ENDLESS BLOCKADES

Blogging about blogs is kind of lame. I'm not one to totally poach and just cut and paste other people's images and then call it a post. Also, Vice won't let me get away with that…weird, for some reason things like "original writing" are important over here. However, I do have to say that when my friend turned me on to Endless Blockades I reverted to my grindcore teen days and spread my wings. Metal back patches make me happier than just about any other sort of music-related fashion statement. Combine those with an unrestricted look at the phenomenon of back patches and adorned jackets/vests in general and you've got a pretty damn satisfying photo blog.

Even better is when you have the singular joy of recognizing a friend from behind by his Pentagram patch such as this picture of VBS contributer and Amebix interviewer Jake Boyle:

The additional genius is that this a Tumblr, which at its best can be a slideshow of awesome. Tumblr is pretty much the only blog realm where it's perfectly OK to borrow words and share found images; in fact that's kind of the point, and when it works it really fucking works. There are no opinions, no at-length discussions about metal iconography, no judgements as to whether the image presented is awesome or funny. But of course, the nerd that I am, I wasn't satisfied with that, so I emailed the sites proprietor, Brooklynite Jack Crank and asked him a few questions.

Vice: Here we go, a zillion questions at once, ready? Did you just have a stash of pics that you were waiting to post? In the beginning were more of the photos found or taken by you? How did such a singularly focused blog get started?

Jack Crank: To be honest I kind of started the site on a whim and had no idea how long i'd be able to keep it running. Originally it was going to be a collaboration between me and a few other people, but along the way only my friend Mike MLP really stuck around.

I have another blog called No Gods, No Vegetables that's been up for a little longer that I do concert reviews/photos for pretty regularly. I guess the idea for Blockades kinda came around when I found that I had so many good shots of vests/jackets/whatever that didn't belong to the dudes onstage, but nowhere good to post them. I was checking out a lot of Obsidian Obelisk at the time and just kinda hopped on the tumblr bandwagon I guess.

Over the last couple of months I've actually had a shit ton of awesome shots come in from all over the place. One of the dudes from DS-13/Sonic Ritual and a bunch of his crew sent me amazing ones from Stockholm, the dudes from Happy People Don't Complain sent me some fucking killers from Indonesia, Sean from Rockers NYC sent a couple from the Amebix show in LA. That kinda shit and the ones I take myself are definitely favorites.

Most of the shots up there come from internet metal/punk forums I've found. Dudes just stoked on what theye made. You find some crazy shit out there. Teenage death rock forums, German death/thrash boards where I don't understand a thing. I wish I could read Japanese man, that's the only thing I know I'm missing. I've only recently discovered the whole "reblog" feature on tumblr so I've been playing with that. I'm not the brightest kid on the net I guess. Fuckyeahpunks has been a fucking godsend.

I find it kinda funny that all these fashion people seem to be into it. I'm possibly the shittiest dresser with the least knowledge of or taste in fashion ever.

Any pics of you or your gear up there, I mean you must have at least a killer vest if not a jacket.

Yeah, I have a couple of things up on the site. I definitely waited a few days to post mine. It has to be from like late June some time. I'm not gonna say which one it is there because compared to a lot of them it's kinda shitty but that's cool. The recent blue jean jacket with the Venom/Candlemass/Hellhammer patches is my new work in progress and I have a hoodie up there somewhere. I suck at sewing and have an awful eye for layout, just ask Mike MLP (the other dude who posts on the semi-regular).

Fucking tell me about it man. I gues shit's just "out of vogue" these days or something. I remember growing up seeing the kids in Tompkins with Aus Rotten assflaps everywhere. What ever happenend to that shit? Send me some bum flaps kids, GIS ain't turning them up.

Biker image blogs are a relatively ripe trend, but teamsters and veterans and old guys from Coney Island haven't really had their moment in the sun.

Yeah to be honest, I don't ride a motorcycle and everyone and their fucking kid sister is on that throwback one-percenter stuff these days. Seriously, name me one person who doesn't know what a Hells Angel's colors look like. That being said, there are some amazing club colors out there that I come across every once in a while and will post. Still, I try to use biker shots kinda sparingly (unless I take them myself). I guess it just stems from the fact that most vests for bike clubs are often pretty similar and already really well documented. The idea of one of the mongols sewing his own backpatches is pretty fucking funny though.

A lot of the cool ones to me are the ones you'd never think of. I recently just discovered a stash of WWII bombers jackets with awesome hand-painted pin-up girls and kills and shit on the back. That stuff blows my mind man, they look super badass and stand for some crazy shit. Union jackets also have a pretty rad history I'm just starting to look into.

Fuck man, I love the tat pieces. I don't search em out but they're a total highlight. I think the dude with all the hair metal logos just fucking bukakked all over his back with no rhyme or reason has got to be it.

There are some spectacular pieces up there and some spectacularly bad ones, one bad patch has the potential to ruin a jacket. Ever disappointed by the juxtaposition?

Sometimes I guess, to be honest, man, I'm not really sure what the juxtaposition is here? Like the Killer Kutte with the one Aerosmith patch on it or something? I wouldn't say it bums me out so much as makes me laugh. It's more of a, "Seriously man?" kinda thing for me.

It's funny, I've looked at thousand of these things over the last couple of months and I still can't tell you a formula for what makes a good jacket. What bums me out though is jackets that just don't put any thought in or jackets that put way too much thought in. A ton of the German jackets I've posted would be killer in real life on the day to day, but online they tend to just look like wearable racks from your local record store. It's like, how many colored, square embroidered, Sabbath and Asphyx patches can you really cram on to that motherfucker? Let it breathe, we know you like every fucking bastard son of Kreator that's shit out an album since 1989. Cool, but damn…

Shit dude, off the top of my head I'm stumped. I guess I'd have to say like, gnarly death hesher with unapologetic Skid Row center patches are always funny. I saw one kid with this amazing, totally covered handpainted leather jacket that was all AFI themed. Hopefully that shit helps shield against the asskickings he gets in high school.

What are some of your favorite images, any ones near and dear to your heart?

All that aside, the best shit up there is still that handpainted Death backpiece from june 29th, and that handpainted Master of Puppets Jacket. Apparently that dude found it in a thrift store in Oregon for like $15. Sick shit. Oh yeah, Todd Tragedy's jacket from the middle of July show and the "Don't Bother I'm Lazy In Bed" ones are also classic. Basically, any of the local crust/hardcore/metal kid shit in NYC gets me pretty stoked. It's crazy good, crazy creative kids all around.