Interview: Bear Myles

Interview by Jay Lentern and Lucien Parsons

Photography by Leo Sharp and James Collins

Jay Lentern: Where are we right now?

We’re currently in Lucien Parson’s bedroom, sat on the sofa. Got my feet up on his table, my feet are pretty cheesy. Jay Lentern and Lucien Parsons are next to me, asking a few questions from their list.

Jay: How long have you and Lucien been friends for?

Let’s take it way back to the ‘90s, you know? (Laughing) I met Lucien Parsons round about, say, six or seven years ago. Before secondary school, I was in year six. I saw him for the first time with a white Penny board down at Dean Lane, cruising around; he was a bit of a ladies man with purple wheels. He was the talk of the town back then, I was a bit scared to talk to him.

Jay: So you two both grew up skating the Deaner. Have you got any memorable moments from your time spent skating there?

I spent days on end there, there was a lot of carnage; it was a bit of a nursery for us lot. We’ve seen some gnarly stuff but there have been some funny times. We made that King of the Deaner event; that was loads of little challenges you had to do to get points, like the first one to poo in an ice cream pot in the bushes.

Lucien: Did you complete that challenge?

I did complete that challenge (laughs). There are always nice times at the Deaner; I love it there. It’s such a nice place to go and relax. To be honest, whenever you go there, you spend a lot of time socialising. You do obviously skate loads, but I’m definitely there more to spend time with my friends, play a bit of ping-pong, play a bit of foosball, a bit of Frisbee. Everyone is pretty tight; a lot of people think it’s not very welcoming there, but everyone at the Deaner is so friendly and sweet. You hear it from people: “it’s quite intimidating going to Dean Lane”. It’s probably easy to think that about a big bunch of friends that you don’t know, but actually, when you speak to skaters there, everyone is real friendly and stoked to meet new people.

Correctly performing his Dean Lane mayoral duties, Bear frontside grinds where most simply couldn't. Photo: Leo.

Jay: That leads me on to my next question. You have a really positive approach to most things that’s actually quite infectious; where does that come from?

My cousin Dom (Newton) was quite positive and smiley, and I find that’s the way I deal with stuff, by keeping positive. Obviously I have my down days, but it’s definitely good to stay positive, and that probably comes from D-Man a little bit.

Lucien: You spend a lot of time at Dean Lane in Bristol, but you also get away a lot and escape the city. Is there any place that’s your favourite to visit?

Definitely Cornwall. I spend a lot of time surfing in Cornwall; in the winter I’m probably there like twice a week. Me, Tobes (Toby Thorpe), Frank (Derby) and Laurie (Greenland) will drive down when there’s a bit of swell. I also love going round Devon ways, and to Scotland. I went to Scotland a week or so ago, it was rad. I like to go places that I’ve never been. It’s nice to see new places.

Jay: You probably go to Cornwall more than me.

Probably.

If you thought the Slasher Bowl was hard to skate when it was finished, you should have tried to skate it when it was under construction. Ollie on to the transition, backside noseblunt. Photo: Collins.

Lucien: This is a pretty normal question, but what’s the most fun thing for you, skating wise?

I think the most fun time for me is at the Deaner, skating something real sketchy that you’ve made, or skating something stupid like a stinking log, or a bit of grass, and it’s not serious, and everyone is trying to get away with it, having a bit of fun.

Jay: You love some interesting words and phrases, my favourites being ‘carnage setup’ and ‘bolt on’. Where did these come from?

(Laughing) I don’t know, me and Toby Thorpe always come up with new phrases. They probably stick with us for about a week straight, and then by the end of the week, everyone is sick of us saying them. We just say stupid things on the way down to Cornwall, in the van, then I always keep them in my head. I’ve been loving saying “it’s a miracle” lately; I use that one too much.

The most fun time for me is at the Deaner, skating something real sketchy that you've made...

Lucien: You’ve got a lot of phrases.

Jay: Even your brother (Gill Amos) has got some good ones. Gill’s most recent one is “moody as a hound dog”, that one stuck out.

Gill has got a skill. Gill and Toby always come up with funny words.

Jay: Some of your sayings are quite hard to translate, so me and Luce have pulled a few off of your Instagram.

Lucien: We’ll read them to you, and you just say the first thing that comes into your head. What does “spinner dinner rinner ginner” mean?

Spinning around on a piece of wood.

Jay: “Jankster on a plank”.

Surviving and keeping stable on a stick.

Lucien: And the last one, “chiefs I up”.

Friends up in the air (laughs).

Lucien: What is a ‘cheeg’ or a ‘chief’? Is there a difference?

A chief is a cheeg (laughing). I was saying ‘chief’ for a long time, and then I ended up putting it into a message and autocorrect turned it into ‘cheeg’ without me noticing. “Alright chief?” just means “hello mate”. I got it off my dad and I loved it; now we say it everywhere.

Elliptical backside tailslide up above Bristolian street level. Photo: Leo.

Lucien: We went to Copenhagen recently and you seemed really comfortable there; you loved cycling, being by the water and everything, it fitted your lifestyle pretty well. Is that a place you’d like to visit more?

Yeah, I’m going back there next Wednesday for the Copenhagen Open, which I can’t wait for, but I’ve got nowhere to stay, so I think I’m going to wing it and try to camp. I love it there. Everyone is happy, everyone is positive; it’s just a cool place to be. It’s sick for skating, and every spot is amazing.

Lucien: When we were away, all you talked about was ‘crunch’. What is ‘crunch’, and how do you make it? Talk us through it.

Crunch is basically what I live off. Mumsie makes it for us, in the household. It’s like a big blend of oats, raisins, dates, dried mango, and she bakes it. We’ve got a few jars of it at home; I probably get through two massive jars a week.

Lucien: So that’s what fuels your ‘spinner dinners’?

Yeah. I probably eat three bowls of it a day; yoghurt and crunch, that’s all I eat. It’s probably not good for my guts, but I love it.

We always show love and appreciation for our friends, and I think that should be normal. Friends are such a big part of life; they're like your family, really.

Jay: I only got reminded about this today, but Tobes was saying about when I woke up in the middle of the night and said, “you two have got good choreography” (laughs). Where do you think your good choreography came from? With your filming and skating, you’ve got a good partnership. How has that evolved?

I remember you waking up and saying that, out of nowhere. We’ve grown up with each other; Luce has grown up with me being a long head. I’m always at the Deaner and I always get stuck there. The amount of times he’s wanted to go skating street and we end up staying at the Deaner for the whole day, because I couldn’t tick all of the tricks off that I wanted to do. He knows that’s what I’m like so he never pushes filming on me. I never like to have pressure, or feel forced to do anything… Luce knows how I work.

A chieg up in the air! Drain to drain ollie at the eleventh hour. Photo: Collins.

Jay: Not being from Bristol and then moving here, you guys have a really good sense of being open with your mates, being emotionally all together and talking about your feelings. That makes Bristol seem really special to me. Where does being so open come from?

I think it’s so easy for friends to not chat about how they’re feeling, and to keep things behind closed doors. But with us lot, we’ve grown up together and been through some bad times together, lots of things have happened, we’ve lost people…we grew up with older skaters and everyone is quite open and sweet. I think it’s the way it should be.

Lucien: We’re lucky that we can be like that.

I’m so appreciative of our friendship group for being so open. It comes from being such close friends and knowing each other real well, being with each other every day, and going through hard times with each other. But also, everyone is quite lovely; we’ve always cuddled, kissed each other, said that we love each other. Every time we leave each other or say goodbye on the phone, we always say, “love you”. We always show love and appreciation for our friends, and I think that should be normal. Friends are such a big part of life; they’re like your family, really.

Jay: It’s really nice moving here and seeing that everyone is so open.

We chat about everything because we spend so much time together. If one of us was going through a hard time, or if someone is feeling a bit down, we’d end up chatting about it. When you start talking about how you’re feeling, then it makes your friendship even more open. With us lot, in front of each other, we don’t care what we do; if someone is feeling down then we’re not embarrassed about it, we’re open, we’ll talk about it, and that’s what I think is lovely with our friendship group. No one is judging you, do your thing.

A fine example of a 'spinner dinner rinner ginner' - ollie to the drains, backside 360 off.

Photo: Leo.

Jay: Do you want to talk about the grit bin?

Lucien: When we’re walking from place to place, you seem to obtain many random things and put them in places all around Bristol, your favourite being a grit salt bin. Are you a hoarder, and what do you actually do with these things?

I am a hoarder, yeah; I’m a bad hoarder.

Lucien: What’s in your grit salt bin now?

Currently the grit salt bin is pretty empty, actually. There are a few DVDs in there that I picked up the other day, when walking into town. I put a basket in there the other day, didn’t I? Basically, there is a grit salt bin somewhere in the Bedminster area, and if anything is free – there’s always free stuff left on peoples’ walls – I’m like a magpie that loves silver things…I’m not a magpie, but I love free shit.

Lucien: Like a moth attracted to a flame.

Like a moth attracted to a flame. I’ve never heard that one before, but yeah, go for it; I’m a moth. I love picking up free shit, and my family hates it; my room is full of clutter. Anything I see for free, I pick it up, put it in my bag, take it home and put it on my shelf. If I’m going out and I’ve got a mass of items with me – I’m always carrying bags of crap – I put them in the grit salt bin then get them on the way home.

My favourite part is just the travelling, getting to the airport, causing carnage, getting on those sketchy trollies that you're meant to put your bags on and causing massive crashes.

Lucien: What’s the best thing you’ve found?

A lot of bikes, some figures. I found a nice little Yoda one time. Anything that’s free, I’ll take it.

Jay: I’ve only found some mugs.

Mugs are the nicest.

Jay: The skate scene in Bristol is good right now, why do you reckon that is?

It’s hot on the block. I obviously skate loads, but I’m not really ‘in it’ - like I don’t have all of the Bristol skate videos, which I do feel a bit bad about - but I think it’s been bloody amazing for ages, and more people are starting to find out. Everybody is trying to film more, people are skating spots that they don’t usually skate, and so skating is getting more creative, a bit more active. There are a lot of skaters moving here for uni, like Jay Lentern, who moved here from Newquay but is probably the best skater in Bristol at the moment.

Jankster on an anchor - drop in fifty-fifty, Bristol harbour. Photo: Leo.

Jay: Shut up.

Lucien: Who is your favourite older Bristol skater? Is there anyone you remember seeing and thinking, “fuck me, they’re really good”?

Old, old skaters? I don’t know. I used to love watching rad people skating at Lloyds, like Mike Arnold, Rich (Smith), Josh Arnott, Korahn (Gayle)…all that lot are the fucking raddest, but I spent a lot of my time at the Deaner, really, looking up to the older skaters there. Ghill, Theo (Newton), Char (Purse), (Tom) Kinman…that’s what I like about Bristol, everyone is so friendly with us, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can have a laugh when you’re skating.

Lucien: You’ve got a pretty full on schedule this summer. Is there anything in particular that you’re working on that you’re excited about?

I’m making a little video for Place Mag, like a fun little documentary, which will be rad. I want to try make some other cool videos, try and make a funny part over summer. Me, Luce and Jay are all going away on a trip with Converse, which will be sick; we’re all flipping stoked. I’m looking forward to that. We went away on a fun little Rerun trip to Copenhagen a few months ago, and that video should be coming out soon. That trip made me realise that I need to get away more. My favourite part is just traveling, getting to the airport, causing carnage, getting on the sketchy trollies that you’re meant to put your bags on and causing massive crashes.

Lucien: That must be sick though, because when you’re younger, as a skater, that’s the dream, right? What does that feel like now that you’re actually going on trips and doing more industry stuff?

Definitely feels surreal. For us, our main aim in skating wasn’t to go on trips and do that sort of thing, we were just having fun, but that’s one of my favourite things to do, go away with friends, have a bit of carnage, have a laugh, cause some havoc. Obviously the skating is a massive part of a trip, but going to a new place, experiencing some cool shit, having fun with friends, that makes your traveling time way better.

Chief's I up the West Coutry wall, exiting into the hip by way of a frontside grab. Photo: Leo.

Lucien: I think we’re pretty much done; I don’t have any more questions.

Jay: We should probably do the whole, “what’s your name?” thing.

My name is Myles Amos.

Jay: How old are you?

I am 19 years old, I’m pretty sure.

Jay: Who are your sponsors?

That’s not a thing, is it?

Jay: I think it is. Just tell them.

My sponsors are Shoe Zone (laughs), just kidding. There are a lot of sweet people out there, thanks everyone. Converse, SML Wheels, Ace Trucks, Yardsale, Rock Solid, Rerun, Fifty Fifty. Wes (Morgan) at Rock Solid sorted me out big time. He was my first sponsor, and I think Wes needs a big shout out because he’s always been there for me, and looked out for me.

Gap to backside lipslide over the precise kerb corridor of College Green. Photo: Leo.

Jay: Do you want to do some dad chat?

We can talk about my dad if you want.

Jay: Who is Spex (Dave Haggerty)?

My papa, my pops. He’s a legend and I love him to bits. He isn’t skating too much any more, which I think is flipping sick, because he’s passed that point, and he just loves the surf. I’m sort of reliving his old life, and that’s what he likes. We don’t chat about skating at home that much. He’s just so chilled out about it; he knows what I’m doing and he knows that I love skating so much, because he was there once.

(My dad) knows that I love skating so much, because he was there once.

Lucien: I assume he’s been really understanding about all of it, because he’s literally been through it, and he’s given you a nice amount of freedom as well.

I love my family to bits. Shout out to mumsie and papa; they’re the best ever. Those two are real and I appreciate them both, big time. They let me do my thing. Obviously my dad knows how it is, and they’re both relaxed, they know the Deaner is a safe place for me. It’s nice having a dad who skates because you don’t need to explain anything to him, he knows where you’ve been if you’ve been skating late at night…he knows we’ve been at spots.

Lucien: Tell us about Gill being in Copenhagen and Tom Penny recognising him as ‘the son of Spex’.

I’ve never heard that story before, but it sounds sick (laughs).

How does that Fleetwood Mac tune go? "Chaaaain, keep us together (pivot in the red pipe)"? Something like that. Photo: Leo.

Jay: Couple of last ones – who’s skating are you into at the minute?

There are a thousand people whose skating I love.

Jay: Let’s start in Bristol.

Fuck me, man, Jordo Lightowler, the other day he went out and got four absolutely unreal clips in one day. He’s my favourite skater ever, and he’s the most humble and sweet dude you’ve ever met. He’s got a part coming out for Grey soon that Luce is filming, which is going to be sick! Jordan (Thackeray), Tom Kinman, Jay Lentern the man, Lucien Parsons, he’s an up and coming skater, got nollie back heels every go, chilling…

The mutating road of Wiltshire lasted one day in this formation, and Bear was on hand to deliver it the wallride that it required. Photo: Collins.

Lucien: The worst skater in Bristol.

Gill is one of my favourite skaters to watch, because he gets away with everything, honestly, you wouldn’t believe the stuff he gets away with. He survives everything.

Jay: What about the rest of the world?

I love watching Vincent (Huhta); he’s got a real relaxed style. There are too many good skaters out there; all of the London lot are killing it at the moment.

Jay: It’s been a pleasure chatting to you.

Follow Bear - @bear_myles