Max Fullarton is on Suzy Skateboards
Photos by Max Fullarton, Riely Walker, Wade Mclaughlin, Bror Butler, Jake Bolton
Right now we are in the middle of the decade, it’s been 15 years since the beginning of the early 2010s small company boom and like clockwork, now is the perfect time for some new blood pumped into the industry.
Suzy is the newest board company out of Australia, started by Melbourne’s, David Ruby and George Bidgood, who you may know from the recent Asics video, F[ _ux or from various Jerimiah Corea projects over the years. In the last year, David and George have put endless hours into Suzy, working on graphics, putting together a team, posting up bill posters, and even making a zine to send out to shops as a lookbook, wanting to do it all as legit as possible. Coinciding with the launch of Suzy, they just released, Sping, a video by Jerimiah Corea, showcasing the team: Izaak Ashley, Callum Roberts, George Bidgood, and the youngest of the bunch, sixteen-year-old Max Fullarton.
When I first met Max, he was twelve-years-old in a helmet skating around our local skatepark, Newport, frontside 50-50ing every ramp in sight, and he showed me a video of him doing a flyout backflip, which I still tell people about every time he gets brought up in conversation. Sorry Max, I think it’s awesome. For last four years I’ve watched him go from that annoying kid at the skatepark to a teenager with a great head on his shoulders who skates like a grown man, and tells me how easy it is to skate switch. Max had my favourite footage in Sping; I'm so proud of him and I can’t wait to see what he does on a skateboard and in life. With the launch of Suzy I wanted to sit down with Max and ask him about the company and filming for the video. Also, all the black and white photos in this piece were shot and developed by Max himself in his school darkroom.
What is Suzy?
It’s a skateboard company. It’s a real tight-knit group of friends..
Who skates for the company?
George Bidgood, Izaak Ashley, Callum Roberts, and me.
How did you get on?
George asked me at the Moomba comp in March 2024. He said to me, ‘I’m going to start a skate company and I really want to put you on, but you’ve just got to keep skating and don’t take it as ‘I can chill now’ just keep doing what you are doing.’ He said that it would be in a few months, but it ended up being only a month later I got boards [laughs].
Were you skating with those guys already at the time?
Not really, I had skated with them once. I met George at the Belco Bowl Jam last year. He knew who I was because I was filming with his friend Charlie Johnson King with Fano [Connor], but I didn’t know who he was.
The first time I ever went skating with George and Jez [Jerimiah Corea], George broke his elbow. We were skating this tall kicker to ledge, he was trying to back tail it and he smashed his elbow, it was fucked. It was pretty strange, because I had never really spoken to all of them, but it really quickly made sense and felt normal.
How did you feel when George asked you to skate for the company?
I was stoked. It sounded like a really good idea; they had a good plan, and they were doing everything right. I knew it was going to be a good thing and something I would be super stoked to be a part of.
That’s really cool. How does it feel now it’s all together?
I am very happy with what I have achieved through it. I am super stoked for George and David because they have put blood, sweat, and tears into it and they’ve done so well.
Did they have graphics when George first asked you?
They had the first board graphics but that was it.
Did you have much of a say in the graphics when they were making them?
A lot of the board graphics are paintings that their friends have done, but I have helped with giving them feedback on some of their designs. They also designed some t-shirts with me in mind and what I would wear, which is really dope.
That’s so nice. George posted a photo of the Suzy HQ, it looked like some basement, where is it?
Oh, that is underneath Snake Pit [Skateshop in Prahran], it is going to be an art studio for us, but the HQ is David’s house.
You guys made zines to send to shops as a lookbook, what was the idea behind that?
It definitely wasn’t my idea but I can tell you why I think George did it. He wanted to start a skate company, but he didn’t want people to view it as some little thing that wasn’t legitimate, he wanted to show shops that we are making videos, we’ve got a team, and it will be a legit thing. They did a lot of prototypes of the zine, and it came out perfectly.
This was your first time ever filming for a video and working on a project. How was it?
It was insane, because before last year I had never gone out to the streets multiple times a week to try and get clips. It is good but it has its ups and downs, I had a two-month stint where I couldn’t film anything, it gets in your head sometimes and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ Then I did a wallride, which is a trick I hadn’t done before and I realised I wasn’t having fun. I was just going out skating and not doing anything, I realised that when we go to a spot, I should just go skate it and if something works, something works. I do that now and it works great for me.
Do you make a trick list?
Fuck no. I hate that. It makes me stressed out.
Do you ever forget your ideas then?
Yeah, I always forget what I want to do, but I kind of like it like that. There are only some things that I want to do but I don’t like giving myself a spot and then a trick on it because it makes me so stressed out. With the backside 5-0 on the hubba, I had wanted to crook it for a year and a half and when I got there I was like, I can’t do it. I rolled up to it for an hour, George was the only reason I jumped on that thing, he backside 50-50’d it and got me stoked to jump on. The ender [frontside 180 nosegrind to regular] I knew I wanted to go there to do that trick, but that’s the only time that has happened and it worked.
Damn, that’s crazy. I am a big trick list guy. Every time I’ve filmed something I have had a trick list.
I can’t do it. You never know what a spot is going to be like until you’re there and a lot of the spots we skate I have never been to before, so we get there and I’m like that isn’t going to work. Also, if it is something big that I want to skate, I’ll think about it so much and if I get there and am too scared to do it, I’ll just get bummed out.
Do you think the way you skate has been influenced by hanging out with everyone?
Yeah, for sure. Izaak just makes me want to have so much fun skating and do funny shit. He is my favourite skater; I love that guy. George makes me want to skate more switch and nollie, he does so much that I didn’t even know that he could do. Callum too, he goes so fast with everything he does. [Matthew] Boggis, is a really big influence on me because he is such a creative person and such an amazing skater, which is what I strive to be.
What do you want to be when you’re older?
I don’t know. I have no idea; I am getting into electrical trade but who knows if that will be what I end up doing. I would love to do something sort of artistic, I’ve always wanted to be a tattoo artist.
How do you choose what tricks you want to learn?
I see them in videos, and I am like ‘Holy fuck, I want to be able to do that.’
What’s the most recent trick you’ve learnt?
Switch back 5-0 front 180, I learnt in two tries.
How easy is skating switch?
It is hard, bro.
Shut up! That’s the first time you’ve said that. We’re recording and now you’re lying [laughs]!
[Laughs] No it is really hard until you do it a lot and then it gets so much easier, you didn’t let me finish you little shit, let me talk. It is hard at first because it is like learning how to skate all over again, once you do it and keep doing it, it just connects. Everything starts working and you learn so much quicker.
Yeah, I agree. I’m finding it more fun skating switch than regular at the moment.
Yeah, I’m skating more switch than regular too, and it is getting more comfortable and enjoyable.
For sure. I feel more comfortable skating switch than I ever have. What was your favourite trick you filmed for the video?
Probably the backside 5-0 on the hubba, because I wanted to skate that thing forever. It was terrifying. I didn't think I was going to do it, but I owe so much to George for jumping on that thing. Right as I landed it cops rocked up too.
The timing was perfect. You’ve been taking photos a lot recently. How did you get into it?
My parents lived in Japan and were working as English teachers. One of my mum’s students gifted her a camera. My friend at school, Lachie, got me into shooting film, he shoots a lot of film, he showed me the ropes of the darkroom at school, and I wanted to start shooting photos. I asked my mum if she had a film camera, and she gave me that camera. My school gives me free rolls of black and white film and has a darkroom where I can develop the film.
It’s so sick you have access to the darkroom.
It’s really fun. It’s so quiet in there, it’s good to get away from all the people at school when I have free periods. I’m the only person who uses it now, my two friends, Lachie and Josh, who would also use it graduated last year. I’m going to develop three rolls tomorrow.
Now the video’s done, do you have anything else that you want to work on?
I want to film more for Suzy, I just want to keep skating and having fun.
Do you think you’ll ever do another backflip?
No. I hate that clip. I think I did it because I saw Ryan Sheckler do one in a Sheckler Sessions video because I would binge watch those videos when I was nine. I wanted to do one, so I went to The Shed to do one, the first one I did didn’t get filmed then I went back a month later and did it again. So, I did two backflips. I was twelve.
[Laughs] What would you do if you found a spot that would be perfect to do a backflip, would you do it?
No, I wouldn’t do it. It’s so ugly.
What’s your favourite skate video?
Stay Gold.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Any song by The Sundays.
Epic. Shoutout to Harriet Wheeler.
Yeah, fuck yeah. I love Harriet Wheeler.
That’s so sick. I love The Sundays. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic is one of my favourite albums of all time.
No, no, no Static and Silence is better. My new year’s resolution was to learn how to play an instrument and my girlfriend, Alisha, plays a lot of guitar, and I learnt the riff for ‘Here’s Where the Story Ends’.
What’s one thing you love?
Nature.
What’s one thing you hate?
…There are so many things I hate. I'm just trying to think about one… Skinny Jeans.
Do you think because you grew up skating transition, it made skating street easier for you?
Yeah. I think I had more control, but it was still scary. Hit me with some more questions.
I have nothing left [laughs]. Do you have anything you want to say?
I’d like to thank George, David, Jez, and Tony Hallam for everything.
I’d like to thank Tony too, thanks for doing this max.