Morgan Campbell is a busy man. He's the main writer for the SbA blog, works on the numerous events SbA hold around the country and represents The 4 Skateboard company. When we were putting the CLS deck design together we thought it would be fitting to have a piece of writing printed on top of the deck to tell the story of CLS. Asking Morgan to write it was a no brainer and we're honoured that he accepted our request. Read more about it in the interview below and in the words of the man himself: "Cheers Tiger!".
First of all thanks for writing the piece for the top of the CLS re-release deck. Was it hard to write?
Not really. I guess the only thing weird at the time was I was on holiday in Shanghai. So I had to take a few minutes getting back into the computer headspace. But, writing about these guys came easy as I was always and will always be in awe of their talent. In the early 90’s I was shown around Sydney by some of the CLS crew and I was taken aback by not only their skills but how welcoming they were. It was nice to finally pay them some formal respect.
It’s been 15 years since CLS formed. Time has flown by. What have been some of the milestones for you in the Australian skate scene during the past 15 years?
I remember first seeing the CLS promo at Mike O’Meally’s apartment in Manhatten around ‘97. It blew my eyeballs to smithereens. Since then I guess there have been several monumental milestones for the Australian skateboarding movement. Some of the highlights would be
- The establishment of the Skateboarder’s Journal.
- Witnessing people like Dustin, Jakey, Brophy, Nuske, Lewis (RIP), Shane (RIP), Shane O'Neil and Chima blowing up to the degree they have and spreading the knowledge of the Aussie shred factor. Of course people like Mumford, Cuzza and Bartie paved the way for them, but it was even earlier I think.
- Seeing my hometown spots (eg Woolies) get slayed by the pioneers of modern street. People such as Carroll, Howard, Koston, MJ and Mariano. We used to complain about these spots, but seeing the world’s best travel across the globe to skate them was an eye opener to say the least.
- Seeing rad Aussie brands get off the ground. It is vital to have local brands to properly fuel a self-contained scene.
- Right now I am super proud to be a part of what SbA are doing. Name another country in the world where a government supported skate organisation is doing more for skating.
- All the skateparks that have been built over the last fifteen years. So many contours. So many options.
- Seeing Aaron Nannup and Kieran Reilly rep the indigenous colours and flow to the degree that they do.
Do you have any CLS related stories you would like to share?
I never really hung with the crew all together. But I did definitely skate with them, and get to know them over the years. One of my most classic memories of Davo was when I visited Sydney with my buddy Van and Davo was like a Skate Pied Piper with hundreds of groms following him everywhere we went. From the Pit to North Sydney to Chatswood there were like fifteen groms following us. Pretty sure they all looked like Davo too.
If you could put together a modern day CLS team, who would you put on?
In my eyes CLS will always be those five. It is more of a crew not a team. I mean you could not pick a line up for a modern day EMB crew either right?
You seem to lead a full life, is multi-tasking a way of life for you? How to you juggle everything?
I don’t mind a bit of multi-tasking. Most of my friends tell me I am really busy, sometimes too busy. But I have a lot of ideas I want to turn into realities and I enjoy pretty much everything I work on. I also get by with a pretty tech looking notebook layout. I need it all in front of me, as sometimes my attention span is pretty average.
Last words:
Aspire to rip at whatever you choose worthy of your time and spend time with your friends and family.
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