Dan is a skateboarder and filmmaker and photographer. He starred in MTV UK’s ‘Dirty Sanchez’

 

I run my own film company Joyce Division and I have started taking 35mm photography and I’ve just made my first zine this year. I plan to make some more and I have started making my own boards too.

 

I think skateboarding and making art is all connected, I mean skateboarding makes you look at everything creatively.You interpret your surroundings by ways of what you could do with it. All the way down to the shape of the board, the graphics, the wood stain, these thoughts, and decisions go into everything that you look at and think about.

 

When you’re injured or can’t skate as much due to responsibilities you still view everything as a young skater.

 

It’s good to have a creative outlet like painting, drawing, photography, making boards, playing an instrument, tattooing, so you can still remain within the skate scene but not actually be out there throwing yourself down a set of stairs.

 

I’ve started to make old cruisers and experiment with shapes. It’s skateboarding in its simplest form, like Daniel Gesmer said, gliding and turning.

 

Everything that Mark Gonzales does inspires me. When I was growing up he wasn’t really my favourite skateboarder, but as I’ve grown up and watched what he has become he’s so inspiring. He really is Animal Chin. He hasn’t slowed down in any way whatsoever.

 

Also Ed Templeton. I interviewed him and the rest of his deadbeats for Huck and RVCA last year. It really showed me the importance of documenting things, and thinking of photography as collections. Also thinking about things as how they would work together against other things. I have since started a few themes, all possible future zines.

 

I think The No Comply Network is great. Glad to be involved. Maybe arrange some meet ups. Workshops, gallery shows. We all need to support each other and help grow our scene.

 

In future I want to continue to make some zines. My first one was some old photos I found from one night filming Dirty Sanchez. I also want to make another one with is Heroin Skateboards’ Craig Questions, he is another ongoing theme. He’s also a hoarder. Which is becoming another theme in my work. My dad is a hoarder too.

 

I am also interested in Super 8 too. I made a short super 8 film with Blast Skates last year. I hope to do some more stuff with them this year.