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/intro 01:27 - Joining us on the show is the extremely brilliant Vert God Ali Cairns 02:34 - How did Ali get introduced to vert skateboarding & the history/future of Vert Skateboarding 11:53 - Ali's first 540... 15:38 - Riding for Black Label & skating with Mike Manzoori 16:55 - 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 tricks 42:37 - Staying in the States with the Flip guys, history about the first ever Flip Skateboards series and pissing off the skate media 46:41 - Skating spots you shouldn't in CA 48:11 - How Birdhouse came about and trading product for cash causing Greco to get booted off 51:37 Getting a job at Birdhouse to make ends meet 51:11 Jay Strickland moving in to keep everyone under control 54:11 Moving down to stay with Bucky Lasek and how good he still is 55:00 Bucky almost drowning because Tony Hawk did a nature-dump 58:15 Staying with Tony Hawk and how nice he is 1:04 Riding for Birdhouse, getting double page spreads in TWS, Gullwing and Airwalk days 1:06 Tricks named after pro skaters... 1:10 Almost dying from allergic reaction to prawns in the murder capital of the world with Horsley 1:17 411 days filming with Chris Ortiz and how much of a legend Brad Hayes is and Rooming with Greco 1:23 - Filming for Birdhouse 'The End' 1:30 - Meeting Jeremy Klein and winning him over 1:33 - Filming P vs D with Dykie and drinking bottles of Jack D 1:37 - Billabong days, getting on Etnies and splashing the cash on a Lexus 1:43 - Alis net worth according to google 1:44 - Quitting Birdhouse and Unabomber days 1:53 - Talking with Jeff Kendall and almost getting on Santa Cruz 1:57 - How Ali managed to get his own vert ramp and destroying his leg in the most horrific way 2:13 - Ali's Pro board on Forty Skate Co 2:18 - Who Ali thinks are up and coming vert guys in the UK 2:20 - Farewells and wrap up 2:23 - Credits Presenters: Forde Brookfield & Toby Batchelor @tobybatchelor Edited by: Forde Brookfield @bagheadcrew Producer: Frazer Murphy @dontfollowfrazer Title animations: Mike Wright @michael_k_wright_design Theme tune: Shaun Hancock @shaunofthesad Also 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/@rollersnakestv INSTAGRAM: 📸 Rollersnakes 📸 https://www.instagram.com/rollersnakes https://www.instagram.com/rollersnakesshopderby YOUTUBE: ▶️ RollersnakesTV▶️ https://www.youtube.com/rollersnakestv #skateboarding #podcast #birdhouseskateboards #braindrain #tonyhawk #andrewreynolds #alicairns