VOLUME VIII

So here we are.

7 months on from our last print issue and we’re back at square one.

Le confinement. Quelle merde.

Whilst writing the previous Vol VII intro, it was under the heavy handed French lockdown, comparable to our friends and neighbours in Italy and Spain and a sensation not at all unknown to the rest of the world.

What we thought was a unique moment in time, a seismic shift in the way we live our daily lifes and a wake up call as to what ‘civil liberties’ actually mean. It wouldn’t happen again. It couldn’t. And yet by the time this volume hits your hands, if you are living in Spain, Germany, France, Italy or the good old UK – you’ll most probably under some form of lockdown.

So when it came to making this volume, which started in earnest late summer the world was a slightly more optimistic place. After the glorious summer that was, Covid was just a spec in the rear view mirror, another medical aliment defeated by the great good that is humanity – oh how wrong we were. We launched full steam ahead on a quest for good times, or even just a slice of normality not knowing what this autumn or winter would bring. Some modest goals. Some little victories.

We had Eithan Osbourne over for a glorious two weeks on home turf scoring the best that the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts have to offer. Before the French decided in their infinite wisdom that surf is in fact, interdit. We caught up with a new friend Arthur Longo in his studio in Berlin to find out how one of the world’s best snowboarders mixes it up with Art and living in a city far removed from the mountains. Our old friend Héctor Menéndez, who’s sofa I am currently sleeping on (If you reading this, thank you Héctor) hopped across the Canarian Archipelago to photograph an old friend skating the island of Gran Canaria, a seemingly small fear but a little victory indeed after the severity of the Spanish lockdown. Our new Chef in Residence, and who we might be touting as France’s next greatest export Adrien Witte takes us through the finer points of making Kombucha whilst we take a voyage to the Congo to learn of the plight of the Silverback Gorilla. We unearthed some scraps from our dear co-editors. Yentl’s voyages in Indo and Aus on location for Bliss whilst Robin’s adopted new home in Berlin led to helping skateboarder turned mid century furniture connoisseur Tjark Thiekler move exquisite designer furnishings around his shop in between skating with the Cleptomanicx homies. We also spent some much needed time escaping the city with Lea Schairer in the Austrian mountains, and gained an insight into life in Jamaica via Luca Vincenzo. Our friend Chris Binns from over the water in W.A tells the exceptional true Hollywood story of one of our long admired photogs Jason Reposar, accompanied by some iconic imagery from the man himself.

So yes, we might be staring into the barrel of an at best uncertain, and at worst bleak winter but the world still keeps turning. There will be a spring, and our beloved little old subcultures of surf and skate aren’t going anywhere and in fact, are more important than ever offering a unique opportunity of escapism wherever that might be – and if we might add a flair of cheek, if surfing does happen to be forbidden by law where you are (like France). We’d recommend just going on the sly. Fuck it – 135€ fine well spent.

Every surf, every skate, every exercised freedom is a little victory.