Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com It's the first episode of my special Portland omnibus - and I kicked things off with this conversation with the great Mark Lewman, recorded at Nemo HQ in Portland.Lewman has had one of those circuitous, intensely creative career path that action sports culture often throws up. We’re dealing with creative royalty, a man who’s resume includes stints steering era-defining titles such as Freestylin’, Homeboy, Sassy, Dirt, Grand Royal and Big Brother. Along the way he worked on Jackass, collaborated with his friend Spike Jonze and ghostwrote Mat Hoffman’s autobiography.He then switched codes, went brand-side and works today as one of the honchos at Nemo Design, delivering ground-breaking campaigns
for some of the biggest companies in action sports. As you might expect from that CV, Lewman has a wealth of anecdotes and experience, and I had a blast during this conversation. As ever with these episodes, this is the story of how somebody carved out a unique career in the industry, and had a riot doing it. Right up my strasse, then.My thanks to Lewman and everyone at Nemo for being such great sports for this one, and to Travel Portland, Kex Portland, Hertz and Black Diamond PR for their help in pulling this one together.Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com Phil Young has had one of those varied and fascinating careers I’ve documented a lot on the Looking Sideways podcast. He’ll be familiar to listeners of a certain age as the presenter of a much-loved mid-90s TV show called Board Stupid, which unbelievable as it sounds now, was a primetime TV show totally dedicated to snowboarding.From there, Phil used that experience and the most bulging contact book in UK action sports to carve a career as one of UK skating and snowboarding’s great unseen influences, working with brands to shape the way our cultures have been seen in the mainstream, and doing it with great subtlety and sympathy. Today, he is bringing his considerable insight and experience to bear on one of our industry’s great unspoken issues - the lack of diversity that characterises our cultures at all levels. Phil’s a man of principles and opinions, and there are plenty of layers and themes to this wide-ranging conversation. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com My guest this week is Alex Knost: surfer, musician and photographer and definitely one of the most polarising figures in modern surfing. He’s a stylist who is renowned for his highly individual approach to wave-riding and life in general. For some, he’s the arty-farty epitome of hipster surfing who is all style and no substance.To others, he’s a genuine original who has managed the miraculous feat of achieving a totally original and cohesive style at this late stage in surfing’s development. Wherever you stand, he’s one of the most enigmatic and interesting presences in modern surfing. Alex was in town for the London Surf Film Festival where he was promoting his film Tan Madonna, so I headed up town to sit down with him to see if I could get to the bottom of the Knost conundrum. See what you reckon. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com My guest this week is visionary film-maker and photographer Chris McClean, recorded at the London Surf Film Festival in October 2019, where Chris won the Viewer’s Choice Award for his latest feature Translate. The film also had its premiere at the event, a performance that saw the soundtrack performed live by a band featuring composer CJ Mirra and Lee-Ann Curren. Its the type of typically forward-thinking endeavour that characterises Chris’s work. Like most I first heard of Chris’s work through the films such as Edges of Sanity, Uncommon Ideals and Atlantic Diversions; and the classy marketing projects he worked on for Finisterre. They were projects which explored particular corners of surf culture and displayed a unique aesthetic, perhaps influenced by his background in the north wast. I then watched in admiration as he joined forces with some of his other talented friends to launch the magazine Backwash, the beautiful annual periodical that explores similar cultural territory to Chris’s films. He’s one of those single-minded, focussed creatives that UK board sports culture tends to throw up: totally happy to plough his own cultural furrow and wait for the world to catch up with him. Which, I’m happy to report, it finally is. That’s why I wanted to chat to him for the show, and I’m glad I did because it’s a lovely one this. Here is, me and Chris McClean - enjoy.Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.My guest for this episode of Type 2 is Jack Harries. Jack is a film-maker and environmental activist from London. He initially came to prominence thanks to his wildly popular YouTube channel Jack’s Gap, which he started with his brother Finn and which quickly amassed four million subscribers. Such an audience gave him quite a platform and, as you might imagine, quite a few opportunities - such as the chance to head to Greenland and take part in a documentary about glacial retreat. It would prove to be a life-changing moment for Jack, who decided from that point to dedicate his life to raising awareness on climate change and attendant issues such as forced migration. He’s done so by making documentaries in environmentally compromised places like Bhutan and Kiribati, through his work as an ambassador for organisations such as the WWF and, latterly, by his very visible involvement with the Extinction Rebellion group. If anybody fulfils the premise of using their platform to create change, it’s Jack, and having been one of his 1.5 millions Instagram followers for a while, I’ve long been intrigued by his story. So with a fortnight of London-based Extinction Rebellion action in full swing, I headed up to meet him at his place in West London and find out more. I found him to be charming, impassioned, articulate and persuasive. Here's how it went down. New episodes of Type 2 will be released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify, Podbean, OvercastFM or any of the usual other podcast providers.Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com It’s the first half of my episode 100 bonanza! To mark my ascension to triple figures, I wanted to stoke my loyal listeners out AND do something that sums up the spirit of the podcast. So I’m releasing two episodes at the same time and calling them BOTH episode 100. This, episode 100a, is the first instalment, and is my interview with the great Danny MacAskill. Danny is a professional street trials rider who is one of the great stars of the viral age. In many ways, his career is emblematic of the way that action sports and the wider media landscape have evolved over the last decade. As everybody knows, Danny came to prominence when he released Inspired Bicycles, a film he made with some mates around Edinburgh which quickly became one of the defining viral films of the last ten years. It also made him globally famous, with the opportunities afforded by such a platform, and he took full advantage of it with a string of peerless films that upped the ante with each release, and showcased his creativity and sense of humour into the bargain. Naturally, I’ve been keen to get him on the podcast for years, and happily Danny agreed to meet up for an episode 100 chat. So I headed to Edinburgh to meet Danny and get his own take on the last crazy decade. The result was a relaxed and intimate chat in which new covered the lot. Big thanks to Danny and Till Bohlig for helping make this one a reality. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com It’s the second half of my episode 100 bonanza! To mark my ascension to triple figures, I wanted to stoke my loyal listeners out AND do something that sums up the spirit of the podcast. So I’m releasing two episodes at the same time and calling them BOTH episode 100. This, episode 100b, is the second instalment, and is my interview with the great Nicolas Muller. Where do you start with Nicolas? For over two decades, he’s epitomised a style of snowboarding that sums up everything great and creative about our unique sideways art form. He’s one of the true GOATs, a master of every type of terrain who has shaped snowboarding in their own image. He’s also renowned for a freewheeling and freethinking approach to life, something brilliantly depicted in his Fruition biopic a couple of years ago. I’ve known Nicolas for a while now and have long had him pencilled in as one of my episode 100 guests. I wanted to get under the skin of this unique snowboarding legend and talk about it all - his career, his views on snowboarding, his inspirations, interests and unique worldview on life, snowboarding and everything. I’m happy to say we did that, and much more. The result is a supremely relaxed and revealing chat with the greatest snowboarding stylist of our age. I’m thrilled to have Nicolas on the show for this special episode, and happy we were able to have such a great conversation. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com Every so often this podcast throws up some proper pinch-yourself moments, and this conversation with graphic design titan David Carson is one such occasion.Carson is, without question, the most notorious graphic designer of the last thirty years. His reach is total and his influence ubiquitous, as anybody who has worked in the media during that time will tell you.He also has a strong link to the action sports world, whether through his work designing titles such as Transworld back in the day, or as a hardcore surfer who avidly reads Beach Grit each day and counts Mikey Dora as a personal hero.He’s been a dream guest for years, but somebody I always assumed I’d never get the chance to interview. So when friend of the podcast David Benedek asked me to go and meet Carson any Gatwick airport to pick up some prints and record an interview, I leapt at the chance. The result was a highly enjoyable, meandering chat that took in the highlights of Carson's career and his views on surf culture, while showcasing his puckish sense of humour and insatiable curiosity.My thanks to David Benedek for making this one happen, and to Carson himself for being such a great sport on a rainy night in Gatwick.Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com An intriguing thing about the podcast has been the number of unexpected themes that have developed over the course of the last 90 plus episodes. One of which is: how massively conservative and blinkered the action sports world can be.Think of the patriarchal struggles outlined routinely by guests such as Layne Beachley and Cara-Beth Burnside. Or the ongoing story around women’s big wave surfing. In skateboarding, a world which has traditionally had real issues with area of society that have progressed hugely in the last 40 years, it can be particularly acute. Take homosexuality. Skate history is full of murky examples of top pros engaging in casual or even violent homophobia, and top pros having their career cut short at the mere suggestion that they might be gay. Which is what makes Sam McGuire’s story so courageous and essential. Because Sam, one of skating’s most high profile photographers, is gay. Even admitting that simple, totally ordinary fact is rare in skateboarding. Sam publicly came out a few years ago, and in doing so went a long way towards normalising the idea of a high profile skateboarder being open about their sexuality. Why is this important? Because the more people in our closed little world are exposed to the reality of the debate, and the reality of life for people like Sam, the quicker attitudes will change for good. That’s exactly why I wanted to get Sam on the show, and why this is such a brave and important conversation. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.My guest for this episode of Type 2 is Jake Black. Jake is a snowboarder from Colorado who initially parlayed his love for snowboarding into a professional career but he soon decided he wanted to try and give something back to the industry, and began to broaden his interests - notably as a journalist specialising in issues of sustainability in the snow industry, and then with Protect Our Winters, a none profit organisation that is the leading climate advocacy group in the winter sports world.Today Jake is Program Manager for Protect Our Winters, working to further the group’s climate aims on projects around the world. So he oversees initiatives like the Hot Planet Cool Athletes programme, the ambassador program, and basically acting as the conduit for POW US to the world. I first met Jake up in Lofoten in March 2019. We got on straight away - and not just because he loaned me his crampons during one particularly icy traverse. Like many people working in this sector, Jake has been motivated by his own love for the outdoors, and his personal experiences as a rider and traveller - and I was impressed with his take on the unique climate challenges faced by people in our world. So we arranged to meet later in the summer during his next trip to Europe for the European POW summit in Innsbruck. We sat down to discuss Jake’s career, his take on how to respond to the charges of hypocrisy that anybody attempting to affect change inevitably faces, and how we can reconcile these two seemingly opposing stances. New episodes of Type 2 will be released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify, Podbean, OvercastFM or any of the usual other podcast providers.Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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