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'A Soundtrack to 90s Skateboard Videos'

After almost a year of researching, mixing, recording, editing, moulding, casting, documenting, recycling, packaging and perfecting 'Legends Never Die' is finally complete. Going back to my roots in music I revisited my favourite skate VHS's released between 1990-2000 and compiled a tribute to the musicians, skateboarders, DJs and odd characters, dead or alive who made these videos so entertaining.

 

The first run is in a hand numbered limited edition of 250, each one comes in a VHS case containing a laser etched USB key with all 12 audio mixes (45mins each), Dj Odin & Friends 90's skate footage, a homemade Hi-8 cassette shaped skate wax, A3 fold out booklet, flyer and stickers!

Now available from....
Music
THE MUSIC

Once I started rewatching the videos and compiling a shortlist of tracks I realised that keeping the list short was going to be impossible! I began digging out the tunes that I had on vinyl before I reached into my digital library. Once armed with a huge playlist I set about linking it all together in as creative a way as I could.

 

I released a mix-a-week via my mixcloud with photos of the records used in each one dotted around the room. For a more step by step breakdown of the mixes creation and development follow my instagram link at the bottom of the page.

DESIGN & PACKAGING

Once all the mixing and recording was finished I thought it would be fitting to present it in a VHS case for that added touch of nostalgia. I didn't realise when I made this decision how hard it is to get the damn cases! I visited charity shops  up and down the country, left my number with them and they would call me when a collection came in. I would then sift through to find those in the best condition, buy them, take them home, run a bath with antibacterial solution, remove the inlay and video (recycle them seperately) and wash the cases. There were a lot of Disney videos but I particularly liked the fact that I got a copy of 101 Dalmations as I remember watching a interview once with Natas Kaupas where he said when him and Rocco set up 101 Skateboards they were driving to register the company name and they were going to call it 101 Dalmations until they realised that was not a great idea so they dropped the dalmations!

 

In another happy twist of fate my good friend Jimmy Plates offered his design expertise to help me deliver a visually dope finished product. I actually bought many of the records used in the mix from Jimmy when he worked at Beanos (Europes largest secondhand record store before it closed) in Croydon in the 90s.

MOULDING

Once I had the boxes and realised how much room there was to play around with I decided to make a mould of my old Hi-8 camcorder cassette tape and then make wax casts from it. I got the artist clay, silicone rubber and catalyst needed to make the mould from Tiranti on Warren St (highly recommend them). Each mould has to be done in 2 parts, each part takes up to 12 hours to set.

 

For the wax I used a blend of soy (cost efficient but soft) and micro crystalline (more pricey but adds strength). The photo above was the very first one out of the cast, the formula changed since then to make the cassette a more solid white colour.

Add it all together and.........

"One of the most innovative and extensive pieces of skate nostalgia we've ever seen"

SIDEWALK SURFER

"One of the most insane projects of skate video music worship we've ever come across"

JENKEM

"This is amazing"

THE NINE CLUB

"It's incredible"

MIKE BLABAC

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