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
57
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
61
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
The Wheel Wash Yes, actual skate wheels are used in this process to soften and fade the denim. These skate wheels are used as a substitution for stones that traditionally wash and break down the denim in the wet processing cycle. The difference between the stones and wheels can be felt in the denim—the stones break down the denim, while the wheels act as a softener and add a smooth, cool hand feel to the jeans.
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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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B.
A.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
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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.
I.
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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