I just got back from the Zero Bacon and Legs tour which began curiously, progressed to curiouser and ended downright bizarre. More on that at some future point. In the meantime I’m all about these amazing boards that Folk Custom Skateboards made for The Predatory Bird. The complete item with the custom Thunder Trucks and Predatory Bird Wheels is a thing of beauty. It is available along with the Bird-in-Hand tee-shirt over at the shop. In the following video we meet Andy, my father in law, as he describes his fantastic experiences skating in LA in the 60s and gives us a wonderful Predatory-Bird-board sales pitch.
Why Tommy Sandoval is a Ruler.
Sitting with Guns at the bar in the Texas Roadhouse. He’ll be flying out of tour to Street League in 2 days. “You gonna get there early for practice?” I ask. “Nah, I don’t do that.” Continue reading “Why Tommy Sandoval is a Ruler.”
The Lifestyle Promo
In this video we document the skateboarding lifestyle. It is composed of the type of lifestyle skateboarding we endorse and encourage. All skating is on The Predatory Bird Lifestyle Item, available here.
The Wood Crafter
This video is of my friend Andy. When I was 13 I got drunk and threw a pool ball as hard as I could straight at his face. He dodged it, laughed, and introduced me to the R. Crumb/ Neil Blender style keep-on-truckin rock fakie. Now he operates a small wood shop in Vancouver where he has made a miniscule number of the first ever Predatory Bird products. I’m pretty sure this is the only time we will use this particular process. There are 50, some of which are completes with Thunders Deluxe made specially, thankyou Deluxe.
The Predatory Word
Color magazine have asked me to write a regular sidebar on their book review page Inspiration Bound. They suggested it be called The Predatory Word, which I think is quite funny but I’m still a little self-conscious about it and have no idea what I’m writing for their next issue. Below is a piece I did for Color a while back about my experience with an electronic book that contains various skate-themed craft and design projects. It continues with the endless theme of designing the ultimate skateboard. Warning: It is mainly words.
Build it, Hack it, Skate it.
An account of what could happen if you decide to pursue the path to a home made lifestyle board.
You download a free kindle app and buy some book called Build it, Hack it, Skate it, for 99 cents. You are possibly the type of person who looks at the Ikea shelves and thinks “120 bucks! Pfff. I could make that myself, easy.” You might do your own oil changes and intrepidly replace drum brakes on old trucks. You are not alone. Continue reading “The Predatory Word”
The Predatory Bird Cruiser Board: New Frontiers in Design Excellence
I first became interested in putting together the ultimate cruiser board when we discovered the following photograph of NGC 7293 a.k.a. The Helix Nebula, on A.P.O.D.
Without planetary nebulae we would have no carbon therefore no trees and no life as we know it. We also wouldn’t have aluminium and steel for manufacturing trucks and bearings. For this reason the Helix nebula was the starting point in our design process.
The carbon content of these nebulous gases got me thinking about trees. We sensed that trees might be the next step in the design process and we spent a lot of time rambling amongst these tall, glorious, gnarly bastards, and really Continue reading “The Predatory Bird Cruiser Board: New Frontiers in Design Excellence”
Peter Brings the Shadow to Life
The title of this post comes from this essay. If you can’t be bothered to read it that’s fine but if you can then your life will be a little richer; although maybe not in the diamond earring sense of the word. It sums up some of the themes that might possibly be floating around inside the following amazing video by Joe Pease. Let us know in the comments if we’re reading way too much into it and should probably just chill (‘n’ shit).
Cinematographer: Behind the Scenes
Russell Houghten went on a roadtrip into the desert of the American southwest in order to wrap up shooting on his amazing segment for the Transworld Cinematograper Project. The Predatory Bird sent an anonymous videographer along to investigate. This videographer claimed to be a “documentarian”. He further claimed that this odd, cryptic short in 3 acts “perfectly illustrates the darkness and light that is central to Russell’s creative process.”
You can see Russell’s finished piece over here.