Interviews

The Tommy May Interview

And his Plazamovie section!

Interview: Dallas Rockvam | Photos: Sam Clark

Lets get the Basics out of the way… You’re from London right?

(Laughs) Nah fux that… Tuff munks.

Wait, how do you spell that?

T-O-F-T-M-O-N-K-S – yeah that’s the little village.

And being from the English countryside in Toft Monks then what’s your Tea of choice?

PG Tips… at the moment anyway. The other teas are too fancy you know, if they taste too strong then you can’t drink as much. It’s the same as eating loads of really sweet stuff.

When did you get out of there?

When I was 19.

And then straight to fucking Barcelona from Toft Monks?

Yeah I’d been there a couple times before and had a friend who had been living there and I went and stayed with him for a bit.

How was Barcelona for you then?

It was nice, I liked it… fux how was it? I don’t know.

I met you then and Barcelona was pretty crazy as always. I was staying at Winkle’s on the couch…

(Laughs) Yeah I remember you had even tighter trousers on and your shoes looked even bigger…

Yea those were tough times… But now you’re in Finland. How did you end up there?

That first winter I met you and the Perus Crew and they told me to come in summer and I came to stay the next summer on Pablo and Sean’s couch (a big thanks for that) and stayed for four months and then went back to Spain and went to Malaga with all the friends and just wanted to come back and stay.

For those who have not been fortunate enough to go, why is it so nice there in Suomi town?

It’s hard to explain… It’s like a large group of people that all get along together. I was just talking about it the other day, there is never like bullshit and drama or stupid shit. Everyone has a nice time and everyone wants everyone else to have a nice time. Everyone is appreciated: like every time one friend comes into the park everyone starts cheering… (Laughs) I don’t know it’s just nice.

Yeah I always tell people to go. Ok, so I asked you one year ago or more to ride for FRANK and it took you this whole time to get a fucking sponsor-me tape together. Why did it take so long?

(Laughs) Ahh man I don’t know; I was thinking about it the wrong way, from like a negative point of view… Like if I said yes to you I thought that I would be pissing people off by leaving.

Because you were riding for Perus skateboards? But you still ride for Perus…

But then I realised that I was just thinking about the whole thing fucked up…

It was Sean James (Perus manager) trying to brainwash you?

Haha, he said the same thing about you actually. When I sent him the message that I was gonna skate for FRANK, The first thing he texted was: ”Dallas been convincing…?” I was like no I just thought about it. I just realised I like both the shit you’re doing and them and why not if you’re gonna give me the opportunity then why not do both things?

You thought all the Perus homies wouldn’t like you or something?

Yeaaaa… I don’t know.

Now we’ll just quit making skateboards and just make Tea. It’ll be easier anyways maybe.

Yea making tea might be easier… Better profit in Tea and fux working for FRANK anyways.

Haha, so this question actually comes from Maria (wifey) because she knows you pretty well and she said: ”You’re not really talking too much about yourself and kinda going about each day as it comes so do you have any plans or goals or something you want to see yourself doing?”

Hmmm… I don’t really think about it like that. I don’t think that or how do I think about it? (laughs) It’s hard to think about how you think about things… Aahhhh! (Laughs) Just that it’s like I don’t know. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to do what I feel like… I don’t think… I don’t think in the future I want this or I want that… I think it’s just nice to go out everyday and everyday you can just be with nice people and now it’s nice.

Sounds alright… OK, you want to give any shout outs or thanks?

Fuck man I don’t know what I should say… It’s like once you start thanking one person it carries on and on… maybe Perus, Smash skates, FRANK YOU, Vaughan for giving me Supra shoes, just say thanks to everyone! Or maybe I should say thanks to my family… Yeah that’s good. Thanks to Grandma.