Concussion 17 by Davoud Kermaninejad

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Pete the Ox is one gnarly Dude, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about time he got a cover shot - it has been long overdue. Frontside air out of the over-vert cradle onto the side wall at Port Orford is no fuckinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; joke. Photo by Mike Yaccarino

Concussion Staf f Senior Editors Davoud Kermaninejad Jonathan Hay Senior Art F ag Le e Charron Photographers Jason Murray Charlie Middleton Bruce Rodela P atrick T refz T erry Roland Contributing Photographers Mik e Y accarino Aaron Sedway Brendan Klein Death W easel Blair Alley Nate L awrence Marco P erez T ony Roberts Jerry Gregorika Eric Gonzales Eric Guizzetti Rogizzel Horschizzel Greg Hall Christine Hughes V ideo Editor Mik e-Dave Amell W riters Ari Evan Gold John Ste ele Sick Boy Brian Re ed Will P ower Eric L arson Eric Bigler Sarah Drexler Artists Le e Charron Le e E 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

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Switzerland Billy Boy and Big Ben All I wanted was something to drink, and what’s this, it’s a happy dick juggling fruit. A little stunned I looked again, my first thought “Oh yah I’m in europe, gay drink”. Imagine my surprise when I realized there was a condom that came with it and, it’s an energy drink. The basic message here is “Get wired and go have intercourse with something”. I can imagine drinking like ten of these things, blacking out and waking up 2 days later, half naked with my wiener in a dead cat. But it would be okay because I had a condom on. Thanks happy dick juggling fruit and to all you dead cats cats out there, watch your ass.

China Uddercover Brother My friend got this for me in Hong Kong, they have all kinds of bootlegged movies there, sometimes you can get movies before they are even out in the theaters here. We all know this movie was not the least bit funny and was a horrible sack of shit, but the text on the back of this thing is hilarious. I don’t know what they are describing here but it sure as hell is not the movie, take a peak: Pass matchmaker the series drama adaptation on the net that receives a welcome most on the basis of the city. Suffering once to inflict heavy losses to plan heavily the shake strong wind now....this nonsense goes on and on. Other highlights include huge Chinese subtitles and horrible picture quality. If you look close you might see silhouettes of people leaving the theater.

Tijuana Surfing Monkey How do I describe the enigma that is the surfing monkey? I could sum it up as a lucky charm of sorts. In some countries the surfing monkey is a god, like Buddha or Allah, people pray to it and wars are started to defend it’s ideals. There have been reports of people that claim to have seen the monkey cry tears of blood and/or hear the monkey murmur “cowabunga”. Believe in the surfing monkey, worship the surfing monkey....jeez, where do I get this stuff. I bought this in Tijuana for $5, some guy tried to make me pay ten, so I went to the shop next door and paid 5. I like junk, I will probably die, old, alone and buried in my junk.

Japan Socks Glue Here’s a product for you dudes that want wear your sox super high but for some reason you can’t keep them up. Slap some of this glue in ‘em and wa-la your sox go nowhere. Another marvelous way to use this product is if you want your “package” to be permanently adhered to your underwear, for sky-diving and whatnot. I’m not sure about the huff-ability of an item like this, but I’m gonna say there is probably some part of it, taken somehow that would be totally out of sight. What makes this glue better than other glues for keeping your socks up? Well, it’s made of fish like everything else in Japan and the thing about that, is that..it’s like, better because of that.

s e i W V e r t C ProdU slightly more legitimate

Deathbox Wheels All of this Dogtown pool skating hype has spawned a whole new sub-genre of the skateboard market, pool skating. Wow, you mean people still skate in pools? Imagine that. Anyway, Deathbox is one of the more legitimate companies on the pool skating tip, and it is legitimized by the fact that this is a Jay Adams / Dave Hackett, et, al. deal being backed by Tum Yeto. I think they even have Dave Ruel on the team so you know these cats got some spots. Anyway the reason I bothered to mention Tum Yeto is because that means these wheels are really just variations on the Foundation wheel, which has proven itself as an all around quality wheel. No flat spotting, no irregular wheels or bullshit defects, and good sizes. There’s the 60mm FSU’s, the 58mm Super Slasher, and my personal favorite, the 58mm 95a Deathbox Destroyers. Sizes range from the high 50’s to 65mm I think, and hardness ranges from 95a-101a, so there’s pretty much something for everyone. Pool skating or not, these wheels are good, and if you’re looking for a change from the same old same old, now’s your chance. http://www.deathbox.com

Randoms Hardware Matt Moffett’s eight block frontside 50-50’s must have been rattling his hardware loose, because he went out and started Randoms Hardware. This hardware is self-locking, so no need for a screwdriver or allen wrench; simply tap the head into the board and put on the nuts. The bolts have fins that make them stronger and keep them from spinning in the board. Matt told me that I’ll never break these things, and so far he’s right. Best of all, the set he gave me have cool skulls on the top, so now everyone knows how hesh I am, just by looking at the top of my board. http://www.randoms.com Jason Jesse Slippers* By the Driven So there I was, sipping some red wine finishing up this last issue of concussion on my computer wearing my new Jason Jesse slippers. All of a sudden I got up, grabbed a clove, which I indulge in around deadline time, and walked out of my house in the woods. I started wandering, not knowing where my feet were taking me. I crossed over a bridge that passes the river on through the forest to a bench that sat before 3 crosses. I took a seat and waited for the silent sermon. It was as if the slippers had drawn me there. All of a sudden, feeling out of place, I remembered that these were inside chillin’ slippers and returned back to my home, to protect the sacred slippers from the elements. These slippers rule for kicking it around the house. Wearing shoes is for outside, walking around barefoot is never too cozy, and socks just get

dirty and wet in most of my stomping grounds. Therefore, these new slippers from the Driven, are the ideal way to treat your feet. I’m wearing mine right now. Take off your shoes, and look at your feet. They deserve better. Now cover those dogs up and treat them to some new slippers. Available at your local skate shop. http://www. thedriven.com * Not recommended to skate in or to sport at the bar. Shitbird Skateboards Holy shit, look at the concave on this thing! I haven’t seen that much concave on a board since the old H-Street days. This board is crazy, coming in at almost 34” long, it is 8” wide near the tail and 9” wide by the front bolts, which creates a cool coffin shape. It’s kind of nice to hold the board by the tail and look down towards the nose at the concave compared to most boards these days. At first I was a little skeptical about riding such a radically different board, but after setting it up and taking it on a few test runs to the liquor store, I became comfortable with the deck and could ride it anywhere. They also make more standard decks with mellower concaves - I’m not sure of the sizes but Jacob Tillman was riding something that looked pretty good. Shitbird decks are made by Corey Sholes so you know the decks are high quality. These boards are not for everyone and are probably designed for the older pool riding crowd, but if that fits your description then this is the shit (bird) for you. http://www.shitbird.net Super Predator Skateboards Super Predator or "Super P" is out of Mammoth Lakes. We were supposed to review these boards last issue but we forgot, so we ended up selling all the boards they gave us and didn't ride any of them. That's not so unusual though, I mean, who actually rides what they reviewed, the quicker we sell the stuff the quicker we can some heroin and that makes the demons go away. So about these Super Predator boards, man, they are the best, I found that I was hesh enough to "schralp the gnar"" and yet fresh enough to get "mad pop yo". I can honestly say though that people bought these boards fast, the satanic goat one practically flew out of my hands and the "carnage" series did the same. Supposedly there is a small "Super P" army growing out of Mammoth that is said to be tearing apart everything in it's path. Be on the look out for these hooligans, lock your daughters in doors and don't answer the door for any reason. It's too bad we don't have photo of these boards because they are off the heezee. Go to your local boardshop and demand it.

Emerica Shoes Tilt Emerica does it again, these shoes are rad. The Tilt, another one of their “low end” more simplistic shoes, kind of looked like the old Mark Johnson model at first with the stripes on the side. But those were good shoes too, so whatever. Black leather with triple stitching, extra padded tongue and removable arch support insole thing are all things that one has come to expect from Emerica and this shoe delivers. Similar to the Heretic and Bevel, this model has enough padding to save you from some heel bruising while allowing you to still feel your board. I haven’t ridden the triangle pattern sole design of this shoe before, but so far it’s working for me. So yeah, Emerica shoes rule. They don’t have to resort to giving free shoes away or making you trade your old pair in or whatever shit Savier (aka Nike) did to peddle their shitty shoes, and they don’t have to build two dozen skateparks across the country to show you that they’re supposedly still down with skateboarding. And guess what, the people at Emerica slash Sole Tech actually skate, which is more than you can say for a lot of “skate” shoe companies. http://www.emericaskate.com Globe Shoes Mojo When the brown pair of Mojos arrived the first thing I thought was that they looked like a fake leather version of the Andrew Reynolds shoe, but probably just because those shoes are both brown and not that many people make brown shoes anymore. Except for the hippies at I-Path. Anyhow, I’ve never ridden Globe shoes before and don’t know a whole lot about them except that they’re all on the Daewon and Rodney Mullen and shit. I think. And they sponsor all of those contests. And they sent me a pair of free shoes. So I wore them around and they’re cool, pretty simple and functional, which is how I like skate shoes. They’re probably not good enough to get me out of wearing the shoes I usually wear, but they’re not bad at all. Some kid at the skatepark who had a pair on told me his wore out kind of fast, so who knows. http://www.globeshoes.com

Send us some free shit to review. We might heckle it, we might like it, who knows. Email concussion@concussion.org to find out how to send us your product.

Recently, Adam and I went down South with a really cheap disposable camera to meet up with our friend Luke and document terrain from Malibu to Chula Vista. The highlights are as follows:

Del Mar Bowl – Stuck in between million dollar homes, this combi-bowl had a great view and an odd square hip like a skatepark. Adam was doing his patented nosepick indy drops from a four-foot wall into the deep end. He says they’re easy. He’s crazy.

Boot Bowl – We lucked out and got permission to skate this boot shaped bowl. The deep end was square and really tight, but the shallow end was wide enough to park a school bus in. This pool was weird but exotic.

Mt. Baldy – If you haven’t heard legends of this place you must be a blader or something so stop reading. Getting to Baldy was like crossing the border or infiltrating Area 51. The payoff was a twenty-something foot full pipe that slopes perfectly down. If you start at the top the ride can last up to a minute or until you collapse. Once again Luke and Adam were killing it with death defying doubles runs with fly outs to the vert wall and everything. Oh yeah, that gap thing you have to cross to get there is a lot bigger and gnarlier than you might think.

Monster Bowl – This one was a deep and wide kidney sort of shape with a love seat and workable mid and shallow sections. Adam and Luke were doing high-speed criss-crossing doubles lines of death. Have you ever seen that stunt when two guys ride motorcycles inside a steel ball? It was kind of like that.

Maybe next time we’ll finally take a real camera. Just maybe. – Words/photos by Brian Reed

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.

potential but since it’s not open yet, we’ve only been able to do a small amount of initial testing. The bowled corners in the street course offer good transfer lines to and from the bowl for those who want to step up, and there are some other weird flyout grind transfer things that are pretty gnarly. Supposedly pads will be required but not enforced, so we’ll see about that. Pad enforcement or the lack thereof it can make or break a park, as is the example with Piedmont. Anyway there you go, the Berkeley park is done. If you know where the 924 Gilman club is then you’ll be able to find the park, or you can just have your mommies drop you off at Surf Berkeley and you can skate from there. -DK Novato, CA

Berkeley bowl

Berkeley, CA So the Berkeley Skatepark is finally done, and by the time you read this it should be open. But who knows, if there is something left to go wrong, I’m sure it will. Maybe a well timed earthquake can close the facility before it even opens? Can you sense the bitterness? Anyway, several years and who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the goddamn park is finally done, and while it doesn’t look as good as the original park which was slated for the space, it still will be better than most every other cement park in the Bay Area. Which isn’t really saying all that much, but it is a step in the right direction.

Novato was fun for about a week, and then I got sick of it. You think I’d like this park more than I do since it is mostly bowls and hips and stuff, but since it is a Wormhoudt park it is fundamentally flawed. Most of the bowls are only in the 4’-5’ range, the trannies fade at the top, the hips are weird and the lines are sort of there but not quite there, if you know what I mean. There are some ledges sprinkled on the perimeter of the bowls which is a step in the right direction, but there are still trademark Wormhoudt signs such as the coping that disappears for no reason and the stupid seam between the 6’ quarter pipe and the 2’ kiddie bowl See photos below for detail. And the 6’ quarterpipe off by itself is as big as it gets in case you care. I dunno, this place is ok if you can ride it when it is uncrowded (as one person can skate the whole park) and if the cops leave you alone about wearing pads, but other than that I’d rather go ride somewhere else.

Danny McNaughton destroying the Fairfield park just like he destroys everything else he skates. You almost can’t even see his helmet in this shot. Photo by Davoud

Probably the worst thing about this park was the horrible bitch rent a cop lady who sits on her ass all day and screams at children to keep their helmets on. Get this, when I went there they were enforcing the helmet rule, and if you were sitting down in the park and took your helmet off for two minutes to wipe the sweat off your head you’d get yelled at. Fucking ridiculous. You couldn’t even walk in the park to check it out unless you had a helmet and a skateboard with you. The city had contracted out the pad enforcement duties to a rent a cop agency, and it was really bad. Another time I went there the dude said we now had to wear full pads, and since no one in the park was wearing full pads (both elbow pads too) then he called the cops. So whatever. Fuck Fairfield and fuck their park, it was fun to go to once or twice but I don’t really need to go there again. - DK

Tijuana Skatepark Mexico This was my first trip to TJ, I went during the day in the middle of the week so I'm sure I only saw a fraction Novato is located in Marin or of the awful shit that goes the North Bay Area, and it down here all the time. gets pretty hot up there. This is possibly one of the Which is why they decided to saddest places I have ever landscape the surrounding been, dirty homeless kids area but not provide a worktrying to sell you gum so ing water fountain. Typical. their family can eat, overWe heard a rumor that they’re bearing merchants pawnworking on another park in ing questionable goods, San Rafael (also in Marin) and a shit smell that just that will include a fullpipe. doesn't go away. Wormhoudt is slowly learning Regardless of the depravity from his mistakes, and of the environment although he reportedly built around me I went in the Louisville, KY park, I’d like search of the skatepark. I to see him step up and build was told "It's under the some of that big shit If you build a skatepark, Or this. huge flag", easy enough, don’t ever do this. here. Come on dude. after wandering through - DK the ghetto, past the rows of shops selling Fairfield, CA stolen car stereos, I found it. What a Built by the most horrendously terrible skatepark total hunk of shit. landscape architecture company of all, PurkissBoasting two obstaRose, the Fairfield park is surprisingly fun. While cles, one busted ass it is still the standard “nothing over 6’” park and min iramp with no still has some totally stupid lines which lead you coping and a into walls and the coping is small and alucement pyramid minum, Purkiss-Rose seem to have learned a lot with a grinder bar. TJ is a go.Or not. since they poured that sorry excuse for a Another great bonus skatepark in Piedmont last year. They have a is that it's located right next to some public bathrooms and small spine bowl in which the two pieces of the there are puddles of pee all around it, killer, let's get radical. coping for the spine actually but up against Nontheless, there were three kids skating when I got there and each other, and there are some small yet fun they could care less how shitty it was, they skated. I on the hips to pop off. other hand, spoiled with great parks, hightailed back across the border to skate in San Diego. - LC Berkeley street course

75% of the park is taken up by the street course, which has a number of flat banks, quarter pipes, and bowled corners, as you can see from the above photo. There is a fun box with a really small ledge, but it is next to this roller looking thing that has like a foot of vert. It’s the most vert in the whole park in fact, more than the two inches of vert which can be found in the deep end of the 8 foot deep “vert” bowl. And speaking of the bowl, it’s pretty fun, but could’ve been designed and poured a little better. If there is one major flaw with the park it is the cement work. Flat banks in the street course are lumpy, the lips with no coping are irregular, and overall it could have been poured better. Anyway enough bitching, at least they got this park built, which is an accomplishment in itself. This park has

Novato.

Skate Parks of Oahu, Hawaii Words and Photos by Jon Steele / Death Weasel Films Island Navigation by Richard Minn

1) Hikam Air Force Base This park is big and super fun and has a new street course (not pictured) with huge obstacles, referenced to be like Europe. The park lies more towards the west side of Oahu. There is a vert ramp and the 8.5 foot bowl is awesome. You have to be sponsored to get on the base and then they tax you like $5-$10 but there is no pad enforcement and you can skate at night. Bonus! 2) Millilani 10 minutes south of North Shore brah! This park is kinda fun with two small bowl sections with a roll through. There are a couple of fun lines, with good hips and some larger trannies. Free with no pads. There are no lights but don’t rule this park out, it is fun. 3) A’ala This park was around for the big Hosoi days. I had a poster of him at this park. The park consists of two big half moons with a bit of over-vert. They pose for fun as shit obstacles and it was cool to actually be there and skate where I had always dreamed. This park lies in the south-west part of Honolulu. No pads requirements and there are lights. It had a strange set up for the street course, as they kind of blew the available space. It is definitely another good park for groms. A free shitty skate park is better than no skatepark, so let’s continue.

4) Makiki: This park lies on the east side of Waikiki. This park is great for groms to get their text-book stuff down. No pad enforcement, but there are also no lights. It lies under the freeway and gets sun and rain protection. The park consists of small obstacles, including flat banks, standard quarter, ledges, and a pyramid. If you live near here and you don’t skate it, it is because you are pro or too cool. 5) Kane’ohe This park is on the south-east side of the island. It lies 1520 minutes outside Honolulu. It’s on a very large lot with jungle covered mountains for a backdrop. There are 3 hip sections with a big spine and good pyramid. It is a good all-terrain park. A guy Brian was showing me some good lines and he said his buddy had better ones. So there is plenty of fun to be had here and or at any other destination in Hawaii, the beautiful tropical paradise. Note: All parks are concrete and it is a tropical climate, i.e., it gets hot, damn hot. Bring plenty of water and wait until the evening to skate. There is talk of new parks coming to the North Shore and with numerous back yard ramps available, plus a street scene in Waikiki, there is a paradise for the seeker. When visiting the Rainbow State, or is it the Pineapple State (?) [ed’s note: actually it’s the Aloha State], there are plenty of great strip clubs, plus plenty of waves throughout the island chain. Flights over are about $400 or less, and beware of the rainy season. Aloha and Mahalo. Hang Loose Bro! - Death Weasel

r k r ev i E w s m O r e s k at e P a Sparks, NV Burgess Skatepark This park is laid out very similar to the Gardnerville park reviewed in issue #13. Only this park is a bit smaller. I like it a lot because I skate big lines. Therefore, the bigger area I have to skate in the better. As you can see there’s lots of room here, even more so with the fact that most kids don’t know how to skate, so they use just a little area to nibble in. It leaves shredders more space to deface. I like the bowl here, it’s about 8 feet deep and has decent speed in it. The coping isn’t raised too much so you can just roll right in. To the left of it is a volcano with a spine coming off it which boosts you straight up. The middle of this particular park is very cool. If you view the street area from one angle, the obstacles create a skull image. For that alone it deserves two skulls. O.k., So I’ve told you everything I like about it. Now I must tell of it’s flaws. I have a friend named Spencer Benavides, who is emerged in skateboarding. He runs a shop, in a band, skates for Madkap, and helps design parks when the city planners let him. Well, he tried to help with this one, but his concerns fell on deaf ears. So what you wind up with is bumpy transitions and pockets that take your speed instead of giving you speed. Once you figure

out where certain flaws in the transition are, you can avoid them. Unfortunately, The flaws are there. If those fucks in city planning would’ve listened to a skater, it would be a much better park. I should also say that it is equipped with a water fountain, a bathroom, and a shaded kickback area. I will soon be doing a piece on the super park coming to Reno. I’m so excited to ride it that I’m going to barge it before it’s even open. Fuckin’ skate crimes! This park comes in with 3 1/2 skulls. - Paul Morrison [Editor’s note: After viewing the photos there is no way we could or would give this park 3 1/2 skulls, it has been downgraded to a 2 or maybe 2 1/2.] Wintherthur Skatepark Wintherthur, Switzerland Chances are most people will never make it to this park, it's not like you can hop in a car with your homies and drive on out to

Switzerland. In the event that you do make the trip to Switzerland the Winterthur park is a must. This is a fairly new park and it's got all kinds of insane shit to skate. The street course is practically flawless, real marble ledges, gaps, stairs and perfect banks. It's a tech dogs wet dream, there are so many lines you could spend a week skating here and not get bored. But what's a skatepark without some tranny and Winterthur delivers with a semi-sweet 5 ft. mini that spines into 6 ft. kinked bowl that ends in a 13 ft. cradle . The tranny is good and the cradle is sweet. I don't want to sound like a whiney bitch but the only drawback was the coping, it laid flush with the deck and the tranny, so there was no real lip. The locals seemed pretty used to it, they just didn't grind too much and stuck to lipslides and tailslides. It drove me fucking nuts, you could work up so much speed and then try to get your grind on and -bloop- you get shot out of the back of the damn thing. Whatever though, you're in Switzerland so fuck it. If you get bored skating, go down stairs to the go-kart race track and burn some rubber. It's not concrete and you have to wear a helmet but all in all it's a fun park. There is a big "Blader-Hater" movement going on at this park which is pretty rad too. - LC

read this Skate parks should encourage skills, not retard them. When asked for a description of Port Orford, Stefan Hauser said only one word, “Modern.” Indeed the word Modern helps us understand a paradigm shift which becomes more visible with each new park designed and built by a small core of individuals based in the Pacific Northwest. Right now is the most exciting time in skateboarding history. Unlike the birth of vertical skating (ala Dogtown), Modern skate parks are not an unconscious experiment of idle days. Modern skate parks are conscious and deliberate, designed and built with confidence, ability, vision and hard work. The individuals behind these Modern skate parks are particularly talented and have creativity levels set at 11. Luck plays no part in Modern skate parks. The previous era of skate park design was dominated by trial and error, community input and traditional patterns. The country is littered with vacant skate parks compromised in quality by ignorance, fear, fantasy and pride. Many skate park design companies, like Purkiss-Rose RSI, are exploiting the idea of community input. They prey on the ignorance and fantasy of communities with lines like “You tell us what you want and we’ll make sure it has a flow pattern.” Community input is very popular because it is an easy source of pride and provides immediate gratification. Almost never is there enough experience in a community to design a great skate park. Another way to say community input is make your dreams come true, which as we all know is the oldest line in the book and never comes true. But community input gets the skate park bid almost every time. Don’t believe the hype. Modern skate parks cannot be thrown together in a meeting with a pack of crayons. The ephemeral pride of the individuals involved in community input is quickly crushed and overcome by disappointment throughout the entire community when the park turns out poorly. The city is left with a vacant facility and the skaters are in the same position they were before the skate park, only

they can’t complain, because the city just spent $200,000. There is more pride to be had in a lasting and well created skate park. Another idea being pushed by landscape design and modular skate park companies and the playground industry, alike, is the idea of a safe skate park. Like community input, this idea preys on the emotional core of a community. Adults who don’t skate but are in decision-making positions latch on to the idea of a safe skate park because it soothes their fear. A safe skate park design comes from scaling everything down in size and usually has a height restriction around 6 feet. This makes the adults feel good and the kids don’t know the difference and no one understands the consequences. Let’s dissect two specifics of a safe skate park, scaling down and height restriction. What happens when a sloped hand rail is lowered from 4’ to 8”. Visually, it looks a whole easier, appealing to a much more inexperienced group of riders. But that’s still a sloped handrail and sloped handrails take some skill. Scaling down structures only encourages less experienced, less skilled riders to try them. That is not safe, that is dangerous. Height restriction is particularly wicked. It is an easy decision for non-skating adults to agree to a height restriction, yet it maims the baby before it is born. California exemplifies this illness best. With the exception of a handful of recently opened parks, almost all of California’s public skate parks are poor facilities, mainly because they are all too short. See, kids are phenomenal, their mental and physical abilities grow at astounding paces but only when allowed. After individual skill exceeds the structures height restricted parks, they are good for only one thing, stunting growth. Rather than the physical and mental limits inside themselves, users of height restricted parks are limited

W T P Whenever I get psyched on having a good session, certain songs that I don’t like get into my head and stay there. It happens without fail almost every time I’m beginning to have fun. At first you can tolerate the presence thinking that it will just fade from your memory. Meanwhile, it’s three hours later and it’s still echoing throughout your mind. It’s similar to that friend who comes to stay on your couch for the long weekend. At first you are stoked to have your buddy around. Six months later, he has managed to leave a fossilized imprint of his ass on every piece of furniture in your house. I’m going to call this phenomenon the “whack-trackprison” because the tunes won’t leave your head, thus making you feel captive audience to crappy creations. No matter how much you try to get a more favorable song residing in your internal speakers, it’s there to stay. These whack-tracks have been known to cause severe discomfort, anxiety, headaches and even constipation in certain individuals. More than likely, you won’t know any part of the song other than the chorus line, which is enough by itself. No one is really sure of what can trigger a case of WTP. It may be induced by your subliminal taste for shitty music. Your friends, if mean enough, can fuck with you by singing terrible music out loud within earshot, most of time off-key to make it even more painful. The radio is also a prime suspect because of the amount of incredibly horrible music broadcast daily across its’ airwaves.

by the concrete surrounding them. When skill out grows the facility, the park is filled with boredom and frustration and then trouble and injury are only a matter of time. The only ones not bothered by height restriction are those too innocent, too oblivious, which mixes the innocent with the angry. Height restriction stifles a healthy atmosphere in skate parks. Height restrictions do not make a skate park safer. I believe in kids as much as anyone. I have seen a 7 year old drop in a 7’ half pipe (Nehalem), a 10 year old drop in a 12’ quarter pipe (Newberg) and 13 year olds learn to skate a pool in two weeks. But regarding skate parks, kids shine in the results, not in the process. Kids and adults who don’t skate have no place in the design process of a skate park. There are many productive ways to be other wised involved. The gap between design and construction was a trial and error that created many bad skate parks. Sometimes the design was good, but the construction was poor, and sometimes the design was poor and the construction good, but neither way works. As Gunner said, “The army Corp of Engineers don’t skate and the skaters don’t know concrete.” Modern skate parks are design built, that is they are designed and built by the same group. Design build allows flexibility and evolution to yield the best park. The first example of a design built skate park is Burnside, in Portland, Oregon. It was a unique opportunity that allowed evolution through building, skating, adjusting to create a legendary skate park of cultural importance. But again, it was not luck. Burnside was perseverance, vision and a lot of hard work. It is design build from here on out. Modern skate parks are created no other way. Make it right. sam@skateoregon.com Contact Dreamland Skateparks, Grindline, Airpseed Skateparks or Stefan Hauser for a modern skate park.

Right now, you are probably reading this thinking, “Wow, I’m not the only one out there suffering from WTP!” reports have come in of people skating the Glory Hole with “New Kids” tracks looping through their brains, guys surfing Mavs’ trapped by an N’Sync song or riding Kirkwood with some sappy Bette Midler “you are the wings beneath my wings bullshit.” WTP know no boundaries. It knows no color, race or age. It can attack anytime, anywhere. It can attack on land, water and snow. If you like one type of music, WTP will go to the other end of the song universe and turn it up to 10. If you like Slayer, it will sneak up on you with some Chris Isaak. If you rock out to the Reverend Horton Heat, you’re going to be stuck with some whiny Noel Gallagher track. If you like rap, you’re gonna get hit with some blink182. More than likely, you will be struck by WTP at some point in your life. Don’t be scared. Take a deep breath and relax. Go directly to the nearest music source of choice and find something you like. It may take a few days of nurturing and enjoyable listening to calm your nerves, erase the trauma and get back to normal but I assure you that it will go away in time. - Jason Murray

For subscription order form, go to our merchandise page on p. 88

The Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park had a cool skull exhibit going on this summer. I know, what a stupid, generic opening line to this piece, but whatever. It was cool, as anyone who saw the exhibit will attest to. But we kind of figure that most of you don’t live in San Francisco or if you do live in the area you probably don’t go to museums that often. Just a guess. So anyway, they had hundreds and hundreds of different kinds of skulls on display, from alien-looking foetuses to gorilla skulls, to a whole wall of antlers and horned skulls. Probably the most striking piece of the installation was the long wall covered entirely ceiling to floor with sea lion skulls. I don’t even know how many skulls were on that wall but the craziest part was that most or all of them were collected by this one guy. I guess he’s a full on skull collector and his house is super crazy, cluttered with dead things, but that’s another story entirely. So yeah, skulls are cool, and this was a whole exhibit on skulls. The show will probably have ended by the time this issue comes back from the printer, but if this show travels or they have any skull exhibits anywhere near wherever you live, be sure to check them out. - dk

sedway

Jimmy the Greek, head high stalefish.

Q: What’s better than backyard permission pool? A: A backyard permission pool where the owner ripped out the gnarly rock coping and replaced it with buttery perfect pool coping. Such is the case with the pool in Mark’s backyard. Located just outside of Somewheresville, OR, this figure-8 styled gem is quite a find indeed. Sporting two loveseats, the deep end has excellent trannies and plenty of lines, while the real challenge lies in dealing with the tight shallow end in which 2/3 of it is a dead-end loveseat, which is partially covered by a makeshift roll-in. It’s real easy to haul ass down the roll-in and throw down some grinds or airs in the deep end, but if you can put it all together and get some lines together in this beast (or even some grinds in the shallow end or on the hip while you’re at it) then you’ll be in another class altogether. Mark is claiming he’s gonna doze the other half of the shallow end and pour a similar tranny to the other shallow end wall, and when he does this bowl will be super perfect. But right now it’s still fun and quite challenging to keep a line in the pool. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped Pete the Ox from backside airing out onto the big rock and indy grabbing back into the deep end (see next page), Aaron Astorga from locking into 7 block smith grinds, or Jimmy the Greek from blasting head high stalefish grabs in this beast. I think this pool is great and any of you who try to claim that it’s a one-hitter or can’t deal with the messed up shallow end need to step the fuck off and go back to your session at Vans for the next 30 Wednesday nights. This bowl is rad, and while it is indeed a permission pool, we did not get permission to invite everyone on the west coast. If you’re in the know then you should definitely stop by for a session, but if you’re clueless then don’t bother asking us where it is or how to get there because we’re not gonna tell.

Bird’s eye view of the Ox and his backside air.

Jason Case busting the sick regular foot line, frontside air over the loveseat. A variation of this is frontside ollie over the loveseat to smith grind.

Aaron Astorga, head high frontside ollie.

The bowl proprietor, Mark Anolik, getting his grind on.

Jason Case grinding the ungrindable back when the pool still had the old coping. Gnarly. Someone asked Mark if anyone had aired out onto and back in off the rock, to which he replied, “Not yet.” Now the answer is, “Yes, Pete the Ox did it. It was fucking sick.”

Gary Herbst doing a rollout edger at Buena in 1978, and0 they even had the vert plywood extension going back then! Check out how much the coping stuck out.

Buena Vista Pool, which we referred to as just "Buena", was a huge part of my life in more ways than one. I guess it was coincidence or destiny that the swimming pool my dad used to take care of, that I used to swim in as a toddler in 1959, would 17 years later, in 1976, be skated for the first time by myself and friends. The Buena Vista Pool was a vacation home for a prominent doctor in Watsonville. In 1960 the pool house burned down and from that point forward began the long history of one of the best skate spots in Nor Cal. In 1976 myself, George Milburn, Joe and Leonard Martinez and a few others dug tons of dirt out of the Buena Bowl and got our first taste of transition and vert. From that point on we were hooked. I penned my shop "Bill's Wheels", in Watsonville, in 1977 with my hours being 2pm-6pm. The first part of every day was left open for surfing and many hours of skating at Buena. The next quarter of a century saw the Buena Bowl filled with dirt (dug out), filled halfway with water (pumped out), jack hammered (patched), a total bust from time to time and yet Buena lived on. Buena was a huge part of my life through about 1990 or so, with countless sessions with friends, multiple injuries, parties and basically one hell of a lot of fun. Buena has touched many skateboarders over the years and will always be in my memories. - Bill Ackerman, Bill's Wheels Skateshop

Buena to me is a time capsule full of fast memories. Being there in my youth learning the grind, or the air. Seeing how many lines could be carved out of a pool and learning them. Then to go skate with guys like Meekster, Roskopp, Hosoi, or Losi and see how talented they really are in the pool. Plus to watch friends like Aaron Godoy or Jason Monroe, Ricky Styles become so natural in the pool was rad. There were also those times when the pool would get hungry, and when Buena got hungry you better look out. People would go down hard. I have been involved with skating, digging or partying with Buena for 25 years, and both of my boys have rolled around in Buena as well. Thank you Buena for all the fast memories, and hope to continue digging you out for another 25 years... - David W. Freil...xx

We started skating Buena in 1983, I was a junior in high school, and I used to go out there pretty much every day. There would be just random people like Jeff Lantis, Marty Parola, Eric Costello, a couple other heads, basically skate out there and drink beers everyday, just the general pool skating thing. Buena was pretty much the only pool around here besides Main St. by the Boardwalk, which was where we originally started. That was the training ground before Buena, and then Buena became fully skateable and we used to trek out there anyway we could. We never had any vehicles so we had to rely on other peoples' vehicles, but there'd always be mad sessions there. The sessions werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as big as they have been this time around, but there were always guaranteed to be some heads out there. There were some good people and fun sessions, some keeping it real sessions. Everyone was respectful of everyone else and it wasn't just a big massive snake session. It was good back then, but it was good to skate it again and good to see all the kids get their turn at Buena, because most kids have never gotten to skate a pool ever. So when they get to skate Buena, of all pools, that pool is the king of pools. You don't find them too often that are that wide open and skateable, guaranteed. You'll notice when you make your treks to all these swimming pools all over the place and realize that Buena's not that bad after all. - Nathan Horton

The first time I skated Buena Vista (The Fiesta Bowl) was in 1977. I remember the pool being really clean, no graffiti and full coping. The coping was super gnarly, it was the good round coping but the bottom edge stuck out about an inch. I remember some of the people that rode that day and were ripping hard: George Milburn, Mark Smith, Darren Farrera, a crew from Texas and Gary Herbst. Hands down the sickest thing I ever saw done in that pool to this day was Gary Herbst doing back to back carve grinds at about a hundred miles an hour with Tracker Mid-Tracks. His wheels wouldn't even touch the tiles or coping, just metal on coping. GNARLY! The next time I skated it was in 1980, Joel Gomez took me there and we basically skated by ourselves for hours, the coping was gone and there was full graffiti by this point and skating had changed drastically. From 1980 t0 around 1989 Buena was basically empty again full again but it seemed to stay empty for a pretty long time back then. There were so many heavy sessions in those days, beers, girls hangin out, it was like skating at a party some days. Way to many insane skaters to mention them all. The people that stood out in my mind were: Lance Ripely, Beau Holbrook, Sean Quinn, Rob Roskopp, Ethan Powell, Aaron Godoy, Todd Nelson, Scott Hoffman, Tony Hospital, Tony Roberts, Big Al, Dave Nelson, Dave Friel, there's just to many to name. You have to understand that this pool has probably been skated for longer than any spot on the planet, except maybe a close run in with the Cambridge Bowl back East. I remember days when Buena would get hungry and take people out, I always had respect for this pool and the ones that road it well. I don't remember Buena being to skatable in the 1990's, I know that when it was just skatable it had been at least 10 years since I skated it. It was pretty worked and the scene was kinda weird but it was great to skate it again, I don't think it will be the last. - Keith meek

"Buena has been skated in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and now the 21st century. I respect her, she's timeless." "The closet I've ever gotten to surfing was skating Buena this time around. The bottom was serrated and twisted like a Tahitian reef." "To make that place skateable was like Egyptian slave work, everyone pitched in, but Starn and Ballard - those guys are men - pushing that shit up... those were big blocks." - Jared Hajdak

It was way cool to see Aaron Godoy and Scott Hoffman tear that place again, I didn't think that was going to happen. I was stoked to see how excited everybody was who had never even skated it before, just digging for days and they'd never even rode it before. It was super fun to ride it and I wish it was longer than two weeks. I wish it was back, I wish we could figure it out, somehow. When it died skateboarding was all street, no one was riding vert, and it sat there, and nobody would go ride it. Now ten years later, there are people that are interested in pools again. It's cool to see it coming back. - Todd Nelson

Buena was the best place I ever lived. I loved waking up and skateboarding before all the kooks showed up who didn't dig. I hope the next time I dig it up it doesn't get blown out as fast as it did and if it does I hope it’s a blown out digging session. So if you ever hear about it, go out there and dig.

I'd heard a lot about Fiesta Bowl and seen some pictures, so as soon as I'd turned 16 and got my drivers license, me and some friends went there, and it was filled to the top with water. It took us about 2 days to pump it out and to clean out the trash - that was in 1983, and we've skated it ever since. Sometime around ‘95-‘96 it got filled with dirt to the top and it's been buried since. On St. Patty's Day some locals told me that they'd been digging it out and about two months after that everybody had the thing dug out. Around June 8th was our first session there, and it was really fun. Everyone showed up who had been there from the 80’s and such, and a lot of people hadn't skated it before but they pitched in to dig since they heard so much about it. The cops showed up the second day, on Father's Day, it was the 9th of June. I got caught there about four times in the pool and almost taken to jail. Sometimes when I'd be driving around there trying to sneak in there, the cops would be lurking there just driving around the block, and they'd catch me in my pick up driving around and they'd just be looking at us. They'd catch people sneaking in there. My friend got arrested for trespassing and that all lasted about three weeks and then they filled it in at the end of July and that was it. Now it's buried. - Rod Rodrigues Special thanks to all of the contributors to this article, including but not limited to: Marco Perez, Keith Meek, Rod Rodrigues, Tony Roberts, Bill Ackerman and Brooke Calmes.

- Damon

“Oregon?” you ask , “Didn’t I read abo ut that two issues the issue before tha ago?” t, too. It seems like if you look at all the Yes, you did. And you probably read Oregon there. And about it cov we know it’s getting old, but come on ma ers of Concussion there is some men except they go to Australia instead. tion of n, Thrasher pretty And if we could affo much does the sam Japan, Equador, and rd e it, we’d go to Austral thing every other spot on ia too, and New Zea this planet with gna land, rly concrete to ride . But we’re not Thrash er and our travel bud going to Oregon, aga get is approximately in. Hell, we can’t $0, so you’re stuck even afford to get take a plane trip som having to hear abo the time off to driv ut us ewhere more distant e to Washington, or ty lame. So this is . And yes, we’ve face afford to the last time we’re d the facts, and we going to do an arti we’re going to urg kno w this is getting pret cle about the skatepa e you to get your ass rks of Oregon - the up there and ride to tell you that Red last time som builds gnarly perf ect cement parks and e of that shit. This is the last time we’ park, and then take re going proceeds to do the s off to pour the nex gnarliest line/trick t one. in the At Port Orford he did the cradle fron tside. At Brookings jumped off a ladd he was the first one er on the big deck to do the gap. At into the flat wall. being that there are Newberg he I’m not quite sure about five hundred what he did at Aum different lines ther build parks for him sville, but e, I’m sure he did self and no one else some gnarly shit. , and quite honestl any of you ride the He seems to y I doubt if Red give stuff he builds, bec s two flying fucks ause he’s pouring us, do whatever it whether them for himself and takes to get yoursel his friends. So take f up there and ride ence salvation. Or some of these crea it from just grab your wal tions, and you too let, your pads, and kook. will go ride Van’s again. experiEither way it’s coo l with us, A horseshoe shaped racetrack that con sists of various wal Brookings is notable ls ranging from ten because it contain feet to four feet dee s an eight foot mo nies, Donald-style. p, use-eared bowl with If you’re a true bad pool coping and tigh ass you can transfer or vice versa, but it t tranbetween the pool is also easy to ska bow te l and the rest of the them jump which launch as two separate cou park es one sideways ove rses . It also has an Evil r the shallow end Knievel-style like of the pool and ont o the other side of the horse-

Some kook in the cradle. Pho

to by Casey shoe. It is quite thri lling to watch the daring undertake to watch the crashes this jump-ramp styl that result. This one e kicker, and equally attempting the jum little kid - who was amusing p - had a spectacu probably too little lar slam where he to have even been crashed headfirst ont didn’t even make o the flatbottom of it to the other side the bowl, where he the emergency roo - and he m. lay until the ambul ance came to take him to Brookings is an exc ellent park, full of endless lines and var the middle, but the iations of lines. It’s rest of the park put worth it just for the s the icing on the around. Either way proverbial cake, or bowl in it’s sick. Like most maybe it’s the oth other well designe kids who have bee er way d parks in Oregon n skating for six mo , there are a hand nths and are already and this kid Ben was full of little better than you. Bro one of the standou okings was no exc ts we saw skating gap” but we saw not eption there consistently. hing but poses desp He claimed he has ite the bribes we offe do attempt and lan done “the d “the gap”, and red for him to lan d it. But a handfu now I’m left wonderi l of people ng who the first pers on to 360 it will be. Port Orford is gna rly, and seems like the kind of thing you Consisting of two might find on the bowls connected by side of the road in a single hip, Port Orf Besides the fact tha Australia. ord sports a simple t the deep end is pret design, a smooth ty much a 10’ - 11’ in the corner. Six finish. feet of tranny and cement halfpipe, ther six e is an over vert “cra feet of over vert am but that is not all. ount to one hell of You can ride the bac dle” a ride in the half sph kside of the cradle crazy shit... overall - do flyouts onto it, ere, Port Orford is super roll in off it, all kind fun, but it is probab have ever ridden, s of and slamming ther ly one of the gnarlies e can scares the shit t, most difficult par now isn’t it? Double out of you. But tha ks I black diamond for t’s part of the excitem sure. Some of the people who can go ent, locals destroy the to 12 O’clock in it, crad but le, and allegedly ther rumor that someon we didn’t witness it firsthand. Eric J e grinded it, but I e are don’t know about was also spreadin trary, please forward g the that one. If anyone the photographic has any evidence evidence to us. to the conThe photos for this article were shot on a series of short trip s taken between Ma y and August 200 2.

Mike Yaccarino floating above Brookings

Port Orford overview

Mickey Stamm, shallow end frontside grind

Despite the full pads and horrible flat spots, Ricky Stiles showed up and killed the bowl and the rest of the park.

Concussion Road trip tips: - when renting a vehicle for your trip, make sure to get the extra insurance so if your friends decide to pee their pants or puke in the van, its cool. - make sure to hurt yourself at the first park you get to within 15 minutes of arrival, so that you spend the rest of the trip icing your knee with a beer. also donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget the antihero beer covers. - bring bottled water in case you need an alternative to beer, it also helps clean up pee and puke. Once empty, the gallon bottles also make excellent piss bottles, so you have less cryers in the back seat whining for you to pull over every half hour.

Photoshop doubles run, Yaccarino has got the style frontside and backside.

ouch

Kat getting gnarly on the funnest obstacle at Grantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pass

Hey pull over, this guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gotta piss.

I gotta piss dude

This dude Andy from Salem was killing it, double-tweak melon grab over the gap.

Mickey grabbing onto a frontside 50-50 at Port Orford.

Dude, Bruce’s caption for this photo was too gnarly. I’m sure that Methyl Island brings back some memories for him, but you don’t need to hear about his crank/porn addiction. It’s fucking disgusting. If you want to hear the story ask Bruce yourself, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to tell the story. Jason Dioguardi, frontside grind at the Fishbowl.

Gary, Strawberry Canyon Vert Ramp, 2002.

photo: davoud

JR, smith grind, Fontana. photo: Jerry Gregoricka

ed The moose is loose! Matt Moose slamm on the first try, made it on the second.

photo: yaccarino

As you can clearly see, Sean slammed on this transfer because his back foot isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite where it should be. Next time you gotta make it dude.

Noah Salasnek getting down wth a stalefish in Portlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dept. of Skateboarding bowl. photo: sedway

Clockwise from left: Fun things at the Fishbowl include a fridge full of surprises and a fake leg on the stairs. The house at the pool seemed like the perfect place to film a scary movie. Bobby Wass slaps a rock in the deep end of the Fishbowl. Photo: Davoud. Tom Knox, Lien to tail at the Vagabond. Photo: Eric Gonzales. Mike Smolik (yes, he is Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more hessian brother), backside 5-0 to tail or something in a ditch. Photo: Blair Alley. This pool must be pretty hip if Koston is going there. All the cool guys are doing this shit these days. Pat Garcia gets a frontside grind. Photo: Jerry Gregoricka.

This is such a classic Burnside photo that we had to run it even if the trick isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that great. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got the afternoon light, the junkie lurkers on the wall, and some dude floating an ollie over the hip. What more could you ask for? Photo: Greg Hall

Backside disaster revert on the big almost vert wall at Ripon is nothing to sneeze at, that shit is sick. Backside revert is the rad hit your head trick, if you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure Duane knows all about it. Photo: Rodela.

Charlie, Skatelab smith grind. photo: Jerry Gregoricka

180 flip by Silas Baxter Neil. Photo by Eric Guizzetti

Ryan Johnson feeling out the frontside lines at the Tick Pit. I heard that dude almost kickflipped the gap at Brookings. Photo: Joel Chavez

John Zack, carve grind over the steps. photo by Brendan Klein

This is a nice photo. Johnny Layton, 5-0. Photo: Brendan Klein

Skain for Satan photo: klein

Ryan Abruzzi on the other hand, can handle his liquor and his crail grinds just fine. Photo: davoud

This kid Blake sure can skate the fuck out of Ripon (and other things) but he sure canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t handle his liquor. Haha. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let your mom read this!! photo: Rodela

I think this photo is kinda old but it’s pretty rad so fuck it. Scotty Keller, Trailer Park pool. photo: Brendan Klein

Those Tilt Mode dudes were too cool to show up to our little “Contraptions Party”, so Nestor Judkins stepped up and was awarded the sequence. Free beer fools! Show up next time. Photos: Roland

All of the little quotes through these pages come from Noam Chomsky, a highly intelligent linguist, political dissident, and all around badass. Why he has not been assassinated by the government is beyond me. Anyway, Chomsky kicks down the knowledge, which is especially important in these sort of times where one finds their civil liberties disappearing under the guises of freedom, democracy and patriotism. If any of the stuff he said makes any sense to you, pick up some of his books. “Profit Over People” is a good place to start because the chapters are short and there aren’t 100 footnotes on every page. But that’s the point - Chomsky knows his shit and backs up everything he says with references. So there you go, the choice is yours. Ignorance is bliss but knowledge is power.

This is my dear departed friend Phil - he passed away while going home with a bar slut, but while he was on this earth he ripped harder than almost anyone to EVER step on a skateboard - lesson to be learned? Beware of bar sluts and never stop doing boneless ones!

This is my new friend Emeric - he's cool but I dont have anything witty to write about him - so I am going to take this opportunity to give you an example of the meaning of this article - if Emeric would have made it to the top, the photo would have been used in one of those nice glossy color mags - half way up =Concussion!

Fuck Davoud and fuck Concussion! And here's why: #1. They run my shit last issue and make it look like shit - "Well I cant help that the printer fucked your shit up," Davoud says. Yeah whatever to that - just so happens it's my stuff only - weird huh? I totally thought it was a fucking conspiracy against me - but then I thought to myself perhaps it was me - you know karma- that must be it - karma. I talk a lot of shit about a lot of people - photographers are gay, skateboarders are lame, magazines suck etc......that's not cool I should be a nice understanding person, right? So from this day forth I am going to be a kinder gentler Rodzilla, no bad thoughts words or actions towards not only humans but all of gods creatures...... unless my shit comes out bad again, then I am kicking Davoud's ass! #2. Davoud never gives me enough time to write this article - it's always "Dude get me that shit or I am writing it." Well you saw how gay that was last time - so I cant let that happen again! Plus Davoud has such cute puppy dog eyes I have a hard time saying no him, but here is the hard part - I am getting kicked off this computer and devoid is sweating, so my original intro will have to wait - I wrote some pretty good captions about my friends pictured here though - I hope you enjoy them. I am going to go hug a tree. - Rodzillafofo.com This is Diego - whatever for this guy - I am just worried for that poor rollerblader - stinky ass Diego flying at him - he's probably scarred for life! Chop chop!

This is DJ - he is one of those rare skateboarders, the ones that are future stars but still actually like skateboarding BECAUSE IT'S FUN! Very rare.

Corey Duffel - you either love him or you hate him - which side are you on? Does it really matter?

This is my friend doo-ane - well my ex friend - see we were like the Beatles and you know what happened to the Beatles right? Fucking Yoko Ono man, fucking Yoko Ono!

This is Jason - aka Surf tree- I came up with that name about 15 years ago while I was under the influence of speed - the story is way too long to explain in this caption - but there was a bunch of horny catholic girls involved. Which is ironic because surf looks like a young catholic priest - all innocent yet something about him seems like he would rape you. Weird.

Christian Hosoi, Venice, 1988

Jeff Hartsel, Venice

Dave Hackett, Bird Bowl, 1988

Born in Santa Monica and later moving to West L.A., Aaron Sedway has been intrinsically linked to skateboarding since the fourth grade. Then he serendipitously moved to the school district of the legendary Kenter Banks, which just so happened to be his new alma mater. Middle school was spent skating the banks every day as he lived right across the street. Later in high school he won the coveted best photographer award and during his senior year he got a cover story in the high school newspaper entitled, “HIGH FLYING CEMENT SURFERS RIP UNDERGROUND”. Still in high school and only shooting for one year, Aaron Sedway won another contest. This time it was for Freestylin’ Magazine (a bmx/skate mag). A black and white acid drop into a pool and a time exposed color of a handrail rail-slide were both published because the editors couldn’t decide which one was better. At about the same time, a rich friend from Beverly Hills was sprayin’ that Tony Alva and the second-generation Dogtown boys were skatin’ a pool by his house and to come on by at such and such. So Sed shows up with his camera and met the boys and shot some shots. He continued to chronicle the likes of Tony Alva, Chris Cook, Eric Dressen, Scott Oster, Aaron Murray, Jeff Hartsel, John Thomas and the rest of the second generation Dogtown scene. “Those guys had a huge influence on me.” To this day, Sed still enjoys shooting backyard pools and riders with style. His love of light eventually beckoned him into more natural arenas. This wanton lust was finally purged through the canvas of snowboarding. His eye has seen the dainty progression of back-scratchers to the hairball descents of huge Alaskan peaks. This love of light materializes itself on his living room wall. There are no pictures of action or circumstance. None. There is merely a lone mountain peak littered with spires and defined by a clarity of separation that draws you into the simplest yet hardest attainment of light burned onto paper. - ari evan gold

Salba, Upland, circa 1988-1989

John Swope, Wilbur Pool, 1996

Big Smooth, Haganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ramp, 2001

Omar and Corey, Doubles, 1997

Eric Dressen, Sunset Pool, 1989

Aaron Astorga, Laurel Canyon Pool, 1989

Surf photo: Bryce Hart 77

There’s something about travelling out of the country that makes you realize all the bad things about America. Well, I don’t know about everywhere out of the country, but certainly Indonesia. It makes you realize what you really want to focus on in life, what matters and what you absolutely don’t give a crap about. I went to Indo this past May for about 6 weeks. I was accompanied by: Charlie Parker, John Panzich, Sean Peterson, and Bryce Hart. We met up with a few guys from “The Point”, including Benji, Brooke, Jeremy and James. We all had something in common, we were getting perfect waves while the rest of our friends were at home groveling for knee high set waves. I can’t say enough good things about Indo, and I don’t want to. It is really hard explaining how it is over there. People here ask me if I was scared about the Muslims, or if I got anything stolen. All I can say is NO. Muslims do not hate us, people are not angry toward us,

Jeremy Scribner

it is quite the opposite. While visiting one of the “Muslim” islands, I attended a Muslim wedding. There weren’t any Osama posters, or Taliban gunsmen; just a lot of people, friendly people. Much to my surprise, they brought me to the stage and sat me down. A couple other tourists and I were the guests of honor. At that point, the newspapers warnings about, “the extreme dangers of travelling to Indo” and all the other bullshit propaganda went down the

drain. I knew I was in a safe place and had nothing to worry about, except which surfboard to ride. Now there are thousands and thousands of waves in Indo, and we didn’t even scratch the surface in 6 weeks. And I’m not even going to name one spot we surfed. But I will tell you this; they’re out there. Perfect wave, after perfect wave, after perfect wave. But don’t listen to me, I’m friends with the enemy, right? 79

Disclaimer: Attention Skate punks! This article isn’t soley about skating, drinking beer & gettings pussy.

With $160 and 8 skate decks to my name, 30 days notice to move out of my house, work hours cut down to one day a week and the last issue of Concussion stuck in the presses, it seemed like a perfect time to embark on a two week road trip. The goal of the trip was to drive my girlfriend and her car across the country, back to her home state of Kansas. Along the way we’d hit up as many spots as possible and stop at a bunch of skateparks, gathering shots for the next issue of Concussion. This was no leisurely jaunt from the rugged coast to magnificent mountains and glaciers, rivers and lakes; this was work, damn it! I was on assignment working as a photojournalist for world renowned Concussion Magazine, spreading the good word to parks and skate shops along the way. Our trip was not a straight shot East through the boring wasteland deserts of Nevada, on through Utah and Colorado, but instead a long diversion to the North through the skate Mecca of Oregon. I won’t (or I’ll try not to) bore you with the details of our roadtrip, as that would more be suited for Field & Stream or Outdoor Magazine, but for you, the 3 track minded, A.D.D. stricken Concussion reader, I’ll stick closer to the highlights. We headed up majestic Route One pulling into our campsite in the redwoods in the dark, a recurring pattern of our trip. First stop, Avenue of the Giants, complete with some of the biggest trees in the world: 1000-year-old Redwoods. We went to sleep with the sounds of a wedding party singing along to Parliament’s, “We’ve got the

Funk.” We were really in the wilderness now. The next morning we packed the car up again, a ritual that became tiresome fast. Traveling with 2 weeks worth of camping supplies packed on top of most of ones’ possessions, stuffed into a relatively small car doesn’t allow much room for organization. We hit up some beaches in Humboldt and then pressed on North stopping only at Crescent City to watch a few surfers ride peeling little waves in the fog as a giant Monolith loomed morbidly in the back drop. We crossed the Oregon border to arrive in the small Harbor town of Brookings. I took a breath of fresh air as we came into Oregon. All of a sudden I felt a little more...free. The park in Brookings is serious business. It’s like riding a giant cement wave that keeps peeling around in the shape of a horseshoe. You don’t have to push at all at this park, even when you’re going uphill. This park should be the base model for all successful parks in the future. I realized right away that Davoud, Dave ‘the video guy’, and Mickey had been here already, as all the kids had the new Concusssion stickers on their boards and helmets. I soon discovered they’d been there 2 days prior. I was fresh on their trail. This one grom named Ben Larson was dominating over the big kids. Brookings features the Evil Knievel “gap of death” which young Ben

Burnside Bridge, full moon.

The second night we stayed in this beach hut.

repeatedly attempted with a little coaxing. He never landed it while I was there, but give him a few months and he’ll be pulling it. In fact, he’s probably pulling it as you read this article. The gap of death goes over the clover pool that is the epicenter of the park. The pool is very tight but seems very rip able if given more than an hour to warm up, or if you possess any real pool skating skills. My intro to Brookings was dropping into the shallow end, which is 2 feet high with 3 inches of transition at the bottom - very quick indeed. Needless to say, I slammed, landed on my perpetual swellbow and slid my sorry ass down into the deep end. Maybe next time. Within an hour we had sold enough boards for gas money, the sun was setting, and it was time to hit the road. Less than 2 days had gone by, and we had somehow managed to spend almost all of our $160. We pulled in at a “too picture-perfect for a picture” campground in a small valley basin between two huge mountains, 1000 feet from the aggressive Oregon Sea.

102 degree Newberg.

The next day we drove up the Coast past Dunes National Park. If we had more time I would have ridden a skate deck down one of the bigger dunes. I’m sure it would have worked. We pressed on and reached Lincoln City in the bright sun, but at least it was on the coast so it was only about 85 degrees. That place was just about as rad as Brookings, just set up differently. All the locals there were ripping, busting alleyoops, smooth doubles lines, and fat airs over every hip. Speaking of hips, the only hip I hit with speed was my own, when my wheels slid out in the big bowl catapulting me into the cement. That was an instant call to bust open the warm wine and trade some magazines and stickers for some cold Natty Ice’s from the loc’s. A couple rolls of film and a few board sales later, (or trades for Oregon’s finest), it was time to say farewell to the coast for the next 10 days, and commenced our trek inland, deep into the interior of the United States. It wasn’t long before our next stop. By the time we were an hour inland, the heat was teetering around 100 degrees. Perfect weather for a pale skinned Limey to skate in. We pulled up to Newberg (about 40 minutes away from Portland), at about 102 degrees. I did my best to enjoy the multitude of bowls, hips, 13’ walls, and grindable cement corners. No one there was ripping. No one. But I equated that with the intense heat. The rippers must come out around sunset when the weather cools off. An hour later I stuffed myself back in the heat of the car and sweated my way up to Portland. We arrived in Portland around nightfall, at my brother Simon’s house, and finally got a couch-bed to sleep in and a shower. The next day we took a break from the road and cruised around Portland, hiking at Forest Park, the park with more murders and bodies found than any other park in the US, including NY’s Central Park. We didn’t see any dead bodies and it was too hot to kill anyone, so we just hiked around in the shade of the trees. Back at my brother’s house we chilled in the basement which he has converted into his Crescent City.

Justin Heistan Lincoln City.

This is the waterfall where the rangers wer e waiting to see if the dead body would float dow n river, through the crevice in the rocks.

Justin Heistan. Backside Air at Lincoln City.

Ben Larson, Bro okings, OR.

own record shop where nothing’s for sale, only for listening. He went off to Bacteria band practice before his Mexican punk rock tour, and we did what all good punks in Portland do, rode bikes around. Portland seems like a haven for punk rockers, complete with black clothes, patches, tattoos and obscure piercings. A lot of them punks don’t eat meat, because eating meat is not punk. A few days, and several vegan meals later, it was time to hit the road again. We went out through Eastern Oregon, which was actually a little ugly, up through Washington, to Spokane. That city has got to be the most depressing city around. It seems like an abandoned ghost city, with many empty buildings and huge corner lots for rent for only $195 a month. I don’t really know what the deal is, but that place has some serious problems and rampant corruption. That night we camped by a raging river crossed by a suspension bridge. On the way there, we passed this sketchy waste water treatment plant which wasn’t exactly labeled as such, upriver from the campsite. This place obviously treats shit water and then pumps the filtered poo into the raging river & no one knows or cares. After seeing this mutated yellow and red-faced fox that had apparently been drinking from the water since birth, we decided not to even go close to the torid waters.

Now I know why there are so many suicides from peopl e jumping into the Grand Canyo n. It’s just so damn tempting. Yellowstone, WY.

Christine sipping on a road soda.

After the setting and subsequent rising of the sun, it was roadtripping time again. We blazed through Idaho in less than an hour, into Montana, land of fireworks, wild horses, and the northern-most part of the continental rugged eternally snow capped Rocky Mountains. We arrived on the outskirts of the most impressive national park in America (not like I’ve been to them all, but I’m claiming pretty hard here), in the midst of a summer thundershower. Glacier is so intense it seems like you go right back to the Ice Age of the Pleistocene Era. In fact, it was so reminiscent to the peak of the Pleistocene Era, that it was eerie. Melting glaciers make up the park. The glacial runoff flows as a waterfall over the winding road that crawls from one side of the park to another. There’s supposedly plenty of bears and mountain lions around and like all the parks we had already stopped at, all food had to be stored away from the bears. I was thinking about opening some cans of tuna and rubbing them all over the next tent down from us and taking photos when the bears came and mauled the unsuspecting victims, but I was tired so I just went to sleep. The next morning we packed up and headed out to explore the nearby river. On our way there, a squadron of rangers with their sirens flashing passed in a hurry. We hiked through the woods to the river only to find about 5 more rangers with walkie-talkies, up on a bridge that crossed the rabid falls. As it turned out, some guy had fallen into the lake up stream and had been sucked down the fast flowing river, down through the crevice in the rock where the water rushes through. He may not have even floated as far as the waterfall, before getting lodged and trapped like a small log making it’s way down river. One second a happy moment goofing around by the river, the next, death by drowning in an ice bath. Cherish life. Today might be your last. After that shake up, we ventured on, feeling small and powerless at the mercy of the glacial valley we ascended. Weeks could be spent exploring Glacier National park, or years, or eras as the Native Indians had done, until being forcibly removed by the United States government. The first town we hit outside of the park consisted of at least 90% Native Americans, or Blackfeet Indians to be precise. The Indians used to live in Glacier, but some “deal” was signed where they were given a little bit of money, which has obviously already been spent by generations prior, in trade for being allowed to fish or hunt on the land without paying a fee. The Blackfeet were tricked off their land for the instant gratification of having a relatively large sum of money that was soon spent, on guns and booze, leaving their people with a less plentiful land, with fewer wild deer, elk, moose, and fish to feed upon. Screwed by the whiteman...again. Lewis & Clark, the early explorers of the region, considered them to be the most blood thirsty of the Natives; they’d rather fight off 5 bears than one Blackfeet. I’d be pretty damn bloodthirsty too if some bastards had just kicked me off my own land. Glacier National Park was the rawest wild place I’ve ever seen. 4 Buffalo heads. We drove on through Montana, stopped off to wave a

Glacier

Bet you can’t do a

50-50 to belly flop

. on the spine. I can

res Car Parts Sculptu Blackfeet Junked

quick hello to the Tetons, and continued down to Wyoming, arriving at Yellowstone, after getting lost in the dark, around 2 in the morning. Yellowstone is an amazing place, with incredible wild life (Bears, Elk, Moose and Wolves), but hundreds of camera holding fat icecream eating tourists somehow seemed to spoil it. We made the best of it, trying to stay away from the “Vista” points as much as possible. The Buffalo are fairly gnarly, as many a gorings are inflicted yearly on the over zealous camera toting tourist. Three buffalo heads. Next stop: Boulder, CO, and time at last for some more skating & board dealings, besides, we were out of money and barely had any gas to go any further without some cash to put in the tank. Boulder has a fun park with 2 big bowls, one medium bowl and tons of hips and coping. It was mostly a bunch of groms doing kickflips out of the park over a road construction sign until a couple of the “after work” crew showed up. Greg Kelly, and Charles “Chainsaw” Nasque

came on the scene to fly through some high speed air transfers, hitting every hip and bowl in the park in one run, displaying how the park is meant to be ridden. 3 1/2 Skulls. That night we drove way up the mountains above Boulder, until the air dropped from hot to cold, for our final camping in the dark routine. We awoke not knowing our surrounds, to find a field of Columbine and made our way back down the mountain, through Boulder, to the open freeway East of Denver. Today happened to be my birthday, and what better present than a blow out going 90 mph. I didn’t know what that smell or sound was until I looked in the side mirror to see our tire bouncing down the freeway like a meteor entering the atmosphere. The best grind I pulled all trip, as I grinded metal to concrete over to the side of the road to put on a spare. After the whole tire repair deal was over we got back on the road only to be pulled over 20 minutes later for trying to make up for lost time. The second speeding ticket of our trip. Christine earned the first one in Washington after a disgruntled cop had been trying to pull her over for 5 minutes. We had the music blaring and couldn’t see a thing out of the back window, and who looks in their rear view mirrors when you’re going forward anyway. After my two

Thunders torm form ing in Mo ntana Speeding ti cket #1, Wa shington.

Blackfeet carving

, ” Nasque. Boulder Charles “Chainsaw in stone.

Thunderstorm

k, MT r National Par passing, Glacie

Blow out.

Greg Kelly Boulder, CO

great birthday roadtrip presents we drove out of Colorado, finally reaching Kansas.

Buffalo, Yellowstone

Everyone whines about driving through Kansas, but it didn’t seem to be any different than Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington or Eastern Colorado. Night fell before I could see any of the notorious wheat or corn fields, so I didn’t get to experience the real thrill of hypnotizing fields of homogeny. Around 1 AM we pulled into Christine’s Kansas home. Mission accomplished with few major problems. The next couple days we chilled and went to 3 skate parks described as the following. Lawrence: A weak array of quarter pipes and a 3 foot half pipe (1 skull), Topeka: a cement park with one 4 foot half bowl with a hip, a bunch of quarter pipes, a rail, a pyramid, and a few banks. (2 skulls) Lenexa, which is still to be completed has some potential, but they didn’t build anything over 4 feet and the only thing with transition (except for the cement 4 foot half pipe) was the far back corner that was maybe around 4 feet high with coping. The rest of the park consisted of ledges, and banks, and a pyramid. Fairly boring, I must say, and cement half pipes aren’t the best invention, either. Why mimic something that is easily built with wood when you have cement that has so many more possibilities. I saw Lenexa as a lack of imagination or a park that was devoted almost entirely to street skating. (1 1/2 skulls) The parks weren’t that great, but at least they’re building cement skate parks in Kansas. The next step is having someone who knows how to build a good cement park build it. I checked out Kansas City, mostly on the Missouri side, and I have to say it destroys the stereotypes I’ve heard about Kansas. There weren’t a bunch of hicks in Cowboy hats (well, there were some), but a lot of the people we ran into, at least in one area downtown, were artsy tattoo folk chillin’ in the coffeeshops, and fashion addicts hanging out in the vintage stores just like in Berkeley, or San Francisco. For a taste of Kansas City style you can walk around in the 100 degree humid weather, watch lightning storms and check out some of Kansas’ finest: BBQ’s and steak houses. We also looked in awe at one of the best record stores I’ve ever been to, which had just about anything you were looking for, and a hell of a lot of stuff you never new existed.

Simon no good in

Lawrence, Kansas

Lenexa, Kansas

and Ruby up to forest Park , Portland, OR.

Well, that about concludes my skate park and national park brief summary. Hopefully this will inspire you to load up the car (or preferably your truck), bring your skateboard and your camera, your girlfriend (optional), and head out on the open road and go where you feel like going. Grab a map and a list of all the skateparks and start your own choose your own adventure skate tour. If you got this far in my article, I’m proud of you, now go take 2 weeks off work and do it. It’s cheap (except for gas and speeding tickets) and it allows you to feel like you are really free, not just an indentured servant working for the government. - J. Hay

Topeka, Ka nsas.

Speeding ti cket

#2, CO

this page is not part of the mark gonzales article, and you should not associate the two things in any way. it is simply a photo of tony hawk and mike v eating corndogs, which we thought our readers would appreciate.

I think it’s safe to say that Ed is probably one of the hardest working people in skateboarding. He’s a full-time artist who does shoes shows all over the world, he a fulltime skateboarder that travels all over the world busting his ass and on top of that he runs his own company doing a big chunk of the board graphics as well as putting his stamp on the ads. We caught up with Ed and poked his brain, we poked it soft though because he’s 6 concussions deep. C:What’s your full name and what’s the worst nickname you ever had? ET: Edward Albert Templeton “Eddie spaghetti your meatballs are ready”, but “the Tempster” is pretty bad too. C: Have you always had art as an outlet or did art come with skateboarding? ET: I drew and stuff as a kid but it definitely came with skating and the

punk rock scene.The culture at that time was very “do-it-yourself ” so we made zines and listened to cool music, skated and made our own ramps and slider bars, all that stuff.The people I met in skateboarding have helped me bring out whatever creative outlets I have into the open. C: Do you believe in art education or self-teaching for progression? ET: I fully am down for just doing what you want.Why pay someone to tell you “the way” or their way? Doing it all by yourself means you

develop your own style, and you make all the mistakes on the way to doing what you do well.That way the mistakes are there in your heart, mistakes are how you learn. I am not anti people going to school though, there is something to be said about going to a school with a bunch of like-minded people.You put yourself in a good environment of artsy people. But you can always do it yourself. C:What album changed your life forever and why? ET:There have been 4 phases of that. One was Janes Addiction’s “Nothing Shocking” because I was young and watching MTV and listening to the radio.Then my girlfriend played me that album and I freaked. It was so much better than the crap I was hearing! The guitar and weirdness of them, and the LA feel of it opened my mind.Two is Fugazi “13 songs.” I had heard of them before and we were in the valley skating when I saw they were playing in the Reseda country club when we drove past. I said, “Hey there is that band Fugazi playing here tonight, lets go see them.” Once again my mind was contorted by how rad they were.That was in 1988 or 89 and I am still a die hard fan.Then based on Fugazi, dischord released Rites of Spring, Guy’s band before Fugazi and fuck man, that album is great.The third was in Australia on tour in 1995 we were on a music tour skating obstacles while the bands performed.The headliners were Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys. Sonic Youth fucked me up like Janes addiction did when I was younger. Just something different done well. Probably their album “Daydream Nation” did it for me. C:Tell the kiddies at home about your book, Teen Smokers. ET: It is just a photo documentary about Teenagers Smoking cigarettes. I don’t smoke and I think it is vile. But my book passes no judgement, there is no good or bad aspect to it. Just photos of kids smoking. I like the way they look and I am sad for them at the same time. I try to get kids who have weird styles, or who are really young. C:You’re pretty well traveled, what would you say is the the biggest difference between American youth and European youth? ET: People here are way fatter, and try way harder to look good. Girls over there barely wear make-up, their hair is not all fried up because they are trying to look like Brittany Spears.They smoke more in Europe! And they drink at a way younger age, because of that they are mellower about it. C:What’s the most gratifying art medium for you? ET: Painting.When you make something you are really happy about - there is just something there that makes it good it is very rewarding.

C: I remember a while back I was asked where I get inspiration to be artistic, you know, what made me do it and I was stumped. I guess it’s just this desire to make stuff, How would you explain it? ET:I think everyone has creativity, most of us lose it. As a child you are constantly creating, drawing, coloring, playing. You have that youthful brain that hasn1t been “sophisticated” by living life, so ideas and creation just flow through you. Most people stop playing and creating between 13 and 18. At that point living life is hard enough, –the teenage years. School, girlfriends, parents, “becoming an adult”, whatever is going on is heavy on you at that age.There is a line that gets crossed in this society where you must “grow up”. After that you must act like a mature adult. My inspiration comes from creative people in my life, my grandparents, my skate and art friends. C:What’s the coolest thing about Neil Blender? ET:I skated a mini ramp with him the other week. He did a handplant over the hip. He still makes art. C: Is this the worst interview you have ever done? ET: No way. C: How was the recovery time after your neck injury? ET: I had to wear the neck-brace for 4 months. I would say the whole thing took away 6 months. C:Would you say you had a concussion? ET:Yes, actually I have had six now.The last one just a couple of weeks ago in Europe. C:Thanks Ed.

Ws e v I E Ws Vi V i D E o R ev Tobacco Land 2002

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Matt Ballard Productions

Tobacco Land is the latest "Rick & Buddy" film to come my way, and since Fruit of the Vine, these are always highly anticipated films. Unfortunately those guys have not been able to get the funding to do another complete Super 8 film, but whatever, they do it up either way, even if there is video footage as well as film. The title Tobacco Land initially made me think this was a video about the American South or something, but as it turns out this is a video about a summer in Europe 2001, and the tobacco reference probably comes from the fact that the euros like to smoke tobacco with their hash/weed. That is in fact the opening montage in this film, a fast forward sequence of someone rolling a joint. And it just gets more loaded and red-eyed from there, as our heroes find themselves penniless and stoned in Amsterdam, of all places. Surprise, surprise. This is more of a dirtbag road trip film than a skate video, but there is a healthy amount of skating, as Rick and Buddy hook up with Chet Childress in Marseille, Ryan Johnson in Prague (after sneaking across the Czech border), and a whole bunch of other randoms along the way. They skate that rad looking skatepark pool on the Italian coast, and go to a few of those euro contests in Germany, check out the park in Austria that Red and company were building (which is now done) and do a bunch of other shit that I probably forgot. But the most important thing you need to know is that this is a good video and you should watch it. This video may not have the heavy-hitter lineup of riders that Skateparks of Oregon had or the gnarly terrain of Ecuador, but it is certainly entertaining and a whole lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Europe. They have one of those fake endings that will fool approximately half of you stoned dipshits (those who weren't into it in the first place and wanted to turn it off) but the rest of you will get to see what is arguably the better half of the film, or video as it may be. Take me to Europe and let me ride all the rad stuff there is to ride, but please, leave the tobacco out of that joint. - dk

Small Beating Skateboards First Hits Free I had a hard time deciding which final video to review - this one or some weird video from Austin, that was made for the skaters of Austin by the skaters of Austin. Why did they bother to send it to us then, having never been to Austin or Texas for that matter, I could obviously not relate to their scene? Anyway, I had a lot more to say about that video than this one (because I disliked it a whole lot more), but it’s cool. I’m stoked to see that Chad is keeping Small Beating going. This short promo video features like four riders, one of them was a little kid who I didn’t really care for, but the other dudes were solid, all busting gnarly tech shit on street. Not really my style of skating but it was pretty good footage. I don’t think there was really any tranny skating in this video at all except for one pool clip at the end, but whatever. It was still better filmed, edited and produced than the Austin video, and they have more than eight spots. So yeah check this out, if for no other reason than to see Robnoxious thanked in the credits. Ha! - dk

Want your video reviewed by Concussion? Send it regular mail to: Concussion POB 1024 Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1024 Or email concussion@concussion.org if you want to UPS or Fedex us something and need a real address.

This video is seriously punk rock. It features almost every hardcore skater out there, including Bailey, Jason Jessee, Lincoln, Ryan Johnson, Hewitt, Childress, … fuck, if I listed every badass in it, this review would take up the entire page. The point is that the skating is insane. Also, as you can probably guess by the aforementioned names, almost all of this video is pools and bowls. In fact, this video probably has some of the best footage of modern pool skating out there; crazy shit like Les-Twist-Backside-Disaster-Reverts, (courtesy of Childress), and Kickflip-Indy-grabs, (in the Vagabond). On the down side, the editing needs some work, and a lot of the footage was filmed in shakey-cam. I don’t usually mention these sorts of things, but at points in the video it gets so bad that it distracts from the skating. But in the end, these things are minor criticisms which don’t really matter, because the point of a skate video is skating, and the skating in this video is high caliber. The soundtrack is also kill, and there’s plenty of random fuck around footage as well, including the crew jumping on moving trains and Jason Jessee playing with guns. Best of all though, the beginning credits Hamm’s Beer. A real skate video, done by real skaters – go buy it. - DA

Football Shmootball: A 16mm North Shore Diary… Veeco Productions The best portrayal of a surfer’s life to date; correction, major correction: a portrayal of the life of pro surfers, sponsored by Volcom, living on the North Shore of Oahu. The video is partially about surfing with a mound or two of filthy footage, but with just as much emphasis on the unbelievable amount of hot chicks that hang out at the Volcom house. The most interesting surf footage was Ozzie Wright getting tricky on small waves; Gavin Beschen surfing all kinds of styles in a variety of waves, including some big gnarly gaping ones; and finally, Bruce Irons barging backdoor & pipe, pulling lip biting air drops, including one where he air drops a 20 footer on his way to winning the Pipe Masters. The rest of the video is about the party after Bruce’s Pipe victory, chicks, partying, beer, surfing, football on the beach, sexy hotties, fights, no memories, and more chicks. The sound track is one of the best I’ve heard in a surf movie, including eternal greats Black Sabbath, Melvins, Ween, more Ween, and Bad Brains. It clocks in at about 24 minutes, with about 10 minutes of surfing footage and 14 minutes of the Volcom dudes talking about partying, how heavy the scene on the North Shore is, and Bruce Irons brushing his teeth. - JH

In Bloom Transworld Video 13 This video gets pretty much the same review that Transworld Video 12 did, except you can insert Tony Trujillo's name for John Cardiel in the part of the review that says "This whole thing sucked except for Cardiel's part." Trujillo is skating better than ever - he's one of my favorites for sure, as he annihilates everything in his path. You should see this video just for his part alone, but the for the most part the rest of In Bloom put me to sleep. Neil Heddings has a few clips from some random ditch contraption which was cool, and there are about two seconds of Childress, Cardiel and Drehobl in Australia. Other than that it's the same old shit - all handrails and ledges, although I hear the DVD has way better extra footage, so check that out if you’re a DVD geek. - dk

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One year subscription (4 issues) #100

Bruce Lee Quest of the Dragon- Xbox: Lupe D I tried to play this game after watching my friends play it and get angry. I entered the game, generically punched a few dudes, collected some coins, and paused the game. At that point I understood why they were so angry after playing it. This game is complete ass and a disgrace to Bruce Lee. The camera moves really bad and there’s points where you can’t even see yourself cause the guy your fighting gets in the way. Gameplay itself is pretty dull and the graphics aren’t anything new to be stoked off of. There might have been some cool levels later in the game but I honestly couldn’t get passed level 2 without wanting to turn it off. Pepe I was stoked when I heard Bruce Lee was coming out for the Xbox, I was sure it would be a kick ass game. I was hella wrong though; this is one of the worst games I’ve played all year. Quest of the Dragon sucks on every level, the controls are slow and unresponsive, the camera views are retarded and inconsistent, the sounds are gay, and the graphics are shitty. The only thing worse that could have happened to Bruce Lee was if that honkey Chuck Norris would have kicked his ass. You start off as with about three moves, something like punch, kick, and block. You must fight (button mash) your way through boring, unimaginative levels and bosses with no real purpose except to get to the next level to do the exact same shit for another 15 minutes. This game attempts to follow in the footsteps of old school action games like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage, but doesn’t even come close to either of them. The cool thing about those games was that you could take on multiple enemies at the same time and your moves were fast enough to keep the game interesting. In this game Bruce Lee moves with the grace of a slow, gay robot, and the game decides and auto locks on which enemy you must fight. So while your trying to fight one dude, three of his homies you can’t even attack are busy tea bagging and donkey punching you. This game is shit stay away from it. Bruce Lee: 1/5 skulls Smugglers Run WarZones- GameCube: Lupe D This game is not bad, not bad at all. Rockstar is not known to put their name on shit. It has a cool little cheese story, great controls, and pretty good graphics. I sat down and played this game and was hooked. Here I am thinking I’m bad ass cause I got to Mission 13 pretty fast without losing. I’m getting high scores, unlocking shit, one mission after another. I come to find out that theres 175 missions. They make it easy enough where your just going mission to mission. Yeah, after awhile it can get repetitive but shit, that’s why games have a save feature. I’m not a big racing fan and I got pretty far, so depending on how much speed you have you could get pretty far on one sitting. If you know someone that likes and buys racing games you should tell them to buy it and just borrow it from them for a long time. Pepe I really didn’t check this game out for too long, maybe an hour at most. It was decent, the cars handle well, the realistic feel of speed and cops chasing you keep it fast paced. I just got kinda sick of doing the same shit over and over. The developers of this game had the right idea smuggling contraband and running from the cops is always fun, but they could

have added some cooler shit to keep people into it. I would have liked to have seen some missions where you can run from cops in swap boats, speedboats, small planes and helicopters. One thing that was disappointing was that out of all the shit you are smuggling, neither are dope or Mexicans, that made it kind of unrealistic. Overall it’s not a bad game though. I recommended you steal it, don’t pay for it, there’s cooler shit to spend tour money on Wild Turkey, hookers named Tina, subscriptions to Concussion, you get the point. Smugglers: 3/5 skulls Madden 2003 PS2 vs. NFL 2K3 Xbox: Pepe You don’t have to be a jock named Steve and or drive a bitchin Camaro to enjoy football games. Most of my friends who skate won’t play football games, but people shouldn’t stay away from cool games just because there to “Extreme”, they should stop being pussies pick up a controller and just play the fuckin game. Seriously, if it wasn’t fun would Snoop Dog be drinking forty’s, smoking blunts and playing football games with homies on TV. Lupe D the expert football gamer is gonna kick some shit out for you on the two best football games out there. Lupe D These are the Coke and Pepsi of the football gaming world. Your always gonna have your typical Sega Boy defend the 2K series and point out the slick graphics and “sick ass” presentation. Then you have your know it all football gamer that’s been loyal to Madden for 13 years, so no matter what a football games does “MADDEN RULES!!!”. I myself fall under the Sega Boy category. The way I see it, if you could hang with the 2K series, you could hang with any football game. It’s the advance course of Football games. If you never played the 2K series it might take awhile to get used to the running and passing game. Once you get the hang of it though, good times. This year they decided to purchase the ESPN license and do it like that. All the menus and presentation makes you feel like your watching ESPN. It’s pretty fuckin’ fancy. The actual in game graphics is where it’s at, from the player models, to the remodeled sidelines, to the new ESPN-ish style replay. I could go on and on but John Maddens tubby ass has been knocking on my door to review his game for the last 4 years so here it is. Okay 1st off I haven’t liked a Madden game since 1999. I got the fuck off the Madden wagon and jumped to the Sega side. Who can blame me? Madden is so 90’s. But this year they seemed to have done something that has question my loyalties to Sega. The game was actually fun. Real fun. The in game controls were looser and easier to control. It has that old school Madden feel, which is cool. Now that I actually have fun playing this game again I’ll be able to check out all those cool options I hear Madden dorks always brag about. They also brought back the halftime show which is cool. Instead of hearing Maddens dumbass breakdown the 1st half stats you get to see cheerleaders shake it on the 50 yard line. Big thumbs up on that one. The way I see it, Madden is still the champ if your gonna play with your buddys and talk all kinds of shit. But if your gonna sit down and geek out on a season, get stoked of new features and dope graphics, NFL 2K3 is it. I think it’s gonna come down to who has the better on-line feature as both games prepare to go online this year on the XBOX and PS2. Madden: 4/5 skulls NFL 2k3: 4/5 skulls

Texas Terri is the reincarnation of deceased suicidal punk rock singer Wendy O Williams, of the 80s band the Plasmatics or Iggy Pop, of the Stooges’s, illegitimate child. She brings a NY-style raw punk attitude together with a Hollywood sleaze style of punk into the scene. It is apparent that Texas Terri gets what she wants, whether it’s given to her or she has to take it herself. After one of her songs, she started feeling a little sexy and got down and dirty, taking down her top (her nightly ritual) and flashing her titties, not giving a shit when the electrical tape sweated off exposing her nipples. Towards the end of the night, she was smacking her big red lipstick covered lips, on girls and boys alike, as long as they were within striking distance from the end of her microphone cord. Her last song she sang topless, standing on the bar. Texas Terri is a full LA scenester and she’s performed with the likes of Duane Peters, Zeke, X, and the Dwarves. She even busted the Duane Peters style two microphones at once singing stunt. TxT is definitely worth checking out on CD or preferably live. Hear a sample of one of her songs yourself by going to her website, texasterri.com. Captured by Robots opened up the show with their futuristic all robotic (except for the tweaked out singer) band. There were even a robot or two in the audience as well as rumor of a few androids attending the show. I hate androids. The bartender and the bouncers were replaced with robots for the night, a trend that will begin to sweep the nation. The guitarist was the most interesting robot to watch, performing on an 8 string guitar with his robotic fingers making chord changes without effort. I believe the singer/lead guitarist gave life and skills to all the robots which all sing back up vocals and engage in witty dialogue with the singer about what a piece of shit human he is. Gratitude? There ain’t none. This show was high up in the performance art spectrum, and an experience well worth the drive to Aptos. Check both performances out if ever given the opportunity. – J. Hay

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Disclaimer: The words you will read in this interview will bring you freedom of thought. Don’t blame the magazine or myself for your awakening. It’s you, after all, who perpetuates all the rules everybody else must follow or they aren’t PUNK ! I have sought out the most offensive, yet, rockin’ bands for years. I’ve always labeled it PUNK. Now, with the present day society embracing what they believe PUNK is, I have looked deeper into drainpipe to find that sound, that makes me feel young and indestructible again. I bring you The most IMPORTANT band in present day PUNK ROCK. After hearing KILLALLENWRENCH you’ll understand why. They follow no rules and even seek to break the standing rules. The songs are hard, urgent, and rebellious. With all the safe, candy, wannabe, so-called punk out there. It is good to know there’s a band out in the free world who stand defiant in the face of us all. Please welcome Dr. Allen Wrench....... S.B.: So you killed Kurt Cobain and then El Duce (of The Mentors)......allegedly. What is your next step in attaining fame? Allen Wrench: Legally I can’t comment on either of those situations. But for right now I don’t see any punk stars committing suicide near me any time soon. As for the next step... it’s all about taking the message of Kill Allen Wrench - “Punk Rock’s Most Important Band”, to the people. Since the entire music industry is big pile of pussified unimaginative dumbasses, it’s all up to me to take the reigns of super stardom. Kill Allen Wrench is such a kick ass band that it shouldn’t be that big of a problem. S.B.: Do you or have you ever skateboarded? Allen Wrench: Oh yeah, totally. I’m from California anyone that lives here basically skated at one time or another. The era was about 1980 - 1984. Mostly when i was in high school. G Although all my friends skated pools and ramps, I never did. I skated to get around. If I wanted to go to a local mall or liquor store to shoplift, I’d skate there. When I got old enough to start stealing cars, I started skating less and less. S,B,: How big are you? Weight? Height? Allen Wrench: I’m not nearly as big as people think! For some reason people think I’m some kind of giant, which I’m not. I’m 6’ - 00” and I walk around at about 210lbs. But it’s a fat 210lbs! I’m fighting in the Masters World Championships next year at under 200lbs. So I’ll be hitting the weights pretty quick! S.B.: I know that you were involved in those tough man battles. How many years have you been studying jiu jitsu ? Allen Wrench: That’s another misconception! I’m really not a pro wrestler of ‘no rules’ fighting. I did do one ‘no rules’ fight in 1997. That was against the Mexico National Heavy Weight Champion. It was a kick all fight. I beat his ass for five rounds, but they gave it to him on decision. I was ripped off! My big thing is sport judo and Brazilian jiu jitsu. I have a black belt in Judo, a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, and a black belt in a traditional type of jiu jitsu. I started all of them around 1994. I competed the most in 1997. That’s when I won the AAU/U.S. Nationals in the Masters division. I consider myself a recreational fighter nowadays. I did fight in the Masters World Championships in 2000, but I got stomped. I fought out of my weight class and the guys were too good! S.B.: The blood that you are usually covered with, is it pig or cat blood? Allen Wrench: It’s whore blood! I’ve got a specific stable of Kill Allen Wrench girl fanatics that donate the stinking blood from their cunts before every show. It’s a satanic thing. The girls love to do it, and it makes them horny as hell to obey my every command. S.B.: Besides, sharp skins, straight-edger’s, pc punks, and hippies, who else do you encourage to come to your shows? Allen Wrench: You’re pretty much covering our entire

Allen Wrench: Dr. Heathen Scum has long since been a big fan of the music I do, even back from my work with Road Whore. And it’s easy to see why... He’s a fucking pervert. When I first talked about the Kill Allen Wrench project, he was immediately on board. He’s also very much into international travel and touring, so Kill Allen Wrench is perfect for what he likes to do. He brings a lot to the super group.

S.B.: I don’t like Courtney Love, because when she wrote for M.R.R., she talked shit about the band Lockjaw. What feelings do you have for her? Allen Wrench: I actually legally can’t comment on her. But if she wanted to suck my dick I’d let her, just so I could give her VD.

S.B.: Where is Trace Element? How many members have come and gone with Kill Allen Wrench?

S.B.: Beside crack, heroin, alcohol, and sex addictions, what other things do you do in your spare time?

Allen Wrench: Basically there have been two membeers that have not been able to cut it in Kill Allen Wrench: Trace Element (drums) and Matt Naked (Lead Guitar). Trace Element quit the band a few years back. He’s a real heavy ‘Narcotics Anonymous’ guy. He couldn’t stand to be around us with all the drug use and stuff. But that’s OK, superstardom is for the superstars! Metal is for the Mighty Matt Naked was a really kick ass lead guitarist, but he had a lot of personal problems. He had married this real piece of trash welfare chick and he was beating her all the time. The funny thing is that she turned into a lesbian and took him for every cent he had. After that his drug use got really out of control. He couldn’t function and lost his job. After he had been homeless for a while he finally got all religious. He quit Kill Allen Wrench and joined a Christian rock band at his local church. The whole thing was pretty fucking funny!

Allen Wrench: We’re all doing all sorts of stupid stuff. I’m mostly doing Judo and Jiu Jitsu along with all my heavy drinking and bouncing in and out of rehab. Right now Junky John is going to his ‘Gambling Anonymous’ meetings. Dr. Heathen Scum is stockpiling porn.

S.B.: Your music is banned from a lot of record stores. They call you a hate title. So they won’t carry you because you display a human emotion. Has this caused you to question your spiritual direction ? Allen Wrench: Not at all. One thing that you’ve got to remember is that Kill Allen Wrench came right out of the gate knowing exactly what the score was. We completely understand how shitty and spineless the music industry is. We know that we do is not what those lame asses are about. I do think that it’s funny how some idiot will call us shocking and controversial and then pull our records off the shelf, but then the new Slipcock record will come out and the same store will hype them as ‘extreme’ and ‘crazy’. Basically the world of music has become such a pussified group of crybabies that anything out of the ordinary is instantly banned or boycotted. The bottom line is... most people are stupid and unimaginative. They need a record label, radio station, or TV network to tell them what’s cool. After all, you wouldn’t want to go to a record store and buy a record that wasn’t cool. What would your friends think! You just wouldn’t be able to live without having your friends think that you were cool. So for most people the corporate music industry is a good thing. You just watch MTV, find out when the new Brittany Spears record is coming out and buy it. It’s all very simple and takes very little effort. Don’t forget... god doesn’t ask if you like him, he just sends you to hell.

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S.B.: What porn company did you guys hook up with to make your recent porno? Allen Wrench: You’re talking about Extreme Associates! Those guys are fucking great! They do the hardest core porn that you can buy! I was watching one of their videos called, “Cocksmokers”, at my pad with a chick I had recently met. The fucking thing was so hardcore, that the girl started crying! It was fucking priceless! Extreme Associates is owned by two friends of mine Rob Black and the porn living legend Tom Byron. Both those guys are cool as fuck! There is a Kill Allen Wrench porno on the way, but no one in the band has actually been in a porn movie. S.B.: What amount of Pabst Blue Ribbon do you consume daily? Allen Wrench: When I’m kicking back at The Fortress of Bachelorhood, I’m easily knocking back a 12 pack every day. When we’re out on tour, especially in Europe, it’s a bitch because few places have it. Here in the USA you get lucked and some of your higher end liquor stores will be stocked up on the good stuff. It really pisses me off when I can’t get loaded on my favorite beer. I am always getting surprised by the fans though. They’re always showing up with Pabst at the shows. Fans have saved my ass, Pabst wise, more than once. S.B.: What bands are keeping your attention right now? Allen Wrench: Actually right now I’ve been listening to a lot of Johnny Rebel. Not because of the racial aspect, but because of the great country music that he was doing. I’m also listening to a lot of the Fat Possum Records stuff. I don’t think that there’s one thing I’ve heard from that label that I didn’t like. But that’s all blues stuff. As far as punk, I’ve really been into The Vibrators for quite a while, and I’ve just discovered some of their

targeted audience there, although I would like to see a better Christian Rock representation at our shows. Those poor kids are going to end up going straight to hell unless the immediately accept El Duce as their savior. S.B.: I noticed a heavy religious presence in your music. Have you ever been approached by Tooth and Nail Records (A Christian “punk” label) to cut an album? Allen Wrench: Most of the Christian rock corporations out there are wise to us. But if they would come up with the cash, I’d totally record a Christian record. Our radio PR guy sent our new CD out to every Christian radio station he could find. It was funny because they were all emailing him saying, “please stop sending us your filthy music.” I know there are a few suckers out those radio stations that are listening to our CD and secretly getting high after they get home! S.B.: When it comes to slut fucking, what percentage of them do you think of as marriable? Allen Wrench: I would say that 100% of them are worth marrying! They’re all beautiful and they’re all my slaves! If it were possible, I would take all of them back to ‘The Fortress of Bachelorhood’ and live happily ever after! The only drag is that I know they couldn’t handle the life style. A lot of the girls can handle the Kill Allen Wrench party scene for one or maybe two days in a row. What they don’t realize is that after hanging out, they go home and sleep for days on end. The toll that the Kill Allen ‘way of life’ will take on you, and it can be deadly! I’d marry each and every one of my fans, but I love them too much. If they married me, they’d party so hard that it would kill them. S.B.: Have you encountered any health issues from slut fucking? You know facial rashes from eating nasty gashes and the sort? Allen Wrench: Oh man, the whole band has gotten tons of stuff. It’s pretty disgusting... gonorrhea, clemitia, warts, crabs... you name it baby. The trick is to assume someone else’s identity and when your cock starts itching, you just head down to a county health clinic and get some complimentary medical attention. On that note, a good trick to do is to tell the doctor that you’re also having panic attacks and you’re afraid to leave your house. That way you can get some kick ass panic pills....which are great to smoke! S.B.: I noticed on the killallenwrech website that Mariachi Mysterioso is claiming that Michael Jackson isn’t guilty. Do you hold this position also? Allen Wrench: Actually, I didn’t know anything about Jackson. I think that Michael Jackson is a kid fucker that has enough money to keep himself out of jail. I think he’s totally guilty for kid fucking. As far as Mysterioso, his big thing now is R. Kelly. Mariachi Mysterioso is totally into under age girls. Not prepubescent, but here in the USA... underage. When we’ve been in Europe I’ve never seen him with a girl that’s over 17. No I take that back. One time The Prince did bust him on our tour bus with a girl that had really big tits and was 20. He’s a sicko. As far as I know, when he’s back in the USA, he only fucks girls that are over 18. Under age girls are what he and Kelly have always had in common. As soon as R. Kelly was busted, I knew that he would be calling Mysterioso. S.B.: Damn it ! You ruined my “All black child molesting pop stars look the same to me” joke. Oh well. With the number of female groupies you have, I would say you guys are a true satanic boy band. Do you feel that Nsync or backstreet boys would ever welcome you guys to the fold ? Allen Wrench: See the problem there is that unlike those bands, we’re a HETEROSEXUAL act. You know, we’re here to rock the sluts, not the junior high schools. That is unless there are a few chicks there that have gotten held back for 5 years. Besides the fact that we’re living the fast paced rock and roll lifestyle and slut fucking 24/7, we also WRITE AND PLAY our own music. Those guys think that they’re great artist if they come up with some stupid dance move. Those guys are a half ass Las Vegas act, not even a band. So the better question would be... would we welcome them into the realm of the righteous? The answer would be... not while ‘what’s his name’ can’t keep Brittany Spears under control. But I do have to give the one guy credit for his cocaine problem though. S.B.: Mariachi Mysterioso... Is he legal? Does he have his green card? If he is a :citizen, then what So. Cal. gang does he belong to? Allen Wrench: Mariachi is totally full of shit and always lying about everything. He claims to be legal, but I have my suspicions that he’s a fruit picker. Although, he will admit to having had come from Mexico and playing guitar in a Mexican circus, I don’t specifically remember him ever mentioning that he had citizenship. Who fucking knows? He’s also a big pothead. We’re pretty popular in the East LA area. So I’m sure he’s out there, hanging out with whatever gang members that will set him up with weed. I don’t think he’s actually a member of any particular gang, but he’s definitely in the scene. S.B.: Dr. Scum is indeed a true force in the current pop punk scene. How did you attain his services and at what cost?

music that I wasn’t aware of. come out with a new record.

I really like Texas Terri, but she needs to

S.B.: Who would be your pick of the litter (favorite band) to tour with? Allen Wrench: There are two bands that we’ve done some shows with and they were both a fucking blast. Those bands were The Voodoo Glow Skulls and also The Genitorturers. We’ll be doing plenty of shows with both bands really soon. I’ve always wanted to play with Nashville Pussy because I want to fuck that Cory chick, but she’s not in the band any more, so we’ll see what happens. S.B.: In South Park the Movie, Saddam was treating’ the devil like his bitch. If you could, would you manhandle the lord of evil? Allen Wrench: Toe to toe I’d knock the fuck out of him. And then, I’d tell him to bring me some sluts and some Pabst blue Ribbon! Come to think of it, that fucker owes me some money. S.B.: Have you ever had a concussion? Allen Wrench: I’ve never been knocked out... In a fight or other wise. S.B.: What words of encouragement, direction, or over all loving message, do you have for the masses ? Allen Wrench: Basically there are 2 things I want to touch on here. The first is that there are STRAIGHT EDGE operatives every where. They’re going to attempt to make you feel bad about doing all the things that you enjoy. Things such as drinking, getting high, collecting, making, and sharing pornography, or perhaps using various drugs. These are all things that everyone love to do. And these sick freaks are actively trying to keep you from living the lifestyle that you choose to follow. The best way to combat the STRAIGHT EDGE conspiracy is buy all of the Kill Allen Wrench CDs and as much of our merchandise as you possibly can afford. Only then will Punk Rock’s Most Important Band be able to fight the STRAIGHT EDGE conspiracy. By paul morrison www.killallenwrench.com

Record Reviews Think your band has got what it takes? Send CDs, tapes, etc. to: Concussion Reviews - PO Box 1024 Santa Cruz, CA 95061

puss, and slide their contagion down your elbow. I was trying to remember what this sounds like, and I realized it reminds me of the best stuff from Simon’s (the guitarist) earlier bands from the 90’s, Headache and Loaded, but with intelligent, non-self destructive lyrics. Blast this shit while you skate and see how much harder you fucking rip. Send 3 bucks to 4507 N. Gantenbein Ave., Portland, OR 97217 to get a copy. - JH Behind the Sun Broken Hearts and Shattered Bones Too Damn Hype

Ace Troubleshooter The Madness of the Crowds Tooth & Nail Records

I think if these guys would mellow out the hardcore side of their sound, I’d be able to listen to them. They start most songs with super fast speed metal with some cookie monster style singing, and then pull lots of time change-ups into a nice guy Lenny Kravitz style, and vice versa. It made me laugh after a while, especially when they combined the two voices in a kind of Axl Rose style multi-track overlay attempt. The band is pretty tight and super fast, it’s a shame the singing style makes it hard to handle. Even though the singer sounds and looks pretty tough, the drummer, guitar, and bass player need to stand up for themselves and tell Alexis to calm down a little bit so he can sing at all 5 years from now. These guys have the tools to be really good, they just haven’t found their right sound yet. - Lars

This band is like Blink 182 with a little Green Day mixed in for good measure. Well produced but it’s been done before. - Dub-P Agnostic Front Dead Yuppies Epitaph Records Once again, one of my favorite bands does it again. This band continuously keeps putting out albums that are tough as nails. This NYC American working class band are to hardcore as warts are to frogs. These guys were pissed before Sept. 11th, imagine how pissed they are now! Songs like “Liberty”, “Club Girl” and “Love to Be Hated” are core. My favorite, “Standing On My Own”, gives a sense of something to strive for and believe in. This album trys to explain drug addiction, pedophiles, what’s fucked up in the U.S.A., and how to fix it. Agnostic Front is a musically tight band, and who can even begin to talk shit about Stigma, he is one of the baddest lead guitars around. Next to Eric Eycke from Corrosion of Conformity, Roger Miret has the meanest vocals ever! This band has been fucking shit up for years. I hope that they will keep at it for years to come and inspire others out there like they have for me. May N.Y.H.C. live forever! Visit their website at www.Agnostic-Front.com - JS Bacteria Demo Tape Bacteria are fresh out of Portland, working on their new mold of political hardcore punk, with a little metal melded into the mix. Songs are about war, consumerism, the prison state, dead end jobs, and refusing to be ashamed for what you look like. This musical onslaught of anger is a culmination of fast plugging bass lines, raw guitar chords with occasional metal guitar solos and distorted slides, pissed off with the world vocals, and nonstop poundings of the drums. Bacteria infectiously spread their message. From “Children’s, Children’s, Children”: “Another four years later, another fucker up for elect, the ones in the shadows are dealing in death, pulling strings, meddling with our lives, another battle for another generation to despise...Another war for our children’s, children’s, children.” This song is the most powerful song on the tape, an anthem for the current day, with every psychotic world leader with their finger on the button. We all might be fucked. From “Meaningless”: “Treading through each day in misery, from clock in to clock out, a name, a number a tool in their machine, a dead end job, a dead-end life, you’re a meaningless worthless slave, your on your knees and there is no getting up, ‘cause the boss knows there’s a thousand more zombies to fill your spot.” Brilliant. Shear brilliance. I quit! You should too. Bacteria tear off your scabs, fill the gaping holes with

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Blackalicious Blazing Arrow MCA Wake up into the world of hip-hop and recognize that Blackalicious is ruling. Blazing Arrow is their latest, and I am impressed. These guys are heavy hitters and their collaborations are remarkable. Their beats have the capacity to move even the stiffest skeletal system. Track 6, “4000 miles”, featuring Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5 and Lateef The Truth Speaker, is one of the best on the album. Track 13, “Aural Pleasure”, featuring Jaguar Wright is off the hook. Get ready to dance and move those hips... you will have no choice. It’s refreshing to hear positive messages alongside the groovy beats. Definitely worth it if you enjoy hip-hop. - SD Blazing Haley El Chingon Rode to Ruin Records I love drinking! With that being said, let me state, this album makes we want to get pissed! This Santa Barbara Psycho-billy band loves to play for booze, lovely ladies, and friends alike. Gawdarn this band rocks! It’s all about hot rods and hand jobs.... This album is packed with songs like “Straight Ta Hell” and “Runaway Truck Ramp Love”, that will make you want to get your grind on. “Date with Ivy,” a tribute to Poison Ivy from the Cramps, and “They Get Bad Fast” are driving, rock-n-roll, beer willing tunes. As well, there is a Black Sabbath cover that you can’t shake a stick at! This band is also wonderful live and one of the best chick magnets as a hairy green stand up bass becomes a stage prop for a rockin goood time! Check em out at www.BlazingHaley.com and pick up their bitchin’ 1st album. It is far from disappointing. - JS Bouncing Souls / Anti-Flag BYO Split Series Vol. IV BYO Records The whole Split Series that these guys have been doing is very cool. Even if some of the bands suck. On this here disc, I believe both are talented bands, but I dislike the lyrics and stance that Anti-Flag hold. Musically, They are good ‘77 shit. I find myself singing along to it and disliking what I’m saying. They are infectious, yet clueless or maybe misled? When they first started putting ads in mags they got shit for being anti-American, so they put out ads explaining their stance. That told me they were weak. Punks don’t get bullied into explanations, at least not what I’ve seen of Punks. I’d like to quote a lyric for you: “No borders/No nations/No flag/No patriots”. If they are talking about Anarchy then, somebody better tell them that it’s just a pipe dream held sacred by rebels. In that case, let’s examine this statement. How could there be a revolution without patri-

PICK OF the litter High on Fire Surrounded by Thieves Relapse

Arguably one of the most anticipated albums of the year, the new High on Fire record pretty much lives up to my expectations. One of the heaviest bands in the business right now, everyday kooks seem to be onto the High on Fire tip as I recently saw an interview with them in Transworld among other places. Whatever though, these dudes rock HARD and there is no getting around that fact. It would be kind of like calling Sabbath trendy just because they're so good, you can't get away with saying that. What I can get away with saying is that while this album is not quite as good as the ots? Have you no idea what a world without borders would be like? Obliviously you haven’t a clue. I have said it before and I’ll say it a million times over, most political punks nowadays haven’t a clue what they are preaching. I watch these spiky hair, lots of spikes, tons of patches kids walk around without a care in the world. Then they bitch about shit. Now I remember why there was no such thing as PC Punks when I was younger. We were all too busy fighting everybody, and getting educated by the streets, to sit down and write songs about how the world would be so much better if we just had a peace punk rally. I see these guys as Left wing Nazi’s. People better believe their idiotic lyrics or the “punks” won’t think you’re cool any more. Also, for these guys hating’ America so much, it’s funny that Nicky Garratt did their insert comment, ‘cause that bastard loves America. He moved from Europe to here to start a successful business in the Bay Area. So what the fuck ever. Anyway, each band does six songs. The Bouncing Souls open this up. I like all of their songs. They do three covers and three originals. An Anti-Flag song is covered. In turn Anti-flag do a B. Souls cover. Anti-Flag play great music. If their singer would seek to understand other perspectives I believe this band would be great. They, too, do three covers and three originals. Great disc, great idea. Just one critics opinion. I hate, but I gotta tolerate. - SB Brian Setzer Orchestra Boogie Woogie Christmas Surf Dog Records Just when you thought that the swing trend had crawled back under its greasy rock, this pile of shit was delivered to my doorstep. The only thing worse than Christmas music is Christmas songs performed by a swing band. Yes, it is as bad as you think it is. - dk Brothers of Conquest All The Colors of Darkness Go-Kart Records This Heavy Metal rock band out of Kentucky reminds me of a mixture between Dio and Nashville Pussy. As it turns out, the lead singer, “The Rock n’ Roll Outlaw” used to play drums, and was a founding member of Nashville Pussy. Go figure. Other members of the band include, Z.Z. Priest on the Drums, Ian Spiders on Guitar, Tony Rivers on Lead guitar, and Rodney Roads on Bass. These Hessians want to kill for rock n’ roll. Songs tell stories about monsters created to kill, witches, getting high with the devil and rock n’ roll. Definitely a hit with metal heads or fans of the NWOAHM (new wave of American heavy metal). - JH cLOUDDEAD self-titled Mush Records cLOUDDEAD is odd: Nosdam, Why?, and Doseone. This trio of musicians creates an interesting balance of flavor. Abstract lyrics coupled with mellow, ambient music. Laying down on my bed for an initial review, I lazily listened and read along. Unknown rotations later, the abstractions forced my mind to wander... anti-emptiness is no longer the opposite of fullness... it runs deeper than the conscious mind’s initial reaction. Beauty lies in the harmonies and power lays in the word... when things aren’t always what they seem and blenders blend in the background. I think my coffee grinder could hang with these bay area innovators. These guys are unassuming. You may not notice them as they drink their coffee and walk your streets, but when they take the stage or infiltrate your stereo, you will notice. They are bringing spontaneity and creativity into this stale world. They are making music worthy of your time. - SD

first full length High on Fire album, it is still the grade-A shit. Put this album in your CD changer with the other High on Fire album and a couple Sleep albums and after a while you won't even be able to tell the difference, it will all blend into one long song and your head will be banging the entire time. - dk

The Control EP Go-Kart Records Fast and raw hardcore. Great musicians, great songs, powerful and energetic. Lyrics are about slitting your wrists over lost love, forgotten love, and the winter of my heart. Love core – but no whiny shit here, just the goods. You’d be thinking they were singing about slaughtering sheep or something gnarly, but they’re singing about love. There’s one song on the EP that isn’t about love and that is about the tragedy of giving in to the 9 to 5. “When you’re a tragedy, another tragedy…at sixteen. I hope that the nine to five gives you what you need. Work, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat when you’re a tragedy.” These New Yorkers are too amped to sleep, ever. Check em out if you can, they fucking rock. Expect a full length soon, because they’ve got what it takes, and they stand out from the crowd. – JH Deviate State of Grace Too Damn Hype This band pretty much wants you to get ruthless and hurt yourself or someone else. If you like devil worshipping-death metal, then you’re all over this album. The drummer busts out some serious shit on every track. The guitars and bass are pretty tight with not many solos. The only question left unanswered is which one of these guys in the picture is the singer? From the sound of the yells and growling chants he pulls, I expected to see a huge dude like Danzig, or the guy from Biohazard or Pantera. I guess I’d be stoked to have this CD kicking around my collection. I’d just be scared of what I might do if I listened to more than two songs in one sitting. - Lars Discipline Love Thy Neighbor Too Damn Hype These dudes sounded good when I first listened to this album. They have a sound that reminds me of the Dropkick Murphy’s and Rancid combined. I wanted to dog these guys for trying to pull fake Irish accents, but then I checked the album and realized they’re actually from Holland so their accents are probably real. Anyway, the music rocks pretty hard, but not too hard. These guys aren’t out to scare you or play the fastest punk in the Dutch nation. They keep it basic and rocking all the way through the album with a bunch of original songs, and a good “Prison Bound” cover. - Lars Doseone Hemispheres Mush Records When the rest of your world sucks the spirit from your soles, it’s good that you can fuel up on an earful of complex philosophy and music that moves the vessel. Dose is a gifted human with the ability to articulate beyond the scope of most. Having the capacity and desire to counter the stagnant norm, dose inspires and manifests originality. Track 3: the beat and female vocals are reminiscent of Digable Planets, add in Dose’s unique style and flair, shake it up and you get “Spitfire”. My favorite, track 4, “Self Explanitory”, “...shake this microphone into a dominatrix, whipping you shameless, MC’s be all tongue and anus, needless to say brainless, so take a deep breath and think gracious, before I scar all your faces...” This track flows like Budweiser at a dive bar. This album is tight. This is intelligent hip-hop. If you appreciate outstanding

beats and superior lyrical integrity, then go buy this album. In fact, go get any of the many musical projects that include Doseone. - SD

get this. It is a total show of where they’ve been and why they were there. Dag Nasty Baby! - SB

The Catheters Static Delusions and Stone-Still Days Sub Pop Records

Dame Fate Time and Tide Wait for No Man Lovitt Records

At first glance of this CD it looked too arty for the Catheters that I had heard. I was wrong. A little sticker on the CD cover explains that that’s the intention. Sub Pop has proven to be an interesting label. The music was a sonic blast of fucked up rock’n’roll. It was the same band that I had enjoyed so much on a 7” just months earlier. Now just recently I went to see a band that was playing their first show. The band is Gluehorse. They came on stage and rocked my jaded elitist world. These guys are a great rock’n’roll punk band. The reason I bring them up is this. Gluehorse band members are in their mid to late twenties. They rock hard and show great potential. The Catheters on the other hand are solid, rock hard as fuck, and have a handful of releases under their belt. Here’s the kicker though. The Catheters are still in high school or just out of, have been playing for three years, and just keep getting better. Both bands are great, but the fact that these youngsters are as talented as they are in their teens, deserves some extra attention. The songs on this release are hit after hit. “3000 ways”, “I fall easy”, and “Clock on the wall” will make you to a believer. Not one bad song in the bunch. The vocals have a heavy distortion on several tracks. It’s similar to what Trent Reznor was doing with early Nine Inch Nails If you are looking for a reference point then I would say; mix some early Husker Du with a touch of Nine Inch Nails. Throw in a dash of AC/DC and garnish with teenage angst. That would be my opinion of their sound. To simplify, Punked Out Bar Rock. It’s great, you should go indulge in a bit right now. The kids still know how to rock!!!!!! - SB

Do three chicks playing slow, simple songs about old boyfriends and other crap sound interesting? Didn’t think so. Dame Fate’s music is kind of boring. Did I mention that their songs are slow and simple? - Dames

The Cliftons Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol Super Speedway Music Inc. FUCK YEAH! See, that’s what you want to say the minute you put in a disc. It starts out with the track “Too High to Die” and continues to skate fast all the session through. These guys are definitely skate punk, but not your ‘clean happy any body can get into it’ type. It’s raw, unbalanced, scraped up road rash played hard with reckless abandon. These guys would fit in with Fear, Meatmen, and Murder Junkies, just a tad faster. A band for all you SkumFuks out there. I hope to see them live. If you skate you should at least listen to your peers bands. Get it.... now. SB The Control EP Go-Kart Records Fast and raw hardcore. Powerful and energetic music with lyrics about slitting your wrists over lost love, forgotten love, and the winter of my heart. Love core - but no whiny shit here, just the goods. You’d be thinking they were singing about slaughtering sheep or something gnarly, but they’re singing about love. There’s one song on the EP that isn’t about love and that is about the tragedy of giving in to the 9 to 5. “When you’re a tragedy, another tragedy...at sixteen. I hope that the nine to five gives you what you need. Work, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat when you’re a tragedy.” These New Yorkers are too amped to sleep, ever. Check em out if you can, they fucking rock. Expect a full length soon, because they’ve got what it takes, and they stand out from the crowd. - JH Dag Nasty Minority of One Revelation Records I just gave Bad Religion high praise on their latest effort, then this comes along. For those of you not in the know, Dag Nasty are one of the bands that really matter or mattered. My personal affection for this group stems from the players. The first being Dave Smalley. He has made some very cool music through the years. If you’ve heard Down by Law or DYS then you know his art form. Lyrically, Dave is up there with B. Religion’s writings. Vocally, he is solid. His voice can go to many levels and do so with complete control. As a once singer, I can tell you that that’s hard to do. The second player is Brian Baker - another great in the history of punk. I’m sure you’re all aware of his presence in Bad Religion and Minor Threat, but you don’t realize the countless other bands that he’s been through. He has been a non-stop force in the punk scene since his inception. Then there’s the rhythm section, Colin Sears and Roger Marbury. Both members are very active in bands and the scene in general. Collectively they are undeniable. “So how does the album sound, jackass?”, you question. Well, I liked the opening track and a few more, then I got distracted...I like the end three tracks. There’s also a hidden track at the end. It’s a cover of “100 Punks” by Gen X. All in All it is a good release. Just not as good as Wig out at Denko’s. There is definitely magic with these guys though. If you don’t know who Dag Nasty are get this and then follow them backwards. If you like Dag or any of the other bands they are in, then by all means

Dog Fucker S/T Horse John Records Dog Fucker is Shane Scaffoni’s new lip-synching boy band. They pretend to sing while they perform different positions of dogs fucking. Watch out for these bitches, they’ll be cuming soon to a town near you, doggy style. - JH Drunken Master Live 10 Song CD Demo Self Produced Cyber-galactic hip-hop blues funk-rock-rap, Drunken Master stumbles their way down new untravelled roads. Featuring Droid on drums, Dub-P on guitar and vocals, and James “Bone” Nelson on the bass, these players create their own tunes and create their own songs to be sampled by other suckers in a different galaxy, next millennium. Dup-P flows his own style of hip-hop, possibly influenced by rappers like Kool Keith or Outkast, and bands like Sublime and the Beastie Boys. Sex and pot soaked lyrics discuss common topics such as partying with Alien women: “Get high with aliens, I jacked that space craft, got far past the Milky Way, last chance to romance hoes throughout the galaxy, Mars got fine hoes, Venus ladies like penis, Mercury girls lick, Uranus chicks squeeze dick, on Pluto they get low, on Jupiter they jerk it slow...” You get the point. Drunken Master are bringing it back to the party days and just letting loose and grooving it up. To get a copy of their demo or book them to make any party a hit, call the Drunken Masters at 831 429 6896. - JH Free Beer The Only Beer that Matters Alternative Tentacles Records Growing up watching the leftist, hypocritical, ‘protest for profit’ Jello Biafra has given me a bad taste with his label. This release proves BAD people can do GOOD things. I love Free Beer, you love Free Beer, everyone loves Free Beer! The name alone just makes you happy. I liked the name so much that when I first started my band, Division A, in the joint, I was going to call us Free Beer. Funny right. Well, let me educate you further on Free Beer. The members have been in several bands, but it began with one. Jerry’s Kids (‘79) was the band that contained The Guerrero Brothers, Bryce Kanights, and Dan Magee. Which then changed to Revenge (‘80) minus Bryce. In 1981, a band called A.L.A fused with Revenge. The outcome was a founding Skatepunk band titled, “Free Beer”. They were on numerous compilations. I heard them play on Maximum Rock n Roll back in the mid-80’s and I fell for ‘em. I haven’t heard them in years. So now I get to fall all over again. Thanks Jello. The music is what all the bands that came after tried to emulate. It’s surf played fast and loose. It is what I called PUNK when I was younger and the word had some honor to it. The talent of these guys is overwhelming. We’re talking ‘81, ‘82, ‘83 here. Music that is better than most current day bands and way above anything that is popular to the same genre. The insert sleeve has all sorts of cool old skate pictures. There’s fifteen tracks on here, that way it isn’t over too quick. Very few bands rank as high on the pedestal as these guys do. I will listen to this CD for days, weeks, months, and years to come. I will state right now, that if you don’t already own this, go get it. I swear to you, you are lame if you don’t. - SB

after mass smother riffy guitars and choking words of enslaved freedom. Funeral desecrate the land of the dead and bring the opposite of hope to a desperate nation not under god. Divisible. Without liberty or justice for you. Hear your anthem. Play it loud till you can no longer hear the voice of your master. (Funeral, PO Box 40113, Portland, OR 97240-0013) - JH The Generators State of the Nation TKO Records Yippee! I pop it into my Imac that I’m writing on, and ZAP: a music video. Cool video, great song: “Down in the City”. That’s a badass start to a CD. I’ve been keeping my eye on these guys for a while now. Their earlier work was not as focused, but I knew they could sound complete. They did a split with the Oi band Vicious Rumours. At that time, I thought these guys had an oi tinge to their American rock. With this release I hear more of an emergence of ‘77 style, similar to Duane Peters bands. Still the Oi is there. Also, the fact that they do a Cocksparrer cover earns them some points in my book. Needless to say, I am an Oi boy so this music lulls me and reminds me, I’m never alone. I’m sure you saw who released this. I talked to The Riffs the other day and asked what they thought of TKO Records and Mark Rainey, because they recently signed to TKO. The response was “Oh, We couldn’t be happier.” If you treat your bands good and give them their freedom, they will produce amazing sounds. Other labels take heed, TKO will be legend. - SB Ghoti Hook Retrospective Tooth & Nail Tooth & Nail are a Christian record label. All the bands on their label seem to sing almost exclusively about god. I’m not particularly fond of this obsessive worship of the almighty “god”. I think the whole deal is really quite silly, archaic, and overplayed. So when I read liner notes and the band gives “God all the glory for the opportunity He gave us”, I just think it’s really quite lame. But hey, everyone’s got their crutch. Furthermore, I think it’s strange when total gnarly punkers are into god. It just seems contradictory, for some reason. But then again, I’ve never almost died of a drug overdose, thought I saw god in my drug induced state, thanked him for returning me to the land of the living, and felt that I owed my survival to this guy in the sky. Now that all the god lovers HATE me, and that off my chest, I’d like to talk about Ghoti Hook. Oh Christ Almighty, I ran out of room for this review because I was spewing my personal beliefs. Lame. Really fast: Their music is steady and upbeat, lead by a fast paced drum beat and long drawn out vocals in the harmonious sing song vein. Ghoti Hook is rocking and positive, I listened to the whole damn album, and I think I’ve served my penance. Prove your love to god and buy this after church on Sunday. To each their own, and this is my own. - JH Glasseater S/T Fearless Records This band has a split personality. They sound a bit like At-the-DriveIn, but not as creative. My friend says the singer sound just like Milllencolin. Then in the chorus, the singer sings like the Pantera guy. If you think these two personalities can mix, then you would probably like this band. It was too much of a contrast for me. Dub-P The Hives Veni Vedi Vicious Burning Heart Records I didn't want to like this album, I tend to want to hate anything that lots of other people like, because usually lots of other people tend to be idiots. The fact of the matter though is that The Hives have been around for a while and nobody gave a rats ass until The Strokes made garage rock socially acceptable. All my bitching aside, this album is pretty solid, jam packed with sing-a-long rock anthems. The only problem with this release is consistency, the first 6 songs are worthy and had me fully erect but the remainder of the CD had me mearly flacid in need of a fluffer. If you don't already own this, be like everyone else and go buy it, it will make you cool and girls will lick yer butt. - LC

Funeral Cry of State Desperation 7” Self Produced

The Krays A Time For Action TKO

Pounding nails into your coffin, Funeral beat out intense lightning fast chords of rage with words of discontent. Political lyrics about the government, religion, & supposed common enemies the government brainwashes our culture to try and hate. Crucial beats from the

Somebody fucked up on these liner notes, because all of the apostrophes are replaced with the fucked up character that you get when you import Word file into Quark and use a font that doesn’t have an apostrophe. I’m sure that will mean nothing to most of you, but a

couple of you computer geeks will know what I mean. Major faux pas on TKO’s part, as they have impressed me with their layout and design skills in the past. Good thing nobody fucked up the music. dk Los Olvidados Listen to This ‘81-’83 Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles has been doing these skaterock re-releases lately, and they’re all pretty damn good. And man, I haven’t heard some of these songs in a long time. San Jose skaterock, straight from the same era that brought the Faction, Drunk Injuns, et al. The lineup includes OG San Jose skaterock bass player Ray Stevens and Mike Fox of the Dwarves among other things, I think he might be in QOTSA or some other Kyuss-affiliated band these days, but I’m so un-hip these days I really couldn’t tell you. All I know is that if you skate this record should be in your collection, and if that’s not enough for you, Ruben Orkin is on the cover for crissakes.. - dk Mastadon Remission Relapse Records Straight up fuckin' brutal rock and roll, and mear words don't do this hurricane of musical destruction justice. This whole album is unrelenting, I can't even pick a favorite, well I guess I could but, the whole album is amazing. I first heard Mastadon on the last Reptilian Sampler and I kind of thought they sounded like The Melvins but this full length album is far more substantial. They find the perfect mix of complex riffs and straight-ahead-rockin-ass-shit, combined with skull crushing vocals. If you don't pick this album up you gotta be some kind of terrorists, some kind of commie bastard, some kind of hippy scum bag, in fact get out of my fuckin' house until you cut that hair of yours. Your mother and I work hard to put clothes on your back and.....get it bitches. - LC Maxmillion S/T Mp3.com/maxmillion Doom sludge from this guy Bobby who works down at Tum Yeto. Heavy and slow, right up my alley for the most part. This is a 4 song EP burned on a homemade disk and shit, but the production is pretty good. Not my favorite album I have heard lately, but it’s definitely good stuff, hopefully these guys will put out a full length record sometime soon. - dk The Mushroom River Band Simsalabim Meteor City This release came in the mail along with stoner rock band Nebula, if it gives you a feel for their style of music. The Mushroom River Band is essentially in the same garden as Kyuss, QOFTSA, Herbert, and Nashville Pussy. Lyrics talk about life’s failed dreams, televangelism and the government: “Democracy rules and I am wrong when I say I disapprove. Freedom chokes because money rules, there’s no hope for what we dream.” A few Iron Maiden-esque guitar solos, a ton of heavy riffs, an occasional harmonica thrown in on a couple tracks, with a heavier stoner rock sound define, at least for me, The Mushroom River Band. Pick this one up, get in your Truck, head down to the river with your beers and let your white beer belly get burned by the raw heat of the sun as you blast the ‘Shroom River . meteorcity.com - JH Nebula Dos EP’s Meteorcity I’m not sure if it’s important, but I’ll let you know anyway, a few of the members of Nebula started Fu Manchu, and yes, they do sound similar. However, Nebula is bluesier, and a little slower in general, but not slow as in a pussy pop way. I’d say they’re way more underground than Fu Manchu in their lack of commercial appeal, but just as good musically. Dos EP’s is a combination of 4 songs recorded in New York in 1998 in the middle of their first tour, and then another 6 songs at the end of their first tour in Seattle, recorded by Grunge Rock studio guru Jack Endino. The final 3 songs were recorded last December in LA and were previously unreleased. That been said, some of the songs sound familiar, while others I’ve never heard. Nebula have always been Fu Manchu’s ugly stepsister after they got all famous with their Tony Alva album cover record, but they’ve still got what it takes to stand on their own. Too bad I mentioned Fu Manchu like 4 times in this review. That’s like when someone says, “Oh, you’re that dudes little brother”. Like you

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aren’t anything if you’re not put into context with something or someone slightly important. Oh well. I suck. Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu. Get it if you like Fu Manchu’s older stuff, but aren’t that into their newer stuff. Oh, by the way, this shit fucking rocks. - JH Nine Lives The Fugitive Too Damn Hype This band sounds a bit like a few different local Santa Cruz punk bands. The singer varies between an almost-rapping quick delivery to a more emotional, “rock ballad” style. Nothing too new with the drums and guitar, I call it soft-core punk / rock. - Dub-P NOFX 45 or 46 songs... Fat Wreck Chords NOFX are one of my all time favorite bands, at least they were about 5 years ago. They’ve put out so many good songs, more so than most other punk bands, particularly in the last 10-15 years. This double CD contains, as suggested in the title, 46 songs. It actually has a few of my favorite NOFX songs, including, “Drugs are Good”, their cover of the Misfits’, “Last Caress”, & “Murder the Government”. About half the songs are good, while half of them weren’t good enough, and shouldn’t have gone on ANY of their albums. It was a good listen, these 46 songs, and although a lot of the songs weren’t that memorable, they were a lot better than most of the new music I hear lately which tries to imitate, but fails. At least NOFX are just playing songs that sound like NOFX, and not some other band trying to do the same. If you listen to the lyrics, these guys have to be one of the funniest bands in punk rock, and that’s got be worth something. NOFX are the best band that ever were, and ever will be on Fat Wreck Chords. If you haven’t heard them yet, then just forget about it. - JH

Original Sinners Self-Titled Nitro Records This CD has a sticker on it reading: “Featuring Exene Cervenka of ‘X’”. For some reason that bothers me. It’s like saying that the band ain’t shit, but EXENE OF X is singing! So I pop this bad boy in and turn it up. Good rockin’ country-punk, weird song (too arty for

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my taste), more good rockin’ stuff, total country, X sounding stuff, Instrumental, and The End. The truth be told I believe this band would rock no matter who sung. The instrumentals were my favorite tracks. This is worth getting not just ‘cause EXENE blah, blah, blah. No, get this because you like good music. Speaking of Exene, I would say she sounded similar to Courtney Love and Kim Deal. As I said, the band rocks !!!!! - SB

Reserve 34 7” Clearview Records Heavier and faster than their label mates Thirty3, Reserve 34 play hardcore-rock, or rocking hardcore, not too hard, and not too soft, just like they like it up in British Columbia. Reserve 34 sound like they’d be a band to see live since they reek of energy, and if I didn’t have to get up every 3 minutes to flip the damn record, I think I’d be amped to listen to these guys for about half an hour. Hold on, I’m getting up. More fast hardcore rock. Thumbs up. Sick drums, fast guitars, fast clean vocals. What more could you ask for? Red vinyl? Sold. Order yours today. No joke. (www.clearviewrecords.com) - JH Queens of the Stone Age Songs For the Deaf Interscope Records How is it that some people can be so amazing and some people are straight piles of shit? I mean, of course, it's just the way the cruel hand of fate works but it just seems unfair I guess. Don't get me wrong I'm on the amazing people side so I'm not whining or anything I just feel bad for people, you know, dude, you guys should be me, it's awesome. QOTSA is on the amazing people side too, these fuckin' assholes are maybe even "mega-amazing". This is thier 3rd album and they stupified me once again. Everybody who reviews this album says, oh ya, well they got fancy pants drummer guy now, that's why they are ripping. If you have spent anytime QOTSA or any of thier side releases (Mondo Generator, Desert Sessions) you know that these guys are just "mega-amazing" and how else can you explain it without sounding like some kind of ass. Steal this album and eat your own poop. LC

Roustabouts The Only One Haunted Town Records Three piece midwest punk rock, sounding at times similar to some of the bands that have come out of the Oakland/Berkeley east bay scene, and something one might hear on the stereo while skating Jim’s Ramp. I wonder if these dudes open up for Duane Peters when he’s in town. Mid-tempo semi-melodic punk, I keep waiting for the “Oi’s” but they never come. But this is pretty good, you have no idea how nice it is to be able to put a random record on that someone sent you and not have to take it out and throw it on the floor after half of the first track because it is so horrible. Hell, I almost listened to the whole disk. - dk Satanic Surfers Unconsciously Confined Bad Taste Records The fact that I botched reviewing this album for issue 16 made me feel as though these boys from Sweden deserved an apology, so sorry for the delay guys. That said, I can’t get my preconceived notions about this CD out of my head. With a name like Satanic Surfers and an album cover full of skull xrays, I was totally prepared to rock out in my leather pants, pound some beers and throw the horned hand. I realize that it is totally lame to judge a book by it’s cover, but even after I listened to the entire album a couple of times I just kept hoping for a stony guitar kyuss-inspired sound to magically emerge. They do have a tight speedy sound with a dash of angst, but so do tons of other mainstream bands. Although Unconsciously Confined doesn’t have much new to offer the music market, I do admire some of the political statements Satanic Surfers are making with their lyrics. -EB Schooly D Funk ‘n Pussy PSK Records Old School rap beats. Schooly-D was around when I was in elementary school. His style still sounds like the stuff from the late 80’s. Hard beats and simple sampling techniques make up most of the songs. If you like basic rap from back in the day you’ll probably like this. - Dub-P

Sixer Beautiful Trash BYO Records I’ve listened to Sixer on many different comp.’s and heard their ‘Saving Grace’ album. I like the Swingin’ Utters a wee wallop grander, though. Both bands are good at playing Americanized ‘77 and oi styles. I’ve heard better production for these guys before. By better, I mean worse. These guys need that rough edge in the production or else their songs sound like the song “Hero” on this disc. Way over produced. Again, I like these guys. Ten songs in all. Seek to buy. SB Slick Shoes S/T Tooth and Nail Records Melodic happy pop punk can be a tough category of music to critique. However in a realm of music which often all sounds the same, Slick Shoes brings enough talent and individuality to the table to hold their ground. The track “Ten Ways” bursts out of the gate with enough power to prove that these Palmdale, CA boys have skills. Overall the album is an honest 13 song effort and it tempts me to check out at least one of their 3 previous releases. EB Slow Gherkin Run Screaming Asian Man Records I saw them at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz. They had a big crowd and they were rocking. Being labeled as ska might have limited them. I think they wanted to rock a little harder but it was difficult with all the horns. Can horns play punk rock? Hard Rock? I don’t know. I like the horns but I can see how it would be hard to write songs with all the different instruments; horn, guitars, bass, keys, vocals, etc. Anyhow, they just broke up, but the last album is still quite good. Somewhere between rock and ska, this was my favorite CD of the eight I reviewed. - Dub-P Smoke Smoke Follows Beauty Kozmik Now we are talking. Stoned out fuzzed Hesh Rock out of Los Angeles, produced just right (meaning not over produced, leaving in a little rawness), this 3 piece has what it takes to stand out from

the kyuss-rock stereotyping. These guys aren’t afraid to take it down slow when needs be, and then take it to the hilt. They sound like combination of elements from Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Sons of Otis and High On Fire. With 55 minutes of thick rocking evil, this is one of, if not THE best release I’ve heard this issue. HIGHLY recommended to any fans of slow sludge stoner rock. - JH Spiritu S/T Meteor City Meteor City is one of the labels that scooped up many of the stoner rock bands when Kozik’s label imploded, and they’ve done a good job keeping the good releases flowing. Spiritu is from Albuquerque, which probably means that they’re just as sun-baked and tripped out as the dudes who live out in the Palm Springs area. Songs are rhythmic and heavy, although I wasn’t super into the singer at first as he kind of sounded like the guy from Soundgarden. Thankfully he’s in a stoner rock band and so he doesn’t sing all that much, and like Robert Plant or John Garcia, probably spends more of his time gyrating around the stage and riding the snake. Not exactly a ground breaking album but I’d rather listen to this album than 98% of the other shit that’s out there. - dk Striking Distance The Fuse is Lit Bridge Nine Records These guys are fuckin’ pissed and they plan to take out their anger on your eardrums. The Fuse is Lit is Striking Distance’s third release of fast, angry, hardcore punk rock. Why are these guys so pissed? Well, I’m not sure. I couldn’t really understand what the fuck they were screaming about, something about fighting the system or something. This album is definitely worth checking out if you are into pissed off, angry, hardcore punk rock. But, if you are into crap like Blink 182 then you had better run and hide because this shit will blow your head off!! - Dames Superbees High Volume Acetate Records Another band that is getting into the MC5, Stooges, psychedelic rock and roll style revival deal, the Suberbees also sound like a slower and less wasted Hellacopters at times. I’d probably think this was less-derivative if I were in high school and had never heard of the aforementioned bands, but whatever. This shit is still better than

those other poser rock and roll bands, the Hives, the Strokes, etc. dk Thirty-Two Frames S/T Revelation Records Once upon a time I bought a Revelation Records compilation for five bucks and hated just about every song on it. I’m just not down with the whole hardcore, straight-edge thing. With these positive thoughts in mind I listened to Revelation’s newest band, Thirty-Two Frames. To my surprise, they weren’t a screaming straight edge band, just an average punk band. They remind me of one of those opening bands that you have never heard of. At first you thought they were pretty good, but then the headliners come out and blow them away. That’s when you realize that they were just an average punk band. Thirty-Two Frames first effort is worth a listen. Check ‘em out. - Dames Thirty3 The Oatman Arizona Seven Inch (em) / Clearview Records The liner notes call this skate rock, but I thought this was more like emo-rock, as I can’t imagine doing to this music except crying in rage about all the things that don’t work out in life. Songs like “It feels like it’s raining” give you the feeling these guys are from the Pacific NW (that and it’s also mentioned in the liner notes). This 7” came with a little booklet, with a centerfold called [liars, critics, and bears OH MY!] where you’re supposed to paste a picture of your favorite critic and write an arty story to go along with the 2nd song. I didn’t have time for that, so here’s my critical arty review: reminiscent of Van Gogh singing on Ridlin, screaming about fading memories or some crap, cutting off his ear and stage diving, but some asshole hit him in the balls while he was coming down from the crowd and he dropped his ear that he’d just chopped off to send to his girlfriend far away across the seas, and then some kid thought it was a sticker and grabbed it off the floor, put it in his pocket and went home as the music ended. Take the needle off the record. (www.thirty3music.com)- JH The Uniform Black and Vain Morphius Records

upon earlier influences of bands like Fugazi and Firehose. I thoroughly enjoy the garage/unpolished sound and raw energy of this CD that is often lacking on many of today’s over produced albums. Songs like Dictionary of Deconstructionists classify this band as a sort of modern day Sonic Youth, and throughout the album I was reminded of epic bands ranging from Big Drill Car to TSOL. The Uniform has built upon a sound from the mid 80s and redefined it for the year 2002. - EB V/A Billy Vol. 1 Hep Cat Records This is a pretty decent rockabilly compilation with a lot of bands who’d I’d never heard of. But then again, I’m not a real big rockabilly fan and only recognized the Reverend Horton Heat and Big Sandy from the list of bands. But I think that was the idea, stack the front of the disk with bands people have heard of and then slip in other quality, but less famous bands in for most of the disk. There’s some good shit on here, but some of the stuff sounded a little too much like straight 50’s pop than rockabilly. Overall a pretty good compilation, pick it up if you’re getting into rockabilly and want to find some contemporary bands to listen to. - dk V/A Twenty Years of Dischord Dischord Three disks and a fat book of liner notes for $25? Only from Dischord. Two of the three CD’s are all previously released stuff, but I doubt there are many of you who have delved this fully into Dischord’s catalog. There’s a lot of good stuff here, and while some of the bands may not be for everyone, there is guaranteed to be something you like on this. Disk three is the live/rare disk and had some good stuff from Minor Threat, Fugazi, Slant 6, Dag Nasty, Youth Brigade, the Teen Idles, and many other bands. The 130 some page booklet is great, and has lots of old photos and a page about every band ever on Dischord. I’d say you should get probably get this no matter what, but when a box set is priced this low it’s really a no brainer. - dk

Verbal Abuse Just An American Band/ Live in ‘84 Beer City Long out of print, the VA full length has been reissued by Beer City. This is a must own for anyone who claims to be into punk or hardcore. And now it comes with 14 live tracks from ‘84, fast and raw so there’s no excuse not to pick this up.- dk The Vines Highly Evolved Capitol Records I lay blame on MTV. I saw this cool video with lightning, guitars, and loud rockin' music, so what do I do. I go out and buy the fuckin' CD. I can't wait to pop that sucker in and start rockin'. Press play..starts off mellow...staying mellow...what the fuck.. then the song I heard on MTV comes up, it rocks, then nothing again. I got fucking ripped off! It's everybody else's fault but mine. Everybody can borrow my CD and burn song #6, because it's the only song worth a shit. It's just my opinion and what do I know. - MW I wholeheartedly agree with this review and I would like to add that not only are the songs mellow but they try to rip off every genre. You can pick them out, "oh, that's a Led Zeppelin song, oh, that sounds like a shitty Velvet Undergound cover." These fucks even do a ska song, Christ! Then the my hatred was sealed with a kiss when I saw them in People magazine (don't ask) they were all posing with skateboards. I hate them and I hope you do to. - LC Cast of characters: JH - Jonathan Hay DK - Davoud SB - Sick Boy EB - Eric Bigler LC - Lee Charron Dames - Damien Korte JS - John Steele SD - Sarah Drexler

Reminiscent of the early days of skate rock, The Uniform swept me away to a time period in music that I dearly miss. Black and Vain proves that today there are still a few bands continuing to build

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Adam likes to hit his head. Whack. Good thing Jessica Swim didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall on that Philips logo, then sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be locked into a one year contract promoting their line of action sports related electronics equipment at Best Buy. Photos: Death Weasel

John Zack went for the steps carve and got spit out. Rolling into the deep end is really fun. photo: brendan klein

Brendan goes for the gap and gets tossed. photo: rodela

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