Chad Bartie: "I have a flat, long foot like a flipper".

So Chad, y'all healed up after this massive injury?

Yes.

What happened to you?

Just folded my ankle very badly. I think I separated my ankle.

So it was just dangling off your foot?

I folded my leg outwards, then something popped and I felt it go out and come back in. It didn't feel good. I had no strength. I felt like it was just dangling.

Oh, man. So is this the worst one?

This is the worst one, ever, for me.

'Cause I would reckon as a kid you were one of those kids that would never get hurt, no matter what. Like the indestructible child.

I was always stretchy--I always could bend and just get out of things--hut over the years it's catching up to me.

How tall are you?

I'm six-two.

What kind of puddle jumpers are you walking in? How big are your feet?

Size 13. I have a flat, long foot like a flipper. Some of my friends call me--that's my nickname, Flipper. But it never really stuck.

You've been skating your whole life? There's always been skateboards in the house, fight?

No. At first me and my brother were BMX. Then at eight I started getting into skateboarding--so yeah, more than half my life.

Describe the area that you grew up in.

Gold Coast, Australia is a real beachy area. Pretty much the surf capital of Australia. It's all about surfing and it's a real beach sorta city. It's not really even a city; it's like a long town that runs along the coastline. A lot of skateparks. There is a city one hour north of us, which is Brisbane.

So you surfed right from the beginning too?

I actually never liked surfing for some reason. When I went to high school I was always the only skateboarder. A couple of my friends did it as a hobby kind of thing, but I was the only one that was really fully into it at school. The people I skated with were always six- to 10-years older than me; my brother's age. I was always the little grommet skating with the older guys.

Were they always cool about letting you come along?

Well, my parents were always strict about who I went with. If they were a little bit sketchy they were like, "No," but my mum and dad always took me and my brother, always supported us.

Do you ever remember a situation when you were the little kid being around the older skaters, and getting kind of freaked out?

No. I was kind of like the cocky little shit. I was the little guy that would jump off a bigger roof than any of the other guys. My goal was always to try and keep up with the older guys or out-do them.

A lot of the kids like that--like Danny Way, who was so good at an early--age get a bad reputation. Did you ever have that, where people thought you were a show-off?

My dad always tried to keep me straight. My dad's a big man so I never messed with him. I'm sure sometimes I did, but my dad and my brother always kept me straight.

You've got something unique that most pro skaters don't have--you've got your own truck company in Australia. What's that all about?

It's my brother's whole doing, I'm just sort of there to help with design ideas for it. It's just based in Australia; we keep it in Australia. It's a good truck. We're coming out with a new one, a better and improved one. We're always improving, 'cause it's never right the first time.

It seems like making a truck is a real hard thing to do.

It is. Dealing with any kind of metal, it's just hard to get the hardnesses and the angles fight, the molds right. It's just a long, tedious effort. So, struggle if you will.

Is surfing in Australia--there's a lot of sharks, right? Have you seen any sharks?

Yeah, I've seen sharks. I get out of the water straight away. Actually one morning--'cause my whole family used to surf, my mum boogie boarded, my dad surfed and my brother surfed--me and my mum saw a fin and it wasn't a dolphin, because dolphins go up and down and sharks go side to side. Me and my mum hopped out and we didn't tell my dad and brother 'cause they were further down the beach. So when they got borne we let them know, and they were kind of pissed at us.

What was your first trip to the US?

First trip was just a holiday trip with my family, which is when I was probably 13. That was just for two weeks, and I went to Del Mar to skate and they wouldn't let me skate 'cause I was too young. You had to be 14 or something, and I was 12 or 13. So I'm glad I got to see it at least, but I nearly cried that day when I couldn't skate. Anyway, then for just proper skating was with Matt Mumford with I was 15. We both rode for Chapter 7, which was Mike McGill's company. We came out and stayed with him for a little bit, and from there that's just when it all--we just kept coming back and forth from Australia to America.

What company did you eventually turn pro for?.

Well, from Chapter 7 it was Foundation for a bit, Birdhouse for a bit, and then New Deal was the first company I turned pro for. I stuck with them until recently, until the dissolve of the company, and now I'm just freelance.

How's Matt's band shaping up?

I have no idea. I get a preview tonight.

I know you probably tour more than most skaters. You're on the road a lot.

I like to be on the road.

What's been the best and worst trips you've been on?

Best trips? My first time going to Europe was my best, just 'cause I was so excited, because, you know, I love doing contests and Europe to me was always the funnest-looking contests. It was a good time, the places you get to travel and see. So that was probably my best trip ever, which was through New Deal when I first turned pro. Probably my worst trip ever was an old Invisible trip back in the day when I was amateur, in the old mobile home. It was super fun, but just the one experience when we got pulled over by all the cops. We got pulled out at gunpoint. We had to walk out of the mobile home at gunpoint with like three cop cars asking us to come out one by one. That was probably the most scared I've ever been on a road trip. We didn't go to jail, they just searched the whole van. It was just sketchy, so that was probably the worst one.

Do you get superstitious about skating ?

Yes.

What kind of superstitions do you have?

Sometimes it's stronger than other times, but a lot of times I've got to touch my head before I try a trick. I've got this little knack where I need to tap my forehead or touch wood. Like if there's no wood around you touch your forehead or something. Other times, when I'm in the right mood, I guess I'm focused and I don't even need to. It's weird.

If you could skate one thing for the rest of you life, what would you skate?

Oh shit. See, I haven't been to all of the parks in America. All the photos I've seen of them; actually, if anywhere, probably in Arizona, Phoenix, just all the parks there. I liked being in an area where there are that many parks in one area--how big and smooth and perfect they are. It's a lot of fun. It's not one particular park, that area just has a lot of different parks.

What trick can't you do, no matter what?

Probably the frontside 540 on vert. I cannot comprehend those. I used to try them when I was young, but I never made it. Just gay twists and the mandatory little tricks, and that was it.

Can you do 360s over the spine?

Nollie 360s. Not normal 360s.

Yeah, I've seen that one. Who was your first Australia skate hero?

Probably a local back in Australia, Dan Burford. He's an old vert skater, because that's what skating was back then. He was super rad. I think he traveled to America once. He had a really bad injury where he couldn't skate again. He folded his leg backwards and his knee blew, totally just blew.

Who was the first pro skater you met when you came over to the US?

Actually with Matt, Don Brown picked us up and we drove through Huntington Beach. We were asking him something and we look out the window and Ed Templeton was skating a ledge. Me and Matt just flipped out. It was pretty rad.

What do you mean? You're suppose to say Don Brown, the freestyle champion.

Well yeah. Yeah, sorry Don.

What's the best AC/DC album?

Anything Bon Scott did. I like Bon Scott better. Not better, but it was just more legit. That was the original AC/DC--Bon Scott days. Anything Bon Scott

Jake says, "I stopped caring about music after Bon Scott died."

Bon Scott was legit, but I'm not taking away from ... what's his name now?

Brian Johnson. Yeah. What are three things you can't leave behind on a trip?

iPod, the mandatory thing these days. My travel pillow, the little thing you borrow on the plane--like a horse collar--'cause I get a bad neck, man. If I get a bad neck I can't do anything.

Wait, are you a comfort bunny?

Yeah. You--ah, you named me that.

What's the maddest you've ever made Matt Mumford?

Oh, I can get under Matt's skin like no one else. We're like brothers. We can get on each other's nerves; we can tell each other to luck off and be friends half-an-hour later, it doesn't matter. We can tell each other what we think and that's it, so that's the end of it.

You for Ethan or Jerry Fowler?

I only know Ethan.

Brian or Kenny Anderson?

Both. They tie. Different kind of skaters. I don't like these questions.

What skate companies out there are you stoked on?

I've always liked Toy Machine, Ed's whole deal there.

He's good.

Ed's kept to his guns the whole time--his style, the way he does things. I mean, it's obviously worked. He's still around and he's still super rad, No matter what the team, Toy Machine will always be Toy Machine--it almost doesn't need the team. No offense, but the Machine will always be the Machine.

What's your best pro contest placing?

I won a contest once.

The one in Ohio?

Yeah.

How'd that feel?

It was great. It was my first pro contest and it was super good.

Did it feel better winning them as a kid, because you probably won a bunch as a kid? Or does it feel better now?

It feels better now because it's harder--so much harden Your body's got to be healthy. You've got no injuries. You gotta be on point and be skating all the time, and sometimes it's hard to do that. If I get top 10 in a contest I'm super stoked now, just because it seems like it's so much harder these days. Everything's gotta be right there and about what it is. It's a good feeling.

Who's the best skater to come out of Australia lately?

Cale Nuske. So good.

What's some advice you'd want to give?

Just skate for fun. Don't take it too seriously. Don't just skate to have an image. Don't skate just to be the most popular. Just skate to have fun. It's not about your image, it's not about the scene--it's about the way you skate and how much fun you have doing it, and that's it.