#offpisteclub

As ardent fans of all things snow, we at Dos Clothing are unsurprisingly stoked that the time has come once again for winter sports to gain the recognition they deserve at a global level. Although perhaps not expected to attain the mass interest that the more commercially viable Olympic Games achieve, for many out there, the Winter Olympics is the big one. Another four years have flown by and this time the army of athletes and competitors - approx. 2’800 to be precise! - are off to Sochi, Russia for another Olympics that have unfortunately been speed-skating dangerously on the verge of political controversy which we hope will not take away from the action. The nations are geared up to take each other on in what are shaping up to be huge match-ups!

 Although not blessed with the mountainous resources of our friends further south in Europe or our lucky compadres Stateside and in Canada with their magnificent Rocky mountain ranges, Team GB has got some seriously impressive talent this year and confidence is high despite our geographic set-backs. “The fridge-kids” as our skiers and boarders are sometimes referred to, due to having learned their trade at the UK’s indoor snow parks, are ready to firmly stamp our place on the Winter Olympic map.

  With British athletes competing in events across 9 disciplines, we at Dos wish all the competitors the very best of luck and will be watching all their progress closely! However with both skiers and boarders amongst our ranks, we are going to focus a little closer on these events as they are what really get the Dos juices flowing.

  Our best chances for a podium finish may well come in the Men's Slopestyle, a Freestyle ski event which has been added to the Winter Olympics disciplines list for the first time this year, and what an addition too. Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle are long-time favourites of the Winter X Games and are essentially a run of a park-like course as the competitor tries to make the most of the kickers and rails, throwing the biggest tricks to garner the most points possible. 22 year-old Brit James Woods is a huge contender after winning the FIS Slopestyle World Cup in Argentina a couple of years ago and Silver in Norway at the World Championships last year. 

Here is a little video made by Beats Audio to give a good idea about Slopestyle right from the man Woodsy himself. [Dos does not claim to own any rights to this video]

Other strong hopefuls include British slopestyle queen Katie Summerhynes, James Machon and Murray Buchan in the Pipe, and Rowan Cheshire, who we predict may cause a bit of a storm, not just for her awesome talent on the slopes, when the UK’s male population catch-on. see why below..

British snowboarding has had a high-profile build up over the past few weeks due to the stellar efforts of British Female favourite and Roxy/Red Bull sponsored hopeful Aimee Fuller. Her recent exploits at the X Games, pulling off a seamless double black flip during a heat, combined with her impressive level of media activity have earned her notoriety and a fearsome reputation amongst her more experienced competitors from across the ponds. 

if you missed it: catch it here..

Jenny Jones is our most experienced Female competitor with a serious chance of making an impact on the Games, and has been a trailblazer for British snow sports for over 10 years. These are her first Winter Games thanks to the addition of Slopestyle and hopes are definitely high.

For the men, British hopes are resting on the awesomely talented Billy Morgan, who finished fourth in last year’s World Championship and took bronze at the World Cup at the end of the year. He is definitely one to watch.

We wish the best of luck to all athletes taking part in this year’s games.

  We hope this offers a bit of insight into the British hopefuls, be sure to join the #DosFamily and join us in following the Games and supporting Team GB.

In order to celebrate the opening of the winter Olympics we are releasing a re-print of our most popular snow collection, The Off Piste Club to coincide with the opening weekend – don’t miss it – stocks never last long.

  www.dosclothing.co.uk

With only 7 Days to go Dos Clothing  wishes everyone involved in Team GB the best of luck in out in Sochi 2014.

Over here at Dos HQ we’ve been tracking the progress of best-mate double act, Just Kiddin’, for quite some time. Established DJs well known for their up-beat set selections and making huge waves with their own productions, Just Kiddin are an artistic duo on the rise. When we heard the two likely lads from the Midlands were down in London for a jam-packed weekend of shows and party’s we couldn’t help but snap up the opportunity to meet up with them and find out how they’ve been getting on...

Just Kiddin: Lewis on the left, Laurie on the right.

DOS: The weekend we caught up you played XOYO on the Friday night and straight on to Freeze on the Saturday afternoon. From Shoreditch to Clapham Common, very different crowds – How do you think they both went?

 JK: Both shows that weekend were great! We had such a good time. It was pretty hectic at times as we’re country-boys we’re not so quick at getting around London – we literally had to run to XOYO to get there on time! Playing with The Magician was pretty surreal as he’s someone we’ve been looking up to for a long time. Then Freeze the day after was crazy; from the moment we got on stage the crowd were very intent on showing us their love, (amongst other things…) and was just a really great atmosphere, I don't think anyone we could see stopped dancing throughout the whole set. Great show.

  “Amongst other things..” eh? – we wont ask. So anyone that hears your music can tell that you have a relaxed philosophy and we’ve heard stories about your party antics! But for those that don’t know - explain a little about the name, and what you’re all about, and how you came to be?

Since we remember we've been making music. Our intention was to make the sort of music that we wanted to hear – I think if that's your mind-set it's pretty difficult not to have a good time in the process. We didn't set out to be the coolest kids on the block, so it was never really about an image and an intriguing name to match. We’re both of the opinion that dance music can sometimes come across way too pretentious, we wanted to stay away from that side of things and instead promote an attitude representative of what our music is to us.

Working so closely with your best mate… how does the dynamic in the partnership work?

 Good question. It’s an interesting dynamic that works well, we’ve been friends for years and we’re doing what we love, so when we’re working never feels like we’re doing ‘work’. It can be strange sometimes when we’ve been in the studio together for days but have no idea about what either of us are doing outside of music - sometimes we seem to miss talking about topics that friends normally would, but I guess it goes to show how focused on music we are.

Wow, sounds like you guys are extremely hard workers.. tell us about where you seek your inspiration?

 Well the thought of not going back to a ‘normal’ 9-5 job for a corporate company really spurs me on (Lewis) – I know I don’t want to go back there. I think a lot of people finish Uni thinking that getting a job or grad scheme for a big organisation is going to make them happy. A lot of the time it doesn’t. I was once told that if you start doing something you love, you’ll never do a days ‘work’ for the rest of your life. I’ve never looked back since.  

Very wise words! We wana hear a bit about how you get yourselves up for a show.. and how do you enjoy winding down after!

  JK: We try to get to the location nice and early and get a proper feel for the city and what’s going on at the venue. Maybe a little pep talk, discuss the vibe we're going for, some moral support and then we’re on our way.

In terms of winding down, all above board!... Lewis might chill a bit, grab a drink and chat to mates and the other artists and so on. For Laurie, the “wind down” doesn’t really exist! You'll find him somewhere, carrying on the party. 

Good man! Part of the reason we wanted to meet you guys was we felt have a lot in common in terms of style and branding. How important do you think the connection between music and style is?

 Well for us music and style are both passions of ours so naturally they integrate. There are a lot of great people in music who prove that you don't need a sense of style, I'll name no names ;) But for us it would be just as much part of our lives and personality if we had nothing to do with music. Not that that's even conceivable.

  Finally do you have any words of wisdom for any young budding selectors following Dos Tracks?

Of course! Just make sure you keep doing what you love and the rest will follow, keep your head down, work hard and don’t get distracted by anyone else out there. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” (Lucius Annaeus Seneca).

    The boys are hitting the studio hard in Jan and their next gig will be in Cardiff on the 7th Feb. Get more details here: https://www.facebook.com/justkiddinfanpage

  HEAR THE MIX THEY DID FOR OUR SoundCloud, Dos Tracks:

Watch the Video of the shoot:

 Thanks to Kai Cem Narin for the photos, check out his awesome work: http://www.kaicemnarin.com

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