BL!SSS Magazine | November 2009 | #27 by Blisss Mag

SUIT UP AT QUIKSILVER.COM/WETSUITS

KELLY SLATER IN CYPHER 3/2 CHEST-ZIP

THE WORLD’S BEST. NOBODY BETTER. HANDS DOWN THE GREATEST SURFER EVER. THOSE ARE SOME HEAVY STATEMENTS TO MAKE WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT. BUT WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE NINE WORLD TITLES IT’S NOT A CLAIM — IT’S A FACT. KELLY IS A LIVING LEGEND AND WHEN THE WORLD’S BEST SURFER PADDLES OUT IN THE CYPHER WETSUIT, WHAT YOU GET IS EPIC SURFING PERFORMANCE THAT IS TRULY UNEQUALLED.

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NOVEMBER 2009

Disclaimer: Although all best efforts are made to avoid the same, we reserve the right to publish unintentional mistakes and/or factual errors which may occur on a monthly basis. No responsibility is assumed by the publishers for unsolicited materials/articles/letters/advertising and all submissions will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright and/or appropriate licensing purposes subject to Blisssâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reďŹ&#x201A;ect the opinions of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial team. Blisss Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising matter which may reďŹ&#x201A;ect negatively on the integrity of the magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without prior written consent from the publisher.

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SABER : HEALTH CARE REFORM

MEMPHIS AT THE BEACH Manhattan Beach has got a fine new dining establishment – Memphis at the Beach. Now we’ve been longtime customers of their Costa Mesa establishment and highly recommend checking out their new South Bay home. With artificial turf on the outside walls and changing LED I just got a phone call (literally minutes before deadline) from our Sep- lights glowing from within, it’s a bit hard to miss while walking down tember cover artist, SABER. His “Health Care Reform” video was selected Manhattan Ave. But don’t be fooled by there looks, they’ve got the as one of twenty finalists nation wide to be chosen as a national campaign. mean Southern cooking and laidback attitude down. Saber has been suffering from some serious health issues and knows the problems with America’s Health Care first hand. “I made this video and support Health Care Reform because I am self-employed and have been denied much needed Health Insurance. To this day I have none.” You can help Saber’s cause (as well as America’s) and VOTE for Saber’s video by either going to his website at Saberone.com or at my.barackobama.com/page/content/hrvcvideos.com. We received a pre-release copy of Duke Boyd’s new hardback “Legends of Surfing.” He teamed up with photog extraordinaire Jeff Devine to bring you this bright, big glossy filled with tons of crisp, clean shots of heroes of yesteryears and today. Highlighting surfing’s pioneers, this book goes through the times and is great for any enthusiast’s collection.

LEGENDS OF SURFING

PARKUMENTARY

BRIGHT VANS Vans is gearing up to let loose some bright colors for 2010 with it’s exclusive Luxe by Vans Collection. Rumors are that these babies won’t be released till February and maybe a little bit tricky to come by but they sure will brighten up your day. Stepping outside the norm, the Wellesly Strap, Chukka Low, Aleeda, and Lesley will put a little pep in your step so be sure to keep your eyes peeled and put these on your wish list.

In celebration of their 20th year of park development, Big Bear is webcasting a nine part documentary series leading up to the opening of the 2009/2010 snow season. They’re releasing one segment a week and by the time this ink hits your ﬁngers parts one and two should be available for download at bearmountain.com. Click your way over there and learn a little history about one of Southern California premier snowboarding mountain and get pumped up for opening day.

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BREAK ON THROUGH

LISTEN TO ME! I gotta give a little shout out to our boys Spides and Dean of Atwater for bringing home the “Breakthrough Brand of the Year” award at this years’ SIMA surf summit in Cabo. These two dudes are really hard workers, living their dreams and doing what they love. Atwater has been creating some really ﬁne apparel and I’m stoked they ﬁnally got a little recognition they so badly deserve. Congrats boys and see you at the Bear Flag soon.

SKARTIST Riviera Longboards has been around for about three years now and seems to be getting better and better every year. The new “Skartist Series” from Riviera Longboards is all that and a bag of rad. The newest line features graphics from some of skate boarding’s heaviest hitting artists like Teddy Kelly, Ron Cameron, Todd Bratrud, and Michael Sieben. Holy crap, this line is dope. Grab one or two of these boards before they’re all sold out!

Ever since we’ve announced the launch of Eskuche, our boy Andrew Schulenburg’s headphone company, only good things have been happening. It seems like nowadays everyone is onto the headphone craze but very few are getting the notoriety from top celebrities as Kanye West – Eskuche is one of these few. He blasted them on his blog after seeing the BL!SSS plug so expect to see the Control next. Another timeless design priced to sell, it doesn’t seem like Eskuche can do anything wrong, we’ll keep you posted.

I AM SNOWBOARDING

iPHONE HIGH The marketing peeps at Mountain High have been cracking the whips on their snow techies all summer long and are gearing up to release their very own iPhone application this month. Slated to go live November 15th, the boys left no strings untied as they have thought of it all: videos, live cams, snow conditions, road conditions, trail openings, and even purchasing lift tickets through your phone. Another must have for the tech generation, download it on mthigh.com or the App Store soon.

With the real opening weekend officially going down the second week in November; it looks like Mammoth is going to be place to be. With snow falling as I type this, Thursday the 12th will serve as the official kickoff party with Analog boys and all the good folks from Wave Rave mixing it up at the Whitebark Lounge in the Westin. That’s just a warm up for Friday night’s “JLA: I Am Snowboarding” party presented by Volcom and Electric at Whiskey Creek. But even that is a warm up for Saturday night’s world premiere of the highly anticipated snow flick “Hot Laps” and the “I Am Snowboarding” art show at the Village at Mammoth. With many local and transplant artists/photographer teams, there is sure to be something for everyone to enjoy. Be sure to also check out the super limited edition screened posters JDK designed for the event.

SHREDDING GAME

BLOWUP BOARD BAG I got a chance to experience these wonderful blowup board bags firsthand on a weekend getaway to Nicaragua last month. I know, a long way for a few short days but well worth it to escape the orange curtain to get some quality sessions in with the office boys and our buddy Zach Boone of Nike 6.0. Anyway, Zach, being the clever little human that he is, already had his hands on this Soma Airbag and boy were we impressed. I think we spent the whole ride to the airport thinking of other uses for his boardbag: sleeping bag, pool lounger, river raft, fishing vessel, air mattress… you get the point. Anyway, his bag was way lighter than the rest of ours, zero quiver damage, and simple to carry. Actually, the only downside was the blowup factor – it got him a bit winded and some strange looks. Soma Airbag crew, how about you float us a couple down to the BL!SSS headquarters and we’ll test them for ya! The boys at FUEL TV have released their first online video game in conjunction with their hit series Built to Shred. Now this time of the month we look for anything to do besides work so you can bet your sweet baby Jesus we’ve been putting some serious time in trying to beat this week’s high score. The graphics will take you back to arcade days, but it still a great little break from the grind. Check it out at fuel.tv/builttoshredgame.

PT INVADES HSS Starting November 14th in the Huntington Surf & Sport Boardroom, the first ASP World Surfing Champion, Peter “PT” Townend, will host Coffee Conversations, Talk Story and Bustin’ Down the Door. He’ll be talking surfboards, telling stories and pretty much just being the typical Aussie that he is. Anyone who has yet to have that “PT experience” needs to head on over to HSS’s and listen to a story or two. And don’t forget to check out their full range of the best surfboard brands, including the Santa Cruz PT’s “Bustin’ Down the Door” retro model Stylemaster single-fin and his other favorite, the “Pumpkin Seed.” We’ll see you for a cup of joe from the coffee bar and a chance to win a Santa Cruz cruiser skateboard.

LOMO DIANA MINI We know that digital cameras aren’t going away anytime soon, but there’s something to be said about those that are keeping analog cameras and ﬁlm alive. Lomo is doing just that with their newest line of the Diana Mini. The Diana Mini is pretty much the same as her bigger sister the Diana, just a little smaller… obvious. Besides it’s smaller proportions with only 6cm high and 7cm wide the new Diana Mini offers a forgotten 1960’s technique - the half frame photography. You can switch between half frame and 35 mm square format. That handy option takes the Diana Mini to an almost endless picture-taking friend. You can shoot 72 pictures with a regular 36 exposures 35 mm roll ﬁlm. Besides the multiple frame formats the tiny 35mm camera is packed with features like multi and long time exposures, overlapping images, and cable release compatibility. Check out the chrome model shown here or at lomography.com.

PRE We got a little ofﬁce visit from our dear friend Luann Petix this past month as she brought us a few cases of the new PRE Probiotic Enhancer Beverages. With a name like that I gotta admit I was a bit skeptical on how they would taste but it only took about 2 weeks to blow through ﬁve cases so that has gotta tell ya something. Keeping us healthy and our immune systems strong for this upcoming winter - that’s something everyone could use!

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LOUIE VITO CRASHES

SANTA CRUZ SURFBOARDS The boys up in Santa Cruz have been busy putting together their new website that just launched. If you haven’t checked out their full line of boards, you gotta quit your lagging and check out all the new ones, especially the G-Decks, Ozzie Wright and Archy pro models. Not only are all the Santa Cruz boards the newest in PowerLyte EXT technology but most of them have some awesome paint jobs as well, so you’ll be stylin’ at your local shred spot. Go to santacruzsurfboards.com and get your shred on.

SKULLCANDY APP Now a lot of brands have been dropping iPhone apps as of late but none as comprehensive and all encompassing as the new Skullcandy app. I just downloaded this sucker today and it has everything: surf report… check, snow conditions… check, skate park locations… check, videos… check, music… double check – I mean everything. It really is one of the ﬁner apps we’ve seen. Oh yeah, and it’s free so be sure to search Skullcandy at the App Store and download today.

So by now most of you have seen our boy Louie Vito dancing his little troll ass off on the show, Dancing With the Stars. Louie put up quite a ﬁght in his six weeks on the show, and we gotta say that his sweet looking partner sure did make things a lot easier when it came to tuning in. But sadly, Louie’s run has come to an end, and actually him getting voted off is probably the best thing that happen to us because now we never have to watch that horrible show again.

GENIUS SPEAKERS So it doesn’t really take a Genius to ﬁgure out speakers that look like these, have great sound quality, and retail for under $50 is a great buy. Yup, another must-have for anyone owning and iPod, laptop, or just to spice up the ofﬁce look. You can’t go wrong with wood ,so head on over to your local electronics shop a pick up a pair today.

TH RIDE

Tony Hawk and his crew at Activision will release what seems to be their millionth game under the Tony Hawk name; This one’s called TH Ride and is being released on November 17th. The new game gives you the controller as a skate deck that you stand on and move to do all the tricks. No handheld controllers at all here, you’ll actually got to get off the couch to play. Which, can either be a really good or really annoying thing if you ask us. Then again, our favorite game is still Super Mario Bros, so who are we to talk. But it’s simply amazing that after all these years Tony has sold millions and millions of these games, making him not only the most recognizable name in action sports, but also the richest. Amen to that!

INTEGRATE PERFORMANCE & STYLE

Words: MADSTEEZ Christian Jacobs is living his dream. After taking a huge risk and leaving a job at RVCA, he hit the nail on the head and co-created the amazing Nick Jr. children’s television series Yo Gabba Gabba! Yo Gabba Gabba! is a show intended for kids but transcends the boundaries by combining visually stimulating pop culture and musical genius that adults can appreciate. Christian, also the singer for the Aquabats, flexes his music background and has guest appearance from some of the best including Biz Markie, Weezer, MGMT and the Roots to name a few. Christian invited me for a taping of one of the shows and I must say it was one of the coolest, most inspiring events I have ever experienced. Yo Gabba Gabba! is filmed at Downey Studios in an endless playground of sets, characters and costumes that I could have only dreamed of. Not only was there an entire universe under one roof but the legendary DEVO was on center stage filming for an upcoming episode. I watched in Photo: Justin Lyon

complete awe as DEVO performed on the blue screen while Christian ran the show with a megaphone (even he couldn’t believe he was directing DEVO). I was a little confused when everyone behind the scenes were rockin’ pirate costumes and I came to find out that every single day is theme dress up day. Damn, I missed day-glow day by one day where I would have fit right in! The best part is, is that Christian is one of the most humble nicest dudes and comes from a background of surfing and skating. His hard work has paid off and it goes to show that sometimes you have to make that leap of faith to make your dreams come true. Even if you don’t have a little kid, Yo Gabba Gabba! is worth checking out and be sure to peep out the website, yogabbagabba.com where you can even create your own beat sequence using clips from Rahzel, the human beat box.

Herakut

DIAM

Trica & Flying Fortess

Dave the Chimp

Photos: Just.ekosystem.org ARTOtale was a monumental event that took place in Leuphana, Germany combining what is normally considered illegal art with public space. With the support of the city’s population, 35 internationally renowned street artists were turned loose at various locations around the city centre and University campus to install their work. Homeowners agreed to have their buildings covered in grafﬁti and other artworks. This was all for Leuphana’s 2009 welcome week and was to be documented by ﬁrst year art

students, under the direction of renowned urban art curator, Rik Reinking. The artists invited to participate came from all over the globe including Boris Hoppek, Dave the Chimp, D*face, EVOL, Faith 47, Flying Förtress, DAIM, Swoon and Zevs to name a few. Even this month’s cover art by Herakut was spawned from this incredible event. Lets hope that other cities around world take notice of the success and beauty that came from ARTOtale and commission their own street artist city takeovers.

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Interview: Brad Beylik Tanner Prairie is a refreshing exception to Orange County’s population of 50 dollar t-shirt wearing upper middle classers. These guys don’t tattoo their local loyalties in plain view. But Tanner does, with the word “BLACKIES” standing out on his right forearm. He sometimes buttons only the top button of his baggy plaid shirts, and keeps his hair closely buzzed. Usually there are bits of foam dust attached to his mustache and eyebrows. Tanner’s anti-mainstream personality has hit the Costa Mesa scene right where it counts with the opening of his new surf shop, The Black Hole. Sticking out in the middle of Newport Boulevard, it’s the ﬁrst shop of its kind to grace that row of dank one-ﬂoor storefronts in years. Down a few doors from Goathill Tavern and next door to Hollywood’s

Barber Shop, The Black Hole provides a refreshingly grungy alternative to The Closet around the corner or Triangle Square, the trendy-90s-experimentturned-ghost-town that mostly houses the scraps of a pathetic local club scene. “It’s underground, not a mainstream surf shop,” Tanner says of his new store. If anything, he says, the Black Hole can be described as “the anti-mainstream surf shop.” Tanner has been hand-shaping custom boards locally for years - logs, hulls, ﬁshes and whatever other weird experimental shapes you can think of for the likes of Al Knost, Kassia Meador and Mitch Abshere. He still shapes by hand, usually without the aid of a machine to pre-cut his blanks.

As a shaper, much of Tanner’s skill and reputation has been built on what he learned from local legend and masterful shaper Mike Marshall. Marshall developed a slew of well-crafted boards in the sixties, like the wildly popular “Trestle Special,” an iconic three-stringer board from the era. Tanner apprenticed under Mike, devoting himself to the craft. Tanner hungrily absorbed the technique and style of Marshall, whose boards made him one of the most sought-after shapers of his day. But Tanner also expanded on the shaping skill he learned, building a reputation as both a keeper of classic traditions and an innovator of weird new shapes. The opening reception party at the Black Hole in late August is a good indicator of who Tanner is in the local scene. Music by friends the Japanese Motors

and Gantez Warrior, a host of famous and semi-famous athletes and scene types from the surfing world, local cops, high school kids…the list goes on. As a shaper, a surfer, a shop proprietor, and as a generally interesting local figure, Tanner brings back some of the memory of an earlier, more outcast version of surf culture. With Tanner, there is no trace of the corporate pretense and moneyed atmosphere that pervades our local surf scene today. Instead, he is more of a salty pirate surfer who’s more comfortable baking himself leathery on the beach or surfing Blackies, his favorite local spot, all day. That’s why when the waves are half-decent, you might find Tanner out in the water instead of manning the helm of his shop.

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Interview: Geoff Rowley // Photo: Remy For all the kids out there that don’t know, can you explain a little bit about your upbringing, musical self and connection to skateboarding and Flip Skateboards? For sure, I grew up just north of Oxford, UK and used to skate, either in Oxford or Milton Keynes, we lived equidistant to those places so it was easy to get to either, I used to buy my (Deathbox) product from SS20 (respect Mon & Sean!) I had a very early exposure to all things musical through my cousins and was listening to Metallica at around 10. My music interest really grew a lot when I found Drums & Bass when I was about 16, slowly got further drawn into that, that led into making my own productions, I had always played guitar from an early age and seemed to pick up the music production stuff fairly easily. I had pretty long career in Drum and Bass as a producer and DJ’d extensively round the world form 2001-2009. My connection to Flip happened through a meeting with you through Alex Moul back in 2003, I was in LA, right when you guys were finishing Really Sorry and things grew from there. How on earth did you go about getting all these major artists to collaborate on a skateboard video soundtrack? We mainly got most of the people hooked in either because, they knew of you, they knew of me, or they knew of Flip and some of the other riders, it wasn’t so difficult to get people into the idea as it was such a unique project, once the demos went to people and we started to see the reactions from the artists it was on!! A lot of telephone hustling by you and I, it was a really cool thing to be a part of. Oh yeah plus the fact that Lemmy was on it! Every track in the video was specifically geared towards each riders skating, style and energy, can you give me two examples of music in the video that are from the outside very similar and yet musically light years apart? Well, Stand By Me for you doesn’t really represent us driving round Long Beach in your car with Slayer on 11, not that you don’t appreciate all aspects of music, but the song is totally perfect for you’re skating, the mixture of gnar skating with a slow song is high impact. The second one would be Bob’s, a lot of people said to me on the premiere tour that they didn’t expect Bob to have such a heavy track, I think the assumption was that we would have gone in the direction of a Brazilian style track, but

I think once people saw the levels of gnar in the skating, they realized exactly why I went the direction I did with that, all in all it worked out really well and to get Stephen McBean from Black Mountain to vocal took it too the next dimension. What kind of reaction at the premieres have you been getting with regards to the soundtrack? 100% positive, everyone has been really stoked, I think that for a lot of people, industry people in particular there was probably a huge amount of apprehension, I don’t think people genuinely thought we could pull it off. Dave Lombardo (Slayer) came to the LA premiere and was totally stoked, blown away. You have a pretty stellar relationship with the whole Flip team after traveling on various tours throughout the last few years mostly stateside (and a little in the UK) we all felt strongly that in order to do everybody justice with there music it was important that you spent a lot of time with the guys so that they trusted you, believed in what we were trying to do and got behind you 100%. Are you happy with the rider’s response to all your hard work? Yeah everyone is really happy, its been really cool to get such positive feedback from the team, if they weren’t into it, it would probably not wanna make me do it again, cos what would be the point right? It’s a bigger buzz for me to know that the team loves their songs than it is to play to a huge crowd of people, that’s a buzz that doesn’t stop. You scored the whole soundtrack to the last “Flip Feast Southwest Tour” and are already working on music for the next Feast Tour of the eastern USA. What is your obsession with skateboarding? What stokes you out and makes you want to make music for all these degenerate pro skaters? Haha! Skateboarding is the ﬁnal frontier of gnar. To me it’s the most progressive of all action sports for want of a better term, the very fact we are making original soundtracks for these ﬁlms and no one else is just goes to show exactly where skateboarding is. I think it would stoke people out to know that a lot of the music was unplanned and seriously punked! Dave Lombardo (Slayer) being one! The

drumming he did was totally freestyle and whilst he played he watched parts of the extremely sorry video to get him amped!! That is totally rad!! Do you think that guys like this are looking for some new musical stuff to get their teeth into and are sick of the usual musical process? Yeah the way it came together was insane. In 3 months, I moved my studio and myself to America, lived with you and then got my own place, you and I hooked up the record deal with Volcom, I wrote around 5 new tracks, got all the all the collaborations done and did all the insanity with finishing the film, it was intense and all the collaborations came together in a really natural way though no pressure was put on anyone and my view on all it was, if doesn’t work, it’s not meant to be, I am strong believer in that. One little bit of soundtrack trivia that is pretty rad that people would not know is that the original photo editor for Thrasher Magazine did the vocals on Lance Mountain’s track, he was and still is in the Drunk Injuns which is one of the original (if not the original) skate rock bands. I saw this as a quiet way to hand over the batton and introduce the skate world to a new sound, was this even in “your mind” at the beginning of the musical process? Thanks Geoff, that’s a real compliment. Well in the initial stages absolutely not, to start with it was just a case of getting my head round the enormity of the project. But as things gained momentum and we started to develop a little style and sound to the soundtrack, I at that point, started to think that if I did a good job that it might set the standard for a while to come, I am very interested to see which other company moves first. For me the raddest part about producing this skateboard video’s specific soundtrack was that we had no rules! We made music with Snoop Dogg and Lemmy on the same album and it worked! That is pretty rad. Would you say a new genre has been created in the process? If so what you call it? Skate rock is already taken! Rock and roller perhaps? Haha! Yeah we should invent a name, maybe sidewalk can run a comp?? It was the freeest project I have been involved with, no tempo or style rules, the only brief was, make it blast!! I think that Louie’s, Luan’s

and Rodrigo’s and Bob’s tracks have their own unique style, maybe something like “Gnar Blast?” Out of every artist you worked with (please list them) who’s talent surprised you the most? With all the artists we worked with I was blown away by all of them, here are the reasons. Lemmy (Motorhead) - Amazing vocal pitch and tone. It’s Lemmy, need I say more. Dave Lombardo (Slayer) - Did drums for a whole 3 min track in one take, no editing necessary, a god amongst men. Mike Conte (Earlyman) - Demonic vocals, Demonic content, total pro, perfect for David. Stephen McBean (Black Mountain) Stephen’s understanding of Skateboarding took his featured track into a new realm... Epic! Mack Winston (MW & the Reflections) - Underground band from LA, this guy’s voice blew me away, very unique and trippy. Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) - Jim has one of the most recognizable Punk Rock voice’s, he was amazing and down for whatever, to get him to vocal something electronic was very special. Mike Aho ((sounder)) - Mike from sounder has an amazing voice and added a truly sublime feel to this track, Yeah Mike! Warren G & Snoop Dogg - No comment necessary. Genre-defining artists. Name one secret within the music that at first listen people may not know? I know there are a few funny hidden gems within the folds. One of the tracks may feature a certain Geoff Rowley on some vocals?? David (Gonzalez) on the guitar solo duty on Powerhouse, Jeremy making sound FX with his voice for the claymations, that was classically funny!!! How do you like American women? Don’t mind them, trying to get used to them, they are a different species. They offer something different. I’m not in a state of mutual concurrence yet though. What is next for Baron? I know we are already brainstorming musical ideas for the next Flip video, any grand visions you want to throw out there? Loads of stuff going on right now, the most exciting of which is another Flip video, that will be epic, the next Flip Feast East Coast Feast Tour, maybe a Baron solo album next year, that could be cool. In the Flip van with the crew getting wasted round the world is fine with me.

Pick up Baron’s latest release “Flip Skateboards Extremely Sorry Soundtrack” available on Volcom Entertainment now! www.volcoment.com/ﬂipsoundtrack for more info.

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Photo: Dominic Petruzzi : dominicpetruzzi.com // Model: Olga Fonda // Agenecy: Nous Models Olga Fonda was born in Russia and moved to Los Angeles to begin a career in modeling. She has been featured in numerous campaigns and recently has made a successful crossover to television and film. Guest starring on sitcoms such as: How I Met Your Mother, Melrose Place, Nip/Tuck, Ugly Betty and this year’s season finale of Entourage. Even without her superstar TV roles, we’re more than pleased to feature her as November’s Super Taste. She’s also about to begin filming a supporting role as Owen Wilson’s girlfriend in the new blockbuster Little Fockers. So as much as you enjoy this particular photo, expect to see much more of Olga real soon. Hair/Makeup: Andrea Buhler // Styling: Bianca Christians // Post Production: Ben Muratet // Bathing Suit: Tyler Rose Swimwear

Portrait, Sydney Photo: Dean Tirko

B Smith, Bondi Photo: Otto Cei

Interview: Sergie Ventura Let’s begin with who you are, where you live, and what you currently do? I was born Sasha Carlos Steinhorst many moons ago in San Diego, CA. I moved to San Francisco when I was 4. I grew up in SF and currently live in Mission Viejo, CA. I work with World Cup Skateboarding as the Head Judge and Asian Events Director. I have also recently started doing some consulting work for Ducati Motorcycles. I’m super excited about that. With a name like that, I guess we can presume that you’re from Germany? Well, my dad was born in Berlin, but the name Sasha is actually Russian. It’s the Russian equivalent of Alexander. So you can call me Alex if you like. Did you do the Oktoberfest thing and swing your beer in the air from side to side? And was that really a big thing when you were growing up? As I said before, my dad was born in Berlin. My mom was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina of German parents. So even though I was born in the US, I grew up in a German/Spanish speaking house. Bier, as it’s spelt in German, is a super huge part of the culture and heritage of Germany. I do have great memories of celebrating Oktoberfest with friends and family. Always good times, maybe that’s why I like beer so much! Are you ﬂuent with German? What about any other languages? I’m almost ﬂuent. I speak with my parents but I

don’t spend too much time in Germany being able to speak a lot. If I’m in Germany for a few weeks, I’m straight. My girlfriend is German and lives in Berlin at the moment, so that helps me practice. I’m ok in Spanish, Italian and a few others. I travel a lot so I try to pick up things you need to survive please, thank you, excuse me, beer, etc. It’s cool to hear people talking in another language and know at least what language they’re speaking. Languages are like food, lots of different flavors to spice up life. Americans need to get out from inside the USA bubble. Did you first start skating in Germany or US? I started skating in the late 70’s in San Francisco. My first setup was a California Free Former. It was blue. My Mom bought it for me. God I owe her for that! I upgraded to a G&S FibreFlex soon thereafter. That was my first “custom” setup. What type of terrain and when did you start? I started skating in the streets of San Francisco. I guess that was around ‘77ish. My grandparents lived in San Diego so I was lucky enough to be able to skate Oasis Skate Park on trips to see them. It was just under the 805/8 Hwy underpass. I remember seeing all kinds of people back then – Lamar, Shugo, Andrecht and others. Later when Del Mar opened, I got to go there as well. In the early 80’s, I’d spend summers with my grand folks in SD and would skate Del Mar everyday. I remember taking 3 buses from SD up to the Skate Ranch. Then my gramps would pick me up and take me home. He was really supportive. They say that you must have over 20 years experience to master something, being you’re in the Master’s division, do you find it harder to skate in comps now than before, when you were a just a little bratwurst? Back when I was a little bratwurst comps were so

frustrating. I hated them. Being 14 and thrown into the deep end with the likes of Underhill, Grosso, etc at Del Mar was pretty overwhelming. I wanted to be there, but it was overwhelming nonetheless. Nowadays, I don’t really trip out too much anymore. I’m just thankful that I can still skate and have a forum to make a little extra cash. It’s just a good time. However, I am over the jock mentality of some of the guys. The Master’s comp is NO second career for me. It’s just a fun time with old friends. The jocking-out mentality is one of the reason’s I haven’t been entering the Pro Tec Pool Party the last coupe of years. Instead of seeing old men with stoked looks on their faces, all I see are dudes with super game face on. I’m over that… Did you ever think that you would be skating this long? Bro when I grew up, we didn’t think we would make it be 30 years old, let alone ride a skateboard this long. But we did have the skate for life mindset, that’s for sure. What’s your favorite skate spot? My favorite skate spot has to be the Bondi Pool. I love the whole scene of beach, skate, surf, chillin. It reminds me of growing up at Del Mar Skate Ranch back in the early eighties. Not to many places that have a pool literally on the beach. The Marseille bowl is still really good times as well. Malmo, Sweden is another really good spot to shred the gnar. I have to say that I’m just happy to be skating. It doesn’t really matter where or on what; just the fact that I’m rolling around makes me happy. And thankful! Are you a 1K member on any airlines? Damn straight! I’m a million mile/1K ﬂyer on United. How did that come about and when did it

Gap to Board slide Mumzaar, Dubai Photo: Evan Collisson

begin? That means I’ve already flown 1,000,000+ miles on United alone. I fly at least 100,000+ miles per year on United. Not including the other flying buses I take every year. I did a lot of travel when I ran the team at Etnies (1997-2001) but I really started the global mission when I went back to work for WCS. It’s been non-stop since 2002. Where was your most favorite place to revisit? For sure Bali, never in my lifetime did I think that I’d get paid to ride my skateboard in Bali. It was one of the most amazing trips ever!

Rock ‘n Roll : Bali, Indo Photo: Nareen Kameshwara

Eggplant Bell : 5 Docks, Australia Photo: Ortiz

Was it because of what you were skating or the environment or the scenery? It was a little bit of everything. The scenery, people, food, culture, surf... And not to mention, my friend Julien’s bowl in Denpasar is amazing! Nothing like skating a private concrete bowl in the jungle with friends. Good times for sure. Because you’ve traveled so much, seen so many things, skated so many parks, which one is your favorite? Like I said before, I just like to skate. I’m happy whatever you put in front of me. As long as there’s cool people to shred with it’s all good. But If I have to pick a spot… It would probably have to be Bondi. Just like everyone else, there are other things, other hobbies you enjoy other than skateboarding. For you, that would be? Skating is the number one, but I do have many other things that keep me busy when not on the skate. I ride my pushbike every other day to keep in shape. Skating’s hard on the body at our age, so it’s good to have other ways to stay in shape. I’m learning to surf better. Surﬁng is so hard, I feel humbled every time I hit the waves. You’re into bikes, I mean motorcycles, speciﬁcally Ducati’s…

Yes sir… I’m a moto Ducati freak! I’ve been into bikes as long as I’ve been into skateboarding. I used to build bikes when I was young and then ride them to skate spots. I’ve just recently started doing some consulting work for Ducati. I’m hoping to get my foot in the door and work for them in Italy sooner or later. How many bikes do you own? At the moment, I have 3 bikes. A Ducati 900SS. I take her to the mountain and racetrack as much as possible. I just recently built a Supermotard off a Honda XR650R. It’s street legal and such a blast to ride. I also have a Honda XR400 desert bike that I ride on my local Saddleback Mountain. How often do you get to ride them? I recently sold my two cars, so I’m on the bikes all the time. I mostly ride the Supermotard around as daily commuter. Although, it is a ticket magnet. What’s your riding routine? Where do you go? On the weekends I’m up at sunrise (if I’m not traveling on a skate trip) riding my local mountain, usually on the Ducati. Sometimes I rip the Supermotard, but usually I prefer to get my knee on the ground on the Italian Stallion. I try to hit the track when my schedule allows. So that’s usually only 3-4 times a year. Weekdays (usually in the morning) I’ll take the XR400R out for a spin on my local mountain. It’s fun to rip the ﬁre road trails, but I have to say that I prefer road riding to playing around in the dirt. Although learning to ride in the dirt does for sure make you a better road racer. You’ve been traveling the world, riding your skateboard in so many rad parks and checking out sick places, you’ve seen skateboarding go through it’s ups and downs, what’s the most dramatic change in skateboarding you’ve seen thru all your travels? Geez… So many up’s and down’s in Skating over the years.

50-50, Wonderland Bowl : Christiania, CPH Photo: BK

Wallride: Olympic Park, Sydney Photo: Joe Krolick

Parks closing in the early 80’s, running from cops in the early days of street skating in SF, vert died, blind jeans and 40mm wheels… I could go on forever and the politics. But do I really need to go there? I have to say that I’m glad that skateboarding has come more full circle in the past 5-7 years. What I mean by that is... For a while our industry was only concerned with forward progression and we forgot about the people who laid the foundation for the upcoming generations of kids. I think as the skate culture became more mature, the community started to embrace our past and realize where we all came from. Skateboarding is a lifestyle, NOT a money industry. And does it differ from country to country? For sure… Every country has their own scene. They all try to immolate the US in some ways. But it’s great to see skateboarding grow in different ways and directions. The more ﬂavors the better, as far as I’m concerned. Is it that much different from each

country? Absolutely… Take Europe for example, you’ve got like 20+ countries in such a small area, but they all speak different languages, eat different foods, have different spots to skate, etc. The one common thing is the love for that skateboard. It’s the brush that skater’s need to paint their picture. Last comments? I’d like to say thanks to all the people over the years that have supported my skateboard dream. There’s so many… Thanks to mom and dad for allowing me to follow my dreams. Don and Danielle at WCS for helping me get everywhere. Rob Washburn at Bones wheels for always respecting and being there. Independent for keeping my turns ﬂowing. 187 for keeping my knee’s safe and happy. Emil at Blood Wizard for the ﬁne wood! Sean at Alpinestars for the moto gear hook up’s, Scurto and Dylan at Oakley. My girlfriend for dealing with my crap. Ortiz and BK for all the great pics over the years. Thanks to all the skateboarder’s around the world that have help or inspired, skate tuff! Peace.

F.S Invert : Tuba, Bologna, Italy Photo: BK

Tracking Eero In The Swiss Alps :: Photos: Matt Murray As the season was slowing down for Eero Ettala and crew, it was time to hit up Europe for some shredding goodness at a little gem called Solden, Austria – nestled in the Alps, about an hour from Innsbruck. The crew met up in Munich and rolled to Solden in some badass Audi wagons courtesy of Oakley Sports Marketing contact Alex Rieger. The drive was mellow, only taking two hours, including a McD’s stop for Eero to get his fix. Once the crew arrived in Solden they were greeted by the Friday Productions team of Greg, Sandy, Mark and Marius, who had already been at the mountain getting the first jump dialed in. The crew was stoked to see Eero, as it had been a few weeks since their last filming trip in British Columbia. Eero has been making quite the impact on the snowboard industry the last four years with his banger Mack Dawg parts. This year, Eero stepped away from the traditional snowboard movie season by making a television show with Friday Productions of Sorsa Project, Terje’s Season Pass, Snowboard Diaries and now

Tracking Eero. He will also star in the upcoming Oakley Snowboard team film. Eero’s travels this year have taken him to Russia, Japan, BC, Utah, Vegas, NYC, Aspen, and Finland just to name a few. The entire crew was eleven people deep (three riders and eight filmers/photographers) when we took the first tram ride up Solden to begin our photo shoot. Solden’s jump was built towards the top of the mountain in an avalanche area, so it required a little bit of work getting all of the gear there. In the end the Solden crew was very helpful in getting Marius’ paragliding gear up to the jump to set up for fly by filming sessions. The jump was enormous to say the very least. You could fit two snow cats through the gap and the jump itself had some interesting pop from the extreme pitch of the run-in and the landing was over 100 feet wide and about 100 feet long. It would take a lot to miss this landing, but it would also take some serious speed to clear the gap. Within a few short hours, Erik Botner from

Norway was throwing down some sick tricks off the massive jump. If you follow snowboarding closely in Europe, you’ve likely heard the name Erik Botner. Botner hails from Norway, but acts more American with his constant erratic behavior. The kid dropped almost as many one-liners to the cute chick at the coffee shop in Laax as the tricks he stuck off this massive jump in Austria. Botner nailed over a half dozen hammers, including some of the most stylish frontside 540s you will ever see. We could only ride the jump until about 1pm because of high avalanche danger, so by 11am the jump was full on ready. Eero proceeded to destroy that jump by throwing down backside 900, backside rodeos, backside 180s, you name it he was killing it. Erik Botner was matching him with some sick tricks of his own including “banger” (as Erik calls them) frontside tricks. The session was over by mid afternoon and we headed back into town for some food. Knowing that jump had provided Eero with almost all the tricks he needed for his part in the show and movie, we discussed a possible plan b. Early the next morning we headed up to session the jump again, to find that four avalanches had gone off into the jump. We now knew it was time to mix things up. Ettala took charge and brought riders Niki Korpella and Erik Botner to a secret spot he found down the road from Solden, where they started to build a river gap jump. Knowing the light was not so good, we planned to come back in the morning to finish the jump and landing and to bang out a filming session. So, we went back to the condos to unwind and get some grub.

Well, if we hadn’t learned it yet, we did that night – nothing goes as planned in Austria. First off, not to be rude, but the Austrians are way different people, they speak German, don’t seem to like any visitors and everything is a confrontation with them... and they seem to really enjoy that fact. Anyway, Greg finally picks out a spot for us to have dinner and it looks really nice, but then we run into the host/bartender, and after one look at my Artful Dodger’s hoodie and NY ball cap, plus Greg’s Adidas sweats outfit and beanie, he tries to explain to us we might not be his type of business and that the menu might be too rich for our blood. Greg and Sandy don’t take this so well, needless to say we sat down and were the life/scene of the dining room, to the local’s amusement. Regardless of the attitude or lack of atmosphere the food was really good. The next morning came quickly as we wanted to get an early start and bang out the shoot before our long drive to Laax. Our location for shooting was just one ski resort up the road in Austria from Solden and provided an insane backdrop of the Alps. Weather-wise we scored. It was perfect out, no clouds and a nice small breeze for the paragliders. One of the funniest moments in Austria came while building this river gap jump. It involved the four Finnish boys speaking what sounded like Elfish to each other; it was honestly straight out of Lord of The Rings. After about an hour of building the landing with the four of them yelling at each other in their elfish tongue, better known as the hardest language to learn and makes virtually no sense, called Finnish, I just sat back and laughed with Sandy from Friday Productions. Not sure

if the Friday crew captured their bantering moments, but they were priceless. But I must hand it to those Fins - never a dull moment. I mean you have Pasi the photographer who acts like his 20 years older then a really is, 29, but has great wit and attitude. Then there is Razy (Rasmus), the badass action filmer who makes everything a hilarious scenario regardless of the conditions. Then there is the superstar Eero who can never be forced into anything, but at the same time always delivers the goods. And finally we have the 17-year-old Niki who just seems lost and is always leaving his board or jacket or gloves somewhere in Pasi or my shots, which of course sets Pasi off like you wouldn’t believe. The Finns definitely provided more than their fair share of classic moments in Austria. Once the landing was done, it was time to find our spots to shoot from, with the top priority being the TV Show camera crew of Friday Productions locations - Pasi, Razy and myself scrambled to find the best spot to claim as our locales for shooting. Pasi and I agreed on shooting under the bridge, those producing a very dramatic setting with the rushing water. The river jump was over 55 feet to clear and the water was freezing cold. As the day progressed I would fall in the water three times, producing some lovely swampy soggy feet, which felt amazing when the whole rest of my buddy was baking in the sun. Gotta admit Solden was nice enough to give me a solid tan. Okay, the day’s story would not be complete without an update on how the paraglider/ film crew did. Well, first off it was a tough setting to even get the paraglider in the air, but after three failed attempts Marius

and Greg were airborne bombing around the little ski town. They were shooting the Oakley SUV and riders jumping the river gap, all the while missing the church steeple by mere feet, oncoming traffic on the road by mere inches and Erik jumping the bridge by mere centimeters. But it all paid off, as the footage is super BANGER! The session produced some great shots from everyone; Erik nailed a late frontside 180, Eero a steezy backside 180 no grab and little Niki a sickter 540. So, the day ended around 4pm and we were all super beat packing up our cars. When all of a sudden, out of nowhere this Austrian man in his late sixties, pulls right up to our cars and starts yelling at us in German. Thank goodness Alex was there to speak to him in German – turns out flying the paraglider is completely illegal in Austria and you need some special license. We politely explained we were done and leaving, but this guy wanted to be our Dad for a minute and continued to berate us in German. Which made me laugh and I had to hide in the Alex’s Audi, so I would not infuriate him further. Finally, Greg had heard enough and asked the man to move his car so we could leave, producing the old Austrian to get even more colorful with his language. Long story short, don’t dilly-dally after doing an illegal mission in Austria - instead get the hell out of dodge. The end result was an insane photo and filming session just about 15 minutes outside of Solden. The paragliding shots from this shoot are epic and will make for some great television. Be sure to check out the shots in “Tracking Eero” debuting on FUEL TV this December. Learn more at: Oakley.com/trackingeero

Interview: Michael Dunphy :: Photos: Joe Foster Let’s start with the basics. How old are you Dillon? And how old were you when you started surfing? I’m 19-years-old and I started surfing when I was 10-yearsold at Zuma Beach, California in Malibu. My dad pushed me into a wave and I stood up. First time, first wave.

So who are you sponsored by? Hurley, DC, Smith, Famous Wax, Roberts Surfboards and Clout. What kind of boards have you been riding lately and how long have you been riding them? 5’11’’ squashtail, glass-ons, 18.5.

Who shapes your boards? Robert Weiner shapes my boards, he’s like an uncle to me and I love him. A lot of people have taken notice to your hot girlfriend named Christine, aka “Fridgy”. So do you get kinda weirded out when you bring her down to contests?

I’m not going to answer this question because I’m tired of people asking me stupid questions about my girlfriend. She doesn’t surf and she’s not me. Ok, so I guess that was a soft spot. So does your girlfriend prefer your frontside or your backside?

“I’M TIRED OF PEOPLE ASKING ME STUPID QUESTIONS ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND.”

She likes it both ways.

Should I answer this seriously?

That’s good to know. So what do you think about the world tour right now, would you rather be on the world tour or would you rather being doing video/photo stuff? Both man. I’d rather shoot photos and ﬁlm with my boys like you.

I guess, this is supposed to be serious. I look up too… Uh… I just look up to everyone. Everyone surfs different and it’s good to see all the different stuff that everyone does, cause no one surfs exactly the same as anyone else.

Would you rather surf like Drew Courtney or yourself? Are you serious? I’ve never even seen him surf before. Actually I did see him surf in this little video that Billabong made.

Duh, but who do you like? Owen is good, Nat Young’s good, Andrew Doheny, Kai Barger, Clay Marzo is really good, but he won’t talk to me. Michael Dunphy is good. Sam Wrench?

He’s not sponsored by Billabong. He used to be though, it was called Evolve or something, that movie. He’s good though; didn’t he qualify for the CT? I’d rather surf like him and be on the CT.

You just got back from the Oakley Pro Junior in Bali, why didn’t you do any good? Um, I lost in my ﬁrst heat. I just wasn’t surﬁng very good. I sprained my ankle about 2 months ago, and I was out of the water for about a month before the contest. All my friends doubted me but I thought I was ready to do it.

What kids do you look up to that are blowing up?

They were making fun of me on the webcast and saying that I probably shouldn’t have gone. I went and I tried my hardest and it still hurt and I lost. I got a 1 and a 5 in my ﬁrst heat and then I got two 1’s in my second heat. I got super mad and just changed my ticket and came home. So you went there knowing that you couldn’t surf? I went there knowing that maybe I couldn’t surf. But I thought I

might be able to surf, but I ended up not surﬁng so well. You never know. I know at the Arnette Pro Junior this summer you weren’t there, what happened there? Yeah I made a little mistake, a personal mistake. Brandon was supposed to sign me up for it, but he wasn’t there that time. Just kidding, it was really up to me and I thought I signed up for the contest but I didn’t. So

it was my fault. I thought I signed up for it when I signed up for the ﬁrst two, this was the third contest, but I guess I didn’t. I should have been more on top of things, I should have checked it, but now it doesn’t matter because I’m going to surf in the Cold Water Classic and make it. But you have an ankle injury? It doesn’t matter, I’ll wrap it up and take a cortisone shot and I’ll be all good. So would you rather be in the top 10 in the CT about to qualify or would you rather be in the upcoming Modern Collective movie that is coming out? I’d rather be in Modern Collective cause people are way sicker. It’s like the difference between a rock band or the Backstreet Boys. So you’re saying that the world tour is like the Backstreet Boys? Pretty much. Cause everyone tells them what to do and they

have to do it. Alright, so what are your plans for the upcoming winter? Being able to surf for start I want my ankle to heal. I’m surﬁng in the Cold Water Classic, than straight after that go to Hawaii for like a month or so, then Christmas time with the family and then off to Australia for the World Juniors if I qualify. Then maybe back to Hawaii again after that. That’s the line up right there, getting it done. Nice sounds like quite the life man? Just living it up! So what are you plans for the next 3 years? Where do you see yourself? Still surﬁng in three years. Doing whatever comes my way. Whatever happens, happens. You gotta just be able to do whatever comes your way. Ok, I like that attitude, thanks for the interview Dillon and good luck to you. Thank you Dunphy.

2009 ERGOPHOBIA

ergo-0910-blisss.indd 1

AARON SMITH

10/14/09 12:15:58 PM

N. Slide drop to 5-0 F.S 180

Interviewed by Jason Maxwell :: Photos: Ortiz Ronson Lambert is living the California dream. Sponsored from a young age, this guy has never had to work a day in his life - or has he? Countless photo shoots, ads and footage deadlines, being constantly hassled by the police everywhere he goes. I think he’s had over 100 tickets for skating now. The guy works, but it’s not your typical 9 to 5. It’s a hustle to get the new tricks at the new spots and it never ends. The day that hustle ends is the day you retire and Ronson ain’t anywhere close the slowing down.

Who was the ﬁrst professional skateboarder you met and talked to? The ﬁrst professional skateboarder I met was Salvador Lucus Barbier, a Plan B original rider. He was a good friend of my older brother who also skated. Salvador actually came to my birthday party when I turned 13

and he brought me a pair of SLB’s! That was such an indescribable shock for me that he showed! He was the ﬁrst pro I met and was so kind to me, he took the time to recognize my love for skating and motivated me to do well with it, I still look up to him to this day!

B.S 5-0 White Curved Ledge

K-Grind Flat Rail

What motivates you to keep learning new tricks? I love that there are no limits on a skateboard. That’s motivation for me. Trying new things and working on new tricks is deﬁnitely a creative outlet for me. I love to challenge myself and want to keep making things harder and more exciting. I practice and work on my skating a lot so inevitably new things just happen when I skate and I see how I can improve and add to something. Who are your sponsors? World Industries, Silver Trucks, FKD Bearings, Kontrol Wheels and VIP energy drinks. Do your parents support you skating or do they believe it to be a waste of

time? I grew up poor and never had much, but have been very lucky that from day one my parents have been by my side supporting me and my love for skating. I feel very fortunate to have found my passion in life at such a young age. I am so lucky to call what I love to do “work.” When I was younger my mom was the only parent to drive my friends and I around so that we could go skate, she did that for years. I am blessed to have always had my parents backing me and supporting my work and dreams. What do you think of skateboard contests? I have always thought of contests as a good thing, a good way to get more

Variel H. Flip bump over street gap

exposure, get more opportunities. I haven’t always been too focused on contests; I more so worked on getting in magazines and video parts. But, within the past year I have made it a goal to focus more on contests and get myself out there. I just skated my first contest in New York at the RedBull Manny Mania and placed 5th overall. That was such a confidence boost. It made me realize that I can do well in competition and you will see me out there more often. Who are a couple of your favorite skaters? Eric Koston, John Cardiel, P-Rod, Guy Marino, Gino, I have so many those are just a few. What is the hardest trick you think you’ve ever done? That’s hard to say because skating is always a progression for me, I am always looking to advance tricks and make them more difficult. I always make sure that once I get confident with a trick I have to do it at least 3 times

Bluntslide Ledge pop over gap

consecutively to make it solid. I am always pushing myself to do harder tricks, but I can’t really ﬁgure out what I’d say is my most difﬁcult trick. I guess I’ll leave it to you to decide. Are your friends in Encinitas proud of what you’ve done for yourself with skateboarding? Of course, a lot of my friends are proud of me for never losing sight of my dreams even when times were tough. My friends love to see how far I have come and how much skateboarding still means to me. I know my best friend is so proud of me and is excited to see all my hard work paying off with having just gotten my own deck and look out for my shoe soon!! I have good friends and a lot of support from friends and family What is your favorite skate video ever? It’s a tie between this San Diego video called Trouble Shooters and a great video called Video Days .

Bigﬂip Pivot Fakie Bank Favorite places traveled? Alaska, Ireland, Barcelona, Puerto Rico, Scotland and Vancover Bc. How many tickets have you gotten from skateboarding? Too many!! Probably around 67 Tickets for skateboarding over the years! Is the recession affecting you? Yes it’s affecting everyone, not just me - I see it everywhere. I’ve lost a few of my sponsors due to the recession, it’s unfortunate, but I try to work harder and get my name out there. It has made me more appreciative for what I have. I am just keeping my head up and trying to think positive and deﬁnitely working a lot harder. What has been your worst injury?

My worst injury happened during the first week of filming my Transworld part, “A Time To Shine”. I was in LA with Jon Holland Kyle Leeper and some others. I was skating this 9-stair rail and was coming really close to getting this trick I always wanted on a rail. So, during one of my runs I set up right, the rail had really quick run up, and I jumped straight onto my nuts, then from there to my face, and to finish it off, I did the scorpion an snapped my collarbone knocking myself out. After that it was a blur; Leeper and Holland took me to the emergency room! My collarbone still to this day doesn’t sit right. I’m lucky that they were there to help me out. Who did you look up to growing up skating? I’ve looked up to a lot of people growing

up in and out of skateboarding. The people in skating who really made a difference in my life were Sal Barbier, Danny Mayer, Alphonzo Rawls, Jimmy Chadwick, Jason Maxwell, my brother was good friends with all of them too, and Danny Mayer was actually the first one to give me my first board with a nose an tail. Do you have any advice for me and other skateboarders out there? Stay true to yourself, follow your heart, in this world and in the world of skating it can be very easy to get side tracked and lost! Don’t focus so much on being sponsored let it come to you, people work their whole lives to try and find that one thing to love and they never do, if you love skating like I do or have

something you are passionate about pursue it with all your heart and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. What’s next ? To focus on skating contests this year. I just got my retail license and started website called sk8committed.com it will be launching soon. I have been working on a few interviews that will be coming out soon. And have two new Board Graphics coming for World in the next month! Just going to focus on skating and building some solid ground. Who knows maybe I might start working on a clothing line and collaborate with my best friend to bring out some amazing designs that can appeal to people from all different walks of life!

Keegan Valaika’s perspective on BozWreck :: Photos & Captions: Bob Plumb (unless noted)

I was never really that into snowboarding until I saw the old Forum video “True Life”. After seeing Nate’s part in that video I got hooked. I guess it’s just his style. He doesn’t look like a snowboarder and I think that’s what makes him so dope. The majority of snowboarding

is so jocky and lame, it never really appealed to me the way skating did. Boznuts stood for everything I wanted to see in snowboarding. Eventually I ended up meeting Nate in Laguna one summer and contrary to most snowboarders I had met, he was the nicest dude ever. He quickly

became a good friend of mine and through him I was introduced to Matty. They offered me a part in BozWreck 2 and without a second thought I was in. For me there was no one I would rather ﬁlm for than two of my favorite snowboarders.

Then came the haters…. I can’t even explain how many people told me I was an idiot for ﬁlming for BozWreck. All the while I tried to understand why people were so against it. Eventually I came to the conclusion that these people hating just didn’t understand what

Keegan Valaika: BozWreck 3000 Fool. What would a Bozwreck article be without someone gettingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; blunted. Keegan Valaika takes care of that with this front blunt. When it comes to snowboarding, no one looks in the mirror more than this kid. Keegan is always checkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to make sure his kit is on point.

Mikey Williams: If I was to describe Mikey Williams it would be a wanna be Bozung. He really didn’t do shit while he was out except just fan out on Nate constantly, oh and this backside 180.

Chris Eacott: Eacott does real backtails. I think I remember him telling me this one was a bit “queer.” What that means, I have no idea. Aussies use weird words to describe their style.

Justin Bennee: Some one recently told Bennee, he needed to change his “style.” The whole “hip hop” thing is dead... does this include his riding style too? Because this frontboard pop over would be sooo much better in tight pants with some feather ﬂair.

Cale gets. cried Cale.

Chris Bradshaw: Old Dirty Bradshaw tweaks this erection, I mean stiffy over the wall. Photo: Russell Kaczmar

Zima: Cale Zima is about as E-Code as it When he landed this gap to frontboard he then hemmed is pants tighter. Just kiddin’ I’m kidding, come on.

Ben Rice: I don’t know anything about this guy Ben Rice except he’s socially awkward – about as awkward as his style in this ollie. Wow that’s just uncomfortably awkward.

snowboarding meant to me. I didn’t care about how well the movie would sell or how good this was for my “career”. I just wanted to snowboard with my homies and have a good time and that’s all BozWreck is; a bunch of friends doing what they love. For us that is what snowboarding is all about: fucking around ﬁlming hijinx. So instead of conforming to everything we don’t like about snowboarding we decided to show snowboarding how it is. No bullshit practiced speeches at the bottom of the Dew Tour half pipe run. No neon skier suits. Just snowboarding and the lifestyle that goes along with it. You want it, you got it. If you don’t… go buy one of the other snowboard videos with acted out lifestyle shots

Nate Bozung: This double line of the Bozung’s switch backlip to cab 270 is sooo BD. It’s a strange concept snowboarding for fun… weird.

Matty Ryan: This back 5050 front three out looks really sketchy, I guess that’s what happens when you got 10 tricks in your part and that’s how many times you went snowboarding for the year.

Deadlung: If I was an internet hater and described Deadlung’s part this is what I’d say, “Duuuuude, WTF, how much weed does this guy smoke and his ender? A nollie back 180 off a roof, I do that in my sleep.” I’m sure Mark would say to that, “Ha, I did it awake and high.”

Timmy Ronin: Timmy Ronin aka Timbo Slice hold’s down FP in BozWreck 3000. Kid is down for manly maneuvers... no homo. Like the frontboard through this weird kink.

There was a sick photo of Bradshaw smokin weed that I wanted to go in this article but that’s illegal and I guess BL!SSS was scared so you’re stuck with these lame ass photos of the crew. If you a scared motha fucker go to church.

Jeff Richards: Jeff Richards aka Lil Jeff aka Lil Hefe came out with us just three time this winter. He was busy using a fake ID to say he was 18 so he could go to Saint George and rent a hotel room to skate. Hard.

of people pretending they’re having half as much fun as we actually are. Thanks to Matty and Nate for showing the world that not all snowboarders are wack. If it weren’t for BozWreck I wouldn’t be snowboarding…. because snowboarding would be dead. To break down BozWreck you have to start at the top of the food chain with the OG’s. This is obviously Bozung and Homewreck. Others standing on the OG side of things are dudes like J2, LJ, Bradshaw, Bennee, Eacott, Lane Knaack, Eric Messier, and of course the Possum. Sitting with Possum on the other side of the lens are homies like Shane, LJ and Butters. If it weren’t for these fools, BozWreck wouldn’t have a video because Nate and Matty sure as hell aren’t learning how

to work Final Cut any time soon. So with creative direction from Nate and Matty these homies make it happen in the editing room. Last comes the Young Bucks. This is anyone and everyone who is young and new to BozWreck. Basically, it’s just Cale and me. With all these names I threw out it’s pretty cool to see how BozWreck grows from year to year. This year in BozWreck 3000 we got new homies like Lung, and Timmy Ronin. Timmy has opener by the way… Shits buttery! Every year people come and people go, but if you’ve ever been in a BozWreck video, whether it be 1, 2, or 300 0, it’s BozWreck for life and you’re always going to be proud to rep that shit. Whether or not BozWreck will

ever be accepted by mainstream snowboarding is irrelevant because anyone who is down with BozWreck is against that shit anyways. We couldn’t care less about that. For us it’s just about snowboarding first, and filming when we feel like it. If we want to go shred Rail Gardens all day and not hit up one spot were going to do it. We don’t have to worry about any bitter production managers or filmers jumping down our necks telling us we have to go get shit done, cause it’s the homies sitting over on the bench rollin’ a spliff. They couldn’t care less if we go hit a spot. They’re getting full content sitting on the bench at the double line watching everyone session. That’s my favorite part about BozWreck. No Stress!

Chris Grenier: Grendez has got some shots in the “friends” section and a part in the in the after credits. This wallie/pole jam staleﬁsh was made possible by the fact Chris loves to jam pole.

Photography: Jack Coleman

jackcolemanphoto.com

Styling: Callan Ann // Model: Kara Jones :: Wilhemina Models

Jacket – Volcom volcom.com Sweater – Oakley oakley.com Shirt – Aqua VI aqua-vi.com Skirt – Insight insight51.com

Jacket – Ezekiel ezekielusa.com Flannel – Fox fox-girl.com Sunglasses – Stylist’s own

Jacket – Fox fox-girl.com Bikini – Pull-In pull-in.com Scarf – Stylist’s own

Jacket – Brixton Scarf – Brixton brixton.com Pants – Volcom volcom.com Shoes – Vans vans.com

Jacket – RVCA rvca.com Shirt – Lightening Bolt lighteningbolt-usa.com Skirt – Fox fox-girl.com oakley.com Shirt – Hurley hurley.com Skirt – Fox fox-girl.com

“YOU COULD SAY, A STREET PIECE IS AN ESSAY IN A RANDOM MAGAZINE, WHILE A GALLERY PIECE IS A NOVEL. THE MORE PAGES, THE BETTER.”

Interview: MADSTEEZ Jasmin (Hera) and Falk (Akut) are German artists that combined forces and created the tag team duo known as Herakut. They are taking the world by storm, whether it’s blasting the streets or hanging in a gallery. Together, they speak as one voice creating truly unique and extraordinary work by telling their story through a collage of symbols from the western world of fairy tale and storybooks. Although being in two different parts of the world, (Hera in Texas and Akut in the Canary Islands) I was able to track down Jasmin to answer a few questions about Herakut.

To the obvious, Herakut is the combination of both of your names, Hera and Akut, but what does Herakut represent as a single unit? It’s a symbiosis. It’s two individual elements merged into one. It is a crew name. Actually, Akut also paints with another crew – MaClaim. Most graff writers paint in crews – whereas most people from the ﬁne arts sector are surprised that you can actually work like that. In fact, a lot of creatives are surprised to see that you can

compromise and still do honest and straightforward art. Yes, you do need to learn how to share space and credits, but those who aren’t willing to step back a little bit, will in return never know how good it is to have someone to cover your back. Explain the process on how the two of you collaborate and execute to ﬁnish a piece of work? It is always some sort of shift work process. We basically paint in layers: Akut often ﬁnds the right wall, piece of

wood or stretches the canvas. I sketch out our first lines, as if they where a skeleton construction before Akut adds flesh to the bone by applying a photorealist layer of spray paint. In the end, I’ll try to tie all of this together by some outlines and a title. Most pieces have working titles that I write straight on the wall or canvas before we get started. Those words are like the base line of a track. They define the rhythm and therefore the mood of the piece. But, depending on how long we’re working on an idea, the mood might

change. It’s like when you change your opinion on something while you are having a good conversation about it. That’s how we work. What are the major differences between the two of your styles? Akut spraypaints photorealism. He works from images, real-life photographs. He concentrates on light and basically paints shadows and light to create a body and texture. I do something completely different. I draw lines. As I said earlier, I make

sure that the anatomy works and build a skeleton out of lines, and he applies ﬂesh and color to make the whole thing look more vivid. What are some of the advantages of painting as a team? We do paint by ourselves, too, and also paint in even larger groups than just the two of us. It really only depends on what the project requires and how we feel about certain places. I was asked to paint in Sao Paulo, Brasil, next year, but they wouldn’t invite Akut. So, I thought about going there and paint by myself, but I have to refuse the invitation. I doubt that I could relax as much as I needed in order to do a good piece in front of such a big audience, especially since I have never been to Sao Paulo before. To do a live painting session at any grafﬁti jam or in front of any other big audience, you need to create some

kind of tunnel vision for yourself – shut out everything that hurts your ﬂow. Some people smoke or drink, so they calm down and concentrate – but in the long run, that actually backﬁres. So, especially when it comes to traveling and performing at jams, to have your crew around is the best thing to have in order to produce some good work. What are some of the disadvantages of painting as a team? Anything gets annoying when you overdo it, right? When we started Herakut in 2004, we had no idea it would become what it is today - our company. That may sound strange and not exactly emotional, but at the end of the day, professional artists pay their rents, too. We never did anything for the quick buck – rather keep it low and steady. The most dangerous things for any team is

the pressure third parties bring into the relationship. When it comes to facing the market, you have to not only pull in the same direction but also with the same effort. To ﬁnd and then keep the right pace that works for everyone is the real challenge. As an individual, you can push yourself to whatever limit, but in a team, you have to respect limits of the others as well. It’s good though, in the end, it is not even a disadvantage. It actually makes you better as a person. A lot of your work contains disproportioned almost Ethiopian looking women and French Bulldogs, is there an explanation why you have chosen them for your subjects? The ﬁrst thing Akut painted on a wall was a dog. “Doggs” have their role in hip hop culture. Akut felt, like the dog not only represents a

man’s best friend, a real homeboy, but is also a good symbol for a graffiti writer: because he leaves his shit all over the place. That is, where the dog image comes from. With the women I sketch out, it is a very different thing – meaning, I can’t give you a story to this. Because, it is not even true, that they are depicting a specific ethnical group. I just returned home from the Clogged Caps festival in San Antonio, Texas, where I painted with Rusk, and did some characters, which a lady described as “a mix of every race”. She said, she saw a little bit of everything in them, and that’s why she liked them. A friend in New York found another cool description, by saying that we have created our own species. I really like that idea. Who and what are you influenced by? In terms of topics and titles: it used

to be based on lyrics by Slug from Atmosphere or lines from the poet Jeffrey McDaniel. But for a while now, our work shows the things we live through ourselves. We tell our own stories by making collages of all kinds of symbols from the western world of fairy tale and story books. In terms of artistic inﬂuence: Akut always watches our for great fashion photography. Everything else is self-taught. As a kid he wasn’t exposed to art as much as I was. I used to eat up art books even before I learned how to read. I loved the crazy ideas of Hieronymus Bosch and the brave sketchy lines from Egon Schiele. There are so many images that I absorbed as a kid, and I know they somehow have an impact on my own work today. A vast amount of your work is on the streets and in public spaces. Where do you feel more

comfortable creating your work, in the street or in a studio? You can’t really compare those two. They are too different from each other. One without the other would probably bore us, so we like to give each “discipline” the same amount of time in our schedules. What was crucially important, though, was that we started out on walls, and way later moved our stuff onto the small surface of a canvas, which was pretty hard to do. We believe that is a very important lesson you learn when you do a piece in public and leave it there, too. You learn to let your work go. You sometimes even see it again, crossed out, painted over, vanished all together. That hurts at ﬁrst, but then again, it is a good lesson, it makes you to enjoy the moment you paint the most. Love that moment. Keep that moment in memory. Don’t get attached to the piece! That’s a good lesson. Seriously!

Do you have a different approach to creating a piece on the street versus a piece for a gallery? Yes. A gallery piece will most likely not be painted over. Therefore, you need to give the whole thing a message that you will be able to stand for much longer than a message for a street piece. A piece on the street can be a quick thought or scribble. People look at it, as if it was some doodle, someone did in their free time. Nothing of worth, because it costs nothing. Gallery pieces are different. They last, they cost, and therefore people demand more info and more quality, too. They want something substantial. You could say, a street piece is an essay in a random magazine, while a gallery piece is a novel. The more pages, the better. For your gallery pieces, why do you choose to paint on unconventional surfaces like

cardboard and wood? A lot of what we painted on in the past had to do with our ﬁnancial situation. A cardboard costs a lot less than a canvas, so it gives you a lot more freedom to experiment. A clean-cut canvas is a much better surface, but then again, can look at you as if it wanted to say, “Hey, I’m so perfect – you better do something good now, because you don’t want to make me look stupid!” That’s a lot of pressure. (Do you know what I mean? I know, I sound silly...) Having traveled the globe, have you noticed that some parts of world are more receptive to your art than others? Probably. But I think you always have to be in for a surprise. In Sarajevo, for example, we had little stupid kids throw stones at us and the other artists, while we were painting. But then again, on that very same trip, I had the

sweetest interaction with an old lady who carried two really heavy bags past the wall I was painting. Her back was bent forward and she looked like it was tough for her to move her way through the city. The character I had painted was a tired ballerina that sat down to massage her feet. The old lady stopped, looked at the piece and put down her bags. Then she smiled with no teeth and gave me two thumbs up. That was the best feedback I could possibly get! So, I guess, you never know, if you’ll meet

fans or plain haters. What’s next for Herakut? We will be painting canvases. In Germany it will be very rainy and cold soon, so we will probably spend more time inside the studio. Winter is a good time to focus on family, reﬂect on the past year and make new plans. Let’s see where we’re heading too. Neither of us know for sure. Never do. But that keeps things exciting :)

THE SOUND OF PROGRESS : MATIX HEADPHONE LAUNCH

L.A. girls loving the Sound of Progress! // Mechling, Hackbarth and BD looking sauced. // More “O” face! // Get that dirt off your shoulders ladies. // Legendary snow shredder Eddie Wall had a good’ole time. // Daniel Ek ﬂew all the way from Europe to see the sights and Sounds of Progress. // Yes Please! // Jeron Wilson toasting his Matix/Diamond co-lab signature series headphones. // Micah Byrne showing us his “O” Face // MMMMMMMMATIX! // The ladies always drink for free

Matix officially launched their new headphone line on Thursday, October 8th with a bumping party in Hollywood, Ca. The Ecco Lounge hosted industry VIP’s, retailers, pros, bros and of course many fine looking ladies. DJ DL (AKA: Daniel Castillo), DJ Scott Oster and The Blackouts (AKA: Ako & Atiba) had all the juiced up attendees working up a sweat on the dance floor to The Sound of Progress all night long. Special thanks to Jeron Wilson, Brandon Biebel, Torey Pudwill, Brophy, P-Rod, Lee Smith, Kerry Getz, Paul Shier, Daniel Ek, Stevie Bell, Pavo, Eddie Wall, John Jackson, Ricky Whitlock, Micah Byrne, Jamie Parkhurst, Tyler Stanaland, Greg Hunt, Chris Casey from “The Captain and Casey Show,” Kyle Kennedy from Snowboarder, Mike Mihaly from Skateboard Mag, Jimmicane from Surfing, the crews from Val Surf, Identity and Liberty for coming out and partying with us!

COMUNE : KARLSON TEA PARTY

Photos: Nelson Kanno, Mike Quiones & Grace Tsai // Shinya Kimura’s Tiger Cub Triumph, “Needle”, Shinya Kimura’s retro-futuristic, hand crafted Ducati motorcycle, “Flash” owned by Brad Pitt // Ben Rice, Josh Mills & Josh Paulson // Guillaume Pajolec, family with Frank Delgadillo & Gareth Stehr // Chris Jones & Julie Shumaker // Corey Smith & Brooke Sandoval-Banker // Motorcycles // Jade Summers, Natalia Benson & Diana Coulson // Chris Bougeokles, Frank Delgadillo & Matt Davis // Adam Wright // Frank Delgadillo’s Motorcycle This past month Comune opened the doors at their Costa Mesa Headquarters for a motorcycle and Adam Wright photography exhibition called, Karlson Tea Party. It was an evening celebrating classic and contemporary Motorcycle design and culture. The exhibition, curated by Nelson Kanno, featured bike builders Shinya Kimura, Brawny Built, Trevelen of SuperCo, Chopper Dave, JoMo Racing and Lossa Engineering with photography by Adam Wright and a custom art piece by Jeff Wright. One of the highlights of the show was Shinya Kimuras “Flash”, a retro-futuristic, hand crafted Ducati motorcycle owned by Brad Pitt. Comune founder, Frank Delgadillo wanted to bring a creative spotlight to both the apparel industry as well as the motorcycle world due the great inﬂuence one of the builders, Shinya Kimura has had on his style and the design of Comune apparel. “I’ve had a Harley since I was 18 and

never stopped loving the concept of motorcycles as an art form,” states Delgadillo. “Mr. Shinya Kimura (exhibiting builder) once told me during my travels to Japan, ‘it’s easy to hide cables and wires, but it’s difﬁcult to keep cables and wires exposed while making it look cool and clean.” With over 500 people in attendance Karlson Tea Party was a huge success. The event united seasoned veterans and rookie motorcycle enthusiasts viewing some of the most original and delicately crafted bikes in the world. It was an evening in appreciation of contemporary motorcycle design and culture while celebrating with friends over lo-ﬁ psychedelic DJ sounds, delicious Mexican food from Gringo and The Bean, and drinks including Berentzen liquor and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

RVCA X ERIN WASSON @ BRYANT PARK

Words: C.R. Stecyk lll :: Photos: The Cobra Snake & RVCA // Runway models // Todd Selby and Erin Wasson // Danny Fuller and Tori Praver // PM Tenore and Bruce Willis and wife // The Shannon brothers and Gene Krell // Brendan Fowler and Aaron rose, with Stavros Niarchos // Gang Gang Dance performance during runway // Olivier Zahm from purple mag and friends // The Selby, Sarah Lerfel of Colette and Humberto // The Cobra Snake and Joseph Tenore // Runway Block-long lines, platinum level invites and multinational security forces were further proof that RVCA’s Erin Wasson Bryant Park soiree was the undisputed highlight of Fashion Week. New York’s ﬁnest celebrated the Texas Girl’s edgy couture collab with the unclassiﬁable designer PM Tenore. Among the cognoscenti RVCA continues to create wonderment through its world class Mixed Martial Arts training facility, it’s philanthropic art activities, and its bizarre mix of sponsored pros and miscellaneous mayhem. Next time you hear Wasson and RVCA are dropping a runway gig, you’d better get on it pronto. Outstanding service to the sound was performed by Gang Gang Dance who played brilliantly off of the projected conceptual art work of Hillary Walsh and Rick

Charnoski. Overall the theme was high desert with a dash of Panhandle panache and Paniolo functionality. After all the chic work was done Ms. Wasson, Mr. Tenore and models from the event like Lily Donaldson, Chanel Iman and Freja Beha were perceived dropping through the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge. But that is an entirely different story. Erin’s philosophical bent was readily apparent in her many scientiﬁc beats. The three most quoted phrases from the affair were: 1. “It’s not about describing your style, it’s about bringing your spirit into style.” 2. “I feel like Bob Barker in the Price is Right.” And 3. “ Cream, my Red Faced American pit bull is my muse for this season.”

LISA JOHNSON @ 225 FOREST & THE SLIDE BAR

Photos: Michael Lallande // Lisa Johnson & Hurley’s Greg Teal // rock photography meets Hurley tees // Davey Warsop warms up the crowd @ the Slide Bar // Mike Herrera & Lisa Johnson with the Slide Bar girls // Lisa and Ryan Hurley // Lisa’s photo subjects Avenge Sevenfold // Lisa/s custom Converse made on the spot at 225 Forest // Lisa’s photo exhibit at 225 forest // Mike Herrera, what a class act // Luke, DJ Marko 72 & Davey getting a good hang at 225 Forest Warsop wails his Rickenbacker

What do Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, The Used, Aiden and New Found Glory have in common? They’ve all been subjects of Lisa Johnson, and many of them are showing up on the iconic rock photographer’s new T-shirt collaboration with Hurley. This second line of shirts had quite a coming out party this past week, including a rager at 225 Forest in Laguna Beach and the Slide Bar in Fullerton. Davey Warsop from Beat Union played a set as well as Mike Herrera from MXPX, and DJ Marko 72 kept the good times going well into the night. Now that the party’s over, be sure to go to Hurley.com and add a few Lisa Johnson t-shirts to your collection. They’re instant classics.

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10/27/09

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ARNETTE ALL-NIGHT ANTICS PRESENTED BY SHORESCREW!!!

Words: Sticky Shaw Photos: Shorescew.com // Shorescrew teaches that sharing is good. // Lugo and Captain, out the porthole. // Raise your hand if you like disco! // A family of pirates. // Free cocktails making girls happy. // Aloha Bean dip and Safety-ﬁrst Skawinski. // Sometimes it’s good to be tall. // The local blonde factor was high. // All smiles under the sea. // Tupman giving more seals some trouble. // Sticky giving out Arnette promo for energy drink races. Over the summer Arnette and Shorescrew joined forces for a four-month series of parties that would test everyone’s limits of how far they could take things. The venue was Shorescrew’s favorite haunt in Newport Beach - Malarky’s Irish Pub. Thanks to bartender Ben and all our friends at Malarky’s, each event was more amazing than the last, except for one minor incident in which we were ﬁned by the city of Newport Beach for dancing. It wasn’t even dancing though, they built that bar on top of a red ant hill. The last two parties were dress-up and we’ll let our good friend Sticky try and recall his good times.

Disco till Death (Aug 26th) Wow! Disco till Death was one of my favorite Arnette/Shorescrew parties we had, beside the ﬁrst one with DJ Wade. While I don’t remember too much of Disco till Death, what I do remember is our friend Chiron had the best hair and dance moves and he pounded a tall boy of Red Bull for a pair of Arnette sunglasses. He was not happy the next day. But for all the people that dress up they got their brains disco’d for free and we had the best disco dance party ever. We had DJ Bob and DJ Rockwell battling each other for the tunes while everyone

busted out their skills on the dance ﬂoor. The best part of the party was the end at Lugo’s house where I was crawling on the ground and Meeks was laughing at me and I guess I threw up in the bathtub. Thank you Charlotte for cleaning it up for me. But I don’t even remember doing it, so did it really happen? That night was amazing. Under the Sea (Sept 23rd) Under the Sea was really cool to dress up too. We had girls dressed as seals, looking like burglars, snorkeling bananas, pirates

and captains all boarding the dance ﬂoor. This party seemed a little more in control because we had just gotten ﬁned for dancing and having a DJ (which apparently is illegal in Newport Beach) but we still got our dance on, although if anyone asks it was mostly seizures. I want to thank Malarky’s Ben and all of the staff. Big thanks to Arnette for giving Shorescrew money for booze, we like alcohol. We will see you at a bar real soon, Arnette All-Night Antics to be continued… Check videos and more photos at shorecrew.com and arnetteantics.com.

Words: Cowboy // Photo: Gary Copeland “It’s going to be a sick one!” That was the last email I read from Ryan Immegart, the only guy that the Goons really listen to and that’s only because we have to answer to him when shit goes browntown... It’d been three years since the Goons had polluted Costa Mesa and we were coming back to put something into the air other than carbon monoxide and the reeking acrid scent of oil refinery toxins. We were coming back to rock out dammit! Costa Mesa hadn’t changed but the Goons of Doom certainly had. Since our last album release (The Story of Dead Barbie and Ghost), we’d moved in all directions playing with different kids, different moods and in different outfits. The bleeding eyes were gone, so was the white blonde chick, (replaced by a giant black dude) but the good times were amplified and the walls continued to shake under the unbridled mayhem of kids losing their minds. Back home the band was experiencing unparalleled and unprecedented opportunity. We were head lining act with the Kings of Leon at the Falls Festival, we played atop an Ice cream truck at the Lilly world stage of the Big Day Out alongside Neil Young and the Arctic Monkeys. The drummer from Band of

Horses came on board for a few shows (we still can’t remember his name). We were on a mad roll. Our Samoan friend Ray joined the band albeit without a moniker (until we read it on the tele-promter while on the Daily Habit with Pat Parnell – “Ray of Sunshine” as it turns out.) An American tour was the obvious next step. Cue Immegart and Volcoment and shit was up and running in no time. We were locked in for September: 9th of Sep to the 20th. The VolcomEnt boys couldn’t have ﬁt the head of a pin between shows they were crammed in so tight. 11 days with 14 shows. 264 hours of drinking, smoking and singing out loud wherever we could. First stop was San Diego where we had two shows. The ﬁrst was the launch party for the ASR tradeshow. The stage was two stories high and so far away from the crowd it looked like we were playing to a mad bunch of midgets. Thankfully there was free beer so Killer’s fear of Oompa Loompa’s was quelled and we played a lightning set much to the delight of us personally. From there we went straight from the Ry Craike’s video premiere hosted by Electric at the Bondi Bar. We traveled 14,000 miles to play in Bondi! The stage was tiny but we had that crowd

so hopped up they were pretty much sucking the sweat out of our t-shirts between songs... Another gig nailed to the wall. The next morning we hit the Tradeshow itself, where Volcom had four kegs, guitars and some drums ready to blast out after the skate jam. As expected the Volcom gang were dressed up for a crazed Hawaiian theme. The closest we came to anything Hawaiian was Ray, but he’s Samoan, so we just turned everything up to 20 and pretty much burnt down the building with riffs that shaved a layer of skin off all who were present. Three down babies and a big thanks to the girl in the front row who spat beer in Vaughan’s face just so she could lick it off. After the roaring success of the ﬁrst couple of shows we had a lay day back at the Volcom Team house. We did all the usual rock star crap – ate caviar, poured top priced bottles of champagne into the pool, howled at the moon and threw TV’s into the bottomless canyon out back. Ozzie Wrong saw a raccoon and giggled like a schoolgirl. They were good times. I was a little worried bout the next gig. It had been three years since the Goons had

been to the Surfer Poll and for good reason. The last memory I had was being stuck on the Red Bull bus and having a beer thrown at me. I retaliated but thanks to my poor eyesight I hit a four time Women’s World Champ square in the face with a near-full can of Bud. Feeling a little in danger for my life I opened the window of the bus and attempted to jump out. But I got stuck half way and had to squeeze out the rest. The last thing I remember is my arm popping out of its socket at the shoulder and my face hitting the road without any form of protection. Not the best night out. This year we were asked to present an award for the move of the year. I eyed the Red Bull table with trepidation as we hit the stage. The goons busted through the curtains singing “HISS HISS, SHAKE SHAKE” whilst Vaughan Dead delivered the award to Taj Burrow and the madness didn’t stop there - we drunkenly wrestled our way into every shot even doing post award interviews on ESPN. I doubt they knew who we were beforehand but they sure as shit knew who we were after. Blam! Next show was out in Pamona. The Aquabats have always been good friends of the Goons and every time we head into town they’re

cool enough to get us involved. The Aquabats are one of the coolest bands that have been playing for a long time and their fans are some of the most loyal trippers we’ve ever come across. They treated us real friendly and we’d like to shout out a big thanks to them all. We cut out the swearing for that gig which left us with one third of one song to play. It was a short set, bit rough around the edges but wholesome, like a loaf of brown bread. The OC Tavern will rate as one of our wildest parties ever. At this point in time the gigs and good times were starting to all blend into one, but somehow we made this one kick into a newfound madness and the show went into overdrive. The crew from the OC quoted that it was the best mid week show that had rolled through in years. I agree. The drum kit got smashed and we all did a bit of crowd surﬁng on the three people who turned up. 16 Red Bulls later, we were watching the sunrise with all who came talking at length and in detail about how we were the best rock and roll band to ever tour America. And you know what? We were right. The Goons have always been about ticking boxes. We set goals and we like to achieve

them, even at the expense of good health, relationships and our own credibility. For some reason playing at the Viper Room was something we always wanted to do. We were nervous and stoked to be on the bill at last – headlining no less! We rocked up and a band called OH MY GOD were playing - absolute legends due to the fact that as we hit stage Ozzie’s bass fell to bits and they came to the rescue. The gig was – as expected – a true blue rip-snorter and the next morning we were greeted with some cool news from the owner of the Viper saying he rocked up with some ladies not knowing what was on and ended up dancing all night. Hope he got laid to top it all off. That would have been pretty close to a perfect night in anyone’s books. The next morning we woke up and kissed hands and shook babies with the crew of the Daily Habit. This was by far the most hung over we were on our entire voyage and it showed. After about three takes on Billy Lee, the entire studio was ankle deep in postmassive-night-perspiration. We kicked arse of course and no doubt the crew at TDH will have their bleeper ready cause we swore like drunken sailors right throughout the set. AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!

That night it was back to the home town of Goons, Costa Mesa for a show at La Cave or as it’s also known - the pit of Beef, playing host to the biggest and best steaks in town. After the chef had grilled 500 steaks the La Cave had the stench of a baked abattoir and the crowd had sparked with enough personality to rip the roof off of the joint. This gig was by far the hottest and sweatiest show we did. Everybody walked out with wet jeans and bloodstains from some wild ass cramping competition that kicked in mid set. That night we went and got loose at the Japanese Motors jam room. Played with pet snakes and danced to go-go surf beats till the sun was well high the next afternoon. Our last two gigs were up there with our best ever. Laguna Surf and Sport, a local surf shop in Laguna Beach put on a bunch of pizzas and free drinks for the local groms to celebrate our in-store performance. What started out like an MTV unplugged set soon erupted into a Slayer pit as the groms went completely fricken berserk! Fingered kicked in with the lead guitar and the kids new exactly what they wanted and they got it. Before I knew it the store was being ripped apart with one grom being thrown from one side to the other. Every word was being yelled, I

couldn’t help but really love this gig, the kids were by far the coolest crowd we had. We’d like to give a bit shout out to all those groms and the crew at LS&S for making our last day such a treat. A few hours later we reset the gear across the road at the Dirty Bird. Laguna or Lagooooona (so we were told to put up on the next goons poster) was our official send off. The best of the old time crew and all our new crew fans had come out of the darkness to fair us well. We didn’t want to let ‘em down playing the old favorites and some new songs that were created in the tour van. The highlight of the night was mad Jack Morrissey belting out our next number one hit to the delight of a horny female crowd. “Hungry Man” was the fitting finale to the best 10 days these fucken Goonbags have ever had. Mwahx! The Goons would like to heap praise and thanks on… Ryan Immegart and Wooly, Marky Gardener and Mike Nobrega (We love you pricks!) Mikey and Lena – the best hosts ever, everyone else who helped us out and last but certainly not least Pauly B, the man who somehow managed to stay sober, get us on and off stage, the van packed, the girls smiling and the trip a breeze. Forever in your debt Bianco. Much love. Goons forever!

Interview: Tim Bergevin Punk and hardcore started out as a community that wanted to be different and stand out from the doldrums of plastic people and music. With the proliferation of the internet and flavor of the month bands flying a phony punk flag, the genre has taken some serious hits. Every decade sees the resurgence of the original punk ethos and it seems like that time is here again. Upstate New York’s, Polar Bear Club is helping lead the cleansing of the name of punk rock by delivering an albums worth of classic post hardcore that gives hope to the old guard as well as the teenagers who

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are just now ﬁnding their way to this type of music. Jimmy Stadt singer for PBC calls in from the road with an update. Tell me about what is going on in music right now and what you guys are doing. It’s a weird time for music. It seems like a lot of people don’t know what to make of it right now. With the internet and everything, any band can kind of do it and get a lot of attention, start touring and get label attention. It’s kind of cool though because it puts an emphasis on touring and getting

yourself road tested. It weeds out the weak from the strong because anyone can record some awesome songs and put them on the internet but not everyone can tour the majority of the year and endure that kind of stress. This fall has been awesome and a lot of great records have come out: Strike Anywhere, American Steel, Broadway Calls and I hope our album is in that list as well. You talk about the internet but you guys had a lot of that buzz going on as well. We did and I say that quote

with kind of a smile on my face because that is kind of how we started as well. Everyone in PBC was in other bands that had toured before this so we all had a little bit of road experience. Do you think your sound is a play on that 90’s post hardcore scene? I think so. That sort of stuff was a huge inﬂuence on us, but we mix it up with pop punk and alternative rock. When people ask I just say rock n roll because it is kind of hard to describe your own band. Other people have said that

we remind them of Small Brown Bike, The Casket Lottery, At The Drive In and Refused - those kinds of post hardcore bands. That is super cool as those bands were all big inﬂuences on all of us, but we’re all in different spots in our twenties, Emmett (drums) is almost thirty and Goose (bass) just turned twenty one and everyone else is in between. In hardcore years that is like generations! We kind of span different eras of punk and hardcore and it all kind of comes together. Is there resurgence in that type of music or do you think

that it is just now getting more attention in the media again?

and that is the perfect example of a Polar Bear Club show. Older dudes and chicks deﬁnitely respond to us because they were around for At The Drive In and Small Brown Bike. But we do this honestly, passionately and to the best of our ability so the younger kids are responding and to them this is new so hopefully they hear us and get into some of those older bands as well.

I think it is new to a lot of people. The beauty about it is that the people who were with it back in the 90’s or early 2000’s are responding to it as well. Our fan base has a huge cross over. Last night we played in Houston and there were a lot of seventeen to nineteen year old kids, maybe even ﬁfteen or sixteen, who were You’re now touring with a new really super into us. But behind record, are people responding them at the bar were the older to the new songs? dudes bobbing their heads as well

Yeah, last night especially! We have never had a good show in Houston but last night was the best. I wasn’t expecting people to know as many of the new songs as they did. They went as crazy for the new ones as the old ones and that is really moving and incredible. It’s scary to make music sometimes. You make it and you don’t know what people are going to think about it so to get that validation takes a load off your shoulders. It’s been that way all over the US.

Reviews: Tim Bergevin

Hell & Half of Georgia Hell & Half of Georgia

DAM-FUNK TOEACHHIZOWN Stones Throw

Weezer Raditude // DGC/Interscope

Talk about Country music and most people will look at you with a disgusted look. But what passes for Country today has more in common with Britney Spears than George Jones. Today’s crop of Indie Folk probably make old timers like Merle Haggard smile more than the Taylor Swifts of the world. Hell & Half of Georgia is Sean Fahlen and Kevin Burwick playing the music of America’s past. It’s a familiar but honest sound that nods its head to artists like Guthrie, Dylan and even Oberst. What makes folk and original country so good is that fact that it is not a perfect science. It’s not compressed, it may not all be in tune, but that is life. A little messed up, a little beautiful.

DAM-FUNK has been blowing up LA with his Funkmosphere parties for sometime. Now the DJ has turned artist and taken his modern soul and electro-funk feel into a record of his own. Hand picked by Stones Throw hero Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam drops funky space age beats that will have you tripping while dancing at the same time. The sound is a reﬂection of when the 80’s were cool. None of this Don Johnson Blazer with the sleeves rolled up, this is where the cool people went to party after disco killed dancing. TOEACHHIZOWN throws off a chill vibe that will set your party on that long mellow tip, all class, all sexy.

Rivers and company are at it again and less than a year after the Red album dropped. This time around Mr. Cuomo takes back the vocal reigns and also explores his song writing craft with the help of several other artists/producers. While the Red album saw tracks written by Brian and Pat from the band, Rivers went large on Raditude with songwriting credits going to Jermaine Dupri, Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler from the All American Rejects and current go to hit maker Dr. Luke among others. While this record could have had a disjointed feel it actually may be the best Weezer record since Maladroit. Even with the outside collabs it still feels like Rivers and his uncanny knack of busting out perfect sing along songs. Check out the tracks ‘I’m Your Daddy’, ‘Put Me Back Together’ and the Patrick Wilson song ‘In the Mall’. All the reasons you started liking this band are right there.

Mayer Hawthorne A Strange Arrangement Stones Throw

Spiral Stairs The Real Feel Matador

The Cribs Ignore the Ignorant Warner Bros. Records

The xx xx Young Turks

The White man has been jocking the Black man’s music for a long time. Usually it’s those pesky Brits who pull it off well and we are left with mediocre crap that no one cares about (Elvis probably being the exception). Enter Mayer Hawthorne, DJ, producer, musician who has jumped into the light via hiphop label, Stones Throw. Where Jamie Lidell (UK master) is James Brown, Mayer is Marvin Gay. He is all Motown, from the vocals to the chilled out classic songs - this is what we should be listening to! Unfortunately that probably isn’t the case. Check out the title track and Maybe So, Maybe No and make out with someone!

It seems odd that this is the solo debut from Pavement cofounder Spiral Stairs. He has had other projects in the past but the timing is just too perfect with the announcement of Pavement reunion shows for 2010. As a founding member of Pavement, Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs contributed many songs to the bands albums except Terror Twilight. With this collection, it’s easy to identify his style and will warm the hearts of those diehard fans. The guitar playing is unmistakable and songs like Wharf-Hand Blues especially showcase this. Still obscure, still Spiral Stairs, we’ll see you this summer kid!

This is the fourth record from these irreverent Yorkshire brothers. The band has added a new member on this go round, Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr has now joined the band on a permanent basis. What Johnny adds is his classic and very familiar guitar licks that compliment the working class rock this family puts out. Check out the title track Ignore the Ignorant, Cheat on Me and Last Year’s Snow. This album is worth a buy and don’t miss them on tour this month!

It’s rare that you spin a record and the ﬁrst ﬁve tracks just suck you in and never let go. The debut album from these UK twenty something’s is unreal. All vibe, beats, bass and beautiful vocal interplay between singers Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim. You wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the band was weaned on the records of Massive Attack and The Smiths. The track Shelter screams this and is a popped up take on the Massive Attack formula. With stark haunting female vocals, it is the simplicity of this record that makes it stand out. Nothing is out of place and no sound is forced. Clean and crisp, cold and alone. Put this on the next time it’s raining.

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The Drums Let’s Go Surﬁng RCRDLBL free download This is the new buzz band from NYC. Of course they are not originally from NYC but who is? These young boys are what you would get if the Beach Boys were a Sire Records band from the 80’s. New Wave innocence with clean surfed out guitar and vocals about girls and of course surﬁng. Already blowing up in the UK, go download this for free and feel like the coolest kid in town.

AGE: 12 HOMETOWN: PACIFICA, CA SPONSORS: VOLCOM, ELECTRIC, VANS, SEX WAX, NORCAL SURF SHOP FAVORITE SURFER: DANE REYNOLDS

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Photo: Tom Carey

AGE: 12 HOMETOWN: SANTA MARIA, CA SPONSORS: POWELL, BONES WHEELS, DVS, 187, PANCHOS, VITAMIN WATER FAVORITE SKATER: OMAR HASSAN, BUCKY LASEK F.S Invert : Square Pool Combi Photo: Ortiz

AGE: 17 HOMETOWN: RAWSONVILLE, VT SPONSORS: RED BULL, GNU, 686, DROP, KOOTER BROWN FAVORITE SNOWBOARDER: WILL BATEMAN & JOHNNY LAZZ