Eds letter THIS IS A REVOLUTION? Chris Harti outta sight in Belco
NoRules Issue 44 Words Matt Holmes Photo Raine Turnbull
Pulling an issue of a magazine together is always an entertaining ride. It brings together so many people to make it happen. Those in the photos, taking the photos, writing the words and gathering in this little place we call 2020 HQ. This mix of ideas, views, styles and creative randomness is a very inspirational zone. More than anything, it constantly reinforces my view of BMX. To put it simply, it’s full of so many facets, styles, genres and of course individuals it’s almost mind blowing. So scrolling through the almost finished pages from cover to page 148 of issue 44, I’m stoked to say this package really showcases the ridiculous diversity in Australian BMX. That’s something I’m really proud to be able to represent in this mag, both now and over all the years we’ve been kicking along. While nowadays it may seem that BMX is fragmented into millions of self proclaimed styles, once the labels are removed, it’s all the same thing. Simple self expression on a 20 inch wheeled bike on a chosen terrain. How far riders chose to take their dreams of riding is another amazing thing to watch. It’s fuelled progression beyond any ones expectations while also making peoples day just rolling around in the sun with friends. This variety is the spice of BMX. But while it seems so rose coloured and hippy for me to go off on the tangent of positive vibes of diversity, I’ve seen first hand the almost closed mindedness of some in BMX that cannot seem to deal with another rider not subscribing to exactly their take on BMX, or putting down another style of riding simply as it’s not their chosen area. To me, that is plain ignorant. Being that individual expression was what I thought BMX was all about. It’s why it appealed to me when I started riding. It’s an escape from the mainstream, judgmental world, or that of a regular sport with their rules and regulations. It was freedom, simple and plain. So it’s hard to take some crew who preach their way of BMX as being the only way and another’s being inferior. As if there are rules in BMX anyway. If there was to be any rule, it should simply be, have fun on your bike, and have respect for yourself and others, maybe have some more fun tagged on the back? So be it a sweet spot in the city, the XGames, hidden trails, Nitro Circus, or a local bowl, it’s all BMX, it all rules, and each and everyone choosing to ride their bike in their chosen manner is a straight up revolutionary. Maybe this is a revolution? Then it’s time to smash the rules, be free to ride, laugh an smile, it’s probably why you started.
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News & Stuff 1000FPS
Next
level Photos Thomas Smith
It’s not everyday BMX is documented with over $360,000 worth of camera equipment in a movie soundstage on the Gold Coast. A concept is one thing, but pulling all the elements together is another. The sheer size and scope of the production puuled together by the crew at Unit is above and beyond anything BMX on these shores has ever seen. And the results are simply incredible. Kyle Baldocks unstoppable lust for progressing just what is possible at 1000 fps. Continued over page. Watch the clip: www.unitriders.com/australia/art/videos/ all/next-level-super-slowmo-bmx-feat-kyle-baldock/
Kyle throwing another perfect fronty whip.
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News & Stuff 1000FPS
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Interview GYPSY JAZZ
Spillway Table air 66
Interview GYPSY JAZZ
o, Matt at 2020 asked me to sorta find out more about who you are, you know, a more in depth story than just your name, age and all of that.....
I dunno why, just sorta got stuck I ‘spose and then I travelled around for a while at the start of last year, just in my van. Went around Victoria and over to the West Coast, picked up and met Josh Kathigitas, talked him Alright, let’s go. My actual full name is Ben John into coming. Told him pretty much to quit work and Hoysted. I’m from rural Victoria, a little town called Beechworth, actually Wooragee, which is about 4km out I bought him a plane ticket home and yeah, he came traveling with me for a little bit, in my van, that was fun, of Beechworth heading out towards Wodonga. It’s not really a town, it has a primary school and that’s it. I lived cruised over to West Aus. So yeah, that’s my life in a nutshell minus a shitload of beer and copious amounts in Beechworth for a long time. I joined the circus when or alcohol and drugs and dirty sex. Nah, not really, none I was in grade 4, and then pumped out that stuff in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, that was pretty sick. of those things, I’ve never had sex. I skipped a few bits Then I started riding, while I was in the circus. I actually though, stuff I’m not proud of... got in a lot of trouble So where did the name when I was in the circus Beechy come from? cause I hurt myself on my Ah, I received that from bike flat out and couldn’t a few mates in the old do shows or train with Myrtleford trails crew. the circus and they didn’t Jamie Pape, Jason, dig it at all. And then I Ciggy all the other boys, broke my knee and I was they know who they are. just like, nah, this circus I’m just from Beechworth thing is out, bmx is in so a pack of these old pretty much. Went to a stoner dudes just called normal school after that, me Beechy, couldn’t that was pretty exciting, come up with anything doing backflips at recess else. That’s pretty much and lunch and making all there is. like bolt cash. Haha, Cool story bro. Now, owned that tuckshop at you were living in lunch time, bout 20 bucks Adelaide for a while in shrapie (coin), backie and you moved to WA, city! I grew up riding how come you move in Wangaratta a lot and around so much? riding Myrtleford and Bright a bit. A lot of trail scenes and just cruising around. And then where’d I go from there? Moved to Wangaratta with Mr Simon Watts, moved into his house, that was my first time out of home, that was pretty sweet. A lot of drunken loose times. I was studying graphic design at the time, I failed that, I was getting too wasted I think, or something, I just got over it. Back to bmx, bit the bullet one more time. Then I headed to Adelaide, that was pretty good, travelled around for a bit then ended up in Adelaide. Met some cool kids over here, rocked Adelaide for about four years, maybe a bit more, I dunno, fucking long time.
Ah, I just like to keep it fresh. People tend to hate me after a little bit so I just tend to keep moving. I just tend to keep traveling around, being a gypsy, gypsy life. This Europe trip, should be fun. Europe trip? Where you going and who with? Joining me is Nathan, Nathaniel Walker. Hopefully meet up with some other cats, hopefully meet up with some guys from Adelaide, Denny and Tom Blanch, who are also coming along. We’re seriously just winging it, going to fly to Paris, and then just burn wherever, see what happens, no plans is pretty much the plan. Yeah just freestyle, freestyle life!
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LUKE BATCHELOR “Luke Batchelor’s grey matter fires into overdrive. When he’s not creating skits about alcoholic owls, he’s firing out insanity on the streets. Gap to Feeble.”
INTRODUCTION INTERVIEW BY SENRAB L GERG Don’t quit your night job
“Bell shanks and scrotes, much like the turndown, will never go out of fashion. This tag crawled out of the skatepark and into Adrian’s passport. Explain that one to customs!”
Luke Batchelor has been riding for seventeen years. This basically gives him a lifetime of experience when compared to the average age demographic of people who ride BMX. In the past decade, BMX has seen a lot of changes. Yeah, yeah, the same old bullshit you read from every old fart contributing to BMX magazines. As true as this may be, with experience comes the learning curve, and for the majority of avid teenage BMXers, this curve has only just started to curl. All hunky dory in the confines of mum and/or dad’s house, hunched double, thrusting furiously, in wait for the latest and greatest highly polished web edit to finish streaming. Competition is heated in the industry, the gold rush is here and the ever increasing popularity of the sport has investors chomping at the bit. Winning over the children with an online video of the latest trick, spliced with blatant product placement is where it’s at yo! The Anchor’s Leigh G was once heard musing over this very debate and pointed out that the worst thing to happen to BMX was when they discovered marketing. Struth, this piece of writing is getting heavy and as an introduction, less relevant, so I’ll steer this ship back on course. Luke invested years of time into the documentation of his first official BMX production, and bias aside, it is one of the most unique and passionately created pieces of video editing Australia has seen in years. The music is flawlessly chosen and for lack of a better word, fresh. In fact, one of the tracks was arranged and produced specifically for the video. The footage has been taken from various different cameras and looks mismatched, but the quality of content is the main focus. This is DIY at its finest. A limited run of a hundred copies were made, and they sold out in about 2 months, with barely any advertising. The Anchor has considered printing more copies, so if you haven’t already seen it then you might be lucky enough to grab one in the future. So without further or do, here are some words from the enigma himself.
PHOTOS BY CHRIS POLACK & GREG BARNES
SCREEN SHOTS FROM THE FILM ITSELF
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Super cheap food. You can get a good meal for about $7 and a bottle of drink from a corner store is around 50 cents. It is a ridiculous difference to back home. Craziest traffic ever. Your first taxi experience is one you will not forget. There seems to be no road rules such as speeding or indicating, and everything you see on TV is true. Riding around in it is also an experience in itself. You need to be on your toes every minute but also aggressive otherwise they will eat you alive. Roadside, footpath stores. These little shops are everywhere and only a stone’s throw away from our hotel there was a little setup where an old man worked long hours repairing peoples bike problems as they ride past. We ran to fix up the tubes we had, one of which had four or five holes in it, but this guy had the processes of fixing a tube down to an art form.
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A D A M B y
S t e v e
S T O N E G o r a k
T a y l o r
From a distance you might see some guy sporting long, red, curly hair and he would be wearing an ironed shirt, possibly stolen from his dad’s or even Grandad’s closet and you might then think to yourself ‘who is this individual?’ You notice him talking to everyone at the skate park, or he’ll be chatting to the art babez at the gallery or you might see him walking down the street with his head held high because it dawns on you that this is Adam Stone. Quite simply, he is proud of what and who he is. He’s an individual in every sense of the word. He has crafted is own way through these streets and will help anyone find their own path. Adam was raised by two supportive, artist parents in the “nice and leafy” Melbourne suburb of Canterbury. He lived close to school, got along with most of his neighbors and had Green Tree Frogs as pets. Spending his younger years researching all things ancient Egyptian, and playing the Tony Hawk computer game, Adam developed an interest in skateboarding and it might just have gone that route instead if it wasn’t for his mother suggesting “you can already ride a bike, why not try BMX?” and from then on, at just 10 years old, the young red head never looked back.
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This is a BMX Trip NOT THE OLYMPICS I’M SIPPIN ON A BEER AND THINKING TO MYSELF; HOW SERIOUS DO I HAVE TO TAKE THIS TRIP?’. I MEAN, I HAVE COME ALONG TO DO A JOB. I HAVE SOME SORT OF RESPONSIBILITY AND EXPECTATIONS TO TAKE THE PHOTOS. I FUCKING HATE EXPECTATIONS... PERSONALLY I TRY NOT TO HAVE THEM, THEN I CANT BE DISAPPOINTED. I’M WONDERING WHAT THESE PEOPLES EXPECTATIONS ARE FOR ME THOUGH. I DON’T WANNA DISAPPOINT OR UPSET ANYONE. SO DO I KEEP SINKING THESE BEERS AND GO OUT TO THIS MELBOURNE BAR LATER WITH SOME OF THE GUYS. OR SHOULD I GET TO THE HOSTEL, GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP TO MAKE SURE I DO A GOOD JOB OF COVERING THIS TRIP WITH THE FIT CREW TO THE STREETS OF MELBOURNE...
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BANG!
A massive silence falls over the back of the van as I now think to myself “Did we just get T-boned?” Seconds later Dre calmly asks “Is everyone OK?” Everyone replies with a faint “Yeah all good man.” Dre then slowly pulls up to the side of the crowed city street and gets out to asses the damage. He attempts to slide the side door that has just been busted up by the front end of another giant van zooming around in the midst of night. It now opens about 30% of the way, as five guys and beers bottles come falling out to see what just happened. I look over to see an Indian man on the next corner with his hands on the back of his head stressing out. I quickly follow Dre as his already over there re-assuring the man not to worry. His van definitely copped it a lot harder then ours and he was clearly in the wrong. The front right end has bits hanging off it and Dullah (panel beater) is on his knees with his head under the guard telling me how it most likely has some decent suspension damage. The guy continues to stress out regardless of Dre’s attempts to get this sorted and done with. Dre repeats “Dude it’s all good, it’s nothing your insurance can’t handle.” The man then looks at Dre “Ummm..... I don’t have any insurance.” With the most serious face and an instant change of tone Dre looks into this mans eyes and says “You better start sucking then.” There is instantly another massive silence. It’s similar to the one after just being T-boned by a van, the “did that really just happen?” silence. This guy was just standing there more freaked out then ever. Dre could not hold a straight face for more than five seconds and just bursted out with laugher. “Ha ha Just joking man ha ha.” The man still remained totally awkward. “Ha ha I was kidding man, Just a joke!” I think he was now more worried about Dre’s request for sexual favours as apposed to the cost he would have to fork out for the van. A couple of minutes later it all got sorted and we walked back in total disbelief that it all just happened. We scampered back in the van and wondered why someone who’s job it was to drive around all day and night (in a busy city), failed to have insurance? Beats me right? “Right let’s find this hostel, get the shit sorted, head to this pub and drink some beers.” Dre says with a massive relief. It sort of occurred to me then that I could stuff this opportunity up as much as the guy in the van stuffed up and Dre would probably still remain totally chill. So I reached down, grabbed myself another beer and realized this is a BMX trip, not the Olympics.
PUMPED.
The night before I was asking John (Young) what all the guys were like. I only knew Jack (Elkins) and himself coming onto the trip and wanted to get a rough idea about the other guys. He had all good things to say, easy to get along with and what not. He did mention something about Luke (Vandenburg) being really energetic though. It wasn’t a bad thing, the guys just really hyped right? So I didn’t really think much of it. The next afternoon watching the sky turn orange and playing some s.k.a.t.e. with Dre at Ringwood. I see this old red Commodore come flying into the car park with its music blaring. “Oh here’s Luke” Dre mentions. Before I could speak this guy was running around in his work clothes and boots, shaking everyones hands and doing fly outs on someone else bike. “Pumped, this trip is going to be awesome so pumped guys, Woooaaahhh!” as he is still riding around frantically. He then told me he loved my hair because it looked medieval like Thor. Jumped back into his car and sped off into the distance. This all happened in about four minutes and he managed to say the word pumped about 72 times. “Ah what’s he doing Dre?” “Oh he only lives round the corner, this was just somewhere to meet him. He will get his bike and clothes then we can head to the hostel.” I didn’t really know what just happened, it was like a cannon full of energy had just been shot of at the rest of the group. I was however very keen to see this guy out on the town with all this enthusiasm, which worked out quite well about four hours later. The place we did go to that night was one of those ones where you can’t hear yourself think. I mean if you were think yelling to yourself with a megaphone, in a library, you would probably of not heard that too. It was loud and crowded, with low amounts of seating. We sorta just stood around drinking beer yelling at each other while we waited for somewhere to sit. I spent a good half hour standing around having a conversation with a guy were we would both lean in, yell at the ground, do some hand signals, look back up and just go “OH YEAH HA HA HA”. I have no fucking clue what we were talking about and I’m pretty sure he didn’t either. Some people left, so the group claimed the seats right at the front window of the bar. Unbeknown to us this was possibly the best choice we had made so far. There were about ten bikes locked up to the poles out the front of this joint which made for quite the pile. I noticed it on the way in and thought to myself “that’s pretty cool.” What’s cooler than that tho is seeing a stocky dyke with a mohawk crawling out of them like the creature from the black lagoon. Yes you read that right. This lady had been kicked out and was not happy. She then deiced the best way to resolve this was by fighting the security guard at the door. She was instantly wrong. I’m not a fan of full on fighting, but there is somewhat of a difference between fighting and a pissed human rolling around on the footpath trying to be contained by a somewhat embarrassed security guard. It was actually an amazing thing to witness and went on for a good five minutes. Everyone was up against the window yelling and chanting, I felt like this was something you had to pay high amounts of money for and we had front row seats! After that blew over we figured the night couldn’t peak anymore so we deiced to head back to the hostel. The next morning while Dre fetched the golden child (Elkins) from the airport we all headed up to the hostel roof. The time that was spent at the hostel was mostly spent on the roof. Failing the roof we would be down stairs in the canteen, treating ourself to a big breakfast. The roof gave you a north side view of the city and there were heaps of seats so everyone could lounge around.
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Interview JOSH DRUSE
From the beginning this kid had little to no fear about the consequences of his actions, which resulted in numerous trips to the hospital. One time he bit through the top half of his lip and completely mangled it. I’m talking blue waffle face for a couple of weeks! Yet, he was still out riding and obsessing with stitches all over his face. He was 10 or 11 back then. BMX has been his major escape for a long time now and his dedication to his craft, in my mind is extraordinary. He has found a way to incorporate his life into BMX and consequently fused the two so that he can constantly be psyched and find new ways to grow and get better. He rides everything: trails, park, ramps and street. The fact that he always wants to keep it fresh, to find and conquer new lines and tricks is a testament to how much he likes riding his bike. And to me, taking on new challenges and ultimately keeping the happy vibes up is the main thing. So as long as he’s enjoying it I say crush on. I rode for a while, skated, surfed and had a few more mixed interests around the place and have been climbing and slack lining for the past 4 or so years. Josh has given most, if not all of the things I get into a go, and usually picks them up so quick. It pisses me off and makes me hone my craft away from him so I can try to impress him later. This rarely happens, because he will just do a flip or something stupid and steal the show. The funniest thing about Josh is his temper. He rarely goes off but when he does hahaha, it’s so good. Mini Hulk, but he goes red instead of green. Seeing a person so chilled completely lose the plot is always entertaining in my book. He’s a great brother and friend. 112
Interview JOSH DRUSE
Paul: Let’s get straight into it, how old were you and what got you started riding BMX? I rode motorbikes first, I used to race them. Until a really rad dude that I looked up to, Jono Porter went into a first corner in a race and got run over and died. I had a stack a couple of weeks or months after, a real similar crash, I didn’t get run over but I landed on my head. After that I just went nah, this is too sketchy. Paul: How old were you then? I was young, I think I was probably 10 or something? Cause I was starting to ride bmx more when I was motorbike riding but that was like the big time that I changed over and just rode bmx. Holmes: Did your folks get freaked out by the crash as well, cause my mum told me to stop riding dirt bikes, I mean, bmx isn’t much safer.. They did freak out. I dunno, it’s the same thing as today. I mean I’ll tell my mum about something I normally do and they always say “You know what you’re capable of, I can’t tell you what to do.” Holmes: That’s pretty cool. They’ve helped me out so much over the years, whatever I want to do they’re really passionate to help me out with it. Paul: Cool. So, you’ve been riding BMX since you were about 11 or 12? Yeah it’s probably been about 8 years I’ve been riding. Paul: When you first got into riding, you were like a skatepark guy right? Yeah, I was at the skatepark everyday. I was an Engadine local, with Mini Mirra (Brandon Loupos), all the boys. Back in the day it was sick fun. Like, I probably had the best sessions in my life there. Every weekend everyone just got together and it was just a big event kinda thing and people just, as you do, you just throw down and everyone just feeds off each other. I think that was some of the best times. That brings back some memories. Holmes: My memories of Josh seem to revolve around Menai. You rode that a lot too? If I went to Menai I was psyched as, like oh my gawd I’m going to Menai. Paul: Did you live in Engadine then or did you live in the ‘Gong? In between, I lived in Stanwell park. It’s like 15 minutes away from Wollongong. Holmes: When did you first get yourself to Fivedock? It looks like you’ve grown up there when you ride it? I think it was a week or something before a Summer X-games event was at Fivedock. Holmes: The comp to get you into the Summer Xgames? Yeah, junior X games. Milo was in it or something. It was like the heats so you could get an entry into Planet X summer games. Anyway, ever since then it’s probably been my favourite park.
Paul: So what’s with Fivedock, what does it hold for you? When you get a good run going, not even a good run, but just so many things. It’s just like, the feeling. When you get up onto that quarter, look back and it’s like, damn man that run was sick. Everything just flows together heaps nice. It’s not like Kiama or Helensburgh, you carve out of the bowl and then you’re just sitting there going like, what do I do next. Fivedock there’s just things everywhere. Holmes: I always saw you riding big transitions and going big off anything you could. But then most of the riding I’ve seen of you lately hasn’t been on transitions it’s been to flat. How’d that work out? I really don’t know to be honest. I’ve only been doing it for the past couple of months really. Someone took me street riding, I had some fun on a rail and was like, oh that’s pretty fun and it just grew from there. I think cause of the time I have been riding, every single little thing just contributes to like hops and stuff and just, I dunno, it kinda came natural. Well not natural, but it helped a lot. Paul: Is there more people to ride with, more crew riding street than crew riding parks now? Not at all. Paul: Yeah, that’s what I thought. Like, in Sydney there’s still pretty big parks, but then the street scene seems real solid too, but when you go out to country towns the park scene always seems to be really solid and the goal seems to be parks. Yeah it is like that, you always get the different ones like Pat Cain and all the boys down in the Gong and stuff. It’s more just like, putting stuff together, it’s the same with Fivedock with lines. Like once you put a really cool line down you think that’s cool, you get psyched on it. With park it’s kinda generic, well, not generic, you see someone do it on the internet and you’re like, I’m gunna go try that and like, that’s how I rode for so long. I saw Corey Martinez and all the older folks like Chris Doyle at the parks and I was like, aw I wanna try that, I wanna try that. Then street it’s kinda like you do your own thing, you make up your own thing, that’s why I like it. Paul: Have you always had pegs? Yeah, I’ve never ridden without them. Paul: Never ridden without pegs. That’s kind of, I imagine, the minority these days... There was one point in time I took my pegs off at home and I looked at it and was like, my bike doesn’t look right, nah, can’t do this and I had to put them back on. Paul: What riders do you like at the moment, like Australian or not, doesn’t matter... I’ve always thought Corey Martinez ruled, even when I was growing up, that Wide Awake Nightmare part, he’s probably my favourite rider of all time. And then you have Chris Doyle, then you have all the normals like Dak and Nathan Williams and stuff. They’re like ridiculously good. Probably a couple of Sydney riders too, like feeding off probably Ricky and Lee and
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