They're going extinct...!

Advertisers: July 2010

In the future, "And now, a word form our advertisers" will [hopefully] have actual words, straight from our advertisers. In the meantime, we're just winging shit. In Mike Hirsch's case, we've been dealing with Socal Skateshop for eons now. They always have the coolest shit in stock, they're perpetually friendly folks, they always know what they're talking about, and we generally get treated royally whenever we place an order with Mike's crew. Check 'em out at www.socalskateshop.com.





We ride a whole lot of Ace trucks 'round these parts. What can I say? Great turn, great grind, and great responsiveness, equals great times. Get with the program, and get on some.





A large proportion of our "office" longboards and cruisers are outfitted with Alligators these days. They're really great all-around wheels, with tons of speed, superior grip, and loads of rebound. The way a good wheel should be. And, they come in a rainbow of colors and duros, for almost any application. Pretty bonus.





Whatever doesn't have an Alligator on it, probably has an Abec 11. No Skools, especially. Those are like, the ultimate wide-pig-bowl-wheel. Considering the dozens of bowl-able pigs that we collect here at The Solitary Life, the large No Skool quiver is pretty easy to justify. We're also liking the Flywheel line a lot these days, too.





We're going to be requisitioning a few Alvas pretty soon, for product reviews. We're pretty big Alva fans, but we don't have enough Alvas hanging around for our tastes. Ordering more will certainly fix that trick.





If you haven't read the Jay Kelly interview yet, you should get right on that. Jay, and Bill [Danforth] are choice individuals. The Danforth deck was, and still is, a straight ripper, too. Get yours before you're sorry.





Ahhh, the illustrious Mr. Bennett, himself! And, his wonderous truks. What a pleasure to behold, mounted on a cruiser or a longboard. This is our go-to truck around the office, whenever a longboard arrives at our door. Try some for yourself, and you'll see why.





JJ Rudisill is also, one of those choice individuals that we love to support here at The Solitary Life. Whether it's the wood, the art, the concave, or just the dude, Funhouse is one of those companies that we'll always buy from, no matter what.





Small companies rule. Tyler at Unity is the perfect example of a small company that's doing everything the right way, and straight from the heart.





We'll be finishing up our reviews of the Goldcoast line in the next week or so. But, in the meantime, here's the basic verdict: Some of the products are near-misses (the Modra complete, for example), while others are clearly, unquestionable out-of-the-park hits (the Rat Mactrac deck, which is fucking awesome). So, while on the "product" end of things, Goldcoast has something of a spotty presence... the fact remains that this is still a company to watch, long-term. Why? Because they're honest, they're sincere, they're always looking to improve whatever might not be up to snuff... and, maybe most importantly: They listen. Which is something that I wish I could say about more skateboard companies these days.





Loaded. What an awesome gig we have here. Beautifully crafted, epoxyglass-reinforced bamboo longboards that come on four different flexes, and a myraid of quality shapes. Gotta love 'em.





We'll be ordering up a Miramar Pelican complete, as one of our next product-review decks... and, I'm not sure that we've ever anticipated anything as much as we're breathlessly waiting for this beauty to show up on our doorstep. Look for a long-distance weekend out on this incredibly capable urban cruiser.





Of course, what with AJ Kohn being on the staff and all... we're obviously supporters of his company, One Skateboards. The trump card here, is the Performance Tip ("P-Tip" for short) technology... a "technology" that is so obvious, and so simple, we seriously have to wonder to ourselves why more companies aren't using it.





We'll be reviewing these pretty soon, as well. Just as soon as we work through the product-review backlog that we've got going over here...! Ryan's a good kid, just like a lot of small company owners these days. Proudly representing Bedford, Indiana, it's always good to see new, DIY things popping up from the most unlikely of places.





The guys at Orangatang are doing some really new, novel, and creative things with longboard wheels. It's actually sort of entertaining, to watch their whole gig unfold. This may be the funniest new company to come down the pike in quite some time. The only thing they seem to take seriously, is making go-for-the-throat, high-performance wheels. And they're damn good at it, too.





SMA never seems to get the love and respect that they deserve. Those that know, have all the love and respect in the world for Skipper's pet project. Problem is, very few folks are ever "in the know". We're huge admirers of the SMA program here at The Solitary Life, and we're always happily paying to get just a couple more in the quiver.





Tailtap is one of the neatest online shops around, with the hardest-to-find stuff in stock at all times.





I stated a while back that I thought that Santa Cruz was making a pretty damn solid comeback after quite a few years of arguably indifferent products, and some pretty lackluster branding. Well, the more that I ride Cruz products, the more I'm liking them. So much so that I decided to say fuck it, and give 'em some free ad space. They've certainly earned it.





Okay, what can I say? Thirty years deep, and still among the best in the world.




Danny at Factory 13 is one of my favorite people, ever. Totally blue-collar, hands-on, do-it-yourself punker... classic skateboarder, fer sure. We love Danny, and whatever Danny does is more than A-OK with us.




We don't see too many ads for Bulldog around these days, and that's a damn shame. The old Concrete Wave ads were one of the high points of getting the magazine in the first place. The layout, the colors, the product, the vibe... all classic skateboarding, all the time. Bulldog also makes some outstandingly unique shit. We have several examples in the office quiver, and by gawd, we're determined to get some more.




Rector Fatboys. The kneepads that have saved my ass too many times to even try to remember. Still, some of the best protecting, most comfortable, and most functional pads ever... especially for the price. Then, they just can't be beat.




Tunnel is one of my personal favorite companies. Totally retro-classic and old-school, they're a company that stays true to their roots at all times, and they make some totally neat stuff along the way. Rocks, Retros, Comps, Tarantulas, Waldos, Beams, everything they do has that "golden touch" that makes it all hopelessly desirable. Definitely, one of the coolest gigs in all of skateboarding right now.




Emergency. Black Label's old-school sub-brand. Jeff Grosso and John Lucero... now people, tell me, what more do I have to say?! Well, we did call on Emergency to thicken up their decks a little bit a few months ago. It only made perfect sense, since their entire target demographic is completely made up of fatassed old bastards like me. Thankfully, they seemed to have listened to somebody that was yelling for the same shit, because I got a Grosso blocks deck in a few weeks back that was actually thick enough for me to ride! Imagine that shit! So, you guys at Emergency? John Lucero and crew-dudes? Thanks for beefing your shit up a smidge.







More small-company madness. Skaterbuilt is owned and operated by this guy named Dave Hegstrom, who we've been trying to get an interview with forever. Dave's an awesome dude, but he's also a very busy dude, and that'll tend to throw a real wrench into the 'ol cogs. The news of the day is that our boy Danny at Factory 13 is gonna be handling Skaterbuilt production from here on out... and naturally, we applaud the hell out of that. As soon as you guys get a 12" pig back on board, and some 60mm Poolside Favors, let me know. That shit would go well with some virgin 215's that I've got floating about my office...





Yeah, I know that it's still summer, and snowboarding season is still a long way off... but still, Burton is a class act that makes great gear. Even in the summer months, we use a lot of Burton duffels and backpacks for our day-camping and hiking excursions. The shit is bulletproof, and would probably survive an Armageddon pretty handily. We like that sort of dependability around here.



*As you can see, we created all of these ads in-house, to fit the "pseudo-established aesthetic" of The Solitary Life. Which is immensely boring, we'll admit. We're sure that the advertisers could do far better, themselves. In the future, we'd appreciate it if advertisements could arrive in our inbox, from the advertisers, in jpg format; if they could be approximately 600 pixels wide by 300-400 pixels tall; and, if you guys (and, gals) could tell us something about what you're up to these days days while you're at it, that would be awesome. So that "A Word From Our Advertisers" could actually have, y'know, words and stuff. And, once again: All ads are free, assuming that you're the sort of company that we'd be comfortable supporting.

Those are the ground rules! Laters!

Just taking a summertime break...

Interview: David Scherer of Miramar Longboards

I swear, I think that I have the very best job in the world. I am truly, an incredibly lucky guy. As a writer, I have access to some of the biggest movers and shakers in the skateboard industry, today. So what if putting together a blog/'zine/whatever this is takes hours and hours of nerding out in front of the 'puter, and doesn't pay zilch...?! The perks kind of pay for all of the hassles, at the end of the day. Seriously.

In this case, the "perk" was getting behind the scenes, and into the mind's eye of Dave Scherer, one of the founders of Miramar Longboards. I've gotta tell ya, the first time I saw a Miramar ad in Concrete Wave, I was instantly intrigued. There's been a rash of these thinking-outside-the-box brands coming down the pike, lately... hell, I said the same sorts of things about Goldcoast, just last month... and to that, I say, "Well, it's about time!" Personally, I'm getting a little tired of "longboarding" being defined almost exclusively by boards with breaking waves on the bottom, and seaside resort towns overlooking the beach. Longboarding is now, a global phenomenon. Therefore, I'd say that it needs a correspondingly global outlook and perspective, too. Companies like Miramar are at the forefront of this much-needed perception-widening. And longboarding will become far more diversified, and that much more interesting, because of their efforts.

That's why brands like Miramar are so vitally important to the longboard scene. And, that's why I'm so lucky to get to interview guys like Dave:






The man with the plan makes a stand. Dave Scherer, living the beach.




Let's start here: Who are you, and what's your position at Miramar?

My name is David Scherer and I am one of the three co-founders of Miramar.


Can I get a quick bio? Age, years skating, inspirations, where you're from, and where you're at, today?

Well, I am 27 years old this June and I am from beautiful Pomona, California. I got my first skateboard when I was in the 7th grade. It was a World Industries deck with Flameboy dressed as a pimp. My mom was pretty cool to buy her 13 year old son that deck (laughing!). As for where I am today, I moved back to Pomona from Dana Point a year ago to open the Miramar gallery.


Here's an important one: Why "Miramar"? Why does the world need another longboard company, when there's about 10,000 of them already....?

When I bought my first longboard, all I could find in the stores were Sector 9 boards and nothing else. None of their decks or designs appealed to me, so I ended up ordering one from ebay that someone made. It was just a blank deck with griptape and I put some Trackers and Kryptos on it. When Nick and I started pressing our own boards and painting them for friends we could see there was a gap in the longboard market that wasn't being filled. We have worked hard to be the brand that offers decks with the best art by the best artists. We were tired of how BORING longboards were! For so long, everyone just copies Sector, even using the same Artists! Did you see Palisades has a Drew Brophy board? What is the difference between Palisades and Sector at that point? Everything is the same. We wanted to be different. We're are bridging the gap between longboards and skateboards, creating a brand that appeals to skaters, surfers, longboarders, college students and punk rockers alike. That's where Miramar fits in to this world.





Miramar is probably best known for their "art presence" in the longboard scene. That's obviously intentional, as Dave's whole reason for starting Miramar was to change the aesthetic of longboarding. Judging by this ad for the Spectrum Series, it looks like they're off to a damn good start.


What's the significance behind that name ("Miramar")...?

When we started the brand, we wanted to give it a name that we were all emotionally connected to, looked nice when its written and has international appeal. Miramar is Spanish for look to the sea and it is the name of the street that I grew up on. When Ryan and I were teenagers we fixed up a house on that street with my dad and I lived there with Ryan until I went to college. When we started pressing our first boards we were making them with C-clamps in my dad's barn on Miramar, so it just seemed to make sense to adopt Miramar as our name.


How long has Miramar been around? How did it get started?

Miramar really got started in 2003 when my room mate Nick Brown and I started pressing and painting boards for friends. After we finished school in 2005 we jumped straight in to the skate industry with an old friend of mine named Ryan Welch.





Miramar's very first ad in Concrete Wave Magazine... this is one of the few things that can remember seeing in the mag that really stuck out, made an impression on me, and begged my feeble mind to recall it for quite some time. Strange, beautiful, and engaging. The hallmarks of all Miramar projects.





That's Dave on the right, with artist Nick Brown on the left.



Who does those outstanding graphics and ads?! I swear, those ads are some of the best-designed things in the entirety of Concrete Wave Magazine every month. I seriously look for those ads... so, whoever does 'em: Good job.

Thanks, Bud! We are really glad that you like them! The designs are by my buddy and Miramar co-founder Nick Brown. We actually have a new one coming out in the next issue of Concrete Wave. This time Nick painted on a photo of our friend Ben Cortez skating our soon-to-be-released deck the Freshmaker.





I like the fact that Miramar has everything buttoned down tight. Like, their web presence, for example. These multi-view photos are something that I wish every manufacturer had. Without the head-on shot, you might never know that this board is, in fact, a tail-mounted longboard... which is essentially an overgrown SkateKings Axe slalom deck, stretched out to longboard proportions. I'd have to imagine that speed and maneuverability are it's fortes. I want one...! Note the Sasquatches mounted up to this one. Gorgeous...



Is "Sasquatch" your proprietary wheel brand? When did that come about? And, again: Why another wheel brand?

Ever since I was a kid I've had a mild obsession with Bigfoot... Sasquatch is our wheel, yes, and when we started that project we did envision it as a new brand, but you're absolutely right; "Why another wheel brand?" There is absolutely no reason for another wheel brand, especially one as homogeneous as Sasquatch. It's a 70, 78a, standard longboard wheel. The truth is that Miramar is always looking for ways to lower our costs so we can pass those savings on to our customers. If we branded our own wheel we could really bring down what it cost to build a complete without having to go overseas. We made the wheels at the same California manufacturer that makes Loaded's Orangatang wheel. So, this is how Sasquatch was born! They are great wheels for cruising, really sticky at 70mm and 78a duro. 35 bucks off our website! I'll mail you a fresh set to try out if you'd like, Bud.


Where are your products sourced from? The USA, or overseas...?

When we founded Miramar we sought to build a company that was truly made in the USA and we have stuck to that. When we got started we pressed our boards in Ontario, California but we were never really happy with the service that we received there. Last year at the ASR I was riding up an escalator with Mike Mahoney from Honey Skateboards and he told me he liked what we were doing and offered to press our boards for us. Miramar is the first brand Mike started pressing boards for besides Honey and everyone at Miramar are huge fans of Mike's work so I felt really honored when he made that offer. This year we released our new Spectrum series and every board in the new series is pressed by Mike Mahoney at Honey in Grand Junction, Colorado.




I see that you guys recently opened a museum/board shop. What was the inspiration behind that? How's it working out for ya?

Yeah this month marks 1 year that we've been running the Miramar gallery in Pomona. Miramar reached a period of growth where it was time to take the business out of the garage and into the public eye. Being the Arts brand, we decided that the best way to present ourselves to the world would be with an art gallery. Ryan and I are both from Pomona and actually met each other on 2nd St. where the Gallery is now. Its always been a dream of ours to come back to Pomona and give back to the city. It's basically an office with a showroom. The gallery has given us the ability to hold art shows for artists that work with us like Nick Brown, Vince Brown or Fernando Sucre and to really dig our roots into the art and skateboard communities. We have now linked up with a Pomona non-profit called the dA Center for the Arts and are developing a community center where at-risk youth with community service hours will be able to do their time pressing boards, learning screen printing, basically running an in-house skate brand. It's called dA skAteboards, watch for it.











Scenes from inside The Gallery Grand Opening, May 2009. These guys clearly don't fuck around when it comes to making, and showcasing, their art. That sort of dedication is all-too-rare these days.




Here's a fun question: What inspires you guys? With art like that, there's gotta be a good story there, somewhere.

Well, I can only really speak for myself about inspiration. I have always been inspired by my family and the people I love. With love you can accomplish anything. I grew up a punkrock skater making my own clothes, never wearing labels, just raging against the machine. I'm inspired by music, bands like The Clash and Rancid. Tim Armstrong is a grassroots hero of mine, everything he has done in his life comes from the heart and I really admire that.


Your website alludes to a "new and improved printing method" that is superior to heat transfers... that "method" looks like the long-lost art of "sublimation", to me. Am I wrong, or am I right...? If I'm right: What's the benefit of sublimation (or, whatever you guys are doing over there)...

Good question. Well, it's not sublimation. Sublimation has been around and I've seen some boards printed with sublimation but its still really only any good for solid colors. What we use is a high resolution printing process that can print on any surface; tile, metal, wood, anything really. The technology is pretty new and we are the first to innovate a way to apply this high resolution process to skateboards. Basically, our printing looks more like a tattoo on wood than a silk screen or heat transfer. The colors are bright and vibrant, but there is no white in this process, so all the white tones are wood. We can get millions of colors and can print any gradients. If you look at say, our "Shellin'" design, Vince Brown fades orange to yellow to blue and we can print that without any loss in the quality of the color. Heat transfers are limiting in the color and detail you can print, but our process can do anything. We're working on some designs using photography right now and they are unlike anything you've ever seen before. We're really happy with this new printing process and it is exactly what we needed to truly reproduce art as its meant to be seen and set Miramar apart from the rest..





If you check out the Miramar website (like we did several times over the past few weeks or so...), you'll eventually find the "custom one-offs" section, where you can buy one-of-a-kind creations for what is really, a pretty affordable price. Here, I pasted up a selection of my personal faves.



I noticed that Miramar, along with numerous other brands (Loaded comes to mind) are using Paris Trucks as their standard equipment. Why is Paris so popular these days...?

To be honest, I used to be a big hater on Paris for no reason at all really. I think a lot of people were. Randal trucks are great and as I'm writing this I'm actually wearing a Randal shirt, but I love how Paris feel too. Like I said before, Miramar is always looking for ways to lower our cost so we can give our customers a more affordable product and Paris trucks have a better price than Randal and I think they ride just as good, sometimes better. But everyone has an opinion, right? I love the new Paris ad in the most recent Concrete Wave where they show an email from someone who loves them and an email from someone who hates them. Great ad.


I asked Chris from Goldcoast this question, but it's so good that I thought I'd get your take on it, too. Here it is: How do you respond to all of those closed-minded shitheads that insist that "Longboarding Is 'Gay'..."? (That's their words, not mine.)

Yeah, I agree... longboarding is pretty gay. Next question.



What does the future hold for longboarding, generally... and Miramar, specifically...?

Longboarding is the fastest growing part of Action Sports. Sector 9 is the biggest hard goods brand in skateboarding, bigger than any skate brand. Skaters are becoming much more open to longboards in addition to their popsicle skateboards and skate brands like Element are bringing out longboards. The future of longboarding and Miramar lies with bridging the gap between the two disciplines.


If you're in the mood... and, take my word for it, you damn well should be... take a quick trip over to Miramar's website, and check 'em out for yourself. Trust me, you'll be glad you did:

www.miramarlongboards.com.

Product Review: Goldcoast Modra

They're here...!

Unfortunately, we haven't written the review yet. That's why, all you get to look at this week are a whole buncha photos, and the standard excuse that we always use when we're totally slacking off:





("Soon" being, next week or so... -The Editor)