No Comply: In Loving Memory
Paperhouse Magazine x Kudzu jelly Memorial for a Beloved Louisville Event
Boycaught, Photo by El Bruner
“This year’s No Comply was the most hectic yet,” said my friend Robert Lampton. Looking back just a day later, I’d have to agree.
Over the last five years, No Comply has built a reputation on five guiding principles: unorthodox spaces, pay-what-you-can entry, a DIY ethos, all-ages access, and a spotlight on local artists. It’s those principles that turned this gathering into an annual third space for Louisville and an event that manages to transcend subcultural stratification. Not just for skaters, No Comply brought together a temporary community of people from different backgrounds and with widely different interests.
This year’s chaos kicked off with a skate competition where obstacles included a jam ramp resembling a melting building and a Miata sawed in half with a sheet of metal perched as a quarter pipe. Artist and skater Matthew McDole fueled the competition by tossing out dollar bills for best tricks (and sometimes for the worst slams), while a free skateboard went to the first brave soul who cleared a picnic table.
DJ Sotek kept the energy high, blasting music as skaters and spectators crowded the makeshift course. For those who needed fuel, food trucks behind the halfpipe served up much-needed slices of pizza and tacos. Meanwhile, near a row of porta potties, a spontaneous jousting match erupted, where attendees donning helmets climbed into shopping carts and lunged at each other with improvised lances.
As night fell, the chaos shifted into sound. The stage lineup stacked the evening with local heavy-hitters: Pravus Warlord, Narco, Boycaught, Mean Muggd, L.I.P.S., Hoosier, Kuda Baby, Jettbaby Dada, Coachcam, and Shrudd. But of course, a funeral is not a funeral without rain, and for one minute that night, it did rain.
The event exits the scene the same way it lived—loud, unpredictable, and unifying. It will leave behind a legacy of community memories and an inspirational model for what a true third space can be: a place where everyone, regardless of background or money in their pocket could show up, take part, and find space in Louisville’s alternative community.
No Comply may be in retirement, but its spirit will keep moving through the city in the people who built it and the crowds who gathered for it. Thank you to each and every one of the organizers and for everyone who helped make it possible.
- Josie Seymour, Paperhouse Magazine
What was your favorite skate obstacle at No Comply?
Matthew McDole: “The building, I love the building. Not because I painted it, but because it’s just really cool design.”
What does No Comply inspire you to do?
Abi: “No Comply inspires me to get a tattoo.”
How many No Complies have you been to?
Robert (left): “That was my second one, I’ve been to the first and last one. First one was pretty sick, but the last one was hectic. I loved it.”
How many No Complies have you been to?
Emma (right): “This is my second one, and this is her first one.”
Who are you most excited to see perform?
Both: “Hmm, probably Shrudd.”
What does No Comply inspire you to do?
George: “Come out and do art.
How many No Complies have you been to?
Zach: “Dude, all of them now!”
How does being at No Comply make you feel?
Zach: “Happy! Anything else done here at the skatepark isn’t like this.”
How many No Complies have you been to?
Wayne: “None, unfortunately. For sure none.”
How many No Complies have you been to?
Makayla: “All of them!”
What are you going to miss most about No Comply?
Makayla: “I’m going to miss the community, the food, and the music. And the costumes.”
Forty screws or forty marbles, how many could you eat?
Elijah: “I’d eat 40 screws before I’d eat 40 marbles. The marbles are bigger, dude.”
All photographs by Josie Seymour unless otherwise noted.
