Harry Lintell: In(ternational) Progress

Today’s professional skateboarders no longer have to give up their home comforts and move to the industry’s main cities to “make it”. Take Harry Lintell. Based in northern England and pro for Real Skateboards, he enjoys spending time between his home of Manchester and the hills of San Francisco to visit the DLX crew. For Closer #10 we took a look into the internationally connected world of modern skateboarding careers and publishing. We spoke to Lintell as well as those showcased his rise (and continue shine the spotlight on him) from the likes of Free Skate Mag, Vague Skate Mag, The Skateboarder’s Companion and Sidewalk Magazine alumni.

Harry Lintell | Ollie | Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK | Reece Leung

STORY BY FARRAN GOLDING
PHOTOGRAPHY BY REECE LEUNG

Harry Lintell’s skateboarding career begins with ninety seconds of footage that Ben Powell, former editor-in-chief of Sidewalk Magazine, calls “The worst compressed video file I’ve ever seen.” Ryan Gray, former assistant editor of Sidewalk, corroborates this. “It looked like it was filmed on a Game Boy,” says Gray.

Lintell came to their attention as a result of a DVS Shoes ‘Hook Me Up’ competition held in collaboration with Sidewalk. His entry is impressive for various reasons — he skates things that are big, does things that are tech, and rips badly made skateparks — and it notably contains two switch kickflips down the mammoth London Bridge ten-stair. The first is filmed out of focus and barely legible but overall he does one more switch kickflip than even child-prodigy Nick Jensen put down the same staircase in the seminal British video First Broadcast. For impact-heavy skateboarding, getting separate fisheye and long-lens angles of tricks usually requires two cameras. “To Harry, that meant just doing it twice,” says Gray. “It’s a good indication of his innocence and how easy skating was and is for him.”

Harry Lintell | San Francisco, USA | Gabe Morford

As a toddler Lintell’s father worked as an engineer so the family moved to Texas, eventually returning to England when he was 12. “I considered myself American, because I didn’t remember England, but I adapted pretty quickly. I see myself as English now but when I go to America people say ‘You don’t sound English?’ and here it’s ‘Why do you sound funny?’”, says Lintell. “I don’t have anywhere, dude. I’m this middleman,” he adds with a laugh.

He started skating in Ashford, a small southeastern coastal town. After his winning ‘Hook Me Up’ entry went online in 2008, Lintell came to the attention of Black Sheep, his longterm shop sponsor in Manchester who were a distribution company under a different name and owned an indoor skatepark back then. Promptly picking up a Yellow Pages they contacted the skate shop in Ashford, enquired about Lintell and left a message for him to the effect of: “Come to Manchester, we want to sponsor you.” Hitting it off immediately after visiting them up north, his trips to Manchester became more regular leading to in-person introductions to Powell and Gray during the genesis of what would be Sidewalk’s 2011 video, In Progress, and becoming involved enabled him to see more of the UK.

“It was eye-opening. I hadn’t travelled much before that. Seeing different cities with Rye and crew, getting out filming and street skating even on wet days and the depths of winter, I was taken back how productive and driven people were,” says Lintell. His closing part for In Progress is soundtracked by a ballad, “Desire” by Anna Calvi, and its bellowing heft equals the calibre of skating throughout Lintell’s curtain call. “I remember the premiere and Rye had picked the music. At the time, I was like ‘What am I skating to?’ but it grew on me,” says Lintell. “They really did me justice and I was grateful for that.”

Harry Lintell in Sidewalk Magazine‘s In Progress | 2011 | Ryan Gray, Ben Powell, Kevin Parrott

In Progress was perhaps the second of three “breakout” moments in Lintell’s trajectory, the next came a few years down the line after meeting the GX1000 crew when he lived in London. They invited him to visit them in San Francisco which felt like the first olive branch he’d been extended from the States despite numerous trips there with sponsors over the years. With Jim Thiebaud’s blessing he was flow for Real Skateboards through their UK distributor but his appearance in San Francisco positioned Lintell on DLX’s radar. Meanwhile, his emerging screen presence in Spitfire’s ‘Arson Department’ series created a feeling of collective pride and positive speculation for those in the UK who were seeing Lintell on the world stage. It appeared as if he was on the cusp of “making it” in America. Fast forward to 2021 and an everyday visit to Black Sheep actually meant walking into a surprise party where he was handed his first pro board.

“I see myself as English now but when I go to America people say ‘You don’t sound English?’ and here it’s ‘Why do you sound funny?’”

Harry Lintell on wandering accents

Endearingly, even since turning pro, Lintell’s output is as prominent in Manchester’s scene videos as it is projects for his sponsors. “I try to get out skating as much as I can so you end up around people who are filming. It’s natural to try something which makes it into a local video so it’s easy for me to be a part of the scene here,” he says. 

Looked at retrospectively, Lintell’s transatlantic youth almost foreshadows his working life today. But what distinguishes him from the decades of British predecessors who “made it” within the American skate industry, to varying degrees, is that he’s accomplished it whilst maintaining a comfortable life not only in England but also whilst rooted in Manchester (when much of the industry’s gaze is still cast on London). His story is a case study of how the globalisation of skate culture has resulted in positive paradigm shifts around  sponsorship and media. Skaters can become recognised from a greater variety of places and being printed in the pages of publications beyond their home country is no longer a novelty.

With that in mind, I spoke with our friends in the magazine business who witnessed Lintell’s rise through the ranks to get their perspective on his career path and what it says about contemporary skateboarding media’s international relations.

Harry Lintell | Bigspin frontside boardslide | Manchester, UK | Reece Leung

Will Harmon

Editor and co-founder, Free Skate Mag

Although I was born in London, I moved to the United States aged three. I grew up and started skating in North Carolina, and Curtis McCann would have probably been the first British skater I saw. [Ed. note— McCann was the first British skater with a “street” pro model on an American board brand, however the history of British skaters with American sponsors dates back to the 1970s.] He was from London and rode for Underworld Element, which became Element, and he was in Skypager [1993]. Maybe I had seen British skating before but Curtis stuck in my mind as this guy who is really good but so happens to not live in California.

The first 411VM [’93] had a London ‘Metrospective’ with Tom Penny, Mike Manzoori and Winstan Whitter and it got the gears turning in my head. When I was young, the main thing was to go to California, that was what you strove for, and it didn’t even occur to me until later on to go to another country. But there were so many people from all over the world trying to go to California, that was the place then, and is actually where I first met British skateboarders.

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By the time I moved in 2007 I knew London fairly well because I’d visited so many times. It was more eye-opening on my first visit in 2001. I learned about distributor flow as Paul Shier and Colin Kennedy were riding for DC but I don’t know if people in the States knew that. It’s such a common thing for UK skaters but coming from America I was unaware that you could do that, and even get paid for some US brands, but we wouldn’t know about those riders in the States.

I started at Kingpin Magazine in 2013 and it has been a gradual process of how the American side of the industry weighs up the significance of Europe. That started to change around 2011/’12 with the emergence of brands like Polar, Palace and Magenta. Not to say there weren’t smaller US brands but they didn’t make a global impact like the first Polar promo or those early Palace videos no matter if you were seeing them in the States or elsewhere.

Harry Lintell | Wallie | Chorlton, Greater Manchester, UK | Reece Leung

When we started Free in 2015 a big shoe brand had a video and we were basically fourth choice to get photos after Transworld, Thrasher, and The Skateboard Mag. There were so many choices for companies in the States which meant European mags were lower down the totem pole. But with so many outlets ceasing to exist — I mean, we benefited from that — but I’d like to think we were doing good stuff and that’s why we’ve survived because we’re not brilliant business minds.

In winter 2020 we released the “American Dream” issue. The idea was that skaters don’t have to go to California to make it in skating anymore but we remember when that was a necessity. Many skaters we knew, or knew of, had gone to California with mixed results. Some killed it, some found it hard. Jesus Fernandez got a little fame with Chocolate but he overstayed his visa and wasn’t able to go back for a long time. Chany Jeanguenin was interesting because he lived in America for twenty-something years and decided to move back to Switzerland. Now, although you don’t have to live there, I think you have to show face like Harry Lintell and Hermann Stene; they’ll spend time with the guys in S.F. and go on Real tours. Now, you see skating from people from different regions. The media landscape is so online which directly helps people no matter where they live, as long as they have an Internet connection.

It’s significant that Harry doesn’t live in London and has gotten this far. He did some time here, Cover Version [2019] was predominantly filmed in London, but he’s been in Manchester for quite some time now. He turned pro in Manchester, and he has to travel, but it’s pretty sick that he has his life where he wants to have it and he’s making it as a pro skater for an American brand. For a DLX brand at that. There are very few people [not from America] who have ridden for DLX in that way. You can count them on probably two hands. I’m stoked for him and the fact he doesn’t have to live in London, like right now he’s filming a VX part for Free in Manchester, I think it’s amazing.

Harry Lintell | 360 flip | Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK | Reece Leung

Ben Powell

Journalist, teacher and editor-in-chief of Sidewalk Magazine, 1997 – 2018

When I started out in journalism there were a lot of skaters who I, and everyone at Sidewalk, felt hadn’t had any coverage so we concentrated on the people around us in the cities we could get to. As skating got bigger more American teams were interested in coming to Britain because they’d seen Document, Sidewalk, Blueprint videos and whatnot. You got to skate with people you grew up idolising. It was cross-pollination: American teams came to Britain with American photographers and we became friends. Previously, it was hard to source that material but the more Americans who came here, and the more we went to America, you got to know people. Then you can have a sequence of Gino Iannucci in your British magazine which you’re buzzing on. 

We were proud of Harry when we finished In Progress. We liked him, he was good, and it was an opportunity for people to realise that. I knew he had the talent to go where he has the first time I saw him skate. But he was a quiet dude, he still is.

“Tom Knox has accomplished a similar career, skating the same dreary backstreets … If you’re productive, your style is amazing, and you can land stuff quickly, all of which apply to Harry, you only need to be in San Francisco for three months. “

 Ben Powell on Harry Lintell making a skateboarding career work from home

There’s a lot of pressure on you to “make it” in America and not everyone has the social battery for it. You’ve got to meet a ton of people you don’t know, sponsored skating is competitive, you need a filmer. I didn’t have any concerns that he didn’t have the ability but I think he got a lot of support from people that helped enable what he’s done because that’s a daunting prospect. It’s easy to glibly say “Go to America and make it” but the microcosmic reality of that is sleeping on someone’s floor, not having any immediate friends, and being away from your family. That was always the concern for anyone who tried to become a pro skater in America: would they be able to handle it culturally and mentally?

Tom Knox has accomplished a similar career, skating the same dreary backstreets, but in London. It’s sick that Harry makes it work in Manchester but if you’re productive, your style is amazing, and you can land stuff quickly, all of which apply to Harry, you only need to be in San Francisco for three months. You don’t need to deal with the hassle of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. You can do what you need to do then go back to your normal life.

Harry Lintell | Frontside noseslide | Salford, Greater Manchester, UK | Reece Leung

Reece Leung

Photographer and co-founder of Vague Skate Mag

Sometimes I’ll shoot a photo thinking it might be for Vague and it ends up in another mag and vice versa. Most photographers, within the magazine industry, are keen to help each other out. Regardless of how I’m shooting, I want the photo to justify the skater as best as I can. Harry Lintell is very on it. He’s so talented that he’ll get something at most of the spots you take him to. He’s been in Manchester for years now but he’s still finding new gems.

When Guy Jones and I started Vague in 2017, the ethos was in the name. We’ve always wanted to feature what we like and didn’t want to have any restrictions around where that should be from location-wise. We’re UK-based but years of publishing skating from all over has helped us get regular worldwide contributions. I quite like that people don’t fully know where we’re from. British skating has a good reception worldwide and we have people visiting to shoot photos and film projects from all over the world. I think a lot of visitors love the aesthetic of our spots.

Harry Lintell | Switch frontside bluntslide | Manchester, UK | Reece Leung

Ryan Gray

Videographer and editor-in-chief, The Skateboarder’s Companion and assistant editor of Sidewalk Magazine (2007 — 2018)

It seemed like Sidewalk got to a point where Andrew Horsley [co-founder, art director and designer] was buzzing because Giovanni Reda would be overnight FedExing him a sequence of Guy Mariano during his comeback around Fully Flared. I think Americans wanted to meet British media and skate the spots because it was a different experience. The questions you’re going to get asked by Transworld or Thrasher are a world apart from what you were going to get asked by Ben [Powell] in an interview. I think Americans liked the less solemn presentation of skateboarding which Sidewalk and Document gave.

What separated Harry Lintell from the guy who had won that ‘Hook Me Up’ competition the year beforehand was that the previous dude already had footage and coverage. Whereas Harry was an unknown quantity. He appeared with a minute-or-so of amazing skateboarding, filmed in terrible quality, and it was the first time anybody had seen him outside of Ashford, ever, and the footage was genuinely shocking. This was a point where we thought we had eyes everywhere and knew what was going on in every corner of the country. Then Harry appears out of nowhere. Nobody had a clue who he was or where he was from. I couldn’t even point to Ashford on a map.

“We thought [Sidewalk Magazine] had eyes everywhere and knew what was going on in every corner of the country. Then Harry Lintell appears out of nowhere. Nobody had a clue who he was or where he was from. I couldn’t even point to Ashford on a map.”

Ryan Gray on unexpected talent of Harry Lintell

Making In Progress was like an open door policy at my house. Harry would get a coach to Wakefield and we’d go filming. Looking back, when Harry is doing what are now his staple tricks, In Progress was the first time he’d done them like that. There’s a switch frontside heelflip down a stair set outside of a grammar school which is popped ridiculously high, caught ninja, and he rides off the curb with his knee bent, all steeze. Watching him get his head around tricks was like watching somebody learn a trick by doing the ultimate version of it then moving on to something else.

His In Progress part is gnarly skating done on grim spots that nobody was touching. A double kink handrail in Sheffield is extremely impressive in the context of it being done in a texturally bad country like the UK. But when you take that to America there are perfect handrails and you’re automatically competing against people who can grind a twenty-stair like it’s not a problem. There was no doubt, with Harry’s talent, he could create a pro career for himself in the States if that’s what he wanted to do. But trying to visualise it in 2011 was tricky because you didn’t know the direction he was going. So, when he didn’t go to L.A. to but did turn up in San Francisco, and instead of skating handrails he’s skating over people’s gardens and putting together downhill lines, you see that — maybe not by design — he’s been exceptionally clever in the route he’s taken.

The big difference between now and twenty years ago is that skateboarding is genuinely global. He’s still seen as being globally active whenever he puts something on Instagram. He’s put in a lot of work to get to this point. Between 2011 to 2015/’16, he’d go [to the USA] for three months at a time, sleeping on people’s couches and floors because that’s what he needed to do to get himself established in that sphere. But as soon as he was established it wasn’t a problem to reside in Manchester and then appear over there when he needs to.

“Watching him get his head around tricks was like watching somebody learn a trick by doing the ultimate version of it”

Ryan Gray on filming Harry Lintell’s breakout video part in Sidewalk Magazine‘s ‘In Progress’ (2011)

I genuinely believe that talent finds a way. He’s unassuming. His skating is phenomenal. When he’s on a trip, he’s there to skate, not to have dinner at a fancy restaurant or to be seen in some bar. If you’re a team manager, a filmer, or a photographer, then that’s the exact type of person you want on your brand. And he’s approachable. I’ve been with him when kids meet him in the street and say, “Oh my god, you’re Harry Lintell!” He’s saying “What’s up!” back to them and he’ll let them show him their clips and give them props. He’s a nice dude. It doesn’t hurt that he can skate over ten-stair handrails on command either. 

I will say though, he didn’t knock his tooth out in the intro to his In Progress part. He did it when he was a kid, riding a BMX in a wet skatepark. That clip, his board just hit him in the mouth. There’s also his parrot in that intro, Bert, who used to sing the McDonalds theme when he’d walk in the room and tell you to “fuck off”. It was quite funny.

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This story originally appeared in Closer Issue #10 under headline ‘In(ternational) Progress: Harry Lintell’.

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Favorites from the print edition of Closer

• ‘Have You Met Nelly Morville?’ — An Interview with Limosine’s Breakout Star
• Louie Lopez’s Days of Grace
• Ariana Spencer — One Rad Mom
• Topography: Wallrides with Silas Baxter-Neal
• The Long Play with Mason Silva: Early 2000s Skate Video Soundtracks
• A Static Retrospective with Josh Stewart: Part I: Starting Light — the Original Static Trilogy • Part II: Closing Doors — Static IV and V • Part III: End of the Line — Josh Stewart on Static VI
• Jason Adams: 50 Years to Life and Clear Eyed Sobriety

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