Soldiers Brand, Inc.

Soldiers Heads Down Under: Wisner and Sammy Jenkins home in Australia

2008-10-07T00:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the photo slideshow of Benny Wisner and Sammy Jenkins shredding the backcountry in Australia's Snowy Mtns. outside their hometown stomping ground of Jindabyne. Sammy Jenkins has officially established the Soldiers Brand distributorship for Australia and New Zealand. With several retail accounts already locked down for the upcoming season, we have officially begun our invasion of the southern hemisphere.

Enjoy the slideshow, the photos rock!

A Soldier on the road:VT-LA

2008-09-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

To get straight to the point I'm moving back to California. There's a whole mess of crap I could get into about why and all that but I don't think its of particular interest to most people. However I do think that since leaving Vermont last Friday that I've had some pretty good times, interesting run in's and I've certainly seen some funny shit. The first part of this epic journey was a paltry 31 hour trek from Southern Vermont to Boulder, Colorado. A few years ago I drove from Truckee to Vermont straight through, 52 hours. So i figured that the straight shot from Vermont to Colorado would be easy....well after having not driven cross country in two years I have to say the endurance wasn't quite the same. However I made it and upon arriving in Boulder I went straight to the skate park and had a good ol time with some friendly locals until it was dark. After then sun went down it was time to shower up and hit the town with Beezy's clothing founder Stephanie Green. I've been to Boulder a few times and its always a good time. I often think of it as alot like Burlington,Vermont....but on steroids. The following morning it was time to fuel up at Einstien Bros and hit the road to Park City. My 3 day Park City stop was time to catch up with friends and check out Park City Skatepark. After going I have to say that its the best park I've ever been to and thats including Denver and Louisville. Its not so much how big it is(though it is HUGE) but the quality of the construction that makes it so fun. The session was cut short by some rain so it was time to hit up Flippin Burgers(amazing) and relax for the evening. The next day I made the hike to Boise to catch up with Mr. Evan Williams an old associate of mine from Vermont. Evan is one of those under the radar shredders who will soon be getting his due now that hes got his diploma and can spend all his time focusing on the shred. I got a chance to skate one of Boise's skateparks again met some great kids and a particularly talented kid named Blake. Kid absolutely kills it and has great style as you can see in the photos. It was supposed to be a mellow Wednesday night in Boise, just a few beers and watching a sox game. Instead I found myself with questionable vision at Opa's(great hookah bar) being slung free Jack and gingers by the man himself Max. If you are ever in Boise make sure you check this place out, the atmosphere is plush and the help is....well attractive young ladies seem to be very attentive. E-Dubs got a late night call about a batchelor party and things pretty much went downhill from there. All I can say is that when I woke up the next morning I had some cuts and soreness in the elbow that I wasn't quite sure how I attained. Once again with a foggy head I pulled myself together and hit the road headed for Tahoe. 7 hours later I found myself in the cool mountain air at the good ol Truckee skate park where I promptly ran into old friends and had a fun session til the sun hit the road. Now its just time to relax and gear up for tomorrow nights premiere of the Boned Age at Fritz UNR bar in Reno. It would be a HUGE mistake to miss it because Fritz has pretty much been the shit ever since I cruised into Reno with a bad fake ID back in the day. Hope to see ya down there Soldiers will be in full effect!

Soldiers Brand Pays a Visit to the Playboy Mansion

2008-08-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Soldiers Brand Reigns Supreme: from Xgames to Xrated.

As the week of nightly debauchery and decadence, paired with the daytime mantra of 'do work' came to a close, the whirlwind that swept over Los Angeles, known as Summer XGames, was finally drifting out of sight. Though xgames officially ended sunday after Rally Car, for those of us hardened souls, and seasoned veterans of nightlife, just as the festivities began in true Hollywood fashion on the infamous Sunset Strip with a blowout party at the KeyClub, 120 hours later the Games, and all that comes with this the greatest showcase in the Action Sports World, would end right where they started: on the sidewalk in front of the KeyClub at 9039 Sunset Blvd.

Thus XGames 14 would not really end until Steel Panther (formerly MetalSkool) played the last notes of Paradise City and demoralized the last drunken chick who showed her after-market silicone parts on stage. When this inevitably happened, and the doors to the club slammed shut marking the end to this great adventure for most, we were left with 1 question unanswered: who really, truly was the overall champion, reigning supreme at the end of the weeklong games? With xgames being a literal who's who of the action sports industry, and the most talented athletes in the world surrounding you, how does one determine the grand champion? Easy. When you get invited to come and spend tuesday morning after x-games, on your way out of town, at the PLAYBOY MANSION, then in my book, you just won!

This might have something to do with the fact that Andy Maness, my wife Shasta, and I (crosby) of Soldiers Brand, Inc. a new outerwear and apparel company from south lake tahoe, ca, were the only one's to receive such an invitation to set foot on the hallowed grounds at 10236______ rd (they said i can't use the real address). They could have invited anyone they wanted in the entire action sports world, and they chose us! Obviously we must be doin' something right to earn this distinction. So here I am to I announce to the world that we did it, Soldiers Brand was at the PLAYBOY MANSION!!!!

the 2nd most famous front lawn in america

imagine what u get when you drive this car.

yeah there are actually 3 beds in the grotto, and no my wife was having any of my pleas.

kickin' it in hef's personal game room at a blackjack table that is as old as he is, and a rug that is from the beginning of time

Heather says 'what up' to one of the spider monkeys in what is basically a zoo that surrounds the house

recognize this name?

the proof is in the pictures on the wall...the benefits of having a private gym

andy and heather blocking my picture of heather's white monster truck

i think that says 'crosby, come back whenever you want.'

skate superpark pics

2008-08-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

check 'em out, let us know what you think.
notice rune glifberg's 1 footed mctwist with no helmet, no pads, that
is hardcore-period.

All Wheel Peel: XGames Rally Car Final

2008-08-05T02:45:00.000-07:00

It took 21 minutes to get from Altadena to the Home Depot Center and apparently thats some type of record. Having never been to or driven in the greater Los Angeles area I was given the keys to the Maxima and told go fast or go home. Upon entering the venue I proceeded to the Fuji Heavy Industries tent to see what kind of goodies they were supplying to the masses. To my dismay there was nothing left to be had but bad fake tattoos, strike one. We quickly snagged some bottles of augua off a table and headed for the main event and after being herded like cattle through a metal walkway we found ourselves viewing an epic display of all wheel drive superiority. The first thing we saw was a Mitsubishi Lancer flipping end over end after shorting the jump...apparently they didn't get the memo that 43 mph is not enough to clear it, has to be 46. Dave Mirra BMX pro and shit reality Tv show host drove a broken whip to get to the semi finals but crashed after shooting to far to the right. Ken Block and Travis Pastrana were to face off but a compelete electrical failure in Block's car at the starting line ruined that epic battle. Pastrana faced Tanner Foust once again in the final round but this year emerged victorious. There was an abundance of gorgeous blondes, smashed up Imprezas, and lil homies stoked on eyes full of dust and the roaring thunder of catless exhuasts. If you aren't interested in rally car you really should be and if you don't chew Big Red then f@$k you! We'll be back at Summer X next year and every year that it continues to happen as long as rally car is an event and Subaru continues to dominate. Oh and to the Xtreme Employee who threatended to have me arrested, spitting on a Emo band poster is not a crime, its my civic duty.

My Friend Charlie:98 degrees street level

2008-08-05T02:30:00.001-07:00

YEAH, we are back after a 48 hour hiatus with what might very well be the final post from the Golden State. Its been one hell of a ride and as far as first impressions go Hollywood grabbed us by the throat slapped us twice and then bought us a stiff cocktail. Thanks to Jason Arnold, the tattooed saint of Los Angeles, we spent Saturday lounging on the roof of the Standard Hotel being serviced by nice ladies. 12 stories above street level in downtown is a great place to be mid afternoon if you've got Illena waiting on you. We've run into our fair share of characters in our day but this adventure has been chock full of grade A talent.We can't throw up some of our best pics thanks to a overzealous security guard who promised to make sure we didn't post anything he didn't ok but just think loose tops on 100% silicone. Special thanks to Charlie, The Key Club, Hollywood Ink, and Chonos for keeping it real.

Soldiers on Sunset: An epic L.A. story Day 3

2008-08-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

Roxy Employee and some new friends we made him.

-Well today was an interesting one. Spent most of the day making new friends at Hollywood Ink but that will come later. For now all that I can share is that the Roxy was easy times with pretty good people. 36 Mafia made a three song appearance before going home to polish their oscars and god knows what else. An quick detour and it was off to the famed Hills of Hollywood to cause some debauchery. Whats up is what I can show ya, I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

I haven't met many people in L.A. yet but these ladies sure were friendly. Its nice to know that not everyone in this godforsaken wasteland lives up to the horrible hype that is usually associated with it. One thing I have discovered that no matter WHAT women are always between the ages of 18-22 here, crazy.

The dangerous duo, known not for crime fighting but usually causing the crime. Chief Danbo was in textbook form and General Crosby suggested they take it back to the old days and destroy a condo, none were to be found.

We did however find Beverly Hills and the residence of the Dingo and some other characters. Apparently Dyrdek just bought a house up the street but we didn't feel like getting shot with the net gun to find out. Drama's girlfriend called him a bunch of times but he didn't pick up so she had to settle for a warm slice of couch or something, Hollywood good times.

If you weren't keeping track I think there was 4 legit name drops in there and hopefully enough generally useless information to make you think,"I scrolled down as wasted precious minutes of my life for that?!" We'll be back tomorrow with far more interesting material and triple the photo content because as we learned tonight, not everything we shoot is ok to put online.

Thanks to Big Vern for posing for so many photogs with the girls.

if

Soldiers Brand, Inc.: Soldiers on Sunset: An epic L.A. story

2008-08-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Soldiers Brand, Inc.: Soldiers on Sunset: An epic L.A. story

Soldiers Brand, Inc.: X-Games 14 live from Los Angeles, CA

2008-08-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

Soldiers Brand, Inc.: X-Games 14 live from Los Angeles, CA: "links to this post"

Soldiers on Sunset: An epic L.A. story

2008-08-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So heres a few that should get you started on your daily diet of thousands upon thousands of words. Normally I would type a novel for you to read most likely with very interesting story progression. You know some story structure with a protagonist. Oh there I go rambling, best just let the pictures do the talking on this epic battle of Soldiers vs. The City of Angels(angels meaning 65% of the country's most useless human beings) CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE HERE! Anyway I thought I'd have a nice lil progressive timeline of photos and I'll be trying to post every single day to keep ya'll informed of what we're up to. Most likely its gonna be NO good.

We Beat L.A. here. It was sweet. Unfortuneatly I forgot my rollerblades so I
perform my Liu Kang quadback tuck 1440.

Rob ran into some early morning trouble. What a thing to witness. Yeah Crunchy Bob!

bonus video of the day:

X-Games 14 live from Los Angeles, CA

2008-08-01T04:29:00.000-07:00

Here we are at X-Games 14 in sunny so cal. since none of us are going to be competing in any of the televised events, i have to keep you informed on the progress of our competitive efforts through the blog. DIngo has tapped out, or so it seems, as we have neither seen him, nor heard him speak coherently since 3:56am thursday morning as he was revoking his invitation, or request for us to come up to his house and keep the party going. Its a damn shame that thursday must have been a fuckin' rough one for poor old dingo-face. tryin' to juggle all those invitations, offers, and subsequant commitments, and then still finding time to indulge in the uninhibited debauchery that is customary when he graces us with his presence. something about aussies that just makes you want to..;.
while the rest of us are enjoying summer, recovering from injuries, or just partying at summer x, soldiers brand team member nick poohachoff is hard at work winning contests, slaying powder booters, and once again reminding you that he is better at jibbing than you will ever be.

stopwatch read: sleep=2 3/4
active duration endurance=74 1/2
you can figure out what those numbers mean on your own time, i got work to do. check andy maness' blog for more info, videos, and hilarious shit.
our new statistic is name drops. no more counting hours. we all know who is gonna win this one.
quote of the week "its ok, I am with Lil'Jon" Luke Tremb____
(sorry brother but i had to do it to you. thats for telling me that i couldn't hang out with you, and your crew, because I am not cool enough or something." I still love you dingy, its all in good fun.

andy maness is hard at work cranking out fully edited video from todays day one of xgames, funny thing that espn pays someone a shit ton of cash to waste alot of time comin g up with another generic boring video segment. i timed andy, he pulled this off in 9.45 minutes with a substantial handicap that included beer, sleep deprivation, malnutrition, and culture shock as he hit LA for the first time ever. your the man homie.

here are some pictures showing the demise of our buddy as the intense pressure, stress, and overbearing weight that is the importance of xgames to an action sports industry member finally became too much for the little mate.

Sunday GunDay!!!!

2008-07-25T05:50:00.001-07:00

After Wisner and my epic july 4th celebration that included the world famous Southshore Tahoe Fireworks Show, viewed from the beach so close we could feel the heat from the shots, our intercontinental sigma derby equestrian duel that began with heated competition between us at 7am, and ended up with us joining forces, USA and Australia versus the House, and we smoked 'em! We hit the longshots a few times, as far as i can remember, collected our buckets of quarters, grabbed a quick pick with the King, and prepared for the next event on the days agenda: firearms and free alcohol!
Actually the booze wasn't free, but who cares, we grabbed our weapon of choice, Smith&Wesson 9mm semi-auto with an 18 round magazine loaded with none other than hollow points. Apparently back in Oz they don't have as many guns as they do cars, much less the ability to load one with exploding hollow tips! live

Pure Americana:Gambling, Guns, Girls,

2008-07-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

i know it is a little late, since this happened around 4th of july, but i have been on a slow recovery from my knee surgery, and have been on the road getting the shaft as i had 7 flights cancelled in one week, leaving me with a total of 52 hours spent in NYC and Montana combined, and well over 100 hours in Sacramento, Houston, Denver, and San Francisco Airports this past week. You can only imagine how much fun it was to spend that much time in airports on crutches.
Anyways, hope you can enjoy the pictures from the Inaugural 4th of July America vs. Australia Sigma Derby Horse Race Challenge, followed up by a good old fashioned Sunday GunDay on the Nevada side of Heavenly.

2008-07-06T03:53:00.000-07:00

WEBisode 3 - Kingvale from Martin Rubio on Vimeo.

2008-07-06T03:50:00.001-07:00

Spring & Summer from Martin Rubio on Vimeo.

snow park NZ opening day

2008-07-04T02:55:00.000-07:00

Tahoe 4th of july

2008-07-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

Hanging with Crosby and Shasta in Tahoe for my first 4th of July. Stay tuned for the full story..........

More from China

2008-06-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

I gotta share these pics with everyone. From the ridiculous, absurd, awesome, wasted, amazing, to the unbelievable, and everything in between, here are more photos from our china trip.

hong kong, lan kwai fong, party all night long

2008-06-19T02:27:00.000-07:00

quick side note before i get into the exploits of hong kong, our 1 year anniversary, one of the greatest weekends of my life: prosser hates a good time, all night parties, Columbian beauties, and thus felt obligated to return home without adding a notch in his belt courtesy of HK.

-prosser trying to avoid bird flu

ashton and i outside 'around the world in 80 wh0res-

Lucky for us my brother lives in hong kong, and fuck if he didn't

roll out the red carpet, hand us the key to the city, and demand we run wild all day, all night, as we went on a decadent and debaucherous 72 hour rampage

through the former British colony.

From magnums of GreyGoose, and bottles of champagne with blazing flares, to the nearly 35' long shark tank behind our booth, the scene was set at M1NT nightclub for us to have one hell of a great 1st anniversary. Unfortunately, Josh Walker from BERN Helmets was supposed to make it Hong Kong to enjoy the debauchery with us, but he got stuck in the Dong, one of china's legendary, filthy, southern factory towns, Donguan. Too bad for walker, just like prosser he missed a hell of a time.

The pictures speak for themselves, enjoy 'em!

flaming champagne from ashton to us for our anniversary

ashton almost shirtless, shasta a few jaegger shots from being shirtless!

ashton, me, shasta, enjoying one of the best nights ever

a view down Lan Kwai Fong, HK's version of Bourbon Street, ashton and shasta on the right

China Trip, Week 2: Goodbye Prosser, Hello Hong Kong!

2008-06-19T01:57:00.000-07:00

Our week long stint in mainland China consisted of long days in the office and at the factories perfecting the outerwear, even longer evenings watching the streets flood as the seemingly endless torrents of rain kept us from venturing beyond the confines of our hotel into the greatest controlled chaos one has ever seen: the streets of china.

Did i mention China has only 1 time zone for the entire country? making sunrise on the eastern coast of Asia show his ugly little face promptly at 4:23am, which in turn made me show my certainly uglier (at 4.23-i am hungover already-AM) face before 5am daily, as we geared up for the daily monsoons, smog, work, scooters of death, and of course our obligatory 3-times in a week dinner at Hooters, Hangzhou.

Finally, after 1 broken bottle, 1 torn meniscus, 1 destroyed hotel room, 3 destroyed stomachs, a possible case of bird flu or SARS, and enough creepy faces caught on film thanks to prosser's innate ability to 'get weird,' that it was definitely time for us to leave Communism behind, and head for arguably the greatest place on earth; Hong Kong!

Soldiers Brand & Atmosphere in China: Chaos Theory

2008-06-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

After 2 uncharacteristically mellow days, a monsoon in Shanghai, and a day at the office in Hangzhou, it was high time that we got out of the hotel, away from the office, and really, seriously engage in some intense binge drinking. Of course this is all to take place over "Business Dinner" with Mr. Ju, Joe, his wife Xiao Li, Prosser, Carrie to translate Joe, Kelly to translate Carrie, and last, and certainly least, Me! (somehow Shasta was able to opt out of this international assault on one's liver for the 2nd year in a row). Without out my wife there to referee this consumption match, I was done for from the get-go.

Don't be fooled by the casual appearance of the 29 check marks that denote our wine consumption, or the 7 tacit lines that symbolize the beers we each drank at dinner.

In china you don't get to sit back, relax, and enjoy 36 mellow drinks at your own pace. Not with the people we do business with at least. It is actually a pretty rad 'ceremonial-like' custom that one must follow while getting piss-face drunk at the dinner table.

It goes something like this: Intimidating 50 year old Chinese Businessman in dressed in formal suit and tie stands up and with drink in hand, he zeros in on skinny, 27 year old american disaster, soon to be wearing only jeans as t-shirts get ripped right off when you drink this poison. Next, Mr. Ju makes sure my glass of red wine is full to the brim, then in a very traditional and respectful manner, he says something along the lines of "may we have many years of great business and friendship" or maybe it was "you are fucked! drink pussy! see you in hell, lightweight bitch." either way, we each take a slight bow, utter (or scream depending on how many drinks it has been) Gambe' (roughly translates to cheers or good luck) then chug what resembles a mixture of grape juice and diesel fuel as fast as possible.

Upon completion we each take another bow as we present the empty glass held at an angle to verify that its all gone. It is a sign of mutual admiration and respect, of appreciation, and sacrifice. When someone stands up, praises you, and fills his cup, if you don't fill your glass to the same level, with the same toxic fluid, and down the whole dirty mess as fast as he does, without passing out, puking, or spilling a drop, you are literally insulting him in front of everyone. It is like saying that he is not worthy of chugging hot red wine with me, or he is not worth my full, concentrated efforts at drinking myself into black-out city.

The only problem with this tradition is that there is nothing that dictates, or even hints at how you behave with all this lightning surging down your spine, clouding your judgement, and numbing the senses. In my case, there is no telling what will happen next, but one thing is certain...watch out!

Unfortunately this warning was not passed on to the waitress who found herself directly in front of me, the closed doors to our private dining room, and...the fire extinguisher i was aiming directly at her face, pin pulled, handled squeezed, and in an instant our waitress and everything else in the room, looked like they had just been sprayed with a fire extinguisher. (note: this was after a mere 14 drinks...not even halfway to hell)

My next display of complete and utter lack of self control while under the influence of mass quantities of alcohol came in the form of a 22oz glass bottle of Bud Ice that I broke over my head at the dinner table.

Finally, the night ended as i walked into the hotel lobby, proceeded to throw my wallet on the ground, kick off my shoes in the lobby, jump into the elevator, and as i approached my door, before shasta could ask the rhetorical question of 'are you wasted?' i fell over, tearing my right meniscus (i had partially torn it the last week of may in mammoth). then i puked all over my bed, the floor, my backpack, dvd player. everywhere but in the bucket my wife had placed right by my head. the end.