Why are you in such a hurry to get
married and have children?
What? Now I'm supposed to say, "No, I'm
not." I just think it's stupid to rush into those
things. You have to live life a while. Maybe it's
good for other people, but it's definitely not for
me. One day, maybe, but not any time soon.
What's your strategy for surviving during
unpleasant touring conditions?
A good set of headphones. That is the key to
touring. You need to be able to shut yourself off
from what's going on in the van, and the only
way to do it is with a good set of headphones
and a lot of tapes.
What's better about Australia?
There are a hell of a lot more skateparks,
obviously. Other than that, it's more laid back.
America is all hustle and bustle.
Who have you especially admired in
skating?
Back in the day, it was always Jason Jessee-
and Hosoi and all those guys, but mostly Jason
Jessee. I liked his style. He had a super rad,
flowing style. In those days, vert was the shit
and I was heaps into vert. I just thought he
be able to comprehend. They were what you
would call white trash.
What do you call them?
We call them yabos. Looking back on it, I
don't know how I did it. I don't how I worked in
those places. I'm kind of glad I did, though. It
taught me values. I definitely don't believe in
getting things for free. It showed me how the
other half lives and what it means to really work
for a living.
I've noticed some of the kids using
Australian expressions. What exactly does
"gam" mean?
Gam is not good. If you're called gam or the
word gam is used in reference to you, it's prob-
ably not good.
What's a goose?
You know what a goose is. If someone calls
you a goose, that's probably not good either.
What are some other words they've
appropriated?
I forget. I'm kind of out of practice. It's
good, though. It's like having a secret lan-
guage, especially when all the Aussie mates.
are visiting.
Have you ever had an unpleasant meeting
with a skate fan?
No, never. I mean, I've had kids say stupid
things, but never an unpleasant situation.
What do kids want to talk about?
How they want my board. They don't want
me. They want my board. And I don't give it to
them either.
What makes you uncomfortable?
You mean besides interviews? People make
me uncomfortable-being in crowds and
around strange people.
Do you have any career aspirations?
I know what I'm going to be doing in my
spare time, but I'm not really thinking about
that right now.
Are you good at anything besides skating?
No, nothing. Well, I surf, you know. I like
to surf.
Are there high occurrences of skin cancer
in Australia?
Yeah. There's a hole in the ozone layer right
above the continent. You ask anybody-the sun
is brutal out there. Bartie and I are strong con-
tenders for skin cancer later in life.
"MY WALLET WAS GONE, WITH THE 500 BUCKS,
AND I HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAD HAPPENED"
made all the tricks look the best, and that's
what's really important.
What was your favorite trick to do
on vert?
Frontside 5-0s and method airs to fakie. I just
wanted to do whatever Jason Jessee did, so I
did 5-0s to fakie and all that.
Why did you skate vert?
I don't know-vert's just fun. To me, one
of the most fun parts of skating is mini-
ramp. You can have lots of fun, genuine.
times skating mini-ramp. Vert was just the
next step after mini-ramp. At the time, if
you looked in the magazines, they were 90%
vert. Now it's exactly the opposite.
Did you ever think, "Oh shit, I'd better
start street skating"?
No, it was never like that. For us, skating was
skating, and we skated everything-whatever
we could get our hands on. I definitely wanted
to get good at vert, but it came down to access.
Where I lived, it got harder to track down a
good vert ramp, so we just started to skate
other things.
What was the best trick you ever did?
Probably backside sugarcane grinds. I could
never land 540's, though.
Are there spots in Australia you miss?
Definitely. There are spots that I like to go
back to when I'm at home. I like to go to the
ramp I grew up skating. It just gives you a
good feeling to skate stuff you skated when
you were a grom.
Have you ever worked in a factory?
I worked in a cabinet-making factory for a
while and then in a window factory. It was the
worst. The guys I worked with, you would not
What is the most frustrating thing about
having very few responsibilities?
Coming up with things to do. Basically the
only thing I have to do, the only responsibility I
have, is skating, which isn't really even a
responsibility. I mean, if you're not skating,
what are you going to do?
What do you do in your off time?
Shit, I don't know. Stare at the wall. Watch TV,
read a book.
You read?
It goes in spurts. Sometimes I'll get into it and
then other times I won't read a book for six
months or a year.
Do any books stand out for you?
I liked that book Women by Charles
Bukowski. That was a really good one. I like
to read things that I can relate to, and at the
time, that was something I could really
relate to.
Are booze and women truly man's ruin?
Definitely. Definitely.
Has anything crazy ever happened to you
when you drank a bunch of booze?
All sorts of things have happened. This
isn't much of a story, but one time I was in
Oz and I was out partying. I had gotten paid
and I had a wallet full of cash. One minute
I'm in the bar, having a good time, and then
the next minute I was in a chair in a laundro-
mat. I woke up when a radio turned on. Of
course my wallet was gone, with the 500
bucks, and I had no idea what had happened.
The laundromat was two blocks away from
where I was staying.
What are your favorite movies?
The Mad Max trilogy. The Big Lebowski.
What's an ideal professional skate-
boarding career?
Basically skate as hard as you can until
you feel as though you're done and then get
out. Come out with the strongest video
parts you can and try not to milk it when the
time is done.
So, is this a comeback?
I guess you could say that. For a while there,
I came off track for a little bit. I didn't really
take skating seriously. With my whole injury
thing, I just sat around and partied with my
friends and drank a whole lot. One day would
blend into the next and months would go by
and I hadn't done anything. It went on for a
while. I just figured if I couldn't skate, I might
as well go out drinking. I slowed down a little
bit to film my part in Misled Youth and then I
reinjured myself and it started up again. Then
one day my ankle started to get better and I
had to start working on projects and I just
realized, "Hey, I've been drinking way too
much." It was really starting to affect my
skating. Before that, I had never really taken
a step back and thought to myself, "I really
need to cut this out and see how far I can take
my skating if I stop." At first, I stopped drinking
altogether, but then I learned to take it a little
more slowly and have maybe a couple beers
instead of getting drunk. Then it got to where
it was a couple beers a couple of times a
week. I would just chill out and do other
things. If you want to call it a comeback,
that's basically how I got myself back on
track. I started taking my skating seriously
and I showed myself, "Hey, I can do it again."
And it worked out.
68 THRASHER
Tall tailslide to fakie
on a precarious
wooden Hubba.