Finding a book depicting the history of the British skateboarding scene is a case of slim pickings, and what has been produced in the past is usually just photographs of skaters with little other added substance. Elsewhere, however, is a lavishly illustrated oral history that meticulously documents the British skateboarding scene from 1987-2002.
Author Neil Macdonald, a skater himself, also owns one of the biggest skate media-related collections – magazines, clothing, films – in the world. Elsewhere is broken down into chapters that cover a timeline covering changing skate trends, locations, shops, homegrown brands, distribution and magazine publications.
Soliciting comments from pro skaters like Curtis McCann and Mike Manzoori, Macdonald also takes a dive into the skate scene-specific creativity which ended up influencing the mainstream. Skate wear was fashionable in non-skater circles in the 1990s: the Slam City Skates shop something of an epicentre for this, and Insane, run by Ged Wells, launched a clothing brand in the mid-1980s. Both are still very much alive and kicking.
Macdonald does not shy away from the highs and lows, twists and turns or rivalries within the UK scene, but through it all there are creative and cultural repercussions still felt today, celebrated here in a book worthy of celebration itself.
