David Slade has gone on quite the journey in this lifetime, I think the first time I ever saw his name in print was a full colour spread in a 1985 BMX Action Bike Hole Shot report in mid air sky diving next to an ejected pink Dyno bailing something high above a quarter pipe. I'd seen him before that on the BMX beat tv show…but that seemed to have not gone into my brain as deep as the Action bike pic. Un be knownst to me at that time David was one of the riders to look out for on the Freestyle contest scene in those days. Growing up in Barnsley he got deeplly into BMX in the first boom with a bunch of friends who formed their own trick team-the blue tile trick team, demoing locally in those early days of Thatchers Britain. As things began to evolve and his universes began to expand he found other riders and scenes further afield and certain creative out lets started to flow….and didn’t stop, to this day. We talk about the Blue Tile trick team, Sheffield YMCA days, early competitions, learning 540's, the PPLA, the love and influence of culture in BMX, discovering a music scene, putting on the first street jam in the UK, Zine making, Damage zine and clothing, riding for GT, shooting pics with Windy Osbourne for Freestylin magazine, Ninja scooters, couch surfing in London, getting chased by cops, making one of the first BMX videos in the UK-‘Smart people in a car crash’ Where he went from there, directing music videos, TV shows and movies...Right up to what he is up to now and how BMX shaped his future…. Key figures mentioned: Shaun Allison, Jason Ellis, Sid Warren Sidall, Cow-Mike Rose, Andy Brown, James Hudson, Mick Hudson, Craig Campbell, Dave Curry, Tim March, Andy Ruffell, Darren Whitfield, Martin Bernstein, Lee Brown, Anthony Christian, Stu Horner, Mat Hoffman, Nick Phillip, Ron Wilkerson, Zach Shaw, Simon Tabron, Ross Marshall, Mark Noble Jess Dyrenforth, Aju Bubu, Lee Reynolds, Eddie Fiola, Jon Taylor, John Povah, Rob Varney, Richard Darlow, Jason Bacon, Damon Nicholls, Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther, Spike Jonze, Ged Wells, TLB, Andy Jenkins