Photo: Brett Randal
Interview by Ryan Grant
RG: Alright lets get into it...whenever i see my mother and sister they always ask about you and comment on what a lovely, nice man you are! They then go on to say how amazing your hair is...so for them how do you get that mane so epic?
DJ: I do get asked this from time to time, and my first answer is that i concentrate super hard for 20 minutes every night when i get in bed before i go to sleep. But really...i don't know why people need to ask, it's pretty obvious that if you don't cut your hair it's going to get long! That and it's a prerequisite for playing in a heavy metal band. Long hair or you're just false!
RG: Ahh great segway to the next question...you are indeed in a heavy metal band, can you tell us what you guys are all about?
DJ: True heavy metal! So much so that we are the first band to actually take the name "Metal". Some people find it hard to believe, but we've managed to stick to it for about 5 or 6 years now. I think people find it refreshing to hear a band that doesn't have a fake aggressive attitude like 90% of garbage these days. We've had bands dedicate their set to us on the same night we've played, and at the last show the headlining band from Japan figured out the chorus from one of our songs and got a chant going from the crowd halfway through their set. If people see you having a great time on stage it definitely catches on!
RG: Yeah that is what i love about the band, taking it really serious about not being serious! Do you guys still have the same stage names since it started?
DJ: Eh i don't know i hope we ditched them because i never really had a good one! I think it just came about because our first singer had an alter ego - Rusty "Iron" Oxide.
RG: Ah that is a shame...i thought they were great names! Yours was Danny "Diamond Crusher" Jenkins right? Speaking of true heavy metal i have been listening to a lot of Dragonforce lately but am concerned that they maybe considered false to real metal fans...am i right? While I'm on it what would be "Metal's" major influences?
DJ: Haha yeah I've been known to crush diamonds back into coal, then back into diamonds again with my bare hands, That's how brutal i am...
Dragonforce are legit! They shred like demons and have a great time doing so, good on them. Metal's main influence would definitely be the BlueScope Steelworks in Wollongong. We have a few songs about Naval battles and generally having great pride in heavy metal as well, but i guess whenever there are men working hard and fighting for triumph and steel we'll write songs about it.
Sequence: Sam Coady
RG: Fantastic! You can't mess with a Steelworks as an influence. Ok we both grew up skating in the gong and have spent our fair share of time at the infamous Fairy Meadow skate park. Who are your top 5 FM locals and why?
DJ: Noel Ferguson - I don't think this guy even knew what skateboarding was, but he clambered onto a board in steel capped army boots and shredded harder than anyone. He made up tricks that no-one could even figure out what they were. He is one of the true ghetto rats of Fairy Meadow, i saw him get into so many fights, even kicking a guys teeth in while he had bare feet!
Michael "The Gonz" - I've known this guy for like 12 years and still don't know his last name! Help me out here Granty! This guy is one trooper for sure, had the best pop shuvit varials (aka frontside flips) in the business. A little while ago he got stabbed a bunch of times by his girlfriend, she poured bleach all over him in the bath and left him there to die! Sounds awful but in hospital they found a cancer inside him near one of his stab wounds which they otherwise wouldn't have known about. He's so physced on everything now, i always love catching up with Gonzo!
Kerry Dowsett - Kedde has THE most ridiculous and eggagerated stories you've ever heard come out of someones face hole. The most unbelievable part is that a lot of the time they are actually true! He's a long standing defender of the park and is still keeping shit in order out there on a daily basis. 360 flip tail grabs like a boss!
Nathan Dent - Without doubt one of the most incredible skaters I've ever seen. Familiar story though, i think he started getting pretty wrapped up in things which weren't doing his sanity any good and i guess it took the fun out of skating around a crew for him and he dropped off the radar. If this guy made a comeback the skateboarding world would explode!
Mick Lee - Now i think this guy is making a comeback! Style and tricks like OG Tom Penny, who could argue with that?
RG: Man, that is a list of characters there....so rad! I have indeed seen Mick on a board last time i was there and that put a smile on my dial!
You are a graphic designing, photo shooting, video editing demon who is always plugged into the mainframe! What made you interested in 1's and 0's and there capability to rule the world?
DJ: I've always planned to have my body completely absorbed by a computer at some stage, sustaining my life for a further hundred years longer than your typical Luddite. I may as well be making cool stuff while I'm at it so I've been working on motion graphics and all round video production for several years as well. I've always filmed and taken photos when out skating so i guess it's a bit of an extension from that. Plus now i have a few cool toys to use when we're out shredding!
RG: haha such a nerd! Your nickname is by far the most out there of any, I've heard in my 28 year existence! What's amazing too is that it has lasted this long that your own mother refers to you by that name. For those that don't know how did you get coined with the name "Fetus"?
DJ: Ah great i knew this would come up. When i started hanging out with you guys i was only about 14, and was the smallest most feeble creature you had ever seen. Big head that looked like the neck could barely support it, etc. You all thought I'd basically been shot straight out of the womb onto a skateboard so the name Fetus was born, pun intended haha. It's pretty heinous i guess, especially when you get introduced to some smokin' hot ladies as a guy called "Fetus". That's the last thing in the world they want to be associated with!!!
RG: Yeah but when the person who comes up with it is also known as "Haggis" it seems some what understandable! I never thought you would leave the Gong and your mum's home cooking to go to Sydney. You have been there a while now, how do you find the big smoke as a place to live?
DJ: I've been up here for just over 3 years now, and seeing the lack of opportunities in Wollongong i can't see myself ever moving back. It was such an awesome place to grow up and i love going down to see my family and skate lads. There's so much more of everything going on up here. Things have worked out so well, there's a crazy motivated crew to skate and film with, plenty of places to go out for a beer and I've got a decent house with my girlfriend with room for dudes to have a BBQ and crash over the weekend. In Wollongong you pretty much pick whichever bogan filled pub you think may have the least fights that night and hope you survive.
RG: You recently cracked your noggin and got into the Matt Mumford head stitches hall of fame. It looked brutal, how did it happen? Should use it as an album cover like those Norwegian black metal dudes.
Ive seen you take some gnarly slams (normally in the first 5 minutes of turning up to a place that took hours to get too)...do you think it was the worst?
DJ: Yeah i think this slam is probably the worst. Well pretty bad for my standards. I always claim to never to slam because i don't try anything hard enough haha. This one was only a backside disaster on the extension bit in the mini ramp at Civic in Canberra. I went to come i like any normal trick but i guessed i twisted too far and hooked up. I fell from the top and the back of my head did the whole whiplash thing into the ground.
Man it must be something with Canberra! I once tried to nose slid this 9 stair hubba in Canberra ages ago and got pitched from the top just the same. You were filming that one but a bleeding skull with stitches is always more impressive!
DJ: I've always planned to have my body completely absorbed by a computer at some stage, sustaining my life for a further hundred years longer than your typical Luddite. I may as well be making cool stuff while I'm at it so I've been working on motion graphics and all round video production for several years as well. I've always filmed and taken photos when out skating so i guess it's a bit of an extension from that. Plus now i have a few cool toys to use when we're out shredding!
RG: haha such a nerd! Your nickname is by far the most out there of any, I've heard in my 28 year existence! What's amazing too is that it has lasted this long that your own mother refers to you by that name. For those that don't know how did you get coined with the name "Fetus"?
DJ: Ah great i knew this would come up. When i started hanging out with you guys i was only about 14, and was the smallest most feeble creature you had ever seen. Big head that looked like the neck could barely support it, etc. You all thought I'd basically been shot straight out of the womb onto a skateboard so the name Fetus was born, pun intended haha. It's pretty heinous i guess, especially when you get introduced to some smokin' hot ladies as a guy called "Fetus". That's the last thing in the world they want to be associated with!!!
Photo: Phillipa Carr
RG: Yeah but when the person who comes up with it is also known as "Haggis" it seems some what understandable! I never thought you would leave the Gong and your mum's home cooking to go to Sydney. You have been there a while now, how do you find the big smoke as a place to live?
DJ: I've been up here for just over 3 years now, and seeing the lack of opportunities in Wollongong i can't see myself ever moving back. It was such an awesome place to grow up and i love going down to see my family and skate lads. There's so much more of everything going on up here. Things have worked out so well, there's a crazy motivated crew to skate and film with, plenty of places to go out for a beer and I've got a decent house with my girlfriend with room for dudes to have a BBQ and crash over the weekend. In Wollongong you pretty much pick whichever bogan filled pub you think may have the least fights that night and hope you survive.
RG: You recently cracked your noggin and got into the Matt Mumford head stitches hall of fame. It looked brutal, how did it happen? Should use it as an album cover like those Norwegian black metal dudes.
Ive seen you take some gnarly slams (normally in the first 5 minutes of turning up to a place that took hours to get too)...do you think it was the worst?
DJ: Yeah i think this slam is probably the worst. Well pretty bad for my standards. I always claim to never to slam because i don't try anything hard enough haha. This one was only a backside disaster on the extension bit in the mini ramp at Civic in Canberra. I went to come i like any normal trick but i guessed i twisted too far and hooked up. I fell from the top and the back of my head did the whole whiplash thing into the ground.
Man it must be something with Canberra! I once tried to nose slid this 9 stair hubba in Canberra ages ago and got pitched from the top just the same. You were filming that one but a bleeding skull with stitches is always more impressive!
Photo: Trent Blackmore
RG: Thanks for your time and insight my friend! True champion you are....anyone you want to give a shout out to?
DJ: Ok honorable mentions go out firstly to Pip for keeping me alive, Haggis & Mav for making me want to play guitar, Ray Aaron and Chinch the brothers of Steel, 100mph guys for inspiring me to skate faster, Sylva and our Sydney skate crew for being motivated as if they just got their first skateboards yesterday, Rodney, Trent, Sam and Brett for the photos, mumsy for letting me fill the garage with skate ramps for years on end, Joey at Kingpin, all the Wollongong crew and you Granty for many years of skateboarding, dilmah drinking and video making madness!
