Can you talk about how you’ve adapted to your new change of pace in Bristol and how it compares to living back home up north and in London?
I came here from London, because the pace over there is so hectic and I was living on the edge, while my wife was in central. So I was there a lot and really enjoyed how much was happening and how you could do something every night. I was already used to the slower lifestyle [of Bristol], being from Leeds.
We were looking to buy in London at the time, and it’s obviously very expensive there, so weren’t too keen on it. We ended up coming to Bristol for my birthday weekend in 2019 and just loved it straight away. Bristol is kind of a perfect cross between the lifestyle of Leeds and London, because it’s a bit of a slower pace, but still loads of gigs and acts that play here. There are also a lot of great artists from here, like Banksy. So there’s one of the densest concentration of creative people here than anywhere else in the country I’d say.
Aardman’s here, who created Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit. So there is a great animation heritage as well. It seems like every creative person I’ve met here has worked at Aardmans at some capacity, who have really interesting insight into that level of stop-motion animation.
You’re also not too far from the ocean, not too far from Wales and if you want to go back to London, it’s only an hour-and-a-half. We’re going to be here for the long run.
What would be the dream project or collaboration?
I’ve got a few of those. I’d love to do more music videos, like a Lil Wayne video, because I’ve always loved him since I was a kid. I just think his persona, look and everything would make for a crazy claymation video. He’s also always had this sort of alien sound. Or 50 Cent, just people I’ve love as a kid and I think I could do something good with those as well — something quite different to what they’ve already had done in the past.
Commercial-wise, I think I could do a good Stüssy advert. I think their brand ethos, I could do something good with it.
All artwork by Will Child for Hypeart. Photos by Shawn Ghassemitari.
