Glen Fox’s art and skateboarding are both wild and hectic but at the same time refined and controlled. He’s a quick-thinking artist who puts a lot of concentration and patience into creating unpredicatable and eye-catching lines on his board and in his uniquely composed paintings and illustrations.

But although his art and skating share a lot of similarities when you pay closer attention both become harder to define, like when you try to predict his next movement on his board or follow the weaving lines in his art that meld into multiple subjects. Both give you a new perspective every time you look at them.

So with all of that in mind, we were hyped to catch up with him for a long coversation about it all and to find out how he discovered skateboarding and making art in Jersey, made connections with his first skate crew, skating with Luka Pinto, how he got locked into doing long lines on flat, Glass Lift Square, the story behind how he got on Magenta Skateboards, moving to Bordeaux, Amsterdam and the reasons why he now lives in Australia, defining his art and skate style, his reflections on his earlier work and new pieces, his approach to thinking of new ideas and filming clips, his trips to Tokyo, thoughts on skating for Tightbooth, filming for Lenz 3, meeting Colin Read, his work on Tengu and Spirit Quest, putting down bangers at Southbank, skating for Asics, filming for Asics Australia’s latest video – F [ U _ X, his plans for the future and his favourite videos, skaters, styles, filmers and cities to skate around the world of all-time and more.

Read his interview below to find them out for yourself.

So before I start asking you questions about your skating and art, I wanted to know why did you decide to move to Australia?

So I was meant to come out here to Australia in 2019. I was in Japan for a Tightbooth trip. I was there for a long time; I can’t remember how long—maybe nearly a month. I can’t remember exacly, but it was the last touches for Lenz 3. Then I went to Bali to chill out a bit, and from there, I went to Australia.

I already had the visa; I bought it back towards the end of 2019. I was planning on going to Australia in the New Year. Then COVID happened, so I just had to sit on it for two to three years.

So probably around 2022 is when I started thinking let’s go. Because I had my visa, it was still active, and it only starts once you step into the country.

But the main reason I wanted to go to Australia was because my good mate from Jersey, Anthony Anderson, was out here. He’s one of my friends from early on. He used to skate all the time. He lived in Bristol. I always said to him I was going to come out here. So I just went. I was already keen to move out of Jersey because I’d been there for a while. I learned a trade when I was there, and I was ready to leave. It’s a new country, a new skate scene; it’s a new taste.

Crook Bonk: Shot by Casey Foley

Sick. So, I’ve never asked you, what’s your full name Glen?

My full name is Glen Maurice Fox—Maurice spelled the French way. A lot of people say Morris, but it’s Maurice.

What’s in a name. You got some French influence already, and you’re skating for a French brand.

Magenta made me do it. That’s it!

For sure, so where did you grow up and where in Australia are you right now?

I grew up in Jersey and right now I’m in Melbourne, Victoria.

I’ve heard so many good things about Melbourne’s skate scene and the spots there. So is that where you started out at?

Anthony lives in Melbourne, but it all started off for me being an immigrant on a working holiday visa. You have to do your farm work. So I had to go to the proper outback of Australia for five and a half months, which is near the NT— The Northern Territory.

Settled in Bloom Summers Ending

There are six states in Australia, and the Northern Territory is—I hate to say it, but it is the real Australia. It’s as raw as it gets! That’s where you get all the dangerous stuff and just what you imagine the country looked like when it was just Australia; just outback. I was in the closest state in Western Australia to the Northern Territory, so it’s basically just nothing there—4,000 people, it was a small town.

I drove the whole way as well; it was 34 hours. When I put it into perspective and realised that’s basically three times England, I was like, “Fuck me, that’s quite something!” . I was meant to work on a sandalwood farm. But when I got there; the guy didn’t give me a job. I was like, okay, cool.

So I ended up just having a pint and got the ear of the manager of the bar at a local hotel. It was a hotel, but in Australia, they tend to call pubs hotels. But this one was actually a legit hotel, and yeah, he just gave me a job, so I was doing hotel maintenance there, painting up the whole place, fixing doors, just doing all of that. I completely winged it, but it counted as my visa days. You have to do 88 days of that, so that’s where it all started.

From doing that, I could then move on to Melbourne, where I wanted to go, you know? Because that was the original plan this whole time—to come see Anthony. So, I thought Melbourne was the place to be. I spoke to Casey Foley, and he was telling me Melbourne’s the one for you, if you’re a skater and an artist, the art scene seems pretty sick.

People are a little bit more creative here. Similar to Bristol in a way. Just free-spirited, down for whatever. So I just came here and then just never left.

Formation

So why were you in Perth around the first time we got in touch?

I was living out of Airbnbs, and I was in Perth for two months because it’s cheaper to fly from London to Perth. So I got there, stayed there for two months and skated that famous Woolstores Ledges spot, the 100-meter ledge, you know, the famous one with all the graffiti in the back?

Yeah, I saw an article about the local scene trying to save it

Yeah, that’s Rowan White and all my boys in Perth. They’re all on that properly. But I think it’s erupted again. Similar to Long Live South Bank, it’s the same sort of thing, it got sorted, got pushed back, and then they came back again.

Return of the Undercroft

You’ve got to raise more money, more petitions, and it’s just never-ending. But I think it’s going to be good because it is a listed building, so they can’t change the storefront, and that ledge is part of it. But you know, as soon as they gentrify something, cafes come out, tables get put out, the run-up is messed up…But I think they said they were going to take a bit of the ledge out, and then there was a part they would leave, but I don’t know what the deal is right now unfortunately.

Hopefully they keep it because I remember that spot was unique.

Hell, even back in the UK there were no ledges. In London, for instance. There aren’t that many ledges that are banging. Everyone that I met in Perth could just skate ledges properly as well. It’s the perfect height for learning. You could just do lines and keep going. Yeah, it’s a good one. So I stayed there for two months and didn’t get bored.

Then I was like, shit maybe I should start working. I got intel from some of the lads there that you can work on a farm. It’d be good because if you went to rural Australia, you could do anything. You could do construction, tourism, you could do anything. But if you were not rural and you were in a city or whatever, you had to just do farm work.

I just heard horror stories about that where instead of getting paid by the hour, you get paid by the kilo of what you pick. So you have to really work hard. I was like, it’s fair, but fuck it, and I wanted to see a bit of Australia too, so I may as well go the rural route.

You made the right choice.

It was good. Mad but good.

Right. So when did you first make art and what was it that made you want to start?

I started when I was six. I used to just go around to my grandma’s house, and she was an artist. She could draw; she did the sickest charcoal drawings. But she actually went to fashion school, so it wasn’t her main focus. But along with that, she did drawings, and then she taught me.

But from then I just went on. As a kid, I was always quite quiet. I didn’t have that many friends at that age. So I just made art and it just made me feel good. It just became this thing I did. But I didn’t really start seeing much artwork until I went to college, I steered away from it.

Art Scene

So you were doing the same stuff that she was doing, charcoal drawings?

Yeah, drawing things firsthand. Drawing from still life. As a kid, I would draw animals, copy from books and stuff like that. Just photographic stuff and you consistently just follow that traditional thing of trying to make art look realistic, I suppose. Which, I guess, makes sense because you learn a lot doing that, you know what works and what doesn’t.

But then, there would be times when I’d be driving home from my dad’s mate’s house with my family and be bored. Then I would try to memorise certain things or the house I was at. Then I would draw it from memory in the car, and then it would come out a little bit different—it would be cool to find those drawings one day…

I didn’t start drawing until I started doing abstract work when I was back in this townhouse I used to live in Jersey. I remember my mom and dad had this proper gloss-finish wardrobe, which was pine wood, similar to some of the Passport or Magenta boards, you know, that wood grain? Basically, where you get the knots in the wood that look like faces, and the lines of the pine wood would all mix in together.

I just spent my days just looking at that and hanging upside down on the bed, looking at it, trying to reference things from that, and that’s how I started doing all this weird abstract art.

That’s sick.

It’s just the mind of a kid bored at home. I didn’t realise that actually meant a lot, and it’s pretty concrete in my paintings these days. It’s just trying to get the same effect today. I guess that’s why my pieces are really busy, and there’s loads happening in them. I’m trying to make things look in a way so you don’t ever get bored of them.

Changing your perspective and seeing the world from a new angle always makes you reflect on things differently.

Exactly. Yeah, it’s just like skating as well, having the same sort of approach, innit.

How did you first see skateboarding in Jersey?

Both my brothers were skaters. So I just got it from them, and then later, my brother got me a board and saved up money from his paper round. I was chatting to him the other day about it. Actually, it was pretty jokes, and then there was this one Christmas, I think around my 10th birthday, they got me a DGK Marcus McBride deck. The basketball jersey graphic, and there was a Stevie Williams graphic that was black with 16 written on it.

Sick, where were you and your brothers skating in Jersey?

With most of the Jersey crew, we always grew up skating the street spots and what we knew, and it was just schools and Glass Lift Square.

We used to skate there a lot. That’s when Primo Skate Shop opened up, and that influenced us to follow what they were doing, and they were doing classic VX filming. I think that shaped our skate crew, with Luka Pinto, Ryan Cunningham, and Ryan Gabison. So yeah, we all followed in that way. But we were not actually a full-on crew just yet even though we were in the same age group.

Then you know, you go to the skate shop, you meet them, you go skate, you have your little crew, and eventually, people fall out of it, and then you find the real people that are actually into it, and that becomes the crew. There are stages to it.

Luka is so down to skate at any time; he’s rad.

Yeah, me and Luka, every time we went on skate trips, he’d be like, “Fuck it…” No matter what the hour is. When we were kids, we would be staying up till 4 AM, and we’d be like, “Should we just go skate? It’s the best time to go; no one’s awake!”. So we would just go out skating, after no sleep all night, and then that became the type of missions that we did.

We just went skating at stupid hours in the morning to get to the spots and go to this spot called Fort Regent Roof, which is the leisure centre, and we just climbed up there and skated. You’ve probably seen it before; it has massive spines. But it was pretty gnarly because it’s this old fort. But yeah, Luka is like that. He’s always had that spark in him.

The Lordz

Does Jersey have a tight-knit scene?

Yeah, 100%. I’ve got names for every one of them. It’s like back in the day there were obviously a lot of old skaters that fell out when we were young. But even now we have conversations about times in our life when we were skating, and I remember so-and-so. Like you say the name, and we just wouldn’t forget who it was because that’s how tight it was.

Even when we were young kids, we pretty much knew everyone in our age group who skated, and then we knew the oldest and then the younger generation in between, the older generation, and even the generation who were before that.

Anybody that I would have heard of?

Oliver Barton is from Jersey. From what I’ve heard, I think he was at boarding school there. He knew Karl Payne, who does Consume, Pillo and Subterranean. He’s part of the older generation, and Jake Hipwell, he’s in London now; he’s still skating.

But yeah, we knew all those boys, and I guess because we had a skate shop at the right time, everybody came together really well, and it was very supportive because there was no one else doing it. You know what I mean? Jersey’s small. It’s an island; it’s isolated. It just built up its own thing, and I think that’s what made us all motivated, driven, and impulsive.

Jersey’s so small; it’s easy to go to spots, it’s easy just to get out, and there’s no travel, there’s nothing. It’s just go, you know? With islands, you get a weird sensitivity in the community. Some good, some bad. But in the skating community, it was always good.

Last Supper

You obviously all came together because it was a small scene, but there were a few of you including yourself from your crew that obviously became quite well-known in skateboarding. Were you thinking about trying to get sponsored growing up?

It just happened. It’s never been a thought in my head. I fell into the idea of being a young kid with a group of friends doing the same thing. If you’re a skater, you just do stupid stuff as a kid, and it was always fun. So just getting into chases, going out skating, and not knowing where it would end up, and then we’d end up on the other side of the island in some weird fucking castle, just walking about with your mates and your boards, thinking, why the hell are we here? It was so spontaneous, and I love that.

Getting Acrobatic out in San Francisco

Literally, skating has been the same for me, from the beginning days with my brother and being spontaneous up until this day. Everything that I’ve done has always just been, “Oh, let’s just go here or go there.”

I guess it was the same way that I was growing up. But I’ve been doing it around the world now if you know what I mean. So I think that’s what I fell in love with and also skating in itself, of course. It’s just something that is great to do with your mates growing up. Skating has been really good and fun at the same time.

Who was your first sponsor?

Primo. There were a couple of riders getting flow boards, and that sent a signal to my brother’s head, like, “You can get stuff from skateboarding to help you do it more”. He was like, “Oh cool!”.

So we made the classic early 2000s skate video with, Blink-182 and AC/DC music. It was the funniest thing ever, and it’s so jokes because all we were doing was just Ollieing off stuff…

I didn’t even know at the time, but my brother was trying to make a shop sponsor me video. He was going around into sports shops and weird surf shops so we could get a couple of things cheaper because most of us kids could never afford anything, and, you’d have your mom and dad just kicking off because you’re wrecking everything that they’re getting you, it was just the cheap stuff, which didn’t last long enough.

He had that drive to make something of it. The first company that sponsored us fell through; we got sick of them straight away because they were asking us for portfolios, and we were like, “What the hell is that? Are you joking?” . So we were like, “Fuck off!”.

Then Primo happened, and I think the first time I ever started getting sponsored wasn’t until I was about 16 or 17. It was Subterranean, the local brand that’s still going now, and I still think they make the best boards ever. That’s what I grew up on, so I love the boards that they make. Before that, my brother would just give me his old boards, and my mate Ryan Cunningham would always give me his old boards. So it would work like that.

That video your brother was working on that you were filming together, was that your first part that got you hooked up?

When you grow up, you see the older kids filming, and you think, “Oh, this is cool” .Then you start doing it, and you get fixated on making a video part, putting all your clips together, putting a tune on it, and having fun with it, innit?

But in the process, we were like, “Oh, maybe we could try and use this to help us out to get a discount or something,” you know? But nah, it didn’t go anywhere. But yeah, again, that’s part of it.

It all happened through skating with everyone consistently. Luka got sponsored first then Damen Garcia, he’s the sickest as well. Unfortunately, he can’t skate too much now because of his knees. But those two got sponsored first, from Sub and Primo, and then Dillon Catney as well. Another shredder. He’s sick.

Still skates for Sub, obviously. Well, they all do, actually. It’s mental when you think about it. It’s been 20 years.

Glass of the Finest

Jersey streets are not the smoothest. So how did you develop your fast-footed approach to skating on such rough ground? Was there a smooth spot to skate, or did you just think, “Fuck it, slabs, grates, whatever. I’m just going to Ollie over these and Powerslide over that?

Jersey’s very rough, but maybe Birmingham or Bristol is even more crusty. Like, it’s not even that bad. It’s pretty good. The roads are pretty well looked after. It’s quite a rich place, innit? So they keep everything in hold; they maintain it.

There was a time when I was not necessarily bored, but like, “Fuck okay, we’ve been skating the same spots for the past 15 years or something,” and obviously, we all progressed in the same way. We didn’t really have ledges – we did what we could with what we had, you know?

But I just always skated flatground, innit. Glass Lift was the main flatground spot in Jersey from when I first ever saw skateboarding, and I liked the idea of doing laps around that and doing flatground. I think there were times we’d play games of how many tricks can you do around the square?

So you’d bang one trick and do another trick as fast as you could, just trying to get as many as you could, and I think it just stemmed from that.

It came from that, and then I think me and Luka made that Flat Out section, and it was just about combining tricks in a quick-foot manner, just landing ready for the next one and doing it. That looked cool, it worked out, it made sense in a way, you know, trick for trick.

That’s what it started with, and then it just went to trying to find spots like that.

So you developed your style through that and now it’s how you approach every other kind of spot that you see.Were there any skaters in Jersey who you were looking up to the most?

The people we looked up to were that older generation and, well, most importantly, my brother, the one that sorted me out. But when he stopped, it went to the older lot, because they made the first skate videos in Jersey, like 11:55 and At Last, that were the biggest inspiration.

It was more a crew thing. Me and all the crew in Jersey of our generation, we all just looked up to, inspired and motivated each other.

There wasn’t really a single individual. But if there was it would maybe Karl Payne because he’d be the one wearing big baggy clothes and ledge skating, and we all liked that. He listened to hip hop too, so maybe him. But then yeah, everyone had an input.

What was the first video that you watched that you were constantly getting on rotation?

11:55, the local video. That was sick to watch growing up. Loved it. Knew every song on it, knew it was Jersey.

It would put you in the mindset that you can make it happen and make it look cool even when you are bored of spots. And those times we’d re-watch that video when we were older, like, “Fuck, I wonder if there are any other spots where we could see skate now…”. Turns out most of the ones we saw we couldn’t at the moment because they were gone, they were knocked down.

Mindset

That’s a shame but I guess it motivated you to find new stuff. What about American skate videos?

The most influential was Girl Skateboards’ Yeah Right

I remember they had that premiere when we were younger, and it was just the classic skate video premiere thing where we had those big chunky TVs and have them hanging off those weird metal stabiliser things that came out of the wall? We were just all watching it on that, sitting on the floor. It’s pretty sick. I still watch that nowadays; it’s still one of the hardest videos.

Who had your favourite part in Yeah Right?

Fuck, that’s difficult because that video is so good.

I mean, of course, Keenan Milton has the first part and it’s the best. But then from that, McCrank, Paul Rodriguez, then there’s the Chocolate bit.

Marc Johnson‘s part was pretty sick. Yeah, it’s creative. I think, out of all of them, I think that’s always one that stood out in terms of how far the skating went and stuck in my head.

But then there’s Eric Koston’s as well. I think it was something about the tune and the whole, confrontational guy stealing his wallet, and it was quite shocking, but sick at the same time, and then it went into that tune. That was crazy. That’s a hard one. There’s Gino Iannucci footage.

What’s your favourite Gino Line in Yeah Right?

I’ve always loved that line, you know the one where he does a Switch 180 and then pushes Mongo. He skates one of those classic picnic benches, and he does a massive Switch 180 then the mongo push. Then he goes up, and I think he does a Frontside 180 and he does a Switch Front Shuv when he wobbles out, you know?

I would say that’s probably one of my favourite lines in the video, for sure. But, yeah, I mean, Gino’s part is always going to be dope.

Because, you watched it at such an early stage in skating, it’s all as good as each other, you know?

It’s all one piece. Easy to digest, like an album. It all flows into each other, so it complements each part, so it’s hard to say.

Backside Flip, Richard Hart

What’s the key to getting long lines? Are you thinking about every single trick or the last trick?

Just thinking about absolutely nothing, mate. Literally, just having fun with it. In Jersey, we’d have the base of a line, right and we’re skating.

I think that Luka is the same as well because he’s sick at getting lines. So you just bang your line, you do it, and then from whatever you’ve done after that, you just go. You just do the trick, and then you’re like, “Oh, I’m in this”. Like, I’m gonna do that trick. I’m just gonna keep it going. Oh, there’s that spot around the corner. Let’s go to that, and then you just link it all.

We’ve always skated like that, and I think most of the Jersey boys have as well. You just don’t give up after you’ve done the line you wanted to do; you just keep going. You’re like, “This is the fun bit,” and you don’t think about it. Just having fun. Completely.

What’s your favourite line that you’ve done? Is there anything that comes to mind?

Early days, me and Dylan Powell, who was our childhood filmer basically, – aside from Luka, – DP – , he was the first one. So maybe this line I filmed in Murcia with him when I lived in Spain. It was a two-minute line. I think I was more just chilling the whole time, but hitting ledges, doing flatground tricks. It was just this little plaza area. But yeah, then I ended it and we got a bottle of water and a beer or whatever, and I think that was my favourite one. It’s a little bit of the last trick of this video that we did, just a little edit we made when we were in Spain. But I think, that was just prime skateboarding, having fun at that time, and I think that’s why it’s my favourite from then, to now.

Also this line I got in Nantes, in 2016. We took a trip to Nantes and Rennes. I did a Rick Flip in the line and I was well gassed, and I was like, okay, I like this line. It’s in one of these old videos, filmed by Romain Bataard. He made the edit. He was filming, and he’s the sickest filmer, and I don’t know, it just made the whole thing feel great. It was fun.

Rick Flip in a line, you know you’re onto something different.

I just did a simple line. There was a massive hole in the road due to roadworks and I just banged an Ollie over that, and then there was a manual pad and I did a 180 Switch Manny on that, that was down a hill, and then after it, I just banged a Rick Flip. I didn’t even expect it to work that well but I just somehow pulled it around. But I’ve noticed with that trick if you have your front foot straight, it helps so much.

When you film somebody who is really good you think, “Ah, I don’t have to think about any of my stuff. I can just get on with the skating.”

Exactly. I’ve got a tendency to take ages to do shit when I start thinking about it. Then, you’re like, “Oh, I actually feel bad for this filmer”. I mean, we’re going through hell, and there’s that weird awkward moment that you’re both just like, “Fuck! We’re both over this,” you know? They’re giving you the eye. Not everyone’s like that, but, sometimes it’s just like “Okay, maybe we should just stop”.

Sme people have the patience of saints

Yeah, and there’s so much going on. Like your best mate is now your worst enemy; the filmer is now hating on you. Then as soon as you hear, “We have two minutes left, the battery is running out,” we may as well just do it, you get back to your normal self because you’re like, “Oh, fair. I have to do this!”. I mean, that’s just part of skating, isn’t it? That’s why it’s good. But yeah, it’s funny.

Is there a long line you’ve seen somebody do that stands out to you?

I can’t even think of the lines, but just the energy it brings. I’d say a video part. Guy Mariano, in Mouse, he’s just going and not stopping, I like how he skates. But then Embarcadero days, that is pretty phenomenal for a lot of those skaters, and I guess it’s a plaza vibe.

For sure there’s something about seeing a whole spot instead of just one part of it.

Yeah. Getting a sense of what the spot looks like as well. Because you take note of that, don’t you? I remember being in Barcelona, and we’d be like, oh, that looks like the building that’s in the background of all the famous Sants lines, and you do tend to look at the spot, and when people piece together a line and you see a video where two different spots are just single tricks, you never know that there’s a gap near where people do it in a line. You’re like, oh, that’s actually really close. Then it lets you know for later when you end up there, it’s sick.

Frontside Smith Grind, London: Shot by Mark Rollinson

It’s tough to do that in England because it’s so rough.

I mean, think about Tom Knox‘s lines, he pieces them together pretty well. Like, for instance, Plimlico in London, the three up, six down? I think it might have been in Square One, but he does a line there. He goes round, he goes off the cut, and does a Hardflip down the stairs on the side.

Yeah, Tom has done some of the longest lines in London I can think of.

Yeah and he’s still doing that now. I mean, that’s just how he skates, isn’t it?

Yeah, he’s still pushing it. Like his recent clip in the Dickies video where he Tailslides on that spot in Mile End.

Yeah, the brick thing. I think we did like three of them back in the day, but yeah, I swear there are like five. I don’t know. It’s a lot.

I think it’s mad that we’re at that point where skaters are doing these tricks at these joke spots.

Skating is just about, how long you can do it for. I suppose at a certain age, I mean, still test your limits. Don’t necessarily ever stop that. If you ain’t into jumping, fair play. But by adapting you can put your energy into it and get more into skating flatground, mannys, or ledges or anything.

I’d rather just test myself to do something that feels nice and feels different that I can do all day rather than something where I’m not just having mental but physical battles. But then again, it’s all like what you want to get out of it.

People think that because I skate for Magenta I don’t like to jump down big stuff, they grow an image of you because you’re skating for a certain company. But in actual fact, where I’m from it’s about skating everything I can, having fun with it. You’ve got to have that because that’s what pushes the level of skateboarding.

Handrail Ollie: Shot by Hugo Snelooper

I like people that are very artistic in their way of skating, who’re not necessarily opinionated, but they have their way. But it doesn’t mean everyone’s got to do that because if everyone did that, then it wouldn’t be the same. You got to give it to every part of skating.

What’s your favourite trick to put down on flatground?

Kickflip. They are the first tricks you learn. It’s one of the longest trick you ever do in your whole life of skating. They bring back that feeling, and it becomes just like an Ollie, you know? If you can Ollie up curbs, you could just keep flipping up it as well. It’s the same, it’s natural, and it feels good.

Or a Nollie on flat. I don’t know why, but I just love the feeling. Like if you’re just cruising about, you’re skating to the shop and you just do a Nollie, it’s a nice feeling. I like popping a big Nollie or just doing a little one or doing a crack Nollie. There’s something about them that just feels that little bit more special. Ollies are cool, but Nollies are always dope. Also Backside Flips. Just the feeling of that coming around, even if you revert it, they feel good, don’t they?

Why do you think that style is important in skateboarding?

Style is the most important thing because it basically shows different people’s energy and it gives you different energy.

Like if you see someone do a simple line but going real fast, it just looks cool, or the spot looks cool, or you know, it’s twilight, it’s in the city at night. There’s something about some sort of style in the footage and the way it’s filmed that also makes you remember skateboarding a lot.

Style, it’s important to have, no matter what your get-up is. Some people have that slow approach with not much going on; some people love that because of the technicality and that’s the style, they like you know? I think having that difference is important because it gives you different tastes. It gives you different feelings and it pushes your urge to do stuff the way that you do and to just keep doing it.

You said that looking into a piece of pinewood you saw different shapes that sparked your creativity, it’s fitting that you’d get hyped on skateboards too. But at what point did you feel you really started to define your art as your own style?

As an artist, it’s hard. I think everyone growing up as an artist thinks, okay, I need to develop my own style and I need to live with it, and that every painting needs to have some sort of a theme and an idea that links, which I think is true. But also, it’s very hard to do that, and it’s very limiting.

Prompted

So I feel most people who paint or do whatever they do are still learning, the same as skating. Like, as we were saying in skating, you skate as you do, and some people say that I skate quick-foot, and that’s what I do. But I don’t like the idea of just being that quick-foot guy, you know? I want to skate everything because that’s better, it’s fun, it’s good, and it’s like that is just skateboarding. But the same thing applies to painting and art.

I think the first painting I did that I was like, “Fuck, I’m really into this,” – it was a black and white painting with a dry brush, and I didn’t prime the canvas, but it brought a texture through to that paint, and I liked how that looked, and it was real busy.

Centre of Focus

There were certain things that I painted in it that were mistakes, so it made me more fluid. Before that, I was always experimenting, and I never really knew what I was doing, but I guess I learned in many ways.

But now, as I’m older and I’m still painting, I still have that in the back of my head. Some of the paintings that I’ve done are simple, are sort of alter egos of the paintings I actually make, which I’m releasing now. I’ve kept them a secret.

Why did you keep some of your new stylistic changes to your work a secret?

I worked for a gallery, so I didn’t want to sell my actual styles to them. It is a long story. So I made this other style, but then they were all the same concept. They may look slightly different, but in my head, I think that the concept is the same, and I think that’s how to develop your style or feel like you’re going in one direction; you’re going to stick with that. It could be the way you paint and the way it looks, or it could be an idea or concept, and I think that’s what I’m going with now, and I think that’s what I’ve been going with the whole time.

Weighing Thoughts

Your most recent art has the chaotic and the hectic look of your earlier work, but it’s now more refined.

My recent paintings are a reference to my earlier paintings, which I would say is more than these simple ones I did. I’ve always wanted to make a simple painting. I really wanted it; I love it. But then also, it’s so hard; I actually can’t do it.

So I guess I tried to break my paintings down from what they were into characters, into line drawings. There was a time when I put the brush down and start drawing, that was where all this work developed. I don’t know. It’s simple. Picasso-esque, I guess. I hate that word. But animals and simple forms to justify what it is. So I caught that. Figured that out. Alright, cool. Now I realise I prefer this way more. So there’s so much more to it.

Cubist Development – Blue

Like you say you had to do those to get to where you’re at.

Yeah, exactly. I remember being a kid and doing a painting, and people were like, “Oh yeah, I really like your style,” and I’d be like, “I hate it when people say that”. I mean, it almost puts pressure on you, and you’ve only been painting for two years, and you’re like, “I don’t want people to define me,”, so you just keep it quiet. You keep it to yourself and for three years, people didn’t even know. Even to this day, people don’t even know I paint.

Cubist Development – Red

I had this Asics art show the other month with the video we made. But I didn’t talk about it to anyone. No one even knew I was painting , and then it came to the show, and people were like, “What? You never talk about this,” and I’m like, “Yeah, well, I don’t need to“ – You know what I mean? I’d just rather do it for myself behind closed doors. I guess the same way as with skating. Like, you’re not gonna go up to people, “Oh yeah, I skate. I do this, and I do that” . I just don’t like that. You know, I just do it for the sake of doing it because I like doing it.

I mean, maybe that’s too opinionated, but I don’t know. I just don’t feel the need to share. So, yeah, with painting and stuff, the only time that really came out was when I worked in a gallery in London, which was tough for me artistically.

Gold Leaf Stork

It was an experience in time, and it was good. I did benefit from it as well. But that was a time when they were defining me as an artist and what I did. I didn’t like it because I knew I should never feel like that again with that type of pressure.

But I did make some money, and it helped me out with other things in life, and it’s good. But yeah, I don’t know. Those paintings were the ones I would put forward, and that’s actually one of the main reasons why I had an Instagram because I worked through them, and it became the portfolio, and they could see it, and it would work, you know?

Transport Series

So, that’s why there’s a theme of different works because, in my head, it was like my personal thing that I didn’t tell anyone about and just had to the side because I knew if they saw this, they’d be like, “Oh, I love this, let’s get some of that,” and I hate that. I don’t want people to just benefit from my work that I loved from a gallery perspective, you know?

The same way you don’t want to be defined as “I’m just this fast foot skater,” because you want to skate everything, is the same with your art; you don’t want to be put into a box. You don’t want people to look at your work from a single perspective because it’s limited?

Yeah. Literally, and that becomes the purest form of what you’d want to do and what you do in general.

I guess it applies with skating as well, because, for many years, like, I would skate on Magenta trips, and obviously, they have a certain image, a certain thing they want, which is good. But there were times I wanted to skate stair sets. Not that they were ever telling me not to but I guess when you’ve got an image, you’ve got to follow it if you ride for the company, and so there were times I missed out on skating things I wanted to in video parts that were released.

So I guess that’s probably the main thing where people think I skate in a particular way, and that’s how that happens. But when I’m skating with the Jersey boys or lads out here in Australia, I’m skating just the way I think everyone should skate — skate everything and be involved and whatever. If you’re at the spot and you’re feeling it, do it. Don’t be political with it, know what I mean?

That’s what I love about the Jersey lads. We just skate whatever we want to skate: big stairs, big gaps. There were never rails, and if there was one, I’m sure we would try it because, that’s just another experience.

But yeah, the same with painting; happened with skating. I actually didn’t think about that until this day. The gallery really pushed me in that way and basically documented that and put it in a portfolio, and then the same with Magenta parts and street skating, which I love too.

It was just defined for me by someone else but what I actually am about is something else. You know what I mean?

You might see me in the metro

An interesting series of pieces I’ve seen of yours, are your travel pieces – especially the Paris and Barcelona city drawings, they’re sick. Were they a part of the gallery work?

The location ones? Nah, that’s me. That was before gallery times. The more defined crisp line canvases, that was gallery stuff, but all the drawings, that’s before. I remember I was in Paris, and I think everyone I was skating with at the time was working, and I was like, “Oh, I’m just gonna go skating around by myself,” and I went to Barbès.

Baltimore City from a Jersey window

Most people would say it’s a dodgy area, but I love it. Everyone’s there just trying to hustle. There are people playing this game with fake money. You have to find the ball in the cup, and I’ve seen so many tourists walk past and get absolutely hustled, and the guy will get you some cash, and then I think the deal is they’ll give you cash or they’ll make you get change because, you know, they don’t have any on purpose.

So you need to get change for the notes he’s going to give you a €100 note. He’ll make you go to the cash point to get the change, and you give him the money, and then he’ll take the real money and give you the fake.

But they were doing it religiously every day, I also sat there at a coffee shop opposite, and I loved it. I loved all the madness. So I just drew from that point in an area that I was in Paris because there’s a lot of strange things that happen there.

Travel Series: Paris

You have a city with so many beautiful things, but then also a city with a lot of terrible things. So I would just sit in the areas that people wouldn’t and just watch, and the first drawing I did was Barbès., and there’s hands there, signifying people trying to rob you and trying to hustle you and then, yeah, it just went from that, and I like the way it looked. It worked well.

The composition was good, and I said, “Oh, it’s effective,” because I never really did drawings like that from life and in situations, you know. Soy Panday does it all the time, and, when I’d be with Soy, he’d be doing it, and I guess I got inspired by him in some way.

Travel Series: Barcelona

But, yeah, so that’s what started the location series, and then I did it in Barcelona when I went there, and all the places that you see, I’ve been to, and I’ve done it when I was there, you know? I did one in Dubai.

I started just doing that because it’s nice to do, but then people started asking for commissions. I got one that was Love Park in Philly. I didn’t go there, but someone said, “Oh, can you do that?” I ended up selling that. Then another one in New Orleans and someone asked me recently for the same thing but for Tokyo.

So I’m like, “Alright, cool” . So I’m gonna do that again. It may look a bit different, but that’s just how it is, isn’t it?

When you think about early paintings like Francis Bacon or some big-name artist, their works were all different, until they got what they wanted. But yeah, I still like those pieces. I’ll keep doing them at some point, but yeah, it’s just too much to do right now.

But that’s the best place to be in, when you’re scratching your head and you think about ideas. Yeah, good things can start from there, but it’s always good to be like, “Okay, I got stuff on my brain,” and then all that stuff will just feed into other things, and that’s a good place to be in creatively. When you’ve got too many things going on and too many things on your mind, it’s always a good place.

It comes in waves. I get really obsessed with one thing at a time, and it’s either going to be skating, super focused on that, or it’s going to be painting, and right now it’s painting.

I had a conversation with someone the other day talking about how they got writer’s block and they haven’t painted in years. I was like, “How have you done that?” But I mean, I suppose it does happen, but I don’t really believe in that. I think it’s more about motivation, because there’s always so much stuff you can do.

Love Park Philly

We create these blocks ourselves

Yeah. It becomes almost an excuse. I guess, in terms of skating, it’s like people doing a line. They’ll do the whole thing, and it takes forever and you don’t use the line. But there’s one trick in it you really like, and you use that. Same as a painting. It takes you months. You finish it, you hate it, but there’s a tiny section that you love, and then you take that from it and it helps. But, yeah, it’s madness still!

You used to live in Bordeaux. Was it that you moved there because you got on Magenta and you thought, I better move closer? Or did you move there and then get onto the brand?

It all started when I was around 18-19. I was working in a garden centre, and I fucking hated it. It was weird. Just selling the most pointless things that were overpriced to old people, and it’s like, oh, what is this?

But I mean, their choice, whatever. Anyway, moving on. That’s where I started saving up. So I got that, and two of my homies: Dylan Powell, who was the filmer I spoke about earlier, and Armando, who was driving then – I wasn’t driving at the time and nor was Dylan – they were gonna go to Spain and film.

One day I was skating at Millennium Park, It’s just a four stair there with flat ground, but it’s so much fun and Dylan was like, “We’re gonna drive to Spain, we’re gonna get the ferry to France, we’re gonna drive all the way to the south of Spain, go to Murcia, live there for a year, and then come back. But in that time, we’re just gonna be filming and skating, do you want to come?’. I was like, oh yea!

You’re that young; all you care about is skating. There’s nothing else, you don’t care about anything else. So I just did that. Then I think we got to Rennes, and I was speaking to Vivien Feil at the time to get some product off him because I needed some boards.

Complex

I wanted to get a board because I liked Magenta at the time, and what they were doing, like the old Midnight part with the hip hop and just the street skating, and just thought what they were doing was sick and I loved it.

So I spoke to Vivien, just sent an email to him, to Magenta, saying I would like to pick up this board – it was the Wu-Tang, the GZA graphic that just had the genius on it. Yeah, I love that one. It was one of Soy’s drawings, and I just wanted it as a drawing, as a board. – It’s one of the first series boards they had, and I think I got the Jimmy Lannon hydrant graphic board just to skate.

So I asked him and he asked me where I was living. I was like, I don’t have an address. I’m literally driving down to Spain from England. I was like, I might have to let you know about the address, and he was like, oh, well, if you’re driving, you can pass through, and I could just literally give it to you, and then that’s how I met Vivien.

Before we met up, we finally got there but we were late. We met some of the local skaters and filmed with Aymeric Nocus. He can do any trick. He’s wild. He’s hyper-focused in drawing, filming, skating, like, everything he does. He’s a legend, and was one of the first people I met there. We filmed some lines and it got back to Vivien after.

We were just sleeping in the car and just as you do, as skaters or whatever, it’s really soggy and wet, and I was in joggers and just skating all day. Then we were off, and Vivien saw the footage a little bit later in the year, and we just stayed down in Spain filming loads. I remember just being in Barcelona and getting an email from him while I was sitting in a computer café.

He was like, yo, if you’re passing back down, you should come through! I was like, I’m actually in Barcelona. It was literally a year later. He’s like, we really like your footage., we’d like to give you some stuff, if that’s something you want to do…I don’t know if you ride for another brand?

So getting on Magenta stemmed from that, and then I went there and met all of the lads, and I remember when we rolled up, it was really funny. Luka was with us at the time because he came through at the end of the trip.

So we arrived at Leo Valls house. We met Vivien. We got in late, and he just had his first kid at the time, so we couldn’t really come out. So we went to Leo’s house and Soy and Leo were there, but they were really high. Soy couldn’t stop laughing.

Like, I would never forget the first time I saw them. Soy was just hysterically laughing. He couldn’t even talk because it was just me, Luka, walking in real damp, basically just mumbling, wearing Slazenger jogger pants.

I guess it was funny, especially for them boys and they weren’t necessarily laughing at us. We were just laughing at the situation because they were speechless. They couldn’t do anything, and it was funny. We all just spoke and just chilled out, and grew a bond, I suppose, and then we went skating for the next few days after.

Then after that, we all went home. It was Christmas time. We chilled out for a bit because we were all a bit tired, and I went on one Magenta trip; it was in Bordeaux, and then I was like, I don’t want to leave. You know what I mean? So I just never went home. I just stayed, and I ended up staying there, living there for two and a half years, staying in the general office. Ended up getting my own place at some point and made loads of friends there and made a life.

That could not have turned out better.

Yeah, that’s it. I guess the whole thing was, like, taking life for whatever it throws at you, and just going with it, you know?

Don’t be too opinionated or judgmental or whatever. Don’t think too much about something. Just do it and see what happens, and if it’s your thing, then do it, and if it’s not, go back and restart.

Erupt

I just stayed there for, like, two and a half years. Then the Magenta thing sparked my skating. I went on a first filming trip, and it was just a whole new look at skateboarding in a sick city. Amazing spots.

The crew was dope, proper street skateboarding, and I just felt right at home.

Jersey’s always been a place that we’ve all wanted to move out of since we were kids because the mentality was horrible there. People didn’t get it. The spots were the same. It was a beautiful place, but we need people like Luka because he’s been there ever since.

Public Space

So, yeah, I just wanted to skate more and do different things. So, I went to Bordeaux. All the boys went to Bristol; I think Luka went to London at one point and came back. So, we all stemmed off to do our own thing, and I just ended up sticking it out in Bordeaux and worked a job as a kitchen porter because I couldn’t speak the language.

I eventually started learning some French. I got better at that. I skated, carried on working, but it didn’t really matter because skating was so sick, and eventually I became a sushi chef. I could speak fluent French, and it felt like I was living a normal life. It was really weird. But that’s the story of it all, to be fair.

That’s amazing, like how that all started from just wanting a board. Yeah, it’s gotta be like 10 years, right?

Yeah, it was in 2014, so around 11 years, I think, actually. Yeah. So, yeah, they’ve been supporting me ever since, going on skate trips and, yeah, it’s not just a company. It’s my friends, which is sick. It doesn’t happen all the time like that. You have people that ride for companies that are just a brand for their company, and that’s a place where I would never feel comfortable because I just wouldn’t get on.

So, why did you leave Bordeaux?

I had a girlfriend at the time. She went to study in Amsterdam, and I was like, I’m keen because I’m over Bordeaux right now. It was just a beautiful place to be, but I wanted to stem out and meet more people, skate in another skate scene.

So I moved to Amsterdam for two and a half to three years, and did the same again. Met some skateboarders, got a day job. I tried to learn the language a little bit.

Was it tough to learn Dutch?

Yeah, Dutch is very hard to learn. I don’t speak it. But we moved to Amsterdam, we did that, and that’s what I wanted to do because for so many years I was so thankful and grateful and I still want to keep it going.

The last rowdy hour at the bar

But, yeah, going on Magenta trips, we do our thing, meet some sick people in a country for two weeks, make good friends, have good times, and then we just leave with some footage. It’d be a sick time, but then that’ll be it.

I like the idea of coming to a city, getting to know people, and having friends for life that I can see, especially for longer, and building my own life—not just being on holiday, but working a job, having stuff, paying rent, skateboarding. That’s one way that I feel you can really digest the skate scene, and feel it as they do, and I just like the idea of that. I did it in Bordeaux and in Amsterdam, and Spain as well, I suppose.

Handrail Kickflip, Rotterdam: Shot by Thomas Wieringa

I guess that’s what I’m doing right now, and I just love it.

How long have you been living in Australia?

Two years. Yeah, I literally applied for my third-year visa yesterday, and it got granted in 30 seconds. It’s crazy.

What was it like filming for Magenta’s Just Cruise 2 video?

Having a place to live and then also going on skate trips to skate is a productive thing to do. For just Cruise 2 it was the last skate trips I had before it came out. We had one from Marseille, and I went to Bordeaux. They like to keep it in the same theme of skating French cities because I guess it’s a French brand.

I spent time going there for a couple of trips, and it was pretty short, actually. I was the last one to think to get clips because I was so busy doing other stuff and traveling a lot for this job I had with the gallery. It came together pretty quick. I think I filmed all of that within a few weeks when you put all the skate sessions together.

That was quite a distant project, which was frustrating because I wanted to be out there skating with everyone. I saw everyone skating on trips, and I was working but also doing other things. But it was cool; how it is—everyone’s out skating, and that seems to be a vibe. It’ll be fun. That trip just fell into place at the last second, all that footage and everything.

How did you get on Tightbooth?

Well, it’s funny actually, that. Back to the story of me and Vivien, he said he was in Japan in the first email that he sent back about the Magenta stuff, and I was like, I knew about Tightbooth back in the day, you know? I loved it. I don’t know how I found it, but I just loved it, and I guess Magenta and Tightbooth are very similar in the way that they skate, like creative street skating.

But Tightbooth’s a bit more broad, which is sick. So I was like, oh, if you can get some of those TBPR T-shirts, grab them too.

It was like a joke, but then he got them, and I ended up getting them. So that’s how I got to know them a bit, just through skating. I went to Japan skating with the Magenta boys and stuff, and that fell into place. Then, I got a message from Shinpei Ueno, like, yo, we want to see a Glen Fox Lenz 3 part!

I was like, sick. Then within two weeks, they booked me a trip to go to Japan and stay there for a month. Yeah, it was wild. It was so good.

Who did you go out to Japan with?

It was just me. Obviously, there’s Laurence Keefe out there who’s a good friend of mine and he’s the fluent English speaker and Japanese speaker.

He’s a TM too. So he was someone that I spoke to a lot. Because we were friends, he translated a lot of what was actually going on when I stayed there.

Yeah, it was the most mental trip I’ve done. No one spoke English. Sometimes Laurence was busy and it was just me, Shingo and Ayahiro, my good homie, but that’s what made it fun.

Glen, Shingo Ogura and Ryuhei Kitazume, Tokyo: Shot by Naoya Morohashi

What was the most memorable clip you’ve filmed for Lenz 3?

The Varial Flip that I did into the brick bank spot because me and Ayahiro Uratsuka were literally just skating around.

We skated past that spot and started getting into it, and we were feeding off each other because we were just having loads of fun with it, and then we found this one. We’re like, oh, it’s actually sick to get in tricks. I think Ayahiro did a three shove, and I did the Varial Flip and just bombed it. That just felt so good.

What’s your favourite thing to look back on from that experience filming for Lenz 3?

There were loads of sessions where after we were shattered. That trip was 28 days of solid skateboarding. I didn’t have one day of rest. All that footage got filmed more or less in 28 days to a month because there was a separate trip as well, to try and finish off a couple of bits. I think I had an Adidas budget at the time, so I just used it on that because I was like, obviously, Japan’s an interesting place, isn’t it?

Tightbooth is always 20 steps in front with what they want. That’s why they’re good at what they do, they’re very prepared and everything’s proper organised and ready to go.

You get there, you get in the Tightbooth SUV van, which literally just looks like some mafia. They’ve at least four or five lights at every spot, and then there are two angles of the trick and then you film.

I like the way they do it. It’s sick. It’s an eye-opener, and at times it can be a bit overwhelming, I suppose, for 28 days of that. But then, there would be times we’d just be walking around having fun, and we’d just be like with our boys anyway.

So me and Ayahiro would be out and we would be like, let’s call Shingo and go skate and partied a little bit, after session beers outside the Family Mart, and just being part of the culture, through that too. It wasn’t just full-on skating and going to bed. I was continuously with the crew.

They had spot books with all the spots. Like, they would select what you wanted. There would be a ‘Glen Spot Book’, and I’d be like, oh, sick!

Hand over the Tape

There are so many people around and skating is so tough there it makes sense to be organised.

Everything that we filmed there, it was either within four goes or we had to go back. It’s the story you hear with skating in Tokyo or Osaka. It’s just a classic story of getting kicked out immediately because it’s almost impossible to skate.

Most of what we filmed was either at four in the morning, and we had a little bit longer, or we’re just banging it quick. Again, it’s a different energy. It’s a different feeling you get. It’s like a sense of adrenaline when you’re out, you’re delirious, you’re tired, but then you’ve got loads of energy.

How did you meet Colin Read and film with him for Tengu and Spirit Quest?

On the first-ever Magenta trip I went on when I was 18 or 19—I was super young, Colin Read was there, and that’s the first time I met him. I didn’t know who he was, but I’d watched some of his old edits for a Florida shop called 167. But, yeah, I liked the music he used and Jimmy Lannon had footage. I was like, damn, this is sick. Yeah, I only realised when I got there that he’s the kid that made the video, and I was like, oh, this is mad!

So he was out on a skate trip for Tengu, and Vivien was like, hey, you should come here, meet him, get some clips. So, thanks to Vivien for that, because that’s how I met Colin. We had a good connection. He’s still one of my good friends now, but, yeah, I think the connection between us was that he wanted to film a Magenta part.

But one night we were skating on the street, and I was just doing cardboard drawings when I was out skating, and if I wasn’t keen to skate, I’d just have a bottle of ink with me and the brush. I’d make some faces, just continuously draw some, and then I would go and post them up around spots and yeah, just have them, and I can still do it now, but it was just something to do, to keep occupied.

Glen making ink drawing cardboard art in Bordeaux, 2013: Shot by Charles Badi

Then Colin saw that, and he took a photo of it. So he’s like, oh, I wonder if you can help me. I’m going to need some titles for this Tengu video and maybe some animations and drawings in relation to that. Would you be up for it?

So after that, we started talking. Yeah. I didn’t even know what Tengu was, and then I found out, obviously, it’s the God of Mischief. It’s a Japanese God, a bird-like character, and yeah, and I was like sick. So I just went back home, drew up loads of that. That moment is actually quite a big moment in my art too. If you’ll notice, I have a lot of bird-like characters in my work, and that comes from making the illustrations for the video.

I like the characters. So I kept it. So yeah, because of that time it’s also put a lot of influence in my work. But yeah, it was quite crazy at the time. I didn’t really think about it, but just take it as it is and just crack on with it and do it. Then it became quite a big project, and Colin invited me out to New York. I didn’t have any money for it, and Karl fronted me £500 because I was almost there, and I said I’d pay him back when I got home.

He did that, it got me the ticket, and I went to New York, we had the premiere, and carried on filming the whole time. We met two guys there, Ryan Barlow and Brian Reynolds, and they were the same age as me.

We just rocked up in Brooklyn at Colin’s flat, and we just skated every day. Filmed loads. I was there for a month, and we had the premiere, and it was a crazy time. That’s how it all worked with Colin, and then later we started doing stuff together. He did Spirit Quest. He came on a couple more Magenta trips.

Sick. Going back across the Atlantic, is there a trick or a line that you’ve done at South Bank that you’re really stoked to have done there?

The Kickflip Kickflip at Southbank because that was the first ever one I did. Yeah, just hitting the banks with two tricks. That was always something I loved to do.

Luka filmed that first, and it came from this thing where I was just driving around and skating in this little Spanish town in the middle of nowhere.

We were just driving around, and there was this mad old concrete wall just smashed up against it. It made a bank up to another wall, and I hit it at a weird angle. I just Ollied up, and I had to revert, and then as I reverted around, I didn’t even mean to do it. I just did a Kickflip and then back down. I was like, oh. I was like, that’s like a new way of skating a bank.

If you go up and you turn around and you do a trick. That started the whole two trick on a bank thing. I was like, maybe if you do this, like a Kickflip and Switch 180, you’re back down, riding up.

So I did that at Southbank, and I thought that feels good. Then I started doing other things, and I was like, oh, how about Kickflip, Kickflip, and I think before that, I did Tre Flip, switch the same way, then Kickflip. Didn’t really think about that and then did Tre Flip, Half Cab, just having fun.

Then I did Kickflip Kickflip. Took me a minute, but eventually I got there. I was like, is it a Kickflip, Kickflip, or is it a Kickflip Fakie Flip? I realised the faster you go at the bank and as you pop early, you travel up the bank as you’re in the air, and then you land at the top of the bank and then you can bang the next trick.

Maybe someone before did that. I’m not trying to claim it, but I like the idea of going to a famous spot but trying to skate it in a different way.

You also did Backside Powerslide, and Ollie out of it into the bank, and Powerslide, Ollie, and revert into the bank. How did those go down?

Yeah, I just Ollied up the standard block, came down, and I did like an Ollie to Backside Powerslide. Yeah, and then I somehow reverted back into it. So it’s like an Ollie to Backside Powerslide Backside 180 back into the bank. Yeah, that one was the same night.

How did you learn all these Powerslide tricks?

I remember just being in Bristol, back in the day when the boys moved there. I think Anthony moved there, and we had a place to catch up. So we went there skating, and it was sick, and Anthony had good things to say about the place. So we went, we skated, and I remember just being real high in the car park and it was pissing it down. It was a dead car park. It was shit. But we were just skating in there, and the floor was really greasy. I Ollied and I slipped. I slipped on the grease and I did an Ollie Powerslide, like late revert Back 180.

I did that by mistake. But it didn’t go the whole way around, and I was like, ah, if I Ollie and then do it as if I’m going to revert the whole way but only do it halfway without bringing it to a Powerslide, it’d be like an Ollie in.

So that’s when I learned it. It was completely a mistake, and then I was like, oh, actually, something could work here, I did it at Southbank. I knew Southbank always gets a bit slippy when it’s cold, and it’s already out of control slippy anyway. I remember doing that and yeah, the Back 180 came out.

I’ve seen you go on to do so many Ollie Powerslides and Kickflip out of Powerslides and I still just don’t get it. It looks so good. How did you get on Asics and you mentioned you filmed something for some recently? Is it a full part?

Yeah. Not necessarily a part. Yeah, it’s just a video with the Australian boys. I guess I’ve somehow landed myself as part of the Australian team.

Because the funny story of it all is I don’t know if you know Jeremiah Corea. He’s a legend. He’s the sickest. Best style, sick skater, has been around for a long time, since the Lewis Marnell days and he knows a lot of people.

We met one time when I first was over, and I didn’t really have many connections. I had a friend from Switzerland that was over from Zurich called Ollie. He’s just gone pro for Pizza. He was like, oh, you’re in town, let’s meet. I hadn’t seen him since I was on a trip in Switzerland in 2015-2016.

So we met up, and it turns out he was meeting Jezza, who’s basically the Asics TM, and, yeah, we all just became friends then, and this was way before Asics became a thing, but I had Asics on at the time.

I remember everyone asking me about it because I was getting flowed shoes through Instagram – Kaspar Van Lierop was hooking me up, and it all just happened like that, and then before I knew it, Jezza was the TM and then I met Al, the distributor, and found out that all the people that I skated with in Melbourne were on Asics. So it happened really naturally

So this just worked out pretty good, and then, yeah, so we just filmed this video and I kept getting pushed back in that. Had a little trip to Sydney, got a few bits in there. I ended up breaking my rib, which is quite funny. So I got cut off short.

But we found some stuff in Melbourne too. George Bidgood. He’s unbelievable. He’s such a machine. Really sick. All of them are good dudes. Kalem Beange, he’s gnarly. He’s just jumping, having big things, and he does it so well because he’s really tall and there’s Gary Almeida from Sydney and yeah, a few of the other lads. You’ll see that soon, the level of skating in it is crazy. I can’t even believe I’m in the video with them because they’re really good.

You connected with the right crew at the right time, and it’s hopefully gonna come across in the video and the footage. What’s your favourite skate video?

Oh, man, I probably have to say something a bit closer to home. I reckon Blueprint’s Lost and Found because we would always be inspired by that as kids and it had similar spots and taste in music. I guess we’d try to mimic a little bit what Dan Magee would do, I guess. Our mate Dylan did it a little bit. He was a little bit more in front of us with the knowledge of skate videos.

We always loved that. We always loved the Blueprint boards. Yeah, I reckon that would be the most accurate, if I’m honest. Like, the most influential. The music was banging, the edits were banging.

Who’s your favourite skate filmer?

Yeah, I mean, that question, it’s like you’ve got a friendly relationship with them. They’re your homie or childhood filmer, which is very important. I don’t know if I have a favourite, but there are definitely a handful of people that I do love what they do.

But if I did have to choose, the first one would be the childhood homie Dylan Powell, for sure, because he was the one that put all our first stuff together and, like I said, he was a couple of years in front of us, especially me anyway, in terms of what he wanted to show and had influences. He knew what he was doing, he knew what music would be nice.

Then, secondly, maybe I’ll say Zach Chamberlain. We went on a three-month trip in Bordeaux, and we ended up just hanging out. We became really good friends, and we still talk to this day. Then, like, Loophole Wheels happens. We’re doing this whole Loophole thing now, and it just stemmed from all of us just hanging out and skating but he’s just a wild card.

He is just a genuine person, and I loved it. He goes to different extents of filming and trying to do something cool, like the way Colin does, you know?

Zach just tries to do things to another level of invention with it. He’s a proper down-to-earth, genuine guy, but humble as well. But just a genius too.

Who’s your favourite skater?

Who’s my favourite skater? Top five. Maybe I’ll try and do that.

But I’d say Guy Mariano for sure. Yeah, early Guy Mariano is banging.

I definitely like Quim Cardona, for sure. He’s sick. Everyone knows why.

Obviously, Chewy Cannon. Definitely Chewy.

I mean, there are so many new skaters now. I’m trying to always think back to growing up, but like now there’s a lot of sick skaters. Like, you’re always gonna love watching Tiago Lemos footage, innit? Bobby Puleo, so I’d say those two.

Also Mixtape, all those dudes in there too. Like, just the video, how it was. That was another sick video.

Who has your favourite style on a skateboard?

I’ll just say anyone that puts a fucking mental amount of energy into something, you know? I always like people that I just see charging it, whether it’s someone just macking it, like Brandon Westgate. He’s sick, innit? He just goes for it. Like, he proper goes for it.

Antwuan Dixon, another one that’s sick. Erik Ellington. Chewy and Guy Mariano, The Gonz, Tom Penny, there’s so many, man. But they’re just all different kinds of energy into skating. So yeah, I suppose those. But plus probably 100 more, you know what I mean?

Where’s your favourite skate spot in the UK?

There are a few in London. I really like Wandsworth Roundabout.

That’s well fun, really, with the banks and the tunnel banks and then the big weird flat banks and the rail thing and then the Manny pad, if you want to call it a Manny Pad. Also maybe a warm-up spot with good flatground like Peckham Library?

Canada Water. That’s obviously a very good spot too. I mean, yeah, the floor is amazing and all that. But I don’t know, it doesn’t give the same energy as Peckham Library. So it’s not my favourite.

Brixton, Ritzy. Ritzy is sick. It’s similar to Peckham Library, but yeah, just like those weird concrete ball things, and then you can skate the manny pad up ledge, the little three stair. Then there’s a ledge now that people skate. Yeah, just that place is sick. I really like that place for sure.

Where’s your favourite city to skate in Australia?

I can speak only on Melbourne because this is the only place I’ve skated a lot. I’ve skated in Sydney, but I was only there for a two-week Asics trip..

But to be fair, I like skating literally just a laneway that me and Jezza skate. It’s down by the station, it’s basically just a street in the city.

Whenever it’s really hot or it’s not busy on Sundays we go down there. It’s just a manny pad. It’s a street. But the floor is nice, the street just looks dope. We go there just to warm up and then go skate. So I’d probably say that.

I haven’t really been here enough to have a favourite spot yet. But I do always love skating that. We’re always just cutting about. We literally are never really at one place. We’re always just going in the city, getting around, doing all these little bits.

What’s your favourite city to skate in the world?

There’s so many, of course, but obviously number one would be Tokyo for sure.

Then number two would be Istanbul. Istanbul is so good to skate. It’s a beautiful place as well. There’s banks everywhere. It looks sick. The people are dope. Like, the spots out, all the shops, massive plazas. Yeah, I love it. I went there on a Magenta trip. I’ve actually been there three times. It’s sick. That place is underrated. People need to go there to see those spots, and it’s sick.

Any plans you want to announce?

Basically, all last year has been a bit hectic and that. But this year, I’ve got my last year in Australia. I’m trying to figure out a way to stay out here. But I think the next thing in terms of skating is a global Asics video.

We’re gonna do some small trips in Australia and film first. But I think Jake Harris is doing the global video. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say that. I think there’s going to be an Australian part, I guess, and we’re filming for that. Yeah. So that’s happening. Then there’s going to be a Magenta video coming out. So I’ve got to film bits for that before June.

The next thing outside of skateboarding is I want to do an art show in Japan. So, that’s the next big thing for that.

Yeah, it’s a great excuse to get back out there and to do something different, not just to film 28 days straight!

Yeah, well, that’s it. Try and make the best of both worlds, get out there, do some paintings, but also make a skate trip out of it. It always goes hand in hand. I’ve done a few shows. It’s always just been a good laugh, even if you don’t sell anything.

But Japanese people are appreciative of what you bring. They love it and it’s always so much support, and it’s sick. It’s good fun. So yeah, just go there for that and then also do some skating. I suppose it would be good to see old homies again and maybe try and run a Tightbooth thing again and catch up again and keep it going with them.

Do you want to give any shoutouts to people reading this?

Yeah, thanks to my gran. First of all, she was there at the beginning. Thanks to Vivien, everyone at Magenta, everyone who I’ve met along the way throughout skateboarding, who’s influenced me. Shinpei at Tightbooth, people that just helped me. Thanks to all the Melbourne lads out here, Jezza especially. But yeah, everyone who’s played a big part in my life.

I’ve also got to say thanks to everyone supporting my artwork as well. Having people like it or even appreciate it, that’s always a big thing.

Any last words Glen?

If you’ve got something and you’re questioning it, especially something that you’re passionate about, just keep doing it and do things that you’re not worried about messing up, do things that you’re not worried about the end result.

Living day by day and just doing it for the love of whatever it is you do. Then just any opportunity that comes with it, don’t question it too much. Don’t let it hold you back. Just go and do it. Let it happen. If it doesn’t work out, then it’s not a big deal, but it’s still sick.

I guarantee you’ll find something along the way that’s sick, and it will become a big part of your life that then helps you. I think that’s all I’ve learned in my life so far, is that most things have been unplanned. I didn’t put too much thought into it but then it actually has generally structured my life for the rest of it.