MAT LLOYD

My friend Philip Levine is raising money for the Smallest Gallery in Soho. He was a massive force in my development as a spoken word artist and included me in a number of Lazy Gramaphone books and many gigs over the years.

We made it to series 3 of the 'Skateboarder And...' podcast of which I am your humble host, and this series starts with an #nbd

No one is a bigger critic of my work than me, no one.  Even as I sit on a plane on my way to the International premier of 'We Can Fly' in Vienna, a documentary celebrating creativity in skateboarding.  A documentary that I'm featured in, I'm still constantly wondering, 'Why am I here, my work isn't good enough, how the hell have I managed to blag it this far?'

The self doubt can be crushing, and it often is, but I've learnt to manage it.  I'm self medicating with a defiant level of positivity.  A metaphorical middle figure to the doubt that burns inside.  Some days it even fuels me, and whilst the self doubt is definitely still winning, I'm getting better.

I don't think I'll ever rid myself of the doubt.  The feeling that I'm an imposter, that I'm not good enough, but neither will I let it win.  I know what these feelings are and I've met many other creative people who struggle with the same self doubt I do.

We've just got to keep giving it the middle figure and using the self doubt to fuel the fire that keeps us moving forward.

"Original post written on 6th of October on EasyJet flight to Vienna"

In Vienna on the 7th of October? Come and see the international premier of Kelli Watson's documentary 'We Can Fly' at adhocPAD - creative hub.  Myself and Eloise Dörr are flying over with the filmmaker so come enjoy the movie, art and poetry, all in the name skateboarding!!!

"WeCanFly is a unique collaborative project from the UK, about creativity and skateboarding.

It is a New Form multimedia film project that centres around the artists: Eloise Dorr, Ben Gore, Mat Lloyd and Barry Kay. Also featured in the film are Ed Templeton and Grant Hatfield with short interviews with Rich West and Rohum Pourtahmasbi.

We will host a screening and a small art show of the creatives involved, some of the artists will attend the event!"

It's 'National Poetry Day' and much like 'Go Skateboarding Day', I'm thinking 'I don't need a day, everyday is skateboarding/poetry day!' But I still feel the urge to share and help promote what I love in the hope it will inspire others.

Here's a video I stumbled across online last week filmed at The Book Club earlier this year. It's a piece called 'No Regrets' if you like it please go on Youtube and give it a thumbs up! All helps the promoters know i'm out plugging it, even if I've only just come across the video!!



Feedback always appreciated.

Wow so many good stories in this episode! He's lived in Death Skateboards 'House of Doom', got a fake ID from Foz, toured with; Penny, Boulala, Muska, Ellington, and Greco, skated the states, quit Death, gone pro for 'Send help', road for VANS and Supra, started his own distribution company, built Harleys, won a grand on the lottery and fought with Lizard King who in his own words is "a dick"! This is a good one, with one of the UK's finest... Scott 'Horsey' Walker!



Follow Horsey on instagram via @Horsey69 and @shukdist
 
Find out more about Send Help www.sendxhelp.com

Slightly later than planned here's the latest instalment of the Skateboarder And... podcast with professional skateboarder, dad, Anti Hero Pro, photographer, VANS Global Team Rider and now European Team Manager... Chris Pfanner!

We sat down at the recent re-opening of the House of Vans discussed growing up in Austria, boarding school, his VW Beetle, the VANS Video, moving around the globe, holding down a family, how he became both a VANS team rider & the European Team Manager plus much more. Enjoy!

Stay up to date by joining our Facebook page www.facebook.com/skateboarderandpodcast and following the host Mat Lloyd on instagram/twitter @matlloydpoet

Music provided by Mr. Brown from his album 'Beats for Days 2', buy it from call good record stores, iTunes, Amazon and his website www.westaytrue.com

This podcast is part of the FunnyInTheMiddle.com network

On July the 7th I'll be Guest hosting 'Tiki's Live' in my old home town of Hemel Hempstead. On a monthly basis the Tiki crew invite musicians, poets, comedians, rappers, artists, and bands to share there talents in a laid back and supportive environment.  I've performed at the last couple of nights and thoroughly enjoyed catching up and performing with a lot of old friends!   Come down and get involved.

For more info visit the Facebook page!

Last week I was interviewed on Soho Radio.  With hosts Ben Ramble and Baby Sol, we discussed; poetry, skateboarding, positivity, the origins of my latest collection 'The Cracks and Curbs EP' and I read a piece live on air.  Thanks to everyone that tuned in and all those who got in touch after the show.  Much appreciated.

If you missed it, you can listen again below.  The whole show is great but if you want to skip forward to my interview it's from the 1:15:40 mark.



Many thanks to Ben Ramble, Baby Sol and the whole team at Soho Radio!

For more information on the show please visit http://www.sohoradiolondon.com/presenters/free-seed-on-soho/#

'The Cracks And Curbs EP' sold out earlier this year and I hinted that a second print might be in the works.  Massive thanks to everyone that contacted me direct and due to this support the second print was ordered.  Since then I've been overwhelmed by the continued support for the collection, thank you so much!

It's still £4 and comes with free worldwide postage and packing.  The second print is limited so if you waited too long and missed the first print, don't make that mistake again (click the Buy Now button below)

THE CRACKS AND CURBS EP

My brand new second collection of poetry!

From the introduction by Philip Levine:

"Mat had agreed to come and was driving over 8 hours from London to get to us. Anxiety hit me hard. Was Mat gonna get pissed with me? A talented individual not getting a platform he deserved and ringing me earlier from the car enthused by the thought of performing at the festival. He bound in and even though realising the situation wasn’t quite what it should have been, without hesitation grabbed a chair, dropped the mic, and just spoke out loud, captivating everyone in the room with his words."



Get it now for £4 by clicking the 'Buy Now' button below.

At the end of last year I sat down with comedian Mike Dryburgh to record an episode for his new podcast 'Mix Tapes with Mike'. Well it's finally out and I have the honour of being on episode 4!

"Mixtapes with Mike is the podcast for music fans, where stand up comedian  Michael Dryburgh invites a different guest each episode to create a mixtape of ten of their favourite songs and give the listener a bit of background on their relationship to each track. And if you like the sound of the music in conversation you can find links to listen to the mixtape in full via Apple Music & Spotify."

It was difficult to nail down just ten tunes but I managed to create a shortlist and even found a loophole in his rule of 'no artists can be featured twice'.  My list includes Ice-T, BB King, Gil Scott Heron and Ghost Poet among many others featured and discussed.  Find the podcast on iTunes.

Listen to my Mix Tape via Spotify here: https://play.spotify.com/user/mixtapeswithmike/playlist/0ldvUe6431rrWs5RHPkmpY

Listen to my Mix Tape via AppleMusic here:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/mixtapes-with-mike-vol-4-mat-

On Saturday I caught up with skateboarder, photographer and artist, Ben Gore at his 'I LUV U' exhibition celebrating Grime culture.  If you're not familiar with his work (you should be), he was the subject of the first episode of my podcast 'Skateboarder And...'  Ben is an artist, and photographer from Brighton whose pushing both his art and the culture of skateboarding forward with every project that he gets involved with!

This Sunday the teaser for the next episode of the 'Skateboarder And...' podcast will go out and it'll feature a short chat Ben and I had about the exhibition, current projects and his plans for the future.  Ben's got hustle!

Here's a little taste of the exhibition caught on film by Kelli from We Can Fly.  Look out for this weekends podcast for the full interview.


To find out more about Ben Gore http://bengore.co.uk/
To check out the latest podcast visit https://soundcloud.com/skateboarderandpodcast

The post performance calm before the storm

I found myself hanging out on a random street corner in Switzerland waiting for my cab to the airport.  It seems to be a popular corner as I approach the first cab and he asks if I'm part of a group of three?  This happens a number of times and it's always the same cab company (that's booked to take me to the airport), but never my my cab.

(I flew out to Switzerland late on Sunday night to perform the following evening in a 250 seat auditorium.  The location is right by the boarder and I've been put up in a hotel in Italy.  The performances went well but it's now Wednesday, I've done enough mingling and I am ready to go home, I need my bed.)

Now that the back story is out the way -  I'm in Switzerland waiting for my cab and it's ten minutes late.  I've called the cab company and chased it, they tell me he's stuck in traffic.  The cabs now 20 minutes late and I've started to sweat.  Stupidly I 'Google Mapped' the directions and there's traffic, a lot of traffic!

Smiley cab guy (as I'll now refer to him), rocks up 30 minutes late exclaiming "Traffic, traffic!", while waving his hands in the air.  Ten minutes in, we are speeding down the motorway and I'm looking at my watch starting to believe I might just make it.  Just a calm starts to set in, he pulls in to a garage to fuel the car.  Of course there's a queue and all hope drains from my body.  The earlier nervous sweat has restarted. He is quick once we reach the pumps and dives back in the car exclaiming "You'll be fine, plenty of time!"  I love his enthusiasm, but I'm beginning to think its too late.

I promise you I'm a glass half full type but I've never missed a flight and I didn't want to start now.  I also didn't want to have to make that call "Hey, I know you were super rad to fly me out here to perform and put me up in a hotel and pay me, buuuuuuut"

We are now two miles from the airport in standstill traffic, my flight takes off in 30 mins, I'm wondering whether I could run to the airport faster and smiley taxi guy is waving his hands again still telling me "You'll be fine, plenty of time!"

We are one mile away and I'm googling how far Zurich is just in case I have to get a cab there to make my connecting flight, it's miles I'm fuuuuuuucked!  We finally arrive I'm trying to pay and he's now taking what seems like an age to write my receipt (yes this is an expense I can get back, I'm a poet not a rock star), finally I fall out the car, run into the airport with twenty minutes to go before take off sure I've missed any chance of getting on the plane...

The airport was tiny and check in/security were three foot from each other and the tiny propellor plane was the largest aircraft that could take off from this airport due to the length of the runway.  The smiley man (yes another one but no relation I assume) behind the desk didn't bat an eyelid at my late arrival and just ushered me towards security after handing over my bag and to the ground crew who loaded it straight in the plane.  This twin propellor flight machine seated about forty people and only about ten seats, including myself, were taken.  For the plane nerds among you, this was so old it's not included in the Swiss Air magazine, although this isn't a complaint the beer on board was free.

I made it to Zurich and then I made my connecting flight to Heathrow, hell i'm typing this at 35,000 feet.  It was a great trip, even better now that my 'never missed a flight' record is still in tact.  See you on the Tarmac, after a good sleep that is.

I'm honored to be performing at the last ever Sylvia Plath Fan Club on the 20th of March at the Union Club in Soho.  The night, which will also be the launch of the latest edition of Cold Lips, has a huge linup of heavy hitters!  Hosted by the awesome Kirsty Allison, the lineup includes; Tony White, Stuart McKenzie, Dean Stalham, Dave Randel, Brandy Row, SoGol Sur, and Carol Morin.


Night kicks of from 6pm at the Union Club Soho Monday 20th March
Tickets available HERE

The latest episode of the 'Skateboarder And...' podcast is here! A monthly dose of skateboarding culture, creativity and goodness hosted by me, is now available!

When was the last time you pissed off Chris Cole? Got stood up by Tony Hawk building bowls in Cambodia? Or taught kids to skate in Afghanistan? This ladies done all this and more! Listen to the fourth episode of series two with skateboarder founder of Tie Dye High Five, head honcho at Neon Stash and Communications Specialist for Skateistan...Hannah Bailey!



To find out more about Hannah's work please visit her website www.neonstash.com or hit her up on twitter/instagram @NeonStash and of course the excellent work of skateistan.org/

All music provided by Mr. Brown from his album 'Beats for Days 2' buy it online here www.westaytrue.com and check out his soundcloud here soundcloud.com/mrbrownwst

Check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/skateboarderandpodcast

I'm a great believer in writing every day.  Whether it be a couple of lines or a whole poem, its all part of exercising my poetic muscle.  Sometimes these exercises will appear on line as a tweet or an Instagram post.  Not always good, often mediocre, sometimes awful, but I'm still glad I made the effort.  Some days I find it easy to put pen to paper but on others I struggle for inspiration.  There are a few tricks I have learnt to use and I'd like to share one with you.

Yesterday I was struggling to write anything coherent (insert joke here), the TV was off, no music, no internet and I just couldn't get my brain to settle.  I nearly gave up, ok I did.  I began randomly surfing reviews for 'Only Lovers Left Alive', a movie I'd watched the previous night.  On the films Wikipedia page I game across a review by Jonathan Romney.  He rounds off the review with;

"classy piece of cinematic dandyism that makes the Twilight cycle redundant in one exquisitely languid stroke."

Something about the poetic feel of the line that got the creative fire started.  I made a note of the line and then began surfing for more of his reviews.  I found a review of 'In Pursuit of Silence' and made a note of the line; "sabotages its own logic by slapping on an undistinguished new age-y score"

I was deep into Mr. Romneys reviews now making notes of lines from an Anguish review "grungy ordinariness", I even found some inspiration in 'Jack Reacher';

"Possibly to minimise distraction, the supporting cast is on the bland side, but it’s nice to get a glimpse of Robert Knepper, the inimitably abject T-Bag in TV’s "Prison Break"

I surfed around the Guardians website (not my usual haunt), reading other reviews by Jonathan Romney making notes of phrases and lines that seemed to stoke the fire of creativity and then began to build a poem.  You don't have to use film reviews by Jonathan Romney, but it helps as his turn of phrase is so poetic.  You can just grab the nearest book or paper and make a list of a number of phrases, lets say a minimum of ten that catch you eye, and then use them to build/create a poem.

Below is what I created, whether good or not, it helped get the creative juices flowing!  Now I just need to work out whether I'm obliged to give Jonathan Romney a writing credit?

Fisticuffs

Dandyism
Sabotaged your suburbanite logic
With one exquisitely languid
Stroke.

Once
A story of empowerment
With a ring of Authenticity,
You Counterpointed the
Abrasive.

However
After less than strenuous exercise
Your theological subtext
Turned out to be nothing more
Than a grungy
Ordinariness.

-----

Just a quick note, I do not know and have never met Jonathon Romney.

If you didn't already know I host the  'Skateboarder And...' podcast, a monthly slice of skateboarding culture, creativity and goodness.  It comes out every first Sunday of the month and as today is Sunday the 5th of February, the new episode is here!

This episode I got to sit down with skateboarder and stand up comedian Mike Dryburgh.

We talk about his earky days as a hip hop Ed Sheran when he opened for Dj Yoda, Ugly Duckling and even De La Soul. Hustling at Edinburgh Festival, his upcoming one man show and much more!

To find out more about Mike Dryburgh hit him up via Twitter on @MikeDryburgh or book tickets for his new show here http://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/mike-drop-the-adventures-of-a-one-man-band/

You Subscribe via iTunes or listen directly via SoundCloud below!  Please take the time to review the podcast either by giving us 5 stars via iTunes or clicking that little heart on SoundCloud.

"Most people get three chances - I got FIVE" from Ode to Baudelaire by Kirsty Allison

Let me put my metaphorical cards on the table.  Kirsty Allison and I, are in a sense, estranged friends.  We roll in different circles but every so often the edges touch and we find ourselves sharing a stage somewhere.   I already admire her poetry greatly.  Kirsty has a rock and roll style that oozes a nonchalant coolness that means she could wear dark glasses in the dead of night and it wouldn't seem weird.

Of course Kirsty hasn't just released a standard poetry book.  'unedited' is a limited edition hand bound collection.  I didn't get in fast enough with my order so had to wait for the next batch.  It was worth it.  The book is hand crafted and contains images and illustrations alongside the poetry, mine has even been painted in.  The pages aren't neat, they're all different, some plain, some lined, some brown, some blue, brought together with Kirsty's poetry it's perfect.

The poems of course are beautiful, they make my mind bleed thoughts that inspire me to put my pen to paper.  To be inspired in my writing is why I read others poetry, and so much of what she's put together will influence how and what, I release in the future.  'unedited' I hope, will be the first of many collections Kirsty crafts and releases, and I'm hopeful our circles will meet again soon.

Find out more about Kirsty and purchase 'unedited' from https://kirstyallison.com
Kirsty Allison and I are both members of Lazy Gramaphone, to find out more visit http://www.lazygramophone.com

I was interviewed last week for an upcoming documentary called 'We Can Fly'.  Currently scheduled for release in August it aims to look at the freedom and creativity embodied in skate culture.  As the project progresses, small 'Snippets' are being released to promote the project and you can see mine below: