This weeks ‘Favourites’ subject is Prestons one and only Glass Giant, Stephen ‘Rogie’ Roe, who should be putting an appearance in at this weekends War of the Roses. But you never know, maybe he won’t.
Anyway, read on…
Favourite:
Way to start the day: Having been out the previous night, but hangover-free. That’s always a treat. 3 bananas and 3 pints of water before going to bed is a sort out.
Skatespot: My hallway gets a lot of action. Got a 3 set out the front door and a 4 set to the kitchen. We’ve kinda caved the walls in a little bit, but fuck walls.
Skatepark: Ramp City I guess, it has pretty much everything you could want in a skatepark and my parents’ house is on the way so I can rinse the free meals. The new Stockwell is pretty special too.
Song to listen to when skating: “Sleeper Hold” by No Age is getting plenty of air time. I bought their album on vinyl in Germany and I don’t even have a turntable. I had to starve on the last day there because I ran out of money. I always do that shit – buy the most ridiculous things that I’ll never use and later suffer for it. I bought a £100 pair of shoes the other week that are 2 sizes too small and now I can’t afford to do anything at all. Yeah, nice one, cockboy.
Skate video: I hadn’t watched a skate video for about a year until the other day when Mind Field came out. I guess that’s my favourite. That’s not really saying much though cos I still don’t like skate videos. I don’t know what happened, I used to love them, now I’d rather just watch episodes of Grand Designs from 2002. Stoked on the new series too. Kevin McCloud – Man amongst men.
Skate section: Same shit applies, but Jason Adams’ section in Label Kills is so fucking good. That re-hash of his footage when he returned to Black Label was even better, you know, the one with the Elvis tune. I don’t like Elvis. Johnny Cash please. Thanks… Wait, was it even an Elvis song? The Clash maybe. Or even just Joe Strummer. Whatever, I’m not checking.
Movie: I guess I’d have to say Sean Penn’s ‘Into the Wild’. Shit made me want to get out and travel the fucking world. I had this huge plan to go on a solo road trip around Europe, you know, live off the land, go fishing in the sea and then cook the blighters on a campfire, it was gonna be epic… I didn’t go. I stayed in Manchester eating McDonalds and getting drunk. Culture, man. Culture.
Band: Sigur Ros maybe, but they’re mood dependent. I saw them the other month though and they were truly amazing. Goosebumps all the way through. Watch their film ‘Heima’ – you’ll shit your pants… I once shit myself in a night club. Alcoplops, man – they can spring up on you at any time (…or spring out of you …and down your leg).
Album: Micah P. Hinson – “…and the Red Empire Orchestra”. Absolute banger. I also bought that on vinyl and have never played it. Spastic.
Person: Janusz Kaminski. I went to his master-class at the Berlinale film festival the other week. So sick.
Material Possession: Maybe my Leica M2, she’s like the Audrey Hepburn of cameras, but recently I bought a DSLR (the Katie Price of cameras) and that’s been getting more attention, sadly. Actually scrap all that – my favourite possession is my car. It’s proper dad steez. VW Bora, son – well urban!
Thing about uni life: Living the worst/best lifestyle ever, but also doing really well in Uni. I’ve figured out the balance.
None skating pass-time: Drinking, unfortunately. I need to chill out on that (not happening).
Manchester skater: This kid down Plattfields who makes me do ollies on his board, I call him “Sausages” (but not to his face). Nice kid, I like him… sort of.
Meal: Did I ever tell you that I’m phagophobic? I have a genuine fear of swallowing. Anybody who knows me will tell you that I’m the slowest eater on the planet and they’re totally right. It kinda fluctuates though – sometimes I eat at a regular pace, then sometimes I’ll spend an hour on a pizza. It all started at the tender age of 10 when I almost choked to death on this gourmet meal (microwave rice and ketchup). I went for maybe 60 seconds without breathing; I was blacking out and everything. My dad was dangling me upside down while my mum was thumping my back. I hope the neighbours saw it, give them something to think about. Shit me up so much that I didn’t eat for like 3 days afterwards.
My favourite meal? Stuffing. Yeah, its a meal if you eat enough of it.
Skate trip to date: Carhartt trip to the Balkans in Oct 07 for sure. Just because it went so wrong but it was still awesome and I have the best memories of it all. I covered the ‘almost dying of pneumonia/losing €200/getting lost in the middle of nowhere/almost getting man-raped all in one night’ story in my “lasts” interview last year.
But then throw in more excessive alcohol (I was drunk for 10 days), Death Metal festivals with people getting bottled left, right and centre, blown up buildings, losing more money, not having a jacket in the -0 temps, leading to the worst cold ever (which I spread to pretty much everybody on the trip), making loads of new friends, genuine culture shock (Bosnia man!), skating amazing spots, more lost money, more alcohol, more awesomeness. It was so fucking good.
Time in your life: The Grind skatepark back in it’s prime in maybe 2001. I miss it so much, I used to go like 6 times a week. There were just the best sessions ever, despite the fact that the park was shite. Right now is good also. I’d prefer to skate a little more these days though.
Special move in a game of SKATE: Maybe ollie impossibles, but now they’re all cool and shit, so every kid can probably do them. I dunno, are no-complies allowed? Backside 360 no-comply late shove it.
Comedy YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vFVnTMwt3w
Board, ever: Heroin “Magic 8” shape – any graphic. I know I’m sponsored by them and shit so I’m perhaps bias, but it genuinely is the best skateboard I’ve ever ridden by far. If I had to choose a graphic it’d be the ‘Spirals’ one.
Memory from the other weeks trip to Germany: That night when all the English crew went to that party. You lot left at like 3 or something, but I was like “nahhhh” so I stayed on my own and got absolutely hammered. I’d been keeping this diary/journal thing for a few weeks prior that I’d write all serious emo shit in, then I guess I started writing in it while off my face in the club (though I don’t remember any of it). There’s like 3 pages of just swearing in the worst handwriting ever and then some shit about Nazis, which I won’t go into. I got back to the hotel at 7.30am after almost repeating my ‘lost in the middle of wherever’ Balkan escapade. Though this time I managed not to lose all my money and scabbed a taxi. Hurray.
Quote: I hate quotes, I don’t have a favourite.
Disturbing experience: That time when I drove myself and Tyreman into the back of a stationary car at 50mph; completely writing my car off. That was a bit of a reality check… But also amazing. I’d do it again… but faster.
Ste at Mount Hawke, Summer 2007:
http://mpora.com/videos/CwZUbvnqJSte Roe at the Mt Hawke vert, 2007 >>
