Eleven months later Daniel and Rich saw drummer Brad Hargreaves play live at the Scene Bar in Glendale with a band called Hours and Minutes. They were extremely impressed with his musicianship. They got his phone number and asked him if he wouldn’t mind ‘jamming’.

They had no idea Brad was already a member of the eight-times platinum-selling group Third Eye Blind. Remarkably, Third Eye Blind had just been cast as the Kinks on the NBC show American Dreams.

Hargreaves, upon learning that Daniel’s father was Dave Davies,

became intrigued and agreed to try a couple of practices. The trio instantly bonded and Year Long Disaster was born.

The band started gigging around locally in Los Angeles and caught the eye of producer Marc Needham (The Killers) who invited them to record a few songs at his home studio. Using the ensuing EP as a demo they pawned an old guitar, bought a van, jumped in and did three self-booked national tours building up a slew of fans. After the second tour Daniel, Rich and Brad teamed up with longtime friend and now squeaky-clean Sebastian Robertson to manage their burgeoning career. He shares with Daniel his second-generation rock experience, as Sebastian is the son of The Band’s Robbie Robertson.

Sebastian immediately got to work bringing down a bevy of A&R execs to their Los Angeles performances. Shortly thereafter, Year Long Disaster signed a record deal with Volcom Entertainment, a company that shared the band’s artistic vision. They are currently on tour with Clutch, after spending a lengthy stint in Arizona working with famed producer/engineer Jim Waters recording their first album. Year Long Disaster’s long-awaited debut is slated for release on Octover 9th, 2007 – but for those who can’t wait, the 180 gram on vinyl in available now at www.volcoment.com

Words: Tim Bergevin If you were just starting a band and someone told you in a few years time you would have five albums of sonically diverse music would you believe it? It’s doubtful as the temptation to reproduce the record that drove you into notoriety in the first place is a strong one. Nine years into their adventure Thrice have again delivered a record that not only pushes them as artists but one that also challenges the listener to move forward with them.

After finishing their run supporting 2005’s Vhessiu, the band started in on a project of considerable scale, a four volume album entitled The Alchemy Index. Now recently separated from Island Records, the band has relocated to the friendly confines of indie label stalwart Vagrant Records and is ready to drop the first two volumes on October 16th.

The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II, is a collection of songs as intense and diverse as the fans that adore the band. Made up of two EP’s, Fire and Water, the album starts off with what is arguably the heaviest track the band has ever put on a record. Twelve tracks later and you have completed half a journey through an album that will receive as much backlash as critical acclaim. Riley Breckenridge, drummer and one quarter of the OC bred band weighs in on German journalists and the repercussions of expanding Thrice’s musical horizons.

You’re in the middle of setting up for the release of the record.

Besides being asked the same ten questions is there ever anything that people say that surprises you?

There was a pretty amazing interview with a German magazine where the writer was wondering why the songs on the Fire disc were so heavy and aggressive because when he thinks of fire he thinks of warmth.

He thought that the Fire part of the record was going to be these real comforting songs like a fire in your fire place. I was like, “fire has a really destructive element as well and that is what we we’re focusing on.” He also told me that water is very violent and destructive like Hurricane Katrina. I told him that here in the States there is actually a market for CD’s that have the sound of waterfalls, waves breaking or of a creek that are sold as relaxation. I told him that is why we tried to make the Water part a little more mellow, fluid and soothing.

Did he get it?

No. Thrice has taken the most heat out of any band I know for stretching your sound from record to record and this album is no different.

Definitely, I think it is important for us each time to push ourselves and try new things. We’re all kind of restless people in a way, creatively restless. So to do the same thing whether it’s making a record that is sonically similar to the last one or making the recording environment similar to the last recording environment, doesn’t work for us. This is why we are constantly changing and pushing ourselves to try new things. That is the cool thing about being in a creative medium, that there shouldn’t be a limit as to what you can do. You should have the ability to push yourself and stretch a little bit and take chances and be open to new challenges.

If you guys had come up in a different scene do you feel you would be less scrutinized for evolving your sound?

I think we would probably be less scrutinized if we came up through a different scene. It’s a common occurrence with punk bands, hardcore bands and metal bands where people who listen to them find something in the music that completes a part of their personality or defines who

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they are. When bands change it throws their persona out of whack and it makes them even more resistant to change. Even when we were kind of playing the same style during the Illusion of Safety and Artist in the Ambulance stage we went through the problem that we jumped to a major label, were getting played on the radio and also had our videos being shown. People were freaked out and started tossing out the sellout term. There were comments on our message boards by people saying that there were girls at their school that now liked Thrice who also liked bands like New Found Glory or whatever band that they didn’t like. And now that these girls liked Thrice, it was ruining the band for them. It’s such a weird phase in a person’s life where you cater your personal Your fans are as loyal as they are critical about the band. Is that because your band has a transparency that connects them to you so tightly?

For all intensive purposes this is our first band. So our entire history and growth as musicians and people is available in musical form. With a lot of bands you get one person from this band and another from that band and they have tried a few things with the other bands they were in and then they meet at some show and decided to form a rock band that does this. It’s much more of a focused effort. For us, every little mistake and every step in our growth as a band is on record.

So what is the reaction so far from the songs people have heard?

It’s too early to tell as we just released two songs via AOL and MySpace and being the self deprecating person I am I checked to see what people are saying. I can read like 250 positive comments and then I read one negative one and I’m like, “oh yeah it does suck.” But so far most of them are positive, which was really reassuring and encouraging. It was such a huge project and we made so many songs and worked on it for so long that there were a few moments in the writing and recording process where I was like, “what the fuck are we doing? Is this the right move? Is this concept thing stretching us to thin? Are we writing good songs?” You have all these doubts, so usually when I get a final master I listen to it once just to make sure I’m okay with it and then I don’t touch it for months and months. So to have them be responded to like this is encouraging.

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