Ali Cairns - First 540s, living in CA, Tony Hawk and leg snaps | Brain Drain Show #20

Brain Drain Episode 20 with Toby Batchelor & Forde Brookfield 🧠Sit back, pop a brew open and get comfortable - we're heading deep into the world of professional skateboarding with the one and only Ali Cairns!In this episode we discuss first 540s, hanging with Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek and Jim Greco, early days with Tom Penny, moving to California, Birdhouse, leg snaps and much much more! 00:00 - Coming up on this episode/intro01:27 - Joining us on the show is the extremely brilliant Vert God Ali Cairns02:34 - How did Ali get introduced to vert skateboarding & the history/future of Vert Skateboarding11:53 - Ali's first 540...15:38 - Riding for Black Label & skating with Mike Manzoori16:55 - A nice message from Chris Atherton & other Avi & Tom Penny related stories... 28:23 - Ali's history with early sponsorships Black Label, visiting America for the first time, filming for Transworld and coining his own tricks42:37 - Staying in the States with the Flip guys, history about the first ever Flip Skateboards series and pissing off the skate media46:41 - Skating spots you shouldn't in CA48:11 - How Birdhouse came about and trading product for cash causing Greco to get booted off51:37 Getting a job at Birdhouse to make ends meet51:11 Jay Strickland moving in to keep everyone under control54:11 Moving down to stay with Bucky Lasek and how good he still is55:00 Bucky almost drowning because Tony Hawk did a nature-dump58:15 Staying with Tony Hawk and how nice he is1:04 Riding for Birdhouse, getting double page spreads in TWS, Gullwing and Airwalk days1:06 Tricks named after pro skaters...1:10 Almost dying from allergic reaction to prawns in the murder capital of the world with Horsley1:17 411 days filming with Chris Ortiz and how much of a legend Brad Hayes is and Rooming with Greco1:23 - Filming for Birdhouse 'The End'1:30 - Meeting Jeremy Klein and winning him over1:33 - Filming P vs D with Dykie and drinking bottles of Jack D1:37 - Billabong days, getting on Etnies and splashing the cash on a Lexus1:43 - Alis net worth according to google1:44 - Quitting Birdhouse and Unabomber days1:53 - Talking with Jeff Kendall and almost getting on Santa Cruz1:57 - How Ali managed to get his own vert ramp and destroying his leg in the most horrific way2:13 - Ali's Pro board on Forty Skate Co2:18 - Who Ali thinks are up and coming vert guys in the UK2:20 - Farewells and wrap up2:23 - CreditsPresenters: Forde Brookfield & Toby Batchelor @tobybatchelor Edited by: Forde Brookfield @bagheadcrewProducer: Frazer Murphy @dontfollowfrazerTitle animations: Mike Wright @michael_k_wright_designTheme tune: Shaun Hancock @shaunofthesadAlso available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Youtube.https://linkin.bio/rollersnakes🛠️ Need to BUILD a Skateboard?🛠️ Watch This:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxzawhNQv8&t=3s💰Need to BUY Skateboards, Parts or Tools💰 Click Here:https://rollersnakes.co.uk/collections/skate?filter.v.availability=1👀Need to WATCH more Skateboarding content?👀 Go to our Socials:TIKTOK 🎵 RollersnakesTV 🎵 https://www.tiktok.com/@rollersnakestvINSTAGRAM: 📸 Rollersnakes 📸https://www.instagram.com/rollersnakeshttps://www.instagram.com/rollersnakesshopderbyYOUTUBE: ▶️ RollersnakesTV▶️https://www.youtube.com/rollersnakestv#skateboarding #podcast #birdhouseskateboards #braindrain #tonyhawk #andrewreynolds #alicairns