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Dustin Dollin: Still Crazy After All These Years?

When Baker Skateboards pro, Dustin Dollin, first came over from Australia he was instantly dubbed "Devil's Spawn" for his torturous, drunken lunacy. And as crazy as he was off the board, he was even more of a nut riding it. I remember seeing him for the first time at the tail end of the 90s at a BMX park in Tom's River, New Jersey, throwing his body down a two-story drop for shits and giggles, and I feel like everything he's done in the past 15 years since turning pro has been equally death defying and absurd.

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Every video part he's ever put out has been legendary, every photo memorable, everything that comes out of his mouth is classic and he's still on a tear. After six ACL reconstructions he recently got the cover of Thrasher, a new Vans shoe, and is working on three new video parts in the upcoming years (full disclosure: I work for Vans). He claims to have mellowed out over the years, but by the sounds of things ole Dusty is just as crazy as he's ever been and that, he claims, is why kids love him.

VICE: Sorry I couldn't make it to Paris for your wedding last month. Is it true that you had a sex-room at the reception?

Dustin Dollin: The reception was at a restaurant called Le Derrière, the Ass, and I believe there was a room upstairs that people used for a bit of an orgy—some very prestigious, rich drug addicts. I didn't see it first hand we were too busy taking photos and looking pretty. My wife did tell me a few people had sex upstairs and partook in the festivities of love. The whole day was cool, my mum was double-fisting mojitos that people had left sitting around, and when I tried to ask her to put one down she wouldn't. I think one was spiked with MDMA. And we had a tattooist that only did tattoos that me and Emilie had, and then my friend Kieran Callahan played in a different room. Everyone was spread out all over the place. It was kind of like chaos but controlled chaos. Everyone behaved.

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How does it feel to be a kept man now?
It's way better. No more fucking random bitches. It sucked. Especially if they were trying to be with me. It's better to wake up with someone you love instead of having to throw a chick out naked into the street who sucks.

Has that happened often?
It happened a couple times to the Devil's Spawn back in the day. I remember this one chick had three strikes and she was out. Basically, we went to the movies and she got us kicked out of the theatre because she was being too loud and then she puked in the cab and then after we fucked she changed my music mid-song and I hate it when chicks change my music so she got escorted out of the house and her clothes were thrown over the balcony. But that was a long time ago.

Didn't you get out kicked out of your recent house you were living in with Chima [Ferguson] for pissing on someone off the balcony?
No, no, no. No way. One time these cops came over and they banged on the door, and there were drugs all over the kitchen counter and shit. Everyone hustled and got it all hidden. Everyone was smoking weed inside and they were about to say something but everyone had weed licenses and so they were just like, "Oh. Well next time can you invite us to the party?" So we got lucky.

You recently got the coveted cover of Thrasher skating the Hollywood Bowl. How are you able to skate at that level after all your surgeries?
I don't know. I still I just don't really have a fear level. I guess with the skill level you just get lucky. It's more about not being afraid and having a couple beers and just going for it than skill. But that was only like ten tries. I kind of destroyed my ankle half way through it but I didn't notice.

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Are you still boozing before you go for it?
Oh yeah, I like to have a few beers before I go skate, for sure. It's easier like that. Then you don't get scared. You don't puss out.

How many surgeries have you had in all?
I've had six ACL reconstructions, and the last one was to get rid of my fake ACL ligament that was jammed in between my kneecap and shit. Now I don't have an ACL, and it's way better. It's just bone on bone. It feels good because I got this Kobe Bryant injection that rebuilds your cartilage. They thin your blood and then shoot this liquid back in with your blood and it rebuilds your cartilage. Ever since my knee has been fine. Now everywhere else hurts.

Isn't your blood thin enough with all the booze?
Yeah, I think it made my blood thicker.

Is six ACLs the most in skateboarding?
I think on the same knee, yeah. I know Danny [Way] has probably had seven but I think it's on different knees. Arto [Saari] had five. But I think it's the most in the world. I don't know. Maybe. I'm sure people that have been in car accidents have had to get a ton of different shit but I think just for ACL reconstruction that six is probably the winner.

How's it feel skating though now?
It feels fine. Sometimes it locks up a little bit but you just twist it to the side and it snaps back in.

That sounds so shitty.
The knee is the least of my problems. I'm having a little bit of foot and ankle drama right now. It's all good, we're on deadline for the Vans video so I just have to man up.

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Deadline is September. How is that coming along for you?
Alright. I think I'm half done. I think the old guys get a little longer. Greg [Hunt] said there won't be any more trips after that but we can chuck ourselves down some shit local if we want. We'll see what I can conjure up. I have some scary stuff in mind that I've been waiting until the end to do.

I hear rumor of Baker 4 right after the Vans video.
I don't know what's going on with that. I know Skate Tank for Shake Junt is about to come out in a month and I'll try and chuck something in there. After that I know Volcom is trying to do a new video and then probably Baker in the next couple years.

Damn. How much more do you have left in the tank?
Oh fuck, I feel fucking great right now. I feel better than before all the surgeries. If my knees aren't bothering me then I'm good. I always try to land a fakie now and putting more pressure on the back foot. I have to try and land forward again, I think. But as for me, I have heaps more in the tank because the fear level doesn't go down. As soon as I start getting scared of shit too much and then I'll be backing off.

Have you had any recent instances where you were shit-scared?
No. Maybe in the next few weeks but usually I'm pretty willing to get at something.

You've been pro 15 years now. How's life and skateboarding changed in that time?
Skating has kind of cleaned itself up a little bit. The rough patches of crazy drugs and alcohol are getting filtered out by the corporations cleaning up the mess and trying to sell people's skill rather than their images, which makes it tough selling some of the piles in the industry. Sometimes I look back and I'm like, "Wow! Some of the shit was so out of control that happened." I doubt it'll ever go back to that unless Nyjah [Huston] cops a fucking 8-ball before the next Street League. But there was a time I remember when you'd go to contest and people were completely wasted, out of control, and there were drugs floating around. It's funny that it was that wild at a "sports" event.

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Seriously! I remember one time at an X Games on Lake Havasu like 12 years ago where Choppy Omega somehow got the microphone away from Dave Duncan and was like, "Yo! This is the Chops! Choppy Omega! You need coke this weekend come see me! I got you!" And everyone heard him! It was beautiful.
Yeah, the Globe World Cups in Melbourne were pretty much the pinnacle of me and Jake Duncombe and Ali Boulala all being pretty fucked. People taking ecstasy at the contest and tripping, and kids are trying to get your autograph while you're so fucking high.

Ever skate a contest on acid?
No, but I think Shane [Cross] and Jake probably did. I don't think I can handle that. I usually like being in nature for acid.

What was the story on our Midwest tour two years ago when you got lost and shit your pants?
Ha! Were we in Chicago?

I think it was Kansas City.
Yeah, I was really wasted and we went to this after party in this warehouse that was 8-stories of darkness and I couldn't find a toilet and I was lost in the dark so I sat shitting against a wall; I didn't actually shit my pants. Maybe some of it got on my pants. Then the dude that owned the warehouse tried to fight me because I was being rude to him probably because he wouldn't give me any drugs. And then I got in a taxi downstairs and somehow got back to the hotel and there was a crazy chick fight in the parking lot. They were beating each other up outside the car and then one chick jumped in the other chick's car and she had her by the hair and ripped her hair out as the other chick stole her car. It was crazy. I filmed that shit! Sometimes you don't know how you got back to the hotel and you have to look at your video footage.

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Dustin and the author

I love that you always have a video camera running for your Seven Day Weekend web show.
Yeah, I always have a little Cannon with me and always run those videos of raw footage. One of them has a drive by shooting in it I caught in Seattle (16:40) but it didn't get much controversy. I feel like the stuff I put up should be getting millions of hits but there's no babies falling over or cute faced cats. But it's hard to tell what's crazy anymore. People are so desensitized on anything. Look at that dude that just got beheaded. People weren't even making a shock over it because they were too busy watching the fucking bucket challenge. People are dumb.

Speaking of crazy, would you say you've mellowed out over the years?
Yeah, for sure. I'm way mellower now, I think. But if it comes down to it I'm down to do anything or go anywhere. And can turnt up whenever I want.

Well you married into a pretty gnarly family. Talk a little about your in-laws a bit.
My father-in-law got kidnapped by Hezbollah for a year. Not for any political reasons, he's just a doctor. And then my mother-in-law is a journalist and she goes up to Syria often and she's put out a bunch of books on Feminism and how the burka sucks and the hatred of these religions that are really against women. And her mother was a journalist who ran a radio show for 20 years during the war in Beirut. It's crazy because coming from Australia we don't really have much to do with politics and now I know what's going on everywhere. It's pretty crazy going to Beirut. I've been there four times now and people are so into politics and I've learned so much about religion. I don't know if I want to know so much but it's not like I'm going to fight the power for any religion or anything that has to do with human society ever.

Like I mentioned, you have 15 years being a pro skater, a bunch of classic video parts, and you're working on one now for one of the most anticipated videos in years. It's a hard question to answer but where do you think your place is in skateboarding history?
Fuck that! I'm a legend, bro! Give me that legend shoe! No, I'm kidding. I don't know. I think kids identify with people that don't change. And that's something that I've never done. I've never sold out, I've never done some stupid, goofy shit. I think my longevity, skate-world wise, is because of my loyalty. All I've ever tried to do is put out the best parts I possibly could for my sponsors for my whole career which I guess just leaves me as the crazy, drunk, flip in rail guy.

There're worst things to be remembered as.
Yeah, exactly.

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More stupid can be found on Chris's website and Twitter. Full disclosure: Chris works for Vans.