Interview by Jax Anderson, Cooper Brownlee and Frenchie.
You’ve only travelled outside of Melbourne a handful of times, what has been your favourite place so far to hit up?
I’ve been to Sydney and Canberra a couple of times now, both are really good and I enjoy them both. Both are so different from Melbourne which makes them a good time. I had high hopes for Adelaide and when we went there early last year it was 40+ degrees everyday and it sucked so I wasn’t too pumped on riding and then crashed a heap.
Where else do you want to hit up?
I would like to go Brisbane and Perth, and give ADL another chance. I also want to go to LA or New York but I don’t think that will happen any time soon so that sucks.
What are you doing for work these days?
I work at Beaurepaires as a tyre fitter. It has its ups and downs, mainly the hours are pretty gay so not much riding during the week for me anymore. I get to drive a lot of cars, some expensive ones, some awesome as fuck ones, and a heap of shit boxes too.
Talk to us about your love of rail ride’s…
Rail rides are sick! I’ve always loved seeing people do them, and I used to muck around with them on the little rails at the bowl. I think it was about two years ago we were playing a game of B.I.K.E and the boss man himself, Coop set wheels down Ringwood rail, I did it and been pumped on them ever since.
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How would you describe the Melbourne scene?
The Melbourne scene is pretty good, lots of different crews always riding and doing different stuff. Theres plenty of good spots and good parks around to ride.
What are the pros and cons of living in Melbourne?
Melbourne is awesome, its home. It’s where I grew up and where most of my good friends are. Then theres always good friends and good spots that aren’t in Melbourne which is a con. Also the weather here sucks.
What are you into doing outside of bmx? I know you are into cars quite a bit?
Yeah you could say I’m into cars, mainly European cars, but all cars are good. I mainly like Volkswagens, my first car was MK3 Golf, and now I have a MK4 GTI which is pretty good. I am also quite fond of my girlfriend Lori, she is pretty cool. Patting dogs, playing xbox and listening to metal are other things I’m interested in.
What are some of your favourite bands at the moment?
At the moment my favourite band would definitely be I Killed Everyone, been sessioning them heaps. Others would be Rings of Saturn Circle of Contempt, Cattle Decapitation and King Conquer. Then theres others like, The Acacia Strain, Thy Art Is Murder, And Hell Followed With, All Shall Perish etcccccccccccccc, to many to write down.
Best metal show you’ve been to and why?
Would have to be a toss up between two shows, Despised Icon tour with State of East London, The Red Shore and Thy Art Is Murder, was so crazy! And All Shall Perish tour with Boris the Blade and Thy Art, so good to see one of my all time favourite bands. Last year I saw The Acacia Strain play with Aversions Crown which was really awesome as well, and Whitechapel played in Melbourne late last year too and that was crazy.
You grew up at Knox Bowl yeah? Who got you interested in riding down there in the early days?
Hell yeah I did because its badass. When I was growing up the bowl was a pretty notorious place for “cool” people to hangout, I’ve seen plenty of people get the shit kicked outta them when I was younger haha. Me and my friend Nick used to ride around jumping curbs and whatnot and we started riding this old bmx track which is not the way to the bowl, and one day we were like “yeah lets go there today” and that’s pretty much when I started riding there everyday.
Give us your best Knox Bowl story…
Like I said before, i’ve seen plenty of people get beaten up and so much shit happen there its pretty hard to give one. One I always laugh at is one day some car came fangin’ down the dirt road and skidded into of the logs and broke it in half, reversed out and fanged off. Another good one is there was this old man in a Range Rover and he used to drive into the bushes and apparently take photos of kids at the bowl, then one day someone made a joke about calling the cops, nek minute there was like 6 cops cars rock up and he tried to escape and drove around the oval, but they arrested him and left his Range Rover there, then everyone went and threw rocks at it haha!
You seem to always have injuries, some of which are ongoing, what’s the worst of them at the moment?
The first was I fractured my ankle and then that gave me trouble for a while, then I dislocated my shoulder and that sucked for ages. Now I have pretty shitty back issues. My back has always been a bit annoying but nothing I ever thought was too serious, how wrong I was. So my pelvis is out of line so my lower back has to much curve in it which isn’t good for it and apparently made it weak over the years. Right now I’m doing physio to hopefully fix it for good. Fuck you back pain.
You have quite the epic beard, how long has it taken for it to get to it’s current status?
Yeah beards are good. Its way to hard to put a number on it, because I always trim it down, grow it a bit, trim it etc. Lets just say I haven’t seen my chin in a couple years. Shoutout to my girlfriend Lori for telling me to have a beard.
Favourite spot to ride on the regular and why?
This would have to be Knox Bowl or Ringwood. Grew up riding the bowl so its always fun, plus some recent grindable additions make it a bit funner. Ringwood is always good to session with the crew.
After a long time coming you finally dropped your epic Kink Video early this year, how long did you work on it and what clip worked you the most to get done?
We worked on filming it for ages, theres a couple pretty old clips in it. We didn’t have any start and finish deadline so I don’t know exactly how long, too long. I would say the wheels to 3, crashed a couple times with that. I did get worked hard on the green kinker a couple times trying other stuff as well.
You’ve got a cat but I know you’re mad keen on a dog – what would be your ideal breed to get and why?
I would love to get a dog, but dont think thats happening any time soon unless we can find somewhere to live that allows pets, if so then we are definitely getting a dog. Theres so many good breeds it will be hard to choose. I’m not into big dogs, more cute fluffy ones haha, so something like a Shih Tzu or King Charles Cavalier is what I want.
Not sure if you’ve noticed but you’ve got one of the most effortless styles going, Have you always been this way or do you feel you’ve put in work to master it?
People often tell me this, and I don’t really see it to be honest. Sometimes I will watch a clip of myself and think, ‘that looks sick and smooth’, but most the time I think it won’t look good haha. Riding is definitely not effortless for me, most the time quite the opposite. I haven’t mastered it!
You’ve been on Kink through ECI for sometime and it seems the team is starting to grow now with Boltsy and Vando being added, any team trips in the works?
We don’t have anything planned as of right now. I wanna go on a trip sometime soon though, pretty keen!
Shoutouts/ Thanks: Thanks to everyone for having a read about me talking about myself really weirdly. Big ups to mum and dad for always being mad dawgs, thanks to boss man Coop for driving everyone everywhere all the time and always being awesome, all the FP crew, Knox bowl locals, my girlfriend Lori, Gary and Dave at ECI, maybe even Andy, anyone with a beard, everyone I’m friends with and I’ve ridden with, take it easy, listen to metal and grind shit! xoxo
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