Volume 8, Number 3 by Color Magazine

a skateboard culture special edition.

“ARTISTS WHO SMELL LIKE SKATEBOARDERS” Geoff McFetridge, Eric Anthony, Todd Bratrud, Fos PNut, Ben Horton, Michael Leon, Mat O’Brien Andrew Pommier, Michael Sieben $7.99 CND/USD

a skateboard culture special edition.

“ARTISTS WHO SMELL LIKE SKATEBOARDERS” Geoff McFetridge, Eric Anthony, Todd Bratrud, Fos PNut, Ben Horton, Michael Leon, Mat O’Brien Andrew Pommier, Michael Sieben $7.99 CND/USD

a skateboard culture special edition.

“ARTISTS WHO SMELL LIKE SKATEBOARDERS” Geoff McFetridge, Eric Anthony, Todd Bratrud, Fos PNut, Ben Horton, Michael Leon, Mat O’Brien Andrew Pommier, Michael Sieben $7.99 CND/USD

LAKAI LIMITED FOOTWEAR: THE SHOES WE SKATE FOSTER / CAPALDI / JOHNSON / CARROLL / MARIANO / HOWARD / WELSH / BIEBEL / LENOCE / ALVAREZ / FERNANDEZ ESPINOZA / PUIG / GILLET / BRADY / JENSEN / 955 Francisco Street, Torrance, CA 90502 / lakai.com / supradistribution.com

—

In Praise of Victimless Crime

photosby fred mortagne

’ve always wondered if the average person who sees a group of skaters pushing down the street assumes they are a gang. Maybe that’s what people once thought, before skateboarding had infiltrated all levels of culture—into body spray advertisements and onto breakfast cereal boxes. Years ago, back in my old hometown, people of all types would yell at skaters out of their cars, sometimes even stop and try to fight us, as if the only reason anyone would be out in the street was that they were looking to rumble. Now, I suppose people assume skaters are a team of young athletes who’ve just finished an X-Games training session, off to chug Gatorades and polish their trophies. I can’t tell you which of these scenarios is worse—actually, that’s not true, fighting always sucks, even if it means dealing with people asking me if I’ve ever competed on the Mega Ramp.

As a kid I was fascinated by pirates, who, I’ve since learned, raped quite regularly. Which is obviously horrible and something I just can’t endorse, yet I still see the Jolly Roger and get stoked. In 1965, the writer Hunter S. Thompson spent months with Sonny Barger and his infamous Hell’s Angels motorcycle club, which he’d just founded in Oakland, California. Hunter later published an account of these wild days in his book Hell’s Angels. In it, he describes his own fascination and eventual disenchantment with the gang, who he’d idealized for their freewheeling lifestyle, urban outlawism, copious partying, and unrepentant drug

intro.

experimentation, but who increasingly began to frighten and intimidate him, finally vowing to kill him in the end. It’s quite a book, and speaks profoundly about the attraction of outlaws, and how idealism is shattered when our heroes turn out less like Robin Hood, and more like Charles Manson. It also throws new light on all those skateboarders who’ve been playing outlaw dress-up and riding across America lately. All I can say is that they’d better be doing lots of raping, or shoving dude’s heads into jukeboxes and stabbing broken pool cues into their necks—I mean if they want to keep it totally real.

Okay, but are skateboarders a gang? They do exhibit plenty of gang characteristics: the indecipherable lingo, the ridiculous nicknames (what up Slash, Jaws, Lizard King), and the flair-heavy outfits. But what the heck is a gang, really? I’ve never fully understood the word. Ice-T always said the L.A.P.D. was the biggest gang in L.A., and as a kid I thought that was an unbelievably cool thing to say. But was he right? Isn’t a gang supposed to be illegal? And what’s the difference between a gang and a club? Or a crew? Must gangs involve crime? Getting jumped in? Must they have an intimidating leader, who draws a switchblade from his many-zippered leather jacket?

Be wary of roaming packs of hungry MANWOLFS. All images shot on location during the filming of Machotaildrop in Budapest, Hungary and Vancouver, BC.

[ o ] DOUBT

volume 8

“As if the only reason anyone would be out in the street was that they were looking to rumble.” Here’s a definition I found from the Canadian Oxford Dictionary: gang – noun 1a: an organized group of criminals. b: informal a group of people who regularly associate together. So, it seems that by definition a gang must involve crime. Ahah! But not all crime is violent! There are plenty of crimes you can commit without hurting anyone! So maybe skateboarders are a gang, but one who perpetrates only victimless crimes, crimes that I can endorse, crimes like vandalism, or trespassing, or not wearing a helmet (kids, you really should wear a helmet though…), and even theft (as long as it’s from a faceless corporation)—a general sticking it to the man is what I’m talking about here.

So get out there! Posse up in your nonviolent gangs, coin some intimidating nicknames, sew some outfits, terrorize your neighborhoods, badger those security guards (but don’t fight them!), and break any law that you don’t agree with—as long as nobody gets hurt, except yourself a little bit, which is part of life, and skateboarding too, but try to keep it within reason, okay? And let us officially welcome you, fellow members, fellow criminals, to the gang issue. — Mike Christie

colORMAGAZINE.CA

[ o ] ISEKI

volume 8

82 fos flUorescence Out Late with the Osaka Daggers It was buddies at first sight. in 1999 Fos met Chopper, the legendary originator of the Osaka Daggers in all his colourful glory. Now the Dagger’s membership has grown and Fos has the pleasure of introducing the rest of the world to the whole cast of characters.

Illustration by Andrew Pommier

116

DESPITE ALL ODDS Sam Mcguire, Isaac McKay Randozzi and a crew of artists took off on a camping/skating/art show trip across the desert. See who made it out unscathed.

Chopper, 720 Powerslide, Osaka

[ o ] ANDREWS

56 shazam Mike Fyfe

[ o ] HUTTON

skate

How do you set up an interview with someone who doesn’t have a phone? Torey Goodall posted up at a bar for a night surrounded by pitchers of beer simply hoping that Mike Fyfe would show. Find out if he did eventually turn up or if Torey just drank enough by himself to manufacture answers for the mysterious Am from Quebec.

CORNERED [ o ] CAISSIE

Keeping hunger and nic fits down, the cornerstores that support The Rice Block in Vancouver, Kalamata in Calgary, Elephant Direct and Dimestore in Montreal have given each city’s crew more than just their names.

106

CHINA Geoff Dermer and Brian Caissie wrangled the Kitsch team for a trip to Shenzen, China.

Mike Fyfe, switch frontside noseslide. NYC

colORMAGAZINE.CA

Columns: 08 15 22 28 38 arts

INTRO/credits contents contributors cmyk anthrax

52 130 146 152 154 158

inspiration bound fotofeature TRAILER LAST NITE credits over ‘N out

fashion

36 page 36 Jordan Bennett

47 PROduct toss What crew do you identify with? Three full looks have been put together, each with a different lifestyle in mind.

Merging his Native heritage and contemporary urban culture artist Jordan Bennett uses traditional materials to create modern devices. Interview by Leah Turner.

57 CULTURAL ATTACHé

Lee Henderson has the ablity to close up his gallery in under a minute and ramble down the road with it stowed under his arm. Leah Turner caught up with him and his travelling gallery.

64 MUmblers

JOIN THE CLUB Members of various clubs came toting an object that helps to define their interests and were shot by Gordon Nicholas for this fashion editorial.

lifestyle

A collection of some Club Mumble members favourite photos.

53 EXTRA/RANDOM Fight Club

The real fight club exists beneath a skateshop in Halifax. And since there’s no rule about keeping silent, Grady Mitchell and Riley Smith take you inside to find out the best way to learn is by hitting and getting hit.

54 HELTER SHELTER Jeremy Fish

This artist’s live/work studio is inhabited by many a knick-knack from his worldly travels.

100

78 It’s a sin Take a look at some photos by Adam Wright

COLLECTING ARTISTS

of Jason Jessee and his club, the Sinners.

145 next/best Evan Hecox

Instant Coffee, BGL, The Lions and Paul Butler are part of the Canadian art collective scene creating work together in all parts of the country. Taking a cue from these groups, Nicholas Brown and Leah Turner worked together to put together his article. image courtesy the Lions.

What was this Chocolate Skateboard artist’s favourite board-graphic series? Read on and see.

music [ o ] ORRALL

69 more is more The 25 + member band Gayngs came together over the work of Rory Olson. With each song being written at 69 bpm there’s no wonder that Prince showed up for the band’s first sexy show together. Interview by Saelan Twerdy. Illustration by Lori D.

80 family matters Jake and Jamin Orrall are keeping it all in the family with their two piece, blood-relationsonly band JEFF the Brotherhood.

104 bedroom dancing Michael Barrow touches base with three different producers based in three different countries who are all making dance music for one.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

GUEST 8.3 COVER

COVER 8.3

Illustration by Geoff McFetridge

Photo by Gordon Nicholas:

Chris Weiss, Vancouver skateboarder / motorcycle enthusiast.

Please recycle this magazine.

issue 3

ADAM WRIGHT

GEOFF DERMER

GRADY MITCHELL

contributing writer/photographer

contributing writer

Adam lives in La Selva Beach, CA. He doesn’t do much anymore except try to publish photo books and do occasional freelance work. His Ollie is gone. Right now he has a limited edition photo book available. 78

Geoff is the founder of Kitsch Skateboards and is now in his fourth year of running the company. He skates for C1RCA and is a rare bird having been born, raised and still living in Vancouver. 106

Grady Mitchell is by far the handsomest intern to ever step foot in Color’s office. While working at the magazine he learned that frozen blueberries are delicious, not to eat out of a Teflon pot with a metal spoon and never to argue with crackheads in the alley. Unfortunately, he never got the hang of thumgunning beers. He’s getting degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism at UVic so he can graduate and wait tables forever. 53, 86

ADAMWRIGHT@YAHOO.COM

kitschskateboards.com

CASTE PROJECTS

WADE FYFE

RILEY SMITH

FOS

guest typographer(s)

contributing writer

contributing photographer

contributing writer

CASTE is always thinking, always making, always doing. CASTE is not one thing, or one person. CASTE is like a costume party, a wedding, a debutante ball, and a boxing match. CASTE likes exacto knives, lenses, printing presses, crayons, and waterslides. CASTE responds well to personal invitations, conversations, and collaborations.

Wade is Canada’s new pro for Studio Skateboards. He loves skating in Vans and working at Stussy Vancouver. Wade has lived in Calgary, Yellowknife, Edmonton, Ottawa and now Vancouver. He lives right across the street from Antisocial. His favorite colour is purple and he loves hanging with his girlfriend Carolyn. He is about 5’7 150 pounds. 58

This Halifax based commercial photographer is a purveyor of lightheartedness, joyousness, and merriment. For more than a decade photography has been the thread of his being, taking him to five continents, 22 countries, and hundreds of cities. This journey will keep him creating images and developing his craft. Riley would like to thank skateboarding as well. 53

STUDIOSKATEBOARDS.COM

rileyphoto.tv

Fos is from Northern England, draws stuff, skateboards, reads comics, listens to Tom Waits and drinks way too much coffee. He owns Heroin and Landscape skateboard companies, art directs Altamont clothing, does art shows when he can be bothered, and has done graphics for Toy Machine, Zero, Real, Baker, Deathwish and Emerica. He currently lives in New Cross, South London with his lady and skates Stockwell park cause they have a good cake shop near there. 82

CASTEPROJECTS.COM

heroinskateboarding.com

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

J-S LAPIERRE switch frontside bigspin heelflip [ o ] andrews.

NICK MOORE f nollie rontside 180 [ o ] caissie.

ERIC KOSTON backside 360 [ o ] acosta.

TRAVIS STENGER 5-0 frontside kickflip [ o ] caissie.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

—

Jordan Bennett

wordsby leah turner

Often starting with used and broken skateboards (he was recently gifted 30 from a friend), Bennett revives and reworks them, for instance, ornamenting them with beadwork and various animal hides. For Marrow Truck Co, the artist approached the notion inversely, sculpting a skateboard truck entirely, incredibly, out of moose antler. For jilaqami’g no’shoe the title rooted in the Mi’kmaq word meaning, “to snowshoe” Bennett carved two skateboard decks into the likeness of a delicate pair of snowshoes, thus playing with the idea of the “Indian” artifact. As Bennett explains, his work “recovers, grasps and places his past within the present,” and it is within this convergence of aboriginal and contemporary urban skate culture that he attempts to negotiate and locate his identity. By re-contextualizing the traditional uses and functions of such materials as antler and beadwork, Bennett questions notions of authenticity, how we come to classify so-called artifacts as such, and what it means to be an urban “Indian.”

(top left clockwise) 2008 carved moose antler, 8" x 4" x 5" , 2009 carved skateboards, 8.6" x 27.5" x 1.5" , 2010 walnut, oak, spruce, sound work, 36" x 8" x 16"

issue 3

[ o ] DOUBT

IDENTITY CRISIS Here’s a funny story Deer Man of Dark Woods sent our way:

CONTRIBUTING TO A GOOD CAUSE Following up on the success of their “Smile on Your Brother” shows, the brains behind Contributor are working on another project. This time the curators have selected about 50 artists who will create original, one-off graphics on full sized decks. But there’s a twist. Instead of choosing a finished deck off of the website you’ll be commissioning an artist to create a deck especially for you, which means you won’t see your original deck until it arrives at your doorstep. Proceeds from this project are going towards getting skateboards into the hands of low-income and at-risk youth across Canada.

SHOOT IT OR LOSE IT

COLOR X GRAVIS CONTEST WINNER

Alex Olson, Girl and The Quiet Life have put out this deck reminding us that film is not yet dead.

After wading through all your photo entries a winner has been found. Floris Gierman’s shot of uhhh, whatever this is won him the $500 prize pack full of gear from Gravis and Analog. Maybe he should do us all a favour and pass on the clothes to this dude in the photo.

WEARECONTRIBUTORS.COM

THEQUIETLIFE.COM

COLOR X SOCIETY6 X VANS

I received a package from EA last night that included a small stack of xbox and PS3 versions of the new SKATE3 video game. I had to pick up the package from a Fedex depot and when I showed up it was addressed to Deer Man of Dark Woods right on the package. Because none of my ID’s said Deer Man of Dark Woods, and my address was actually different now then the package, I almost didn’t get to take it. They finally allowed me to take it after explaining to them comically how this is my alter ego skateboard name for which they barely understood. I can’t imagine why. I had to show them youtube videos of me skating, as well as google images of me to see if my eyes matched my real face. After a seriously absurd and surreal ongoing discussion which ended with some personal feelings of mild schizophrenia, eventually they allowed me to take the package IF I sign off on the package as “Deer Man of Dark Woods”.

We partnered up with Society 6 and Vans for our latest contest. So far we’ve chosen 6 artists off of the Society6 website to participate in the Get in With Vans contest. The selected artists have got their blank Vans shoes and have 3 weeks to art them up before sending them back to Color. Not only will the shoes be featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine, but products featuring the artwork will also be for sale soon on the Society6 website. society6.com

DYING FOR SUMMER Throw on these Reynolds to cruise down to your next beach session. Nothing says summer like sand, sun and tie dye, right? emericaskate.com

HUF IS ALL GOOD JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE ULC has been around for a whole decade and to celebrate, the brand is giving away a free dvd with every deck. ULCSKATEBOARDS.COM

colORMAGAZINE.CA

HUF has been around for close to a decade and now the brand is moving on up to Canada. The first member of the HUF Canada team is Torey Goodall, a perfect representation for the brand. More members are going to be added to the team in the months to come. Keep your eyes peeled for stock hitting the stores this summer. HUFSF.COM

HAPPIEST GANG ON EARTH If you like the gang aesthetic of patches and denim, but aren’t quite tough enough to join up with the real deal, Dr Romanelli and Clot have partnered up to create these vintagey Disney pieces just for you. drromanelli.com

issue 3

COLORMAGAZINE.CA [ o ] DOUBT

THE DAY WAS SKATED Once you’ve seen the photos and read about what went down in Vancouver on GSD head to the website to see all the footage and find yourself in one of the photos on the viaduct barge.

DIRTY DINHEIRO

KROOKED GUEST

is a documentary that is being put out by Nike SB and Hurley. The original skate video of the same name was made by a group of Brazilian kids in the early 90s. The new documentary revisits the kids from the original video and takes a look at where they and the skate scene in Brazil are at today. These Dirty Money shoes are being released exclusively in Brazil, so get online if you want to score a pair.

This cruiser is 1 of 300 issued so if you’re a fan of Ricky Windsor then you best get out there and get your hands on one now. dlxsf.com

FOURSTARBOARD This capsule collection from Nike SB and Fourstar is the perfect thing to wear on all those yacht excursions you’ll be heading out on this summer. And by yacht excursion I mean hitching a ride to the beach, but at least you’ll feel nautical and aboveboard wherever you happen to be.

nikeskateboarding.com

fourstarclothing.com

ELEPHANT DIRECT If you’ve been keeping up with the short videos on the Elephant Direct channel then you know that the full length video is almost ready to drop. It will be hitting shops and be a special dvd insert in Color Magazine 8.4. Stay tuned for release party dates. [ o ] MCKAY-RANDOZZI

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER Trapped in a van with a bunch of heat-stroke-crazy artists, filmer Corey Adams seemed to fit right in. After being picked up by the crew in Vegas he shot their entire journey right down to the last show. His video of the trip is up on the site now for you to see exactly what went down in that tour van.

BUGGIN’ OUT Michael Leon has partnered with Reese Forbes to re-launched Stacks. The first deck series includes two bug themed graphics as well as a collaboration with And Press, a small publisher out of Brooklyn. COMMONWEALTHSTACKS.COM

colORMAGAZINE.CA

CRANKED These are the first bicycle-specific, skate-shoe release from DVS. The skate brand teamed up with Cadence to put out these special Milan CTCs. Along with all the regular skate-specific features built into the shoe they also have reflective detailing for night riding, a special tongue that protects the laces from getting caught and something that supposedly helps reduce leg fatigue as well as increase pedal stroke strength so you can get home from the bar way quicker. dvsshoes.com

volume 8 issue 3

—

Frat Smart Don’t think you need a beer bong to figure this one out. From making out on, not behind the bleachers (that shits for Goths) to playing catch with the coach, these are the dudes on the party floor that you definitely can’t bring to the poetry reading your girlfriend is doing tonight. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

flip penny animation deck vans zapato del barco shoes chocolate retiro cut off cord shorts MATIX popper leather wallet HUBBA ballers wheels 50-53mm ÉS bottle opener

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

DVS dubbs raglan ZOO YORK eli reed soccer scarf VOLCOM circle stone belt and corpo blast socks BLACK LABEL I <3 beer hat ÉS sydney polo shirt LRG roots people letterman varsity jacket

9. 10.

11.

12.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

—

Book Smart

colORMAGAZINE.CA

4. 5.

The informed bunch are keeping it tight. A crispy dress shirt under a nice cardigan, chastidy belted trousers and all the protection their electronics need. I wonder what he’s thinking under those horn rimmed sunglasses. 1. ETNIES burnaby pants 2. DVS weekday day of the week socks 3. WESC dixon iphone holder 4. RAY BAN clubmaster glasses 5. MATIX cushy lap top case 6. ROYAL 4 original raw trucks 7. BAKER tweakers abec 5 & 7 bearings

8. EMERICA jerry speckle cardigan 9. ENJOI ink & paper deck 10. C1RCA sonny bag 11. FRESHJIVE contrast shirt 12. VOLCOM tractor two belt 13. LAKAI belmont shoes 14. SKATEBOOK

7. 6.

10.

11.

12.

13. 14.

volume 8 issue 3

—

Street Smart

colORMAGAZINE.CA

3. 6.

Codes and math are not just for geeks anymore. This club is all about survival and the uniform is street camouflage. Black, clean LRG jeans and a khaki something will keep anyone from making eye contact. 1. SUPREME hat 2. MATIX dockyard beanie 3. C1RCA debossed combat web belt 4. ÉS chop quilted jacket 5. ETNIES swords t-shirt 6. DESTRUCTO suicidal tendencies trucks

7. RICTA 52mm chrome core berry wheels 8. GIRL sean malto new world order deck 9. LRG in flux denim 10. MATIX bulkhead head phones 11. NIKE SB bruin shoes 12. DVS wallet

10. 9.

11.

12.

Guitar Army

The ICE OPINION

Hell’s Angel

I Drink For A Reason

To all the freaks out there:

Kids are too soft these days. Schools need to stop coddiling them and teach them about the real world without worrying about political correctness. And who better to mold young minds than Ice T. I’m going to recommend this book to all my teacher friends so that they put it on their class reading lists. Actually, it’s not such a bad idea. The stories and anecdotes in the book are of situations that many of us have hopefully never had to experiance, like racial profiling, ghettoization and surviving a gang war. As the title promises, Ice T has an opinion on all those topics and many, many more and he ends each chapter ends with “...who gives a fuck”, which I guess reinforces the fact that his words should be taken with a grain of salt. To be fair I found myself agreeing with him almost as often as I found myself laughing in a terrified kind of way at chapters such as “Men, Women, and Sex” and “Religion: One Percent Nation” (he formed his own religion!) But my favourite section of the book is the “Pimptionary/Glossary”, where I learned about terms like “A car”, which can mean “The group that you would side with in a prison riot”. Chose your side carefully kids and toughen the fuck up. —j. macleod

When I was a kid there was a Hell’s Angels clubhouse down the street from my house. I was always drawn to the massive S&S air cleaner covers that ubiquitously sat on the right hand side of almost all of the engines. I had no idea what they were, but I knew that they were cool. I went to one of their parties once, with a friend and his dad. I am sure we must have left before things got too crazy, but I remember everyone being really cool with us as we walked around and checked out the bikes. These days the Hells Angels seem pretty far removed from the idyllic romantic version that Sonny paints, but you can’t help but romanticize they early days of the club when it really did just seem like a bunch of dudes who loved motorcycles and living free, rather than with nike shocks, tear away pants and violent organized crime. Sonny followed this book up with a collection of tales from the road titled “Ridin’ High, Livin’ Free” a semi-autobiographical novel, “Dead in 5 Heartbeats”, a second novel, “6 Chambers, 1 Bullet” and a book of creedos aptly titled “Freedom”. Most importantly, track down a copy of this book quick, because Hollywood is about to sink it’s talons in, and i have a hard time believing that they’ll do it justice. —dylan doubt

How embarrasing it must have been to be funny-man David Cross when to his surprise the theatre filled to hear him read from his book “I Drink For a Reason” his manager informed him of, to which he assumed meant he would be doing his stand up, but his agent lead him to believe was part of Vancouver Book and Magazine Week, where he would be reading — therefore deemed promotion, except for the fact it was more of an appearance in which case he would be paid, but not expected to do comedy, but then there was over a thousand people there to see him and coincidentally it was in fact also Comedy Fest... Lets just leave it at that and say he had two distinctly wrong ideas in regards to his commitments. So after learning of that whole experience you might expect the book to be more the same and you would be right! Its a mishmash of autobiographic, sotories, ideas, letters, essays and anecdotes from an assortment of themes. I have to commend Mr. Cross though and support that he is a blue-collar, every man for the new generation of comedians. He actually got everyone’s addresses and mailed this book out to them! Well, his ‘people’ did. Although my version is full of typos, I still stand by the fact that this hilariously crass, sarcastic, jewish atheist enhances my life and I’m certain he can help you find clarity too. He lead on that this book would be reprinted to amend these errors so that’s probably the version of the book you’ll be buying.

john sinclair (process media)

For those of you who don’t already know, John Sinclair was one of the most influential heads of the post-beat era, and managed the MC5 until his heinous imprisonment over possession of two joints. Known as “The father of the Midwest rock and roll scene” (Creem magazine), was also the leader of the White Panther party and was influential in many of the radical newspapers and magazines of the time. This collection of works from his time both inside and out of prison reflects with a refreshing accuracy what the actual scene of the time must have felt like. Filled with a bounty of photographs, posters, cartoons and graphics on top of the in depth writings, poetry, and interviews by John and others, this is a must read for anyone still resisting the pressure of the MAN and interested in stirring up the status quo. —gordon nicholas

ice t as told to heidi siegmund (st. martin’s press)

ralph “sonny” barger (harper collins)

david cross (grand central)

—sandro grison

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8

—

Halifax Fight Club

wordsby grady mitchell

photosby riley smith

o, this fight club is not like the movie. No initiation rituals. No terrorist plots. That is illegal. But this group of skateboarders in this Halifax basement represent the closest that reality can come to the silver screen. And rest assured, both guys in these photos are black belts, and if you do come to their fight club, they will beat the shit out of you. But it’s for your own good.

“Skateboarding and fight clubs have a lot in common.” Think of the Big Brothers program, except with kung fu. Older, more experienced mentors educate younger followers in the art of self-defense. Hands-on instruction is the philosophy, students learn by hitting and getting hit sparring and striking, submission holds and takedowns. No gloves, no helmets. And no whining. Especially not about the biting. Until it closed down, meetings were held at the TKO indoor skatepark in a cleared area off to the side. After the park shut down, the club moved into an unfinished basement off Blower St., beneath Pro Girls skate shop. They laid some mats on the concrete floor, slapped some graffiti on the walls, and the club had a new home.

It wasn’t the first time the club has relocated. Blower Street is the oldest club on the East Coast. Back when boxing still reigned supreme, they were the first to pioneer freestyle fighting. And these skateboarders aren’t about to let it die. If you think about it, skateboarding and fight clubs have a lot in common. Neither has concrete rules, and both are individualist sports. Using pads, in either one, is just embarrassing. And, often, both are shunned by the public forced underground and out of sight. And, don’t forget, both of them hurt. Photographer Riley Smith points out that you run the same risk with either one. But that’s the fun of it. So if you want to learn how to kill a man with your bare hands, or just release some aggression, you know where to go. Maybe they’ll knock some sense into you.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

—

Jeremy Fish

words and photosby isaac mckay-randozzi

n a recent tour of the Southwestern United States, artist/illustrator Jeremy Fish saw parts of the U.S. that few have; from a perspective that even fewer of his age have seen: inside of a vintage 1970s van. His fascination with the bygone era of custom gas guzzling shaggin’ wagons is either an early onset of a mid-life crisis or a genuine appreciation for a brief era in automotive history. Whatever the reason, his interest has grown to include an offshoot of his famed Silly Pink Bunnies; the Vanimals are a crew of like-minded friends that share the love of the van. His love of motor vehicles is not limited only to vans, the favorite of creepy dudes everywhere; he also has a passion for Vespas and their larger, more utilitarian cousins that populate Italy. He’s a well-traveled man who has seen most of Europe and picked up some interesting items during those travels. The few curiosities that he has brought back reside with him in his live/work studio in San Francisco’s North Beach. There in his mini-maze of small rooms and doors, he keeps his life regimented. No surprise that the largest room in the place is his studio. His life consists of 10-16 hour days (depending on deadlines), spent hunched over his table, working on the next project, where he tries to get ideas involving a motorized vehicles, mules, and ill-tempered gnomes out of his head and made into his reality. The mad man of Union Street is at it again.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

1. This dude is known as a Grusley handmade by my friend in Switzerland. This dude answers all my calls, sorts out all my business plans, keeps my calendar going and looks cool. He’s just one of the gnomes that work here in my factory. 2. It was an impulse buy, kind of a silly thing to own but I don’t regret it. I was trying to make my place feel a little homier. 3. My mother, for the last 10 plus years was employed by the library in my hometown to sort through estate donations. Her job was to categorize a lifetime of people’s books. I used to have a buddy that drew on book covers a lot. She kept them for me to give to him and this is one of the covers I kept. 4. I got this in Switzerland, been there a bunch of times and I really love the symbolic cliché goofiness of the Cuckoo clock. In fact the clock doesn’t come from Switzerland at all. It comes from the Black Forest region in Germany. I’m normally not so curmudgeonly about holding onto my art, but this one is above and beyond rad simply because I smuggled it home in my suitcase and then built it. As much as I’d love to see it in someone’s house, I enjoy it selfishly and it reminds me of being in my late 20s, smuggling art into Europe in giant suitcases and smuggling cuckoo clocks out. 5. Made by Piaggio, which also makes Vespa, this is the APE (pronounced Ay-pay). In Italy it has been around since the ‘50s, a three wheeled 50-150cc trike. I was told they were made for farmers to load their goods in the back to take to the market in town. Now, they are marketing them to young, hip kids; putting stereos in them and sick seats. 6. Mr. Antelope came into my life via Mat O’Brien. I came home one day to my studio and found that thing sitting in my chair with a note on it that said, “Picture me skating 15 blocks with this thing under my arm. I knew you really needed to have this.” 7. This one is more about hometown pride than anything else. The Potato Chip was invented at Moon’s Lakehouse about a mile from my house. A grumpy customer kept sending home fries back saying they weren’t done enough, until the cook sent them to him thinly sliced and salty.

volume 8 issue 3

—

Lee Henderson’s Attaché Gallery

wordsby leah turner

s Color readers well know, in recent years Vancouver art has experienced a proliferation of representational drawing and work on paper. Drawing is situated generally within the spirit of DIY collaboration, and a tendency toward the expressively low-tech, the handmade, and the naively rendered; while its popularity might well be explained by its practicality. It’s accessible and inexpensive; essentially, it’s a fundamentally intimate practice, done in the home, or in a bedroom even. And, as Vancouver-based novelist and art critic Lee Henderson’s unique curatorial project proves, it’s also portable.

sketchbook drawings by Jeffro Halladay / images courtesy Attaché Gallery.

“Attaché Gallery disseminates itself almost solely via word-of-mouth, yet it’s surprisingly accessible.” Since 2006, Henderson has been exhibiting art in a thrifted 1980s-style black hard-shell briefcase. Attaché Gallery has shown drawings, collages, sketchbooks, small paintings, photographs and some sculpture from artists hailing mainly from Vancouver, including the likes of Igor Santizo, Scott Zieher (NYC), Sheri Baker, Brad Cran (now Poet Laureate of Vancouver), Sonja Hebert, Shayne Ehman, Joey Haley, Mark DeLong, Carrie Walker, The Lions and Jeffro Halladay, who comprises the current exhibition. A gallery that truly merits the distinction of being labeled an alternative exhibition space, Henderson’s easily digestible, art-in-a-briefcase model references a lineage beginning with Duchamp’s Boite-en-Valise, while also paying homage to Jason McLean’s suitcase of found ephemera, and the Royal Art Lodge’s oft-cited activity of ranking their piles of drawings into suitcases marked with respectively, a sun, a heart or a sad rain cloud. Unlike conventional gallery promotion and marketing, Attaché Gallery dissemi-

nates itself almost solely via word-ofmouth, yet it’s surprisingly accessible. Though it’s thanks to, frankly, a low overhead, which enables Henderson to run the gallery as a not-for-profit commercial endeavor where 100% of sales go to the artists, his enterprise is remarkable for the level of sheer enthusiasm it projects. Quick to point out that his is no attempt at guerrilla intervention or outright institutional critique, Henderson’s attaché case exhibitions are instead available by appointment, within select “office hours,” or, through chance encounter. And luckily, it was through the latter that I caught the gallery’s current show with much-loved Vancouver artist Jeffro Halladay. Meeting in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, it was a serendipitous encounter that confirmed to me that the thrust of Henderson’s project is as much about creating a specifically social model for the circulation of art as it is about sharing the artists that excite him.

diaries of doodles, kooky characters (the googly-eyed variety courtesy of collaborator Shayne Ehman), everyday notations and snippets of stream of consciousness text, fragments of the visionary and highly personal worldview that characterizes much work of this genre. For example, one sampling of Halladay’s jokey verse reads, “Q: How can you shave if you are made of beard hair? A: You can’t.” Leafing through Halladay’s playful, funny, and irreverent sketchbooks is a pleasure, and perfectly suited to Attaché’s intimate art-viewing experience, a fitting exhibition model for a genre of drawing, doodling and zinemaking that holds a compelling social dimension, an ad-hoc collaboration, as subtext. Lee Henderson holds office hours almost every Thursday from 9:30pm onwards at the Legion on Main and 23rd in Vancouver.

Jeffro Halladay’s four small Moleskine sketchbooks on view are packed with raw material from the last decade: witty

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby torey goodall

captionsby wade fyfe

[ o ] YING

ystery is an attractive quality. We all know one of those crusty, dirtbag type of dudes who manage to keep a stable of attractive women on deck, simply by instilling in them that sense of curiosity that we all so desperately long for. This phenomenon plays out the same way in the skateboard world. The most admired, man-crushed skateboarders are the strange, unaccountable ones—the guys with the few and far between video parts, with magazine interviews once every decade or so. You know, the Gino Iannucci, Julian Stranger effect. Within the parameters of the Canadian skateboard scene, one such character that comes to mind for me is Mike Fyfe. With a cameo here and there snuck in his brother Wade’s video parts from years back, Mike initially managed to catch my attention without me even realizing he existed. This was prior to me knowing Wade had a brother of similar age, appearance, and rippingness. Mike has since distinguished himself with striking video parts and photos of his own, displaying his unmistakable style and ability. I’ve also since had the pleasure of running into the man on multiple occasions in all kinds of different places where he usually receives me with his signature greeting, “Ehhh, buddy boy!” These days, Mike and I both live in Montreal, about a block away from one another. We go skating together, and I’m in his presence somewhat regularly. But instead of getting to know him better, my consistent encounters with him have only bolstered my perception of him as an intriguing,

impossible to figure out dude. He’s a phoneless, perpetually coming and going enigma, who only very recently secured a fixed address after about a years worth of couch surfing. When I see him, he’s usually rolling solo, keeping quiet for the most part, except for when he decides to bless me with one of his personal stories describing a snippet of some of the remarkable happenings that tend to go down in his day to day life, which usually involve an element of hilarious shadiness. My most intimate moments involving Mike have been when Jeremy Elkin gives me a sneak peek of some of Mike’s footage that’s set to appear in Jeremy’s upcoming video The Elephant Direct. Always coming correct on the skateboard tip, I’ll watch the footage repeatedly, getting marginally pervish and definitely skate nerdy over his trick selection and the way he skates. I was fortunate enough to run into Mike at Berri Square where I asked him how I could get a hold of him to get the interview done. We met later that week at a sports bar to watch the fight before heading to my place so we could handle the interview right quick, and be on with our night. Mike seemed a bit hesitant about the whole thing as the metronome on my recording device, which I still don’t know how to turn off, made the setting feel a bit official and awkward. We managed to laugh a bit after realizing we’re pretty wasted at this point, and I distract him with cigarettes and UGK. I hit him with my first query concerning a particularly funny story he told me a week previous to now:

.interview

Yeah, I guess I didn’t even need to ask. But Boo boosh sounds Ukrainian or something. I don’t know man. My girl’s Persian. Well she sounds like a keeper (She was gonna come hang out with us, but she was busy finishing up her Master’s degree). Oh for sure she’s a keeper, that’s wifey right there. Well, when Color asked me to do this, they mentioned it’s for the “club issue”. So on that theme, can we call your brother right now? Wade? Man, I don’t know his number. You don’t know your own brother’s number? Well I guess you don’t know your own number correct? Yeah. Is there a reason why you’re so all over the place? [laughs] Ah man, the past year I’ve been a gypsy, man. I’ve been all over the place. You went to Ireland, you just got back from Detroit. And you went to Thailand? Yeah, I went to Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, I did all that shit. Detroit is fucking dope man. Everyone should go there to skate. Oh yeah? I remember there was this one dude from Detroit living in Vancouver for a while. He was cool. So why Montreal as the home base right now? You’ve been everywhere. Why not Vancouver? Everybody usually goes to Vancouver. Yeah I did my little thing in Vancouver and it was dope, but fuck the weather. Yeah, grey skies suck. The people are dope, everything’s cool, but some shit went down, and I had to book out of there. Oh, yeah, right. We don’t need to get into that. Let’s not get into that shit, ya dig? Yeah. So what are you feeling about Montreal so far? I love the spots, obviously. I find everyone here’s just amazing.

“I’m always on the come up.” Torey: Can you tell me why you’re concerned about crossing the border to come on this filming trip to New York and Boston in a couple weeks? Mike: [laughs] What the fuck… Well you don’t have to be super candid about it. Do you not want to talk about it? No... I don’t. Ok, well if you won’t tell me about that, can you at least tell me how you paid your rent today? (It was the first of the month, and the topic had come up as we were watching the fight.) Oh. Jesus. Yeah, for sure. I got back from skateboarding. I sat down for a smoke. I saw some emo-looking dude boxed-in in my back parking lot. There’s no way he was getting out [laughs]. So he’s tripping out. I’m not saying anything yet, I’m just watching it happen. He’s there for at least twenty minutes. So I smoked a joint. The dude finally backs out, nails the van behind him, and I’m right there, so I ran down, and I yelled at him, “Yo, that’s my fucking van right there! Give me five hundred dollars right now, or I’m calling the cops, and the insurance.” Yeah, I did something like that once. But sorry, go on. It’s the best! [laughter] The dude went to the bank, and gave me five bills.

shazam.

There you go! Came up on a couple hundred bucks right? Yeah, my rent’s only three hundred. Attaboy! I’m always on the come up. Straight-up though, I should’ve done it for like a thousand. Feeling pretty satisfied with this example of Mike of gaffling fools, we move on to other pressing topics: Any thoughts on the fight tonight? I don’t know about the fight man, the fight was gravy. I called it man, Mayweather all day. Yeah, I guess so huh. So what do you feel like doing tonight? Oh man, I feel like seeing my girl. Speaking of your girl, can you explain the evolution of Boobooshpapa? (Mike’s ultra cute and hilarious pet name used by his girlfriend.) Because I can tell it started as one thing, and just snowballed. Yeah. Like it probably started as boo, then it turned to boo boo, then it hit the shhh, and then I guess papa? That’s it. You got it right there.

How come I always hear you and Wade say ‘kipper’? Where does that come from? Fuck that. Kipper, man. I don’t know how Kipper originated, that was like some Edmonton shit. Oh yeah, where did you guys grow up? Because I was never really clear where the Fyfe family resided? Well [my] brother was born in Calgary, and I was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Really? Yeah, I went from Yellowknife to Edmonton. I only lived in Yellowknife until I was five. All I remember from there is the winter when you only get one hour of sunlight a day. Imagine that. I grew up there. It was the worst. I imagine it could change a man. Look at me now! [laughter] Does that explain it? Like what do you do outside of skateboarding? Cause it seems like everyone’s Not to many people know that Brother was born in Yellowknife. My mother gave birth to him in a igloo. When my parents brought him home that night I Named him Mike after Michael Jackson. 180 fakie 5-0. andrewsphoto.

{opposite) I would like to think that me and Mike grew up being pretty normal kids. I can’t remember what grade he was in but I do remember Mike being suspended from school for bugging or making fun of some one in his class. His henchman confederate in the crime was Dion Phaneuf who plays hockey in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leaps. Frontside nosebluntslide. yingphoto.

What happened to Alena? That seemed really cool. It just didn’t get the love it deserved. It’s that Canadian shit.

always like, “What’s up with Fyfe, I don’t know what he does, I don’t know where he is ever, I don’t know how to get a hold of him, I don’t know what his number is.” I went to L.A. around Christmas and I’d had a cell phone for about a month, and I lost my phone on the way to the flight. That was the last one I had. I mean I don’t really want to just say what’s up, you know?

Yeah, cool shit generally doesn’t get the support it needs. And then where’d you stay after Jeremy’s place? [laughs] I was at [Andrew] McGraw’s for a minute.

Yeah. And you just moved into a spot recently, but you’ve been here for about a year right?

McGraw! Any funny stories from that era? Ah man, I can’t even say. I can’t do it.

Where’d you stay before? Yeah, [before that] I was with my boy Jeremy Bresnen. He kills it at everyday life man.

.mikefyfe

I use to play hockey when I was younger and I would even play summer hockey. One year my summer hockey team had a tournament in Vancouver and the whole family came. Brother and I both brought our boards and skated the new Ladner park. It was crazy skating that park coming from Edmonton at that time. One thing sticks out to me. Mike was skating around with a bleach mohawk. Backside 5-0. woronaphoto.

(opposite) Brathurrrrrrr (in a different voices). Thats how Mike answers the phone every time we talk on the phone. Throughout are childhood we have come up with the silliest sayings and meanings for words. I’m sure we all do it but it’s not the same with out your Brathurrrrrrr. Frontside shove-it. cliffordphoto.

I’m a big fan of McGraw. You two are mysterious characters. Everybody wants to know. I’m just doing me man. Living my life. I spent a year as a gypsy, now I’m trying to get it locked down. Trying to do my thing, you know? I’m filming for fucking Jeremy Elkin’s vid. Oh yeah, how’s that coming along? Well, you know, the only tricks I’ve got right now are not that many. I’ve seen them. They’re some of the best ones. Relax, I’ve seen your tricks. Bah, they’re garbage pal. Relax. So how’s the experience been with Elkin pointing the camera at you? (takes a deep breath and laughs a bit) So before you moved here, were you going to school or something? Yeah, I did my college thing, but in the last semester my girl went to Singapore so I went too.

mikefyfe.

Oh yeah, what was that like? Dude, it’s the cleanest city in the world. I don’t know man, it was kind of fucked up. But then I went to Thailand, that was the shit man!

Come on. A tale or two? Well one day, I’m walking down the street and I hear this, “Hey skateboarder!” and I’m like, “Who the fuck is this kook?” I turn around and it’s Scotty McDonald.

representing T-dot, too. And we got, we got my boy Nate [Olokun] in T-dot as well. Whatever happened to that dude Dave Lambert? Where’s he at?

Whoah, that’s a crazy sighting! That’s my dude man! Ah, my god! Scotty and my girl would talk about shit, I wouldn’t know what the fuck they were talking about, for hours.

Oh yeah, he was sick. Where is he? There’s another notable black T-dot skater… Noah T? Oh Noah! He’s sick. Fuck yeah. He’s gangster.

Yeah. He’s got conversation topics for sure. What about being a black skateboarder in Canada? Is it like a crew? Because I can only think of a handful of dudes. My nigga Wade Fyfe, niiiiggggaaaaa!

I’m a big fan myself. I like him. (Pryce Holmes chiming in): Is that the dude who had Rasheed Wallace guest dunks in his video part?

Oh yeah? What happened there? (laughs) Oh no.

Well we got the Fyfes, and who else? We got Cephas, representing T-dot. My nigga Jacob

Yeah, I think so. That’s cool. But is it kind of like that for you guys? Is it like, “I see you!” Oh yeah, we got love.

“He’s a phoneless, perpetually coming and going enigma.”

So you named like three other dudes. Are there any more? We got Gailea [Momolu]. Where’s he at? What up Gailea! But my nigga Jacob Williams, that nigga’s killin it! What’s your take on white boy tags, black boy swag? What? Black boy what? You know that whole rap phenomenon where black dudes wear American Eagle and Hollister and shit like that. Because I saw you wearing some fitted shorts with the high socks combo, and I thought you might be on that tip. You saw me wearing that?! No, fuck! Dude, I thought it was a pretty good kit myself. Yeah, it was a pretty good kit. That wasn’t inspired by anything in particular? Naw man. That’s just me man.

Speaking of rap… What am I feeling?

Yeah, but you say it to me. [laughs] That’s true.

Yeah. I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. The game’s kind of fuckin’ disturbed right now. Everyone’s trying a little too hard right now, hevs.

It works either way. It’s pretty endearing. Makes people feel good. Well that probably does it. We’ve got a big night ahead of us. Any closing comments? Oh my god, is this the interview man? That’s the worst. I can’t do that man. Can I write it down later or something?

Yeah, a little hard. I agree. I’ve noticed you saying ‘hevs’. Had you heard any of this crazy Temple [Skateshop] slang prior to moving to Montreal? Yyyyea… no. They got some fuckin slang man. Me, I’m just on some fuckin buddy, kipper shit. What’s up with Temple man? What’s up with Andy? What’s up with ‘buddy boy’? That just comes down to me being a retard, and not remembering anyone’s name so I call them buddy. You smell me?

Yeah sure. There’s special people out there. Where do I start man? I don’t even want to. We don’t have to. We won’t. Let’s go get some shrooms!

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

—

Club Mumble Favourites

ealizing that he wasn’t the ultimate authority on skateboarding, Bob Kronbauer formed Club Mumble a couple years back. Inviting a long list of friends in high places from contemporary art and street culture, the club members share as Bob says it, “things they are working on, things that inspired them, [and] things that other people send their way”.

Recently Bob came up with a project he could invite every member of Mumble to participate in. Whether they were a professional photographer or not, all members were invited to send in an entry for a book made up of Mumbler’s photography. Of the undertaking he says “I thought it would be fun to ask each of them for their favourite photo that they had ever taken, knowing that what would come back would be so varied in terms of subject matter that it would be interesting on a lot of levels.” Here we have just a taste of what a few Mumblers deem as their favourite photos they’ve shot.

“My wife Trina and I had just taken an overnight sleeper train from Nice to Paris on our honeymoon in the summer of 2001. We [would open] the window up and just lay around listening to and smelling the rain for hours. I felt like eventually somebody with an umbrella would cross the street i n the right place so I sat and waited it out. Eventually I got one. It reminds me of a perfect afternoon, it’s a photo very different from the way I usually shoot, and it’s the closest I think I’ll ever get to a Cartier-Bresson moment.” — Mark Whiteley

colORMAGAZINE.CA

(top clockwise) “I think in my years of being a skateboard photographer I was always trying to make more artistic, graphic images and I guess this is the one that expresses what I had always been trying to do the best. Thanks Adrian [Lopez] for your radness.” —Thomas Campbell, Hong Kong airport, c.1998“Just the fact that whole situation occurred in the first place is kinda why its cool... Middle of the night, the barefoot phase, never not pedicured, bleeding for some reason, yesterday’s gross banana, camera in my pocket, gotta pee...” — Todd Bratrud “It was originally slated for an exhibit last year, but I didn’t have room for it so I pulled it from the show and tucked it away. It’s of my Sasquatch toys and it reminds me to continue the search.” —Kelly D Williams

.clubmumblefavourites

clubmumblefavourites.

(opposite) “It reminds me to have more fun and be looser with the types of photos I take, and to shoot everything I see. It’s of Eric Anthony (Girl Art Dumper co-worker and he’s rad).” —Andy Mueller “This is one of my favourite photos because it was the summer of 1984 at the Del Mar Skate Ranch on a day when Tony and Lester were skating in the keyhole and I had just received a birthday present autowinder for the 35mm... and this was likely my first successful photo sequence.”—Gary Benzel “Every day [this woman in Paris] seemed to be sleeping in her little hut of garbage. Garbage is one of my favourite things so this picture always appealed to me.” —Corey Adams

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby saelan twerdy

illustrationby lori d

hen Minneapolis producer Ryan Olson got together with his buddies in the soft rock/electro-soul band Solid Gold and decided to record a concept album inspired by 10cc’s immortal prom-jam, “I’m Not In Love,” he never expected the project to balloon into a year-long, life-changing odyssey that would bring together two dozen of Minneapolis’ finest musicians and culminate in a blow-out show that would include a visitation by the Purple One, Prince himself. Through eleven tracks of sultry soft-rock, blue-eyed soul, choral R&B, and a few otherworldly journeys into slow-motion cinematic ambiance all of which cruise at the highly suggestive tempo of exactly 69 beats per minute Gayngs' album, Relayted, documents how such diverse musicians as Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, members of The Rosebuds and Megafaun, and Rhymesayers/Doomtree rapper P.O.S. became a family.

‘“I’m Not In Love” is just such an amazing song, I knew I just had to try and do something like it.’ For an undertaking that could so easily slide into tongue-in-cheek, inside-joke territory, Relayted is astonishingly ambitious and, even more remarkably, totally free from the too-many-cooks syndrome. You could chalk this up to Ryan Olson’s firm hand on the rudder and the plan that he laid out with Solid Gold: they had thirteen songs sketched out before they called in Mike Lewis, a saxophonist who has played with Happy Apple, Andrew Bird, and Dosh. Shortly thereafter, Justin Vernon heard the recordings and volunteered his studio, and from then on, it was just one collaboration after another, with each of the new contributors bringing their unique strengths to the table until each track was layered so deep that you virtually have to swim through the middle of the album, basking in the candlelit, honeyed synth tones and the seamless waves and swells of textural shifts until you hit the buoyant girl-boy electro-pop hit, “Faded High” that, along with opener “The Gaudy Side of Town,” make up the album’s peaks. Up until mid-May, though, the Gayngs’ members had never all been in the same room together. For their album release show as a full band, they spent a week rehearsing and bonding apparently debaucherously before appearing onstage at hometown club First Avenue, where they were greeted by adoring fans...and Prince. Ryan Olson was just barely getting over the experience when we reached him on the phone. Color: So how was your big show? Ryan Olson: A blast, but I’m glad it’s over. Is it true that Prince came to the show, guitar in hand, and jammed along? He didn’t jam on stage, but I saw him on the side rocking out on guitar. He was there, hanging out backstage. We asked him if he wanted to come up on stage, but he said that we didn’t need him up there. He didn’t come with a huge entourage at all, it was just him. When did you first come up with the idea for this project? With the Solid Gold guys, February last year.

Did the original idea include having tons of collaborators? No, we made an initial track and pretty much as soon as that happened I knew I wanted to involve the Megafaun dudes and the nature of the timing and how we were working on it just kind of opened itself up to bringing a lot of people on board. But yeah, it wasn’t originally supposed to be twenty-four people. Was the 69 BPM also part of the first idea? Oh, for sure. From the very first song, we laid down a few rules and that was one of the first ones. And how much of that is you just playing around with the idea of sexy music and how much is you actually wanting to make legitimately sexy music that people feel sexy to? Well, we weren’t going in saying, “Oh, let’s make it sexy,” it just kinda turned out that route. It wasn’t so much a goal as a tone we were going for. It wasn’t like, “Yeah, we’re going to make some fucking fuck music right now.” It’s more like the palette of sounds just lends itself to that sensibility. It seems to me that on the album, there’s a range of approaches to the mood. In the beginning, it’s more tongue-in-cheek, but in the middle, it gets really spaced-out, almost proggy, and really kind of out there. Yeah, the whole thing was more or less about documenting what was happening, the space we were all in. Sometimes the space got pretty intense.

You’re touring in the fall, right? Do you feel like the live show is going to work the same way in the fall as it did for the show you just played? No, not at all. We’ll rework the songs a bit. With that many people, everybody has to just play, like, one maraca hit every other chorus, but with a stripped-down band, everyone can actually play their instruments and take it different places. What were you producing before this? Marijuana Death Squad, which is kind of dubsteppy with live drums, an offshoot of a band called Building Better Bombs just hardcore punky stuff. So this is kind of a turnaround for you. Yeah, totally, this is why I wanted to do something Gayngs, to do something different. Now, with all these people having met each other through doing this, do you imagine any other projects offshooting from it? Yeah, absolutely. We’ve already got a couple things, I don’t know if I can talk about them yet, though. [coughing fit] My body’s just collapsing after this past week. It’s done for. I guess partying with twenty-four people for a week straight will take its toll on you. I wanted to ask you, though, what is it about 10cc that interests you? Well, it’s mainly “I’m Not In Love.” It’s the way that song is composed, the stuff they do in it, the tones ... I mean,

I like 10cc, for sure, they were a bunch of amazing producers, but if I had to make a list of favourites, it would be “I’m Not In Love,” then “Rubber Bullets”, then maybe three others songs tied for third and then I don’t really care. “I’m Not In Love” is just such an amazing song, I knew I just had to try and do something like it. Is there any other music that has that vibe for you? Oh, for sure, but that was the first ... the seven-minute breakdown with chimes and a bassline before going into the bridge, which is like five minutes into the song. Also, it’s not that our album sounds exactly like that song ... it just references it, sometimes abstractly. It’s the concept. Are you definitely doing a follow-up album? I’m sure we will. I can’t imagine not doing it again. It was the funnest thing ever to do and I think we could do it again. And I wasn’t actually able to record the whole thing with the band ... I think being able to work with the band for two weeks on something would be ridiculously fruitful. But everyone has a thousand things going on, so it might not be a couple years before we can get at it like that. Do you think there’s more territory to be mined from this sound? There’s tons of stuff I think you could touch on. We could do a key change! It would be ridiculous if that didn’t happen. Knowing how it works, what we can work with and how to do it, I’d like to make it just totally seamless, so that the progressions from one song go right into the next. And I’d like to do the next one at 55 bpm. Even slower. Oh yeah. Gotta slow it down a bit. Anything particularly crazy happen in the last week? Uh, yeah. It’s all documented, so when I see the pictures, I’ll know exactly what happened. I’m still reeling from the haze. Relayted is out now on secretely Canadian. For fall tour dates and other info, check myspace. com/gayngs.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

PHOTOGRAPHY GORDON NICHOLAS

FASHION EDITOR MILA FRANOVIC FASHION ASSISTANT sara gregorac hair and Make-up SHANNON REYNOLDS

(opposite) LIFETIME woven, MATIX cardigan, EMERICA jeans, and JACOBS boots.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

William, LARPer

Chris (motorcycle enthusiast)

all&sundry.

Amber,

entertainer/dancer

(opposite) Chris: white tee shirt by SPLIT, C1RCA hoody, EMERICA jacket, CLUB COLORS vest, FRESHJIVE jeans, CAT boots and VOLCOM sunglasses. Amber: INSIGHT tuxedo blazer and MATIX jeans, with models own body suit and shoes.

Claire & Audrey (equestrians)

Claire: Chambray dress shirt by MATIX with a QUIKSILVER vest, vintage belt, custom jodhpurs and boots. Audrey: VOLCOM top, vintage ascot, jodhpurs and boots.

Sam (birder)

Models own hat and sweater with blue chambray MATIX dress shirt, black VOLCOM jeans, VANS shoes and C1RCA socks.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

words and photosby adam wright

he first Sinners were two Rhodesian Army Selous Scouts who relocated to the LA area in the 70s after their country dissolved. From there it passed down to this younger generation. Most of the guys are still the wild-composed type, keeping true to their roots, mostly found in SoCal, except for some scattered nomads in Northern California, North Carolina, Iowa, and Minnesota. Honestly, they are not concerned with any self-promotion or hype, they just dig bikes and cars and friends. Nothing new there’s no magic in real life. They do a lot of things together. It’s neat and it makes me jealous of it. I first got involved with these dudes through Jason Jessee. We were shooting some skate shit, then it just turned to bikes and cars and I started shooting the other dudes. The majority of this recent explosion in car and chopper building and its lifestyle can be traced back to Jason. The Sinners just keep livin’ their lives. It’s just bikes and cars and people, and it goes really fast... then you’re dead.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby shawn lennon

photoby justin orral

ow do you grow a timeless psychedelic punk band that can perfectly combine a broad range of styles with an innate ease and charm? Take two brothers from Franklin, Tennessee, add one singer-songwriter father, three strings, one drum set, mix ingredients in a home studio for about a decade and there you have it: JEFF the Brotherhood.

Formerly known simply as JEFF, a name they changed to accommodate the importance of Google ranking, the duo has been touring tirelessly in support of their fourth release and second LP, Heavy Days, an album that starts with the sound of swarming insectsbugs that must lay eggs in your ears and feed on fuzzed-out guitar riffs because it's hard to stop listening to this record once you’re exposed. Their heavy yet melodic works pay homage to greats like the Ramones, the Stooges, Sonic Youth and the Meat Puppetsoriginal and to the point. “We grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, which is forty minutes from Nashville, and there wasn't really any other kids around,” says Jake. “My dad had a home studio so we just ended up playing [music], it happened by default I guess.” Jake plays a tuned down three-stringed guitar with the heaviest gauge of strings he can find. “Unless I'm in the studio ripping some sweet solo, I'll play a six-string. On our second album I started playing a two-string guitar with one electric string and one acoustic both tuned to the same note. We were just trying different stuff and came up with some pretty heavy, crazy sounds with that.” Eventually exhausting

colORMAGAZINE.CA

the two-string approach, Jake added a third and opted for a standard drop-D tuning, backed by two amps and a splitter to emulate two guitars and add dynamics to their live sound. “I like having three strings because the limitation forces you to be creative.” The combination of Jake’s creativity and Jamin’s classic standalone drumming style has developed a sound that’s engaging in its simplicity and drives straight to the dance floor. In 2002, Jake, Jamin and father Robert Ellis Orrall formed Infinity Cat Records to release the works of the artists formerly known as JEFF and their father’s faux indie rock group Monkey Bowl. The label has since grown to include many blooming young Nashville artists like Heavy Cream and Natural Child. “Our dad is a musician and a songwriter so music was always really important in our house,” says Jake. “He was in this new wave pop band in the 80s and then we moved to Nashville in like 1990 so he could work on writing for country artists. He had some pretty big country hits and then through writing for country artists he became a country artist, now he's back to writing.” Though one might think a career musician might have his children slaving away at a tender age,

“I like having three strings because the limitation forces you to be creative.” Jake recounts, "I don't think we've ever actually jammed together before.” Robert Ellis Orrall is a CMA nominated recording artist for RCA who has written and produced for the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Reba McEntire. Jeff the Brotherhood booked summer tours for the past four years until March of last year when they decided to quit their jobs and tour full time. “We just started going up to New York every month and playing as many show as we could,” says Jake. “Eventually we got hooked up with a booking agent and he has kept us real busy. We basically just told him we always want to be on tour so book us whenever you want.” Now, with a schedule that could have been designed by a drill sergeant and an album whose only downfall could be that it's not longer, the brothers Orrall appear to be well on their way. Heavy Days is out now on Infinity Cat Records and JEFF the Brotherhood are touring the US and Canada this summer with Shonen Knife, a cute all-female pop-punk trio from Osaka. For dates and more info, check myspace.com/ jakeandjamin.

volume 8 issue 3

Original Daggers.

wordsby fos

imagescourtesy dagger archives

hese days, no matter where you are in the world, you have instant access to everything that is happening in skateboarding. Thanks to Youtube you can watch any skate part that has been filmed in the last 20 years. Skateboarding is spreading around the world at an amazing speed, and if you turn up in even the world’s most remote cities to skate, the kids there will have seen all the latest company videos and will be completely aware of who did what down what and who left this company for that company. So just imagine going to a city and skating with a crew of people who have no concept of modern skateboard media whatsoever—wouldn’t it be almost indescribably refreshing? Well, there is such a crew, and here I'm talking about the Osaka Daggers.

The name “Osaka Daggers” dates back only a few years to around 2004, but the crew existed long before that. I met this then-nameless crew when I first went to Japan in 1999, who at that time were just a group of guys who skated together. It was clear to me that this crew was a testament to the power of one person’s influence on a scene, that person being Chopper. I met Chopper, the originator of the crew, in the local skateshop in Osaka called Spotaka. They had a poster of him up on the wall and I fanned out. I'd seen his photos in Japanese mags, and little bits of video in Takahiro Morita’s FESN 1996 Video and was immediately stoked on him. The video is pretty much progressive street skating all the way through, except Chopper’s part, which included layback slides on a sketchy cobbled brick bank. There were only about three or four tricks in total, but they were amazing, all done with speed and style that I hadn't seen since footage of the Venice locals on a Santa Cruz Speed Wheels video from 1990. When I told the skateshop staff at Spotaka that I was a fan of Chopper he said, "You wanna meet him? He lives down the street!" So he called him and the next thing you know Chopper was there in front of me, with green hair, patches all over his trousers, painted shoes, and a fucked up anarchist punk band tee shirt. I was hyped. He didn't speak too much English, but we somehow managed to get through a conversation and after that we became friends.

See, me and Chopper grew up 7000 miles apart but were influenced by exactly the same things, primarily Venice skaters from the 80s: Eric Dressen, Aaron Murray, Tim Jackson, Scott Oster, Christian Hosoi, Jeff Hartsel. We were of the same generation, we witnessed the start of street skating, and of course people like Gonz and Natas were massive inspirations to us as well, but for some reason it was these Venice guys that we were really hyped on. Chopper always maintained that his favourite video of all time was a Christian Hosoi Japan tour video from 1990. He showed it to me once, it was basically filmed on a camcorder and just Hosoi in his prime skating what sketchy vert ramps they had in Japan back then. Don't think for a second that Chopper is one of these cheeseball guys who saw Dogtown and Z-Boys too many times and just do laybacks at their local park. Chopper has skated constantly for over twenty years and never stopped. His skating mixes insane technical ability with style, speed and power. It’s rare that you will skate down the street with someone and they do a switch double flip, a 540 powerslide, and then a 360 boneless all in the same line. He makes a modest living by managing his own clothing brand called Whatever. He produces tee shirts and clothing himself—based on a D.I.Y. ethos—and adamantly keeps his prices cheap so that kids can afford them, usually not leaving any money for himself at all. His defiance to live his life

[ o ] OKA-Z

Hamazi, Layback Backside

colORMAGAZINE.CA

[ o ] ISEKI

“If you turn up and you have a skateboard then you're welcomed into the skate scene and you can drink all night with them.” , frontside rock ‘n’ roll.

in the conventional manner to which people expect, especially in a country like Japan, seems to inspire all of those around him. I think his rejection of rules, living his life his own way, has led to him rejecting the rules of what is cool or not in skateboarding. The Osaka Dagger’s are: Chopper; Hamaji, Chopper’s second in command; DAL, the court jester and butt of all the jokes; and Takama, a young recruit into the ranks who has to do anything and everything that Chopper tells him. They all look a bit like Chopper—fucked up jeans with patches on them, leather jackets, crusty punk tee shirts—and somewhere along the way the crew was given a name, quite simply because they looked like the evil gang “The Daggers” from the 80s skateboard film Thrashin’. And since they were from Osaka they became the Osaka Daggers.

I spent my first night with the crew watching Takama drink until he puked into a plastic bag, then carry on drinking, snorting noodles and then wasabi and finishing the night by squeezing lemon juice into his eyes. As I watched (and filmed this bizarre event—the footage was later made into an early Heroin Skateboards ad) it felt like a weird initiation ceremony, and I suspect it was. Takama proved himself to us foreign visitors in a manner that would not be forgotten, and in doing so, he impressed Chopper and Hamaji so much that they made him a key member of the crew. I later returned to Japan to film Chopper and Hamaji for Heroin Skateboards. Other places and scenes claim to promote creative skateboarding, but nowhere is this true like it is in Osaka. Thinking outside the box is considered the most revered thing, and eccentricity

is encouraged. Out there, there are no rules, things are done for creativity and fun, nothing more. This is a unique and rare thing. The third Osaka Daggers Infection video is being released as I write this. It won't be long before people all over the world are exposed to this scene. It makes me happy to think that it could have an influence on skaters everywhere, but at the same time I worry that the purity and magic of what they have in Osaka will be compromised. I hope that the Daggers won't ever change from being a few eccentric characters trying to make up new tricks. Under the watch of Chopper, though, they're in good hands.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby grady mitchell

o be taken seriously any self-respecting skateboard crew needs a few things. Some are obvious, like a headquarters and a signature spot. For the first, either a house (preferably low rent, durable) or a store (low prices, still durable) will do. Number two could be a local park or a significant street spot. Of course, these are only two of the countless things that give each particular group its flair. All these choices combine to form the heart of a crew; and crews, in turn, form the heart of skateboarding.

But there’s one aspect that often gets overlooked. It’s especially ironic, given that this forgotten feature appears on street corners in every city, large or small. If crews are skateboarding’s heart, then corner stores feed the stomachs that keep that heart pumping. They silence rumbling guts, satisfy sweet-tooths, and keep nicotine withdrawal at bay. We’re not talking about corporate giants like 7-Eleven or Mac’s, but the small, family-run grocers in every neighbourhood. Maybe not as critical as a place to live or level concrete to ride, sure, but still important. Like any feature of a crew’s identity, their relationship with the local cornerstore is completely unique.

Kalamata, a Calgary crew, has such a close bond with their local market that they live on top of it. Members of the Rice Block, from Vancouver, can list, with confidence and from memory, every item their namesake sells. After making five or six trips a day, minimum, for three years, that’s hardly surprising. Montreal’s Elephant Direct ease into the day with flatground warm-ups in front of their shop. Dimestore, another Montreal crew, doesn’t even have a store yetonly dreams of one day launching their own. Color spoke to each crew about the unbreakable bond between skater and snackshop.

Justin Gastelum backside tailslide. andrewsphoto.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

[ o ] ANDREWS [ o ] ANDREWS

[ o ] ANDREWS

“If you’re chilling out front of the Elephant, it’s like, you’re chilling with crackheads. Like the one who stands on the corner everyday, peering down the street.”

As usual, French-Canadians make normal things sound cooler. Instead of corner stores, they have depanneurs. Translated, depanneur means “depending on the hour,” as in: “open late.” Elephant Direct is the depanneur of choice for a Montreal crew of the same name, including Jeremy Elkin, Allen Ying, Kasey Andrews, Torey Goodall, Seb Labbe, Andrew McGraw, Mike Fyfe, Justin Gatelum, Russ Milligan, and Pat O’Rourke. It’s on Rue Chomedey, in an area affectionately named the Concordia Ghetto, a skeezy block in an otherwise upstanding neighbourhood. “That particular street… not even that street, it’s just that block, from St. Catherines to Maissoneuve, is really, really poor and sketchy. But then you turn the corner and it’s fine.” Jeremy says. The owners, an African couple, also live above the store. They don’t mind that Elephant Direct members skate flat out front daily. Even though the riding is risky, with cars whipping around the corner, traffic is the least of their worries. “If you’re chilling out front of the Elephant, it’s like, you’re chilling with crackheads. Like the one who stands on the corner everyday, peering down the street.” After all this time, Jeremy has no idea what the guy

is looking for. At this point, the guy probably has doesn’t know either. But still, they’re both creatures of habit: everyday the crackhead looks down that street, and everyday Jeremy skates flat out front. Despite the sketchy locals, mostly drifters from the halfway houses across the street, the Elephant is central to each of their homes, and so remains their rendezvous. Torey first noticed the Elephant because of cheap deals plastered to the inside of the windows, in front of the metal security bars. When he entered and asked the husband what Elephant Direct meant, the answer he got was “big deals.” Clearly, this guy has honed his sales pitch. As far as wares, the store goes for the scattershot technique a little bit of everything. Jeremy usually grabs candy, and Mike and Torey choose from the surprisingly diverse collection of beer. But, if they felt like it, they could purchase an instructional kit on how to build pretty much anything, or a Jamaican meat patty (regular or vegetarian), or, to liven up a quiet night, some fireworks. Jeremy so describes their business plan: “Whatever they have lying around the house, it seems like they’re just selling it.”

(above l-r) Marc Tison, Mike Fyfe, Jeremy Elkin, Torey Goodall, Bary Walsh

(opposite) Dimestore Crew’s Hugo Balek frontside feeble grind. andrewsphoto.

conveniencecrews.

[ o ] ANDREWS [ o ] ANDREWS

“Eventually the Dimestore hopes to open their own store, not a pub or even a depanneur, but a skateboard boutique.” The Dimestore crew doesn’t have a storeyet. For the time being, they have GP’s. Adam Green calls it one of the shittiest pubs in Montreal, and the whole crew, including Huge Balek, Charles Rivard, Antoine Asselin, Thomas Parent, Bob Lasalle, JS Lapierre, and Phil Lavoie, watches the Habs there. Michael Jackson is all the jukebox plays, and the last time they went the bar ran out of beer.

Management called Phil, the filmer, a week later and asked if they could debut another video. Unfortunately, it’s tough to cut a full-length skate feature in seven days. Dimestore’s premiere was the theatre’s highest grossing event in 2009. Sloppy with bottomless beer, the boys celebrated at five that morning by mummifying Hugo in grip tape. “It was hectic.” Charles says.

Eventually the Dimestore hopes to open their own store, not a pub or even a depanneur, but a skateboard boutique. About eight years ago, before they had dreams of retail, they were just a group of friends entering a contest at Southpark. Entry required no sponsor affiliation, only a crew name. Adam liked the sound of Dimestore. They won the contest that year, and then the next two, and have since launched a website at thedimestorecrew.com.

Some of the crew spent the past winter in San Francisco, filming for the next Dimestore video, slated for next year, same time, same place. They hope for a repeat.

Eight years seems like plenty of time to get a store up and running, but it’s not entirely their fault. Adam admits that, sometimes, things are less than efficient. “Shit gets done, but up until it happens, it’s chaos.” Last year, they nearly realized their dream. “I had someone backing me financially,” says Adam, “We’d picked a spot, and then the guy wrote up $10,000 in bad cheques, and the next day he was gone, emptied his office, changed the locks, fucked everyone that he knew over.” Despite the setback, Adam is still determined. “One day we’ll go back to school and do it properly.” The video premiere for the latest Dimestore video proved they already have dedicated customers. Last December, they rented out the Just For Laughs Theatre, all 800 seats, and they filled every one. Adam remembers standing beside a massive speaker with Antoine. “I couldn’t hear a thing, it was like a Bruce Springsteen concert.”

colORMAGAZINE.CA

Meanwhile, headquarters is the house Adam shares with Josh Clark and JS, although lots of other people sleep there, too. Drew Merriman took a break from Kalamata to visit, and Balek has worn grooves into the couch. Adam lives in a converted laundry room, and when he stretches his arms he touches both walls at once. It’s not conducive to his self-admitted packrat nature. The livingroom is separated by old skate banners, one Arto and one Rowley, and houses Lapierre and Clark. Besides the posters, corporate lines also divide the household. “Me and JS are in the same corner, we’re all tacked up, we got all our Dimestore stickers up all over the place, and Josh is on the other side, he’s the DC section of the house,” Adam says. “The smelly side of the house is our side.” In addition to the mountain of humanityrent-payers and otherwisethere’s Jazz, a 70-pound, purebred American pitbull. Hopefully, the crew will open their store one of these days, so Adam can stretch, JS and Josh can have walls, and Jazz can finally have the place to herself.

(opposite) frontside crooked grind. andrewsphoto.

Antoine Asselin frontside tailslide kickflip. morfordphoto.

.conveniencecrews

[ o ] THORBURN [ o ] THORBURN

“In the entire time I lived there, they never set foot upstairs once. They don’t want to know what’s going on at all.” —sean macalister

Sean MacAlister invented the Kalamata Shuffle. When a friend moved out of his small apartment, he quietly filled the empty space, not a lease in sight. The landlords like that just fine. The Kalamata house operates under an unspoken agreement: tenants upstairs lay low, grateful for the obscenely cheap rent. In return, the landlordsthe same family that runs the market downstairspretend they don’t exist. “In the entire time I lived there,” Sean says, “they never set foot upstairs once. They don’t want to know what’s going on at all.” Downstairs, it’s a different story. They’re a gruff, intimidating bunch, and Sean calls the business a “Soup Nazi sort of thing.” But overall, living above a grocery store ain’t so bad. Especially one that’s near Calgary’s downtown core, and a two-minute skate from Millennium Park. In the 80s, the store was famous for its importsespecially baklavaand their willingness to stock every type of olive that Earth is capable of sprouting. That reputation remains strong today, and the city’s cheapest cigarettes don’t hurt. Kalamata has nothing to hide, and so instead of a stockroom, all the product is packed onto the floorbaklava, mountains of olives, cigarettes, all of itand when you throw in the four or five staff and any customers lurking around, space is at a premium. All this, and it is half the size of a standard 7-Eleven.

Jeff Thorburn, another member of the Kalamata crew (although he lives nearby, not on top), is a big fan of the baklava, a sticky pastry filled with crushed nuts. But the store’s other trademark is wasted on the crew. “There’re no big olive fans here,” says Jeff. “It’s an acquired taste.” Instead, Drew Merriman usually drops a dollar on an Arizona Iced Tea, and Kevin Lowry gets, in Jeff’s words, “a tasty little bread treat.” Sean used to get the cheapest pack of cigarettes he could find, but he’s since quit and a whole world of snack time possibilities have opened. After Drew and Kevin performed the Kalamata Shuffle, that wily maneuver Sean created, the house solidified as a skate headquarters. Today, the Kalamata crew is pretty content. And why not? Comfortably nestled above an abundance of food, both exotic and local, minutes away from world-class skating, and surrounded by good friends, things are looking good. Their only worry is, as Jeff points out, defending their homestead from “sketchy people using the payphone down below.”

Drew Merriman Frontside 5-0. woronaphoto. (opposite) Coulten Huber Boneless. thorburnphoto. Kevin Lowry Backside 50-50. thorburnphoto.

conveniencecrews.

[ o ] NICHOLAS

Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rice Block (l-r) Sheldon Meleshinski, Ryan Oughton, Beans, Brett Gifford, Tony, Sascha Daley, Trevor Martin, Zach Barton, Cody Meleshinski, Bradley Sheppard

.conveniencecrews

Sheldon Meleshinski frontside bluntslide fakie. nicholasphoto. (opposite) Zack Barton frontside 180 no-comply. photo

“I’ll ask them how much this drink is and they’ll say ‘$2.75’ and I’ll be like, ‘$2.75!?’ Then it’s like, ‘alright, alright. For you, $2.50.’”—sheldon meleshinski

Brett Gifford can tell you every item the Rice Block sells, and he doesn’t even work there. After making three trips a day, at least, for the past three years, the store’s entire inventory is stamped onto his brain. The crew, including Zach Barton, Graham and Gordon Nicholas, and Sheldon Meleshinski, have a time-tested, streamlined system for runs to the Block: send whoever’s broke. Gifford is usually broke, so Gifford, naturally, clocks the most miles down the street and around the corner. Each person tips him out fifty-cents so he can pick them up a Noodle Time and they can stay alive until tomorrow. But Gifford wasn’t born with a photographic mind. He earned it, through hard work and gritty determination. Tell him your order once, and he won’t forget. Zach, not so much. “He’d come back with completely different shit,” says Sheldon. “And you’d tell him five times what you wanted.” For Gifford, five back-to-back trips are standard. Loaded with goods, he’ll step one foot into the Pender Beach Resort the East Vancouver house where most of the guys live only to march right back when someone remembers one last thing. Gordon puts Gifford’s record around twenty trips in one day. Luckily, it’s not far. With a good throw down it’s an easy, pushless coast up the street. Zach holds bragging rights as the first person to manual the whole stretch. He’s working up to nose mannies. Twenty trips a day means a lot of business. “We pretty much feed their whole family,” Sheldon says. He’s talking about the East Indian family who run the place. Tony, the son, works the most seemingly all day, everydayand, in addition to being an official member of the Rice Block staff, he’s also an unofficial member of the Rice Block crew.

They’ve tried on many occasions to get him to visit the Pender House, or even venture out for a beer, but he remains incorruptible. “He’s gotta stay productive at the Block,” Zach figures. Although terms are friendly, sometimes the relationship is strictly business. “It’s pretty easy to get Red Bull around town here,” says Gordon. “We’ll trade them a flat of those for a couple flats of pop.” Once they jack the price, that shit is more precious than gold. But Sheldon’s not having their tricks. “I’ll ask them how much this drink is and they’ll say ‘$2.75’ and I’ll be like, ‘$2.75!?’ Then it’s like, ‘alright, alright. For you, $2.50.’” In June 2009, the Rice Block crew launched their site as a place to post clips filmed and edited by Zach. There are five so far, but they plan to start cutting one a month. Aside from the Rice Block videos, there’s Gifford’s Gimmick. Horrified at the thought of wasting all Barton’s unused footage, Gifford began cutting it together, with especially snappy soundtracking. Five Gimmicks have been posted so far, and Gifford is sitting on one unreleased clip, filmed entirely on digital camera. Maybe Zach’s nose manual will be the hammer. Probably, in the time it’s taken you to read this, somebody (Gifford) has been back and forth a few times. The crew is settling in for a summer of riding, thousands of snack runs, and future attempts to get Tony hammered. Or at least Sheldon hopes so. “He’ll probably end up getting the mag and reading all this shit we’ve talked about him. But whatever, he’ll be stoked.” Keep up the good work, Tony.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby leah turner & nicholas brown

ver the last several decades, with the increasing prominence of socially engaged and interactive forms of contemporary art, we've all gotten used to the collective as artist. Exhausted notions of singular artistic authorship and the artist as lone, tortured genius have given way to modes of production that better resemble a film crew or rock band. But we in Canada have our own precedents to lean on, canon-forming modern artists like the Group of Seven, the Quebec avant-gardes Les Automatiste's, and the artist-corporation General Idea as chief examples. Emerging from homegrown precedents and international influences alike, Canada's art collectives and collectively-minded individuals are a mixture of regional and cosmopolitan sources. Some of them studio-based, conspiring to make objects like a cottage industry; others, nomadic collaborators whose output is ephemeral and contingent. The artists profiled here are difficult to classify by the very nature of their polyphonic output.

INSTANT COFFEE Best known for their oh-so convenient service as a cross-Canadian art world email list-serve, and self-described as a “service oriented artist collective” Instant Coffee has been comprised of various members since it was founded in Toronto in 2000, though it is now based also in Vancouver, and counts among its most consistent members Cecilia Berkovic, Jinhan Ko, Kelly Lycan, Jenifer Papararo, Kate Monro, and Khan Lee. Perhaps our best example, and primary proponents of Canada’s particular brand of relational or participatory art that seeks to provoke social exchange and renegotiate boundaries between artist and viewer; the collective stages social, event-based activities via architectural installations and environments. Often pop, psychedelic re-designs of domestic or leisure spaces– a basement makeout rec-room, a kitchen nook, even a

day-glo disco fallout shelter – their spaces act as interactive staging grounds. With a predilection for sloganeering and signage (one catchphrase reads “Instant Coffee- get social”) their manifesto explains: “as a product and service Instant Coffee is an effective substitute: It mimics the real thing without the pretense of being better.” Coinciding with the Vancouver Olympics, recent project Light Bar was a month-and-half long light therapy bar installation and venue that hosted a full spectrum of events, including live shows, readings, lectures, and of course, dance parties. In Vancouver’s grey, rainy climate, where Seasonal Affective Disorder surely runs rampant, Light Bar brought the art community together with the promise of a physiologically (and socially) therapeutic environment.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

101

volume 8 issue 3

THE LIONS The Lions are a group of mainly Vancouver-based artists who have been meeting weekly since 2003 to produce collaborative drawings. Now with a prolific output of hundreds upon hundreds of doodles, sketches and drawings made on standard 8.5 x 11” paper, the group, consisting of Matthew Brown, Tasha Brotherton, Barry Doupe, Collin Johanson and James Whitman, has emerged within a particular generation of young Canadian doodlers (many of which are/were Vancouverbased) who work within a genre of experimental, low-tech representational drawing and collage that could be described as deliberately naively rendered, and based around humorous, irreverent and surreal semi-narrative. Concerned with the personal expression of imagination and creativity, drawing very often functions to convey a narrator’s particular subjectivity, and so in the case of a group like The Lions, speaks instead of creative collaboration and open-ended exchange. Their drawings, which could perhaps be more accurately described as sketches or even, scribbles, represent figures, characters and scenes, while any attempt at narrative is left incomplete, and faces left rather uneasily un-rendered. A mode of working akin to the surrealist game of exquisite corpse, dependent upon improvisation and spontaneity, these drawings resonate with a particular brand of social exchange, where the hand of the artist becomes nearly impossible to distinguish. In our contemporary condition where communication is thoroughly mediated by technology, the raw mark-making of drawing resonates with a unique intimacy, allowing artists to explore the personal, but also, to uncover fragments of a larger cultural unconscious.

BGL Created in 1996 by Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière while attending Laval University, the Quebec City-based trio BGL - an acronym composed from the first letter of each surname - has been gaining much attention within the Canadian art scene in recent years for their provocative, playful, and unpredictable

102 colORMAGAZINE.CA

installation and sculptural work. Often working with appropriated, recycled and recontextualized materials, BGL s site-specific installations investigate the broader issues at stake in contemporary life and art, such as consumerism, the environment, and institutional critique, but with an undeniably fresh perspective. Preying upon our shifting faculties of perception in order to undermine our perceptions of reality and artifice with such works as Domaine de l’angle II, an office-style drop ceiling complete with fluorescent track lighting, that was installed in a downtown Toronto back alley; or the miniature cruise liner which was floated down Toronto’s polluted Don River, BGL’s interplay between the real and the replica is consistently challenging. With Postérite - Posterity, their most recent solo show at Montreal’s Parisian Laundry in 2009, the group continued to explore our complex relationship to nature by bringing it inside the gallery walls and creating a Christmas tree factory of sorts - a collection of dead, sparse pines, in various stages of completion, propped against walls or hung upside down and painted bright green - in a witty reflection upon consumption of the natural world.

PAUL BUTLER The lone artist in this feature, Paul Butler is a one-man collaborative machine — a catalyst of temporary art collectives the world over. Coming out of the same Winnipeg scene that bore The Royal Art Lodge (1996-2008), arguably the best known Canadian art collective of recent history, Butler took another tack, initiating an ongoing series group-activities from the late nineties to present. Akin to Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue of 1975-76 whereby Dylan traveled across North America setting up performances with local artists everywhere he went, Paul Butler’s projects which include The Collage Party and Reverse Pedagogy (each ongoing) draw on the artist’s unique ability to connect with local art communities and enthusiastic artist and non-artist partici-

pants alike. The Collage Party, a group artmaking session that ranges from a day to over a week of frantic activity, popped up all over the world since ‘99. And in spite of its open-participant format, TCP has generated a loose network of regular participants that includes figures like Jason McLean, Michael Dumontier (formerly of The Royal Art Lodge), and Karen Azoulay. Because of the minimal investment required, Butler’s events tend to attract artists typically best suited to lone activity who nonetheless crave the productive energy of the collective. Even filmmaker Guy Maddin has gotten involved, claiming to identify with group activity as part of the moviemaking process. Other projects of Butler’s include The Other Gallery, which he describes as an “artist-run commercial gallery”. A nomadic concern, The Other Gallery takes residence online and at temporary locations like art fairs. Most recently, Butler has traveled from Banff to Venice, Vancouver to Sligo, Ireland, with Reverse Pedagogy. A temporary art school that Butler alternately directs or hands off to other participants, RP draws on local and international participants to make use of whatever materials and situations arise from each unique location in a non-hierarchical educational format.

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby mike barrow

illustrationby dan climan

espite living thousands of miles apart and having virtually no connection with each other, Mock & Toof, Babe Rainbow, and Phaseone are united in a couple of areas: each of them has released an excellent, emotive debut album in the last year, and, despite their diverse styles, they all make dance music that’s profoundly antisocial. Mock & Toof’s debut LP, Tuning Echoes, is a quiet, quirky and sometimes sad take on nu-disco; Phaseone’s rap-inspired synth beats make you feel like you’re staring out into the night from an airplane window, no matter where you are; and Babe Rainbow’s Shaved EP, which was immediately snatched up by Warp Records, is an eerie slab of ambient horror-step. Redolent of hours alone in their individual bedrooms, all three take styles of music invented for the dancefloor and twist them into something interior: a space for one. Call it a clubhouse for outsiders.

104 colORMAGAZINE.CA

PHASEONE

Last year, Phaseone gave away his first album, Thanks But No Thanks for free online. The record made the rounds and ended up getting him some pretty highprofile love from Pitchfork and Mad Decent, among others. The record itself is an amalgam of influences that Phasone wears well: a bit of dubstep, a bit of triphop, a bit of hazy indie-tronica, and a lot of rap. Since then he has released two stellar mixtapes and a grip of remixes, the latest of whicha blissfully slowed redo of Nite Jewel’s single “Want You Back,”is a perfect demonstration of the St. Louisan’s ear for atmosphere and melody. Phaseone’s next album, Stealing to Feed Your Family, is due out soon. Color: When did you start making music? Phaseone: It’s hard to say. I played a few instruments with very little dedication in grade school, and used music sequencing software for fun in high school, but I guess I started writing music habitually about six years ago.

What do you have on the go for 2010? Some more shows in St. Louis and doing some traveling. I’ve got an album that’s almost finished called Stealing To Feed Your Family, which is very hypnotic, dubby, and tropical. I drew a lot of inspiration from 1970s Brazilian popular music. It’s a lot different from the other things I’ve done recently in that there’s not much emphasis on beats or bass, but it’s very complex, rhythmically. Do you have any plans, or desire, to work with other musicians, producers or vocalists? Who would you most like to work with? It sounds dumb but right now I really prefer to work alone. I might record a few songs with a singer for an album sometime in the future. Has it been challenging getting started in St. Louis, a place you admit is a bit behind when it comes to certain types of music? Do you plan to stay there? Yes, it has been tough. I’m not really sure what it is about St. Louis. I do know that I’ve been offered more

Color: Babe Rainbow has been a little caught up in the micro-genre phenomenon as people have struggled to place and define your music. Are you surprised at the comparisons people have made? Do you have to tell journalists what to look for? Babe Rainbow: I’ve actually never heard a lot of the artists I’ve been compared to, which is pretty funny. If my music is compared to someone else I just wonder whether those artists listened to a lot of Madlib and This Heat, too. I don’t really know what kind of music I’m making so I shouldn’t assume others will. Though, I don’t really think I’m making dubstep. I’m influenced by it and utilize certain elements of it, but that’s about it. A lot of people probably don’t know that you curated the Babe Rainbow video shorts yourself. To what extent is Babe Rainbow a multimedia project and why is generating other forms of content important for you as a musician? When I’m making music I think of it in very strong visual terms. Like a soundtrack. The first few sounds I produce will inspire an image and I’ll build from there, creating a scene in my head. It only makes sense to put it to video as well. For the videos I contacted Salazar, a collective that I was acquainted with and admired. We had originally met to talk about the full-length video for “Shaved” but we all expressed interest in making video art vignettes. A little while later they made the video for “Shaved,” as well. They had full creative control. We had talked enough about it and I trusted that they would do an amazing job. And they did.

bookings in other cities and countries than I have in St. Louis. I’ll be moving to New York probably in January, hopefully sooner, which is kind of sad but it’s for a number of reasons, and I literally can’t wait. Phaseone’s music is currently free online. Stealing To Feed Your Family will be out soon on an as-yet unconfirmed label. For more info, check myspace.com/phaseonestl.

BABE RAINBOW

The Shaved EP is a record that truly creeps out of your speakers. Although Babe Rainbow draws comparisons to dubstep and is a self-professed rap fanatic, his more obvious influences seem to be horror, paranoia, dementia, and dislocation. To get a better sense of all of this, I strongly encourage you to visit baberainbow.com and check out the video shorts that accompany the Shaved EP. Just leave the lights on. I don’t know if it’s something in the air in Vancouver, BR’s hometown, but this is fascinating and frightening stuff.

People might not know that you are also a pretty loyal fan of hip-hop. Have you put any thought into working on collaborations with MCs? What about other vocalists or bands? I would love to collaborate with an MC, something may or may not already be happening with that. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say anything. Either way, I’d love to work with an MC. I’m hopefully going to collaborate with my friend Ashley Webber who has performed/recorded with the Organ, Pink Mountaintops, Lightning Dust, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and probably tons more I don’t know about. She has a gorgeous and slightly haunting voice and we’re hopefully going to work on a few songs this spring. I’d love to work with Liars. I’m a huge fan of their music. What can we expect from Babe Rainbow in 2010? And what are you currently working on? The project was never conceived as something I would do live, but I’m finally putting together a live set. I’m going to try and tour a bit this summer and just generally perform more. I’m going to try and release a couple new EPs. Nothing confirmed on how they are going to be released. I have a few remixes in the bag right now that’ll come out over the next year. Over the next year I’m going to just keep expanding my sounds and style. I’m learning new techniques each time I sit down and produce so we’ll see what happens. The Shaved EP is out now on Warp records. For more info, check baberainbow.com.

MOCK & TOOF

Mock & Toof are the new kings of thinking-man’s disco. Despite having appeared on over 25 releases, and having been commissioned for official remixes of wellknowns like Hot Chip, Groove Armada, and the Juan Maclean, the London duo keep a conspicuously low profile. This will likely come to an end with the release of Tuning Echoes, their first full-length album. Mock & Toof’s pop sensibility and insistence on collaboration (the LP features prominent contributions from German weirdo-disco songstress Pollyester and M&T’s friend and longtime collaborator Gavin Gordon) make Tuning Echoes exceptionally listenable, more akin to LCD Soundsystem or the Juan Maclean than to any of their nu-disco cohorts who so often get lost on their Balearic adventures. We chatted with Duncan Stump (aka Mock) about what’s coming up for Mock & Toof in 2010. Color: When did the idea to write and record a full-length record come about, and how long has the process taken? Duncan Stump: It feels like it’s taken an age. We actually did some demos over two years ago, which we completely ditched and then started afresh. The idea came about because we didn’t want to release just random singles and remixes anymore. We wanted to make the project a bit more meaty and create a proper album from start to finish rather than just a collection of ‘dance’ tracks, which seems to be quite common. In working with different vocalists on the record, was it difficult to keep the album thematically cohesive? Did the musicians you collaborated with on Tuning Echoes have a significant influence in shaping the overall direction of the record? Gavin [Gordon] and Polly[ester] are very different but both completely shape the album in their own way… it’s hard to describe and there was no pre-planned theme, musically. Before the music journalists get a chance, how would you describe Tuning Echoes as an album? That’s such a hard thing to do, especially when you’ve spent so long working on something and are so close to it. You really have no idea what it is or if it’s any good. I’d like to think and hope it’s a strong debut album with proper songs and melodies and emotion. In terms of categorization, though, it’s a little all over the shopyou can’t really pop it neatly into a box or pigeonhole it. Is there a reason that Mock & Toof have kept a relatively low profile despite some fairly ‘high-profile’ releases (Hot Chip jumps to mind, Zero 7, Groove Armada, DFA, etc.)? That’s not deliberate; it’s just the way it is. Although, I’m starting to get a little bothered by all these Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts (which we have). I actually think the artists that are below the radar are much more intriguing than the ones who are telling you what airport they are currently sitting in or who they went out for dinner with last night. Mystique is always more appealing… might have to cancel those accounts now. Mock and Toof’s latest EP, Farewell to Wendo, is out now on their own label, Tiny Sticks. Tuning Echoes will be out in May, also on Tiny Sticks. See myspace.com/mockandtoof for more info.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

105

volume 8 issue 3

106 colORMAGAZINE.CA

.tour 107

Cory Wilson, backside flip. caissiephoto. Stacy Gabriel, frontside tailslide. caissiephoto.

108 template/template.

.template/template 109

110 template/template.

Kevin Lowry, frontside boardslide. caissiephoto. Derek Swaim, frontside 360. caissiephoto.

.template/template .tour 111

“Decadence is a difficult word to use since it has become little more than a term of abuse applied by critics to anything they do not yet understand or which seems to differ from their moral concepts.” —erik brunetti

When visiting certain cities, there are some spots that you have to skate. Normally, it’s quite difficult to bring anything new, but here Josh Harmony offers a simple yet new perspective to a classic spot. Ollie wall banger. Toronto, ON When visiting certain cities, there are some spots that you have to skate. Normally, it’s quite difficult to bring anything new, but here Josh Harmony offers a simple yet new perspective to a classic spot. Ollie wall banger. Toronto, ON

Max Fine, backside tailslide. caissiephoto. Geoff Dermer, switch backside heelflip shove it. caissiephoto.

112 template/template. china.

.template/template 113

Derek Swaim, frontside crooked grind. caissiephoto.

114 template/template. tour.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

113

[ o ] ANTHONY

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Get It Delivered!

colormagazine.ca/subscribe

volume 8 issue 3

m a y

2 8

L A

3 0

3 1

j u n e

0 1

0 2

0 3

K C

0 5

0 6

0 7

A T X

wordsby isaac mckay-randozzi

2 0 1 0

photosby sam mcguire

[ o ] TOSELLI

s I pulled into the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles after a 16-hour drive from Texas, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness, depression, and regret. The past two weeks had seen many highs and some lows of the sort that no one should have to experience. Those involved may come out better off by living through it, or it may have proven to be the breaking point; only time will tell. A trip of firsts on many levels for everyone in the van, this journey across 4000 plus miles of America was about showing folks the art of skating by getting the makers of this art out on the road. The lands between L.A., Kansas City, and Austin were as unknown to me as the surface of the moon. Driving these great expanses had been interesting to say the least. The poor fools in the van didn’t know until after Vegas that I’d just learned to drive a little over two years ago and had never driven any sort of van before. Like I said, this was a trip of firsts.

.trip 117

On the drive down from S.F. one of the biggest thoughts in my head concerned the various personalities slated to be in the van. Will a fight break out? A couple of the cats may have weapons, should I frisk them before we leave L.A.? Just because people have common interests doesn’t mean they’ll get along. Would Donny Miller kick my ass in the Muay Thai ring? Why was he so insistent on having a training session at RVCA with me after the trip? I’d never met the man, why would he want to kick my ass? Did I say something bad about him in an article? Is it because he drew E.T. to look like a conglomeration of old man penis? These idiotic worries just opened the floodgate and everything, likely or not, started to bombard my brain in a cascade of heavy doubt. How long would it be before someone realized that I had no business planning, driving, curating, or even being on the trip? Would I be faced with a mutiny in the middle of the Utah desert? Would Volcom be pissed that Fourstar gave us socks and air fresheners?

118 trip.

Would Vans be happy with the article? Will someone get blind drunk and shit themselves in the van? Will Sandro be happy with what I put together for him? Will any of these old farts be able to do a trick that would be photo-worthy? Can I be held liable if one of them bangs a 16-year-old? Or does it depend on what state we’re in? Would Sieben really meet us in Kansas City or was he going to flake? With close to $15,000 worth of art in the back of the van—would some art-freak break in and steal it all? If the shit was stolen would I be held liable? Would the old lady be pissed when she realized I was making $66.67 a day for the 15 day trip while she was dealing with a crazed two-year-old spider monkey at home? Was I going to have to sleep in the van the entire trip? How hard is it to put on your underwear in a van? Would the pot smokers blow the place out every time we opened the door? And the big one: Would the van breakdown?

First session of the trip, renegade Malibu pool/foundation spot. Freelancer and Krooked Guest artist Mat O’Brien impressed everyone with his adaptability and style as he hit everything the place had to offer. An original through and through. 50-50 stall. mcguirephoto.

Geoff McFetridge

Michael Leon

Travis Millard

Michael Hsiung, Andrew Pommier Mat O’Brien

art by eric anthony

[ o ] MCKAY-RANDOZZI

There are always pre-trip jitters and trepidations, but this was on a whole new level. Long distance driving was new to me and I’d never had to change a tire. Looking back at it: What the hell was the editor thinking when he gave me this job! By the time we got to L.A. and the six cans of Coke wore off, I had calmed down a little. I kept the positive things in mind; it was a trip about skating and showing people cool stuff to look at. That and getting a bunch of guys who wouldn’t normally be put on a skate trip on the road and reconnecting them with the fun of skating new spots and camping out. The van would be full of talented and (hopefully) interesting guys: Ben Horton a former pro and talented illustrator who runs SLAVE skateboards out of Black Box; Andrew Pommier, our only Canadian, and maker of images for Momentum and RVCA; Greg ‘PNut’ Galinsky, a Dogtown kid living in S.F., world-traveler for Vans; Mat O’Brien, a good friend, former Real AM and a semi-recluse; Sam McGuire, the pro skate photographer, who by 26 was a veteran road warrior; Mark ‘Fos’ Foster who flew in from England with help from Altamont, and would be driving with Todd Bratrud and High 5 AM Horsey in Todd’s Bratt-mobile. We would add one more to the van when we picked up filmmaker Corey Adams in Las Vegas. So when I pulled up to the HVW8 Art and Design Gallery, I reminded myself that I had enough Vans and Fourstar socks in the back of the rental to keep everyone in a new pair for each day of the trip. It’s the small things on a road trip that count, and new socks kick ass. Thanks to Vans, just about everyone who’d be rolling in the van was hooked with fresh socks and shoes. At the gallery we did the old meet-and-greet, dropped off artwork, and took care of all that sort of stuff. Having never met Donny Miller, I wasn’t too sure what to think except for that he looked like Sideshow Bob’s squat, black-sheep cousin. Our first interaction was memorable and he quickly proved to have a sharp wit. I noticed that he had an L.A.P.D. pin on his vest. “Never realized you were a…” I began. “What, fat?” Donny replied. Everyone around broke out in laughter “… er, a cop.”

colORMAGAZINE.CA

119

Blue State by Michael Leon Screen print on paper 24 x 36”

“Some good skating went down and this was where we got a sample of Donny’s urinary performance art.”

Aside from Donny there were other folks involved with the show that really wanted to be in the van but were unable to get out of their commitments: Michael Leon, Andy Jenkins, Geoff McFetridge and Eric Anthony. It was too bad Donny wasn’t coming with us, he would have been a great addition to the van. He has the ability to perform a variety of tricks while pissing that would make any 13-year-old shit themselves with laughter. While we were carousing on the sidewalk, Michael Leon pulled up in a Ferrari that looked similar to Robin Masters’ car that Magnum P.I. borrowed with such irreverence, much to the annoyance of Higgins. While not exactly the same car, it gave off a similar vibe that made you think Michael should have a thicker moustache and should be wearing flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt.

120 trip.

Our first skate session was at Pierre Andre’s Malibu skate oasis, perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. It was one for the books: a kidney pool, concrete bankto-walls, and a lumpy potato that saw a lot of action. Some good skating went down and this was where we got a sample of Donny’s urinary performance art. I’d arrived a little late, but when I got there people seemed to be getting along, and there was a general feeling that everything was going to be okay. Editor-in-Chief Sandro got a couple good tricks on the lumpy, cement potato, and someone who I thought was a lurker popped a damn big nollie off of it. Turned out that the lurker, Phil Toselli, and some long-haired Chinese cat named Michael Hsiung were friends with Andrew Pommier and had come along for the session. Both seemed to fit with

Heron by Ben Horton ink on paper

the crew pretty well. Phil works for Vans as an in-house art dude and Michael has done some Enjoi graphics as well as freelance work for a few different companies. On the way back to L.A., we got our first taste of what life was going to be like on the road. With Sam at the wheel, we careened down the Malibu hills with the brakes smoking, our white knuckles grasped for anything solid. Sam had an expert hand at controlling the beast and I was feeling much more confidant that no one would die, as long as he drove.

PNut

The first setup and takedown of the tour was the longest. Unsure as we were about what looked good next to what, we spent a lot of time pondering the art of spatial relations between different styles and media. The take down was much simpler, but my overcautious nature about packing the work may have annoyed those folks kind enough to lend a hand packing other people’s art. Michael Hsiung came through again to help pack the work and take photos for Fecal Face. During those hectic moments we were dealt two unforeseen blows. Ben Horton of Slave Skateboards had to pull out because he was late in completing the newest Slave catalog and a couple other projects for Black Box. He’d needed to get the okay from The Chief to leave but was unable to reach him. Another and more personal departure was that of Mat O’Brien. He was the person invited on the tour that I knew the most, a friend and someone I wanted to go on a road trip with. But his social anxiety hit him full force and he had to back out. I don’t blame him, I’d seen his anxiety kick in a few times before and (opposite) In 100 degree heat, Altamont art director and Heroin/Lanscape board maker, Fos pulled this wallride shuv-it out while most of the crew looked on from the shade. They say the English wilt like an under-watered begonia in the heat, Fos and Horsey dispelled that myth and skated the most at the Vegas spots. mcguirephoto.

With a style all his own on and off the board, High 5 board co. owner Mr. Todd Bratrud pulls one for the Jawa people. Nose stall tailgrab.

121

“If he put up a struggle, I would have gone down too.” —sam mcguire

Our first night of camping was what I image it would be like to rough it on a highway median next to a dog grooming business. Signs that a recent cleaning of our grassy area to remove “doggy diamonds” were evident

122 colORMAGAZINE.CA

by the clumps of missing grass and the slightly moist look of the area. One or two of the unadventurous in the crew suggested finding a cheap hotel off the strip. I for one couldn’t imagine a better place to be than camped out, even there, but maybe that’s just the hobo in me. This attitude wore thin as the morning heat roasted PNut’s large four-man tent that he and I shared, and the next night we were in a hotel. The Hoover Dam was a gas. We acted like eight-year-olds and spit off the windy side of the dam to see our saliva balls careen over our heads, land on the tops of cars, and even fly over to the other side of the dam. While we laughed our asses off, onlookers spied us with distain, while their kids thought we were cool and yearned to join us. Over the next 24 hours we skated a couple of great ditches, and watched Horsey battle it out with a nutty wallride. Everyone skated and had an amazing time despite the 100-degree heat. An impromptu shooting gallery was constructed by PNut, Ill Phil, and Michael out of found trash that they’d decorated with anti-Hitler images and a yeti. While Sam shot photos of Fos, Corey Adams, and Horsey, some of the others took turns doing their part to end the fascist threat in Europe. You’ll be happy to know that Hitler was defeated and his face had more pockmarks than a golf course for the mentally unstable.

[ o ] MCKAY-RANDOZZI

it was never a good thing for Mat. Still, his absence on the trip hit me hard. His honesty had been refreshing; the smarmy layer of L.A. gloss was wearing me down even after just a couple days. With so few of the folks that were billed to be on the tour now not going, I had serious doubts to add to my other less serious but still relevant doubts. Thoughts of dropping out crossed my mind. Could I book a flight for today? Could I bum a ride to the airport? But they quickly shuffled off and I kept packing the van—there was a job to do and fun to be had. Michael Hsiung had been a great help in L.A. and someone had the smart idea to see if he could jump in the van. After a couple phone calls and some cajoling, we ended up getting him and Phil on the tour. Somewhere around then I noticed a new addition to the van’s exterior. A yellow tombstone with R.I.P. had been stenciled on the back right side. Even with the ominous graffiti, the stoke level went up and we left the land of “La” with a new sense of enthusiasm. But to me, without Mat, the van still felt a little empty.

brothers Pommier

Great Sable Antelope ink on paper by Ben Horton

For a Canadian kid who makes most of the Momentum wheel graphics and works for RVCA (among others), he sure has some So. Cal. style in this layback 5-0. We stopped in Denver for only a few hours but fun was had by all at the amazing park. Andrew Pommier, layback 5-0. mcguirephoto.

On the way to Denver the group split up. While the van and our crew went through Zion National Park; Todd, Sam, and their crew went a more direct route. During a stopover to take a swim, something happened that would end up changing the rest of the tour. Seeing an island that didn’t look too far off, Sam, Fos, Horsey and Todd decided to swim for it. But it was farther than they’d thought. By the time Sam and Fos got to the island, Horsey and Todd were floundering. Although exhausted, Sam jumped back into the water and grabbed the worse of the two, Horsey. At that point only his face was visible. Sam guided him to the rocks so he could hold himself up while Sam went to Todd. “If he put up a struggle, I would have gone down too,” said Sam. During the three hours they spent on the island gathering their strength, Horsey fell victim to heat exhaustion and went from white to red, puking up what may have been blood. After borrowing some flotation devices Sam

and Fos pushed the half dead Horsey and Todd back to shore; then returned what they had borrowed to the island and swam back. By the time they got to Denver they were over it, all the fun had been drained out of their bodies and had sank to the bottom of the reservoir they’d narrowly escaped from. To add to the day’s ‘interestingness’, Fos received a call from his mother. “My father was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago,” he told me later. “I had been up to see him a few weeks prior to this trip, and we got to spend some time together and said a lot of things that needed saying. He wanted me to go on this trip, but when we got to Denver my mum called me and said that I should think about coming home if possible. I was on the train back [in England] to my house when my mum called me and told me that he’d just passed away.”

.trip 123

“Strange noises emanated from their general area at all times, as well as some noxious odors.”

As the car full of the nearly drowned made its way east, we drove the van into the small town of Du Beque, Colorado, to camp. We met a couple local kids who looked like a mix of the characters from Gummo and Heavy Metal Parking Lot. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I asked them. “I want to play in a metal band,” one said. After introductions and an explanation of why were on the road they asked, “What the fuck are you doing here? It’s a sausage town.” There is beauty in truth.

After Denver, the ride to Kansas City was somewhat less exuberant than the previous drives. Over the miles we all assumed our natural roles. Myself, lead driver and task master, Corey as impartial documentarian, Andrew kept us on track with an eye for time table, Ill Phil (who I think had walking pneumonia) played the navigator, and the comic relief was provided by PNut and Michael seated in the back of the van. Strange noises emanated from their general area at all times, as well as some noxious odors. Kansas City came and went in a flash of setup, party, and takedown. Escapist was a wonderful spot for us to stop and we all wished we had more time in the city. We met some great people and interesting characters who are a part of the scene. But Austin was calling and the road pays no heed to the desires of men.

124 way

[ o ] MCKAY-RANDOZZI

It turned out that the campsite was closed down, so we stopped at the “Kum and Go” gas station for some help. The lady behind the counter called her brother; he and his mom led us to a camping spot next to a pond that was right beside the highway. After an unsuccessful attempt at getting us some reefer (with mom driving), he pulled some out of his own stash and hooked up our strange van of derelict travelers. Just one more helping hand on a trip that needed all the help it could get from the locals. One Way or Another wasn’t just a title, it was our motto.

I don’t know why they call him Horsey but he’s stubborn as a mule when it comes to getting tricks. The newest addition to Bratrud’s High 5 wasn’t happy with a couple of his roll aways, so he battered himself again and again until he did it with speed. Wall ride of doom. mcguirephoto.

or 125

Speak by Matt Irving screen print on paper

[ o ] MCKAY-RANDOZZI

Taking a break from behind the camera, MachoTaildrop maker, Corey Adams skated a fresh out of the box set-up and had some of the best lines that day that usually started off with this front tail. mcguirephoto.

Thanks to Michael Hsiung and the boys for use of some of the illustrations from the road.

126 trip.

“Hmmm, still dark” by Mat O’Brien acrylic ink, paper collage, 25” x 20”

After a quick dip into the local swimming spot, we chased the sun and skated one of the many ditches the town is known for. We knew it was to be one of our last sessions together as a group and everyone skated like it. The fun factor was high and even though we all looked like drowned rats after an hour, we cursed the sun for going down. We transformed the No Comply shop from 100% skate to 85% art in a couple hours. Everyone, including the owner, was surprised at how we were able to change the whole format of the shop. Austin is a city about quality over quantity—an odd thing from a state known for going big. Everyone we had met, asked a question of, or needed assistance

from, had proved to be people of honesty and niceness. While certain aspects of the tour were depressing, the helpfulness and generosity from the people we came across completely changed my mind about ‘Middle Americans’. The long drive back to L.A. was quiet; no more noise from the back row. Michael and Corey worked and slept while I drove. No fart sounds from Millard’s book, no smell from the real ones. The tour had had its rough patches, but the fun and uniqueness of the ride made them seem natural. At each of the places we skated the sessions were fun and there was mutual encourage-

ment for each other no matter the skill level. Starting as six folks who knew little about each other, we’d become friends and veterans of a dysfunctional team of professionals, hell-bent on skating and showing people some cool art. The last minute addition of Michael and Phil had proved to be a saving grace and the trip would have been less if not for their presence. The shows in Kansas City and Austin brought a variety of people in to view work from their artistic heroes—a chance they might never have had otherwise. As a trip of a singularly unique idea it had succeeded in its basic two-pronged mission. Get the artists on the road, on their boards, and show their work to the people.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

127

132 colORMAGAZINE.CA

BRADLEY SHEPPARD nosegrind [ o ] nicholas. 133

BRANDON DEL BIANCO switch kickflip [ o ] mikendo. 135

136 CHARLES RIVARD crooked grind transfer [ o ] tadashi.

JAMIN SHEPIT backside tailslide [ o ] dufresne.

138 ALEX OLSON backside tailslide [ o ] oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;meally.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

139

volume 8 issue 3

Howl

full of hell (relapse records)

I like a big-dick riff as much as the next guy, and these Neanderthals sure give it the ol’ college try. If you dig Cult of Luna, Torche, or The Sword - the big dumb sludge end of the riff-o-sphere (and I sure do!) then this is a cozy treat. Howl sticks to a medium pace: no extraordinary guitar wizardry, just lots of chugging that C# power chord with a big Mesa crunch and some dissonant, dirty pentatonic bends. Songwriting-wise, it feels like the band pulled in, picked a tempo, played a riff, then played some more riffs; a bit short on hooks and guidance, but hey, I felt the same way about the 2nd High on Fire album. Ryan Begley’s skeletal mouth-of-fire cover art, much like the work of John “Baroness” Baizley, begs you to own the gatefold vinyl and bask in its awesomeness. A decent fix for crusty riff-heads. —dave bertrand

Wounded Lion s/t (in the red)

LA’s Wounded Lion have been teasing garage rock nerds with a string of weird, catchy and hard-to-find singles for the past two years [Ed: my personal favourite is “Pony People,” which The Intelligence covered on their last album]. Finally, In The Red have stepped up and put together some of the past singles combined with some newer material, unveiling a somewhat unlikely release for the label. Rather than the garage rock revivalism that In The Red are best known for, Wounded Lion have combined the jumpy rhythms of post-punk with lightly fuzzed guitars and the distinct, off-kilter vocals of singer Brad Eberhard, who sounds like a cross between David Byrne and Jonathan Richman. And, much like the latter, the topics broached are pretty nerdy and humorous: space travel, centaurs and obscure Star Wars references. All of this makes for more than your typical In The Red release and comes recommended to those looking for something beyond the myriad of bands bent on aping the recent past. —mark richardson

142 colORMAGAZINE.CA

The National high violet (domino)

Long time fans of The National will hardly be surprised that the Brooklyn five-piece’s latest album is a grower. Since breaking through with 2005’s Alligator, the band has managed quite a feat; they’ve maintained their mainstream momentum while simultaneously moving towards denser, darker and arguably less accessible songwriting. On High Violet, the band takes their most distinctive trademarks: Matt Berninger’s tortured baritone and Bryan Devendorf’s pulsating staccato drum lines and tempers them by adding an extra layer of orchestration and reverb, leaving the record sounding almost like it’s covered in a layer of aural dust. The result is an album that is frustrating at first, but ultimately more rewarding as repeated listens clear away the clutter and reveal that everything you love about The National is still there. —luke simcoe

Actress

splazsh (honest jon’s)

The elusive Darren Cunningham has built himself a curious reputation over the last decade: a promising footballer brought down by injuries, a protégé of noneother-than Kode9, and an eventual Werk Discs label-boss and artist. His 2008 debut Hazyville was perhaps the most overlooked album that year, its ghostly techno sounding only a 2-step away from Burial. Cunningham is set to finally earn the recognition he has deserved all these years with Splazsh, a bold, daring release that is as often puzzling as it is thrilling. Puzzling in the way that Actress has somehow managed to filter so many disparate styles into his own blunted vision of future computer music: Detroit techno, Prince and the 90s R&B production duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are all cited as influences on the record. A truly labyrinthine listening experience, Splazsh’s highlights are the minimal wave synths and the assembly-line percussion, although really Splazsh is operating on some indescribable plane, ambiguous and infinite as the geometry that dons its cover. —rj basinillo

Sleigh Bells

treats (n.e.e.t. / mom & pop music)

That Sleigh Bells is such a Rorschach test of a band—punk rock kids think they’re post-hardcore, indie kids think they’re lo-fi, Top-40 nerds think they’re teenpop—is a testament to the originality of their sound, which is best described element-by-element. The drums are distorted and compressed to a level that sounds obscene even at low volume, hard guitars and twinkly keyboard lines alternate in discrete patterns, and a girl named Alexis coos overtop it all in a mirror-and-a-hairbrush voice. The cumulative effect is overwhelming and utterly energizing on borderline jockjams like “Infinity Guitars” and “Crown on the Ground,” and weirdly soothing on the perfect summer song “Rill Rill,” which samples its guitar line from Funkadelic’s “Can You Get to That?” Sleigh Bells makes you want to break stuff because everything is so awesome, and in its intensity and impulsive simplicity, Treats sounds like what it feels like to be a teenager. —mike barthel

Madlib

medicine show vol. 5: history of the loop digga (1990-2000) (stones throw) Throughout the 1990s, well before Madlib ever released records under his Quasimoto alias, remixed the Blue Note and Trojan catalogues, and became the in-house producer at Stones Throw while collaborating with modern hip-hop greats MF Doom, Talib Kweli and Jay Dilla, he was busy in the lab perfecting the beats that would make him one of the most sought-after and revered producers of his generation. There is a ton crammed on to History Of The Loop Digga (1990-2000), over 30 tracks with few breaking the two-minute barrier, but it flows fluidly from one track to the next. And, despite the brevity of each track, there are a lot of layers, featuring booming bass lines, tinkling pianos, languid guitars, snippets from comedy and novelty albums and, of course, an overload of samples from some of the most rare and obscure jazz, soul and funk records. With ten years worth of mostly unreleased beats compiled here, you’d figure that this might be for the hardcore Madlib fans only, but that ain’t the case; this disc is a full-on crowdpleaser.

Tame Impala

innerspeaker (modular recordings)

The first rule of being cool is to never try to be cool. So if you really thought psych-rock was cool, and decided to make a psych-rock album with a couple of pals, chances are it wouldn’t be that cool. With Innerspeaker, Tame Impala remind us (again) about the other first rule of being cool: not giving a shit about the rules. For a band that has drawn comparisons to a laundry-list of artists (most of them active in the late sixties), Tame Impala sound fresh at least partly because of the seeming effortlessness of their songwriting that simply washes away the limitations one would expect of a band working such an obvious formula (and the impeccably trippy production doesn’t hurt, either). That, or this record just reminds me of when I was a kid and still could get stoned without being overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety. Either way, Innerspeaker is a perfect hour of pop-driven psychedelic rock, it’s dynamic, melodic, jammy and cool as shit. —michael barrow

Rangda

false flag (drag city)

Expectations inevitably run high when three of the most lauded players of their genre announce a collaboration. The thought of Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano and Sir Richard Bishop, each masters of their respective instruments (together at last!), playing together may inspire fantasies of absolute transcendence, but False Flag doesn’t dream so big. Nor does it disappoint. Aptly named after Bali’s mythic demon queen, who is said to eat children and to lead an army of witches against the forces of good, Rangda sounds strangely like that kind of clash embodied. Spazzy, grim, riff-heavy pieces give way to the kind of meditative meandering we have come to expect from Chasny’s Six Organs of Admittance albums. A pastiche of often clashing elements, False Flag sounds like psychic contradiction. An internal struggle that won’t resolve, yet opens into sweet spaces nonetheless. On this first collaborative effort, Rangda offers no sense of completion, no answers. False Flag is a beginning and a question. Wherever they take this project, it promises to be interesting. —jen gibson

—

Editor’s Corner So many good albums came out while we were writing this issue that we couldn’t squeeze them all in. We didn’t want them to go unnoticed, though, so here’s a few top picks in brief. —saelan twerdy

Kode9

dj kicks (!k7)

Steve Goodman, aka Kode9, works as a music theorist, producer, and A&R for the ever-brilliant Hyperdub label, and is quite possibly the most respected figure in the UK dance music scene. Like many Kode9 transmissions, his mix for DJ Kicks is met with the kind of fervour reserved for long-awaited singles and albums. The first half of the mix finds Kode9 connecting the dots between UK funky and South African Kwaito, underscoring similarities in tribal percussion and dramatic chord stabs. However, it’s in the second half of the mix that we find Kode9 at his most cheeky, jumping between hip-hop, grime and dubstep, all the way back again to funky and then headfirst into rapid fire UK juke mutations courtesy of Addison Groove and Ramadanman. Nitpickers might be disappointed in the lack of a new Burial or Darkstar tune (Kode9’s Hyperdub aces) but this mix shows that Kode is first and foremost a total badman behind the decks, with or without his army. —rj basinillo

Shabazz Palaces

of light/shabazz palaces (templar label group)

Shabazz Palaces’s aura of obscurity runs all the way through their two unnamed EPs [Ed: they come up untitled from the iTunes store and on their own website, but apparently they do actually have names], from the cryptic song titles to the curious alchemy that holds their experiments together. Palaceer Lazaro (once Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler of Digable Planets) and his Seattle-based future-rap collective neatly arrange an abrasive sonic palette into super slim three-minute tracks. A jarring combination of Nation of Islam mysticism, Black Arts poetry, and creepy synths and bass lines are ever so carefully delivered to your ears atop cushions of warm organs, crisp hi-hats, and Lazaro’s signature buttery flow. The moody “my mac yawns” sounds so smooth it’s easy to miss Lazaro’s skill when handling his tightly arranged anti-rap: “In diamonds we talk / stay grind to shine the walk the walk too / it’s pop harder than your bibles.” We’ll see whether these prototypes amount to a future masterpiece, but for now the Palaces’ sound is perfect in miniature. —chris dingwall

Thee Oh Sees warm slime (in the red)

After San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees took unsuspecting fans for a bit of a detour with their last helium-infused garage-folk record, Dog Poison, the band get back to the raucous sound that won them so many fans in the first place. Not only is Warm Slime a return to the fist-pumping anthems previously heard on Help and Master’s Bedroom, it has upped the ante of the ecstatic intensity that the band has become synonymous with. Warm Slime is also about as close to the driving barrage of their infamous live show as you can get. The songs, though not exactly lo-fi, push through the speakers, grabbing you by the ear hairs and demanding attention. But what really sets Warm Slime apart from previous outings is the album opener and title track, which takes up the entire first side of the LP. “Warm Slime” begins as a typical Oh See’s garage stomper but eventually unfolds into a gospel-tinged call-and-response number that slowly winds back on itself. Another winner from a band that must get little sleep. —mark richardson

Brain Drill

quantum catastrophe (metal blade)

Fresh off the success of last year’s most requested song at weddings, “Force-fed Human Shit,” from their Metal Blade debut Apocalyptic Feasting, California’s Brain Drill have given us a technical-death masterpiece in Quantum Catastrophe. While Apocalyptic Feasting was ADHD even by genre standards, Quantum Catastrophe sees Brain Drill maintaining their unparalleled technical proficiency while experimenting occasionally in more —gasp!—traditional song structure. While the majority of Brain Drill’s riffs sound like other band’s solos, there are tracks in here like “Awaiting Imminent Destruction” and “Nemesis of Neglect” that you can bang your head to without snapping your neck. Part of what made Brain Drill so rad on Apocalyptic Feasting was their inability to musically stand still (or in the same place) for even a second. But let’s face facts, it was a little gimmicky, kinda like the 80s band Nitro. With vastly improved song structure, Quantum Catastrophe shatters the idea that Brain Drill are a onetrick pony. And dudes, the title track is 11 minutes long. If they can play that live, it makes everyone else’s lifetime achievements null and void. —scott lyon

White Fence

s/t (make a mess/ woodsist)

White Fence is the solo moniker of Tim Presley, an LA musician who plays guitar and sings in the post-shoegaze band Darker My Love, who is also a full-time member of the Strange Boys, and even played on a recent album by The Fall. You’d think the guy would be too busy to put together a full-length record of solo material but, obviously, this is not the case. Presley has a fixation on the sixties. Not the Beatles and Stones sixties that have become synonymous with the era, nope, he’s dug a little deeper and presented a warbled and warped sounding debut that comes off like a long-lost private-press album recorded on the edge of some forgotten hippie commune. The songs presented here are deliberately recorded on the lower end of the fidelity spectrum yet still retain a warmth that recalls the Syd Barrett solo albums, and they’re weird and fuzzy enough to draw comparisons to the early recordings of the Elephant Six (albeit with fewer whimsical twee elements). Psychedelic pop fans who like it a little gritty should be all over this. —mark richardson

LCD Soundsystem this is happening (dfa/virgin)

James Murphy looms large over the last decade. He may have initially won his fame as the impressario of the dancepunk revival and the curator/boss of DFA Records, but his LCD Soundsystem project soon overshadowed his other activities, growing from a fun outlet for Murphy to display his impeccable taste to a genuine powerhouse indie band whose longevity has far exceeded the trends that it grew out of. His gift is to synthesize the most immediately danceable body-grooves with cerebral self-reference and real emotional depth. In other words, LCD Soundsystem has something for everybody and if, as rumour suggests, Murphy is going to call it quits after This Is Happening, he couldn't go out on a better note. This album is his most nakedly personal, but when the songs hit home, they do so with some of the most galvanizing beats he's ever concocted. For those that have followed the band's career, Murphy's soul-searching can feel like your own. In that sense, this is the kind of album that defines an era, but the beauty of it is that it's so good at gut-level that you don't need the references, the clever parts, or any prior experience at all to love it. —saelan twerdy

Phosphorescent

here’s to taking it easy (dead oceans) Matthew Houck’s last album, a tribute to Willie Nelson, has apparently had a lasting effect on him, since he seems to have definitively swapped the haunted, choral atmospherics of his early albums for a more upbeat and polished country-rock. Houck made his name as a master of texture, but his new focus on characters, place, and up-front lyricism is a welcome one.

Kurt Vile

square shells ep (matador) Those that were ever-so-slightly disappointed by Childish Prodigy’s murky rock-outs will be happy to hear that the reigning prince of lo-fi has returned to the bedroom for another EP of his trademark stoner-folk anthems. Opener “Ocean City” recalls the best of early Beck and “I Know I Got Religion” is a totally acoustic, effects-free retake of “Overnite Religion” that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen him live recently. It’s another winner. Plus, Matador was giving it away for free digitally.

Caetano Veloso

zii e zie (nonesuch) Caetano Veloso, Brazil’s greatest living songwriter, spearhead of the radical late-60’s Tropicalia movement that challenged the emerging military dictatorship, and one of my personal favourite musicians ever, has produced a new album at the age of 68 that sounds fresher than most of today’s hotly-tipped buzz bands. Bob Dylan wishes he could be even half this relevant.

Ariel Pink

before today (4ad) Ariel Pink’s new album, the first ever to be recorded in a proper studio with a serious band, is, in short, crazy awesome. But in their rush to retrospectively crown him the “Godfather of Chillwave” or whatever, people might miss out on just how weird this album really is. You would think that writing his catchiest, most accessible songs ever would mean that he was taming down a little bit. Nope. This album is the return of what indie rock cool is supposed to repress, everything awkward and uncomfortable in the last 30-odd years of pop. Playing on references that are both intimately familiar and usually forbidden, these songs sound, against all odds, incredibly fresh and cool.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

143

volume 8 issue 3

EVan HECOX Best know in the skate world as the man behind the bulk of Chocolate’s graphics Mr. Hecox has had his work exhibited in places near, far and in between this continent and the others. His scenes of buildings, objects, people and the ephemera of everyday life have delighted and inspired a multitude of bipedal creatures from Tokyo to Paris. Skaters and gallery goers alike find common themes in his images, colors and use of specific media to convey ideas. His work appear on just about every type of printable surface you could think of and a couple you might not, from wonderfully screened prints to lampshades. His style is instantly recognizable but he’s no one trick pony as even a cursory look at his website proves. As versatile as he is in working with different styles he is equally proficient with different mediums from block printing to illustration. Over the years he’s been copied by those who lack what he has. Respected by his contemporaries in both words and by act of purchasing his gallery work he has earned respect from those who matter most, his fans.

CITY to draw/paint in — Brooklyn / San Francisco

chocolate project

[ o ] PAYNTER

wordsby isaac mckay-randozzi

MOOD MUSIC

Streets to walk

— Magnetic Fields, Holiday album. / Galaxie 500.

— Brooklyn / Paris

— Car Grills series / Original Portrait series

— Photogravure / Pencil and paper

medium to use

corner store snack

art venue

SKATE SESSION

feel-good movie

— Beef jerky / Beef jerky

— A wall in Amsterdam. / Any house that has my work hanging in it.

— To the liquor store and back. / A dry poot at an apartment building that we found in college, the building manager didn’t mind.

— Babe, a movie about a pig that I always end up watching with my 6-year old daughter, it’s pretty good actually. / Rushmore.

work equipment purchase

visit to the firl offices

Commercial project

— A large work table with a full cutting mat surface for picture framing. / A set of fifteen flat file drawers that I got from e-bay for $200 and picked up locally.

— Not sure, probably in a couple months. / When they had an open house with an In-and-Out Burger truck serving free burgers and fries and they did a skate contest.

— A t-shirt graphic for the Quiet Life, Andy Meuller’s company. / Some animated work I did for VW, it was fun to see my work moving and the pay was great.

live music

itch to scratch

non-skate art job

— Nothing planned, I just saw the Pixies recently though, great show. / Tough one! Either the Phantom Surfers at the Onion in SF, or Johnny Cash at the Las Vegas Hilton.

— Photography, making real photographs, not just crappy digital snapshots. / Making things with wood in my backyard in the summer and/or gardening.

— Maybe a show in London or Sydney, not sure. I just finished shows in NY and Paris, so I’m taking a breather for now. / My first solo show that was at Houston Gallery in Seattle, it got me off to a good start and gave me a lot of confidence.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

145

volume 8 issue 3

VANS OFF THE WALL: 1966

1% OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS

First, I must say that you should go into this video with a very appreciative attitude towards skateboarding, that you should accept every style and grasp every maneuver. The truth is I accidentally dozed off during the intro and woke up just in time to see Chris Pfanner’s part. If you read skateboard magazines, I’m sure you know what this dude has been up to lately. Perhaps you would appreciate this video more if you were from Europe; I think a lot of the skating gets lost in translation because much of it I can’t comprehend. Samuel Partaix is a menacing all-terrain ripper, Flo Marfaing checks in and tucks a few heads in, and Tomas Vintr does a good Muska impersonation. Madars Apse deserves daps for that one-footed ollie on the 4 block, while Kris Vile has that style to clock the end of the video. I feel extremely sorry for the skateboarders who had to go along with the filming of their intros. —zach barton

Be forewarned, this movie is not for the faint of heart, or stomach for that matter. So you want to join a biker gang? Doesn’t everyone these days? And on top of that you want in with the 1%-ers (the other 99% being the non-outlaw factions). Well, when compared to some of these clubs (and this movie goes through ‘em all, from the Hells Angels to Nomads and the Avengers), I’d say you’ve got a long way to go to get where they’re at. Hijacking busses, suicide pacts, cutting off heads, and then there’s the ol’ ladies—its all in there. For this film, the police thought it would be beneficial to throw together all the media coverage and law enforcement information to give the new recruits a head start on dealing with and taking down some of the gnarliest biker dudes out there. Step-by-step this educational documentary will show you some effective, but sometimes unethical, techniques. But what they don’t say is that they’re be consequences. Our advice: you should always call for backup. —gordon nicholas

(vans shoes)

(soldiersdisease.com)

Give Me My Money Chico anthony ‘btl’ claravall (lrg clothing company)

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, rastas and more ladies. Here we have the first-ever, much anticipated LRG video. I wanna call it XL-RG cause this shit be poppin’ off and it’s fresher than the Winfield Bakery. So, let’s start with the intro. Nuff said, I don’t wanna talk about that. But I am really happy to find out how much Frank Gerwer looks like Adelmo Jr.—plus having him play the role of such a person is truly bitchin’. Then Adelmo has the steez of Jah himself, resembling a Jamacian Batman flapping a cape of hair through the streets and sweeping out all the landings. Moving on to my boy Karl Watson, how good it is to see people so down and happy for anything that’s good. “I too love Jah!” Always good to see the seasoned vets keeping it solid with new material including Chico and Rob G, and big ups to the rest of the crew for their unstoppable flawless victories. I don’t have anything bad to say even though I’m seemingly down to stir the pot. I could write more but then I’d be like, “Give me my money Chico!” —sheldon meleshinski

The Traipsin’ Trilogy rick charnaski (antihero skateboards)

“I could understand how people could get upset about traipsin’. Their heart flutters, it’s a word they haven’t heard before. ‘Am I doing it?’ ‘Am I not doing it?’ ‘How can I do it?’ ‘Where can I find it?’ Let me tell you, traipsin’ is a state of mind. It’s where you want to be, it’s where you were, it’s where you could have been, or it’s where you’re going. But, mainly it’s the people that you are with, and where you’re at.” —frank gerwer

This triptych has been around for a few months, but if you’re as out-of-touch with web-based skate media as I am, these kinds of things tend to slip through the cracks. Just as this type of digital media seems to be doing its best to homogenize the whole scene, along comes Anti-Hero with their own take on what a web video should be, which, come to think of it, is not too far off from their fresh take on the skate video in general. This trio of episodes consist of Straight Traipsin’, Don’t Traipse On Me, and Traipsin’ Salbaland. Terse, raw, and straight to the point, we find our friends jamming around a handful of backyard pools that make you feel like a sucker for not spending more time in the deep end. Be sure not to miss Julien’s back to back pocket carves which just may be the best six seconds of pool footage to date. Stay tuned for more traipsin’... —dylan doubt

146 colORMAGAZINE.CA

volume 8 issue 3

wordsby jessie van rouchoudt photosby dylan doubt

o Skateboarding Day might be considered a Hallmark holiday, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitely not the flower and card buying kind. This summer solstice in Vancouver, Go Skate Day embodied the spirit of everything that skateboarding is with the spirit of freedom, lots of energy, a little rebellion, cops, and some cash offered up for the skaters directly from the local skate shops.

.goskateboardingday 149

The day started with a gathering at the street plaza and then the masses travelled by train to a series of spots that were in close proximity to skytrain stops. The idea was simply to get out of the city for a change and skate some different spots. The train stations seemed to pump out the energy in concentrated form as each arrival and exit of the skate mob was funneled through the narrow spaces of the escalator entrances and exits at each station. Contrary to the usual spot bust—instead of trying to kick everyone out, cops tried to keep skaters at each spot by blocking entrances to the skytrain. They were vastly out numbered though, which is probably the main reason that they didn’t try to stop the skating. They clearly wanted it to stop, but they were more worried about what was potentially to come next from the masses. Their disapproval of

everything unspoken and assumed of skateboarders, manifested itself with them forcefully blocking skaters from getting onto the sky train platforms and other selectively discriminating minutia like jay walking tickets. All in all though, this added a nice element of protest for the right to skate in public space. Without the cops’ resistance there would have been no cause for raising a little ruckus, aside from the actual skating for the following spectators and general public to appreciate. From the first assault of the Main Street station platforms at high noon to the traditional barge over the Georgia Street viaduct, stopping traffic leaving the city at rush-hour. In taking over their rails by skytrain, skateboarders showed the city of Vancouver just how it feels to be one of them. And in doing so, capped a “rail” that will not be soon forgotten.

Main St./Science World Station. Watching the first few bails on this ledge, I started questioning whether this whole thing was a good idea. It felt that much better to see Adam Hopkins roll away from this gap to 50-50 (relatively) unscathed.

150 goskateboardingday.

Royal Oak Station. I know what you're thinking... the year is 1993, and a greasy Kris Markovich is doing a varial heel at mach 10. Nope, it's 2010 and our very own Brett Gifford is doing a kickflip much to the crowds delight. Next Spot...

Holdom Station. If you didn't know who Jesse Holland was, now you do. This may just be one of the worst gaps in the GVRD. The short uphill run up makes this hardflip very hard indeed.

Cameo Wilsongap to back lip

Bonsor stop. Mike ‘Hashbrown’ Shultz barges a raging session with a bs ts backside kickflip.

colORMAGAZINE.CA

151

issue 3

—

One Way or Another

n May 29 th, 2010 The HVW8 Art and Design Gallery hosted the kick-off show for the one of a kind One Way or Another tour, highlighting skateboardings most prolific artists who skate. With a majority of the artists on hand and ample pre-press the show it was well attended and received. It was a “mullet” of an art show: all business upfront (art in the gallery) and party in the back, a rear courtyard hosted the refreshments and skate videos were projected onto a wall.

After a whirlwind 11-hour drive from Denver and little sleep the skate-torn artists set up the show (June 4th, 2010) at the Escapist shop just in time, aligned with Kansas City’s First Friday gallery openings bringing in a variety of folks from zombie girls to 13 year old skate rats excited to see some of their artistic heroes on the wall and in person.

With one more long haul and a quick identity change (gallery to shop) the No Comply store in Austin provided a cozy and ideal venue for the last show of the tour (June 7, 2010). The age of most of the crowd edging around 30, there was a batch of high school age kids who absorbed, looked and spoke in excited utterances about what they saw.

One Way or Another artist Ben Horton and friends HVW8, Los Angeles

art by Dennis McNett No Comply, Austin

Patrick O’Dell, Justin Reagan +1 HVW8, Los Angeles

PNut, pre tattood

Escapist, KC

HVW8, Los Angeles

Yogi Proctor, L.A.

L.A.

152 colORMAGAZINE.CA

Bod Boyle,

Fos

Donny Miller & Michael Hsiung, L.A.

No Comply, Austin

Nick & Isaac M-R Escapist, KC

Andrew Pommier

Michael Sieben Escapist, KC

Phil Toselli No Comply, Austin

issue 3 illustration by Ben Horton

SANDRO GRISON

co-founder / creative director

DYLAN DOUBT photo editor

JENNIFER MACLEOD

circulation / managing editor

DAVID KO

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

fashion editor

adam wright, allen ying, andrew paynter, andy mueller, antony acosta, brian caissie, corey adams, eric anthony, fred mortagne, gabe morford, gary benzel, geoff clifford, isaac mckay-randozzi, ISEKI, jeff thorburn, justine orall, kasey andrews, kelly d williams, mark whitely, mike oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;meally, mikendo stanfield, oka-z, osaka daggers, phil toselli, riley smith, sam mcguire, shane hutton, tadashi yamaoda, terry worona, thomas campbell, todd bratrud

MIKE CHRISTIE

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

graphic design

NICHOLAS BROWN arts editor

ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR leah turner

SAELAN TWERDY music editor

MILA FRANOVIC

copy editor

illustration

zach bar ton, wade fyfe, torey goodall, tim sedo, sheldon meleshinski, shawn lennon, scott lyon, rj basinillo, mike bar thel, michael barrow, mark richardson, luke simcoe, jessie van roechoudt, jen gibson, isaac mckay-randozzi, grady mitchell, geoff dermer, fos, dave ber trand, chris dignwall, adam wright

PRE PRESS

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

GORDON NICHOLAS senior photographer

STAFF WRITER jay revelle

BEN TOUR

joel dufresne

DESIGN INTERN

andrew pommier, ben horton, dan climan, eric anthony, lori d, michael hsiung

meriliese cabebe

JON COLEMAN

advertising jcoleman@colormagazine.ca 604 873 6699

newstands: disticor.com | magamall.com

ISSN 1920-0404 Publications mail agreement No. 40843627 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: fourcornerpublishinginc. 321 RAILWAY STREET, #105 VANCOUVER, BC V6A 1A4 CANADA

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed here are not neccessarily shared by fourcorner publishing inc. or Color Magazine, but by the author credited. Color Magazine reserves the right to make mistakes and will do so on a bi-monthly cycle without liability. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without permission from the publisher. The publisher of Color Magazine is not responsible for errors or omissions printed and retains the right to edit all copy. The opinions expressed in the content of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of Color Magazine. Color Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising matter which may reflect negatively on the integrity of the magazine. Color welcomes submissions for photo and editorial content, but is not responsible for unsolicited material or liable for any lost and/or damaged material. Please provide a return envelope with postage with your submissions or email submissions@colormagazine.ca for more information. Color Magazine is published by fourcorner publishing inc., printed six times yearly and distributed direct to retailers throughout Canada and to newstands by Disticor Distribution. Subscriptions can may be ordered individually or in bulk by retailers for resale. Subscribe: 6 issues for $39.99 in Canada, $59.99 CND in the United States, $89.99 CND for all other countries. Contact us at 604 873 6699, subscribe@colormagazine.ca with any subscription inquiries or visit us online. Printed in Canada

154 colORMAGAZINE.CA

issue 3

[ o ] DOUBT

Josh Evin, Forever Flying... Through the air and in our hearts. You will be sadly missed. Backside 360 Kickflip Melon. Hastings Skatepark, c.2006

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Next Issue Out September 158 colORMAGAZINE.CA

ISSN 1920-0404 Publications mail agreement No. 40843627 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: fourcornerpublishinginc. 321 RAILWAY STREET, #105 VANCOUVER, BC V6A 1A4 CANADA

LAKAI

LIMITE

T S A R O COL L AL E E S W. NO

. BS FLIP WITCH PUIG. S LUCAS WEAR. D FOOT

U 2 O S A LUC

OM .C KAI