Birdhouse tour
£ Ryan Price // Backside Mute Air
The humble meetthe-fans skate tour can seem a little old-hat these days .
At a time when clicks , likes and shares are becoming the main currency in proving your worth to a skate company , many riders ’ focus is justifiably on sick edits and Instagram likes .
But despite the unprecedented digital access we have to athletes now , there ’ s little substitute at the grass-roots level to letting a load of young rippers meet their heroes .
And that ’ s what the 2018 Birdhouse European Tour was all about . We were able to tag along for the Bristol stops of the UK leg . In addition to shoots at Dean Lane skate park and skate-brand distributors Shiner ’ s HQ , there was also a stop at the famous Lloyds building on the city ’ s harbourside , which was open to the public and packed with fans .
While we were suitably blown away by the talent on display , one of the most impressive things to see was the time the guys had for the fans in attendance , and just how stoked some of the kids were .
In these pages you ’ ll find some of our favourite shots from the stops , as well as words from Clive Dixon , Shawn Hale and Aaron ‘ Jaws ’ Homoki .
Clive Dixon
Interviews by Andre Seidel
Clive , tell us a bit about yourself – how long have you been skating ? Where ’ s home ?
I ’ ve been skating for about 14 years now . I ’ m 25 . And from Florida - Pebble Beach , Florida , which is not far from Orlando . I lived there until I graduated high school and then moved out to San Diego . A year there , then when our lease was up , I lived in an RV and travelled around with Clint Walker and some other skaters . Travelled around the states for a year and then did some other various projects and now I ’ m living in Long Beach , California . u