Shock Mansion Interviews Corbin Harris

Shock Mansion: First up mate, we appreciate the time you’ve given us. We know you’re busy as hell so cheers for chatting with us.

Corbin Harris: Yeah, I’m pumped, thanks for having me, the website looks sick, and it’s good to be up there with guys like Dustin, Jake and that.

Shock Mansion: Yeah dude we’ve been seeing a lot of you and Dustin on the new FuelTV advertisement.

Corbin Harris: *laughs* I haven’t even seen that yet!

Shock Mansion: Oh you haven’t?

Corbin Harris: Nah, is that the one where we talk about Maloof Money Cup together?

Shock Mansion: Yeah it’s gold.

Corbin Harris: Yeah Dustin is great to get in the studio, he never complains, answers all your questions, it’s funny because everyone thinks he is the opposite, but he’s actually one of the easiest to work with within the industry I recon.

Shock Mansion: Rad. Your career path is that of a unique one. You’ve built yourself on an integration of skating and working on TV. Full props for sticking your neck out and taking a risk! What made you want to push down that path?

Corbin Harris: I never really wanted to move to the U.S. in saying that it might change, but for me being a professional skateboarder in Australia, it was something that was uncommon. Guys like Chima, Dustin, Jake and others were only just popping up, and in saying that, Chima has been over in the states now for 6 months, so it’s not like they are actually full on living here.

To kinda answer the question, because I was a skateboarder here in Australia being paid by my sponsors and had an interest in television, I saw an opportunity for them to work hand in hand. Before all of that I was laboring on building sites, I was in real estate, I was actually just out there working. So when I had the TV idea I went into Fuel.

Shock Mansion: Ok, so you approached Fuel?

Corbin Harris: Yeah I knew a guy in there at the time, so I approached him. They had a few hosts doing a range of things but nobody specifically for skateboarding. So once I had that in mind I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. It just fit me perfectly. I started off fairly small, they gave me a few gigs, this was at around 18 years old, and here I am now however many years later, signed to Foxtel and FuelTV.

It’s something that I enjoy just as much as skating. Anyone that skates would know that you cant skate 24 hours a day, or even 12 hours for that matter, your body just cant do it. Plus anyone that knows me, knows that I like to be constantly doing something…A.D.D.

Shock Mansion: *laughs* We know the feeling.

Corbin Harris: So for me to just do skateboarding, or just do one thing, has never been an option. Skateboarding for me has opened up 10 different doors, whether it be books or designing or whatever it may be.

Shock Mansion: That kinda leads up to our next question. We heard your looking to co-produce a series of shows soon and be involved in a movie? Or a skate movie? Anything you can fill us in on?

Corbin Harris: We are working at Fuel on some new stuff at the moment which is probably going to come to life in September. It will probably be more ‘all action sports’, it will be a lot better content, rather than stale stuff from the states. So what we are trying to do is really step it up a level and bring you newer and more consistent stuff.

Shock Mansion: Will that be newer Australian content?

Corbin Harris: Yeah we are looking at both, I’m 100% behind putting on Aussie content.

Shock Mansion: Of course, as long as it worth while though?

Corbin Harris: *laughs* Yeah, worth while. I think we are turning a corner. It was only a few years ago that we had a dedicated action sports channel. So in a few years time who knows what will happen, it’s growing at such a rapid rate.

Shock Mansion: Is there one place in the world you have traveled to that you suggest we visit before we kick the bucket?

Corbin Harris: New York City!

Shock Mansion: We had a feeling you’d say that, it’s such a skate city.

Corbin Harris: I don’t give a shit where you go, you gotta go there. My best mate lives there. It sounds pretty cliche but every time I go there it feels like I could take over the world. Everything is at your finger tips. The stuff that you just cant get here is available there.

Shock Mansion: What about a skate spot? If you had the world’s largest crane, what would you pick up and drop in your backyard?

Corbin Harris: I would probably take, this is a tough one.

Shock Mansion: Good question huh?

Corbin Harris: Yeah really good question. I’ve never been to Shanghai, China, that Convic Skate Park. Three and a half hectares, that would be pretty good to drop into my backyard.

Shock Mansion: You would want a bloody big backyard for that!

Corbin Harris: *laughs* Or the other one would be a skate park in Malmo, Sweden, I would really like that also. I’m not sure I could afford the real estate in Sydney though, even for that one *laughs*

Shock Mansion: Maybe you could call on Redbull to help you out?

Corbin Harris: Yeah that would be cool, I’m up for that!

Shock Mansion: Last year saw the release of your book, can you tell us a bit about it, are we likely to see another one down the line?

Corbin Harris: Yes, I think yes I’d be likely to do another one, whether it will be the same type of thing or not, but certainly at some stage I will 100% do another book. There is only so much that you can do for a skate market that’s the size it is in this country you know.

For me the book was about showing skateboarding to kids out there who hadn’t ever seen anything like that in regards to inspiration, because I had nothing like that when I was a kid. The inspiration behind that came from Taj Burrow, who is a mate of mine and he wrote a book about 8 years ago called ‘Taj Burrow’s Hot Surfing Tips’. I just thought it was really good and wanted to do something similar but skate specific. Bring some of the best skateboarders that I thought were in Australia with me to do that. Because obviously there’s a lot of tricks that I cant do, which they can.

So I brought Shane O’Neil, Andrew Currie, Dustin Dollin, I thought a book like that just needed to be done. I knew also when I brought Steve Gourlay the photographer, the guys from Skateboard Journal and Anooska Thompson together, we would come out with a product that was going to be amazing. The photos turned out amazing, it was clear, written well and with the time span that we had, 6 months from start to finish, I am really stoked with the book.

Shock Mansion: Do you drink at all? If so, what’s your favorite alcoholic drink at the moment, and what helps you get through a hangover the next morning?

Corbin Harris: Ummm, yes I do drink *laughs* at the moment haven’t been drinking to much, I have just got so much work on, actually I had one on the weekend. I don’t suffer to much from hangovers because I don’t really drink heaps.

Whats that? *talks to someone in the background then laughs* That’s my mum just yelling out in the background, I’m over here seeing her at her place. She said it slows you down to much, that’s why you don’t drink!

Shock Mansion: It’s funny your mum should say that, we actually stopped this year ourselves, just because as we move forward we found it easier to work harder, being sober.

Corbin Harris: Absolutely! The last two months Ive been looking after my girlfriend who has a broken leg and she hasn’t been able to drink, so Ive been off it as well. I think it’s the best thing I’ve done. I am so much more productive, and I’m seeing more results, I like it.

Shock Mansion: What do you have to have in the kitchen cupboard always?

Corbin Harris: Hmmm…what’s one thing I like. Hang on. Ah you know what, I’m a huge Vegemite fan.

Shock Mansion: Hell yeah, we hear ya dude.

Corbin Harris: I also love chocolate in general. I’m a big fan of fruit and nut. Umm what else…*Mum in the background shouts out broccoli* Ah yeah broccoli, I’m a huge fan of it!

Shock Mansion: Really? *laughs*

Corbin Harris: Yeah it’s my favorite food, everyone thinks that’s a weird one. I’ve said it for years though, either way I eat pretty well. I eat a lot of cooked meals.

Shock Mansion: If you were homeless, what would your cardboard sign have written on it?

Corbin Harris: *laughs* F**k ummm…I wouldn’t be homeless. Ever.

Shock Mansion: *laughs* Good call, do anything you can not to be. Ok, how about this…a comet is about to hit earth and destroy everything, what are the last three thing you would want to do?

Corbin Harris: Last three things I want to do? Alright *laughs* and can be anything right?

Shock Mansion: Anything mate.

Corbin Harris: I would probably drop in on the Mega Ramp and do a back flip into maybe a 900 on the quarter. It would be set up right near a beach, so we’d maybe have a few cocktails and then, I dunno, maybe kiss the love of my life and we could go down together.

Shock Mansion: Kiss…or smash the misses? *laughs*

Corbin Harris: *laughs* Yep.