Metal Ben Raybourn Steer Skateboard Deck - Houston Bullet Shape

New Jersey, 1994. We were drinking some mushroom tea listing to Sabbath and someone said we should make a video called Metal. That's pretty much where the name came from. That night we spray painted Metal on all our grip and went out skating. The next day we went to Love Park and, of course, everyone asked what Metal was so we told them. Within 2 weeks, more and more people started painting Metal on their grip and it just kinda took off as a video project. Word got out in the wild but when things really took off was in 1995 when Chris Carter (DNA/Alien Workshop) surprised us and put Metal hidden in Fred's spider board (Alien Workshop reissue Fall ’22). Within the year of us starting that video project people were calling the Workshop asking when Metal boards would be available. We saw a draw so we basically turned it into a board brand. There was really nothing like that out back then, nothing that felt organic and nothing from the East coast that was dark or evil like that. The attitude of not giving a fuck and having it be about pure skateboarding. At the time, new skate companies would pop up in the scene here and there but no one was doing it on there own with very little money. That stuff didn’t exist back then. Metal is our way of life. An attitude.

-Lou Metal

The OG team (1994): Jerry Fisher, Fred Gall, Eric Ruwadi, Mike Daher, Lou Metal

The team today (2024): Fred Gall, Ben Raybourn, Richie Blackshaw, Donny Binaco, Scotty Alexander