…and now for something completely different, say hello to Schrott.Life

I have seen this coming, but Independent went more and more image instead of substance anyway. Reminder: Venture and Thunder are still made in the USA by the same company that made Independent-Trucks for decades, Ermico Enterprises Inc. I’m on Ventures again after decades of Indy-Trucks.

This is good read: The paranoid style of American skateboarding.

Just when it seemed that the skateboarding community just follows its industry leaders, resistance shines through.

a solution against racism? this is so good!

we have organized a local screening starring this awesome piece of hardcore/diy history. cya tonight!

if you are searching for vegan clothing, you may check out the new straightwear online shop. nice people, good products, fair prices. i buy there regularly myself to get the highly skateable  vegetarian shoes canada sneaker.

new sub-stance stuff is happening all the time, but updating conflicts with skateboarding. well, today updating wins, so here are some new decks.

new balance is known for still producing some shoe collections in great britain and the united states. now they enter the skateboarding market with its numeric line. what’s the outcome? a shoe made in china. fucking lame.

had some visual enhancements. nothing big, but over the time there will be some more to come. just come by and take a look!

just uploaded a new entry to the random series. for viewing, go to the media page and click the text link. or just download the FullHD 1920×1080/50fps version here. in best movie tradition, there is even a tragic hero…

(on old computers this movie will lag. click the antenna icon in the video player and select “bandwidth: medium” to view a lower res version…)

the sincere folks from hagen rebuilt their awesome ramp in a new location, perfect for a lovely saturday night session.

guess this movie classic by these screenshots, and win a shirt. really!

maybe the city with the sickest skateboarding infrastructure, also because of the brandnew skatepark of copenhagen (fælledparken). some footage here. check these pics i made from the new park (flooded by disturbing scooter kids) and other locations like the wooden indoor bowl in christiania.

This is another shameless self promotion  of  a small but fun loving record company. I’m looking for hardcore/punk bands for a vinyl compilaton. Some bands have already recorded tracks for this project: RIGHT IDEA, COMMITMENT CREW, INJUSTICE SYSTEM, DOGENDS, REFRAIN, SEEIN’ Red and NIGHT PROWLER. Other bands which will record soon hopefully: THE DEFENSE, CITIZENS PATROL, TIMES TOGETHER, REVEAL, POLICE AND THIEVES, STATE OF AFFAIRS, SNIFFING GLUE, EVOLVE. I need actually more bands. I’m trying to get all different hardcore/punk genres together for this project, whether it is straight edge, crust, noisecore, thrashcore, skatecore… as long it is hardcore/punk it’s fine.

For more news click here

Keith Morris (Circle Jerks/Black Flag has a new band.​.​.​ ​OFF!​ which is made up of Steve McDonald from Redd Kross on bass, Dimitri Coats from the Burning Brides (actually never heard about this band) on guitar and Mario Rubalcaba (professional skateboarder, skating for Team Alva) on drums, & Keith on vocals.

For a listen check their page at: http://www.offofficial.com

wow, timeless street skating, timeless style, awesome abilities, brandon westgate is just a pleasure to watch..
regarding videos: here is the “dude, i never heard of this guy” videopart: danijel stankovic makes a deep impression!

awesomeness from the early 80’s: the cure. luckily two of my favorite tracks in one live video. moves me like it was yesterday.

the sf feeling, there it is again… do yourself a favor and use the 720p setting.

impressive stuff from the early 90s, a great time for hip hop.

…rides a skateboard. recorded two days ago at the spermbirds/youth of today show with my pocket camera. youth of today were quite disappointing.

i wanna ride this quarter-to-wall in the background. btw. this tre flip looks fantastic!

our local skatepark recently got ripped by these usual suspects from belgium.

finally found this video classic, inside out by gullwing trucks. let’s start with the soundtrack, which is a masterly mixture of styles and moods, mostly by bands, i never heard of, and with various styles. it creates a truly unique athmospere.
also the mix of personalities is awesome. it’s a clash of generations, legends and rookies, gator here and ron allen there, it is full of opposites.
few videos ever covered the transition of skateboarding from the 80’s to the 90’s better than this flick. almost like parallel universes you find the 80’s skateboarding vert rockstars in tie died vision streetwear clothing and plain dressed streetstyle amateurs exploring new possibilities. both seemingly unaware that they will be all part of a huge paradigm shift in skateboarding.
a person who really stands out here is chris miller. he really is timeless in any aspect.
i still remember when i first watched the movie around ’88, it was wintertime and we only had parking garages to escape the snow and rain for some skating. the movie fitted perfectly with its raw appearance. unusually for a skate movie in some parts it even seems that the weather conditions weren’t perfect either. i really love this part!

a few days ago a friend reminded me off this “sick of it all” classic. the same day i read about this hyped popband called “hurts”, and i gave their video a try. for an 80’s grown up like me, the sound and look brought no suprise. so i quickly forgot about it. the more i was surprised to catch myself a few days later still repeating the hookline in my head. well, after some considerations i found a twisted connection between the “hurts” song and the previously heard one of “sick of it all”. so these two bands obviously joined forces in my head. a question remains: can the “hurts” hookline considered as stolen from “sick of it all”?

D.I.Y. America (1, 2, 3, 4) is an ambitious approach to show the values and perspectives skateboarding and doing things by yourself in general can teach you.

it is directed by aaron rose of beautiful losers fame. there are really good people speaking, but the documentation itself is produced by a subsidiary of wieden & kennedy, a major ad agency working for mainstream brands like nike, coca cola or levi’s. another sneaky effort of some ad agency to keep a fresh image?

i for myself gave up to explain the deeps of skateboarding a long time ago. it all comes down to this.

these wheels sound interesting. at least the folks at kontrol where able to add two fresh approaches to wheels: still 100% made in usa and eco-friendliness, which means nothing without certificates. still there is some goodwill compared to the staleness of the competition.
“All our wheels are 100% USA made, and with almost zero waste Kontrol wheels are the most Eco Friendly skateboard wheels in the world.”
because urethane can’t be very eco-friendly they seem to argue with less waste and higher efficiency.

regarding dwindle: does this look like a state of the art production facility?
“For the past three years, under the direction of Rodney Mullen, Dwindle Distribution has developed a secret weapon – The state of the art, Chinese production facility we call Chop Chop Wood Shop.”
so lets see how jart is doing. well, you get the picture.

awesome skater, but a surprising transformation in appearance from ghettorapper to folky dude. hopefully not just some kind of selfbranding.
unfortunately his sponsors are some of the lamest china-made-board-mass-stupification companies ever: almost and other dwindle distibution shit.

proof me wrong but for years i got the feeling that the oh so hated band reunions were one of the few interesting things going on hardcore wise.
at least this reunion show by the the legendary gorilla biscuits rocked.
still when i see this, it feels like i was there yesterday.

right now i find myself in the same situation with this band. it will be hard to resist the deja-vu 20 years later.

this track by negative approach perfectly covers the lost feeling of many young beings in the early 80’s. an all time hardcore classic pioneering the harcore punk scene. it lost nothing of its raw energy more than 25 years later.

“You try to make things work and gain something
It’s all no use, it’s all worth nothing
Complete satisfaction, too impossible to believe
Nothing’s ever fucking gonna work for me

Tomorrow seems so hopeless
Can’t keep it off my mind
Another day of nothing
I’m running out of time
I’ve got nothing I can look forward to
I’m always left with nothing

I’m always told things I don’t want to hear
My destiny’s become quite clear
Life’s never fucking given nothing to me
It’s just stood by and watched me bleed

Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing”

very thoughtful words regarding skateboarding, art and the industry by the remarkable don pendleton:

“Ultimately, the skaters are always going to decide where skating goes. So if they want something cheap made in China, they’re going to get it. If they demand something more, they’ll have that option as well.”

“These days, it seems less of a craft and more of a commodity unfortunately. Those transfer graphics are horrible and temporary but it almost seems kind of fitting for Chinese boards, doesn’t it? I mean, companies went from lovingly crafting these intricately created skateboards and hand screening the graphics color by color to lining up popsicle sticks in China and basically applying a big decal to it. Kind of sad in terms of history and what skateboarding leaves behind as it advances… but it may have helped some companies keep their doors open.”

“The sales force has become a part of the design process because they know what’s selling and what isn’t and the average company is chasing the dragon in terms of give them what they want.”

some fixed gear bike footage of cardiel cruising sacramentos skatespots.

wow, its unbelievable, but sub-stance just turned ten (whois: Created On: 1999-07-22 15:26:45 GMT). still many things kept the same, which is good.

so, what’s up with sub-stance?

since the beginning sub-stance was more of a project i did with the kind support of my friends. it started out because i got aware of the slave-like production conditions in the third world, and the fact, that more and more skateboard companies offshored their production to these countries for more profit.
the endless recycling of design clichés lend from punk, hiphop and skateboard traditions was another reason to do something more personal.

it’s not aimed to be profitable. i think the problems arise with being profitable. you have to act market driven and do things you don’t wanted to do in the first place. so the idea is not to sell but to give away stuff for a donation or trading.
because i have a regular job to earn money for a living, i don’t have to meet any standards but mine.

we are to small to produce our own blanks, so we searched for a really good, sweatshop-free factory.
our decks are blanks made by jart, which are produced in spain using canadian hard rock maple with the most advanced production processes. they are very nice folks with quality products.
since the beginning our shirts are made by american apparel sweatshop free in the usa. that was at a time when aa was only a startup blankshirt provider. as an option we have fair-trade shirts.

every shirt or deck is individually handmade for the donor. we have no stock. because of this we don’t use silk-screen printing which makes more sense for high volume productions. instead we use various other technologies like heat transfers, vinyl cutting, hand sewing and stamping…

i encourage everyone to make his own stuff. the scene would be much more fun and individual, and this would overcome all the generic crap we see today.

this year wasn’t very productive because of my main job, but i’m looking forward for much new stuff and posts in 2010!

many thanks for your kind support all these years. keep up keeping it up 😉

band reunions, most of the time they are boring. but i still love these guys: the stupids are back. and tommy stupid is still on the drums. besides that he is the well known drum and bass producer and dj “klute” with his own label commercial suicide. see a nice set here.
and does he still skate? Yes! just check this interview out.

you may be one of those people living vegetarian or vegan, maybe don’t use a car or try consuming sustainable, aiming to make a little change.
you have good reasons for doing this. many of them based on scientific facts known and confirmed for decades.

even though you regulary get into discussions with others who were not aware of these reasons or didn’t believe in them. maybe this tremendous project will once and for all set the knowledge base for all mankind, even prevailing against all the lobbyist initiatives.
see home and be affirmed or inspired to change things.

some sentimental diggin’ in the past: this is definitely a candidate for the “10 best songs ever” list. morrissey and the smiths with a lovely show in ’86. there is even a connection to skateboarding: around the time i started skating!

i recently viewed “free pegasus”, the second skate flick by brian lotti. as you might know i was a big fan of his first production “1st & hope”. but i have to say i was a bit disappointed by its successor. on the plus side is the soulful skateboarding in a beautiful city and good vibes. but “free pegasus” lost the ease of “1st & hope”. maybe because it is more story driven which feels very stale and constructed. american bohemians enjoying what they feel is the european less affair lifestyle: love, art & culture, good food and partying.

the funny thing is: the whole movie reminded me of woody allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” movie. not only because of the same location, barcelona. the whole visual appearance with its warm yellowish colors looks similar. and it plays with comparable sounds and themes. this movie too had this american bohemian cliché, but i interpreted it as woody allens cynical approach.

what’s special about skateboarding is that you don’t need no actors, artists, storybooks or certain continents to create pure art with it.

and regarding the european skate scene, this might be a good example.

movie reviews always lies in the eye of the beholder and maybe i got it all wrong. just watch it by yourself and make up your mind. i really respect brian’s efforts and look forward for his next project.

just stumbled over a classic, the lovely beth hirsch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUmJ1Y9C6Q. i saw her years ago together with ursula rucker, a winning combination. enjoy.

i just found this miniramp part of the old “h-street shackle me not” video. i remember being totally stoked about the song, which resembles a classic hardcore style. until today i’m not shure who it is, but i guess it is the committed, a band featuring mario rubalcaba, who skated for h-street at the time of the video. at least the band is listed in the movie credits. any information regarding this band and their releases would be great.

all killer, no filler! awesome tracks.

it seems like the folks at xbookstorecorex reviewed sub-stance.com. unfortunately it is written in polish, which i don’t understand. google translate wasn’t very helpful either. nevertheless thanks for your effort!

some days plain suck. and you can see it coming days before. every day adds some little hurdle and it all will fit perfectly into one big disaster.

like last sunday. not a typical sunday but the sunday i yearned for. the first time to ride the new concrete skatepark (more on this later).
The whole week i had too much work to go there in the evening. and then i became aware that i lost my skate shoes in a rental car the weekend before! stupid me. these were the “vegetarian shoes” i wrote about some time ago. they were perfect ridden in and now gone.

ok, so i picked some old rowleys from the attic. i never thought i would skate in some sweatshop shoes again, but that’s all i had to save a session.

so saturday came and it rained. i had to wait for sunday. and sunday started with backache. without a reason, apart from the fact that my back is quite prone to this problem. but does it have to be today??? anyway i went to the park with my friends. needless to say it was quite crowded, the shoes sucked and the back ached. i should have relaxed but i wanted to ride. after some hours my back was completely fucked. i couldn’t even lace my shoes.

so now the weekend comes and i am still curing my back. but at least it rains…

just stumbled across this awesome show by breakdown in new york’s tompkin’s square park. check the mix of characters, races and ages. new york hardcore at its best.

imagine youself, skating for decades, progressing, innovating, living skateboarding. and then imagine an accident. you can’t feel your legs and may never walk again. an then, after months, there is this little feeling in your toe. and you have to learn to move your legs and to walk from the ground up. and imagine this one day, you can’t even walk proper again, but you grab your skateboard and start all over again. with a basic drop-in you learned decades ago. would you have the power to go through all this? i just can’t imagine… but cardiel can. heartbreaking.

i’m a big fan of the “1st & Hope” skateboard movie by brian lotti. and i’m even more curious about his new project: “free pegasus”. the trailer already looks promising.

we now have a new navigation entry: “media“. here you find the media player to view movies with ease. check it out! just move your trusty cursor to the “select” menu, click “media” and enjoy.

it’s time for some random shit again. after a crazy nightshift here it is:
randoms #2. you can find it in our new “media” section.

the story of stuff. awesome done edutainment.

just a quick note: we made some t-shirts available. have a look if you like.

well, we all made mistakes in life: good choice, duane!

still digging deeper, and while we are at it, this is another all time classic of 1998. words to live by. 4hero and ursula rucker. unparalleled. read.

dug into my record collection and found this beauty again. released 1995, still nothing captures urbanity and futurism more than this track. truly timeless.

fabulous words by charles bukowski.

cool, the northbrigade has a new blogbased website up. i love this park and can’t wait to rip the new setup which got build while you read this.

i had good times at the dom sports skatehall (r.i.p.). nice to see some old footage. just ignore the two folks…

get the newest bailgun mag and see promising pictures of the new skatepark in namur (belgium) and more parks, tours and art. as always a pleasure!

crazy things happen here. in a few weeks three of my oldest skatebuddies will leave or have already left to find their luck in australia, spain and munich. now skate sessions will get much smaller.

but nevertheless all the best to my bros, i hope we will still find ways to shred together!

join the rebel sell! go buy your own rebellion. spent all your money on stuff and clothing to be sure you will get the authentic rebel look.

but what happens when there are more rebels than average people? is being average the new rebellion? or may it be that you just can’t buy rebellion?

this is a really embarrassing document of police brutality against skateboarders. these kids got handled like terrorists.
i never visited palm springs, and, after seeing this, probably never will.

and it seems like this psycho is getting away with it.

As some of you already know a CRUCIAL RESPONSE SHOWCASE will be held July 1st at DB in Utrecht with Birds Of A Feather, Strike First, One Voice, Commitment Crew, The Defense and Hoods Up. The Show starts sharp at 16 h. 

We will be offering limited silkscreen edition for various titles plus One Voice and Commitment Crew will have their record release show at the showcase. For information and direction go to http://www.crucialresponse.com. We need some help printing up the posters. If you live near Oberhausen give us a ring after 8 in the evening 0208.872168

what is a skateshoe? is it defined by its functionality or is it just a special look?
since the beginning there were shoes claiming to be made for skateboarding. but skateboarders had a long tradition in using stuff that was not especially made for skateboarding.

skateboarders had freely chosen what they wanted to skate, what worked and what fitted. may it terrain or clothing.

products from nike, converse, adidas or puma got used for decades, but these companies were never aware of skateboarding. it wasn’t a market for them and they didn’t support it.

nowadays it is different. these same industries see a market and buy themself into the scene to give their mass products a more alternative image. and skateboarders seem to follow…

so i searched for a real alternative, and found it at “vegetarian shoes”.

i’m very happy with this shoe. and it’s environmentally friendly, vegan (vegetarian?), made in portugal and perfect for skateboarding.
unfortunately as most skateshoes they take some time to get broken in.

you wonder why there are less posts over the last weeks? this is because i’m busy finalizing the board section.
here you find some samples of all the stuff we created and destroyed over the years (T-shirts will follow). it reflects our love for simplicity and d.i.y. ethics but also the hate for the usual visual stereotypes of corporate skateboarding.
oh yes, the price! well, you decide. just donate what you can spare. it’s based on honesty. sneek preview

here is a great interview with legendary artist jim phillips, the man behind many classic santa cruz designs of the 80’s. expect tons of delicious old school decks…

woooo, these guys ruled! u.k. crossover at it’s fastest: heresy live!
watch out for the uniform choice shirt of the drummer. in the old days the hardcore kids were united!

ooooh, all these poor pros, maybe just stop dating expensive chicks…
stop whining, innovate.

is there a need for any other skateboard truck? well, i don’t need anything else. but currently i wonder if they are still made in the usa… they are!

there was a time when i proudly bought decks from my favorite skateboard brands. everything was made in its own little eco-system and worth to be supported. nowadays boards are made in china and the us-woodshops are dying. nevertheless decks kept the same price and many brands are bought out by mainstream companies. if you dislike this whole situation, just buy blank decks or make your own.
and it seems like many people think this way. so this goes to you, mr. muska: if this industry with all its money is not able to produce new and innovative products but milking the same old technology for 20 years, the consequences are their own problem. corporate skateboarding can suck it!

for all you “conscious rappers” out there: Nice stuff from talib kweli in form of his new album called “liberation”, and it’s completely free!

hey, all you so called punkrockers out there, how long will it take to understand that skulls are the lamest shit on earth?

wow, this is the video i always wanted to do. just cruising the city with friends and being comfortable on your board. no handrail stunts, no cut every two seconds. just pure enjoyment.

what makes this film even better is the mix of generations from lance mountain to paul rodriguez. it shows people living their life but kept true to skating. the film is directed by brian lotti, who even contributed a spoken word audio layer. well done!

featured skaters are: Eric Dressen, Lance Mountain, Ocean Howell, Salman Agah, Dune, Tom Knox, Brian Lotti, Kenny Anderson, Mike Carroll, Marc Johnson, Ray Barbee, Caswell Berry, Paolo Diaz, Paul Rodriguez, Mark Appleyard und Brezinski, PJ Ladd and many more.

i just stumbled across this well done natas kaupas documentation. enjoy a great personality and the roots of modern streetskating.

we have a winner here: walmart fucked it up big time…

skateboarding till 3:00 in the morning. the incredible area 51 skatehall in eindhoven. have a seat and take a look!

what a great track! 18 years of skateboarding in 5 minutes. proudly presented by blumentopf.

awesome show killed by the mighty gorilla biscuits!
“Conformity, the easy way to be accepted. I’d rather be outcast any day
It’s hard to be yourself with all the pressures coming down,
It takes a strong fucking person to hold your ground.
Hold Your Ground!”

nice done. i can't say it often enough: we all must watch out what we are buying. and regarding skateboarding: can an “alternative lifestyle” really be based on slavery?

…making real shoes in england: new balance uk. be sure to check the video at the end of the article. compare this to the way most clothing is made today…

i always admired tadao ando. his simple, minimalistic approach combined with the strict use of concrete develops true icons of modernism.
so last weekend i took the chance to see alex katz in a building build by tadao ando. what a great combination!
but even greater, tadao ando made a sick skatespot for you!

aaaahhh, memories… you remember this awesome part of brian lotti in planet earth‘s Now N’ Later? great lines, great soundtrack. this was 1991!
in contrast these one second cuts of todays skatevideos just suck. no flow, no enjoyment.

ok, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll is an expensive lifestyle. especially, if you are a band with the last musical output dating back to the mid-eighties.
so what can be done for fresh cashflow? right! merchandise. and here we have it: the “the clash” shoe made by globe, yawn.

hardcore and skateboarding in its finest combination.

Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?
Do you remember when we used to hang out?
And we knew what we were ALL ABOUT
Different bands with different ideas
And I’m not talking back more than TWO YEARS
But now all that’s finished, gone down the drain
No more scene, no more unity SCHISM REIGNS
What the fuck happened to what we said?
Was it some idiotic game we fucking played?
Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?
We used to work together, band helped band
But now it’s different, it’s OUT OF HAND
It can’t be true that I’m the only one who’s proud
Of the way it used to be, am I ALONE IN THE CROWD?
Gotta get back to what it was before
‘Cause we forgot what we were FIGHTING FOR
Let’s end the bullshit, end it soon
So we can beat a path back
To our fucking roots!
remember.

there are so many excellent skateboarding videos out there. made with the freshest equipment and the most talented filmers and skateboarders. but what about those odd little everyday life snippets with lousy tricks and no budget? do we have to delete them for some better footage? random footage must live!

• download large movie (190 mb, 640×480, encoded in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, a fast machine is needed!)
• download small movie (19 mb, 320×240, encoded in MPEG-4)

to download directly, right-click the link and save the files to disk. quicktime is needed for viewing. if you don’t want to install quicktime, i recommend the excellent vlc player.

markus and gerd did it again: bailgun#4 with a delicious australia feature.

… keeps the pool full.
this supersecret place rocks!

the ground was dirty, and i fucked up my ankle, but it was fun anyway. the ditch in köln hürth. take a look.

here is the next movie in line for documenting and demystifying subcultures of the 80’s. this time the american punk/hardcore movement is the target. it sucks, but will be hard to resist. now what about something like hiphop '83?

it’s always the same in the capitalistic world. at first there is a company with a new idea and industry watchers will rate it commercial suicide. next you have the “i told you so” version if the company fails, or the “we have to react!” version if it suceeds.with american apparel it is no difference. in a time of outsourcing, aa started with their los angeles based textile production, and the industry had a good laugh. the common sense of the time was to produce in third world countries to make more profit with all its unethical consequences. furthermore aa promised sustainable- and sweatshop-free products, until then seen as an uneconomic market. within a few years aa has grown to a multi-million dollar corporation with a rapidly growing market share.now the industry want a piece of the cake, the media want stories, the unions want new members, and the customer want to be confirmed he is still buying the right thing. this resulted in a big media buzz and its hard to get the complete picture. especially dov charney’s odd personality feeds the fire. so what is fact or fiction? i for myself had a hard time researching and finally found this very well done article by knowmore.org with many relevant sources.in the end you have to decide for yourself. personally i don’t care for their ad campains. where is the difference between the aa campain and other fashion ads? fashion ads suck anyway and i started buying aa products even before the stores and campains.aa product quality and variety is still fine, it is still produced in los angeles, in the meantime the average pay for an employee on the sewing floor even rised to $12.50 compared to a few cents in china and there is comparatively much support for the workers. these are still my key points for buying aa. and regarding the sexual harassment stories: there is so many information thrown together without context, it is hard to value. for instance, the jane article excluded the important fact, that the writer had a relationship with charney.so i’m still fine with aa products but will observe the ongoings. meanwhile charney should really think before he act. there are others waiting in line to provide sweatshop-free clothing without sex scandals:

• alternativeapparel
• nosweatapparel
• justiceclothing

on my daily ride to work i always have to look at these ugly bus seats. maybe this daily routine slowly fries my brain but i swear there is a hidden skateboarding silouette. it looks like a soulful nose manual, the ones scott oster was famous for.

as always highly enjoyable views on skateboarding. this time with an in-depth kopenhagen feature.

ok, i confess, i am one of the few people who, while listening to punk/hardcore, don’t like the misfits. the sound never kicked me, but they obviously had an excellent branding. so good, that nowadays it’s everywhere and completely out of context. skulls, just don’t do it.

must be great. sleeping, eating, skating…

we all know that drained swimming pools are great for skateboarding. but imagine a complete waterless water park!
(warning, contains agressive inline skating, grrrr…)

the old, concrete beauty of cologne. enjoy…

suddenly all big sports brands love skateboarding. but in the end they just try to sell the same old shoe models.

in this case it's the adidas stan smith, supported by mark gonzales. same product, different image, different audience. easy.

very nice done. check this movie made by Three Legged Legs.
hint: no skateboarding.

an easy way to buy things. maybe too easy, but what’s the alternative?

i never found larry clark's movies authentic. but somehow i enjoyed his overexposed style with the flair of an outsider trying to understand what's going on.

wassup rockers is his new movie. as always it is focused on youth culture and again it plays with skin deep clichees. or may i say skin tight? because it shows skateboarders with the look of their dad in the 80's: tight pants, long hair and a moustache. very rebelious.

congratulation for a great zine, pete! voice of a generation is a hardcore fanzine to the bone. get one, and if you like it, donate!

“Thanks to corporations like Nike we can eat extreme pizza, drive Nissan's X-Terra suv, wear extreme deodorant, hire extreme consulting firms and invest in extreme equity funds. But if we are all extreme now, then where have the real rebels gone? Disappeared in a haze of Ritalin?”
This is an excellent article from adbuster featuring the consolidated dudes and even ocean howell. download the pdf here!

just stumbled across this old follow-up responding to this well known dwindle fact.

yeah, the summer is finally here and it’s time for billerbeck. (3-D view, quicktime needed)!

i had a good laugh while listening to this track called “inlineschweine” by sondaschule. two members are old skatebuddies i skated with in the late 80’s. never mess with mülheim styrum!

don’t get mislead by the first minutes of this movie. i saw earthlings does not try to shock but to document the relationship of humans and animals. and this is shocking. everyone can do something against this. every little step counts. at least try.

while looking for new running shoes two years ago i noticed that at least the new balance high end running shoes were made in the uk or in the usa. new balance is known for its high quality shoes so i bought them right away, glad to support these guys and getting a good running shoe. however i wouldn't wear them in everyday life since this high tech look isn't really my style 😉 nevertheless i really like the clean looking new balance re-issues of the 80's. and the great thing is that many of them are made in the uk, too. even the dudes at peta are happy.

so why this buzz? well, let's just go to an average shop providing all these sports- and skateboard brands. one “cooler” than the other;-) but do you think any of these “cool” brands managed to produce their “scenish” sneakers any different than in form of mass productions under questionable conditions in china or the third world? not one. may it vans or duffs, converse or adidas, nike or globe. so at least new balance shows some attitude that really stands out. their decision is business driven and they too have products made in regions mentioned above, no question about that, but it shows that it is still possible to produce in countries with social standards, trade unions and organized workers.

by the way, as long as these conditions are guaranteed for chinese workers i have no problems at all. my concerns are definitely not patriotic but ethic driven. now if only there would be a clean shaped new balance shoe to use for skateboarding…

haha, that’s an easy rule, right? but it’s quite hard to put into practice nowadays. ten years ago it seemed to be easier. in the skateboarding or punk community nobody wanted to buy from mainstream corporations anyway. buying products from the communities was a good chance to exclude products from corporate assholes. nowadays we know that:

1. most of the small companies went mainstream long ago with all the corporate asshole practices
2. the mainstream corporations figured out ($$$$) how to look like a small company

so for some time i’m trying to find products for my needs with at least some ethics and values. may it be the proof of credibility in the community, sustainability and responsibility or a fair code of conduct. and because it’s very difficult to evaluate these informations, my rule of thumb is trying to exclude products made in countries, where even human rights are not granted. so if you see a guy in a shop pulling everything inside out in search for the “made in …” label, it may be me trying not to buy from assholes 😉

i know i'm a little bit late with this, but if you still don't know about bailgun it's your turn now. bailgun is an excellent, pdf based skate mag with a very unique perspective on skateboarding. and it is free! so if you dig it, support the makers with some feedback 🙂

…is coming to you with this little website. heart warming old school pics with a personal touch, even featuring some well known skaters like ronnie bertino (or some dude with the same name?), ed templeton and matt hensley as well as spots like del mar and fort miley.

on top you get an '89 ray barbee interview out of brian's old, selfmade skatemag. nice read.

…not new at all. but after reading this crazy shit about tom cruise and the scientology rules for giving birth to a baby, i thought what jason lee might think about his hungry colleague?

i have to say i can't really resist this. really nice track. i wonder what happened to skatemaster tate?

this is a great read. jim gray, owner of abc board supply (scarecrow, acme…) talks about his views regarding the trend in the skateboard-industry to produce decks in china. especially the manifesto has interesting insights. in the end the scene has to decide what stuff it will buy and support.
i for myself tried to get abc blanks for my sub-stance boards, but as i'm dedicated to design only a few, handmade decks, abc's minimum purchase limit was still to high for me :-/

that’s why i love the internet: collaboration. while the nike “major thread” campain itself was a very small attempt to fool the kids with an alternative image stolen from hardcore legends minor threat, they pissed many people off in a very short time. just follow this google search. now nike apologizes. another link is provided here.
oh, you can still find the original nike ad here. needless to say i really believe in taking actions. even in the globalized world we have today.

no, i can’t believe it! ok, i hate nike for being the uncaring, third world producing, child abusing, brainwashing, no morality having, profit guzzlin’, environment destroying industry player, but the new ad campain for the nike skateboarding major threat tour is the biggest exploit of punk history i have ever seen. and this makes me hate nike even more.
but do you know who should be killed right away? this self called art director-whore for shoving nike’s giant, corporate dick deep into his paid asshole!!!! what can be more degrading than selling what you once loved for some dollars to a company, who don’t even know what they are buying, as long as it is authentic, modern and credible?
more to read here…, and remember, sometimes good guys don’t wear white. oh, now it’s featured on the dischord website.

ok, this guy may be some motherfuckin’ hustler who just want to make money, but most of our beloved skateboard companies are doing the same while hiding behind their faked independent image.

american apparel is still one of the few companies producing under fair and guaranteed conditions.

in contrast, the major part of the garment industry, like hanes, fruit of the loom, or the like, run sweatshops in the third world or have subcontracts with these sweatshops. check: fruit of the loom, hanes…

so, the next time you buy some skate t-shirt, chances are big to get this mean punkass-skull-design printed on top of some bloodsucking t-shirt blank. take a closer look, fool!

you too hate skatehalls packed with inline-kids and managed by go-cart jocks? shitty music, high prices and stupid helmets? well, there is a way out: grab some friends, rent a hall and make one yourself. sadly it’s not that easy and without the commitment of all it will not work out.
but we pulled it. ladys and gentlemen, this is bluegrind:
www.bluegrind.de, more pics at flipskate…

isn’t this the perfect title for the product sold by the industry today? unfortunately it was not my idea but from a great hardcore band called street trash. think about verbal abuse, bad brains and even a bit dead kennedys, but no, they are definitly not yet another replica band.
if you don’t know them already, check ’em out here and here.

have you ever noticed that you can guess good weather by its sound? sitting around in the dimmed office forces me to trust my ears. there are so many details. sounds are crisp and you can hear planes, especially the small ones who are limited to good weather conditions. everything sounds bright and louder than the average winterday. the ultimate call for skateboarding! can’t wait…

This is a letter I got from Revelation recently:
November 4th
Hi- We need to make a return of your product to you and close out the old invoice(s) that we have. This email address and / or phone number that we have for you have been tried, but no response. Please get in touch before nov 22nd, or the invoices will be voided and the product destroyed. Thanks so much, I hope to hear from you soon Your sincerely Vique Martin Sales Manager Revelation Records

hey boy, the secret trail to mhuellerland starts right here. just follow it, you won’t regret…

crazy! this old mammoth is still there. check out the pictures. awesome. all i want is to carve that thing and pop some ollies! veterans like dave berghtold are already in action to save Carlsbad Skatepark.

Thats right all you silly core-heads out there, we are going to start playing again.
Shocking! As you know, when Andy and Drew broke up it cause da tremendous stress on the whole band, there was bickering and back stabbing, and we cant even surmise the sexual tension at practice, it was horrible! But guess what? Andy and Drew have made amends and managed to adopt a small baby boy named “Dredyn”. They even moved in together to a small apartment in West Long Beach. Right at home, aren’t we boys? So that means more jamming, more shows, more chaos! We will be playing in 2 weeks somewhere in Ventura. More info will be supplied shortly. We are glad to be back!

in december 2003 the faux ami art collective started the exhibition “skateboardfieber”. a collection of decks, clothing, mags and the like represented 40 years of skateboarding history. if you missed it (like me) here is your second chance.
skateboardfieber, 16.-30.Oktober 2004, Berlin

du merkst, daß du alt wirst, wenn die todesnachrichten im freundeskreis zunehmen. ein satz, den man immer wieder mal im verwandtenkreis hört. leider ist er nur zu wahr.
“markus bange ist tot”. wohl einer der anrufe, die ich nie vergessen werde, und am liebsten nie gehabt hätte.
es ist nicht mal ein jahr her, und wenn ich daran denke, fehlen mir immer noch die worte.
markus gehörte zu den wenigen menschen, die mich durch meine vielleicht prägendsten jahre begleiteten. ich erlebte mit ihm bmx und skateboarding, hardcore und punk, reisen und freunde machen, szenen gründen und dinge bewegen.
haha, aus scheisse gold machen, keiner konnte das so gut wie er.
er war der kontaktfreudigere von uns beiden. kein telefonat, in dem er nicht berichtete, wie er jemanden in irgendeinem sauerländer kaff mit skateboard gesehen und angesprochen hätte. viele leute lernte ich nur durch markus kennen. er war der geborene networker und durch und durch ein optimist.
ich will hiermit die chance nutzen, und auf diese website mit diversen fotos von ihm aufmerksam machen (danke, günter!). eine kleine zusammenfassung seht ihr hier: rip

yes, these were funny times when everybody wanted to be in it. eventually the next big thing came by and they all had their excuses for loosing the edge. most common: “i got to old for that childish stuff”. this often goes along with quitting skateboarding, haha. for those who stayed young, check this out: showcase 3, by crucial response records. gigs in the netherlands are always fun!

poorly done and not even worth the battery charge. but it’s all there. and it still makes me wanna skate! random skateboarding

Seems like there are many protestors against Bush and his politics. Here’s another interesting site… please click here

“Forget about London and New York and fashion and politics. The Germs wrote and played the best punk rock songs of all time” Ah not really but if you want a fun read about Darby Crash and the L.A. scene this book is something for you

Shameless self-promotion by the poster! Yes, still alive & kicking after 15 years. Damn, I can’t believe it myself. Crucial Response Records

no, not playstation crap but some mindgames. close your eyes and try it yourself. can you see the videos? Disclaimer: you should have been skating for at least 10 years to see something!
video one, video two, video three, video four

grabbed from an email conversation:
“hätte mir jemand an meinem ersten tag auf dem skateboard gesagt, dass ich siebzehn jahre später immer noch auf dem teil durch die welt rollern würde, hätte ich ihm wahrscheinlich nicht geglaubt. auch jetzt kann ich mir nicht vorstellen, damit aufzuhören. ich meine, ich liebe diesen scheiss! dennoch werden die möglichkeiten weniger, werden eingeschränkt. kopf und körper spielen streiche, schwächen skateboarding in mir. aber nicht nur in mir, überall um mich herum kann ich es sehen, bei den jungs, mit denen ich gross geworden bin; bei den jungs, die schon seit ewigkeiten auf dem brett stehen. es ist wohl der lauf der dinge, der gerade seine geschichte erzählt. doch solange wir uns immer wieder aufraffen, uns auf die paar stunden auf dem brett freuen, wir in diesen seltsamen zeiten unseren spaß haben, ist alles okay. dann ist alles so, wie es schon immer war. dann ist alles so, wie es sein sollte… wie es immer sein wird. skateboarding. und auch HIER gilt: rebuild yourself! rebuild skateboarding… im laufe deines lebens, wenn deine knochen anfangen, “nein” zu schreien und deine liebe zum skaten ihnen den mund zuhält. rebuild, marc. rebuild…”
26. Juli 2004 17:56:19 MESZ
learn german and dive into the heartbreaking words of mhueller…

some nice quotation today, and if you ask me what this has to do with skateboarding i only feel sorry for you:
“in our society, “youthful rebellion” has become a ritual: every generation is expected to revolt against the social order for a few years, before “growing up” and “accepting reality”.
this negates any power for real change that the fresh perspective of youth can have; for now rebellion is “just for kids”, and no young person dares to maintain their resistance into adulthood for fear of being thought of as childish.
this arrangement is very much to the advantage of certain corporations who depend on the “youth market”. where is your money going when you buy that cd, that chain wallet, that hair dye, leather jacket, wall hanging, all those other accessories that identify you as a rebellious person? right to the companies that make up the order you want to stand against.
they cash in on your rebellious impulses by selling you symbols of rebellion that actually just keep the wheels turning. you keep their pockets full, and they keep yours empty; they keep you powerless, busy just trying to afford to fit the molds they set for you.”
maybe just some hip anarchist utopia, but this book often is amazingly on point.

stupid question? i don’t think so. do you really love music? or do you just pick a musical style to express your ego? to get an image? in times of worthless musical mutations like “toughguy hardcore” i wonder how much more music will get abused to create even more ego-islands…
so many moods, so many music, but sometimes there is the perfect balance. and i don’t care if it’s cool or not, just try.

Right! Tinkin

so what! A weekly radio show featuring new punk vinyl from around the world. Go to: Maximumrocknroll and enjoy!!!

Punk Voter’s first goal is to convince rock fans to not vote for George W. Bush. There are many reasons to be angry with Bush the Younger. One could list off a number of domestic issues, but it is sufficient to mention the 448 dead American souls (as of 12/12/2003), the 11,000 maimed American servicemen, and the uncounted number of dead and mutilated, yet liberated, Iraqis (tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, it is difficult to know) that have resulted from an invasion originally advertised by the Bush Administration as necessary to protect Americans against Iraq’s WMDs. If, on March 19, 2003, the American democracy in fact unleashed its massively destructive weapons on another nation, Iraq, that did not possess any weapons of mass destruction (as her foreign ministers had protested profusely for months in advance), was this invasion & conquest really necessary to protect Americans? For further details go to:Punkvoter

you like the photo collections of glen e. friedman? then check out this nice photobook by jeff winterberg. it documents the american underground music scene between 1991-2003. take a look here…

i tend to preach that skateboarding is so much of a mind thing. not only trickwise but because it puts yourself in a completely different context of your environment. just find your way to capture your viewpoint and maybe someone may decide to call it art. who cares, just have fun doing it. besides the fact that nowadays everybody and his mother wants to be this artsy bohemian, there is still excellent artistic output made by skateboarders.
a nice overview might be the exhibition “beautiful losers”.
and here some true words:
McGinness tries to explain the attraction of the skateboard scene to artists: “I think it ties into this Do-It-Yourself mentality,” he says.” “It wasn’t the industry it is now,” he says. “It was the outsiders who skated and designed and hand painted their own shirts and made their own zines and shared their own zines.”
unfortunately ohio is to far away for me 🙁
BeautifulLosers

ever wanted to know how to print your own boards? the typical method for this is silkscreening and with all the board-concave it’s not that easy. this brave guy shows you how:
screen it the d20 way!

like transworld, 411 got purchased a while ago. it seems that there ain’t no independent skateboarding industry anymore. one after the other they got eaten by the mainstream.
“The transition of 411 Productions from a fledgling idea to the dominant global producer of action sports content has been an exciting ride over the past 11 years. Since day one 411 has been committed to supporting and growing the sports we cover by providing authentic coverage to the widest audience possible”.
haha, thanks, but i don’t need your crap anyway.
there are still great mags out there. i always liked slap, europe got featured in my favorite mag kingpin and here in germany we have the respectable boardstein.
support your local magazine or make one yourself!

many of us grew up skating in vans or chucks. as a brand vans was a true symbol of skateboarding. a few decades ago they stumbled into the scene, did some things right and eventually grow to the industry giant we know today. nowadays they only live of their image like everone else do. trying to keep the “alternative” image while outsourcing production from the united states to the third world like the major players do. they had the chance to do something more and stand out but instead choose the opposite.
well, at least the shareholders will be happy…
“We are making growth happen, and we’re doing it with a powerful brand that resonates strongly with its core teen consumer base.”
watch out, someday the “core teen consumer base” may give you a major kick in the ass.