From Sidewalk 207 – December 2013
Photography by Leo Sharp & Joel Peck
Interview by Dom Henry
Jethro Coldwell can do fakie flip switch front crooks quite easily…
That should probably do as far as the skateboarding side of this intro goes but unfortunately these days people want more: an image, a persona or a funny story.
Well, Jed’s straight out of one of Stoke on Trent, one of the North of England’s grimmest towns, and growing up there has given him the sense of humour needed to brush off the things that may be in his way and stay focused on his way out, which was skateboarding.
I’ve known him for a while now but since he moved to Manchester we’ve become good friends. Jed puts everything on the line for skating: he’s pretty much all or nothing and “nothing” can sometimes mean ultimate depression, or the being happiest man on earth, de- pending on whether or not that certain trick gets landed. He has a lot of pas- sion because deep down he really cares about the simple act of skateboarding and doing it the way he wants to see it.
Jed’s also completely mental and keeps things pretty interesting when in any type of situation. I remember when he came to Berlin as a guest when I rode for The Harmony. We were all drinking one night when I found myself pushing Adam Mondon to put him on the team. Mondon was pretty keen but had issues with him being a bit crazy and wild and was basically a bit scared of him. Anyway Mondon eventually kind of agreed to sort him out with some boards and it was at this point that Jed, (who had pretty much just met Mondon) came round the corner and pretended, (pretty realistically) to mug him. Needless to say Mondon backed out of the deal and I’m not sure Jed ever knew what we’d been planning.
In this marketable, competitive and serious industry we need to look after our talented eccentrics more. People like Jed only come around once in a blue moon and if we don’t embrace their talent we will be left in a world full of boring robots. Jed’s a true street skater and I mean ‘a true street skater’ – so true to the streets that I’ve never seen him drop in on a quarter pipe. Real shit…
– Joe Gavin
page. To all those embracing the mid 90’s – that’s what’s up. Seq: Leo
Alright Jed, lets just dive right into this thing. You’re a grafter with practical skills, how long were you working as a Joiner in Stoke and what drove you to put the joinery game behind you? Any good stories from being on-site in that environment?
I had three weeks of holiday after I finished high school, then went straight into an apprenticeship in joinery and worked at the same company for the next seven years! The firm I worked for built houses and extensions from start to finish, so I picked up a lot of different skills along the way which has helped me to stay creative, such as concreting, which eventually helped us to stay skating through the wet months in Stoke, which is every month in Stoke.
I never really started to learn a trade because I was interested in it, as I just wanted to skate and that was all, but for a young male in Stoke there’s only really three paths and they’re: tradesman, benefit fraudster or prison dweller – so I picked the obvious choice.
It is rad being able to create things out of raw materials with your hands, and it is now one of my hobbies. I still use my joinery skills pretty much everyday in my spare time, but the site environment is not really one to be desired by any creative person, unless you’re a slightly bigoted sun reader that likes to dabble in mild recreational racism, and are verging on being a narrow-minded, right wing psychopath. As far a site stories go a personal favourite is when a bricklayer called Gary stood on a scaffolding plank pretending he was “boarding”, repeatedly saying the name ‘Frank Towers’ to me. I was puzzled as to what he was talking about, he then said, “Ya know, Frank Towers pro skateboarders”.
It later turned out that he had confused Tony Hawk, with Frank Towers, who was actually a gay porn star. Another favourite was when my kind of mentor, Mark, used to say, “Nothing a pint of maggots through their letterbox won’t sort out” to any problem in my life that arose. It’s so sick to think a grown man would sort out any of his problems by putting a cup of maggots through his enemies letterbox, and thinking that this would actually be a solution!
I also had various nicknames, such as ‘The Muslim Sympathiser’, ‘Jedward’, ‘The Communist’ and ‘Nail’ to name a few.
From bits and pieces that you’ve told me I’ve always got the impression that Stoke can be fairly gnarly at times, especially on nights out. Are there any particularly memorable evenings you’d care to recount?
Yeah, Stoke can be kind of tench at the best of times, especially on nights out like you said. It seems like everyone is out for blood in Stoke at night, but I think a lot of the same things can be said about most towns and cities in the UK. As far as memorable stories go – I can remember being at a preppy private school kids 18th birthday party with my friend Charlie O’Donnell, which was pretty tench from the start. I think I was the only person there who didn’t own a boat or property abroad. We got way too buck in our two-man crew and soon got set upon by bouncers and a whole army of the upper class. In the chaos I managed to get my phone stolen by a bouncer, tear one man’s designer polo shirt in half and get thrown down 15 stairs, only to be confronted by more wealthy teens, which resulted in people with pink vests and fur coats ramming my head into a window.
My last recollection of the night was having an unbreakable pinch hold on the pink vest wearer’s nose and saying through gritted teeth, “I’ll have your nose, I’ll have your Dad’s nose, and I’ll have your whole family’s noses”. That pretty much sums up the night.
My friend ‘Ceej’ and I have also found ourselves in numerous different unwanted street brawls throughout our time, but most of the time it’s just mindless scallies beating someone within an inch of their lives for no apparent reason. It’s character building I guess.
Tell us a bit about the scene over in Stoke – who/ what were your main influences when you started skating, and how do you think this has influenced your own development as a boardsman?
The scene in Stoke when I was a kid was as strong as anywhere in the country I think, it even gave the big ones like London and Manchester a run for their money. The only difference was that nobody had ever heard of the legends from Stoke because why would anyone give a f*ck about anything outside of London?
I started skating when I was twelve with my friend ‘Ceej’ who I had known since I was four. We bought boards called ‘Ultra-tech street rollers’ with plastic trucks, (we thought plastic trucks were for street, and metal for vert!) from Gilesports, and mongo’d the hell out everything in the way for the next couple of years.
There was a crew of older guys that skated at the Safeway carpark literally five doors from my house, so it was easy to learn new tricks by just watching them.
I spent most nights skating with them until about 10 o’clock. We were heavily into learning freestyle moves at the time after having our minds blown by ‘Free style Mart’, but this soon phased out when we learnt kickflips and most of those guys quit. We then joined forces with some other kids that skated the same town as us and headed to Hanley’s Aldi carpark where the scene was popping off!!!
This is where all of the skate crews from Stoke met and skated every weekend. There was usually near to fifty skaters there all weekend, we had a ledge, manny pads, underage drinking and skate betties: it was perfect! There was all sorts of rippers there at the time, we looked up to all the Ill Minds crew, QPC and Crewe York massively, everyone was incredible, people such as Chalky who was set for the big time hucking down fifteen stair handrails, getting all sorts of sponsorship offers, and Phil Williams who was and still is probably one of the most gifted skateboarders on earth.
He can not skate for 3 years then come out and learn ten tech as f*ck tricks – those guys were noseblunting handrails back then, which our small minds couldn’t comprehend. We all dyed our hair black like Chalky and formed a spin off skate gang called Poorly Brainz! Mad respect for those guys. There were also skaters like the elusive ‘Brad Lynch’ who was apparently getting offers from Girl and doing inward heelflip noseblunts down rails. I remember years of scouring a local hospital looking for an 18-stair handrail he’d supposedly flip nose slid.
There were also skaters like Ian Williams, Tony da Silva, Big Steve (Harns), Matty Moss, Tand, Shank, Bob Swerz, Dez, Richie, Sadge, Gee, Mek and so many more! All of these guys shaped how I skate today, they were fu*king rad times, and all those guys ripped!!!
Stoke was one of the first places in the UK to really get a serious concrete Plaza – it was fairly unprecedented at the time of building. How big a part did the Plaza play in your younger years? You seem to be the antithesis of a skate park trainer, how did you avoid getting sucked into the parkdawg vortex?
The plaza didn’t get built until I was 16 so it didn’t really play a massive part in my most impressionable years. I didn’t really like it at first because it was kind of overwhelming, but I did start rinsing it for a bit until I was about 18 as no one skated anywhere else. I’ve always resented it though because as soon as it was built most of the older skaters that I really looked up to quit skating, and the scene that I knew fell apart.
I still skated with my crew but there was not really anyone older to look up to anymore. As far as the park vortex goes, I was never really super stoked off the vibe or anything at the plaza so I wasn’t content with just staying there when I knew that street skating had existed before hand. I think kids that have grown up with the plaza there their whole lives have been spoilt a bit and maybe missed the best parts of starting skating where you don’t know what’s cool, you just tear around skating the wackest things you can find, imitating CKY, living off Safeway savers biscuits and lemonade and just generally being skate rats. It makes me bitter that the park that we all spent our childhoods trying to raise funds for, eventually single-handedly killed an amazing scene. Plus where’s the fun in being a ‘Parkdawg’? All the best ledges are on the street!
You and your hometown crew the Sk8 Wolves built a really rad undercover DIY spot, which has seen a few different incarnations and also had its share of trials and tribulations. Please can you tell us the story of Corpseside?
Yeah, my friends and I scoped out a perfect undercover warehouse years ago. We decided to capitalise on the opportunity a few years back on Boxing Day thinking that the space was unoccupied. We scraped up about 10 year’s worth of pigeon shit, took sand, gravel, cement, angle iron and concrete blocks down, mauled them over a 7ft spiked fence and hooked up a couple of blocks and a bump.
The owners of the warehouse turned up a couple of days later and they were more than confused as to what we were doing and made us leave. It turned out that it was still an active warehouse, but it was way too good to let slip. We started going in every weekend when no one was working and building something new, I even pretended I worked there in a builders merchant next door and had them drop a couple tonnes of ballast and a pallet of cement over the fence in a digger. It ended up as a full undercover concrete skatepark. We had two different size quarter pipes, a manny pad, a kicker, road gaps, bumps, pole jams and a few different shaped and sized ledges, including the best ledge in the world.
The owners came back one weekend when we were skating and said they’d been admiring our handy work on the CCTV and were okay with us skating there as long as it stayed low key and too many people didn’t start showing up, which was amazing. They even gave me their number and said they wanted me to do some work for them.
After about 2 years of being able to skate whenever we wanted, more and more people started catching on to the fact that it was there. Edits went up on the Internet, things started getting broken by bored scallies, and graffiti writers started showing up. The owners told us they had been broken into and the council had shown up and weren’t happy about the graffiti as it was completely untouched before we started building. We obviously couldn’t stop them and eventually realised that there was a few different graff crews having some sort of turf war, and our spot was right in the middle of it. I think one of the crews had mistaken the skate spot for being the work of one of the rival crews.
About 2 weeks after I had moved to Manchester I got a call from a kid called Jordan who used to guard the spot for us after things started getting broken.
He basically told me the whole thing had been broken into little pieces and there was nothing left. I was pretty angry, so I called my friend and asked him to check it out. He later sent me pictures of piles of concrete and bricks that had ‘NTR’ tagged all over them, and on the remainders of the best ledge in the world it read ‘Night time revenge’. They had even poured oil all over the floor so you could never even skate the perfect flat ground again.
The owners of the warehouse tried to help us find out who did it using their CCTV and even said they would press charges on the culprits for vandalism. Obviously the police never did anything about it and that was the end of the ‘Corpseside’ era. We had some amazing times there with all the homies so a major shout out to Ceej, Ian, Moggins, Mike, Reub, Charlie, Punk Tom, Crazy Tom, Westy, Walsh, The Jonse, and anyone else that was involved in making it happen, or just having fun there with us! It’s gutting to think about what it could’ve been now, but we do live in a country where a large percentage of the civilian population are massive c*nts, so what did we expect? A major f*ck you going out to all of the NTR graff squad and anyone that had a part in ruining the best thing that Stoke had to offer.
Leo Sharp shot your earliest published skate photos: how did you first make the acquaintance of this legendary photographic giant?
I don’t know how that came about really. I know it’s down to Matty Moss mainly though. I think he knew Leo through various different skaters, such as Chalk and Tone, Chalk was shooting photo’s with Leo when I was a kid, and I had met him a couple of times through tagging along to see the latest Chalky hammer show, so my first light just came about through them really.
You were still living in Stoke when you got hooked up by NOTE: how did this come about?
I had gone and skated a park in Manchester with a few friends, and ended up speaking to Nev (Matthew Nevitt) whilst I was there, I played skate with him and stuff, and he was super cool. Before I went he hooked me up with his number and just said whenever I wanted to go skating in Manchester to give him a shout and he’d show me round. So the next week I did, met all the crew, everyone was rad and safe and just down to skate. I started going pretty much every weekend skating and partying. I used to stay at Nick Stansfield and Sean Lomax’s house and I already knew Tone so I stayed at his a lot too, with Mark Kendrick and treach Greg. Everyone was super safe and I guess everyone just put a good word in for me and Splodge decided to hook me up! He gave me the pick of any board in the shop I wanted, so I got the most banging Julien Stranger Anti-Hero board. He’s been helping me out big time ever since. Stoked!
You’ve recently made the move to Manchester, what influenced your decision to make the shift ? What is it about Manchester that appeals to you?
Well the first time I ever skated in Manchester with my Stoke homies was when I was about 13, we had gone to the Pump Cage, which was closed due to being water logged, so we skated outside in the dark until we got mugged at gun point, then we called it a day and went home. I guess I was secretly hooked after that really, I mean I just love gang culture. Besides this, ever since I started skating with the Manchester heads, I knew I wanted to live there and be closer to the crew. There are so many people that skate here and everyone gets along mostly. I also knew that I definitely didn’t want to live in Stoke all my life, so it was a pretty easy decision to make, it was just a job that I didn’t have in Manchester, which I think postponed the move the most. Eventually my job in Stoke was starting to crumble and my girlfriend Jess was starting university, so we moved in together in Manchester and that’s where I am now.
Okay, hit me with your top three Manchester spots and why.
The Forbidden Planet: The whole of the Spinningfields area is oozing with precious stones and wealth, it’s one of those spots that has all sorts of marble and granite manny pads and ledges, it’s perfect, but of course the security is intense and you’re lucky to be able to skate there. I have however skated the best manny pad on earth there for sometimes a couple of hours at a time, and there was a time deep into the recession when there was no security at all, you could literally skate the ledges for as long as you wanted!
The Vibe Curb. This is probably the best spot in the world, let alone Manchester. It’s kind of a double curb that’s slightly higher and on a very slight decline, it’s perfect for a classic Peralta 80’s style really low backy board slide, but it also 5050 front shuvs like a dream! It’s been kind of ruined a bit lately due to being retarmac’d, but I still like being there just to remind me of some of the sessions that have gone off! It’s also where me, Tone and Joe founded our most current skate team ‘The Vibe Seekers’ which is currently 100 strong and including the likes of Dom Henry, Little Pun, Kenny Anderson, (after his performance in pretty sweet), and Tom Day.
Sandbar flat. Amazingly smooth flat ground where you can drink, smoke, skate and make as much noise as you want without being hassled, so many amazing crend-offs have happened here it’s untrue! It’s also right outside a nice pub where we crend on the regular.
As it seems to be a right of passage for most people who skate for NOTE, you are now working there. You got any good stories from your time in the shop?
Yeah, Splodge hooks up the family and tries to sort out everyone he can with work, so cheers for that Splodge, you da man!
There’s pretty much about 10 outrageous stories to tell every day, from some tribal new rave punk who’s after the new Huf sex toy, or some particular grade shin pad for roller hockey, to some loser with a quiff and diamante earrings describing items of clothing as ‘Live’, ‘Cold’ or ‘Fresh’: but there’s way too many of those to remember and I always end up forgetting most of them. I’m thinking about making a book of customers, with just a photo of the culprit and the stupid thing they’ve said next to them, I’m sure it’d be a best seller. As far as favourite stories go, I’m always a fan of anyone dressing up in the latest full purple spray camo tracksuit from Huf. I also thoroughly enjoyed tying Plantlife socks and cans of Relentless to pieces of string then retracting them as kids tried to pick them up on the day of the Huf tour with Tone and Joe. Listening to Onyx every morning when we get to work and then again at the end of the day is rad! ‘Beer o’clock’, ‘Piff days’: it’s all good times!
into grimmer. Photo: Leo
I see you as a very proactive dude, have you got any other business ventures on the go? Are you still developing your plan to open a skate bar in Manchester? What is the rationale behind this, and how’s it all going?
Yeah, I try to keep busy mostly, with different kinds of business ventures on the go all the time. Most of them are more like hobbies though that could maybe make some money. I recycle old skateboards and give them a rebirth by cutting them up, sanding them down, painting them with my girlfriend and then sealing them.
This is pretty enjoyable, but it’s a lot of work. I’m going to eventually do an exhibition next year some time, and I’m currently sitting on about 20 of them, all different shapes and sizes, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
Also I whittle oak with knives and make picture frames out of bits and bobs, so maybe I’ll sell some of them in the future. In regards to the skate bar, I don’t really want to reveal too much, but when I first moved to Manchester I was unemployed and didn’t want to sign on, so I just hustled hard! I went from selling half watered down bottles of aftershave on eBay to planning this bar idea. I’ve got a job now, so haven’t really had as much time to pursue it, but it’s still something I’m interested in doing, and I still have the whole business plan at home, so I can pick up where I left off whenever I’ve got time. I just think that it’d be a f*cking rad thing for the skate scene, somewhere for us to all chill and crend together and things.
Over the last couple years you’ve dropped a sack load of savage parts in videos including Brass Monkey, Pusherman, Snake Eyes Die and Shads. What is the secret to logging so much raw?
Thanks man! I think that living away from where I was filming and doing a job that I didn’t enjoy has helped. I guess when you’re living away from all the spots you’re skating you have way too much time to think about things, so when it finally comes to the time that you’re with a filmer, you’ve got so many ideas that you just go sick and try them all, plus if you don’t do it there and then you’ve got to wait at least another week. Don’t think that now I live in Manchester I’ll start slacking though, I think those things just helped at the time.
Do you have a part which you are the most happy with, and why?
I think the new part I’m working on at the moment with Sean is my favourite so far, all the stuff I’ve filmed for it I’m stoked on and I just think that it’s the best stuff I’ve done so far, but it’s not out yet so you decide.
You’ve become increasingly active on the other side of the lens too. You recently got a GoPro video camera and have been trigger happy with it ever since. What is it about the GoPro that makes it such a desirable piece of kit ?
Well you can’t keep a VX in your pocket and dunk it in pints for a crowd pleaser when you’re buck. Plus I find you really get the best out of people filming wise when you thrust an extreme sports camera in their face and cheer: it turns the most dry man into an extreme adrenalin junkie, and most people’s gut instinct is to cheer or put on some form of a show. What’s not to like?
You’ve got some pretty serious fakie tech-grinding skills, and in my opinion skate a bit like Richard Mulder, JP Jadeed and A.V.E rolled into one. Although not quite as good, obviously, because you are one person and they are three. Where did all the fakie game come from?
Thanks man, that’s one hell of a comparison! I don’t really know to be honest. I’ve just always done it I guess, things will have definitely have influenced me as a kid, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly it was. I am a massive fan of A.V.E (the best switch front krooks in the game!). I just think that fakie is sick, it’s G, looks sick, all the skaters that I like are rad at it and it’s just my favourite shit to do.
You recently went to New York with Shank ( James Cruickshank ) and a bunch of other Stoke homies, how was your trip to the Big Apple?
New York as a skateboarding carnivore is amazing! More spots than you could ever skate, more meat than you could ever eat, and hidden gems around every corner in terms of spots and meat. As a massive fan of New York 90’s hip hop it was sick to see all the street names and areas that my favourite rappers talked about, and it’s always nice to be a skate tourist in a city that’s got lots of skateboarding history, checking out famous spots and realising how f*cked up all of the stuff done by people actually is, but at the same time still finding a thousand new spots on your travels.
Was it your first time in the United States and what cultural impact did the place have on you?
Yeah it was my first time in America, and a bit of an eye opener I guess. I thought it was just strange how completely true every American stereotype actually is: from people not being able to understand you, even though you’re speaking the exact same language as them, to the cops flashing their badge at you at any given opportunity and frisking any black or Mexican person in sight. There were exceptions of course, but they were few and far between.
You featured in Shank’s hilarious NYC Instagram videos skating literally anything resembling a Salvador (cellar door) or storm hatch that you could find. What are your thoughts on the current trend in skating of trying to get as many ‘east coast’ points as you possibly can?
I don’t really have too many thoughts on this, it’s just a fashion thing again isn’t it? East is sick, but you have to do actual tricks on these things for it to be good. It’s not enough for me to just see them. It’s when people literally ride over a few bits of corrugated metal, do a couple of ollies with fire hydrants in the background and swerve around a lot with a limp wrist that it becomes a bit of a joke. I guess that’s what the Instagram videos were taking the piss out of. There’s so many east coast legends out there, past and present, that actually kill off rugged corrugated crusty spots, that the standard has already been set, so why people want to dumb it down so much I don’t understand, apart from the fact that it’s a lot easier.
Have you got any travel plans in the pipeline in the near future? Where would you really like to go worldwide for the purpose of a skate trip if money was no issue?
I’m going to go and spend some time in the Canadian Rockies at the end of summer, then get the Megabus to New York and Philly to skate, which will be sick! New York is amazing to skate, but I like wildlife, nature and walking and things too so it’ll be nice to see some of that. Living in cities and holidaying in cities gets a bit much sometimes, so it’s nice to retreat and clear your head. However, if money was no object I’d like to do some sort of South American or South Pacific jungle tour, where we skate hollowed out trees and rocks and things.
Would you agree with the statement that ‘East is the new West’, and that ‘New York is the new Barcelona’ – in terms of skateboarders flying there to get their slice of Salvadors and corrugated iron popping surface credibility?
Yes! This is definitely the case, East is the new West, up is the new down (rails and gaps), less is the new more, shit is the new good, gay is the new straight, taking your feet off your board is the new keeping your feet on and so on… Full turn around! Up being the new down is pretty rad.
I’m pleased to say that you are someone who doesn’t employ the ‘mature restraint on techness’. What do you think about people literally doing nothing just because the spot looks good? Do you think that the banner of ‘creative’ skateboarding is becoming a disclaimer not to rip?
Yeah in a sense I guess it kind of is. Don’t get me wrong though there’s LOADS of skaters out there that are naturally creative and absolutely rip, I mean look at the Gonz, Daewon and every single Japanese skater that exists, they’re creative as f*ck, but it doesn’t mean they’re not going to do any tricks! I just think it’s an excuse for some people that can’t really be arsed to put any work in to still be successful, so they roll their trousers up too far showing maximum ankle, wear a baggy hat, start skidding around everywhere, skate with a limp wrist, grow a moustache and brand themselves as creative and stylish. It’s weird to see what kids think is cool these days. When I was younger there wasn’t one single person I knew who could no comply or wallie before they could ollie or kickflip, but it seems like that’s the only thing that people want to do at the moment. I feel sorry for the people that did those tricks before the bandwagon came along. It’ll pass though I’m sure, just like any trend.
What are your five favourite skate videos of all time?
There’s obviously about 20 I’d like to say but the one’s that I rinsed most as a kid are: Shorty’s Guilty, Flip Sorry, Blueprint First Broadcast, Emerica This is Skateboarding and Tilt Mode Army Man Down. (Probably the only time you’ll ever hear Shorty’s Guilty in the same sentence as First Broadcast, but they’re pretty much the same thing these days anyway). Bonus vid – Deca Vision Sneak Preview, the first vid I ever brought, f*cking sick! VHS player chewed it up about 5 years ago, it was a sad day.
Backside flip two-fingered salute to the management. Photo: Leo
What about individual parts – is there one that you think you’ve rinsed more than any others?
I used to watch Tony Trujillo’s part in Transworld In Bloom about 5 times a day for years. It got me juiced! Also Stevie William’s Transworld The Reason, and Kalis in Photosynthesis obvs! Tony T more though.
Are there any parts recently that have floated your boat?
Just anything that Westgate puts out is the best shit, massive pop + rugged east spots = the best shit. Wes Kremer is ridiculous as well. And what was Dane Burman thinking? I think that’s probably the gnarliest part I’ve ever seen. But Greco beats all with his new sound! Greco for SOTY!
Did you have any sagas shooting this Haunts? Any memorable battles to get a particular photo/sequence?
Not as such I’m glad to say. The backtail flip was a saga in itself, but not for the photo. I filmed it pretty stinking one very cold winter evening, which was a total saga in the dark, but I went early the next morning with Leo and shot the sequence fairly quickly just before his battery ran out. I ended up doing it again a couple of times trying to film it better, until one time I got the one that I personally couldn’t have ever done any better, and I was stoked! A few weeks later Sean who filmed it went to Bosnia with The Harmony on a trip and his laptop got stolen from their room. A load of people lost a load of footage and it sucked! But at least the trick didn’t cost me 2 grand like the laptop, so Sean lost the most there. When the time came we went back and had one last saga and finally captured one I was happy with again. So in total I think I had to do it 5 times and I’m glad to say I’ll never have to do it again!
Right, it’s an unoriginal question but we both know you are a man with quality control, so please can you tell me the top five grossest skateboard manoeuvres and why? What is off limits?
Krook nollie frontside flip/ Switch krook half cab flips stink unless you’re someone like Enrique Lorenzo (have to be Spanish or have some Spanish roots), very few people can pull them off. Kenny Anderson could do a good one.
Krook shuvs (the easy way). Everyone’s first tech grind I know, and I have a lot of respect for this trick. Obviously nothing looks or feels better than a crisp krook shuv, but it’s when people forget that the trick is hilarious that it becomes stinking. If Dustin Dollin did one down a rail or hubba it’d be amazing, but apart from that it maybe needs an age limit.
Roast beef Grab. Again I actually love this trick, but for comedy purposes only. Don’t flip into one over a gap and think it’s a legit trick (Billy Marks).
Manuals with multiple shuvs in the middle/ in/ out. You know who you are.
Frontside Smith front 180 out. Just because you did the smith easy, doing a 180 out doesn’t make it a better trick (some exceptions apply – JB Gillet would probably do a banging one).
Do you drink energy drinks?
Of course not. What grown man needs his full daily guideline amount of sugar in one drink? Can’t wait until there’s a whole generation of ear stretched, tattooed diabetics in the future. However, I have been known to dabble in a bit of monster lo-carb, solely for entertainment purposes, but even then it resulted in a 3-day come down, so they’re not advised.
Would you rather get a Monster tattoo as big as a head on your inner thigh, where only your missus would see it, or film a welcome edit for Blueprint as it is these days? The edit stays up for a year, then you can take it down and quit…
Both. Might as well go out with a bang!
On a serious note, a certain board company has recently started giving you skateboards. Its very well deserved mate. Are you at liberty to discuss this? How did this come about and what’s your take on it?
I don’t really know how much I can say about it to be honest, but I am super stoked off it, and big thanks to everyone involved in that. I guess it’ll be out there soon enough anyway. I think that the sole reason it came about is because I have a very persuasive friend with an extremely respected voice within the skateboarding community.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
“Don’t forget the corners, any silly bastard can do the middle”
– Dad
Who is the best rapper dead or alive, and why?
Pretty much anything that came out of New York between ’94 and ’96 is the best shit ever in my opinion. It’s ridiculously hard to single out just one rapper. I know everyone expects me to say ‘Paz’, he is mint, and I do love Islamic punch-you-in-the-face rap, but I think I’d probably have to say ‘Big L’ maybe. Just because he had an unlimited list of amazing similes and metaphors, he was a rad storyteller, he was hard as f*ck, he was from Harlem (G!), and was just an all round dope rapper that had an amazing understanding of the English language. Such a shame we didn’t get to hear more of what he had to offer! R.I.P
You are part of a Hip Hop outfit called Ying and Yang. Can you shed some light on the enigmatic group you formed with Mark Kendrick? What are some of your guys’ influences? Will the wider world ever get to hear the tracks you’ve recorded? They are f*cking hilarious. Are you guys still active as a group, and do you have plans for the future?
The basic concept of Ying ‘n’ Yang is that I’m everything that he’s not, and vice versa. I’m ice cold, he’s boiling hot. He’s rich, I’m poor. I drive slowly, he’s pedal to the metal. Total opposites, but opposites attract! Right!? I guess we were bought together by our secret love of saying any generic American word, our shared love of low-carbohydrate energy drinks and God. We are currently working on a debut album called ‘Hope and Dreams’ and are working on a video for our debut single ‘Bout do a Flip’. We are set to take over the charts in 2014 and will be coming to a stage near you. My favourite most inspiring lyric to date is:
“You can catch a fade, You can catch a charge, You can catch a break, on the Boulevard, Yo I’m a G ‘n’ I aint no tard, Sippin’ on monster, Lo-Carb!”
I think this pretty much sums up the band, Fuelled. (Laughing)
Okay, I think that just about covers it. Thanks a lot for getting involved Jed. Are there any final gems you’d like to drop on us, or any thanks that you need to broadcast?
Cheers, it’s been a pleasure. Massive thanks to my Mum and Dad and rest of my family who helped me with everything, my girlfriend, Splodge and all the NOTE fam! All the Stoke homies (up the Potters!), All the Manchester homies, Anyone else that I’ve ever skated with or been mates with, any sponsors that have sorted me out along the way and Skateboarding and travelling in general. Thanks!
