UK related: Unabomber back?

[13Bastards]

For those unaware, Unabomber was a big UK name in the early 2000's. Based out of Nottingham, their video aesthetic & talent allowed it to keep up with other big UK brands like Blueprint & Reaction.

Transworld cover:
https://skateboarding.transworld.net/news/unabomber/

They had several videos out over the years, the most notable of which was probably Up The Rebels, Headcleaner is worth a watch too, but longer and more artistic than typical videos of the time.


Around 2007/08 the company disappeared, they weren't pushing any merch and all websites were shutdown.

8 years ago, the company released some new graphics/clothing, then just before pandemic they vanished, again.

Now, they're back?
https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/unabomber

Anyone UK-based that might have some insight on this?

[Malcolm Sex]

Cool news article from 2001 bro.

[sKINGraft]

No idea what’s going on atm but I think I remember a tour article for unabomber in sidewalk about 2013ish which is a little, tiny tiny bit outside the range you’ve got there I think

[13Bastards]

Cool news article from 2001 bro.

It is cool that a small company from the UK was deemed feature worthy by a behemoth of it's time.

[CrappybsflipDownthe5stair]

Wasn't unabomber Fos' thing before Heroin launched?

[13Bastards]

Wasn't unabomber Fos' thing before Heroin launched?

Fos is in the contributor & filmers credits of Headcleaner, but I can't remember if he's in it himself. It's been a long time since I watched it.

It was never 'his thing' though.

[roba]

Wasn't unabomber Fos' thing before Heroin launched?

he had organic (which turned into landscape?) i think but i don't know the timeline

[Speedway]

Now, they're back?
https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/unabomber

Anyone UK-based that might have some insight on this?

Unabomber was owned by Rollersnakes during the later end of its existence. I'm not sure when they purchased it but I think (although happy to be corrected) it was the era after Lucien Clarke and few others were, like, the "names" on the team.

Rollersnakes recently(ish) brought back Heathen, a sort of transition-focused company that was always theirs – although it wasn't as culturally impactful as Unabomber by any means, so I guess they've just followed suit with Unabomber. At first I thought that was super older stock on sale but the price the boards are at suggests they're either doing it as a budget brand or just putting the first new run up for sale, super cheap, to maybe get attention towards it again. Toby Bachelor, who is credited for that 'Newsome Mills' graphic works for Rollersnakes, I think.

And no, Fos never had anything to do with Unabomber as far as being an owner. It was founded by Pete Hellicar and distributed via Slam City. This official upload of their video, 'Headcleaner' has an intro from Pete which is an interesting read: https://blog.slamcity.com/unabomber-headcleaner-video/

[13Bastards]

Expand Quote

Now, they're back?
https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/unabomber

Anyone UK-based that might have some insight on this?

[close]

Unabomber was owned by Rollersnakes during the later end of its existence. I'm not sure when they purchased it but I think (although happy to be corrected) it was the era after Lucien Clarke and few others were, like, the "names" on the team.

Rollersnakes recently(ish) brought back Heathen, a sort of transition-focused company that was always theirs – although it wasn't as culturally impactful as Unabomber by any means, so I guess they've just followed suit with Unabomber. At first I thought that was super older stock on sale but the price the boards are at suggests they're either doing it as a budget brand or just putting the first new run up for sale, super cheap, to maybe get attention towards it again. Toby Bachelor, who is credited for that 'Newsome Mills' graphic works for Rollersnakes, I think.

And no, Fos never had anything to do with Unabomber as far as being an owner. It was founded by Pete Hellicar and distributed via Slam City. This official upload of their video, 'Headcleaner' has an intro from Pete which is an interesting read: https://blog.slamcity.com/unabomber-headcleaner-video/

Damn thank you, I never knew rollersnakes bought them, that explains a ton! Wish they actually revived the brand & team though instead of plugging boards/clothes.

Yeah Heathen was a wish.com UK Anti-hero ripoff, always hated their graphics.

[j....soy.....]

I still see Paul Silvester skate a bunch in Vancouver.  He rips…..

[Pipe Dreamer]

They had another go at it circa 2017 under Rollersnakes with John Bell and and a few others but it fizzled out shortly after. The OG team will always be my favourite (honourable mention Up the Rebels era).

[manysnakes]

Ted Kaczynski has terminal cancer.

[Speedway]

I still see Paul Silvester skate a bunch in Vancouver.  He rips…..

Silvester is a local legend where I live, Leeds. It's cliche to say but he's the guy who unlocked and/or wrote off a lot of spots back in the day, more often than not in switch too.

I did this piece on his part in 'Viewfinder', a UK video filmed just before/as he got on Unabomber about his impact back then, as told via Sidewalk Mag's former editor, Ben Powell who filmed with and is a close friend of Paul's. Might be of interest to any heads on here interested in that era of UK skating: https://civicleeds.com/2022/11/18/paul-silvester-viewfinder-civic-stories-ben-powell/

Small excerpt from the full article via this video too.



(Apologies for slightly derailing the thread but I'm very stoked to see Silvester mentioned on here.)

[suhdude]

Expand Quote

Now, they're back?
https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/unabomber

Anyone UK-based that might have some insight on this?

[close]

Unabomber was owned by Rollersnakes during the later end of its existence. I'm not sure when they purchased it but I think (although happy to be corrected) it was the era after Lucien Clarke and few others were, like, the "names" on the team.

Rollersnakes recently(ish) brought back Heathen, a sort of transition-focused company that was always theirs – although it wasn't as culturally impactful as Unabomber by any means, so I guess they've just followed suit with Unabomber. At first I thought that was super older stock on sale but the price the boards are at suggests they're either doing it as a budget brand or just putting the first new run up for sale, super cheap, to maybe get attention towards it again. Toby Bachelor, who is credited for that 'Newsome Mills' graphic works for Rollersnakes, I think.

And no, Fos never had anything to do with Unabomber as far as being an owner. It was founded by Pete Hellicar and distributed via Slam City. This official upload of their video, 'Headcleaner' has an intro from Pete which is an interesting read: https://blog.slamcity.com/unabomber-headcleaner-video/

Would say this is all fairly spot on - Heathen does seem to be making a come back, noticed more soft goods coming out as well as boards. It does seem run under Rollersnakes. Unabomber was a cool UK brand back in the day, along with The Harmony - I feel like the videos at the time those brands put out gave some more spotlight to more local scenes/skaters outside of London.

[CrappybsflipDownthe5stair]

That was a great read, thanks for sharing. I remember enjoying Viewfinder back in the day and Playing fields was an absolute classic.

Thanks also to everyone for the info on unabombers history and heritage. All of that era is a bit fuzzy through the mists of time these days!

[Badmeaningood]

Rollersnakes used to have a board brand called Icon, but sadly when they took over Bomber it seemed to take on the vibe of an Icon 2.0 and lost it's original aesthetic. Obvs not having any of the OG riders didn't help either.

[Alfigator]

Headcleaner was deffo the best Unabomber vid, Toby Shuall's part alone raises it to the top.

Not heard anyone mention Icon for a while, don't meddle with the Smeddle!

[DannyDee]

Headcleaner was deffo the best Unabomber vid, Toby Shuall's part alone raises it to the top.

Not heard anyone mention Icon for a while, don't meddle with the Smeddle!

Love how the Lucien into/victoria benches part in Palasonic is a call back to that part (same song, and Toby Shuall had quite a few tricks there).

[darkthrone]

Hey Fos here, Unabomber wasn't my baby, Pete Hellicar started it, brought together some of the raddest guys in the UK at the time, Rushbrooke, Harry, Channer, Frank Stephens, Vaughan Baker, Paul Sylvester.
It was originally through some snowboard distributor or something that had a mini ramp in their warehouse that we used to go and skate, I'd say this was around 1997.
I was working at Slam City Skates in the warehouse doing distribution for Tum Yeto, Shorty's Zoo York, Circa and DVS at the time, and Unabomber was brought over to Slam. So I was doing all the sales for Unabomber around 98, 99 as I recall.
It did really well, then I think Pete and crew left to do the distro themselves probably around 2000.
I'd already started Heroin in late 1998 at that point, but that was over at Power Distribution and still is to this day.
I think Organic started around 2001, was at Slam for about a year then I left Slam in 2002 and made it into Landscape.

At some point Unabomber was bought by Rollersnakes, a couple of years after they took it out of Slam I think. It was running for a while, not sure what they're up to with it now, none of the original riders are involved.

Funny to read this thread today, as someone just sent me a copy of Headcleaner. Great video, I really like the first Unapromo video too. 

Hope this sheds a bit of light on stuff.

[mattchew]

Expand Quote

Now, they're back?
https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/unabomber

Anyone UK-based that might have some insight on this?

[close]

Unabomber was owned by Rollersnakes during the later end of its existence. I'm not sure when they purchased it but I think (although happy to be corrected) it was the era after Lucien Clarke and few others were, like, the "names" on the team.

Rollersnakes recently(ish) brought back Heathen, a sort of transition-focused company that was always theirs – although it wasn't as culturally impactful as Unabomber by any means, so I guess they've just followed suit with Unabomber. At first I thought that was super older stock on sale but the price the boards are at suggests they're either doing it as a budget brand or just putting the first new run up for sale, super cheap, to maybe get attention towards it again. Toby Bachelor, who is credited for that 'Newsome Mills' graphic works for Rollersnakes, I think.

And no, Fos never had anything to do with Unabomber as far as being an owner. It was founded by Pete Hellicar and distributed via Slam City. This official upload of their video, 'Headcleaner' has an intro from Pete which is an interesting read: https://blog.slamcity.com/unabomber-headcleaner-video/

That was a great read. Last paragraph is definitely about palace lol.

[j....soy.....]

Expand Quote

I still see Paul Silvester skate a bunch in Vancouver.  He rips…..

[close]

Silvester is a local legend where I live, Leeds. It's cliche to say but he's the guy who unlocked and/or wrote off a lot of spots back in the day, more often than not in switch too.

I did this piece on his part in 'Viewfinder', a UK video filmed just before/as he got on Unabomber about his impact back then, as told via Sidewalk Mag's former editor, Ben Powell who filmed with and is a close friend of Paul's. Might be of interest to any heads on here interested in that era of UK skating: https://civicleeds.com/2022/11/18/paul-silvester-viewfinder-civic-stories-ben-powell/

Small excerpt from the full article via this video too.



(Apologies for slightly derailing the thread but I'm very stoked to see Silvester mentioned on here.)

Thanks, he still has a mean switch game and is a total skate rat…..

[Ride it to dust]

I read an interview a little while back with Paul Silvester, he’s an electrician living in Canada now i think. Always loved the Unabomber aesthetic, they used to sell sleeping bags as an extra, nicknamed “doss bags” .

[suhdude]

Hey Fos here, Unabomber wasn't my baby, Pete Hellicar started it, brought together some of the raddest guys in the UK at the time, Rushbrooke, Harry, Channer, Frank Stephens, Vaughan Baker, Paul Sylvester.
It was originally through some snowboard distributor or something that had a mini ramp in their warehouse that we used to go and skate, I'd say this was around 1997.
I was working at Slam City Skates in the warehouse doing distribution for Tum Yeto, Shorty's Zoo York, Circa and DVS at the time, and Unabomber was brought over to Slam. So I was doing all the sales for Unabomber around 98, 99 as I recall.
It did really well, then I think Pete and crew left to do the distro themselves probably around 2000.
I'd already started Heroin in late 1998 at that point, but that was over at Power Distribution and still is to this day.
I think Organic started around 2001, was at Slam for about a year then I left Slam in 2002 and made it into Landscape.

At some point Unabomber was bought by Rollersnakes, a couple of years after they took it out of Slam I think. It was running for a while, not sure what they're up to with it now, none of the original riders are involved.

Funny to read this thread today, as someone just sent me a copy of Headcleaner. Great video, I really like the first Unapromo video too. 

Hope this sheds a bit of light on stuff.

Cheers Fos, can confirm Frank still kills it in typical mythological fashion.

[HeathenSkateboards]

Yeah Heathen was a wish.com UK Anti-hero ripoff, always hated their graphics.

Bahahah, best put down ever. <3