Feature Back to Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHY MILA FRANOVIC
ART DIRECTION JANINE PREVOST
hair and Make-up SHANNON REYNOLDS
Models BRONTE at LIZBELL models

Once I’ve skated a pool, I never forget it. That is what separates me from all the others. I have been skateboarding in the Badlands for 38 years now, and through all the cities, and all the backyard pools I have ridden, somehow I have retained a mental map of them all. When I drive the grid searching, certain things will trip my memory: a specific house, a street, a cul-de-sac. This is how I came to rediscover The Snowman.

The High Drops started off with little musical knowledge, but that didn’t stop them from quickly gathering a local fan base. After all, who can resist the kind of rock ‘n roll perfectly fit for long, summer car drives? Steady, simple drums beats, bouncing bass lines and drawling vocal melodies that glue the sprite guitars in place, The High Drops have “permanent summer” dialed in to the last ring-out.

Psychic Ills hail from Brooklyn, New York, and have been pumping out their brand of experimental, drone, electronic-centered improv music since the good ol’ days of 2003. As I prepared for this interview with guitarist Tres Warren, (a man whom Aldus Huxley would likely call a phanerothyme rocker), I encountered many of the same questions I’d heard them answer over and over again. So, I decided to see what anybody would want to ask the band, and not just me, a scumbag music writer. I posted flyers all around my neighborhood, and some in record stores, that read, “I am interviewing Psychic Ills. If you have any questions for them please call or text (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Submission deadline is November 11th at 1pm.” I received many texts (some real, and some just telling me to “fuck off”), from all types of people ranging from prostitutes to friendly sports guys who like kindness and sharing.

Sitting in my room, listening to the song “Keep Pushin’” from the newest Pierced Arrows 45”, I can’t help but feel inspired. This song is awesome. It sounds just as desperate and intense as anything they’ve ever done. I can almost feel the bass line of this song working its way through my spine and I know this song is going to come to mind every time I’m feeling frustrated and pushed around. It’s just so goddamn catchy.

Some time after Gus Van Zant released his film Paranoid Park (adapted from Blake Nelson’s young-adult psychological crime drama novel of the same horrible title), Burnside picked up the unfortunate moniker. But for some reason, that title just electrocutes my fillings every time I hear it. What is so annoying about calling Burnside Paranoid Park? Well, if I’d gone to buy beer with some dude I’d just met, and we accidentally bludgeoned and dismembered a security guard, I think I’d be within my rights to be scared too. But that’s not paranoia. Paranoia is based on a delusion. I decided that if I was going to get to the bottom of this, the best thing to do would be to: 1) visit the inspiration for Paranoid Park’s setting and 2) subject myself to some vicious mental torment. So I went to Portland with Matt Mumford and this is what happened.

Jeremy Elkin (Lo Def and Elephant Direct) is back with a new video that takes skateboarding back to the streets with an NBD for NYC. Josh Stewart knows a thing or two about independent filmmaking, so he went behind the scenes to break down the buzz around Poisonous Products

“In limiting all his footage to only New York City and only lines, Jeremy made his new video project a much more difficult monster to tackle. But what has resulted is a pretty amazing glimpse into the world of street skating bringing the camera back into the actual streets—something that has been missing for a long, long time.”

Psychedelic singer Sun Araw talks apocalypse and Caesar with Mark Richardson.

“Every generation thinks it’s the center of some grand transformation, but of course the trick is that every generation is right: revolutions and apocalypses are one of the basic operating principles of the universe, and the perceiver is always at the center of the cosmos even while remaining an infinitesimal speck…”

Gene Doe creates a moving picture of two young’uns caught up in a troubling storyline all their own.

PHOTOGRAPHY GENE DOE
Stylist GENE DOE
Hair and Make-up NEGAR HOOSHMAND
Models JOSH GOODMAN and SAMANTHA at LIZBELL

In this spread, Shawn Lennon checks up on 10 long-awaited and overdue skate videos and finds out when, or if, they’re dropping.

“As deadlines are pushed, tricks are added, and they fight the uphill battle of capturing the best of the best, there’s a general consensus that filming for videos never really starts or stops—it’s simply an ongoing process that has long-since been fused with professional skateboarding. Though filming for skate videos is out of the confines of the competition arenas, it’s the trials and tribulations of everyday life that truly are the biggest hurdle.”

cheyanne turions squats around Toronto with an exhibition collective that practices at the periphery of experimental film culture.

“Pleasure Dome continues to chase the horizon of what else film and video can be. Keenly aware of available presentation and exhibition contexts, the collective steadfastly seeks out artists who incorporate the uncommon, alive and spontaneous into their work, challenging the conditions of black box cinema where docile audiences passively watch on.”

Identity is shaped through an accumulation of momentary experiences. It builds up slowly and constantly transforms through the continuous passage of time. There are infinite approaches to how such experiences are collected. Some people arrive at their destination by floating with the current, while others choose a less complacent approach. The latter requires a particular investment in contemplative consideration. The living picture that eventually composes ones life is made up of a cast of choices, a summation of that which we wish to include.

Alexis Gross & Brayden Olson

Just because Mark Oblow has been living the skateboard lifestyle for over three decades, (during which time he has gone from sponsored skater and photographer of legends like Christian Hosoi, to team manager and mentor to modern-day ripper Dylan Rieder,) does not make him a father figure. No, Oblow is more like a trusted friend, responsible for shaping some of today’s most influential skate teams, and even now, with a renewed focus on his passion for photography, he’s just getting started.

A man who knows no grey areas, Scott Bourne walked away from the States about ten years ago to set up camp in Paris. While still maintaining his professional skateboard career, his move to Europe did brush many feathers, somehow proving that in this world you are mostly free, (to do as everybody else that is.)

Sometimes I wonder how many borders are crossed in the name of skateboarding each year. Not in terms of progression, but in an actual travel sense: how much ground is covered just to go skateboarding these days? Skateboarding has always revolved around exploring, whether it be a block from your house or on the other side of the world and no matter if you’re a big time pro or grommit with their first board, you’re going to want to scope for something skateable. Search and destroy, right?

Pure X (formerly Pure Ecstasy) are a rock trio from Austin, TX, made up of Nate Grace, Jesse Jenkins, and Austin Youngblood. Elements of their music will probably sound familiar to you: they record at a basement-level fidelity that swathes all of their songs in that bleary, cavernous haze so characteristic of underground rock music circa now, and their combination of placidly reverbed guitar tones and grungy feedback hits all the dreamy, magic-hour signifiers common to indie music’s current obsession with beach-bound escapism. What’s special about Pure X, though, is that their immersion in texture, mood, and atmospherics is only the still surface of a much deeper body of water. Rather than an emblem of casual slackerdom or simple economy of means, their choice to record live with no overdubs reflects a commitment to capturing the intensity of life lived in the moment. Songs like “Twisted Mirror” burn hot because they burn so slowly, with Jesse Jenkins’ syrupy bass hits setting the pace. Each stretched-out note swells until it aches before eventually arching around to the guitar blowout. Not that these guys care about shredding: there’s a few solos here, but the focus is on feeling out every movement in unison, not about individual chops.

The first time I called Don Bolles he was busy mixing a record. One that he is producing and recording at his all-analogue, Los Angeles-based Unisex Studios that he runs with fellow band mate, X-orb-X. I called Don several more times after that, and this was the case each time. Until one day, I finally caught him in a down moment, relaxing at home with his girlfriend. Don is a very busy, very involved and very prolific man, who seems now as interested in making and producing music as he ever was. He’s played in not one, but multiple influential bands, including the seminal Los Angeles punk rock band The Germs, but also Vox Pop, Nervous Gender, 45 Grave, and Celebrity Skin. Don later joined and recorded with the Seedlings, a band made up of the last lineup of the Seeds, with Don on bass and vocals in place of the original singer and bassist Skye Saxon who had died. Don also emcees and organizes the infamous Cub Ding-a-Ling night of live music and performance art at Silverlake’s Hyperion Tavern in L.A.

It all started in 1991 when the headpiece of the wolf came to light. That accompanied by a pair of short shorts with a testicle release hole. Over time that has transformed into denim vest and shoes.” Corey Adams explained when we met up with him and fellow filmmaker Alex Craig to discuss their new collaboration over some imported Scottish tea. Anyone who has been lucky enough to see their psychedelic skate-cinema masterpiece Machotaildrop knows that the Manwolfs are not to be toyed with. A gang, a movement, a group of yelping maniacs lurking on the tattered edges of town—one thing is certain, the anarchic rogue-aesthetic of the Manwolfs is in high demand.

One of the first noise records I ever owned was a split seven-inch by John Wiese and Panicsville. The music was so strange and new to me, yet familiar in some way. It was so punk. Not in the old sense of punk music, it was a new form of punk. It took this idea of being different and unique and really tried to go all the way with it. The music implied that you don’t need guitars, you don’t need drums or bass, vocals, or even verses and choruses. It was a door to this mysterious new world of sounds, a whole new idea on what music is, and what music can be. The sounds were harsh, but refreshing and new.