just wouldn't be any purpose in life
for me. Even music, I mean, music
can be temporary, tastes in music
change, but with skating there's a lot
in general, it's just an on-going thing.
I mean, you can't stop skating, it's
impossible.
Are you considered one of the
guys people can contact, do you
know the spots?
A lot of people know me but I hang
out with only a few people. I basically
keep to myself and a group of friends,
not just associates. As far as music
goes, 'course Civil Dissident be-
came a fairly well-known hardcore
band around the world...I get a lot
of mail from skaters...we were just
so impressed, after the second issue
of Perfect Transition came out, that
a lot of people were writing back and
saying there was a need for a skate
board magazine in Australia. Now
people are slowly starting to find out
about it because of reviews in
THRASHER. They're starting to send
us their zines and a big communica-
tion's going on now between skate
scenes.
How long have you been in Vicious
Circle?
I've been in the band six months.
Prior to that I was in Civil Dissident
for three years.
How do you describe Vicious Cir
cle's music?
Hard edge, it's not heavy metal, it's
a hardcore sounding band. But rather
than just label ourselves punk, we've
got a lot of influences and a lot of
different styles within our songs. Our
new album is going to be a combina-
tion of all different styles within the
band. While we're sticking to that
hardcore element, we're playing
around to get as many different
sounds out of it as we can.
You're certainly a skater-are any
of the other members skaters?
No. They skate up and down the
street but it's not an avid interest like
it is an obsession with me.
Do you get skaters at shows?
Skaters provide the most energetic
and effective input we get out of our
local scene at the moment. They're
the ones who get into slamming and
I can tell most guys have the energy,
which is why they skate. It seems to
me the skaters who go to gigs are
the ones who aren't interested in vio-
lence, that aren't interested in prov-
ing themselves as far as any macho
tendencies or anything like that.
They're just cool guys who come to
shows to have a good time. At the
same time, you do get a bunch of
macho skate types, I don't know, 1
wrote a letter into THRASHER a few
months ago about the macho at-
titudes in skating that was sort of
reflecting something I was thinking
at the time. Guys are starting to get
sponsors and they change-their
personalities change. That's bad. If
you're going to be sponsored you
should still keep in touch with other
guys, even if you're a better skater,
it doesn't matter. You've got to keep
IN THE CROWD
in touch with your mates.
Would you have been able to
come over here if it wasn't for the
band?
Well, yeah, because everything with
the band is all self-funded anyway.
No one's paid for us to get out here.
We paid out of our own pockets.
We're all losing heaps of money to
do it but we just want to experience
it. In the ten years I've been skating,
LA. has always been the capital of
the skateboarding dreamworld for
me. With all the parks, even America
in general...I mean, I went to Sad-
lands and I just couldn't believe that
I was actually skating something like
that. I'd dreamt about it for years and
it was like a dream come true.
Will you go back to Australia
satisfied to be Australian and still
living in Australia?
Definitely satisfied but it's strange
because I don't feel as if I'm in
America. It feels like I'm in another
part of Australia. It's really weird, ob-
viously there's the accent, people
talk differently and there are different
cultural aspects, but there's some
thing weird about how similar it is to
Australia.
Do you think there's been any kind
of Americanization in Australia?
Yeah. You walk down the street and
you see McDonald's, Kentucky Fried,
Safeway, Target, I mean as far as
consumerism goes, you get all the
companies over there. All the skaters
say rad, gnarly, dude, you know, ex-
pressions...
What are some of the differences
between skate shops in America
and Australia?
In Australia skate shops aren't really
a happening thing. I went past Hol-
lywood Blvd. in LA. and saw this
shop with just piles of boards and
wheels and trucks...it was totally
skateboarding and nothing else. It
put me up, because in Australia you
have bike shops that have got
skateboarding on the side or surf
shops who have got skateboarding
on the side, but because of the size
of the sport over here, you can do
a lot more with it. That's one thing
that sucks in Australia. I think the
scene is a lot better when you get
more people behind it. When I
walked into Upland, I just had to take
a photo of the skate shop because
it just blew me away...I'd never seen
fifty boards stacked in a row. Totally
impressive.
How about equipment and equip
ment availability?
Availability depends on shipments.
Price is the main limitation... when
a new model board comes out you
can't just part with your old board
because a new model costs so
much. You don't pay $40 for a deck
in Australia, you pay $110. You're
talking a whole set-up for $200,
right? In America you might be able
to get two or three set-ups. So they're
getting companies that are making
stuff in Taiwan, making it a lot
cheaper, but the stuff's crap. They're
just making bullshit equipment and
that's not going to help skating either.
But the kids can't afford anything
else.
How about people making equip-
ment, manufacturers?
As opposed to manufacturers,
there's kids, skaters, who are getting
out and trying to do their own thing.
Mainly because there's an interest.
It's just something that stems from
the sport and it becomes an interest
with them. There's this guy in Mel-
bourne, Boggie, and he's made the
best copers I've ever seen anywhere
in the world. I mean, they're so strong
and they just glide for so long, and
at the moment he's looking for a U.S.
dealer to distribute for him. He's start-
ing to make his own trucks now and
no one in Australia has ventured into
that sort of thing. There's guys who
make decks and everything but
wheels.
How about the girls, is there a
difference?
In the skate scene there's hardly any
girls-there's a lot more girls who
skate over here. I was surprised,
there was a girl warrior down in Up-
land and she ripped the bowls, which
was really impressive for a girl be-
cause a lot of girls don't...I don't
know why, I see skateboarding as
something that's meant for boys.
Skateboarding isn't a macho thing,
I know that most guys don't treat it
like a macho thing, but maybe be-
cause it appears dangerous, girls
don't want to fall over and hurt them
selves or something.
What do you think of L.A. as op-
posed to other areas of California
and America?
Well, I was surprised that L.A. and
San Francisco were so different, like
two totally different towns in different
parts of the world. I had no concept
that L.A. would be that big. It's just
miles and miles of endless city. That
was something that put me right out.
As far as skating in LA, it's incredi-
ble, the amount of acid drops and
banks, there are banks everywhere
in LA. In Australia, unless you know
the spots, you've really got to search
to find them. Since we've been street
skating for a long time we sort of
know all the different banks and
spots to skate, but in L.A. and San
Francisco, because it's so spread
out, there are places where you can
just terrorize all day and just find new
terrain all the time.
What about sidewalks and streets,
are they as developed, smooth
enough to skate?
For a long time, every weekend we'd
go into the city and just terrorize.
There was a group of four of us and
for about two or three months, every
weekend we'd just hassle security
guards non-stop, skate on train plat-
forms til they would try and give us
tickets. We'd just laugh at them in
their face. We used to terrorize the
car parks and there's some radical
car parks in Melbourne. They're just
so fast, really gnarly. And that's
where skating was for a long time
because we got pissed off with the
Council Parks, we got bored with
everything else that was going on.
There weren't any ramps happening,
so we said bugger this. We couldn't
get any spots to build a ramp for
ourselves, so we just took to the
streets. Street skating in Australia is
getting so big now people are start-
ing to realize the potential. The
magazines are showing more street
skating, which is good because it's
getting back to the roots of where it
came from. You can adapt moves
that you might not be able to make
on vertical to ones that you can make
on the streets. The style of street
skating is more unique, I think, than
ramp skating.
Even though moves have been
adapted from vertical?
Yeah. The good thing is that they
adapt those moves from vertical,
they change, and make them more
involved and complicated within
themselves, so it's like a whole new
move anyway.
Anything else you'd like to make
a point about?
Well, I think Tommy Guerrero should
come out to Australia. It'd be good
to get a Pro demo team out to Austra-
lia. Australia really needs to be blown
away by American skaters, because
the standard of Australian skating is
just not much at all compared to
Americans. They're are some hot Aus-
tralian skaters, but you got little kids
over here who just tear the streets
and tear ramps. It just blew me away
at Upland to see all these little kids
doing boardslides in the square bowl
...it just put me out. I think that's
one thing, there should be more com-
munication between skaters. It's the "
one thing that we can unite under a
common goal. If anyone wants to
write to me, I won't be home for a
couple months, but write care of Per-
fect Transition, P.O. Box 118, Burnley
3121, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
I'd be happy to write to you and swap
mags and stickers and just generally
swap attitudes and ideas, which is
what skating is about for me. Other-i
wise I wouldn't be doing it, because
that's what makes it fun.
PERFECTS
TRANSITION
3rd Issue
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JOHN LUCERO
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P.O. BOX 884413. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94188
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