Innehållsförteckning för 226 Autumn 2020 från Slam Skateboarding

Back to back covers… Never in my near 17 years of working on Slam would I have imagined that we’d ever run the same skater on consecutive page ones. However, following Rowan Davis’ heavy interview in our previous issue, and his insane wallride cover shot, we crowned him the SOTY king. While he could’ve kicked back to bask in the glory, Rowan chose to take three weeks off from his day job painting houses and went on a prolific barrage for his feature. A couple of days after his SOTY surprise, Rowan and the Australian Nike SB young guns took a look at the beastly eight-flat-nine kinker on this edition’s cover. How does someone get into the headspace to pull the trigger and ollie out over an eight stair, past…

On the day of Rowan Davis’ SOTY surprise, he woke up late in an Airbnb in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. He was staying with some of the Nike guys and filming for a forthcoming Australian video, a trip that coincided with Shane O’Neill’s new shoe release party. Rowan and the rest of the crew had been skating in Melbourne city until late the night before so they slept in and didn’t manage to get out of the house until 5pm. “I didn’t even really know what we were doing that day,” Rowan said later. “I had no idea, I thought we were just going skating or something.” Geoff Campbell was the SOTY surprise inside man this year, leading Rowan and the rest of the visiting Nike guys to the…

Legendary all-terrain vehicle, Chad Bartie is the ninth inductee to the Slam Hall of Fame. Born and raised on the Gold Coast, Bartie was one of the pioneering Australian skateboarders to migrate to the USA and build a career there as a professional skateboarder. With an array of quality video parts and magazine coverage throughout the ’90s, he went pro for New Deal in 1998 and continued his all-terrain onslaught throughout the 2000s. Now 43, Bartie has created a legacy as one of the most influential Australian skateboarders ever. Chad had his first photo in Slam when he was just 11 years old. It was a frontside boneless on a concrete half pipe in Tugun. He was wearing tight pink shorts, with a pink helmet, and full pads – no…

He made videos you would have seen, like School Holidays, Gap Year and Crimson & Clover. He was also a great skateboarder who appeared in front of the lens in video parts as well as in the pages of this magazine. In 2015, at the age of 20, Tully was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most invasive type of brain cancer. After a four-hour awake brain surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Tully sent the cancer into remission. Four seemingly cancer-free years later, it returned, this time more aggressive and inoperable. Tully’s mum, Kelly, set up a GoFundMe page for anyone wishing to help ease the financial burden for Tully, who had given so much of his own time and energy to others: filming them, providing a couch to sleep…

BIRDHOUSE Lizzie Armanto – Stillness 8” From $129.95 projectdistribution.com.au @projectdist ANTIHERO Evan Smith – Grimple Stix Shrunken 8.5” From $129.95 projectdistribution.com.au @projectdist MADNESS Face Melt R7 9.875” From $119.99 madnessskateboards.com @madnessskateboards ALMOST Max Geronzi – African Mask 8.5” From $99.99 almostskateboards.com @almostskateboards KROOKED Mark Gonzales – Sweatpants II 8.5” From $129.95 projectdistribution.com.au @projectdist CONVERSE CONS Louie Lopez Pro From $150 converse.com.au @converse_cons DC SHOES Josh Kalis Vulc S From $99.95 dcshoes.com.au @dc_skateboarding NEW BALANCE NM440 From $130 newbalance.com.au/men/shoes/skateboarding@nbnumericasia NIKE SB The Shane From $115 nikestore.com.au @nikesb VANS Rowan Zorilla Pro From $139.95 vans.com.au @vansaustralia INDEPENDENT Time To Grind Plush Blanket From $79 independenttrucks.com @independenttrucksoz PASS ~ PORT Glitter Tee From $59.99 passportal.com @pass_port REAL James Kelch Reissue 8.75” From $129.95 projectdistribution.com @projectdist CREATURE Kevin Baekkel – Blood Eagle 8.6” From $109.95 creatureskateboards.com @creaturefiends SANTA CRUZ Fabiana Delfino – Strip 8.25” From $109.95 santacruzskateboards.com.au @santacruzoz…

In February 2019, when Shaun Paul started the DC Supertour, he was a little bit daunted. He was offered a place in the van alongside the likes of Tiago Lemos, Wes Kremer, Evan Smith, Tristan Funkhouser, John Shanahan, Alex Lawton, Tommy Fynn and Jaakko Ojanen. They were skating packed out demos in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. “Heaps of people showed up to each one,” said Shaun in his New Gen interview in Issue 222. “I had no idea what I was doing, but I slowly relaxed and just tried to land something.” Fortunately, he skated really well, got along with everyone, particularly John Shanahan, and had a couple of tricks in the resulting DC Australian tour video, Gotta Eat. All in all, it was a pretty sweet way to start…

Sometimes tricks come first shot. Sometimes they become a grind (pun intended). When we’re pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones, trying something that scares the shit out of us, it can feel like we’re losing control. Maybe you just took a slam. Maybe you’ve stomped the last three shots but wheel-bite won’t let you roll away. Or maybe that bloody crack in the footpath is doing your head in. Andrew Reynolds called it “The Madness”, and we’ve all experienced it in one form or another – the world of skateboarding superstitions. From the deck you ride and how you set it up, to the OCD-like quirks when you’re getting ready to roll up again, there are hundreds of little rituals we do in an attempt to bring some balance…

In one of the opening lines of Jack O’Grady’s Kitsch part, he crooked grinds a long ledge in Kings Cross, then whips a little cess in front of a nearby removalist. “You must have a big dick to ride that down there,” says the removalist in a thick Kiwi accent. Squish has a good laugh at this, clearly not too fazed. It turns out that Jack O’Grady, the young dude from The Shire, in Sydney’s South, has plenty to laugh about. After winning New Gen of the Year in 2018, and Slam SOTY in 2019, O’Grady is back in 2020 with Video Part of the Year for his efforts in Kitsch, Pass ~ Port’s first full-length. Kitsch was undeniably the most anticipated Australian video to come out last year and…

“Kieran seriously loves skateboarding. He currently has two broken wrists and still tries rolling handstands in his comp runs.” – Sam Giles “Keiran Woolly is fully sick. When he shreds he always gets the trick. He grinds so fast it makes a tiger sound, And he makes all the redheads oh so proud. His speed is sharp like a razor blade, And his red hair impresses all the babes. Red pride.” – Jesse Noonan…