Interview - Jono Coote

1.Rad and destructive greetings from Peru,Jono! how are you bro! hows going the things there?
Good thanks man, dry enough to skate still and we’ve got Mwadlands and House of Vans for when it rains – winter is looking pretty good!

2.Tell us how you start into your killer skateboarding? how were the beginnings?
I started skating in a small town on the South Coast of England called Bexhill-one-Sea, a massive BMX town, but two of my best mates got skateboards because of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and I needed to keep up with them somehow – I begged my parents for one for Christmas and they hooked it up, a cheap Woolworths board which I snapped trying to roll off a tennis table in the local park. Then I snapped my sister’s trying the same thing, had to save up to pay her the money for that (she didn’t get a new one) and then eventually got hold of a Jon West Foundation board. I watched Headcleaner, Label Kills and Squadrophenia religiously and kept going when my friends who got me into it quit.

3.Which are your influences and motivations to keep breaking the knees and spots?
P-Stone videos (RIP), Stockwell, all the crew, RWTB, BMT, booze, hash, Headcleaner, foam roller sessions, Antihero videos, Cardiel’s frontside airs, Hewitt’s frontside grinds, Carroll’s frontside flips, Negative Approach, Souls of Mischief, Tom Waits, The Pogues.

4.Tell us something about the underground and diy skateboarding scene in your city! diy spots and rad skateparks.
DIY spots get knocked down quick in London, because there aren’t enough chain supermarkets or luxury housing. The Withsection crew have built some rad South London DIY spots over the years, sadly none of which are still around. On the flipside of that, Steve Barrow and the North London crew have built one of the best DIY spots in the UK – watch Ben Raemers’ In Transition section if you need clarification! Mad props to them. Skatepark-wise we have the centre of the known universe AKA Stockwell Skatepark AKA Brixton Beach, a 70s park with updated areas and one which is apparently technically DIY – the original builders had a questionable level of permission when they started laying concrete, by all accounts. Cantelowes, Victoria Park and Clissold are also sick and, like I said before, Mwadlands and House of Vans make the winter much easier to bear. There’s plenty of crumbling brick banks and crusty street spots to keep you entertained when you need to remember how to ollie.
We also have a rad network of skater owned shops and companies as well as plenty of people creating art, music and skate videos who form like Voltron to make sure the scene is constantly kicking off. Big up Blast Skates, Brixton’s Baddest Skateshop, Serious Adult, Withsection, Lovenskate, everyone else getting shit done. RIP Parlour Skateshop!

5.Which are your favorite tricks to do a great and destructive session?
Front smiths, backside bonelesses, heelblocks and badly mobbed worm-burner kickflips.

6.A word to:
DIY: The backbone of skateboard culture!
Duane Peters: Amazing skateboarder, shame he’s lost his mind and turned into a Trump supporting homophobe…
Blast Skates: BLOKES

7.You currently have sponsors?
I feel like Tiger Balm and Jameson’s Whiskey support me pretty well.

8.Tell us about your sick video called Corner Store,are you stoked with this?
I am - it was basically the video which taught me to use a camera so some of the filming is definitely questionable, but I’m stoked overall. I feel like I’ve done South London’s venerable off licenses justice, support your local beer hole. I started making it sort of because I hated the music in 99% of the videos I was watching, so thought I’d do something to redress the balance in favour of ‘things I like’.
The first clips toward the next project got filmed today, hopefully I’ll iron out some of the kinks with this one! 

9.You know about the underground and diy skateboarding from Southamerica?
I know Anselmo Arruda’s skate house in Brazil looks insane! Confusion seems to be pretty on the ball with covering the scene there too, it’s definitely one of my favourite magazines going right now and I couldn’t do without that subscription. One day I definitely need to visit the classic ‘Hewitt frontside invert Thrasher cover’ park with the fullpipe.

10.Rad future plans?
I’ve just started filming the next video today, we dodged puddles and dog shit to hit some crusty street spots. I’ve got some interviews planned for Sidewalk which I’m stoked to get done, then when the weather gets better I’ll hopefully hit some skateparks on the mainland – Spain early next year, Belgium in the summer. I’m putting together a zine based on a trip to the Pacific Northwest a few of us did in September too, it’s good to have some projects on the go when it’s wet outside!

11.Jono thanks for your time in this interview,something you want to add?
Cheers fella! RWTB.