Tony Alva changed skateboarding on so many levels; his solo career as a ripper in the 70’s & 80’s is well documented. To me, he reached a whole different universe in the mid 80’s with ALVA Skates and the crew of skaters that he brought together. It seemed like that he put together a group of skaters that were more of a brotherhood than a skate team, and they all had Alva’s vibe of FTW. Whatever terrain these rippers attacked, they did it with style, nd they had a look that all of the kids worldwide wanted to emulate. Team Alva represented what it was to be an outlaw on a skateboard. Not much is said about Tony’s punk rock roots, but they run very fucking deep – he was a member of the San Francisco skate team the JAKS, and he played guitar in the skaterock band the Skoundrelz. Being the nerd I am, I found this stellar footage of him ripping shit in 1989, and featured in this footage is Texas punk Bill Danforth and San Diego shredder Mario Rubalcaba, who went on to play drums in Rocket From The Crypt, and now he pounds the skins for OFF! When you watch this film ,you will be witnessing the birth of street skating. They are skating all of our local Venice/Santa Monica spots, which makes it even more classic. Fuck all of the talking, just check out how the Alva crew wrecked shit back in the day!
Luc
January 25, 2012 at 2:19 am
Alva team pro skater “Tex” a.k.a John Gibson was also in the band BARK HARD who released a cool hardcore punk LP on Zorlac Records (!) in the ’80s. Good shit.