{"id":316187,"date":"2021-04-27T10:36:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T10:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nocomplynetwork.com\/?page_id=316187"},"modified":"2023-06-28T16:02:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:02:54","slug":"josh-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nocomplynetwork.com\/josh-simpson\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Simpson"},"content":{"rendered":"

@bbillyyy<\/a><\/p>\n

Josh Simpson is a skater and filmmaker based in South London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His artistic skate edits capture the lines and bangers of his crew at a series of well-known and lesser seen South London skate spots from the viewpoint of his lens. From watching them you see he’s crafted a solid creative standpoint and a strong perspective on how he presents his films and passion for visual aesthetic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But one of the main things you’ll notice from them is that Josh rips on a skateboard. He can seriously shred street and transition. He’s got an all-round knowledge of great skating – from documenting his talented friends tricks to fully throwing it down himself – so we had to find more about him, his films, creative process and skateboarding. <\/strong><\/p>\n

So on the day of the release of his latest edit Cold we caught up with him to chat about <\/strong>the video but then we had a longer conversation about his previous releases. <\/strong>We were hyped on his films and opinions on skating and creativity, so we asked him to join The No Comply Network.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are stoked Josh is now a member and are looking forward to see the films he will create in the future. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Read his member interview to discover how he first got into filmmaking, the stories behind producing his edits – Endless Blue, Perseverance 2020 and Cold, why he likes shooting on Super 8, the meaning behind his abstract series Life as I Know It, the hardest thing about filming skating in South London, Southbank, Kyle Wilson, Zach and Adam Delarue, Mile End, passing time over Lockdown, his thoughts on creativity and skateboarding, Billy Wells, photography, The Gravesend Crew, shredding ledges, his favourite skaters, spots, videos and photos of all-time and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read The Josh Simpson Interview below to find out for yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

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@showermanjosh<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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What\u2019s your full name?<\/h1>\n

Joshua Martin Simpson<\/a><\/p>\n

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So where did you grow up?<\/h1>\n

I was originally born in London but moved to Medway in Kent when I was 7 with my mother and brother.<\/p>\n

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Right. Where do you live now?<\/h1>\n

Now I currently live in Brockley in South London.<\/p>\n

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So when did you first see skateboarding?<\/h1>\n

My first time seeing skating was through the Tony Hawk’s games; I used to skate when I was really young, around Year 4-5 in school, on a shitty Argos board. My friend’s mother used to take us to the local indoor skate park unit 1, but then I stopped and didn\u2019t get back into it till I was about 15.<\/p>\n

I was at a party and my friend Max Watson, who I didn\u2019t know at the time, outed me for wearing some Osiris snakeskin Hi-Tops when I didn’t skate at the time – I got the typical \u201cwhy are you wearing those shoes when you don\u2019t skate?\u201d. I swear the very next day I started skating again.<\/p>\n

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When did you first get a skateboard?<\/h1>\n

My first proper skateboard was from my best friend at the time, George Read.<\/p>\n

He had this The Firm deck which was water logged and really bust up but it worked and I was stoked.<\/p>\n

I then remember driving all the way down to SS20 from London with my dad to get my first fresh setup.<\/p>\n

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What setup did you get?<\/h1>\n

I had a Soy Panday Landscape deck, black and yellow Ventures, Bones wheels and Bones bearings.<\/p>\n

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Josh, Concrete Barrier Wallie: Shot by @raz_trip<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Where did you learn to skate and who was in your crew?<\/h1>\n

I first properly learnt to skate around Medway where we had one skate park at the time called \u2018Jacksons\u2019; I personally hated it but it was all we had.<\/p>\n

My original crew was myself my friend Max Watson, Laurence Yorke, Jacob Nicholson and Jesse Pollock, they started skating before me and called themselves HTM – which stood for Hold Tight Medway.<\/p>\n

The Medway skate scene was popping, though I just didn\u2019t know about it until I got a little older and met, now one of my closest friends, Nathan Staples.<\/p>\n

He was a bit older than us and widely known to be the local legend. He just seemed to know every skater in Medway and pretty much single handily pushed the entire Medway skate scene to what it is now- I owe a lot to him! He would organise trips to London and just really looked after all of us.<\/p>\n

He went on to film 3 full-lengths with the Medway skate scene under the name \u2018Durobrivae\u2019;I had a first part in the 3rd<\/sup> instalment, check them out if you haven\u2019t managed to; it’s a really good look into our scene and the local crust.<\/p>\n

Shout out to Nathan Staples<\/a> I always said I would pay my homage to him if I ever got an interview!<\/p>\n

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Josh Filming: Shot by @michaelk.go<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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How did you get into filmmaking?<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve always had an interest in film. I started making films properly at university. I studied art but concentrated heavily on film and installations.<\/p>\n

I used to do this series called \u2018Life as I know it\u2019, documenting my life as a subject matter looking at family relations, skating, partying and how they all relate to one and other.<\/p>\n

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What was your first camera and what do you use now?<\/h1>\n

I think my first camera was probably just a Sony Mini DV, nothing special but I now film on the HPX.<\/p>\n

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Endless Blue starts with street antics but it\u2019s also got some heavy tricks, what was the idea behind making it?<\/h1>\n

\u2018Endless Blue\u2019 was my first proper instalment of my attempt at making skate videos.<\/p>\n

I never really wanted to make the generic \u2018Nike SB\u2019 type video, that wasn\u2019t my style.<\/p>\n

Coming from an art background, concentrating heavily in film and creating the \u2018Life as I know it\u2019 pushed me to try and give more to my videos.<\/p>\n

I knew I wanted to incorporate more than just skating in my edits; I try to encapsulate my life experiences and the experiences and challenges that we all face with growing up.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you will see a lot of shots like the opening scene because they are the things we see in day to day situations- trying to find beauty within the norm; especially as skaters we spend most of our time on the streets interacting with the outside world simply \u2018growing up\u2019.<\/p>\n