DEATH MATCH 2023 PHOTOS
10/10/2023
Thrasher and Converse threw the party of the year at the small desert oasis Pappy and Harriet’s. Sick skating, brainmelting bands and the best crowd, hellbent for fun. Check the flicks here!
Photos by Burnett, Atiba, Coulthard and Lee
Sunrise over the ol’ Pioneertown Motel
Beautiful out here
Makes you wanna get all spiritual and shit
Ran into a couple spirit questers straight away
Pappy and Harriet’s gets blessed Mariachi style in front of the Ben Raemers wall. Nice
Final touches on the ramp
Rob Mathieson pulled an all-nighter to finish up the snake
Inspired by the Phelper’s tattoo, of course
Nile gets the detail work handled
Maddie on decor
‘Think the carve of death is gonna work, Tommy?’
Minutes later, a little grooving in the shade
Matt Rodriguez on skins. Legendary!
Paint’s dry? Time to break this thing in!
Big Lou, over the onion
Gray gets down on the finger-flip-and-hope
Metroskate Kasci, straight to biz
Gavin Bottger, to fakie
Smookes!
Can’t have a Texas Death Match without a real Texan
Diggs from the UK with an American footplant
Roman made it!
Foreboding skies
So the most experimental thing about this ramp was the snake of death. Wasn’t sure if it would be possible, but Elijah Akerley carved it no problem
Not that you wouldn’t want to get the lay of the land first
Ceddy got the first grind. Proof of concept!
Old heads: Bo Def and Burndog
The other Beres kid
Diggs turned 14
The thrill of a Death Match birthday
Better let someone handy with a knife cut that shit
Slappy talk, presumably
Meanwhile, back at the Airbnb
Skies got even weirder
Let’s check the line
Thank God y’all brought jackets. Forecast said high of 50!
Babes, everywhere
Stickers always beat the back-of-the-line blues
See ya’ll on the ramp
Amelia Earhart vibes, innit?
Wait. Did we meet at the FA jam?
Punks not dead? Not even close!
You’ll be inside in no time
Returned to hear BOD already knocked himself out! What? You can’t hurt fun!!
Vegas fools: Fookes and Baca
New gen: Lee and Elliott
Little pre-show ritual?
Mariachi on merch
Larry made it!
Rumors of Pedro’s death have been greatly exaggerated
Put together a nice little exhibit about the Great Desert Ramp Battle, an early pro backyard ramp contest, which happened 40 years ago in Palmdale
More on this in the next mag. Thanks, Billy Runaway
Witches and warlocks
Hey! Whattya know? Hell of a crew we got!
Music’s on! Homefront starts if off proper, high kicks and everything
Blackwater Holylight up next
Heavy!
Andersons: Jake and Mike
Now the OFFICIAL session begins
Ready? Fuck yeah!
Who says you can’t shoot skate photos without a fisheye and flashes? Kovackses: covered
50 mm, au natural … vs
16 mm with on camera flash?? Shit, I like ‘em both
This guy reminded my of Joey Marrone
Similar energy too
Hard to fuck up big air, am I right??
Back on deck, Raney rolling over on a Miller flip. Or is that a Jolly Mamba? Discuss among yourselves …
Nick Day came all the way from Florida to get funky!
Shit … Muscle’s here
Slob fasty, so sick
Duck takes it into the channel to fakie
#decked
SS 5-0 FAKIE
Some may frown on Rube’s approach but I know him to be a man of utmost integrity
Hell yeah, there were ladies ripping!
Before Grant Taylor
And AFTER!
Oh yeah
Cavemandrew ––he makes ‘em AND skates ‘em
Frontal bluntal
Gettin’ chilly
Up to D
Cold Dawg made it!
Brendan gonna get them HIGH angles
Amazing
Gary’s here!
And Zach!
Boom!
Already on the Gram, but fuck it! Smithvert into the channel. My dream trick, pretty much
Surprisingly few takers on the snake carve
Several looky-loos tho
Yanko got it!
You’ll see GT’s board fly over my head and outta the park in the video
More women of radical ––Miller flip!
As the space filled up, more spectators braved the snake pit
Tight quarters to say the least
See!
‘Damn, Gray … should we move?’
Others wisely sought shelter in the cage
Tight angles in there, too!
Not Joey took a heavy one into the side of the ramp
Looked harsh
And then maybe he was okay?
Ultimately carried to safety by the homies
Excellent attempt, soldier!
I brave the clubhouse angle
And this dude almost landed on top of me!
If you can’t trust Roman tho ….
A little too much hesitation on this first-time dropper. Give it time, kid
Eli Williams, ripping all night
Big ass Judo, Yanko style
Booster channel
Nora says ‘Nobody look at me!!!’
Eric Hutchinson, bean disaster
Oh shit! Worthington made it! BS boneless fakie
Fingerflip lein to tail
Floatation!
‘How am I bleeding?’
And then Jake shut down the first sesh with a carve through the snake followed by a MASSIVE oop fronside air over the shit. Very powerful
‘Yearghhh!!!!’
Showtime
End It takes the stage
FIRED UP
Push to the front!
Electric Chair brought the acrobatics
Nothing wrong with showmanship
Only gun I wanna see
The human Flying V!
Oh shit, Trash Talk ….
Group participation time
Duck catches the evil eye!
Intense!
Proper Meleé
When the waves are down, Buffy surfs the crowd!
No star or audience, just US!
Here we go …
I mean HERE we go!
Tye Trujillo on bass, sick AF
Oh shit … Mike Muir’s on Monster??
As if he needed any more energy!
Didn’t even lose the Davy Crockett
Look how happy Baca is. Makes it all worth it, right?
Crowd stage RIGHT
And LEFT .. looking good
Real skaters bring their boards everywhere they go
Amazing
And then everyone got on stage
At that point you just kinda give up. Great show!
Nah, he wasn’t getting hauled off. These dudes were fans
The kickflip tho … maybe not
FINALE TIME!
Audience: ready
Raybourn made it!
So the Texas Death Match is the time where everyone drops in at once. Last skater on four wheels wins. This year we had an extra challenge because the weird weather made the entire ramp slick with dew. Shit was slippery as ice!
Half the people slammed on the drop
Vargas made it out alive
‘There’s the winner!’
‘Who me?’
Now on to the cactus! Solid start!
This dude was shredding all day and night. Nose press on the arm
How sweet it is!
Roman perches a pivot
Muscle backs him up with the decker
Ceddy on the foolhardy front rock attempt. Can you imagine?!
Kowalski kicking a big boneless
And the nose pick
Sick crowd angle
Crail assault
And then Muscle closes it out with the ungodly egg!
Thought we were done
But Muscle decided to try to grind around the snake pit on the wet ramp
The hype was definitely there
Watch your everything!
Closer look
Ooof!
AND the make!!!
Wet ramp, one eyeball … nothing can stop the ultimate demo machine!!!!
And that’s a wrap
Wait, there’s more bands inside
The OTHER Trujillos with Franz from Turnstile
Jando on wig
Tower of power!
Guard the fuckin kegs, you guys!
BabyxSosa had a shy-but-fly performance
Look at Gabbers beaming in the front row
Franz, Nak and Cameron
Argee Pride: Martinez and Vitello
Thank you Converse skaters!
Black Noise
Paris Texas filled the small space with big energy
Watch the fuckin’ beam!
Thank you, sir!
Neck, Buffy and Burndog
Is it Jager time already?
Or is that a silly question?
Big love. See you next year, everyone!
Photos by Burnett, Atiba, Coulthard and Lee
Sunrise over the ol’ Pioneertown Motel
Beautiful out here
Makes you wanna get all spiritual and shit
Ran into a couple spirit questers straight away
Pappy and Harriet’s gets blessed Mariachi style in front of the Ben Raemers wall. Nice
Final touches on the ramp
Rob Mathieson pulled an all-nighter to finish up the snake
Inspired by the Phelper’s tattoo, of course
Nile gets the detail work handled
Maddie on decor
‘Think the carve of death is gonna work, Tommy?’
Minutes later, a little grooving in the shade
Matt Rodriguez on skins. Legendary!
Paint’s dry? Time to break this thing in!
Big Lou, over the onion
Gray gets down on the finger-flip-and-hope
Metroskate Kasci, straight to biz
Gavin Bottger, to fakie
Smookes!
Can’t have a Texas Death Match without a real Texan
Diggs from the UK with an American footplant
Roman made it!
Foreboding skies
So the most experimental thing about this ramp was the snake of death. Wasn’t sure if it would be possible, but Elijah Akerley carved it no problem
Not that you wouldn’t want to get the lay of the land first
Ceddy got the first grind. Proof of concept!
Old heads: Bo Def and Burndog
The other Beres kid
Diggs turned 14
The thrill of a Death Match birthday
Better let someone handy with a knife cut that shit
Slappy talk, presumably
Meanwhile, back at the Airbnb
Skies got even weirder
Let’s check the line
Thank God y’all brought jackets. Forecast said high of 50!
Babes, everywhere
Stickers always beat the back-of-the-line blues
See ya’ll on the ramp
Amelia Earhart vibes, innit?
Wait. Did we meet at the FA jam?
Punks not dead? Not even close!
You’ll be inside in no time
Returned to hear BOD already knocked himself out! What? You can’t hurt fun!!
Vegas fools: Fookes and Baca
New gen: Lee and Elliott
Little pre-show ritual?
Mariachi on merch
Larry made it!
Rumors of Pedro’s death have been greatly exaggerated
Put together a nice little exhibit about the Great Desert Ramp Battle, an early pro backyard ramp contest, which happened 40 years ago in Palmdale
More on this in the next mag. Thanks, Billy Runaway
Witches and warlocks
Hey! Whattya know? Hell of a crew we got!
Music’s on! Homefront starts if off proper, high kicks and everything
Blackwater Holylight up next
Heavy!
Andersons: Jake and Mike
Now the OFFICIAL session begins
Ready? Fuck yeah!
Who says you can’t shoot skate photos without a fisheye and flashes? Kovackses: covered
50 mm, au natural … vs
16 mm with on camera flash?? Shit, I like ‘em both
This guy reminded my of Joey Marrone
Similar energy too
Hard to fuck up big air, am I right??
Back on deck, Raney rolling over on a Miller flip. Or is that a Jolly Mamba? Discuss among yourselves …
Nick Day came all the way from Florida to get funky!
Shit … Muscle’s here
Slob fasty, so sick
Duck takes it into the channel to fakie
#decked
SS 5-0 FAKIE
Some may frown on Rube’s approach but I know him to be a man of utmost integrity
Hell yeah, there were ladies ripping!
Before Grant Taylor
And AFTER!
Oh yeah
Cavemandrew ––he makes ‘em AND skates ‘em
Frontal bluntal
Gettin’ chilly
Up to D
Cold Dawg made it!
Brendan gonna get them HIGH angles
Amazing
Gary’s here!
And Zach!
Boom!
Already on the Gram, but fuck it! Smithvert into the channel. My dream trick, pretty much
Surprisingly few takers on the snake carve
Several looky-loos tho
Yanko got it!
You’ll see GT’s board fly over my head and outta the park in the video
More women of radical ––Miller flip!
As the space filled up, more spectators braved the snake pit
Tight quarters to say the least
See!
‘Damn, Gray … should we move?’
Others wisely sought shelter in the cage
Tight angles in there, too!
Not Joey took a heavy one into the side of the ramp
Looked harsh
And then maybe he was okay?
Ultimately carried to safety by the homies
Excellent attempt, soldier!
I brave the clubhouse angle
And this dude almost landed on top of me!
If you can’t trust Roman tho ….
A little too much hesitation on this first-time dropper. Give it time, kid
Eli Williams, ripping all night
Big ass Judo, Yanko style
Booster channel
Nora says ‘Nobody look at me!!!’
Eric Hutchinson, bean disaster
Oh shit! Worthington made it! BS boneless fakie
Fingerflip lein to tail
Floatation!
‘How am I bleeding?’
And then Jake shut down the first sesh with a carve through the snake followed by a MASSIVE oop fronside air over the shit. Very powerful
‘Yearghhh!!!!’
Showtime
End It takes the stage
FIRED UP
Push to the front!
Electric Chair brought the acrobatics
Nothing wrong with showmanship
Only gun I wanna see
The human Flying V!
Oh shit, Trash Talk ….
Group participation time
Duck catches the evil eye!
Intense!
Proper Meleé
When the waves are down, Buffy surfs the crowd!
No star or audience, just US!
Here we go …
I mean HERE we go!
Tye Trujillo on bass, sick AF
Oh shit … Mike Muir’s on Monster??
As if he needed any more energy!
Didn’t even lose the Davy Crockett
Look how happy Baca is. Makes it all worth it, right?
Crowd stage RIGHT
And LEFT .. looking good
Real skaters bring their boards everywhere they go
Amazing
And then everyone got on stage
At that point you just kinda give up. Great show!
Nah, he wasn’t getting hauled off. These dudes were fans
The kickflip tho … maybe not
FINALE TIME!
Audience: ready
Raybourn made it!
So the Texas Death Match is the time where everyone drops in at once. Last skater on four wheels wins. This year we had an extra challenge because the weird weather made the entire ramp slick with dew. Shit was slippery as ice!
Half the people slammed on the drop
Vargas made it out alive
‘There’s the winner!’
‘Who me?’
Now on to the cactus! Solid start!
This dude was shredding all day and night. Nose press on the arm
How sweet it is!
Roman perches a pivot
Muscle backs him up with the decker
Ceddy on the foolhardy front rock attempt. Can you imagine?!
Kowalski kicking a big boneless
And the nose pick
Sick crowd angle
Crail assault
And then Muscle closes it out with the ungodly egg!
Thought we were done
But Muscle decided to try to grind around the snake pit on the wet ramp
The hype was definitely there
Watch your everything!
Closer look
Ooof!
AND the make!!!
Wet ramp, one eyeball … nothing can stop the ultimate demo machine!!!!
And that’s a wrap
Wait, there’s more bands inside
The OTHER Trujillos with Franz from Turnstile
Jando on wig
Tower of power!
Guard the fuckin kegs, you guys!
BabyxSosa had a shy-but-fly performance
Look at Gabbers beaming in the front row
Franz, Nak and Cameron
Argee Pride: Martinez and Vitello
Thank you Converse skaters!
Black Noise
Paris Texas filled the small space with big energy
Watch the fuckin’ beam!
Thank you, sir!
Neck, Buffy and Burndog
Is it Jager time already?
Or is that a silly question?
Big love. See you next year, everyone!
-
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