Clip Of The Week by Jeremy Cannon (08/31/08)

CAB LOD, K2S – Interview

The Skate All Cities Krew has been lucky enough to interview, in my opinion, one of the most consistent, well-rounded bombers coming out of Los Angeles, California. His name is CAB and if you have been paying attention while painting in the LA river within the past couple of years, then I can guarantee that you could not pass 300 feet of that area without seeing at least one CAB throwup. We interviewed him via email on what he’s been up to lately and where he’s headed. – RICKS

SAC: What do you write?
CAB: CAB

SAC: What crews do you push and what are their underlying meanings?
CAB: Lokes On Dope (LOD), Known To Succeed (K2S)

SAC: How did you come up with your name and what’s the meaning behind it?
CAB: CAB was given to me. It was either CAB or GUNER. I liked it because it was short and perfect. The idea was to bomb and get up as much as possible. Like a race to the finish line and nothing was gonna get in my way of doing it.

SAC: When did you start and how did you get into the graff game?
CAB: I started early on in the mid to late 80s. Got up and going around 88-89 and so on. Graffiti has always been a part of my life living in the ghetto. The gang “PLACASOS” was the first thing I saw up on the walls of my neighborhood until the mid 80’s when Beat Street came out. It heavily influenced my brother and I. My brother was a bad ass breaker and I was amazed by the graffiti aspect of the culture in the movie. Right then and there I knew that was what I wanted to do. Been doing it on and off ever since. It has taken me far on a personal level as well as accomplishing a lot of personal goals in my life.

SAC: What are your reasons behind doing graffiti?
CAB: It’s progression. The more you paint the better you get and the more exciting it is because you have to try to top the last piece you did. It makes you dig deep down into your creative thoughts and keeps you on your toes as well as on top of your game.

SAC: Who or what are your influences in terms of where your style is derived from?
CAB: My earlier influences included Charlie, Risk, Dream, Prime, Seen, Dusty, Dondi, and Lee just to name a few. These guys are legendary in my book. My style of painting is very simple with a lot of colors that are legible, and the technique involved is accomplished through many years of dedication to the graffiti game.

SAC: If you had to choose one and only one, would it be Quality or Quantity and why?
CAB: In the beginning it was quantity, the idea was to have more tags and throw-ups everywhere. But now, it’s a little bit of both. I can’t stop the bombing, but yet I love to paint colorful pieces. Just to show the young crowd that I’m also capable of doing burners, aside from the tags and throw-ups. I’m down to paint whatever with no particular choice as long as I’m getting up. Just got to keep it going.

SAC: Whats your best surface to paint?
CAB: I would have to say sound walls. I came up painting nothing but freeway walls for awhile, then came the street bombing. Painting on steel is also one of my favorite things to do because its a challenge. Paint doesn’t dry as fast on metal so you gotta paint 2-3 trains at a time in order to prevent drips on your pieces.

SAC: How do you feel about the documentation of graffiti on the internet and the aspects involved with it such as internet fame?
CAB: The internet fame is good but also bad in a way. Graffiti now is just so out in the open. Years ago a lot of us were underground cause we didn’t want the law to know who we were and catch a case or something. But the internet is great for networking and generating contacts with a lot of people throughout the graffiti culture.

SAC: What is your definition of All City?
CAB: “All City” to me means everywhere. That’s a lot of bombing. I have a lot of respect for anybody that has done it in any city that they live in. That’s dedication. To be one of the best in Los Angeles would be pretty hard to maintain cause shit gets buffed on a daily. Unlike 20 years ago, I’ve never really cared about being “All-City”, I just wanted to get up and make a name for myself as well as being recognized as one of the best.

SAC: Who are some of the most slept-on writers putting in work lately?
CAB: There are a lot of cats out their doing it big and not being recognized for bombing. Just to name a few are RUSIA OTR, BONKS, SUFER, ELSE, COLT45, HAEL, SPURN, RUETS, DEAS & RICKS. I know I’m forgetting some people here but these cats have been putting it down heavily. Not just here in the U.S but throughout the world. RUSIA’s up and coming. BIG SUFER’s been killin it for a good minute, ELSE has super dope pieces everywhere. COLT45’s an all around bomber. HAEL’s a monster. SPURN’s got a clean style. RUETS, the homey, is coming up. BIG DEAS is a freight king and RICKS is worldwide. Last but not least, PANIC for his divine style. Respect and props to everyone.

SAC: Which brand of paint do you prefer using and why?
CAB: Montana, Belton, Rustos, etc. Any can of paint works for me but ultimately I would say Montana cause they have great color tones that work well for me. I’m still amazed at all the brands of paint out there that are made specifically for graffiti art.

SAC: Rack or Buy?
CAB: BUY. I can’t rack anymore cause I got too much to lose. I’ll buy a few here and there as well as collect cans from past painting jobs or shows. I would definitely paint more if the paint was more accessible.

SAC: Any memorable or crazy missions you would like to share with us?
CAB: Every bombing night was memorable. A big rush, a lot of exciting run-ins with the cops. Making the evening news for Channel 7. Harold Green was very memorable. It gave all of us a big boost. It pumped us up even more ways than one. We were on a good one before and after we got city wide fame from that.

SAC: Best place(s) you’ve ever painted?
CAB: New York, Los Angeles, & Miami

SAC: What are your Top 5 Colors?
CAB: Black, White, Baby Blue, Orange, and Yellow.

SAC: Who are the Top 5 Bombers of all time?
CAB: I would have to say CAP, SEEN, PJ, WISK, & SER. These cats put it down in every way. Much respect goes out to them.

SAC: What has being a graf writer done for you so far?
CAB: Graffiti has saved my life. I went through some hard times in my life with drugs. Graffiti has kept me on the right path. Especially now, being a family man and having major responsibilities and all.

SAC: What is your advice to the new jacks that want to get into the graf game?
CAB: First figure out what you want to do with graffiti and why you want to do it. Graf is not for everybody. Some people are just not cut out for it. It’s a lifestyle not a trend. Then choosing a name is gonna be a challenge cause they’ve all been taken. Try to be original and stay humble. Most of all respect yourself and everybody within the game, especially cats that have been in the game for years as well as cats that have passed away.

SAC: Where do you see yourself in the game 15 years from now?
CAB: Not sure where. I’ll hopefully still be alive and painting, raising my family, traveling, and having fun.

SAC: Any thanks or shout-outs?
CAB: Yeah just want to say thanks to RICKS and Skate All Cities for this opportunity to be interviewed for the site. Also to everybody out their doing it big in LA and around the world!

AST Dew Tour – Portland, Oregon

The homey RUETS just got back from the AST Dew Tour out in Portland, Oregon and said that he had a pretty fun time doing some live painting for the crowd that attended. Also in the production line-up was DETR, MING, HUGE, VEKS, and GLOK. Looks like he was gettin mad love from our Portland followers cause everyone was asking him about the SKATE ALL CITIES hoody that he was rocking.

Wearing the hoody consisted of 2 things that happened:
1.) Randomly running into our boy Brent Atchley out there and partying with him.
2.) Having a girl starting up a conversation with RUETS at a bar stating that she also “Skates All Cities” and grabbed his weenie because of it. (TRUE STORY so maybe you should go online and buy our stuff if you want any of the above 2 things to happen to you.)

Check out the sign-off on RUETS piece towards the upper left, “SkateAllCities.com!” Jeaaah!
Photo Credit by: Rasharoni on 12oz Prophet.

RUETS

DETR

MING

HUGE

VEKS

GLOK

Minor Leaguers

This past weekend the Skate All Cities Krew stopped by the South Pasadena park to play a little bit of baseball in celebration of one of our OG member’s birthday, Geza aka GZA. After 8 of 9 innings and lots of alcohol-induced, out of shape skateboarders, running around we came out victoriously……tired. Haha, good times. Happy Birthday GZA you old man!

LOWLY

Damian aka YT

Randy Chew the Supermodel

Birthday Boy

Gabriel Martinez – Sorry homey but the ball is near your face when you tried to swing at that one. Think you should stick with your buttery tre-flips instead.

First Base

Mike Morales – This is the guy who created our infamous Skull And Crossboards logo holding two beers of Tecate’s like a champ.

Hairy Boy

Classic shot of a brew chillin by 3rd Base.

LOWLY being LOWLY.

Game’s Over.

Bench Sessions (08/27/08)

About a week ago we posted our first ever blog entry entitled “Bench Sessions”. This is basically a blog entry of all the freights that we catch in our yard. Unbiased benching. Here are 15 additional pics that we would like to share with you for our 2nd installment. Looks like we caught the little homey REST SAC up in there this time around and don’t trip if you’re not feeling his piece. He will tear you up on a skateboard.  GUARANTEED.

(?)

(?)

LOUSY

JUNK

LOUSY x OB x JUNK

ESER

PILONS

FAILS

SIGNES(?)

REST SAC

VYGR(?)

CRACK

SLUMP

SKOPE

SKEM x GS

Santa Barbara Motorsports (Tuesday Bike Nights)

The Skate All Cities Krew went to Santa Barbara Motorsports for Tuesday bike night. Last time we rode out there we were checking out the bikers dyno tuning and met some pretty cool heads. On this particular Tuesday SBM was having a stunt show and a BBQ with free food. Free food is always good. While arriving to the spot (extremely late) we find out that the stunt show was already over. Weaaaakk. So everyone rounded up the crew to go stuntin in the streets. Unfortunately the minute we got there “Mr. Johnny Law” said it was a no-go.

Let’s see some wheelies!

Ummm, better yet. Let’s not.

PERMAVACATION @ BNQT.com by Erik Hatch

Just this past weekend our good friend Erik Hatch, who runs AR-Division, filmed an online segment of us for a website that’s he’s currently working with called BNQT.com. The online segment (aka webisode) will be called “PERMAVACATION SAC Episode #4″. Erik is responsible for filming all of the original Shorty’s & Church Of Skatan videos such as Fulfill The Dream, GUILTY, Holy Rollers, Oh My God! and more. We feel honored to be featured on the site. Seems like alot of heads are finally recognizing what we’ve been doing for years. The video will showcase the crew’s skateboarding talents and should be edited and ready to go in about another 2 weeks from today.

During the meantime you should check out their latest episode below featuring the homey Sean Bolis. It has a pretty hilarious intro by one of our crew members Jesse Silvey. (Editor’s Note: Yes, it’s the same Jesse Silvey that use to ride for Shorty’s. Jesse is in the crew and he gets flowed from other companies as well. People need to realize that SAC is a skateboarding/graffiti crew and will always be since day one. Just because we’re making products and selling them at shops doesn’t necessarily mean we’re a company. I don’t think I would ever want to be categorized as a company actually. We’re more like family. And just because someone’s in our crew it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t rock anything else besides Skate All Cities products. Take Brent Atchley for instance. He’s in the crew representing out in Portland, but is pro for ELEMENT. Just needed to get that out there to clarify any misconceptions or questions. Back to the topic at hand.) Good and creative footage can be seen in this episode. Looks like the homey’s over at Criminology Clothing also caught BGP’s on the 4:02-4:11 mark with their Guilty Until Proven Innocent T-shirt. Make sure to also check out Episodes 1 with Pablo Favela and Episode 2 with Mike Santarossa at the Santa Barbara skatepark down below. Pablo, in my opinion, is one of the most highly underrated skaters right now. He just destroys everything and is on the grind lately. Can’t wait till our feature comes out! Stay Tuned…

(NOTE: If you’re on a PC you might want to try to view these files in Internet Explorer. Seems like we don’t have any luck with Mozilla Firefox for some reason.)

PERMAVACATION Episode 3 with Sean Bolis

PERMAVACATION Episode 2 with Mike Santarossa

PERMAVACATION Episode 1 with Pablo Favela

Clip Of The Week by Beto Guerrero (08/24/08)

St. Louis, Missouri

Sneak Peek

So guess who has another t-shirt drop coming soon on top of the ones that are already in the works? Here is a sneak peek of a design that the homey RUETS just dropped for the Skate All Cities Krew. Be on the lookout for these in Mid-September. They will be available in various colorways. Just not sure which ones as of yet. Stay Grindin…