WHERE’S LAWRY? KICKFLIP
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA: 5:32PM
So where does a freak of nature like yourself derive from?
I was born in Melbourne then moved to Tassie when I was two. Lived in Launceston until I was thirteen. Started skating there at the local park, it didn’t have the extension back then. Just some wack steel ramps.
Where to from there?
Then moved to Redcliffe. (Queensland)
Would you say you’re more OG Reddy’s than Mashy?
Yeah, I remember when he moved there, he was just a little kid, still gnarly as hell. Absolute gremlin.
GAP TO BACKSIDE 50-50
It seems your style of skating was somewhat shaped by the infamous Reddy spot, Ampy’s…
I don’t even know how to start with Ampy, I just love it there! I’ve been skating that spot for damn near 15 years, man. I learned everything there. My fondest memories of Ampy are probably the Skatebase days. I used to work at the skate shop up the road and everyday at knock off, my mate Bucky would rock up with a few beers, help me close up and we would head down to there and just shred until it got dark. Those arvos were epic! Cold beers flowing, new tricks being learned daily! But seriously, it is the best spot in my eyes. I just love being able to take a few beers to a spot and settle in, ya know? And Ampy is perfect for that. Heaps of flat-ground, a few assorted ledges and a couple of other little things. Sometimes we would take a BBQ down and cook up for the boys, get the boom box cranking and end up just partying after the sesh! [Laughs] I’ve wanted an Ampy tattoo for a while now, but still haven’t committed. My first tat will be Ampy I reckon, I’ve got mega love for the Ampy G. Oh, I also got to skate it with Tosh Townend years ago, that was a bit of a highlight, I guess.
BLUNTSLIDE, POP OUT FAKIE
So when did you bail across the bridge to Brisbane?
I lived in Reddy until I was twenty-two? I’m 28 now & pretty much been here ever since.
What do you enjoy most about Brisbane life?
All my good homies are here, my family is here, I got my beautiful lady, she’s a blessing and our crazy pug and a cat with an anxiety disorder which causes her to over groom and rip her hair out at times [Laughs]. But wouldn’t have it any other way mate! Plus the weather is good for skating all year round!
Rosco the pug!
He’s a little nutter. It was his first birthday this week, he had a pool party. We got him a little kid’s pool with all these balls and a doggy cake too, it was so funny. Oh man, he does proper loud farts too, cracks me up and stinks me out.
FAKIE FLIP, TAILSLIDE, HARDFLIP OUT
The house you’re in now is a rad little pad…
Yeah Leeza and I have lived here for a year now and it’s dope, heaps of wildlife like bush chooks and birds n shit. One morning I came out and there was this massive pig just snorting around on the nature strip out front! Big cunt called Boris. Turns out he lives across the creek, not really sure how he gets over it, I suppose he could just mash through it sorta thing. He just appears out here. It’s happened a couple of times now, some people drive around yelling his name trying to catch it, he just busts out for a charge [Laughs].
So you’re working at the Project warehouse these days. What does a regular day at work entail?
Turn up, chat shit, get them pink slips & start putting orders together. Sometimes I work in the office, putting orders into the system. It doesn’t really feel like work, so it’s good. I do Monday to Friday, most days I work until 5 and we’ll skate the flat bar and the grind box in the warehouse if there isn’t too much stock in the way, or hit up the new Bracken Ridge park which has lights.
CROOKED GRIND
Who was your first hook-up?
Kane Stewart hooked us up with New Edition flow back in the day, I was around sixteen or seventeen?
Good eye that bloke.
[Laughs} Yeah man, he’s a legend, fuckin love that dude!
BLUNTSIDE BIGSPIN HEELFLIP
The Herstwood days under the wing of ‘Ol Curty Bastard’ were all time. Unfortunately the company is on hiatus but do you have any stand out memories from that time?
Just loading up the Chad and going skating with the boys was always all time! But that trip we did to Japan was unreal. Best crew, best guides, shit loads of skating and way too much drinking, trip of a lifetime. Especially that weekend when we went Island camping, our tour guides sorted us out with all the camp gear, food, booze and DIY materials we needed for a few nights on a secluded piece of island. Oh man, can’t forget about the Lawrence the nudist!
Oh man, Lawrence! Please tell us a bit more about this enchanting specimen.
He was this American dude that lived in Osaka, mates with Rob (who was showing us around Japan). Fifty something years old but looked about thirty. Just charged around the campsite butt naked the whole time. One day he hit a few of us up to come to some ‘way better’ waterfalls a few kilometers from camp. The shit was insane, like out of a movie set. I remember Lawrence standing up on this rock wearing nothing but his China man hat and just yelling at the top of his lungs “I am Fuck! Fuck of the mountain!” [Laughs]. Nek minute he squats down over his wife who was practicing some yoga and starts copping a full on footsy ball bag shimmy while just having a casual conversation.
OLLIE
“I get bored not skating. It’s just the natural thing for me to do. ‘Oh it’s Saturday’ call the boys ‘Where we meeting up?’ And just go skate all day. It’s been like that for nearly 20 years actually…”
FRONTSIDE TAILSLIDE, KICKFLIP OUT
Just casual… in front of the boys?
Yeah we were just like ‘Woah! Dude check that out’. Then he gets his missus and this other Japanese chick to make out under the waterfall so he could shoot some photos…
Unbelievable!
[Laughs] Yep, and the whole time he’s as starker’s as fuck just egging it on.
When can we expect a 10-minute Mike Lawry super part?
I’ve been trying to have a good dig lately. I get bored not skating. It’s just the natural thing for me to do. “Oh it’s Saturday’ call the boys, ‘Where we meeting up?’ And just go skate all day… It’s been like that for nearly 20 years actually… [Laughs]
ROSCO AND MIKE | BRISBANE | 2016
