Online Silverscreen 1: Concrete Poets “Writers Block”
Posted on October 06, 2007.
How much time did the Concrete Poets spend in Sheffield whilst filming this video? Any amusing northern encounters to report?
Man, Sheffield is so heavy, its probably my favourite place in the UK besides London Its got such a tight scene and everyone there rips. Not all of us went up there at the same times i've been up there to film 4 or 5 times just for the weekend. I would have liked to have been up there more. Lots of mad shit happened when we were up, one of the best was when Shaun made a security guard cry, thats quite a banging achievement you'll admit and was bloody hilarious at the time. I ain't gonna go into detail, but Shaun loves to be in the thick of conflict, and the Guard got to close to his personal space, he reckons, so he shouts "Get of me you Paedophile" the guards so shocked by this he instantly goes over to his landrover where he could be seen sobbing. Im sure there's something in his past history that we don't know which must have been a factor and its pretty raw really but still, funny as hell to say.
How would you describe Shaun Curries personality?
Big and Loud I think. He's definitely a character. Basically just wants all Eyes on him at all times and absolutely loves the camera. He's just lucky he's good at skating and a steezy mo fo as well. I guess the steez is part of his personality too, except he has his own idea of steez. Check the green wooly hat he's wearing when he bigspin heels that road gap. i'll tell you now he's so stoked on that hat being in the shot. Its those kind of things really, he's just different, full of energy and everybody loves him but at the same time too much of him can drive you crazy. Lucky for us he moved to Sheff cos at the time he was driving us nuts. Going to sheffield is actually the best thing that could have happened to him though as he's upped his game so much and it shaped his personality and his skating so much.
Southbank. Photo: Concrete Poets
Could you fill us in on a bit of the history behind the Concrete Poets?
We'll we come from humble beginnings, its started out as Kyle, Faris, Greg, Myself and a few other skaters from Lewisham which is in South East London. This was like while Shell Center was still there in all its glory and wed go about filming on a shitty little camera there, all round London and alot at our local Comet car park. Eventualy alot of guys kinda fazed out cos of work, girlfriends or other stuff and we started spending all of our time in Central London. I was lucky enough to inherit some money from my Grandma's will which i spent on getting a vx2 and a powerbook to edit on thats when it all kicked off, we started skating with Howsey, Jin and Shaun, then later on Yappa, and we all get on so well it works so perfectly. Im stoked on all those guys cos their all mad steezy in different ways and I think it shows in the video.
Who are the Swedish Poets and how did they come be involved in the project?
Well basically its not some mad next crew but litteraly just these 2 guys we met when we went to Malaga. The are both Swedish and live in Stockholm. We got some footy of them in Malaga then the next year me and Faris went to stay with them for a week and just filmed some stuff to go in the video. Its cool cos we get on so well with them and they were so down with what we're doing so its just like their the swedish embassadors of concrete poets. We're taking over the world too, Brett, whos got some banging footy in the group section, is actually from Boston. We met him at SB one day, he'd come over for one semester of uni in London and instantly he just became one of us and we were hanging with him everyday. Were going to Boston to stay with him next summer to film and skate and he reps CP hard over the other side of the pond.
Being a skateboard filmer around inner-city London must get a bit unnerving at times, have you ever found yourself in any sketchy situations?
Yeh man, theres always sketchy moments when im holding my breath waiting for dudes to pass or thinking shit why'd i get it out here. My camera actually got stolen at Shoreditch park when the blocks were first dumped there. I was filming with Jin and some other younger little dudes and 4 yutes just walk straight up to me in broad daylight, try and take the cam, I don't let go so they start decking me in the face throw me to the ground and start kicking me in, I still don't let go so they end up breaking the mic off the cam to get hold off it. They breeze off and i run to my car and follow em and call the police, I find them and kinda hide in my car watching them but, get this, Police put me on hold for 5 mins before i can even report it, by the time police arrived the boys had climbed down onto the path that runs along the hackney canal and were gone. Fucking Police! if they'd have answered straight away I would have had them caught. To be honest though that was a blessing in disguise as I had an NTSC camera which at the time of buying I was told wouldn't make any difference. But it really did and I had a lot of trouble converting the old NTSC footage I had already filmed to Pal for the DVD. My camera was insured for £2500 even though I bought it for 400 quid and so basically when they paid out i was able to buy a VX1 and a VX2 along with a Genny and lights so it really worked out well for me. Nowadays I don't film anywhere sketchy unless I'm with Kyle if you've seen the video you know he's blench as fuck and was in the marines for abit. He's my body guard, I'm not scared of anyone when he's about, he's gnarly. Someone pulled a gun out on him in Catford but he managed to get away, so he goes out looking for him with his brothers, finds the guy and fucks the dude up till he's reduced to grovelling.
