Joel Banner interview

Interview & portrait: Genualdo Kingsford

Who are your sponsors?
Baglady, HUF and adidas.

Tell us about where you grew up.
I grew up in a place called Teddington, which is along the river, pretty much between Kingston and Richmond. It was a nice area to grow up. It doesn’t feel like London, but you’re connected to everything. We’ve got Bushy Park, which is a lovely park, and Hampton Court, which is King Henry VIII’s palace – it’s pretty sick to have that right on your doorstep. 

Is that where you started skating?
Yeah. So the local skatepark was Kingston. That’s basically 10 minutes away from where I lived, so that was where I spent all my time. It’s got this massive field, and in summer it would just be busy with loads of people. There were always loads of punks and weirdos there. It’s a cool place, man. Or it was. 

How was the local skate scene, back when you started?
Back in the day, it was sick. When I first started, Aaron Sweeney was the local legend, then people like Jeremy Jones and Alex Lally were inspired by him. Marcus Lurks and Kev McKeon were part of the same crew as Aaron. It’s a big throwback, but that was my first introduction to that kind of scene. They were the dudes actually doing something. Later on, Luka Pinto went to uni in Kingston and that created a Jersey-Kingston connection. That created a big scene again. After that, it just slowly died down. Going back there now is a bit like… well there’s just nothing there really, scene-wise. That’s how it seems.

Tell us about the Stoon crew.
That’s just all the homies I grew up with. I have to shout them all out: Charlie Usher – my main man – Ollie Ross, Jake Crogan, George Roberts, Lloyd McDonald, Johnny McMullan, Milo Anani, George Ronx, Louie Edison – who has an insane heelflip – and Tom Fox and Louis Bowden, two insanely talented skaters. I also have to shout out Davross (Ian Scudds).

In your Vague interview back in 2019, you spoke about the importance of Southbank to your crew. When did you start travelling into the city to skate there?
I don’t know what year I started going there, but as soon as we got into street skating and started watching all the old Blueprint videos and Hold Tight (London) videos, it was pretty obvious that Southbank was where it was at. The train into London (from Kingston) goes to Waterloo, and Southbank being Southbank, we’d usually get stuck there. That was basically my introduction to street skating. We went there all the time. 

What era of Southbank was this?
It was either just before, or during the height of the Long Live Southbank campaign, with the petition and Hold Tight (Henry Edwards-Wood) doing all that stuff.

So it was limited in terms of what was there at that point?
Yeah, I guess it was half of what it is now. It was a lot more centred around skating the (big) banks below, rather than skating the little ledge / manny pad since it opened up. In a way, I preferred when it was smaller, because I like skating the cheese block and the OG ledge more than the little banks and stuff. 

I remember first hearing about you from Henry Edwards-Wood. He was a big fan. He has helped a lot of up-and-coming skaters get noticed over the years.
Yeah man, Henry’s the guy. I first met him through Jeremy. I guess he was filming Jeremy for a Hold Tight edit. I can’t remember what spot it was, but obviously I was a huge fan of his videos when I was growing up, so he was the first person (I met) where I was like: “Whoa, that’s a bit of a legend.” I instantly became friends with him and I was filming with him a bunch. I was just super motivated to go out with him because in my eyes he was a legend. 

What are your memories of working with him?
I just remember it being a lot of fun because obviously he had such a good knowledge of spots in London and what had been done. He would just take us all over, to random spots that I’d seen in videos previously, but had no idea where they were. It was pretty exciting to be out filming with him at the time. 

Moving on, the last five years of your life could be characterised by two serious injuries. Talk us through those.  
So back in 2019, I got hit by a motorcycle on a night out and broke my leg quite severely. I woke up the next day in hospital with a snapped leg and no idea what happened – I got quite badly concussed as well. I had an operation where they put metal in my leg; I’ve still got a few bolts. I recovered from that, and I was in good form again after about a year, but after a while I had a few ankle injuries, I guess from imbalance from the leg injury. Those would come in waves – I’d have good times and bad times – and then two years ago, I tore my ACL and my MCL pretty badly at Southbank. It’s been two years of recovery since then.

I didn’t know about the ankle injuries in between.
I guess when you’ve been injured for a long time like that, you start to walk differently. Everything is connected, so it creates problems in your hips and that can create problems in your ankles.

Your friends didn’t hear from you for days after the motorbike accident. I remember people were really worried.
Yeah, I broke my phone at the same time. My parents were quite worried as well. I don’t think anyone knew where I was for a day or so.

How did you tear your ACL and MCL at Southbank?
I was skating the out-ledge, trying some back smiths. I did one, and I was thinking about doing something out, tried a couple more, and I ended up just blowing it and landing really weirdly. I kneed my other knee – that’s what did it. It was a really weird one. 

Can you talk a little about how that injury affected you mentally? I remember a lot of people being pretty bummed on your behalf. It seemed really unfair considering what you’d been through the previous few years.
It was quite tough. Initially, the struggle was because… normally with an ACL, it’s like a year’s recovery, but because I was having surgery on the NHS, the backlog from Covid meant that the waiting lists were just insane. I got told it would be a few months and I got an operation secured, then it got cancelled, and that kept happening. It kept getting pushed back month-by-month, and it ended up being a year until I actually got the surgery. So I was getting excited that I would get the surgery, then disappointed again and again. 

It was such a bummer, but obviously these things happen. But yeah, it was tough to be around skating for a while. It was hard to hang out with homies who were skating because it was a bit of torture. There were definitely points when I didn’t know if I was going to be able to skate again. You never know how your knee is going to recover. That was always playing on my mind, but I just used that energy to focus on putting as much effort into the physio as I could.

Was you rehabilitation through the NHS, too?
Yeah, the NHS provided me with a lot, but then I also did a lot of research on my own. I just mixed it all together and did as much as I could. I spent a lot of time visualising skating to motivate me while doing physio.

Aside from physio, what did you do to fill your time during those two years? You mentioned in your Vague interview that you got into animation after the motorbike accident…
Every time I get injured, I resort to something artistic. It just seems to me like that’s the closest thing to skating. It’s creative, but you can’t get hurt. This time around, I spent a lot of time drawing and I got into making rugs.

Tell us about the rugs.
I gave a few away, sold a couple, but it’s quite hard; you need a lot of space to do it. I was doing it in my parents’ shed – I was living with them after the injury – so I haven’t done that for a while, unfortunately.

Do you have any advice for any skaters out there dealing with a serious, long-term injury?
So at that time, coincidentally, there were a lot of people around who were all dealing with the same MCL injury. They were all at different stages of recovery. Talking to them helped a crazy amount, so my advice would be to reach out to people who have gone through, or are going through the same thing and learn what helped and what didn’t. Also, I would recommend chilling on the beers and staying focused and motivated with the physio. Even when you’re not motivated, still keep at it because that’s the best way to recover.

How did Tom (Delion) starting Baglady fit into the injury timeline? 
I had a few tricks in the first video (Pack Light). That’s when I started having some problems with my ankle. I couldn’t skate for a few months, then started skating again and went on a trip to Porto with a few of the guys. Then pretty much a month after getting back, I blew my knee out. So I had a few clips in the first video and then got injured.

Why did you choose to join the team? 
It was a no-brainer, really. I’d been skating with Tom for a long time through HUF. I’ve always loved skating with Tom; I skate with him a lot. I didn’t know Baglady was going to be a board company to start with. He started giving me a few bits of clothing, and when he decided to start making boards, I didn’t really think too much about it – it was just obvious. 

What boards were you riding before?
I was getting Krooked boards through Shiner before that. Even though it’s the sickest brand, it seems to me like it’s way more important to be a part of something that feels more like a group of your friends or a family thing, than getting flowed boards from a brand that’s on the other side of the world. 

How have you experienced watching Baglady grow and gather momentum while not being able to participate? 
I’ve always been a bit disappointed about the amount of footage I was able to get for the first two videos. That was annoying, but I guess being injured, it didn’t matter too much. I was still hyped seeing the homies doing their thing, but when Tom mentioned he was working on another video, I worked out if I could be involved after recovering from this injury and so far it’s working out.

Were your sponsors supportive about your injuries?
Yeah, man. Thankfully everyone was still helping me out and sorting me out, which is super nice. It means a lot that people still cared and were thinking about me while I was sitting on my arse for two years (laughs). 

You started skating again relatively recently. How did that work? Did you need to get signed off by your physiotherapist? 
For ACL, they recommend you get back to a specific strength, which I think is like 90 per cent of your original strength before injury. Once you’ve done that, and a certain amount of time has passed, you’re pretty much good to go, depending on what your physiotherapist thinks. As soon as mine suggested that I have a push around again, I got a cruiser board. With previous injuries, I found the best thing to do was to push around on a cruiser board for a few weeks and ease back into it as slowly as you can. But that said, about a week after being super hyped to push around on my cruiser, I fractured my wrist at Stockwell.

I didn’t know about that. 
I had a cast on, which sucked. It felt ridiculous, because I’d literally been skating a week – not even skating, just cruising. I had the cast on for six or seven weeks, and still skated a bit, but by the time the cast was off, it felt like I was ready to skate properly. The timing was perfect.  

It feels like you got back into filming and shooting photos quite soon after returning to skating. 
Certain tricks felt really weird and certain tricks felt completely fine, so I was just kind of listening to my body and working out what was good and what wasn’t. I went on a trip with the twins (Michael and William Boardman) to Barcelona in March, just to get some confidence back – no pressure, just chilling in Barca. It was those two and Tallys (Jr.), who is just an insane skater. It was super motivating to skate with him. I ended up getting a clip in Barcelona. That was the first little baby step in confidence to keep going with that.

From my side, you seem to be skating as well as ever, with a lot of confidence, but you mentioned you are approaching it differently, post-injury. Can you talk a little about that?
I’m definitely not able to skate what I used to like to skate, or think about skating. I’m looking at mellower spots now, I guess (laughs). It’s about figuring out what feels OK and what’s scary, like skating drops and stairs – that’s definitely something I still can’t do, or at least am very scared to do. 

So you’re worried about impact?
Yeah. That still seems scary. I’m easing into it slowly, but I’m definitely super wary of it. 

I noticed we shot lots of switch tricks for your interview. Is that part of it?
I think that’s more to do with my wrist. After getting the cast off, I kept falling on my wrist. I worked out that it was easier to slam backwards, so that led me to skating switch a lot more. 

Moving on, we went to Lisbon with Baglady a couple of weeks ago. Tell us about the trip from your perspective.
That trip was sick. Just going on a proper trip again with everyone was so fun, and Lisbon is such a good place to skate. There are just so many spots; it’s kind of overwhelming. I love Portugal. It’s a great place to go and skate or just hang out.

You seemed to be fully back in the mix in terms of filming and shooting photos. That must feel nice. 
Yeah, it definitely feels good after a long time wondering if it was possible. It’s very satisfying to be doing it again. 

I found the twins infinitely entertaining. How do you find working with them? 
The twins are the best, man. I instantly got on with those guys. They’re just insanely funny. Normally, I’m quite a quiet person, and they are kind of the opposite, so it’s a good combination for me. They’re just the guys, the best people to be out on the session with, for sure. 

Tell us your favourite twins story.
There are so many good stories about the twins. Obviously it’s quite common to get their names mixed up, but I think the funniest moments on the Lisbon trip were when they got each other’s names mixed up at different points (laughs). One time Michael called William “Michael,” and Will called Michael “Will.” I found that so funny. 

Who are your favourite skaters to watch in London?
I think Dougie George and Davide (Holzknecht) are probably the best two dudes doing it right now, but I’d say Kyle Wilson and Jeremy Jones are my favourites to watch in person. I look up to all the old Blueprint dudes a lot, too. 

Who are some younger, up-and-coming skaters people should look out for?
Some of my favourites are definitely Ben Keegan and Cass (Doig). Watching these dudes skate is pretty impressive.

Conor (Charleson) keeps going on about how Dan Magee is a big fan of yours and said that if Blueprint were around today, you’d be on the team. As something a Blueprint fan, how did that made you feel?
That’s the best compliment ever. That means a lot. 

Am I right in thinking that you have an interest in vintage Blueprint clothing?
Yeah. I came across some guy selling a bunch of old Blueprint stuff on Ebay a while ago and I just bought as much as I could – a lot of jeans and beanies and stuff. It was all pretty much brand new. I talked to the guy, and he said the clothes are probably from the ’90s. They’re basically the kind of fits that are out today. 

What’s your favourite Dan Magee video?
Obviously those videos are the best ever. Make Friends With the Colour Blue was the one I grew up watching the most, but Waiting for the World is probably my favourite.

What do you do for work?
I’ve been a pizza chef on and off for quite a while now. 

How did you get into that line of work? 
I got a job through my friend Charlie, one of the Kingston skaters and my best mate growing up, and we’ve both worked for different pizza companies for a few years now. 

Did you train to do that, or learn on the job?
I learned on the job, but it was definitely quite difficult initially. It’s quite a long process to learn how to stretch the dough and stuff. 

That’s a useful skill to have. 
Yeah, definitely. I guess you can do it anywhere.

Who are you working for at the moment?
It’s this company called Freewheelin’. I work at pubs and breweries and we do festivals and all that stuff. It’s all predominantly based in south-east London.

You just spent the weekend making pizzas at a series of festivals in Brockwell Park. How do you find that type of work?
It can get pretty crazy. I like it because you’re just doing one thing, and you just get in the zone and stick at it for hours – it’s meditative in a way – but there are definitely some crazy people in the crowd who are sometimes entertaining, sometimes the opposite. 

Are you in a position where you can hook up friends and skaters with work?
Yeah, man. So basically, over time, I’ve got a lot of mates involved. I’m currently working with a lot of skaters and friends from back home. Just recently, I tried to get a few more mates involved. I got Cass involved.

Nice. Do you have any aspirations to have your own pizza company?
I’ve definitely thought about it, but for the time being, I don’t think so. Maybe in the future it would be pretty sick to have a pizza company. 

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I just want to go on as many trips as possible, keep on skating with the same people I’ve been skating with and try to get some footage for this new Baglady video. I’m hyped on that; it should be really good. Hopefully we’ll do a big prem for it.

What are your longer-term plans for the future?
Because I’ve been unable to skate for the last two years, I just want to skate as much as I can and visit places that I’ve always wanted to go to. At the moment, I’m just super motivated to skate. Not being able to skate for two years means that I feel like I’ve got a lot of skating to catch up on.