Concrete Skateboarding Issue 100 by Concrete Skateboarding Magazine

JUNE 2009 INTERVIEW ISSUE CANADA & USA $5.95

ISSUE 100 0

74470 93747 JUNE 2009

issue 100 . display until dec 2009

100

ISSUE

LAKAI LIMITED FOOTWEAR AND PAUL LILIANI : INSPIRED BY SKATEBOARDING fs tailslide bigspin heelflip / sequence by tomas morrison

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I s s u e 1 0 0 C o n t e n t s 10 Editorial - kevin Harris 12 Editorial - ba.ku / D.M.O.D.W. 20 Covers 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Scene Builders Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce Rick McCrank Colin McKay Paul Machnau Alex Chalmers Gailea Momolu PLG Chris Haslam

50 Industry 62 The Next Step 78 Focus Point 90 Canadian Skateboard Annual & SkatePark Guide 94 Photo Annual 100 What About The Powder? 106 Slam City jam 113 116 119 121 124 126 130

Concrete Powder classics Knok Knoks / Destroyers Art of Snaking Slam City Scam Too Young To Drink Combat Photography Retrospective gallery

150 Five Spot // Ryan Smith 152 Identity // Rick Howard

Concrete skateboarding

contents:

Cory Wilson, ollie. photo

cover:

brian caissie

Deer Man Of Dark Woods, pivot fakie.

[Read “The Practice of Numerology and Symbols – The 100” on p.10] photo

brian caissie

Concrete skateboarding

SEE THE ENTIRE RYAN GALLANT INTERVIEW AT C1RCA.COM/DIALOG KICK FLIP. SAN DIEGO, CA - circa 2009. PHOTO: BROACH

newsprint that stained your fingers, to perfect bound gloss – Concrete helped to build, unify, and showcase a national skate scene and industry that has shown impressive growth since the early ‘90s. This issue is dedicated to everyone who has ever read, appeared in, advertised in, or helped create Concrete’s pages since 1990. As always, keep rollin’. We will too.

kevin harris powell-peralta pro model // 1986

Concrete Skateboarding’s 100th Issue takes a glimpse into the publication’s rich history and also serves as a guest-book of sorts, relaying testimonials and opinions from many who’ve appeared on the thousands of pages that span nearly two decades. Concrete has been the starting point for numerous notable Canadian skaters, snowboarders and media types over the years, and it’s informed and inspired readers across this vast country. From stapled, primitive

kevin & audrey harris

– wedding photo // 1982

kevin harris powell-peralta pro model // 1990

Decades Deep

Kevin Harris, founding publisher: “In ‘85, skateboarding was going off, and my Pro career with PowellPeralta was just going nuts. At that time, I was just starting to save up a bank account. I’d been married for a couple years, and I maybe had a thousand bucks or something. I remember going to Stacy Peralta and saying, ‘I want to get involved in the business, I’ve got an extra thousand bucks!’ For Powell-Peralta, that would’ve been a penny [laughs]. Stacy and I had a good relationship, and still do. Within two or three weeks of me showing interest, he asked if I’d be interested in doing Canadian distribution for the brand. At that point, they were putting me on the road as a manager on Bones Brigade tours and stuff. When he offered it [Canadian distribution] to me, I had no idea what it would take and I remember thinking it would just be something on the side. Within the first day of starting it, in October ‘85, we were shipping to over a hundred accounts right across the country – just my wife and I, and my Dad out of his little office space. Powell was the biggest thing on the planet in the ‘80s, and I was learning the business from scratch.” “As a kid, I was always trying to get a park in the city of Richmond, BC. At that time, there was really only Seylynn and Griffin in North Van, and China Creek in East Vancouver. The city kept turning me down when I was a kid – I was like 14 or 15 doing presentations with the help of my parents and friends. Once I had the cash flow from Ultimate, the first goal was to create the Richmond Skate Ranch, which started up in ‘86. The second goal was to create a magazine, which was huge to me. When I was 16 or 17 years old, I made it in Skateboarder magazine for the first time, and I remember the feeling it gave me – it was such a major goal. I remember when Dogtown was huge in the ‘70s, with Jay Adams and all those guys. They were all super good skateboarders 10

Concrete skateboarding

that were part of an important history, but they got so much coverage in Skateboarder because they were based out of Southern California – where the magazine was. That’s what hit me strong in those times. Up here, I’d go to Seylynn or the Skateboard Palace in ‘78 and realize that we have the talent. I was going to California at the time, and there were guys up here that were just as good, but they were nobodies because we didn’t have the magazine to showcase that. In the back of my mind, I always thought Canada deserved to have its own magazine. It was a matter of becoming financially strong enough to start something like that, and getting the right people involved.” “Maybe I was the one that helped get it going, but when I look at the past 20 years of Concrete, it’s the staff and contributors who also care about it and have the drive, force, and energy to put it all together. I’m just stoked because it keeps getting better and better – it’s amazing to watch that growth. 1990 was probably the worst time to start a magazine in skateboarding history because of the huge downturn in the skate industry and its popularity. So we made a shift from Concrete’s original appearance on the newsstand in 7-11 for $3.25, to making it free in skateshops. That way, the kids pick it up at the shop and hopefully that helps the retailer make a few sales. That was how the concept changed at the beginning, because why should 7-11 benefit off of skateboarding? That, and I wanted to focus on the Canadian talent. I’ve always thought, and it’s proven now, that Canadian skateboarders are some of the best in the world.”

SORRY KIDS!!! G N O L N I V KE

SPANKY, CAN YOU COME PICK ME

UP?....

” P L E H “WE NEED .com

Caissie

PUBLISHER Kevin Harris EDITOR / ART DIRECTOR Kelly Litzenberger kelly@concreteskateboarding.com associate EDITOR Frank Daniello frank@concreteskateboarding.com staff photographer / PHOTO EDITOR Brian Caissie brian@concreteskateboarding.com Marketing Director Richard Neuman richard@concreteskateboarding.com

The Practice of Numerology and Symbols –

The 100

“As for favourite Concrete covers, if the Deer Man Of Dark Woods ever gets one, it’ll be that one.”

—Chris Haslam

“I was summoned to make an appearance in the forest for the 100th Issue cover of the magazine, Concrete. After the approval of the Barrier Kult mythos and the group desecration, it was established that the capturing of light in the form of a photograph to adorn the cover of the west coast forestknife (skateboard) and wheels (violent circles) magazine was one of further plague spreading and propaganda violence. Especially, that of the number 100. That, for the masses, stands for worship and appreciation, thus transformed into something dark – self-emphasizing the forest background and not the feeble human animal. I walked through the dank west coast forest for numerous spirited hours keeping the universe in sync with the black dirt, dark trees, and the darkness of the branches and leaves. The truths. I finally came upon the site that the Concrete crew had been working on very late at night. The crew I did not know, and was not interested in knowing, except for Hammerer Of Roots who developed the transition violence for me to knife-stab into. The old growth stump was approved beforehand, reminding me of older days – the violent and early development of the DMODW stature with the knife work on a natural barrier found in the woods. After a series of executions, I connected the symbology and the black arts pentagram with my rear axle. Light was captured, and the photograph was chosen. My work for the Barrier Kult on this night was complete. I hastily returned to the woods again as they beckoned me to re-enter and stay amongst the truths and power of the west coast forest landscape.”

The Concrete Skateboarding Issue 100 cover concept was conceived by Danny Vermette, Kelly Litzenberger, Frank Daniello, and Brian Caissie. The shoot was made possible by Deer Man Of Dark Woods, Hammerer Of Roots, Vermette (and his rare albino sasquatch), Daniello, Litzenberger, Caissie, Blair Stevens, Graham Berglund, David Ehrenreich and Don’t Sleep Productions.

daniello

—dEeR MAN OF DARK wOOdS

Marketing Associate Kristin Lamont kristin@concreteskateboarding.com Administrator Dave Buhr Contributing Photographers Brian Caissie, Frank Daniello Dan Zaslavsky, Jody Morris Wes Tonascia, Dan Bourqui Rhino, Judah Oakes Richard Odam, Scott Pommier Johnny Martinez, Rob Gilbert Ben Colen contributing Writers Frank Daniello, Kelly Litzenberger Jesse Oye, Brian Caissie Deer Man Of Dark Woods Rhianon Bader, Troy Blackmore Matt Houghton, Dano Pendygrasse Scott Serfas, Jay Balmer

Distribution Ultimate Skateboard Dist. east 705.749.2998 west 604.279.8408

Subscriptions 1 Year subscription ($19.95) 7 issues subscribe online

concreteskateboarding.com send cheque or money order to: Concrete Skateboarding Subscriptions 150 - 11780 River Rd. Richmond BC V6X 1Z7 hammerer of roots

Concrete skateboarding

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PHOTO: SMITH

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Concrete has documented the progress of Canadian skateboarders and snowboarders since it first hit the shelves nearly 20 years ago. During that time, the magazine has undergone numerous format changes. With ripe beginnings as a glossy newsstand publication in 1990-‘91, to its subsequent volume 2 “relaunch” as a free large-format newsprint magazine in 1992, the changes both then and now are quite visible. By 1994 (#10), Concrete Powder returned to a standard size, albeit continuing production with a staple-bound newsprint finish that was sure to stain your fingers while flipping its pages. During the fall of ‘97 (#26), Concrete Powder returned to being a glossy-printed magazine, like that of the first volume in the early ‘90s. Yet surprisingly, it wasn’t until 12 years into production – in #62, December 2002 – that a standard issue of Concrete had ever broken the hundred-page-barrier. Soon after – in #65, June 2003 – the final documentation of snowboarding occurred within the pages of Concrete. However, Powder remained as part of the publication’s title for another 20 issues. The staples that held the magazine together since 1992 were finally dropped in December 2006 (#85), and Concrete became a perfectbound publication under the new moniker, Concrete Skateboarding. With special newsstand editions such as the Canadian Skateboard Annual [see page 90], The Canadian Skatepark Guide [see page 92], and The Photo Annual [see page 94], there have actually been more than 100 issues. In all, 119 issues of Concrete have been produced since 1990.

first media kit // 1990

Randy Friesen indy nosebone (snow) photo rob nurmi

Sean Johnson

Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce

Vol 1, Issue 1 // 1990

360 varial to fakie (skate)

invert (snow)

Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce invert (skate)

photo james thiessen

photo rob nurmi

Vol 1, Issue 2 // 1990

Vol 1, Issue 3 // 1991

Vol 1, Issue 4 // 1991

Vol 1, Issue 5 // 1991

Vol 1, Issue 6 // 1991

melon grab

one foot

invert

fingerflip

frontside grab

John Stewart photo james thiessen

Concrete skateboarding

D. Brown

photo rob nurmi

Randy Jesperson photo unknown

Chad Vogt

photo chris brunkhart

Marc Morisset photo dano pendygrasse

Vol 2, Issue 2 // 1992

Vol 2, Issue 3 //1992

noseslide

Method air

Jon West

Kevin Sansalone

Vol 2, Issue 4 // 1992

Create your own cover

photo brendan sohar

photo eric berger

Vol 2, Issue 6 // 1993

Jeff Keetley

Vol 2, Issue 7 // 1993 Brad McGregor

Vol 2, Issue 9 // 1994

photo brendan sohar

photo scott serfas

photo dano pendygrasse

Vol 2, Issue 1 // 1992

Thomas Morgan one foot

photo robzine inset

Sean Johnson

frontside grab

Ollie

photo dano pendygrasse

tailgrab

Brian Savard

backside 540 melon

Vol 2, Issue 10 // 1994

Vol 2, Issue 11 // 1994

Vol 2, Issue 12 // 1994

Vol 2, Issue 13 // 1994

Vol 2, Issue 14 // 1995

Frontside Bluntslide

Ollie

kickflip

stiffy air

mute air

Sam Devlin

Rob Poyner

Spike jones

Omar Lundie

Kevin Young

photo jody morris

photo derek kettela

photo scott serfas

photo dano pendygrasse

Vol 2, Issue 15 // 1995

Jeff Logan

Vol 2, Issue 16 // 1995 Rick McCrank

Vol 2, Issue 17 // 1995

Vol 2, Issue 18 // 1995

Vol 2, Issue 19 // 1995

frontside flip

powder carve

method air

photo scott serfas

photo nick burke

noseslide

switch Ollie

Syd Clark

Rob dow

photo scott serfas

Tosh Osaka

photo dano pendygrasse

Concrete skateboarding

Vol 2, Issue 22 // 1996

Barry walsh

tailgrab

photo daniel mathieu

Alex Chalmers

kickflip indy

photo brendan sohar

Max Dufour

indy air

photo unknown

Craig Williams

bs lipslide

photo nick burke

Justin Currie

pole jam

photo brendan sohar

Corey sheppard

kickflip

photo derek kettela

Matt Ramage 50-50 photo mike pokora

Vol 2, Issue 20 // 1996

Liegh Leachaez backside tailslide

Leif Brooke

stale fish

Vol 2, Issue 21 // 1996

photo jesse birch

Vol 2, Issue 23 // 1996

Switch heelflip

Dave Pilon

indy air

bob kronbauer

photo derek kettela

photo jesse birch

Vol 2, Issue 24 // 1996

Vol 2, Issue 25 // 1996

indy air

fs smith grind photo daniel mathieu

Graham clements photo nick burke

Mike Scott

Vol 2, Issue 26 // 1997 Dionne Delasalle

Vol 2, Issue 27 // 1997

Vol 2, Issue 28 // 1997

Frontside Nosegrind

frontside lien

photo scott serfas

photo kurtis croy

photo scott serfas

photo jody morris

photo dan mathieu

Vol 2, Issue 29 // 1997

Vol 2, Issue 30 // 1997

Vol 2, Issue 31 // 1997

Vol 2, Issue 32 // 1997

Vol 2, Issue 33 // 1998

Wallie

backside 180

Method

backflip indy

rodeo indy

Marc Castonguay

Jason Corbett

marc mikhail

tailgrab

Devun Walsh

Moses itkonen

Sean Johnson

Max Dufour

rob â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sluggoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; boyce

photo derek kettela

photo dan mathieu

photo derek kettela

photo jody morris

photo bredan sohar

Vol 2, Issue 34 // 1998

spike jones

Vol 2, Issue 35 // 1998 Rick McCrank

Vol 2, Issue 36 // 1998

Vol 2, Issue 37 // 1998

Vol 2, Issue 38 // 1998

frontside nosegrind

alley oop melon

frontside grab

photo dylan doubt

photo jody morris

photo brendan sohar

frontside ollie

Concrete skateboarding

Frontside nosegrind

jon West

Ben Davies

photo derek kettela

Derek Heidt photo scott serfas

Vol 2, Issue 39 // 1999

Vol 2, Issue 40 // 1999

Vol 2, Issue 41 // 1999

Vol 2, Issue 42 // 1999

Vol 2, Issue 43 // 1999

mctwist

backside ollie

ollie

backside noseblunt slide

method air

jorli Ricter

barry walsh

Paul machnau

Mark Appleyard

Mike Scott

photo scott serfas

photo jody morris

photo harry gils

photo scott serfas

Vol 2, Issue 44 // 1999

Vol 2, Issue 45 // 2000

Vol 2, Issue 46 // 2000

Vol 2, Issue 47 // 2000

Vol 2, Issue 48 // 2000

indy to fakie

backside indy

backside 180 heelflip

backside blunt slide

lipslide

Trevor Andrew

kevin sansalone

Les Ramsey

Alex Chalmers

Gary Robinson

photo scott serfas

photo derek kettela

photo jody morris

photo bredan sohar

Vol 2, Issue 49 // 2000

Vol 2, Issue 50 // 2000

Vol 2, Issue 51 // 2001

Vol 2, Issue 52 // 2001

Vol 2, Issue 53 // 2001

backside indy

frontside air

backside rodeo

bluntslide

kickflip noseslide

tyeson carmondy

Shandy Campos

Etienne Gilbert

Glenn Sluggitt

Russ milligan

photo jeff corbett

photo derek kettela

photo jamie drummond

photo jody morris

photo kyle shura

Vol 2, Issue 54 // 2001

Vol 2, Issue 55 // 2001

Vol 2, Issue 56 // 2001

Vol 2, Issue 57 // 2002

Vol 2, Issue 58 // 2002

ollie

tailgrab

lien air

tailgrab

50-50

Chris haslam photo matt cadieux

Dave Cashen photo geoff andruik

mike Rencz

photo scott serfas

JF Pelchat

photo dano pendygrasse

Alex Gavin

photo dan mathieu

Concrete skateboarding

Vol 2, Issue 59 // 2002

Vol 2, Issue 60 // 2002

switch kickflip

Ryan Smith

Vol 2, Issue 61 // 2002

Vol 2, Issue 62 // 2002

Vol 2, Issue 63 // 2003

tree jam to fakie

backside 180 kickflip

ollie

Kevin Sansalone invert kelly Schovanek mctwist

photo kyle shura

photo bredan sohar

photo brian caissie

photo olivier gagnon

photo jody morris

Vol 2, Issue 64 // 2003

Vol 2, Issue 65 // 2003

Vol 2, Issue 66 // 2003

Vol 2, Issue 67 // 2003

Vol 2, Issue 68 // 2004

frontside boardslide

fakie ollie lipslide

nosegrind

ollie

backside noseblunt

glenn Suggitt

gary Robinson

Chris Haslam

Mike Hastie

Etienne Gilbert

Josh Evin

Paul Machnau

Alex Chalmers

photo jody morris

photo seu trihn

photo brian caissie

photo bryce kanights

Vol 2, Issue 69 // 2004

Vol 2, Issue 70 // 2004

Vol 2, Issue 71 // 2004

Vol 2, Issue 72 // 2004

Vol 2, Issue 73 // 2004

frontside tailslide

backside nosegrind

backside 180 kickflip

switch pop-shove

halfcab heelflip

Ryan Smith

PLG

arron johnson

Wade desarmo

corey sheppard

photo bryan ueda

photo brian caissie

photo jody morris

photo jay bridges

photo jody morris

Vol 2, Issue 74 //2004

Vol 2, Issue 75 // 2005

Vol 2, Issue 76 // 2005

Vol 2, Issue 77 // 2005

Vol 2, Issue 78 // 2005

nollie 360 flip

backside 180

backside nollie flip

kickflip

50-50

Grant Patterson photo jody morris

Concrete skateboarding

ryan smith

photo mike blabac

Gailea momolu photo jody morris

arron johnson photo brian caissie

Jordan Hoffart photo de ville nunes

Vol 2, Issue 79 // 2005 Ted DeGros

Vol 2, Issue 80 // 2005

Vol 2, Issue 81 // 2006

Vol 2, Issue 82 // 2006

Vol 2, Issue 83 // 2006

Switch Fs Bluntslide

Backside Kickflip

Kickflip

Backside Smith grind

photo jody morris

photo jay bridges

photo jody morris

photo brian caissie

photo joey shigeo

Vol 2, Issue 84 // 2006

Vol 2, Issue 85 // 2006

Vol 2, Issue 88 // 2007

Switch BS Smith grind

Vol 2, Issue 86 // 2007 Colin McKay

Vol 2, Issue 87 // 2007

wallie

Russ Milligan

crook pop over

backside flip

photo brian caissie

photo dan zaslavsky

photo jody morris

photo brian caissie

photo dan zaslavsky

Vol 2, Issue 89 // 2007

Vol 2, Issue 90 // 2007

Vol 2, Issue 92 // 2008

Vol 2, Issue 93 // 2008

Vol 2, Issue 94 // 2008

Hardflip over the rail

Frontside Bluntslide

Melon Grab

Feeble Grind

Backside 5-0

Kickflip

Alex Chalmers

Rory Fulber

Paul Trep

Scott Decenzo

Paul Carter

Frontside Nosegrind

Geoff Dermer

Wade Desarmo

Magnus Hanson

Rick Howard

Sheldon Meleshinski

Spencer Hamilton

Ryan Decenzo

photo brian caissie

photo jody morris

photo brian caissie

photo anthony acosta

photo brian caissie

Vol 2, Issue 96 // 2008

Gailea Momolu

Vol 2, Issue 97 // 2008 Nate Lacoste

Vol 2, Issue 98 // 2009

Vol 2, Issue 99 // 2009

Vol 2, Issue 100 // 2009

Switch 180

Gap to 50-50

pivot fakie

photo rich odam

photo brian caissie

photo gordon nicholas

Backside Nosegrind

Frontside Nosegrind

Bradley Sheppard

Jamie Tancowny photo kyle camarillo

D.M.O.d.w.

photo brian caissie

Concrete skateboarding

E D T H E

T E M P L E T O N

B A L A N C E

O F

O P P O S I T E S

2 6 # ! # / - s T I M E B O M B T R A D I N G . C O M STI CKERS@T IME BOMB.BC.CA

Concrete skateboarding

Scene Builders

Inclusion, bound by the limitations of sectional page counts, was one of the biggest logistical hurdles while organizing and building Concrete’s 100th Issue. While it’s impossible to include each and every Canadian Pro that’s had an impact during the magazine’s near 20-year timeline, a list of iconic individuals was pursued that have played a role both in raising the bar in skateboarding overall, and raising the international awareness of Canadian skateboarding. These Scene Builders have been heavily featured in this magazine over the years. Over the following pages, they provide some commentary on early Concrete coverage, and some straight-up insight on the Canadian skate publication they grew up with.

Concrete skateboarding

photo rob gilbert

Rob boyce

Sluggo

‘

’

frank daniello

retrospective

: backflip indy - photo jody morris // V2 #65 - 2003

Origins

“Kevin Harris is notorious for helping out the young, struggling skaters. He definitely had a vision for where he wanted the Canadian skateboard industry to be. Kevin had the privilege of traveling the world way before any of us, and had a world view of skateboarding. He went to places like Australia, England, Germany, and Italy with the Powell-Peralta team, and he’d see that the distributors often had a magazine for their country. I think it was a sort of blueprint that he could apply to Canada, and he was very successful with it. It’s no surprise that Colin McKay and I used Kevin’s blueprint as our blueprint for business. Kevin is not getting rich off Concrete, but he does it for the love of the sport – that’s exactly why he’s been doing it for so long. It’s so admirable and I’m amazed at what he’s done in Canada. Not only was it the first skate mag in the country, he got on snowboarding before anyone else did. The vision he had was far beyond the mainstream, and the magazine played a huge role because it gave us confidence to see our pictures published when we were kids.” Building Legitimacy

“In our minds to a certain extent, we knew Concrete wasn’t as legit as Transworld or Thrasher. It was our Canadian thing and it was like nepotism to a certain degree – we thought the Canadian magazine was going to take care of us because we were the sponsored skaters at the time. It’s fully outgrown that label in my mind. There aren’t too many people around, like me, who knew skateboarding in Canada before Concrete Powder, but there’s a lot of kids now that have never known skateboarding without it. Now, it’s a totally legit magazine because it’s been there, done that, and it’s always been there for the kids at the Vancouver skate plaza today.”

Top Of The Pile

“Before Concrete Powder started, Rob Nurmi was the only photographer we had in Vancouver. If it was going down, it was Nurmi shooting it with guys like myself, Colin, Moses, Justin Lucyn [see – page 78], Darren Brown, Steve Calvert, Ben Chibber – maybe even Rick Howard and a few others. We never thought the photos would run anywhere, but at some point it was decided that Ultimate was going to do a magazine.” “Along with Randy Frieson, I was on the cover of the first media kit [see page 20] doing a 360 varial to fakie on vert. Then on the first issue [V1, #1, 1990 – left], me and Sean Johnson shared the cover with hand plants. Nurmi shot my photo at the Richmond Skate Ranch, and I had no idea I’d be on the cover. It wasn’t my first published photo, but it was my first cover. 32

Concrete skateboarding

It was nice for me at that point because my sponsors were all in the States, and it was something I could send them and go, ‘Look, we’re skating our asses off up here, man [laughs].’ It probably took a year to fill up one issue of Concrete at the time, so on the cover of the first issue I was riding for G&S, and in the Reno Am contest they covered in the same issue, I just got on Real. Basically, Concrete Powder came out about the same time Real skateboards did. It was good because we finally had a Canadian magazine to showcase the talent here, and you can imagine how hard it was to get in Transworld, Thrasher or Poweredge at the time. Concrete would help justify some of our sponsorships because it went out to the Canadian consumer – it was a feather in our hat for sure.”

: frontside air - photo unknown // V2 #9 - 1990 photo gallery

: indy air - photo derek kettela // canadian skateboard annual 1998 canada’s finest

: shifty - photo unknown // V2 #9 - 1990 photo gallery

: indy nosebone - photo jody morris // V2 #65 - 2003 retrospective

: backside ollie - photo tobin yelland // V1 #2 - 1990 photo gallery

: inward heel - photo jody morris // V2 #7 - 1993 photo gallery retrospective // V2 #65 - 2003

Retrospect Respect

“When I look back, the thing that stood out the most was when I retired. The article that ran in Concrete blew my mind. I don’t think anyone’s been on the first cover, and had a retirement interview in the same mag. If any magazine has been the best to any one Canadian skater, it would have to be me. I was one of the best guys as far as Canadian vert skating, but in the world I wasn’t winning contests against Tony Hawk. I still got busloads of published photos and when I was both a Pro skateboarder and snowboarder, and the magazine was my manager and agent to a certain degree. And look what they did for the Red Dragons – for Colin, for Moses – Concrete was a huge part of what made us who we are. We had a cover specially done with Moses doing a nose grind at a skatepark [V2, #27, spring 1997], where the graffiti on the ledge was a Red Dragons piece sprayed by Dedos and Virus. At any time, people could’ve turned a blind eye and ignored us, but Concrete never did.” Concrete skateboarding

photo caissie

Rick McCrank Early Encounters

“The first time I saw Concrete, was at the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa. They had skate ramps in there. I don’t know what issue it was but it was huge. It was like a newspaper – that’s how big they were. I must’ve been 15 or 16, and I’m 33 now, so do the math. I think it was a glossier magazine at first, in the early days, then it went to big newsprint and slowly got smaller and smaller. I don’t know, at that time I would soak up anything that I saw, so I was stoked. I didn’t care at all [that it was Canadian], it was just skateboarding and snowboarding – I was into snowboarding, too.” Starting Small – Early Photos

“It was in the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa. I can’t remember the guy’s name that shot it, he was a guy that would just skate there a lot. I think I knew that he was trying to send stuff to the magazine but I didn’t know it was going to be in there, so it was cool. I was ollieing off the deck of the mini-ramp over the back of a launch ramp and into it. It was probably like 1/16th of a page? I think the next photo I had was full page, once it went from the bigger magazine to a regular sized one. It was a kickflip to fakie on a seven-foot quarterpipe. I liked the photo.” Coverage is Key

“Just after the second photo I had in Concrete, I moved to Whistler. That summer, this guy, Brad McGregor, a filmer, called me and said, ‘You wanna go to the city and skate? I heard you’re good.’ I’d never met him before. So we went to the city, Vancouver, and hooked up with Scott Serfas – who was shooting for Concrete – and Moses Itkonen.

Scott shot a photo of me switch ollieing over the rail at New Spot that day, and it ended up on the cover of Concrete Powder [right]. That says a lot, I think, for sponsors here, like: ‘Obviously this guy’s getting the real coverage. I mean, he’s on the cover.’ So I think it helped a lot. That was all I had in any magazine, and shortly after that I got in Thrasher with Scott. I just shot with him everyday. I remember being stoked on photos of Sam Devlin in Concrete, and just seeing my friends in there, like Judah [Oakes] and Syd [Clark]. That was cool.” Serving Canada’s Skate Scene

“I think Concrete’s crucial because we’re burdened with not living in California and being connected with that whole scene. I’ve seen the magazine in all my sponsors’ bathrooms, like, they read it. They get it. So if you can be seen in that, then it’s the next step. They do use it as scouting. That, and other Canadian magazines, for sure. Anything that you can get out there is beneficial. I think Concrete is community – it supports its community, and that’s all that we have, really. We can’t grow without the support, and it’s been doing that. I wish it was like the see-all, end-all, but it’s a stepping stone for careers, and for photographers – Brian Caissie’s doing pretty good. I think it’s a very important element not even just for Canada, but for skateboarding in general ‘cause it helps people that might not have been in the limelight get there – like Mark Appleyard. He’s one of my favourite skaters ever, and who knows if he would have gone further if it wasn’t for Concrete Powder. Way to go, Concrete! I say, ‘thank you.’”

Being in the Spotlight

“Yeah, [being on the cover] was really weird. I didn’t take it really well. I’ve sort of been, in my past way more, in a shell and kept to myself, and that was really hard. I didn’t deal with it well. Like, I don’t take compliments well, and people would genuinely be stoked for me. I’d be like, ‘Uhh...’ – just feeling weird. I remember one time, this girl was like, ‘So what’s your name?’ I just opened the magazine [and 34

Concrete skateboarding

said], ‘That’s my name,’ like such a loser [laughs]. I felt like a total asshole ‘cause she told other people and they were like, ‘Why are you being such a dick?’ I was just self-conscious. I think when people let things go to their head they’re just self-conscious; they don’t know how to deal with it. That’s what happened to me, I guess.”

: switch ollie - photo serfas // V2 #16 - 1995

Rhianon Bader

cover

Concrete skateboarding

: frontside flip - photo scott serfas // canadian skate annual 1998

: switch ollie - photo kyle shura // V2 #57 - 2000

interview

contents

whistler skate jam

: switch benihana - photo kia porter // V2 #17 - 1995 photo gallery

: photos scott serfas // V2 #19 - 1995

: frontside tailslide - photo jody morris // V2 #50 - 2000

interview

photo gallery

: kickflip to fakie - photo craig robinson // V2 #14 - 1995

photo morris

Colin

mcKay by

frank daniello

Shaky Start and Shining Down the Stretch

“We [Red Dragons] thought the first issue was pretty wack, to be honest [laughs]. Probably the first 10 issues were dog shit [laughs]. I’m not gonna say they were sick at first, but it was rad – it was Concrete. We were the kids at the Richmond Skate Ranch, and there weren’t a lot of skateboarders in town – we knew every single one of ‘em. Wack or not, the magazine was Kevin Harris’ thing. No matter what – even though we were morons that would leave the Skate Ranch, smash a hundred windows on the way to the bus stop and have the neighbours complaining about us – we still supported Kevin a hundred percent, whether we knew it at the time or not. We were too young to really realize it, but Kevin was the one that made everything possible. We were banned from the Skate Ranch several times but we always made it back in, which is a testament to how cool of a guy Kevin is. Even though it was a really shaky start to the magazine, at the end of the day it was the only magazine, so we’d still be excited to see the issues. I still to this day call it Concrete Powder” “The last issue I saw had Jamie Tancowny on the cover [V2, #99, april 2009], and it was sick. I know for a fact that Americans are like, ‘Oh, it’s the new issue of Concrete. Let me check it out.’ Now, because of magazines like Concrete, skateboarding in Canada has been elevated to a status where the kids are good enough, and a lot of the pictures could be in any American magazine. Jamie, who’s on that cover, is one of the top dudes in the States. At the start, filling the magazine with content was so hard because there was only like five dudes in Vancouver, then there’d be a story on Moose Jaw Jimmy. The playing field is a little more level now, and skateboarding in Canada is absolutely legitimate.”

ISSUE 86 . APRIL 2007 . FREE

TED DeGROS MOMENTUM PRO INTERVIEW

WHEELS OUT THEIR FIRST VIDEO

ISSUE 86 . APRIL 2007

GLOBE IN SOUTH AMERICA HASLAM . MACHNAU . GONZALEZ SASCHA DALEY & CEPHAS BENSON INTERVIEWS COLIN McKAY.

GAP TO NOSEGRIND.

OFC-w-spine.indd 1

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backside noseblunt

Elusive Front Cover

Love of the Game

“I feel like in the 19 years the mag has been around, I’ve had a lot of stuff in there. It’s funny, because I wouldn’t really consider that media kit cover I had [see ‘shared back cover’, next page] as the cover of Concrete Powder. But I’ve always wanted to, and felt, ‘I need to get on the cover of Concrete Powder.’ I mean, it’s a Canadian magazine, it’s from Vancouver, it’s Kevin Harris – he built the Ranch and gave me my start in skateboarding. It took so long, and my first cover didn’t happen until 2007 [V2, #86 – left]. It took 17 years. It was just something I wanted to check off the list. It wasn’t like winning the X-Games, like, ‘God, I hope if I train for a year straight I could get that gold.’ It was just something I wanted to work out with Concrete Powder. When it did happen, I was really psyched – just as psyched as getting on the cover of Transworld or wherever. Concrete Powder is a staple in Canada.”

“The reason that it [getting the cover] was so important to me is because Concrete Powder was started by Kevin Harris, who was the first Canadian Pro. There’s been a few generations since him, like my generation, and a couple more. I think, at this point, kids don’t have any clue how the magazine came about. It came about because Kevin simply wanted to do something cool. Concrete is strictly for the love of the game. Without Kevin Harris, there still would’ve been people coming out of Canada at this point, but the landscape would’ve been entirely different. Kevin Harris – when he was Kevin Harris, the man – could’ve moved to LA like myself and so many others Pros have. We never would’ve had the Skate Ranch, we never would’ve had Concrete Powder, and we never would’ve had Ultimate Distribution. He stayed put and, in my eyes, he’s the founding father of skateboarding in Canada. For that reason, Concrete Powder to me has been like the Thrasher for Canada. It has soul.”

: V2 #44 - 1999 appeared

: V2 #24 - 1996 appeared

: V2 #28 - 1997 canada’s finest

: nollie flip - photo jody morris // canadian skateboard annual - 1998

frontside nosegrind

: V2 #44 - 1999 appeared

reno under water

: V2 #24 - 1996 appeared

- photo jody morris // V2 #32 - 1997 hard flip

: switch photo gallery

appeared

“My first published photo was in a Thrasher contents page when I was about 12. I was probably 16 when my first Concrete photo came out. I remember Concrete Powder first came out at the very last Skate Ranch – like the last time they re-did it. I believe one of the early covers had 4 guys on it [back cover of the first media kit, 1990]. I’m pretty sure it was a Nurmi fisheye shot of me doing a frontside nosegrind or something. I think there was like a snowboarder, Sean Johnson, and a couple of other guys. Nurmi was hilarious to us – quite an entertaining dude. He was always there shootin’ photos. I know Nurmi got a lot better at photography, but at the start I remember looking at the photo, like, ‘Wow, is that a shitty photo.’”

- photo nurmi // media kit #1 - 1990

: ollie to fakie - photo nurmi // V1 #1 - 1990

Shared Back Cover

Concrete skateboarding

photo caissie

Paul

Machnau by

backside 180

frank daniello

“Depending on the season, Concrete Powder, back in the day, sometimes had more snowboarding than skateboarding in it. When I think back to the first issues, when I was really young, I was probably more into snowboarding and I recall the first issues being on the newsstand. I remember purchasing it at a shop in my hometown of Cranbrook, BC, and seeing something about Craig Kelly in it – I was hyped to see photos from local mountains and stuff.”

because I didn’t even know it was in there – someone just brought a copy over and showed it to me. They didn’t even spell my name right or anything – it was kinda funny. At that point, I just got hooked up by Forest skateboards out of Vancouver. It wasn’t until the June ‘97 issue [V2, #28] that I got my first real editorial shot, which was on a road trip to Calgary and Edmonton [next page, top left]. I was definitely amped to be in Concrete early on because that was the Canadian magazine that would make it to our local stores.”

Surprise Appearance

Slow Simmer

Snow Start

“My first published appearance in a skate mag was in Concrete. It was in the Spring ‘97 issue [#27] with Moses Itkonen nosegrinding a ledge at the old Confederation park in Burnaby, BC on the cover. It was on the ‘Combat Photography’ page, and I was doing an indy grab [left] on a friend’s mini-ramp. It was so cold during the Cranbrook winters – all we had to skate was this miniramp in a barn that a friend had on his property. It was sick. We would hang there every day just skating and breathing in smoke from the shitty old wood burning stove we installed to keep warm. A friend of mine, Kerry McCall, was just getting into photography and was up there one night shooting some photos. I must’ve been 18, and it was weird combat photography

: indy air - photo kerry mccall // V2 #27 - 1997

Concrete skateboarding

“My first photo was more of a surprise and I was stoked, but I was still really not involved in the industry as a skater at the time. I owned my own store [Boarder’s Choice in Cranbrook] and I was more involved with that and trying to keep our local scene big. I was hyped to get on Forest skateboards, but I was honestly more concerned with dealing with my shop than being a sponsored skateboarder back then. I’d never gone out and shot photos with anyone, and it never really occurred to me that I could go much further with skateboarding early on. Coming from a small town, there’s no big scene and it’s such a slow-paced thing. You’re just going out skating with your friends, and feeding off each other more than anything. We saw the videos and the magazines, but it just seemed like such a distant thing to us, so I paid more attention to what was going on under my own two feet. It wasn’t until I started coming out to Vancouver and going on trips with Brendan Sohar that I realized I could go out, shoot photos on a daily basis, and get in magazines. It was a slow process for me, but I’m pretty psyched I did it that way. I feel like I’ve learned a lot by starting with a shop and slowly figuring it out, rather than being a young kid just thrown into the mix.”

: backside feeble - photo brendan sohar // V2 #28 - 1997

: frontside bluntslide - photo jody morris // V2 #47 - 2000

calgary & edmonton tour

interview

: nosegrind - photo morris // V2 #54 gallery

: photo jody morris // canadian skateboard annual 2000

pull out poster

: mute grab - photo jody morris // V2 #35 - 1998 do it yourself

The Push

“I got on a cover pretty quickly [V2, #41, june 1999 – left], and I was super hyped when I actually went into the Concrete office and saw it. I was surprised, and felt that I wasn’t known enough to get on the cover. When that happened, it instantly pushed me to the point where I was like, ‘Wow, if I can get on the cover that fast in my local area, maybe I do have what it takes,’ you know? Getting a photo in a magazine gets you pretty amped, but getting on the cover kinda changes your whole train of thought. It pushed me, and it was important to me because I’d been a part of Concrete before that cover happened – it was our local magazine.” Concrete skateboarding

photo caissie

Alex Chalmers by

Frontside feeble grind

frank daniello

Free is the Best Part

“At the beginning, Concrete to me was always a great way to get Canadian skateboarders noticed, and obviously it was a complete advertisement for Kevin Harris’ brands at Ultimate. But then the industry in Canada started getting bigger with all these other distributors starting, and they could buy ad space in his magazine. To me, that’s when Concrete turned into a real magazine, and free is the best part about it. It’s accessible to the kids, it’s what I grew up on, it’s still kickin’, and it’s always been owned by Kevin Harris. The mag introduces the new kids and pays homage to the old guys – it really helps to spread the word of skateboarding in Canada.”

up evolving and just turned into a skate mag because snowboarding became a whole other blown-out world, and I ended up being a lot more interested in just skateboarding. Concrete was a way of linking all of Canada’s skate scenes. I know it’s made on the west coast and it’s heavy west coast material, but all of Canada was also involved. It was great to see the skateparks back east, like Boucherville, and seeing those guys get coverage. They were so far away, but you almost got introduced to them through the magazine.”

Remembrance

interview

: photo jody morris // V2 #66 - 2003

“Some of my very first memories of Concrete Powder would probably be of the very first magazine-style ones [V1, ‘90-‘91 – first 6 glossy newsstand issues]. There was an interview with Sean Kearns snowboarding [V1, #2, 1990], and I remember it because the title of the interview was New Kearns on the Block, like New Kids on the Block, and I remember Kearns absolutely hated that [laughs]. I can also remember the very first cover with Sean Johnson and Sluggo on it. Also, some of my first memories were of the mixture of snowboarding and skateboarding because I did both. I kind of gave up snowboarding in the ‘90s, but I was really into it early on so I followed all those early magazines – I knew who all the guys were. The connection with both industries in the magazine was a big thing for me having grown up in North Van living on Grouse mountain, essentially, and going snowboarding a hundred days a year. When it was dry, I’d go skate. I’m really glad Concrete ended Count ‘Em: 6

FREE. CPM68.JAN2004.

2008 PHOTO ANNUAL

ALEX CHALMERS

PHOTO ANNUAL

GAILEA MOMOLU INTERVIEW

2008

“I don’t even know how many covers I’ve had over the years [laughs]. The first one was a kickflip over a picnic table at Ambleside that Jody Morris shot [the first ‘canadian skateboard annual’ issue, 1998], and it looks like a one-foot [laughs]. My first cover or coverage in any magazine would have been in Concrete Powder. It helped the scene grow to the point where we ended up getting Slam City in Vancouver [see page 106], which then introduced me to all the American Pros, which helped me get sponsored, and helped me get out there. It’s a great stepping-stone, and I still enjoy having photos in Concrete.”

AJ & HAYES/RYAN OUGHTON/W49-OPEN/FREDERICTON

SCOTTO

NZ CE I E DE E R V I N T

EW N YORK R

RDANT JO HOFFAR T

I E W E R V I N T

FLIP

FEAST

TOUR

06 R 20 E

Concrete skateboarding

: ollie - photo scott serfas // V2 # 11 - 1994

photo gallery

: nollie - photo jody morris // V2 #73 - 2004

photo gallery

knok knoks

: lipslide - photo jody morris // canadian skateboard annual 1999 interview

contents

: tailgrab - photo brendan sohar // V2 #26 - 1997

“My first appearance in Concrete Powder was in the old, bigstyle newspaper rag. It was one of the very first ever NFA ads, and I had nothing to do with NFA [laughs]. It was a frontside air to disaster in the deep end at Griffin in North Van [left], and it was just a big ‘ol airtime kinda Chalmers photo. I think Scott Serfas shot it and it ran black and white on the inside cover. I never rode for NFA, but they put a photo of me in their ad, full page, because they thought a photo of me was actually one of their riders, Jeff Keatley. That was my first photo in Concrete Powder ever [laughs]. I never got anything out of NFA for that, but I didn’t make a big deal about it because I was so young, like 16 or 17. My first actual magazine coverage was probably my ‘Young Bloods’ written by Jim Barnum [below] – he probably even took the photos. That’s how it was done back then because there was three guys in town with a camera [laughs]. There was Nurmi back then, Scott Serfas, Jody Morris, then you’d just have your friend shoot photos and submit them to whoever was accepting photos at the time.”

: photo jim barnum // V2 #7 - 1993

appeared: V2 #7 - 1993

Botched Beginning

Concrete skateboarding

photo wes tonascia

switch crook

photo caissie

Gailea Momolu First Impressions

“It was confusing to me in those old issues, but it was cool to see snowboarding and skateboarding in the same mag. If it wasn’t for Concrete, there wouldn’t have been a nation-wide skate media outlet early on to help get Canadian skaters exposed. Being from Ottawa, I’d look at the Rick McCrank Cherry Bombs ads – seeing him just killing Vancouver really stood out to me. I didn’t grow up skating with Tony Ferguson in Ottawa, but I skated a bit with Rick McCrank and he was one of the dudes that made it out west. That definitely amped me up to do the same thing. Having skated with him a couple times in Ottawa, he definitely inspired me to pursue skateboarding.” 42

Concrete skateboarding

: switch crook - photo seu trinh // V2 #68 - 2004

frank daniello

interview

: backside tailslide - photo david ivkovic // V2 #48 - 2000

First Run

had a camera and a slave flash, and that was it – no other flashes. But I was really stoked when it came out. I was just a kid back then, like 18, and everything about skating was super fun – it was definitely a new experience for me. I was more stoked on just skating and learning new tricks at first, but once I got older and a little bit better I was trying to film and shoot every single trick [laughs]. Concrete definitely helped people outside of Ottawa get to know who I was, and I’m definitely thankful for all the help I got from the magazine.”

interview

“My first skate photo in Concrete was on this flat bar at a church spot in Ottawa. There was this community centre behind the church that had a ledge off four stairs – on one side it was short, and on the other it was longer. I think Paul Trep did a nollie heel front nose on it, and Wade Desarmo had some stuff on it. But anyways, this flat bar was in front of a church and I got a backtail on it. It was so long ago [laughs], but I got a random call from Derek Kettela who was in from Toronto. He came to Ottawa, I met him downtown, and we went to a couple spots and shot a couple photos. I remember thinking it was weird because he

: nollie heelflip - photo dan mathieu // V2 #48 - 2000

: backside nollie flip - photo jody morris // V2 #76 - 2005 cover

4/29/09 11:36:02 AM

pull out poster

: backside 180 fakie nosegrind - photo dan mathieu // V2 #51 - 2001

interview

: switch

varial heel

- photo seu trinh // V2 #68 - 2004

Untitled-5 1-2

interview

Concrete skateboarding

photo dan bourqui

PLG by

method air

frank daniello

The New Reality

“Montreal is so far away from the California skate scene. I definitely grew up looking up to Colin McKay, Sluggo, and all the Red Dragons. They were all over Concrete. I also remember seeing guys like Machnau in the old issues, before he had a big name. For me to see that these guys were Canadian was a big inspiration, and it made me realize I could do it too – it’s not just dream that’s unachievable because it only happens to guys from California.” Learning The Game

“My first photos were in Concrete and the mag allowed us to learn the game – how to shoot photos and get yourself out there. It gave Montreal photographers, like Dan Mathieu, a chance to come up. It also gave other people the chance to see that we had a pretty good scene with legit skaters in our part of Canada – it really helped the Canadian skate scene

grow. Without Concrete, there wouldn’t have been a Canadian point of reference that showed us what we needed to do. For us, being out of Montreal, it wasn’t like we could just get into Transworld or anything else. It was like, ‘Let’s go shoot and try and get a photo in Concrete.’ From there we could move on and try to get stuff in the bigger magazines. That didn’t mean that as we grew, we’d leave Concrete behind. I mean, Colin had a recent cover on the DC ramp. It’s still super cool to shoot photos for Concrete and remember where you came from. I had an interview a few years ago [V2, #71, 2004] that I shot with Brian Caissie – I was super hyped to get an interview in a Canadian magazine. The quality, the photography, and the skating wasn’t as good when Concrete started, but we all grew with the magazine and we all got better – it shows in how the magazine looks today.”

The Cover

“I remember being really hyped on the cover I got at the RDS park in Vancouver [V2, #70, april 2004 – right]. It was a crooked grind from the deck into that bank on the vert ramp. That was when me, Jake Brown, and Rob Lorifice rolled up from Cali to Vancouver and rented this apartment for like a month. I remember Jake was filming for the Blind video [What If?, ‘06], and I was trying to get some stuff goin’ – I was filming for Digital’s Divercity [‘05]. I shot that cover and it ended up coming out while I was still in Vancouver, so I was super hyped.” 44

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- photo dan mathieu

: kickflip indy - photo dan mathieu // V2 #28 - 1997 interview

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interview

: switch frontside 360 - photo caissie // V2 #71 - 2004

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canada’s finest : one foot mctwist // canadian skateboard annual 1998

: backside nollie heelflip indy - photo dan mathieu // V2 #28 - 1997 interview

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Why do you think vert appeals more to the mainstream? I think it’s pretty obvious. For someone who doesn’t skate, watching a guy fly up in the air 10 feet above a 14 foot high ramp and come back down is pretty spectacular. It doesn’t take any knowledge of the sport to appreciate the difficulty in that. But the mainstream will never understand how hard and technical street skating is. What about video parts. You basically have to invent new tricks and do shit no one else has ever done before. How do you come up with stuff and then follow through to do it? It’s like any other type of skating. You learn something and then work on variations of it. Like I learned a heelflip indy 540 then I took it to the next level and learned nollie heelflip indy 540. You need to know a lot of shit on vert though. Like, on street a guy could learn four tricks and then go do those four tricks on twenty different rails, ledges and other stuff and boom they’ve got a video part. You can’t really learn a kick flip indy on vert and go do it on five different ramps. You’ve got to make sure you come up with your own tricks and your own style. Skateboarding is about expression and originality so what’s the point of biting someone’s style. What would you say to a little kid who’s got a vert ramp near his house? It’s all skateboarding. If you don’t try everything out then you’re missing out on the fun and challenges that come with it. Try out the ramp and don’t listen to negativity from others. Do what you feel is right and don’t give up.

switch frontside 360

5/3/04

3:16 PM

: nollie bigspin heelflip 360 - photo caissie // V2 #71 - 2004 interview

: backside mute - photo dan mathieu // V2 #20 - 1996

Now for the fun stuff. The industry. What’s happening right now with the contest circuit and organizations? There is a lot of crap going on. I think “World Cup Skate” is pretty disorganized. I’m not sure the skaters are being looked after the way they should be. When you’ve got twenty vert guys competing and only maybe the top 5 are able to make a decent living at it then something isn’t right. Take the X-Games for example. The athletes get back something like 2 or 3 percent of the total revenue generated by the event and we’re the ones that make it even possible. We’re the ones putting our asses on the line. We’re being treated like clowns. If they want to call us professional athletes then treat us like professional athletes. If you’re some guy with only one sponsor and they don’t have money to send you to a contest, then you’ve got to pay for your flight, hotel and incidentals for the weekend. If you don’t make the top ten you’re going to loose money and if you don’t make the top five you can’t even afford to live off the money you make. The absolute last place slacker in the PGA tour makes more money than the first place winner at a pro skateboard event. And skating is growing in popularity faster than any other sport, so something has to change. But it’s all relative though, I mean way back in the day, NHL players used to have day jobs. Maurice Richard used to be a mover in the day and then he’d go play hockey at night.

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boucherville

“Skateboarding is about expression and originality so what’s the point of biting someone’s style.”

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PRO INTERVIEW

PIERRE-LUC

GAGNON “I think it’s lame how the industry doesn’t support vert. A lot of companies don’t even want a vert guy on their team. They look at it like it’s not even skateboarding.”

5/3/04

3:17 PM

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What about the Olympics, when and if it happens, it’s going to be vert they’re looking for. If the Olympic committee recognizes that skateboarding isn’t like gymnastics and it’s portrayed properly to the media and the general public, then I’d be down to do it. Why not? But they need to realize we won’t be wearing little matching suits and having coaches yell at us on the sidelines. In the end, if it helps the skaters make a decent living then I’m all for it. Totally different subject. Have there been any problems living in the US and having a French accent? I haven’t had any real problems. If anyone has had a problem with me being French I just make sure they know I’m from Canada. But then again a lot of people down there don’t know where Montreal is anyway. I see the whole USA pride thing in a lot of events like the X-Games. From the crowd to the announcers and pretty much all the coverage they definitely show more love to the skaters from the US. Back to sponsorship, you don’t have a board sponsor what is that all about? I think it’s lame how the industry doesn’t support vert. A lot of companies don’t even want a vert guy on their team. They look at it like it’s not even skateboarding. They need to realize that it’s all skateboarding and stop labeling everything. Being a vert skater shouldn’t be any different then preferring ledges to rails. It’s all related.

What’s in store for your future? Shooting video parts, progressing, and skating new ramps and different terrain. I might even move to Vancouver for a bit. I’ve been having fun skating the new RDS vert ramp with you, Sluggo and the locals. It’s a nice change. Say something to the youth of today. People get into skating because it’s an individual sport and you can progress and do things on your own terms. Yet most skater kids only care about what their friends are doing and what tricks are cool. Don’t forget what skating is all about. Be yourself and do what you want. Don’t follow the crowd just because you want to fit into it. Let people accept you for who you are and what your interests are. Who would you like you thank? Oh man, I always forget people so I’m going to try and keep it general. Shout outs to all my friends, all the Montreal skate locals, my vert homeys, my dad, my mom, my family, and anyone who ever supported me or helped me out.

nollie varial heelflip

Concrete skateboarding

photo rhino

photo caissie

chris

haslam by

jesse oye

Pre and Post-Hairy

Concrete skateboarding

: 360 flip to fakie - photo matt cadieux //

“Well, I’m like a dinosaur now, but I think my first-ever photo was from about 10 years ago. If I remember correctly, it was a 360 flip to fakie at the Richmond skatepark on the quarter pipe between the two flat banks. It was a sequence, and I think it was my friend Matt Cadieux that shot and submitted it. I had the Boarding House skateshop as a sponsor back then, and I do remember being pretty psyched ‘cause I had just started to do those 360 flips over coping. All I can really remember about that sequence was wearing a Boarding House long sleeve. Concrete was my starting point, and it’s great exposure for not only the big names, but the kids who are just starting out. The US mags generally feature just the big Ams and Pros. When you’re interested in the hidden talents that Canada has, Concrete still covers them. We’re so lucky to have a magazine of that quality that’s free for everyone to read.”

canadian skateboard annual 2000

The Long Sleeve

Frontside feeble to fakie

how to get a skate park

“I first picked up Concrete way before I started growing my hair and beard. I know I must have thought it would be cool to get into the mag at some point in my life. I’ve started to class certain memories according to when they happened: in the time before, or after transformation. Anything before the beard and hair is hazy [laughs]. Hence, I can’t remember where I first saw Concrete. Now, like with every mag, I think it’s just funny looking back at the older issues and seeing how everyone’s clothing style and haircuts have changed over the years. There’s been some brutal style changes, myself included [laughs].”

: switch frontside flip - photo seu trinh // V2 #68 - 2004

: photos matt cadieux // V2 #48 - 2000

Seu Trinh

photo gallery

can-am interview

: photos matt cadieux // V2 #48 - 2000

Chris Haslam, switch frontside kickflip.

can-am interview

: backside lipslide - photo matt cadieux // canadian skateboard annual 2002

“There was a photo of my buddy Steve Brillis [former Concrete video reviewer], doing a wallride on this water tower thing near McDonald Beach by the airport in Richmond. That sticks in my head ‘cause that was his first photo and it turned out pretty sick. I remember how hard that was to skate – all up hill.”

interview

photo gallery

: skater steve brillis - photo brian caissie // V2 #66 - 2003

Buddy Shot

Concrete skateboarding

Industry the

Kevin Harris helped create early growth on the nearbarren Canadian skate industry landscape when he began the foundation of Ultimate Distribution from his father’s small Richmond, BC office space in 1985 [see ‘decades deep’, page 10]. After growing his distro house, he started Concrete Powder magazine, and, in the ‘90s, its pages featured many thensponsored skateboarders who tirelessly grew and developed the much larger Canadian industry landscape as we see it today. In this Industry section, key players from various business and creative endeavours – all influenced by skateboarding – chime in on all things Concrete.

Concrete skateboarding

: backlip - photo dan mathieu // canadian skateboard annual - 1999

“Concrete Powder early on was kind of like the bible for Canadian skateboarding. If you had a photo in it, it was hot. I don’t really remember seeing much of the magazine when it first started. With Montreal being mostly French and on the east coast, there wasn’t many Concrete magazines around, but it motivated me to skate harder to get pictures published. My first photo ever to be published in a legit mag was in Concrete. It was a frontside air on the mini-ramp at the Boucherville skatepark [right], then from there it didn’t stop for a couple years. I had an interview [V2, #24, 1996], I was part of many road trip stories, Montreal articles, trick tips...Without Concrete I would’ve definitely not been able to get myself noticed across the country as much as I was able to. I’ve always told myself that when I’m done skateboarding for a living, I’ll find a job in the industry. Skateboarding is what I know best, so why go work in construction? I ended up being the Marketing Manager for Vans and Pro-Tec at Sports Odyssee for two and-a-half years. The Vans chapter of my life is now history and I’m running my own marketing business.”

Sean Mortimer

photo

- unknown // V2 #67 - 2003

Writer

Concrete skateboarding

“Kevin Harris was, and still is, one of my best friends, but I knew he took the short bus regarding reading and writing. It’s not because Kevin’s not smart, he’s just lazy and all those squiggles on the page look like work to him. The squiggles have always been fun to me so I asked if I could write some articles for Concrete Powder. First one I did was an interview with Adam Yauch on Buddhism [V2, #19, december 1995] – I just wanted to interview a Beastie Boy and get some free books on Buddhism. There wasn’t a lot of editorial direction back then, and Concrete was a ‘zine that wasn’t photocopied. It was a little too Canadian back then, I think. Every piece of content had to be tied into the red maple leaf. I’m proud to be Canadian, but good skating is still good skating. So it seemed slightly insecure, but that loosened up a long time ago. I was down in the States and I wrote a piece on Jason Ellis; I went over to the house where he was staying and Sluggo was also there visiting. We talked, did the interview, I shot some pics with my cheap camera and thought that was it. A few months later, after the mag came out, I saw Sluggo and he freaked! It took me a long time to realize he was serious. Why? He was sputtering that he was in the background of one shot and there was a random bong on the table. He wasn’t near the bong, but he was furious about being connected with it. Back then, that was funny. Dude had Michael Phelps beat by a decade, easy.”

photo gallery

Owner – Pentagon Productions

: frontside air photo - patrick leroux // V2 #2 - 1992

canadian cities: montreal

Eric Mercier

Jon West

photo judah oakes

photo section

interview

: photos - brendan sohar // V2 #22 - 1996

“I think my first photo may have been a cover [V2, #2, 1992 – see page 79]. It was my first memorable one anyways – a noseslide on one of the CIBC rails in Vancouver, and Brendan Sohar shot the photo. It was well before any kind of sponsorship, besides the Board Kennel, and I was probably 16. I was wearing a BC Lions hat where I removed some of the embroidery from so it said ‘Jons’. I was in Edmonton when Mike Geiger called and told me about the cover – I was excited about Concrete coverage. It did really help in the big picture of pushing myself and others. In the early days it was like a dream come true to see yourself and your friends in a magazine – a taste of what it feels like to achieve goals, or that it’s even possible to achieve goals. Without that realization, I don’t think anything would have happened.”

: frontside flip - photo jody morris // V2#52 - 2001

video director/editor – Electronic Arts

Garret Louie Co-Owner – Timebomb Trading inc.

“I started out as a sales representative and decided to be in control of my own destiny. Over 17 years later, this is where we stand now. For sure we’ve seen a lot of different changes since the 1990s, like seeing only one shop in each respective city to multiple shops in even smaller towns. Concrete has always been a great magazine as it’s free and readily available in the skate shops – it’s always a pleasure to see our local scene up in the mix. I think Concrete has always been the ‘skateboarder’s magazine’, and it’s come a long way when you dissect it from top to bottom. I’ve always enjoyed the road trip content – seeing Canadians rip other spots in Canada is always fun.”

fresh meat

: switch f/s pop shove - photo jesse birch // V2 #22 -1996

Bob Kronbauer principal – VancouverIsAwesome.com / ClubMumble.com / MumbleAgency.com

“My coverage in Concrete Powder pretty much covered the entire scope of my ‘career’ as an amateur skateboarder. I moved to Vancouver from Vernon, BC in 1996, and got my friend Jesse Birch to shoot me switch heelflipping the blocks across the street from the Burrard SkyTrain station. A couple months later, it wound up on the cover [V2, #21, may 1996 – right]. The next issue I got a ‘Fresh Meat’ profile [left], then I cashed out my chips and decided I’d serve skateboarding better by sitting behind a computer. I’m pretty sure Concrete was around before the industry could collectively justify printing it, which is a pretty huge contribution to helping grow skateboarding in this country. The idea of launching it was super progressive; it was almost like the Internet in the way that it connected skaters across the entire country and let them know what was going on...for free! And it still does.”

Concrete skateboarding

Tony Ferguson

photo gallery

: switch 360 flip - photo jody morris // V2 #4 - 1992

knok knok

photo nick nicholson

: photos mark waters // V1 #4 - 1991

“The most memorable Concrete photo I’ve seen would have to be Tony Ferguson tailsliding the Georgia banks in Vancouver – natural style and simplicity.” —Cory Wilson

Peter Sullivan president / founder – Supra Distribution

“I was really excited the first time I saw CP – I remember reading the first issue back at the Skate Ranch in Richmond, BC. I don’t think I really appreciated what CP did for the skate industry in Canada at the time, being the first skateboard/snowboard magazine in the country. The industry worldwide has grown, especially in Canada, and there’s so much more exposure and credibility for skateboarding now. I was stoked to get a ‘Knok Knok’ feature [left] – it was written and photographed at Mike McGill’s skate park in Carlsbad by a good friend of mine, Mark Waters. CP opened doors for every kid in Canada to get sponsored, aspire to get a photo in a skateboard magazine, and live the dream.” 54

Concrete skateboarding

interview

photo caissie

“I remember having a switch 360 flip in there at 401 (Bank of Montreal, Downtown Vancouver) circa ‘92 [above]. It was the first and last one I ever did. Concrete gave us coverage in Vancouver, which at that time you really didn’t see in skate magazines. It was cool because it also gave other Canadian kids coverage and showed us all what was going on in different parts of the country. I think Concrete has done a lot for skateboarding in Canada – they supported the scene and were pioneers, which lead the way for other mags we have today.”

: frontside tailslide - photo jody morris // canadian skateboard annual - 2003

President – Alife Footwear

: photos unknown // V2 #17 - 1995 interview

: photos - mike redpath // V2 #4 - 1992 knocked up

Judah oakes Team Manager / Art Department – Timebomb Trading Inc.

: photos serfas // V2 #23 - 1996

In the mid-‘90s I had a two-pager interview [images above], and I had a lot of photo feature stuff and a lot of NFA ads – my clothing sponsor at the time. It was me, McCrank [see page 34], and Jeff Logan on the skate team. I think Concrete’s helped to dramatically shape a lot of riders, photographers, and writers. It’s the best it’s ever been today. When I look at the content and the quality, I think it’s at par with any other skate magazine out there.”

interview

“In the early ‘90’s I looked at videos and magazines, but I didn’t really know what it meant. I was just skating and didn’t know who anybody was. But when I started to meet people who were getting in Concrete, I’d pick it up to check out their coverage. That’s what spurred sponsorship and stuff because it didn’t really exist for us early on. The first thing I ever had in the mag was a ‘Knocked Up’ (Young Bloods) [above] – a switch 180 down a seven-set in Victoria, and a halfcab noseslide on a ledge off five that were really bad photos [laughs].

Syd Clark sales / marketing – Centre Distribution West

“The first time I saw Concrete Powder was in Duncan, BC. I used to hitchhike down there from Nanaimo because there was a mini-ramp in the back of a store there. I remember the mag was really big and the ink didn’t stick to the pages too well – you’d need a shower after reading one of those bad boys. Judah Oakes and I started getting some coverage in Concrete while we lived in Victoria. We basically only skated the little park there, so most of our photos were at that park until we both moved to Van. I think starting to get photos in Concrete helped push us to move to Vancouver (that, and the Whiskey videos), which led us to some sponsors and more coverage. I was super stoked to get a cover [V2, #17, 1995 – left] – it was a pretty big deal for someone from Victoria. I’m pretty sure that cover got me laid a few times. At the time, only Judah and I had sponsors. He wrote my ‘Young Bloods’ [V2, #13, 1994] for Concrete and instead of asking me questions, he just answered them for me.” Concrete skateboarding

Moses Itkonen general manager – Centre Distribution

: backtail - photo morris // V2 #27 - 1997 interview

: photos - jon muldoon // V2 #42 - 1999

interview

“Concrete was and still is one of the best ways for Canadian amateurs to get in the game. It’s still very tough for unknown Canadians to get coverage in US magazines, so you can learn valuable experience shooting with photographers, building interviews, and promoting your sponsors in print by shooting for Concrete.”

interview

: noseblunt - photo scott pommier // V2 #70 - 2004

“One of the funniest early memories of shooting for Concrete was one day in the early ‘90s when Colin McKay and I went out with Rob Nurmi to shoot street photos. We drove to spots in Richmond and all I can remember is the smell of rotten milk from baby puke that Nurmi decided was not worth cleaning up out of the back seat.”

Glenn Suggitt

photo gallery

: feeble - photo craig douce // V2 #50 - 2000

owner – Plush and Famous skateshops / Know Class and Famous skateboards

Concrete skateboarding

“In the early years, Concrete featured a tighter group of skaters that kept you pretty stoked on Canadian skateboarding. It’s a lot tougher now to stand out in the army of talented skateboarders out there. I was always pretty stoked for issues to come out that would feature sections on our city (Edmonton) and skate scene! The coverage I got in Concrete definitely helped, and I ended up meeting a lot of out-of-town people that I had some of the best times skating with. I’m still skateboarding as much as I can and filming our team guys. Fuck, the kids are killing it these days!”

Trevn Sharp

: frontside flip - photo caissie // V2 #73 - 2004 the vancouver plaza

“I had a Check Out when I was a baby, back when they were called ‘Fresh Fish’ [below]. Crazy to see what photos get published now opposed to then – it really shows how much skating has progressed. One of my favourite photos was from when the Vancouver plaza first opened. It was a frontside flip [right] over the brick hip in an article. Concrete to me was an inside look into the culture of skaters that I so badly wanted to become a part of. I grew up in Maple Ridge, BC, so I wasn’t exposed to that many skate mags. When I did get to see one in a shop, but I could only flip through it – I couldn’t afford to buy it. Concrete was a free newspaper style booklet at the time and I used to grab stacks. It was fun to go through and be able to relate to these guys. I learned there was more to skating than bum boarding and downhilling. It gave me something to strive for. I knew it was local and I made it goal to get a photo in there.”

Craig Williams

winter skateboarding

: ollie - photo nick burke // V2 #14 - 1995

“I’ve had a lot of Concrete coverage over the years, ranging from random pictures to interviews, tour stories, and ads for brands I’ve ridden for. I started out just being a sponsored Am, and met behind-thescenes people. Before long I was working at a shop, which eventually led to a position at Ultimate. Concrete definitely helped make me aware of the Canadian scene and its upstarts. Before that, I only had access to American mags like Thrasher and Transworld, and they seldom featured Canadian riders. With all the coverage I got throughout the years, I was able to land a spot directly on some US brands that helped me travel around the world, get paid to skate, and get a board with my name on it. Without Concrete supporting me the way it has through the years, I probably would never have made it past being a regional flow rider.”

: kickflip - photo ryan hamilton // V2 #58 - 2002

Purchasing / Team Manager – Ultimate Skateboard Dist. (West)

photo gallery

fresh fish

: pop shove - photo - sohar // V2 #24 - 1996

Team Manager – DC Canada / Quiksilver Canada

Concrete skateboarding

: backside kickflip - photo oakes

// V2 #42 - 1999

: heelflip indy - photo kurylo // V2 #15 - 1995 photo gallery

interview

Ben Couves president / owner – OB1 Enterprises Inc.

“I’ve had some coverage in Concrete over the past 12 years as a sponsored skater, before I gave my life to Excel spreadsheets. I’ve met many great people and if it wasn’t for skateboarding, OB1 wouldn’t have been created whatsoever. Concrete was like Us Weekly, man. I was so excited to grab the latest issue and see my famous friends in there doing their thing. Even the thought of getting a shot published

was anticipated excitement. It got me really stoked on the Canadian scene and has provided a great outlet – whether it be photography, art, or skateboarding. Concrete has helped put Canada on the map, for sure. It’s also helped create the very cool and proud skateboard community we have here.”

Geoff Dermer

photo gallery

: melon to fakie - photo derek kettela // V2 #28 - 1997

Concrete skateboarding

“Concrete to me is a timeline of the last 15 years of the best in Canadian skateboarding. My first published photo was back in ‘97 – a melon to fakie from the quarter pipe to the flat bank at the Ladner, BC park [left]. I saw a guy who I didn’t know with some nice camera equipment and figured I’d ask if he’d like to shoot a couple of pics. It turned out the guy I had asked to shoot me that day was a well known snowboard photographer named Derek Kettela. As I got older and started to organize demo tours around Canada, Concrete was always down to run stories from the trips. This helped a lot of my friends get their first photos published, and added a lot of credibility to the tours, making it easier to ask for help from the sponsors. I’d say, ‘Concrete published our last tour,’ and you couldn’t beat that.”

photo caissie

owner – Kitsch Skateboards

: frontside bluntslide - photo shura // V2 #58 - 2002 can-am nterview

Sean Hayes : frontside flip - photo shura // V2 #58 - 2002

Athlete Relations – Alpinestars USA

reno under water

- photo: unknown // media kit #1 - 1990 blunt to fakie

: front-shove backside grab - photo morris // V2 #1 - 1992 rudy’s ramp

: backside one-foot - photo nurmi // V1 #1 - 1990

can-am nterview

“I’ve had a couple interviews in Concrete – a ‘Skate Bros’ with Mike Hastie [V2, #52, april 2001], and the ‘Purple Hayes’ interview [left and above] – as well as numerous single page shots and ads. I’m still hoping to get my cover one day [laughs]. Concrete was the textbook I studied each month for the ongoing final exam that was being a skater. It was awesome because while I looked at Transworld or Thrasher for what was going on in the world of skating, Concrete showed me what was going on in my community of skaters. It helped make the dream of being a sponsored skater seem realistic. I think there’s more and more support for Canadians from the bigger, global brands now. Canada is its own market, its own niche, so rather than trying to make us Canadians change our ways, I think that they’re empowering Canadian skaters to be Canadian and do their own thing. Look at skaters like Keegan Sauder or Jamie Tancowny – they wear our colours well down in the US.”

Bill Weiss Team / Brand Manager – blind | Founder - Digital Skateboarding

“Concrete has always been a great way of getting your name out there. I shared a page of the first issue of Concrete Powder with my good friend and fellow Canadian, Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce [left]. I remember being really impressed with the quality of the mag in the early issues – there were always great photos and stories. I even had a ‘Knok Knok’ [see page 117] back when I rode for H-Street. Man, I am old.” Concrete skateboarding

Concrete skateboarding

Next Step The

Skateboarding has grown rapidly since 1990, and Concrete Skateboarding has seen a few generations enter its folds since then. Many of the skaters youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find on the following pages span the eras this magazine has captured, and are part of the current talent crop that have momentously gained skatemedia attention in recent years. Moving forward, they all have a hand in helping to shape a unique Canadian skateboarding identity and presence. Concrete has provided many of these skaters with their first run of print coverage, and The Next Step features a sound-off forum for first-appearance stories, exposure to memorable and influential content, and the role Concrete plays as a long term media institution within Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skateboarding framework.

Concrete skateboarding

photo caissie

“My first photo was in a ‘Photo Gallery’ – a 3-flip down a set of stairs in Ottawa, like four years ago [left]. Me and Gio [Namini] met up with [Jay] Bridges, and after charging it a bunch of times and not rollin’ away, I was over it. Six months later, the photo that I didn’t know existed came out in Concrete. I was pretty surprised. The best part is that the name was labeled ‘Spencer Forbes’ [laughs]. I didn’t care, but I was bummed I hadn’t landed it yet so I went back the next week and got ‘er done. The first time I looked at a Concrete was like five years ago. I saw a Ryan Decenzo ‘Young Bloods’ [see page 69] – he was doin’ a backsmith down the brown rail on Burrard Street in Vancouver. I remember being stoked because he was a young kid doin’ his thing. The mag kinda opened my eyes to the west coast. A year later I moved out here, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

photo gallery // V2 #76 - 2005

photo caissie

Spencer Hamilton

Spencer Forbes - three sixty ﬂip. photo Jay Bridges. 81

Concrete skateboarding

heelflip

078-089.indd 4

4/15/05 11:05:08 AM

“I’ve only ever had two covers, and they were both on Concrete. My first cover [left] was pretty controversial because I was wearing Jordans while I rode for DC. It was a switch pop-shove in Philly that Jay Bridges shot. That night was crazy ‘cause I tweaked my ankle and ‘lil Will Marshall’s Dad was there. I guess he’s an Olympic athletic trainer or some shit. I could barely walk on my ankle, and he ended up taping it up all crazy. I could skate again, but I couldn’t flip my board, and he last thing I expected to see was that photo on the cover. The second cover [V2, #82, may 2006 – below] was shot by Caissie. It was a kickflip out of a loading truck type thing. A night shot. I remember there was car lights lighting it up, and flashes blinding me while I was catching it, then crossing my fingers and hoping it was there when I put it down [laughs]. On one of my last tries, the truck actually started pulling away when me and Wade Fyfe were in it. We ended up just bolting out, it was pretty sick [laughs]. One thing I’ve always remembered in Concrete was Russ Milligan’s kickflip noseslide cover [see page 74]. That shit was sick, because I’d never seen a sequence on the cover. It was a ledge trick, and I’ve always liked Russ’ skating. It was good to see style on the cover.”

photo gallery

: 360 flip - photo caissie // V2 #85 - 2006

photo caissie

cover

: switch pop-shove - photo bridges // V2 #72 - 2004

Wade Desarmo

Cory Wilson

“There can be so many variables with skating, especially during the fall and winter in Canada. The sun sets earlier, there’s slippery leaves, or if you’re skating Victory Square in Vancouver, crackheads will try to swindle you into their thoughts. Such was the case while I was shooting my first published photo with Brian Caissie – a 360 flip down the double set in ‘06 [left]. I just finished an eight-hour shift landscaping and the sun was going down quick. I called up Brian for the first time as well as my friend Benny [Stoddard] to film, and it was on.” Concrete skateboarding

- photo unknown // V2#56 - 2001 interview photo odam

Jordan Hoffart

backside tailslide

destroyers

: crooked grind - photo judah oakes // V2 #51 - 2001

“Concrete was the reason why skateboarding in Canada was in any sort of limelight early on. I don’t think there would’ve been much of an industry here without it. Canadian skateboarding owes everything to Concrete, I’d say. Hella props.”

Concrete skateboarding

“I remember Trevn Sharp had a contest photo where he was doing a big, spread benihana from a launch-to-launch [V2, #23, 1996 – right]. It was from one of the old newspaper issues. I remember cutting that issue up and we made one of those things at school, where you put your favourite things into a shoebox and cut a hole in it so you can look at it – a shoebox diorama or something like that. I remember recreating Trevn’s photo – I made the jump ramps out of clay and made a wire figurine doing a benihana with the picture of Trevn on the back because he was the dude, you know? That was probably the most influential thing in Concrete that kicked off my skateboarding in Grade 4 or 5. I was so pumped.”

- photos pokora // V2 #33 - 1998 destroyers

: frontside flip - photo pokora // V2

#45 - 2000

Bryan Wherry

the skate colony

“The dude that shot the photos and did my ‘Destroyers’ interview [above] was Mike Pokora, who’s a dude from my city of Kitchener, ON. It was him and this guy, Matt Schust. They were trying to make it like a Big Brother interview or some shit, and were clowning on me. When it came out, I took it to school to show my teachers, but was like, ‘Aw, shit,’ because of the interview [laughs]. I was about 14 and didn’t know if I’d ever be in a magazine again. If I could go back, I’d slap the dudes that did the interview now that I’m all grown up [laughs]. Back in the day, I really liked Appleyard’s cover of the backside noseblunt on the bench [see page 82]. The fact that Concrete can put out as much Canadian skate content as they Alien performs the signature trick from his home planet, do makes it a legit mag. It’s how everybody got their first coverage back the smeeble grind. in the day. Machnau and Haslam? They came up in Concrete before they blew up in the States.”

vancouver skate plaza

: kickflip backlip - photo caissie // V2 #73 - 2004

T H E

A N S W E R S

Y O U

WA N T

A R E

A L L

I N

T H E

A L I E N

I N T E RV I E W

Well I’m kinda in two crews. One is in WhiteRock and thats B.D.T.C and the other one is Ladner and the name of that one is Climax Thug Mob. It consists of Mike Hastie, Tyler Dinwoodie and Sean Hayes. My favorite trick is fakie full cab flip to backside tail bigspin flipout to Bluntslide. Utman: HOW LONG IS YOUR TEETER That’s for me and my girlfriend to find out Spike: 7HAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM DUDE IT SEEMS LIKE YOU VE BEEN TWEAKED SINCE THE FIRST TIME ) MET YOU I was born on Uranus but then moved to Earth 5 years ago. You think I’m tweaked look at your hair it’s like one of those crazy trees that look like an umbrella. Mica: 7HY DOES EVERY BODY HAVE NICK NAMES IN 7HITE2OCK Well the only people that have nick names are Swell (Sheldon), Hollywood (Tyler) BigHead (Jason). That’s about it, but Swell got his because he used L E A R N I N G TO I C E S K AT E [ AGE 4 ]

THE NINJA TURTLE [ AGE 7 ]

FIRST TIME IN LA [ AGE 10 ]

A l l

P h o t o s :

B r e n d a n

S o h a r

to land tricks and when he landed it his face would just swell up. Hollywood got his because he’s been in a barbie comercial and tried out for a big movie but the movie never made it. Bighead got his because his head is so bloody big. There’s also Spike and Les and Major Dave. Les: $O YOU THINK GETTING HIT BY CARS MAKES YOUR LIFE MORE INTEREST ING It totally makes you think because I’m always scared to skate somethings but then I think, I got hit by a car, I can take anything this rail or gap or ledge is going to feed me. But I did learn that nobody’s invinsible and people can die very easily so live every day as if it was your last. Brahim: (OW COME YOU DON T DO SWITCH FLIPS I don’t friggen know, that trick pisses me off so bad, If anybody has any tips or stratages for switch flips email me at boardkennel.com and go to Alien on chat. Jesse Corcoran: 4ELL ME ABOUT YOUR MOTHER Where should I start, well sometimes she comes to contests and before my run she’s like you have to do one of those three sixty blunt kickflips on the railing and I’m like what did you just say. But my Mom helps me out a lot with my skateboarding, not doing tricks I mean like supporting my habit.

young bloods

“The first ever photo I got in Concrete was a kickflip backlip on the 7-stair handrail at the Vancouver plaza [left]. It just so happened that Brian Caissie was hanging out at the plaza with Magnus and the Decenzos. I wanted him to shoot it, but I was too nervous to ask, so Magnus forced me to [laughs]. There was a plaza Hollywood: 7HAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP article coming out and they For one, I don’t want to grow up ever because it doesn’t needed look too fun being old, but I’d have to say I’m working on being a proffesional Razor Rider and making it in the photos, sonextitOlympics. just worked out.” Swell: 7HO IS YOUR CREW AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TRICK

: pop shuv - photo caissie // V2, #77 - 2005

John Hanlon

VA L E N T I N E S D AY C A R A C C I D E N T [1999 ]

T H E A L I E N T O D AY [2001 ]

A L I E N G R O W T H S TA G E S

“I remember the first Daniel ‘Alien’ Nelson interview [V2, #53, may 2001] that had portraits of him when he was like 4, 7, 10, then one after he got in a car accident [above]. The last portrait was present-day and his hair was sticking out all huge. It was awesome.” Untitled-9 1

4/29/09 4:22:23 PM

Concrete skateboarding

photo odam

Concrete skateboarding

young bloods

photo caissie

: kickflip noseslide - photo caissie // V2, #72 - 2004

Magnus Hanson

feeble grind

“The first photo I ever had in a magazine was in Concrete after a Portland trip that Brian Caissie came on. It was a photo shot in Seattle, and I was probably 14 [left]. Both Ryan [Decenzo] and me got ‘Young Bloods’ in that issue. Scooter, John Hanlon and so many people were on that trip – it was like a Surrey trip with Coastal Riders. It was awesome. My brother had some of the older issues, and I definitely remember looking at them. I would trip out on any photos of the Board Kennel guys, like Bradley Sheppard and Les Ramsay, because I’d see them at the Whiterock, BC park sometimes. Old Haslam photos [see page 46] stoked me out real good back in the day when I was 12 or 13. The magazine pushes people, and it’s an east coast/west coast connector. That’s how I see it.”

photo morris

Ryan Decenzo

young bloods

: smith grind - photo caissie // V2, #72 - 2004

“I remember my first copy of Concrete Powder so clearly. I picked it up from the local skate/snow/bike shop called the North Delta Watershed. I remember the shop owner telling me to grab one and I was stoked it was free! I was totally into snowboarding at the time, and didn’t know much about skating, but was in awe of the cover shot – Spike Jones’ frontside ollie over a channel gap in some cement full-pipes [V2, #34, spring 1998 – see page 80]. I probably flipped through this magazine 300 times studying all the ads and photos. A few months later, I had a skateboard of my own and was learning to ollie hockey sticks. Maybe if I had never picked up the magazine, I’d never have started skateboarding. Who knows? Concrete became my skate bible – I almost never missed an issue after that one. Years later, I was introduced to Brian Caissie on a Coastal Riders trip to Portland. I think the first photo that ever got published was a backside smith [below] on Vancouver’s Bricktown 10 rail with a cover-sleeve on it [laughs]. It was a next level trick for me at the time, so I was stoked when the photo ran.”

switch heelflip

photo gallery

“I had a feeble grind photo at the Hotspot curved rail in Vancouver that Caissie shot [right]. I was stoked that it actually made it in – it was my firstever skate photo in a magazine. I was just kind of lurking on the sesh with Magnus and my brother, and one day I just stoked the fire, I guess [laughs]. We kept a lot of old issues of Concrete underneath this coffee table back home. Seeing old photos of Russ Milligan and Machnau [see page 38] – I was like, ‘Wow.’ Pretty much all the Dragons hyped me up a lot. Concrete definitely motivates people to keep skating by seeing people shred good spots. With the good coverage and articles, it would definitely spark someone’s interest in skateboarding.”

: feeble grind - photo caissie // V2 #73 - 2004

Scott Decenzo

Concrete skateboarding

“I remember seeing Concretes and seeing Syd Clark in there. Syd rips, and was a Concrete champion. I probably first found a copy in the bathroom somewhere [laughs]. I always like having a mag beside me in the bathroom. Now I think it’s cool because it’s called Concrete Skateboarding. When it was called Concrete Powder, I was weirded-out a little because there was always photos of dudes in fluorescent gear rocking Kemper boards. But you’d have a random Sluggo snowboarding picture, which was cool because he was like Cardiel – a pro snowboarder and skater. Me and Wade Fyfe having a ‘Skate Bros’ [V2, #63, 2003] was also the coolest thing, and The Chateau [Burnaby, BC] – those were the best days of my life. I’d like to thank Concrete for being there to cover it. I think skateboarding in Canada might be a little different without having a free publication like that. It’s like the skateboard newsletter. Concrete’s ripping.”

“A memorable photo I’ve had was from a day at the Chateau in Burnaby, BC, when we had Mike McCourt staying with us. It was from the good ‘ol days when you could skate the Coal Harbour double set and I did a switch kickflip down it [V2, #59, june 2002 – right]. I was an Am and so was McCourt, because my style wasn’t so hot and neither was McCourt’s – the photo was fuzzy.”

combat photography

: switch hardflip - photo bloom // V2, #34 - 1998

Concrete skateboarding

photo dan zaslavsky

Mike c M Dermott

Frontside tailslide

This Page:The Predator eats up this large stalefish in Abbotsford. Bottom: Conan vs. Keegan, I got my money on those crazy eyes. Opposite: Camera man Jon West gets in close for the smooth 10 stair lipslide. Opposite Bottom: Middle finger pivot to fakie.

I FEEL SOMEWHAT OF AN EXPERT ON THE SUBJECT OF KEEGAN SAUDER. IT WAS BACK IN ‘93 OR ‘94 AND I WAS WORKING AT THE ORIGINAL “BOARDING HOUSE” IN VANCOUVER BC. USUALLY WHEN “SPONSOR ME” VIDEOS CAME IN THEY..... WELL THEY SUCKED. HOWEVER, THE TAPE THAT KEEGAN SENT US WAS DIFFERENT. IT POSSESSED SUCH A RAW ENERGY AND TALENT WE JUST HAD TO PUT HIM ON THE TEAM. THIS LEAD TO WHAT WE THOUGHT WOULD BECOME A CAREER IN SKATEBOARDING FOR KEEGAN. I AM NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS. HE STARTED HANGING OUT WITH HIPPIES, NOT WEARING UNDERWEAR AND NOW HE PARKS CARS AT SOME DISEASE CONTROL CENTRE OR SOMETHING. PERSONALLY, I DON’T THINK KEEGAN WILL GO ON TO BECOME SOME MAJOR PRO SKATER. THAT’S JUST NOT WHERE HIS HEART IS. THE ASS-KISSING POLITICS AND BULLSH*T OF THE SKATE INDUSTRY NEVER APPEALED TO HIM. I DO THINK HE WILL KEEP SKATING FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE AND DOING THINGS THE WAY HE WANTS THEM DONE. THAT'S WHY I ADMIRE HIM AND I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD ADOPT HIS LAID BACK AND CARE FREE ATTITUDE TOWARD SKATEBOARDING. P.S. I HAVE ENCLOSED AN ENVELOPE CONTAINING TEN DOLLARS. KEEGAN I HOPE YOU GET IT. PLEASE USE IT TO BUY A THREE PACK OF UNDERWEAR AT ZELLERS CAUSE SEEING YOUR ASS CRACK HANGING OUT AT HASTINGS PARK IS STARTING TO GROSS ME OUT. -Intro/Mike Prangnell

CAN-AM

INTERVIEW

+EEGAN 3AUDER

appeared: V2, #28 - 1997

: - photos dylan doubt // V2 #52 - 2001

PHOTOS AND INTERVIEW BY DYLAN DOUBT

WESLEY WILLIS IS HUGE...

( the Keegan Sauder interview )

can-am interview

A GUY WALKS INTO A PSYCHIATRIST’S OFFICE WEARING NOTHING BUT SARAN WRAP. THE PSYCHIATRIST SAYS, “I CAN CLEARLY SEE YOUR NUTS.”

Keegan Sauder

+EEGAN WHAT DOES THE WORD h"RAVEHEARTv MEAN TO YOU AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE WORLD OF SKATEBOARDING It is how we all should live. We should be free. The only way it could effect me is that if I were Scottish, and some Englishmen were to step to me, I’d tell them to f#@k off and give them a “skate to the heart”. !RE YOU TRUE BLUE TO THE RAIN OF 6ANCOUVER OR ARE YOU h#ALIFORNIA $REAMINv There is nothing sweeter than a finely tuned 1974 cb 550 heading north at 110 per... 7HAT MOTIVATES YOU TO THE CORE TO JUST hKEEP ON TRUCKINv The eternal frontside carve. Keep skating...do longer, faster, more tweaked, frontside carves.... 3WITCH CROOKS OR FRONTSIDE CARVES Frontside carve to switch crooks...to 540 boneless fingerflip 180 revert...shifty..

Untitled-5 1-2

“The first thing I saw that got me stoked was probably just the whole mag ‘cause growing up in the Kootenays, Vancouver was our California. The big city. Pros lived there, and people got shot on the news – it was just a big unknown. I knew I had to drop out of school and pursue my newfound fame. Just

5/14/09 5:22:13 PM

like any little kid, you look at skate mags and never imagine you would be in it. I don’t know if it pushed my career, but it pushed me – a little taste of the glory or something. Everything has probably failed at pushing my career, though, including myself. I’m Man-Am as fuck. Concrete Powder ruined my life.”

“My first photo was part of a Boarding House ad – melon to fakie on the smallest tranny at Burnside [above]. I was 15 years old, on a trip with Marc Tison and Rick McCrank for Cherry Bombs. Brendan Sohar shot it, and he also took me out in a collision the night before – welcome to Burnside.”

Mike McKinlay

photo gallery

skate bros

- photos sohar // V2 #24 -1996

: ollie - photo sohar // V2 #35 - 1998 can-ams

: ollie - photo shura // V2 #54, 2001

“I was exposed to some of the very first issues of Concrete. I got really psyched seeing guys like Judah Oakes and Sluggo [see page 32] skating Vancouver and Victoria parks that I had never seen before (I lived in Winfield, BC at the time). Concrete was super inspiring because it meant that you had a chance to get a shot in a magazine and you didn’t need to live in California. Concrete has always stayed true to showcasing Canadian talent, and they’ve always stayed true to promoting west coast skateboarding.”

“Concrete asked us to write a list of facts about one another for a ‘Brothers’ article. It was a pretty surreal feeling to actually see a picture of myself in a magazine, especially of the trick that made me a hometown hero dork at the Kelowna City skatepark.” Concrete skateboarding

photo caissie

Concrete skateboarding

: fs 5-0 - photo brian caissie // V2, #66, 2003

“I got a ‘Young Bloods’ when I was about 16, which was Sascha a frontside Daley Courtenay 5-0 on that green powerLives: box thatBC (Vancouver island) Rides: Manual skate[right ]. was out in Richmond, BC boards, DVS, Matix (Supra),and West Beach. I remember being really stoked, Age: 16 and I think that’s the first photo I ever shot with Brian Caissie. Mike Hastie, Ryan Smith and Sean Hayes were there, and Jeremy Pettit was filming. It was sweet, and it was when I’d first come over from Vancouver Island on the weekends. I was cruisin’ around with Jeremy when he mentioned I should skate this thing. When I was younger, I remember seeing skate and snow photos of Joey Williams ripping. I think Concrete’s pretty real, and it’s given Canadians a chance to go do their thing and get a photo published if it’s tight.”

Frontside boardslide

young bloods

photo caissie

Sascha Daley

Growing up with a very loving and supportive family, Sascha was raised to be a hard working and independent young man. For 16 years old he is one of the few that I know that is so dedicated to ruling any challenge that lies in his path. The kind of person that gets excited to attempt something brand new with victory already set. When it comes to his skating he is so solid, with a style so unique, you only can wish you had it! He skates with Russ (Milligan) a lot so that would explain it. When he is not on his skateboard he murders fish at his fathers fishing lodge, eats lots of candy, fights off all the women, (they all want him, what babe wouldn’t). He has a true sense of humor, is open minded, has a positive attitude, and is an extraordinary talented skateboarder. When I get to hang out with Sascha, he fills me up with junk food until I feel sick. He says that I always make him laugh, but it’s just him laughing at me stressing over some bull kah kah, but he makes me forget about it because he makes me laugh at myself. He reminds me of me when I was young. –Jeremy Ricketts.

: sw varial heel - photo tyler mackenzie // v2, #69 - 2004

Sheldon Meleshinski

Swich varial heelflip

: feeble grind - photo tyler mackenzie // v2, #73 - 2004

TYLER MACKENZIE MACKENZIE TYLER

interview

“The years have been cruising by, no doubt! I don’t think I can even remember my first photo in Concrete. I must have been 16 years old, probably doing a ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan to fakie. It was probably shot by Judah Oakes, Kyle Shura or Brian Caissie. I guess this skateboarding lifestyle I’ve been living doesn’t help the memory, but I love trying to get in Concrete all the time. I’m sure I tried to shoot with every photographer they had just to rep the scene. Concrete has definitely been supporting Canadian skateboarding for as long as I can remember, and for that reason alone it gains all my respect. Keep up the good work, homies! Let’s ride this motherfucker ‘till the wheels fall off!”

interview

photo gallery

: bs nosegrind - photo brian caissie // vol2 #68 - 2004

Ryan Oughton

“I don’t even remember who shot it, but I think my first photo was a pretty lame trick from back in the day, so I don’t really want to talk about it [laughs]. I think it was a benihana off a booter or something [below], with a helmet on. I was probably like 11. It was in this article that was called ‘Too Young To Drink’ in 1998 [see page 124]. Appleyard had a sequence in it, and Andrew Gordon was 50ing this flatbar when he was like 10. I think Mike Hastie had a switch tail down a handrail. It’s funny when you look at those old mags now and you remember not hearing about any of these guys at the time, but now it’s like, ‘Fuck, it’s that guy!’”

Concrete skateboarding

photo dan zaslavsky

: kickflip nose slide - photo shura // v2 #57 - 2001

“I would read every Concrete front-to-back when it was on newspaper print and had snowboarding content. I think it’s always been a sick thing for Canada – it’s raw skating and kids can go to any skateshop and get a free copy.”

cover

photo dan zaslavsky

Russ Milligan

Frontside 180 fakie nosegrind 180 out

“My first-ever photo was in Concrete – a backside smith grind on a ledge at Ambleside in West Vancouver. It was in the ‘Combat Photography’ section [V2, #37, 1998 – right]. I remember actually trying to do a backlip, but I fluked out and did a back smith. I don’t think I’ve landed one since. I was 14 or so when that came out, and Seth Fluker shot it.”

Concrete skateboarding

photo johnny martinez

Morgan Smith

“The first Concrete I remember seeing is the issue with Chris Haslam doing a big ollie on the cover [V2, #54, 2001] and there was a Toronto article – it had a lot of local dudes like Chad Albert and Dave Lapchuk, who I looked up to because I’d see them at spots just killing it. Concrete gave me an interview a little while ago [V2, #83, 2006], which helped me a lot. I think the mag is a good source to see Canadian up-and-comer interviews and OG coverage.”

photo caissie

Kickflip

Young Bloods

frontside noseslide to backside nollie heelflip out

“I had a Concrete cover of a switch front blunt on this little church rail in Ottawa [see page 84], and it was a good feeling because it was my second Canadian skate mag cover in the same year [2005]. I think the magazine motivates and inspires people, and I wish I would’ve kept all the old issues of Concrete I had from when I was a kid.”

“I’d say the nollie 50-50 down that rail in the Tampa area for my ‘Young Bloods’ was the first photo I had in a magazine [V2, #64, 2003 – right] I shot that with Jay Bridges when I was around 17. I remember there was a really short runup, and the rail wasn’t that high, but it was kinda wobbly. I thought I was gonna eat shit [laughs]. I was definitely super hyped when that photo came out.

PAUL TREPANIER

Bridges

Paul Trep

Nollie to backside 50-50. Seq:Jay Bridges

Age: 16 Home: Ottawa Sponsor's: Alien Workshop, DC shoe's, DC apparel, Momentum, Top of the World, B.S.E.

Untitled-8 1

It may be possible that a tiny micro-chip was planted deep inside his toenails that makes him somewhat of a robot. But probably not. It's these kids nowadays. They're all on some insane training regiment. Like a diet of nothing but skating. From the time they see a skateboard, it's on. It starts with ollies on flat and quickly moves to switch vulture twists down 15 sets. And now, a bit about Paul. Paul has a very powerful mental grasp on his skateboarding. He is EXTREMELY confident with a positive attitude, and I think that shows in his skateboarding. For his age he seems abnormally good and focused on the tasks before him. I witnessed some amazing tricks he did last summer, and I know that was just the beginning. Those tricks gave him the spark. I see this being a crazy year for "The Paul". Everyone else will see soon enough. He is a machine. The nollies, the switch, the flippy flippy. His wrath will be known. Some may bow, others will run in terror from his raw burning talent. Demons will shoot forth from his eyes, and brimstone will rain down from the sky. Oh yea! and he's the only person I've seen do a nollie bigspin noseslide, nollie heelflip out on a rail. Karate Chop!!! - DR.N

5/19/09 1:07:49 PM

Concrete skateboarding

Focus Point

Rob Nurmi

Former Concrete photo editor/staff photographer (Volume 1, 1990-1991)

Justin Lucyn

caveman to boardslide

Photo Gallery : Volume 1, Issue 2 - 1990

“I love this shot not for what you see, but for the memories of the day. The mag was really green – none of us (the original staffers) had a clue of what we were doing. As such, I would just randomly hook up with the boys of the day and shoot, hoping something would pop and make the day worthwhile. Justin was one of the ‘new school kids.’ On this day I had him, Colin [McKay], Sluggs, Steve Calvert, and I think Ben Chibber downtown, along with my son Richard (who was a one-yearold, and being pushed around in a baby buggy). It was madness as we would hit a spot – the security would come out, start on us ‘kids’ and be totally messed up by the fact that we had a baby with us. We were blitzing all over downtown Vancouver with me running behind and ollieing Rich up curbs in his stroller. It must have been nothing short of hilarious to see.”

Concrete skateboarding

The Canadian skateboard and snowboard community was a lot smaller and more underground when Concrete Powder started in 1990. The magazine itself was a start-from-scratch learning experience for those who produced it, so it was naturally a forum for the emerging talent pool of developing photographers of the time. The magazine’s mandate early on was to encourage reader submissions from across the country to help engage upstart photographers, and to draw diverse content from the much smaller and less experienced skatemedia pool of the time. Whether it was through the reader submission section, Combat Photography, or simply sent as an unsolicited photo contribution, many marquee Canadian skate photographers honed their skills through being regularly published in the early issues of Concrete. Focus Point places an emphasis on favourite photo selections – from a group of past-and-present contributors – published in Concrete during a pivotal time in their evolution as photographers.

Brendan Sohar

Former Concrete Photo Editor/Staff Photographer (1992-2005)

Jon West Nose slide

Cover : Volume 2, Issue 2 - 1992

“The day probably started out the same as most White Rock days – don’t leave the house ‘till after noon, on account of brunch and all. All skateboarders are dirty pirates. I really can’t remember if I drove or took the bus, but it was the usual posse. Again, I can’t exactly remember who, but Mike Geiger for sure ‘cause he’s in that issue too. Okay, no more name droppin’. Jon started out with some rail slides, then nose slides at CIBC in Vancouver. I was probably yelling at people, being a ‘tard (being Sohar), then I got out my camera and ‘click’. Whoever I got to shoot with, wherever it was: thanks everybody. That shit helped change this kid’s life.”

Nicholas Burke former concrete staff photographer/ photo editor/web tech (1994-2002)

Carl Shipman

frontside 270 kickflip

Slam City Jam 2 : Volume 2, Issue 16 - June 1995

“This was from the second Slam City Jam [see page 106] and I remember feeling like a kid in a candy store, shooting everything I could. Vancouver just blew up for a couple weeks around the event – Pros from everywhere came swarming in on the city, locals came out of the woodwork, and downtown was overrun. The first few Slams were huge for me. I had never really shot anything or anyone big, and being on the floor of the contest dodging boards, racing around, and scoping out the next spot was awesome. It was my crash course on skate photography in general, and meeting people put the industry into some kind of perspective. I kind of feel like I grew up with the skate scene and specifically Slam – it really pushed Vancouver into the spotlight around the world.”

Concrete skateboarding

Brian Peech associate publisher, SBC Media

Jake Stewart 50-50

Bacon Bits (Young Bloods) : Volume 2, issue 27, Spring 1997

“I think this might’ve been a first for both Jake and me – his first skate photo in a magazine, and my first published shot as a skate photographer. This was back when all we did was skate and fist fight each other – when our lives were flooded with excitement, drive and all-around good times. We had absolutely no clue where the paths we were carving at the time would take us, or, for that matter, that we were carving any paths at all. Looking back, it’s sure been a long and strange trip for a couple of fucktards from Winnipeg.”

Dylan Doubt Spike Jones

frontside ollie

Cover : Volume 2, Issue 34 - Spring 1998

“Bernard Malamud once wrote (in the voice of an aging thespian), ‘I am too young to live in memories.’ That said, there’s nothing wrong with a little reflection. We look back fondly on those innocent days of our youth – a time when shooting skate photos consisted mostly of rolling around the neighbourhood, hoping to get in a few good sessions. If a photo came of it, all the better. This may have been one of the first rolls of film that I cross-processed. I was anxious to get it to the lab, so I put on a suit and finished the roll with some stunning selfportraits later that day. It was definitely a rewarding trip back from the lab. When I brought the film in to the Concrete office and pronounced that I had their cover, I was surprised that they took me seriously. I made a point of not talking to anyone at the office until I saw the new issue, fearing that I would jinx my first ever cover (not that I could have done anything about the awful ‘nuclear waste’ themed cover design, though I probably didn’t quite think about design so much back then). There’s been quite a few covers since then, but this is one that I will look back upon with great fondness. Thank you, Mr. Spike Jones.”

Concrete skateboarding

Ryan Allan Chris “Goobs” Allan crooked grind

Poster Spread : Volume 2, Issue 29 - Summer 1997

“Concrete supports Canadian skateboarding 100 percent and it was a crucial part of my photo career; it also showed me that I could start a skate magazine [SBC Skateboard in 1999]. Back in ‘97 my brother Chris and I road-tripped up to MTL for a skate mission. We shot a photo in old Montreal and I was really stoked on it. I wanted to send it to Concrete Powder but my bro had already been in the mag the previous issue [Hamilton feature – #28]. I was worried they wouldn’t run it so I listed his nickname ‘Goobs’ as his name, and said he was a Montreal local. I think Richard Neuman, the editor at the time, spent a long time trying to track down this ‘Goobs’ character to get his real name. I felt bad, but my bro was stoked. Nice one, ‘Goobs’!”

Rich Odam Dave Lapchuk crooked grind

Toronto Feature : Volume 2, Issue 54 - August 2001

“On this particular day, I learned something that I still think about. Back then, this was the biggest (and only) rail I had shot, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure how I should set up my flashes. Mike McCourt was with us that day. At the time, he was really interested in photography and since he was killing it in skating, he was exposed to shooting with many other photographers from whom he’d learned a few things from. It was thanks to him that I got this shot lit like such – he explained where I should set up my two flashes and also why they had to be that way. Back in those days, I couldn’t just scan my 35mm colour slide and email a JPEG preview over to Concrete for approval. Instead, I had to spend the money on packaging, labeling and shipping several images, waiting weeks to see what would be used or sent back – pretty much the closest thing to rolling the dice. The way I felt when I saw this photo I shot of Dave Lapchuk run in Concrete hasn’t changed much from nowadays when I see my newer images come out. It’s always exciting, and once I pick up the new issue, I can’t wait to see what’s in stock for the next one. So many great skaters and photographers have started their careers by having their work run in Concrete.”

Concrete skateboarding

Harry Gils Mark Appleyard

backside nosebluntslide

Cover : Volume 2, Issue 42 - September 1999

“This photo of Mark is pretty old now – from when he was just breaking out. He was on Birdhouse, I think, and also getting stuff from Adio. It was probably his last summer in Toronto, and I remember Mark being worried about not making it in skateboarding and doubting himself. Sean Mo and I were with him and assured him that he’d be alright. When I dug up this photo recently, I was a bit disgusted by my lighting but I was still messing around back then – I was just figuring out how to shoot photos at that time. Everyone was super stoked on Concrete around that time. I remember my first skate photo getting published in Concrete about 13 years ago in the ‘Combat Photography’ section [V2, #32, December 1997]. I even remember the very first issue being on newsstands and picking it up.”

Concrete skateboarding

Focus Point

Dan Mathieu founder/publisher, exposé magazine

Marc Mikhail backside 180

Cover : Volume 2, Issue 30 - September 1997

“In 1992, a few weeks before the opening of Boucherville skatepark, I broke my arm. During the time I spent off my board, I began shooting my first skateboarding photos. Soon after that, a friend showed me a book titled The Americans, by Robert Frank, which got me really stoked on street photography. This photo of the nowlegendary Montreal skateboarder, Marc Mikhail, aka ‘Brown Kid’, is one of my all-time favourites as it captures the essence of what got me hooked on photography – skateboarding and the random people we encounter in the streets. On top of that it made the cover of Concrete Powder, the first magazine to publish my work.”

Concrete skateboarding

Jay Bridges Paul Trep

switch frontside bluntslide

Cover : Volume 2, Issue 80 - Christmas 2005

“Paul Trep is one of the most talented skateboarders that I have ever met. I first met Paul when he was 15 years old, and have been watching him kill it ever since. I chose this photo not because it’s a cover, but because it was one of my favourite times in skateboarding, and a good time in my life. I was traveling a lot to places like Miami, NYC, Philly, California, and Europe with Paul and other friends during this time. We all had so much fun skating and just chillin’. This switch front blunt was shot downtown in our nation’s capital.”

Ian Snow Jonathan Lachance frontside ollie

2005 Photo Annual

“I’ve always been a fan of Concrete ever since I was little – when it was printed on newspaper and ran snowboard photos (that was sweet when it was a hybrid mag). When I started shooting skateboarding, I thought it would be so sick to get something published. I like the way this photo is so monotone and the shadow coming off his hand on the pipe wall is rad! I love interesting shadows in photos. After talking to Jonathan about his point of view from this day, there’s a whole other side of politics when you’re sponsored. He was riding for Osiris at the time, and didn’t have any left, but had some DCs that were given to him. Not knowing we were going to be shooting anything that day, he was wearing the DCs and just killing it. When the mag came out, Osiris was bummed but the DC rep was so stoked that he sent him a box, and so his dilemma started. He apologized to the Osiris rep and they were forgiving, so he stayed with them and traded the DCs for some ganja.”

Concrete skateboarding

Brian Caissie

Concrete photo editor/staff photographer (2000-present)

Craig Williams kickflip

Van City Skate Gangs : Volume 2, Issue 59 - June 2002

“Of all the photos I’ve taken for the magazine, this one really stands out for me. I remember at the time this was the best photo and the luckiest photo I took. We were skating this bump called 16 Banks when all of a sudden this old Chrysler LeBaron peeled into the parking lot and started doing donuts. The two guys in the car were screaming out the window at us and did maybe 10 donuts in a row, then peeled out of the parking lot leaving a smelly cloud of burnt rubber. We all started laughing and then Craig looked at me and said, “This one’s for those guys.” I just pulled out my old Rolliflex medium format camera, and shot one right when he kickflipped over his 1981 Toyota Tercel. He landed it that try. I remember thinking since I shot only one and it was with film, it wouldn’t turn out. I’ve shot a lot with Craig Williams in the early stages of my career and he’s always full of ideas and energy. Luckily for me, the photo did turn out and it’s one of my favourite shots in my 10 years of shooting for the magazine.”

Judah Oakes Dave Priest

ally-oop frontside grab

Richmond Park Check : Volume 2, Issue 42 - September 1999

“This photo of Dave Priest blasting is one of my favourite shots published in Concrete over the years. I didn’t think he would roll out of it, but somehow Dave stomped it like he’d done it a million times, and rode away clean. Shooting this photo on film and not digital (the digital format didn’t exist for the average consumer yet) was a thrill to pick up from the lab, kind of like a Christmas present. You would hope it turned out exactly as planned – composition, aperture, shutter settings, and film speed have to all coincide to make a good photo. This was a time of trial and error for me. I was hyped with how this shot came out and that it was published. Concrete has helped shape Canadian skateboarding and will continue to do so for years to come. The magazine continues to progress, and I’m proud to have been able to contribute as much as I have over the years.”

Concrete skateboarding

Focus Point

Jody Morris ISSUE 90 . DECEMBER 2007 . FREE

SCOTT DECENZO.

FRONTSIDE BLUNTSLIDE.

Scott Decenzo

frontside bluntslide

Cover : Vol. 2, Issue 90 - December 2007

GAILEA

MOMOLU INTERVIEW ISSUE 90 . DECEMBER 2007 . FREE

NIAGARA: WINE COUNTRY

RORY FULBER KEVIN LOWRY HUGO BALEK

FULLY FLARED & NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH PREMIERES . TRICK TIP WITH STEVIE WILLIAMS

OFC-w-spine2.indd 1

11/9/07 9:00:57 AM

Concrete skateboarding

“Out of all the years I’ve been giving photos to Concrete this is my favourite? No, probably not. To start, this is about as stock of a handrail photo as they come – fisheye lens, and close to the ground. Photographically, it’s nothing to write home about but yet this still kept coming up while I was digging through stuff. It was the circumstances and Scott’s attitude that day that kept it around. This was a few years ago during a real bad fire season in Southern California; the entire area was on evacuation watch as the neighbourhood only a few miles behind this spot was already engulfed in flames. The streets were deserted. People had either already packed their valuables and left, or were in their homes glued to the TV awaiting news on the direction of the winds. Schools and businesses were closed, so what else were a few Canadians going to do with nowhere to go? Just as we got to this rail, the wind changed and began to blow thick smoke and ash in our direction. Breathing clearly was an issue, let alone trying to exert yourself skating. Scott Decenzo used an old t-shirt from the van as a makeshift ventilator, and proceeded to shred the rail as if it was a regular sunny afternoon – completely ignoring the smoke burning his eyes or shortening his breath. This wasn’t Scott making a fashion statement with a new type of flair placement, it was just his way of avoiding going back to the house to stare at the television, along with the other tens of thousands in nearby homes, wondering if this would be the time that California actually burned down.”

Scott Pommier Rick McCrank frontside ollie

2005 Photo Annual

“I don’t get the chance to shoot with Rick very often, so when I do it’s a treat. I think I was crashing in the basement at his house around the time we shot this – insider access. Sometimes you get a shot that sorta jumps off the light table, and this was one of those for me. Look at him, he’s flying! My brother bought the first issue of Concrete, back when the magazine was equal parts concrete and powder, complete with dual-sport covers. Later, I ended up getting a little interview in the magazine [V2, #29, 1997], back when I was a boarder. My old roommate still teases me for the number of times I used the word ‘stoked’ along with its derivatives, ‘stoke’ and ‘stoking’, though thankfully not ‘stokage’. Now I’m ‘stoked’ to be a contributor to Canada’s longest running skate mag.” Concrete skateboarding

Distributed by Ultimate / Wick Winder

Special Editions:

The CAnAdiAn skateboArd AnnuAl And The Skatepark Guide ChAnging The FormulA

Concrete skateboarding

: jon west - frontside hurricane to fakie photo dylan doubt c.s.a. 2001

c.s.a. 2000 : max dufour - kickflip indy to fakie over plg - halfcab fs noseslide - photo dan mathieu

c.s.a. 1999

: moses itkonen - noseslide - photo jody morris

gallery

canadian skateboard annual 1998

: ollie over rail into bank - photo morris // C.S.A. 1998

: alex chalmers - kickflip photo jody morris

With a cover price of $3.95, Concrete released a yearly special edition newsstand offering from 1998 until 2004 – dubbed the Canadian Skateboard Annual – which weren’t included in the overall Volume 2 count. The perfect-bound Annuals provided a meatier print product that included a more elaborate selection of content. It was later decided that two special newsstand issues should be produced each year. The Canadian Skateboard Annual was subsequently dropped from production since the regular, free issues of Concrete had evolved to better reflect the quality level of the Skateboard Annuals. In 2005, The Photo Annual debuted as a $5.95 special edition newsstand release to fill the vacant Canadian Skateboard Annual’s summer slot. The Canadian Skatepark Guide was introduced as a new special edition winter release, and three Skatepark Guides were published annually from 2005 until 2007.

interview : alex gavin photos doubt & mathieu// C.S.A. 2000

The first six issues of Concrete Powder [V1, ‘90-‘91] were newsstand issues, and it was found pretty early on that as cool as it was, the marketplace couldn’t support it. The magazine subsequently got cut down to what looked like a high school paper. In the case of The Annual, it was to be glossy all the way through, considerably more pages than it’s predecessors, and most importantly – no snowboarding.

BY JESSE OYE

interview : ryan smith photos blabac & humphries // C.S.A. 2003

gallery : paul otvos & les ramsey photos kettela & shoar // C.S.A. 1998

: ben couves - photo morris // C.S.A. 1998 intro

In all the years I wrote for Concrete – every caption, every review, every interview, and every critique that celebrated skateboarding – what mattered to me was never, “Will this provoke the reader?” or even “Will they like it?” It was pretty much, “If I was on the can, would I read this?” So when Richard Neuman and Troy Blackmore approached me to work on the Skate Annual in ‘98, I was excited. But at the same time I wondered, “Why mess with the formula?”

BLABAC

A massive 17 stair backside boardslide. photo - HUMPHRIES.

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contributing editor and staff writer for Concrete from 1997 until 2006.

Questions: Jesse Oye and Sean Hayes Photos: Brian Caissie

MIKE HASTIE What was your first published photo? I think it was an ollie over a fence that was in T-town. I was wearing a Canadian railway shirt. Props to the guys behind the drivers seats of trains. What is your favourite thing to skate? I love the flat bar going across the Richmond park pyramid, she’s got soul.

interview : mike hastie photos brian caissie // C.S.A. 2002

The reason for doing it was really reflective of skateboarding at the time in Canada. We had some established Pros, the biggest contest in the world – Slam City Jam [see page 106] – and some real heavy-hitting Ams on the horizon. What I don’t think we realized at the time was that those taps would never turn off. What do we have today? More Pros, more Ams, but no contest – you can’t win ‘em all. The Skateboard Annual was a big step for the magazine because it became very clear what was possible. In the years to come it was obvious that the content was going to be there, and the quality of the magazine would follow. What Concrete looks like now bears a closer resemblance to the seven newsstand Skateboard Annuals. Personally, what I enjoyed most about working on these was the interviews and doing the Slam article – having hundreds of skaters and a bunch of Pros under one roof is pretty good fodder for a story. —Jesse Oye had his first written piece published in Vol. 1, #3, 1991, and went on to become a

5/26/09 11:08:34 AM

What’s your favourite movie? Clerks! "I hate guys, I love women" Jay and Silent Bob in their best performance. Who do you skate with the most? Lately, its been Paul, Gailea and Hayes. Some good guys to keep up the progression with.

How old are you? I was born April 6th 1982, you can do the math can’t you? Will you move to California? Why or why not? Well, I probably wouldn’t move there forever, but I do have a room there, and I will be staying for five months starting in August. I’m working on getting a working visa so it’s not so sketchy when I go across the border. Do you think amateurs should get paid? Why or why not? Yes, why not? You need to skate and if you have to work, how can you travel and keep up your practicing? Ya know? Money definitely keeps me going because if I didn’t have it, I would have to work and it would have been hard to go out mid week to shoot this interview. It’s the best "job" I’ve ever had and I wouldn’t quit for the world.

When should someone turn pro? When they have a name that is going to be recognized, lots of photos video parts and respect from others. I guess you can’t always make everyone happy. Some people will always hate, it happens a lot in Van, it kinda sucks. Do you like contests? Why or why not? Ya, I love contests because I get to skate with all the guys I look up too, but some of those contests are hard to skate in because of all the people. You got to kinda just shred in your run instead of practicing a lot and hopefully it comes together. How did you get sponsored? I sent a vid to Michelle at Cherry Bombs and she liked it, she was awesome she would buy me shoes and stuff. What’s up Michelle?

What percentage do you film and take photos versus just going out and skating? Well lately, about 75% filming and photos and 25% having fun, but now that I’m in Canada for the summer I’m just going to shred parks and take photos when I have too. What’s the stupidest thing in skateboarding? HATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put the following in order of importance: a)style. b)gnar-ness. c)amount of tricks one can do. c)personality. Personality, style, amount of tricks, and gnarness. What other Canadians are up and coming? Gary Robinson he’s been killing it for so long, Arron Johnson, Haslam, Wade Fyfe, Suggitt, Hayes, Jordan Hoffart, if I named them all the Americans might get nervous, hahahahahaha, just kiddin’.

Yep that’s right, backside bluntslide the huge Van Hubba ledge.

: paul machnau - nosegrind photo jaya bonderov

: jmark appleyard - backside lipslide photo skin phillips

: josh evin - backside 50-50 photo kyle shura

c.s.a. 2003

c.s.a. 2004

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c.s.a. 2002

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Concrete skateboarding

directory

: canadian skatepark guide 2005

After doing the Skateboard Annual every summer, we thought the formula was working, and it was well received by advertisers and readers. We looked at cutting out one of the free issues and expanding the special edition idea to twice-a-year. One newsstand issue would be released in August and the new issue would be released in February – they’d be released at tradeshow times. The February special edition was also a good way to get a magazine out during a time of the year when fresh skate photos and stories are hard to get during the frozen Canadian winter. During the years leading up to this time, there was a large number of outdoor public skateparks being built across Canada. There were a few park directory lists around, but nobody had done a magazine focused on the parks in Canada. So we decided to put out a Skatepark Guide issue with park profiles and one of the most complete cross92

Concrete skateboarding

photo jody morris

: skatepark guide 2007 // andrew reynolds - kickflip fakie cover contents : sheldon lloydsmith fs 5-0 photo caissie // skatepark guide 2005

cover

: skatepark guide 2006 // paul machnau - backside noseblunt photo brian caissie

: skatepark guide 2005 // sheldon meleshinski - kickflip 5-0 photo tyler mckenzie cover

The Canadian Skateboard Annual was started as a once-a-year special edition, to offer an all-skateboarding magazine for sale on newsstands. It was also distributed to skate shops for free and they could decide whether to sell it for the cover price or give it away. It was a way to put out an issue that was a step up, quality-wise, from the regular free issues of Concrete, and also to include some skate content from outside of Canada – it was the first move to break away from the Powder in the Concrete Powder name. These special newsstand issues were also distributed into the US, so that was new for us. I was pushing the idea of dropping the snowboarding content, especially since snowboarding and skating had grown as industries in Canada, and could both support their own magazines. Snowboard Canada magazine started in 1991 and was doing a great job supporting the Canadian scene, so it was time for us to concentrate on skateboarding.

Canada park lists in print. It was to be designed around the concept of providing a “Resort Guide” or “Travel Guide” for skateboarders who wanted to go check out all the awesome new skateparks that were being built. The idea didn’t really fit in with “cool” editorial content in the extremely fickle skateboard world, but we agreed it was something that was worth creating. The task of actually collecting all the information for the park list turned out to be way more time consuming than we originally thought. Monty Little – a local skateboard historian and old friend of Kevin Harris – was brought in to collect all the park info. He spent up to six months contacting people by phone and e-mail to compile the master skatepark list, and we had to filter that list down to a manageable size so it could fit in the issue. This brought up many discussions as to what a skatepark was: Did it have to be a certain size? Were moveable ramps in a tennis court considered a skatepark? Did we want to give directions to the parks that were designed so horribly wrong that they should be forgotten forever? The list led to heated debates since everyone has a different point of view on what a good skatepark is, what sucks, and then there’s the whole other opinion that “real” skaters don’t need skateparks at all. Finally, after all of Monty’s hard work, we hacked his list down and were able to somewhat agree on the final result. —Troy Blackmore started working full-time for Concrete in 1997 – wearing the art

director, photo editor, and editor hats. Brian Caissie took over the photo editor position in 2000, Kelly Litzenberger took over as art director in 2005 (and as editor in 2007), and Frank Daniello acquired the associate/copy editor role in 2007. The last issue of Concrete Troy worked on was the 2007 Canadian Skateboard Annual, and he’s currently the art director for Ultimate Distribution. He also does pre-press ad prep for Concrete, and is the content manager of concreteskateboarding.com.

: jake stewart - ollie photo mike blabac // C.S.A. 2003 interview

: ariel stagni - 50-50 photo harry gils // C.S.A. 2000 gallery

: ted degros - nollie photo kyle shura // C.S.A. 2004

: colin mckay - pop shuv fakie photo jody morris // SKATEPARK GUIUDE 2006 in the indoor

: barry walsh - frontside ollie photo dan mathieu // C.S.A. 2002 gallery

gallery

The Interview Issue Concrete’s 2008 Interview Issue was sold on the newsstands for $5.95 (or free at the discretion of skateshops) and filled the vacant winter special edition slot after the last Canadian Skatepark Guide was published in 2007. The Interview Issue featured 14 condensed Q & A interviews at two to four pages in length, which included the likes of Chad Dickson, Lee Yankou, Ted DeGros, Russ Milligan, Jesse Landen, Keegan Sauder, the elusive Mark Appleyard, and more. The issue also featured the first Decenzo brothers and Magnus Hanson triple threat – entitled “The Producers” – where each would tag-team interview the other. Wade Fyfe and Mike McDermott asked each other questions for their “Skate Bros” six-pager, and both Chris Haslam and Paul Machnau took turns with the voice recorder while on location in Hawaii. Paul Carter – who lived in Vancouver from ‘01 to ‘06 – gave us 14 pages worth of a chance to comprehensively explore his scene back home in Bristol, England. Content-wise, The Interview Issue was well-filled, but the cover seemed to be misunderstood by many. The concept and message were actually quite simple; it wasn’t intended to be about copious stair counts or the mammoth chasm of the day, but rather the universally appealing form of a classic move along with a visible media presence that emphasized the spotlight on the rising talent showcased in this issue. Jody Morris – along with his camera and flash – was happy to oblige, as was Jordan Hoffart and his front blunt. Concrete skateboarding

Special Editions:

The photo AnnuAl

To elaborate further on the original intent of these issues, in 2007 it was decided to integrate more photography-related substance into the Annual. The 2007 Photo Annual cover – shot by Concrete photo editor, Brian Caissie and his 4x5 Omega-View – featured a basic, yet bold image undisrupted by the loud sales pitch of cover lines that often blanket skate magazines on the newsstand. There was also the inclusion of photo book reviews, such as Ed Templeton’s Nobody Living Could Ever Make Me Turn Back, and a piece exploring the toy camera phenomenon – in this case, the Loreo 3D camera and viewing system. There was also a shift towards including multiple photo essay spreads, which featured a collage of images shot by French Fred Mortagne, Chris Haslam, Daniel Mansson, Diego Bucchieri, and Russ Milligan. San Francisco’s Dan Zaslavsky graced the issue with an insightful portfolio feature, while regular issue single-pages – like “Sound Check” (featuring Pride Tiger) and “Identity” (featuring Emmanuel Guzman) – were included in the Annual for the first time.

2008

For the 2008 Annual, there was hopes for a cover that portrayed creative skateboarding amidst imposing infrastructure. Alex Chalmers had the spot and trick in mind, and Caissie once again pulled the trigger. This would be Chalmers’ sixth Concrete cover – the most any skater has had in the publication to date. The issue also appeased to the aspiring shutterbug with a “What’s In The Bag” that displayed all the tools of the trade used by the likes of Ryan Allan, Jody Morris, and Caissie. In an attempt to emphasize both film and the rapidly developing digital forefront, the 2008 Annual was also split into two sections. “The Digi-Cam Forum” featured varied camera reviews by the likes of Bradley Sheppard, Caissie, Morris, Ben Colen, and Mike Blabac; the section also featured an all-digital skate image gallery. Film ruled the second half of the magazine, and featured a lifestyle photo essay by Jerry Hsu and his Nikon FE2; a short piece on instant film; the obscure world of Martin Wayne Belger’s elaborately constructed 4x5 pinhole cameras, and an all-film skate photo gallery. The “Identity” page in this issue shifted towards a photographer, and featured Anthony Acosta.

photo annual 2006 // tom penny backside kickflip - photo brian caissie

2007

photo annual 2007 // corey sheppard kickflip - photo brian caissie

The Concrete Skateboarding Photo Annual is a $5.95 newsstand edition that began as a summer release in 2005, and is included in the current production scheme of five free regular issues along with two special releases. The 2005 and 2006 Annuals began as a more traditional “look book” that showcased multiple skate image galleries, and also featured a photographer portfolio (Ryan Allan and Scott Pommier’s extended work appeared in the first two Annuals). This initial format was effective, and provided readers with a convenient means to observe standout images shot by Concrete Skateboarding’s extended list of talented Canadian and international contributing photographers.

photo annual 2005 // mike mcdermott switch ollie - photo scott pommier

skateboard imagery and beyond

“Concrete Powder had a pretty strong mandate on what they wanted to cover. One Concrete cover that really stoked me was that one where it’s pretty much a skater in traffic [corey sheppard, kickflip. photo annual 2007]. I understand there was some controversy because it was considered outside the box, but to me it captured the essence of skateboarding. If anyone is going to be jaded, it’s someone like me. So it means a lot when a magazine is willing to step outside of their own boundaries.” 94

Concrete skateboarding

photo annual 2008 // alex chalmers frontside bluntslide transfer - photo brian caissie

owner – PD’s Hot Shop / Skull Skates

- 4x5 camera gallery 2006

“When I started skateboarding, I didn’t really know about skateboard videos or magazines. I pretty much just skated by myself for the first five years. A guy from my hometown named Jody Wagstaff showed me some photos he had in Concrete, and I remember seeing that and being like, ‘Oh my God, I wanna have a photo someday.’ I was inspired that someone from Fredericton had done it. My first photo ever was an ollie into a pool like four years ago in a Photo Annual [2005]. Jeff Delong shot it in my hometown of Fredericton. I remember shooting it and thinking it would be cool just to see a photo of myself skating, then a month later Jeff told me it was running in Concrete. I didn’t think that was possible for people in the Maritimes.”

2008

- camera reviews

2007

- ryan allan portfolio

Josh Clark

2008

- jerry hsu photography

Hugo Balek

“I don’t really remember any content in Concrete when I was younger – I even have trouble remembering what was in the last issue. But I remember being super hyped as a young fella seeing photos of Montreal skaters like Antoine Asselin and Christopher St-Cyr. It pumped me seeing those guys in the mag and it made me want to skate harder and try to get a photo as well. My first photo ever was a nollie heel into a bank in Montreal that was in a Concrete Photo Annual [2007]. Kasey Andrews shot it. I was so stoked when I found out it was getting used. It was like Christmas, but in the summer.”

Concrete skateboarding

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: canadian skateboard annual 2004 - photo judah oakes

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WhAt About The

photo neuman // V1 #2 - 1990

The Snow Side of Concrete’s First 13 Years

When I started skating at the age of 14, it was only natural that I gravitated to my local convenience store’s magazine rack. I bought copies of Thrasher, Transworld and Poweredge every month, and read them cover-to-cover. When I started snowboarding a year later, I bought Transworld Snowboarding and the long-passed (and boringly titled) International Snowboard magazine. Of course all of these magazines were published in the United States. The early issues of Transworld had the odd dose of Canadian content, often written by the now-legendary Ken Achenbach (who can be credited with much of snowboarding’s early growth in our country), but there was never enough to reflect the relevance or importance of our scene. I may have been young and naive at the time – and we may not have had the Internet yet – but I damn well knew there was more going on at home than the American mags reflected. This changed in one staple-bound dose of glossy paper when the first issue of Concrete Powder was released. I clearly remember seeing it for the first time and how I reacted. I was at a skatepark in Barrie, Ontario, which was about a 30-minute drive from my house in the Toronto suburbs, and there was a single copy in the park’s shop. I was honestly stunned. Here, for the very first time, was one magazine that covered my two favourite things with 100 percent Canadian content. The next year saw six issues released (prior to shifting to the oversized newsprint format), and I can still recall the photos and some of the 100

Concrete skateboarding

interview

interview : alex warburton - melon to fakie photo brunkhart // V1 #6 - 1991

: chris nichols - photo alberstat // V1 #4

- 1991

interview

: sean kearns - method air

Concrete Powder began with a mandate of combining the best of both Canadian skateboarding and snowboarding within its pages, and did so from the very first issue in 1990. As the two industries rapidly grew in their respective directions, they became a less unified front and Concrete fully transitioned into a skate-specific magazine in 2003. The last snow cover appeared on Vol. 2 #62, December 2002, and featured Etienne Gilbert. The last snow content, a Jesse Fox interview, ran in Vol. 2, #65, June 2003. The following accounts and images offer a glimpse into the influence Concrete Powder had on the Canadian snow community, and the media talent it helped develop.

interviews nearly word-for-word. Here was Chris “Nix” Nichols, doing skate-style melon grabs and analyzing the riding scene in Alberta (it ultimately inspired me to move to Lake Louise many years later). Plus Sean Kearns, giving us a preview of the Whiskey antics and drama to come, and Alex Warburton who completely freaked me out by interviewing himself, but not revealing that until the final answer of the interview. Concrete Powder documented Canadian snowboarding like no one else at the time – hell, it was the only mag doing it – and gave a means of exposure to the remarkable young talent in our country. I now understand how much I owe, to this day, to those early issues. Reading Concrete Powder inspired me to start my own ‘zine with a couple of buddies, essentially mimicking the format by cuttingand-pasting our own skate and snowboard shots, and articles onto photocopied pages. I later entered one of my ‘zine articles, about a skate road-trip we took to Montreal, into a Concrete Powder contest that offered readers a chance to be published for the first time. I remember going down to Hogtown, one of Toronto’s original skate shops, with a batch of our latest ‘zine, only to be told by the kid behind the counter that my article was in the new Concrete Powder [“a weekend in montreal, my brother” – V2, #7, 1993]. For all I knew, I was the only person who entered, but that didn’t matter. My mind was blown and it made me realize that skate and snowboard journalism was something I could legitimately pursue. —Matt Houghton was the Snowboard Canada editor from ‘98-‘08, and is currently the founder/manager of Push.ca.

: shin campos - tailgrab photo dano pendygrasse // V2 #62 - 2002 portfolio : gary pendygrasse - frontside grab photo dano pendygrasse // V2 #19 - 1995

gallery : jeff brushie - frontside lip photo dano pendygrasse // V2 #4 - 1992

portfolio

: tj scheider - gap to boardslide photo dano pendygrasse // V2 #58 - 2002 cover : marc morriset - frontside grab photo dano pendygrasse // V1 #6 - 1991

gallery

Concrete Powder launched not long after snowboarding started to boom in the west, and it was a big part of the developing scene. It gave us a look at what people were doing in other mountain towns around the country, and gave us a sense that we were part of something unique. It wasn’t just a version of the American scene, but a culture all its own. That’s a powerful message to a young rider. In the early days, I was lucky enough to get a few photos in the magazines – that helped keep me in free gear and kept my Pro dream alive for a minute. Obviously, when that started to fade, I turned to the camera and some of my first shots ran in CP. In fact, they asked me to come in and be a guest editor for an issue [V1, #6, 1991], and that was the exact point of transition for me. The issue we put together has shots of me riding in it, and photos I took with my new (used) Nikon FM2. After I was done my part of the issue, the guys at the magazine picked a photo I shot of Marc Morisset for the cover. It was my first cover and the start of my career. Sharing pages with skaters back then was a pretty huge ego boost. I grew up skating in North Vancouver, and being that I wasn’t really

good, I would go to Seylynn at night so that I wouldn’t get in the way of the good guys. Sluggo used to scare the shit out of everyone. A few years later, I was shooting him as part of the Westbeach team and we became friends, a decade after first meeting him at the bowls. When Concrete Powder became Concrete, I felt a little sense of loss. On the other hand, I’ve worked in magazines a lot since then and I understand how difficult it is to try to split priorities and get support. After I was the guest editor of CP in ‘91, Kevin Harris sent me one of his Beaver Skull Powell shirts and a note as a thank-you. The shirt has gone from being black to a mid-grey, and its cotton has become super soft and fragile. It’s one of my most prized possessions, and it represents a whole era to me – one of the best of my life. —Dano Pendygrasse was a contributing snow/skate photographer for Concrete

Powder from ‘91-‘03. He shot five snow covers during that span and has since become a freelance photographer. His work can be found in publications like Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboarder magazine.

danopendygrasse.com

Concrete skateboarding

101

: max jenke - tail grab photo scott serfas // V2 #43 - 1999

: ruben kambeitz - melon grab photo scott serfas // V2 #3 - 1992

Back when I was just getting into snowboarding, I found it fun to document our progression; I would bring up my Dad’s old Minolta and shoot my friends riding. The photos got better, and one day I decided to send them in to this free newsprint magazine called Concrete Powder. My published photo amount went up with every submission, and before I knew it I was driving to the CPM office to help with layouts. That’s right, the same guy that knew nothing about photography was now helping out with art direction and layout – something I knew even less about. I would photocopy prints, cut them out and glue them to the master book – one big photo on the left, and two smaller ones on the right. Remember, this was before the personal computer. So with me basically laying out the mag, or a large portion of it, I found it easy to sneak in more and more of my photography. Looking back now, at that time I still didn’t have a basic clue about what I was doing. I would shoot cheap film and process it at the drug store, with no idea how to properly focus the camera or even what slide film was.

102

Concrete skateboarding

wild willie’s contest

My weekend riding buddies started getting noticed, and their photos needed to go to other places. They showed up in different magazines, ads and catalogues. I think before people knew what a good photo was, I was improving to stay ahead of them. And before I knew it, the guys I was shooting – Devun Walsh, Kevin Sansalone and Rob Dow – were building a large name in the snowboarding world, and I was standing there with the shot. It wasn’t long until I had shots published in Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboarder mag – the industry’s largest publications. It’s crazy, I still feel like that kid back in the day, doing what I love and hoping that no one realizes I don’t have a clue. Well, I have a clue I guess: I know what slide film is, I know I don’t need to shoot it anymore, and I know how to focus my camera. But really, I’m that same person shooting friends and their progression in the sport, all while building photography skills. If it wasn’t for the experience I gained from working at CPM, and all the people I met along the way, I really don’t think I would be in the position I’m in today. —Scott Serfas was a contributing editor/art director for Concrete Powder from ‘93-‘98,

and a contributing skate/snow photographer from ’93-’02, shooting nine snow covers and three skate covers for the magazine during that time. He’s currently a senior photographer for Transworld Snowboarding. scottserfas.com

: rob dow - tail grab photo scott serfas // V2 #14 - 1995

: miika enroth - powder carve photo scott serfas // V2 #25 - 1996 contents

gallery

: kevin sansalone - method photo scott serfas // V2 #32 - 1997

“It wasn’t long before my first shot was published – a three foot backside air of Reuben Kambeitz in the ditch at Blackcomb, circa 1992. I knew absolutely nothing about photography. Exposure, focus, and film were all brand new to me, but I knew about snowboarding and I was having a great time shooting it every chance I could.” — Scott Serfas

gallery

// V1 #1 - 1990

: don schwartz first snowboard interview

: devun walsh - indy photo derek kettela // V2 #33 - 1998 derek kettela portfolio

: jesse fox // V2 #65 - 2003 last snowboard interview

: jody morris - powder carve photo jody morris // V2 #37 - 1998 gallery

: drae glover - backside 180 indy photo derek kettela // V2 #25 - 1996 interview

Jesse Fox Dano

When I first met Jesse Fox he was just an innocent boy. He was extremely shy. Yet when he put on a snowboard, confidence seemed to pour out of him. It didn’t really make sense. He would win every contest he entered then turn bright red when it was time to except his trophy. I remember thinking how can someone so polite be so good at snowboarding. It was hard not to like the lad. These days not much has changed. Did I say not much? I meant almost everything. Jesse is still clearly one of the best riders around. I would flat out claim that he is the best but he would get mad at me. He still wins when he enters contests. No surprise there. However, what has changed is he certainly isn’t as shy as he once was. He is by far one of the funniest and charming persons I know. For example, one time I saw him rub Montreal smoke meat on his chest. Actually no I didn’t, but you can imagine how funny it would have been if I had. Jesse is the best person to ride with because he destroys every obstacle in his path, and it makes everyone in the group throw down. And when you are on the lift you have to come up with something funny to say every chair because Jesse will for sure and you will feel left out. I do have one warning if you happen to encounter Jesse. As of late Jesse’s social skills have been off the heels. So all you ladies out there look out. I don’t have ugly people for friends, and Jesse is one of my best. Cheers to you fox. The gold jackets yours. - Daryl Trinidad

First things first, some say you are part of an elite fun boy crew. Elaborate. Ahhh the fun boys... well where do I start? The fun boys‚ it’s all about a good time. It’s not just a clever name. It’s a different kind of fun, it’s a different quality of crew. It’s about dance music, going snowboarding on sunny days, getting epic stills, and having a drink to remember days like these. You need to have people around that don't take much too seriously. So you’ve been doing the boarding for years now. How is that going for you? I’m not going to lie to anyone, it’s been working out. I’ve used it to travel the world, meet beautiful people and get into the bars on the busy nights. I think I have just as much fun shredding as I do riding the lifts with my friends. Snowboarding has changed my life for sure. I understand you have read The Catcher in the Rye many times. You’re not going to do anything to Ringo Star are you? Hope not. Catcher is just something I try to read every year to try and keep myself real. There are a lot of phonies out there. Jesse front lips the Van while the video camera gets jibbed as well. Ouch! Photo: James Cole

Underflip on a beautiful sunny day. Seq: Crispin Cannon.

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103

WICKWINDER DISTRIBUTION P 604.276.9425 COMUNE@WICKWINDER.COM WWW.THECOMUNE.COM

“Oh, I could tell you some stories…” Slam City Jam was held annually in Vancouver at Plaza of Nations, the Pacific Coliseum, and BC Place from 1994 until 2005, with the 2006 event being hosted by Calgary. Ever since, Slam has been on an indefinite hiatus. From ‘94 to ‘97, Jay Balmer was involved with the event in an exhibitor/volunteer/ramp crew role before becoming the Associate Producer and eventually the Producer of Slam from ‘01 to ‘03. After his lengthy affiliation with the event, he moved on to become the Gameplay Producer of Electronic Arts’ awardwinning Skate video game franchise. story by

Jay Balmer

Slam City Jam: The North American Skateboard Championships, The Vancouver Contest, The Gathering. Known by many names, it was the most popular annual skate event. Slam brought skating and skaters together for 13 years, and each year we’d spread out over the city to the spots, parks, hotels and bars. Slam weekend was far bigger than the Pro contest that was at the centre of it all, but the contest was the glue that made the party possible.

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Concrete skateboarding

: rick howard - backside nollie flip photo chub // V2 #12 - 1994

: rick mccrank- nollie hardflip photo brendan sohar // V2 #36 - 1998

slam city 1

slam city 5

slam city 2

: colin mckay - frontside grab photo nick burke // V2 #16 - 1995

slam city 6

Slam was a collection of many things: building the course and vert ramp, the huge Pro contest, the girls’ contest, Am contest, marketplace, art gallery, public skatepark, BBQ, bowl jam, TV broadcast, concerts, demos, and many after-parties. All the different things going on meant there was a little something for everyone. As far as skate events go, it was on the big side. Slam’s staff, skater, TM, and media guest list alone was often over 1,200 people. The most common question each year was, “Who’s coming?” It was always easier to answer with who wasn’t coming (which was usually the Consolidated team and anyone else who was injured at the time), and the skating was always being pushed by the talent and energy that was all around the contest.

: eric koston - backside nosebluntslide photo rob oleksiuk // canadian skateboard annual 1999

SlAm City JAm

5 : photo ryan ellan // V2 #36 - 1998

: keith hufnagel - varial heelflip photo graham vickers // V2 #36 - 1998

2:57 PM

Page 2

It’s hard to imagine all the stories people have about Slam with so much packed into 13 weekends over the years. The following are some of the stories I still find myself telling: •At the first Slam in 1994, sitting on top of our sales booth, I spoke with a woman who was willing to purchase “IMRA” (the vert ramp at Slam 1,which was originally from the Richmond Skate Ranch) after the contest was over and wanted to help find a place for it in Vancouver. The Clubhouse opened shortly after, but that’s a whole other story. •The time in ‘94 when Gonz was working on a kickflip hippy jump (a Kilty McBagpipe – I’m not a fan of the name, but I trust my source) through a hole in the parking lot gate. I had to say something to him, so I just gave him a quick, “Thanks!” Seeing all the Pros that first year was amazing. • Seeing the wristbands being made out of newspaper at the beer garden in ‘95 or ‘96 at the Plaza of Nations. The bottom edge of an advert on the back of the Georgia Straight was a darkish-yellow – the same colour as the Slam wristbands. So a free pass came out of some minor origami work. That story generally includes the classic Concrete Powder article on how to sneak into Slam City Jam [see page 121].

slam city

Memory Lane

11 : paul rodriguez - frontside flip photo brian caissie // canadian skateboard annual 2004

slam city

6/16/04

P-rod taking time out from being every teenage girl’s wet dream and the envy of everyone who's ever done a frontside 180 kickflip.

• The annual first day brawl between skaters and security. My personal “highlight” was stepping in to break up a Vallely fight in ‘99. It started when Rick McCrank sat on the medic table and was hassled by security. Moses Itkonen stepped in to back him up, which kicked off the chain reaction of backing each other up that included Vallely – he really is one of those guys that stands up and never backs down. I had to wedge myself between him and a security guard. • Using the influence of Slam City Jam to start Vancouver’s official Skateboard Week in 2003. After gathering the appropriate support, I talked with the Mayor’s office and wrote the proclamation, which was signed by Mayor Larry Campbell. We printed our own Skateboard Week banners and street signs, and hung them around the city. That same year, the City of Vancouver removed the by-law that allowed police to confiscate skateboards, and the last confiscated skateboards were returned to the community.

147

: jamie thomas - backside nosegrind photo brian caissie // V2 #78 - 2005

• Driving around in the middle of the night to steal obstacles for the street course at BC Place in ‘97. The bike rack, wooden bench and barrels were big hits. After that, I wanted to get more involved with making it happen and getting some real money put into the skating at Slam.

slamcity 12

slam city 5

SLAMcpm.qxd

Concrete skateboarding

107

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the Big o // Montreal issue 23INTERVIEW // 1996 ISSUE photo Dan Mathieu CANADA & USA $5.95

74470 93747

Skull Skates

originally appeared

Vol 1, Issue 3 /// February 1991

Girl /// Tony Ferguson

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 9 /// May 1994

116

Concrete Powder

knok knok

: colin mckay - melon grab photo tom hill // V1 #2 - 1990

Concrete Powder

117

knok knok

: bill wiess - photo brunkhart // V1 #5 - 1991

118

Concrete Powder

knok knok

: rick mccrank - photo craig robinson // V2 #13 - 1994

knok knok

: barry walsh - frontside ollie photo trevor graves // V2 #1 - 1992

: mark appleyard- indy grab photo ryan allan // V2 #25 - 1996

originally appeared canadian skateboard annual 2000

knok knok

by. Jesse Oye

originally appeared

canadian skateboard annual 2000

Concrete Powder

119

120

Concrete Powder

destroyers

: keegan sauder - melon grab photo unknown // V2 #32 - 1997

canadian bacon

: ryan smith - kickflip indy photo brendan sohar // V2 #25 - 1996

Concrete Powder

originally appeared

121

Vol 1, Issue 3 /// May 1991

originally appeared V1 #3 // 1991

originally appeared canadian skateboard annual 1999

DROORS /// Moses Itkonen

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 26 /// Winter 1997

ĂŠS Footwear /// Rick McCrank

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 41 /// June 1999

124

Concrete Powder

originally appeared Vol 2, Issue 38 /// June 1998 Concrete Powder

125

126

Concrete Powder

originally appeared V2 #36 // summer 1998

originally appeared V2 #37 // november 1998

originally appeared V2 #33 // february 1998

originally appeared V2 #30 // June 1997

combat photography was a regular concrete powder feature that showcased reader submitted photos. it first appeared in v2, #26, winter 1997 and ran until v2, #45, february 2000.

Foundation /// Jon West

originally appeared

1999 Canadian Skateboard Annual

World /// Rob “Sluggo” Boyce

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 42 /// September 1999

Bones /// Alex Chalmers

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 56 /// December 2001

130

Concrete Powder

photo gallery

: sluggo - backside 180 heelflip photo jody morris // V2 #4 - 1992

Concrete Powder

131

photo gallery

: sam devlin - ollie photo jody morris // V2 #11 - 1994

132

Concrete Powder

photo gallery

: max dufour - stalefish photo dan mathieu // V2 #18 - 1995

Concrete Powder

133

photo gallery

: jon west - smithgrind photo scott serfas // V2 #19 - 1995

134

Concrete Powder

interview

: barry walsh - backside ollie photo nick burke // V2 #20 - 1996

Concrete Powder

135

photo gallery

: judah oakes - switch noseslide photo nick burke // V2 #21 - 1996

136

Concrete Powder

photo gallery

: rick mccrank - frontside grab photo scott serfas // V2 #24 - 1996

Concrete Powder

137

photo gallery

: syd clark - frontside halfcab flip photo scott serfas // V2 #31 - 1997

138

Concrete Powder

photo gallery

: marc tison - backside smith grind photo dan mathieu // V2 #32 - 1997

Concrete Powder

139

toronto article

: corey sheppard - frontside bluntslide photo derek kettela // V2 #32 - 1997

140

Concrete Powder

photo gallery

: mark appleyard - switch crooked grind photo mike pokora // V2 #38 - 1999

Concrete Powder

141

kelowna and the legend of ogopogo

: ryan smith - frontside flip photo kyle shura // V2 #43 - 1999

SKATEBOARD CANADA VIDEO MAGAZINE

Untitled-3 1 Skate Canada ///

originally appeared

5/25/09 2:14:20 PM Vol 2, Issue 52 /// April 2001

CADIEUX

Rick McCrank Colin Mckay Sluggo Neal Mims Scott Johnston Danny Way Paul Machnau Brandon Biebel Chris Haslam Mike Hastie

Momentum /// Chris Haslam

Distributed by Ultimate

originally appeared

Vol 2, Issue 57 /// February 2002

December 2005

first appeared

November 1998 designed by troy blackmore

first appeared

1990 designed by don bull

first concrete logo

September 23, 2008 - Inglewood, California timebombtrading.com stickers@timebomb.bc.ca

Distributed by Ultimate

WWW.SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM

photo scott pommier

THE Five Spot

Ryan Smith Video Parts

Mike Carroll in... 1. Questionable [Plan B, ‘92] 2. Virtual Reality [Plan B, ‘93] 3. Modus Operandi [Transworld, ‘00] 4. Fully Flared [Lakai, ‘07] AVE in... 5. Mind Field [Alien, ‘09]

Canadians

1. Colin McKay 2. Paul Machnau 3. Moses Itkonen 4. Wolfe Man! (Rheal Wolfe – a true Rutland beast.) 5. Scotty Pommier

Bikes

1. Mine (1980 Harley Davidson) 2. Pan Z 3. 4Q 4. Max’s ‘69 5. My friend’s de-raked Ironhead 150

Concrete skateboarding

Bands

Possessions

People To Skate With

Movies

Places To Travel

Things To Do When Not Skating

1. Black Sabbath 2. AC/DC 3. G‘n’R 4. Judas Priest 5. Metallica

1. DC heads 2. Black Box heads 3. I’m 4. A 4. Loner

1. Canada 2. U.S.A. 3. Australia 4. Europe – that’s real general so take your pick. 5. Just depends on who I’m with because a parking lot can rule with the right friends.

1. Skateboard 2. Shovelhead 3. Bike shop 4. House 5. Metal rod in my leg

1. Starship Troopers 2. Hell’s Angels ‘69 (bad, but awesome) 3. Sin City 4. Tommy Boy 5. Uncle Buck

1. Work on bikes 2. Watch movies 3. Go to the beach 4. Ride bikes 5. Surf the Internet

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Howard

Best things about being from Canada? Classic Canadian skate spots? Best thing about Concrete running your first-ever Canadian cover in 2008? Best thing about having a skatepark at the office? What would you rather win: World Series of Poker or Maloof Money Cup? Best music in your collection? Things left to do in life? Favourite style in skateboarding? Best reason to buy fireworks? Next video project? Favourite candy that only Canada gets? Last book you read? Best Beverages?

152

Concrete skateboarding

photo ben colen

IDENTITY

Rick

artwork: Esao photo: Doubt

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