The Raveonettes interview on The List

I have been a bit silent on the updates recently and now I am blogging twice in one day. What is that all about? Well, I have been pretty busy working two jobs and interviewing all the bands that I can man-handle in my free time.

I got the chance to speak with one half of Swedish indie stars The Raveonettes about their new album and upcoming UK tour. Their music is pretty romantic but their song titles leave a lot to be desired.

Last Dance is an amazing song though.

Check out the interview HERE.

Four Tet Interview on The Skinny

I was lucky enough to get the chance to interview endearing electronic prodigy Keiran Hebden a.k.a. Four Tet recently. He was a really chill guy who was pretty funny when it came to discussing the way his music is perceived in the media. His new album is pretty damn sweet too.

You can read the full interview HERE.

Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness

I am loving this guy right now. Ever since I heard his collaboration with Crookers I have been hooked. When I found out he did Make Her Say with a backing track by remix golden child A-Trak the deal was sealed. These videos are amazing.

Enjoy.

Pursuit of Happiness


Make Her Say


Day and Night

Nic Dawson Kelly Interview (The List)

I am not going to lie and say that I particularly like Kelly's music. His voice grates on me a little and I think he looks a little too similar to Blake Fielder Civil in some of his press photos. However, a friend of mine works for the company that handles his PR and he asked me to get him some coverage in Scotland ahead of his appearance in Edinburgh.

This the first interview I have had published by The List so it is pretty exciting to be writing for a new publication. Let's hope I don't piss them off!

You can check out the interview HERE.

Anyone who knows me...

.. knows that I like tattoos. From time to time I will browse websites and see what other people across the world are getting and I recently stumbled upon this idiot. This guy actually got a tattoo of a woman on his leg and then got flesh implants so that she now has 3d boobs. What a tool. The joke is on him. The first time he walks into a table and smacks those stupid bumps against the edge he is going to scream like a newborn baby. That's what you get for being a moron.

We Were Promised Jetpacks Interview

Last week I got the chance to interview We Were Promised Jetpacks before their sold out show at The Borderline in London. The guys have had a great year so far with a critically acclaimed debut album and successful U.S. tour under their belts.

It is a bit of a shame that the interview is in a simple question and answer format because I don't feel that this gives a particularly accurate representation of the group. They are a nice bunch of guys who were relaxed enough to joke around and tell me a few stories from the road.

I wish you all the success in the future.

To read the interview click HERE.

Thanks to Tilly at FatCat Records for hooking it up.

Jeremy Soderburg

This guy has got some serious skills.

Check it out.

jeremy soderburg 09 from jeremy soderburg on Vimeo.

13thWitness

13thWitness is a journalist and video editor for an online streetwear/ culture magazine that I only discovered recently but I love his work. He has a really nice editing style that I always appreciate due to my years spent watching skate video. Below are two of my favourite videos made by the New York local.

The NYC HandBallers from 13thWitness™ on Vimeo.

I have heard of handball before but I have never seen it portrayed in such a fashionable way. The breakbeat jazz soundtrack over the slick glimpses of the players in action really does make the sport look appealing. Companies should get this guy to make their brand promos. He can make pretty much anything look cool.

Escape From Tomorrow (A Day In the Life With Nigel Sylvester) from 13thWitness™ on Vimeo.

This next video follows a day in the life of freestyle BMX rider Nigel Sylvester and the 13thWitness signature style is at work again. Brief shots to maintain your interest and another great breakbeat jazz score that just fits perfectly with the footage. I have no interest in BMXing whatsoever but this edit had my undivided attention for the duration.

Camera Obscura Interview on Huck Magazine

I recently got the chance to interview one of my favourite bands, Camera Obscura, before their show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Lead singer Traceyanne Campbell has not had the most pleasant relationship with music press over the years and I thought the interview was doomed when the first thing she said to me was: "I am thinking of not doing these (interviews) any more."

She argued with a few of the things I said throughout our discussion but on the whole I found her to by quite pleasant - if a little defensive.

After the interview was over, Traceyanne and Carey were nice enough to help me get out of the maze that is the backstage area of the Empire and they were quite chatty in the process.

To read the interview click HERE.

Here is the video for their latest single The Sweetest Thing.

'The Carter' documentary

I just saw the trailer for the Lil' Wayne documentary The Carter and I must admit, I am actually really looking forward to seeing this film. I am not a very Lil' Wayne fan. In fact, I can count on one hand the amount of songs I actually like but I read an interview with him in Rolling Stone recently and he is one fascinating guy.

He completely cuts himself off from society, is addicted to cough syrup and apparently has a guy who rolls joints for him so that he can smoke weed all day. How he gets anything done is an absolute mystery to me. But that's what makes him even more fascinating. He has a work ethic like no other artist in the world. He has made 100s of tracks in the little time that he has been in the entertainment industry and apparently records new ones every day.

The day his album went platinum everyone else was drinking champagne and celebrating while he was in the tour bus recording. By the time they went back to the bus he had already made four new songs. He is like a bloody machine.

I can't figure out if he is just trying to make as much money as possible or if he is afraid that if he takes a rest he will lose his momentum and run out of fresh ideas. The man is an enigma.

Oh well, the trailer looks promising - if slightly worrying at the same time.

Amanda Blank interview

I recently inteviewed Philadelphia rapper Amanda Blank for Huck Magazine. She was possibly one of the funniest and most charismatic artists I have had the pleasure of speaking with... and her debut album I LOVE YOU is bloody brilliant.

Check out the interview HERE.

Get Physical label profile

The Skinny have just uploaded an article I recently wrote about Berlin electronic label Get Physical. It may not be the most interesting of features but what can I say? Can't win 'em all!

Check out the article HERE.

Chillin' with Amanda Blank

On Friday I was lucky enough to meet up with Amanda Blank before her show at Proud in Camden. We were only scheduled to do an interview for 15 mins but ended up chatting and joking around for almost an hour. She is one very sweet lady with a great sense of humour. Check out here interview on HUCK shortly...

And don't forget to watch this AMAZING video.

Modeselektor Interview on Huck Magazine

The interviews just keep coming...

Last week I got to speak with Gernot from German techno duo Modeselektor. He seemed like a nice guy and even though some of his answers were pretty short, he also came out with some pretty funny responses. Check out the interview HERE.

James Pants Interview on Huck Magazine

I recently got the chance to interview Stones Throw Records' resident oddball James Pants. James makes some weird and wonderful music and I soon discovered that his personality is just as colourful.

Check out the interview HERE and make sure you get a copy of his new album Seven Seals. It is REALLY good.

Slamm Jamm XII

Well, Slamm Jamm XII was a lot of fun. I watched some incredible skating from Sam Tuffnell, Joe Atkinson and Romain Godenaire and did a little bit of skating myself.

It was nice that little Joe won the Richard Taylor Scholarship because he has an incredible amount of talent and he is a really cool little dude. Well done Joe.

As always, the afterparty was carnage. I ended up with anti-vandal paint all over my hands and missed my bus back to London. Bloody typical. Oh well, it was worth it.

See you all there next year!



Thanks to Matty D for this dodgy photo.



The boss (Dave Bell) and I relaxing after a hard day's work.

Oh, you might see some video clips of me soon...

Now writing for Huck Magazine

It has been an exciting month for this baldy adventurer. I have been working on some interviews for The Skinny, got invited to write for The List and tomorrow I will be starting work as an intern for Huck Magazine.

For those of you not acquainted with the publication, Huck Magazine is a pop culture magazine that focuses on music, skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding. Although I come from a rollerblading background, the principles are generally the same: The main focus is the icons of the relative sports that display progressive attributes and inspire the minds of their young followers. I have always been a fan of surfing and skateboarding so this will be a chance to learn more about cultures that share many similarities with rollerblading. I will also get the chance to feature artists that I think are pushing the boundaries of contemporary music.

I am a little nervous, which is natural with any new job, but I am very excited about working with like minded people and researching some fascinating topics. Bring it on.

If you would like to read the current issue of Huck Magazine online, click HERE

The latest issue features interviews with Mos Def and skateboarding poster boy Ryan Sheckler.

Nola Darling - The spirit of Salt N Pepa reborn!

"That Nola D" by Nola Darling *Boom Boom Pow Remix" from Nola Darling on Vimeo.

I discovered this video by accident and I fell in love. The song is a parody of a weak as hell Black Eyed Peas effort but don't let that put you off because these ladies have great singing voices and lyrics that simply bubble with wit.

Upon visiting their Myspace I discovered that Nola Darling consists of Alex and Jaq, two New York Univeristy graduates who possess the sass of 90's hip hop legends Salt N Pepa but display much greater lyrical prowess. Fuck Beyonce's watered down rubbish about marriage. Step to Me should be every single woman's anthem.

These ladies deserve a record deal for their charisma alone.

Visit Nola Darling HERE

Now writing for The List

I have just been asked to write for The List, Scotland's highest selling listings publication, so I am justifiably sporting a grin that could scare a playground full of children.

In the next few weeks I will begin writing for the Exposure section, which features up and coming artists that will be playing live shows in Scotland. My brain is already beginning to ache at the idea of who I want to promote.

For now, check out their site at www.list.co.uk

Rant: Fun on the underground

London could be one of the most miserable, selfish cities I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. Before you judge this harsh criticism, let me explain.

I have lived in various cities including Aberdeen, Glasgow and Seoul in addition to visiting many places including Sydney, New York and Barcelona. Not one of these cities comes close to having a population that is so rife with dour faced bastards with no manners.

It seems that once people move to this city they lose the words please, thank you and excuse me from their vocabulary. I understand that many of the people who live in London are not in fact from London so it must be something about the city that transforms people into hostile mutants.

The prime example of this is the London Underground. At rush our people push, shove and curse out fellow passengers as they rush to get to and from work. I could understand if it was only in the morning when people are trying to get to work and may be running late but it even happens at night where people should be relieved because their working day is over. Clearly not.

No one stands up to let the elderly or pregnant sit down. No one helps people who are clearly struggling with their bags up staircases that must have been designed as some kind of practical joke.

At this point I must mention: The Mayor of London must despise disabled people because I have yet to see an elevator in an underground station and at least one station on my daily journey will have an escalator that is out of service. If you are disabled and you live in London, you might as well give up hope of ever going anywhere. If you are relying on public transport, your crippled arse is not going anywhere. Fact.

This brings me to the point of my little rant. The other week I was on my way to work in Kensal Green. In order to reach my destination I must get the black line down to Elephant and Castle then transfer onto the brown line for the rest of my journey.

As the train pulled into Elephant and Castle, I looked around and observed the carriage was mostly empty. It was before eight in the morning after all and most people don’t make the dash to work for another five to ten minutes.


The train slowed to a halt and I rose from my seat with a couple of other commuters. We stood at the door, waiting to get off while trying to force our eyelids open. On the opposite side of the doors, there were about five people standing at the door waiting to get on.

Manners, social etiquette and downright common sense would have you believe that it is easier to let the passengers on the train disembark before trying to get on but this is something completely lost on people living in London. Everyone becomes so obsessed with getting to their destination that all other thoughts, however logical, seem to evaporate in the warm, musky air of the underground tunnels.

The warning beeps, the doors open and I find that I am standing face to face with a young woman in her mid twenties who cannot be taller than 5ft 6”. Now, I am about 5ft 11” so I am looking down at this borderline midget who is standing in my path and thinking, “Surely she is going to move and let me past.”

I step off the train onto the platform and the other passengers get off and walk past. The commuters waiting on the platform then walk past me as there is a sizable gap in to my right.

The whole time, this fucking moron just stands there and stares up at me as if to say, “Are you going to move or what?”

What this nameless young woman didn’t realise is that I have a tendency to antagonise people and I don’t believe in walking away from confrontations when the other person is clearly in the wrong. Most people will refer to this as “being an arsehole.” I know that most of my friends certainly do when mentioning my ability to wind up whoever I please. Once I have decided you have fucked up, you better believe I am going to make you suffer.

We must have only been standing there for a matter of seconds but it felt like much longer. As the train warning beep signalled, the woman’s eyes darted back and forth between me and the doorway. She could easily just step to the side and walk past me but for some reason she was just unwilling to compromise, as this would prove that she was in the wrong.

The doors closed and the train began to pull away. She looked at me with an expression of pure hatred and this tickled me. Whenever anyone is being aggressive of malicious for reasons beyond my understanding, I cannot help but find it amusing. So I responded to her facial “fuck you” with the most embellished smug bastard grin that I could muster and began to walk towards the exit.

As I made my way along the platform, I heard the woman call after me in her thick cockney accent, “You baldy bastard.”

I turned around, smiled again, and responded, “I may be a baldy bastard, but you just missed your train.”

An important lesson can be learned here. Good manners and social etiquette will make for a much more pleasant existence. Otherwise, you might just run into a dick like me one day and I will not let you away with it.

Check out Kingdom Magazine

Kingdom Magazine is the only UK rollerblading publication left standing after the demise of DNA and UK rolling bible UNITY.

I have been in contact with Joe Coyne for a couple of years now. I randomly email him with weird, shit and downright odd ideas that I have for rollerblading events and articles and I can rely on Joe to pretty much tell me straight what he thinks. I think the other reason I like Joe so much is that, like me, he is also a tattoo covered freak with a receeding hairline. We gotta stick together!

Last week I emailed Joe to ask if he would be interested in running some musician interviews that I have written and desperately need a home. Joe kindly offered to put them up on the Kingdom Magazine website, which you can view HERE.

They have just posted an interview I completed with techno kingpin Jay Haze.

Enjoy.

Speech Debelle- Boom!

London has a habit of producing outstanding artists and Speech Debelle is the latest representative to follow in the footsteps of internationally recongised hip hop heads Dizzee Rascal and Lady Sovereign. Her debut album on Ninja Tune won this year's Mercury Prize and it looks like her career is set to kick off, big time.

More importantly, she has an interesting story to tell and she actually seems quite grounded. There is no hip hop bravado bullshit, no posing, no gesturing. Just one woman who has experienced the good and bad in life and chosen to document it through music.

I am currently stalking Coda Agency for an interview with her so let's hope it happens. I rarely get to interview an artist that actually excites me and this is one lady I have a lot of questions for.

Mayer Hawthorne Kids

That's right. It took almost a year but the lazy fucker has finally released his debut album A STRANGE ARRANGEMENT. The interview is a little out of date now because I wrote the bloody thing about six months ago. Enjoy.

HERE

Yes please...

Amanda Blank will be appearing at the Hoxton Bar and Grill tomorrow night in London. I randomly stumbled upon her music like a £50 note on a dirty club floor. Cha ching!

She is sleazy, provocative and says all the dirty words young men (and women) love to hear. The result, a Phildalephia style hip hop/pop/smut fusion with just the right amount of attitude and in the music video for her current single she looks like a little bit of a bunny boiler. Always a bonus.

I mean, come on! Are you trying to tell me "I'd like you better if we slept together" is not a great line in a song? Exactly.

Check out the video and don't miss out on her other material. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Amanda Blank - Might Like You Better

MSTRKRFT are back...

... so lock up your daughters, hide your alcohol and do not leave car keys lying around because this pair are trouble.

Here is the video for their latest single, Heartbreaker, featuring John Legend:



This is not the best song on the album by a long shot. Sleazy party anthems 1000 Cigarettes and It Ain't Love outweigh this song pretty heavily but come on, they need at least one commercial hit to sell some records!

Regardless, if you witness the material live in a dirty, sweaty club you are guaranteed a good night. The only thing you need to worry about is finding someone drunk enough to let you grind them.

New album, Fist of God, out now.

It's about time...

C. J. Wellsmore has been around for a bloody long time and there has always been a lot of hype surrounding his name because he is widely considered part of the new wave of Australian skaters to take over from the greats such as Tim Ward, Tom Fry and Josh Clarke. Along with Rian Arnold, this guy has been praised for helping take skating to a whole new level. However, there have never been any lengthy video sections to back all the stories, until now.

Here is the evidence...

CJ Wellsmore from Dom West on Vimeo.

I think you will agree, he is the future.

Cooly G: A Woman of Many Talents

I had the pleasure of interviewing Cooly G ahead of her appearance at Ballers Social Club last week thanks to founder Joe Coghill. She is a sexy lady and has some skills on the decks but dear lord is the woman tight lipped. I must have interviewed her for over an hour and I couldn't even get her real name out of her. Talk about protective!

Read the full interview HERE.

The Balky Mule

I had never heard of the Balky Mule before I interviewed him for The Skinny and I wasn't completely sold on his album. It is quite charming acoustic pop with little dashes of electronic samples but it just isn't my kind of thing. However, when I interviewed him I was pleasantly surprised by his interesting personality. The guy has a very amusing sense of humour and has quite an arsenal of interesting stories at his disposal.

Read the interview HERE

Brett Dasovic Interview online

Interviewing Brett Dasovic made me realise why I fell in love with rollerblading all those years ago. He is one of the biggest skate geeks I have ever encountered. When we were passing questions back and forth for the article he kept dropping little bits of skate trivia into the conversation. "Did you know that Derek and Mike French once lived about five minutes away from my house but I never skated with them?" Priceless.

Read the article HERE

I love it when people geek out about skating as much as I do because it is people like that who are going to keep our sport going. People with passion who care about what we have created so much that they will do anything to keep it alive.

Our sport needs more people like Brett

Here is one of Brett's nice sections for your viewing pleasure.

CTV - In For The Kill Tour day 6 & 7 from ConferenceTV on Vimeo.

Billy O'Neil got hit by a car last year while skating in Spain. He hasn't been back on skates long but dear lord he is killing it. Here is some new footage of Billy back in Spain to prove that Barcelona will not defeat him twice. Jeff Dalnas came along for the ride and murdered some deadly drop rails. They are currently at the Chaz Invite in Liverpool and making their presence known.

Billy has picked up the unfortunate habit of referring to all women as "sluts". I think he may have picked this up from one of his English counterparts. We went out last night and Billy chatted up pretty much anything in a skirt and excitedly talked about how much easier it is to pull women in the UK compared to back home in New York. Billy is the kind of character you really need to meet to fully understand the sheer extend of his charisma and MAMMOTH personality.

I think the after party is going to be messy tonight...

Chaz Sands Invitational 2009

So, I am currently in Liverpool for the Chaz Sands Invitational at Rampworx Skatepark. I have been on the web update duties so visit Be-mag to read about the chaos that has taken place so far and the photographic evidence to prove it. So far I have witnessed pro skaters throwing bin bags at passing taxis, skate company owners street wrestling and female pro skaters groping random pretty girls outside night clubs. Good times!

Visit www.be-mag.com for all the action.

I will post all of the photos once I arrive back on home turf.

Until then, don't do anything I wouldn't do...

Wait. Scratch that. There is nothing I won't do.

This is old but...

... I don't care. Thunderheist recently played at The Glasgow School of Art and they are the shit. MC Isis spits some explicit content over downright dirty electro and house cuts. This is music for people with smutty minds.

The promo is HERE.

Here is the video for their wonderfully sleazy single JERK IT.



This video is pretty damn good too...

Hell yeah!

I have been waiting for this for months! The official video for the incredible Mayer Hawthorne single Just Ain't Gonna Work Out. I am still is amazement at two things. One: He plays every damn instrument. Two: He is NOT a middle age overweight black man! When the album drops this summer people are going to lose their minds.

Enjoy.

Edited tae fuck...

Okay, so I recently interviewed Guru of hip hop legends Gangstarr. The music editor at The Skinny said he had made a few alterations to the final draft which I was fine with, until I read the bloody thing. He had changed a few aspects that I felt was slightly pointless considering the amendments resulted in the article being rife with grammar and spelling errors. Fortunately, he chose to take that mess offline but the revised edition is not much better.

My title was STILL GOING STRONG but he thought it sounded much better to write GURU: STILL GOT THE SKILLS.

Really? Is there any difference?

To read the article/ spell and grammar check click HERE

Not impressed.

Ballers Social Club

I am a big fan of Ballers Social Club for two reasons: One- they always have amazing acts playing (Hudson Mohawke anyone?). Two- the night is partly organised by my friend Joe who was once a vital part of the Aberdeen skate scene. In May they are going to have a special Flask Records showcase with the glorious Loops Haunt. It's on a Thursday but I don't care because I am dragging my ass down to The Ivy to dance away to some good home grown messed up techno. Come along and get involved.

Click the HERE to read the preview.

Another one for good measure...

That's right, ANOTHER one. Yup, another bloody preview for another bloody club night. The central belt of Scotland is positively bursting with amazing night time adventure options. This time, Grammy award winning DJ Vadim is gracing Edinburgh with his presence.

Check out the preview HERE

Subculture Turns 15

That's right folks, one of the longest running weekly club nights in the UK turns 15 in May so they have decided to celebrate with an ENTIRE MONTH of parties. There is dual cause for celebration as the Sub Club has been named the 14th best club in the ENTIRE WORLD by DJ Mag. Damn straight, Glasgow knows how to party.

For full details of the month of festivities, click HERE.

P.O.S. Interview

Stefon Alexander a.k.a. Pissed Off Stef has just released an incredible new album Never Better. I got the chance to interview him ahead of the album's UK release.

To read the full interview click HERE

Lady Sovereign Interview

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to speak with the the most innovative female rapper in the world, Lady Sovereign. She may have a repuation for being a cheeky bitch but the woman I spoke to was very easy going and pretty damn funny.

Click HERE to read the full interview.

... and here is the amazing video for "I Got You Dancing" from her latest album Jigsaw.

Previews...

I am on a preview mission at the moment for the fine folks at The Skinny. In the past two weeks I have researched and covered at least four different nights around Scotland. Some of them look pretty damn good too. Here are two of them:

Balkanarama

Inner City Acid

Get yourself down to either of these amazing nights.

Now on The Skinny

A couple of months ago I joined the fine folks at The Skinny, the ultimate entertainment publication in Scotland. These guys have been infiltrating every cool bar, club, gig and music festival for years so I am very proud to be welcomed into their crew.

Here is a link to my first feature, a review of Fake Blood at the Sub Club.

HERE

Upcoming features will include full length interviews with Lady Sovereign, P.O.S. and Mayer Hawthorne.

You've been warned.

Getting Faded with Lonnie Gallegos

Below is an interview I did with Lonnie Gallegos a couple of months ago before the release of his new video Fade Nation. It was supposed to be on Be-mag but for some reason it never made it up on the site. Enjoy...










Getting Faded with Lonnie Gallegos

This month, Lonnie Gallegos and Brandon Negrete released their second film Too Faded. Their first venture, Fade Nation was a shining example of what can be achieved when two talented individuals work together to create something special. You could easily recognise the characteristics that both directors have brought from their previous releases but there was something more. It was obvious that their styles complimented each other perfectly.

Now that their second film has been officially released, I thought it was time I caught up with Lonnie to find out how his life has changed since we last spoke and what it is like making the adjustment to working with another person on a film. As always, Lonnie was more than happy to give us an insight into his life and offer a few hints of what we can expect in the future.

It’s been a couple of years since I spoke with Lonnie. The last time we were in touch was to discuss his clothing company, Black Fabric, and the release of the team video, A Staggering Artwork of Heartbreaking Genius. I was curious to know how life has changed since those days and if Black Fabric was something that he was still pursuing. In Lonnie’s opinion, things are pretty much the same.

“Not much has changed. I’ve moved to downtown Los Angeles with Kevin Gillan and Lee Martin. Other than that I’ve just been working the graphic design day job, making shirts and filming. I moved from Orange County to L.A. and that’s about it. I still have the same job and the same friends.”

Lonnie is still making clothes under the Black Fabric label but he readily admits that it is not something he is taking very seriously at the moment. This is hardly surprising considering he is already balancing the responsibilities of working a full time job and producing some of the most visually stunning videos in rollerblading. When asked if there are any plans to release another range of items, he simply said:

“Yeah, I already have some but it’s kind of like, you come to my house and see something you like and I’ll sell it to you. I’ve been planning a website forever. I swear BlackFabric.com will be up soon. You’ll see”

Once we got that out of the way, I thought it was time to find out why Lonnie decided to team but with Brandon Negrete and how their working relationship was going so far. Lonnie asserted that it was simply a natural progression from working in such close proximity to one another for so long.


“We lived close together and were always filming the same people. Plus, we usually tend to agree on a lot of different fronts. It was something that kind of naturally worked out. Instead of being all like, “Hey, look, we’re the new VG!!” about it, we decided to work our way up to that point.”

When two people work together on something they feel so passionately about there are endless opportunities for conflict. I was interested to know how Lonnie was finding working with Brandon and if they were having any trouble agreeing on certain aspects of making a film together.

“At the beginning, there was really no telling how far the Fade Nation idea would actually go. I think neither of us knew if we could put up with the other for very long, but so far so good. Plans for a 3 and a 4 have already been arranged.”

When asked how Too Faded would be different from the first Gallegos/ Negrete collaboration, Lonnie was keen to emphasise that their main goal is to progress and build upon their previous work with every new project. This is something that the pair find challenging as the success of their last effort has caused people to request that they keep producing something similar.

“We always look to improve and do something different every time around. I notice a lot of people requesting the same sections with the same style and vibe over and over. But we’re trying to push things and make them different. This video has one of the most mixed groups of skaters I’ve ever seen. From JC, to Montre Livingston, to Enanoh, to Ben Schwab, to the Russians who always send us fresh clips. It’s a beautiful mess.”

Thanks to Lonnie’s insightful responses it is now clear that the world can expect more Fade Nation releases in the future and we will even see a rebirth of Black Fabric. However, there was still one very important question that had to be answered.

“Lonnie, what’s your favourite skate video?”
.
”Mine is The Adventures of Mr.Mooseknuckle for every reason. It had cool
thugged out rap music, people doing big stunts. It introduced the balanced backslides, fishbrains, topacids, unitys, the lurch switchup (royale to ao topsoul), and the TJ Webber section is still my favorite of all time. When I asked Negrete he said Road to Nowhere.”

Mayer Hawthorne

I will be interviewing Mayer Hawthorne on Monday just before he goes onstage at The Deaf Institute in Manchester as part of the Stones Throw european tour. He is the latest signing to Stones Throw records and is already being praised by the likes of Mark Ronson and Radio 1 legend Gilles Peterson. Expect big things when the album drops in the summer.

For now, here is an endearing little video of his first single which comes in RED HEART-SHAPED vinyl called Just Ain't Gonna Work Out. Enjoy...

Fake Blood at the Sub Club

(I know the video is crap but "Mars" is incredible...)



Now, this has got me really excited. Fake Blood is a Techno/ House DJ hailing from London... WITH A TWIST. He doesn't have a record deal, yet tours the world playing some of the world's most infamous dance venues, his songs are remixed by the likes of Milo and Armand Van Helden and he has followers in their tens of thousands.

I tried to get an interview with him ahead of his show at Glasgow's Sub Club on Friday night. He was nice enough to reply to my email but advised that he "does not do interviews or publicity stunts." I then proceeded to contact his talent agent, Coda, who informed me that he has never done interviews as he "wishes to remain anonymous."

Well, this has only captured my interest further. An internationally renowned dance floor genius who does not wish to be known? That's intriguing.

I for one cannot wait to get covered in Fake Blood at the Sub Club on Friday 27th of February.

For more Fake Blood, check out www.myspace.com/welovefakeblood