My name’s Theo,
How would you describe yourself? I’d describe myself as a chilled-out, rock, motorbike-loving barista.
How long have you been a barista? About a year now.
What was your first latte art of? A dick, haha, I’m going to be honest, it was.
What do you want out of life? I want happiness for me and my friends, I want to be content with myself, I want to find peace in myself, I don’t really care about too many things in life but I just want to be happy.
And what would make you happy? For everybody else to be happy because of me. I want to be the guy that helps people out when they need it, and if I can make other people happy then I’ll be happy, you know?
How long have you been living in Brighton? Two and a bit years, something like that.
What attracted you to Brighton? I came for university.
What did you study? I studied music technology. Then I realised it was a bit arty for me and I stopped because I thought it was a bit wayward for me. So I thought I’d get my head down and start working.
What makes Brighton unique for you? Well, it’s the place to be in England. It’s the only place, apart from Bristol. Brighton and Bristol are just the two places you need to be in England. Because it’s got the music scene, it’s got the people, it’s got the fact that I can go out wearing my leather trousers, my leather jacket, my stupid biker boots and nobody would blink an eye, nobody cares. You can be what you want to be here and nobody cares – that’s what I like about it, anyway.
Does that help you in your goal to make others happy? Absolutely, because everybody’s so embracing of other people’s ideas. I’m from Portsmouth – a very England for the English conservative type of place. I don’t have many friends there, but I’ve got such a massive friend group here that people are just so appreciative and nobody really judges you – well, there are a few people, but not many. You can do what you like and nobody blinks an eye.
Where is your favourite place around Brighton? My favourite place in Brighton is on the beach in front of the wheel, where you can see the pier and chill out, have a couple of beers and relax. Especially in the summer.
So what art direction did your university course take that put you off it? Well, the direction my course was taking was digital music and sound arts, and I wanted to do the digital music but we were doing sound installations and crazy noise music and that sort of thing. And I was like, I wanted to be sat in a recording studio for fifty hours straight just plugging away, rather than going hmm, yes, this is a conical design blah blah blah – nah.
Are you still going to pursue digital music? Oh yeah, of course, I’m in a band, I play the guitar and stuff, so I’m still doing my musicy thing.
What kind of music do you like? Mainly metal, mainly heavy stuff.
What do you get out of it? The same sort of thing that I get out of Brighton, actually. It’s because you can express yourself and nobody really cares, you can sing about anything, or scream or whatever about anything. For example, the Metallica song, I think it’s called ‘One’ – where he sings about his childhood and about how he used to see things, you couldn’t really get that in pop. You’re not going to hear Beyonce singing about how she used to have hallucinations and stuff.
Does It liberate you in a way? Yeah, you don’t tend to hear a lot of metal bearing these days, but you can see the metalheads. But I’m into everything really.
Have you done any gigs? I’ve played a couple of gigs in Portsmouth, but I haven’t had any in Brighton yet.
What does it feel like on stage? Amazing. Nothing like it, nothing like having a group of ten people, haha, all like, yes! It’s great. I like being appreciated for expressing myself, you know?
What do you think your future will be like in Brighton? I envisage I’ll be living in a five person house, because that’s all we can afford in Brighton, with all my mates doing whatever we like – because I’m in a shared house at the moment, and it’s like a family, it really is like a big old family – that’s what I envisage.
Photo and interview by Marc Kis
