Tom Barthélémy – 8 LEFT
It’s lunchtime, I meet Tom Barthelemy in Biarritz at a typical Beaurivage restaurant. The 23-year-old young man arrives from the physiotherapist in his battered Clio. I explain today’s mission to him: carrying out his interview for Free. We order two pints, one roast Camembert, one rare prime rib and off we go.
– Vincent Auque
Vincent Auque: You are still pretty unknown in the European skate scene; can you introduce yourself?
Tom Barthelemy: My name is Tom Barthelemy and I come from the Basque Coast. I was born in Bayonne. My mother had a surf school in Anglet so I grew up on the beach and spent a lot of time in the water from a very young age – I surfed my first wave alone at four years old with armbands. Skateboarding also came into the picture quite early as we’d find ourselves at the Barreskatepark, on the edge of the beach, whenever there weren’t any waves.
VA: What was the Barre skatepark like back then?
TB: Ah man it was pretty shit, haha. Like there were just four metal obstacles and a funbox… But then FISE started organising a contest there every summer and spruced up the park a bit. I think one year they even left an obstacle. There was also the Nike Roundhouse pop-up skatepark, which had a massive impact on us. Ishod Wair and a bunch of pros came for that and it really motivated me, Hugo (Westrelin), Tim (Debauché) and the boys.
Ollie, Lasarte-Oria, Spain. Photo: Clément Le Gall.
VA: Have you always surfed and skated or would one sometimes take over a bit?
TB: Yeah I’ve always done both. When I was 13 or 14 my mother stopped her surf school so my father signed me up to Anglet’s Surf Club. I was part of this “comp” group managed by this famous French surfer called Romain Laulhé, so I was getting pushed a bit with that stuff. We took part in local, then regional and sometimes even national competitions. It was super fun, not too “try hard” or anything… We also filmed free surf clips… Then as I grew up I slowly found myself surfing a bit less… There were more and more people in the water and the energy out there had drastically changed. At one point, I realised that I actually wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I needed surfing to forget about my problems, to find myself alone and clear my head… But it wasn’t working. Instead I’d come out of the water pissed off. That’s when I properly found skateboarding.
The roasted Camembert is served and we order two glasses of Rioja. The conversation resumes as we dip our bread croutons into melted cheese and take generous sips of Spanish wine to remain appropriately hydrated.
TB: Around that time I skated alone a lot, in the streets, in parking lots, on flat, whatever. It did me a lot of good! I found and felt what I’d cherished about surfing, and it somewhat restored a sense of balance in my life.
VA: Do a lot of people around you still do both?
TB: You know what, not really, which is kind of gutting… I’d like to say Tim Debauché and Hugo Westrelin do because when they were little they also surfed but they don’t surf that much anymore to be honest. I always have this image of Hugo, by my side but in reality, they pivoted to skateboarding quite early on and I stayed surfing a little longer. Probably because my father also surfed and we took some cool trips together around it. Like whenever my dad really wanted to surf certain places or certain waves and could afford it he’d take me with him… I felt really lucky to experience that.
So yeah, I was a little less involved in skateboarding to begin with but when I really got into it, Tim and Hugo were both there for me. We reconnected naturally and that was a huge boost. They had already started to evolve and become a part of the skateboarding world a bit so it took a few years for things to balance out, but I always had this thing of being able to disconnect my brain on big spots and I was hungry, so we still managed to hype each other up and that made me so happy. Then I got on Volcom and a little later on Wallstreet… I was so gassed!
Taildrop, Bordeaux. Photo: Clémént Le Gall.
VA: If I’d asked a younger you what you wanted to do when you grow up what would you have told me?
TB: At around the age of 10 I discovered Lords of Dogtown with Jay Adams, Tony Alva and all that and I became a fan of Jay Adams! The skating, the surfing and the heshness… These guys would skate pools in people’s houses just for the thrill of it, it was awesome. I reckon even at 10 I was already dreaming about making skateboarding or surfing videos, or both at the same time. I would really like to work on a part with both one day.
VA: Was the trip we did together to Lyon in 2023, for the Slappy Challenge, your first skate trip?
TB: Yeah! And it was mega-inspiring… I was able to meet all the guys from Lyon, the vibe was nuts, proper street! Matisse Banc blew my mind, he’s the best, and then there were also the guys from Antiz, from Wallstreet Lyon… It was super motivating.
VA: And it resulted in you getting the cover of Sugar 222 (December 2023)! Do you want to talk about that?
TB: Yeah I mean it was mental. We had already done a little tour of the city and as we were going through HDV to go to another spot we noticed a crew of skaters with a photographer and all that at the gap to rail. We soon realised that it was Deedz, Eetu… A bunch of absolute beasts basically! So we go over to look at it with Lucien Gourdal, and not even knowing what Deedz wanted to try, Lucien was like, “You’re grinding this thing!”, so I get all hyped and tell myself fuck it I’m down! We stay a little longer to watch a few of Deedz’s first gap-to- boardslide attempts then we go find the rest of the crew who had already left for the other spot. From that moment on I can’t stop as a little kid, with epic wave in front of some us, thinking about the trick, like endlessly visualising it in my head. I even went to bed early to be on point for it the next day. So then the next day we went there around noon and I was stressing so much but it worked out in six tries! But yeah, with each try I was under so much pressure, I knew that it could go really wrong so I couldn’t allow myself to do too many. I was so stoked. Doobie even called me to tell me that someone had to do it, haha, I was so gassed.
Ollie to frontside wallride, San Sebastian.
VA: And since you’ve gone on other skate trips right?
TB: Yeah, there was a tour with Roberto Alemañ, the Volcom Euro TM, and the
European team in Cadiz. I met some epic dudes: Harry Lintell, Victor Pellegrin, Eniz Fazliov… All these next level skaters! The pressure was real, haha.
In fact, on the first day, I kind of blew it, haha. Basically, after we picked up part of the crew in Madrid with Christian (Vankelst) the tour’s filmer, we still had an 8-hour drive to get to Cadiz… Everyone was speaking English and there were some pretty thick accents (Rob Pace, Harry Lintell) in the mix so it was a little tricky for me to follow… I knew I had to try to get involved despite the nerves, but I accidentally ended up drinking way too many beers. By the time we got to Cadiz and I was getting introduced to Roberto and the rest of the crew and I was fucking wasted. To the point where I actually had to slip away and throw up in the garden without saying anything to anyone, haha. Don’t know if it was the motion sickness from the long drive or the pressure or what… But luckily I don’t think anyone clocked. Or maybe they did but they acted as if they hadn’t seen? Who knows…
But coming back to the tour itself: it was an incredible experience. I’m not super happy with how I
skated but I learnt so much from watching them and how they approach spots, it was crazy. Plus I got my first photo in Free with that wallride, which I was super hyped on… So yeah, great memories.
The waitress makes room on our bistro table and then brings a wooden board with beef ribs for two, accompanied by fries and salad. We have another glass of wine to continue our conversation.
Early grab roll-in, Irun, Spain. Photo: Clément Le Gall.
TB: Aside from that, at the moment at home we are filming with Killian Levifve from Saint-Jean-de- Luz. He has a P2 and he is always down to film. It’s kind of thanks to him that everyone is so motivated at the moment. We go on missions for the day, and on weekends we explore all these Spanish suburbs between Irun and San Sebastian… There are lots of little towns around there so we mainly skate spots that have never really been touched. We have all the gear: lacquer, rub bricks, wax, we can do up a lot of spots. The idea is to prepare a big video for this summer or the end of summer.
VA: Can you tell us a bit about your day-to-day?
TB: I love starting the day with a walk alone in the forest, it really puts me in a good mood. Otherwise stretching, yoga, meditation… Without necessarily forcing myself to do it… More just like when I think about it I do it and it makes me feel good. I am also lucky to have my mother who is into Reiki, a type of healing by energy transfer. It’s a bit of a mystical one and you can choose to believe it or not, but it has really helped me.
Then there’s also all the odd jobs and temp work I do. The last one I did was great: I worked for a kindergarten! It absolutely destroyed me haha! They yell all day! Feel like I aged overnight just from being there… I also worked on a bunch of construction sites, and some renovations with my father too. It rinses your back but hey, it is what it is… I also did some shoots for Volcom and sometimes I’m washing dishes in my father-in-law’s restaurant. I actually do quite a lot of things to be able to get by financially and skate the rest of the time.
Frontside nosegrind revert, Bordeaux. Photo: Tom Barthélémy.
VA: I like to call you the park warden, do you want to talk about that?
TB: Yeah sure. Well whenever I can, I come to the Volcom headquarters to cruise the skatepark. It’s actually so sick that they trusted me like that and gave me the keys. It’s sometimes like eight of us, all just skating the park, playing ping pong, drinking
beers… It’s a great spot. It really brings us together. We’re there a lot, especially in winter when it rains maybe three days a week, so we’ll just meet there after work… We also filmed a mini project for Volcom there with Simon Bannerot and Lucien Gourdal, it’s called HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE.
That being said, I do try to get out of town whenever I can, whether it’s Bordeaux or Paris… I have lots of friends who kindly hook me up with places to stay. I try to manage my time and money as best I can even though I’m still young.
VA: And surfing is still part of your daily life?
TB: Of course! I mean my mother surfed when she was pregnant with me and my father still calls me to go surfing regularly so I don’t think that will change anytime soon. We still manage to plan some fun sessions where it’s not too hectic in the water and I always enjoy it!
We finish the meal with an Irish coffee, Tom goes out to smoke a cigarette under the roller shutter of the restaurant terrace. It’s 2:30 p.m., it’s raining in Biarritz and the interview is over.
Frontside 50-50, San Sebastian. Photo: Clément Le Gall.
