MAT LLOYD

Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Skateboarder...

Home Archive for 2015

Skateboard videos. Sometimes when I'm a bit sleepy (read hungover) on a weekend and I'm getting ready to go skateboarding with the crew I pop on a skate video in the back ground. The weekend normally means an early start and some mornings I could use a little stoke! It's the same with poetry, sometimes, I could use a little stoke.

We've all been there, those days when we lack inspiration. Those days when we just can't seem to get anything down on the page, those days when everything we write just doesn't cut it. First I would say write anyway, even if what you've written today is bad, at least you have written. I try to write something everyday, and if you follow me on instagram you can see some of these daily scribbling's under the hashtag #notadaywithoutaline Writing everyday keeps me thinking and developing ideas. Of course not all (read most) of the ideas are good, but at least I'm writing. And every so often those ideas, some new, some old eventually develop into full poems that I use on stage.

Secondly when you're feeling really uninspired, remember, CREATIVITY BREEDS! Its true!! Whenever my tank is low I find surrounding myself with creative people is the best way for me to get inspired to be creative. Recently I've found myself going to the Poetry Cafe for Poetry Unplugged and just sitting watching other poets. Seeing other people perform gives me ideas and the drive to put pen to paper and start writing! Just being around creative people makes me want to create!!

Back in May I started recording a podcast called 'Skateboarder And...', where I get to sit down with skateboarders who have an artistic passion. Across eight episodes (number 9 is in the works), I've talked to; illustrators, photographers, company owners, furniture makers, artists and skate shop owners, and their passion is infectious. The great upside to taking the time to sit down with all these creative people is that it's made me more creative! It really has improved my writing, my drive and the ideas just kept coming. I would advise everyone, when your tanks running low, push yourself to write something everyday (good or bad), watch/read other performers/poets and definitely talk to other creative people and share your ideas!

To listen to the latest episode of the Skateboarder And... podcast click below:
https://soundcloud.com/skateboarderandpodcast

It’s been a decade since the skate park in Hemel Hempstead was built. Let me expand on that; it’s been a decade since the skate park that my friends and I spent nearly a decade campaigning and raising money for got built!

Well it’s actually over a decade, just. Which means it’s over a decade, just, since I got my ass kicked. Which means it’s over a decade, just, since I got my ass kicked and woke up the next day and wrote ‘Two Inches to the Right’ It took nearly a decade to finally raise enough money and secure the support of my local council, much longer than my friend Paul McKeown and I ever envisaged! We even got on the BBC.

When the day came to open the skate park we’d organized a huge event; bands, DJ’s, competitions, BBQ and it was (on the whole), a huge success! By the time a very drunk ‘me’ was attacked it was the early morning and, not one to go into detail, I was lucky. I went down with a thud and someone spotted the attack, managed to drag an unconscious ‘me’ out of danger, whilst a group of friends fought off my attackers. My savior on the night went on to head up one of the UK’s biggest punk bands in decades but lets not deviate from the story. Either way, I was OK, not mentally, but physically, a few cuts (head wounds always look a lot worse than they are), and bruises but I was OK.

The next morning I was sat at home on my couch with a hangover, a small head wound and a bruised ego. I was feeling far from happy, a little scared, a little sad, a little relieved, the happiness of the previous morning was currently suppressed. I grabbed a marker pen, a random A3 canvas, and wrote ‘Two Inches to the Left’ (its original title). It came out in one sitting, no rewrites, no drafts, just straight onto the canvas in thick black marker pen, it was therapeutic. It took me a while to get over being attacked, but what grew from that negative experience led me to so much! Weirdly writing that, led to me experimenting with different styles, different topics and falling deeper in love with spoken word. It helped push me forward in both my writing and in life! Whilst the immediate experience ‘sucked’, what became of that incident had nothing but a positive effect on my life. I have performed that poem at festivals, colleges and even the Jazz Café in Camden to a packed house and in 2010 I worked with Matt Frodsham to put out an official video:

The video has since been featured on a lot of websites, in a lot of magazines and continues to rack up views on VIMEO (where is recieved a STAFF PICK), and just recently I was asked at a Ghost Poet gig; “Are you the writer of Two Inches to the Right”? Not bad considering you don’t actually see me in the video. I’m just happy that people have seen it, I’m just happy that I was able to write it, I’m just happy I was able to take a negative experience and use it to create so much positivity. So too the people who attacked me, who potentially could have ruined such a positive day…thanks, you helped shape my future, one that became pretty awesome!

PS. ‘Two Inches to the Right’ has been added to the curriculum in Canada and to some classes in Australia, as a foot note I’d like to apologize to the students, no one wants to be that guy who you are forced to study!

That said when you are free from class, GO SKATEBOARDING!!!