We invite you to take a trip through Andrew Brophy’s First & Last interview. As always the line of questioning is designed to shine a light on his journey, from the very beginning up to where he is at right now. It has been incredible watching Brophy’s trajectory, something we were lucky enough to witness evolving in real-time. He made London home in the early 2000s, and Slam’s old Neal’s Yard address was the clubhouse for him and many other faces skating the city on the regular. At the time new boards were his staple diet, and as Southbank’s surfaces claimed them regularly we would often welcome Brophy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He was part of the woodwork, shop rider, sporadic staff member, and highly quotable one-man folklore machine.
His innings in the UK cemented his status as an honorary Londoner, and have come to represent a magical time. Dominic Marley’s new book “Naughty” encapsulates this time period, just one flick through and it’s apparent that Brophy’s imprint on what was happening is indelible. Many notable names have honed their skills at Southbank but no one before him had the same otherworldly Antipodean pop. His unique approach redefined what was possible under that roof. We always enjoyed hearing the weekly whispers, and seeing what he put down there firsthand. It’s amazing to see regular footage now that proves he still possesses that same snap. His upcoming summer visit to the UK will likely add some SB NBD’s to the list he’s already contributed to, and we look forward to seeing him back on the slabs that helped pave his way.
All of these memories are a part of his story but the hammers he put down in the city of London are just the intro. While he may have been busy making calls to Al Boglio from the Slam landline, hustling to secure the next box of Cliché boards, his official induction into the team and ascent to pro status happened after he had left London in pursuit of the career that was unfolding. The rest is history as they say. We looked forward to seeing photos, footage, and him when he was back to visit. When Cliché sadly folded we had no idea what would happen for him, and as you will find out during the course of this interview, neither did he. It was a trip to watch what transpired from this side of the pond knowing that being part of the Girl team, let alone having a pro board, was his teenage dream manifested in its purest form.
Brophy is living proof that those good old days can keep on rolling. It’s inspiring to see him still progressing, in the mix on trips, and grafting for a part in a full-length video. This interview involves some healthy reminiscing while remaining anchored in the present, all the way through to the last trick he learned that’s yet to be unleashed in the wild. Enjoy learning some more about Margaret River’s finest export…
words and interview by Jacob Sawyer. Andrew Brophy at home in Noosa. PH: Brogan Brophy
First love before skating?
I got a BMX bike for Christmas, it was a Redline 540, a racing bike with quite thin tyres. I ended up getting super into BMX racing. I had growing pains in my knees though, Osgood-Schlatter disease which meant my knees wouldn’t let me ride the bike. That was, in a weird way, what led me to skateboarding. I couldn’t race bikes anymore so I had to find something that didn’t hurt my knees. Weirdly skating didn’t hurt them as much.
First skateboard?
One of my friends Aidan McGowan had a skateboard, it only had griptape on the nose and tail with a big, bare, slippery wooden middle. If my memory serves me right I bought it off him for $5, then I took it home and my dad re-gripped it. That was the first one I ever had. The skateboard that followed that one was a Christmas present from my brother Ben. It was a G&S board, it had the OG logo as the central graphic. He also had a slick bottom Acme board I inherited with a Warhammer style graphic of a dude shooting a big machine gun. I thought that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, plus it was coated with that weird rough plastic to make your board slide better. It made me think I was going to do more shit. I never skated with my brother though unfortunately, he is ten years older than me. That Christmas present he bought me would have been when I was turning ten years old, he had already moved out of home by that point.
First person you saw skating?
The first person who I saw who wasn’t like me and useless at the time was Toby Patman. Growing up in Margaret River there was nowhere to skate. There was only one main street in the town, and fuck all going on really. We would skate this primary school, it had concrete ledges, pretty good ones to be fair, undercover as well. Toby did a pop shuvit 50-50 on this ledge and I just remember being blown away – What was that, and how did it happen? He was the first person I saw skate who was really talented. Straight away I thought I needed to be his friend, somehow he was going to teach me how to do this stuff. He still rips, still lives in Margaret River, and I still talk to him regularly.
First sponsor?
Sessions Surf Shop in Margaret River were my first sponsor, they were wicked, and Toby [Patnam] worked there. The shop carried all the cool stuff which was pretty unique because it was a really small country town. Margaret River was also quite a big surfing hub though. We had a lot of amazing surf breaks so the world’s best surfers would regularly visit. So the surf shop had links for all the good surfing gear, and in turn links to all the distributors for skate stuff. They always had boards from A-Team, Birdhouse, Blind, I remember seeing Colin McKay Girl boards. When Globe shoes first came out they had the whole range, all of that Nitrocell air sole shit. I never got free shoes or anything, I’d get discount on boards, free stickers but I didn’t get anything for free for hella years. Mostly I’d get secondhand boards from Toby, and the other older guys who were getting free stuff. Their seconds, thrashed shit, but it was still the best.
First mag you saw?
It was again through Toby who I met via the pop shuv 50-50. He had a brother called Ben too, they were three or four years older than me, and went to the same school. They both lived in a unit out the back of their parents house. Their dad was an engineer and an architect so they had a pretty cool set-up going on back there. It was a kind of granny flat where we would hang out, they had a little mini ramp there too. I remember them just getting the Birdhouse The End video, so it would have been 1998, I was in Year 8 at school. They had all the videos, and all of the Transworld mags back when Transworld was as thick as the Bible. They had all the mags, and videos so I would go through them all over there.
Backside noseblunt slide from Brophy’s 20 page interview for Slam mag in 2008. PH: Steve Gourlay
Funnily enough our high school had copies of an Australian magazine called Slam on their magazine shelf rotation. They must have had a subscription to the skate mag so I would go to the library to read mags too. That’s all because Toby’s mum worked in the library, hahaha, that’s how big our town was man, classic! These are memories I haven’t dug up for a while.
First mag appearance?
It would have been in Slam for one of their “New Gen” features, it would have been right around the time I went to London so I would have been seventeen.
First video appearance?
It would have been in a Perth skate video filmed by Chris Yow. I can’t remember what the video was called but it came out in around 2000. I had a shared part with a skater called Aaron Nannup, and another skater called Lee Johnson from Perth. Shared parts are a continuing theme in my skate career
First skate crew?
It was me, Aaron Fitzgerald, Max Grantis, Toby [Patnam], his brother Ben, and a couple of older boys. It was just five or six of us really.
First elder to take you under their wing?
There’s a classic one, and his name is Brett Margaritis. Brett was pro for Think Skateboards at the time, he would come down to Margaret River because of his partner at the time whose mum lived there. He would visit all the time, he’d give me boards because he was pro for Think and had them coming out of his ears. He would come down when I basically lived at the skatepark, a permanent fixture. We ended up skating together a lot, he was really nice, and we got on well even though he was about ten years older than me. He’d ask me to show him skate spots, film me, ask me to film him. So we would cruise around there, then I would also go up to Perth when I was a little bit older. By the time I was fifteen or sixteen I’d go and stay with him, my mum had met Brett and said it was cool. He had a house there already, I would go to stay, and skate with Brett and some of the younger crew out in Perth. He was the first dude to open that door for me, offer me a place I was allowed to go and stay.
First spot that nurtured that supernatural pop of yours?
Definitely Margaret River skatepark. We had a pretty good park built there in 1998. We were there all day every day, like any kid who gets a park built in their hometown. As far as pop, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, I didn’t do anything weird to learn how to ollie high other than not being overly good at flip tricks. I knew I could jump some shit, and I would get nervous being around people who were really good at flipping their board. That made me turn my attention elsewhere, I could probably jump over that, something I could do that would make me fit in. That’s what I would do, I would jump a lot.
“Jumping a lot” looks different for everybody. Colossal backside 180 from the 2008 Slam Interview. PH: Joe Beckert
First person to set the bar for you?
There are a few important moments in my young skating brain. Someone who I saw skate and thought “holy fuck, you are incredible at skateboarding!” was someone from Perth called Zac Willmore. When I was about sixteen he came to Margaret River one day with a crew, I think they were all sponsored by Emerica shoes, and DVS. They came down and Zac Willmore was frontside flipping the fun box. That fun box was a piece of shit, even ollieing it was hard. It was steep and nasty but he was frontside flipping over it like it was nothing. He could do kickflip back tails, kickflip back smiths, kickflip crooked grinds, everything was easy for him, every go. This was in about the year 2000.
When I started going to stay with Brett Margaritis and skating with those guys in Perth, Zac was living on the outskirts of the city. He didn’t have a car but someone we were with did, maybe Chris Yow, so we’d go and pick Zac up to go skating. We’d go on young kid skate missions all day, and all night. Zac was the one out of all of us who had the gift. You’d get to a handrail, a thirteen stair rail, Zac would smith grind it no problem, or lipslide it straight away, no warm up. He could: smith grind, front tail, kickflip crook, and back lip absolutely anything. He was kickflip crooked grinding massive handrails back then, no-one was doing that, I don’t think we’d even seen American dudes doing it. I have no idea why Zac didn’t become a full-blown household name throughout all of skateboarding. I think he injured his ACL twice and that fucked everything up for him. He was one of the skaters who showed me you have to be incredibly lucky, or incredibly good.
“I remember on those first visits Nick [Jensen] being incredibly good…he kind of set the bar for being able to skate rough shit with quick feet…”
Then when I went over to London it was probably Nick Jensen. He was friends with Rob [Mathieson] who was basically the first skater I met in London. I met him at Playstation skatepark and he asked me “why are you skating here?”. I didn’t know where else to go, I had just moved there but he suggested I come and skate Southbank. That was way closer to where my brother lived so I went there, and that was where I met everyone. I remember on those first visits Nick [Jensen] being incredibly good. He’d get there and switch flip the seven, or nollie flip the seven, or switch backside 180 the seven. He was incredibly gifted as well, he kind of set the bar for being able to skate rough shit with quick feet. It was a completely different approach to what I had been skating in Australia. City skating in Perth involved skating one city building at a time, smooth marble floor with a three or four stair out onto a foot path. London was full of never-ending craziness, everything is tiled, bumpy, or rough. Rob [Mathieson] himself, Snowy [Daniel Kinloch], Joey [Pressey], they were all good. That crew I first met in London, everyone was pushing it in their own separate way.
“It was a completely different approach to what I had been skating in Australia”
There was also Cale Nuske. I didn’t skate with him back in Australia. I came into contact with him way later on, almost when I was about to leave the UK and was getting on Cliché. But he was just too good, I mean that in every sense of the word. You couldn’t compete with Cale. I remember watching him skate this hubba one time, he nollie crooked it ten times in a row, he did it every try like it was nothing. Then when he had done that he just nollie flip crooked it, and then we went and got McDonald’s. It was a ten stair hubba! But it was nothing to him, he wasn’t even stoked, just said it was a good hubba. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I got on really well with [Cale] Nuske as a friend but I couldn’t put myself remotely near his talent on a skateboard because he was fucked up-gifted. He was another one who was dealt a super shitty card with really traumatic knee injuries. It sucks because he was another generational talent, for sure, without a doubt.
First skate trip outside of Australia?
It was a European tour for Link Footwear. Brett Margaritis was TM for the brand. I had just gone to visit my brother in London, and this tour was happening at the same time so Brett suggested I meet them on the trip. I don’t think they even paid for the flight, it would have been my brother, or my mum and dad. So I went to meet them in Lyon because Link Footwear was being run out of Cliché. We got in the van and it was a pretty fucking psycho introduction to tour life. It was me, Marcus McBride, Alex Moul, J.B Gillet, Lucas Puig, Junnosuke Yonesaka, and Brett – so a pretty wild crew. Lucas couldn’t speak any English at all, and we were rooming together so that was slightly complicated, hahaha. We basically just got stoned together the whole time because we couldn’t talk. I remember being hella nervous and sitting in the middle seat in the back of the van next to Alex Moul smoking ciggys. I also remember getting really drunk accidentally, I was drinking gin and juice with Marcus McBride. I was thinking “This is mental” the whole time. It was actually a pretty sick tour.
This “Hog” part for Wayward Wheels is a sick retrospective including lots of London footage
First trip to Southbank?
I think I was in London for three months before I met anyone. I didn’t know where to go skating. I’d never been to a big city like that in my life, I didn’t really know how to use public transport, it was all pretty overwhelming for me. So I used to go to work with my brother and sit there, he worked at a university in Rusell Square. I would sit in his office or skate around the university, I was way too timid to venture out anywhere at the time, it was too overwhelming. Then once or twice a week he’d drive me to Playstation skatepark [now called BaySixty6] in West London. That’s where Rob [Mathieson] planted the seed of me visiting Southbank so I went there with Rob. It’s lucky that I did because I had no friends, I didn’t know anyone, I wasn’t skating very much, and I wasn’t having a good time. I was even thinking of moving back to Australia at that time. I went to Southbank with Rob the day after meeting him I think, and that changed the whole trajectory of my stay in London. If that hadn’t happened I would have fucked off back to Australia for sure. I spent that day skating with Rob and I’m pretty sure it was a Wednesday, so that evening we went to Candybox which was a hectic club night at the time. That’s where I met everyone for the first time, Joey, [Pressey] Snowy [Daniel Kinloch], Lev [Tanju], [James] Edson, yourself, everyone. Then everything went mental for four years and I don’t remember anything, hahaha.
First opportunities with Cliché?
It was weird for ages, I kind of got on but didn’t get on at the same time. Through the Link Footwear thing I met Al Boglio in Lyon at the Cliché offices and he had given me ten boards to take on this trip. He fucked up and gave me his email though. I now had the boss of Cliché’s email. So we did that trip then I came back to London and I wasn’t getting sent boards from anyone at the time. I think Al [Boglio] sent me another box of boards but explained that it wasn’t an official thing. Then I started working at Slam in the shop a couple of days a week. I wouldn’t even call it work, I was there hungover, hating it, gripping boards with Rob and you. I was skating for the shop too. If my memory serves me correctly I was getting shoes from Circa which was through Slam City Skates distribution.
“there was a three year period where I was pissing off Al Boglio via email, riding Cliché boards unofficially, and shooting photos riding them at Southbank”
I would go out to the warehouse every few weeks and get a box of shoes, and also a box of boards. I wasn’t officially getting boards but I would always grab Cliché boards which were also distributed by Slam at the time. I was breaking a lot of boards back then too, it was pretty fucked up. I drank a lot of beers back then, that must have been it. I would also skate Heroin boards sometimes, they used Chapman woodshop so they were exactly the same shapes, dipped white boards. I didn’t properly get on Cliché until towards the end of my stay when I was leaving London. They started flowing me some boards, and I went on some flow trips to Lyon towards the end but it was only made official the year before I left London. So there was a three year period where I was pissing off Al [Boglio] via email, riding Cliché boards unofficially, and shooting photos riding them at Southbank. My first pro board with them came out in 2008.
First filmer/ photographer you clicked with?
I think the first filmed I properly clicked with was Chris Massey. I have a good early memory of hanging out with Massey, Oliver Barton, and Pete Eldridge. I actually spoke about this with Eldridge not that long ago when I was in the States. Massey was the first filmer I clicked with for sure, he was always around and in the mix. Maybe Nick [Jensen] would be going filming and I’d jump on some missions with him. I didn’t film much with Dan Magee but I was definitely around when stuff was going down. Massey and crew would have been there when I shot the ollie over the bar outside Liverpool Street with Sam Ashley, Oliver Barton shot the hardflip down the double set just down the road too. I would have also filmed some stuff for Static back then when Josh Stewart rolled through. Snowy had a camera too, we’d film with that.
Dom Marley was a photographer I enjoyed shooting with a lot back then, Marley and Sam Ashley were always down, Leo Sharp too. Dom kicked it off pretty early on, we shot some Southbank stuff together. I wish there was more footage from that era, the rainbow ledge, the bench. I would love to see what’s on the tapes Snowy filmed, there would be some amazing stuff, to us anyway. I’m pretty sure he filmed me grind up the cheese block and clear the bank to flat. I remember that being the result of a phone call with Matthieu Tournier. They needed a DVS ad urgently, it was pissing down with rain and I asked Snowy to film it while Sam Ashley shot the sequence. I figured I could nosebonk that thing to the flat and it worked out. I’ve never seen the footage in my life, it’s on one of Snowy’s tapes in a box somewhere.
First dalliance with a career outside of the skateboarding world?
There was the jewellery thing early on, I was pretty keen, it was the only thing at school that I was any good at. When I came to London I looked at enrolling on some jewellery making courses. I was figuring out if I wanted to make fine jewellery like rings, and earrings or whether I should go into the watchmaking world. I remember sitting there with my brother at the university, looking at the costs, and figuring out how it would work for me. My brother Ben said “why don’t you just fucking skateboard for a bit, worry about this stuff later”. That jewellery idea quickly got dropkicked out of the stratosphere and never returned. It’s unfortunate in a way because it would have been a cool thing to have continued doing. I’m glad Ben really wanted me to chase the dream though, I did chase it, I’ve chased it for a really long time now.
First Girl box?
I had been on Fourstar for a very long time, I had a really good connection with Sam Smyth and Rick Howard. Me and Mike Carroll got on like a house on fire too, we are close friends. When Cliché came to an end it was at a point where Fourstar had gone too. Fourstar had been put on the back-burner, Cliché had died, and I remember thinking that would be how it all comes to an end. I was upset because Cliché came to an end extremely fast, one day it was just a wrap. It was a bummer, I started thinking about other opportunities I’d passed up. We’d just had our son Jagger, and it went from Cliché paying wicked money to nothing, I needed to find a way to support my family. If only there was a crystal ball I could have looked into. Everything had come to a hiatus, and I thought it was the end of the skateboarding dream I had.
“Everything had come to a hiatus, and I thought it was the end of the skateboarding dream I had”
Mike Carroll and Rick Howard surprising Brophy with his first pro board at the Girl warehouse
I wrote an email to Rick [Howard], I’m pretty sure I worded it along these lines… “ Is there any room on the team for an old, washed up, Australian skateboarder who can still jump kinda?” I think I was twenty-nine when it happened. I’d already had ankle reconstruction, two knee surgeries. I loved skateboarding still, was still good at it, just getting older. Rick asked if he could take some time to think about it. The guy who made my boards at Dwindle is called Eric Sentianin, he’s the board engineer, the guy who came up with the carbon boards, and designed the different shapes. He had forty or fifty boards saved there for me at the factory. They started shooting me out ten packs of blank boards, and I just started putting Girl stickers on the blanks thinking that may help my opportunity. I did that for a while, they were cool with it, and started sending me boards.
I was happy to be on, I wasn’t pro any more but had a board sponsor, I wasn’t going to get kicked off my shoe sponsor. So it wasn’t all falling apart like I thought it may have. I didn’t think I was going to get a pro board, I was just happy to have a home on Girl. Then I was in the States on a trip and Rick [Howard] invited me to to do a kind of Crailtap thing where we walk through the warehouse and pick out some stuff. I picked out a board off the shelf, and there it was, a board with my name on it. That was psycho, I didn’t know how to react to that information, I couldn’t believe it. It’s crazy that happened.
First song you think of when you think of Slam?
Probably some Morrissey shit, something Seth [Curtis] played in the shop that I had a problem with. Obviously I didn’t really know much about music at the time. I think I just turned it off and said something like “I’m not listening to this depressing shit”. I think of Morrissey for sure, and someone being pissed off with me because I changed it, or telling me how good it was. Slam was the ultimate, that skate shop is it!
First port of call in London and LA?
The first port of call in London would always be the Palace in Waterloo or Slam, one of the two. Fly into Heathrow, get the train, and figure where I’d turn up. I remember turning up to the skate shop unannounced one day and surprising you, you were like “what the fuck?”, and I was like “yes!” – straight back in there. It was always hard to get into the Palace because I didn’t have a gate key and wasn’t about to start climbing fences with my bag. So it was Slam, the Palace, and Southbank when I arrived. In LA it’s different, it’s not a cool city in that way. I’d be heading to a suburb, somebody’s house. It would always be Mike O’Meally’s house or Mike Carroll’s house.
First place?
Have I ever done well in a comp? You know what – I skated in a CPH contest, Copenhagen Open. We were there on a Fourstar trip I think. The set up was actually sick that year and we were just skating the park. Then someone asked me if I wanted to skate in the contest. I was hesitant but I agreed and they put me in the very next heat. They put you in a shared heat, three people at a time. It was me, Peter Ramondetta, and someone else. I was warmed up, and felt alright, I remember backside lipsliding this big, long handrail. Somehow I ended up going to the finals where they take you on a boat out to this big concrete park. I think I ended up coming sixth, it could have been eighth. Maybe that’s a big number, I don’t know though man, that’s pretty good for me.
Frontside nosesliding the distance in Copenhagen. Comp winning material shot by Dominic marley
First spot that’s now gone you would bring back to it’s original glory?
It’s not gone but I’d like to skate Southbank the way it was. When I first got there it was all open, from the river all the way to the back. There was the hubba Rory back smithed, the works. The big road gap down the back after the little banks, the phone box you could ring to check who was there. That era for sure, it was pretty special.
First trick that comes to mind from your career that stands out as a favourite?
Maybe the tre flip over the Canada Water rail or the tre flip over the picnic table at Dylan [Rieder]’s park. That was a cool moment for me doing that trick at Dylan’s park. I skated with him a lot back then, and that park was an integral part of that, it was another era of it’s own over there. I spent a lot of time over there with a crew of crazy individuals. Dylan only lived eight or nine blocks down the road from me. I would wake up, have coffee with my wife, take Jagger for a walk, then go to Dylan’s and skate the park. I’d do that every day because it was difficult skating elsewhere during the week. On that day we were all skating, there was a big crew, and we were all trying to do tricks over the table. It was Jeron Wilson, Brandon Biebel, Federico Vitetta, Dylan [Rieder], AVE [Anthony Van Engelen], Guy Mariano, myself, and more I can’t remember. It was a stacked session.
I was sat in this little zone at the back with Jeron Wilson and Guy Mariano while people were skating the table. I remember Guy [Mariano] saying “there’s no way anyone could tre flip one of those things, maybe Chris Cole could do it”. I figured I could maybe do it so I joined in the session that Federico [Vitetta] was filming. I tried a couple and they fully worked, it was crazy but they were going over the table. Then I just did one, it was super sketchy but it was only about ten tries in. I landed three in the end, another sketchy one, then the one I did. Everyone was there, Guy Mariano, the enigma, the person you grew up wishing you could have his Axion shoes. That was a moment, it was something for sure.
“there’s no way anyone could tre flip one of those things, maybe Chris Cole could do it”
360 flip over a picnic table at Dylan Rieder’s skatepark filmed by Federico Vitetta
Last practise you implemented that has improved skateboarding for you?
I think just trying to be healthier, what that entails is different for each person. For me it’s a lot of different things, I don’t drink, I sauna, I ride a bike. I took up other hobbies so I can keep my love for skateboarding engaged. Shit gets old, especially when you’ve done it for a long time, you need to maintain that want for it, and for it to feel good. I have to do that other shit outside of skateboarding for that to be the case. Those Hyper Ice leg squishers are good for sure. I genuinely think the best thing I’ve done though, that has kept my body able to skate is riding a bike because my knees aren’t good.
Last technical innovation that revolutionised your rig?
It has got to be those carbon top boards, the Girl Pop Secret boards. It just makes for a really solid board, they’re super good. I’ve been skating those for a long time, it’s a stiffer, stronger board that lasts longer. I’m quite tall, quite heavy, I’m guaranteed to break a normal board. Since I’ve been skating those I just don’t break boards any more.
Last encounter with a critter most of us have never had to deal with?
It was yesterday actually. I picked up some concrete formwork at my wife’s parents’ house. These big pieces of wood that have been in a pile, in the middle of the bush, for probably about a year. I had gloves on but as I picked them up there was a spider there that was probably about 15cm in diameter. It was big, pissed-off, mum spider, she had her babies there stuck to the wood. She was there protecting them, and she was pissed off. I’m not a huge fan of arachnids so I also pissed off rather swiftly. I had to scratch off the egg sacs, they look like a white pillow that’s stuck to the wood, they’re the size of a 50p but puffed up. I scratched them off after the spider left but I was not impressed by having to do that. There’s always weird shit like that going on over here. Snakes are quite interesting, they have nice scales, they look cool, weird obviously, and can be scary. But there’s something about the way spiders move that fucks me up, I’m not down. This one from yesterday isn’t a dangerous one, they’re called huntsman, they’re non-venomous but move in a crazy way.
Still learning. Bionic switch hardflip on home turf
Last new trick you learned?
Fucking switch hardflips, it’s a classic. I do need to go somewhere and do something with it but I did some on my flat bank at home, and I was stoked. Always wanted to do that one.
Last trick you had to go through a process to re-learn?
Kickflips every time I do them, it’s the most psycho trick in the world. Everyone thinks they can learn to kickflip like Jake Hayes or [Andrew] Reynolds. My body just doesn’t want to do it. I’ll do one, land it so I’m happy, then forget how I did it. The next one will be completely different and disgusting. It’s definitely kickflips for me every single time I do them. I was trying them today over this ledge and none of them were the same. I just don’t have the muscle memory for that trick.
Last trick you consciously retired?
Switch front shuvs for sure, that trick just makes me feel like I’ve never stepped on a skateboard in my entire life. I can’t do those in front of people.
Last board graphic you were super stoked on?
Any board graphic that has my name on I’m super stoked on at this moment in time. My first pro board for Cliché means a lot to me because I never thought it was a possibility that would happen. That was important, I have one hanging up, and another one in plastic. My first Girl board too, the blue one with the oversized OG logo that says “Sheila”. There have been a lot of cool ones. I love the one Rob Mathieson drew with a great white shark eating a crocodile that’s eating a snake who is eating a spider. My two first pro boards will always be special.
Last skate trip highlight?
The last skate trip went on was to Taipei in Taiwan. It was a hard trip, we got arrested, and had to pay some big fines. Everyone on the trip had to pay these fines which was a lowlight. Maybe the highlight was the cop coming out of the station after having given us these savage fines. He was out of his work uniform and had these two big plastic bags. He explained that now he’s out of work hours he’s not a cop any more, apologised for having to give us these fines, and gave us these bags filled with tall Heinekens. We couldn’t believe it, we’d literally been locked up for thirteen hours. They put us in there at 10am and released us at 1 in the morning. It was out of control, then suddenly he turns up apologising, and giving us beers. That was a weird highlight.
Last hammers from your three sons?
We went camping two weeks ago to a motocross event. Ziggy my youngest son is eight, and he has always been super intimidated by motorbikes. When little kids get scared, they get shy, and just refuse to try certain things. When we got there they had a really cool, open kids track that wasn’t open to bigger bikes. There were loads of young girls, and boys riding, he saw that and said he was open to trying it for the first time. Motorbikes are scary for little kids, they’re big, they’re heavy, and loud. Riding with the throttle is hard to explain to them too so I get it. Ziggy went out there, he rode around, stacked it pretty bad, but then he figured it out. Then he just didn’t stop, he rode for six hours all three days. I was really proud of him, he was autonomous, chose to do it, chose how long he wanted to do it for, and carried on after he crashed. I was excited to see him really enjoying himself like that. River is similar with the motorbike stuff, he’s happy to do it, likes to go and learn. He listens to people, he conquers his fears, it’s great to watch happening.
Jagger is now quite good at basketball, I’ve enjoyed watching him improve at that, learn to play as part of a team. Navigating being a team player is important for young people. As skateboarders we don’t really do a team sport, we’re always together but working on our own stuff. I’m happy they’re all doing well.
Last spot you visited you can’t wait to return to?
There were so many spots in Taiwan that were out of control amazing but we were kicked out from every spot in about ten minutes. Let’s just say Southbank, hahaha.
making the most of some rubble and Nearly hitting the roof at southbank. PH: Dominic Marley
Last person you watched skate in the flesh that blew you away?
As far as technical skateboarding I’ve watched Griffin Gass do some shit. His control is second to none, it must feel cool to do the kind of combos he does, he is so precise. Griffin is always mind-blowing because of that control aspect, it’s spectacular to watch. Then Simon Bannerot is just like water, put him in a skatepark, or the right street spot he can just flow through it. He has the ability to make tricks that are definitely not fun look like they are, it looks like he’s surfing. They both do things it looks like it would feel really cool to do. Also to be able to see certain things as being possible, they have a different way of looking at things.
Last Converse shoe you stockpiled?
Definitely the Louie Lopez, it’s really good, that simple vulcanised sole works really well for me.
Last Wayward Wheels power move?
Staying in business, it’s tough out there. We have new wheels coming soon.
Last video to hit your feed that warranted a rewatch?
I watched Heath Kirchart’s Epicly Later’d episode again the other day. My schedule involves too many kids, and too little time.
Last binge watch?
I literally just watch motocross.
Towing the boss on a Girl tour. Brophy and Rick Howard getting revved up. PH: Ben Colen
Last new Australian discovery?
Since living near Noosa Heads we take the kids up to a place called Double Island Point which is probably an 85km full drive up the beach to a coastal headland. You take a barge across, drive up to a cut-in to the beach then drive 80km north along the sand. You cut through a corner of the headland and pop out at these amazing multi-coloured sand dunes that are huge. It’s a really long point break, a right-handed wave. You need to make sure you get your tides, and your winds right because you can lose your car in the ocean otherwise. It’s really beautiful there, so picturesque, I took Rob Mathieson and his partner up there when they came to stay.
Last trip you’ve signed up for this year?
There isn’t an immediate skate trip scheduled but I’m going to go to Japan with my family. It has been my wife’s dream to go there forever so we’re going to go. I hope to skate a little while I’m there too.
Last clip you filmed you’re hyped on?
I got a clip in Taipei that was filmed pretty cool by Daniel Policelli. We’re working on a full-length Girl video at the moment. I filmed a few things in New York too that I’m pretty fucking stoked on. Hopefully many more clips to come, you’ll have to wait and see. I hope to have a pretty solid part in that Girl video as a 38 year old.
360 flip on an eye-opening early trip to Russia shot by Leo Sharp
Last place you thought you’d ever end up?
Early on in my career we went to Moscow and took the sleeper train. Trips like that are strange looking back, things that happened really early on. I never thought that shit would happen.
Last words?
Tell your friends and family that you love them. Life is a fucking weird ride.
Thanks to Andrew Brophy for taking the time out to speak to us, it was great to connect. Follow Brophy on Instagram for regular updates. We’d also like to thank Leo Sharp, Ben Colen, and Dominic Marley for sending over photos. Keep an eye on Girl Skateboards for updates about the full-length video Brophy mentioned. We’re looking forward to that one!
Previous First & Last interviews: Nick Boserio, Jarrad Carlin, Colin Kennedy, Henry Sanchez, Mike York, Amanda Perez, Mark Gonzales, Lance Mountain, Brian Anderson, Danny Brady, Wade DesArmo