Pairing stylish street lines with a mellow, dreamy soundtrack, Tyron Drew pulls through with a dope VX clip and a quick Q&A.

This exclusive Slam part welcomes Tyron to one of Australia’s newest board companies, Rosaline Skateboards, a brand that embraces the beautiful side of skateboarding.

Filmed by Tony Woodward and Chris Coleman. Edited by Anthony Chicco.

TYRON DREW INTERVIEW

Photos by Casey Foley. 

Tyron Drew has been terrorising the streets of Melbourne for quite some time now. Having filmed his fair share of video parts over the years, Tyron shares his experiences filming his Rosaline part during harsh COVID lockdowns and a trip to Europe. With a good assortment of tricks and a style so smooth you could spread it on your toast, Tyron has put together a refreshing and delightful video part. To coincide with the part, the company’s founder and owner Anthony Chicco sat down and had a chat with one of Frankston’s finest.  

So Tyron, how old were you when you started skating and what was it like for you growing up skating in Melbourne?

I was 12 years old when I started skating. I grew up an hour south of Melbourne in a suburb called Frankston. The scene down there was really good. Heaps of amazing skaters have come out of Frankston. I’ve skated in Melbourne city ever since the day I started, and now I’m fortunate enough to live in the city and skate here every day.

Who or what got you rolling to begin with? And out of all the Frankston legends, who’s your local hero?

None other than fellow team rider Tom Griffin got me into skating. I had a skateboard in grade six, but I used to push mongo around the streets of Frankston on nick-knocking missions [laughs]. Then when I got to high school, I became best mates with Tom and I started skating with him. Funny story about Tom and I, we had a mutual friend before we became friends and I think we were a bit jealous of each other’s relationship with this mutual friend, so we really didn’t like each other. Turns out the first day of high school we were in the same class and we’ve been best mates ever since.

My local hero would have to be Mike Martin. He’s the most stylish cat on a skateboard, and he’s also the nicest bloke you’ll ever meet. Mike used to work at the local skate shop in Frankston called Trigger Brothers and I used to be so intimidated by him because he was an older dude who ripped. Years down the track we worked together at Fast Times and we’ve been great mates ever since.

You got pretty lucky and managed to fit a Europe trip in last year just in time before the COVID travel bans. How was it gallivanting across all the spots in Barcelona?

Yeah, I did. It was amazing. It was my first time travelling to Europe. I’m lucky enough to have friends in Zurich, Switzerland, so I stayed with my friend Michel while in Zurich and then we did a trip to Barcelona for a week with Tony Woodward and some of the Swiss crew. It was peak summer time in Barcelona so some days the heat was brutal, but we all made the most of the opportunity and skated as much as we could and drank as many beers as we could [laughs]. It was an insane experience to go to the iconic spots and see them with my own eyes, full skate tourism style. MACBA is the craziest spot. There are so many good skaters there and even when everyone’s done skating the place is still packed with people drinking beers and hanging out. The night that I filmed my ender for this video, the place was packed, and people seemed pretty hyped for me when I landed it.

Most of your part was filmed during the heavy lockdowns. How challenging has that been and did Tony have to film with a pole to keep the 1.5-metre social distancing rule?

It hasn’t felt that challenging at all. Although in metropolitan Melbourne we’ve had the restriction of only being able to travel five kilometres away from where you live, Tony and I have managed to get a lot of stuff done. My tram home from work goes down St Kilda Road which has heaps of iconic spots from the ’90s, so I’m always looking out the window for new things I haven’t seen yet. A big chunk of this part was filmed at spots on St Kilda road that I either spotted from the tram or found while skating home from work. 

Yeah, Tony and I actually went halves in a selfie stick, so we’ve managed to keep the 1.5-metre distance for the last couple of months. It worked out in my favour anyway because Tony smells real bad [laughs]. 

So apart from working at Fast Times, you’re quite the musician. What’s your DJ name and can people book you for their house parties or is that more of an exclusive invite-only kind of deal?

[Laughs] I’m far from it. If I was a DJ my name would be DJ Skitzmix. If I end up going the DJ route I’ll definitely keep it an exclusive, invite-only kind of deal [laughs].

So, DJ Skitzmix, you’ve had quite a few video parts over the years. Do you have a process for filming them, like a checklist? Or do you just go with the flow and think up a trick when you get to the spot?

The process is a bit of both. I do have a checklist of certain tricks I want to do at certain spots or just certain tricks I want to do but don’t have a spot for. Usually, it’s a mix of a checklist of tricks and also spur of the moment tricks. This video part has mostly been planned tricks due to COVID restrictions. I had a few tricks in mind for when I went to Europe, but most of those just happened naturally, which is always a good feeling.

What’s the plan for the future? The way you’ve been dropping parts, I’m guessing we will be seeing another one next year or are you going to take a break?

My pleasure, mate. Restrictions are starting to ease up, so hopefully, by peak summertime, everything will be a little bit more normal. The plan is to keep skating and doing what I’m doing: work, skate and beer. No breaks for me, mate! I’ll be onto the next project. Can’t wait!