post ur favorite Natural Koncept stuff in this thread

[jzradical]

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97 me would call and heckle Katch every night, all night. Over and over. Calling him out for biting styles and early photoshop over 80s trains pics. He would completely lose his sht and scream into the phone forever. Maybe that was over Shaolin, not Natty Koncepts though.
Got a couple flow boxes in 98-99 when i first moved to Colder Ballerado.  Rented a room from a filmer who worked with NK, and started receiving boxes out of nowhere.   Never sent footage or anything. Easiest boxs ever secured.

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I lived in Boulder at that time.  We've probably skated blue park together.

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Met a filmer who filmed for NK at that park. That's how I got a few boxes at that time. Can't remember his name, but he worked at Brothers by the park too. He subletted me his apartment above the sub shop on the Hill beside circle K. Boulder was so much fun at that time.  Everytime I see the sig of dude slaloming through the library parking lot on here I get nostalgic.

Wow. That's wild. It's me. I worked with the Baptista family running Brothers Boards back in the day. I run Natural Koncept out of NYC now. Dave Davis is still on the team too! That apartment above Circle K was wild!

[jzradical]

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arizona iced tea has a skate team?!

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aw, bro, you're missing out, why not slam open a fresh one and tune in to the Arizona Iced Tea™ City of Light^© Deja Vu Tour^®

Hell yeah bro! Glad you're tuned in. That tour was amazing!

[cky enthusiast]

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for some reason my brain combines nk with graffix that plastic bong company

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The reason is because Choppy rode for Graffix. I'm pretty sure he had some ads in the zine at that time as well.

dudeeeee

[jzradical]

I like that Boner dude that did Canadian embassy. He always wore dashikis and I thought that was bad ass. Also I can’t remember the dudes name...but he rode for hard times at one point and was in nk. His footage was awesome

I feel like I saw tons of natural koncept shit at fishbone skate shop but I was too young to know what the fuck I was looking at

You're thinking about JJ Colon. Look out for his part in the new Natural Koncept video! Dropping soon.

[jzradical]

I though this thread was a joke until videos were linked. Gonna show this to all my french homiesreal quick, set up a Natural Koncept cult here because damn, this stuff is fucking gold haha 

That means a lot! We're out here shinin' in the streets. New NK video dropping April, 2021

[jzradical]

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I work with someone who is/was friends with Larry Schuster, someone he claims who is/was pro for Natural Koncept. That’s all.

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their story checks out...

Larry Schuster, Ohio native, is so talented. It was a pleasure having him on the squad for so many years.

[jzradical]

consulting all other topics on NK on slap i saw someone post that they used to send in their transfer files for graphics in the wrong resolution on purpose? and the same goes for their filming etc (purposely going no budget with filmers, titles etc). pretty sick shit if that’s the case.

Although this story sounds epic we never sent in files for boards in the wrong resolution, I remember all of the board graphics back in the day coming out really nice, with PS Stix especially.
However we did use a ton of video grabs for print ads at the time and that got fuzzy for sure..as for purposely going no budge with filmers..we just filmed ourselves and things got a little out of focus at times..hahaha..i remember when we edited Illegitimate BAstard Child - katch and I, the hard drive crashed when we were like 100+ hours into the making it.  WE had to start over from scratch, like go through every hi-8 tape again, just insanity. anyway as for glitches and stuff we just let it roll and I still to this day let a few glitches happen as it feels right to me. it feels NK. So stoked to read all this stuff on Slap. It's just amazing to see all the comments. We had such a sick team back than and i feel we still do to this day. NK4LIFE.

[jzradical]

Bob Gnarly's part is so fucking wild.

Last summer me and three of my best friends did LSD and went out for a super long all night cruise on our cruiser boards. While the acid was kicking in and we were waiting for one friend to show up, we watched Illegitimate Bastard Child. I had already seen it a bunch of times but my other two friends hadn't really seen it. Needless to say it was fucked. The editing at the end of Choppy's part where he's yelling at the camera had us laughing our asses off. I think we only made it that far before heading out for the night.



But really, shit like this is the whole reason any of us click on a Natty Kon thread:

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Saw that Choppy dude throw a half eaten hot dog right in a Reef bikini model's face at a trade show once.

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Choppy was a madman. It was such an amazing time of my life skating and being around The ChOP.
The part you're speaking about - the  hotel pool jump -  was at an ASR Show. The cops were coming and we were certain Choppy was gonna get arrested, but he somehow knew the guy working at the hotel - i wanna say his name was Clarence. anyway he starts saying "Clarence. It's me Choppy.... he was up there for i'd say 20 minutes talking shit  and after this girl yells something like i don't thing you're gonna jump..he says I've always loved skating, etc and jumps and than hides behind a bush. And did not get arrested. It was magical. we didn't film it, it was a friend of the crew's that filmed it from another room across the hotel. Chop is a legend. That clip will forever be amazing.  And the jump is like 15+ feet out. that was our room. i love jumping off stuff into water...who doesn't..but i'm telling you it didn't look possible to me. i was so nervous Chop was going to jump and when he did I held my breath.......it was so scary to see in person..in fact it's giving me the shivers just writing this..There were so many times that Choppy would scare us trying insane gaps & big drops. Chop has such sick stalefish airs and stinkbug grabs. he is magic. that's for sure.

[jzradical]

Richie Loeffler from Trap skateboards and Medicine distribution has the distribution for Europe at least Germany. On his web shop you can order the boards. https://mantisshop.de/search/index/sSearch/natural+koncept?p=1

I am considering getting one for my collection. I would love if they could do a re-issue of one of the Omegas boards

Richie and I have been skating together for 20+ years. He's the shit! Trap is amazing and we appreciate all of the support Richie and MDCN Dist give Natural koncept. Hoping to do a Trap x NK tour soon in Germany.

[jzradical]

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NK if youre hiring and need a dude in NY Philly lmk im with it.

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^^

DM us. Always scoping footy tapes. Plus I send sticker packs all of the time. We go to PHilly a lot too.

[Witcheshit]

Whatever happened to the Barn Bowl that Caz owned? I vaguely recall an NK ad saying it was for sale...

Reference: http://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2020/02/11/stories-behind-barnyard-mega-ramp-caz-helmstetter/

[jzradical]

the skateboard world has seen a lot of big companies rise and fall over the years. element, plan b, powell etc. only one company has stood rock solid over time  as a pillar of our sport: Natural Koncept. they always have the sickest teams (just take a gander at that household name up there), the coolest perma fried Korn album art graphics (and name), and the ability to run ads in TWS for 20 years without ever selling a single product.

go ahead and post up all your favorite NK stuff here. i expect this to be a really long thread.

Brendan Leung was one of the most amazing skaters to see shred in person. Besides having the raddest bag of tricks he was such a wonderful person with such a big heart.
To this day we share stories in the tour van of "Lai Wing" completely destroying demos and spots across the continent.
The last session we had together as a team was on the final days of the month long Creepin' Across the USA Tour.
We skated the ramp at Brooklyn Projects in Los Angeles.
Here's the session: starting at 29:35.


It was Brendan, Dave Davis, Bonestalone, TalKual, Cmart, my wife Grace, Lacey and myself.
As usual Brendan was pure magic. He will live forever in our hearts.
Love you Brendan. R.I.P.

[jzradical]

salute boner

Bonestalone & Magic Bullet forever!!!

[jzradical]

almost forgot: NK was doing a demo at sayreville park once, unannounced. or they showed up a week early, something. my friends and i happened to show up and it was literally just them in an empty park. i asked where choppy was and everyone seemed pretty bummed i brought it up until either bobgnarly or JZ said "choppy is too much of a liability, hes still down we just cant bring him on tour." and this was right after that second video came out, after illegitimate bastard child came out.

free max b

Too funny! We love Chop, but this is true. I remember that demo for sure. We went to NJ Skate Shop and than to the park.
Chop Chop was too much of a liability at times. It's just the truth and since I was runnnin the tour and at times paying for it out of my pocket I wasn't gonna let Chop do something craze and get us all arrested. Sometimes we were on 15+ day tours back than all staying at friends houses, etc. 

[jzradical]

Wow! Hyped to see all the action on Slap!

 We love and appreciate your support.

Natural Koncept did start in Hawaii but has been run out of my NYC apartment the past 15+ years.

Definitely respect the roots in Hawaii though. Katch created all of those sick graphics back in the day.
Since 2005sh we added riders Bonestalone from Virginia, JJ Colon from CT (2008) TalKual and Juan Pablo Velez from Colombia (2010), Carlo Carezzano from Santo Domingo (2018) - currently living in NYC.
These are the skaters that kept coming on tour, working hard and filming full parts for our videos...


Naturally we moved on, but the grit and skate rat in our crew shines' hard every single day in the streets...


Mad respect to our OG's:
Katch, Sean S., Choppy Omega, Kale Sandridge, Caz Helmstetter, Sam Clemens, Roger Cabudol, Ian Okui, Chris Kays, Bobby Rodriguez aka Bob Gnarly, Larry Schuster, Craig Williams, Billy Wilson, Darryl "HeyHead" Freeman, Wade Abreu, Richard "Bronson" Gregory, Nick Yamasato, Aaron Sheare, Craig Whitehead, Jeff Logan, Trevor Uriona, Adrian McElhaney, Adrian Mallory, Sean Reilly and we will never forget Brendan Leung. R.I.P.

We're so thankful for all the amazing memories from this crew...
Caz's barn jump stands out as a big one. So many Choppy stories it's impossible to put into words and Kale is still crushing' pools in Hawaii to this day. Such a G.

Sean Reilly is putting out footage on the daily. Rippin' every spot to shreds with his Shitty Kids Crew.

Chris Kays is skating hard and runs Hickam skatepark in Oahu.

Dave "the Dave" Davis is still on the team ripping in Denver.

Our new artist is a NYC legend named Dalt One. I met him in the LES art scene back in 2011.

We're about to release our 7th full length in April 2021 - untitled at the moment.


The previous 6 were:
Illegitimate Bastard Child (edited by Katch and myself)
Dysfunctional Family (edited by Katch and myself)
Creepin' 4 Life (edited by me)
High Class Creepin' (edited by me)
Creepin' Across the USA (edited by me)
Steady Creepin' (edited by me)

Anyway that's where we're at today.
We appreciate all of the core skaters and shops that continue to support us - Magic Bullet, Labor, KCDC, Pacific Drive, Circle A, Bills Wheels, SPOT, Stratosphere... and so many more.
We finally got distribution back in Europe through MDCN out of Hamburg.

Keep rippin' tough in the streets!
JZ RAdicaL

[cky enthusiast]

JZ post ur favorite ads and why they’re ur favorite

[GardenSkater77]

@jzradical

I am happy this thread made your day. I remember NK adds in my 97ish Big Brother. Lots of other cool companies like Shaolin from Hartsel back then. The fact that NK is still is the game is really cool.

Question: Is there footage of Bob Gnarly Ollieing into the Princeton stadium bank?

I used to skate that spot all the time as a wall ride and we know Fred Gall gapped the entrance, but I don’t understand riding on the 8” top section with enough speed to Ollie into the bank.

Please drop the footage if you have it.

Thanks

[Grind King Rims]

@jzradical  thanks for coming on and commentating, that's sick.

[jzradical]

JZ post ur favorite ads and why they’re ur favorite

This cover shot of Kale created a ton of hype for the brand.
Funny story: we were on a 10-day tour in Hawaii with Nieratko and the Big Brother crew. We hit up Oahu and Maui.
This session was at Kales house / ramp at the time. We were having a blast and this crazy big Samoan, like the biggest dude I've ever seen in my life, walks up the to the ramp and tells us we have to stop skating. Too much noise or whatever. There's like 20 of us.
We were basically finishing up anyway, but this guy scared the shit out of our entire crew. As he walked away everyone was just quiet ... and someone was trying to get their last trick or something..when he was out of sight they dropped in like two more times and fortunately got the trick and the session ended.
Never in my life have I seen one person scare a group like this. Sooo funny. Anyway Kale killed it the entire session and as one of the main leaders of the squad at that time along with Chop and Caz, he deservingly got the cover.

[EdLawndale]

Someone just told me my new Kalis DGK deck looks like a Natural Koncept deck : )

[jzradical]

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JZ post ur favorite ads and why they’re ur favorite

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This cover shot of Kale created a ton of hype for the brand.
Funny story: we were on a 10-day tour in Hawaii with Nieratko and the Big Brother crew. We hit up Oahu and Maui.
This session was at Kales house / ramp at the time. We were having a blast and this crazy big Samoan, like the biggest dude I've ever seen in my life, walks up the to the ramp and tells us we have to stop skating. Too much noise or whatever. There's like 20 of us.
We were basically finishing up anyway, but this guy scared the shit out of our entire crew. As he walked away everyone was just quiet ... and someone was trying to get their last trick or something..when he was out of sight they dropped in like two more times and fortunately got the trick and the session ended.
Never in my life have I seen one person scare a group like this. Sooo funny. Anyway Kale killed it the entire session and as one of the main leaders of the squad (him, Chop and Caz) he deservingly got the cover.

This was an epic ad. El Paso demo on the Ruckus Tour.
This was one of our first major US Tours. Blair Alley was on this one and nearly every single NK tour since this. 2002. Anyway we hit up ABQ, Santa Fe, PHX, El Paso and Juarez.
This El Paso demo was so off the hook our van was swarmed by nearly 500+ skaters after and they were rocking it back and forth - just hyped because Caz, Kays, Davis, Bobby Rodriguez and Brendan Leung went off and crushed the park. It was wild! Brendan and Davis really set it off. Anyway the next day we went to Juarez and that was mental too.
Must have been another 500 kids at the indoor roller rink and Gnarly ended that demo with a big gap to nose grind.
So the tour was epic and this print ad really showed Davis and Brendan on fire as they both were at nearly every demo they skated. Pyscha was the shop that brought us out there and threw us enough cash basically to cover the tour.
Chuy Hernandez was one of the owners of the like 5 or 6 Psycha shops in the city and it was nothing short of epicness the entire few days we were in their zone.
I remember they took us to the strip club that night and they were like announcing our crew on the mic and Chuy was handing out 100's to us all night long. WE were rollin' around in styled out SUV's, the whole 9. I think sk8 mafia had been there the summer before too. anyway i think smolik mentioned something about that trip at pacific drive one day cuz i was in PB at the time..

i'll wrap it up cuz i could go on and on and on but Chuy Hernandez was the man and styled us out more than any shop ever.
He backed NK and our crew so hard.
Before I forget Shout outs to AppleJuice, Chuy's assistant. He jumped in the van and finished the tour with us. Wild kid and lots of fun. 

Back to Chuy.
I used to speak to Chuy like every week on the phone 5-6 months before the tour and maybe 8-10 months after.
He was all about supporting the scene in El Paso.
Than one day I got the horrible news that he was shot and killed in Mexico.
My heart goes out to his friends and family.
He was such an awesome guy and just hilarious to hang with.
R.I.P. Chuy. You rule.

[jzradical]

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JZ post ur favorite ads and why they’re ur favorite

[close]

This cover shot of Kale created a ton of hype for the brand.
Funny story: we were on a 10-day tour in Hawaii with Nieratko and Big Brother crew. We hit up Oahu and Maui.
This session was at Kales house / ramp at the time. We were having a blast for hours..and this crazy big Samoan, like the biggest dude I've ever seen in my life, walks up the to the ramp and tells us we have to stop skating. Too much noise or whatever. There's like 20 of us...
We were basically finishing up anyway, but an intense moment for sure..As he walked away everyone was just quiet ... and someone was trying to get their last trick or something..when he was out of sight they dropped in like two more times and fortunately got the trick and the session ended. wild.
Anyway Kale killed it the entire session and deservingly got the cover.
such a fun trip. so many spots.

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This was an epic ad. El Paso demo on the Ruckus Tour.
This was one of our first major US Tours. Blair Alley was on this one and nearly every single NK tour since this. 2002. Anyway we hit up ABQ, Santa Fe, PHX, El Paso and Juarez.
This El Paso demo was so off the hook our van was swarmed by nearly 500+ skaters after and they were rocking the van back and forth hard. felt like wheels were off the ground scary - the hype was heavy..for real..we were hyped on their scene too...anyway it was madness cuz Caz, Kays, Davis, Bobby G and Brendan Leung went off the hook and crushed the entire park. It was wild! Brendan and Davis really set it off..just first try on like everything at one point..Anyway the next day we went to Juarez and that was mental too.
100's of  kids at the indoor roller rink and Gnarly ended that demo with a big gap to nose grind. kids went nuts..
So the tour was epic and this print ad really showed Davis and Brendan on fire ...these guys murdered demos on the regular..of every tour..insane...i remember Brendan once finished a Florida tour of 2 weeks and than flew straight to Canada for a 3 week trip..killed it every single day..craig williams hooked that up and shredded the whole tour with Lai Wing...anyway back to El Paso and Psycha...Psycha was the shop that brought us out there and threw us enough cash basically to cover the tour. ordered mad boards ..
Chuy Hernandez was one of the owners of the like 5 or 6 Psycha shops in the city ..it was like skate / tattoo / piercing / graffiti shop and it was nothing short of epicness the entire few days we were in their zone.
I remember they took us to the clubs one night and they were like announcing our crew on the mic and Chuy was handing out big bills..WE were rollin' around in styled out SUV's, the whole 9...fun memory.. I think sk8 mafia had been there the summer before too.
i'll wrap it up cuz i could go on and on and on but Chuy Hernandez was the man and styled us out more than any shop ever.
He backed NK and our crew so hard.
Before I forget Shout outs to AppleJuice, Chuy's assistant. He jumped in the van and finished the tour with us. Wild kid for sure.

Back to Chuy.
I used to speak to Chuy like every week on the phone...
He was all about supporting the scene in El Paso. Amazing guy.

Than one day I got the horrible news that he was shot and killed in Mexico.
My heart goes out to his friends and family.
He was a really special person..took such good care of everyone..the skate teams that visited...locals.. Genuine man for sure.
R.I.P. Chuy. You rule.

I'll add a bunch more of my favorite ads over the next few weeks.
It's rad sharing all of this with everyone on this thread.

JZ

[fredgallSOTY]

NATTY K BABY

[IUTSM]

yooo jz. this is tight. thanks for sharing the stories. I got a copy of Illegitimate Bastard Child with an NK deck from the Bike Barn in Whitman, MA where this dude Sean used to work- he was a super sick bowl shredder who used to go out to Hawaii to skate, maybe that's why they carried NK- but me and my buddy got so hyped on that shit. We were tripping all the time at that point, so Catch's art was a perfect fit ha ha glad y'all are still cruisin

[cky enthusiast]

NATTY K BABY

[Buck Bundy]

I just saw that “most daring” show (I think that’s what it was called) with the footage of the jump ramp of the bridge into the ocean, last week. Pretty sweet that’s still being shown and reaching new eyes. NK always seemed like the bastard step child/outcast of skateboarding and I absolutely love it. We need a Slap x NK tshirt or deck!

[friendly dave]

Yo, @jzradical you got footage of this drop in? Looks pretty sketchy.

[jzradical]

Yo, @jzradical you got footage of this drop in? Looks pretty sketchy.

Dave,
Here's the clip.
i climbed it a year earlier and was too scared to drop..it was at night, but still was too much for me at the moment...there's big bolts sticking out on the inside holding up the colored steel car cut outs...that's what makes it scary......anyway on a beautiful day on a tour with the crew and we were stuck in traffic..so i thought now is the time..and it happened.
i drove the van to SF immediately after this and was stoked. i wanna go back and do one more trick on it.

filmed by Bryan Callahan
Cmart shot the photo.

[Frank]

We finally got distribution back in Europe through MDCN out of Hamburg.

hyped i can finally get a natty konch deck!

i own creepin 4 whooopsfor life on dvd. your part is alltime gnarly dude. that drop in is legendary. thanks for keeping shit running.

EDIT: boards already in stock here, sick

[Lou Strux]

@jzradical
Hey Josh... Very shalom of you to come on here & chat it up w/ the homies; it appears there are still some old fans, as well as quite a few new ones as a result of this thread.
Quick couple/few questies for you & please accept my‘pologies if you’ve already answered this elsewhere in the thread, but who are you having press up the Nat Kon decks these days? Has the COVID supply chain fuckery been problematic? Caused you to seek out other wood shops?
Also, as a heads up to NK fans, the Vert Is Dead blog is going to be doing a week long(?) retrospective on the brand somewhere in the near future.
That’s all I’ve got.
Shalom, homies, & enjoy your weekends.