Concussion 15 by Davoud Kermaninejad

97377 96425

Editorial Rant - don’t be dumbHow many times over the past months have you heard or read the words, “Since the events

But seriously, dropping out of school for most any reason (except maybe to play in the

of September 11” or something like that? Well if you’re like me, you’ve heard too much of

NBA) is stooopid. School doesn’t seem fun when you’re in it, but believe me, you appreciate

that, and what is even worse, too many ignorant statements following those words.

it a lot more when you’re working some shitty job 40 hours a week. Education is the kind of thing most people take for granted until it is too late. And having high school, college, or

Which brings me to the main point of this little tirade. I was recently asked to go and

even graduate degrees doesn’t mean that you have to become a professor or do academic

speak in a classroom on the subject of why one shouldn’t drop out of school to become a pro-

work the rest of your life. There are plenty of educated scumbags. You can do whatever you

fessional skateboarder. Apparently since I “run” a magazine kids will think I am cool and lis-

want, but with more education you have more options. Writing this whole deal feels pretty

ten to my advice. I declined the offer, and instead will sort of write a response to those kids

cheesy, so I think if this were a TV after school special, it would probably be the part where

in this column. I don’t like public speaking and I’m not always terribly fond of children.

the beat box starts bumping and a couple of rappers jump out and go, “Yo, school is cool! Don’t be a fool, stay in school!” Bfff-Ta-Bfffff.

Of course it is foolish to drop out of school to become a pro skateboarder. Skateboarding,

Skateboarders already have a bad rap as an ignorant, illiterate batch of hoodlums, so

for a great part, is only fun because it is an outlet to the other stresses of life. When you

don’t reinforce that stereotype by throwing away a free education, you’ll knock enough sense

end up skateboarding every single day and doing nothing else but skateboarding, it is not as

out of yourself hitting your head over the years. And remember, if you make it through high

fun anymore. Especially when you don’t feel like skating and you’re forced to skate a demo or

school, you have a chance to go to college. And college is a big party, but shhhh, don’t tell

have to go out and shoot a photo for an ad. On top of all of that, like every other profes-

your parents that, or they won’t let you go.

sional sport, only a very small percentage of people actually become pro skaters. Most of the

So to tie this all together, if you stay in school, when people start talking about the

dudes who have a chance often never make the final cut. And except for a few of those guys

events of September 11, you might already have some knowledge of the United States’ foreign

who do go pro, nobody really gets paid all that much, and in 5 years when you’ve torn an ACL

policies as they relate to the politics of oil, interests of multinational corporations, and the

or ruined your ankles, your career is over, you’ve spent all your money, and you’re either

United States’ involvement with Israel and Palestine, among other things. Lack of education

headed for employment in the skate industry as a team manager (or in some cases, the ship-

breeds ignorance, and ignorance breeds xenophobia (go look it up), and Americans are already

ping guy) or you go back to your old job as a cashier somewhere and your old room at your

a xenophobic, self centered lot. There’s nothing wrong with being nationalistic as long as

parent’s house. At the very least, you need to learn a trade or a skill so you have something

you’re getting both sides of the story. Stop watching TV and go read a good newspaper or

to fall back on besides skateboarding. Don’t get me wrong - skateboarding is great and I love

listen to NPR every once in a while. And then maybe you wouldn’t be just another dumb

it a lot, but in the real world, people need jobs and ways to earn money.

fuckin skater who’s ready to sign up for the Marines and go bomb some “sand niggers” cuz they went and bombed New York City for no good reason at all.

Word.

Concussion Staf f Senior Editors (left to right)

Davoud Kermaninejad Jonathan Hay Le e Charron Photographers Jason Murray Bruce Rodela P atrick T refz T erry Roland

Contributing Photographers Charlie Middleton Mik e Y accarino Death W easel Films Snapcult Mik e Bialecki Chris W ellhausen Blair Alley P aul Wingert Guerin Mayall Linda P azdirek Steve Crovo Greg Glad Joe F echter

V ideo Editor Dave Amell

W riters Ari Evan Gold Eric Bigler Sick Boy Will P ower Joel Hick ok

Artists Le e Eschliman Jeremy Fish Bob Brown CONCUSSION MAGAZINE IS COPYRIGHT © 2002 BY CONCUSSION PRODUCTIONS. NOTHING FROM THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE USED IN WHOLE OR PART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHERS OR COPYRIGHT OWNERS. CONCUSSION AND THE CONCUSSION SKULL LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF CONCUSSION MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTED BY DESERT MOON PERIODICALS, SANTA FE, NM. - WWW.DESERTMOON.COM DISTRIBUTED BY TOWER RECORDS, WORLDWIDE - TOWER.COM CONCUSSION WEBSITE: WWW.CONCUSSION.ORG

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LETTERS

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Send your letters, comments, stupid ideas, homicidal rants, and everything esle to concussion@concussion.org. We prefer email. You can also write us old style by sending correspondence to Concussion PO Box 1024 Santa Cruz CA 95061-1024. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t write us if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want us to print what you wrote in your drunken or drug induced stupor.

ok boys you forgot about the girl cock-blockers. they're everywhere and blocking other girls chances to get some cock and guy's chance to get some pussy. These are far worse than guys because at least with guys someone is getting some, even if it's not the person who started the mating ritual. with fem-blocks they seem to manage to not only block but in all actuality prevent any hanky panky to be happenin for the night. and while guys may try to pull it off knowingly like 80% of the time women seem to pull it off like 95% of the time. now for us girlies who are lookin to get some it really puts a wrench in our spokes. i think that you need to adress these type of cock blockers and how to get around them because they are far worse kill-joys than any other sleez-grom or even numb-skull could ever be. they are calculated and cunning and ya gatta stay one step ahead of them or you will be kissing your pussy goodbye. I'd love to hear from you guys, so drop me a line and tell me what you think about the much more serious cockblockage extraordinair.......... Sandra "horn-dog" Haney Concussion, The new mag's awesome, especially the Fred Smith interview. I remember it was a big thing back in the day when he said he was going out with Dave Duncan's ex-girlfriend and then ended up having two kids with her -- marriage and all.

"victims" because they also charged me with 3 counts of reckless endangerment. These guys are my passengers , bros, and skate buddies who I am now not allowed to talk to until my trial. But, yeah right. $200 later driving by myself I checked out the new park Dreamland is building in Port Orford. Continued on to Myrtle Point, made it to Roseburg (which was a big relief when I saw I-5) and then headed the rest of the way back to Portland alone in the rain. At least today is sunny in Portland. Enough for now, but I was stoked to meet you. As Fred Smith used to quote, "skate sick or suck dick." Dave Tobin

First off, I love the mag, keep it up. I just signed up for a prescription, I mean subscription, so my moneys where my mouth is on this one. Second of all, you made a small but noteworthy error on your article on Oregon Skateparks. Newport Skatepark was not built by Grindline / Dreamland as reported in your mag: nope, it was built by the dudes who built Talent skatepark in southern Oregon. This explains why the caliber is shy of the other, true-blue dreamland / grindline parks reviewed. Good job reporting on what is worth writing about anyways. The mistake is understandable because certain Grindline / Dreamland characters had a hand in construction of this park, however there is a reason why the park ain't perfect and that reason is the fact it wasn't 100% Grindline / Dreamland. LatzJ. Chris Hildebrand

Chris was cool to let us crash at the warehouse. The next day, the rest of the crew met us at the BART station in Berkeley so we were finally able to head North and continue our road trip. Six of us were driving up and we made it to Grant's Pass where we lost two guys who didn't want to go to Southwest Oregon because it was raining. They ended up hitching back to PDX. We finally made it to Brookings. We were cooking food in the cab of the truck while we were driving. It was raining in Brookings when we got there so we posted up at skatepark for a couple of hours. We couldn't believe our eyes -- this park is unbelievable. We thought we were looking directly into Red's brain. Imagine Crater Lake scaled down to the size of a skateboard park and a giant launch built so you can air over the island in the middle. After we left another Dream we headed to Port Orford (where Red, his wife, and Sage were waiting for us), we were running low on gas and checking out the awsome scenic views of the coast. We finally made it to a gas station in Gold Beach, OR . Little did we know, there was some off-duty bitch cop on her way to work who had been following us for miles. She radioed ahead that I was driving drunk and we were met by six State Police who surrounded us at the gas station. After passing my sobriety test she told me she wouldn't arrest me for DUI but twisted my wrist behind my back and said she was arresting me for reckless driving. It was a sad sight to see my friends gathering their possessions (blankets, food, and all) eight hours from home and nowhere to go in the middle of a hurricane. They were bumming, but so was I.The bail was set at $30,000 so I was'nt getting out anytime soon. After 2 nights in jail the condition of my release would be that I could not have any contact with my

Hey there! I'm finally in the free world. This is Casper. Casper who? The one that's been in prison for 5 years. Here's a picture of me and your damn name on me. Boy! What was I thinking. J/K. Since a monther fucker got your label tatted on him coud you send a few issues to a bro in the pen? Also, I want to check your Amnesia video. You mag still is the punkest Sk8 mag. Fuck Yeah! - Casper

eW V i e r t C U d Pro Emerica Shoes - Heretic The Heretic is one of my favorite shoes Emerica makes. Not only is it on the inexpensive side of their line, but it is simple and functional as well, without a lot of the basketball shoes bells and whistles that other shoes have. Like old school vans, you can feel your board well in these shoes even on the first day you wear them, which is nice. I used to wear the all black Heretics and nobody ever really commented on them, but then I got a pair of the grey and black ones, and all of a sudden everybody was saying how much they liked them. It was really weird, hessian gnar dogs were like, “Dude, cool shoes,” chicks dug them, and even my parents said how nice they were, which added to the surprise. So I don’t know what it is about the grey ones, but I recently heard someone say that grey is the new black, so go figure. Whatever, all I really care about is that these shoes are well made and don’t fall apart unless you ride vert in them and do lots of knee slides, then you’d need to duct tape the tops. But how many of you are going to be riding vert anyway? Generally the first thing that goes is the padding in the sole and the sole itself, and that’s after a couple months. I used to say that I’d only ride Vans, but somehow I’ve switched over to Emericas and don’t miss a thing, especially the heel bruises. www.emericaskate.com FKD Gold Bearings A few years ago I tried my first set of Powell Swiss bearings. Ever since then, every other bearing I’ve ever skated seems like a piece of shit. They’re all either slower than Swiss, or they wear out faster, or both. Having said that, I got these FKD Gold bearings and they’re good; they’re at least as fast as Swiss. However, I can’t tell you if they last as long as Swiss, as I have only had them for a couple of days before deadline. FKD Gold bearings come with spacers and a

little vial of oil, but best of all, they come packaged in an embossed silver cigar case! Gourmet that I am, I especially appreciate this touch, and enjoy having a fancy cigar case in which to store my Cherry Tipped Swisher Sweets. www.dnaskateboards.com DVS Shoes The people at DVS decided to kick us a couple pairs of slick looking, lo profile skate shoes. Since it’s been raining and we’ve been working non-stop on this damn magazine night and day for the last 3 weeks I haven’t had a chance to go skate in them. I won’t be able to tell you how well they grip to the board and help you stick ollies and cushion your heels when you bail, so you don’t get heel bruises. What I will be able to tell you is that they look really cool, similar to Vans and Emericas, and they’re more comfortable than anything I’ve put on my feet lately. Also, they’ve passed my wet feet shoe test with a B+ (highest markings yet). You see, I suffer from wet feet simplex B. I can’t keep a pair of shoes dry for a week before osmosis sets in and I start sucking the water out of the ground I walk on. Last night I went trotting around in the rain to see how well these suckers held up, and I must say, I could barely feel the water seeping through the soles into my socks. That is the most important thing in a shoe to me, and these DVS’ passed the test. Comfortable, cool looking and dry, what more could you ask for in a shoe. www.dvsshoes.com

Matix Clothes The boys at Podium Distribution sent us a pretty fat package of stuff. Not only did we get a bunch of shoes, but we also got a box of clothes. Probably my favorite thing in the box were the Matix jeans. They were thick and soft, and fit well right away - didn’t even have to wash them. They sent some other blue pants which looked nice but not my size so I can’t speak for them. They also have a line of shirts out, and in addition to the logo shirts that have their team listed on them, they have a pleasant line of normal clothes similar to some of the things Volcom puts out, and I could see Cardiel wearing one of the short sleeve button ups. Not sure how much these things cost, but they didn’t skimp on the quality. www.matixclothing.com

Accel Wheels Accel seems to be making some pretty good wheels these days, as I was pleasantly surprised when I recently tested a pair. We got sent three sets, but the ones I liked best were the red hessian 58mm 101’s. They were fast and didn’t have any irregular defects, which hopefully leads me to believe that they have good quality control. These wheels are excellent for cement parks and other smooth tranny type things, but I like my wheels a little softer, but that’s just me. Still, they have a good team that includes Chet Childress, Stacy Lowery, Stefan Attardo (should’t they be riding Rictas?), Kristian Svitak, Jesse Fritch and Mike Vallely, so they must be doing something right. - accelwheels.com Send us more free shit to review and consider for this page. Email concussion@concussion.org to find out how.

ws sk a t ePa rk r ev i E Disclaimer: Opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one and they all stink. That being said, here are our park reviews for the issue. As always, if you don’t like ‘em, go check these parks out and form your own opinion, asshole.

Brentwood Brentwood is this scary little suburban town near Antioch on the other side of Mt. Diablo. It is scary because everybody seems to have money, but they’re all a bunch of hicks. You see these straight up white trash hicks driving BMWs and talking on cell phones; it’s pretty funny stuff. All the kids smoke cigarettes and have this rad half bleached half shaved haircut that Dave dubbed the “Contra Costa” haircut. Personally I was hoping for some rat tails, but maybe you have to get a little deeper in the Central Valley for that stuff. Anyway, Brentwood is the latest Nor Cal city to get their very own shitty skatepark built by some guy who is most likely a landscape architect and doesn’t skate. I say most likely because I don’t know who built this park, but if I were to bet on it, I’d put my money on Wormhoudt Landscape Design. Why? Because this park has a little bit of every other shitty Nor Cal park in it. It’s got a little banked hump thing like Petaluma or Healdsburg or Santa Rosa, it’s got a shitty bowl (with six inches of vert in one section!!) similar to the shitty bowls at Grass Valley or Truckee, and its street course has the curved quarter pipe from Antioch.

Fullerton So whilst attending the crapfest known as ASR, I realized that I would probably have a better time skating than throwing handshakes and getting my "bro" on. Luckily, I ran into Tom W. (Magilla Gorilla) from Super Predator. He opted that we go to Fullerton, a concrete park that was close. Hell yeah, we hopped in the rig and journeyed. The park is pretty nice, sort of small, with lots of tranny and some good grinder boxes too. About the only thing that sucked was the heat and the lack of food I had eaten. Would I like some cheese with my whine? Yes. These days with all the parks popping up it seems a well poured tranny is hard to find, unless you’re in Oregon, but Fullerton did a great job. Tom told me all types of funny shit about how the county was having a hard time keep-

But anyway, let’s dissect this creation and see what it is all about: There is a kiddie section that is more like a fish pond. It is probably actually a good idea because it keeps the super inexperienced kids from going in the “bigger kids” section and getting knocked out by you or me. The “bigger kids” section aka the “street course” is littered with 4’ high quarter pipes and a “fun box” that is about a foot high. It has some conflicting lines and little flow, but one of the quarter pipes has a channel that is kind of fun to fuck around on. There are a bunch of ledges (and curbs) around the entire perimeter of varying sizes which are actually rather fun and well implemented, since they keep the true street dogs and waxy ledge pros out of the tranny. There are several places that have little rounded banks but no coping. Oh and the coping in this whole place is aluminum and is set too small as usual, but with so many other flaws that is easy to overlook.

Fullerton overview a Santa Rosa style bowl with rounded lip. I must say that this is the only spine I have seen in California which is actually done right, and doesn’t have six inches of cement inbetween the two pieces of coping. But that whole side of the bowl kind of reminds me of the tilted spine bowl from Talent, if you’ve seen that. There are a variety of rounded hips which don’t have coping for some strange reason. I guess they don’t know how to build coping around hips. The benches and family viewing areas were very nice though. Anyway back to the bowl. The smaller bowls are smaller than 7’, and are more like 5’ and 4’ probably. It’s kind of hard to work from the small bowl section to the big bowl section because it’s kind of uphill, but I’ll bet if your name is Wade Speyer you have no problem going mach 100 and blasting big-ass backside transfers out of the bowl down the flat bank in the street course. But if your name isn’t Wade Speyer or Pete the Ox or Sam Cunningham then chances are you’ll be struggling. Other items of note and lame things: You are supposed to wear full pads at this park and it is manned by a parks and rec staff member. It doesn’t open until 2:00pm or until the kids get out of school, and has a big iron fence around it. We got there early and it was closed but there’s no lock so we just barged it for an hour, assuming we’d get tickets although we lucked out. At 2:00 the parks and rec kid showed up and was kind of pissed we were already in there, but he didn’t do a very good job of kicking us out, or even making us wear full pads for that matter. In fact, all you really need is a helmet and if you’re wearing pants and maybe a longsleeve shirt you won’t get sweated. The water is supposedly contaminated and even the bleached mullet kids from Oakdale were telling me not to drink out of the water fountain. The front of the place says “Skate” and “Blade” in gigantic letters on their L.A. style landscaped fence. The park is really in the middle of a suburban jungle far from major freeways, and so getting there is a bit of a drive. We’re not even going to bother to give you directions, and unless you live in Contra Costa county I wouldn’t go out of my way to skate this park. That being said, I can also say that this is not the worst park I have skated in the area and it was almost a little fun, but it’s nothing to write home about. It would have been more fun without the parks and rec baby sitter. Two skulls. - DK

Brentwood street course ing the park "nice" and how the kids would fuck'em up, cutting locks and littering and shit. I also saw this kid there wearing jughead pants, looking all Slipknot*, almost pulling kickflip 50-50's, pretty rad. Kids these days. Anyway, go there, cut locks and fuck shit up. Directions: From HWY 91, (Southeast of Los Angeles), get off at Euclid and head north. Go to Valencia (about 3 stop lights) and turn right. The DMV will be on your left and the park is just past the DMV. Take the 2nd driveway into the park and park it. Solid two skulls. - LC *looking Slipknot = multiple spikey accessories, piercings, and probably wearing make-up.

The “big bowl” is kind of a mess. It’s fun but still pretty fucked up. It has an escalator that goes up to 7’ (and a teeny weeny bit of vert) for like one or two feet and then it bowls down into 6’ with a small spine into Brentwood bowl. Note the coping on the spine!

In January, Comet Skateboards, a small skateboard manufacturer based in Oakland, had a new year’s skateboard style party. It was a big BBQ with free food and beer and there were a bunch of bands playing, and they have a big gnarly quarter pipe. I show up and the place is already pretty crowded, although it was kind of weird because I hardly knew anybody there except for the guys from Comet. Maybe it was all the band crowd. A lot of times at these skateboard parties where there are bands playing it is easy to discern who’s there to see the band and who’s there to drink the free beer and skate. It was a little more difficult here. The quarter pipe session was in full effect and they even had a mini spine thing to hit on your way and back. And the quarter pipe was like a pool wall, eight feet high with a six foot transition or something, it was steep and challenging. Nobody could really skate the thing except for Sam Cunningham, who was destroying it with frontside rocks, backside disasters (see left) and a bunch of other tricks that nobody else was trying. I was struggling to get a backside pivot all night, it was horrible. There were a couple other rippers though, the ponytail hippie kid Brandon from Santa Cruz who rides for Natural Koncept, and some of the Comet/Glory guys were skating well. Even Eli from Drunk Horse took a few runs, which was cool. The only bummer was that the longboard kook from Santa Cruz, who can only do frontside tricks, showed up. He’s pretty good at killing the session. Anyway whatever, I’m just talking shit. I must say, Comet shelled out and they had hella sausages and hamburgers and even veggie burgers for the stinky hippies. They had several kegs of some random micro-homebrew company, and the beer was very strong and I got pretty drunk pretty fast, although I don’t think I was the only one. Upstairs they have a full size pool table, and that is also where all of the stinky hippies were going after they ate their veggie burgers - up there to get stoned on the hippie lettuce. Some guy even had a nitrous bong, it was pretty out of hand. The scary thing was he kept hitting it all night, and the guy was pretty old, like in his 50’s, and he was partying harder than everyone else. Some good bands played too. I forget the name of the first band but they weren’t too bad. And then Pitch Black played. I don’t really know how to describe their music, but they all dress in black and had a cool pyrotechnic show, which is always a plus. And the chicks were digging the lead singer. But I was really there to see Drunk Horse, they rule. By the time they came on it was pretty late and everyone was pretty sauced, but it was an excellent show. In fact, I would probably that it was the best Drunk Horse show I have ever seen, and I’ve seen them a number of times. Much thanks to the guys at Comet for throwing a fun party, hope they do it again next year. - dk

My friend Mike Bialecki came back from India with the raddest photos these are just two of them. Lately he’s been shooting with a medium format camera but somehow he works it and got a couple well paying gigs which also allowed him to buy a 35mm Leica. I’m super jealous, but honestly I am more jealous of all these great photos he got in India. The two pictured here are of two kids he saw who had homemade skateboards. Check out the front truck, it’s super wacky. The craziest thing is that these two kids lived something like 4,000 miles apart, yet they had the same truck design. Mike said they put one knee on the board and push with the other foot, while they use their hands to steer the board. Mike was going to write a little something for this page, but he’s super hard to get a hold of and I don’t even think he has a phone number. I can’t find him unless I go to the Mallard on Wednesday nights, and today is Tuesday and we’re a day past deadline. In any case, he wrote some scribbles on a napkin saying what town or province the kids were from, so there you go. Enjoy, you don’t see stuff like this very often. - DK

Captions for skate photos: Left - Frank Atwater gets a pivot in the deep end while the hussies lurk in the shallow end. Bottom Left - Ari Gold gets his grind on. Bottom Right - Atwater floats a nice fakie ollie with no girls in sight.

I was busily guarding the hardware store that is my home, when a few ruffians bribed my boss and took me away. At first, I was very, very frightened hanging out the window of Olarry’s car. I even tried to get some assistance from our local sheriff, but he just ignored me. Ultimately, this would turn into my dream job. I was supposed to guard the models against the dirty pool skaters. You see, this pool in Malibu was being used for a fashion shoot for the girls clothing company Deesse. And I was handpicked to protect and serve. I posted up in front of the rattlesnake den to make sure they didn’t scare my precious models. But, those damn skaters kept looking at them changing and unchanging. They finally caught a tit in the face and their mouth broadened into a Cheshire smile. Those little bastards, don’t they know they are my models. The skaters even started drinking and smoking and even grinding—oh, my. Picturesque Malibu point could be seen in the distance with the charred remains of a fire lingering in the foreground. Three chimneys’ and this square pit with no water are all that remains. But, my models had plenty of water in their squirt guns and they kept me saturated and cool all day long—thanks girls. Frank Atwater, John Ponts and Ari Evan Gold skated their hearts out, while Cheryl, Michelle and Crystal posed their little buts off. Those beautiful bubbles of femininity made this assignment ultimately blissful. They even stroked my private parts with one of their Deesse stickers. It was nice. But, those rotten skaters kept getting all the attention. And why? I am the man guarding them from the vicious snakes—Me, not them. I am the security guard and all must bow down to me. But sadly, that never happened. In the end, I had to go back to guarding the nuts and bolts and lumber at the hardware store. But I will never forget the Malibu square, the beautiful babes and that grind over the death box. Wait a minute; what the heck is a death box? Ohh man, those damn skaters duped me again. Tom the security guard—as told to Ari Evan Gold All photos by Jonathan Steel - Death Weasel Films

Concussion: What made you start over after putting in 9 years at your other company?

ing the bills, The Driven Skateboards can be everything skateboarding needed.

Jason Jesse: What do you mean starting over? Just continuing my life, plus skateboarding needs us! It was just a process of weeding out the ninnies and the twits.

C: So what does skateboarding need? JJ: You do the math. I don’t know how. C: What about 100% Skateboarder?

Concussion: So what’s the deal with all your companies aren’t there like 4 of them? Jason Jesse: Yeah Auto Modown Inc. is our legal security umbrella and I figured if we were going to do this we had to do it right. I even called O.S.H.A. to find out how to hurt my employees legally and how to wash my hands before returning to work. Under the umbrella is the print shop, Automatic, fully automatic, high volume, to cover overhead. C: You! I didn’t even know you could tie your own shoes? JJ: That is why I wear slippers.

JJ: Oh yeah, that’s Jay Adams deal. I just got the name registered for him while he has been incarcerated. It’s kind of on the back burner now that Stacy Peralta decided to make Dogtown look glamorous. C: Why did you give Shane Scaffone a board? JJ: Who? Oh yeah he is our lab rat. We want to map the changes of a person going from no big deal to the next big thing. Also it legitimizes his volunteer status. Basically it is cheaper than giving him cash. C: So what happened with you at the OLD company you were with?

C: Hold on we will get to those later. JJ: Anyway, Mike Neider ran NHS’s printing department for 16 years and he doesn’t fuck around. That’s what I do, fuck around and decorate. Anyway, Hi-Bond Modified is because we put such a high price on our modified lifestyle so I could get motorcycle parts at cost. With other things cover-

JJ: Why, what did you hear? I’m so curious because I love going backwards. C: I heard that you got bought out. JJ: Not yet. I’m going on the record as saying I left because of sexual harassment. They teased me and

We’re not sure what Andy Roy is doing on this page, since, uh, he’s been getting boards from Deluxe, but Andy and Jason are friends. I don’t even know what you’d call this sequence, but it’s pretty much something you’ll only see Andy do cuz Andy’s rad. Photos by Terry Roland

took the door off the bathroom. That’s why my office has a private bathroom and towel boy.

JJ: Chewbacca DUH!

C: Is that a bear or a sasquatch in the cultural hall at Auto Modown?

JJ: What do you mean? It’s the cultural hub of Santa Cruz.

C: Why Watsonville to start a business?

JJ: That my friend, is peter Mayhew.

C: So what is the deal with your new shoes?

C: Who?

JJ: Those aren’t shoes. Those are after

skate chillin’ slippers, no sarcasm intended, because Kareem Campbell took a pair from us at the trade show and wore them all weekend. You have to buy some, then another, then buy more.

C: Thanks for your time. JJ: OK. Bye.

C: OK, two more questions that have been on everybody’s mind. What is your favorite color and boxers or briefs?

Clockwise from top left: Zak Richisen slays a Seaside rail with a f/s boardslide. Adam Morgan, bank ollie in Watsonville. Tanner, slide that rail, boy. Zoli ollie grabs a fat set of stairs at Fort Ord. Jason Jesse has lots of cool toys. Right: You don’t even want to know how pissed I am we didn’t get a recent photo of Jason Jesse skating, it was lame. Anyway, fastplants are still rad, especially at Tony Hawk’s old ramp. All photos by J. Hay except for the one of Tanner which Guerin took, and the old photo obviously, which is probably by Grant Brittan.

JJ: I don’t know, you tell me, you’re the one staring at my BUNS! and yeah blue. OK.

The Corralitos Pool, on the outskirts of Watsonville, was going on for a couple of months before it was shut down by its new owner. When the house was discovered there were all kinds of interesting artifacts: a pool table, moldy dead cats with paws sticking out, stuffed Grizzly Bears, kitchenware, house plants, clothes and board games, and all kinds of other miscellaneous debris you could imagine finding in an abandoned house which the occupants appeared to have fled in a hurry. The rumor has it that the woman who owned the house refinanced the mortgage and disappeared. Her husband had mysteriously died of food poisoning two weeks prior. Regardless, the house was empty with all kinds of goodies for the taking. I left with 4 panes of stained glass, a Fantasia miniature, and a gnarled piece of wood for my Lizard to perch upon. As for the pool itself, well, it had super tight trannies and I couldn’t skate it for shit. I was getting stuck in the right hand corner pocket, and pulling Mary Lou Retton splits bashing my knees on the cancerous concrete. The last couple of days the pool was going you had to show up after 5 when the workers were done dumping all the schwag that had not been pilfered. The last day the owner showed up around 6, and told us, “The party’s over. If I see you on my property again, i’ll have you arrested.” That was pretty much the last of the pool. The new owner is fixing the house up and moving in. You missed it, but it wasn’t that great anyway. Action Photos: Adam Morgan, making it look easier than it was. Words & Photos: J. Hay

Having been born and raised in Nor Cal, I find it difficult to get myself down to the southern half of our great state, whatever the reason. Yeah I know that there is a ton of shit to skate and the people are tan and beautiful, blah blah blah, but when confronted with the idea of being stuck in a car for 8 hours, I would rather end up in the concrete paradise that is Oregon rather than LA or San Diego. The only catch with going to Oregon is that it is off limits for six months between October and March or April, unless you like riding your skateboard in the rain. So Cal, on the other hand, offers semi-sunny, semi-warm weather year around, and seeing as how it was cold and rainy in the Bay Area, we opted to head south for the winter. Old man Sam Cunningham is always going somewhere for a weekend road trip, he has trips lined up weeks and months ahead of time and is always ready to barge it. This time he was going to Ventura to visit his friend Frank Atwater, so Dave “Video Goon” Amell and myself decided to tag along.

Ventura is actually (and thankfully) in the northernmost tip of what can be considered LA, and is actually a surf town more reminiscent of Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz than Los Angeles. But Frank was claiming that we could stay at his house and that he had a shitload of pools lined up, so it seemed like a no brainer. The story was slightly different when we actually arrived in Ventura on a Friday night at 11pm though. Frank did not actually have his own place, and was staying with friends who weren’t all that keen on 3 smelly guys they didn’t know crashing at their place for the weekend. And there was only one pool, not a shitload. We ended up crashing at a Frank’s friend’s house on Friday night, who were more than hospitable to us and more than willing to take our money at the dice game. The next morning, after some heated sessions of the ever popular, ultra-violent Grand Theft Auto 3, we were ready to steal a car, kill some cops, and shoot some pedestrians at point blank with shotguns. Oops, I mean go to breakfast and go skate some new terrain. The first spot that Frank took us to was one of the shittiest skateparks I have ever seen. It was called the Avenue or some-

thing, and consisted of a two foot banked/kinked ditch with corners, a hip, and a 4’ vert (kinked) wall. Ha! The funny thing is it was actually kind of fun, at least I thought so. Maybe that’s because there was no fun box. It would have been rad if this was just some drainage ditch you stumbled upon, but it was fucked up for a skatepark and overall probably one of the worst uses of cement I have ever seen. I know, I say that a lot, but these jackass skatepark builders keep outdoing themselves. After warming up at that crappy park, we headed over to a ditch in Oxnard that Frank wanted to take us to. It was pretty fun, and if it wasn’t so wet we could have skated the whole thing. But even with most of it being wet, there was lots of ridable terrain, including a sketchy Burnsideesque DIY tranny that was poured on this bank to wall, enabling Frank to slap rocks and do axle stalls on this 4’ vert cinderblock wall. It did not enable anybody else to do shit on it though, as it was pretty gnarly. Still we found some carve lines in this crazy section which forced you to duck down under a bridge so you didn’t hit your head, and if you made it you were set up to pop an ollie over a sketchy channel. I made it, Dave slammed pretty hard. Next on the agenda was Art’s pool, which was a permission pool Frank had hooked up. Once a super good left hand kidney, the pool had been drained for several years and was beginning to

pop out of the ground on one side, and was also getting pretty cancerous in the shallow end. And although the death box coping had been knocked off, it still had super ridable trannies and lots of lines. While everyone was killing it, Frank’s friend Abel probably had the best lines and most speed in the pool, and was skating like a rabid dog making grinds and ollies on the hip. The sun set as we killed the last twelver of Coors, but we weren’t allowed to quit skating yet. We drove out to the “Bro Bowl”, a rad homemade backyard bowl with a buttery deep end and super tight shallow pocket. Some of the dudes that lived there weren’t exactly stoked to see us, but I suppose it is because we weren’t So Cal bros, we were Nor Cal kooks. By this point Sam and Frank (the old men) were too burnt out to skate, but Dave and myself took some runs and a rad session went down. A number of locals were ripping, but none as hard as this guy who lived there (I forget his name) – he was pretty much a So Cal version of Pete the Ox. Skating three times as fast as everyone else on a 9” wide board with big ass trucks, this guy muscled through frontside 50-50s, layback backside tailslides, and a host of gnar-dog other tricks, all while wearing slip on Vans. Classic. We were all burnt from skating all day the day before (yeah we’re getting old) so we kicked it for most of the day and played pinball on the in-house pinball machine at the people’s house who Frank was staying with. I guess the dude who lives there fixes arcade machines for a living, and

Previous page: Daniel was the only one who could skate this super tight and rough ditch. He slapped a rock on it and then ollied off the end, onto the beach. This page, clockwise from top:Daniel Monkress busts the Chevron gap. I wouldn’t want to have that guy’s knees. Atwater slide n rolls the shallow end steps at Art’s. Forgot this guy’s name, but he lived at the bowl and you could tell, because he ripped harder than anyone. High speed frontside 50-50. Yeah, I messed this photo of Abel grinding the hip at Art’s up, but it was probably because Dave was in my way with his video camera or something, that’s usually how it goes. Anyway, Abel killed this pool but my photos of him sucked. Next page, clockwise from top right: Daniel the stuntman grab n drops from the top of the bridge bank. Bakersfield pool local grinding over one of the shallow end death boxes, this guy ruled but I’m lame and forgot his name. Typical. Sam relived his BMX days by popping wheelies on the way to the unridable yet very photogenic ditch.

so he has one at his house that he was working on. It seemed to be working well when we arrived, but after Dave got through playing one game it broke - started freaking out and racking up points non-stop until we tilted it. The machine was never the same after that. We did go out skating that day, but for the most part only to watch Frank’s crazy friend Daniel pull off street stunts and get lumped. To start it off he ollied the “Chevron gap”, which was pretty gnarly and had a rough landing. Then he took us to some rail with an even rougher landing at an abandoned radio station, and then we hit some steep and sketchy bridge underpass bank. Daniel dropped in on one side of the bank, hauled ass through the street, ollied up the curb, rode up the other bank and did a kickflip 2/3 of the way up it, and then rode back into the street fakie. It was pretty messed up, but he had to top himself by doing the old grab n drop off of the opposite vert ledge which is the photo you see here. After being out all day “street skating” with Daniel the stuntman, we managed to get out to Skatelab in Simi Valley that night to ride their fantastic wooden bowl and the crazy street course they have there. Simi Valley is a really creepy place, you have to drive on the Ronald Reagan Freeway to get there, and it is also home to the citizens who delivered the Rodney King verdict, so you get the gist of what kind of people live there. But Skatelab is alright, the guys who run it are

cool and they have a rad skateboard museum. And the bowl is the shit, every time I go there I have so much fun riding that thing. This evening was no exception. Our weekend was just about up, as it was now Sunday morning and we had a good full day’s drive to get back to the Bay Area. We had to take a small detour through Bakersfield to skate a pool though, which was well worth it. Bakersfield is similar to the other wasteland cities on I-5 or the 99, and has just as many empty pools and abandoned buildings to make for a pool skater’s dream town. The pool we rode was in this abandoned motel, which was totally fucked up and in the process (it appeared) of being demolished, looted, or both. The pool was gigantic and had all kinds of angles, hips and differing trannies. Some of the walls were kind of tight and/or kinked, but there were enough good walls to make for a fun session. Some guys from Bakersfield (apparently the only pool skaters in the whole city!?) showed up to show us how to ride the thing, and this one guy (whose name I also forgot – I’m terrible with names, sorry) was killing it, grinding over the shallow end death box. Sam also had some good lines in the pool, but by this time we were all feeling sore and tired, and had to decline to go skate other pools with these guys. Lame, I know, but we’ll be back.

Jim and his ramp.

Tony Miorana, low to high ollie.

Kevin ‘Kat’ Taylor, no-look backside smith on the curb.

Jim’s Ramp is one of the best indoor mini ramps around, and easily the best indoor ramp in the Bay Area, if not all of Nor Cal. If you didn’t already know this , ramp owner Jim Thiebaud (of REAL Skateboards) has had this ramp in various incarnations for years, but after the Jim’s Ramp Jam contest four years ago, it got dismantled and moved into this live/work warehouse in Oakland, where it grew even bigger and wider thanks to the handiwork of Brian Schaefer. These days the 4’ plywood vert wall has been cut down to 3’, but is reinforced and has pool coping. There is also a cool square curb they poured in the low section which adds an added challenge. Sick sessions go down there all the time, and often one can find a handful of out of town pros/sponsored guys riding there, and other times it’s the Gonz and Jim and Tommy. I heard Drehobl and Eric J were there the other night, I always miss those gnarly sessions. But two of the guys who rip that ramp the hardest live there, James and Mike. Mike in fact shot all of these photos, although it took a while because it’s hard for Mike to stop skating. You can check out some of Mike’s other photos on pages 70-71. Anyway, there’s not much space to write on this page, so I’ll let the photos do the talking. - Photos by Mike Yaccarino

Kat destroys this ramp. Not a frontside 50-50, but a fakie pivot.

Mike Yaccarino is truly a talented skate photographer. In fact I’m not sure what is better, his photography or his ability to ride a skateboard. I say that not because he is a poor photographer, but because he is such a good skater, truly a photographer who rips. The first time I met Mike was in Fresno at Pete the Ox’s bachelor party. I thought Mike was Royce Nelson’s younger brother because they sort of looked alike, but also had the same super smooth skate style. Mike, is originally from Virginia but recently relocated to Nor Cal from the L.A. area. He is currently living in Oakland at the Jim’s Ramp facility, and although he is a passionate photographer, he earns a living as an air conditioner installer and technician. Mike probably prefers to skate pools more than anything else, and hence many of his photos are of pool skating, which is just fine with us. Presented for you here is a small sample of Mike’s photo collection, and he has only been shooting photos for a few years. Hopefully this is not the last you’ll see of Mike in the pages of Concussion, behind or in front of the lens. - DK Clockwise from right: Unknown backside grind at the Pink Motel. Creski, backside over the steps at the Jungle Bowl. Checkout the pig lurking in the background. Skateboard and reflection. Joe Fernandez, crooked grind, Anaheim. Grosso hanging on to a backside air at the Basic Bowl like it’s Del Mar. Classic shot of Salba, slob corner air at the Howard Johnson pool. A young looking Chris Romero edging out onto the flat wall at Baldy. The photographer himself, frontside channel air at Ripon on an old Sims Pure Juice board.

Weekend riding is usually a decrepit descent into lift line madness. But, within these same anger-inducing lines lie many wanton shredders looking for a tour guide. And, if you follow these steps correctly, you too will find weekend riding can do wonders for your libido.

1 But first, you must skip, push or rope duck (1) your way onto the chair with the snow bunny of your choice. Then, it’s up to you to sell yourself (2) as “tour guide”, “Hey, I know a secret pow stash.”, works great on powder days. “I know some jumps on “such and such” chair and it doesn’t have a line”, also works very well in extra crowded lift lines. Once you’ve managed to persuade her into following you, the pressure is on. You must perform (3) and impress,—— but never forget to wait!! (4) You’re riding on the weekends to pick up chicks, remember. After you have successfully led her, waited patiently and ripped extra hard—-it is time for the tone-setting second lift ride. The second lift can pretty much tell you if the rest of the day is going to be spent playing indoors. If you have flexed your skills with humbleness and if you haven’t been rude or crass, the second chair could even entail some physical contact. Try to nonchalantly have your arm resting on the back of the chair (5) and see if she chooses to sit underneath it. On this ride you can get to know her a little bit better and ask her all the normal bio questions such as, “Where are you from? and “Do you ride here often?” But always remember to listen—no, really listen. Begin to ask more pertinent questions that can lead to the state of her moral character and her availability—-as in, “Have you ever had sex in the great outdoors?” or “Have you ever asked your boyfriend to go down on you in a gondola?” The answers to these questions, your listening and waiting technique and how well you’ve performed so far—-all play out to the final closing line. “Wanna get lunch?” Ahhh yes, and then my friend—-it is truly up to you (6,7) (and her, by the way) what may cum out of this “chance encounter”. I mean, c’mon—-she can’t get off the fuckin’ chair. So, she has to be somewhat cordial to your offer as “tour guide”. Lift lines don’t have to exhibit the usual fornicating frustration of waiting and wanting. Now, armed with this knowledge, you too can use these seemingly corrosive contusions to your riding experience in a whole new vein. Because, within those cold striped nylon ropes, many contradictory things exist—-johnny skier fags, rippin’ locs’ and fine tourist trim. The weekends are made for your lines and the lifts—-well, the lifts are your office and if you negotiate your deal correctly, you just might here the sweetest reply of all—“How about room service?”

4 6

I had the opportunity to go back to the Czech Republic for the holidays this winter. I brought my skateboard, but as it was freezing and/or snowing the entire time, the only thing I got to skate was the indoor mini ramp at the skatepark in Prague a couple times. And even then, it was mostly with street kids who preferred to practice flip tricks in the flat bottom than skate the ramp how you should. Pretty lame. So what else is there to do in Czech in the Winter? Why drink beer, of course. The Czech Republic is renowned for its ability to produce some of the finest beers in the world, and while a scant few of them such as Pilsner Urquell make it to the United States, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of different kinds of beers brewed regionally in Czech. We attempted to do a thorough Czech beer taste test, but without travelling all over the country (since many of the beers are regional) or going to the big, annual beer expo, it is impossible. So I bought as wide of a selection of beers (13) from the local grocery store as possible - they are broken down generally into light and dark. We had a panel of three experts who all rated the beers on a scale of one to five in a blind taste test, and we averaged the results. Pilsner Urquell won, followed closely by Starobrno Lezak (â&#x20AC;&#x153;lightâ&#x20AC;?), and while it is kind of cheesy that Pilsner did well, it also speaks to the quality of that beer. But I have drank it since I returned to California, and it is definitely better over there. Bottom line is almost every beer produced in the Czech Republic is better than any of the large commercial brewers here. The only beer that was really bad was Mestan, so stay away from that one - DK

C: Why don’t you tell the kiddies at home who are and what you do? JF: My name is “the dude” and I am an artist. I try not to use that title much, but it seems like it applies now. I enjoy all mediums. I like to paint, draw, sculpt, print, and design on the evil glowing box. I was the art director at Think Skateboards for the last few years, and I have a monthly spread in Slap Mag

called The Big Stupid. Oh yeah, I am also the godfather of the most gnarly legion of dirty bastard terrorists in the world. C: How long have you been involved with skateboarding? JF: I have been a skateboarder for about 17 years. I have been a blind soldier in the “industree” for the last five

years. I worked with some good fellas at a place called printime for a few years prior to my time with Think. C: What advice would you have for kids that would kill to do what you do? JF: This is the question I asked for. I grew up in the northeast. I lived and breathed skateboarding and the art that it projected from the bibles that are the

magazines. I never dreamed someday I could play a part, or see my art on boards. For all you sketchbook fiends, spraycan heads, paint marker masters, just know that the industry needs you and your creativity to feed its fires. If you ever wanted to make skateboard graphics, but didn't know how to go about it, heres what you should do. First draw, draw, draw, collect your drawings and build a portfolio. Next, learn to use

a computer. The glowing box is an evil tool designed to crush creativity, but without it you can’t get this job done. Then, bombard people with your work. Let them see your talents and follow your dreams to completion. If that doesn’t work, go to skateshops and draw all over the decks. Be stealth, they may get pissed off. C: What’s with all the silly pink bunnies

running around these days? JF: The silly pink bunnies are so gnarly I can’t say much about it or I might be killed. All I can say is that thems that are in the know, know that pink is really fucking manly. Long live the all mighty legions of the spbeez. ‘Nuff said. C: If someone paid you $10,000 to eat your own poo, would you do it?

JF: Sadly enough, I would eat a small amount of my own poo for a fraction of 10k. For that kind of skrill I would eat a platefull on fine china with a tall glass of Chianti. I need to take this opportunity to skratch some balls. I would like to thank Dustin, Duane, and Eric at Printime, Keith Cochrane and the THINK family, Slap Mag family, dlxsf, spb mafia, family, Martin,Jennifer, Scott,

Don and all the loyal pink bunnies for keeping it silly real. Last but not least I would like to take this opportunity to say that Lucky Skateboards is a joke, but thanks anyway for pushing me to get on with my life.

We recently caught up with Bradley Hoffer, artist, father and founder of Asbury Art. Stats: Full Name: Bradley Burns Hoffer Place of Birth: New Brunswick, NJ Date of Birth: 3/9/74 Current Residence: Asbury Park, NJ Family: Lauren and Emma Years of Artistic Endeavors: 12 Years painting: 4 Favorite Medium: Painting on Wood / Canvas Favorite Color: Orange Favorite Food: Ahi Favorite Drink: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Favorite Restaurant: O-Yama Favorite Movie: Star Wars: A New Hope Favorite Trip: 2 years in South Lake Tahoe Favorite Mountain: Kirkwood Favorite Skatepark: Asbury Park / Cheapskates Favorite Surf Spot: Loch-Harbor Favorite Season: Winter Best Concussion Story: Age 12, Fell off the school roof, landed on head. While trying to get up, is landed upon by friend Colin who also fell off roof. Influences: The Gonz, Mike Kelly, Vito Accanchi, Chris Burden, Robert Williams, Crumb, Dexterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lab Music: Atom and His Package, Devo, Astroman, Screeching Weasel, Spaceman 6 Shout-outs: Mom and Dad, Jessica, Last words: People are Robots

Founded in 2000 , Asbury Art (A A) was created to create and shar give artists an e their work. Fr affordable envi ustrated by the head in the city ronment to lack of space an , Brad set his ey d incredibly hi es on the run do people would ha gh overwn beach commun ve run from the ity of Asbury Pa sorry and somewh forgotten beach rk. Most at dangerously resort but Brad dilapidated stat was able to see enough to the ur e of this the beauty behi ban sprawl to st nd the madness. ill feel connec at much less of It was close ted but far enou a cost than acro gh away to have ss the river. his space The first floor of the building houses a galler in the back 2/3 y in the front an of the building d a huge worksp . Additionally, second floor. Yo ace/ studio there are two be u’d have to see autiful apartm it in person to mation has been en ts on the re al ly from the previo believe how incr usly run-down edible the tran Someday, he will shadow of a buil sforbe credited with ding to what it starting a cult tined to slip in is now. ural renaissanc to the sea unno e in a town othe ticed. rwise desIn the first tw o years of operat ion, many artist s have spent time in the studio wo rking, painting and ta king advantage of the unique se tenants / featur t-up. Notable ed artists have included: Aaron Joe Rosta – GNK, Tomkins, Porkchop, Kenn y Torres and Sh Fairey. epard Thus far, group shows have been a success with ma more to come in ny the near future . Over the next there will be 7 ye ar, group shows, ea ch with its’ own theme. Shows wi ll only be up fo r about three we to keep it fresh eks so if you’re in the area, be sure to check it out. The seven themes are: Appliances / To ols; Portraits; Nudes; Transportation / Machines; Land scapes; Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll; and “A nything Goes.” If you are ever close to the Jers ey shore, do yourself a favo r and check out AA. It really is the best th ing to come out of that neck of the wood s since Bruce Springsteen an d Bon Jovi. If ju st the art isn’t enough , you can always go by the Stone Pony and ask the bart ender for some good st ories about the Boss. - Words and phot os by Jason Murr ay Want to share so mething with Br ad or learn more ab out AA, contact: shrthare@aol.c om

random photos page executive producer j. hay

Back during the making of Issue 14, we ran into a problem that none of us were sure how to deal with. One of our newer advertisers, Mulletsports.com, gave us an ad, that, at the time, seemed to cross a line. It was right after the World Trade Center catastrophe and these guys send us an ad with 3 guys in a military jeep, with machine guns and all the ad says is NUKE BERKELEY. Needless to say, we didn’t know what to do. On one hand, it’s social satire, on the other, people were sensitive at the time. I always felt that our magazine would print anything, we pride ourselves on our lack of censorship, but, in this case, what do you do? Well, in the end, we told them we couldn’t run the ad for various reasons and blah, blah, blah, we thought that was the end of it. Then, to our suprise, Mulletsports was so upset about the whole thing, they ran a huge story about it on there website, entitled “BANNED”. In this “expose” they call us all kinds of horrible names like pansy-asses, cowards and the worst one of all.. corporate. By the end of the

article I was so pissed, I couldn’t see straight. I noticed an area on the site to contact “Rico” at Mulletsports. I took the oppurtunity to say a few words, here’s what transpired: Rico, Boy, you sure got our number. We (Concussion) is made up of a bunch of cowardly corporate bitches. I mean, here I am in my stretch SUV limo (it’s purple), sipping a mai tai, thinking, “Thank God I sold out!”. I don’t like censorship either, but, versus the truckloads of dead presidents I got rollin in. I say censor, censor, censor. And although I am cowardly I’m fucking rich so don’t mess around or I’ll hire someone to wack you. Not the good wack either. P.S. John Stamos has a mullet. ouch. the LZA

RICO: Mai Tai’s? What, are you a bunch of faggots, too? JED: Shut up, Rico! Now listen up, pansies! This is no time to be “flossin” or whatever you rapper gang types call it! It’s time to fight the good fight! We got a war to attend to. A war against EVIL. A war against the EVILDOERS of the WORLD! And it starts right here on American soil, boy! JS FLEX: That’s right Jed! The War on “Terrah” is gonna work just like the War on Drugs. We will not faulter!

Rico, Jed, ASS Flex, Billy Ray Cyrus, Well fellas, It’s amazing you all had enough time to type as much as you did. I mean, considering all the fudge packing you guys must be doing there at QueefSports.com. You shitbags want war? Well,you got it..... boy. We’re mounting up our minions of soliders to;

banned by the mullet the ad in question

first, stomp a hole in yer inbred asses and second, give you little girls a much needed haircut. PS. How does that mullet saying go “business up front, party in my backdoor”, uh...yah, who’s the faggots now. PSS. Here comes the EVIL L-neezy

JS FLEX: Attention, boy! You will NOT speak to a Wartime Commander like that. Bring your minions of soldiers to our playground in Methdesto and prepare to face quick expiration. CLEETUS: I got a surprise for y’all, too. Ever seen “Deliverance”? Pretty mouth? Heh, heh, heh. You talk the fag talk, and next you’ll die by it. JED: You think we typin’ that website? Ahhhwww, HAYEL! We ain’t touchin the computer. We ain’t learnt that stuff. We went and hired a PROfeshnle. And I’m not one to brag, but lets just he he’s been to school. Yup. Leaves us time for more importint stuf.... dognappin, meth cookin, and booze guzzlin for you lil whimps keepin score at home! RICO: Don’t you “L-neezay” me. Fake MC’s get phukinstepdovah aye. .....and the the war continues, it’s obvious that these guys are unstable, at best. But feel free to join the Concussion army in our fight, go to Mulletsports.com and give them a piece of your mind.

It seems like forever ago that Davoud and myself attended the Nerdfest known as Battlebots. I guess originally the plan was to do a story about the robots and all the destruction that goes on at this event, but to be honest, it wasn't exactly what we were expecting. The rules for our press passes were very strict, no photos in the contest area. The only place you could take photos was the "pit area", where the nerds worked on their robots and about the only action that was going on there was guys talking about how their ramming rod had 13 gigaflops of cubic thrust. Well, Davoud and I were stuck asking ourselves, "what’s the story here?".Just then, I looked skyward and to my delight I spotted Carmen Elektra in a control booth upstairs. It was then I realized my mission, to meet and interview Miss Elektra. I knew it was a long shot, but what else did we have? I posted up at the bottom of the stairs, waiting, I could feel my skin itch with excitement. This is thee Carmen Elektra, ex-girlfriend of Dennis Rodman, the most notorious celebrity slut, ever. Shit, for all I knew, I could end up back at her hotel, snorting coke off her ass. I noticed another girl waiting at the bottom of the stairs, it was Carmen's stylist. I asked her a few questions, but bottom line, she was worthless to me, I was waiting for Carmen. Then my moment came, Carmen came down the stairs and I got all choked up. Like a 15 year old, my voice squeeked out, "Hey, Carmen, uh, could I, uh, get a photo with you". She happily agreed and the rest is history, we ended up back at her hotel, talking about our turn-ons, pet peeves and, of course, snorting coke off each others asses.

Ws e v I E Ws Vi V i D E o R ev Twenty to Life I have been watching Brian Lilla drag his super-8 camera to sessions for the past several years, and it is nice to know that we can finally see the product of all of his filming. Twenty to Life is an entirely super-8 film focusing on those who have been into skateboarding for at least twenty years. Done in a documentary style, the film is narrated by Sam Cunningham, Joel Chavez, Chris Romero, and other longtime Bay Area skaters. Probably 80% of the footage is backyard pool sessions, which was rad. In fact much of the footage was from the same sessions that appeared in our Amnesia video last year, but since it’s shot on film as opposed to video, it looks way cooler. You may not appreciate this film if you’re strictly a waxy ledge and rail jockey, but it would be in your best interest to. Lilla also traveled to Florida and got some good footage from a vert ramp in this swamp, as well as some super gnarly footage of some East Bay downhillers. Twenty to Life examines underground skateboard culture in a similar way that Fruit of the Vine did, but with a slightly broader focus and in a narrower geographical location. Nonetheless, the story telling in this film is broad reaching and applicable to all skateboarders who are really down for life. Featuring the skating of Pete the Ox, Sam Cunningham, Royce Nelson, Chris Romero, and many, many other skaters, Twenty to Life is easily one of the finest skateboard videos/films I have seen recently. Boasting an excellent soundtrack and a lot of good, generally unknown talent, the film and its subjects come off as unassuming and disinterested with recognition, two qualities which were lacking from the Dogtown & Z-Boys film. And while many of the major players in this film are as old as the guys in the Dogtown movie, they are all still skating and not stuck in the past, reliving the good old days. - dk For more information email super8skateflic@yahoo.com or call 510-625-8045

Interstate Video Zine Issue #2 Interstate Video Zine #2 is easily the best coverage of the East Coast skate scene available. However other than issue #1, it is the only video I am aware of that focuses solely on East Coast skate footage. The question that arises is, "WHY is it the only skate video focusing on the east coast?" There is plenty of skating going on from Maine to Florida, but nobody (in the industry) really seems to care. So Jason Chapman of Charmed City Skateshop in Baltimore MD, has taken matters into his own hands and has started to give some of the east coast spots, pros, ams and unknown rippers a bit of well deserved recognition. Interstates’ strength and uniqueness is definitely the fact that it covers a skate scene that goes practically unnoticed by the media. Although the editing is a bit unpolished at times, I found the grass roots feel to be a satisfying break from many of the big money productions that flood today’s video market. Issue #2 breaks down into the seven following sections: Shop Check with North Carolinia’s Endless Grind skate team, The 757, Park Life with Exodus Skatepark in Ocean City MD, Timeline with Gary Smith of Media Skateboards, Pro Material with Eric Fauver, DV Out and 2 Minutes in Tampa. Some of the weather conditions and makeshift skate terrain in this video should serve as a reminder to whiners everywhere that with a little effort and creativity there is always something worth skating. It also proves that whether or not the media is aware, skateboarding is alive and well on the east coast. – eb To contribute footage or ask questions call 410-563-2246

Melting Pot A film by Adam Bulger and Ivery Turner When Blair told me that his roommates were making a video about the San Diego scene I was skeptical. After all, if there is one city in the world that is featured far too much in skate videos, it’s San Diego. For the most part though, Melting Pot distinguishes itself by featuring unusual spots and different skaters. In the process, it does what it sets out to do -- namely, documenting the “real” San Diego street scene. There’s other shit besides street; a few clips of Buster Halterman and Jesse Fritsch on vert, a couple of pool clips and some footage of the Ocean Beach skatepark, but 90% of the video is street. Thankfully, it’s not all ledges and generator lit rails. In fact, a cool thing about this video is that these skaters go to lengths to skate fucked up spots, like Tony Trujillo’s weird picnic table/launch ramp setup. The above mentioned pro’s aside, most of the skaters are relative unknowns. This is a good thing, as Melting Pot manages to avoid the San Diego pro/kook scene, (although there is a clip of Peter Smolik). There’s also a lot of slam outtakes and general fucking-around-infront-of-the-camera footage in between skate clips. That’s probably my favorite part, as it gives you an idea of what the San Diego scene is all about. My complaints are that it’s short, and there isn’t enough transition footage. Then again, if these guys were reviewing my video, they would probably complain that it’s too long and doesn’t have enough street footage. - da Anyway, Melting Pot is a good DIY video that makes even me want to street skate. Buy it if you can find it at your local shop, or send $10 for video, sticker pack, and “various surprises” to: Melting Pot 4758 Dawes St. San Diego, CA 92109 Freshwater This film was somewhat of a pleasant surprise. I’m pretty sure it’s all Northeast footage, but whatever it is its not too bad. The focal point of this video is this wooden bowl in these guys’ back yard, which looks pretty fun. It’s kind of a mini-ramp bowl with a hip, but it’s got pool coping and appears to host some good sessions. The locals fuck the place up, and there are even guest appearances by travelling pros such as Alan Peterson. There is some other misc. park footage as well as some footage from Skater Island, which breaks some of the monotony of the backyard bowl footage. Overall Freshwater is a decent skate video, but if you’re waiting for sick street tech flip shit, it ain’t gonna happen. In fact most of the “street” footage is hella weak. Some of the bowl footage gets repetitive, and generally I don’t get too excited if the people in the video are only as good as I am, but whatever. The end of the video hints that these guys got rid of the wooden bowl and poured a much better cement bowl, but we only get teased with a bit of footage from the unfinished bowl. It will be interesting to see the sequel. - dk for info email carvegdinf@aol.com Leaving Plastic Destro films I was given this video by a guy at the skatepark. I had noticed that he was randomly giving out stickers and videos. I thought that was a very cool thing to do, so I talked to him. He was one of the guys in the video. He said they had a great time making the video. This is one of the best skate videos that I’ve seen in a long while (besides Amnesia, of course). It is exactly what it says: a tour of the skateparks of the Northwest. It features Aaron Scott, Art Carrillo, Ryan Ownes, Matt Kriegel, to name a few. The sound track is good. I like videos that have rock in some form in them all the way through. What I’m saying is that I don’t like hip hop. So when I’m watching a video and hip hop comes on I lose interest in watching it. I believe that skateboarding and rock music are partners. Where as hip hop works well with, well actually it just sucks. So when you have good bands playing, while you are showing me a bunch of skaters doing their thing, I will be more attentive. Skaters skating everything. The don’t stand in one area and practice the same trick over and over. They attack the obstacles and go big. Funny roadtrip footage. It reminds me a great deal of the Rich Kids on LSD.video, though, I don’t believe there’s any connection. This video even has some cool sponsors-Fuct, Obey, Z products, Circa shoes, and Benny’s Meats. I don’t know exactly how you could get this video, but I will give you the info I have: Destro Films - Kyle Rourke 858 728 2911. Do yourself a favor and get this video. – Sick Boy

Badazz Mofo #6 The name pretty much sums up it’s contents. This magazine is dedicated to all the bad ass mufucka’s that ever put the smack down on some jive sucka. This issue was an extra score because it has the Badazz Mofo’s Film awards, which had me laughing so hard, I nearly shat myself. And the “Craziest Motherfucker in the room” award goes to Samuel L. Jackson, hilarious. There’s all sorts of good stuff to check out. This issue also rates a ton of Blaxpoitation films, the rating system being 4 afro’s is the best and on down to a jeri curl being the worst. You should get this magazine because you are a sniveling pus and you could use some toughening up. Send 5 dollah’s to Badazz Mofo PO Box 40649 Portand, OR. 97240

Big Daddy #9 Everything about Big Daddy is big, from the format to the price (I paid nearly 10 dollars). This magazine is from the UK and it has everything that a hiphop, funk and soul lovin’ b-boy could ask for. Big Daddy also surrounds it’s articles with great art and good design. All this in a glossy color format makes it hard to beat, oh ya, it’s funny too. Some of my favorite articles are the Biz Markie interview and the Wave Twisters piece is good too. So get off yer arse, you bloody tit and get this magazine at your local Tower records or go to London, they probably sell it there too.

The Newsletter The best of issue After receiving this zine, my first instinct was to flip through and look at the pretty pictures. To my disappointment, there were no pictures at all, I mean, maybe a few, here and there but not very many. You know what it means whens there’s no pictures, it means it’s all a bunch of reading. Well, one night I hunkered down to try out the ole reading skills again and ...hoooo, these guys are fucking hilarious. It’s all real funny, but the biggest highlight is Worst Article of the Month, “Killer D” talks some serious shit, classic. You want one? I’ll bet you do. Send $2 to The Newsletter 612 S. Elder st. Anahiem, CA 92805

Giant Robot #23 This magazine is maybe too good to be reviewed by us, but whatever. Giant Robot is mainly about Asian pop culture, I thought it was bad to say Asian, but they say it, so I guess it’s OK. It should be stated that it’s not all about Asian people, there’s other rad stuff too, not that Asians aren’t entertaining enough on their own, but there’s other stuff too. This issue has Chappies, which are maybe the weirdest phenomenon ever, also, snow monkeys and armpit surveys. We met one of the guys from Giant Robot, he was cool, he listened to the band Enemymine, they are the best. Right on, go to Tower Records and get one or pretty much any bookstore, they are all over this bitch.

Soft Smooth Brain #3 This zine is all pictures, hardly any pesky reading at all. On the first page it explains that there were no computers used to make it and how it’s “olden styled”. That got me thinking that we outta do that for Concussion too, make it “olden-styled”. But I think we should really take it back, know what I’m sayin’, before paper, man. Keep it real, know what I’m sayin’, straight up writing on the walls and shit. So, keep yer eye out for our next issue, appearing all over the place. This is an awesome art zine, go get it, you’ll like it. Soft Smooth Brain PO Box 6645 Portland, OR 97228

Gristle #3 OK, First, I gotta say that I don’t know how the hell, you, the reader, is gonna get a copy of this goodness. This is probably the best art-type zine ever, I bought the cheap version, so guaranteed, if you get the “fancy” version you are extra fucking stoked. The ideas presented in this book could potentially damage the viewer, forever, maybe it’s better that you can’t get it, you probably couldn’t handle it. If you do find it, grab it and hold on tight.

Comics for Stoners Well, let’s be honest, when your high it doesn’t take much to make you laugh. So, this comic didn’t have to be that funny....and it wasn’t. Mainly, it was exactly what I thought it was going to be, a bunch of 4:20 jokes and general stoner jokes that you hear all the time. Personally, when I even hear the numbers four twenty, it makes me want to kill, I hate that shit. Maybe I am being too harsh, all I am saying is that you show me a picture of Brittany Spears getting railed by Fozzy the Bear and I’m high, shit, I would laugh my ass off but the standard stoner joke does nothing for me anymore, I’ve been smoking weed too long. So, nice try stoner comics, maybe next time try the Brittany thing, you can have that one for free.

Life Sucks Die #8 I think we review this magazine almost every issue. The guys at Life Sucks Die must think we are some kind of nut swingers, and I guess they’re right. But where can you find a magazine as entertaining and Informative as LSD. Issue Eight is funner than your mom and some box wine. It’s starts off smooth and silky with amazing cover art by the soon-to-be-famous Aaron Horkey. The inside is all the things you’ve come to love about LSD, good times and lots of ‘em. Highlights include Urban Hunter and the comprehensive How to Party article. Also, The Beatnuts and a Tenacious D interview, there’s all kinds of quality shit in here, come on in. Send 5 bucks to LSD PO Box 14801 Minneapolis, MN 55414

Concussion Long Sleeve shirts and T-shirts make excellent rags for drying a pool, mopping up blood, or cleaning up a spilt beer. Choose from 3 cool styles, the “Evil Kenevil Longsleeve” ($20), “Evil Kenevil Shortsleeve”, “Demon Head Logo” (white only) or “Classic Logo” (all $10). Shipping is included in the price. Send a check or money order* to the address below and be sure to specify style (1-6), color, and size ( L or XL only) Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Visit concussion.org for our super duper lame-ass online store that doesn’t even really work!! concussion.org 2.0 coming soon. Concussion Merchandise PO Box 1024 Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1024 Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery * Make checks payable to Concussion

Left - Ron Heathman rocks out as the band gets down. Above - Ron and Eddie Spagetti getting sensitive.

The Supersuckers have always been one of our favorite bands. In fact, we drove up to Portland and interviewed them in Issue Number Two. Since that time five years ago, they have put out an exceptional country album, “Must’ve Been High”, as well as a semi-mediocre rock record (in this writer’s opinion - Eddie Spaghetti claims it is their best album. Hmmm.), “Evil Powers of Rock n Roll” and now they have released “Must’ve Been Live”, a live (duh) recording from a few of their better country shows. Eddie Spaghetti Interview 2/6/02

Concussion: So you’re living in San Diego now huh? Eddie: Yeah, we have this freedom to move around and we decided to take advantage of it. But we’re going back to Seattle soon.

Yeah, you can’t sell your Washington weed in California if you’re always in San Diego. Yeah, everything about it is kind of cut rate. But I have a lot of good friends and some family down here so we thought it would be cool to come and try it out for a little while.

Well I’m lucky that the guys in the Suckers are willing to play basically any song I make up, so I don’t really have to do the solo endeavor.

On that album I think half of the songs are really good and half are too slow. Oh really, well do you come from Germany or something?

So the solo album will come out after the Supersuckers break up. Exactly. And we’ve been together for 14 years so I don’t think we’re going anywhere anytime soon.

Let’s hope not. Yeah, so your new live country album is pretty good. It’s funny that last time we talked you were saying how nobody liked the country album, and now four years later you’re releasing a live country album. What has changed? Well when it [Must’ve Been High] came out, it was pretty roundly booed. And then sort of over these last few years it has oddly enough become our most popular record, which is kind of weird. But this record [Must’ve Been Live] just sort of fell into our laps with these recordings we were making, just to hear how it was going. Our soundman dug up a bunch of these recordings, and some of them sounded really good so we decided to throw it together. And it’s a good way to test the waters on our first Mid-Fi release.

Hey, shut up! But seriously, you guys need to speed it up a bit, you’re starting to slow it down. You know, tempo is overrated. It ain’t about being fast, it’s about being good.

Fair Enough. I’ll keep my opinions to myself. That song Amy Nelson sung with you guys on Must’ve Been Live, she was pretty out of tune, eh? Yeah she was not too thrilled about it. It’s live, and things happen live. There’s probably a good bunch of stuff that I would have redone on the live record, but I like the fact that it’s a genuine, true, live album and nobody went in and fixed anything or redid any solos or any of that.

Yeah that is cool. So what’s Bolton up to these days? Thunder? Ha ha ha! Oh you know, raising hell, pillaging, killing, drinking blood….

So where are you living down there? That’s the label you guys started?

He doesn’t have any kids himself yet?

This area called North Park, it’s a dump. No, it’s alright, but when you’re used to Seattle….

Yeah, that’s our own label.

Not yet.

Now you can hang out in Hollywood though huh?

So now you don’t have anybody to blame.

Or none that he knows about?

Actually, I’ve been doing these regular gigs up at the Viper Room, which has been kinda fun.

Ha ha. Yeah, we don’t have anybody to uh, fall back on. But it’s cool. So far it’s just still a learning process, and hopefully we don’t fuck it up.

Yeah, none in this country. No, he’s actually doing a little settling down himself. He’s gonna get hitched here at the beginning of next month.

I gotta say, that new country record is probably better than your last rock record or two.

Really, Bolton? Ha ha!

(Laughter) Really, seriously? Yeah, just doing these solo gigs, there’s lots of that kind of stuff to do down here.

Yeah, that was my next question – when’s the Eddie Spaghetti solo album coming out?

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Oh I dunno. I think the Evil Powers of Rock n Roll is our best record.

Yeah it’s a major step for anybody, but for Bolton, you know…

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Concussion: So, who’s all in the band and what do they do? james plays the bass, jon plays the lead guitar, troy sings, lyrics, piano, guitar and christian plays the drums. C: How long has the band been together and where are you guys from? well the first recording come out in 1993 under the name DANA LYNN. the group formed in hawaii, but has been los angeles based for some time now. C: Enough of the logistics, Is it just me or has the overall state of innovative rock and roll hit rock bottom these days? Why do you think that is? i don’t think so. i mean it did for a while after kurt cobain died, rock really hit the fan. but people like radiohead saved it. i think when the main concern is selling a product, your art will suffer. there is always something good happening, you just have to out and find it. the t.v. or radio won’t bring it to your door. some of

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the best artist’s out there can’t afford to promote themselves enough to put their work in everyone’s face. C: Why is it that France loves you so much? I went to France and those fuckers gave me nothing but grief. What makes you so special? i think it’s because the band has played there more then our own town. we were popular in germany during 1996 because our manager was in germany so he worked germany,now our new people’s are in france. so it wasn't by choice it just worked out like that. people can suck anywhere in the world. C: Here’s a typical band interview question, Who are your influences musically? i like: peter tosh, black sabbath, pink floyd, beatles, john bonham, dr.dre, snoop, nate dogg, radiohead, the ex, christian death, aphex twin, pixies, the cure, bob marley, ravi shankar, the residents, hendrix, portishead, joy division, bauhaus, nirvana, jesus lizard.

C: What’s in the future for the band (another pretty typical question)? stay sane, and write the best music we can. C: Do you think if you guys were like “rap-rock” and you put on scary masks that you would “rap-rock” these days, what a bunch of idiots. yes. C: If someone offered you $1,000 dollars to drink your on pee, would you do it? nope. C: What’s the worst injury that each member of the band has suffered? Preferably a head injury. i was stabbed in the head with a ice pick. 11. Could you elaborate, what happened?

well it was during my last year of high school. i was dropping off a date in front of her house, when all of a sudden 2 brave gansta’s were holding ice picks to our throats while we sat in my dad’s trans-am. next thing i know they’re taking all the rings off her fingers, looking thru the car, took my $5 watch,etc. then right before they leave the gentlemen standing on my side of the car spots my leather jacket on the floor by my feet. so he goes to grab it, but so did i. while we played tug of war, he punched me right in the eye, that didn’t work so he did it again, well that only got me

out of the car,and then the next thing you know, i’m punching the poop out of this brave man. so while i’m doing that his partner in crime sees that he needs help so the other brave man stabbed me in the ribs, that didn’t stop me until he stabbed me in the head, then i went down. and then the brave men took off running into the night. god bless ’um. it was the first time i was robbed, beat up, stabbed, and also the first time i had ever hit anyone.

from the guys in dana lynn. 13. If your music materialized into some kind of animal, what kind of animal would it be? a kitty 14. Is this the worst interview you’ve ever done? no.

12. Where did the name “chokebore” come from?

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Record Reviews Think your band has got what it takes? Send CDs, tapes, etc. to: Concussion Reviews - PO Box 1024 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Abstract Rude and Tribe Unique P.A.I.N.T Battle Axe Records The flavor of Abstract Rude is chocolate street rasta, and watch the sharp edge. Ab Rude gets back together with Tribe Unique and the output is another laid back, deep base-lined, thoughtful and prophetic album. Many MCs from Ab Rude’s fellowship make appearances, but the presence of the dreaded knight is strong throughout. Songs like “Birds of a Feather” and “Owls and Roosters” reflect the accumulated style from Abby Rude. Two other west coast gladiators make an appearance on a bouncy track, Grouch and Eligh both kick verses on the “Dawning of the a.G.E.”. In tradition, there is another “Heavyweights” track, round 4 that features many Project Blowed MCs from Aceyalone to Busdriver. This is the first Abstract Rude & Tribe Unique LP that I enjoy from start to finish without wanting to skip certain tracks (maybe 1!). The production on the tracks is very consistently enjoyable, and the message and lyrics from Ab Rude are always positive. - JAH Antiseen Screaming Bloody Live TKO This review is pretty much the same as my review of the last Antiseen album, which is I didn’t like it. This is another one of the TKO live series, which are cool, but I don’t like Antiseen. TKO has been one of the only labels lately which is putting out really good music, but unfortunately Antiseen does not fall in that category. If you like Antiseen then you should get this album because the recordings are good. And they do a good Ramones cover. - dk Aqua Velvets Radio Waves Milan Records This album doesn’t quite fit in with the usual pile of shit we get sent, so it was kind of strange when I stumbled upon it sifting through the CDs that Jonathan forgot at my house. I guess the Aqua Velvets are a local (Bay Area) surf rock band, because this album is all live recordings from KFJC and KPFA. This stuff is a little on the hippy side and a couple of the songs required the fast forward button to be hit, but I’m a sucker for surf guitar and so I liked this album. If you like surf guitar you might like it too. dk

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AudioCrush Lorelei Records God Damnit, I totally lost the sleeve to this album. I don’t know the title or the song names. I suck, I hope that Joe and Jen can forgive me. OK, anyway, I’m just gonna wing it. This is a fantastic CD, I have been listening to it for a while now. I like the fact that Joe and Jen both sing, they compliment each other really well. I don’t know what you would classify this music as, aahh who needs classifications. That’s the problem with the world, you know, all the labels and classifications. These people just make beautifully melodic songs and that’s that. If you go buy it, I will personally date your mom. That’s a promise. - LC Automatic Animal EP The band formerly known as Herbert has released a new EP under the name Automatic Animal. This 3 song CD EP keeps to the Herbert tradition of riffy heavy rocking metal, with mystical stoner lyrics & trippy guitar solo interludes. The 2nd song, Valley of the Blind, is over 6 minutes long, and covers a lot of ground. From dirty metal riffs to a mellow chorus, back to the heavy jam, I could see this Automatic Animal track creeping it’s way onto some college radio stations across the country. Valley of the Blind is a very elaborate and complete song that possibly maps new paths for the Automatic Animal to venture down. I saw them open for Nebula (featuring original members of Fu Manchu), at a club in Santa Cruz the other night, and they busted out Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild. I was so stoked I was singing all the words and spitting all over the place in excitement. Too bad that track didn’t make it on this EP, but check them out live to hear their new stuff and some surprise covers. The Black Vol. 1 Concubine Records This is the first release from The Black and I have to be honest, it is sheer brilliance. I have heard plenty of stories about The Black. From the infamous tours to the groupies, it seems these guys are the next big thing, like Creed or something, but not gay. I heard this one story where the guitar player, I think his name is Matt, he got all drunk and they started playing their set, well, some guy in the crowd starts talking while the band is playing. Matt notices this and calmly walks over to the guy, still playing the song and shoves the neck of his guitar straight thought the guy’s stomach. That’s fucking raw! I also heard the other guitarist, Robbie, I heard he could devour an entire cow in under 5 minutes. Crazy. If you can find this CD, buy it. If they are playing in your town, go see ‘em but don’t talk during the show. Seriously. - LC

sounds most like kyuss Lowrider Ode to Io Meteor City This album rocks. Instead of the pick of the litter, this column will be called “Sounds Most Like Kyuss” whenever possible. And I must say that when Lee told me about this album and how much it sounded like Kyuss, I was pretty skeptical, because I’ve heard plenty of people say that and it never does sound that similar. But after listening to it many times, I must admit that it does indeed sound pretty damn close to Kyuss. Needless to say is better than the new FuManchu, Desert Sessions Vol. 43, or any other wanna be desert/generator rock. This is Blues For the Red Sun era Kyuss without Jon Garcia, made by dudes from Sweden. I don’t know what it is about those Norwegians, but they’re all over the black metal /

The Briefs EP Interscope Records These songs are off their first album. They all have the same production as they did on the Dirtnap Records release. I can’t say enough good about these guys. I usually judge a band on how real the people are. These guys are true blue. They got a sound that couldn’t stay hidden for long. The three songs on here are like a hook in the jaw that you can’t break away from. The songs aren’t that short, but they are addicting, so you find yourself not caring how many times the song plays on repeat. The lyrics are always fun. For instance, “Poor & Weird” states “I’m‚ poor & I’m weird ...gettin’ weirder by the second... I used to have some money but my alter ego spent it”. These guys are great live. Good band, good people. You should support them. They are doing it their way, Majors or Indy it doesn’t matter. Like they told me, They’re following their gut instinct and hoping‚ for the best. Get all they’ve done. - SB Clay Wheels Born To Barge I don’t know if this album is on a label or what, but it was being shrink wrapped with the Jason Adams Black Label deck for a while at least, which was cool. The Clay Wheels are one of the better skaterock bands around right now, and in fact I might go as far as to say I prefer them to such OG skaterock bands as the Faction. While the Clay Wheels play “skaterock”, it is heavily influenced by surf music, and in fact I like their surf guitar songs more than anything else they do. Born To Barge is not all surf music or whatever, so it is probably not my favorite Clay Wheels album, but it is still better than a lot of the crap bands are churning out these days, and how can anyone from San Jose resist a song called “Sweet Little San Jose”. dk

hard rock / stoner rock tip, and lately they’ve been showing those Americans a thing or two about rock n roll. Song titles include “Caravan”, “Flat Earth”, “Sun Devil”, “Riding Shotgun”, and “Convoy V”. From the opening riff of the first track you are assaulted with heavy blues influenced metal riffage that is like the Kyuss album they never made. Many have tried to imitate, but few get this close. Seriously. - dk

Comets on Fire Self Titled 12” I’m not exactly sure if Santa Cruz based Comets on Fire broke up for a good or if they’re just on sabbatical, but either way it’s a screaming shame. This record made me go out and buy a new record player just so I could listen to this, and it was worth every dollar of the seventy bucks I spent on it (the record player that is) just to hear this record alone. Featuring Chris Gonzales from the Gorehounds tearing up the drums, and all your favorite Streetlight records employees on bass, guitars and the Echoplex, Comets on Fire lie somewhere between ACDC on speed (or were they on speed), early Nirvana, and underground psychedelic garage rock and grungy blues. TURN IT UP! Produced by Comets on Fire with the help of Tim Green (The Champs), they have come up with the rawest yet clean and gritty sound. Comets on Fire are the only band I’ve ever seen that have an Echoplex as one of the instruments which sounds like fuzzed out Jimi Hendrix jamming with distorted blues laced Mudhoney in a whisky smothered opium den in Seattle. Despite their possible influences, Comets on Fire are the most original band I’ve heard in a long time. The last song on the album is a tweaked version of the Beatles’ Back in the USSR. This 12” is so raw and wild and has a loose sultry spastic flow that makes you want to get wasted on hard liquor and knock shit over. The record is a limited edition screen printed artsy cover with a hand written lyric sheet. If you can find it, get it, or I’ll tape it for you on my new stereo, if you send me a tape. Seriously. - JH Conflict Now That You’ve Put Your Foot In Your Mouth Go Kart This is a quickie from Conflict, 4 songs lasting about 15 minutes. They sound like they’re from the East Coast, with their fast hardcore that’s not too gnarly. The songs have a good flow to them, with some typical background chanting, in a similar vein to the Bosstones, but a little more raw. The last song on this EP surprisingly is a Reggae song, which I must say, I like the best on the CD. Similar to a Bad Brains hard-

core/reggae song with the repetitive guitar riffings and the gruff vocals, this song definitely satisfies. Jah, Rasta Farr - JH The Damned Grave Disorder Nitro Records In 1976 The Damned entered the music world with their first single - New Rose. Not only was it their first release, but it would later enter the history books as the first punk rock single ever recorded. 1977 saw the release of the band’s first LP ‘Damned, Damned, Damned’, which smacked it’s listeners on the ass and took off running. A quarter of a century later The Damned still haven’t looked back and are still doing what they do best creating chaos. With roughly 70 releases (including singles, compilations, studio and live recordings) and a lineup which has seen more changes than J-Lo’s wardrobe during her TV concert, it is hard to evaluate Grave Disorder against it’s predecessors. None the less, this album rocks and is a worthwhile investment. Songs such as She, Looking for Action and Neverland take you on a musical voyage from chaotic punk to melodic pop and back again, proving that the Damned have survived the test of time and continue to innovate. - EB Desert Sessions Desert Sessions 7 & 8 Southern Lord Where is John Garcia when you need him? Kyuss seems like a long time ago. Unida hasn’t uttered a peep in a while, Scott Reeder is MIA, Brant Bjork just quit Fu Manchu after they released the same album for the third time in a row, Queens of the Stone Age sounds like a glorified new wave band, and this album is a drunken mess. It sounds like it was a hell of a lot of fun to make, but I don’t know how they expect the people to get behind this sort of thing. The people want rock. They want cool breeze, they want clean air, and they want high fidelity. This album has a ‘song’ called “Piano Bench Breaking.” It’s some drunk musician breaking and falling off a piano bench and giggling. John Garcia would not have stood for this shit. He’d probably be cool about the three songs with Mark Lanegan on vocals here, but the rest of this? Man, it makes Slo-Burn seem like Led Zeppelin in comparison. Garcia would listen to this album and just go, “fuck, man, this fuckin’ album is a fuckin’ mess. What the fuck is fuckin’ Josh doing? Fuckin’ Kyuss was the fuckin’ shit. Let’s get that fuckin’ reunion tour going for fuck’s sake and get over to fuckin’ Europe and fuckin’ rock those fuckers. Fuck.” And he would be right. - MS Distillers Sing Sing Death House Hellcat I was scared to listen to this album, but then I remembered that the stuff on Epitaph isn’t the same as the stuff on Hellcat, which is generally better. The liner notes in this album have a cool gun pattern, all handguns. I’ll bet my friend Sahar would like it, she’s all

into screen printing these days. The Distillers come off as being pretty hardcore, but they play pretty poppy music. They have a female singer that sounds like Courtney Love when she was still a junkie. - dk Downway Defeat Songs Sessions Records These guys are cool, they are playing, you know, punk music. One thing that’s fairly interesting is the fancy words these guys use in their songs like, permeating and demoralized. A lot of punk kids I know have pretty limited vocabulary, so kudos to Downway for brushing up on the ole school books. My favorite song on the CD is probably The Perfect Mind, mainly because it deviates from the standard 3 chord punk and is just...well, a well-written song. The lyrics are about faking being crazy, that’s a great idea. OK, I’m crazy for the rest of this review, cat poop firetruck is good when I make pee-pee. - LC Drive-By Truckers Southern Rock Opera Soul Dump The Village Voice loves this album. Strike one. Rolling Stone gave it four stars. Strike two. NPR aired a long profile of the band. Strike three. Northern limousine liberals haven’t jumped on something out of the South so hard since Clinton first ran for president in 1992. Funny thing is, all these reviews - and most other press this band gets, for that matter - say almost nothing about the music. Reviewers seem so taken with the concept of this ‘Southern rock opera’ that they ignore the songs. Truth be told, despite that fact that rock operas and concept albums suck hard (every single last one of them, ever), the premise of this one does is pretty damn good, and these dudes would’ve really had to work to fuck it up. Telling the story of the fictional band Betamax Guillotine, the Truckers spend two discs working through what they call ‘the duality of the Southern thing,’ which they take to be the odd coexistence of terrible bigotry and genuine interracial empathy in the lower corner of these United States. It’s actually a compelling theme, but it gets stretched a little thin across the record. There’s a few songs that are pretty unclear as to how they fit the narrative, and the commentary the band offers doesn’t help. If anything, the unifying theme of the album is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Betamax Guillotine goes down in a plane crash, one song is about the singer’s unsuccessful attempt to go to a Skynyrd concert, one song calls Ronnie Van Zant one of the three ‘great Alabama icons,’ and another explains the non-feud between Skynyrd and Neil Young. The music sounds like mostly like Skynyrd’s first couple records, and a lot of the racial themes in the lyrics are sort of riffs off those in Skynyrd’s “Ballad of Curtis Lowe.” These are all good things, and this is a good record, but I don’t know that it lives up to the hype the Yankee media is giving this record. It’s basically above-aver-

age bar rock, with about four or five great songs spread out over the two discs. - MS Dwarves How To Win Friends and Influence People Reptilian Records This is one of the best Dwarves releases in a while, probably because it is re-recordings of good Dwarves songs. For the most part they are all better versions, but if you’re not a Dwarves fanatic then you won’t know the difference, but the shit will still knock you on your ass. Songs like “Dominator”, “Anybody Out There”, “Astroboy”, “Fuck Em All”, and “Drugstore” never sounded so good. Some of the tracks are live, some are rerecordings, but they all rule. And just like you’d expect a Dwarves album to be, it’s over before you know it, so just put it on repeat. - dk El Guapo Super/System Dischord Records El Guapo are an indie-electronica band out of Washington DC. Their sound is very eclectic (what the hell does that word mean anyways) and a lot of this release sounds like the sound track to a video game, or maybe a slowed down to the movie Pie (how ever you write that symbol on a computer). I’m not usually too into Electronica, but El Guapo mix it up and have their own instruments mixed in with the electronics. Instruments include the accordion, keyboard, guitar, oboe, and of course, the computer. Sometimes soothing, at other times annoying, El Guapo are reminiscent of Space Men 3, Tortoise (but not as mellow) and the soundtrack to an early 70s British TV show called Blake 7. Some songs have lots of weird noises that make you question what is music, and what is just noises played at random. Get it if you’re weird. - JH

Faction Collection 1982-1985 Beer City Records Beer City has re-released a few albums recently, including this out of print collection of the Faction’s music, and if you weren’t hip enough to buy it back then, here’s your chance. And if you aren’t hip enough to know who the Faction is, it is Steve Caballero, Ray Stevens, Gavin O’Brien, and some other dude on drums. They’re one of the original skate rock bands and if you have never heard their music and you skateboard then it is mandatory that you listen to, if not own this album. - dk The Fire Sermon Freaks and Healers Lorelei Records This band plays in Santa Cruz a lot but alas I have never seen them. They got some kind of Danzig vocals thing going on, which isn’t bad by any means, but I hear it. All the licks on this album are tough as nails, some super good change ups and guitar trickery

make it worth checking out. I really like the part where it’s all juh-je-je-je-juh, dude, that part rocked my ass off. I suppose my favorite track would be Goddess from Beyond, it’s greta. Woah, that shit happens all the time, I go to write great and end up writing greta. What does that mean? Greta, if you are out there, I can’t get you out of my head, come quick, but buy the Fire Sermon CD first. - LC FuManchu California Crossing Mammoth Records I have read two other reviews of this album, one in Heckler and one in Juxtapoz, and I gotta say this straight up: I don’t know whose payroll these guys are on, but we’re not on it, and until we are, I’m gonna tell it like it is. This album straight up sucks, and is a total disappointment. In fact every FuManchu album has been going steadily downhill since The Action is Go, and California Crossing is the worst one yet. The songs sound like older FuManchu songs, but they’re slower and have less hooks. Now I pride myself in being a connoisseur of this kind of music, so don’t think I don’t like this album because it doesn’t sound like Korn or Limp Bizkit. These guys must be smoking too much Mex these days, because this shit is weak! There’s nothing worse than when a band I like starts to suck, and this is a perfect example. Step up or break up. - dk Fury 66 Red Giant Revolution Sessions Records My friend Joe is the singer for Fury, am I cool yet? No. OK, anyway, they aren’t together anymore so I’m gonna assume that this is unreleased tracks and, dare I say, rarities. Let’s get it out in the open that I hate, repeat, hate “new” punk music. I do like this album however. I think punk music is all in the vocals, if you sing like a pussy your music will inevitably turn to shit. But Joe, man, that guy sings like some kind of wild jackal or something, sometimes he rocks melody, but he ain’t no pussy, that’s fo sheezy. Best track hands down is World Peace, play it your next dinner party, you know, for moshing or whatever. I’m so stupid, I don’t know how I get up in the morning. - LC Peggy Honeywell Honey For Dinner Galaxia Records This is the first release for Miss Honeywell, and what a purty voice she has. This album borders on country but it’s got this Liz Phair quality that makes it something different all together. I really enjoy all the releases from Galaxia, they bring new music to the table that is, well, new. Miss Peggy writes a wonderful song and good lyrics to boot. I would love to say more nice things about the album but my vocabulary is limited and if I write anymore reviews I am liable to go nutzo. This is good go get it, also go get The Len

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Brown Society and all the Tommy Guerrero stuff on Galaxia. Keep it up Greg and T-moss. - LC Iron Boss Rides Again Reptilian Records You know a band kicks serious ass if they say “fuck” more than 10 times in the first minute of the CD. These guys are serious gear heads all charged up and ready to take advantage of your daughter. All the tracks are fast and furious, but my favorite is Hell Ride, that shit is rockin’, like you walk into some roadhouse and these guys are playing and people are boozing it up, fighting and shit. That’s just what I saw when I closed my eyes,... I did a lot of acid in high school. Anyways, I say it’s awesome so your next step would be to go buy it. - LC Jetlag/Lonely Kings Sessions Records First before I even start playing this CD I wanna say that all the girls in Santa Cruz love both of these bands. How do I know? Because they are always wearing their shirts and pins and stuff. OK, I am going to put in the CD now. The first tracks are by Jetlag and you know they hold it down, they got some anger and do some screaming. Good screaming though, I wasn’t bothered by the screaming, it’s what I enjoy. The Lonely Kings put on a great show and the songs on this CD definitely reflect the energy they put into a show. This CD is good but I still don’t know what all the ladies see in these dudes, alright,.. I’m jealous. I want girls to wear shirts with my name on them. Whatever, if you don’t buy this CD, I am coming over your house with Joel Gomez to beat you ass. - LC Kill Allen Wrench My Bitch Is A Junkie Devil Vision Motion Picture Company Records I want to share with you, the public, a band that is legend. You probably haven’t heard of them, but you’ve got to know the cult which is made up of Allen Wrench (Road Whore) screaming about porn stars and Satan, Dr. Heathen Scum (The Mentors), Trace Element (White Flag/ Jodie Fosters Army), and Matt Naked (Road Whore). The legions of alcoholic, porn addicted, Satanists are growing in masses. The music is for anyone who likes real music. It has elements of everything. It’s Punk! It’s the most important band in the punk scene right now. I am talking about real Rebel Rock here. So if you like songs that are meaningful and positive, don’t buy this. It will scare you. The hits on this are constant: Butt Fuck Princess, I want to date a Porno Star, & Can’t Stop Getting High. These are just a few of the magnificent splendor that is Kill Allen Wrench. If I said buy this, you might think about it, but once you realize it takes a bit of effort to get you’d blow it off. The thing is you will kick yourself for not owning this. You’ll want to hear certain selections from the disc throughout the day. You will develop a need, no, an addiction to the sounds com-

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ing from the disc. It makes me ache just thinking about it. I’m going to play the damn thing again. Get on a computer and go to www.killallenwrench.com . There’s porn on there so none of you curious youngsters should go there. It’ll put ideas in your head and that’s not good. - SB Living Legends Almost Famous Self Produced Almost Famous is the album that might make the Living Legends almost famous. Well, not famous, but at least a little more recognized. The lyrics from the crew continue to evolve and progress, although the messages aren’t as profound on this album. The creativity and uniqueness of each individual MC within the legends seems to be a little watered down, but that might be expected since this is a crew album. I expect that when Grouch or Eligh’s new albums come out they will be more of themselves. There are some amazing songs on this Living Legends release, as always. It’s great to see the collaborations with the mid-west MC from Atmosphere by the name of Slug. “Nothing Less” featuring Slug, is possibly the highlight of the album for me personally, because the song seems more inspired and to speak with more feeling than some of the others. Some will definitely enjoy the reminiscent 60s sound of “Rabbit Hole”, and trendier listeners will definitely get off on “Got A Question For Ya”. Any Legends fan will enjoy the crew trading off lines over the harmonic “Forces of Nature” displaying the skill of some friends who have been rapping a long time together. This album will appeal to older Living Legends fans, but it will also attract new listeners as well, and especially more close-minded listeners who might not have given the Legends a try earlier. - JAH The Macc Lads God’s Gift To Women The Harry May Record Company The Macc Lads are a band that has been around for a long time. They have been overlooked because of their stance. They don’t fit in. They are disgusting, offensive, perverted, and probably one of the best bands to ever fuck up the framework of traditional music. They tell funny stories through music. They can cover any song and make it their own. They hail from Macclesfield, an industrial town just south of Manchester, England. Their history is long and humorous. They began in ‘81 and broke-up in ‘92, only to reform again a year later. This cd is a compilation of songs through their career. All of their albums have been re-released. I hope that you take heed. This comedy is better than a whole week of comedy central. If you like pornpunk, would rather laugh than cry, or just enjoy fun rock n roll, well then my friend, this band is your new favorite band. This band is so good that when I was in the east bay I came across a video of the Macc Lads. It was costly so I passed on it. When I returned home I told my close friend of my sighting (he is the one who turned me on to these

guys). He got honestly pissed that I didn’t buy the video. What band inspires such a passion? They are few and far between, I promise you that much. Highly recommended. - SB Nekromantix Return of the Loving Dead Hellcat Nekromantix. Romantic necrophiliacs? Huh? You’ve got to hand it to the Scandinavians for their grasp of the English language, they know it better than some Americans. These guys are Danish and look like a euro version of the Reverend Horton Heat. They sound like them too, except the singer has this weird French accent going. These guys probably put on a pretty good live show, and this album isn’t bad either, although I doubt it will make it into the permanent collection. - dk OH NO IT’S THE C*NTS Your funny Disturbing Records The cover art to this CD is funny. Hence the name of the CD. It’s a little kid in a dress with a bow on it and a monster mask on her head. Next to her is a stuffed beaver standing upright. Very funny. The music is good rock n roll. A bit garagey at times, and then just plain rockin’‚ at other times. Great music, fun. That is what punk needs more of... FUN. Quit your bitchin’‚ and start partying. There’s fifteen tracks on here. I liked every song. Funny lyrics. Try to find ‘em. - SB Outkast Big Boi & Dre Present Arista I’m not a big fan of rap or hip hop, but out of the things that came in the package from the big corporate PR company, this was the only album that didn’t go to Amoeba immediately so I decided that it is worthy of review. While I don’t have any specific recollection of the music on this album, I didn’t turn it off immediately like I do with 95% of the things I attempt to listen to for review, so that says something. The liner notes were cool too. - dk Smut Peddlers Ism Ransom Note Records Fucking A, this is some shit right here. This what it’s all about kids, everything on this album is a giant kick in the ass to all you pip-squeeks that are starting your little punk bands. Take a listen because these fella’s (and the lady drummer) got there shit on lock down. Gish from Accel is in this band, he has tattooed eyelids, you can’t fuck with that. This is the perfect CD for the backyard pool session or maybe at your house after the session or maybe at your grandma’s 100th birthday party, it’s very versatile. I like the first track “Playstation Generation”, but what am I saying? This whole album rocks. Um, alright. take your thumb out of your ass and get this now. How does it feel livin’ like a moray eel? - LC

Subside One Day Habit Super Speedway Pop punk from San Jose. At least they thanked the Cactus Club so they better be from San Jose. I grew up in San Jose and used to go to the Cactus Club all the time. I saw Social D there, Kyuss, DOA, the Supersuckers...so many other shows I can’t even begin to remember, but I remember how it was before they had a backstage and the bands would just have to set up and play, it was cool. And if they did encores they had to walk off the stage past all the fans and then they’d go to the bar and have a drink and come back up. Super Speedway has a cool spark plug logo. - dk Supersuckers Must’ve Been Live Mid-Fi Records I was probably more stoked to get this album than anything else this issue. Fulfilling their contractual obligation to Sub Pop, the Supersuckers released Must’ve Been High just to piss Sub Pop off because they knew it wouldn’t sell that well since it was a country album and most of their fans were rockbased. Well it’s four years later and apparently more people like the album than they thought would (I know I liked it), because Must’ve Been Live, aka the live country album, is now out. And for the most part it is excellent, and is everything one would expect. Sure it’s a little rough around the edges, but Eddie Spaghetti’s well-crafted songwriting transcends genres, and his country songs are just as good (or better, sometimes) as his rock songs. Classics like “Dead in the Water”, “Must’ve Been High”, “Barricade”, and “Roadworn and Weary” are of course included, as are some obscure covers and “Good Livin”, the classic Junkyard Dogs tune. Eddie’s witty banter with the crowd is amusing at first, but as one would imagine it gets old after five or ten listens. Bolton’s “ice cold beer” tirade at the end of the album is hilarious though. For the most part the recording quality is excellent, and the guest appearances are good except I would’ve preferred Kim Deal (the original) to Amy Nelson (who was filling in) on “Hungover Together”. But whatever, I’m a picky bastard and this is a great album no matter how you look at it. - DK Swampass No Means Go Reptilian Records This is exactly what you would expect to hear from a band called Swampass, rough and ready swamp rock. I’m stuck wondering, what is a “swampass”? I guess it’s pretty self explanatory, it’s an ass and it’s from a swamp. Uh..OK. This album is really good, it’s steady, it’s rockin’, all in all, I likey. The first song “Paste” is definitely my favorite but all the tracks are comparable. I can’t get over the photos of these guys on the cover

though, they have to wear the goofiest shit since Poison. Style means nothing though, it’s about music and the music kicks my ass, so, get it you silly goose. - LC V/A Music From and Inspired by Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Maverick Records When this came in the mail I thought it was a free copy of THPS3, and I was about to run out and buy a Playstation 2. Unfortunately, it was only the soundtrack and I was majorly bummed. The only way you could force me to listen to the shit on this CD is if I were playing Tony Hawk 3, because these songs suck. No, they really suck. This is as bad, if not worse, than the snowboard rock you are forced to listen to while skating at Vans. Unless Pennywise, the Deftones, or Papa Roach are your favorite bands, I see no reason to buy this album, and in fact there is no reason you should even know about it since I don’t think any of these songs are not on other albums. The only redeeming thing about this CD was that it came with a second multimedia CD-ROM that had a bunch of interviews and silly little movies with Tony Hawk talking and skating. That was kind of amusing, and it didn’t crash my computer, which was nice. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is rad, but the soundtrack is horrible. - dk

V/A Fall 2001 Sampler Reptilian Records My first taste of Reptilian records was the much anticipated Anger Management album from Cutthroats 9. Little did I know that these guys run a great operation that is host to all kinds of bands that you need to know about. This sampler is a diesel truck on fire headed for a bus load of school children. Each track is raw and super fuckin’ rocking. Some of my favorites included, of course, Cutthroats, as well as The Nits and Mastadon (who kind of sound like a mix between The Melvins and Spaceboy). I doubt you will ever hear this, because it’s a sampler and all, but if you find it some where you are best to get it. Ya’hear. Holla. Oh ya, this CD is “enhanced” and has a Nits video on it that’s pretty funny. - LC

Reviewer Key EB - Eric Bigler JH - Jonathan Hay JAH - Joel. A. Hickock DK - Davoud MS - Mickey Stamm SB - SB

Very Metal Hit and Run Beer City Thrash metal from Milwaukee. These guys are pretty fast, and they’re pretty metal, and I think they skate. I had a mixed opinion of the songs on this album, and tended to like the faster songs that weren’t such straight ahead rock. But make no mistake, these guys are really good, and some of it reminded me of late 80’s Bay Area Thrash Metal. - dk

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Interview by Sick Boy

he Briefs kick ass. They play quick rock songs with a sonic blast that twirls your head and makes you want to shout every lyric. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with them whenever they are in town. See these guys put out their own album, toured constantly, and got signed to a Major label. Usually that screws a band up, but The Briefs stay true. After receiving the money from the signing they are right back on the road. Playing in a little basement in Reno, Nevada. That’s ROCK N ROLL Motherfucker! The Briefs are Lance RomanceBass, Daniel J. Travanti - Guitar, Steve E. Nix - guitar, and The Wonder Drummer - Chris Brief. They all sing at one time or another. They all take part in writing the songs and lyrics, so you get a fun variety of styles. This is one of the bands that I’ve seen that have true skate punk ethics. They deserve your attention. My friend Jason and I wanted to hang out with them. So we crammed in their tour van and I caught their voices on tape. Here’s what they had to say.

Sick Boy: Who is she and what is her affection for these blades ? (In reference to the song “Put down the knife) Daniel: That’s put down the knife. Lance: It’s kinda my stock answer, but it’s about a sharp girl and a dull knife. Just nobody specific. Chris: We told him you would lie. Lance: Oh alright, It’s actually about my mom. Let me jump right into it. Utensils. I don’t know mundane topics more mundane topics. S.B.: Did you guys get asked to this Thrasher Skater of the Year party ? All: Yes. S.B.: Did the fact that you are all skaters, make it something where you went, “Yeah we’ll do that! ?” All: “Yeah!”, “Totally”, “Yup”. Daniel: We did the shake down in Las Vegas this last summer. S.B.: Who else played that ? Lance: DMZ, Zen Guerrilla, and The Zeros were supposed to play but they didn’t show. Chris: I guess it was a sketchy scene. Daniel: The city was pissed. The party from the shakedown trashed the casinos. Steve: We played there a couple weeks after Sept.11th. Daniel: We opened up the shakedown. We did the show and this girl Wendy....she managed a band..... S.B.: She managed a band ? Steve: Yeah, The Richmond Sluts. S.B.: I like them! Daniel: They played right after us. S.B.: I’ve got a split with them and the Zilllionaires. (I was wrong. It’s a split with Richmond Sluts and The Upsets.) Lance: The Zillionaires were there too. Daniel: I think they did play. We had to leave right away. Chris: She saw us and asked us if we’d like to do this Thrasher thing. Steve: We’re very flattered to do it, by the way. Lance: Yeah, we wrote her a check and we’re on the bill. All: (laughter) Jason: Shouldn’t she have written you guys a check and then put you on the bill ? Lance: Damn. You’re right. Steve: I used to look forward to every issue of Thrasher. S.B.: What period of time are you talking about ? All: In the 80’s! Early to late 80’s. Lance: We all had the same affection for Thrasher at that time. Misc. Statements: “I got turned on to a lot of good bands through them”, “Yeah, them and Flipside”, “Thrasher and Flipside”. Lance: I saved all of them. I have all the posters. Steve: The skaterock tapes were great. Jason: The first few were the best. Lance: I used to listen to those first three tapes over and over. Steve: T.S.O.L., Big Boys..... Jason: McRad, McShred.... Steve: Drunk Injuns.... Daniel: We’re very happy to be playing at this thing. Steve: Plus, it’s with a couple of good bands. It’s a real punk event. It’s not hip hop. S.B.: Right. Steve: ’Cause that mag was going that way for awhile. S.B.: I’ve noticed that skateboarders are realizing that rock and roll is what it’s all about. That’s what I feel Concussion is shooting for. Skate ’n’ Rock. Lance: My first board was a Duane Peters. S.B.: That’s cool. Lance: We got to play with the Hunns in Vegas (Duane Peters and The Hunns) awhile ago. S.B.: How was he doing? Lance: He was great. Steve: He was sober so he was doing real cool. S.B.: He still rips. Does inverts in pools. He’s created more tricks than could be counted. He’s Legend. So what kind of ’rotten fruit’ is this? (Referring to the song “Silver Bullet”, “When I think of you, I think of rotten fruit, The world would be a better place if you were born a mute” a Bob Seger tribute). Misc. Answers: “Pumpkin rind”, “Cantaloupe rinds”, “Any kind of compose from our parents hippy gardens”. S.B.: Who wrote “New Shoes” ? Chris: I did. S.B.: What kind of shoes were they? Jason: He was just stoked to have a new pair of shoes.

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Chris: They were hypothetical shoes. I had hoped for a new pair of shoes. Not until recently did I actually get a new pair of shoes. S.B.: Last I talked to you guys, you had told me of the signing to Interscope. How is everything going with that ? Has Interscope learned how to deal with a punk band ? Steve: I think they’ve adjusted to us. Chris: They have to. Daniel: Here’s a good example. This last tour, this two month tour we just went on. Granted we got to tour with T.S.O.L. , we got to tour with The Damned, who are, you know, childhood idols. So usually the band

gets signed to the majors, they go into the studio record and put out the record. Then the record company says o.k. now it’s time for us to do our work. So go on tour and we’ll push you. But we are doing what we’ve always been doing.

We went and toured the East Coast which we had always wanted to do. Interscope had nothing to do with it. We told them we are going on tour and they were like, “o.k.” Lance: But we were still touring the Hit after Hit record. We came home and we were talking about how great that tour was, because of the response and the people that saw us play were sending response back to Interscope. They didn’t get it at first though. S.B.: Who didn’t get it, The East Coast ? Daniel: No, Interscope. Lance: So they are like, “wait a minute, you guys want to go out on tour ? But you haven,t even made a record yet.” We said “this is what we do. We are going to do it anyways.” Steve: They’re getting smarter though, ’cause they know that we aren’t going to alienate our fans that brought us here. So they are going to let us put out 7”s on independent labels. I’m pretty certain that our upcoming full length will be pressed on vinyl. They understand that those things are important to us. They will probably have a hard time working with us if they don’t do that kind of stuff. Daniel: They don’t really understand what punks do and why. S.B.: Well you guys have your own label. You guys take care of yourselves. You’re an independent fuckin’ band. Daniel: The main thing we’re going to be able to do more of is we are able to make a record again and we’re able to tour again. That’s what we want to do. Those are two very simple things. Then there’s all the other bullshit along with it , but we’re still open minded. I mean, so far so good. Maybe next time we come through you could ask us that same question again. Steve: So far they’ve given us the money. Which is cool. S.B.: That ain’t a bad thing. Daniel: If we didn’t have that money we couldn’t have toured. Chris: We bought that (pointing to the equipment trailer hooked to the back of their new tour van)and this (the van). Daniel: That’s a great question though. I would like for record exec’s to come see a show like this., ’cause we are the ones who are out there. Lance: They were like, why do you want to go to Reno? Daniel: They don’t know why we come here. Lance: We’re like “’cause we want to.” S.B.: Because you guys have friends here. You guys have a little fan base that comes to every show you play here. Lance:There are those guys that sit up in the office. They don’t go to shows except certain ones. So we see what the crowd likes, we see what they buy, we see what they want. So we react to that. Daniel: You are going to have your so-called hardcore punks saying , “Fuck The Briefs. They signed to a major” Then you have the mainstream crowd that has never heard Hit after Hit or any of the older stuff. All they are going to know is the Interscope stuff. We are trying to walk in between this stuff.

We say sorry that you think we’re corporate now, but I’ll bet you you’re smoking a Camel.

S.B.: How many of you guys are Lance’s kid ? (The drummer Chris wears a shirt occasionally that says, ”I’m not Lance’s real son). All: ALL of us are. We’re all Lance’s children. Daniel: Everybody on this great planet is Lance’s child. S.B.: Ironically, they all stem from the great Lance. Lance: The world is mine. S.B.: Concussions, Whose had one here? Steve: Alright, I got a concussion in 1987 at a 7 Seconds gig. In Olympia, Wash. I was up front slam dancing and somebody jumped off the stage hit me in the head with a combat boot. I went out and woke up like 15 minutes later. I was really proud of that one, too. Lance: I got a concussion in 1987. I was playing softball with a bunch of people from bars and I got hit in the side of the face with a baseball bat. I got knocked out and I went home. My friends were making sure I didn’t fall asleep. No broken bones just a major concussion. Chris: I want to start this out by saying I am the wimpiest non-violent person. So I have never got a concussion , but I gave someone a concussion once. It was at a punk rock show. There were just a bunch of local bands in Alburquerque, NM. I had been fighting a guy for awhile in high school. I just got him in a head lock and started ramming his head into a wall. It was bad. S.B.: But good though. Daniel: Sixth grade fell off the monkey bars. Hurt. Also, I took a pretty big hit at The Damned in 1985 or ’84. It was amazing. S.B.: Any last words for the children of tomorrow? Steve: People need to know that rap-metal isn’t cool. S.B.: Neither is hip hop. (I watched the show after the interview. They played in a little basement crammed with people. They cranked out the jams. The new songs I heard them play were as good if not better than the previous stuff. If you like punk then you like The Briefs. Keep your eye on them.) After note: The Briefs have a tour diary on their web site and it sounds like the Thrasher party was trashed by the bouncers. Those ones in S.F. are out of control.

Hipper of the month: Todd from Consolidated got hit by a drunk driver while riding his bike. Ow.

Tim Garner, seawall roll in attempt in Chicago. Sequence by Snapcult

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Jonathanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s injury of the month: Run over by own surfboard. Damage: 6 staples.

Adam Morgan got served a number of times trying this rail. Skating rails is fun. Photo by J. Hay

Please send all photos of slams, broken bones, fractures, contusions, hippers, and other injuries to po box 1024 santa cruz ca 95061 or email them to concussion@ concussion.org

Mike, face slam first day at the new park. Photo by Snapcult

How not to do alley oop backside nosegrinds on vert, by Sean Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Loughlin. Video sequence by Amell

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