More on Skate CultsRecently I have seen a few posts on Instagram...
More on Skate Cults
Recently I have seen a few posts on Instagram from the Grind to Grind group based in Spain who have focussed their skate cult around trucks. Specifically they fetish maximising the grind experience. They are also a commercial enterprise with their signature product being skateboard rails made out of melted down trucks. These can then be assembled on your board to slide(grind) coping for a deeply gnarly experience.
In my book I refer to a number of curb cults who have ritualised curb skating and elevated the slappy to a divine trick. I guess you could suggest that curb cults also fetish the grind and trucks to a degree. Andrew Luecke’s piece on the cult of Independent Trucks might also be relevant here. Yet Grind to Grind have taken it one step further and also construct coping made out of trucks.
A recent video on Instagram shows the construction of truck coping at a DIY spot and the carving out of a small truck altar beneath it. Sage is burnt and candles are lit as the coping is given a quasi-baptism of ritual grinds. Parallels to other skate cults such as BA. KU. are self evident here.
What I find particularly interesting is the political alignment of such cults. Alike BA. KU. the Grind to Grind group skate locations adorned with satanic symbolism. Inverted crosses in the picture above and also inverted pentagrams. BA. KU. declare that they are anti-celebrity skateboarding and Grind to Grind seem similarly aligned. Notably Grind to Grind merchandise provide a clear orientation to their skate politics with T-shirts and caps bearing the slogan ‘Fuck the Olympics’ and interestingly ‘Fuck Skateparks’. Some of their T-shirts also include the slogan, ‘Skateboard Inquisition’ a clear nod to their Spanish roots.
So Grind to Grind, like other nascent skate cults seem to be part ‘tongue in cheek’ and also part serious boundary construction. These cults attempt to fence off a part of skate culture as arcane and subversive, untouched by sportification, energy drink sponsorship, and mass corporations. Yet, many skate cults remain entrepreneurial, making their own brands and selling merchandise.
