Slam Skateboarding 225 Summer 2019

During the making of this edition, a drought was broken. A dry spell of full-length skate films has ended. In the introduction to the previous edition of Slam, I had a bit of a whinge about the decline of full-length movies from skate companies. It is true, skateboarding videos are becoming more scarce with footage dripping into single sections, or for the goddamn ’Gram. However, following the premiere of Pass ~ Port’s Kitsch, we were treated to a handful of new flicks from established companies like Toy Machine, Zero, Primitive and Baker. Videos from board brands are what keeps them relevant in this ridiculously diluted market. Many of these companies are going to the trouble of securing music rights from some of the world’s best bands, prompting us to watch and…

Meth-Head on a Mountain Bike This guy could be anywhere between 20 and 45 years old. It’s hard to tell though, because the chemicals have taken their toll. Like Agent Smith in The Matrix, he always seems to be wearing the same thing, regardless of where in Australia you see him. Straddling his suspiciously new bike, he’s usually rocking a Ford or Holden cap, trackies and trainers from the early 2000s, and a faded Jim Beam or Jack Daniels shirt. He doesn’t stick around for long. If you’re at a park, he’ll do a few laps, taking the weirdest lines, before launching out of a flat bank but getting nowhere near as high as he thought he would. At a spot, he’ll pull a mono that disappoints everyone who sees it –…

“The only valid reason for wanting to roll around on a stick with wheels on it is to please yourself.” That was the slogan on page 30 of Slam’s seventh issue, which came out 30 years ago. The year was 1989, the mag cost $2.95, and funnily enough, the Slam masthead was the same as the one on the cover of this issue (though there have obviously been multiple Slam logos between then and now). Issue seven boasted an interview with Gary Nowlan, ads for Cockroach wheels, and Shred Leather ollie pads, and a photo feature of The Bones Brigade skating Pizzey Bowl on the Gold Coast. Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain and Mike McGill are pictured baby-faced and fully padded up, skating massive, single-kick boards to “the deafening roars of…

Zero’s newest video release delivers a familiar vibe that stays true to the roots of what made the brand an industry leader throughout the late-’90s and the noughties. It has a homespun feel – like being sucked through a skull-shaped portal to the heyday of heavy rail chomping stunts, quick-cut editing, with a classic rock and punk soundtrack, while captured on the trusty VX1000. The Zero crew are certainly not trying to reinvent the wheel of skate videos. They deliver hard-out hammers the best way they know how. Dane Burman and Gabriel Summers close the film in sweet succession and do Australia bloody proud. I caught up with the two heroes of Zero for a chat about the heavy slog and body-breaking effort they went through for Zero’s eighth full-length flick.…

Johnno ‘Spliff Cheese’ Halchenko is a bit of a mysterious character. Not too many people had heard of him until late-2018, when he dropped a solo part on YouTube that featured some pretty burly tricks. Between a late front shove down Melbourne’s William Street double set; a long 50-50 on a double kinked handrail; and a heelflip boardslide down the Flinders Street rail, it was quite an entrance. He followed it up by closing out a homie video called Loitering with a 19-stair ollie in central Melbourne that many have scoped, but none had conquered. And now you’re looking at his first print feature interview and photo spread, shot by Andrew Mapstone. Digging up info on a young dude like Johnno is always fun. His filmer, Charles Sheehan, sent through a…

As far as professional skate teams go, it doesn’t get much more eclectic and inclusive than Santa Cruz. There’s the OG slash-man, Eric Dressen, frontside grinding his way through middle age and around the world. Then there’s the effortless ledge-techery and flippery of Tom Asta, silent but deadly. Fresh off the international competition circuit is Maurio McCoy, American Olympic contender and Street League superstar. Throw in Jake Wooten, a Texan tranny-shredder with ADD-levels of energy; and Henry Gartland, his van buddy who chomps rails and spoonfuls of Vegemite with naïve optimism, and you have a solid portion of the international SC team. This unlikely bunch recently found themselves in Sydney for a Lush Productions tour called, ’Til The End. Accompanying these international heavy hitters were “the Santa Cruz Oz red-headed alliance”,…