Portrait: Leo Sharp.
Interview by Dane ‘Morph’ Crook with assistance from Chewy Cannon.
There’s me, Chewy (Cannon), Ash, we’re sitting on the beach at Southbank, it’s a lovely day, and this is whagwan - Ash interview, The Skateboarder’s Companion. Say something. Right, Ash…
Yo.
Let’s start this thing off how we usually start it - what’s your name and where do you come from my brother?
Chewy: “Ash, what’s your name?”
(Laughing) My name’s Ashura Parchment, originally from south London, I grew up in Walthamstow, but obviously reside in the south side of London. That’s me, mate, that’s me.
Come on.
I’m 26 in a couple of days.
Lovely. So you said you grew up in Walthamstow; is that where you first started skating?
Yeah. So when I was going to school in Walthamstow, I met a couple of the boys - Morph, Jak Pietryga, Joe Buddle, Paco - this was when The Harmony was still about and that, so I was probably about 14. Morph, funnily enough, gave me my first proper board, a Blueprint board, and I was skating with them lot for years, until I was about 18.
So what happened? Did you stop skating for a little bit?
I was on and off skating for a couple of years, but I think it was really when I came out of jail, that’s when it dawned, that I’ve got to do this thing seriously. I never really stopped; I would still go and skate, I just wouldn’t skate as often.
What was it that made you consider the skate ting as something you wanted to pursue? I’m guessing going away had something to do with that?
Going away kind of made me realise that I needed to focus more on skating, ‘cause it was the avenue which I thought was probably the best for me, than doing illegal stuff which obviously wasn’t going to benefit me in the long run.
Does it help skating with people who have also been away? I know for me it helps that there are a few people that actually understand it, because aside from the jokes stories we all tell, it’s also not the one, is it?
Yeah it does help. I feel like it’s pretty funny because the only people I know that have been away that I’m around constantly are obviously yourself and Nelly (Mayele). It’s obviously good to be able to talk with people that have been through the same experience, and somewhat reminisce on, you know, what was going on at the time. But yeah, I definitely think it helps, ‘cause I sometimes feel kinda lost, so being able to speak to someone who has been through the same situation as you kinda helps you leave yourself a bit.
Any words of wisdom for youtes who might be in the same position as you were?
I’ll just say stay in school, don’t do drugs, pursue whatever it is you enjoy doing, and don’t let up for no one.
Back of the bench frontside boardslide, Stockwell. "That's why Ash goes to Iceland".
Photo: Leo.
Chewy: How many press ups can you do?
(Laughing) 50. Straight off the bolt, yeah, I’ve got 50.
Chewy: Who’s harder - you or (Jake) Snelling?
I am. Snelling’s on, but he’s a teddy bear.
(Laughing) His bark is worse than his bite, innit?
He’s on. He knows the deal (laughs).
So who’s your crew these days? Who do you fuck with?
I don’t fuck with no one, really (laughs).
Lonesome! Out here doing my ting!
Honestly, I’m always at Southbank, so I’m with Nelly, Twiggy (Cameron Gooden), Josh Brown, Slim, all the SB locals really. Same for street skating as well, to be fair. I go out with the boys, sometimes go out by myself, try and just do things myself instead of clocking a crew.
Chewy: When I used to skate, you’d skate with me.
Chewy’s out here like, “I used to skate” (laughs).
Chewy: I used to skate!
Oh yeah, when Chewy used to skate, I’d come down to meet Morph, meet Chewy. Funnily enough, I remember the first time I met you actually, was here. I came here to meet Morph and you were doing that line. You 5050’d something that was out there, then you done ollie from the pavement into the bank.
Yeah, I remember that line!
Yeah bro, and you gave him some shoes that day. My memory is on point! You ground some lorry, done a 5050, then you jumped from the kerb cut to the ting.
Chewy: Yeah, like I said, I used to skate. I thought I met you the first time in Walthamstow, but you probably remember better though.
I probably did meet you in Walthamstow, but not properly. It was only us three that day as well, I’m pretty sure. Then there was another time when we went to that spot outside the iMax, and I was doing ollie up, front bigspin off.
I remember that.
I’m pretty sure you two were there, I feel like Buddle was there.
Chewy: Off the ledge?
Yeah, off the marble ledge.
Chewy: Fucking hell, that’s going back some days.
That’s some years ago, man.
So this DGK ting, talk to me. What’s going on? You’re riding for DGK now?
Yeah so it all kinda happened when I done some work for Virgil (Abloh), and then obviously Virgil was doing stuff with Lucien (Clarke), and was doing stuff with Stevie (Williams) as well, then when Stevie had seen what I was doing with Virgil, he hit me up, like, “I want you to jump on”. At the time, I couldn’t, because I was doing stuff with Yes Fam, but in the end, I ended up going with DGK. They were meant to send me a package but I didn’t chase them up about it, and then I got a message from (Don) Cooley, who’s the OG out there, skates JKwon and that. He hit me up, like, “yo, did you get the package?”, so I was like, “nah I didn’t get it. I didn’t know you guys were meant to send it”. He was like, “what?”, then he sent me a package and the same week it came. The boys at Rock Solid, they knew what was going on as well, so instead of having to get the boards sent over all of the time, they hook me up with the boards here instead now. So shout out to Rock Solid, Leo (Sharp) and Wes (Morgan) and those guys. They also put on the Ace thing for me as well, which is sick.
Fifty-fifty the whole south London way. Photo: Rafal Wojnowski.
So who do you get stuff from?
DGK, Ace and Brixton’s Baddest. Come on, the OG shop. Represent, represent.
It’s only an intro innit, so it doesn’t need to be too long. You think that’s alright? Chewy, anything you want to ask?
Chewy: Skating or the gym?
What gives you better endorphins, cuz?
Ahh shit. You know what’s funny, yeah? Obviously I’ll say skating, but the gym is different, innit? You get gassed in the gym! I get gassed skating, but it’s a different type of gassed!
Wicked. Alright, cool; let’s wrap this up. Listen, is there anyone you want to shout out?
Yeah man, shout out my guy Morph obviously. Without this guy I probably wouldn’t have bloody well been skating; half of the people in London probably wouldn’t have been. Shout out to Morph, shout out to all the Walthamstow boys, obviously big Chew, shout out to Baddest and all of the mandem.
Follow Ash - @bigashcapone