Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

As you may or may not know, Halloween is typically a week long event in Burlington, VT. Falling on a Monday this year, the holiday started off on Friday because it’s “socially unacceptable” to party in costume on a Monday night. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to, though.

Anyway, some of the in-house guys are in a band called SpitJack. They play loud music which we strongly encourage. So we went to check out the show at Manhattans in downtown BTV on Saturday night. Things got wild and everyone had a good time. Paddock taught everyone what the wall of death is; some enjoyed it and some didn’t enjoy it so much. My ribs are still pretty bruised, which means it was a damn good time. Here are a few blurry iPhone photos of what we think may have happened.

Frontman by night and Darkside manager by day, Mike Toohey.

Artsy iPhone panorama, no photoshop required.

Rough Francis opened with a bunch of covers, pretty on point since it was Halloween weekend. These dudes are literally the sons of the guys in the band Death. Most notable was ending with an MC5 cover. They killed it.

Forester looking at me, pretty disappointed in my priorities at the time.

Don’t let his drumming abilities fool you, Forester is still a nerd.

In the age old battle of bottle verses helmet, the bottle typically wins.

Check out more stuff about SpitJack on Facebook at www.facebook.com/spitjackband. Or you can go see them open for Red Fang at Higher Ground in Burlington on Nov. 22nd. Whatever you’re into.  Nerd.

This is a quick photo of me and Grady filming what will be hailed as probably the best video of all time. It involved some assorted costumes, a 12 pack, a beer helmet, and a multiple re-takes involving shotgunning said 12 pack.

These episodes are awesome. It’s a good way to learn some shred history, or just kill some time. Whatever you’re into.
Sorry in advance if there’s ads. Just skip em.

But seriously who cares, because it might snow up to a half foot up on the mountain this week / weekend. Carpet boarding season is almost over!

Shawn just got something in the mail that is sure to make some cool wall art / Rome memorabilia.

Somehow he got a hold of some sort of either taxidermy place, or a tannery, because we’ve got the actual piece of pig skin that was tattooed with Laurent’s name for The Shred Remains. Pretty cool, although all the dogs in the office are really interested in it for some reason…

So the other day I was working my Photoshop magic while Dumont was giving me shit for not knowing what kearning is. Apparently all design nerds space out their type in a certain way, which is dumb, because all you have to do is click a button called Optical, or something like that.

Anyway, I found this kearning game online and I figured I’d give it a shot. This is my official challenge to Dumont. I bet I can beat him at this game for design nerds.

I crushed this challenge, first try, 100/100. Easy.

Check out the game here, it’s a great way to waste time, even if you work in marketing: http://type.method.ac/

The Shred Remains Tour hit the Midwest west with a couple days of non-stop shop visits, premiers, parties, more premiers, and more after parties! If you were some of the lucky viewers to catch a sneak peak, or throw back a few with the team we salute you for putting up with our two days of destruction….

However, the tour wouldn’t be complete unless we picked up some AmArmy riders.  Viktor Simco and Mark Wilson jumped in the van to help premier the new flick in St. Cloud and Duluth, MN.  With exactly 48 hrs on the clock Viktor decided to use his camera skills and provide the tour with some great cinematic memories.

(Photos and Captions by Viktor Simco )

“Van Life, “The Shred Remains” 48hr check list with a mystery spot open in case things get weird.”

“Spread ‘em ladies! This is what complete commitment of a full-speed-sprint-into-sex with Dirty Larry and the boys, looks like.”

“Pete Harvieux, aka Pj Harvey, aka Interior Plain Project, aka Great Lake Insurgent, aka Pete Fobes, giving away another Rome Artifact Rocker after the movie. If you didn’t make the St. Cloud premiere, you blew it!”

“WFTC’s very own Jon Stark, The Youth Shelter Supply’s Mike Pettit, Bald E-Gal Production’s Mike Thienes, and Bjorn Leines party another night away at McRudy’s aka McMinors.”

“Hey Viktor, can I give you a kiss on the cheek? What is this… some kind of junior high sick joke! Maybe next time she’ll wise up and bring it in for the real thing. Lazz knows a fleabaggin’ flirt when he sees one.”

“After a wild night in St. Cloud it was off to Duluth to session the Superior Skatepark. While Mark Wilson was locking in 5-O’s I was taking a quick power nap…bum statues.” 

“Packed house at Clyde Ironworks! Thanks for the Support Damage Boardshop and Duluth, MN.” 

“Damage Boardshop’s Ben Olson won himself a new Artifact Rocker! But since he’s pro and a nice guy, he gave it to this lucky girl Taylor after the premiere in Duluth. She can’t wait to raise some hell on that rig.”

“The whole team was signing TSR posters after the premier…”

“Rome’s Marketing Coordinator Grady Skelton slammed on the gas for another Casual Van Peel-Out without knowing Mark Wilson was trying to shotgun a beer in back, so Ben Olson gave him a cardboard box to puke in, but the bottom broke open and shit hit the fan fast! It was Mark’s last night in the van, so he just said sorry for partyin’, cleaned it up, and got back to more shotguns.”

“Rome Team Manager and Film Director John Cavan wrote on this dollar to hang at Carmody’s Irish Pub in Duluth. Next time you’re in town, make it worthwhile and stop by for a Jameson Ginger.”

“PARTY ON BITCHES! Thanks to Damage for making shit happen and hosting a hazy Duluth night for the Rome Van Dirtbags. (Left to right: Damage Boardshop’s Ben Olson, Rome Marketing Coordinator Grady Skelton, Damage bunny Jessie Bittner, Lazz, Marie Hucal, Viktor Simco, Riley Nickerson, Mark Wilson, Brian Wilson, Midwest Rome Rep Peter Harvieux, Laurent-Nicolas Paquin, and Bjorn Leines.)”

Ah, Boston. Home of the Celtics, Boston Crème donuts, and Fenway. We saw none of these things, yet still had a pretty awesome time. On the way down from New Hampshire we stopped in to hang out with some good homies from NOTB.

After some skating on their mini out behind the shop, we rolled on to EB where we grilled up some dogs and drew up our Boston battle plans. Our first course of action was to re-up on fuel for the trip. No, it wasn’t gas, it was beer. Big thanks to Rob at PBR for hooking it up!

We then met up with the Boston University Snowboard Team at the movie venue and got right down to it. As the credits rolled we told everyone to look under their seats. If they found a piece of Rome SDS Wizard Tape, they were eligible to win a brand new Artifact Rocker. Eventually the winner was crowned and the product toss began.

Afterwards we enjoyed some local hospitality thanks to the good folks over at BUST and proceeded to rage. Laurent and the crew gave new meaning to “put them on the ceiling” for sure.

Upon heading home for the night we found a trail of Rome stars stenciled on the sidewalk, which, unsurprisingly, lead us straight to the bar.

Thanks to the BUST, and all our friends at NOT B and Eastern Boarder, and everyone else who came out.

No thanks go out to the McDonalds who I’m pretty sure hustled us at 3am. But damn those cheeseburgers were delicious.

O Canada! O Canada! The Rome van and team invaded to Montreal to experience life north of the union.

With three showings; two at Cinema Du Parc and a third at the L’Ecurie Bar et Table, the city of Montreal got its Shred Remains fix just in time for pre-season jitters.

At the second stop of the world premier tour, Canadian shreds were excited to pick up free Rome Shwag, hang with the team and have their faces melted by Rome’s latest snow porn.

We’re not quite sure how it happened, but somehow Laurent, Marie, and Will got up into the projection booth, where shenanigans definitely ensued.

With Marie-France Roy, Laurent, and Will Lavigne in attendance for autograph signings, product tosses, and board giveaways, the crowd was hyped on a chance to win a 2012 Artifact, and pick up some The Shred Remains custom tees.

After the first two showings, the Rome team and friends from Empire in Montreal went down to L’Ecurie Bar et Table to send it far into the night. Marie, Laurent, and Will showed up with good friend Ben Bilocq in some serious style; they had assembled a pretty epic rental bike gang along the way to the bar. The movie looped as high fives were exchanged late into the night, eventually closing down the venue and heading home.

As always, stay tuned to www.facebook.com/romesnowboards, www.twitter.com/romesds, and RomeSnowboards on instagram for photo updates and stories from the road.

The first service of The Shred Remains Premier Tour, was held on the University of Vermont Campus in the most fitting venue; Ira Allen Chapel.  With Rome Shred Johnny Lazz and AmArmy shred Riley Nickerson at the pulpit, free schwag and a holy shred revival were undoubtedly ready to ensue.

Over 300 students crammed into the giant hall, filling the pews with anticipation of the first premier of the season.  The Burlington crowd at UVM let out a chorus of gasps over Lazz’s wall slam, cheers for Bjorn conquering the pyramid gap, and erupted in applause for Laurent’s rail domination.

The movie ended in typical Rome fashion: a product toss and board giveaway with a game of spin to win. Contestants  spun in circles 30 times and raced to the van, which was parked outside, moshed their way back through the crowd to snag the board from Lazz’s outstretched hand. The winner had clearly been training for this very moment his entire life and couldn’t have been more stoked on his new Artifact Rocker.

All in all we couldn’t have asked for a better kick off to this movie tour. A huge thanks goes out to Jarrett Barbuto and the UVM SSC for hosting us, as well as everyone who came out to support us and the movie. See you in Montreal.

Stay tuned to www.facebook.com/romesnowboards, www.twitter.com/romesds, and our Instagram account RomeSnowboards for all the latest updates from the road as the van rolls on.