Interview with Nathan Page.
All photography by Tim Smith.
So then Nathan, introduce yourself please, and fill us in on a bit of your skateboarding endeavours pre-Mash Life.
Yes mate, I'm Nathan Page, 33, and from the mighty 'largest town in Europe' - it’s not, but the locals will tell you it is - Huddersfield.
Not all that much was going on for me skateboarding-wise pre-Mash Life. I got into skating at the tail end of 2008 when I met Josh Whitehead at college, and we started this thing, whatever it is, in 2009. It's the classic ‘terrible at skateboarding, wants to be slightly important, buys a camera’ fairytale that we all know and love. Huddersfield never really had a filmer as far as I know, some people like Jude Matthews were dabbling, but I tried to plug that gap. I think that first ever VX cost about £200? Imagine that. I guess I became like the TM for my mates? It's cool; I like it.
How and when did Bangers and Mash come into being, and how did that evolve into Mash Life? What were some of the earliest Bangers and Mash/Mash Life missions, and who was involved back in the early days? I’m guessing the crew has chopped and changed a bit since then…
So yeah, sometime in 2009, I remember it was raining, we were messing around at Holmfirth skatepark and decided to start something ourselves. I have some photos from that session somewhere, they're awful. I think it was me, Josh, George Sinclair (Frank), Lewis O'Donohue (Scouse), Jake Wallis and Ben Bostock, maybe some others. We're talking pre-Instagram here, so we had a website hosted by our college tutor that Ben made, and a Myspace. We roped all of our mates in and each person on the 'team' had a sausage with their face on it. We did some video interviews, started filming instantly. I remember being proper excited; we were killing it!
Those early missions were just exploring Huddersfield and getting the bus about different parts of West Yorkshire really, with maybe the odd trip further afield. Me and Josh lived pretty close together and the other guys weren't far either, so we'd just blast about the villages. Josh is from Meltham so we'd be up there a fair bit, skating whatever we could find. Some of the guys were still in school too, and I've definitely got footage of Ben skating the local Mormon church in full school uniform.
It evolved in to Mash Life when we started filming for our first proper video that we stuck online in late 2010. The crew had changed already by then, and Kieran McDonnell had become a pretty big part of everything. We were all big Baker fans, Baker Has a Deathwish was pretty fresh and we were partying a lot, getting 'mashed'. One night out, I think someone said we were living the Mash Life, and we just ran with it. Bit cringe looking back, but that name definitely has some good (and some not so good) memories attached! The crew then would have been the people I've mentioned, Rooney (Robert Woodward) was coming up - his full part in a helmet went hard - Daniel Walker, pretty much anyone that skated Greenhead regularly. I don't think I have it anymore, but I'm sure in 2009 we made an eight-minute Greenhead edit. Fuck knows how.
The crew stayed pretty Huddersfield-centric until Foothills really, when a lot of the guys started to get real responsibilities and naturally dropped off. Now we've got Hudds, Halifax, Rochdale, Manchester, Kieran lives in Cumbria, Teesside… All the best parts of the country essentially! I run the Instagram and film a lot of the stuff, but it’s definitely a crew effort.
Josh Whitehead - wallie the 2010 Mash Life iMac.
How integral was Endemic Skate Shop to the early years of Mash Life, and the scene in general back in the 2010s? What are some of your everlasting memories of Andy and the shop?
Oh shit, we definitely wouldn't be where we are without Andy (Wood) and Endemic. Big love always, Kiwi!
Andy looked after everyone back then for sure - constant events, hooking people up, trying to get everyone to wear cool guy stuff (laughs). I think the first time I met Andy outside the shop would have been the éS Game of Skate at Newsome skatepark, in 2010 or 2011 maybe!? All of them Newsome jams back then went off, though. Double set sessions, Rooney gap to board the rail, death races… Mad fun was definitely had.
We all looked up to Endemic and shopped there and that, but Kieran was definitely our link in. He was getting hooked up and working in Endemic, then Josh, Ben, Frank, Rooney etc all got on the shop, and we all started working on the Wasteman video that came out late 2013. These guys all drove, so we got about a bit more then, and our eyes were definitely opened. That video is a mess, though. I think I filmed it with a DVX and a taped on fisheye, so the vignette is about 60% of the frame. I’m pretty sure I had image stabilisation on for the fish clips too, so it’s super wobbly. Ben Powell actually came to the premiere for that one, and it got a little write up in Sidewalk. Name in lights for the first time.
Memories wise, basically closing the entire street for the 10 Years of Endemic premiere in 2016 was a mad one. That's the first time I remember a heavy premiere turnout, and just basically getting taken to events that in my head I had no right to be at. The Adidas Copa event in London is the big standout. We beat Welcome in the footy on penalties. Leeds would absolutely hammer (Huddersfield) Town these days, but at least we won that one!
Oh, and the Core Store Challenge videos in 2015 and 2016. They're the only time I've ever actually been paid real life money to film, I still think they're the best videos we've ever made.
Endemic forever!
Kieran McDonnell - wallie, Halifax.
Give us the three best things about living in Huddersfield - either as a skater, or a regular human.
Bloody hell, only three!? I love Huddersfield, me. Rough around the edges as everywhere is, but number one for both skaters and regular humans is how close to some of the nicest countryside we are. Moors on the doorstep, Peaks not far off, and Dales not right far either. Perfect location for finding them crusty gems.
Number two has to be the spots. I think we get overshadowed a lot, being next to Leeds, but Hudds - and Halifax if we can include it - has some right spots. The flowerbeds that Josh has done just about every single blunt variation on, the fountain, Ramsden reservoir, and the Kingsgate hip (if you're lucky) come to mind straight away, but I low-key think it’s a goldmine. Saying that though, I'd be happy to not have to film in Hudds for at least six months.
After saying how much I love Hudds, I can't actually think of a third, but it’s pretty easy to get out of here. That's a positive, right?
Ty Gearing-Tracey - gap to lipslide, Huddersfield.
You’re no stranger to the workload involved in filming a full-length video. Give us a quick rundown of your pre-Wildflower Mash Life productions please, and a little bit about each.
So, that original Mash Life video in 2010. The only VX video we ever released. Some drinking footage, some skating, quintessential pre-Instagram, late teens stuff. That was the full OG crew and me, Josh, Kieran, Ben and Frank edited that over one night in my uni halls in Sheffield. Lots of vests and tight pants, Rooney in a helmet, romantic credits sequence with me and Josh sat by a res…
Then next was Wasteman in 2014. A lot of the same faces but Mash Life had grown to include most of the Endemic crew, so Andy Wood, Ben Raynor and Jude Matthews. Jude sent me all of the footage he'd filmed previously too, so we had Shaun Turner, Blondie and some others in there. I was at uni in Sheff for a lot of this one, and the crew would come over most weekends to skate and usually drink way too many quad vods at Corp. This was when Rooney was starting to go in too. This is the first one we premiered, as I mentioned. It was at Zetland in Huddersfield. This one set the ball rolling for them Huddersfield prems I think.
Then we made the Endemic video, Tuesday, in 2015; that one was fun. Mostly the same crew, some younger heads, Felix (Owusu-Kwarteng) was in there. I think that's the first one we premiered with bands and stuff on too. That was at the old Parish pub in Hudds. I remember (or don't remember) that one being a bit of a wild one. Filmed mostly on Tuesday nights.
10 Years of Endemic was next, in 2016. That one premiered in the Byram Arcade in Hudds on a massive screen that we hung from the second floor; that was pretty surreal. Andy made a beer with Vocation Brewery/Arcade (who actually now have a bar where the shop was), and Serious Sam Barrett played. That one was busy and we ended up at Parish as always for the afterparty.
Ginnel then came out in 2018; this had a full new line up. Ty (Gearing Tracey) had a full part, Fred Halsey was killing it (wherever you are Fred, I love you and you're still my favourite skateboarder), Jim Esmond, Joe France, Myles Midgeley, Rory Devlin, Jake Black and Callum Benson were constantly filming, Ben was skating handrails… This was a good one. Massive crews on every session, peak Hudds crew. Kieran had moved to Cumbria by then so we got to skate some cool stuff up there, and he was smashing it whenever we hooked up. We went to Porto for that one, too; that was a laugh. Then another premiere at the Parish with the usual bands and tomfoolery. I can't actually remember who played any of these, and I've not got the posters to hand, but thanks if you did!
Foothills was released in 2021 and this was the start of us trying to uncover more crust. Obviously we had COVID to contend with and all, that but I passed my driving test in 2020 and this massively opened up our scope spot-wise. This was probably the start of the Google Map/spot obsession. We had a similar crew to Ginnel for this one, but we roped in the three Rochdale Connors towards the end. Harry Shackleton was integral, the whole Barrer Cvlt Cumbrian crew had tricks. Josh went hard for this one and we managed to start getting to all the resses and stuff. The premiere was at the new Parish. We had Gyp and Krupps play this one with Sangria Kong and Hops on the decks. We only used music we had permission for on Foothills too, so I used a lot of their beats. It’s a cool video, I rate it.
Alan 'The Doctor' Callaghan - Kwik Fit switch frontside flip, Halifax.
Was there any downtime between Foothills and Wildflower? How soon after completing Foothills did you start filming again, and was it always the intention to work on another full-length project?
Yeah, a couple months! We always premiere later in the year and filming through winter after a bit of a project never feels right enticing. We premiered Foothills in November and then I think started filming again in January. I guess that itch needed scratching. I actually expressly told my partner Kristina that I'd never film another full-length video, but after a while I think she was keen to get rid of me on Sundays, and we started working on it properly. The actual intention was to release a short project in 2022, but it rained so much we put it off to 2023, and then again until 2024.
So from first trick filmed, to rendering off the (almost) final version for the premiere last week, how much time had passed?
So the first trick was January 2022, and then we finished filming a week before the prem in September 2024. That’s a pretty long time to be honest, but I wanted to make sure we managed to hit at least some of the cool stuff we'd found over summer this year.
First clip filmed (that made the cut) - who, what, when and where?
This is no surprise, but it was Josh doing the switch front bluntslide shuv out on the flowerbeds in Huddersfield. Him and that spot are pretty much made for each other, but they'd recently changed the spot, putting a leccy box in the way, and built the pavement up so the bank was smaller and steeper. It took four very cold and usually very wet after work sessions in January, that one. I don't even really think he'd done that trick before then, so he was just figuring it out as he went. I was probably low key really angry warming up my fingers after each session he didn't get it.
Felix Owusu-Kwarteng - fakie tailblock, The Derrics DIY, Huddersfield.
And on the flip side of that, what was the last clip filmed?
Again, Josh. He's basically my muse at this point. Deadline day, a week before the prem and it was absolutely belting it down, but we decided to hit some reservoirs anyway as he's down to get wet. The drop in on the sludgy brick roll in, and the nolle flip noseblunt rag in, both happened that day. He had a dodgy shoulder too, but managed to get them both. They're my favourite missions, them; going to something you shouldn't go to in the rain, getting something you know people are going to be stoked on.
As people will no doubt know if they either follow you on Instagram or watched your Introducing doc from Skateboard GB, since the first lockdown, you’ve been on a constant mission to uncover as much hidden rural terrain in and around West Yorkshire as possible. Whilst filming for Wildflower, which previously unseen spots surprised you the most in terms of skateability/productivity?
(Laughing) I've been trying my best. I’ve sloped off recently but I'm hoping to get back on the reservoir tick off mission over winter. I like to do things in person, and I think I've missioned to around 80 reservoirs now. Probably found about 35 spots in total, then I'd say probably 10/15 are actually worth hitting.
I'm still pretty shocked Josh managed to get the roll in clip through the amount of pure grime there was on there. The bank to ledge to drop spot was fun; everyone was enjoying that until the head of the local fishing committee came over giving it the big ‘un. The bank spot where Harry's board goes in the drink, and the spot where Josh gets the wallride grab, were both sick, and I thought I'd stumbled on gold there until I re-watched some old edits and saw Tom Day and co had got clips there before. Still not very well known though, so I'll claim them as fresh spots!
Connor Chadwick - 360 flip, the Dewsbury ditch.
And again, similar to that, were there any spots that were an absolute mission to get to, but proved completely un-skateable?
Jesus, most of them. We definitely went on some missions where I'd seen something in the rain or with the water level high, got stoked and then gone again and realised it’s definitely not skateable. All part of the game, though, I'd rather be out there in the rain than spend a Sunday at a worn out ledge plaza, probably to the annoyance of some of the crew, who are not quite as keen on the crust.
Andy Pike - beanplant, Huddersfield.
This time around, you managed to achieve what few others have - capturing the legendary Felix Owusu-Kwarteng on video. How was it having Felix along on sessions? And how worried were you for your fisheye whilst pointing it in his general direction?
Mate, filming Felix is always the best feeling, but it’s near enough impossible. He never knows what he's going to do next, in the best way possible; pure made up on the spot. We didn't actually get to have as many sessions together as I wanted, with schedules not aligning, injuries, and Felix training for long distance runs, but I'm stoked we got some street clips of him in there. We decided on Tim (Smith) to get some fisheye photos on that session so I went long lens, but I do regret not muscling him out of the way and getting in there. I went through five (cheap) fisheyes filming that video and still managed to have a scratch or dirt on the lens in every fishy clip; that's got to be some sort of accolade, right? Someone gift me an Xtreme please, so I can scratch it instantly.
Felix - full speed frontside grind, Boom Skatepark, Upton.
What are your favourite three clips from Wildflower? Not necessarily ‘the best’ tricks, just clips that are maybe significant to you for whatever reason, or might have a memorable story behind them.
Ooh, tough one!
Josh dropping in the mud bank straight in to Sparth ressy was fun. He'd been talking about it for bloody ages and we'd been once before but it was too soft. It was too steep and slippy to walk back up normally, so we tied some dog leads to the tree at the top and he pulled himself up. We've swum there for years, as have most locals, so that was cool.
Connor Simpson’s (Chek) slam at the start of his section is a rough one. That clip was actually meant to just be for Insta, but the slam was so gnarly it went straight in at the beginning of his part. The funny thing is, he moved every single big rock out of the way except the one he went rib first into. The next trick in his section, the shuv in the bank, is at that spot too. I'm not sure if he did it before or after the slam, but I've romanticised it in my head that he got up, moaned a bit, and then got the second trick.
Lastly, anything by Alan Callaghan. Alan is the absolute best human being you'll ever meet and he kills it. It’ss crazy he's never filmed a part before. Any trick he lands, he lands bolts, and just says, “yeah, it were alright”; that always has everyone in stitches. I think his ender - the switch frontside flip down the Kwik Fit gap in Halifax - and the backside heelflip line at the stairs in Greenhead Park are probably the only two times he didn't do that and was beaming. The only person I know that gets a solid nine hours kip every night on a skate trip too.
Josh Whitehead - boneless, Barcelona.
To quote Ben Powell: "Lads and lasses of the Kirkless (and Calderdale) Forest - assemble and skate the unskateable!" With that call to arms in mind, who have been some of the Yorkshire lads and lasses that have been integral to the whole Wildflower process?
Bloody everyone; there are so many people in this video! So, Josh, Kieran and Ben are always integral to anything we do, bouncing ideas off each other and that; Mash OGs forever. Then locally, on top of Josh, the usual crew would be some mix of the three Rochdale Connors (Chadwick, Simpson and Akindutire), Sam Butterworth, Zach Whitaker, Harry Shackleton, Alan Callaghan, Ty Gearing-Tracey, Jay Evans, and Tim fighting me for photo angles. Heidi Walsh, Kath Adam and Kelly Devonport were always knocking about, too. I'm stoked we managed to get some clips of them in there.
Fred Ryan would be on it when we could tear him away from the Hyde vortex. Hebden Bridge breeds them differently, I swear. Yorkshire's answer to Tom Penny, that kid. Harry Lister filled the transition quota; he's from over that way too.
Then we managed to get sessions in with Andy Pike, Joxa, the Glasgow/Treatment crew, Lincoln crew - Kyle went in - Barrow crew, Leeds and WUG heads, and all the other usual local suspects.
If I haven't mentioned you, I'm sorry. This answer is already too long, but I appreciate everyone that was down to hang out and get clips!
Oh, and Ben himself is in there, too! He filmed that rock and roll so many times; I could probably just make a video of that on its own (laughs).
Fred Ryan - crooked grind, Huddersfield.
This question is for Josh: You've been on the Wildflower journey with Nate from the very beginning. What have been some of your personal highlights from the almost three years you've spent exploring, filming and skating with the assembled and expanding Mash Life crew? Any particular missions, spots or tricks that stick out to you, for whatever reason?
Josh: Now then, my snapshot highlights usually involve Nathan's misery and hearing things like 'wherever I go with you, I get bitten'.
Nathan: It's true. I did alright filming Wildflower but I was on antibiotics twice filming Foothills from infected bites, they love me.
Josh: He also falls over comedically on slippery surfaces a lot. That aside, I really hold close that first summer of reservoir trips where we would just go crust hunting. I had my head deep in a shell from what seemed like a never ending injury, life drama, and no confidence in skating. We were finding picturesque spots, which was enough, but I didn't want to be filmed on the 'proper camera'. Nathan was as patient as ever and we ended up making some fun phone edits that got a good reception. It was cool to unwind my mind in vast environments, and it got me comfortable enough to rekindle why I love skateboarding. It got me filming this part for the video, too. I feel that's the essence of Mash Life, really; friendships and the process over the thought of the end product.
Zach Whitaker - frontside grind above the M62, Saddleworth Moor.
Let’s talk about the premiere. Premieres are always a highlight of working on any video, but what were your expectations when booking The Parish this time around, and what was the reality of the night? Did you expect to see so many people travelling from all over the country to be there?
Honestly, every single one of us couldn't believe how many people turned up! We knew there would be a few more people travelling as we had more people from further afield in the project, but we didn't expect that kind of turnout. I think we nearly hit capacity. The Parish always look after us, too; we basically grew up in their old place, and a lot of our formative experiences took place in there, so it’s always nice to have them back us like that.
I was actually planning to make a little speech, but I'm terrible at public speaking and I couldn't do it at the last minute with that amount of people. Luckily Josh took over and shouted me out (laughs). Maybe I should have typed it and got an AI voice to read it for me.
From the early premieres we've always put on bands, DJs, and had other stuff going on too. I like rowdy premieres and its another reason for people to travel; makes it more worthwhile in a sense.
Michael, Bloody Head, Sangria Kong, Hops and Kieran with his first ever DJ set all killed it. I don't think the bouncers were much keen though.
Scenes from the Wildflower premiere at The Parish, Huddersfield.
Paul 'Wapo' Watson - frontside ollie at the Flowerbeds, Huddersfield.
And whilst I type this, you’re out in Croatia for the first day of the Vladimir Film Festival. How did Mash Life end up in the mix there, and how has it been taking Wildflower (and Tim’s accompanying exhibition) to one of the most prestigious events in the global skate video calendar?
Another pretty mind blowing experience! Not to be too ‘woe is me’, but Huddersfield, with a few exceptions, has always been slightly overlooked, so it was insane to take Wildflower out there and show it alongside a bunch of crazy good videos. We've got Joe Allen to thank for it, though. I knew he showed something there last year, so I hit him up to find a way in. He bigged us up to Nikola (Racan) and we managed to get it in there. We got in there pretty late, and they didn't have time for the full video, so we showed a 15-minute supercut of basically all my favourite tricks. It was sick, and went down well I think, thanks to the heavy Yorkshire presence in attendance. Tim killed it with the photo exhibition, too. People seemed interested in the Yorkshire crust. Zach MVP'd that trip on our end though. We're all disgruntled old men who can only handle half a day in the sun, but Zach skated constantly and got involved in whatever he could on minimal sleep. He did us proud.
Vladimir is so cool, though. The work they put in is amazing, and the vibes are wonderful. If you're reading this and you've not been, I highly suggest you make it a priority next year. Big up Nikola and the whole Vladimir crew; we love you!
Mash Life exploits from Vladimir Film Fest 2024, Fažana, Croatia.
Between premieres, I know you made a handful of tweaks to Wildflower, something which you were more than happy to speak up about. Care to tell us about those? How happy are you with the final video now those changes have been made?
Yeah, so I don't know if it’s because I knew there would be more eyes on this video, because there were a whole host of different people in there we'd never really filmed with before or what, but technically I couldn't get it to a point I was wholeheartedly happy with it, and that's never happened before. I also edited it whilst struggling with COVID (big up COVID infection number five) so that probably didn't help. Essentially, I was super happy with the skateboarding element, but in my head, I didn't think I'd done everyone proud with the effort they'd put in.
All our other videos, I've been super close with everyone involved, but this time felt like a bit more than a scene or crew video. We had the Treatment and Glasgow crew in there, some of my favourite Yorkshire skaters in there - Jono (Coote), Wapo (Paul Watson), Aiden (Blaymire) and Joe… and I guess Jay Bex (laughs). Pike from up Hartlepool, Joxa and loads I've missed, but I think imposter syndrome set in hard. At the prem, all I could focus on was the elements I wasn't happy with, and it spun my head out a little. I'm no editing whizz, I basically only open the software to edit these videos, and I'd messed up the colours in camera on some of the clips.
I'm pretty happy with it now, but I'm sure all I've done is delete some techy changes and then re-done them exactly the same. The mind is weird, eh? There are still some dodgy colours and stuff in there, but on that post premiere pass I just tried to embrace them. It’s only skateboarding, right?
Kyle Shipman - switch frontside flip, Huddersfield.
So what does the future hold for Mash Life then? I assume - given that you’re already out at Vladimir - that there’s no slowing down. Are we looking at another full-length in a few years time…?
I made it clear to a lot of folk that this would probably be the last ever Mash Life full-length from me, at least for a while anyway, but I've not been able to tell anyone why. So, some hot gossip for you here that only a few close friends know so far, myself and my partner Kristina are expecting a baby in March. We're obviously mega stoked and I can't wait to be part of the rad dad crew, but it’s going to naturally change the filming dynamic for the foreseeable!
It’s not all about me, though; Mash Life is bigger than me, and everyone will still be skating, doing their thing. I know Kieran has a decent camera now too, so I'll be pushing him on to make something sick. Josh has a camera as well, so there will be little projects being worked on I'm sure. We'll still be doing what we're doing, it'll just be different to the ;one big video every so often’ approach that we've always done.
I've still never made the rural spots only, freeform jazz soundtracked edit I've always dreamt of, so that still needs to happen at some point before I bow out completely.
Jay Evans - nosebonk backside revert, Wakefield.
Any final words of wisdom to end on, or is there anyone you’d like to thank?
Big up everyone involved in Wildflower or in Mash Life at any point, everyone that has come to, played, danced at any of our premieres over the years, and just supported us in any way!
Big love to the crew for the trust they put in me to create something they want to be a part of.
And big up Kristina for putting up with me having a minor meltdown every time it starts raining five minutes before I'm heading out filming.
I love you all, do what you want. Skateboarding sucks anyway.
Mash Life - Wildflower (2024) full video.
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