Still Kid _ Conor Charleson interview

Conor is one of the most recent addition to the NB Numeric Euro squad, he’s originally from Wales, but he lives in London. His special taste in spot selection makes his skateboarding unique. We had a quick chat about the “Still Kid” video, while he’s staying home after breaking his leg on tour in Japan a few days after the Barcelona premiere. Get well soon Conor!

Hi Conor, what were your feelings when you watched the Still Kid video for the first time?

There was so much footage considering Wake Up Massi wasn’t that long ago and not one clip was shit. The standard is wild. You can feel how much graft Hallett had to put into the video as you’re watching it and Baines and Mackey really know how to put a team together. It was a really nice lift now that I’m injured 🙂

Wallie to pivot, Salford, UK.

You missed the premiere in Barcelona because you were on a trip in Japan, what happened over there?

My brother lives in Osaka so at first I went to visit him with my mum and was joined by my girlfriend too. After a few weeks in holiday mode, I linked up with Rob Taro to film with him for his TimeScan series. He went over and above to make sure I got to hit a bunch of spots I wanted to skate, and set up places for us to stay in Chiba and Okinawa. It was amazing. We lost a bit of time to injuries, he had a bad back and then I broke my leg, but in between them we managed to get some stuff. I met a load of lovely people and Rob has a really good knack of getting people psyched to film for his projects, so his next video is going to be full of amazing skating. I’m dying to go back.

How long have you been skating for NB Numeric and in how many trips you went for this video?

I switched over to NB in April, so I guess 7 months? It feels like longer. I went up to Leeds a couple of times and skated around the North of England. It’s nice to get out of London. Then we went to Barcelona in August for a few days and everybody cooked in the heat. I tried to get some last minute stuff in Leeds right before going to Japan, but I was so unwell. I think I had Covid or something. I was just insanely dizzy which was a bummer. Would have transferred it to Dale in that clip where he kisses me.

Nollie frontside heel flip, Wakefield, UK.

What trick impressed you the most from the video?

Massi’s nosegrind nollie back heel is so shocking and done so well. I can’t even comprehend it. I loved Verde’s switch front feeble too and Henry’s opening nosegrind. I didn’t know there was going to be so much footage from Flo Mirtain either which was sick.

Leeds, UK.

What trick are you more happy from your section? Which was the hardest to land?

Well it’s only five clips in this one, but I guess the front slash on that cobble wall was the hardest thing. I went there expecting to try other things and got humbled by the spot. It was really hard to get up there for some reason and even the slash was a battle. The road was really haggard and there’s blind bumps on the way in and out which don’t help. State of my tee shirt. My favourite I guess is the Switch 180 nosegrind revert on Leeds Uni banks. I’d been looking for a legit spot to film that on for ages.

Polejam, Wakefield, UK.

The wallie 5-0 you did during the trip to northern England is insane! The photo is full page on the Still Kid ‘zine, can you tell the full story behind this trick/photo?

I knew the spot was somewhere in Manchester, because I’d seen somebody wallie off it in a scene video. Hallett tried to chase up a pin, but nobody seemed to quite know where it was. Then we pulled up to those stairs on the bridge in Salford Quays and I could see that all the surrounding architecture matched the spot. So I tried to pull a bit of a geoguesser and saw that there was some weird stepped roof in the background of the clip, spotted it in the distance and skated to the spot which was only like ten minutes from where we were. The thing didn’t want to grind at all. Rough, hard granite. As soon as I put weight into it I’d get stuck and get chucked. Henry and Fred were providing moral support/heckling and came up with a few unc-adjacent nicknames. I feel like on the one that worked I’m leaning so far back and really only grinding the edge of my truck. Quick in and out.

You have a special eye when it comes to spot selection, always looking for an unusual spot or a different way to use a classic spot… What kind of spots inspire you?

I’ve never really been able to compete in the classical realms. I would skate stairs a lot when I was younger, but in my late teens I accidentally put all my skill points into wallies and that has had an effect on what I choose to skate even now. It’s a blessing and a curse in that usually the stuff I skate has a relatively short or non-existent list of ABDs, but I do feel quite restricted to my niche. I bet it feels banging to switch flip a ten stair. It’s hard to say what specific spots are inspiring, but I know when I see something that I’ll be able to skate, then the process is to fling five or six different things at it, until one starts to work. Either that or I obsess over screenshots of quite standard bank to walls until I get to go and skate them.

Photos & interview Davide Biondani