Rockin' & Rollin' on the boards
Sylvie Hill
|
Skateboards: new buttons of the punk world?
|
"One thing skateboarding has in common with rock 'n' roll-both achieved perfection in the 1970s." ~Steve Palmer, The Setbacks
What do you get when you pair up a 15-year-old music fan with his 16-year-old skater friend? You get Kevin Kockler and Craig Wheeler, two Kanata youths who have just started a business called Mi Skateboards, painting skateboards on the cheap with customized artwork of your choice. Check out www.miskateboards.tk/.
Combining a love of music, skateboarding and art, these dudes just finished painting (known as "branding") a skateboard with the fabulous naked lady album art off the One Track Mind CD from local garage rockers, The Setbacks (www.thesetbacks.com).
And speaking of wicked bands, I may hit them up to paint me a Lindy-themed deck next. If you visit www.lindymusic.com, you'll see the 10-foot tall Canadian music lord stretched across his home page-I fear we may have to cut off his Pumas to fit him on a board!
You may think it's cheesy to pay homage to the rock gods by inscribing maple with images of their apostles, but hey, if you can't date 'em, paint 'em. And stop laughing and admit it-there's more than one of you who contemplated tattooing the Bad Religion logo
or P.J. Harvey's face across your chest until your mom said "No."So fuck you too, nerd.
E-mail the guys at mi_skate_27@hotmail.com and they'll get your passion on a deck, instead. Show all your friends, ride it, mount it, make it your cousin's wedding gift or use it as a tray when you eat your shawarmas or cut your rock-star cocaine. So many options.
It's affordable, too. Skateboarding is not a crime but the prices associated with it can be. With the price of pro-decks at about $80 and up, Kockler and Wheeler knew it would be cheaper if they designed their own.
So, for between $15 and $80 can you get whatever you want? "Pretty much," Kockler said.
"If we have to supply the deck, it's about $60 and it goes up depending on the graphic," Kockler said in a phone interview from his parent's house where he lives in air-conditioned comfort with a pool in the back-which is filled with water. (No scrapin' the bowl for Kockler, but Wheeler, as his name suggests, is indeed a skater who's been at it for three years.)
Here's what happens: The boys transfer your image of choice onto the computer, print it out, then Wheels draws it onto the deck, and they paint it. "For the base coat, we're using paint that has a bit of lacquer in it. Then we use Varathane for the final coat," Kockler says. Both credit their artsy-fartsy uncles' genes for inspiration.
I asked Melanie Harris, manageress of Top of the World on Rideau Street, what she thinks of this enterprise. She says branding decks is a "hard market to get into." There's a lot of competition, not to mention the hurdles of copyright law.
As for what constitutes classic skate graphics, skulls are still as big now as when, Harris reminds me, bands like Suicidal Tendencies dominated the skate scene. And even though Kockler and Wheeler are too young to remember bands like Anthrax and SNFU, they are still one with the skulls. When I caught them on a Friday night, they were painting "a signature skull with a tribal background on it."
What is it about ratbones, skulls and skateboarding? "I guess skateboarding is more into punk music," says Kockler, "and the skull is like the signature of skating and music and it all goes together." (Hint: it's a Bones Brigade thing).
Despite so many skate styles to choose from, including "surfer, hip-hop, and punk origination," Harris told Shotgun, it's definitely the dirty-punk, long-hair, trucker-hat, tight-jeans style called "hesh" that is currently most popular. And more skull-like, according to Kockler.
The new nekkid chick Setbacks deck speaks to this scene. And Steve Palmer, lead singer of the gritty rocker band, considers decks the next generation of band merchandise. "It's just like bands that have their logo on belt buckles or cock rags at their merch table," he said.
"We're thinking of a series of Setbacks skateboards-one deck design for each member of the band," Palmer said. Sounds like something KISS would do. "That way the kids can try to collect all four," he added.
"But it'd be real tricky," he admitted, "because we wouldn't actually make one for Chris, our drummer. Nobody would buy that." So he won't be making it into the rock gods hall of fame because of his looks?
Judge for yourself if Chris deserves a deck on June 26 at 9:30 p.m. as the smartass Setbacks headline Zaphod Beeblebrox's Cisco Systems' Ottawa Bluesfest talent showcase series. Catch The Setbacks at Zaphod's again on August 5.
shotgun@ottawaxpress.ca
| There's No Substitute for Experience |
|
Just to echo all the other positive comments -- for sure these young guys are certainly getting a good education in how to run a business, including how to market themselves. As Steve Landry said already, thank you Sylvie for giving their profile a boost with your enthusiastic review.
People talk about this being popular in the 1970s. Well, so was custom art work on vans, & customizing vans in general. Can't do that anymore -- they are all minivans with windows all over. But some of the airbrushed artwork on those vehicles was very-well crafted, even if it was sexist or looking too much like some heavy metal album cover. (Sorry, I should have said "CD cover" -- the 1970s talking again!) But of course, most of the vans were owned/driven by guys, whose intentions were clear from some of the sayings on their license plate frames: (1) If this van's a-rockin', don't bother knockin', & (2) Don't laugh lady -- your daughter might be in here!
So I wouldn't be surprised if some of this skateboard art that guys get are to attract the opposite sex, much like the male peacock struts its plumage. Gotta love the sheer variety & diversity of our North American mating rituals.
|
|
Brad Thomas
|
{11 votes}
|
|
|
Finally I have read a success story about some teenagers....just like reading the one in the paper the other day about the teenager who got himself a summer job working in Cali with Google.....I now have some sort of relief about some of the teenagers out there. Too many times I have seen youngsters walking the streets with chains, bats and the sort...was a disconcerning site. Makes one wonder about the future of these kids....AND then I read about these wonderfully talented boys with brains.....entreprenuers there are. It takes time and a much needed motivation to strive for something you want. I am very glad to see that Kevin and Craig are doing something with their time. Skateboarding rawks and this is definitely a market that they can get into...don't discourage them about copyrights and infringements....all in due time to learn the ropes. If they have the will power and the true dedication to become businessmen they will do it. Encouragment and sales is what will make them surpass the everyday humdrum of flipping burgers. I even have a few ideas for them! Good jobs guys!
|
|
Jennifer Berardini
|
{10 votes}
|
|
|
| Mi Skateboards: Early Business Push For Success........... |
|
It is pleasing to the eye to read an article about these two young enterpreneurs from Kanata who have taken the branding of skateboard decks very personally with the launch of their new business Mi Skateboards. Why the hell not should a community paper not brag and toot a horn or two for new businesses to help them get them off the ground?
I think it's a very honourable gesture of Sylvie Hill to give free press and coverage to an idea that is as Melanie Harris describes: "hard market to get into" (with) "a lot of competition, not to mention the hurdles of copyright law" to contend with.
This work could be done, I suppose in a small factory somewhere in China or Taiwan with similar appearing quality but the fact these dudes are willing to tackle a business idea head-on is reminiscent of how some of our larger business corporations got their start.
Kevin and Craig: Ride On Young Men.
|
|
Steve Landry
|
{15 votes}
|
|
|
Congrats to getting into a market in which they're interested in.
I know it's not easy dipping into a new market, as I have done it myself with a couple of associates from Montreal. Fortunately it looks like both us and them are on the road to success.
I tip my hat to these two young dudes who are really making an effort to better the skateboarding community.
|
|
Jeremy King
|
{4 votes}
|
|
|
I remember this getting big in the late 70's. I just thought it was a passing fad through the 80's as the former part of it was a bit quiet regarding this past time. It has not gone away i'm surprised, but then that's the sign that after decades of it ongoing...it is certainly no fad. So, if it's here to stay...cool. Fine with me. a like how the kids design their boards which has certainly shown in evolution in the products. However i would like to add something here. Pick a proper place to do your skateboarding. Don;t do it on Government property or on things that will get damaged and come out of the taxpayers pocket (this, a note from witnessing the concrete slabs of the park across from the national archives at wellington and bay. Secondly, don't do it on sidewalks. I've seen people startled because the kids come flying down them (or down the road which interferes with traffic) and the folks just don't know where to walk. Don't be a punk. Find the areas you can board til your hearts content without bothering people. it'll only make them come down on you as to where you can and cannot board via the law!
|
|
Ger Madden
|
{2 votes}
|
|
|
| Rockin' & Rollin' on the boards |
|
It's very cool to read about these guys doing what they love and making a business out of it. As someone who is still struggling to "find myself", it's too see it put in perspective. Just do something you love, put some time and effort into it and the rest will follow. I don't skateboard because I have a crappy job to go to and I need my typing fingers, but If I did I would totally look these guys up.
|
|
Josee Lacroix
|
{1 vote}
|
|
|
these cats are inspirational. at 15 and 16 to get experience running your own business will be invaluable down the road. everybody's selling something, and the trend toward small business and ecommerce means that this type of work will only expand. good luck guys.
|
|
Skeleton James
|
{3 votes}
|
|
|
