|
|
for
those of you who don't know, dykie has been a main part of the cardiff
skate scene for as long as i can remember. at first he was just one of
those kids that waited patiently at the end of the blocks or at the
museum waiting for his go, but as time moved on he eventually took on
the role of documentor of the scene. it's not surprising this happened,
he's a quiet lad who often can't be heard. being behind the camera
suits him far more than if he was to be in front of it. over the years
he's traveled a lot and has spent time with everyone that you may think
is a someone. ask these people what they think of dykie and i'll put
money on it that none of them will have a bad word to say about him,
however that could all change after this interview...but it probably
won't
so
then, first off give us a little background about yourself, you know….
age, full name, where did the nickname dykie come from?
my full name is matthew james ryan and i'm 27 years old. my nickname
‘dykie' came about when i was 12 years old and at the time there was
this mass murderer from hungerford called michael ryan which was a
similar name to mine so everyone used to call me mike for a while, then
we were reading this book in english class called tyke tyler and there
was a character in the book who had a speech problem and could only
pronounce words beginning with d, and he reminded everyone of me so
mike became dyke and a few years later i was called dykie. it's a bit
weird i know but it was a weirder for me when i realised what it meant
(nobody realised what it meant at the start).
speaking of nicknames, sidewalk labeled you p-diddy for a bit, what was that about?
that came up when i was visiting my favorite place ‘burger king' with
dainton. all i said was ‘can i have some diddy doughnuts please' and
dainton just pissed himself. i couldn't see what was so funny but later
that day dainton would tell more people and they would piss themselves
as well. i suppose it must off been the way i said it. then he told
sidewalk and they printed it on the side off the mag, it said ‘puff
daddy speaks so strangely only puppy dogs can here him'. i was so
stoked that i made the spine.
you
were one of the main contributors to pritchard vs dainton. the film
started off much the same as previous video's you'd done, but how do
you think it turned out compared to your other solo efforts?
the video started off with me just doing another welsh video on my own
but shortly after pritch and dainton approached me with their ideas and
enthusiasm and we teamed up to make a video together, it was different
to my previous videos because it was more in the public eye and it
wasn't as much of a scene video because we had parts with ben from
scotland, dan and ali from london and it was easier for me to film with
people if they knew what i was filming for because they knew they would
be on a highly profiled video
are there things you would like to change regarding pvsd?
at the time i was filming it i was really scared about using the dan
joyce poo stuff because i was scared of what peoples reactions would
be, i had a few sleepless night over it and i even threatened to pull
my footage away from the video if they used it, but they managed to
talk me into it and i'm glad that they did because without that the
video wouldn't be what it is today. i would also have liked to been a
bit more involved in the editing side, but kotowitz ‘the guy who did
the special effects', banned me from his editing suite because i kept
complaining. luckily dainton was with him for him for the rest of the
editing so he took care of it, if we weren't sitting over him it could
have looked quite different because i don't think he even liked
skateboarding. what was this shit into gold thing all about? does it
mean our filming was shit and his editing was great? i have to say his
special effects were really good though
you
got to film a lot of good skaters during the period of filming pvsd.
did the film open up doors to you that may have been difficult to open
regarding filming new people?
it did open doors for me
after the video but i suppose i rejected the offers because at the time
i wanted to do my own thing and make another welsh video because since
making pvsd there was a whole new welsh generation who were going off
and i wanted to make a video documenting them. some people might have
said i was taking a step back but i was doing what i was into and that
was the important thing. its not important for me to be making money
from this, just being happy with what i am doing and help skateboarding
as much as possible. however i am sorry for the people i might off
pissed off with other plans but sometimes you got to do what feels
right.
did you think it was a good learning experience? what did you find out about yourself and those that you worked with on it?
i leaned a lot about working as a team, like trying to compromise with
other people and working to stricter deadlines. what i leaned about
myself was that i sometimes find it hard to get my point across and
also most of the other people working on it had different intentions
and ideas to my kind of video making but the thing that we had started
had to go that way and that's what the public wanted to see. i don't
have any regrets on the video and i am proud to be apart of it
what
do you think about how things have moved on and developed for pritchard
and dainton? is there a little bit of you that wish's you were in front
of the camera rather than behind?
i am totally stoked
for them and i wish them even more success than they have already got.
secondly i don't think there is any part off me that wishes to be on
the other side off the camera because i think that is one of the
reasons why i am this side off the camera, ‘so i won't have to be'. it
makes me feel paranoid. i also don't think i would like to be famous
like they are now, i don't think i could handle the attention
who is your favorite skater to go film with and why?
it was dan wood from bridgend who used to be on kill city because when
i would go down there it seemed so chilled and relaxed. it would start
with me just skating and having a laugh with him and his mates and then
when the time was right, dan would say ‘right then, lets get this or
get that'. even if he wasn't feeling it that day he would still give it
100% because he knew that i had made the effort to go down there and i
would always come back with results and have a really good day away.
dan is not really skating now he's just doing his own thing which is
cool but i hope he doesn't disappear from the scene completely. i also
like filming with dan cates because he is on a mission to get more
coverage and we just make each other laugh the whole time, which is the
way it should be i think.
what do you miss if anything about cardiff skate scene pre pritchard vs dainton?
i miss filming with pritch and dainton as much as i did back then. i
also miss the skaters who weren't from cardiff coming down to skate as
much as they did then. i still like the scene now because there will
always be skaters traveling down from other parts of wales every weekend
what projects are you working on now and with whom?
at the moment i am working on the ‘east video' which is mackey's new
company. i'm really stoked to be involved with what i think will be a
good thing, me and mackey are into similar things so i think we will
work good together. another thing is that the rest off the team are
really cool and are all good mates. i feel like i'm definitely taking a
step forward and i'm still doing my welsh scene thing (which i love)
because half the team are from wales, so i have the best off both
worlds. i'm also doing a dvd of underexposed with 20 mins of extra
footage which should be out really soon
you just did the ‘day in the city' project, how was it working to such a tight schedule? i noticed you even had a storyboard on the go for it!
i really enjoyed ‘day in the city' because it was a new thing for me
working on a tight schedule. i'm normally used to working on something
for about a year. it was also good working with pritch again, it had
been sometime and he's definitely still got it. the script thing came
about because i just wanted to try something new and see how i could
handle it and because pritch was in it i knew it had to be something
unique. i'm kind of happy with the results although it might look a bit
cheesy, but the important thing is i think was that i tried something
new and enjoyed doing it, pritch and dylan played there parts very well
as well.
is there anything you would like to be working on that currently your not?
at the moment i still only want to be involved with the skate industry
and i am happy with the projects that i'm doing but sometime next year
when my projects are nearly finished, i would like to go abroad and try
and get some freelance work with a video magazine or something like
that just for the experience really.
do you still enjoy skating or has it become so much of an everyday
occurrence like walking that you don't really think about it anymore?
i love everything there is about skateboarding on a whole, like
traveling, meeting new friends, videos, magazines, but my skateboarding
has taken a back seat since starting filming but i still love to do it
as much as possible, i just haven't got the confidence that i used to.
i might have my own part in the east video which will be a bit like the
chomp on this thing
do you ever see yourself working out side of the skate industry as far as filming goes?
i am going to do a rollerblade video starring pritchard and dainton!
only joking… maybe in a few years time i would like to broaden my
horizons and do music videos or editing or camera work for a tv
program, but the directing side of it scares me a bit
what are you listening to at the moment?
eric clapton, the who, the coral and early michael jackson
apart from mayfair, what else are you reading if anything?
i never read but i should do
do you hate me for pulling your trousers down in front of a bus full of people?
i don't hate you because it's all fun, i always get myself in
situations like that some people might call me the welsh frank spencer.
one time when pritchard had just moved house, he gave me his address
and i knocked on the door and this girl answered that i'd never seen
before. i said 'is mathew there?' and she said 'he's up in his room go
on up', so i did. as i knocked on the door i realised it was the wrong
matthew so i ran out of the house with about 6 students laughing at me!
i even got chased by a zebra once as well!
is there something you'd like to say to anyone and it can be thank you or f**k you, whatever you like, say it now…..
i like to thank chris gibbons for lending me my first camera about
seven years ago, every one who worked on the pvsd video, john harris
for always helping me out with my computer, sharpy for helping me out
with funds, mackey for letting me be able to be doing what i am doing
now and generally everyone i have ever filmed with, also stimulus for
letting me say my bit
©2004 stms24 ltd, all rights no wrongs
|
|
|
|
| |
|
