For the first episode of the Then and Now Podcast, I interviewed the legendary rolling artist, Chris Peel. Chris played a huge behind-the-scenes role during the late 90s to mid-2000s in the aggressive inline skating industry. Growing up in Wakefield, in the UK, he started designing t-shirt’s for Puberty Clothing before landing a job with DNA magazine. He then made his way stateside to San Diego, California, in 2000 to work for and design Daily Bread Magazine. In San Diego, he created the initial branding, image, and logos for Ground Control, Rat Tail Distribution, 4x4 Urethane, Vicious Bearings, and Nimh skates.

Chris is a long-time friend who also designed the Big Wheel Blading logo for me in 2017. We haven’t had much contact these last few years, so I thought it would be fun to contact him to catch up and reminisce on our years in San Diego, working at Daily Bread together and teaming up on many projects for Rat Tail, and its brands. - Jan Welch.