Sammy WInter [Sydney resident, proud Queenslander… Dirt bag!] recently hosted his newly assembled Australian Huf crew, consisting of Mike Mieruszynski, Andrew Beaucamp and Quayde Baker for a few days of filming, lurking and general Sydney Shenanigans. Let’s give him a call and have a chinwag about how it all came about…
I kind of think of you as ‘Sydney dude’ these days, but then every year when The State of Origin series starts, (which coincidently is on tonight) out comes the Queenslander in you!
I do get very, very passionate when it comes to Origin. I’ve lived in Sydney for almost 10 years, and that 10 years has been the Queensland reign. It’s a very special part of me, the whole living away from Queensland but always backing the winning team. I’m always that cunt at the pub everyone hates (Laughs)… But, I kinda like that though.
You embrace it!
Exactly. My family is like, five generations deep in Queensland, so I’ll definitely Always be a Queenslander, but for me it’s just better livin’ in New South Wales. I think coming here to Sydney in my late teens on skate trips and stuff; it was just such an appealing place because it was a big city with heaps of shit to skate… Girls and bars and just way more shit to do. I’d lived in Brisbane for a few years, and at that age it’s pretty easy to go “You know what? I’m leaving this big country town and I’m going to the big smoke!”
MIKE MIERUSZYNSKI – OLLIE
What in your mind constitutes a dirt bag?
Well, it all spawns from the backbone, Keith Hufnagel. He’s the dirtiest of dirt bags (Laughs). He’s a born sicko and he’s the fuckin’ best. He has some wild content on his devices; let’s just say that. You’ll be at a dinner or something and he’s phone will be getting passed around, and I’m a dirt bag myself, but this stuff is gnarly, people are losing it.
Burn after reading…
Yeah, he’s a true sicko; he lives for it and just laughs his head off at people’s reactions.
You’ve just welcomed these Aussie dirt bags into the Huf fold. How did this all come about?
Well, it’s been few years now that I’ve been on the international team, and I’d sat down with Keith and Tyler and talked about what we want to do out here, because obviously I’m like their Aussie guy. It’s sort of been in the works for a while trying to get something happening down here with a team. The timing is good too. I was keen, because right now it’s like every fucking man and his dog is riding for these big sportswear brands and I just thought it would be good to just get some real dudes together that aren’t necessarily like your 16 year old comp, park, shark dude. Just dudes who love to skate and have a rad style, which is kind of what Huf is. Sure, there are a few guys who ride in contests or whatever, but for the most part everyone on the team just skates cool and has their own thing going on, and I think that works pretty well.
SAMMY WINTER – SWITCH FRONTSIDE NOSESLIDE
BEACHO – POLE JAM
Introduce these peeps: Let’s start with Beacho. (Andrew Beauchamp)
Beacho is the man! When I lived in Brisbane, when I was like 19 I would always skate at Coorporoo. He was probably a few years younger than me, so kind of young and I just remember him rocking up and inward heelflipping the shit out of everything. Right now, Beacho is on a hot one! He’s skating so good and I kinda love that he’s a tradie too. Just a good solid cunt that has a real fuckin’ job and knows how to work hard. I think people like that respect skating a little more when they don’t just get everything given to them… and he’s a larrikin.
“none of these guys are being too serious and I think that’s one of the best things about this crew. Everyone is chill and there’s no hierarchy, we just skate, drink beer and talk shit.”
QUAYDE BAKER – FRONTSIDE SMITH GRIND, FRONTSIDE 180 OUT
Quayde Baker:
Quayde was kind of similar to the other guys, someone I’d seen around for a long time and said “What up?” to a few times but I always thought his skating was sick. He’s also just so chill. When I hit him up about riding for Huf, he was so mellow about it Just like “Yeah, that’d be cool.” I really didn’t want to be poaching someone from other teams or anything like that but when he said he’d only been on one trip in the past five years or something I was like “Let’s do this!” So, it’s all just kind of worked out pretty well with all these guys. Everyone is cool and everyone is just stoked to hang and do their own thing.
MIKE MIERUSZYNSKI – BACKSIDE KICKFLIP
Mike Mieruszynski:
Dirty Mike! About five years ago he was just this kid I would see at the skatepark everyday and he was just hyped to skate. Obviously he just progressed over those five years and you know when kids get to that age where you can tell that’s what they want to do and they want to keep pushing it a pursuing it. I noticed he was always wearing Huf shoes, and turns out he had been buying them and was psyched on them. I remember being stoked that he was into a brand like Huf and not just wearing ‘the cool shoes’ like all the other kids, you know what I mean? So, I told him I’d talk to some people and start getting him shoes and he was hyped. Ever since then he’s had a really good New Gen and he’s been putting out clips, working hard and just skate-rattin’, but doing it man tough!
BEACHO – FULL CAB
Tell me about hosting these guys for a few days in Sydney for this filming/hang mission.
It was kind of just the same old shit we do here all the time. We have our little crew and we go out skating and filming, only this time we had a couple of new additions (Laughs). But it was great to get everyone together. Every single person is psyched to try and film. The other major thing is that none of these guys are being too serious and I think that’s one of the best things about this crew. Everyone is chill and there’s no hierarchy, we just skate, drink beer and talk shit.
Business as usual?
Yep! No young kids whining about bullshit, just a bunch of grown men, skating.
