Title Photo:

Henry Baile

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Yes Harrison! What’s good man?

Yo dawg! Everything’s good G aha.

How have you been finding this lock down shit?

Pretty mellow man. Kinda been naughty and still going out skating everyday. But fuck it, what ya gonna do?

I’ve seen people picking up all sorts of new hobbies, I guess its all the extra free time, how have you been spending this strange time?

Chilling with my girlfriend and going through a shit ton of music aha.

Lots of skating?

Too much yo!

So, you have lived in Brighton your whole life?

Yeah boy, born and bread.

It must be interesting living a stone’s throw away from the Level skatepark for such a long time, a lot of gnarly stuff goes down in that area!

It’s a good thing and a bad thing you know? So easy to boy off street and just go to Lev for the day. (Fuck Lev)

Did living in this area play a role in your discovery of skateboarding? how did it all start?

100% man. My parents would always take me and my sister to the old Level, which was even closer to where the new one is now. And just as a baby I was always standing by the gate watching the old OG Lev skaters killing it and just thinking “Wow! I wanna do that.”

Living so close to the Level your whole life you must have experienced some of the old Level antics first-hand. For those of us that aren’t as educated on the subject, who are some of the main names that come to mind?

So many OG heads but the first ones I think of are Amir Williams, Isaac Miller, Tom Felix, Louis Cooper, Stevie Thompson and James Kilpatrick. Those guys definitely inspired me the most in my early years of skating haha.

I’ve heard so many funny stories from that park, any that spring to mind for you?

Fuck man there’s so many! Like something gnarly happens every other day, but so quick and random. There’s this one that happened about 4-5 years ago that’s always stuck in my head. Just a normal sunny day skating around, then we just hear a glass bottle get smashed and people shouting. So we turn around, and there’s this dude head to toe covered in blood getting chased by like 6 people with fucking pitchforks and hammers. He runs through the skatepark, crosses the road and goes into a pub, and gets trapped and we all see those guys run in after him so we all skate over to see what’s going down, we peak through the windows and just see that guy getting picked up and stretched aha they were trying to pull him apart!!!

Fuck man that sounds insane! What happened next?

It’s fucked right aha. I think the guy was alright? There was all the crusty locals running out with their pints and this old lady ran out screaming “THEY’VE KILLED HIM!”. I was just amazed that how, through all that mayhem, she managed to quickly grab her pint and then got out aha.

SW 180 Polejam.

Photo: Henry Baile

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A lot of amazing talent has also passed through the Brighton skateboarding scene throughout the years, are there any names that really stand out to you as inspiration?

Dougie George, Ellis Gardiner, Dexter Daniels, Zane Crowther, Earl Cave, ummm Phil Russel. The list could go on forever man. All my friends inspire me.

I know you have a pretty good memory of some of the projects to come out of Brighton, what are some of your favourites?

Cheese on Tape by James Cheetham. That’s the best one hands down! Such a good soundtrack and a lot of good raw skating.

Your most recent part in Al Hodgson’s Pavilion was a madness, your productivity on missions is amazing to see. How did you find filming for that vid?

Thanks dawg means a lot! I love filming with Al, he’s an amazing filmer, skater, and all-round good guy. We love the crusty Brighton streets and scoping out “new” spots. Al would do a lot of solo missions with us, most of that vid was filmed through lockdown. Everyone killed it for that vid.

The prem was crazy right?

Yeah it was so dope! My first outdoor prem. We were tripping on it though ‘cause you were only allowed up to 30 people per viewing cause of lockdown, and I think about 80 plus homies turned up aha. So Al was just like “fuck it lets just play it.” Luckily the cops didn’t come ‘til after the vid was played (3 showings were played in total). Al sweet talked them like the gentlemen he is, and they left. I think they were lowkey down for it aha. Big up Glazed for the prem!

Who did you grow up skating with?

Zane Crowther, Stace Ansell, Josh wells, Max Freshknee and Dan fisher. They’re the ones I can think of right now, sorry if I forgot any of my day 1 dawgs aha.

All you guys are on the come up right now it’s really great to see!

Everyone is getting TOO good man. It’s amazing to watch your friends progress in skating and as people in general.

Your style has really progressed throughout the years, from a mongo pushing kid (sorry Harrison) to, in my opinion, one of the strongest and most enjoyable styles on a board right now! Who are some of your biggest influences when it comes to style?

Ahaha yeah, I was mongo for years man! Gross! Hmmm? Right now, maybe Kevin Bilyeu, T Funk, John Shanahan, a young Bastien Salabanzi with a pinch of Glen fox.

You’re kind of like a modern day quick footed Kalis haha!

Haha happy with that.

BS Smith.

Photo: Craig Dodds

This leads me to my next topic; how did the DC thing happen for you?

I’ve wanted to get on DC for like 2 years? I think it happened through my Vague part Harrison, and I think it was the next day I got a message from Dave Snaddon saying something like “We like your skating, we wanna send you some products if you’re down?” I was like “Hell yeah aha is that even a question!?” I’m pretty sure Al also sent them a preview of my part in Pavilion before that vid came out, so he had a big part in it too. Thanks bud!

Has that always been a dream of yours?

Yeah man, ever since they bought back the OG big chunky bad boys aha.

You have been doing a lot of cool stuff with Brainstorm, I’m really feeling what they are up to, their aesthetic is on point. Tell us a bit more about those guys, how did you end up linking up with them?

Aha funny story actually. So I started a job working in this CBD food joint, and Cole (Flynn Quirke), who owns Brainstorm, was already working there. I met him on my first shift, so we’ve been best buds since. One shift around 10 a.m. I was upstairs in the kitchen. I hear some heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, and it was about 15 police officers raiding the place. They all came up with cameras and were like “this is a police raid, nobody move and stop what you’re doing”. I remember I was so hungover that morning aha, didn’t need that first thing. That place got shut down not long after that. Think the people were money laundering.

Haha, damn that’s crazy man! Braidstorm have a vid coming out around the same time as this interview right?

Yeah boy! A full Brighton street edit. I love those guys man! They’ve got such a good eye for street skating. Making the most non-skateable spots skateable aha. Shout out to Cole Quirke, Dan Turvil and the one we call lethal Joe. ;)

Really hyped to see that one! You’re just as talented behind the lens of a camera as you are in front of one, and can often been seen yielding a VX. Has filming always been an interest of yours?

Absolutely man, I enjoy filming just as much as skating. I’ve been using the VX for about 3-4 years? Thanks to Josh Wells for showing me the ways. He’s a great filmer and a great guy!

You helped film a lot of the Memento video Subliminal Sleep right? Tell us a bit more about that.

I did indeed, around that time I started feeling a lot more confident filming with the VX. It doesn’t feel like hard work when you’re just filming your homies. A great video made by Zane Crowther too. Love ya boy!

Man of many talents! You also had a big role putting together the Journal video, Thanks for that man

No stress!

Photo:

Henry Bailey

I know your brain probably has a whole skate video catalogue hidden away in there, you watch everything! Were there any videos that really caught your attention, particularly when it comes to visual style and filming/editing?

I really dig Colin Read’s edits, they’re more of a journey than a skate vid ahaha. Lurknyc, Deep Fried and GX1000. Those guys inspire me the most for sure.

Talking of your brain, you seem to get deeply involved in anything that catches your attention. This is reflected by your very eclectic taste! Have you always had a passion for all things creative?

Oh yeah 100%. If there’s any projects going down, I want in aha. Gotta keep busy. There’s nothing better than skating with your homies on a sunny day, and if clips are going down too well that’s just a bonus.