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BAIL Magazine - Issue Three

There are quite a few established skate mags out there (Thrasher, TWS, Skateboarder) as well as the promising new upstart (The Skateboard Mag)…and then there’s BAIL.

Published by the Independent’s Day Media (the company that brings you the fantastic music mag Punk Planet), BAIL has a vibe all its own. Three issues in, the magazine is creating it’s own path…and it’s a direction skateboarding needs to travel.

BAIL chooses to focus on the culture and attitude of skateboarding rather than pushing page after page of the newest pro flipping the latest trick at the newest spot. What shines through is the feeling of skating as a movement and a lifestyle (wait…did I just say that?). It’s great to see a feature on Mofo (ex-thrasher photo editor, ground break photographer, and Los Olvidados rocker) who reveals more about skateboarding than some wet-behind-the-ears-pro-today-gone-tomorrow kid ever could. Issue Three also features a Jay Adams excerpt from the new book ‘Scarred For Life’. This alone is worth the cover price. It’s also nice to see BAIL call attention to smaller companies and media in their reviews and stories. You can read about boards from Instant Winner and Manik, the design of Character Skateboards, and the video website Skim the Fat. In my mind, this is what skateboarding is about…getting involved, being creative, and doing your own thing. It’s not all Flame Boys and inward heels down ten stairs…it’s also frontside carves, hand made boards, and having your own style.

Still, there are a few flaws. I could do without the Beastie Boys interview. I mean, they are certainly interesting guys…but there just aren’t enough interesting questions. Also, what’s with that bubble letter, third grade typeface scattered across the feature stories? Yeah, hip retro is sort of ‘in’ right now, but that font certainly isn’t cutting it. A feature on Commonwealth Stacks should actually look good and enhance the images of their work, not fight against it.

Overall BAIL gets it right. I hope it continues past these first three issues. Help them out by visiting their website and ordering a copy. Then go skate a curb, start a company, and create your own scene. BAIL would want it that way.

- Chris

11/16

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