Photographer Paul Calver has come a long way from shooting photos of skateboarders in East Anglia, he’s now doing work for Rapha, Red Bull, Audi and Huck to name a few. A recent favourite has been his work for cycling clothing company Rapha during the Cents Cols Challenge, there are some breathtaking scenic shots in the series for them.

Have a look at his website and blog for more of his work.

The Barlights play the Norwich Arts Centre on Friday 3rd September to launch their new album “You Cannot Choose The Roads That Take You Home” their follow up to their debut ”If It Wasn’t For The Light, The Dark Would Have Killed Us”. Support comes from last year’s Next Big Thing runners-up Alloy Ark and special guests The Vegas Fame Index.

You can get tickets from the UEA ticket bookings website.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the work of Ipswich-centric gig photographer Jenny O’Neill for a while now. She has an excellent eye for timing at gigs, and been fortunate enough to photograph some great bands from little known Ipswich artists to festival headliners for the BBC, IpArt, EADT and Evening Star amongst others. Her photos never disappoint, go check out her flickr or her website for more treats.

For whatever reason I never got around to shooting some photos and putting together a little article about Lowestoft Skatepark, in Normanston Park. It’s been open since October 2009 and it well worn in by now. There’s a competition and jam on Sunday 29th August being organised by Smash Skates and Park East, so let the photos and video below whet your appetite for Sunday.

Ethan Dale - Tailslide

Glen Cone - Nollie 5-0 Shove It

How to get to Lowestoft Skatepark:

If coming by train from Norwich get off at Oulton Broad North and walk along Normanston Drive, which leads right to the skatepark. If you are coming from Ipswich get off at Lowestoft, follow Denmark Road then Peto Way from the station.

If driving by car use postcode NR32 2QB in your sat-nav or phone.

The Olympians (previously Hair Traffic Control) play the Norwich Arts Centre on Monday, with Foreign Office, Tortoise Family Connections and The Neutrinos (acoustic), all for only a fiver. Tickets from the Arts Centre website

We snagged a quick interview with them, ahead of the gig.

So first question, how long have you guys been together as a band now?

About three years in various shapes and forms. Some forms noticeably better than others, most shapes indistinguishable from one another, especially in the dark or after a drink or two. As Olympians, since March.

What caused the decision to change the name from Hair Traffic Control?

I think the real question there is ‘What on earth caused the decision to call ourselves Hair Traffic Control in the first place?’ We got sick of people thinking we were a comedy band basically.

What or who were your influences and inspiration in the beginning for you guys?

Genesis (the event, not the band)

We listened to a lot of mathy technical bands when we started out, and tried to fit as many notes in as possible. Stuff like Don Cab or Faraquet which is very much techy sections stitched together fairly loosely with little regard for ‘songs’, as such.

Have they changed much since then and have you picked more?

It’s much more about Genesis the band now. Seriously. I think what’s very different with the approach now is that we listen to a lot more varied stuff (drone stuff like Emeralds, folksy harmony stuff like CSNY, dancable stuff like Talking Heads and much more arrangement-centric stuff like Adem and Tunng) and try to incorporate ideas like that, as well as the guitar-based stuff, into actual song structures. So I guess it’s still about cramming stuff in, just with a wider variety of ingredients.

What was it like getting through to the Next Big Thing final back when you were Hair Traffic Control?

“It was a wonderful opportunity blah blah blah…”

It was quite fun really, we played a couple of fun gigs and one was in the LCR which was quite nice having grown up going to gigs there. Sounds like a standard losers response, but we tried not to get too wrapped up in the whole thing, so in our own way we won just by taking part.

Taking part and getting brain meltingly drunk.

What’s next for Olympians?

Immediately, we’re on the way to Harlow to rock out hard. On Monday we’re headlining Norwich Arts Centre with the remarkable Foreign Office. After that, we’re putting our song ‘Foreign Language’ out as a single and then releasing an EP we recorded last month with the ever-excellent Dave Pye. We’re also doing some dates across the country with our friends in Our Lost Infantry (excellent band, listen immediately) in October, as well as writing a new EP, which will be a four-song concept record about a group of tiny submarines searching for intelligent life in a bottle of home-brewed cider. Probably.

Recently stumbled across some of Rekha’s beautiful photos on Flickr, well mostly beautiful except this one which is a little scary. She’s a NUCA (or NSAD if you’re old school) graduate, has had work used by Tim Minchin on the cover of Single “Drowned” and also won a few awards including the New Blood award at D&AD. Rekha’s website is in progress but will no doubt be worth a look once it’s done.

Josh Buck Bluntslide

Thursday night was spent at Norwich Skatepark getting bitten by flies and also a little roll around on a skateboard too. Also testing out my new Sigma DP1 camera, which the above photo was taken with, visit my flickr for more photos taken with it recently.

Oh and have a look at the video below of Josh Buck and Will Peck.

Adam Howe - Nosegrind

Despite being open and skateable for several weeks now, the Norwich Skatepark had it’s official opening on 24th July, with a skate jam, demo and competition. The demos came from a mix of Shiner and Death team riders. Also a multi age group competition organised by Drugstore Skateboarding.

The day saw a decent turn and black clouds that passed by without any rain, so plenty of skating went down. Below are a load of photos from the day and a little clip of a few people skating the bowl.

Chris Yeomans - Nollie Front Boardslide

Paul Roe - Front Feeble

Adam Howe - 360 Flip

Dave Davies - Backside Smith

Paul Roe - Mayday

The above doodles by Sam at Drug Store should explain everything, but if not it’s the Eaton Skatepark Grand Opening on Saturday 24th July. It should be a swell day for roller planking.

PS Sunday 25th July is the BMX day organised by Revolutionz too

Went down Norwich skatepark tonight and managed to get the park almost to myself, I think it was down to the kids on sikes watching the World Cup semi final, maybe. Anyway shot the above little panorama (Click it to see it a bit larger) using my new phone, also filmed a little trick with Josh Buck.

If you are not fussed by the world cup final, head down the skatepark, it might just be empty on Sunday.