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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.

PHOTOGRAPHY BENJAMIN MARVIN
FASHION EDITOR MILA FRANOVIC
ASSISTANT ALEX PERRIN

For this story we wanted to show off the curious collections of our friends, but collections that are quirkier, cooler, more personal, rather then compulsive or even gross . Brittany, a fashion model collects clothing, impulsively she swims in it, while Cristy collects delicate four leaf clovers she finds and catalogs by the place where they soaked up the rays. Here are some of our friends and their junk. We love junk, and stuff, and we love our friends.

Charlie Roberts paints things. Real things. And lots of them. He crams together the millions of images that accumulate in our collective subconscious but never get recognized for what they really are: that is, the very substance of our lives. His canvases are awash in iconography, celebrities, signs, symbolic gestures, junk, famous artworks, animals, disposable culture, album covers, jokes and inside jokes—literally teeming with small and great ideas alike, where each play in a vortex of delicious complexity. Looking at one of his paintings is like standing in a river of culture, pollution and all. And there is no way that you won’t get wet.

My best friend growing up drove a hearse because he said it was easier for him to load his Marshall amp into the back since the hearse had rollers for the coffins. This same guy later decided to go on a never-ending drug binge, and at one point was dressing as a clown and sleeping in a homemade coffin by the train tracks because, as he said, he had become a clown. Every single month he would change his name in order to become “invisible.” He was all about aesthetic. It was almost as if he was always trying to give me lessons about how to be cool, or more punk, as well as being more polite and using good etiquette. One day I was walking down the street with a friend, and there he was sleeping on the sidewalk. We woke him up and he joined us walking. My friend was eating an ice cream cone, and once he had licked off all the ice cream on top, he started eating the cone. My homeless clown friend said, “What are you doing?” to which my friend said, “Eating the cone.” The hobo clown replied, “Your hands are dirty, and they touch the cone, spreading germs all around, and you’re gonna eat that? Gross.” This was coming from a man who was wearing stolen women’s clothes and sleeping on a filthy sidewalk only minutes earlier.

For skateboarders, the streets are a constant source of inspiration. The banks, gaps, ledges and rails of the world promise endless possibilities, and skaters do their best to take full advantage. In this pursuit, skateboarders study the streets and take in what others don’t see, exploring and searching out new locations to skate, often revisiting the same places over and over. Bottle caps, cassettes, handbills, hand-scrawled notes—these cast-off remnants of our culture can all be considered lucky finds by creative skaters, stumbled upon while carving down a back alley or sweeping away debris at the top of a staircase, or even just ripping them off a wall.

Photography MAGDA WOSINSKA
Stylist ASHLEY ABERCROMBIE
ASSISTANTS LAUREN TOLL AND DANA PADGETT
HAIR AMBER MAYNARD MAKEUP SANDY GANZER
Models CASSY, KELLY, SCARLETT

Bridges have long played an important role in skateboarding’s history. Apart from being perfect places to seek shelter from the rain, there is something about their architecture—the concrete columns, the girders—as well as the very idea of a bridge that just naturally fits with what skateboarders are doing.