BLUNTSLIDE
GOSFORD, AUSTRALIA 12:29pm
How’s the day treating you?
All good. I’m just at work…
What’s work?
Mechanical engineering. I work with my old man. I do all sorts of stuff like welding, oxy cutting, metal fabrication and all that sort of stuff.
Is working with metal what got you in to cars?
Sort of , but I think I’d just have a love for cars anyway. Working on cars is something I get in to after work and in my spare time. Building engines and stuff like that, I just like to give it a go.
What’s your current whip?
Well, I have 2 BMWs at the moment. An old E28, 1986 and a 2005 E90. I’ve had the E28 for almost 12 months and still haven’t driven it, so that’s like the current project. Before that I had another one that I completely built up, but it burnt down… I didn’t replace the fuel lines and there was a fuel leak on to the starter motor. That started a fire and it burnt down. Worst day ever.
Do your mates always hit you up to help fix their cars?
Yes, that happens, that actually happens too much.
Like being a plumber and everyone wants you to fix their shitter…
[Laughs] Yeah, exactly.
It’s been a crazy year for you on the board, right?
Yeah, it’s been pretty crazy, for sure. I did that trip to the States. We didn’t really leave with too much of a plan for that one. We’d line up a bunch of filmers to hook up with, but then at the last minute everyone kind of bailed on us. So we just ended up at all the spots with nothing but our phones to film with.
You hit some classic spots.The Cardiel rail comes to mind. You ever see the rejected Thrasher cover of him after he slammed on it?
Yeah, I did. That was sick.
Just out of interest, what year were you born?
1996.
[*Quick Google search] So, that means you were only just a year old when he tried it!
Really? That’s crazy!
Fardell got on it frontside too, that was Thrasher cover right?
Yeah, I think it was,… Yeah, it definitely was.
And then you stepped up backside. You get it on the first visit?
Well, I got it on that day, but I had actually been there the year before. Almost a year to the day I landed it. I’m kind of embarrassed to say it, but I didn’t even know who Cardiel was when I first went there. I’ve definitely educated myself a little more now but back then I was so far out of the loop as far as skateboarding goes. But back to that first visit, I kind of only just jumped on it and locked in, but didn’t really commit. Then this time when I went back and knew the history of it and had a bunch of crew there, I was hyped to get it done. And it worked out pretty good.
Phone or legit footage this time?
This time there was some proper filming that day which was good [Laughs]
“They just said I had to let it keep bleeding internally until my face was so swollen that the pressure of MY skin would stop the bleeding…”
The words ‘Cardiel rail’ will definitely get most filmers off their couch… I saw you skating at that Sydney Damn Am comp and your faced looked like a bee-stung Rottweiler! What was the deal with that?
I did that in Melbourne. I was just trying a crook nollie flip on a little out rail and as I landed on it, my back foot stomped on to the tail and shot it up in to my face, really hard. At the time, everyone was like ‘you probably need to go to hospital to get some stitches in your face’ and at that stage it was a little swollen, but it wasn’t too bad.
I assume your were in a lot of pain?
Well, you know what was strange was that I couldn’t actually feel anything in the whole left hand side of my face. That lasted about ten minutes and after that I was like, nah, it’s all good, I just need stitches. So we went to the hospital, they stitched me up and about 40 minutes after we left, we were at a new spot and it just started blowing up like crazy. It was just swelling and swelling and swelling and swelling!… We went back to the hospital and that’s when I found out I had internal bleeding in my face. I’d severed all the main arteries in the left side of my face, broken my cheek bone and broken my nose. My face was just full of all these fractures.
What was the treatment?
They couldn’t do anything. They just said I had to let it keep bleeding internally until my face was so swollen that the pressure of my skin would stop the bleeding [Laughs] It was probably the gnarliest thing I’ve ever been through as far as skating injuries go.
And it stayed swollen for a long time right?
Yeah, because I had this huge haematoma it was swollen for a good 10 weeks.
I was surprised you were still skating with it like that.
Oh man, the first day I left the house and went to the skatepark, it was still so swollen and black that a lot of people didn’t even recognise me. But I’d been sitting inside my house for like 3 weeks, doing absolutely nothing, being barely able to eat and by then I was just like, I can still skate, so I’m just gonna get out and do it.
So adding to the crazy year we mentioned earlier, you were also busy filming for Medley. Were you happy with how that whole project turned out?
Yeah, super hyped. It all worked out sick. All the missions we did filming for it were super fun, it was awesome.
Who, impressed you most?
I’m gonna say Sam (Sutton) just because he got on the program really late in the piece and he still managed to get a really good part, and I was hyped on all his stuff. I mean, I skate with him almost every single day and it was just really good to see him give it such a hard crack and get it done.
CHECK OUT SAM AND ROB IN MEDLEY: HERE
