HUCK magazine The John Cardiel Issue (Digital Edition)

5 HOURS DELAY TO GO SURFING

WWW.PROTEST.EU

TO GET THERE

skateboarder wave rider guitar player designer chain smoker dylan rieder gravisfootwear.com

photography james Cassimus.

THE SMALL STORIES 14 Cardiel’s Bike 16 New Entrepreneurs 20 Quinton Shabalala 22 Nicola Thost

24 Signs of Change 26 Gaysurfers.net 28 Matt Warshaw 30 Dan Cates 32 Creative Destruction

The Big Stories 34 John Cardiel

58 Skate Punk

Adversity tried to pull him down, but skateboarding’s passive aggressor stood up and fought back.

An academic odyssey to the origins of a scene.

66 Taro Tamai

Japan’s snowsurfing pioneer breaks out and charges free.

46 Tommy Guerrero

68 Roll, Shoot, Score

50 Cold Water Classic

74 A New Revolution

ENDNOTES 84 Andrew Pommier 88 Justin Maxon 90 Ed Stafford

92 Amy Ernst 94 Tyler Bowa 96 Conor Harrington 98 Sources

The Bones Brigadier is back in the groove.

The final chapter unfolds in Santa Cruz.

STEVE Alba.

10 HUCK

Basketball. On wheels.

A guide to activism in a changing world.

photography DAN CATES.

Publisher Vince Medeiros

Creative Director Rob Longworth

Managing Director Danny Miller

Editor Andrea Kurland

Designers Anna Dunn Angus MacPherson

Commercial Director Dean Faulkner

Associate Editor Shelley Jones Online Editor Ed Andrews Global Editor Jamie Brisick Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni European Correspondent Melanie Schönthier Snow Correspondent Zoe Oksanen Editorial Assistant Hannah El-Boghdady Translations Markus Grahlmann

12 HUCK

Junior Digital Designer Evan Lelliott Words Sarah Bentley, Konstantin Butz, Tim Conibear, Benjamin Deberdt, Amy Ernst, Conor Harrington, Javier Heinzmann, Justin Maxon, Chris Nelson, Andrew Pommier, Mark Rosenberg, Melanie Schönthier, Ed Stafford, Ryan Tatar, Matt Walker Images Jon Boam, Tyler Bowa, James Cassimus, Dan Cates, Michael Cornelius, Benjamin Deberdt, Dylan Doubt, Keith Ducatel/Discovery Channel, Amy Ernst, Sarah Fretwell, Glen E. Friedman, Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton, Conor Harrington, Jim Hatch, Javier Heinzmann, Richie Hopson, Matthew The Horse, Justin Maxon, Duncan McFarlane, Sarah Ann Spurlock, Sandra Steh, Ryan Tatar, Ariel Zambelich

Advertising Sales Executive Becks Scurlock

Distributed worldwide by COMAG UK distribution enquiries: andy.hounslow@comag.co.uk Worldwide distribution enquiries: carla.demichiel-smith@comag.co.uk Printed by Buxton Press

Editorial Director Matt Bochenski Digital Director Alex Capes Special Projects Steph Pomphrey Marketing & Distribution Manager Anna Hopson

The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team This publication is made with paper from sustainable sources.

Huck is published six times a year.

Account Manager Liz Haycroft © TCOLondon 2011

Published by The Church of London 8-9 Rivington Place London, EC2A 3BA +44 (0) 207-729-3675 info@thechurchoflondon.com

On the cover John Cardiel by Justin Maxon

neWeracap.com/FlaGbearerS

© 2011 NEW ERA CAP CO., INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Stevie WilliamS, Skater, Founder dGk

It’s a Turbo or something. I can’t remember the make. Cinelli, I think. www.cinelli.it

Break Free is my little bicycle company selling some custom bikes and stuff. This is a sticker from it. I’m not even sure you can call it a bike company, but I’m starting something.

I’ve got some shirts and stuff to sell. Just trying to make a move making bikes for people – paint ’em, trick ’em out and make ’em look super good. www.breakfreecustoms.com

My rear hub is from when Gabe Morford started Mash. They made these hubs. At the time it was the first track bike that was made from an offshoot company. It’s kinda cool to have it from that time. www.mashsf.com

I ride everywhere. I love where I am in Sacramento. I’m on my bike every day and there are trails here where you can go riding and don’t have to deal with traffic.

They go for thirty miles each way.

I try not to go through tyres very much, maybe once every three months.

JOHN'S STEED Cover star John Cardiel talks us through his wheels.

ARTWORK JIM HATCH

14 HUCK

I just have one track bike, but I change parts up for what I need. If you were a bungy jumper, you’d change up your equipment to do a base jump, right?

I like the drop-down handlebars for speed, like when you tuck up and really pump your legs.

The ‘18’ is for Anti-Hero. A.H. It’s a tribute. That’s all it is. The Hell’s Angels have their 81; we have our 18. I’ve got a few friends that run it, but it just is what it is.

This frame is a Raleigh Macaframa. www.macaframa.com

I shot some photos for a company in New York called Chari & Co and I wanted one of these Hed 3 wheels. It’s a really light wheel, super fast and cuts the wind. I just like the way it looks and it feels good. I tried to get one and they hooked me up with it. I traded them some photos and stuff for it. www.chariandconyc.com

15

The time has come! Our weakened economy, tight-fisted leaders and horrendously unbalanced share of the spoils have turned opportunity into a rare resource. But thanks to a new kind of global citizenship, ambitious self-starters can bypass the bureaucrats and stand on their own.

16 HUCK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LIZ & MAX HAARALA HAMILTON

The People’s Supermarket

FITE

We may be on the brink of a global food crisis, but as oil runs out, climate

What do you get when you bring two world-changing ideas together as

change intensifies and shortages take hold, more and more people

one? Well, if the first idea is that women hold the key to a better future,

are demanding change. And The People’s Supermarket, a new social

and the second idea is that they need loans, not charity, to get there, then

enterprise based in central London, is determined to build a new way.

you’re on to a pretty powerful thing.

“I didn’t have much money and I wanted to buy better quality food,”

It’s this kind of global thinking that led skincare company Dermalogica

says Michelin-star chef Arthur Potts Dawson, tersely, about founding the

to start new micro-financing initiative FITE (Financial Independence

co-op. “The restaurants I run [Water House in Hackney and Acorn House

Through Entrepreneurship). Working with non-profit Kiva.org – a peer-to-

in King’s Cross] were hitting a certain amount of the population [with

peer website that links ‘micro-lenders’ with ‘micro-preneurs’ – FITE partners

good quality, affordable food] but not enough. I needed to be able to

women in need of loans with people in the position to provide them.

make a bigger impact. And what do people use every day? Of course, a supermarket.”

It’s a simple, yet sadly revolutionary twist on the basic law of supply and demand, as conceived by Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank:

Taking inspiration from the forty-year-old Park Slope co-op in

people in the privileged world have a surplus of wealth, everyone else has

Brooklyn, New York, the Holborn-based supermarket opened in June last

a deficit – but through small, manageable, life-altering loans, enterprising

year and now has 530 members – who each must work at least four hours

self-starters can pull themselves out of poverty and keep their dignity

a month to receive their ten per cent discount. “We have local milk, bread,

intact. Crazy, right?

eggs, fantastic fresh lettuces grown just around the corner, wonderful

Best of all, it works. A fully transparent exchange means lenders are

cucumbers, peppers and aubergines grown in London,” says Dawson.

able to see exactly how their loans are being used. “People are proud of

“But we’ve got Kellogg’s Cornflakes and Yeo Valley yoghurt, too. It’s run

the fact that they are able to pay back the loans,” says Bennett Grassano of

by the people, and the people have the final say.”

Kiva. “It creates a sense of accountability; there’s less of a power dynamic

Food is a universal language and the supermarket has brought together

when you’re lending rather than simply giving.”

a cross-section of the community – “students, grandparents, working class,

So why target females? Well, as Kiva president Premal Shah explains,

middle class, Bangladeshis, Somalis, French, Italians, everyone” – a mix

“Women are more likely to take the proceeds from their businesses and

affected, perhaps, by government cuts and mass unemployment.

invest in nutrition, clothing, housing and education.” If the ripples of a single

But does the co-op feel a part of Cameron’s Big Society? “Definitely

loan can be felt throughout a community, can the impact of a thousand

not,” says Dawson. “I’m not political in any way, I’m a planetarian. I love

loans be felt across the world? Dermalogica founder Jane Wurwand is

Earth. If [politicians] want to come and make something of it, fine, but

hopeful: “This initiative is designed to help marginalised women in the

they don’t understand people. We’re part of what [Cameron] is trying to

belief that women’s financial independence is a key step in creating a

get at, but he’s not delivering it. We are.” Shelley Jones

healthy world economy.” Andrea Kurland

www.thepeoplessupermarket.org

www.joinfite.org

17

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH ANN SPURLOCK Tuba Skinny.

Marc Schiller.

BANDCAMP

Wooster Collective x Kickstarter

All has not been well in camp music sales for some time. Since the Internet

When the budget men start tightening the purse strings, art funding is

reared its cheeky little head over a decade ago and file sharing became

the first thing to go. Who needs culture, right? But no matter how many

the mixtape of the day, distributors, producers, labels and bands (usually

neoliberal austerity cuts kick in, the starving artist will always be hungry to

last in the drip-down of cash flow) have been left wanting.

brighten up our stay on this big rolling ball.

But there’s a new business model in town and it’s transforming the

Thanks to Wooster Collective, that solo struggle just got a little easier.

music economy song by song. “Bandcamp helps artists sell their music

Since launching in 2001, the celebratory mega-blog has become the

and merch directly to their fans,” says founder Ethan Williams, who came

online watering hole for the street art community. Championing talent is

up with the idea in 2008 after seeing his favourite band struggle to put

what founders Marc and Sara Schiller do. Now, having joined forces with

out music the traditional DIY way.

funding platform Kickstarter, they’re encouraging regular folk everywhere

“We’re a publishing platform for bands,” he says, “Or, anthropomorphically speaking, your fifth, fully geeked-out Beatle. [We] keep your website humming while you get back to making great music and

to become patrons of the arts, too.

“For years we’ve looked to fund projects that artists want to get off the ground,” says Marc. “This is just an extension of that commitment.”

building your fan-base.” And for their troubles Bandcamp request a

The idea is simple: talented people with big ideas and little money (i.e.

fifteen per cent revenue of sales but only if an artist makes more than

you) unveil the project of their dreams. Then nice, community-minded

five thousand dollars a year, and only on the first hundred dollars of any

types (again, you) clamber together to make that dream a reality by

one transaction.

pledging a percentage of the funding goal. But this ain’t business. “It’s

Ethan believes that people will pay for music if they know the money

about empowering artists to realise their projects; it’s not about financing

benefits the artist. Paraphrasing new media strategist Andrew Dubber, he

projects and becoming an investor,” explains Marc. “Besides, I’m not sure

says: “Let consumers hear your music without restriction… You provide

governments or bureaucratic organisations are the best gatekeepers to

value, then you are rewarded with money.”

determine what projects should be supported, anyway.”

And it’s not just the fiercely independent that are packing up and

Wooster’s Kickstarter page launched in February, but uptake from the

heading to Bandcamp. As well as popular jazzy blues sextet Tuba Skinny,

collective has already been immense. Hell, even Daniel Johnston is looking

“a gospel choir, a Korean pop-star, a beatboxing street performer and a

for backers for his next comic-book venture. But in the age of austerity,

video game soundtrack composer” have all found commercial success

some people wanna know: is crowd-funding simply begging in disguise?

without the middle man. “What unifies this group is a relentless hustle,”

“That’s a stigma, but the key here is community. By using crowd-sourced

says Ethan, “a devotion to communicating with their fan-base, and a

funding you’re building a community around your project and accelerating

pattern of using the site in whatever way works best for them and their

the passion for a project during the creative process. There is nothing more

particular audience.” Shelley Jones

powerful than being part of the creation of something.” Andrea Kurland

www.bandcamp.com

www.kickstarter.com/pages/woostercollective

18 HUCK

EVERYONE'S WAVES South African surfer Quinton Shabalala is smashing through the glass ceiling to be judged on talent alone.

Text Tim Conibear & Photography GUY MARTIN

Quinton Shabalala squints against a rising sun as near gale-force winds

But doesn’t being labelled a ‘development surfer’ by the wider

whip spray into his early morning eyes. He is warming up for the O’Neill

community and press further marginalise young black surfers? Tom Hewitt,

Cold Water Classic South Africa, where he is entered as a wildcard

CEO of Umthombo, a non-profit initiative that helps empower street kids

courtesy of his sponsorship with the headlining brand.

through surfing, is adamant that the stigma of tokenism attached to so-

Quinton comes from the Amandawe Township, a broken-down

called development surf programmes is sliding away. “Development surfer

assortment of shacks and cracked concrete houses set among sugar

is not a term we really use anymore,” he says. “When top surfers like Jordy

cane fields outside of Scottburgh, on the tropical KwaZulu-Natal Coast.

Smith get involved it really helps change the surf community consciousness,

He is one of many young black surfers emerging from townships into the

but frankly the most transformative thing is that these kids are really good

previously exclusive South African surf scene.

surfers. They totally rip. Most locals at New Pier have embraced these kids

“Surfing was kind of a white sport,” says the twenty-five-year-old

because they surf better than a lot of people out there.”

about his early days at the beach with his fisherman dad. “But I see a lot

Organisations like Umthombo and Surfing South Africa may do an

of kids getting off the streets and into the water these days… Surfing can

amazing job of encouraging outsider kids into waves, but surfers like

take you away from the street, away from the drugs.”

Quinton, longboard champ Kwezi Qika and ASP judge Sandile ‘Cyril’ Mqadi

As a standalone black face in the predominantly white line-ups of

represent a new era where diversity is commonplace.

Durban suburbia, Quinton turned heads. But thanks to the guidance

“Guys are getting used to the change,” says Quinton. “When I started

of O’Neill team rider Casey Grant and his undeniable wave-riding skills

it wasn’t easy, but these days it’s mellow, we’re starting to work together

he landed a sponsorship deal, allowing him to compete across South

and it’s good to be in the water.” Surfing is still far from fully integrated

Africa and establish a profile in the industry for development surfers

on African shores. But a consciousness is seeping through, and attitudes

everywhere.

are changing.

20 HUCK

22 HUCK

From Me To You Nicola Thost’s name is synonymous with firsts. Now the German snowboarder and first Olympic Champ is inspiring kids to make it on their own.

Text Melanie Schönthier & PhotographY Sandra Steh

Every kid needs a hero. And for me that person was Nicola Thost.

pro train. I want to support kids between seven and fifteen in a different

When I started snowboarding in 1995, Nicola had just bagged a Junior

way than the competition circus, associations and sponsors do. With my

World Title. While I was sitting anxiously at the top of the halfpipe, she

project, they get to understand the different aspects of snowboarding on

was being crowned the first-ever Olympic Champ at the 1998 Winter

their way to turning pro. […] The kids will be joined by experienced pros,

Games in Japan. She was the first European to win the prestigious US

photographers and filmers, all of whom will [teach] them the basics of

Open – a feat she achieved in 1998 and repeated in 1999 – and the first

career management. […] The most promising talents will get wildcards to

female rider to land back-to-back 720s in a contest.

events like the Red Bull UpSprings. Sprungbrett does not view fostering

But beyond all the medals, Nicola did one incredibly important thing: she lent women’s snowboarding a legitimacy that has enabled pros like

talent as a duty, but as a long-term chance [that could benefit both the] kids and snowboarding [as a whole].

Torah Bright, Jamie Anderson and Kelly Clark to earn a serious living today. Now, through her new youth project, Sprungbrett (Springboard),

Do you think there are enough programmes out there fostering young

she’s placing that gauntlet into even younger hands.

talent? The problem is not [a lack of] talent – the problem is the training [opportunities]. In Germany there are 155 ski-jump facilities but not a

In 1999, you were the first woman to make the cover of Onboard magazine.

single halfpipe. The German Football Association has invested 610 million

What drove you to reach such heights? Back then there weren’t a lot of

Euros in the fostering of new talent [over the past decade]… Of course

girls snowboarding so I looked to the boys for inspiration. I thought, ‘If

football is a much bigger [sport], but fostering talent is a puzzle. You

they can do this, I can do it too.’ This ambition to prove something to

need a strong base and great endurance – the fast-moving snowboard

myself was always part of my character. I was into gymnastics… it’s a

business is lacking both.

brutal sport and I would cry at least once a week. You don’t get anywhere without discipline [in gymnastics] and it was the same for snowboarding.

Your competitive career came to a halt in 2002 due to a knee injury.

How has women’s snowboarding progressed in your absence? What has

But wasn’t snowboarding more about partying than discipline in the

changed is the perception of women’s snowboarding. We’ve found our

nineties? Of course I was boozing like the others, but I also got up at

niche within the sport – we have our own boards, outerwear, contests,

eight the next morning and went for a run. […] Not everybody has the

mags and films. A bummer is that girls get less coverage in the big

necessary self-discipline for this.

magazines and [instead] hear, ‘That’s what you have your own mags for!’

But everything has advantages and disadvantages. My era was the ‘pretty

Now that most pros have personal trainers, is self-discipline a thing of

good for a girl’ era and I’m stoked to have been a part of it.

the past? I find it sad that the lack of autonomy is growing in our sport.

Snowboarding was a lesson in life for me. Nobody told you what time

Do you realise how much of a pioneer you were back then for girls

you had to go to the gym, or to bed – you were responsible for yourself.

entering this male-dominated world? For me, it started with a little

Do you want to win a contest for yourself or because your trainer and

girl standing at the pipe in Ischgl during the first snowboard World

sponsor invested a lot of time and money in you?

Championships in 1996 and asking her brother, ‘Oli, do you think I can do what they are doing?’ […] Do I feel like a pioneer? I think I’m lacking

Last season, you started the Sprungbrett (Springboard) project to

the objectiveness to say so. To me, people like Nicole Angelrath, Terje

foster new talent. But doesn’t a training programme contradict your

[Haakonsen] or Jamie Lynn were the pioneers and after my retirement, I

philosophy that groms should make it on their own? No, because the

knew that Kelly Clark would continue to push women’s snowboarding just

sport has changed. Today, snowboarding is a mix of extreme sports and

like I did for a few years. Passing on the sceptre from one generation to

acrobatics and riders invest a lot of time to make it on to the podium, to

the next – that’s how it works.

get cover shots or a main part in a video. By sixteen, most of them have already found their own path and if not, it’s almost too late to jump on the

www.nicolathost.com

23

WrITING ON THE Wall two arChivists go baCk in tiMe to retrieve the art at the heart of soCial Change.

TeXT shelley Jones

“I’ve always tried to understand the history of what I’m involved in,” says

Josh argues it would be far worse to ignore these visual histories and

curator, activist and artist Josh MacPhee. “I think there’s a real sense that

learn nothing from them. “The walls were hardly white when we finished,”

[systems of control] are immutable and unchangeable and that’s not true

he says of the extensive collection. “Part of the idea was that these

at all. Things change all the time, and by understanding the history [of

things exist in context and they vibrate next to each other at different

social movements] and making that history feel alive, maybe people will

frequencies. Maybe by looking at them in this way we can understand the

feel a sense of possibility.”

differences and similarities between them.”

Five years ago, Josh and his partner Dara Greenwald approached

Josh and Dara believe that the culture produced by social movements

New York’s esteemed non-profit cultural centre Exit Art with an

can often reveal more than official textbooks. After all, when all else

idea. Eager to unearth the history of oft-overlooked “social movement

fails, people take to the streets to express themselves visually. “If you

art”, the two archivists laid the foundations for a grand exhibition that

take Tunisia and Egypt right now,” says Josh, based in Brooklyn, “the

would bring ephemera from different social struggles together in an

revolutions are branded as digital. But people are still articulating

encyclopaedic display of passion and reform. The resulting show, Signs

themselves with spray paint on a wall. […] During the height of Iran’s

of Change, hung in four different venues over eighteen months and

Green Revolution, for example, the government shut the Internet down

presented over 1200 artefacts.

and people went back to the streets. […] For me it’s always heartening to

But when it comes to understanding our social history, how much can

open a newspaper and see the writing on the wall.”

flyers and posters reveal about the past? “There are definite pitfalls to the

And whether Josh is promoting independent art through artists’ co-

removal of cultural production from the context in which it’s made,” says

operative Just Seeds – “galleries have consistently failed 99.9 per cent of

the thirty-seven-year-old, echoing a well-known adage from the 1968

artists,” he says – or making huge plans for “a publicly accessible archive

Atelier Populaire movement, which goes something like: “These posters

of social movement art”, he remains inspired by the vision of a more

are weapons in the service of the struggle and are an inseparable part of

egalitarian society.

it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.”

24 HUCK

Signs of Change, the catalogue, is available now from AK Press.

GET OVER THE RAINBOW Gaysurfers.net is fighting homophobia in the line up.

Text ED ANDREWS & ILLUSTRATION JON BOAM

“Gay surfers don’t have pink surfboards and they don’t want a rainbow

from being simply a microcosm of the prejudice that exists in society,

slapped on them. Surfing is way more important to them than their

Thomas believes the problem lies deeper within the surf industry – the

sexuality,” says Thomas, founder of Gaysurfers.net. “We’re not trying to

product of macho, beer-swilling oafishness, bikini-clad, prize-giving

march in the Mardi Gras in Sydney. We’re just trying to fight against

models and pejorative use of the word ‘gay’ by many surf stars.

homophobia.”

“[They are] forgetting the spirit of surfing, which is [about] being all

The site began in February 2010 after Thomas, who was born in France

together with the ocean and getting a higher level of life,” says Thomas.

but now resides in Australia, had struggled to meet any other gay surfers

Indeed, Thomas believes that many brands and pro surfers, although

on his travels. Unable to find a community online, he decided to start his

privately supportive of what he is doing, are still scared that public

own. The response was super positive and the site now boasts over 2,500

endorsement would “darken their image”.

members worldwide, providing a place for surfers who happen to be gay to offer advice, find support and share their love of surfing.

But if surfing should be about unity, could a community based on one’s sexuality make segregation worse? “It’s a very tricky question,”

“I found very quickly that a lot of gay surfers were not ‘out’ in front

admits Thomas, recognising the irony that the site will become redundant

of their friends,” says Thomas, who pays credence to this social taboo

if it reaches its goal. “The site only exists because some people need to

by choosing not to reveal his surname. “Everyone accepts everyone else

talk to others that are like them. If everyone was really open and tolerant,

in the surf: we share waves, we learn about each other and it’s a fucking

there wouldn’t need to be a site like this. […] Unfortunately some people

great sport, but for some reason it has grown a reputation of being

can’t speak as freely on other websites and they need to feel that the

homophobic.”

audience comes from a similar perspective.”

It’s not that surfing is inherently bad: for every mind closed by ignorance, there is undoubtedly plenty that remain open wide. But far

26 HUCK

www.gaysurfers.net

28 HUCK

All That Glitters Ain’t Gold How does Matt Warshaw’s History of Surfing make waveriding richer? By not inflating its value.

Interview Matt Walker & Photography Ariel Zambelich

In a pursuit filled with golden idols, it’s easy to become hypnotised – even

that compares? It’s the most dramatic week, for sure. The two things

blinded – by dazzle and hype. That’s what makes Matt Warshaw and his

happening almost at the same time – that was just a bizarre coincidence.

History of Surfing so refreshing. With twenty-six years of surf writing

I don’t think either event matters all that much to the average dude out

experience – including seven published books and a full-on encyclopedia

in the water but, yeah, it’s fascinating in a kind of People magazine way.

– he’s literally “heard it all”. So rather than repeatedly polish the same

Seems like I spent most of my time that week in November either looking

grandiose fables of glory, he exposes all the bits of rust and wear,

at highlight reels of Kelly’s career, or checking news outlets for the latest

revealing stories that outshine our most fiercely protected myths. Or as

on Andy’s death. The only thing I can think of that comes close is the

he says: “Surfing is more clearly seen, more honourable, when it steps off

week at Mavericks in 1994 that ended with Mark Foo’s death. That had all

its pedestal.” We asked him to discuss what else he learned while making

the big-wave insanity, then Foo died – on camera. But again, it’s human

a mess of our collective trophy case.

interest. When Andy gets turned into a myth, that’s human interest, too.

Surfers are like anybody else – they want legends and heroes.

What role do myths play in surf history? Pretty much every surf myth is designed to make the sport look better or cooler. The hundred-pound

Is that why we cling to legends that are blatantly false? In the age of

board, for instance. In the 1940s, surfers were smart enough to make

tow-ins and Cortes, it seems ludicrous to still believe Greg Noll paddled

lighter boards – forty pounds, more or less – but our history is that

into the biggest wave ever at Makaha forty years ago. But nobody will

much manlier and gnarlier if we think those guys were lugging around

say as much. You’ve actually brought up a myth that I didn’t bust. Kirk

something twice as big. I think a lot of surfers felt kind of insecure about

Owers did an article for Tracks where he makes a pretty convincing case

the sport for a long time. Building it up in any way they could – surf

that Noll’s wave was kind of a hoax. But I love Noll’s story; his version.

clubs, surf contests, tall tales, myths – made the sport seem bigger or

And now I feel like I’m reversing what I said earlier. Because Noll’s story,

less frivolous. At first it was a way to convince outsiders, non-surfers,

even if it’s exaggerated, does a better job than any story I can think of to

that the sport was worth their attention. And then when surfing went

describe what it feels like to be out there on a huge fuckin’ day – on the

counterculture, myths and tall tales were used to make the sport seem

biggest day you’ll ever surf. It’s sort of like the Endless Summer Cape St

cooler and better than other sports. That’s my take, anyway.

Francis over-the-dunes sequence, which was filmed the day after those guys surfed those perfect waves. The fictitious version gets closer to the

Is that good or bad? I’d say mythmaking in general actually ends up

excitement of surf travel way out there on the edge. So there are myths

making the sport boring. People who document surfing and do nothing

like Noll’s Makaha wave, and the Cape St Francis discovery, that I would

but say how great it is – and that’s pretty much every surf mag, every

sort of gently correct, but then say why they’re useful – even truthful, in

surf DVD, most blogs – the whole thing just goes flat really fast. It doesn’t

their own way.

mean you shit on the sport. It means you come at it with a critical eye.

And hopefully a sense of humour.

So truth is really a matter of perspective. On that note, in your mind, what myths or figures fully live up to their reputation? That’s easy. Barry

Well, people are already coining the week of Kelly Slater’s tenth world

Kanaiaupuni. Coolest surfer ever. No myth.

title and Andy Irons’ untimely death as “the most historical week in surfing”. Is that just shortsightedness? Can you think of another week

The History of Surfing by Matt Warshaw is published by Chronicle Books.

GOOD READS… As recommended by Matt Warshaw.

The Song is You, by Arthur Phillips (2009) A beautiful up-and-coming female Irish singer and her damaged middle-aged muse. Funny, poignant and some of the best writing ever about the power of music.

Cloud Atlas, BY David Mitchell (2004) Six connected but totally different novels nested together like one of those Russian dolls. So incredibly well-crafted that it makes me want to quit writing forever.

The Flashman series, by George MacDonald Fraser (twelve books, written from 1969 to 2005) Memoirs of a fictitious nineteenth century British soldier who reveals himself in these posthumous books to be a cowardly, whore-mongering fraud. For my money, the funniest prose in the English language.

The Barrytown Trilogy, by Roddy Doyle (three books, written from 1987 to 1991) The trials and tribulations of a big, rollicking lower-middle class family in Dublin, Ireland. Not a word out of place.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Michael Chabon (2007) Hard-boiled detective story set in a present-day alternative world where the Jewish homeland is located in coastal Alaska. As funny as it is grim.

29

Going Nuclear Pro skateboarder Dan Cates explores Chernobyl’s post-apocalyptic plains.

Text Ed Andrews & Photography Dan Cates

On 26 April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in

Surrounded by this nuclear detritus, Cates didn’t waste any time

northern Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) exploded. The blast sent

indulging in his recently acquired passion for photography. “It got to a

a plume of radioactive fallout contributing to over 4,000 deaths, making

point where I realised that I’m doing all this stuff but I need something to

it the world’s worst nuclear accident in history.

jog my memory,” says Cates of why he first picked up a camera. “If you

The enormity of the disaster is something that Harrow-based pro skater

can’t remember it, there’s no point in ever having done it.”

Dan Cates has found compelling since he saw it on the news as a child. So

Cates’ images of Chernobyl may feature on his new Death Skate-

much so that he decided to visit the plant, and the nearby abandoned city

boards pro deck, but his penchant for shooting the unsightly extends far

of Pripyat, while on a skate trip to Ukraine last summer.

beyond skateboarding’s reach. Now studying art at the City of London

“As soon as I realised you could go there, I wanted to,” says Cates

College, Cates has been visiting a number of run-down housing estates

of the site that was abandoned forty-eight hours after the accident. He

around London, such as Thamesmead and Kidbrooke, to capture a sense

jumps straight into a string of apocalyptic stories, having read up on

of urban decay.

the disaster and witnessed the aftermath first-hand. There are tales of

“I don’t really like flowers, beaches and sunsets – I prefer industrial

radioactive mud, off-the-scale Geiger counters and graveyards full of

detritus,” explains Cates. “In any big city, there are some really hideous

tanks, helicopters and diggers used in the clean-up operation. Cates

things that man has made. You stop and look at them and think, ‘How

seems fascinated.

could anyone believe that was a rad thing to build?’ It’s so grim – it’s

“There is a massive amount of radiation there, but as long as you don’t hang around for too long or lick the floor, you’ll be alright,” he continues.

amazing that it’s even there. But the more shocking it is, the more interesting it is as a picture.”

“It’s a fascinating place, just really spooky. There’re flats that still have kids toys in them and a floor of a school that’s a sea of gas masks.”

30 HUCK

www.deathskateboards.com

© 2011 adidas AG. adidas, the Trefoil, and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group. Silhouette Int. Schmied AG, adidas Global Licensee. © 2011 adidas AG. Le nom adidas, le logo trèfle et la marque aux 3 Bandes sont des marques deposées par le Groupe adidas.

santiago

Cool, classic and elegant, these are not for those seeking anonymity behind shades.

adidas.com/originalseyewear

Create and Destroy Wade Goodall’s interactive surf odyssey proves that being different works.

Text Mark Rosenberg & PhotoGRAPHY Duncan McFarlane

What does it take to be a surf star these days? Well, in an age where

to support his photo habit. “We met him on a trip to Angourie [one of

your Facebook photo is seen more often than the real you, mind-blowing

Australia’s more remote surf towns] and just clicked,” says Wade. “He’s

surfing just ain’t enough. If you want to garner yourself a fan base, you’ve

got a really unique way of looking at things and since then we’ve [worked

got to find a new way to connect. New-age ‘vintage’ blogs? Shooting

with] him on a few trips. He’s really talented.”

with defunct USSR cameras? Tweeting about what you had for lunch?

All so passé.

The opportunity to shoot with such a high-profile name is not something Duncan takes for granted. “Working with Wade has definitely

Has everything been done? “I don’t think so,” says so-hot-right-now

opened a lot of doors for me,” he says. “I’ve met people I wouldn’t have

pro surfer Wade Goodall, down a sketchy phone line from somewhere on

met and been places I wouldn’t have been, and I’m starting to get photos

the Chilean coast, where he’s filming the latest webisode of his adventure

published which is invaluable when you’re trying to build up a name for

surf odyssey, Creative Destruction. “You’ve just got to show the world

yourself. It’s all happened so fast.”

what you’re doing and try to do it differently to everyone else.”

Now that he’s experienced his big break, does Duncan have any words

Creative Destruction emerged last year amid a torrent of online projects

of wisdom for other young snappers chasing theirs? “I think with the

from surf marketeers. But unlike the others, it was truly fresh. Essentially,

amount of photographers all shooting the same thing you have to get

Wade and his collective of surf scoundrels post up a series of possible

something special or different to get an editor to turn their head these

travel scenarios and the audience vote on what they want to see next.

days,” says Duncan.

There’s shredding aplenty, thanks to Wade’s natural aerial skills, but there’s

And Wade, it seems, shares his view; good no longer cuts it – being

also a sense of life beyond the water’s edge. Early episodes featured the

different is where it’s at. “Coming up with ideas isn’t just a matter of sitting

boys boozing backstage with Metallica and, more recently, trekking into

around, getting drunk and spinning a globe,” says Wade. “It’s important to

the desert for the Burning Man Festival. “Surfing is progressing so much

surround yourself with creative people and bounce ideas off each other.

that I can’t keep up with everyone,” says Wade modestly. “I need to include

You come up with a lot of shit, but eventually some of that shit will stick

rock bands and freak festivals or no one will tune in.”

and you’ll have a new, fresh perspective.”

One of the creative peeps in Wade’s nomadic crew is nineteen-yearold lensman Duncan McFarlane, a kid who still stacks supermarket shelves

32 HUCK

Follow Wade Goodall’s adventures at www.creativedestruction.tv.

34 HUCK

John Cardiel has lived his life at full throttle. The aggressive energy he brought to skateboarding made him a hero amongst men, and the ideal pioneer for fixedgear bike fiends. Some said he was indomitable. Then history proved them right.

FATE DEALT HIM a tragedy that would knock a lesser man to the ground. John, however, refused to stay down.

Interview Ed Andrews Photography Justin Maxon

35

cords and an Anti Hero Skateboards hoody

In 1992, John was voted Skater of the Year

featuring red, green and gold drawstrings that

by Thrasher magazine, appearing on the cover

belie his Rasta leanings.

in a hoop of flames. And the Cardiel legend

“You

gotta

hear

this,”

John

says

kept on growing. Whether he was pulling a

enthusiastically, pulling out his iPod and

backside 360 over a giant bowl gap, nailing

offering up headphones that blast out the

an incredibly long 50:50 on gold rail in San

reggae beats of The Heptones at eardrum-

Francisco’s Union Square, or dropping in on

piercing level. It’s unsurprising, really: Cardiel

a ledge to quarterpipe many times his own

has lived his life with the volume turned up.

height in Burnside, John would push himself harder than anyone else – often pepped up on

John Cardiel was born in San Jose, Northern

Advil to numb the pain.

Mickey Reyes, co-founder of Deluxe,

California, in 1973. When he was in sixth grade,

has nothing but praise for John’s unique

he moved out to Grass Valley in the foothills of

approach: “He’s a balls-out motherfucker. It

the Sierra Nevada. As a country kid with tons

wasn’t that you told him to do anything, he

of energy and a passion for “seeing what [he]

would just see lines that no one else could see,

o, Tanya!” whoops a loud Californian accent,

could get away with”, he spent his childhood

and do shit on another level.”

cutting through the low-level hubbub of

outside, riding bikes, skating and jumping off

John, however, describes his skating as

Hamburg’s Reeperbahn red light district.

waterfalls. “I was really good at cheating,” he

“surf-style”. But the Cardiel line is no laid-back,

“Taaaan-nya!”

says deviously of his time at school, chuckling a

mellow ride; it’s white-knuckle Mavericks

‘Tanya’, an indistinct brunette, is leaning

deep, satisfied laugh. “Stealing different books

on a dark and choppy day. Throughout the

out of a fourth-floor window above Pearl’s Table

from the teachers. I don’t know, just messing

nineties and early noughties, John became

Dance Bar, inspecting the warm summer’s

with shit, basically.”

renowned for the untamed sense of urgency

morning and completely unaware that the

When John was thirteen, he set up a launch

that he brought to skateboarding. Flying from

yelping tease across the street is directed at her.

ramp with a friend and, skating off it at full

one obstacle to the next, his style became

“Hey, Tanya,” the voice continues, brimming

pelt, got his first hit of adrenaline. But unlike

synonymous with fearless speed. It was neither

with mirth and accompanied by some frantic

other bios, his story takes a left turn before

technical nor graceful: arms often flailed

arm-waving. “It’s me! John! From last night!

joining the world of the paid-to-skate pro.

awkwardly as he ate up the terrain, never

You said I was the best you’d ever had!”

With the mountain resort of Boreal on his

wanting to stay on any one feature too long.

The booming voice collapses into laughter

doorstep, snowboarding was on the agenda

But this combination of energy and apparent

before turning away and leaving ‘Tanya’ in

first, and by the time he was fifteen, John had

disinterest in his own safety saw John capture

peace. He shakes his head but is still beaming

picked up sponsorship from the likes of Santa

people’s imagination like no one else.

with a rich, infectious grin. “All my friends who

Cruz. His skateboarding, meanwhile, was also

“He’s an original,” says street skateboarding

go to strip clubs always say, ‘She liked me for

turning heads and he became sponsored first

pioneer Mark Gonzales in his introduction to

real, man.’ I’m like, ‘Of course she did, dude.’”

by Dogtown then by Black Label Skateboards.

John’s classic part in Transworld’s 2001 Sight

This voice belongs to John Cardiel, and

But something wasn’t right in this double life.

Unseen. “His style, there’s not too many people

these antics are being unleashed two minutes

So in the mid-nineties John quit snowboarding

who skate like him. […] He skates so fast that it

after we first meet. The skateboarding icon has

altogether and, believing “the whole sport is

seems that the faster he goes, the more control

journeyed from his hometown of Sacramento

derived from a different breed [of people]”, he

he has, which is unexplainable.”

to put in some face-time for long-time sponsor

focused solely on skateboarding.

In fact, many a pro cites him as an

Vans and help promote the European leg of

Then Anti Hero Skateboards came along.

inspiration, including Chris Pfanner and

their Downtown Showdown comp. When we

Founded by friend and fellow pro Julian

Tony Trujillo, who also shun ledge-dancing in

meet, the thirty-seven-year-old is sitting on his

Stranger

Distribution

favour of all-terrain charging. Former Bones

own at a temporary bar set up for the event,

banner, Anti Hero soon lived up to its name;

Brigade member Ray Barbee believes Cardiel’s

head buried in a core skate magazine. But

with John at the core, the brand started repping

greatest contribution to skateboarding is the

after a handshake introduction, his character

skateboarding’s rugged side. Team videos

way he’s inspired so many influential pros.

ignites to life. All California stoke and upbeat

such as Anti Hero and Fucktards epitomised

“His style of skating all terrain, you know

verbal gestures, his manner is not atypical for

skateboarding’s anti-systemic lifestyle, and the

what I mean, skating everything,” says Ray.

someone who’s carved a career out of the board

crew became renowned for drinking, fighting

“I think what he’s given to skateboarding is

sports industry. However, there’s nothing

and generally not giving a fuck; taking off

showing people that you can skate everything

stereotypical about this dude – he’s far too

on trips with nothing but a skateboard and

[and still] skate good, [whether you] skate

good-natured, too damn genuine, for that.

backpack of clothes, sleeping rough, shooting

street, skate trannies or skate vert.”

Stocky and statuesque, he’s dressed in a mid-nineties skate uniform of loose baggy

36 HUCK

under

the

Deluxe

guns (of which John still has a fondness for) and smoking weed.

But as unconventional as Cardiel’s route into pro skating was, so too was his sudden exit.

John Cardiel cruises through his hometown of Sacramento.

37

In the shadow of Alcatraz.

“When people live their lives, you are just a blink in time. Everything is really fast, you know? You can’t really trip on stuff too hard.”

38 HUCK

In 2003, a tragic road accident while on tour

aggressive. I like to [be aggressive] with skating

in Australia would set John on a distinctly

and bikes – things within myself. When it

different path.

comes to other vibes, I like things to be mellow.

Rodney Mullen believes that nowadays pro

After a final wave to ‘Tanya’, we head to the

skaters are encouraged to go too big and skate

backstage area of the event. The heads of

in a way that’s unrealistic or harmful to their

young pros turn to look at John, seemingly

career in the long term. How do you feel about

envious of anyone who gets to sit down with

that? Hmm, really? Fuck man, go bigger! I

the man himself. We take a seat at a picnic

wanna see kids do switch backside noseblunts

table. John turns down a coffee, despite

down a handrail, then [try] a switch flip switch

admitting he’s exhausted after a transatlantic

backside noseblunt down a handrail. [That’s

flight, and we set about reflecting on his

how] shit gets progressed. I was watching some

brightly burning career.

Dylan Rieder footage today and he would tailslide frontside flip out of a fucking ledge

You are renowned for always pushing hard

that was this high [he raises his hand above

and progressing skating to the next level.

his head]. Skateboarding is so sick, dude. The

What is it that always drove you to go the extra

tricks are getting gnarlier and gnarlier.

mile? I hate seeing repetitiveness. I want to do something different, a different way. Anything

But won’t this ultimately cut short their

that is repetitive, I try to stay away from. If it

careers? Nah, because I feel that [Mullen]

looks to the eye that something is that easy, I

was trapped within himself because he didn’t

will step it up in my mind to make it harder for

broaden his spectrum. If you are burned out

myself, which in turn will push [me] and [make

on doing tailslide 180 flips, go skate a pool. […]

me] feel better about it.

Don’t trap yourself within one style of skating.

Is that an adrenaline-based thing? It’s a

What do you make of skateboarding today?

mental satisfaction thing. I want to feel good

The progression in skateboarding is fucking

about what I did and not just be like, ‘Uh’. I

awesome. I love to see how gnarly people are

don’t want to be light-hearted about something

getting. I just wish I could get some of Maloof ’s

– I want to feel strongly about it.

money, that’s all. I see all these kids making lots of money and they’re killing it and I just wish

During the nineties, at the height of your

I could do that. [Laughs] That’s the only thing

career, you never seemed to do many flips or

I’m missing out on.

other technical tricks. Was that a conscious decision? Not at all. For me, it seemed that

Was making money out of skateboarding

learning flip tricks just becomes repetitious

important to you when you were younger?

[sic]. [When you’re] learning them, you are like,

Only for a time [when] I knew that if I needed

‘Okay, [gotta] get a frontside flip over a double

money, I needed to sell a board that day, you

step,’ but it’s going to take a little bit of time –

know, to make ends meet. That’s when it got

unless you’ve got it on lock. You get sick, you

important, when you didn’t have any money.

get frustrated after a while trying certain tricks so many times. […] Just skate everything.

What do you make of high-profile skaters, like Paul Rodriguez and Ryan Sheckler, who have

You are a big fan of reggae. How does your

traversed into the mainstream spotlight? Get

taste in mellow music fit with your aggressive

your money, that’s the way I see it. Whatever

skateboarding style? With different vibes,

you are doing, do it. Real people recognise real

different music comes into play. To me, I am

skating so [you might as well] take what you

a mellow person. As far as skateboarding and

want from it. I don’t think you should begrudge

being aggressive and stuff, maybe that’s just

or bad-mouth a person for what they’re doing.

my outlet. I like things to work smoothly. When

Skateboarding is [about doing] whatever you

I’m in a situation, like at a restaurant, I try not

want to do; that’s why skateboarders have so

to cause too much of a stink. I like things to

much love for each other. You can’t be judged,

flow. I don’t like things to be very abrupt and

really, on your skating. One person’s kickturn

39

can’t battle someone else’s frontside flip. The

Your skating has always come across as

you really look at it, and really watch the way

way Tony Alva does a kickturn on a ramp, you

fearless. Is there anything that scares you?

he does it, it’s so hard to do it that way. Even

can’t say that’s worse or better than P-Rod’s

Um… Basically police, because they have

a frontside ollie, the way he drags his back leg

180 flip. I may take Alva’s turn over P-Rod’s

control over you. Police can pull you over and

and floats his front legs, that’s so hard.

180, [but] that’s just the way I see it. You can’t

if you are talking bad to them or whatever, they

judge or regulate it.

can just take you and hold you in a cell. Bare wickedness. That stuff scares me, but nothing

John’s

Has being financially comfortable become

that I can do to myself scares me… It’s the

no

more of a priority for you over the years? Not

things that are out of my control, like planes

endorsements. But in a cruel twist of fate,

necessarily, it’s still the same. I don’t have

and stuff, that scare me.

skateboarding was taken from him early.

Why do you think so many skaters look up to

Australia captured in the movie Tent City,

career no

was

totally

cheese,

no

authentic: ill-fitting

In December 2003, during a skate tour of

children or anything so I’m just taking care of myself. I’m happy today, so things are good.

pro

gimmicks,

you? I dunno, it’s nice. It makes me feel good.

John was involved in a freak road accident

Is there a particular moment in your career

I appreciate that love, but I look up to people

that would change his life irrevocably. The

that you’re most proud of ? Everything has

as well. I look up to Mark Gonzales and other

team was touring in two vans and, while

its own sincerity. You know, sometimes when

people. I understand it and it makes me feel

stopped at traffic lights, John ran over to speak

you are just at a local parking lot, and you do a

good that someone could even look up to me.

to the other van, leaning into the passenger side window. The driver was unaware John

big fakie manual – you just lock into it perfect – sometimes that’s just the best feeling ever. I

You skated with Mark Gonzales a lot

was there and drove off with the truck’s wide

can’t say that one feeling outweighs another.

throughout your early career. What influence

trailer running him over.

did he have on you? Man, just his way of

John describes the accident as “blurry”, but

As any skateboarder knows, progressing on

looking at things; Mark would always do things

it resulted in severe trauma to his spinal cord

to the next level is as much a mental battle

the hard way. He would ollie into his tricks

and the resulting scar tissue prevented him

as it is a physical one. Did you ever have any

and then grab. That was so gnarly as back in

from moving – and feeling – his legs. He spent

doubts about a particular trick? Sometimes

the day people were doing early grabs. Then

five months in an Australian hospital, with

on vert ramps I would have doubts about

Mark Gonzales was ollieing to grab, you know.

doctors telling him that the nerve damage was

trying some stuff because it’s really hard to

Everything he does, he does it the hard way. If

so severe that he would never walk again. John,

get the airtime that you need. [...] Doing big

you watch his skating, nothing he does is really

however, had other ideas.

tricks on vert, like a big indy 360 backside, is

easy. You watch him do a frontside invert and

“He was fully done. He was completely

super gnarly.

think, ‘Oh, he did a frontside invert.’ But if

paralysed and was looking at his toe, trying to

40 HUCK

move it,” says Mickey Reyes. “As soon as his toe

with a single truth: nothing, it seems, can hold

moved, he just said, ‘It’s on! It’s fucking on!’”

John Cardiel down.

Over the next year, John pushed rehabilitation to the next level, rebuilding his core muscles and reconnecting the severed lines

Can you remember how you first reacted

of communication with his legs. It took a year

to the accident? I didn’t have any legs and it

before he was able to walk again without the

was crazy.

assistance of a cane. Then in 2005, he shot an ad for Anti Hero that paid testament to his battle: it featured him stood atop a skateboard.

“If anyone could step into that hole and turn it into a positive, it’s John Cardiel,” says Reyes.

John may have tackled his rehabilitation head-on, but seems reluctant to talk about the accident, referring to it loosely as the day he “got hurt”, as if dwelling on the details is a total waste of time. He walks with a palsy-afflicted limp, his stocky frame lurching awkwardly with every step, and admits to it being a struggle at times. But for every negative there is a positive spin. Laughing, he recalls the time he burned his leg while skating over hot coals during a Beauty and the Beast Tour in Sweden, but was unable to feel the pain. And

“If it looks to the eye that something is that easy, I will step it up in my mind to make it harder for myself.”

What got you through that period? Basically, reggae music. I don’t know what else to say.

Friends and family.

Who inspires you, outside of skateboarding?

Handicapped people really inspire me. People who don’t have arms and legs, and are still doing their thing – still happy and smiling.

That’s so gnarly. I’ve seen people in hospitals and they’ve just lost their arms and legs and they are still pulling it. I try not to be too involved. I just have a feeling for them. You never understand [how it feels] if you don’t know. You won’t understand how hard it is [to be disabled]. The simple things people take for granted, like going to the bathroom,

yet beyond the jokes, there is a frustration in his

eating or just walking. I have an admiration for

voice – perhaps not quite sadness, but audible

people who are dealing with that struggle every

nonetheless – that speaks of a freedom that

day. It’s not a one-time thing. It’s not just the

has since been ripped away. His tone is one of

accident itself that sets people back, it’s every

pained acceptance. But behind the stoicism

day. So when I see people who are happy in

there is a rugged determination that leaves you

their day, it’s awesome.

41

John adding drops for extra speed.

42 HUCK

Are there aspects of daily life that you

repetition that he so dislikes.

set of banks, you are a skateboarder and look

struggle with? I just struggle with life, as

UK fixed-gear rider Juliet Elliot witnessed

at those banks and think, ‘Fuck, that would

everyone does. […] Basically walking. I have

his rolling antics firsthand on a recent trip

be sick to skate.’ There’s no way you can’t

to consciously think about what I am doing.

to San Francisco: “He took us all the way up

do that. That’s forever. So there is no getting

Every step I take I have to consciously make.

to this giant hill, paused at the top and said,

away from it.

I try not to even use the cane; sometimes I

‘If you get it right, then you can whizz all the

use the cane but that’s about it. I never want

way down without doing any skids to stop.’ It

Have you thought about trying snowboarding

to sit in a wheelchair again – it’s scary to me.

was like this giant, giant, giant hill and he just

again? I haven’t tried it. The thing is, my rear

[…] That’s just life. I’ll be dead soon. When it’s

bombed all the way down it mega, mega fast

leg, my left leg, is really weak… It’s not giving

my time to die, I’ll be gone so I can’t really trip

and made it all the way to the bottom without

me back what I put into it. It would be tough

on it.

stopping.”

but maybe I could ride switch. I’m gonna try

But there’s more to John than just a need

this year.

Do you think about death a lot? No, I just

for speed. Boasting a large collection of vinyl

think that when people live their lives, you

– mainly dub and reggae – John is also a keen

Do

are just a blink in time. Everything is really

deejay. In 2010, he was invited to join fellow

implications of your injuries? I just deal with

fast, you know? You can’t really trip on stuff

veteran skater Ray Barbee and his band on the

what’s in front of me. As far as the future

too hard.

Get Out and Do Something Tour, which aims

goes, when the future is here, I will deal with

to show kids that they can be into all sorts of

it then.

you

worry

about

the

long-term

Are you religious? I’m not in any religion. I

things beyond skateboarding. “What a better

love Rastafarianism but I’m not a religious

spokesperson for being motivated and doing

What influence has music had on your life?

person, I’m a man of God but not a religious

something, you know?” says Barbee, who

[It’s been a] major inspiration. I’ve always

person. I go to church every day. As long as

personally asked John to be involved. “He

collected CDs and tapes. The vibes that are

I’m on earth, I’m at church. That’s the way I

still has that same tenacity, that same desire

going into your head, it’s major to me.

look at it.

and will to live life and enjoy it.”

Do you play an instrument? No, I always stray.

What’s been the biggest mental obstacle

I can’t hold the beat for too long. I always

you’ve had to overcome? Basically, to me,

How much can you skate today? I can skate

want to add an extra beat or something.

when someone tells me, ‘You can’t’, you

bowls. Anything that is not too fast, or

Playing an instrument, it seems you have to

always tell yourself, ‘You can’. It’s a constant

whatever, because I can’t run. So I can only go

be repetitious [sic] and I can’t do that. I can’t

struggle. It’s irritating because I can’t skate

as fast as I can walk. If I go faster, I’m going to

do the same thing over and over again for a

the way I used to. That’s the only thing that

take a slam so it’s kinda like you’ve just got to

long period of time.

sucks – not being able to skate. I can’t run

gauge it. As far as pumping the grind, I can do

or whatever, but I’m still able to breathe and

stuff like that. But it’s kind of burned out – it’s

I understand you are heavily into fixed-gear

vibe with people, and see my family and stuff

not the same. It’s irritating.

bikes. A lot of people are starting to carve

so things are good. I don’t really trip on it.

something of a pro career out of that world.

You move on, but not having the skating is

Coming to comps like this, do you find it

Are you approaching it with that mindset?

the gnarliest thing. I just take it out on other

hard to watch other people skate? It’s hard,

I just have fun on the bikes – I’m not trippin’

things – bike riding or whatever.

but you know, I just try to see what I would be

on it. I’m not trying to make a statement.

doing. I keep looking at the line and maybe

I’m [thirty-seven] years old and have done

I’ll tell someone else to try it. Still get it out of

skateboarding. That’s where my heart is.

John is still officially a pro skater today. With

my head. Yesterday, I was watching some kid

With the bikes, it’s just a fun thing to do. I’m

his own pro model decks on Anti Hero, he’s

skate and I was like, ‘Yo man, do this trick,’ or

not trying to best anyone or outdo anything,

still very much involved and says that he

whatever, and he did it. I gave him a hundred

or do anything I’m incapable of. I’m just

would like to own a skate shop some day, too.

bucks: I was stoked to see it. It was cool.

having a great time moving forward.

taken to fixed gear bikes with the same zeal.

Will you ever move away from skateboarding?

Why fixed-gear bikes in particular? At first I

He talks of regularly hunting down skate

To me, skateboarding is in every single thing

liked it because it helped me pedal. On a bike

spots, albeit now trying tricks with two

I do. [Points to crates of beer] Those look like

without clips, my feet fall off the pedals. [A

wheels instead of four, and often rides with

stairs to me: do a nosegrind. I see [skating]

fixed-gear bike] helps you pedal and does all

San Francisco bike collective Macaframa,

in everything and I think that every single

the work for you – all you gotta do is push down.

appearing in their self-titled 2008 film and

skateboarder is the same way. If you skate,

That’s the cool part for me. As far as tricks and

the forthcoming Macramento, due for release

you can’t look at a rail or a set of stairs [like

stuff go, anything that people do on a regular

in 2011. Bikes, it seems, have become his

other people do]. You see it [differently]. You

bike is that much harder on a fixed-gear.

primary outlet – a way to break that cycle of

know what you’d like to do. If you drive by a

There’s a kid in Japan that does backflips

Always eager to “do something” John’s

43

“Nothing that I can do to myself scares me… It’s the things that are out of my control, like planes and stuff, that scare me.” on them, it’s amazing, man. It’s insane. Every

bowled over by the coincidence as he cycles

everywhere,” he enthusiastically remarks,

trick that kids are doing is groundbreaking. I

past. In a flash, I turn instinctively and chase

before talking me through its every beloved

see it as a cool thing. These people are moving

after him down the street.

feature and making a strong case for why

forward in a new direction.

What do you make of people who see

“Dude,” he says brightly, his face opening

he flies with it everywhere he goes. Indeed,

up in recognition as he reaches to shake my

much like skateboarding, this bike seems

hand. “You want a beer?”

to represent something vital to John’s life.

customised fixies as a status symbol, rather

He’s here filming a promotional video for

He admits he’d rather cycle anywhere than

than something that’s just fun to ride? Yeah, if

Chrome bags, one of the sponsors he’s picked

walk. But more than just a form of transport,

you look at [that process] in skating, [with] all

up since falling for fixed-gear bikes. John pulls

cycling seems to provide an outlet for some

the old boards that used to come out – the old

us both out a frosty bottle of Sierra Nevada

kind of otherworldly energy – the same sense

plastic boards, the Variflex, the cheesy K-Mart

Pale Ale from his backpack, pops them open

of urgency that once fuelled his skating style.

boards – in bikes, we will go through this as

with his lighter and hands me one. He takes

When it comes time for us to part ways,

well. Real people will stay involved and the

a quick break from filming and we lean on

John rides off up Mulberry with the two-

kids who are into it for what it is, they will stay

a shop window, taking in the crisp autumn

man film crew, whooping and hollering in

involved.

sunshine. I mention the interview and the

delight. Loud he may be, but his riding has

plans for the feature. John seems interested,

far more resonance. He pedals with the same

but a little bemused by the idea.

distinct aggression that so defined him on

You seem to push yourself on a bike as hard as you used to push yourself on a skateboard.

He pulls a strange-looking cigarette out of

a skateboard. He pushes down hard on the

What makes you keep taking risks? The thrill

a plastic baggie, wrapped in a green leaf and

pedals and shoves the handlebars side-to-

of living. It makes you feel alive. When you’re

tied with a thin string of cotton at one end.

side, pumping out the most power possible

done with a good day of riding – when you’ve taken in some risks, gauged how steep those

“Is that ganj?” I ask, aware of his penchant for all things Rastifari.

as he weaves in and out of the yellow taxis and SUVs that litter this New York scene. It’s

risks are and still feel good about what you did

“No dude, it’s a beedi. It’s like an Indian

recklessness over style, which becomes style

that day – there is nothing that can beat that.

cigarette,” he replies, taking deep drags and

itself. I’m left with the impression that as long

So, of course, I want to keep doing that.

exhaling light smoke in fast, tight bursts.

as John is still breathing, he’ll be loving life

“Oh, you’ve got to check out the girl in the

Epilogue

shop a few doors down. She’s so gnarly, dude!” he excitedly tells me, seemingly far more comfortable engaging in laddish bravado

It’s late October, a few months after John and

than any earnest dissection of his life.

I first met, and I’m in a city that neither of us

I turn the conversation to the bike propped

call home. I’m wandering through the streets

up next to him, the steed that escorts him

of SoHo in New York City, killing time before

everywhere he goes. Its white Bianchi frame,

a flight to LAX. As I turn the corner of Prince

blue handlebars, lion crest and head tube

and Mulberry, I see John straight in front

fringed with Rastafarian colours have become

of me, weaving his bike slowly through the

renowned.

pedestrian crowd. I double take in disbelief,

44 HUCK

“My bike is my wheelchair. I take it

L E O

R O M E R O

A U S T I N C A I R O C O R Y

K E N N E D Y

D A V I D E D

S T E P H E N S F O S T E R R E Y E S

T E M P L E T O N

J O S H

H A R M O N Y

J U L I A N

D A V I D S O N

K E E G A N K E V I N

N E S T O R

T H E

S A U D E R

“ S P A N K Y ”

B A L A N C E

R V C A . C O M

L O N G

J U D K I N S

O F

O P P O S I T E S

Here & Now Tommy Guerrero is back in the groove.

Interview + photography Benjamin Deberdt

ommy Guerrero has an unusual relationship with the past.

On one hand, he can’t escape it. As a stalwart of the Bones Brigade, Powell Peralta’s zeitgeist-defining skate team, the role Tommy played in Californian skateboarding history is too fundamental – too damn important – for him to ever evade being bugged for stories about ‘back in the day’.

On the other hand, he embraces it – least not when he’s rummaging for vinyl treasures or dropping solo records steeped in seventies funk and soul.

The former street-skating poster child is now a fortyfour-year-old dad who splits his time three ways. Having left the Bones Brigade to start Real Skateboards with long-time friend and Powell Peralta teammate Jim Thiebaud, Tommy spends his days “crunching numbers” as a “computer monkey” (read: head honcho) at Deluxe Distribution – the Baobab tree of radness that Real mushroomed into, with brands like Spitfire, Thunder, Krooked and Anti Hero all doing their thing under the same San Francisco roof.

When he’s not neck-deep in the nine-to-five, or putting out creative collaborations with brands like Levi’s or Vans, Tommy’s either indulging in family time with son Diego and wife Melissa, or skipping off to the studio to get groovy on guitar. But this ain’t no hobby. The master of melody has collaborated with the likes of Prefuse 73 and Money Mark, has a dedicated fan-base that stretches from SoCal to Japan, and has notched up an impressive roster of records, flying solo on six. Now, having just dropped Lifeboats and Follies – his latest anthology of Latin-soaked sounds – Tommy’s proving once again that there’s way more to his repertoire than just the hill-slashing antics of a kid from San Fran.

Your place in Californian skate history is set in stone, but at what point did your love for making music come into play? Around 1980. Me, my brother Tony, [photographer] Bryce Kanights and some friends started a band called Jerry’s Kids. Not the [Boston hardcore] one people may have heard of though. We were before them. After a change in members, [the band became] Revenge, with Shrewgy [skateboarder Steve Ruge] on vocals. Then came Free Beer with Mike Cassidy.

46 HUCK

47

How did you balance your time between

Is that something you find missing from

You’re still very much involved in the day-to-

music and skateboarding? When I turned

modern music – that sense of politics? Not

day running of Deluxe. Do you see yourself

pro, I didn’t have time to dedicate to a band,

necessarily. Just the reason or intent seems to

living off just the music at some point? Hell

so I would get my fix by recording solo tunes

be missing, or perhaps has changed. Money

yes! I’m not meant to be behind a computer

on a four-track recorder. I would jam with

seems to be the key motivator these days – in

or trying to crunch numbers! It kills the soul.

people here and there, but usually I would just

pop music, anyway.

[But] I have a family and bills to pay, so it’s not

be solo, playing bass. It all started out of the necessity to make music, and here I am.

really a possibility right now. [It may be] in the How much of a record collector are you? I have

near future, I hope.

about two thousand records in storage, and What is it about skateboarding and making

another five hundred to seven hundred and

What does 2011 have in store for you? Man,

music that means so many people choose to

fifty between the studio and home. I thinned

just trying to keep sane. This year brings

indulge in both? Hell if I know! They both

out the collection several times. […] I’m not

great change for me, for better or worse. I’m

have a rhythm and fluidity unlike anything

a deejay, so it’s hard to justify having all those

going to have a radio show on the Deluxe site.

else, as well as a Zen-like state of being.

crates. They’re back-breakers.

[We’ll] play music, do interviews and have guest deejays as well. It should be fun! It’s still

Skating can be really rhythmic.

Thomas Campbell [Galaxia Records co-

Where do you look for gems? Flea markets,

in its conceptual stage, but we plan on nailing

thrift stores, antique shops.

down something solid by early spring. I want it to be flexible. Keep it fresh, have different

founder] once joked that your dream life would have a seventies soft-porn soundtrack.

Why do you think you are so well received

people [giving] interviews: artists, skaters,

What do you say to that? Sounds good on

in Japan? Man, I have no idea! But I do think

musicians – my people! I’m over standing in

paper, but then I’d have to learn how to use a

they have a broader palette than Americans in

front of a fucking computronic [sic] device.

wah-wah pedal. Isn’t life like porn, anyway?

regards to music. It also comes from skating and

I need to really create something – more

Everyone’s just trying to get laid and paid!

going to Japan since ’89. I have been steadily

music and maybe some visual art. Touring

building a crew of people who dig what I do.

is difficult when you are a solo artist with no label backing. Musicians have gotta get paid,

You have a large palette of inspirations, but

so it comes out of my pocket.

if you had to pick out one, what would it be?

Speaking of which, Living Dirt is a Japan-

Maybe late-sixties, early-seventies Brazilian

only release that came out last year. Care

music – when bossa nova fused with funk and

to elaborate on that project? It’s more of a

Word on the street is that a Bones Brigade

soul. Guys like Jorge Ben.

concept album. The approach was to create a

reunion is on the cards. Can you tell us more

‘live’ album in the studio. I set up four to five

about what form it’s going to take? It’s all

There seems to be a healthy interest lately

‘stations’ of instruments, some with looping

top secret. They’d have me assassinated if I

in world music from that era, from sixties

devices or effects. I had drum samples that I

divulged any info.

African rock to seventies Thai psyche funk.

would loop to a pedal with the bass line and

Are you a world music buff ? [I’m into it] but

then add guitar, keys, sounds, percussion. So,

Have you guys gathered to cook marsh-

I know very little. It’s all released by various

what you hear is all played by me live, apart

mallows at least? Marshmallows, nope. Tofu

labels and I hear it on college radio all the

from the drums. No edits or overdubs. There

dogs, yes!

time, but later never remember what it was.

are some cool moments, but it’s all very linear,

Also, I am suspicious of compilations. Often

and has more of a soundtrack vibe.

the whole isn’t very good, and some shit

I always had the impression you were not really too concerned with the past, and more

shouldn’t even be released; there’s a reason

Is that something you’d be interested in doing

focused on the present. Am I right? Very true.

why it’s never been heard sometimes. It’s

one day, scoring a soundtrack for a feature

Life is fleeting and full of surprises. Live in

interesting how pervasive American funk was

film? I think that’s where I want all of this to go,

the moment, that’s what I say

at that time, and how short-lived it was. So

at some point. I just have to be given the time

much was born from protest.

and perhaps a little cash for studio time.

Lifeboats and Follies is out now on Galaxia.

Bad Brains I against I

Latin Playboys Latin Playboys

Grant Green Alive

Bill Withers Still Bill

Eric B. and Rakim Paid in Full

Squeeze Singles - 45’s and Under

Jorge Ben África Brasil

Thin Lizzy (Every album)

Tommy Guerrero’s Vinyl Gems

Seek them out and you’ll love them too.

“If I have to tell you why, then you must be six feet deep.”

“True raw soul and honesty.”

“The best fusion of funk/bossa rock with unique and beautiful vocal melodies.”

John Coltrane A Love Supreme “Spiritually untouchable.”

48 HUCK

“Their first record. I wish I could make such a cool record.”

“This record changed the game forever.”

“Such amazing tunes and players. Phil was such a badass!”

The Smiths Meat is Murder & The Queen is Dead “Morrisey’s vocal approach and Johnny Marr’s amazing guitar playing/writing. There will never be another like them again.”

“Truly inspiring.”

“Some of the best pop songwriting in history.”

Al Green Greatest Hits

“That shit will bring you to your knees.”

The Cure Staring at the Sea

“Man, I cried many an hour to this fuckin’ record.”

50 HUCK

Halfway up the Golden State coast, sandwiched between giant Sequoia Redwoods and white sand beaches, lies Santa Cruz. The liberal city was one of the first to legalise Marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1992 and remains a New Age Mecca where organic agriculture and farmers’ markets thrive. It’s here, over fifty years ago, that Jack O’Neill opened the first surf shop to sell paraffin wax and hand-glued neoprene vests, while skateboarders took to the long and winding sidewalks for a flatland fix.

Floating in the line-up at Steamer Lane, one of the world’s most famous breaks, you can just make out Pleasure Point. And it’s from this vantage point that the Cold Water Classic 2010 – a series of comps set in the gnarliest conditions – explodes to a close. HUCK sent local log-rider and analogue enthusiast Ryan Tatar to capture the colourful finale on 35mm and Polaroid film.

Photography + Text Ryan Tatar

51

The Location Steamer Lane is an amazing place to watch a surf contest. If the swell is breaking close to the cliffs, folks can stand out at the point near the Surfing Museum – housed inside a lighthouse – and watch the action. The beautiful jagged coastline and kelpy waters look cold and foreboding to some, but perfect lines entice any surfer to paddle out. The wave eventually turns into a beach and beyond that is an old amusement park. This stunning vista brings bikers and joggers as well as surfers to West Cliff Drive. Everyone stops to watch the athletes out in the water.

52 HUCK

The Culture Santa Cruz is a salty and trippy place where different cultures collide: from the über-rich who own houses overlooking the Pacific, to the sun-baked bodies living the dream out of Winnebagos parked by the sea. There are more rusty surf rigs here then anywhere I’ve been. It’s a surf town through and through.

53

The Conditions Every morning of the competition the sun rose and pierced through the sea fog that blankets Santa Cruz overnight. Strolling down the cliff with a cup of warm coffee and a rain jacket, you could check to see if the contest was on or off. Although the swell was inconsistent at first, there were some nice days and fun waves through the week.

The seasons were changing and when the wind picked up it blew leaves through the streets. Fall at its finest.

54 HUCK

55

The Locals Blue-collar folks paddle out between jobs, weekend warriors trip down from the Valley, roaming vagabonds park up for a surf and UCSC students cut classes so they can all float in the great breaks around Santa Cruz. Strolling out of the Dream Inn, and walking down the cliffside past Cowells, you can see mellow waist-high peelers being ridden by a dozen or so surfers, all laughing and having a great time. Longboard central. It was hard to resist busting out my Junod log and getting a fix.

56 HUCK

The Surfers An amazing group of heavyweight names came out to compete. Crowd favourite and local ripper Nat Young seemed to garner the most support and made it to the semifinals before being defeated

by Aussie Matt Wilkinson, who went on to win this leg of the tour. You can feel the tension in the air when guys run out onto the cliff and jump into the line-up where they wait for the perfect wave then paddle, pop up, and shred to the ohs and ahs of the crowd. That tension was alleviated, however, when Shaun Cansdell took the overall title for 2010 www.oneill.com/cwc

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLEN E. FRIEDMAN black flag, circa 1980 (left to right): greg ginn on guitar, chuck dukowski on bass, dez cadena upfront.

Photography by Glen E. Friedman

58 HUCK

Excerpts from a journey to the origins of skate punk.

Text Konstantin Butz

59

love doing this!” smiles Steve Olson, sweat dripping from his greying hair. It’s late March but the Los Angeles sun already burns as if it were July. Before I can ask what he’s talking about, he takes his lighter and hurls it down an alleyway, where it explodes on the asphalt with an ear-piercing blast. I’m surprised,

skate punk – or, more specifically, skateboarding

slightly impressed, and a little bit confused.

and punk as two separate entities. What’s the

I’ve come to Los Angeles to learn how, and

connection? Why did they unite on the sidewalks

why, skateboarding and punk rock came together

of SoCal? What role did suburbia play? And what

in California and went on to become such a global

the hell is ‘skate punk’ anyway? Why not ‘surf

force. My interest is not only personal. In a way, it’s

punk’, or ‘skate hip hop’? After skimming through

my job. You see, as a grad student at the University

piles of ’zines, after watching tons of skate videos

of Cologne, I’ve come up with a nifty way of

and listening to hundreds of punk songs, I sensed

uniting what I ‘do’ with what I ‘love’: I’m writing

there must be something between the lines of these

a dissertation on skate punk. Sounds weird, right?

narratives. Something intangible – a social force,

Let me explain.

perhaps – that made these two subcultures collide.

Like most kids growing up in Germany, I spent

To aid me in my journey, I’ve enlisted the

my childhood transfixed by all things USA; the TV

help of a few pioneers. First up, there’s the

I watched, the music I listened to, the magazines

aforementioned Steve Olson, the Californian

I read – everything I consumed was doused in

madman credited with injecting SoCal’s laidback

Americana. And I loved it. Then something

skate scene with a heavy dose of mayhem. Then

changed. A few months before my tenth birthday

there’s Brian Brannon, former Thrasher music

the so-called Gulf War broke out, and although I

editor and frontman of seminal skate punk band

didn’t really understand the political dimensions of that conflict, my perception of the US started to change. Talk of blood and oil scared me, and I suddenly felt ambiguous about the country I so admired. Don’t get me wrong: I’m still obsessed with American pop culture. Only now I feel a need to peel back the layers of the things I love – skate, punk, attitude, style – and understand the forces behind their global spread.

This fascination with the interplay between society, politics and culture got me thinking about

60 HUCK

Jodie Foster’s Army (JFA), who’s agreed to meet

Left to right: Brian Brannon of Jfa.

for lunch at a strip mall in Los Alamitos. Other ‘sources’ include Steve Alba – aka ‘Salba’ – who, along with Olson and Duane Peters, helped cement

Steve and Micke Alba.

Photography by James Cassimus

Santa Cruz’s rep as an anarchic skate brand. When

Steve Olson.

Photography by James Cassimus

Lance Mountain, legendary member of the Bones

Brian Brannon: coffin pool, Paradise Valley, Arizona, circa 1988.

Photography by Michael Cornelius

I meet Alba at Fontana skate park, he’s joined by Brigade and one of the most modest guys you could hope to meet. Last but not least, there’s the formidable Greg Ginn, founder of proto-hardcore punk band Black Flag and influential eighties

“The energy is the connection, the rebelliousness against the typical and against the norm.” label SST Records, who will sit down with me in

don’t think [these guys] are good representatives

a dusty parking lot and share some nuggets of

of skateboarding.’ Little did they know, [my

I had to find out more about this energy. Could

punk history gold. Over the next few days, these

attitude] was gonna change the whole fucking

it be the glue that binds skate and punk together?

agitators will share eyewitness accounts of how

look [of] skateboarding.”

What exactly is energy, anyway? I remember my

involves your body. You could get hurt.

the phenomenon unfurled. They’re the guys who

Up until that point, professional skateboarding

nerdy friend Moritz, a physics student, trying to

know exactly what went down. And I’m hoping

was still clinging on to its clean-cut roots. But the

explain it to me once. He said something about

they’ll guide me through my academic abyss.

blond-haired, blue-eyed sidewalk surfer was about

how energy never gets lost, it just changes form,

to be supplanted by his black-clad brethren – all

and then rambled something about heat. So I

spiky hair and aggressive style. So, was it boogers

do some research and stumble across a book on

that released skateboarding on a trajectory

thermodynamics. “Energy,” it says, “is a concept

towards rebellious punk mayhem? Olson’s give-

that underlies our understanding of all physical

a-fuck antics may have been a catalyst, but the

phenomena and is a measure of the ability of a

With Olson as my first go-to guy, I start my search.

driving force for the skate punk amalgam is

dynamical system to produce changes (motion)

We meet at his studio off Melrose Avenue in

somewhat more complex than just spit and snot.

in its own system state as well as changes in the

Energy Is The Glue That Binds

Hollywood. Beneath a huge canvas that reads

“You know what, the energy behind [punk]

‘Fag It’ in letters made from cigarette boxes, Olson

made perfect sense for skateboarding,” adds Olson.

If energy is capable of sparking off change in

starts retelling his version of skateboarding’s first

“Even more than surfing, because skateboarding

its surroundings, could it also influence style – the

encounter with the punk rock persuasion – and

was a little bit more rowdy – a bit more dangerous.

way in which we skate or the music that we make?

by the sound of things, he played cupid in the

And punk rock had a little bit of danger behind

Brian Brannon, who edited Thrasher mag-

match. In 1978 Skateboarder Magazine made Olson

it. There were a lot of similarities happening, but

azine during the 1990s and still fronts JFA, has

Skateboarder of the Year, but the award ceremony

the energy was the most important. The energy

experienced this raw force for the past thirty

didn’t quite go down as the mag men planned.

behind punk rock and when you were on your

years. Over veggie burgers and fries, he tells me

“I had cut my hair and was totally into the

skateboard was extremely raw. […] The energy

that, for him at least, the physical act always came

world of punk rock,” says Olson, plastering pieces

is the connection, the rebelliousness against the

first; style was nothing but an afterthought. “The

of cigarette boxes onto a fake female torso. “I

typical and against the norm.”

thing about doing things where it’s really serious,

system states of its surroundings.”

thought it was fucking amazing. I got the award

The energy. This makes sense. A flipped booger

where you’re really going fast, is that it eliminates

and they wanted me to [make] a speech [but] I

might say ‘fuck you’, but the energy of a skateboard

any extra movement – anything stupid – because

picked my nose, flipped boogers at them and spat

session or a hardcore punk show seems to work on

you’re committed,” he says. “You pretty much

at them [instead]. The magazine was like, ‘We

a whole different level. This is physical stuff. This

have to have good style. [Anything] ugly catches

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Rare photo of JFA practice with TSOL drummer Todd Barnes, circa 1986. This particular line-up only lasted the one practice. (left to right): Todd Barnes (drums), Don Redondo (guitar), Brian Brannon (vocals), Michael Cornelius (bass).

62 HUCK

wind. Having your arm straight out or something,

bands like the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls

– I’m not gonna say we weren’t, ’cause we were.

that’s not gonna work in a heavy situation, whether

– under the management of Malcom McLaren

And all the other guys were probably loaded up

[you’re surfing] a big wave, going down a hill or

and his designer wife Vivienne Westwood – were

on drugs. […] But anyhow, yeah, it was rad. We’d

you’re in a deep pool. Just by virtue of what you’re

affiliated with more art-oriented scenes. While this

climb over the crowd, dance to ourselves – we

doing, you’re gonna have a certain amount of style.”

first wave of punk rock in California was paralleled

were so amped, you know, it was like energy! We

So it’s heavy situations that influence style.

by bands like X, The Screamers or the Go-Go’s,

all just started getting kind of crazy, pulling each

Style, in this sense, is nothing that can be artificially

Black Flag marked a threshold to a much heavier,

other down and hitting each other and tackling

created. It’s a necessity. A subconscious reaction to

and at times more violent, take on punk rock.

each other and sliding into each other and one

physical reality: something you do first, and think

American Hardcore, the 2006 documentary based

thing led to another and you kind of crashed into

about later. And that, according to Brannon, is

on the eponymous book by Steven Blush, charts

the crowd and the crowd started to get mad kind

where skate and punk unite: “[Skateboarding is]

this trend. But why exactly did this new hardcore

of pushing you back and we’re like, ‘Fuck you!’

not about, ‘Hey! Look what I can do!’ It’s about

approach and skateboarding click?

It was just nuts, man. And it was like that any

the momentum that you gather and then just carry

Lance Mountain and Steve Alba have some

time the skaters got together at any show. That’s

with you. We used to say, ‘We don’t do tricks. We

ideas. When we meet at a skate park in Fontana,

all our deal was: get on stage. No matter what it

do moves.’ A trick is something you practise and do

birthplace of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club,

took. And that’s how we started the whole deal.”

over and over again. […] That’s not how I skate. I

the pair are already charging the deep concrete

just go as fast as I can and throw it up there and try

Hot, Hot, Political Heat

to pull it back in. It’s like anything could happen.

And it’s the same with music. We just give it our all. [...] Putting the maximum amount of energy into it and just seeing where it takes us.”

Greg Ginn, one of the most important characters in the development of early Californian hardcore punk and the only constant member in the history of Black Flag (1976-1986), supports Brannon’s view. We meet in the parking lot of the Blue Café in Huntington Beach where he’s just played with his current band, The Taylor Texas Corrugators. Everyone wants a picture with the ‘Black Flag dude’ – “He’s a legend, man,” whispers a girl in her early twenties – but away from mad fans, Ginn opens up: “I think with skating and extreme sports in general, if you want to use that term, you just have a real ‘going for it’ attitude. And going all out in a physical kind of way is definitely what Black Flag operated on. […] How it feels for me is speed and power. You can have control on one end and recklessness on the other. And those kind of extremes are very apparent in, let’s say, skating or Black Flag.”

If you listen to early Black Flag records you hear what Ginn is talking about. Take their first seveninch record, Nervous Breakdown. Hardly exceeding five minutes, it boasts four songs fuelled by reckless

“We all just started getting kind of crazy, pulling each other down and hitting each other...

That’s all our deal was: get on stage. No matter what it took. And that’s how we started the whole deal.”

energy, but all with a uniquely Californian twist.

Back on Melrose, in front of Olson’s studio, the afternoon heat engulfs me. Come to think of it, the high temperature is another force involved in the amalgamation of skate and hardcore punk. Don’t believe me? Just ask Dick.

In 1979, Dick Hebdige published Subculture: The Meaning of Style. The first comprehensive study of punk culture in the UK, Hebdige’s exploration starts with a heat wave that hit the country in 1976. Establishing a parallel to Britain’s social and financial problems, he reads “almost metaphysical significance” into the weather as “the excessive heat was threatening the very structure of the nation’s houses (cracking the foundations) and the Notting Hill Carnival, traditionally a paradigm of racial harmony, exploded into violence.”

The nation – according to tabloid headlines – was in a state of crisis. A decade of financial decline, unemployment, industrial action and racial tension came to a crescendo in 1979 when ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. With Maggie came deregulation, antitrade union politics, Cold War rhetoric and public sector cuts. According to Hebdige, the heat of ’76 was an omen for the social unrest that was unfolding. And the ‘disobedient’ punk culture

In the fifty-one seconds of ‘Wasted’, singer Keith

sweeping Britain was just the kind of ‘Last Days’

Morris yells: “I was a surfer / I had a skateboard /

bowls. Mountain takes a rest and picks up where

imagery the press loved to exploit. “It was during

I was so heavy man, I lived on the strand.” Ginn

Greg Ginn left off. “The original guys were into the

this strange apocalyptic summer,” he concludes,

explains: “Skateboarding was part of the culture

dorky, arty music,” he says. “That was a lot different

“that punk made its sensational debut in the

that I grew up around living in Hermosa Beach.

than the second wave of aggressive skate rock.”

music press. […] Apocalypse was in the air andthe

It was just kind of part of the surfing culture.

Taking a break to stretch his legs, Alba one

step

further.

According

to

him,

rhetoric of punk was drenched in apocalypse: in

Skateboarding kind of came out of that. And that

goes

was something that I was always around.”

skateboarders didn’t just help foster punk’s

Against this backdrop, the safety pin emerged

As skateboarding and punk grew side by side,

aggressive style – they pretty much owned the

as a symbol of British punk culture – a way for

the energy of a skate session began to seep into

mosh pit: “Skateboarders were the same guys

youth to have their say. As a kind of fix-all device,

the sound. It’s for this reason, says Ginn, that

that made up slam dancing. Pogo was all-English

it hinted at the cracks and voids of a country in

Californian punk was gnarlier than its cousins

but [slam dancing] was our version of the pogo

decline. But instead of reassembling anything,

elsewhere. “I think that one thing that Black Flag

in California and we definitely made it up. It was

first and foremost, the safety pin emphasised

brought to the whole thing was just a physical

me, Tony Alva, Steve Olson, Fausto [Vitello, co-

that things were falling apart. If Britain seemed

power when [the scene] was kind of a little bit

founder of Thrasher magazine and Independent

seriously injured during this time, punk was ready

artsy,” says Ginn, referring to the punk sounds

Trucks]. We were trying to get to the stage no

to twist a knife into the wound or, more precisely,

emanating from the UK and New York City, where

matter what it took. […] We were drinking heavy

mend the void with a rusty pin.

the stock imagery of crisis and sudden change.”

63

Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, a similar chain

Experiment’

one another were no doubt strong. And the do-

reaction was being sparked off by heat. “California

endangered by the change these rolling teens

it-yourself attitude shared by skateboarders and

at that point had this gnarly drought,” says Steve

seemed to represent, the authorities mobilised.

punks clearly fuelled the union. But at what point

Alba. “A whole bunch of pools were just empty. […]

“The police didn’t like the whole punk rock thing,”

did ‘skate punk’ emerge as a recognisable term?

If you filled the pool up you’d get a fine and maybe

says Greg Ginn. “Like with anything new, you have

In the year of its thirtieth anniversary, a turn

even go to jail.”

existing people who feel threatened by that kind

to Thrasher might provide answers. The mag’s

Seeing

Reagan’s

‘American

After a lost war in Vietnam, the United States

of thing. And when skaters got into [punk], the

notorious Skate Rock tapes and punk-splattered

was in a stormy state. The economy was on a

police turned against them.” The kids, however,

pages are often credited with ‘inventing’ skate

downward spiral – inflation and interest rates were

were ready to fight back. “There was a riot at

punk. Steve Olson sees things differently: “They

soaring – and feminists picking up where the Civil

Santa Monica Civic [auditorium],” Alba recalls.

didn’t invent shit. All they did was capitalise

Rights movement had left off were ruffling the

“Someone threw a beer bottle at a police car, right

on it and considered it skate rock, which is just

feathers of the white middle-class. A conservative

through the windshield. […] I was in the middle of

skateboarders playing rock ’n’ roll or hyped-up,

backlash was afoot and in 1981 Hollywood actor

pretty much every major riot that happened in LA.”

sped-up punk. I mean, that whole mantra or just

Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the fortieth

Mountain adds: “It got to the point where the cop

the label ‘skate rock’ is stupid to me. Why is it skate

President of the United States. His so-called

cars would just get lined up [outside a punk show].”

rock? Are you trying to sell more records because

Reaganomics – much like Thatcherism back in

And if young punks were vilified, skateboarders

it now has a title? Get away from me. It’s just like a

the UK – stood for a rigorous unleashing of market

had it even worse. “Because of insurance policy

new brand. And it’s a terrible brand. If they made

forces through de-regulation, privatisation and the

complications, skate parks shut down,” writes

‘skate rock cigarettes’, I still wouldn’t smoke them.

resurrection of federalism.

Jamie Brisick in Have Board, Will Travel: The

But that’s just me.”

Reagan’s neo-conservative agenda and pro-life

Definitive History of Surf, Skate and Snow. “And

The other guys, however, hold an entirely

propaganda may have hit a chord with the New

different view. “I’m telling you, man,” says Alba,

Christian Right, but it had the opposite impact

“Thrasher in those days, they actively participated

on suburban teens. While mom and dad were

in punk rock. Kevin Thatcher [who founded the

worrying about communists, crime rates and the

magazine in 1981 with Fausto Vitello] would go to

bomb, their adolescent offspring were embracing

shows with us all the time – they all did.”

the burning sunshine and raiding concrete pools.

When Steve Alba recounts his first encounter with a drained Cali pool, it sounds just like a blossoming romance: “These skaters jumped over this fence and we were like, ‘What are they doing?’ So, we walked up to the fence – we didn’t jump over, but we could hear that whoosh of pool skating. It’s a weird sound that’s hard to describe, but once you actually hear the whoosh of pool skating you don’t ever forget that sound.”

Just as the British press did not know what to make of teenage punks, California’s skateboarders

were

viewed

with

“[Skateboarding and punk] are both aggressive and full of do-it-yourself...

You can’t buy it; you make it.”

Brannon goes one step further when he credits the mag with coining the term: “Thrasher came out and they were back to the hardcore spirit, you know, their first issues weren’t even coloured, they were just black and white on newsprint. Mofo [Morizen Foche] wrote some stories called ‘Wild Riders of Boardz’ and one of them talked about The Big Boys as a skate band. I think that’s where he coined the name skate rock. But it just kind of fitted, you know – it was skate music.”

Just as things are starting to make sense – just as I begin to feel like I’m making headway and

contempt.

approaching the apex of revelation where socio-

“When you stepped on a skateboard back in

political and cultural forces are clashing and

those days you were considered an outlaw,” says

colliding and sparking change – Brannon errs

Olson. “People did not need you skateboarding in

for a moment, pauses, then says: “You can call it

their driveways or in their swimming pools. The

because

below-the-radar

whatever you want, you know, to me skate punk is

cops did not like you. Citizens didn’t like you. You

position in the world, skaters just carried on

whatever you’re listening to at the time. It could be

were breaking the law.”

doing what they were doing, making it up as

DOA, it could be anything – it could be John Lee

The skateboard emerged not only as a symbol

they went along.” DIY became the order of the

Hooker, you know, whatever you skate to.”

of suburban disobedience but, moreover, as a sign

day, and backyard ramps and impromptu shows

Perhaps beyond all the over-intellectualised

of the times. Pool-raiding teens reminded the once

started popping up anywhere that had survived

enquiries – beyond the questions and academic

upwardly mobile of a frightening truth: suburbia’s

the clampdown. “That’s how skate punk started

research – the only thing that really matters is the

pools were empty; the American Dream was

actually,” says Mountain. “When the shows

people at the centre of any subcultural force. As

collapsing. And the kids weren’t scared to throw

started being at the skate parks, they were pretty

Steve Alba says, “I still credit Steve Olson as the

that symbol in their face. “A lot of skaters knew that

unsupervised. It was like a bunch of thirteen-to-

first guy to get into punk rock as a skater. He’s the

they were into something that was really special,

eighteen-year-old kids basically at a summer camp

guy that got people hooked.”

but the world didn’t want to see it,” says Mountain.

on their own.”

of

its

marginalised,

Back on Melrose Avenue, against the scorching

“It just went hand in hand with punk [to say], ‘Okay,

“[Skateboarding and punk] are both aggressive

heat and blinding sun, Olson wraps things up with

I’m gonna make people see this. I’m gonna annoy

and full of do-it-yourself,” concludes Alba. “You

an explosive point which, in its ambiguity, says

them. I’m gonna show them and be seen.’ They

can’t buy it; you make it.”

everything that needs to be said: “Skate punk?

wanted to get under people’s skins, ’cause they were really good at something only a hundred people in the world were doing. […] They didn’t want people

Yeah, for sure there were skate punks. We were

Skate punk? WTF?

to like them, really. They just wanted to let them

skate punks. We skateboarded and we were punk rockers. And we loved it and it was fun.”

And with that he gives me knuckles and

know that they were there.” Alba nods approvingly

The social, political and metaphysical under-

disappears into a 7-eleven – to buy another lighter,

and adds: “It was just anti- [everything].”

currents pushing skateboarding and punk towards

I presume

64 HUCK

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66 HUCK

Snowsurfing pioneer Taro Tamai is bridging the gap between mountain and wave.

Text Chris Nelson Photography Richie Hopson

a small snowboarding part in a ski film opened

its self-made confines and learn a lesson from

his eyes. “This guy was just riding powder on a

waveriding’s past. There was a feeling in surfing

snowboard, and it really shocked me,” he explains.

after the birth of the triple-fin Thruster in

“I was twelve. I dropped skiing and started going

1985, that board design had reached its zenith.

snowboarding.

really

Surfboards looked the same. Shapers shaped the

around at the time I started. I just happened to

same. Replication not expression was the order of

walk into a shop, there was one Japanese company

the day. Then a few archivists went rummaging

that was making snowboards, and when I saw one

in their lofts, pulling out twin-fins and single-

I just couldn’t resist, because it was really similar to

fins that echoed of a pre-mass-produced past.

what I had in my mind about how snowboarding

Suddenly nothing was off the design agenda and

should be. I bought it right there.”

today you’ll find Quads, Bonzers, Eggs, Alaias in

The

equipment

wasn’t

When the skate punk, baggy trousers era of

line-ups from Cape St Francis to Cape Cod.

the late-nineties arrived, Taro was there, right

Yet snowboard design still exists within

on the toe edge of Japanese snowboarding.

fixed parallel lines. For Taro, this myopic focus

Sponsorship deals were being flung around, along

misses the bigger picture. The idea of riding,

with heavily branded signature boards. But as the

essentially, the same board on a powder day as

focus shifted to snow parks and big-air contests,

on a groomed icy piste makes no sense. Just ask a

and riders became more and more insulated from

surfer if they’d paddle out on a Skip Frye Fish at

the mountains they rode, Taro felt increasingly

ten-foot Pipeline. It’s more than just an aesthetic

detached

decision: it’s form and function.

from

this

branch of

snow-riding.

Seeking comfort, he turned to surfing when he was

“Snowboards are all being made with the ski

nineteen. Soon, a newfound passion for chasing

manufacturing knowhow, whereas we have been

solo waves along Japan’s northernmost coastline

making our boards with snowboarding knowhow

allowed him to reconnect with a love for the slide.

from [the start],” he explains. “The big brands’

Reenergised,

Taro

took

off

around

the

boards have stayed close to the skiing ideals and

world; hiking peaks, riding powder, fishing,

ski racing. What Gentem have been aiming for is

surfing, shooting photos, writing. A string of

something that doesn’t move like skis on the snow,

first descents in far-flung territories like Valdez,

something completely different.”

Alaska, soon earned Taro a place in big-mountain

The aroma of wood cocoons the Gentem

aro Tamai steals a glance out of his kitchen

snowboarding’s pioneering first chapter. It took

workshop in a warm familiarity. On the stand rests

window, away to the east. The large wooden frame

him away from the mainstream and away from

a Darwinian offshoot – a swallowtail sculpture

is filled by the towering presence of Mount Yotei,

the glare, but it also helped him connect with a

that would resonate with any big-wave charger.

the snow-capped volcanic cone that dominates

new idea. “The concept that I developed over the

Taro runs his fingers down the grain, through

the Niseko area of Hokkaido, Japan. For a few

time that I was travelling the world, was that I

to the shallow keel fin. This bindingless board is

lingering moments his eyes trace lines down the

wanted to actualise the [surfing] style [on snow],”

out on the edge of Taro’s quiver, but each of his

gullies and powder fields before his attention

he says. “Not just to ride powder, but to use the

designs pushes the boundaries of snowsurfing in

is back in the room. Taro is one of those people

terrain much like the wave, the way you would ride

its own unique way. For Taro, it’s simple. It’s all

who seem to be of indefinable age, somewhere

to connect with nature; to enjoy the terrain and

about making the connection, just as he did as a

north of thirty. As a board rider he has stubbornly

different features, any kind of conditions really,

child, on those precious winter days, away from

ploughed his own furrow, followed his own path.

but just to connect. That’s what it is to me; surfing

the class room, fishing a mountain stream or

When other early snowboarders were obsessing

is to connect with nature, to use the energy and

riding a powder field with his father

over degrees of rotation, finessing a smorgasbord

the flow. The kind of snowboards I wanted weren’t

of tweaked grabs and rolling up sleeves to

really available; the companies I met with weren’t

compare tattoos, he was quietly hiking leeward

able to do such things. To actualise that style for

faces, arms draped over the handcrafted wooden

snowsurfing, I had to make my own.”

fish that rested on his shoulders.

www.gentemstick.com Taro

Tamai’s

snowsurfing

exploits

are

docu-

Determined to re-engage energy and flow,

mented by Sweetgrass Productions in Signatures

Born in 1962, Taro has been a practitioner of

Taro started designing snowboards that bridged

(2009) and the forthcoming Solitaire, due for release

the glide since the age of four. Occasional precious

the gap between mountain and wave. Shaped

Autumn 2011.

winter mornings would see his dad pull him from

from wood into fish-like form, his homemade

school and together they would surreptitiously

creations soon evolved into Gentemstick, the

head for the mountains to ski fresh powder

boutique board company based in Hokkaido

and fish for trout in the winding brooks. Then

that’s urging snowboarding to reach beyond

67

68 HUCK

Argentina’s wheelchair basketball team are getting ready to take on the world.

Photography and text Javier Heinzmann

69

Sergio Vera Peralta performs a manoeuvre to gain height, placing the chair on one wheel.

ustavo Villafañe is pushing the full weight of his body up and down on one arm. Sweat drips from his forehead. His veins bulge and pulse. He pauses briefly – face inches from the floor – then channels everything he’s got into a long, final push, before flinging his bodyweight back into his wheelchair so he’s sitting bolt upright, eyes fixed ahead. When Gustavo was nine, he was hit by a train. The accident cost him both legs and an arm. Now Gustavo is a champion athlete and one of the best wheelchair basketball players in the world.

Gustavo and his Argentine teammates are training hard.

This November, they’ll head to Guadalajara to compete in the 2011 Parapan American Games and, if they’re successful, they’ll venture even further – all the way to London, in fact, for the 2012 Paralympic Games.

The roots of this adapted sport can be traced back to the small English parish of Stoke Mandeville where, in 1944, German neurologist Ludwig Guttmann was heading up the rehabilitation programme at the National Spinal Injuries Centre. Sport, thought Ludwig, could be a method of therapy – a way to rebuild strength and self-respect. So he set about adapting different disciplines for wheelchair users, igniting a string of annual events that, in 1960, morphed into the firstever Paralympic Games.

Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, disabled American World

70 HUCK

Hernan Fonseca shows the wear suffered by the hands.

Gustavo Villafa単e does push-ups to strengthen his only arm.

71

Alejandro Fernandez exercises in the gym of the sports centre.

War II veterans were busy forging a wheelchair basketball

Coach Domingo Patrone explains: “We are below the level

scene of their own. When a polio epidemic swept across

of other countries mainly due to organisational [problems],

South America in the 1950s, news of this emerging sport

including lack of sponsors and economic reasons in

reached many of those left disabled by the disease, and

general.”

pockets of keen competitors began to pop up across the

Each member of the national team receives a grant, issued

continent. Soon, national rehabilitation services everywhere

by FADESIR (Argentina Wheelchair Sport Federation),

got behind the sport and today the International Wheelchair

which helps offset some travel expenses. But commitment

Basketball Federation (IWBF) helps seventy-six national

to the sport still comes at a price. “In Argentina, a racing

teams compete across the globe.

chair costs about 2,500 US dollars. We find it difficult to

The sport aims to be as democratic as possible. A rigorous scoring system ensures that athletes with severe disabilities,

and former football player Hernan Fonseca.

including paraplegics, can participate on equal terms. Each

Needless to say, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and

player gets a score, ranging from one for the most affected

the United States usually fight it out for top spot, with the

players, up to 4.5 for those with a lesser disability. Each team

US winning seven out of twelve world championships. But

must have 14 points on the court. They use the same ball as

those numbers say nothing about the will to win. If the way

in Olympic basketball and the hoop is at the same height.

in which Gustavo and his teammates are charging around

The sport itself may be inclusive and fair, but for Argentina’s committed crew of athletes, obstacles abound.

72 HUCK

reach high-performance competitive seats,” says teammate

this court is anything to go by, nothing can stand in their way

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analogclothing.com

74 HUCK

Britain has awoken from an epic slumber of apathy to rediscover its passion for protest. We may not be heading towards an Egyptian-style revolution, but our collective voice is no longer stuck on snooze.

HUCK meets the twenty-first century activists who are putting the demo back into democracy and forcing the world to wake the hell up.

Text Sarah Bentley I l l u s t r a ti o n M ATTHE W THE H O R S E

’m rugby tackled to the ground, picked up by my arms and legs and carried away.

The ferocity of the attack is surprising, given that my assailants are Cambridge University students.

It’s the night before the December tuition fee protests, and I’m participating in a direct action workshop at the LSE (London

School

of

Economics

and

Politics) University occupation. Everyone in attendance is shunning tomorrow’s NUS (National Union of Students) march, opting for alternative routes organised by the more grassroots National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. In preparation, an old hand of the Black Bloc movement – renowned for donning masks to avoid identification – is showing cherub-faced teens how to outwit riot police. I’ve just experienced what it feels like to be the target of a ‘snatch squad’, a police tactic of pulling an individual out of a crowd. For a pacifist, the physicality of it is overwhelming. But for anyone serious about frontline activism, it’s essential knowledge.

The twenty-first century activist has a lot on their plate.

Unlike the doorstep battles fought by their forefathers, globalisation has tied us to far-flung communities and a plethora of issues that need attention, like, now.

Fortunately, this avalanche of injustice is matched by an array of new tools that allow activists to take on the powers that be in increasingly creative and effective ways.

DIRECT ACTION 2.0: NOW WITH ADDED TECHNOLOGY! Direct

action

describes

an

act

of

disruption

and

encompasses everything from sit-ins and blockades to system-crashing mass phone-ins. The UK’s environmental movement is a hotbed of direct actioneers. A host of groups – such as Climate Camp, Plane Stupid, UK Tar Sands Network, Earth First, Liberate Tate and Rising Tide – have blocked oil refineries, halted activity at nuclear plants and taken over airport runways. Such drastic acts are usually seen as last-resort measures when official channels of objection – such as early day motions or lobbying MPs – are responded to with baby steps, if at all.

75

It’s a trend that has come to define our pseudo-democracy;

civil

society

may

Crude Awakening’s success was a moral

be

victory and, no doubt, a massive adrenaline

allowed to express an opinion, but more often

rush, too. But what did it achieve? As well as

than not that opinion is ignored. At no time

preventing an estimated 370,000 gallons of

was this more apparent than in 2003, when

oil from reaching the capital, and seriously

a two-million-strong anti-war protest – the

damaging oil companies’ bottom lines, it

largest march in British history – pitched up

secured acres of media coverage. “Actions

at parliament only for troops to be dispatched

put issues in the news,” explains Harvey. “We

to Iraq soon after. Matthew Robins, an activist

wanted to highlight the need to switch from an

who attended the march, says: “It calls into

oil-dependent infrastructure to one based on

question the idea we’re living in a democracy

renewables. We definitely did that.”

and forces people to resort to more extreme

So if peaceful marches bear no fruit, must

measures to make their views heard.”

we all chain our bodies to a cause and hit big

Direct action is nothing new. Civil rights

business where it hurts in order for things to

protesters in the US led a sustained campaign

change? Harvey believes so, but only as part

against racial apartheid by riding whites-

of a broader attack. “Direct action is about

only buses. But the way in which protestors

making a moral stand when official avenues

organise themselves has changed rapidly in

of communication have closed. They should

recent years. Mobilisation today is a horizontal

be part of a wider campaign of lobbying,

affair, with groups forming rapidly without

awareness raising, legal actions and whatever

a structured hierarchy or leader. Aided by

else will force the hand of those concerned to

innovations in technology and word-of-mouth communication, photocopied flyers have been replaced by high-speed, viral messaging spread via social media networks, email lists and cell phone databases. If you’re online, you’re in.

So how are actions executed? Alex Harvey of Climate Camp was the spokesperson at Crude Awakening, an action staged in October that saw six hundred activists come together to “switch off oil” which, in reality, meant blockading Stanford-le-Hope refinery for a day. Such a feat of civil disobedience is not easy to pull off. According to Harvey, it took a combination of teamwork, thorough planning, excellent pre-action publicity, secrecy and “a big dose of trust”.

Weeks before the event, a website featuring a rousing video of past actions sent out an invitation to activists old and new. Harvey believes the strong online presence helped

“It calls into question the idea we’re living in a democracy and forces people to resort to more extreme measures to make their views heard.”

do what’s right.”

But is all this any different from what early twentieth century activists were doing? “Not really,” Harvey says. “It’s the tools that are different.” You mean tools such as Twitter feeds that allow protesters to mount running protests, and the new mobile app Sukey, which helps subscribers dodge police containment techniques like kettling? “Exactly. It makes direct actions more nimble and flexible than they used to be. It’s also easier to mislead police by spreading false information. And that’s pretty exciting.”

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE: VIOLENCE, MISCHIEF AND THE FULL FORCE OF THE LAW In today’s digital age, connecting with a direct

mobilise the masses. “The video made you

action group that shares your ideals has never

think: ‘I have to be there.’ That, combined with

been easier. Most hold open weekly meetings,

our presence on social media such as Facebook

the details of which can be found online. But an

and Twitter, is what attracted such a big crowd.”

open-door policy can, ironically, be a difficult

And an element of secrecy helped too.

thing to ‘police’, as the recent unveiling of

After alluding on the website that three blocks

undercover policeman Mark Kennedy, known

of protestors would hit central London,

in environmental activism circles as ‘Flash’,

participants were led onto trains out of the city

attests. At the time of writing, sensitive

by people carrying flags and blowing whistles

documents have also been leaked proving that

to indicate when to get on and off. The target

large energy companies like E.ON hire private

destination

investigators

was

only

revealed

en-route.

to

monitor

environmental

Unbeknown to everyone, an all-female affinity

activists. But, on the upside, open meetings

group

themselves

foster open communication, and it’s at these

underneath two vans, cutting off access to the

meetings that smaller affinity groups often

oil refinery. Now all the masses had to do was

form. Jessie Tolkin, a twenty-six-year-old

strengthen this blockade. In central London,

participant

meanwhile, banks and oil company HQs were

dodging movement UK Uncut, believes these

surrounded by security, hoodwinked by the

splinter groups are vital: “It means you work

website’s misleading hints. In Stanford-le-

with people with the same boundaries. I’m

Hope, however, local police were unprepared.

committed to non-violence so I don’t want to

And the action proceeded in full force.

be with a group who smash things and fight.”

76 HUCK

had

already

D-locked

in

anti-cuts/anti-corporate-tax-

77

The use of violence as a tactic is divisive.

and Police Act. It recently came to light that

found in August 2008. Less than a year earlier,

‘Pro’ groups, such as Black Bloc and the

undercover police were given the approval

Hall had assisted in shutting down Kingsnorth

Whitechapel

believe

of seniors to instigate sexual relationships

power plant by abseiling down its two hundred

they’ve been left with no alternative but to

with activists – an outrageous infringement

metre chimney to paint an anti-coal message

smash the symbols of a system that only

of

protesting

for then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The

takes notice when things kick off. This line

parliament is illegal unless you’ve gained

group were tried for criminal damage, but

of thinking is nothing new. At the turn of

prior permission from the Metropolitan

claimed their actions were justified because

the twentieth century, the Suffragettes drew

Police, which limits the ability for citizens

they were preventing climate change that

attention to their battle for women’s right to

to mount rapid responses to unpopular

would have caused far greater damage.

vote by damaging public property. And if the

government decisions.

And it worked – they got off. “It was such an

Anarchist

Group,

eighties poll tax riots hadn’t been so volatile,

human

important case because a win would send a message that the fight against environmental

using the law to their own ends. The greatest

crimes is legally justified,” says Hall, who

the

human rights victories have played out in the

works in Greenpeace’s Actions Unit fulltime.

intrusive use of CCTV. Gareth Newnham runs

courts (think of the multiple trials of Nelson

There is another way to get your voice

the London arm of Truth Action, a pressure

Mandela and his ANC comrades during the

heard in this day and age and that’s via a good

group that aims to unveil the true nature of

anti-apartheid struggle) and the legal side of

old-fashioned hoax. Masters of this tactic

9/11. He says “masking up” and getting violent

activism remains crucial today. So for anyone

are The Yes Men, whose subversive strand

is “counterintuitive”, with violence simply

who doesn’t fancy super-gluing their hand to

of gonzo-activism sees them impersonating

breeding violence. In fact, Newnham believes

the door of some evil corporation's HQ, there

“big-time criminals in order to publicly

authorities entice vandalism by leaving targets

is another way to have your voice heard. Legal

humiliate them”. By setting up fake corporate

such as police vans in the middle of protest

organisations like Green & Black Cross and

websites, founders Andy Bichlbaum and

routes, thereby legitimising iron-fisted tactics

the Activists' Legal Project represent activists

Mike Bonanno secure invitations to speak at

such as snatch squads and kettling.

caught in legal battles, and they’re always

conferences on behalf of real companies. In

This abuse of police power is becoming

looking for volunteers to hand out ‘bust cards’

front of the world’s media and their ‘fellow’

epidemic. The Public Order Act is leaned on

(lawyers’ business cards), man telephones or

CEOs, they shine a light on the unethical

as an excuse for kettling and, in 2004, a female

record the actions of police.

practices of the firms they ‘represent’. By

etuates

heavy-handed

policing

and

on

even

has forced activists to fight fire with fire by

‘Anti’ groups argue that violence perp-

clampdown

And

rights

we may well still be saddled with it today.

This

rights.

protester

activist was arrested for sending polite emails

‘Law activism’ may seem un-radical, but it’s

pricking the conscience of employees, and

to a drugs company requesting an end to

vital work. A not-guilty verdict in court can set

generally fuelling public outcry, their aim is to

animal testing on the grounds of harassment

a new benchmark for what protesters can do,

show corporations that it’s within their power

under the 2005 Serious Organised Crime

as Emily Hall and the rest of the ‘Kingsnorth 6’

and profit margins to do the right thing.

78 HUCK

But there’s more to The Yes Men than

mass protest, is testament to that. In fact, the

online and then taking it to those with the

elaborate pranks. Having achieved some

fallout of that revolutionary zeal, which was

power to effect change. Their websites show

epic exposure (including appearing on the

sparked itself by the ousting of President Zine

real-time updates of petition uptake and

BBC as a representative of Dow Chemicals

El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia on January

membership

and pledging billions in compensation to the

14, has yet to play out in full; at the time of

the idea of an unstoppable, growing global

victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster), they’re

writing, protesters have taken to the streets

community striving for justice.

currently leading Yes Lab workshops as a

across the Middle East in their thousands in

means of supporting like-minded groups.

Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria.

Criticism advocacy

figures,

has

groups

adding

been for

gravitas

hurled

to

at

these

promoting

lazy,

“Our current focus is on working with other

Which begs the question: will we ever find

collectives to help get their message out

a more efficient way of bringing about change

genuine protest. But surely, as Avaaz founder

there,” says Bichlbaum, who recently teamed

than via the sustained civil disobedience (i.e.

Ricken Patel believes, by reducing the act

up with the Rainforest Action Network and

real people taking to the streets en masse)

down to a click you’ve “failed to recognise

Amazon Watch to target Chevron with a

that characterised the anti-apartheid and

the amazing victories online communities

series of fake ads that read: ‘Oil Companies

Civil Rights movements?

have achieved”.

ineffective

‘clicktavism’

as

opposed

to

Should Clean Up Their Messes’. “We can

If the anti-war protests are anything to go

Patel does, however, admit that some

still do stunts, we’re not too well known, but

by, feet on the street can still amount to zilch

online activism doesn’t work. Yes Man

there’s more potential for impact when you

(especially when the tenets of democracy

Andy Bichlbaum goes a step further. He

collaborate.”

have become so misshapen so as to render

describes ‘clicktavism’ as “total bullshit”

them practically void). But still, a mass of

and a “placebo change pill”, but stresses

people is generally more likely to make a

that Avaaz and 38 Degrees don’t fall into

difference than a small group. And if it’s

this trap as they make “perfectly valid use of

numbers that substantiates whether the lava

technology to meet campaign goals such as

of civil dissatisfaction is genuinely bubbling,

collecting a million signatures”. The bullshit

The twenty-first century activist may be

you only have to look to online citizen

Bichlbaum is referring to happens when

a nimble sort, but for all the ingenuity of

networks Avaaz and 38 Degrees for proof.

people ‘like’ causes on social networks that

CLICKTAVISM: PEOPLE POWER GOES VIRAL

the actions being carried out today, there’s

Since launching in 2007, Avaaz has

have no embedded action. He explains: “The

still something to be said for the age-

accrued seven million members globally.

time it takes for a person to put ‘I care about

old cornerstone of protest culture: mass

Likewise, the solely UK-focused 38 Degrees,

dolphins’ on their Facebook profile would

mobilisation. And the Egyptian Revolution

launched in 2009, has 320,000 followers.

be better spent thinking about how to re-

2011, which saw President Hosni Mubarak

The premise of these networks is to create

orientate their life and mobilise behind the

ousted on February 11 after eighteen days of

a “movement” by gathering public opinion

issues they care about.”

79

Avaaz have been the driving force behind

battle is Julian Assange, the controversial

to an email from a reader thus: “Have you been

a smorgasbord of successes including the

face of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

told to write in by those cunts at Media Lens?

preservation of large chunks of the Brazilian

The witch-hunt against him not only incensed

Don’t you have a mind of your own?”

Amazon rainforest, the prevention of the

Anonymous – a faceless collective of hackers

passing of a law in Uganda to execute

that launched cyber attacks on businesses that

messaging

homosexuals, and the funding of the securing

refused to work with Wikileaks – it also angered

greater credit for their contribution to the

of the Dalai Lama’s computer system – which

thousands of citizens shocked by this affront to

zeitgeist of dissidence, the unsung heroes

had been turned into a listening post by the

freedom of information. “I don’t know what

are the researchers at organisations like the

Chinese government. The immediacy which

kind of a guy Assange is,” says Patel, who

Corner House in the UK and the Centre for

they can garner support is awe inducing.

headed up Avaaz’s ‘Stop the Crack Down’

Responsive Politics (CRP) in the US, who

When Iranian national Sakineh Ashtiani was

petition. “But I know it’s important avenues

crunch the numbers underpinning successful

sentenced to death by stoning for alleged

for whistleblowers are kept open and the crack

campaigns. The CRP tracks money in politics

adultery, Avaaz collected an epic petition

down against Wikileaks is totally illegitimate.

and, given the recent Citizens United ruling

slamming

Judging by the numbers who signed our

– which legitimises corporate funding of

petition, global citizens think so, too.”

independent

the

Iranian

government

and

encouraged members to call Turkish and

While

Media

Lens

monitor

political

and

PR/corporate

Spinwatch

broadcasts

deserve

during

Brazilian Embassies, both allies of Iran,

But there is a more insidious untruth than

candidate elections – such a service has never

to demand diplomatic intervention. Daily

the secrets of diplomats – and we come across

been more crucial. Executive director Sheila

updates kept the campaign going.

Krumholz describes CRP as a “politically

The incredible speed at which online

neutral, honest broker of the facts” with a

communities can rally numbers and raise

mission to “educate Americans about how

large

money operates in the system”. She describes

sums

would

be

mind-boggling

to

activists-past, who had to pass a hat around at meetings and lobby wealthy individuals to fund campaigns. This new pool of resources is being used to counter government and corporate spin by turning the soapbox they rely on (i.e. mainstream media) against them.

To highlight the link between torture centres and extremism recruitment, Avaaz ran a billboard campaign throughout Washington featuring Osama Bin Laden wearing an ‘I Heart Guantanamo Bay’ T-shirt. Some might think funds would be better spent on humanitarian relief. Patel disagrees: “Huge resources are spent on aid. If just a tiny fraction of that was spent on advocacy we could begin to address some of the root causes of those humanitarian issues.”

THE WIKILEAKS EFFECT: TRANSPARENCY BECOMES DEMANDED ON A GLOBAL SCALE

“The basic aspirations of people everywhere are similar, and increasingly connected.

With the help of technology, awareness of this unity is growing. And it’s revolutionary.”

her job as unsexy, but hugely satisfying given that “almost everything you care about – not just in America but across the world – is affected by money in Washington”.

Transparency

has

never

been

more

necessary. More money is spent today than any other time in history on marketing, PR, pseudo-citizen lobby groups and research bodies to steer public opinion. The only counter to such a powerful puppet master is the truth, which needs to be blasted from as many directions as possible. “Most citizens are compassionate and caring,” says Patel.

“If you provide them with the facts and a way of doing the right thing, they do it. The basic aspirations of people everywhere are similar, and increasingly connected. With the help of technology, awareness of this unity is growing.

And it’s revolutionary.”

I’m sprinting up Regent Street in the heart of an incendiary ball of protesters. Two

Fighting apathy and raising awareness has always been high on any activist’s to-do

hours earlier the bill to raise tuition fees was it every day. Where? In the media.

passed, igniting the tinderbox of outrage I’m

list. Now transparency has crept to the top

Since 2001, David Cromwell and David

now caught up in. Rubbish bins and bollards

of the agenda. The desire to educate, learn

Edwards of Media Lens have been “tapping

are being ripped from the ground and turned

and seek truth has birthed a battalion of

into the groundswell of public scepticism

into battering rams to smash shop windows.

citizen-funded new media willing to probe,

and distaste for what passes as news”

A Rolls Royce with a single police escort edges

investigate and reveal. Magazines like The New

by highlighting the shortcomings of the

into the back of the maelstrom. A surge. Bins

Internationalist, online hubs like Indymedia,

media. Their books, Guardians of Power and

fly. Camera phones flash. A chant breaks out –

and investigative films like Manufacturing

Newspeak, make for an illuminating read,

“Off with their heads” – and for a few moments,

Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, have

particularly for those who’ve bought into the

England’s shopping Mecca looks like a scene

created a space for the narratives that powerful

idea that British broadsheets and the BBC

from the French Revolution. A conflict of

interest groups do their utmost to suppress.

only run thoroughly researched, unbiased

emotion – fear, disgust, exhilaration – floods

And the call for transparency has never

reporting. The ‘Davids’ encourage people to

my body and in that moment I realise nothing

been louder. In fact, arguably no other force

contact the writers of dissatisfactory articles

is stronger – if organised and channelled the

has had as great an impact on activism this era

and many of their critiques are directed at

right way – than the will of the people. The

than the growing awareness that freedom of

journalists who report the official line of the

hate of the scene troubles my heart, but what it

information is a cornerstone of our democratic

state as unquestionable fact. Their work has

reveals has stirred my soul. Apathy is no longer

rights. And the newly crowned King in this

earned them enemies. One editor responded

an option. Change is afoot. Britain is awake

80 HUCK

NO STARS “A HORRIBLE ALBUM THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO. AND I MEAN THAT. I DON’T HAVE EARS. PUT ME BACK IN THE DIRT.” – AN EARTHWORM

ENJOYED BY ALL LIVING THINGS WITH EARS. Introducing 1% For The Planet: The Music Vol. 1, featuring Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings, Jackson Browne, and more. All proceeds benefit 1%’s continued efforts to make the planet a more beautiful place.

Visit music.onepercentfortheplanet.org to listen to exclusive tracks.

What have you just read?

A bunch of stories, right? Real stories about real people.

But how did they get there?

Well, first there was a writer. They took a person’s story, added some colourful language, skipped the bit where nothing much happened, then filtered out the ums and ahs until they had something manageable, like 4276 words. Then there was an editor. They took the writer’s story, cut it down a tad – okay, sometimes more – knocked it into grammatical shape, chopped and changed the odd word here and there, added a catchy headline and then, bam, filed it away. But then the art director decided “a pretty picture could speak a thousand words”, so they lopped off a sentence or two, shifted things around a bit and then sent it off to print.

So let’s start again: what have you just read? A bunch of stories told and retold by a bunch of different people.

Thing is, sometimes the only voice that matters is the one at the centre of the tale. Welcome to Endnotes – where stories unfold straight from the source.

83

For Vancouver-based illustrator and painter Andrew Pommier, art comes first. He may have spent his younger years eating, sleeping and dreaming skate, but these days he finds self-expression pushing the wood of a pencil. As well as creating animations for Fuel TV and MTV Australia, contributing to a Rossignol Skis art project with the likes of Will Barras and Andy Howell and appearing in the final Burton Street Monster Children art show alongside his photographer brother Scott Pommier, he still finds time to create creepy characters all his own. Pommier is a dude who enjoys the authenticity of tangible things and this is the residuum of his creative mission to capture life around the corners.

I try to pick up snow domes from every city I go to. This winter I was travelling around Europe with a backpack and if I got a snow dome in every city I would be pretty bogged down, so I just picked two cities. The bubbly one is from Berlin and the other one is from Paris. They’re super cheesy, but I like them.

My high-school pencil case got trashed, but this is an echo of that one, which was all covered in pen drawings. It’s weird when people say high school is the best time of their lives; it’s just the beginning. I grew up in a small northern town that was all hockey and bush parties and that kind of thing.

I was just a straight-edge skater kid who hung out with the punk kids.

I’ve always drawn a lot for as long as I can remember. My brother and I would go on road trips and take drawing books and that kind of thing.

I really like pencils and paper.

I made this logo for a skateboard wheel company I work for, Momentum, owned by Rick McCrank. I started working with them in 2002 when I lived in Toronto and over the years I’ve gotten more involved. […] I like doing client work. Sometimes you trip across things or you’re pushed in directions you don’t normally go so it becomes a challenge; trying to figure out what people like and [translating] what people are saying in

84 HUCK

85

Photography BY Dylan Doubt

words into a visual idea. […] I’ve done some stuff for Scott Bourne, who I really like. He’s a skater but he has a pretty intense philosophy. He’s one of those skateboarder skateboarders. When you talk to him he’s talking about skateboarding at its idealised level. There are not a lot of people who talk about that anymore.

Two friends of mine from Toronto found this spoon in an antique market and thought it would be a funny gift because it was made in my hometown, Sudbury. I think it’s neat.

This is a super ball. It bounces. It was just in my studio.

I’ve just got back from travelling around Europe for three and a half months and my phone was the thing I used to record everything I was doing. My digital camera kind of broke just before I left and the camera on my phone turned out to be amazing. I took about 2000 photos and am using them for all kinds of things, like print, which is amazing. I appreciate its efficiency.

I was walking around the gallery district in Barcelona with my artist friend Mike Swaney, who is a transplant from Vancouver, when I found the Sargadelos ceramics company. They had all these incredible patterns, really bold and bright, on dishes and all sorts of china. Then there was this little section of ceramic birds and I saw this owl that I just thought was really neat and small and Spanish.

I ride my bike everywhere. It’s a fixed-gear converted BRC frame and it’s pretty beat up. When everybody started riding fixed-gears I was sort of anti them, but as soon as I rode one I just thought, ‘This is awesome.’ I sort of gave up on my old bike and just started riding [the fixed-gear] around all the time. […] About a quarter of the people I see daily in Vancouver are riding fixedgear or single-speed bikes. It seems crazy to ride with no gears in a city that has so many hills. But it’s interesting because you find ways to go around hills.

This is called ‘I’ve Been Here the Longest’ and I drew it in 2009. It was inspired by the neighbourhood where my studio is located in the downtown east side of Vancouver, which is populated by drug addicts, prostitutes, the mentally ill and marginalised people. It can be pretty intense, but it's also eternally interesting. […] When I was growing up I didn’t really know a lot about contemporary art. I was skateboarding and watching skateboard videos and making skateboard graphics and didn’t pay attention at all. Some of the first artists I remember seeing were Lucien Freud and Basquiat, typical art school inspirations. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god they’re really crazy and magical.’

It made me realise what I’d been missing out on. It was pretty eye opening

I don’t have an apartment at the moment and I’m couching everywhere, so my car is essentially my home. I plan to go to LA in it soon to see my brother.

An old girlfriend was studying in Quebec about four years ago and sent this to me. It’s a stone carved with the French word for hope [Espoir]. She liked to make little packages.

You don’t often get letters anymore. This was from my friend Scott Bourne in Paris, who I met in San Francisco about 2001, and it’s a nice tangible object. […] I definitely appreciate analogue things because I draw. I use a computer, obviously, but almost all my commercial work starts in my sketchbook or on paper. I like the visceral connection with real things; things that are unique and have their own character. When I travel I make sure to send a postcard.

We don’t get mail anymore so it’s always nice to get something through the post besides a bill.

This is a pencil sharpener shaped like The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, and was given to me by an old girlfriend. We visited it a few times while we were dating. It was a pivotal site of conflict during the Mexican-American war in the nineteenth century and is now a museum. andrew pommier www.andrewpommier.com

86 HUCK

88 HUCK

Photographer Justin Maxon trailed John Cardiel FROM Sacramento TO SAN FRANCISCO to capture the image on the cover of this mag. But there’s more to his repertoire than documenting stars.

Here, THE NOMADIC PHOTOJOURNALIST talks about the ephemeral moments that went into his most personal project to date – the softly titled Slow down... Breathe... Only this life.

We, as in I, as in us, bury our inner demons as we bury our dead: forgotten and in numbers. Mass graveyards inside our mind: places we avoid; memories we abandon. Forgetting does not bring understanding - escape is never resolution. One day we must pay the reckoning. That hour is here for me. Photography has become my tool on this day of sums.

This project is about my transition from a path of chaos to one of healing. For the past decade, my life has been a blur of movement as I have been running away from phantoms within. I found myself in a Photography BY JUSTIN MAXON

space between worlds: a visitor to everything around me, a stranger to my own life. I have been lost inside a maze of thoughts, attempting to make sense of everything twisted and tangled. I realised a crossroads was approaching, a choice to be made. I took the route that curved back into me, threading the fractured parts of myself back into place.

When complete, this body of work will intertwine, as threads of memory are layered over strings of the present, weaving my own road-map home. To give sight to the things unseen – so I am no longer walking blindly, stumbling over a path obscured by the shadows of my past. Like a magnifying glass is a conduit to the sun, I want this work to help shine the light into those shaded recesses.

Let us, as in I, as in we, spread our light now. Justin Maxon

89

Photography BY Keith Ducatel/Discovery Channel

Don’t go it alone.

I started the trip thinking it was me against the Amazon. I was cocky and naive and I didn’t want help from others because I saw it as weakness. In fact I was humbled by what I went through and I learned to accept help from local guides, my loyal team in the UK and donators. I learnt that I don’t need to feel threatened by the talents and strengths of others – a strong team is far stronger than a strong individual.

Look after the top two inches.

My biggest struggle was ‘mental’. The daily grind in basic conditions when you are completely shattered for two years is testing. This got to me at times. Cho and I were physically rugged enough to keep going, but when I let things slip mentally (and got tired) we started to slow our pace. Before my next

When UK-born adventurer Ed Stafford attempted to become the first man to walk the length of the Amazon river nearly three years ago, he set off with little more than a dream and an old map. But thanks to walking partner Cho, who joined him in Peru, and a conviction that could crack skulls, the tortoise-eating, raft-paddling, tribe-befriending explorer made history last September when he completed his quest. Here, the thirty-five-year-old shares some pearls of wisdom he discovered along the way.

expedition I plan to study expedition psychology more – mastering the mind and self-coaching when things go wrong.

Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.

The perceived dangers are things like snakes and jaguars, but for me the biggest threat was people. The Peruvian Amazon is far poorer than Brazil.

Education is low, and the people have all had first-hand experiences of terrorism. When we walked through Peru, many of the communities thought I was a ‘Pela Cara’ or ‘Corta Cabeza’ (a person who steals babies and body organs). This was all jungle myth of course, but people believed it and we were held up at gunpoint several times, and at arrowpoint too. Once when walking through an area of Peru where everyone was suspicious, a little old

Things aren’t always as terrifying as they seem.

lady joined me on the path with her five-year-old granddaughter who held my

At first the jungle was intimidating. But what seemed mysterious and danger-

hand. When we arrived at our destination they smiled, shook our hands and

ous to us became a place where we felt safe. We were never more relaxed

wished us good luck before returning to their home, some kilometres back,

than when sat in the middle of the jungle alone around the campfire. It was

in the pitch black. At that time, when goodwill had been somewhat lacking, it

a beautiful place that became our home. I really enjoyed the self-sufficiency

brought me close to tears. ED STAFFORD

part, too; fishing with hooks fashioned from sewing needles, living on palm hearts and foraging for food.

90 HUCK

A documentary of Ed’s trip, Walking The Amazon, is out now courtesy of the Discovery Channel. His book will be published by Virgin in June.

First st in in SURFING S SU URFING NEWS NEWS First

www.surfersvillage.com Rider: Tim Boal / Photo: Agustin Munoz/Red Bull Photofiles / Design: ID

Tim

Bo al

I’ve always focused as much of my life as possible on helping others, but it is in no way an altruistic thing. “You’re a real human, you really do care,” a former boss said to me once. I didn’t quite get what she was saying. Yes, of course I care. But she was missing the point.

“I feel like I’ve stumbled on this treasure that everyone has but nobody realises is gold,” I said. “Everyone sees this kind of work as a sacrifice, but really it’s quite selfish. I think I get more out of it than anybody I’m trying to help.”

At the time, I was explaining what I had spent my Easter Sunday doing, in Chicago. I had gone to a nursing home party and helped supremely elderly people get out of their cars, eat food, receive miniscule prizes, and feel surrounded by friends for a moment. My former supervisor saw it only as something I was giving. But I was lonely on Easter too. I was new in the city, my family was miles away, and I had no plans. Then I spent my Easter getting hit on by octogenarians, complimented by women older than my grandmother, and laughing about things I didn’t even know existed.

My efforts to help others while simultaneously helping myself definitely have a focus. When I was still a child and a close family member revealed to me experiences of extensive sexual abuse, it hurt more than anything had ever hurt before. But it also ignited a passion for working against sexual violence in all forms. It is the singular moment in my life that has brought me to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Just outside of a small city called Butembo, in Eastern Congo, I spend my days working with COPERMA, a local organisation helping victims of the on going war. I speak with all victims, ranging from a dying diabetic who sadly passed away, to demobilised child-soldiers who have more than likely committed the exact crime I am working against.

Helping others feels good; not being able to help balances that out. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the extent of suffering and the extreme limitations of what anyone can do to help.

Amy Ernst is a twenty-four-year-old NGO worker currently based in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the story of what drove her there.

But the Congolese people I work with keep me motivated and inspired.

Maman Marie Nzoli, the founder of COPERMA, has been doing this work since the war began. She has been shot at while trying to extract survivors of rape, forced to get naked and robbed by soldiers, and witnessed the act of rape more times than I can imagine. And she doesn’t make it seem easy, because it’s not.

“My heart is tired,” says a wide-faced young woman with elegant eyes.

Maman Marie has seen me cry once; her simple response was that she is

“Why is it tired?” I ask, even though I should already know. I’m speaking

afraid, too. She often doesn’t want to go into the villages because she doesn’t

to a recent survivor of rape in a village in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of

know how it will hurt her heart. But if she doesn’t try and help, who will?

Congo. Kavugho has a pair of heavy wooden crutches lying across her lap to

The war continues and so does she. I can only hope to have an ounce of the

help her walk with a twisted foot that didn’t finish forming.

strength and courage she has, and continue alongside her. AMY ERNST

“I’m an orphan, my dad abandoned us, I don’t have work, people make fun of me in the village,” she responds. “I feel so tired in my heart.”

Kavugho’s sadness is nothing new to me. Every day I meet new women and girls who have been victimised by rape, patriarchy and poverty. I’m used to the stories, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to hear.

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Amy Ernst considers herself a freelance humanitarian. Trained as a rape crisis counselor and medical advocate in the United States, she works mostly with survivors of rape in the rural villages around Butembo city. To see more of her stories and photos, check out her blog, www.thekingeffect.blogspot.com.

Photography BY SARAH FRETWELL

Don’t just read. do!

Wanna follow in Amy’s footsteps? Here’s some advice to get you on your way.

01.

02.

03.

04.

Find a need that you are genuinely passionate about, otherwise selfishness and so-called sacrifice won’t balance each other out.

Photography BY AMY ERNST

Amy and colleague Urbain at COPERMA's base.

Play to your strengths not just your passion. You will be most effective if you utilise tools or talents you already have.

Just start, and start small.

Avoid working with umbrella volunteer organisations that require you to pay them. There are endless local organisations that need a lot more help and can teach you a lot more.

05.

06.

Always make an effort to focus on the bubbles, not just the water. The smallest successes are what mean the most.

Maman Marie Nzoli organising villagers in a new COPERMA location.

Don’t be afraid of the fact that you can make a difference.

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H.

When graphic designer Tyler Bowa moved to Shanghai two years ago from Canada, pockets of a fixed-gear bike scene were starting to erupt across the twenty-million-strong city. Fast-forward to now and the TWENTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD is at the heart of a vibrant community of riders that play polo, host alleycat races and dodge traffic to scorch the streets with an alternative trail.

Despite the restrictive Internet censorship laws in China, Tyler was able to register his co-operative website, People’s Bike, with the government and it’s from HERE THAT he celebrates the burgeoning culture.

He shot these pictures exclusively for HUCK on February 3, the night before Chinese New Year and the dawn of a new spiritual season.

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A. Morning, Shanghai! Look at all those suckers stuck in cars. Get a bike!

B. Part of my morning commute.

C. To me, this is typical China. It could be anywhere, because all residential

living looks like this in Shanghai. The air conditioners are essential because

of the massive overflow of air pollutants.

D. All-you-can-eat fried rice hits the spot.

E. This fish tank belongs to my tattoo artist, and is what I stare at while I’m in

his studio. I’m there about once a month to hang out or get work done.

F. My girlfriend and I take a quick ride alongside the river before heading

home for dinner.

G. We’ve got some friends over to help cook. Pasta, pasta, pasta!

H. On our way to a party.

I. The clock strikes midnight and the Chinese New Year begins. We’ve got

beers and the best view ever, up on the twenty-seventh floor terrace.

J. Night ride home through the empty streets of Shanghai.

J.

www.peoplesbike.com

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I wasn’t sure what to expect before visiting Israel and Palestine. We spent the first few days painting in Tel Aviv and couldn’t believe how chilled and Western it was, so crossing the border into the West Bank was obviously a huge change.

I had thought a lot about what to paint on the wall. I love walls, I love painting them, and this is one of the biggest walls in the world and its existence is a highly controversial issue. Apart from the few notable street art pieces, the majority of messages on the wall are from peace campaigners.

One of the first things that struck me upon entering the West Bank was

For Irish artist Conor Harrington, conflict and tension is something of a muse. So when he crossed the eight-metre-high concrete line separating Israel from the Palestinian territories, the need to create began to take hold. This is the story behind the marks he left on the West Bank wall.

the feeling of being under constant surveillance. The roads are manned by checkpoints and every fifty metres or so along the wall is an imposing watchtower. I wanted to invert this idea of military surveillance and paint two soldiers facing each other, either in observation or in a stand-off. I covered large parts of the soldiers with a more gestural, colourful and abstracted language, as a way of deconstructing their authority. Conor Harrington crossinglinesshortfilm.tumblr.com

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