It’s official: Ladera and The Expendables are hitting the road for a winter Blackout tour. At Ladera, we love us some good rock ‘n roll (and reggae, punk, metal, and hip-hop) so when the Expendables were looking for tour sponsors, we said sign us up! The tour will hit 46 stops across the nation, and special guests include Iration, Passafire, Pour Habit, and Roots Down Below. Get ready to Blackout with Geoff and the boys- we’ll see you in the front row! Here’s a link to all the dates: http://www.theexpendables.net/winterblackout/

Yep, should be epic. Blackout with Ladera and the Expendables, coming to a city near you.

Since the release of the Ladera Pool Party skateboard this past summer, we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback. We’ve also been getting a lot of questions, probably because the Pool Party is the first of its kind in the Ladera board line. How does it ride in the park? Is it good for airs? To these inquiries Ladera would like to issue this official statement: Yes, the Pool Party is as sick as it looks. There, now it’s official. Check out the pic below of James Fuchs getting all high and mighty on his Pool Party a few weeks back. Dang, that’s clean…

Copy Mr. Fuchs, we have lift-off.

Things have been a bit quiet this week, so we thought we’d dig up and share a few gems from the Ladera photo archives. Check out team riders Drake Stanley, David Wardlaw, and Ryan Roberts tearin’ it up back in the day. Stay tuned for multiple event announcements at the end of the week- it’s looking like a fun weekend ahead.

Drake Stanley, flying through the Santa Cruz full pipe with style.

Drake again, hitting the lip at the Santa Cruz skate park. The orange haze in the background is from the Bonny Doon fire two years ago.

Ryan Roberts and David Wardlaw, downhill racing in the East Bay.

Ryan and Wardy, styling out for the camera circa 2007.

Shoulder to head high surf greeted competitors at the 21st annual Newport Beach Surf Competition last weekend, and High School Division winner Bobby Okvist came away with a brand new Ladera Purple Heart mini. Lucky kid.

High School Division winner Bobby Okvist, stoked to come away with a win.

Men's Division winner Victor Done cracks one off the top.

The man, the myth, the legend: Bobby Okvist.

Boarder Nation skate shop hosted a local skate contest in San Jose last weekend, and our man Clark decided to check out the action. The groms were going huge all afternoon, with event winner Audriel Montes, age 10, taking home the grand prize of one brand-spanking-new Ladera skateboard deck. Yeah, lucky kid.

Audriel Montes, stoked to win a fine new Ladera deck.

Unidentified shredder showing the kids how to fly.

Dude, sweet t-shirt.

This kid goes huge, and he's like 9 years old.

How to describe Ladera’s Labor Day weekend? How about: all good. The highlight was definitely Fiesta Hermosa, a weekend-long party in Hermosa Beach, CA. Ladera’s own board artist Kevin Walsh hosted an in-store mural painting at Coastal Connection Skate Shop, impressing just about everyone who stopped by for a look. Check out the photos below, and be sure to drop by Coastal Connection to peep Ladera’s full line of fresh new decks.

Kevin Walsh gets started on his mural while some lovely ladies successfully attempt to steal the spotlight.

The cool thing about Coastal Connection is that it feels as much like an art gallery as it does a skate shop.

Kevin Walsh puts the finishing touches on his super-grnarly Ladera mural: a dude getting pitted while riding a skateboard.

Fresh new Ladera Skateboard Decks: a beautiful sight indeed.

Angry. Crazy. F-ing nuts. There are countless ways to describe the work of artist Ryan Jones, but all of them seem to touch on one thing: intensity. Scenes depicting evil aliens with chainsaws as hands or half-zombie, half-machine creatures bent on worldwide destruction are among Jones’ standard fare, and honestly, these aren’t the kinds of images you’ll want to look at before bedtime.

It makes sense that the British Columbia-based artist finds work designing album covers and concert posters for metal bands like Splatterhouse and Mass Grave, and we think Jones’ creations will fit perfectly on the bottom of a Ladera skateboard. Jones is also working on an underground comic called Wretched, which he calls a “horror comic from hell” and which will surely not resemble those Superman books you collected in grade school. Needless to say, Ladera Skateboards is stoked to have Jones on board, and we can’t wait to see what kind of madness he comes up with for his board graphics. Look for new Ryan Jones’ artwork on Ladera’s next line of skateboards, due out this winter. In the meantime, check out his work online.

Oh, and if you’re an up-and-coming artist who thinks they’ve got some graphics that might look sick on a Ladera skateboard, hit us up- we’re always looking for fresh talent.

Lions front guy Matt D.

Last weekend, the Ladera crew got a chance to watch as the Austin-based band Lions destroyed their set at Thee Parkside in San Francisco. After stumbling across Lions’ mental hard-rock riffage on the internet, Garrett and Ryan met up with the band at their Frisco gig and talked music, skateboards, and probably a bunch of other since-forgotten subject matter. But the meeting was fruitful- the Lions’ song “No Generation” will find itself featured in the upcoming Ladera flick “Let it Ride”, due out this fall. Check out Lions’ myspace page and listen for yourself.

Ladera Skateboards is officially jealous of team rider Jason Frederico, as the Hawaiian ripper is at this very moment enjoying perfect waves in blissful paradise, otherwise known as Indonesia. J-Fred and fellow North Shore slayer Jamie O’Brien are stationed in Bali, surfing and filming before Indo’s southern-hemi swell season wraps up for the year. Yeah, Pipe will be firing up again in about two months- no doubt Jamie O and J-Fred will be back just in time. Look for some new Bali footage to be posted on-line in the near future, or whenever J-Fred decides to come out of his 432nd tube of the day.

In case you haven’t noticed, the crew over at Ladera Skateboards has been up to some good stuff.  Over the past couple months, we’ve rebranded by designing a new logo, launching a new website and blog, and updating our line of products with 10 new board designs.   Over the next few weeks, we’ll be updating you on how it all happened, and what’s in store for the next few months…

So make sure to check back often, sign up for our rss feed or hang out with us on our social networks (see links on right side of page) as Ryan, Clark, Garrett and the rest of the Ladera crew talk about skating, surfing, snowboarding, and the lifestyle that surrounds them.  Till next time…