Episodes
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Over the last year, it’s been one of the biggest stories in British surfing.
How Croyde’s own Laura Crane headed to Nazare, and surfed the biggest waves ever snagged by a British woman.
No wonder if’s been covered by everybody from Carve to BBC Radio Five Live.
But if you’ve been listening a little bit more closely, you’ll realise that there’s actually much more to Laura’s story than this admittedly incredible feat.
And it’s this aspect of the story, the bit that most surf media seems to have missed, that I was interested in discussing when we caught up for this conversation at the end of August 2024.
Because the truth is that Laura’s professional surfing career has been as much about rejecting the preordained role the surf industry demands of its women professionals as it has been about the actual surfing.
It’s been about understanding the personal impact of this institutionalised toxicity - in Laura’s case bulimia.
And it’s been an ongoing battle to balance her love of surfing with the demands a predominately male surf media and industry make on female bodies and identities.
As anybody who has been paying attention will realise, this is a depressingly familiar story when it comes to women’s professional sport, no matter how high the profile.
Think of Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, or Serena Williams, for example; women with about as much agency as it’s possible to have in the world of professional sport, and yet who have still had to constantly fight to establish their own physical and mental boundaries.
And it’s here that we find the real power in Laura’s story. Her account of the reality of the professional surfing dream, and its impact on her, is one we just don’t hear very often. That’s why it is so important.
Ultimately, it’s a story of reclamation, in which Laura has remade her own story, and shaped her surfing future, on her own terms.
Yes, it has taken her to Nazare. But what’s really going to be exciting is seeing where it takes her next.
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I’m joined by one of THE all time greats this week: Tommy Guerrero, legendary skateboarder and musician; and one of the select few to have shaped the way we collectively view this entire sideways culture.
Tommy was, of course, part of the original Bone Brigade crew, alongside Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen.
His parts in Future Primitive, Ban This and Public Domain basically defined the concept of modern street skating. In tandem, he also established a career as a hugely influential musician, which continues to this day.
In short, Tommy well and truly justifies the ‘legend’ epithet. And yet, as is so often the case, I found him on wry, reflective form: as happy to geek out on Sudanese jazz as he was to discuss those legendary video parts; and ruminate on how growing up without a father influenced his life and career.
Sometimes this gig is a total privilege and delight, and this was one of those occasions. Thanks to Tommy for taking the time, and to our mutual pal Thomas Campbell for the intro.
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Hallvard Kolltveit describes himself as ‘the surf photographer that doesn’t know how to swim properly’.
It’s a good line, and one that sums up Hallvard’s witty and self-deprecating take on his own unconventional route through action sport and outdoor media.
If you’re unfamiliar with his work, he's one of the first really popular post-Burkard cold water surf photographers to blow up on Instagram, and I’ve been following his career with interest ever since.
We actually first met back in April 2019, in Lofoten, during a Patagonia Snow Impact camp. We stayed in touch, and have since worked on a couple of gigs together, and crossed paths in unusual places.
In this chat, recorded in May 2024, we discussed the nature of risk-taking, in both physical and creative pursuits, and how discomfort can be a powerful catalyst for growth.
Literally, in Hallvard’s case, as he explained how his recent foray into ultra-endurance events have influenced his perspective on life and art.
We also discussed the balance between commercial success and artistic integrity, the importance of collaboration, and the endless quest for new perspectives in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Classic Looking Sideways fodder, in other words. Have a listen, and let me know what you think.
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To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
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Nick Russell is one of those rare snowboarders who combines grace and intellect in equal measure, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the high alpine with a distinctly cerebral approach.
I've been following Nick's career since I first interviewed him for Curator Magazine, and it's been a joy to watch his subsequent evolution into one of our most innovative and pioneering riders.
And this past winter has been especially significant for Nick. He ticked off the first snowboard descent of Papsura, a 6000-meter behemoth in the Indian Himalaya. He followed that with another crack at Mount Saint Elias in Alaska - a peak that 'Fifty' aficionados will recognise as one of the last great unsolved problems of that particular series.
It was an intense winter, and by the time we sat down to record this conversation, at the end of July 2024, I found Nick in recovery mode and in an open, reflective mood.
The result is a hugely insightful and thoughtful conversation that covers the two expeditions, themes such as the law of diminishing risk-versus-reward returns that comes with the high alpine territory, as well as a diverting thread around climate change and the accusations of hypocrisy that are so often levelled at people in NIck’s position.
I’m a big fan of NIck’s approach to snowboarding, and I enjoyed this chat very much. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
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How do you find an original angle with somebody who’s discussed the same story hundreds of times? Especially when that person is one of the best-loved and most-interviewed people in their field?
That’s the challenge I faced when approaching this interview with the great Captain Liz Clark. The occasion was the paperback release of Swell, Liz’s much-loved book about her decade-long voyage around the Pacific, with the author at the end of what was essentially her second round of promotion for the same tale.
And Swell really is a modern maritime classic; much more than ‘just’ a straight retelling of Liz’s incredibly gruelling, challenging and rewarding journey, as eloquently and honestly as she tells that tale.
It’s also about how we cope with the biggest themes of the lot: the generational accumulations that have brought us to this particular point, how a challenge such as Liz’s can be the canvas upon which we engage in the grandest acts of self discovery, and also how we can learn to face life’s challenges with grace and equanimity. It’s also about Liz’s own environmental awakening, a theme that brings us full circle to the present day.
In the end, I decided to go full Looking Sideways on this one: eschewing the questions Liz has been asked a gazillion times before: ignoring all the received podcasting interview wisdom (and believe me, there’s a LOT of that about these days); leaning into my full repertoire of lengthy digressions, two-minute long questions; and generally trusting Liz would get I was trying to have a conversation we’d both (and hopefully, my listeners) appreciate on a more human level.
I’m happy to report that Liz went seemed to be as into the idea as I was, and the result is the chat you’re about to listen to. Hope you enjoy it, and fo let me know what you think if you get a second.
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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
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Regular listeners will know that British skateboarding institution Read and Destroy occupies an important place in the Looking Sideways firmament, both for me personally and for British sideways culture in general.
I've talked about it at length over the years, but Read and Destroy was hugely important to me when I was growing up. Not just because it was the main UK skate mag at the time. Looking back, I realise that it’s what RaD represented that was really important - that you could make something like that about the things you loved. That you could blatantly make it up as you went along. And you didn't need permission!
These were important, revelatory lessons for me at the time, that continue to influence the work that I do to this day.
This is why, in the early years of Looking Sideways, it was so important for me to speak to Tim Leighton-Boyce. Sure, I wanted to hear his story. But I also wanted to pay homage to what he'd created.
In the intervening years, it's become clear I'm not the only one who was influenced by the work of Tim, and peers like Paul Sunman. Among the wider skateboarding and creative community, there is huge affection not only for Read and Destroy, but for the creative uniqueness of the British scene generally. You can see it in the works of somebody like Neil Macdonald, who I've also had on the show, and the huge popularity of the Read and Destroy Instagram account run by Dan Adams.
You can also see it in the response to last year's London Calling event, and the outpouring of love and excitement with which the release of new Read and Destroy book has been greeted.
Which is why, on the eve of the release of this new history of Read and Destroy (and this year's London Calling event), I decided to sit down with Dan, Paul and Wig Worland for the conversation you're about to listen to. Wig is another old friend, but I'd never met Paul, even if we both knew of each other and have plenty of mutual friends.
As ever, I didn't really have an agenda. I just wanted to let the virtual tape roll and let these three oldest of friends, all so influential when it comes to UK skate culture, take the conversation where they wanted. As you'll hear, that's exactly what happened. It's a good one, this. Even Wig enjoyed it, which really is the highest of praise. I hope you do too, and as ever I’d love to know what you think of this one.
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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
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As regular listeners will know, I don't often cover mountaineering and climbing on Looking Sideways.
But I knew I had to make an exception for Everest Inc., Will Cockrell's brilliantly written and nuanced exploration of the increasingly commodified world of mountaineering on the world's highest peak.
Firstly, as somebody who's been devouring books on climbing, adventure, and exploration since I was a kid, I was intrigued to discover that Will had managed to find a fresh angle on the most obvious topic of all.
Secondly, there’s much more to Will’s book than a straightforward retelling of the history of guided exploration on Everest. At its heart, Everest Inc. is a dispassionate examination of the increasingly commodified nature of adventure, bookended by those first British expeditions and, latterly, Nirmal Purja’s testosterone-fuelled approach to the business of mountaineering.
In this classically meandering Looking Sideways chat, Will and I discuss the ethics of commercialisation, the socio-economic impact of climbing, and the legacy of colonialism and empire that underpins the entire tale.
We also pondered the challenges of writing about a subject that has at this point been done to death - especially when two of your main subjects refuse to be interviewed - as well as the recent New York Times story about Nirmal Purge that broke the week we spoke.
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I’ve been really enjoying the recent online ‘Creative Exchanges’ I’ve been doing with my friends at Db Journey. They’re such a brilliant idea that I’m not surprised they’re going down so well.
The premise is really simple - Db gather together some of their ambassadors and creatives to form a loose panel to discuss that week’s topic. We then extend the invite to people on our mailing lists, jump on a Google Meet link, and see where the discussion ends up.
Our February subject was a pretty hot topic right now - what does ‘responsible travel’ mean?
The resulting chat was about the ethics of travel in the age of the climate emergency, sure, but we also covered plenty of other themes - the ethics of travel today, the 90s-to-pre pandemic ‘Golden Age’ of travel, and what the future of travel looks like.
For this discussion, I was joined by panellists Kepa Acero, Timothy Myers, Alex Aubry and Db Journey’s Jon, Marcus and Tin, as well as over 100 passionate and smart people who proved there’s a huge appetite for this type of debate and knowledge-sharing. We discussed our own experiences, took questions, and generally engaged in a really fascinating and wide-ranging debate on this fascinating topic.
Big up the Db Journey team for the brilliant idea and for getting me involved, to the panelists for their thought-provoking insights, and to everybody for participating.
PLUS! We’re are doing a LIVE Creative Exchange in London in June! Keep an eye out for more details on this one, and if you enjoyed this chat then, please do share or leave me a comment:
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When Freddie Meadows finally surfed RÁN, it signified more than the biggest wave ever surfed in Scandinavia.
It was also the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition; the endgame of a ten-year search; and the symbolic culmination of Freddie’s singular career as a surfer of proud Scandinavian and Swedish heritage thus far.
No wonder he named it after the Norse goddess of the sea.
But then, the long, thoughtful and myth-strewn trip that led to RÁN is emblematic of Freddie’s wider path through professional surfing.
I’ve been following him for years, and have always been fascinated by the way he has looked east instead of west - eschewing the classic professional surf career for something much more original and unique.
It’s an approach that comes through in everything he does, from the particular brands he chooses to work with, to the particular aesthetic that always embellishes the work he puts out.
And it’s why our thoughtful, involved conversation for Looking Sideways covers so much more ground than the usual pro surfer chat.
We discuss what RÁN means to Freddie, of course, now he’s had time to digest the experience.
But we also covered plenty of the classic Looking Sideways themes: our place in nature, the important of honesty when it comes to creativity and a fulfilling life, and why you need determination and vision to follow your own path.
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To find our more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.
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Why is direct action important? Why is there such apathy as our democratic right to protest is being removed? How can the outdoor community and industry enact a more impactful and effective type of protest and activism?
All topics I discussed with snowboarder, activist and campaigner for Just Stop Oil Calum Macintyre. You might not know Calum, but he has a vital story to tell about how our democratic right to protest is carefully being steadily and stealthily dismantled in the age of the climate emergency, and I implore you to listen to what he has to say.
I first met Calum in Lofoten back in 2019 on a Patagonia activist camp. We became friends and stayed in touch, and since then I’ve watched with great interest as Calum has become more and more immersed in the world of direct action.
It was Calum who wrote my most popular ever guest blog - last year’s thought-provoking 5 Reasons Why Our Community Does Not Engage, in which he was politely yet forcefully critical of the outdoor and action sports community’s approach to protest and activism.
We’ve spent much time over the last year discussing these ideas, which has helped inform and shape my own thinking as I’ve been working on The Announcement, my forthcoming podcast documentary series about Yvon Chouinard’s September 2022 decision to give away Patagonia.
Calum’s participation in this movement has also given him a minor role in a wider, much more important story - the way that climate protest is being weaponised by a government intent on criminalising protest for their own nakedly political ends.
Which was why, in March 2024, after Calum successfully defended himself in court after being arrested for taking part in a slow march for Just Stop Oil, I decided to ask him to come on the podcast to discuss these topics.
This is a vital conversation about the climate crisis, the notion of protest, effective activism, and how the climate emergency is being weaponised as part of the culture wars. It’s also about how Calum has found a little untouched snowboarding paradise in one of Europe’s last wildernesses, which might make you want pack up and head for the hills.
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Eric Blehm is a journalist and author who has had one of the most interesting and quietly-influential careers in snowboarding.
As one of the original and most high-profile American snowboard journalists, he certainly had an influence on my own career.
His work at Transworld Snowboarding, in particular, where he combined a none-more-geeky passion for snowboarding with an insatiable curiosity about the wider world, inspired me to think it might be a path that I could also follow.
Eric’s storytelling talent meant he soon outgrew our little world, and these days he’s an acclaimed none-fiction writer in the Krakauer/Grann mould. But with his latest book, The Darkest White, he’s returned to his sideways roots to tell one of the most important stories of all - the life and death of Craig Kelly.
I have no hesitation in saying that The Darkest White is the best book ever written about snowboarding. It is a subtly structured and truly brilliant piece of work that, like all the best none-fiction, is about much more than its ostensible subject matter.
Of course, it a lovingly and respectfully put together biography of Craig, Eric’s friend and mentor who clearly had a huge personal impact on his life. But it is also the grown-up history of snowboarding we’ve been crying out for, which sheds new light on the key phases of our culture’s development.
And it is also a dispassionate, forensic and at times enraging (for me, anyway) look at what actually happened to Craig, and which cast the entire sorry episode in a completely new light.
Myself and Eric have plenty of mutual friends and have known of each other for years. But this is the first time we’d actually connected, which made this one a real pleasure. This one covers a lot: the books, of course, but also Eric’s own remarkable career. Hope you enjoy our conversation.
Buy The Darkest White here.
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If you’ve been following Looking Sideways for a while, you’ll know that I’ve covered the conversation around chloroprene rubber and Yulex extensively over the last year or so - through my conversation with Big Sea documentary film-makers Chris Nelson and Lewis Arnold (below), for example, as well as blogs such as this one. If you aren’t yet aware of the connection between neoprene and higher rates of cancer among one hugely impacted Louisiana community, find out more by clicking those links.
It’s through those conversations that I first made contact with Liz Bui, CEO of Yulex, the natural rubber alternative to neoprene and so-called limestone neoprene, which is touted by Yulex and partner brands such as Patagonia and Finisterre as a natural alternative to these materials and is, according to Yulex ‘proven equal or better when compared to neoprene in all applications’.
So when my pals at Finisterre invited me to host a live q&a with Liz and Yulex founder Jeff Martin at Finisterre’s London store in February 2024, I was in. Particularly because, whenever this conversation comes up among surfers, you always hear the same (to put it politely) received wisdom about Yulex. It’s too expensive. It’s not flexible enough. It’s just as bad for the environment as neoprene. (And that’s just some from some of the surf industry’s trade bodies).
Here was an opportunity to put these very questions to Liz and Jeff in person, as well as find out more about the basics of the Yulex process, while also exploring some of this issue’s more contentious talking points.
So that’s what I did, and the result was a fascinating, insightful and revealing conversation with two people who understand this topic, with all its nuances, intimately. Huge thanks to my Finisterre family for getting me involved, and to Liz and Jeff for answering everything with such clarity and transparency.
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It's a return visit for friend-of-the-show Thomas Campbell this week, who is, as I said last year, ‘one of surfing and skateboarding’s most important influences thanks to classic films such as The Seedling, and a singular aesthetic and approach that has an outsized influence on what it means to be creative in our world’.
I think it’s fair to say myself and Thomas got on pretty well first time around, and we’ve stayed in touch over the months.
This redux episode came about after I asked him if he’d be up for taking part on one of my Open Threads, in which guests (such as the great Jeremy Jones, here) answer questions from listeners and readers.
Thomas was up for it, but asked if we could just do it as another conversation. Which I thought was a great idea, and is exactly what we did.
The result was yet another brilliantly entertaining, discursive chat about life, art, surfing, music, creativity and the rest of the good stuff. As it was originally supposed to be a written piece, you can find the transcription for the entire episode here as well.
Huge thanks to everybody who contributed questions for this one. I’d love to know what everybody thinks of this new format - let me know by either leaving a comment on my Insta or Substack 🤙
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Photographer Skin Phillips, this week’s guest, has had one of the most extraordinary careers in British skateboarding. Completely self-taught, and driven by a thirst for knowledge and a desire to experience life behind the borders of his hometown of Swansea, Skin came up in the late 80s and early 90s.
Initially published in RaD and mentored by the great Tim Leighton-Boyce, he soon followed in footsteps of Bod Boyle, Steve Douglas and Don Brown by heading to the States, where he embarked upon a truly remarkable career in the US industry. He was a staff photographer at Transworld, and eventually ended up running the entire thing during that institution’s undoubted heyday. Later, he took a role as team manager at adidas Skateboarding.
An amazing CV -but this brief overview really doesn’t do justice to Skin’s outsized influence on global skate culture during this period. He shot with absolutely everybody - and I mean everybody - and has the tales and respect that go with such an outsized CV, as a quick look at the comments of any his recent Instagram posts will demonstrate.
So far, so legendary, and if you checked out Skin’s Nine Club chat from the other year, you’re probably familiar with that part of his story. What hasn’t been so well documented is the way things changed quickly for Skin after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Finding himself unable to stay in the States, he returned home to Swansea where he’s spent the intervening years coping with the new realities of his life.
I went to see Skin in Swansea early in January 2024. We cover the history, sure. But we also cover plenty of themes that aren’t discussed too frequently in the skate, surf and snow industries: how quickly his career in the industry unravelled, and how he’s coped with such an abrupt change of circumstances, with all the mental challenges this has entailed.
This is a tale about the challenges of dealing with a diagnosis that changes your life overnight, when there’s no safety net in place, and you’re left to work it out.
It’s also about the last thirty years of the UK, and the political manoeuvring that has wrought such havoc during that time, as epitomised by Skin’s South Wales home turf. And it’s about British working class culture, and how things such as skateboarding, football, music and art are the light in the darkness.
It’s an important one, this. Big thanks to Skin for this poignant and powerful conversation (and to listener Marc Evans for the help setting it up).
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Ah, Christmas. A time of friends, family and tradition - which in Looking Sideways world means the much loved Festive Special with my close pals and stalwart podcast supporters Tim and Gendle!
Yep, we’re back once again with our very own addition to the Christmas canon -even if, this year, we managed not to get blind drunk while recording this one. Apart from that, it was the usual story - our highlights of the year, our hopes for 2024, the usual quiz (spoiler alert: I lost yet again), and a freewheeling catch for our annual Yuletide review.
As ever, wherever you’re listening to this, grab a festive drink and a mince pie, don the Santa hat, and join us as we wax festive for a couple of hours. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy another brilliant Looking Sideways year, so huge thanks for listening and supporting what I do. I’ll be back refreshed, rested and ready to go once again in 2024 - in the meantime, have a brilliant break 🎄
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The roadshow continues! Following my recent Roundtable live, recorded at the Kendal Mountain Festival, I’m back with yet another special panel discussion, this one recorded live at the London Surf Film Festival in November 2023.
I was lucky enough to be official media partner for this year’s festival, part of which was hosting this special workshop with four brilliant film-makers and creatives: Rebecca Coley, director of the brilliant Point of Change, which scooped Best British Film; Maddie Meddings, director of Yama, which won Best International Short; Chris Nelson, writer and producer of The Big Sea; and Owen Tozer, my creative right hand man and director of the beautiful, unsettling Blood Type Plastic.
A word of warning: there’s a LOT of background noise in this one. But I hope you can bear with me, because there’s some proper gold in here from these four - film-making, storytelling, creativity, and all the other good stuff that makes the Looking Sideways world go round.
They’re all at different points in their careers, each with very distinct style and approaches, which is what I think gave this chat such depth and resonance.
MASSIVE thanks to Chris and Demi at the London Surf Film for getting me involved, to the panellists for being such good sports, and to the audience for being so engaged and up for it.
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Welcome to an extra-special episode of Roundtable, free for all subscribers, and a collaboration with my pal and podcasting peer Matt Pycroft of the brilliant Adventure Podcast, recorded live in front of an audience at the 2023 Kendal Mountain Festival.
This conversation came about when Kendal founder and friend of the show Steve Scott asked myself and Matt to pull together a panel for a discussion on the topic of The Power of Storytelling - New Perspectives. We invited our pals Adam Rajah, Soraya Abdel-Hadi and Roundtable regular Lauren MacCallum to join us, and this conversation is the result.
In this episode, we discussed, among other things, the following topics:
- Vulnerability in storytelling.
- How do we take climate storytelling out of the echo chamber?
- Is longform dying?
This one was really special. I’m really grateful to Steve and Matt for being such great collaborators; to Adam, Lauren and Soraya for their trust and openness; and to the audience for being so engaged and receptive to this format and conversation. Let’s do it again!
As usual, I’d love to hear what you think about this episode. And make sure you follow Matt and his brilliant podcast.
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If you follow what I do at all closely, whether through my newsletter or my podcast, you’ll know that ‘how we talk about activism and the climate’ has been a bit of a preoccupation for me these last few months.
I’m loosely connected to what you might call the wider activism movement, which has become a proper industry these days. And much of it leaves me cold. From my slightly remote perspective, it seems to be an echo chamber full of impenetrable language, where activism tends to be cast as a personal journey or - worse - a nakedly commercial business opportunity: as opposed to a genuine attempt to invoke change that will benefit everybody, and not just those that trade in the same wonky jargon.
Fumblingly exploring these ideas is why I’ve published stories by Calum McIntyre and Lesley McKenna this year, why I am careful about which events I attend and which causes I personally lend my name to, and why I was so keen to speak to Gavin Fernie-Jones for this episode of the podcast.
You probably haven’t heard of Gavin. But for me, this is one of the most insightful and important conversations I’ve hosted this year. Gav lives in the French Alps, and originally his story was a well worn one - Brit skier moves to the mountains, embraces the seasonaire lifestyle, and ends up staying put.
And yet, over the last few years, Gavin has been slowly but surely changing his life in response to the climate crisis he can see unfolding around him, and impacting his local environment and community.
He’s quit the lucrative, ski season job that enabled him to work a mere few months a year; started a local grassroots community group called Re-Action; embraced a slower, more purposeful life; and has begun actively living as a ‘citizen’ rather than a consumer.
Why is this important? Because change is coming, and mountain communities like Gavin’s will be at the forefront of this change. Personally, I also feel that the type of ‘activism’ that Gav and his Re-Action peers are engaged in - local, grassroots, community-based, circular, symbolic, and undeniably impactful - is the type of quietly revolutionary approach that has the power to drive real change. Where the work has an impact on real people, is forward-thinking and inclusive, and will actually help real communities address the challenges they’re going to face.
So that’s why I asked Gavin to come on the podcast, and why I really implore you to check out this episode. Inevitably, because Gav is just an ordinary bloke rather than a massive name, these episodes tend to get much less traction. But I’m hoping that if you do give this a listen, it’ll give you as much food for though as it did me.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
I go back 25 years with these Adam Gendle and Johno Verity, my guests this week. We met back in the late 90s through snowboarding. But looking back, making things and creativity were equally as important. Music and writing in my case; film-making and art for Gend and Johno.
I’ve had a ringside seat as they’ve developed as artists and film-makers over the last two-and-a-half decades, so to see them have a hit on their hands with their new film Here, Hold My Kid, which they’ve just made with Jackie Paaso and Elyse Saugstad, is a really proud moment.
Here, Hold My Kid has a lot of interesting things to say about motherhood, parenthood, and the different ways men and women are treated in the industry. It’s funny, too.
And it’s also a really great combination of the pair’s talents, as well as the culmination of all the ideas, dreams, occasional dead-ends, and risks that go into the average creative career.
With all that in mind, it was such a treat to sit down with Johno and Gend to discuss the new film and all of the above. Hope you enjoy our conversation
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe -
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com
Paid subscribers! This episode comes with an extra 15 minute bonus section with me and Ray so make sure you have your paid podcast feed set-up.
Free subscribers! Don’t worry! You’ll still be able to listen to the main interview with me and Ray (that’s the ‘free preview’), but to hear the bonus chat about Ray’s music and next record, and HKC, you'll need to upgrade to paid.
Just where do you start with a legend like Ray Barbee? After all, this skate, photography and music legend, who happens to be one of the most influential skateboarders ever, has probably been interviewed thousands of times during the course of his career.
Perhaps it helped that our mutual friends Thomas Campbell and Don Brown did the intros, because I’m happy to report that Ray bought into the spirit of the podcast whole-heartedly, completely happy to ‘windbag’ about any topic that crossed our path. The resulting chinwag covers a lot of ground in the classic LS fashion: everything from how faith helped Ray cope with the intense fame he experienced early in his career, to his memories of THAT 1995 Radlands comp at which he came second to Tom Penny.
Even better, it is hallmarked by the wisdom, humour, generosity and candour for which Ray is legendary. We had such a laugh having this chat that I kept the tape running once the ‘main’ conversation was over, and am including this extra 15 minutes on Ray’s next record, his approach to music, and why the beat is the pulse of all things, as an extra section exclusively for paid subscribers. Free subscribers, of course, can still hear the bulk of the chat as per usual.
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