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Day 1:

The Jetpilot Design crew were fizzing in anticipation of this years design research trip. We were pumped up & ready to hit a hot Cali summer, but first we had to get the 13 hour flight out of the way. True to form Duncs smashed it with the help of half a dozen sleeping tablets & slept all the way there snuggled up to the glamour next to him. The rest of us were seated next to a group that was going to a small bladder convention in Vegas. "damn you to hell small economy seats"!!!!

Landed in LA  & cleared customs, narrowly avoiding a full cavity search with some fast talking. We headed out to pick up our ride for the next  week so we needed to be sure it was sweet. A black Jeep with iPod connectivity. 

Jetpilots Marketing Manager, Appsy had made us an LA play list before we left to get us in the vibe, so we rolled out the gates dropping beats. First stop was for some sesame bagels with cream cheese. The seppos love this shit & we can see why. Coffee in hand we started to hit some leading moto sport stores. Inspiration was everywhere with gutsy colours & bad arse graphics. This stuff is hungry work so we found a Chilli's  - a Tex-Mex restaurant - for a Ribs & beer lunch. Jet lag was making us a bit spacey at this stage so we thought we'd call it a day & go check in at our regular first night hotel in Carlsbad.  Duncs & Loni went to check out the ocean front & found a beached whale in a G string...nasty.

 Darren took us out for a taste of mexican, nothing like margaritas & fish tacos to cure Jet lag. They went down pretty well so we hit some of the 'dive-bars' near by. What we didn't know was that it was over 50's night at the Crankin Bar & they were getting fresh. Freaky stuff, but f!#ken funny. Open muso stage & a bunch of scary old people that seamed to be hearing the beat 3 seconds late was enough to send us back to bed.

Day 2:

Up early & feeling great it was off to see the Jetpilot USA crew. They are an awesome team & it was really good to sit down with them & go over some of the breaking technology they are coming up with. Some great new boardie blocks & different sublimation techniques, innovative vest blocks & killer graphics on the go. Jetpilot has been a leading player in action sports apparel technology & its plain to see the fire is still there from the JP crew on both sides of the Pacific. With the shop talk done, it was off to lunch & Brian's US crew were shouting. A very tasty little Chinese hang out. Thanks Brian, you could still make it as an Aussie extra with that accent!!! 

Transworld have their offices round the corner & its always good to drop in to say hi & pick up the latest mags. Their offices are insane & if you are ever in the area its well worth while swinging by.  Awesome to see Richie Vas and Brett Burcher both have spreads in the next issue of transworld surf. Next stop was down town SD, the gas lamp district. Its an unreal scene down there. Lots of kick arse little skate shops & tat shops for us to check out. Found a cool little bar where we had some mexican tasters washed down with more margaritas & beer. We got back up to Carlsbad found Ryan from Jetpilot USA waiting to take us out. Who are we to say no, so out we went to another bar, Dinas, hoping desperately that the freaks from the previous night hadn't followed us. The NBA finals were on, but we soon became the main show in town. I don't think Carlsbad has seen a Monday night like that for quite a while. Names were change to Dante & Horthe to protect the innocent & the piss was flowing "like your ex". The night eventually finished around 5am with a series of drunk dial phone calls back to oz.

Day 3:

Feeling rough in the morning. Duncs nearly took it to a whole other place with a badly thought out breakfast. The big guy did well though, holding on to a spew just long enough for us to get off the highway & bring the car to a complete stop. The day ahead was a big one as well. Meeting up with one of the leading distribution companies for action sports clothing in the states. It was incredible to see their operation & gives us a big goal to aim up to. We were lucky enough to be taken out to lunch by the president of the company & took the chance to pick the brains of some of the best & brightest people in the industry. There is an awesome Open Air Mall near by, so we spent the evening checking that out. Gourmet burgers for dinner & back to the hotel.

Day 4: 

Back up to LA to check the scene there. Hit some of the better known concept stores & then over to West Hollywood. Spent some time in High Voltage Tattoo. Some of the crew picked up some merch & even got some decks signed by Kat Von D who had just finished some filming there for the day ... very cool. Out to dinner that night to a Hollywood Hot Spot Sushi place Katsu-ya. Had to fight the paparazzi on the way in & we were dazzled by the quality of the chicks in there. The only thing tastier was the sushi itself. Back to The Roosevelt Hotel where we hit the Pool Bar & then onto the Library Bar where Matt Biancaniello hand crafts cocktails to your liking. Seriously this guy is a genius, he is rated as one of the best in LA & is a must see/drink when you are in town. 

Day 5:

Some locals had told us about some new shopping districts where there are some very cool up & coming designers. Saw some great ideas & things that where really inspiring for next years range. Then back over to some places we had found on last years trip for some more indie shops, checked out some old favourites & found a couple of sweet new stores. Duncs even got pulled into a photo shoot as we were walking past a paste up wall. The shopping was done but not the eating.

 On the way to the airport we still had time to drop in to an old haunt The Stinking Rose, where everything & I mean everything is covered in garlic. We thought it would be a good idea for the flight ahead. We left Duncs at this stage, he was flying up to San Fran to have a look up there but the rest of us where heading home with a head filled to brimming with new ideas.

Check out Parkway Drives official video of the first single off there third studio album Deep Blue due to hit stores next week.

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i recently caught up with Butters in his hometown on the central coast before he jetted back to the states to train at woodward for his tilt at X-Games BMX big air, we brought up BMX photog Chris Polack to capture some images of the young buck doing what he does best, and we got some gold, below are some images from behind the scenes of the shoot and keep your eyes peeled for some video footage of andy also 

We recently shot our Second Summer catalogue with our super hot model Elle, she is amazing to work with and doesn't take a bad shot, here is a few behind the scenes shots of the day, you should see the finished shots they are smoking but you will see these in time. 

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Richie Vas has once again claimed another scalp in the CFC championship held last weekend. Richie defeated Evan Byrne 3 minutes and 44 secs into the first round with a rear naked choke. From the outset Richie took control of the fight landing several punches before taking it to the ground where he gained full control punishing his opponent with severe ground and pound before finishing him with the rear naked choke, congrats richie

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