Category: Features

Portrait in Manchester by Dennis Martin from Insta

Boo Johnson‘s skateboarding seems to talk in its own language. This guy has worked so hard over the last few years to gain his pro status this week on DGK that the word justified seems nailed on.

Born as Jakel Johnson in the mountain city of Tehachapi in Kern County, California, Boo (nicknamed by his parents) has worked his way up in style. His friendship with Keelan Dadd led him towards the DGK family where he has started to play a pivotal role in the progression of the team due to his positive attitude and a big bag of tricks.

With Boo skating our home turf this month it would have been rude not to shoot some words knowing that him and Marquise Henry are moving up at DGK together. Thanks to Matt Daughters and DGK crew for the hook ups.

Good times on the road right now?

Yea. I spent Go Skateboarding Day with the DGK homies and then met up with the Supra dudes a few days later in the UK.

What have been the highlights?

Just being out here! Enjoying the long ass flight! Shit, I was in Leeds and Manchester for my second time in 4 years with the whole Supra squad. That’s as rad as it gets!

We heard you went to China before this UK trip filming your last stuff for the new DGK video, what do you pack for a trip like that?

Shit man, I actually didn’t bring anything I really needed besides a gang of American munchies like Nutella, Starburst, Hot Chips, Gummies, GoldFish and yea, jus a gang of munchies! I didn’t know it was so damn hot, so the real question is: What are some of the items I didn’t bring?! (Laughs!) Shorts, more shorts, ankle stance socks and a bunch of dry fit tees!

Have you survived on the great British selection of shit foods?

Hell yea, perfectly fine.

What’s it like with UK legend Tom Penny in the tour van? Any good stories?

Lol. Tom Penny’s life is a story. He’s the raddest dude and such a stoner. But shit, it’ll have to be when he starts to feel himself and hit Dennis Martin with an ill flow/rap! Tom killz it when it comes down to spitting bars. He’s such a G.

Supra has arguably the best shoe team in the world that give back with so many tours and demos, you must be loving that hook up.

Dude, really. Supra found me and I just related to the whole team and got along with the whole crew and the team manager. I’ve been over there since day one so just stuck it out and I’m lovin’ it! S/O Supra and the whole Brothahood.

For a man who takes pride in having a huge bag of tricks what part of your skating gives you the most grief?

I’m not the best at ledges. Just the fact of tryin’ for dayz and taking time and a lot of effort to stick in there. I don’t have the patience to skate ledges. Ha!

What’s next on your trick list?

I’ll be stoked to get this kickflip back overcrook down.

Congrats on going pro. What helped you make your decision to leave Element for DGK? Was going pro in the works since then?

Going pro was in the air with DGK when I first got on just cuz Element had plans on turning me pro earlier in the year as well, so it was only right. But yea man, there is a time for everything. The switch was just something I wanted to make as a personal decision at the end of the day.

Those showdown graphics are tight….

Yea. The designers over at DGK did the work and really came thru. I think they came came out really dope!

Are you working on future deck designs?

I’ve mentioned doin’ a Booboo The Bear graphic to DGK that they’re working on but I’ll be coming up with some more ill board graphic ideas down the line for sure.

Did you want to be in Parental Advisory after you saw it? Are you hyped to be in a DGK video now?

Naw, I thought the Parental Advisory was epic but it’s not like I wish I was in it. It wasn’t even a question on me getting on DGK when that video dropped! I did enjoy that video a lot though. An yea man, I’m a part of the Family now so I’m definitely stoked to be in the Blood Money video, no doubt.

Tell us a little about Blood Money, have you seen Marquise’s part?

Blood Money is gonna be dope for sure, I’m excited. It’ll be a short, but epic edit for sure. And yes, I’ve seen what Quis is working with at the moment and it’s dope. Just like all his other parts, he’s a killer in da streets!

Have you seen the rest of the footage?

I’ve seen a lot of the footy and it’s all pretty ill. It’ll be a good one! DGK ALL DAY.

Ph: Hardflip in his backyard of Long Beach shot by Brandon Alton.

If DGK is All Day, where is Boo most nights?

Shit man, probably at home chillin, regrouping, eating, watching TV, rollin up or hanging out with my girl Tanya. Pretty much getting ready for the next DGK ALL DAY.

What’s up for you next after Blood Money drops and your decks hit the shops?

Same oh, same oh man! Keep doin’ my thing. Make sure I don’t get comfortable, keep grinding and enjoy living my dream!

Before you split, give us your top 3 albums of all time that you cannot leave the house without.

1st – Legend – Bob Marley
2nd – Tupac – Until The End Of Time
3rd – 28 Grams – Wiz

And lastly, give an amateur skateboarder some advice on his next step to get a pro model…

I don’t know man. Just Skate Have Fun & Just Do Your Thing. Stay positive and maintain.

Look out for Blood Money from DGK dropping soon and some words from Marquise Henry here next week. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for daily grinds.

“Growing up skating in Swansea in the 70s and 80s was a really special experience which I shared with a bunch of great guys. We were pretty relentless in our pursuit of good times, traveling all around the country to skate parks and ramps, building our own and sharing the stoke through the media of writing, music and photography. The history of skating in Swansea is really about two things: the kids who were part of the scene and made things happen, from the surfers who had adopted skating early on to the street skaters who saw the city in a new way; and the places that skaters met, starting with Langland and ending with Exist.

Jono Atkinson is responsible for putting this film together. He contacted me early on and I knew from our conversations that he had a really good handle on the key people and places. Doing the interviews and looking through the footage brought back a lot of memories, but I think that the most striking fact was that so many of the interviews corroborated the others – although some of these events took place nearly 40 years ago the impact of the experience was such that we all remembered things in the same way. The fact that I had a part in a sort of collective memory was something that I hadn’t properly realised or appreciated until I saw the film. Over Ply Wood‘s greatest achievement is the collating and organising of the archive material and interviews in such a way that those who were there have the opportunity to relive their youth, whilst those who weren’t can get a good sense of what happened and why.” – Twiss Enwright

It was a pleasure to premiere this documentary but you will now have to wait for the DVD as it was for a limited period only. Until then, read all about the making of it with Jono Atkinson who has put so much work into it. Here’s the background of how this all came together:

Hi Jono, we have seen this flick form from a small web clip to what is now a full length documentary, how did it all start and how long has it taken to stitch together?

Making Over Ply Wood has been a long process. Over three years in now and i’m still adding to it. It started when I moved down to Swansea and ran into Tomsk (Ian Thomas) and Jason Williams at the mini ramp near my house. We became friends and I slowly began to hear stories about the ramps they had built over the years. I had seen pictures of Morfa in Rad and Skateboard! Magazines but never made it down to Wales at the time to see it for myself.

That ramp was legendary, how did it come about?

It was the result of years of building ramps and hassling the council for money and a location. Tomsk, Jason and a crew of many other skaters and surfers who made Morfa possible and it was great to hear how it all happened.

Twiss gets handy on the infamous Morfa vert ramp. Photo by Sam Scott-Hunter.

Who was sitting on the majority of the archived footage?

Tomsk had videos of sessions and contests from the 80’s that he filmed himself. Borrowing and watching these was the beginning of the film for me.

Knowing that it’s your first film, how did you manage to contact everyone and put it all together?

I learnt about editing and sound and interviewing as I went along. Everything was built from scratch in the early days and this is reflected in my approach to making the film. The material is all begged and borrowed and stitching it all together and making sense of the bigger picture was the best part of the project. One thing led to another as I met new people. This guy has some photos, that guy has some more footage, I know someone who used to go there and knows someone in Australia who might have some cine film of that spot.

It was a real slow build up but eventually I had amassed quite a large collection of material spanning from the 60’s to the present day. I used Facebook to make a page which has been a gold mine of photos and video which has gone pretty much unseen for a long time.

Mike Mcgill mctwist’s over Steve Caballero at Morfa on a Bones Brigade demo 1989. Photo by Phil Rees.

What about the process of choosing what content went in?

One of the main problems has been knowing when the project is finished as more material keeps turning up! I decided to get the interviews done and edited and the story told and chat would be done, the story as far as the film goes is written but material can still be added until the technical details are all ironed out for the DVD to be finally made.

Keeping the story concise and flowing has been hard work and I decided early on to stick to a few key figures who drove the progression of the Swansea scene over the years. There are so many people who skated the ramps, locals and visitors alike but I kept with the central crew who built the ramps, organised the fundraising and later on found new spots. The film is already long at over an hour and a half and that was being harsh with the edit. It could easily be four hours even with the material I already have.

Will the film make it onto DVD in the future?

Since the film reached a watchable and nearly complete form I have been doing a series of screenings around Swansea. A couple in a cafe down in Mumbles, once at Exist skatepark and most recently in a pub back down in Mumbles. It’s been a great way to get the film shown to the people in it, make adjustments to the edit after seeing it big on the screen and getting some opinions on how it looks. It’s also been a good way to raise a bit of money to get things done leading up to a DVD release. I managed to get enough money through a raffle at the last screening to pay for the audio to be professionally mixed which is something I had no idea how to do. I want to do the same with the colouring maybe…..so it’s getting closer to being a real film technically.

Looking back what have you learnt overall from this mission?

It’s been a great experience and I have met so many cool people from Swansea who either still live here or have moved away but still hold the local scene close to them. The film keeps evolving and getting built upon just like the skate scene here in Swansea, never ending! There will be a finished DVD pretty soon but I think I am enjoying making the film too much to let it go yet, in the meantime here is the film as it stands so far. I hope it can dig up a bit more material, I know there is stuff out there. Enjoy Over Ply Wood!

Tapes sent by Ron Williams in Australia.

Nick Thomas fires a backside air at Morfa. Photo by Sam Scott-Hunter.

Pete Dossett’s Deathbox advert shot at Morfa from Skateboard! in December 1989.

Chris Miller lofts a frontside ollie at Morfa to take the cover of Skateboard! Mag.

Steve Jones snaps local Swansea skaters being hassled by the fuzz.

This premiere will be live for a week on here. Look out for the DVD that will be available at some point. Until then follow Over Ply Wood on facebook.

Following our recent features on Crystal Palace vert ramp and Hastings skate scene, our next Rewind feature looking back to classic UK skate spots will focus on the life and times of Latimer Road vert ramp. This will include tales from Jeff Grosso, Lance Mountain, Shane O’Brien, Ged Wells, Davie Philip, Joe Johnson, Dan Adams and many more alongside unseen photos of Gonz, Lance and more. If you are reading this and would like to contribute, please get in touch asap here.

Ah, the 80s. What a turning point for skateboarding. The quirky tricks, the Day Glo colours, skate rock soundtracks, jump ramps, Christian Hosoi’s muscles, Rocco’s ego and Tony Hawk’s fringe. What a blast.

Meeting your skateboarding heroes back then was pretty much impossible if you lived in Thatcher’s grey and rainy Great Britain. Communication was jacked. There was no facebuck, twatter or instagrom, just PO box addresses on adverts in magazines, phone, fax (if you were tech) and the good old-fashioned letter.

In this first of two features Giles Bennett explains how these rare letters from Neil Blender came about. Look out for part two here soon where Neil joins us to revisit them, discuss the demise of Alien Workshop, art and more.

“You don’t expect these things to be around anymore. Paper gets old and silver fish take over. I have gas and electric bills from 06. I need to get rid of them…” – Neil Blender

“A funny thing happened today and almost quite a timely juncture. I was ferreting around in some of my old shit whilst under the bed, and I rediscovered some old letters from Neil Blender amongst the Garbage Pail Kids stickers and gig tickets.

Neil was always a kind of peripheral figure on the skate scene at that time. He would appear in magazines and was a capable skater, (pro for G&S) but seemed more of an “outsider”, goofing around, spraying walls in comps and coming up with peculiar, unique tricks.

Set against an emerging background of Gator and Hosoi flying to the stratosphere and hordes of screaming kids baying for stickers and McTwists, he seemed like the kind of person you would actually enjoy going for a skate with. Me and my best mate at the time were always more interested in making ridiculous wobbly ramps and doing “roly poly plants” than perfecting the biggest ollie. He was a kindred spirit. So when thinking about correspondence he was the only real contender.

Living in a small parochial suburban British village in the mid 80s, the nearest we ever got to skating royalty was the occasional guest at Farnborough’s vert ramp – if we ventured that far out into sniper territory. No email, no real videos at THAT time. Skateboarding in the USA was something mysterious, exotic and out of reach. The only way to reach out across the Atlantic was via a bit of paper, a couple of stamps and some hope/patience.

As a kid, I’m not really sure what I was reaching for. Maybe I just wanted to prove that the world in my tattered Thrasher’s and Transworld’s did actually exist. I can’t remember exactly what I wrote, I probably asked how he got sponsored, if he had been to the UK, probably said he could kip on my floor if he was in the area. Not sure exactly how much fun he would have had in Cobham ollieing into bushes with proto-teens, but the offer was there.

Letter number 1 was written, put into an envelope, then placed in a little black hole in a red box. That little hole may as well as well been a galactic black hole. I had no evidence that something as flimsy as a letter even got to the other side of the ocean, let alone directly into the hands of a goofball God.

Summer went and I had forgotten, given up hope. Then, as we were all about to head into 1987, something magical happened; Mum uttered the line: “There’s a letter for you here.” What?

Perhaps it was some belated Xmas card from a tardy relative? Venturing downstairs, I saw it on the kitchen table, an envelope with G&S stamped on it. Neil had come good and replied.

He had actually spent time to write back. Time that he could have spent rolling along warm Californian concrete, or eating some amazing unheard of fast food brand instead of putting pen to paper to a scrawny, pasty English kid who lived in a village with just a butchers shop and a cobblers.

I expected to be able to smell California skateboarding life, the urethane, sand, maple wood, salt, sweat. Having something from there was like having something from the moon. My respect for Neil was rewarded and I was made up.

I followed up with 2 more letters and he still came up with the goods. I’m still impressed with the guy now for doing that.

There aren’t reams of dialogue; it wasn’t war and peace, just a few lines providing insight to that world, and this small connection to it, here in my hands. As a bonus he added drawings in 2 of them. I liked them, they were kooky. The content wasn’t really the biggest deal for me anyway. It just meant I connected across a vast expanse, to someone I respected. That in itself just seemed amazing.

I googled Neil after I found these letters and discovered an interview with him. In it he described how he seemed to get disenchanted with skating when it got lumped in with rap, became a kind of freestyle based “flippy tricks” activity, and the kids got more bitchy and competitive, lamenting also, the loss of characters. Funny, coz that’s basically the reason I turned my back on it. It didn’t feel the same anymore. Small wheels, flippy tricks, handrails, baggy clothes and big beats wasn’t my scene. Southbank was a sea of kids standing still kick-flipping, I was a roller.

Now I’m middle aged.

The kid that wrote to Neil, also optimistically wrote to the council asking for a skate park. 20 odd years later, he got one. I was even invited to the opening of the Cobham park as a guest of honour so right now I’m now starting a campaign for a wheelchair park, so it’s installed when I’m 90.

The scene seems broader again now and I’m seeing retro decks everywhere (I have a Vision “Old Ghosts” finally). I also have a shiny new concrete park in the new town I live in too.

Skateboarding was surrounding me, teasing me, beckoning me to have another go.

I tried……I was shit.

But, I’ll be out there again though, when the kids are all in bed, on the smooth concrete pulling “roly poly plants” and doffing my tweed dog walking cap, to the odd man of boarding. Mr Blender.” – Giles Bennett

Giles Bennett – garden plant – 1987.

If you are not familiar with All This Mayhem then prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster documentary on the rise and fall of two of Australia’s best vert skateboarders. The chaotic lives of Tas and Ben Pappas are documented by tales from friends, skateboard industry associates and hand cam footage shot throughout their journey from Prahran skate park in Melbourne to California where they chose to compete with skateboarding’s elite.

This real life career suicide story is awash with everything that the early 90s offered, with amazing footage of skate sessions at Danny Way’s ramp whilst riding for Primitive/XYZ, party footage wasted on acid, mushrooms, weed and coke, that drifts into a lethal hangover of drug smuggling, cocaine, heroin and crack addiction, murder, suicide and jail terms.

The film also tackles skate industry hierarchy, political walls within the skateboard mainstream media with a stab at the comp scene in the US. This features heavily due to the nature of the Pappas brothers’ willingness to beat Tony Hawk to the number one spot and smash the system with their balls-out, punk rock attitudes and trick progression.

It’s a fast-paced movie that does not let you nod off for a minute with a car crash ender that will leave you in tears. Whether you skate or not, scout out this documentary and watch it whatever age you are. Their story is nothing short of mind blowing and if anything, should be an insight into how not to destroy your life from bloated ego’s when you have it all.

This Saturday’s screening at the BFI was attended by Tas Pappas alongside director Eddie Martin, producer George Pank and Bafta-winning editor Chris King. This footage is of the Q&A session that followed filmed on an iPhone. Thanks to everyone who put in the hours to bring such an important film to skateboarders worldwide.

Watch the trailer:

Note that Tas Pappas filmed most of his tricks in this on acid and mushrooms:

The Welsh are celebrating the birth of a brand new skate co this month, so knowing that traditionally their boyos are graced with arguably the most supportive blood in the country, we decided to delve into the world of Furr Skateboards this week to find out what two Swansea lads and a bunch of artists were up to and why.

“Formed by Tom Frayne and Rhys Pillai, the company bases itself upon a DIY ethos united with an artistic focus. It seeks to constantly collaborate with different artists to provide a platform for emerging talent in a meeting of creative design and function. The duo screen prints all of their own clothing, providing them with the freedom to regularly produce new and varying designs. Furr as a brand was formed to advocate and uphold the fun and creative side of skateboarding and skate culture. By working with as many artists as possible, they hope to offer the skate community something unique and exciting which can stem beyond the standardised logo fan and instead ignite a following of the cultured and visually aware.” – Amy Beasley (FURR photography artist)

Hi Tom, Rhys, congrats on the launch, tell us a little history about your backgrounds in skateboarding.

Tom: I picked up my first board when I was 11 and have been rolling ever since. I first saw a skateboard as a fast way to travel to my Nan’s house for chocolate. I’ve also worked in local skate shops since I finished school and still work at Exist Skate store in Swansea. There’s nothing better than chatting to all the young gun shredders in your local town, whilst in work, and hearing all about the new spots they have been tearing up. Just seeing them so enthusiastic is inspirational.

Rhys: I started skating round the same age, but slowly stopped as being in a band took over my life, getting injured being a drummer wasn’t ideal. When I was 18, I started screen printing apparel for a local skate shop. So thanks to that I was still pretty involved with the skate scene in Swansea.

Business meeting, naturally. Ph: Rob Crowley.

Swansea is drenched in skateboard history, what is your earliest memories of skateboarding from legends past?

Tom: I was too young to really see a lot of the legendary skateboard history Swansea had to offer. Cwmdu skatepark was still around when I really got into skateboarding though, it was a great skatepark. I got to see a lot of my idols at the time skate there, like Rick McCrank and Eric Koston. My good friend Jono Atkinson recently released a documentary on the whole of Swansea’s skateboarding history, called ‘Over Ply Wood’ (premier on CF soon). It completely opened my eyes to how skateboarding evolved in Swansea and to be completely honest is probably the reason I’m here writing this now. It pushed me to try and help keep the skateboard culture we have in Swansea strong.

Rhys: My brother and his friends used to skate, so being the younger brother I’d want to go with him. We used to go to the old Morfa vert ramp to watch people skate. Len, the owner of Cwmdu skate park lived round the corner from me, so once school was finished for the day we would all be up there. That skate park at the time was a really big thing for the city, it was a huge shame when that place had to close. I was also blown away when I saw ‘Over Ply Wood’, as it taught me so much about Swansea’s expansive skateboarding history.

There’s no time like your very own Beer O’Clock. Ph: Lewis Royden.

Explain the name Furr and why you settled on it…

Tom: We wanted to create a new word because it didn’t have any other connotations other than what we are. We hope the new word is as innovative as our designs. We hope they’re a Furrst. Furreal.

What other names were considered?

Tom: Man, there were too many to list.

Where are you sourcing your wood?

Tom: Our wood comes from some cool guys in Spain. We looked into a lot of different options of which wood to go for and narrowed it down to a few factories in the states, UK and in Europe. Knowing that the brand of board I was riding at the time came from the chosen manufacturer, it was a done deal!

Was Chinese wood an option?

Tom: Never, I would hate to think of the labouring conditions and wage the factory workers would get in that environment. But hey, maybe the conditions are great out there, I just don’t know!

Any other companies use the same wood you are using?

Tom: I know of a few companies in the UK that do use the same yard as we do. I can’t name them as it takes a lot of time and patience scouting out a great wood source.

Danny Cartwright takes a 5.0. Ph: Lewis Royden.

How did you pick the team?

Tom: The team are the best bunch of dudes! I’ve been skating with Sam and Tommy for while and they always shred so hard. It’s a no brainer having them on the team. I used to love watching Mikey’s parts growing up and still do, he’s a real inspiration. Danny and Josh are great, they’re both so enthusiastic and keep dropping amazing edits. There is also another team rider dropping soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Are the riders involved in the shapes?

Tom: Every rider has a say in what shapes they want to see and ride. If you ain’t comfortable doing something, don’t do it. Same goes for shapes, every rider needs to ride what they feel most comfortable riding. Keeping them involved is key.

Paradise Deck: Illustration by Jack Kirtley

Artists will obviously feature heavily in the progression of the brand, talk to us about aesthetics and how you see your graphics moving forward from this launch.

Tom: Artists are such a big part of Furr. There are too many artists out there that are so good at what they do and we feel their work is not showcased enough. By collaborating regularly with new artists we feel our designs will look fresh and innovative, and it will give a platform for new artists all the time. Our intentions are to try and uphold and advocate the fun and creative side of skateboarding and its skate culture. We will collaborate with as many artists as possible to bring the skate community unique and exciting design work behind all of our products. We aim hold exhibitions for the artists for the work they do for us, and for their personal work too.

The Welsh have always offered something fresh, how will Furr get amongst it knowing there are so many UK board companies out there right now?

Tom: By evolving our designs regularly we hope to stand out. Supporting events all around is also a major thing we hope to achieve. We want to keep good vibes flowing and hopefully people will show support for DIY.

Final words…

Tom: Supporting any DIY, skater owned company is essential in the UK skate community. There are so many major corporations buying their way into skateboarding these days and a lot of the hard working smaller brands struggle from this. Everybody needs to get to their local skate shops and support the hard work they are doing to keep the DIY culture alive. Watch this space.

Find Furr on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Lifeboat Deck: Illustration by Lucas Beaufort.

Evil Repeats Deck: Illustration by Jamie Morrison

Photos: Rob Shaw.
Words: Zac and Jake Martinelli
Video: Filmed and edited by Jake Martinelli

“A little while ago before I really knew Josh, I was trying to describe him to Kevin Parrot and he said: “Oh, you mean Josh, the best skateboarder in London?” I thought that was a weird thing to say since Kev is always out filming with the hottest skate talent around, but since getting to know him over the last couple years I can indeed confirm he is the best skater in London. It’s not like he wants to be the best or anything, it’s quite the opposite.

He will probably be mad that I have even said this. He regularly tries to sabotage himself with excessive boozing, late nights, more excessive boozing, forgetting his iPod and not stretching, but he always makes his tricks. Regular, switch, up a wall, off a roof, he does it all and does it with a big smile on his face! He’s always saying that he doesn’t like it, but that’s just a front. Josh is a true skateboarder, not in it to look cool, get rich, or impress anyone and that is what makes him the best. Enjoy his welcome edit to ‘SORE’.” – Horsey

So Josh, let’s start with the obvious one. Where did the fascination with skateboards start?

Skateboarding started for me in the summer of 2000. My two brothers got one each after the ‘ninja turtles’ skateboard that sat in the garden for years finally gave way from us all pushing it along on our knees. Ha! I got really jealous of my brothers having boards until I got one myself, but as soon as I had my own I just forgot about everything else. Before that, I was an ice hockey player and dropped out as soon as I got my Sweet Voltage set up. Ha!

Where did you grow up?

I was raised in Leytonstone in North East London. There wasn’t really much to skate there until the local Co-Op shut down and left us a sick car park where we built our own ramps and rails and other dodgy contraptions.

Are there any individuals that inspired the fascination looking back?

Well, the first skate videos I ever saw were the first ON video with Danny Way and the 411vm issue 30 with Geoff Rowley. Somewhere in there they have an advert with Jeremy Wray doing the ollie between those water towers. I think that will always be my favourite trick in skateboarding, ever.

This shit is easy if you are a roofer. Ph: Rob Shaw

What pays the bills?

By day I’m a roofer. It’s pretty chilled most of the time and I still get plenty of time to skate so it’s pretty ideal for me really.

I guess it’s about time to say congratulations on joining SORE Skateboards! How did that come about?

Vince just emailed me out of the blue recently saying he was keen to sort me out and I was into their graphics and already know Myles Rushforth and Guy Jones, so I felt like I’d fit in well there!

Are the rest of the crew all up north? Their latest promo ‘SPECTEMUR AGENDO’ proves they can push it on all types of rough terrain.

Yeah, Myles is from Barnsley and makes such good use of crappy spots and that’s what makes him different. I’m into it, it’s more interesting than skating some perfect stairs or ledges. I’m looking forward to working on their next project!

So what do you personally love and hate about life and skateboarding?

I love hating! That’s about it. Nah, I love all the usual things that skateboarders do and I don’t have any other hobbies outside of skateboarding. I’m just happy keep doing what I’m doing at the moment. The main thing I ‘hate’ is bad skateboarding. Not skaters that aren’t good, but bland, generic skating, comp dudes, headphones and shit like that!

You have also started a wheel company recently with Rob Shaw, what’s the main focus behind Backwards Wheels?

The biggest thing that is important to Backwards is just being a part of skateboarding. It sounds cliché but we’re trying to be a little more obscure at the same time, but at the moment it’s still early on for us but as the company grows people will learn more about us. I think our first edit did justice for the kind of vibe we’re going for.

What made you decide to start a wheel company as apposed to starting a board company, clothing company or something like that?

Well to me and Rob it was hard to decide what to do. We wanted to create something but I guess we wouldn’t have done well starting a board company. We aren’t massive names like Jensen and Shier or Pulman who will succeed almost without fail because they’re big names, credit where it is due of course! As for clothing, like I said, it’s early doors but we’ve got some more clothing/products on the way.

What’s in the line up for Backwards in terms of trips or maybe a video?

One of the things we want to do as a company is to visit some really obscure places. That’s something that Rob and I have always had in common; we love discovering new spots and checking out different skate cultures, so we’ll definitely be making our first trip somewhere rad. We’re working on something else too along side yourself (Jake) and Will Miles. I can’t say too much more than that at the moment. Ha!

Frontside 50-50. Ph: Rob Shaw

How many hours have you clocked up searching for spots on Google maps and what’s the process of trying to locate spots?

I’m sure if I added up all the hours I’ve spent on Google maps over the years it would make at least a week as in 168 hours, but maybe it’s like a computer game where you don’t realise how long you’ve been on there and maybe I’ve been on there for twice or even thrice as long. I explore anywhere. Obviously I mainly stick to London, but if I’m going somewhere new like Kiev or Budapest I’ll have a little ‘wander’ beforehand and see what else is lying around.

How many have you found that are as good as they look?

It’s hard to say really. I guess I’ve never actually been to that many of them. I have them all written down on a piece of paper. I have a good 40 spots on a piece of paper full of spots in London which I’m sure most people won’t have seen before but from the ones I’ve been to I’d say half of them aren’t really skateable and about a half of them are actually as good as they look.

You recently had a part in Rugged Raw, a London/Harlow scene video, was filming for it at all stressful?

Yeah of course, one of the hardest parts was that is that I don’t drive and neither did you (Jake) at the time so it was a bummer to miss out on so many of the sessions in Harlow and the surrounding towns. Just wished I could’ve filmed at some different spots outside of London. Although we did go on a lot of trips together like Kiev, New York and Barca. Mind you, there’s always the classic trying a trick for hours until you go red in the face and deck a granny…plenty of that going on too.

You’ve covered some serious air miles and a lot of countries on your travels, Which trip was the most enjoyable/memorable for spots, skating and beers?

The most fun I’ve had on a trip was definitely going to France last summer with James Coyle, Caradog, Pete Buckley, Ben Larthe, Niall McDermott and Jelly. That trip was just really different style of trip for me. We had so much fun driving around and finding new spots that we’d never seen before. We just made it up as we went along and I’d recommend that to anyone really. As for skating and spots, probably New York. It’s a huge ever-changing city with endless spots, so I’m sure I’ll be heading there again soon. And as for beer, the Ukraine was cheap-as, but the casual and most delicious were had in Berlin last month. Again, I’m sure I’ll be back there soon.

Last words?

Thanks to Zac and Jake for sorting out this interview and all my friends and family, me misses and all. Everyone who sorts me out, Vince, Bryce, Carl and Rob! Smoke beer everyday!

Back Lips in Kiev. Ph: Rob Shaw