Lewis Guest can be identified by more than just the bright blonde mohawk on his head – he’s arguably got the biggest pop in Coventry, and an alarming array of technical flip tricks ready to bring to any street spot you can name. Every once in a while I see him crop up on Instagram with a new, impressive trick done at one of his regular haunts, and as is the case with practically half of the folks to come out of Coventry, he’s one of those people who might not be well known, but I personally think should be. Seeing as I have a blog specifically designed to inform the world about these kinds of people I only felt it was right to introduce more people to him. – Ade
How long have you rocked a blonde mohawk?
Since 2011-ish. I used to have pretty long curly hair (halfway down my back, so pretty long, haha) but after walking home in the wind one day, I’d had enough of not being able to see, so it had to go. I couldn’t go from that to a normal cut so I ended up with this and it stuck.
How long have you been skating?
I started not long before getting my hair cut, so almost 10 years?
How did you get into skateboarding?
Back when I was at school they still did exam leave”, as in that time before your GSCE’s where you didn’t have to actually go into school, and you’d just revise from home. Naturally I ended up not revising at all and basically had a 4 month summer holiday. I asked my mate Billy Mollison what I should do to fill my time and he said “Come and skate”, and I haven’t stopped since.
Who influenced you growing up?
As in skating or generally or what? Haha.
I meant skateboarding, but it might be interesting to just hear your biggest influence in life to be fair!
My biggest influence is my dad for sure. He was a punk, he’s always known everything about everything, and has always been good at doing everything too. He got me into Taekwondo, taught me about a million different things, and between him and my mum, they’ve made me into who I am now.
Where did you learn to pop so damn high?
Hahaha, who even knows man! At the end of the day if you can jump that high you can pop that high? I think doing taekwondo for roughly 16 years has definitely helped with the coordination and movement of everything though.
What’s the highest thing you’ve tricked over?
Ollie over the benches in Coventry’s Broadgate is probably the highest. But I kickflipped over a concrete block there, and one of those red/white plastic barriers too? I’m not too sure really, I’ve done a lot of things over stuff haha.
You’ve been around Coventry for quite a while now – how has the city’s skate scene changed in the time you’ve been skating?
When I started it was terrifying. I was only 15 and this huge group of stupidly good people were always around town but everyone has always been really sound. Always felt safe and welcome rocking up to Herbert (editor’s note: Art Gallery skatespot in Cov) no matter who was there.
Now it isn’t much different, other than there are so many new younger skaters. Not just guys as well, there are loads of girls getting on it! It’s sick to see the Cov skate community growing more and more all the time.
What do you think defines the Coventry skate scene compared to other cities?
It’s definitely just how friendly everyone is, everyone is always sound. Even when you get the uni students coming and going for their courses – a lot of them still always come back to Cov to skate way after they have finished and left t.Even Malte came back and he lives in Germany!
What’s your favourite spot in Cov?
It’s gotta be Herbert. It’s where I started skating and it’s where I still skate now. It’s got a little bit of everything: decent flat, little flat gaps, ledges, the metal rail things, the bank, the bollards and the big Macba style set? I’ve probably learnt 95% of the stuff I can do there and there’s still more I’ve never done.
What did you get into first – skateboarding or playing guitar?
I’ve been playing guitar since 2006, so I’ve been doing that around 5 years more than skating. I never really pushed myself with it too much until more recently (because of lockdown and winter). There’s so much more I want to learn with both.
Who are some of your favourite guitarists?
Favourite guitarist at the minute is probably Tim Henson. The guy is a wizard and plays stuff harder than it would ever need to be just for clout. Definitely check him out on Youtube just to hear some unnecessarily wild guitar playing.
What guitar(s) do you play?
I have 5 at the moment: A nylon acoustic, a steel string electric/acoustic, a bass, a Peavey electric guitar (that was my first electric) and a Gibson too. I play the Gibson the most but I’ve been learning more on the steel acoustic recently.
Weird question, but is there any similarity between your guitar setup and your skateboard setup?
They have black on them, they both make noise and they both hurt my feelings when I get it wrong, haha.
Would you ever attach trucks to a guitar and try and skate it?
If anyone wants to donate me a guitar for it then let’s goooo!
Do you play in a band?
I’ve just joined my mates Josh Sellis and Liv Gardner to third wheel playing the bass in their band, which will be sick when we’re allowed to actually meet up to play together.
You’ve been popping up on Josh Williams’ Town Rat Crew feed, and filming some bits with him – you got a part in the works?
I’ve been trying to film for about 3 years now or something, but because of injuries, weather and work it’s been a slow process. It’s annoying because I have clips that I’m so hyped about that I can’t show anyone because I need to finish the full part. Josh Williams is fully on it to film though, and we’re getting work done so hopefully after summer it’ll be sorted!
What music would you want for a video part?
This is one of the hardest things. I don’t know if to have something chilled or something crazy or just a well-known tune. I keep listening to songs and depending on the feel of the skating I’ll try to decide which song to use.
Who has the biggest pop, you or Lucas Healey?
100% Lucas, he’s got pop dialled in. There may be the odd trick I might get higher but he’d definitely out do me on anything if he wanted to.
Anyone you want to thank?
I gotta thank Lucas first – he’s been hooking me up with his second hand skate shoes for a while now. It works out cause he’s goofy and I’m regs so we wear opposite feet a little more haha.
I gotta thank Jim at Ride for keeping me stocked with decks – he keeps an 8” Ride board stashed away for me if I’m after one. 8’s seem really rare these days.
Josh Williams too – for pushing me to actually film the stuff I want to do instead of being my normal lazy self.
And then all the local skaters, and even all the people I’ve seen on Instagram. I follow so many different accounts now and I love seeing all the varieties of skating. Everybody has that little bit of a difference in style or tricks and I just try to absorb it all, haha.
