ISSUE 110 DECEMBER 2010 FREE
BONES IN THE GTA
FILM FATTIES 2 SK8 SKATES ON TARGET
SEAN LOWE ISSUE 110 . DECEMBER 2010
EMPIRE BACKYARD PARTY
WILL CRISTOFARO IDENTITY MATT MILLER FIVE SPOT MARTY MURAWSKI SHOE VAULT ADIDAS SUPERSTAR ART BLENDER TONY LARSON
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KELLEN JAMES / SQUARE TWO + SK8MAFIA MAROON/WHITE
SKATEBOARDING STARTS WITH
photos by colen
ED F OOTW EAR. INTR ODUC ING RILE Y HA WK. BLUN TSLID E. I LIM IT LAKA
FOSTER / CAPALDI / JOHNSON / CARROLL / MARIANO / HOWARD / WELSH / BIEBEL / LENOCE / FERNANDEZ / ALVAREZ / ESPINOZA HAWK / TERSHY / PUIG / GILLET / BRADY / JENSEN / 955 Francisco Street, Torrance, CA 90502 / ad# 136 / lakai.com / crailtap.com supradistribution.com lakaistickers@supradistribution.com
issue 110 December 2010
28 Film Fatties 2 36 Will Cristofaro 44 Sean Lowe 52 Right On Target 60 Hook, Line & Sinker 72 Exposure working class heroes
“Everyone in the video has strange and boring jobs...”
to serena, with love
“I only started watching Gossip Girl fo’ real in February 2010...”
The Hype
“As we’re talking right now, I walked upstairs and down three times.”
Sk8 Skates in Minneapolis
“Our beer budget mixed with an after-hours party spot probably cut a few tricks...”
Greater Toronto with the Bones team
“Dyet picked the camel’s nose and Jeremy gave the ol’ cud-chewer a peck on the lips.”
strictly stills
10 16 18 22 24
82 90 94 96 98
Rise & Shine // Will Jivcoff Identity // Matt Miller Inventory Art Blender // Tony Larson Empire Backyard Party
some shade, please cover photo / contents sequence and caption by
Young Bloods Video Reviews Shoe Vaults // Adidas Superstar Sound Check // Gwar the Five Spot // Marty Murawski
Mike Stanfield
As the world knows, RYAN DECENZO rips everything and anything – wallrides are no different. The weather in Southern California was an unbelievable 90-degrees Fahrenheit in early November, and we were cooking beyond belief. Crewed-up with two Germans, one Swede, three Canucks plus the Americans, this underpass in Laguna Beach provided both shade and an awesome bank spot. Ryan was discouraged by the heat, but still banged out this WALLRIDE NOLLIE BIGSPIN with a bit of heavy breathing. The obvious solution for this trick was a sequence, and as the light streaked in I saw a great still in the batch of tries. Have you seen that 1987 Transworld cover of Tod Swank pushing? I immediately thought of that. Check out the cover footage and more in the Issue 110 web-commercial on concreteskateboarding.com.
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Concrete skateboarding
issue 110 DECember 2010
Mikey Plantus, frontside flip
Will Jivcoff
Rise & Shine 10
Concrete skateboarding
It’s only fitting that Kitchener, Ontario’s Will Jivcoff is bestowed with this issue’s Rise & Shine shout-out. After first being published on the pages of Concrete in 2008 (bottomright image), the young lensman continued to submit and improve. So we decided to profile the up-and-coming 19 year-old in our August 2010 Photo Annual. For the issue at hand, Will embarked on his first big tour assignment – an exploration of familiar turf, the GTA, with members of the US and Canadian Bones Wheels teams (p.60). With names like Jake Duncombe and Jeremy Wray on-board, you’d think a young flashblaster might crumble under the self-applied pressure to produce. No sir. They referred to him as “Ginger” immediately, and all was right with the world. Will even shot a stylish portrait of Marty Murawski for his Fiver (p.102). From the constant spot-hunting, to the downloading of Pepi’s Pizza into his gullet and the travel opp schemes, Will is looking to seize every moment possible. As he says, “Power to the G!” willjivcoff.com
“Hook, Line & Sinker” (p.60) Isaac Watamaniuk, bs 180 nosegrind
(Issue 92 / April 2008)
Photo by World Famous: Michael Burnett
distributed by Ultimate
DAVIS TORGERSON SWITCH LIP
OLIVER BARTON PHOTOS.
SEE DAVIS’ FULL PART IN THE REAL VIDEO, SINCE DAY 1, COMING SOON.
etnies.com facebook.com/etnies
timebombtrading.com facebook.com/timebombtrading
Identity
A few winters ago, Rob Welsh, Joey Pepper, Chany Jeanguenin and myself were all at the SF fountain when a quiet young amateur rolled up by the name of Matt Miller. Rob and Joey wasted no time in torturing him, and in few short minutes they focused his brand new board. A year-and-a-half later, Matt joins them on Expedition. I never really understood why he would want to put himself in the crosshairs of Rob and Joe’s distress, but I suppose family just sticks together. The bar has been raised consistently since Matt came on-board and rose to the top of the Professional ranks, and I have a feeling nothing can stop him now. It’s Miller-time, after all.
matt daughters
—Matt Daughters
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Concrete skateboarding
T H E
B A L A N C E
O F
O P P O S I T E S
2 6 # ! # / - s 4 ) - % " / - " 4 2 ! $ ) . ' # / - &!#%"//+ #/- 4)-%"/-"42!$).'
inventory
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sweat the small stuff Jart Fingerboarding Mini Ramp and Eurogap opposite page: Picnic Table, Kicker jartskateboards.com this page:
Neff
ryan Decenzo hat // blue neffheadwear.com
Theeve
Keycard titanium Skate Tool theevetrucks.com
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Concrete skateboarding
and
Manual Pad
Toy Machine socks // grey toymachine.com
Matix
Domepiece Headphones Girl Skateboards / Brandon Biebel signature matixclothing.com
Tech Deck
DVS
Vestal
Matix
Bones
Neff
Bones Ripper techdeck.com
ZR-3 // Matte Silver / Minimalist vestalwatch.com
STF (Street Tech Formula) // r.Decenzo 52mm boneswheels.com
Westridge Snow // Brown nubuck MFM dvsshoes.com
MP3 Hoody // grey
Brozeph sunglasses // rainbow
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ltimate ed by U distribut
A R T B L E N D E R // TONY LARSON
A
nyone familiar with Girl Skateboards will know about the “Art Dump” [theartdump. com] and the amount of creativity that comes out of it. Tony Larson is an alum of the Girl School of Art & Design, having spent almost nine years (1999 until 2007) at the Torrance, California-based company. Before working with Andy Jenkins, Rick Howard, Michael Leon and Rob Abeyta Jr. at Girl, Tony did his formal academic art training at the prestigious CalArts in Los Angeles, graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a focus that was more on painting than graphic design. After his tenure at Girl, Tony
jumped over to DC Shoes until 2009, which brought him back to his home-sweet-home area of San Diego. These days, he heads up the creative for SUPERbrand Apparel, and he’s doing some progressive graphics for SUPERbrand Surfboards [superbranded.com].
The use of shapes, colours and overlapping tones in Tony’s newest images show a deep appreciation of what has come before him in art and design. There’s a hands-on quality to all of his images, whether they appear on paper, decks or even surfboards.
Tony’s skills have progressed quite smoothly over the past decade. Some of his work at Girl explores the design of the mid-century modern era, which also has a lot to do with the California lifestyle. His experimentation with patterning and abstract shapes – first with Girl boards and now in his personal work – have propelled his images to a new realm.
More than an artist and a graphic designer, Tony absorbs everything around him. Take a quick look at his blog and you’ll see that he consumes visuals and researches with care and precision. —Randy Laybourne mrlarsonrules.blogspot.com
“Tony Larson is a modern day Renaissance man. He lives, works, and plays seamlessly through so many different interesting medias all at the same time, and he does it with a smile on his face that he effortlessly brings to yours.” —Brian Garofalow // RVCA Marketing Director
clockwise from top left:
SUPERbrand “Snake” tee SUPERbrand “SUPERbanner” tee SUPERbrand “SUPERpower” tee Girl “McCrank Interiors” deck Girl “Mariano Interiors” deck Girl “Howard Interiors” deck Girl “McCrank Shaped” deck Girl “Wilson Dots” deck Girl “Wilson Boxer” deck Girl “Ferguson Modern Chairs” deck Girl “Howard Modern Chairs” deck 20
Concrete skateboarding
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Untitled 2010â&#x20AC;? by Tony Larson created exclusively for Concrete Skateboarding.
visit concreteskateboarding.com to download art blender wallpapers for your computer and iphone.
the Backyard is on fire! words
Yann Fily-Paré
photos
Dan Mathieu
The roof of South-Parc in Brossard, just outside of Montreal, almost blew up during the third edition of the EMPIRE BACKYARD PARTY presented by Vans. The mini-ramp jam was, as expected, gnarlier than ever. All the key ingredients such as free beer and barbeque for all, an innovative ramp setup, a bunch of shredders, and the necessary Jacuzzi were kept in the mix. To spice up the recipe further, Eric Mercier invited good-vibe-expert John Cardiel to send some positive energy from behind the turntables with his reggae rhythms. The legendary SF skater wasn’t the only one to fly in for the event; so did San Diego’s Tom Remillard, Hollywood’s Tom Ryen, Calgary’s Riley Boland, Las Vegas’ Cameo Wilson and Philadelphia’s Kyle Nicholson, to name just a few of the skaters courageous enough to enter the Frenchsters’ territory.
Pat Tremblay, Cameo Wilson, Leon Chapdelaine
The Backyard Party’s format seemed to please the riders who had plenty of time to catch their breath in between runs. It was pretty simple: five contestants skate one-at-a-time during a 20-minute jam. In the end, 10 finalists were selected for the two last jams of the day.
Steve Van Doren
A lot of fun was being had, but the riders still had to go big in order to make the finals. Riley Boland couldn’t wait that long and decided to bomb-drop off the balcony during the qualifiers and hurt himself just enough to be out of the contest. It’s impossible not to mention Marc Tison’s impressive charging of the extension with the best style in town. Also impressive was Anti-Hero’s padawan, Tom Remillard, who easily used the whole ramp in such a way that Montrealers won’t soon forget. Pat Tremblay, a Brossard local and Empire rider, kills it on all terrain, but the ramp at South-Parc is definitely a place where he’s comfortable; it showed in his top-three finish. Leon Chapdelaine smiled all the way into second place with an immense bag of tricks and impressive consistency. And as we all know by now, Cameo Wilson became the 2010 Backyard Party champ by killing it hard with numerous flip tricks and a coping massacre on the eve of Halloween.
john Cardiel
Results
1. Cameo Wilson // $12,000 2. Leon Chapdelaine // $4,000 3. Pat Tremblay // $2,000 4. Tom Remillard 5. Tom Ryen
empirebackyardparty.blogspot.com
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Concrete skateboarding
Marc Tison - lipslide
Leon Chapdelaine - Crailslide
Barry Walsh - backside air
“There is grass on the floor and snow outside, that’s what’s different!”
—John Cardiel
Tom Remillard - Backtail revert
distributed by Ultimate
ONE-PIECE AEROSPACE TITANIUM AXLELESS HANGER. AVAILABLE AUGUST 2010
Probably MAPSTONE
DARREL STANTON HILL HAWK MUMFORD LAYTON MURPHY DUNCOMBE STEHR BARTIE RAYBOURN WWW.THEEVETRUCKS.COM
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Working Class Heroes intro
Frank Daniello
captions and video stills
Hunter Wood
Back in November 2008, a Metro Vancouver-based video premiered at the Granville 7 Cinemas as the opening act to Strange Brew. To much fanfare, the 45-minute Film Fatties feature creatively integrated samples from the 1979 teen rebellion film, Over The Edge, and boasted a serious amount of clips from a large local roster. Nearly two years later to the date, Film Fatties 2 is upon us. The cast is still largely ‘Couver-based, but more refined, and it consists of Nicky Reu, Tony Myshlyaev, Pat Maloney, Rory Fulber, Chris Logiacco, AJ McCallister, Nelson Conway, Tyler Gaucher, Corey Klim, Nick “Nugget” Moore and more. If you haven’t heard of some of these hombres, it’s because a few of them are under-the-radar and minimally or not-at-all sponsored rippers. But this entire roster is comprised of working class heroes, if you will. And that’s precisely the theme behind the part intros in Hunter Wood’s latest project.
Wood is behind filming 90-percent of the largely Panasonic HVX100 skate footage, along with intros and clip garnishes shot using the increasingly popular Canon 7D. He’s also largely responsible for the editing, alongside Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux. Needless to mention, anyone who has a passion for skateboard filmmaking knows that the organizational aspect of getting a project up and running can be an unrelenting pain in the ass. Hunter is all too familiar with this. “It’s impossible to lock down skaters,” the 23 year-old says with a laugh. “The amount of problems we had shooting the original gang for the first Film Fatties was unreal. Like the time Nicky Reu famously threw his phone off a balcony the night before we were supposed to pick him up, so we drove around Vancouver for four hours trying to find him. Things like that. But I think we’ve all kind of grown up a bit as skaters, and I’m definitely doing less babysitting than I used too [laughs].”
louis shemko
“Everyone in the video has strange and boring jobs, so once the skating starts up it’s a good contrast,” says Wood, whose “regular-ass job” fittingly consists of serving as an assistant editor for Ice Pilots [icepilots.com] – a History Television show about WWII-era planes flying cargo and passengers around in the frigid Northwest Territories. “I wanted to show that basically everyone in Film Fatties 2 works just so
they can skate. No one in the video makes money off skateboarding, and that’s kind of the basic premise.” Wood continues: “For instance, Nelson is a janitor, Pat’s a Longshoreman, Tony works at a FedEx callcentre, and Chris works at a restaurant making grilled cheese.”
Backside 180 “AJ can skate a bit of everything, and he does it all with one of the best free-flowing styles in Vancouver. He isn’t always around ‘cause he’s off on all kinds of trips, but AJ is the best motivator I know and gets people stoked on the trick they’re trying.”
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Concrete skateboarding
louis shemko
Heelflip up “Rory lives in Squamish, BC and the cool thing about him is that he’s been totally underground – no one has seen anything from him in a while. Rory got really sick last summer and didn’t skate, but now he’s got lots of super cool footage and has a long part in the video.”
ross wood
Pole Jam
nicky reu
nicky reu
louis shemko
“When you watch Pat skate in person, he’ll be shooting his board everywhere and clowning around. I’ve figured out that getting him on trips is the only way to get clips, so his part will be an entertaining mix of sick tricks and bails on tricks you’ll wonder why he tried in the first place [laughs].”
Frontside 5-0 “Nelson usually puts a new spin on a spot when we go film, and he’s really fun to watch. His part might run a little short time-wise, but it won’t lack in what counts though.” 30
Concrete skateboarding
One of the web trailers leading up to Film Fatties 2 was entitled Skitching – a downtown Vancouver venture of questionable legality and the following ingredients: one Canon 5D and two 7Ds, a fully operational scooter going 40km/h, and a five-deep squad of rollers death-gripping a lengthy tow-rope in the rain. This is Hunter Wood’s account: “We started planning it and got rained out two weekends in a row. Then on a Sunday afternoon that was supposed to be dry, we made a bunch of phone calls. When everyone showed up, it started pouring rain [laughs]. So we decided to just do it.” “It started with a couple laps in the rain around Coal Harbour. There were no hassles and no one bailed, which was surprising since it was so slippery. I was on the back of the scooter filming for some of it, which was scary because I thought the whole line of guys on the rope would pull the little scooter over every time they turned a corner really wide.” “We wanted an overhead shot at a busy intersection, so we decided to go up to Robson and Thurlow. After three attempts – which was kind of pushing it because there were so many people around – we stopped to watch the footage instead of leaving the scene first [laughs]. I guess someone had called the cops, so they showed up and pulled my brother aside. I felt so bad because I asked him to come out and drive the scooter. But the cops didn’t catch us in the act so luckily they let us off with a warning rather than a big fine.” Watch “Skitching” online at concreteskateboarding.com/?p=7973
curtis rothney
louis shemko
kickflip nosegrind backside shuv out â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chris is really consistent on flat, and skates ledges and mannies a lot. He had a part in the first Film Fatties, and after moving out east he sent over a bunch of Montreal footage for the new one.â&#x20AC;?
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Backside Flip “I think Tony’s part will be a surprise for people because nobody knows him. He’s from Richmond, and really only skated out there up until recently. He never did any networking, and it was never a top priority to get his skating out. He just has fun, but gets a couple clips every day. Tony is getting flowed by RDS and Vans now, and that’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
Film Fatties 2 will be available in December 2010, and is brought to you by Antisocial, SkateNewSpot.com and Concrete Skateboarding.
filmfatties.com
photo: jt rhoades
james morley
backside smith grind
Will Cristofaro
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Concrete skateboarding
mathieu couture words
James Morley
Words can’t properly describe Will Cristofaro, but if I had to choose one that could almost do the job, “awesome” would be the one. When you first meet the guy, he seems like a cool, normal 17-year-old dude from 25 minutes outside of Montreal. But trust me, after spending a day with Will you’ll be taken by surprise. The very first time I went out to shoot photos with him was in late July 2010. We traveled from one end of Toronto to a suburb on the opposite side, and as usual the car was packed full of homies blasting music during the long drive. This average day took a strange turn when all of a sudden the music stopped, and the next thing I knew everyone in the car was concentrating on Will’s iPod screen, which was dishing out a heavy dose of Gossip Girl. However, after
a few more skate sessions I realized that first day was just an average one with him. It might not always be the latest episodes of his favourite American teen drama, or his waving and singing to other cars on the road, but you’re bound to find yourself laughing your ass off at Will’s assortment of antics. Then, when you think he’s all fun and games, he’ll throw down insane tricks that will leave you slack-jawed. With his skills on the board, it’s no wonder that he’s got a solid sponsor line-up that includes Empire Skateshop in MTL, Spy Optic, and DC Canada. Just YouTube a few of his clips and you’ll see why. And if you ever get to experience his antics first hand, you too can see how “awesome” he truly is.
mathieu couture
wallride
Didn’t you just get your hands on a driver’s license? Yeah, but I’m not too sure if I should say much more than that. Shit happens, and we all learn from our mistakes. Should I be worried about being on the road if you are? My first two months of driving were horrible. I got a ’95 Honda that my dad bought me, then I got it insured and next thing you know the front is smashed. So two days after my dad fixed the car, I’m driving on this road that’s shaped like an S. I look to my right for a couple seconds, and all I hear is BA-DING! BA-DING! BA-DANG! Oh, no. Don’t tell me… I hit the curb and pretty much focused my whole front wheel. So I’ve just been using my mom’s car when she doesn’t need it. A lot of people are hyped that I got my driver’s license, obviously because I’m a really good driver [laughs]. 38
Concrete skateboarding
Good to know. What happened with your nagging foot injury? I hurt the arch of my foot at the end of February 2010 and it took a really long time for it to get better. I went to see about 10 doctors before finding the one who healed my foot. Before that, I had special insoles for like three months. Another doctor said I needed an Aircast, so I had one for a week until the best doctor told me to take it off. He took my foot, played with it for a couple seconds and told me to start running around. Then it was OK. How has the skating been since it got sorted out? I was back on my board in July 2010, but I couldn’t really skate gaps and stuff. I was also spending most of the summer in Toronto filming for Jordan Moss and Wade Power’s new video, Slub Bucks.
Your eight-minute part in 2009’s Mucho Mango got a lot of people talking about you this past year. How long did it take you to put together that much footage? It took nine-and-a-half months to film that part! Thank you to Alexandre Hallé and Simon Vadlamudy. The craziest thing about that part seemed to be how you skated all types of obstacles. Do you normally try and skate a bit of everything or are there certain kinds of “go-to” spots for you? When I go out I just try to hit whatever. I grew up with the mentality of skating everything, so I’m pretty hyped. I’ve just been skating a lot of rails more recently, so they’re kind of my go-to’s for the moment.
brian caissie
bigspin frontside boardslide
mathieu couture
So I was looking through the TV guide and I noticed your favourite show is in its fourth season now. Have you been keeping up-to-date on all the recent Gossip Girl episodes? To tell you the truth, I haven’t been keeping up with the latest episodes. I’m about to start the third season, so I’m hyped. People should definitely watch that show! I only started watching Gossip Girl fo’ real in February 2010 while in Barcelona. I bought the Season One and Two box sets in London. I had watched a couple episodes before with my ex-girlfriend, so she’s actually the one that got me addicted to it. I can’t complain, ‘cause it’s so good I can watch it anywhere. I’ve definitely witnessed it… I remember this summer when me, you, Joe Moss, Charles Deschamps and Jesse Tessier were going to skate this spot in Milton, Ontario. During the drive I basically plugged my iPod into your radio and we started watching Gossip Girl. The only thing you could hear in the car was: “You know you love me. XOXO, Gossip Girl” full blast, and Joe Moss saying, “I’ve already seen that one!” If it was a Saturday, and you had the choice to go out for a mediocre night with friends or have a Gossip Girl marathon at home, which would you choose? Gossip Girl is really awesome. I would try to get both done though, maybe watch some episodes then go chill with the homies after. You can never fall into the hole, its the worst! Which of the characters do you think is the hottest? When we were in Barcy, Brandon Del Bianco, Jordan Moss and I went to the bar, and there were these three girls that ended up coming back with us to the apartment. One of them looked just like Serena, I was so hyped. So definitely Serena van der Woodsen [played by Blake Lively] – she’s the best. It’s a no brainer!
crooked grind
Definitely sounds like a funny coincidence. Did this girl know how hyped you were that you found a real-life Serena? Oh, God. She knew. But she wasn’t really down with it at all, and definitely thought I was a total nut case. What about the shout-outs? Thanks to my parents, James Morley, and Concrete for making this interview happen. Eric Mercier and Phil Grise at Empire, Risto Scott at Billabong, Daryl Trinidad at Spy, and Trevn Sharp at DC Canada. Also thanks to: Nathan Benson, Rodney Johnson, David Millette, Mark Regimball, Dan Saindon, Moses Itkonen, Chad Albert, Kosta TsaFatinos, Chris Hatin, Jordan Moss, Jayson Délétroz, Wade Power, Alexandre Hallé, Simon Vadlamudy, Éric St-Laurent, Brian Caissie, Mathieu Couture, Andrew Norton, Dylan Doubt, Jonathan Dawe, Jeff Dénommé, Catherine Lamarre, Dr. Guimond, and everyone else I forgot!
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Concrete skateboarding
james morley
backside 360 kickflip
backside nosegrind Up
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Concrete skateboarding
T H E H Y P E SE AN LO WE Frank Daniello Rich Odam portraits Joel Dufresne words
photos
T
here were friendly “warnings” from a few sources once they heard I’d be conversing with Sean Lowe for the first time. “Oh, good luck” was a sarcastic reply mentioned more than once. Their comments caused me to paint a caricature-style mental illustration of having to subdue Sean Lowe, who was described as extremely hyperactive, in order to badger a remotely coherent interview out of him. But the assumptions formed based on loose informant testimonials couldn’t have been more wrong. Well, that’s not entirely true. “Early on, I was trippin’ on the regular and had so much energy,” the 20 year-old from Salmon Arm, BC mentioned of the condition he explains further in the following Q&A. “I got kicked out of school a bunch of times. All my teachers were like, ‘Damn, this kid is crazy, he’s never gonna do anything.’ Now that it’s under control, I’ll see my teachers and when they talk to my parents they say, ‘He’s so mature and nice.’ But I still get really stoked and off-the-wall sometimes [laughs].”
During previous years, Sean therapeutically focused his over-abundance of raw energy on skating, which eventually led him on a Vancouver excursion and a brief Plaza filming session-turned-Vimeo-sensation – a 36second sample that was solid proof of his unique tech skills and solid style. Those web clips essentially helped elevate him from being hardly sponsored, to fully flowhooked. “I don’t know, I’ve never wanted to be a big contest pusher in the public eye,” he says. “I like being presented in the older fashion of just footage, and people being like, ‘Yeah, I saw this guy skating, he was sick.’ That’s the way I’ve pretty much been holding it down. And if people are hyped on that, then that’s sick.”
nollie backtail bigspin flip
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Concrete skateboarding
You’ve got some unique ledge combos on the go. How do you go about figuring them out? I guess I try to look at skateboarding in an abstract way; adapt your skills in a different way. That’s what keeps it unique and interesting. That’s one thing I love most about skating. But yeah, the skatepark in Salmon Arm is where I learn everything. It’s just two 30-foot-long butter flat ledges. It’s an amazing training facility. The first bit of footage I saw of you was that five-trick web edit shot at the Vancouver Plaza a few years ago [vimeo.com/2106835]… I was like 16. I filmed that the same day I shot my Concrete “Young Bloods” [Issue 96, October 2008] with Joel Dufresne – a backtail bigflip downtown Vancouver at Scotiabank. I went down to the Plaza in the morning to warm up, and Joel was like, “Yo dude, film some shit with Jordan Mayfield before we go shoot.” That was
hardflip
the first time I’d ever met Jordan, and he didn’t release that video ‘till like a year later. After it came out I was known as the “nollie double-heel kid” for a while, so I stopped doing that trick [laughs]. Were you hooked up before that video came out? Not really. At that time I had a shop sponsor, and I was just starting to talk to Elliot Heintzman about getting on C1RCA Canada, but nothing was really established yet. Then those clips dropped, and everything kinda came together. People invited me on trips, and that’s what pretty much set it all off. I started getting hooked up after that. Who’s on the list presently? C1RCA, Plan B and Diamond through Centre, LRG through Timebomb, OGIO and PKG underwear through Rampion Enterprises, ELM hats direct, and Autobahn wheels through Ultimate.
nollie heel noseslide bigspin
PKG underwear. What’s up with that? Yeah, dude. I’ve got an underwear sponsor [mypakage.com]. It’s got “KeyHole Comfort Technology” in the front that holds your junk nice and tight [laughs]. No complaints here. I’m the only skater on the team right now, and the rest of the guys are NHL dudes, Motocross and shit. It’s pretty sick. While asking people a few people about you, the common consensus was that you have a sharp case of the proverbial ADD. People rag on me about it because I’m all over the place. I’m a bit of a space-case, too. I had to learn to focus so I could get through school. As we’re talking right now, I walked upstairs and down three times. So it’s actually legit? It’s not like when people just use “you have ADD” as a figure of speech? It’s kind of like ADD, but it’s called Hyperthyroidism. I probably got it under control by the time I was 16, but before then I was super fucked. My Thyroid was secreting way more than the normal amount of Thyroxine, and that controls how fast your heart beats and makes you hyper. Now I’m Thyroid-less, so if I don’t take the medicine, it’s the exact opposite – I’ll sleep all day and be super lethargic. But it’s all good. Rod Stewart had the same thing, so we’re tight [laughs].
Don’t you have a theory about people who are good at Call of Duty? Straight to recruitment for World War III. As if there’s gonna be an alien war, so the Halo heads don’t have to worry. But those Call of Duty people? Better watch out. Life sentence.
How did you manage before you got it under control? When my condition was bad, I had to leave school because I couldn’t sit still or stop doing shit. It was actually one of my biggest motivators for skating when I was younger. I had to be skating constantly, or I’d just go nuts.
What was it like the first time? Most people puke the first time they try it. I tried it in high school; we had this math teacher who was so old, she didn’t know what was going on. We’d be chewing half-tin horseshoes across our whole bottom lip in class, and spit into a juice box with the top cut open [laughs]. It was pretty gnarly.
You’re a huge Halo advocate, aren’t you? Oh yeah, dude. I pretty much just skate all day, then come home and play Halo: Reach all night. It’s the best. Call of Duty is so lame. It’s crouching and hiding and one head-shot kills. So boring. I’ve been playing Halo for five years, and I was supposed to enter Major League Gaming in Florida for Halo 2, but it kinda fell through [laughs].
You’ve got some superstitious quirks, which a lot of skaters have to some degree. Didn’t you have an elaborate object ritual leading up to this interview? I used the same bar of soap every day, and I had to hide it so no one else could use it. I had to use the same deodorant and the same cologne each day or else I wouldn’t be able to do the interview. Today, for instance, I did all that stuff and instantly in the morning I got a paycheque in the mail. So I knew this interview would work out good. I don’t know, I’m on a weird trip right now.
Do you chew tobacco on the regular? Oh, man. I’m trying to stop smoking, so I’ve been known to dabble in a little Copenhagen Straight [laughs]. That shit’s pretty gnarly. I’ll hit a tin once in a while, but I kinda like my face the way it looks. I don’t wanna lose a lip or anything over it.
Alrighty. Well, can you make like it’s the Oscars and thank some people? I’ve gotta thank Danny Marshall at Centre, Elliot Heintzman at C1RCA Canada – they’re the first two people to back me. Thanks to Judah Oakes at Timebomb, Dan Weigel and Tenaya Nash for hookin’ ELM up, Justin Williams, Brady Stoddard and everyone at Rampion. Dez Price at PKG for keeping everything in line [laughs], Craig Williams at Ultimate, Don’t Sleep Productions, Rich Odam, Chad Dickson, Josh Kline, and all the friends and family that pushed and helped me along the way, especially my parents! Boss.
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SK8 Skates in Minneapolis photos and captions
Owen Woytowich story
Colin Lambert Whenever I write articles Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m usually really excited to get down to it and whip up something good. Not this one, though. I put it off, and as the deadline crept up I found myself with insane writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s block. Obviously, I know the basic details. It was a Sk8 Skates shop team trip down to Minneapolis, Minnesota for two days. We usually drive there from Winnipeg a couple times-a-year, but this time we had a real purpose. Sk8 is releasing its fifth video, Times Change, so everyone wanted to do some filming down there. Unlike past Minneapolis trips, we brought along Owen Woytowich to shoot all the action. And much like any other trip, tricks went down and people had a good time. Interesting? Not really. No one wants to read about skateboarding. So the following photos will do the talking, alongside a few things I managed to drag onto these pages from my memory.
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JAMIE MOSPANCHUK KICKFLIP BOARDSLIDE
Chaos And Disorder When Owen agreed to come on the trip, I kind of failed to mention a few things. First and foremost, I forgot to mention the fact that 15 guys would be there. Trips with five dudes are hard enough to organize. To top it off, instead of renting a van we brought four vehicles. We probably spent more time on the trip waiting for the cars that got stuck at red lights than we did skating. Another thing I forgot to mention to Owen was the fact that we were going to try and cram all 15 guys into two hotel rooms. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a more chaotic, unorganized trip in my life. But somehow it all worked. Amongst the frustrations of losing vehicles, not being able to find spots, and having to find a small patch of carpet in the hotel room to sleep on, we actually managed to log a bunch of footage and score a few photos. The Flash-Blaster Words can’t explain how awkward the moment was when Russell Staats decided to chop Owen’s flash stand in half, basically focusing it to bits. Russell had been stressing while trying to kickflip off a bump and over a rail. He got so fed up with blowing it on one of the attempts, so he whipped his board at the rail. It was like something out of a movie: the board skimmed the top of the rail sending it directly into Owen’s flash. I think simultaneously Owen and Russell both grabbed their faces, hating life at that moment. To make matters worse, Russell had also never met Owen before this trip, so he hung his head in pure embarrassment. The session went silent for a little while, and I think some people went around the corner to belt out laughter at how messed the situation was. I never want to be around something that awkward again.
As soon as I first met up with Jamie in Winnipeg, I was stoked on him. He seemed chill and was throwing down a mean game of SKATE. However, one thing I noticed was the weed shirt he planned on wearing through the border crossing. My first thought was: “This kid is rad, but I’m not trying to cross the border in his car.” My plan of traveling with the older, quieter crew backfired when I watched Jamie’s car roll through problem-free – blaring gangster rap and screaming taunts at us – while we were detained for over two hours.
RUSSELL STAATS OLLIE Trip MVP should be awarded to Russell because he guinea-pigged almost all the spots and always had a smile on his face while doing it. Ironically enough, there’s a demon-possessed man who guards the cathedral where this planter is found. But everybody distracted him by lighting up a double-set over on the side while Russell and I handled our business. With Russell being such a gnarly dude, I’m sure he would’ve tried this even if the guard was sitting right on top of the planter.
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COLIN LAMBERT BACKSIDE TAILSLIDE Colin probably did a dozen tricks on this rail firsttry before I opened my camera bag. But when I finally set up for this back tail, he couldn’t land it for the life of him. He locked and slid almost every try, but the landing gear just wasn’t there. Finally, in frustration he yelled: “OK, nobody watch this one!” So all of us turned our heads away, including myself, and waited. As if it was out of a movie, we heard the snap, slide, impact, and roll-away. After peeping the footage we saw Colin landed it perfectly, and my blind photo worked out, too. Double bonus!
Beer Budget
Also contributing to the chaos a little bit was the beer. Sk8 actually provided us with a beer budget for this Times Change trip. How rad is that? But let’s think about this for a second: you’re sending your team on a two-day filming and photo mission, and you’re fronting the bill for the wobbly pops? Wouldn’t it be in your best interest to keep us as far away from beer as possible? Probably, but that’s what I love about Sk8. Having fun and making the best out of situations has always been number one. We could’ve come back empty-handed, but as long as we skated and had a good time, Sk8 wouldn’t have cared.
JESSE HILDERMAN BACKSIDE KICKFLIP This spot took a lot of work, and even more courage to skate. Lured by bribes of American smokes and cheap beer, Jesse took repeated slams here while trying to backside 180 off the roof and into the bank. Most people would’ve happily called it a day after getting it, but because everyone ventured off to skate a nearby spot, Jesse figured he would try another trick until they came back. Good thing he did because this easily ended up being one of the best things from the entire trip. He stomped it, sunglasses on and all.
Never-Ending Pool Party
All-night swimming pools don’t usually exist. I’ve been on a lot of trips and never have I been to a hotel with an all-nighter pool, until this one. Our beer budget mixed with an after-hours party spot probably cut a few tricks from our trip. We never wanted to go to bed. Every morning was rough because of that pool. We even got the front desk girl to go swimming with us and drink some beers. I think she even slept in our room, like we didn’t already have enough people?
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Times Change – the fifth feature video from Winnipeg’s Sk8 Skates – will be ready for visual consumption in December 2010. It features full parts from Cole Middleton, Colin and Cain Lambert, Jamie Mospanchuk, Russell Staats, Austin Thomas, Tyler Geurts, Matt Stelmack, Kyle Nickoshie and Adam Lecker, with Nic Adamson on the editing board.
sk8skatesinc.blogspot.com
brian caissie
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After receiving the list of skateboarders that would be attending the tour, I was a little thrown off by what seemed to be a random list of Bones Wheels guys pending arrival to the Greater Toronto Area. A few weeks passed, and I found myself casting a line into Drinker’s Bay from a boat with the likes of Jimmy Cao, Jeremy Wray and the ship’s captain, Adam Dyet. Back onshore, the homegrown skillet of trip talent included TJ Rogers, JS Lapierre and Chad Wilson, who took it upon themselves to show Sierra Fellers, Marty Murawski and Jimmy what was up with Canadian beer. Later on, Andrew Langi and Jake Duncombe joined us on the trip. Sure enough, as the first day commenced, my original “random roster” thoughts couldn’t have been further from the truth. In all honesty, it seemed like this group of dudes had never been apart a day in their lives. Behold the power of beer drinking, fishing, barbecuing, and most of all – skateboarding. It goes without saying that you need to drive a good two or three hours outside of Toronto to strike any decent cottage country. Basically we were in the bush, also known as Peterborough, Ontario. Contrary to how most Toronto tours go with teams that roll through, we decided it would be best to make use of our time by exploring concrete formations outside of the city. We struck proverbial gold almost immediately at a spot we quickly discovered had a small petting zoo beside it. With all thoughts of skating out the window, the team quickly crowded around the first victim: a droopyhumped camel. A barrage of point-and-shoot pictures went down while Dyet picked the camel’s nose and Jeremy gave the ol’ cud-chewer a peck on the lips. Deciding it would be beneficial for the trip, we made our way back into the heart of downtown Toronto – to the never ending sounds of streetcars and honking. As the 10-day trip quickly turned to seven, Duncombe and Langi had flown in to meet us. Jake’s love for Canada was apparent, seeing as he made trips back-and-forth from North America to Australia within 36 hours so he could sort out some kinks in his Work Visa just to make it on this trip. With only a couple more days remaining, there was only one thing on the team’s collective mind: Niagara Falls. During the hour-or-so drive down we learned that Niagara Peninsula’s appellations are a large producer of quality wines. This, of course, had Duncombe jumping out of his seat and commanding Bones TM Jared Lucas to pull the van over so we could help support the local wine economy. After spending a good 20 minutes in the retail outlet at one of the many local wineries, the team was ready to press onward. The Falls – a sight I had taken for granted after seeing it so many times as a kid – absolutely blew the minds of the visiting contingent as we pulled around the corner to face one of the World’s Wonders. One thing’s for sure – it was a damn good way to conclude the Bones Wheels GTA trip.
When I was younger, I would watch the Plan B videos religiously. Questionable was the video that got me into it again after a year of being a chubby little 12 year-old. I decided to put down the chocolate and pick up my skateboard. When Second Hand Smoke came out in ’94, Mr. Wray was my favourite skater. I was so hyped when I heard he was gonna be on this Bones trip with us. I had never met Jeremy before, and he was the older, mellower one on the trip – the consummate veteran. Though I played it cool, I was really hyped on the inside to be skating with him.
Now this guy is probably the sexiest dude on a skateboard. His Johnson is definitely the biggest in the industry, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why him getting up on that tall ledge is so dope. His favourite part of the trip was seeing Niagara Falls while drinking wine out of a water bottle, then getting lost in a casino. I wish I was as cool as this guy.
This was my first trip with Jake. We got along well... Well I guess we both like drinking! Naw, Jake is The Man. I think he was on his way to meet me at the bar when this double-set rail got in his way. So he just frontside flipped it and carried on to meet up for Happy Hour.
TJ was the ripper of the trip. The MVP, for sure. He was one of those kids that had a trick for every spot. I was asked if I had ever heard any of the music he listens to and I hadn’t, but I would never judge when it comes to that. I’m the dude who sings “Party In The U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus. I sometimes like songs that awesomely suck.
Adam is a caveman with a ton of energy. He’s entertaining to be around, and it puts a smile on my face. One night, he passed out early in Jared Lucas’ room, and we all ended up back there later to find the sleeping Dyet. Without a sec of thought, we started chanting: “DYET! DYET!” He woke up and went back to his room (which was Jimmy Cao and I’s room also), so we followed him and I jumped on his bed to try and offer him a drink of wine. But the bed was thirsty and drank it all.
At the first spot we went to skate, I noticed pretty quickly that I like JS’ style on his skateboard. It wasn’t too exaggerated. Style means a lot to me in skateboarding. A trick is a trick that can be seen and copied by any kid who wants to do it, but style is like a fingerprint. It’s what you are just given, and it will be noticed as unnatural or fake if you try to add or take away from it. JS has a good style, he’s nice, and really talented on top of that.
I had met Sierra before, but I think this trip helped us become better friends. We still text random stuff to each other from time-to-time. He’s a good dude, and his skating is obviously really good; I knew that before meeting him. I like getting to know other skaters, not by their skills on a board but how they are as people. The skating is just a bonus.
ggg#SX_S_\QdUc[QdUR_QbTc#S_] SX_S_\QdUcdYS[Ubc2ce`bQTYcdbYRedY_^#S_] ce`bQTYcdbYRedY_^#S_]
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Josh Clark
backside noseblunt photo Geoff Clifford 72
Concrete skateboarding
Jamie Jeffery nollie tailslide
photo Will Jivcoff 74
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Cory Wilson ollie
photo Brian Caissie
Magnus Hanson switch kickflip
photo Brian Caissie
Ulysse Pinel frontside flip
photo Reno Gagnon
Jordan Hoffart 360 flip
photo Rich Odam Concrete skateboarding
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Andrew McGraw kickflip to fakie
photo Geoff Clifford 78
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Russ Milligan frontside flip
photo Dan Zaslavsky
Mitch Phillips
backside overcrook photo Keith Henry
Kevin Lowry backside 5-0
photo Brian Caissie
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Jamie Maley
frontside boardslide photo Keith Henry 82
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Distributed by:
YOUNG BLOODS
Andrew Wenckstern
Age: 17 Lives: St. Catherines, ON Sponsors: Powell, Pig Wheels, Theeve Trucks, Emerica (flow), SUD Skates
Andrew has got to be one of the most unique skaters out there. He’ll skate any type of obstacle, whether he’s jumping down stairs or ripping some of the gnarliest tranny spots you can think of. But on top of his undeniable skills on the board, he’s a humble guy who’s always a welcome addition to the session. Keep your eyes open, this dude is going to be taking the skating world by storm in no time. —James Morley 86
Concrete skateboarding
james morley photos
Switch bigspin heel
hubbawheels.com
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YOUNG BLOODS
Jorden Murray
Age: 23 Lives: Vancouver, BC Sponsors: Underworld, Vans, Elwood Clothing, Push Wheels
I’ve known Jorden since he was Jordie Murray, and he’s been really good the whole time. Although he’s not neccesarily the most tech by today’s standards, Jorden is really well-rounded, consistant as shit, and he’s definitely someone who’s enjoyable to watch skate. It’s difficult to sum him up in a few sentences, but let’s just say Jorden is always a lot of fun to be around and a hard person to hate. It’s nice to see he’s finally getting some love from the industry. Watch out for that big goofy smile of his, it’s contagious! —Joel Dufresne 88
Concrete skateboarding
joel dufresne photos
Nollie Heel
YOUNG BLOODS
Phil Pinard
Age: 21 Lives: Longueuil, QC Sponsors: Adrenaline skateshop
I’ve know Phil for a couple years now and he’s always my favourite dude to have on any mission. He’s 100 percent down for anything and never complains about a spot. Phil will show up with the least amount of cash and always manages to survive. Maybe it’s because he knows that he can play Toonie games of S.K.A.T.E. and beat anyone! —Kasey Andrews 90
Concrete skateboarding
kasey andrews photos
360 flip
YOUNG BLOODS
Alexander Mitchell
Age: 17 Lives: New Glasgow, NS Sponsors: Habitat (flow), Weird Life Wheel Co., Pro Skates
What can I say about “Zander” without coming off as that cliché asshole? Or is saying that cliché now? Either way, the kid shreds, and shreds until he either passes out or starts whining and getting cranky because he doesn’t have food. He shot more photos with me in a month than I shot of everybody else combined (sorry guys, it’s true). Alex can do whatever he wants, but he’ll probably backsmith your life and then varial heel down it. Watch out. —Curtis Rothney 92
Concrete skateboarding
curtis rothney photos
nollie flip
November 19, 2009 - Oceanside, Calif ornia timebombtrading.com facebook.com/ti mebombtrading
Jose Rojo
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Momentum in Peru
...and many other mishaps.
Est. 1990: Canada’s original skateboard magazine
EDITOR / ART DIRECTOR Kelly Litzenberger kelly@concreteskateboarding.com
PUBLISHER Kevin Harris
PHOTO EDITOR / staff photographer Brian Caissie brian@concreteskateboarding.com
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Managing EDITOR Frank daniello
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frank@concreteskateboarding.com
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Contributing Photographers mike stanfield, will jivcoff, matt daughters dan mathieu, ross wood, louis shemko hunter wood, curtis rothney, james morley mathieu couture, rich odam, joel dufresne owen woytowich, geoff clifford, reno gagnon dan zaslavsky, keith henry, kasey andrews curtis rothney, bart jones, carrie musgrave
Web Associate Kris Burns Intern Nick Schulek associate designer Randy Laybourne
contributing Writers Matt Daughters, Randy laybourne, yann fily-paré Frank Daniello, james morley, colin lambert owen woytowich, will jivcoff, marty murawski joel dufresne, kasey andrews, curtis rothney caleb davies, ben stoddard, david ehrenreich dan watson, jenny charlesworth, Gabe clement
Concrete skateboarding is Distributed 6 times annually by Ultimate Skateboard Distributors inc. // east: 705.749.2998 // west: 604.279.8408 Subscriptions: 1 Year for $19.95 (includes shipping / taxes) – 6 issues including The Photo Annual subscribe online at concreteskateboarding.com or send cheque / money order to: Concrete Skateboarding Subscriptions | 150 - 11780 River Rd. | Richmond, BC | V6X 1Z7 concrete accepts unsolicited submissions, but is not responsible if such materials are lost or damaged. submissions sent via letter-mail must include a self-addressed stamped envelope for return sending. for further submission inquiries, contact submissions@concreteskateboarding.com. for retailer inquiries in regards to carrying concrete, please contact info@concreteskateboarding.com.
NEXT ISSUE: issue 111 // February 18th, 2011
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Theatre
litzenberger
Video reviews Not only is Vernon-to-Vancouver transplant CALEB DAVIES a Toy Machine flow rider through Ultimate Distribution, he’s also a die-hard fan of the Transistor Sect. He nearly shat when the opportunity arose for him to review Canada’s sole early-bird copy of Brain Wash under strict authorized supervision in a controlled viewing area. And since Caleb’s fiveword summary of himself is “Always Down To Get Down”, we called upon him as Concrete #110’s prestigious guest video analyst.
BRAIN WASH TOY MACHINE The intro to Brain Wash is a trippy display of the good-versus-evil aspect of skateboarding, and that’s all I can say since I don’t want to give it away. When Daniel Lutheran came on, I was glued to the screen watching his bangers. Johnny Layton had a brief but solid part that I’ll be looking at a few hundred times, and Billy Marks has mind melting maneuvers that’ll comatose you for a few minutes while you wonder, “What just happened?” Then there’s Jordan Taylor. Who? Well, he’s steezy with a good bag of tricks. I would’ve really liked to see more from Austin Stephens besides a few artsy shots of pole jams and smiths, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. The Butcher kept it short and sweet (watch his foot placement if you want to learn 360s), and The Tempster himself has a couple clips. Then there’s Nick fucking Trapasso; if there’s one guy whose I-just-woke-up style of skating I could emulate, he’d be the one. Collin Provost makes his first part-appearance as a Toy pawn, and he finds a way to skate basic spots with creativity and speed. The words “loosey goosey” come to mind while watching Matt Bennett’s rare-trick-selection part. And Leo Romero? God damn, that’s two great parts in one year! Watch him close you loyal Toy minions, because that’s how you take care of business. The overall feel I got from Brain Wash is it debuts the new carcass-huckers in the family, and it’s straight-up raw skating. All you loyal pawns should do what you gotta do to get it. —Caleb Davies
KROOK3D KROOKED SKATEBOARDING If you’re looking for the highest quality stereoscopic 3D experience, this isn’t the movie for you. If you want some shitty old-school blue and red camera rig following the Krooked team around the world, then look no further. This video is start-to-finish fun. From the moment you crack open the DVD (and find the two pairs of ridiculous Gonz-art 3D glasses) until you finish watching the final third-dimension banger, you can’t help but smile and enjoy this whole journey. The best thing is, there’s some really good skating in this movie as well. The whole Krooked Pro team rules in it (Gonz, Mike Anderson, Dan Drehobl and Bobby Worrest, whose Five Spot is on p.??), and so do the cameos from Jason Dill, Rick Howard, Eric Koston, Lance Mountain and others. The big surprise was how good their AM team is – Brad Cromer, David Clark and Luke Croker fit in well, and it’ll be nice to see full parts from them in the future. This 3D ride was great – and so is the 2D bonus version of alternate VX angles – but is this the future of skateboard videos? Lets hope not. Buy this DVD for the novelty, the artwork, the skating, and because it’s Mark Gonzales, man! Everything he touches turns to gold. —Ben Stoddard
ORIGIN HABITAT The concept of this video annoyed me. Habitat released Origin under some guise that it’s a 10-year retrospective, but it’s a full-length that half the team wasn’t given enough time to film for. Alien – Habitat’s highly respected older brother – has never slapped together some quick release to make a buck. But history lessons aside, the skateboarding in Origin is obviously really good and fun to watch. Danny Garcia’s style is on par with Gino’s and Rick Howard’s. Austyn Gillette is absolutely amazing from the very first line, and he might be the best in the video. Stefan Janoski utilizes his ownership of the switch flip and Fred Gall provides a nice intervallo, shredding to some rock ‘n’ roll. Habitat’s newest addition, Mark Suciu, is half shocker and half little-kid-style, but pulls off an impressive debut part with a great approach to some dangerous rails. Marius Syvanen slams like a champ, skates like a man, and the Finnish ATV is a sure bet to go Pro any day now. Daryl Angel looks good taking the AVE approach to long handrails and Guru Khalsa’s first Pro section is amazing, if you ignore the terrible music. Our boy Mike McDermott is in the middle of it all, looking really good on a skateboard and making Canada proud. A well-deserved curtains goes to the 2008 SOTY award-winner from Oregon, Silas Baxter-Neal. He once again mixes speed, tech and gnar to end the movie with a bang. I was really hoping for a Danny Renaud part, which is a big pipe dream. Maybe one day. —David Ehrenreich
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VI NC EN T ALVA RE Z. ST
AL EF IS H. M AN CH ES
TE R OU T NO W . SE E AL
L CO LO RS AT LA KA I.
CO M
S H OE V A U L TS
Adidas Superstar
words
Dan Watson
Many of the shoes we’ve featured up to this point have been influenced by classic basketball sneakers. However, our latest Shoe Vaults installment will be the first to cover an actual basketball shoe that was not designed for skateboarding at all. The ADIDAS SUPERSTAR was created in 1969 as a low-top version of their popular basketball shoe called the “Pro Model”. When it was made, the Superstar was the first low-top basketball shoe to feature an all-leather upper, alongside its most signature design element – the rubber toe-cap, more commonly referred to as the “shell-toe”. The shoe was an instant hit, and could be seen on the feet of many NBA players. With a shoe getting that much exposure, inevitably it would make the crossover from the courts to the streets, and so the Superstar quickly became as popular for chilling as they were for balling. Fast-forward about 20 years to the early ’90s, and for several reasons you can add skating to the list of preferred uses for the Superstar. Dust off pretty much any classic VHS skate video in your collection from that decade, and you’re sure to see a plethora of ledge lines filmed in the shell-toe. The popularity of street skating also grew right alongside the popularity of the urban and hip-hop culture within skateboarding. With Run-DMC 98
Concrete skateboarding
popularizing the shoe in the rap world, the Superstar fit in perfectly with the aesthetic that many skaters were into at the time. Whether it was the white Superstars with black stripes, the all-black with white stripes, or even the white ones with the black sole and toe, some of skateboarding’s all-time purveyors of freshness rocked the shell-toe – guys like Kareem Campbell, Drake Jones and Richard Angelides (who still wears them). During a time when skating in old-school sneakers was the thing to do, durability was another factor that that pushed the Superstar’s popularity amongst skaters. The shoe’s upper was made out of leather rather than suede, which gave it a little extra wear-time. And with the increasing technicality of skating at the time, the rubber toe-cap definitely helped prevent flick blow-outs after spending hours trying to nollie flip noseslide on a 4-inch-high red curb. Lastly, one more appealing factor of the Superstar was simply cost. Despite being a very popular shoe, it was still quite common to find them on the shelves of discount department stores, making them economically feasible for the average skater surviving on Top Ramen noodles from the 99-cent store. As a testament to how classic the Superstar is, and how good it is for skating, you don’t need to look any further than the fact that
people are still skating the shoe regularly, many years after they gained popularity. Most of the classic shoes profiled in the Shoe Vaults were the right shoe for the right time, but they didn’t necessarily have practical longevity beyond the purpose of nostalgia. The Superstar, however, is still being produced and skated to this day. In fact, with the somewhat recent revamping of their skate program, Adidas has been producing skate-specific Superstars with skate-friendly rubber compounds and added padding. They’ve even gone so far as to make a special slimmed-down version for long-time Superstar proponent Pete Eldridge. With the amount of nostalgia floating around, it’s good to know there’s a shoe out there that has not only remained popular since the late ’60s, but it’s evolved into a skate version that you can purchase from your local shop instead of picking up a pair at the nationwide sneaker chain. So, to all you old-school aficionados out there looking for the perfect shoe to hit up the red curb at your local Safeway, take comfort in knowing that you can do it in the exact same pair of shoes you did it in many years ago. adidas.com/skateboarding
JERON WILSON
for more on the matix skate team go to:
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SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM MATIXSTICKERS@SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM
Sound Check
GWAR
words
Jenny Charlesworth
photo
carrie musgrave
Go to a veteran band’s show these days and you’ll often get the standard issue: a few classic hits followed by a slightly contrived encore and enough pulsating lights to feel like the group actually gives a damn. Chances are, though, they don’t – at least not the way Gwar does. For more than 25 years the intergalactic shock-rockers have endeavoured to go where no band has gone before, by thrilling fans with twisted costumes, slime-slinging and balls-to-the-wall showmanship. And while the just-released Bloody Pit of Horror may be the 12th album to come out of the Gwar camp, frontman Oderus Urungus [oderus.com] insists that the act is just getting warmed up. “We’re as surprised as anyone to still be putting out records, but I think the bigger surprises are out there waiting,” he tells Concrete. “We really are a band that can last for hundreds and hundreds of years; there really is no reason why we shouldn’t get our children or other mutant offspring to replace us.” But Oderus doesn’t need to start trolling for a successor just yet; he’s still in full control of his cuttlefish and doesn’t need any help raising pulse rates during the group’s crazy live show. “The Gwar show has really replaced Christmas for a lot of people,” Oderus boasts shamelessly. “It really is the thing people look forward to out of the entire year. A lot of people who’ve resisted Gwar for years are finally falling prey to us – seeing their defenses finally crumble is pretty interesting, especially when dad is turning his kids onto Gwar, but also grandma somehow got interested as well. So you end up with three generations of Gwar fans.” The flamboyant rocker admits that “at first glance, Gwar just looks like a big stupid train wreck of a band, with a bunch of doofuses wearing 100
Concrete skateboarding
stupid costumes and doing a bunch of cartoony violence,” but over the years the outfit has proved itself beyond the splatter-zone. On the new disc in particular, Oderus and his stooges leave little doubt that they’re packing more than just B-movie theatrics. “We messed around with down-tuning a little bit on the record Ragnarök [1995], and we really liked the sound but never really did it live because you had to switch guitars; that’s really hard when you’re in a big rubber monster suit,” Oderus says. “Now they have ways to do it through a digital-like trans-do-wah – I don’t even know what it’s called – so it’s not as hard to do it live. So we were like, ‘Fuck it, we’ll go ahead and write a lot of the new album tuned-down,’ and it’s given Gwar a really growly, really heavy sound that sounds really fucking cool.” Bloody Pit of Horror may have strayed from the rock opera format found on 2006’s Beyond Hell and 2009’s Lust in Space, but it still has enough of an epic running through it so as not to disappoint fans who’ve outgrown their comic books, yet still yearn for a saga about depraved monsters terrorizing the planet. “We still wanted to have those narrative elements, so we took the first four songs on the album and kind of made them one big supersong,” says Oderus. “The story is Gwar, as usual, trying to destroy the human race, but now we’re trying to zombify them and use these humans to invade outer space. Gwar has a spaceship now – we got it on the last album – so now we want to get back out there and do some damage.” And you know they will. Whether it’s decimating eardrums with bonecrushing riffs or staining t-shirts with splooge-like goo, Gwar can be counted on to leave destruction in their wake.
gwar.net
will jivcoff
the five spot
About five years ago I was turned on to Mesa, Arizona’s Marty Murawski through the one and only Matt Schnurr – a Phoenix legend and former Pro skater for Planet Earth. Over the years, I’ve witnessed Marty’s incredible style, technical trick selection, and his perseverance while making magic happen on the stuntstick. Even after hours of trying a trick, sweating through all his clothes and shoes, he’s able to keep cool and collected when others would just focus their boards and give up. Whether it’s skating or singing karaoke, Marty is someone I would travel with anywhere in the world just to see him destroy your spots and make you laugh your ass off. —Gabe Clement
1. Randy Wilson 2. Kevin Coakley 3. Danny Brady 4. Donny Barley 5. Vincent Alvarez
1.The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 2. Hot Rod (2007) 3. Super Troopers (2001) 4. Step Brothers (2008) 5. The Matrix (1999)
1. Marchooch 2. Party Marty 3. T-Rex 4. Sloth 5. Double Sloth (if I’m with Coakley)
1. Ryan Lay 2. Robbie Brockel 3. John Motta 4. Steve Chavosky 5. Dave Smith
1. Rum and Coke 2. Black Velvet (half Guinness and half Ace Cider) 3. Oatmeal Stout 4. Coors 5. Pabst Blue Ribbon
1. Parallel (Barcy) 2. MACBA (Barcy) 3. Eggs (Boston) 4. Fondo (Barcy) 5. Love Park after the bar
1. youtube.com/boogsinabag 2. hulu.com 3. adultswim.com 4. southparkstudios.com 5. theonion.com
1. Mike McDermott 2. Colin McKay (only met him once but he was rad) 3. Dave Smith (my good friend in AZ who says he was born in Canada) 4. Wade Desarmo 5. Steve Nash
1. Pat Duffy in Questionable (1992) 2. Duffy in Virtual Reality (1993) 3. PJ Ladd in his Wonderful, Horrible Life (2002) 4. Donny Barley in Underachievers (1996) 5. Tom Penny in High 5 (1995)
1. Laziness 2. Drinking, even though it’s a fun habit! 3. Always being late 4. Forgetting names 5. Being a total badass!
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INRÂ&#x201A; QNIN EQNMS MNRD
distributed by Ultimate photo: Jeff Landi
The Tin Toy Series - artwork by Andrew Pommier www.momentumskate.com
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