Ben Horton is a well established artist and owner of $lave Skateboards, during the course of the last few months we have been exhibiting some of his original works for sale in-store and had a chance to catch up with Mr. Horton for an interview....   -Hey Ben, how’s it going ?   Things are good.     -Working on any projects right now?   Yeah. Mostly painting and drawing stuff. I have a couple solo shows coming up, so I’ve just been building a lot of wood pieces to paint on.     -How did you enjoy your first visit to UK soil? Was that the first time you’ve shown your art work outside the US?   It was great. The people are friendly, the architecture is amazing and the pies are the best. It was all thanks to my friend Cube though. He drove me all over that place. London, Liverpool, Manchester, etc. He even took me up to Scotland. That place is mind blowing. I’d like to move there someday. But yeah, he made it all happen. I owe you one player!     -What’s the back story on knowing the Square one that is Cubic?   I met him back in 2007 when he set up a show for me at Cal’s Pharmacy in Portland, OR. It was so sick! I guess I owe him two! Shit.         -Hear you also had fun times with the wild one that is Div Adams from his jaunt over your way? Any ginger man stories suitable to share….?   Div rules. There are stories for days. But my favorite one is when we all played ‘skate’ on a slab of concrete from a torn down house, in the middle of the Southern California desert. We were camping at this spot and drinking by the fire. It’s 2 or 3 in the morning and pitch black. Someone starts skating on the slab and everyone gets hyped. We all get out head lamps or flashlights to help him out. It turned into a game of skate and chaos. Everyone skating and chasing fools around with lights, slamming and shit. Hilarious. Anyway, it came down to Danny Dicola vs. Div. I was chasing them around with a speaker so they could listen to jams while they skated. Dicola’s shoe blew out I think, so Frecks hooked him up with his shoe. I don’t even remember what the final trick was or who won. But Div did a trick and flew off the slab into the darkness and down a small hill into a shit load of garbage and random metal. It was insane. I thought he was dusted. Maybe impaled. He just got up laughing. So I guess he won. Actually, that might have been Dicola. I don’t really remember. Conhuir Lynn was there, he probably remembers more. The next day Div didn’t have any money. So he ate some random lunchmeat that had been sitting in the van for 3 days. He barfed it all up in a museum parking lot. He’s out there on the front lines, blind.     -As $lave Skateboards is a firm favorite here at The Black Sheep we’ve got to ask what’s in the works right now?   I’m working on a couple new board series’ for $lave. One series is with my friend J-hon who has been shooting photos of the team through thick and thin since the beginning. He’s the only one who has been on every $lave trip. He’s a great Dude and photographer.       -Please tell us we can look forward to another video from Slave….?   Someday, haha!     -Any future plans for more exploring of our cold and wet island?   I hope to get out there again soon. There’s so much to do and see. It’s great. Definitely one of the best places I’ve visited. The amount of history and worldwide influence from there is phenomenal.     -How much do you miss the pie, mash and gravy from Pieminster?   Damn, so much. Seriously. Those things are too good.     -Any final words of wisdom you’d care to share?   I don’t have anything wise to say. Just thanks for the support and hanging my art up in the shop. I’m grateful for that.     Check out more from $lave skateboards and Ben Horton artwork.   Sit back and enjoy the goodness from $lave Skateboards - Danny Dicola 'Trying to Relax'... http://www.viddler.com/v/e5ef9c1e