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I'm recording okay you ready here we
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go Mark Mo welcome to my podcast thanks
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so much for having me Dom um can I um
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start by sharing the little off mic
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moment that happened yeah yeah toally so
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uh you were very courteous you you just
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went to um put your phone into flight
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mode and it was me who reminded you that
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you're on baby watch at the moment [ __ ]
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so pigheaded I can't believe I I forgot
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about that for that brief moment I think
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it's probably because I'm a little bit
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nervous about doing the podcast and
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sometimes you know when you're a bit
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nervous you yeah you forget things are
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you are you nervous so hopefully my
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partner and my wife doesn't see this cuz
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she'll be like you're going to put your
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phone on flight mode we're about to have
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a baby any day the DU dates like 5 days
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away it's your first baby first and
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normally come after the due date they
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say but are you are you nervous about
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doing yeah I always get nervous about
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these things um we're sort of talking um
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off mic before but you know like I've
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I've always been not the greatest
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Communicator verbally um I'm more of a
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I'm a person that create uh communicates
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great with written word I can I can
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write you the most insane email that
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will express my emotions and everything
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and then you'll write me an email back
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and I've got time to Pro process it and
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then I'll send you another email back
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[ __ ] it's a lot of [ __ ] you know not
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doing the verbal communication it's um
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yeah that's the creative in you I guess
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it is yeah and I think a lot of um a lot
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of creatives are they're quite sensitive
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people and they do struggle with
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communication verbal communication and
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that's why they become creatives because
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the stuff or the things that they create
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or the brands they create the products
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they create that's uh that's how they
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communicate to the world
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yeah that Mak sense yeah it's quite yeah
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it does it makes perfect sense it seem
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yeah it does seem like there's this big
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sort of Jacker position between this
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amazing brand that you've created and um
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and the dude behind it because you you
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are like I we know each other sort of
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briefly and passing over the years and
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you are you're like quite a sensitive
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guy you wear your heart on your sleeve
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you've got this um this I don't give a
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[ __ ] [ __ ] you sort of brand you know
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which is very black very skull and snake
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heavy yeah I'm a walk in contradiction
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in that way some times I feel like it's
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quite it's quite odd isn't it the
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sensitive guy but also I like I like the
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rock and roll sort of aesthetic a lot
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and that can be quite dark and angsty
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and but then I'm very soft and feminine
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and I think that's that's probably to do
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with my Heritage really and and my uh my
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parents and how they were as people cuz
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I'm basically a combination of them um
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of course yeah and if we break that down
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I mean my my father was a you know was a
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rock star in the 70s and ' 80s and a
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wildly successful one of that um he
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didn't have anything to do with me but
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then my mother was like this amazing
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artist and very spiritual and you know
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very sensitive and stuff and so yeah I'm
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I'm the combination of those guys of
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course you are yeah and um yeah we want
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to get into all of that I I just noticed
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you you took your jacket off and you've
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got a tto on your left arm saying in
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loving memory of h mark Hunter Dad this
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is my first tattoo actually and um the
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the the band um that you're talking
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about that he was involved with was a
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band called Dragon yeah and um the
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actually he is he's the writer and the
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performer of one of the biggest songs in
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New Zealand history April sun in Cuba so
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good um thankfully he he he sung um but
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he didn't write the problematic song are
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you old enough
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yeah greatest but you we we we'll um
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yeah we'll get into that it's a
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fascinating story because um he he was
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kind of an absent dad and and his um the
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sort of apex of his success was I
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suppose when you were a toddler like
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three four five years old yeah um but
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then as you were getting older he kept
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on like popping up again with um like
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songs like young years in the 90s yeah
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yeah yeah so there's a there's a lot to
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unpack with that first um I'm get to
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focus on the brand a little bit yeah
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let's do it so stolen girlfriend's Club
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it's almost 20 years old [ __ ] it just
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blows me away to even hear that yeah you
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know it doesn't register that often I
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mean sometimes you probably don't uh
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stop to smell the roses so you're like
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you just the time goes by so fast 20
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years [ __ ] yeah
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what an achievement when you when I mean
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it is how have you survived when when
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there's um the the the fashion landscape
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it's full of corpses it's brutal um how
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do we survive I mean never taking your
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foot off the gas that's one thing um and
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then this is going to sound kind of bad
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but I'm never I'm never content I always
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think we can do better um even when
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we've had success I'm like oh there was
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something wrong with that like we could
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have done this better and I think almost
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that's helped us survival these years
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because we've never been content to just
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rest on our Laurels you know and a lot
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of people do get into that sort of state
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and that's the most dangerous State
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that's when people come and steal your
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furniture you know you're not even aware
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you're just zening out and you're so
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like content with what you've done um
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and we've never been like that we've
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always been challenging ourselves to to
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always improve to you know we're on this
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quest to design the perfect product and
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it probably never exists but you know
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that keeps you going and that keeps you
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working through I think adversity as
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well because in fashion it's always
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going to be tough it's never going to be
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easy there's no elevator to the top you
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know you got to take the [ __ ]
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stairs yeah well that's a it's a growth
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mindset thing isn't it yeah yeah like
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just never being sort of satisfied or
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content totally yeah totally so so um
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where did it start what are the origins
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so it was an art art exhibition you you
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weren't you weren't even thinking about
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starting your own label there was a
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little bit of a thought there but not
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not so much not a not a a fully
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developed idea as such but um at the
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time I was a I was a huge Aid Surfer um
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surfing was it was a big part of my life
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and I had a um a snowboarding accident
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wasn't bad but it [ __ ] my back um
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lower back like l5s one disc um bulge
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hitting on my spine I couldn't really
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walk that much it was terrible um I was
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losing my mind cuz I couldn't Surf and
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so I picked up the paint brushes because
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I remember kind of enjoying art at
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school and I was kind of good at it and
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my mother's an amazing artist um so I
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picked out the paintbrushes started
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painting and then I was like [ __ ] I've
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got to like I've got to turn this into
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an art show you know I could I could
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have a One Night Gallery and have all
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these paintings that I've created and
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but I need a theme for that you know I
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need a story um and so at the time when
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I was sort of thinking about the idea um
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for this artwork that I was working on I
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landed on this theme stolen girlfriend's
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Club because I'd always witnessed um my
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mom kind of dating guys that were kind
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of douchebags when I was young and it
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made me always wonder like why do girls
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accept love like this you know like when
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they're so much better uh and I noticed
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this with girlfriends that I would go
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out with too and some of their
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ex-boyfriends would be [ __ ] and so I
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invented this kind of fictional group
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this stolen girlfriends club that would
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steal girls away from shitty
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relationships basically yeah and that
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formed the idea it was cute it was cute
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back then um and I did all these like
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paintings it was like acrylic on canvas
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and um some of these like big window
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pieces that were from old villas with
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big word slogan kind of play and um had
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the art exhibition that I mean the
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herald covered it it was full um Stellar
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Artois um sponsored it Red Bull
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sponsored it and then oyster magazine
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and Sydney actually presented it so it
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became this big deal even though I
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essentially wasn't an artist I was a
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rookie I was making it up as I was going
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along um and then everyone came and and
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we sold all the artworks on the night
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one night [ __ ] crazy and um you know
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the artwork wasn't that great but it was
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the idea people love the theme more than
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the art I think and that taught me a lot
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right then about branding and having a
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story to tell yeah cuz you were quite
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old at the time he like late 20s I love
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how you say quite old no it feels like
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it's um I don't know like I suppose
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that's a late bloomer in terms of like
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having your first art exhibition 28 yeah
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um I think when I had the art exhibition
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and you're right I mean [ __ ] I was a
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late bloomer I've been a late bloomer
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with everything in my life you know I
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don't think I got like hairs on my ball
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so I was like
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it was so [ __ ] embarrassing at school
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I had like this high pitch voice and mom
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was like don't you worry mate when
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you're like 50 you're going to look way
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younger than everyone else oh my God I
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was exactly the same I went to an old
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boy school and we we you know it was my
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my best mate Matthew he he was a late
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bloomer as well and then one day P was
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like oh [ __ ] Matthew's got hair on his
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balls now so I was the very last I was
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so self-conscious about it to the point
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I I I started shaving my underarms in
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the hope that like whatever whatever
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wasn't there in the first would grow
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back quicker I'm jealous of you though
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cuz you had someone to share that
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Journey with Matthew I was alone it was
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tough man we didn't have the internet to
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like Google what the [ __ ] happening to
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me right it was terrifying out there uh
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um okay so how do you go from having
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this art exhibition to becoming what do
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you do you start by screen printing a
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couple of t-shirts what so at the time
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um we both uh me and my friend Luke
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Harwood we' both been uh working in the
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surf industry for a long time and uh
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very disillusioned with the surf
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industry cuz it was just all about
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selling units and making money and not
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really about creativity as much um it
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was about you know filling the stores as
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full of stock as you could and then
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watching you know all the units fly out
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the door and so we were kind of like
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[ __ ] we want to start something that's
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more about creativity and art and we
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want to we want to make something that
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matters and so we're like [ __ ] we should
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start a brand one day and this was just
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after or around the time of the
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exhibition and um so we're like let's
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call it stolen girlfriend's Club because
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that name really resonated with a lot of
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people and we need a great name and so
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we you know we had this idea to design
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the the best T-shirt in the world um it
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was a little different to the one you're
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wearing actually had a really low scoop
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neck really tight cap sleeves and then
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an unusually long narrow body that was
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almost knee length at the time we
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thought it was the best [ __ ] t-shirt
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in the world and now I'm I wouldn't wear
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it wouldn't be caught didn't it but have
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you have you still got one somewhere
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like one we've got one in the archive at
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work yeah the the original first one um
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but it was revolutionary at the time and
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it was the right place right time people
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loved it um we also had a slogan print
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on it it was like a tribute to Frankie
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Goes to Hollywood Frankie says relax it
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was like stolen girlfriend's Club says
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relax as as you're wearing today the
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black on black version by the way I'm as
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you know I'm a huge fan of your brand
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and I pulled this one out today cuz it's
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specifically because it's the oldest
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shirt I've got I think the oldest stolen
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shirt it's what we would call Vintage
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right like ourselves um yeah and so I
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mean we did the slogan te um we did a
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few just a few units but it was again
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right place right time because slogan
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prints hadn't been popular since sort of
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the ' 80s I guess and then they were
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about to they were kind of coming back
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around cuz everything's cyclical in
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fashion and so we were at the Forefront
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of when slogan prints were coming back
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into fashion not that we had like
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actively created that on purpose it was
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just again right place right time and so
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the slogan thing blew up and then all of
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a sudden all of the magazines wanted to
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borrow these two [ __ ] t-shirts that
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we printed and then before we knew it we
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were in every magazine and every
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editorial and then we had the phones
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were ringing and going where can I get
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this t-shirt we hadn't even learned how
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to do produ production yet we didn't
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have factories um so there was that and
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then on the other side we were we had
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wanted to make jewelry for ourselves and
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we were struggling to find jewelry that
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we loved at the time because everything
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was really masculine and we felt like
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super like kind of cliche rock and roll
00:12:01
like giant skulls and big snakes
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everything a little bit kind of garish
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and then on the other side it was
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everything was really classic like
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beautiful like Tiffany's engagement
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rings and stuff like that and so we
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wanted something that was kind of rock
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and roll and attitude but also had some
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femininity to it a little bit
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androgynous and so that's how our
00:12:20
jewelry was also born you know it was a
00:12:22
product of that time you know 2005 I
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think the year was and so we have this
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slogan tea That's popping off and then
00:12:28
we have this jewelry that just feels
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different to everything else that's out
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there at the moment you know it spoke to
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a certain group of people that really
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kind of embraced it you you must have
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thought you did you I mean did you think
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you were a genius like you know you you
00:12:42
had this you had this art exhibition
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then you thought you'd get into clothing
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and suddenly it just pops off you must
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have thought so me now I was I was about
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to say no we didn't think we were
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Geniuses but then I had to tap into
00:12:51
younger Mark you know 28 30-year-old
00:12:54
Mark um yeah we thought we were [ __ ]
00:12:56
Geniuses at the time um man you just
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think you're so cool when you're young
00:13:00
um you're out to get the recognition and
00:13:02
stuff and you're out to shake [ __ ] up
00:13:03
and yeah we thought we're kind of
00:13:05
geniuses but were you were like it
00:13:07
worked like it reated straight away it
00:13:10
was a lot of luck too and maybe I'm big
00:13:13
on intuition I've always had a crazy
00:13:15
intuition I get that from my mother um
00:13:17
so there was a bit of that but [ __ ]
00:13:19
we're still not Geniuses right always
00:13:21
learning did you did you think then that
00:13:23
20 years on you'd still be doing it and
00:13:26
I did believe that Y what I what I felt
00:13:28
like like I was creating was forever um
00:13:31
and I'm old school I I wanted to create
00:13:33
something that would last forever that
00:13:35
maybe my kids could work out one day or
00:13:37
family could work and yeah friends could
00:13:40
well no maybe something that friends
00:13:42
can't work out cuz I've made that
00:13:43
mistake too many times in my life oh
00:13:45
have you yeah like commercializing um
00:13:48
friendships yeah cuz you mentioned um
00:13:50
Luke before he was like your BFF are you
00:13:52
still is he still involved in the
00:13:54
business you still mate no no we don't
00:13:56
speak um we we haven't spoken for a long
00:13:58
time actually it's quite heartbreaking
00:14:00
when I think about it cuz yeah we were
00:14:02
best friends I was the best man at his
00:14:04
wedding and stuff and you know we
00:14:05
created this thing initially together
00:14:07
and we were both both dreamers and and
00:14:10
very creative um the only problem was we
00:14:14
both wanted to be the same thing in the
00:14:17
company so we both wanted to be the
00:14:19
creative director I guess that was sort
00:14:20
of the skills that we both had um and in
00:14:24
hindsight if we had different a
00:14:25
different set of skills that
00:14:26
complimented each other it would have
00:14:28
worked but um yeah it was really tough
00:14:31
like in the in the first couple of years
00:14:33
um obviously you don't take a salary
00:14:35
from the business and I don't think we
00:14:36
took a salary for 3 years or so while
00:14:38
we're building this thing from scratch
00:14:40
and we're building it in the weekends
00:14:41
and and the evenings after work um and I
00:14:44
think after the first year there was a
00:14:46
lot of media retention we started
00:14:47
getting a lot of traction but not sales
00:14:50
right and Luke made the decision to move
00:14:53
to Sydney to chase his girlfriend trying
00:14:55
to get her back or something and he just
00:14:58
left me to sort of run this new thing
00:15:00
which I'm running in my spare time you
00:15:02
know and it was a lot um and he just
00:15:04
left and that was a pretty tough sort of
00:15:07
pill to swallow for me um but I accepted
00:15:10
it and I let him sort of do that and
00:15:11
then he came back sort of a couple years
00:15:13
later and then we sort of let him back
00:15:15
into the business um and he was actually
00:15:18
reluctant to come back into the business
00:15:19
in in all fairness um he was like you
00:15:22
know I probably don't deserve a shot
00:15:23
here because I've gone off and you know
00:15:25
chased the girlfriend while you know
00:15:26
you've built this thing by yourself
00:15:28
basically
00:15:30
and so we let him in cuz he's your best
00:15:32
mate what do you do uh and then we got
00:15:34
another couple of years and then we
00:15:36
started getting some traction then we
00:15:37
were able to to pull small salaries out
00:15:39
of the business but mediocre at best you
00:15:42
know you pay other people more than you
00:15:43
pay yourself when you're a startup um
00:15:46
and then yeah he just wanted to move
00:15:47
overseas again he wanted to move to
00:15:50
America and live the American dream but
00:15:52
we were just never big enough to fund
00:15:55
one of the directors chasing his dream
00:15:57
and moving overseas like it's just
00:15:59
Hands-On when you're a small business
00:16:01
and you start up you can't have like
00:16:02
silent partners and you can't have
00:16:04
directors that are not working in the
00:16:05
business 247 yeah it's like dead weight
00:16:08
in a way isn't it it was yeah dead
00:16:10
weight yeah I couldn't put it per um
00:16:12
couldn't put it better than that but it
00:16:14
was tough and I'm a bit of a softy so
00:16:17
you know I kind of probably let him take
00:16:19
a little bit of advantage on with that
00:16:21
and me being soft and um but we had a
00:16:23
mentor at the stage um this this lady
00:16:25
Penny Thompson who was she was a battle
00:16:28
ax man she
00:16:29
she ran um Estee la like austral Asia
00:16:32
for she was the only like female CEO
00:16:34
that had or something like that for
00:16:35
years and she was our Mentor at the time
00:16:37
and she was like this is [ __ ] we're
00:16:39
not putting up with this you know she
00:16:41
was almost the one that kind of um
00:16:44
pulled us in line and stuff and was
00:16:46
often quite kind of a mediator but she
00:16:48
was like look we just can't afford to
00:16:50
pay a director that's living overseas
00:16:52
it's just not
00:16:53
realistic um and I think of this was
00:16:56
when the the global recession the global
00:16:58
cial crisis what we call it colling the
00:17:02
GFC so maybe 2008 2007 yeah 2008 through
00:17:07
to 2010 was a really tough time because
00:17:09
we were we had like um representation
00:17:12
with showrooms and like I think we had
00:17:15
uh Tokyo London New York and Sydney at
00:17:19
that time so we were starting to do all
00:17:21
right and then when the recession hit we
00:17:23
basically got dropped by all these
00:17:24
beautiful stores like Liberties of
00:17:26
London and restur and Tokyo um and
00:17:29
overnight we were paying more for our
00:17:31
showrooms um and our PR representation
00:17:34
in these cities than we were getting
00:17:35
back in sale so we basically folded the
00:17:37
whole thing and brought it all back to
00:17:38
New Zealand so it kind of coincided with
00:17:41
a lot of ways with Luke trying to like
00:17:43
live that American Dream but we weren't
00:17:44
selling any product anywhere but New
00:17:47
Zealand that stage we had to withdraw
00:17:49
the business um it's just a realities of
00:17:51
doing business you know and I mean you
00:17:54
have a lot of heart especially when
00:17:55
you're a sensitive creative dude and
00:17:58
you're young and trying to like navigate
00:17:59
your way through it but you've also got
00:18:01
to think with your head a little bit
00:18:03
yeah yeah so was so when was the last
00:18:07
time you guys spoke um so he came back
00:18:10
briefly and he was like okay I'm going
00:18:13
to give it a go I'm going to work in the
00:18:14
business and we're like cool and he's
00:18:16
like I'm going to be CEO cuz I don't
00:18:18
feel like you're doing that great a job
00:18:20
I was like okay fair enough cuz say what
00:18:22
you're again I'm a I'm a creative trying
00:18:24
to like run this whole business and do
00:18:25
everything and you know I probably
00:18:27
wasn't that created it uh definitely
00:18:29
working outside my skill set so he
00:18:30
stepped in for a while and then he got
00:18:31
over it after about 6 to 9 months I
00:18:34
think and then he was like [ __ ] I just I
00:18:36
don't like New Zealand and I want to
00:18:37
move back to America again and then that
00:18:39
was it and then our Mentor stepped in
00:18:40
and she was like we don't we can't pay
00:18:43
you a salary if you move we need you
00:18:45
like all hands on deck in New Zealand
00:18:47
right now it's a tough time for the
00:18:48
business um where cash flow like you
00:18:51
know negative and yeah so it was it was
00:18:54
it was a really tough time really tough
00:18:55
thing to go through and you know this is
00:18:57
my best mate and um and we didn't talk I
00:19:00
don't think we spoke again after that
00:19:01
when he he just was like I'm leaving I
00:19:03
don't care went to America never heard
00:19:06
from again I think I we got a lawyer's
00:19:08
letter from him maybe 6 months later
00:19:11
saying he wants out of the business it's
00:19:13
just going to sell to the first person
00:19:14
it comes along um which was yeah which
00:19:17
was pretty tough so we had to get on
00:19:19
this mad scramble to sort of um find a
00:19:22
new business partner that would have
00:19:24
skills that they could bring to the
00:19:25
business that would actually grow the
00:19:26
business yeah crazy Journey it's it's
00:19:29
it's tough because there'd be something
00:19:30
um be incredible journey to go on with
00:19:32
your best friend like you're like [ __ ]
00:19:34
bro can you believe we're doing this but
00:19:35
by the same token if the if the
00:19:37
relationship goes sour then you
00:19:39
potentially lose lose a mate in it as
00:19:41
well the first five years were
00:19:42
incredible like totally like ups and
00:19:45
downs but some of the best moments that
00:19:47
I'll always remember we did some crazy
00:19:49
[ __ ] together um we unlo we unleashed a
00:19:52
fire hose on this nightclub in Sydney
00:19:54
one time at Sydney fashion we just cuz
00:19:55
we were being [ __ ] and being a bit
00:19:57
cheeky but we were just like you're in
00:19:59
your 30s by then we would always dare
00:20:01
each other through the most stupidest
00:20:03
[ __ ] and we were very immature but we
00:20:06
had some fun you know well that's cool
00:20:09
how how have you navigated the um your
00:20:11
creative versus the business side of
00:20:13
things because there's yeah they're very
00:20:16
different skill sets so and you you
00:20:18
can't expect someone to be good at
00:20:19
everything right and you're you're very
00:20:21
good at the creative side of things so
00:20:22
how um how difficult was that it's been
00:20:24
a really tough Journey um so you know
00:20:27
again being a small business owner and
00:20:29
and being the guy sort of in soulle
00:20:31
charge I I did have to sort of run
00:20:33
everything I to run the operation so
00:20:35
doing the hiring and firing and taking
00:20:37
care of like lease negotiations and
00:20:39
stuff like that and that leaves little
00:20:42
time and room for being a creative and
00:20:44
as a creative having white space and
00:20:47
like you know downtime is equally as
00:20:49
important as like when you're doing the
00:20:51
work and coming up with the ideas but
00:20:52
you need both um to really come up with
00:20:55
with beautiful ideas that are going to
00:20:56
work so running the business there I was
00:21:00
yeah I was running running out of
00:21:01
creativity pretty quick I was pretty
00:21:03
burnt out I mean there was there was
00:21:05
days where I didn't want to go to work
00:21:06
and and you always you have this feeling
00:21:08
of being a constant failure when you're
00:21:10
like not actually focusing on your
00:21:11
strengths so I was spending all my
00:21:14
energy trying to be good at being like a
00:21:16
an operations
00:21:18
manager whereas I should have been
00:21:19
focused on the creative side cuz that's
00:21:21
where I was good at and that's where the
00:21:23
business would benefit from yeah and get
00:21:25
get a good get a good operations manager
00:21:27
and give them um like a can
00:21:29
see how the [ __ ] they get on yeah yeah
00:21:31
true so I'm not a good one for sort of
00:21:34
asking that question about the balance
00:21:35
of you know business and creativity um
00:21:39
and then there's the argument of um so
00:21:41
I'm all about creating cool [ __ ] right
00:21:43
I'm not I'm not about sort of designing
00:21:46
stuff that sells millions of units that
00:21:48
doesn't get me out of bed at the in the
00:21:50
morning um so that's a conundrum there
00:21:52
as well so cuz with business you know
00:21:54
it's about the balance of Art and
00:21:56
commerce you need both yeah yeah is that
00:21:58
a constant battle you like you must have
00:21:59
business development managers saying you
00:22:01
know fast fashion or you know yeah it's
00:22:05
a constant battle um luckily I have
00:22:07
really good people around me um I have
00:22:09
structure now and you need that you know
00:22:12
creativity still needs discipline and
00:22:14
structure otherwise it just becomes
00:22:16
[ __ ] Fury dust what why isn't that
00:22:18
your goal are you you just not driven by
00:22:20
money
00:22:21
or I'm getting more driven by money as I
00:22:24
get older um but this also part of me
00:22:27
when I was younger you're almost afraid
00:22:29
to admit that too you know cuz [ __ ] he
00:22:31
always hate that when you you know you
00:22:33
you're sort of you know doing this for
00:22:35
for money um but as I got as I'm getting
00:22:37
older I am like I want to make money out
00:22:40
of this but that's probably my sort of
00:22:43
focus or Logic on that has shifted
00:22:45
because I'm about to have a baby and I
00:22:47
think that that really puts [ __ ] into
00:22:49
perspective you know it's not just about
00:22:51
me I want to provide for my family and I
00:22:54
want to grow this thing so it can be a
00:22:56
success and maybe one day we could sell
00:22:58
it or maybe one day it'll just be a huge
00:23:01
family business I don't know um but I
00:23:04
want to grow this thing and I want to
00:23:05
make money out of it yeah are you proud
00:23:07
of where it's at I am really proud of
00:23:09
where it's at yeah it's been a crazy
00:23:11
yeah as you say 20 years I think it's 19
00:23:14
years and a bit it's been an incredible
00:23:16
journey a huge highs and lows I don't
00:23:20
know if I'd go through it again if I'm
00:23:22
honest um but I definitely it's helped
00:23:24
to shape me into the person that I am
00:23:26
today and I feel a lot wiser for it um
00:23:28
I've got a lot of fortitude for it um
00:23:31
yeah yeah say if you took like a like a
00:23:34
drone eye view on it over the past 20
00:23:36
years what are like some of the some of
00:23:38
the pivotal moments or sort of like
00:23:40
Tipping Point moments um I mean our
00:23:43
first sort of few years when where the
00:23:44
New Kids on the Block was pretty crazy
00:23:46
and a bit of a whirlwind bit of a roller
00:23:49
coaster almost like you you'd want to
00:23:51
make a film out of it it was pretty cool
00:23:53
like our sort of not rise to fame but
00:23:55
yeah it was it's very it's quite quick
00:23:57
for those days I mean this is for social
00:23:58
media it was more like Word of Mouth you
00:24:00
know but we had this almost notoriety or
00:24:03
we were quite Infamous we were the bad
00:24:04
boys of fashion you know and media loves
00:24:07
to give you like some fire
00:24:09
hoses and we kind of I guess we played
00:24:12
up to that in a way cuz we felt like
00:24:14
fashion needed that at the time it was a
00:24:16
bit stale and it was a bit it was a bit
00:24:18
elitist as well at the time and we kind
00:24:20
of wanted to smash that down a little
00:24:21
bit um so that was a great moment the
00:24:23
first few years and that sort of rise to
00:24:25
almost fame um but then there's been
00:24:27
times along the way way that like I
00:24:30
guess our first fashion um show at New
00:24:32
Zealand Fashion Week when we wouldn't
00:24:34
really feel like we were a serious
00:24:35
fashion brand you know and then they had
00:24:37
invited us to Fashion Week and then we
00:24:39
had sponsorship on the table so we could
00:24:41
actually do a show um that was an
00:24:43
incredible moment for us because I
00:24:45
realized the importance of the brand and
00:24:47
how we could bring people together you
00:24:49
know our first show was there was 1,200
00:24:50
people in this tent it was over
00:24:52
subscribed and the atmosphere was
00:24:54
electric you know we' growing up going
00:24:56
to fashion shows and they were always
00:24:57
very quiet
00:24:59
um you know people were just sort of
00:25:00
looking at each other and seeing what
00:25:02
everyone was wearing and very serious
00:25:03
you know critiquing the clothes and we
00:25:05
were like [ __ ] we want our shows to be
00:25:07
like part runway show cuz we're serious
00:25:09
about our craft but we want people to
00:25:10
have a [ __ ] good time even if they're
00:25:12
not there to critique the fashion or
00:25:14
they're not from the fashion industry
00:25:15
and so we were like our shows need to be
00:25:17
half runway show half party half rave
00:25:20
party half rock and roll gig You Know M
00:25:22
and so there was this really electric um
00:25:25
atmosphere with the shows that we
00:25:26
created so that's always been um a
00:25:27
highlight all the shows that we've done
00:25:29
at Fashion Week over the years um I mean
00:25:32
another highlight for me what I'm proud
00:25:34
of with the business it's going to sound
00:25:35
a bit soy but sappy but um I'm really
00:25:38
proud of we created something from
00:25:40
nothing you know and not a lot of people
00:25:42
can say that I've always had the saying
00:25:44
like something from nothing thoughts
00:25:46
become things and that's basically you
00:25:49
know how to describe our brand and now
00:25:51
this thing that we created from nothing
00:25:52
it it sort of employs 30 people and it
00:25:55
gives them careers and that i' I take a
00:25:57
lot of pride that yeah you should it
00:25:59
chok me up actually cuz it's one of the
00:26:01
biggest buzzers I get from from the
00:26:03
business and I never thought it would be
00:26:05
that would be one of the biggest buzzers
00:26:06
When We Were Young and starting this
00:26:08
thing um navigating it through you know
00:26:11
recessions and and pandemics and stuff
00:26:13
that's another thing that I'm proud of
00:26:15
you know that we were agile enough to
00:26:16
get through some of that [ __ ] yeah that
00:26:19
hiring that many people that is
00:26:20
something to be proud of hey I think
00:26:22
that's something really [ __ ] cool um
00:26:25
what what about the celebrity uh Factor
00:26:26
how how did how get celebrities on board
00:26:29
like Teddy swims he was in the country
00:26:31
last week I saw him in some stolen gear
00:26:33
too she's a is she a friend or a fan
00:26:35
what's the relationship she's a good
00:26:37
friend yeah um she's one of my best
00:26:39
friends um wives so yeah I said that
00:26:42
like he's got multiple wives one of
00:26:44
us um wouldn't surprise me yeah how do
00:26:47
these relationships come about are they
00:26:48
sort of organic like this like quite
00:26:51
yeah they're quite organic um very we've
00:26:53
always been very happy gol lucky with
00:26:55
that um that side of thing so we we
00:26:58
haven't um since we withdrew from like
00:27:00
all our PR offices around the world and
00:27:02
stuff we've sort of had to bootstrap it
00:27:04
and do a lot of it ourselves so um you
00:27:06
know there's been a lot of good
00:27:07
opportunities that have come from it
00:27:08
through people that we know those are
00:27:10
always the best opportunities you know
00:27:12
through people that you know I remember
00:27:14
there was this one time and uh I had a a
00:27:16
stylist friend who was working up in Los
00:27:18
Angeles and she I think this was 2015 or
00:27:21
16 and she was like hey send me some
00:27:24
stuff up like um you know on DHL or
00:27:27
something I'm doing I'm styling a um
00:27:29
music video for the weekend like next
00:27:31
weekend and we were like [ __ ] okay he's
00:27:34
pretty cool and you know he's got a lot
00:27:35
of um got a lot of followers and stuff
00:27:37
so we we prepared a kind of a care
00:27:40
package and just sent this up to her and
00:27:43
a few weeks later I was like oh you know
00:27:44
how did the shirot go um how did our
00:27:46
stuff look like in the shirt and she was
00:27:48
like oh so sorry we went a different
00:27:50
direction um The Stylist the other
00:27:53
stylist just didn't think it was working
00:27:54
for the video and I was like oh no and
00:27:57
she was like but there is this and then
00:27:59
she just sent me this photo and it's the
00:28:01
weekend performing with Taylor Swift I
00:28:03
think the song was I can't feel my face
00:28:05
oh my God yeah biggest hits yeah and
00:28:07
they were performing it together and he
00:28:08
was wearing this bomber that we had made
00:28:10
on the stage with this crazy Panther on
00:28:13
it and it was all that tapestry like
00:28:14
woven it was like a Bogan blanket but
00:28:17
made High fashion and here he is wearing
00:28:19
it on the stage and it was incredible
00:28:21
and that went round the world yeah yeah
00:28:23
so when when that happens that must be
00:28:25
immensely satisfying for you
00:28:28
huge moment yeah and does it does it
00:28:31
reflect an immediate sales of that
00:28:33
garment no
00:28:35
no it's an ego ego boost really everyone
00:28:38
wanted everyone that's watching and
00:28:39
listening has probably wanted me to say
00:28:41
yes we sold 100,000 units um but that's
00:28:43
a problem with us we've always produced
00:28:45
in really tiny runs and I think that
00:28:47
jacket we probably made 40 units in
00:28:50
hindsight right we've always produced
00:28:52
small small runs you know it's what
00:28:54
we're about it builds more value into
00:28:56
our product if not everyone can get same
00:28:58
thing um so we didn't see a lot of sales
00:29:00
in that jacket but you know it gets our
00:29:02
brand on the map and the world and and
00:29:04
creates brand awareness and that stuff's
00:29:06
really important and you can't measure
00:29:08
how far that goes yeah and I suppose
00:29:10
good for team Morel in the office for
00:29:11
you and your um who else is there uh
00:29:14
Miley Miley wore your gear yeah she was
00:29:16
um wearing our sunglasses actually and
00:29:18
again that was through a friend of a
00:29:20
friend so um amazing Miley was here U
00:29:24
with her stylist and then it was a ma of
00:29:27
mine that was uh hanging out with the
00:29:30
stylus in a nice way um yeah sleeping
00:29:34
together I think and he was like hey
00:29:37
give me some [ __ ] and I'll give it to
00:29:38
The Stylist and then she'll give it to
00:29:40
Miley and so yeah The Stylist came in
00:29:42
and picked out a few things and then
00:29:44
Miley was wearing our sunglasses and
00:29:45
stuff and that was that was pretty cool
00:29:47
[ __ ] that's so cool and the kid ly yeah
00:29:50
um so that one was he this is the best
00:29:52
one actually because we think that him
00:29:55
or maybe if he's got a stylist they went
00:29:57
and just bought bought this from um our
00:29:59
biggest account up in Canada uh in
00:30:01
Montreal called Essence this huge web
00:30:03
store that we stock um and they they
00:30:06
stock a lot of these Cardigans on there
00:30:07
and so yeah they bought one from there
00:30:10
just yeah just like a regular consumer
00:30:12
amazing most flattering thing yeah right
00:30:15
that's a huge endorsement um do you give
00:30:17
a lot of gear out to people that you've
00:30:18
never heard of and just on the hope it's
00:30:20
going to pop up like it pop yeah uh not
00:30:23
a lot not a lot no we we like to
00:30:26
cultivate relationships first so if
00:30:28
there's a mutual appreciation you know
00:30:30
on the on the DMS and Stu we've got the
00:30:32
team that manag the the social media
00:30:34
then you know and if the person kind of
00:30:36
is right they got the right look for the
00:30:37
brand then yeah we'll start sending them
00:30:40
some stuff and it's quite coolant quite
00:30:43
natural um that's been we could talk
00:30:45
about your business and the business um
00:30:47
side of things forever but um I'm ke to
00:30:50
explore other aspects of your life yeah
00:30:52
totally um and we were messaging
00:30:53
backwards and forwards the other day and
00:30:55
you were like you were like I'm I want
00:30:56
to go deep yeah yeah time you um yeah I
00:31:00
do as much research as I can for these
00:31:02
things but you are quite um enigmatic
00:31:03
there's not a lot about you out there no
00:31:05
I've been quite uh secretive haven't I
00:31:08
haven't let a lot of people in why is
00:31:09
that I've just yeah I've just always
00:31:11
been quite quite private um and even
00:31:14
just with the way I communicate and
00:31:16
stuff I'm not super outward like I guess
00:31:20
my work is what does the talking for me
00:31:22
um even if I'm like with my friends you
00:31:24
know I'm not the one that's like budding
00:31:26
in and and coming in with the chat all
00:31:28
the time I'm happy just to sit back and
00:31:30
observe a lot and take it every take
00:31:32
everything in and process and I've I've
00:31:34
always been like that like a kind of a
00:31:37
pretty chill almost quiet demeanor yeah
00:31:40
kind kind of introspective in a way very
00:31:43
introspective and so I guess I haven't
00:31:45
done a lot of media interviews I haven't
00:31:47
made myself available in that way or put
00:31:49
myself out there so much yeah whereas I
00:31:52
probably should have been um but also
00:31:54
there's a big self-confidence thing
00:31:55
there or a lack of self-confidence that
00:31:57
would always you know in my own head
00:31:59
would hold me back from wanting to put
00:32:01
myself out there or why does your
00:32:03
opinion matter you know sit down it's
00:32:05
quite funny it just goes to show you can
00:32:07
never you can never you judge someone
00:32:09
from what you see on on the outside you
00:32:11
know cuz everyone would assume that
00:32:13
you're this I don't give a [ __ ] badass
00:32:16
just by the by the by the clothing you
00:32:17
produce but you are you are a sensitive
00:32:20
dude but I'm the guy sitting at home
00:32:21
crying while I'm watching Shark
00:32:23
Tank oh some of them are very very some
00:32:27
of them are very very emotional aren
00:32:28
they oh my God I can watch that show for
00:32:31
hours do you watch it on Samsung
00:32:34
TV there's a 247 Channel devoted to
00:32:37
shark tanker is like Utopia Samsung TV
00:32:41
are you [ __ ] kidding me it is the
00:32:43
best free toar plat there's 24-hour
00:32:45
judge Duty channels shark tent channels
00:32:48
whatever you want my God Baywatch me and
00:32:50
my wife were talking about the other day
00:32:51
and we're like [ __ ] should we just
00:32:52
cancel Netflix and neon and Prime and
00:32:55
just go all in on Samsung free TV
00:32:58
there'll be so many people watching this
00:33:00
or listening to this they have no idea
00:33:01
what we're talking about get a Samsung
00:33:04
um okay let's talk about your childhood
00:33:05
so you you born in regand born in regand
00:33:08
uh born in Oakland okay um did a few
00:33:11
years there um here uh first seven or
00:33:14
eight years I believe and then Mom moved
00:33:17
me to Raglin so um mom was a solo mom
00:33:20
she had me all by herself uh she was 20
00:33:23
years old 1975 that's going to show my
00:33:25
age Deone that's great um um she and my
00:33:29
dad had been together for about 3 years
00:33:31
prior and then he had decided he was
00:33:33
going to Australia to pursue the band um
00:33:36
they were just starting to take off I
00:33:37
guess and he was really young as well I
00:33:41
can't imagine what that would have been
00:33:42
like in the 70s and he was he had heaps
00:33:44
of groupies and other chicks he was
00:33:46
hanging out with you know very rock and
00:33:48
roll um so mom decided to have me her
00:33:51
parents basically disowned her um so she
00:33:54
just had me totally all alone all her
00:33:56
friends told her not to have me what the
00:33:58
[ __ ] are you doing you're going to ruin
00:33:59
your life um and remembering this is
00:34:01
1975 no Playbook uh no no podcast to
00:34:05
listen to No Tik Tok influences to teach
00:34:08
you what to do um so she just purely
00:34:11
Instinct just was like no I'm having
00:34:12
this baby had me in Oakland um yeah
00:34:15
first seven or eight years here and then
00:34:17
realized I was deeply unhappy as a child
00:34:20
a little bit lost um very quiet very
00:34:22
insular and for some reason she go she
00:34:25
just thought I'm going to move to Regin
00:34:28
um this little Seaside town you know 2
00:34:29
hours south of here on the West Coast
00:34:32
4,000 people yeah can't imagine what
00:34:34
Regin was like in the late 70s early 80s
00:34:36
there wouldn't have been much going on
00:34:37
though right it was pretty cool I mean
00:34:40
I'm going to say it saved my life
00:34:42
because why were you why were you so so
00:34:44
un happppy at that age I don't know Mom
00:34:46
reckons I was always looking for
00:34:47
something better and she said I used to
00:34:49
run away a lot like when I was little
00:34:51
she reckon when I was four I took off on
00:34:53
my trike and rode off along the Newton
00:34:54
bridge and [ __ ] and then the police put
00:34:56
me up [ __ ] weird um but she was like
00:34:59
I was always hunting for something else
00:35:01
and I'm not going to blame it on my dad
00:35:03
I'm not here to put blame on on him he
00:35:05
was young but I I I I I've always felt
00:35:08
like there was something missing in me
00:35:10
and I think that was maybe not having a
00:35:11
father around um you know this is saying
00:35:14
like most of us have holes in our souls
00:35:16
the Sheep of our fathers I love that
00:35:18
saying and it's it's true for a lot of
00:35:19
people and I've always felt like that
00:35:21
and I think maybe subconsciously when I
00:35:23
was young too just not having the father
00:35:24
figure around there always felt like
00:35:26
there was something missing
00:35:28
um but thank God you know Mom realized I
00:35:31
was unhappy and a bit quiet and moved us
00:35:33
to Ragin randomly and that's where I
00:35:35
fell in love with surfing and that's
00:35:37
where I I think I felt I found myself
00:35:40
yeah I found this thing that I got
00:35:42
really [ __ ] good at and so I I got
00:35:45
significance out of Surfing cuz I was
00:35:48
good at it and in turn that gave me
00:35:50
self-confidence of that makes sense
00:35:52
makes perfect sense yeah yeah it gave
00:35:54
you some sort of validation yeah um yeah
00:35:57
so you Mom let's talk talk about your
00:35:58
mom for a little bit Victoria Mo this
00:36:00
photo I found online how good is that so
00:36:03
cool look at what's up with your hair
00:36:06
that's like it looks like an actual
00:36:09
helmet I was going to say it was a
00:36:11
killer bow cut like the kitchen was you
00:36:13
know is like proper B no you called it
00:36:15
it's a [ __ ] helmet it's perfect it's
00:36:17
so symmetrical so Mom was actually a
00:36:21
hairdresser so she outsourced she wasn't
00:36:23
yeah so that was a that was a piece of
00:36:25
art that one the helmet yeah yeah so she
00:36:28
was so she was 20 when you were born 20
00:36:30
yep yeah and and so her relationship
00:36:32
with your dad Mark so they were together
00:36:34
for three years yeah off and on she
00:36:37
reckons he would always sort of come
00:36:38
back fall around come back um and she
00:36:41
always had a soft spot for him you know
00:36:43
she was always like that was the love of
00:36:45
my life um she was like there's never
00:36:47
been a man like that just she she just
00:36:49
said his Charisma and stuff was just it
00:36:51
was all consuming and he just sort of
00:36:54
attract people you know well there's
00:36:55
there's a book about his life called um
00:36:57
facing the dragon the life and death of
00:36:58
Mark H and I I haven't read it but I
00:37:00
read some reviews about it online and it
00:37:02
says he's um had this just crazy
00:37:05
Charisma and talent um but said he was
00:37:08
like a had narcissism and alcohol issues
00:37:11
so destructive yeah yeah really affected
00:37:14
people around him unfortunately so what
00:37:16
was your relationship like you you you
00:37:18
had a relationship with him no not
00:37:19
really um he he would pop in and and
00:37:22
visit me randomly um when he was back in
00:37:24
New Zealand on some kind of tour or
00:37:26
something I have this vague memory I
00:37:29
think I would have been like I could get
00:37:32
this wrong but I feel like I was about
00:37:34
eight or 7 or eight and I I remember
00:37:37
that he came to visit me one night and
00:37:38
sort of mom woke me up and was like this
00:37:40
is your dad and I was very shy as as you
00:37:43
would be um so that was one of my
00:37:45
earliest memories and then I didn't hear
00:37:48
from him for years he went off and sort
00:37:50
of started other families and stuff like
00:37:52
that in Australia and and um got married
00:37:54
eventually which is great and had some
00:37:56
um had some great kids um yeah but he
00:37:59
was pretty quiet he went quiet from
00:38:01
about the age of yeah sort of eight or n
00:38:04
through to 18 or so I didn't hear from
00:38:07
him that's so sad yeah it was it was
00:38:11
quite sad you it it breaks something
00:38:13
inside of you so you you never feel like
00:38:16
you're good enough cuz you feel like
00:38:18
you're not worthy cuz that person didn't
00:38:20
choose you um and a lot of people that
00:38:22
are listening to this or watching this
00:38:24
will relate to that you know it just
00:38:26
makes you feel yeah a little bit broken
00:38:28
yeah like I'm not worthy and you have
00:38:30
that in your in your in your brain all
00:38:31
the time and that and that sort of forms
00:38:34
your confidence or lack of yeah cuz JJ
00:38:38
and I when we were married we had a like
00:38:39
a an internal family adoption so um one
00:38:42
of her nephews came to live with us at
00:38:44
four years and 11 months 11 months cuz
00:38:46
JJ's brother who who was his the kid's
00:38:48
dad he was being incarcerated and um he
00:38:53
this C it was F was heartbreaking for
00:38:55
starters um he just had his had this
00:38:59
Almost Hero complex with his dad did you
00:39:01
have the I had the hero complex it
00:39:04
didn't help that his [ __ ] famous that
00:39:06
made it so worse cuz he was a hero to
00:39:08
other people [ __ ] massive it like
00:39:10
playing stadiums and [ __ ] and people
00:39:11
like singing all the lyrics and stuff
00:39:13
and so I've always I always had him on a
00:39:15
pedestal but then that made it worse
00:39:17
that he was famous as great man that
00:39:19
everyone loved you know everyone would
00:39:20
tell me stories about him and he has
00:39:22
this guy that this great man that didn't
00:39:23
choose me so almost like puts salt in
00:39:26
the wound it makes it worse
00:39:28
you know that's tough and and that's got
00:39:30
to be so tough for your mom as well like
00:39:32
heartbreaking for her yeah I never I
00:39:34
never really um opened up about it much
00:39:37
with mom um because she did an
00:39:39
incredible job and I didn't want to
00:39:41
Discount that you know but boys do need
00:39:43
their fathers as well you know just like
00:39:45
girls need their moms and [ __ ] like that
00:39:48
but yeah it did it did give me a weird
00:39:49
complex and it really attacked my uh
00:39:52
confidence majorly but here's the weird
00:39:55
thing about it it also gave me this
00:39:58
weird fuel so I turned into a fuel I'm
00:40:00
good at [ __ ] taking lemons and making
00:40:02
lemonade out of it right um so I use it
00:40:04
as fuel him not choosing me and me
00:40:07
feeling not not worthy so anything that
00:40:09
I would do whether it was surfing um I
00:40:12
was never naturally talented at surfing
00:40:14
but I applied myself way harder than
00:40:16
anyone ever did to get myself to a level
00:40:18
where I would be good at surfing be in
00:40:20
the magazines be sponsored doing well in
00:40:22
competition so that my dad might notice
00:40:24
you know that was why I did stuff and if
00:40:26
I started a fashion label I would do it
00:40:28
cuz I wanted my dad to notice you know
00:40:30
all that stuff wanted him to be proud of
00:40:32
me so inadvertently I it gave me this
00:40:35
fuel but it also attacked my
00:40:38
self-confidence so I would always be
00:40:40
quite quiet never put myself forward for
00:40:41
things didn't really back myself in a
00:40:44
lot of ways um so I was like almost like
00:40:46
that animal what does that doctor do
00:40:48
little animal to push me pull you you've
00:40:50
got this these different motivations
00:40:52
really shy and not confident and then
00:40:55
using this fuel to prove to your that
00:40:57
you're worthy so trying to be the best
00:40:59
at everything it's [ __ ] weird it is
00:41:01
weird um yeah and I suppose what you
00:41:05
you've been through it's going to
00:41:06
ultimately make you a bit of Father yeah
00:41:08
I think it will yeah yeah yeah cuz you
00:41:11
understand early days yet but I'm ready
00:41:14
I'm ready for it and I'm excited to be a
00:41:16
good dad um and I'm so lucky because my
00:41:19
you know me and my wife Lou we just have
00:41:21
the most incredible relationship um I
00:41:24
actually never believed that I would end
00:41:26
up with such an amazing woman when I was
00:41:28
young and she is just it she is like so
00:41:31
hot as [ __ ] she's the most sexiest girl
00:41:33
in the world but she is so beautiful
00:41:35
inside and she puts others first all the
00:41:37
time and she just melts my heart what
00:41:40
why did you why did you not think you'd
00:41:42
end up with someone so
00:41:44
amazing it's that lack of confidence and
00:41:47
um and just thinking you're not worthy
00:41:49
you know um I heard this podcast a while
00:41:51
ago and they were talking about how
00:41:53
everyone subconsciously has a question
00:41:55
that they ask in their head and that
00:41:57
sort of and that forms their kind of
00:41:59
their path in life and and I realized
00:42:02
that my question in my head was like how
00:42:04
can I prove that I'm enough you know how
00:42:06
can I show the world that I'm worthy and
00:42:08
that's been my [ __ ] subconscious
00:42:10
question I've always had in my head and
00:42:12
that's that's led me to sort of where I
00:42:14
am and and how I've got here um whereas
00:42:17
you know your question should be how can
00:42:18
I reach my true potential as a human
00:42:20
being you know that's a more positive
00:42:23
subconscious question to have in your
00:42:25
head [ __ ] it's seems like um yeah your
00:42:29
your internal voice and mine are
00:42:30
probably quite similar yeah are you
00:42:33
quite a bully to yourself at times [ __ ]
00:42:35
I the harshest critic Dom
00:42:38
like I'm so tough on myself man even if
00:42:41
I do something kind of good I'm again
00:42:44
just I could have done this better and
00:42:45
that could have been done a little bit
00:42:46
Slicker and um yeah it's [ __ ] weird
00:42:51
it is it's not healthy it's not helpful
00:42:53
but and every time um I hear myself
00:42:56
doing it to myself I try and pull myself
00:42:58
in but it still remains there luckily
00:43:00
we've got wisdom on our side so you can
00:43:02
you know we're able to identify it a bit
00:43:04
more now and cuz I I think that there's
00:43:07
two things and I want to I want to teach
00:43:09
this to my daughter eventually when
00:43:11
she's old enough but I'm like just don't
00:43:14
be so hard on yourself like this is one
00:43:16
thing that's really important to
00:43:17
remember don't be hard on yourself but
00:43:20
be honest with yourself and they almost
00:43:21
contradict as well but they're two very
00:43:24
important things you know like don't
00:43:25
fool yourself like be honest with your
00:43:27
yourself but also don't be [ __ ] hard
00:43:28
on yourself cuz if she's going to be
00:43:30
like half like me and half like Lou
00:43:33
she's probably going to be a little
00:43:34
tough on herself some time so I hope
00:43:35
that I can help with that I think that's
00:43:37
cool that's a cool lesson so um April
00:43:41
sun in Cuba one of the one of the
00:43:42
biggest New Zealand songs ever comes out
00:43:44
in 1977 so you're four three two two
00:43:49
okay yeah so you yeah remember remember
00:43:52
coming on the radio or anything yeah um
00:43:55
but I have heard it in
00:43:57
I've heard it at rugby games all blacks
00:43:59
games I've heard it on the radio when
00:44:01
I've jumped into a cab just straight off
00:44:03
the plane in Sydney um I've heard it at
00:44:07
nightclubs I used to DJ it a lot when I
00:44:09
was playing um under the thing people of
00:44:11
Paris we used to play that and that
00:44:13
would sort of um get everyone going
00:44:15
pretty good yeah well it's one of the
00:44:17
one of the biggest New Zealand songs
00:44:18
ever and your dad wrote it and performed
00:44:20
it um there other big songs are you old
00:44:23
enough and Rain which came out I guess
00:44:24
when you were like sort of it was an
00:44:26
older one sorry a newer one and then
00:44:28
there was still in love with you was a
00:44:29
really great one oh that's a did you Dad
00:44:32
write that uh I don't know if who wrote
00:44:33
it yeah beautiful but do you when you
00:44:36
when you hear those songs like what what
00:44:38
do you feel is it sort of indifference
00:44:40
is it anger is it a bit of Pride what is
00:44:42
it it's it's both not anger n I'm not
00:44:45
angry that you didn't choose me I'm sad
00:44:47
so I get sad but I also get really proud
00:44:50
when I hear it um so it's [ __ ] it's
00:44:53
quite a weird conflicting emotion to
00:44:55
have Allin one um but I every time I
00:44:58
hear his music yeah no matter where I am
00:45:01
um there been a few times where I've
00:45:02
been kind of drunk and it's come on at
00:45:04
you know the half time of the All Blacks
00:45:06
game and then all my friends that I'm
00:45:08
with they know the story so they're all
00:45:10
high-fiving me and stuff and then there
00:45:11
I am like kind of reminising getting a
00:45:13
little bit te and
00:45:15
[ __ ] um [ __ ] it breaks my heart when you
00:45:17
say he didn't choose me yeah I mean
00:45:21
that's kind of an honest way to put it I
00:45:23
guess and again I'm not here to like
00:45:26
knock him cuz he was 22 at the time he
00:45:29
was young and men are immature you know
00:45:32
Mom was 20 but and my dad was 22 but in
00:45:36
maturity levels he's probably like 15
00:45:38
yeah yeah yeah yeah kids on the big
00:45:40
scheme of things like that I'm freaking
00:45:41
out about having a baby and I'm like 49
00:45:43
you know right it's a scary thing and I
00:45:46
I don't blame him you know like yeah and
00:45:49
you you and I we've had a conversation
00:45:51
before like talking about I think we
00:45:52
were talking about Kanye at the time and
00:45:54
how you you know if you have like a
00:45:57
genius like that you have to accept the
00:45:58
crazy as well yeah you have to take the
00:46:00
good with the bad I suppose it was the
00:46:01
same thing with with your old man it's
00:46:03
like you know this creative genius but
00:46:05
also like an incredibly flawed human
00:46:07
being on the other side yeah very human
00:46:10
um and and very broken in a way you know
00:46:14
um so different to his brother it's
00:46:15
crazy his brother Todd who is also in
00:46:17
the band just always seemed to me like
00:46:19
he was very pragmatic and kind of almost
00:46:22
held the band together while his bloody
00:46:24
brother younger brother was just out
00:46:26
there tearing up hell and trying to
00:46:28
break everything apart that was almost
00:46:29
the way I look at it he was a hell racer
00:46:31
right like he end up doing some doing
00:46:32
some time in Mount Eden jail and 78 for
00:46:35
I think heroine possession or heroine
00:46:37
use or something yeah so he was tied up
00:46:39
with allegedly I think it was Mr Asia
00:46:42
and stuff like that so there is um there
00:46:44
is a character like based on him I think
00:46:46
in that Mr Asia um series that was on a
00:46:49
while ago oh right yeah yeah yeah the
00:46:51
like a true crime kind of underbelly
00:46:53
yeah yeah so as as as do you have a
00:46:55
relationship with Todd
00:46:58
um not so much I mean he's sort of tried
00:47:02
to include me over the years and I think
00:47:03
I've kept my distance but there's a bit
00:47:05
of pain there and stuff and yeah my
00:47:08
grandmother sort of um sort of welcomed
00:47:10
me in a little bit over the years and
00:47:12
she just passed away a couple weeks ago
00:47:14
which is sad but I think she's like 95
00:47:16
which is pretty good Innings um but I am
00:47:18
I am quite I'm in regular contact with
00:47:21
my cousin so Todd's son James um Hunter
00:47:25
who actually played for one of the I
00:47:27
think he played for the breakers briefly
00:47:29
which is really cool and so while he was
00:47:30
he's from Sydney but while he was
00:47:32
stationed here in Oakland um he just
00:47:34
reached out and then we just sort of bro
00:47:35
down and and now we've got this kind of
00:47:37
cool relationship he's back in Sydney
00:47:39
now and he's got his first child and we
00:47:41
just always keep in contact over
00:47:42
Instagram messaging and stuff like that
00:47:44
cool it's really cool he's a great dude
00:47:46
what about the um your half siblings ah
00:47:49
no contact ever no no no does does it
00:47:52
feel like there's a there's a party
00:47:54
that's missing or not really are you
00:47:55
sort of over there now no I feel okay
00:47:58
yeah yeah totally yeah that's cool and
00:48:00
when did you get the tattooo that
00:48:03
was it was 1998 I think that's the year
00:48:06
he passed away right 1998 it was um it
00:48:09
was 26 years this week actually so I was
00:48:12
just looking at my Eyal for this week
00:48:13
and um it was last Wednesday was 26
00:48:16
years since he passed away um which was
00:48:19
quite crazy in this podcast and I'm
00:48:21
about to have a child and I was like
00:48:22
it's quite weird all the the weird
00:48:24
synergies or you know yeah yeah yeah I
00:48:27
watched some clips online um so he died
00:48:29
of throat cancer which by all accounts
00:48:31
was um sort of self-inflicted in a way
00:48:33
through uh lifestyle choices um but his
00:48:37
his last performance on stage uh of
00:48:39
April sudden keep was with John faram um
00:48:42
and there was Colin Hay there from
00:48:43
minute work and Kate saano and a whole
00:48:45
lot of people
00:48:46
so yeah you must be yeah must yeah yeah
00:48:49
that was feeling for you yeah it was
00:48:52
quite um that was a tough time for me
00:48:54
with when he got the cancer because
00:48:57
I think how old was I [ __ ] I can't
00:48:59
remember was 18 20 something like that I
00:49:02
get home from work haven't heard from
00:49:03
the guy for years and years and years
00:49:04
and there's an answer there's a message
00:49:06
on my answer machine that sounds old
00:49:07
school on my landline answer machine and
00:49:10
it's this kind of deep voice and it's
00:49:12
like hey Mark it'ss your father like and
00:49:15
I was like holy [ __ ] just like crazy
00:49:18
moment to know how to deal with it kind
00:49:20
of upset me a lot basically give me a
00:49:23
call back um I wasn't really ready to
00:49:25
talk but we just started writing letters
00:49:27
to and fro um and it was quite cool cuz
00:49:31
it was sort of on my terms and my time
00:49:33
that I was able to sort of communicate
00:49:35
with them and we took it very slowly um
00:49:37
and we just starting to get to know each
00:49:39
other which was quite cool for me and
00:49:41
then um I remember I was shopping in
00:49:43
pack and save at the time pushing the
00:49:44
trolley and on the radio it was like um
00:49:47
yeah rock and roll singer Mark Hunter's
00:49:49
diagnosed with Advanced throat cancer
00:49:51
and [ __ ] I was you know he didn't even
00:49:53
tell me through the letters I have to
00:49:55
hear it through the radio which was kind
00:49:56
of of a bit [ __ ] um so I just
00:49:58
starting to get to know him and then it
00:50:00
was like this throat cancer had coming
00:50:01
and was kind of taking him away so that
00:50:03
was another thing that just kind of kind
00:50:05
of crushed me a little bit
00:50:07
yeah yeah you're right yeah I'm yeah
00:50:10
yeah I I can tell it's not easy to talk
00:50:12
about even even now no but it it is
00:50:15
therapeutic in a way and it's good to
00:50:16
get it out yeah what's nice to hear
00:50:18
about that letter writing and that um
00:50:20
like you know attempts were to I suppose
00:50:23
make amends or make up for time you know
00:50:25
before it was too late yeah yeah it was
00:50:28
it was a nice it was a nice thing at the
00:50:30
end it nice to get some contact UM [ __ ]
00:50:33
my last letter that I sent him it
00:50:35
actually didn't reach him which was
00:50:36
heartbreaking so I sent a letter off and
00:50:39
then um I remember I was surfing one day
00:50:43
and this is the only time in my life
00:50:45
that I've never been physically able to
00:50:47
stand up on a surfboard so I was surfing
00:50:49
out at Manu Bay at ragam beautiful
00:50:51
evening Sunset and then my flatmate
00:50:54
paddled out and was like Mark your
00:50:55
father's just passed passed away and so
00:50:58
I was just like [ __ ] I just had to get
00:51:00
in and it the first time I've P [ __ ]
00:51:04
it's quite upsetting
00:51:06
sorry it's the first time I've peddled
00:51:08
into a wave and and not been out of been
00:51:10
out to stand up physically cuz I was so
00:51:14
upset and just felt like my world had
00:51:16
just [ __ ] yeah just blowing up and so
00:51:20
my last letter never reached him and
00:51:23
then his wife uh Wendy replied to me
00:51:25
eventually and was like
00:51:27
your you know your father or she
00:51:28
referred to him as your friend don't
00:51:31
know if she wanted to admit that it was
00:51:32
my father but your friend unfortunately
00:51:34
passed away and never got to read your
00:51:36
last letter but I just wanted to respond
00:51:37
to you and yeah was [ __ ] quite sad
00:51:41
[ __ ] you that's touching I've got a box
00:51:43
of tissues under the ID what I'm okay no
00:51:47
it's just the lump in the threat it's um
00:51:49
no it's m it's uh yeah it's good to talk
00:51:51
about this stuff it's cathartic and I I
00:51:52
have heard you in a couple of interviews
00:51:54
um you know call him your dad um um and
00:51:58
as someone that um yeah has hasn't been
00:52:00
unable to have my own kids but has
00:52:02
raised someone else's um I feel like
00:52:05
it's very generous that you bestow the
00:52:07
title of dad on him CU he is your
00:52:09
biological father but I feel like Dad is
00:52:11
another yeah and I and I reckon that's
00:52:14
only because I never had a sort of a
00:52:16
father figure true Father Figure there
00:52:18
was one guy in my upbringing that was
00:52:20
probably the most like a father figure
00:52:21
to me um but I never really had someone
00:52:24
to sort of step in and and sort of take
00:52:26
that role cuz I think if there had been
00:52:29
I probably would have never referred to
00:52:30
Mark's dad yeah yeah and and your mom
00:52:35
Victoria Mo let's um Shine the Light on
00:52:37
her for a bit another thing I was
00:52:39
thinking about you and I are similar
00:52:40
ages and um through throughout my
00:52:43
classes in primary school there was only
00:52:45
one kid that was um had us was living
00:52:48
with his mom as a solo mom was my mate
00:52:50
Craig like that's how uncommon it was
00:52:52
now you going to any classroom it's
00:52:53
probably 50/50 I don't know it's no big
00:52:55
deal um but back then yeah yeah we yeah
00:52:59
it must have felt um incredibly
00:53:01
isolating like growing up like just
00:53:03
being raised by a mom it was super rare
00:53:05
back then you're so right actually I'd
00:53:07
never really thought about that but um
00:53:09
yeah everyone had a mom and a dad and I
00:53:12
remember used to we used to cop a little
00:53:14
bit of flack like you know your mom's on
00:53:16
the you know the benefit or the welfare
00:53:18
just kids are harsh man and yeah you
00:53:20
guys have got no money cuz we were we
00:53:22
were pretty we were [ __ ] poor but Mom
00:53:24
you know she always gave me a pretty
00:53:26
good upbringing with what little she had
00:53:28
you know we we might like move into a
00:53:30
house and it was a [ __ ] box but she'd
00:53:32
get you know go byy paint and you know
00:53:34
she'd paint the kitchen and make it look
00:53:36
nice and she'd make it look as nice as
00:53:38
possible cuz she wasn't down the pub
00:53:40
like getting drunk every Friday night on
00:53:42
Saturday night like most of the other
00:53:44
parents were doing so I was pretty lucky
00:53:46
that I actually had a good childhood and
00:53:48
she sacrificed a lot for me but yeah it
00:53:50
was hard in school cuz I was definitely
00:53:53
and I I always gravitated towards the
00:53:56
the norise kids in school you know and
00:53:59
um there was a lot of like um kids that
00:54:01
were just from the wrong side of the
00:54:02
tracks in Raglin that just ended up
00:54:04
there and I just gravitated towards them
00:54:06
and maybe that was cuz they weren't
00:54:07
judging me so much for not having a mom
00:54:09
and a dad or you know being the only
00:54:11
child and your people sing My People
00:54:14
yeah so I always gravitated towards that
00:54:16
and then that made that in turn also
00:54:19
made me a bloody nightmare at
00:54:21
school but part part of that is probably
00:54:23
yeah maybe you were acting out because
00:54:25
um yeah there was this missing piece but
00:54:27
then maybe it's you look at your your
00:54:29
Jean Paul that you come from like your
00:54:30
mom was a badass as well I I heard a
00:54:32
story about her didn't she so she's from
00:54:34
um Hamilton didn't she she had hiked up
00:54:37
to Oakland to see lead Zeeland so yes so
00:54:39
she's originally born in um in England
00:54:42
and then they migrated to the South
00:54:44
Island initially when she was very young
00:54:45
and then they moved to to Hamilton and
00:54:48
stuff but she was always a rebel um [ __ ]
00:54:50
she was so rebellious she would yes so
00:54:52
they were living in Hamilton this is the
00:54:54
story and then she went to bed her
00:54:56
parents are quite strict very very
00:54:58
conservative English um folks and so she
00:55:01
she sneaks out of her bedroom window at
00:55:03
night while they're sleeping hitch
00:55:05
shikes to Oakland to Western Springs I
00:55:07
believe it is I don't know what year it
00:55:09
was and and to see lead Zeppelin she
00:55:12
smuggles away over the fence all the way
00:55:14
to the front and then um she's there
00:55:16
just watching Robert Plant Jimmy Page
00:55:19
and she's like she she notices like
00:55:21
Robert Plant's massive [ __ ] weapon
00:55:23
and his tight like Lether pants that's
00:55:25
one of her memories I'm like oh my God
00:55:27
like that was so crazy I think she might
00:55:29
have been 16 so like that says a lot
00:55:32
about her when she was she was young and
00:55:35
yeah maybe a little bit of a a
00:55:36
Hellraiser as well you know you never
00:55:38
had a chance no half your mom half your
00:55:41
dad you were doomed from the beginning
00:55:43
yeah I feel like that rock and roll um
00:55:45
stuff is just flowing through my face
00:55:47
that's such a cool story was she quite
00:55:49
strict growing up or uh no so she was um
00:55:53
she was very Bohemian with me and she
00:55:55
has this philosophy where each
00:55:57
generation brings their kids up opposite
00:56:00
to the other so she's like I was very
00:56:02
Bohemian very boho with you that means
00:56:05
that you're going to be very Victorian
00:56:07
with your daughter when you bring her up
00:56:09
I'm oh don't say that but I I see it in
00:56:11
the way that I am almost with our our
00:56:13
dog Edy I'm like quite strict on her
00:56:15
even though I love her I can be quite
00:56:17
strict and so I'm a bit I don't want to
00:56:19
be a Victorian dad [ __ ] that sounds
00:56:21
terrible I don't think you will be will
00:56:23
you I hope I can just be a little bit of
00:56:25
both Victorian when I need to be um and
00:56:28
boho most of the time I feel like you'll
00:56:30
be just an incredibly kind Dad yeah I
00:56:33
think so yeah yeah yeah luckily we've
00:56:35
got Lucinda who's just this gorgeous
00:56:37
soft beautiful woman who will soften
00:56:40
everything out yeah and I found another
00:56:42
photo of you this is you maybe you were
00:56:44
like 10 here um but yeah double Denim
00:56:48
and what are the shoes like red loafers
00:56:51
orange Lo those would still be cool now
00:56:53
Dom those are looking those are so
00:56:57
was um was your mom dressing you or did
00:56:58
you have your own sort of no I have my
00:57:00
own Flo um I used to borrow mom's
00:57:03
clothes a lot um [ __ ] I used to get
00:57:06
Flack from this when I was young at
00:57:07
school too I used to wear not dresses
00:57:09
and [ __ ] but you know i' would push it
00:57:12
and I was always had a bit of Fleer
00:57:13
about what I wore and I understood from
00:57:15
an early age that if you were looking
00:57:17
good you would feel good so I understood
00:57:19
that that transformative power that
00:57:21
fashion can have on you from an early
00:57:23
age not not dresses but we dressing sort
00:57:25
of quite minely as a oh I remember she
00:57:28
always had this um this vest that was
00:57:30
you know it was by this old New Zealand
00:57:32
brand called Jag and I would always
00:57:34
steal I remember Jag and then Jag Min
00:57:36
came along and it was like it's the
00:57:37
min's version of Jag this was before Jag
00:57:40
Min it was an Australian thing I think
00:57:43
yeah I can't I thought it was a New
00:57:44
Zealand thing I could be wrong but I
00:57:45
used to wear that over my t-shirts and
00:57:48
yeah so I wasn't wearing a dresses or
00:57:50
anything but you know some of my
00:57:51
teachers way back used to think that I
00:57:53
wanted to be a girl um and that's
00:57:55
probably just cuz mom was my role model
00:57:57
and that's all I sort of knew and I was
00:57:59
surrounded by a lot of girls Growing Up
00:58:01
So how old's your mom now God she must
00:58:05
be
00:58:07
69 right 69 yeah 70 next year M she in
00:58:12
good shape yeah she she is so youthful
00:58:15
yeah my god when sometimes me um so my
00:58:18
mom lives next door to us this is crazy
00:58:20
most people don't know this she lives
00:58:21
literally next door to us and oh now
00:58:24
yeah and so we bump into each other L
00:58:26
right we do our morning walks in similar
00:58:28
circuits so most mornings we'll be
00:58:30
walking along and then we'll see you
00:58:31
know M walking sort of towards us from a
00:58:34
distance but we don't know it's Mom and
00:58:35
I always think it's this young sort of
00:58:36
30-year old or whatever she just got so
00:58:38
much energy and just the way she dresses
00:58:40
and yeah very youthful youthful Spirit
00:58:43
youthful nature looks really young for
00:58:45
her age yeah and are you are you good at
00:58:48
um telling who you I've seen some
00:58:50
Instagram post that you've done where
00:58:51
you've said nice things about her but
00:58:52
are you good at telling her like not so
00:58:55
good um yeah sometimes on a sort of like
00:58:59
on Instagram and stuff um
00:59:02
obviously special moments like our
00:59:04
wedding um 2022 when Lou and I got
00:59:06
married up in barley I sort of gave this
00:59:09
amazing speech but yeah I get that a lot
00:59:11
from Mom sort almost being quite Inward
00:59:13
and not really communicating our
00:59:15
feelings that much um and Mom's exactly
00:59:17
like this so when I did the speech at
00:59:20
the wedding she was just crying I was
00:59:21
crying everyone else was crying it was
00:59:23
it was quite beautiful um and actually I
00:59:26
up with Mom yesterday and we went on a
00:59:27
walk and we we had a really great chat
00:59:29
just about childhood and stuff cuz I was
00:59:31
like I'm going on this podcast I am a
00:59:33
bit fuzzy about some of my childhood um
00:59:35
memories and stuff and just wanted her
00:59:37
to confirm a few things and we just had
00:59:39
this beautiful chat it was really cool
00:59:42
um she was like I feel so much I feel so
00:59:44
much responsibility for not being a
00:59:46
great mom and stuff and you know in the
00:59:48
in my 20s I was still working it out and
00:59:50
I was just like [ __ ] mom you have
00:59:52
nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilty
00:59:54
for I don't blame you for anything it's
00:59:56
as far as I'm concerned you gave me the
00:59:58
best upbringing you could ever give with
00:59:59
what you had and I'm [ __ ] lucky and
01:00:02
I'm lucky that you chose me when
01:00:04
everyone else and everything else was
01:00:05
telling you not to choose me for some
01:00:07
reason you did and here I am today and
01:00:09
I've had this great life and so please
01:00:11
don't blame yourself like what what do
01:00:13
you mean she chose you well she could
01:00:15
have chose to not have me oh okay yeah
01:00:17
so I always think you know when you're
01:00:19
you're pregnant you can make a choice to
01:00:21
have the child or not and I think with
01:00:24
all the adversity that she was facing
01:00:26
back then you know a lot of people would
01:00:28
have chosen not I think I could be wrong
01:00:32
yeah [ __ ] I think back then you you had
01:00:35
to go to Australia to get to terminate a
01:00:36
pregnancy so oh really okay she's like
01:00:40
well yeah I wanted to get yeah yeah she
01:00:43
was saying she was saying yesterday she
01:00:44
was like I don't know what it was but
01:00:45
every fiber in my my body was just
01:00:47
saying have have this child and even
01:00:50
though she was like felt wrong cuz all
01:00:52
my friends were saying it's not going to
01:00:53
work it's going to be terrible it's
01:00:54
going to ruin your life and she was like
01:00:55
I know why but I just felt like that
01:00:58
just a maternal Instinct eh yeah is
01:01:01
there anything that came up on that walk
01:01:03
that we haven't talked about that you
01:01:04
wanted to bring up or get out there no
01:01:08
no I asked a lot about my dad and I was
01:01:11
I asked her about well first I asked her
01:01:13
what what do you think like in terms of
01:01:15
um characteristics or traits what do you
01:01:17
think I've inherited from you and and
01:01:20
sort of we talked and it was like
01:01:22
spirituality uh creativity you know the
01:01:25
youthful kind of young at heart kind of
01:01:27
vibe and then I was like what did I hear
01:01:28
it from my dad you know and and we got
01:01:31
talking and she was like uh you're
01:01:33
Charisma you know he had this Charisma I
01:01:35
can't explain it um and then this sort
01:01:38
of I mean this musical ear that I've
01:01:40
always had I've been great with music um
01:01:43
and then also a very opportunistic
01:01:45
nature she was like you inherited that
01:01:47
from your dad you didn't get it from me
01:01:49
what does that and I was like what does
01:01:50
yeah what does this mean she was like
01:01:51
you would you wouldn't wait for
01:01:53
opportunities you'd go out and create
01:01:54
them you'd make them you'd almost just
01:01:56
force them like she was like I remember
01:01:59
you were this young Surfer and you're
01:02:02
hanging around raging then like all of a
01:02:04
sudden you come back and you like with
01:02:05
this world titled Surfer that you've
01:02:07
just bumped into and this amazing
01:02:09
videographer that's making the best surf
01:02:10
films in the world at the time and you
01:02:12
just bump into them and then you end up
01:02:14
spending like this week with them and
01:02:16
like being in the film and stuff and
01:02:18
getting a mention and she like that [ __ ]
01:02:20
doesn't happen to normal
01:02:21
people yeah if you have that sort of
01:02:24
like that charm or charisma or that
01:02:26
force of nature then it does open doors
01:02:27
for you but it's quite funny cuz that
01:02:30
sort of is complete opposites to you
01:02:32
know being um sort of introverted and
01:02:34
lacking confidence yeah it really it
01:02:37
contradicts in a way doesn't it it does
01:02:38
it does but I can see how the two the
01:02:40
two emerge together a survival Instinct
01:02:43
where potentially you just need to put
01:02:46
your out there it might be also part of
01:02:48
me just always thinking that there's
01:02:49
something better out there too which is
01:02:51
a blessing and a curse but I've always
01:02:53
thought you know it's like that Oscar
01:02:55
wild saying what ises that we are all in
01:02:56
the gutter but some of us are staring up
01:02:58
at the stars and that that's me to a tea
01:03:01
you know even if we even if I'm growing
01:03:02
up with nothing and no money I'm still
01:03:04
dreaming of this world where I'm going
01:03:06
to be you know doing great things and
01:03:08
probably finding some success and yeah
01:03:12
yeah another thing that
01:03:14
um had never really occurred to me about
01:03:16
being like a solo a solo mom in the 70s
01:03:19
or ' 80s I had a guy on the podcast last
01:03:21
week Sean planket the controversial
01:03:22
broadcaster okay and his mom was a solo
01:03:25
mom and he he he was tearing up like
01:03:27
talking about the job she did and he
01:03:29
said she was sort of an outcast like
01:03:31
friends that that she had yeah the the
01:03:34
the wives you were weary of her cuz they
01:03:36
thought she was going to steal their
01:03:37
husbands and that happens I remember
01:03:39
that yeah yeah so like it's just another
01:03:42
layer of of [ __ ] or difficulty that like
01:03:45
your mom probably had to deal with like
01:03:47
in the 70s or ' 80s and as a kid you
01:03:49
don't actually understand that which is
01:03:50
so sad I do now when I look back but at
01:03:53
the time I didn't truly understand it
01:03:54
you know about getting teased by the
01:03:57
other kids you know well yeah everyone's
01:03:58
so self-conscious but also your mom
01:04:00
probably shielded you from all that
01:04:01
stuff as well yeah um which makes it
01:04:04
more remarkable the job she did yeah
01:04:06
yeah um so let's talk about Lou yeah so
01:04:09
how how did you go what's the age Gap
01:04:11
there she's still able to have kids so
01:04:12
she's obviously younger than you she's a
01:04:14
lot younger than me Dom um so what are
01:04:18
you 49 yeah age is just a
01:04:21
number um so she's 37 soon um so this a
01:04:26
few years between us yeah um she just
01:04:30
keeps me on the straight and narrow
01:04:31
she's a wonderful human being um she
01:04:33
used to be my sales manager actually
01:04:36
that's how we first met um so she was we
01:04:40
had heard we were looking for a
01:04:41
salesperson and we were like [ __ ] who's
01:04:43
doing a really great job out there we
01:04:44
just it's better just to go poach
01:04:46
someone really than find someone and
01:04:47
train someone up and then we'd heard
01:04:49
that she was an incredible rep for a
01:04:51
brand called Roxy a surf brand oh yeah
01:04:54
Roxy Roxy were huge for a while with the
01:04:56
slogan over the bum yeah yeah maybe 2005
01:05:00
everyone had a pair of those Roxy jeans
01:05:02
yeah they were they were massive um so
01:05:04
we basically just put an offer out to
01:05:05
her and she was pretty excited to come
01:05:08
and work for more of a fashion brand and
01:05:10
get out of that sort of mainstream surf
01:05:12
um industry so we gave her a job and
01:05:14
then she jumped on board and then she
01:05:16
was just amazing overnight just all our
01:05:18
all our stores all our stockers around
01:05:20
the country just fell in love with her
01:05:21
and she was able just to sell so much
01:05:24
product um but she had so much integrity
01:05:27
and yeah people just loved her and they
01:05:28
trusted her and yeah so we um we became
01:05:31
good friends through that we were never
01:05:32
attracted to each other which is weird
01:05:34
and a lot of people don't believe this
01:05:36
but we actually weren't attracted to
01:05:38
each other while we were working
01:05:39
together and then she resigned after
01:05:41
about 3 years and then that's sort of
01:05:43
when the attraction sort of happened and
01:05:45
it happened literally like that it was
01:05:47
[ __ ] up um I think we we'd had a night
01:05:50
and it was it was to it was the last
01:05:53
sales trip basically to say goodbye to
01:05:55
all the the stores and I was freaking
01:05:57
out cuz I was like [ __ ] this this girl's
01:05:59
leaving what are we going to do so I
01:06:01
wanted to go on this trip with her and
01:06:02
make sure that all the retailers were
01:06:04
happy and they weren't going to drop us
01:06:06
oh my god um so I went on this trip with
01:06:09
her and then it was it was basically a
01:06:10
twoe trip so we' do you know North
01:06:12
Island and South Island I think it was
01:06:14
the the end of the trip South Island
01:06:16
something we just celebrated the end of
01:06:18
the the trip and had a couple of bottles
01:06:19
of red wine and stuff and then yeah just
01:06:21
and nothing happened like there was no
01:06:23
like nothing physical but there was just
01:06:26
something in my brain or my heart
01:06:28
changed and I don't know if she felt
01:06:30
like that but I remember the next
01:06:31
morning I had to drive off early and go
01:06:34
to a surfing competition and um there
01:06:37
was just something weird that had
01:06:38
changed and just yeah I just looked at
01:06:40
her differently from that moment on
01:06:42
[ __ ] hard to explain isn't that
01:06:44
amazing yeah it's amazing how how that
01:06:46
can happen have you have you compared
01:06:48
notes with her um no not really I don't
01:06:52
I don't no I haven't really spoken to
01:06:54
her about that actual moment
01:06:56
it was a weird M it was weird it was
01:06:57
when that um when Kane had dropped that
01:07:00
album [ __ ] what was the one with the um
01:07:03
life of Pablo was it that album oh yeah
01:07:05
life of Pablo yeah yeah um it was when
01:07:07
that album had just came out and so
01:07:08
there's a song um on it called ultr
01:07:10
light beam that I was just playing over
01:07:11
and over and that that just reminded me
01:07:13
of her in that moment um so an
01:07:15
incredible album incredible song that
01:07:17
always to this day reminds me of that
01:07:19
that sort of yeah that moment where my
01:07:21
heart changed yeah it is a great album
01:07:23
are you a Kanye guy as well yeah I I am
01:07:26
I'm not so much about Kanye the guy but
01:07:28
um his his art I [ __ ] love his art
01:07:31
you know to me he's he's a modern day
01:07:34
David Bowie to me that's how I compare
01:07:37
him I was listening to someone on a Joe
01:07:39
Rogan podcast and they've got a theory
01:07:40
about Kanye that he always tries to pick
01:07:44
the most out there um an unpopular thing
01:07:47
to make it popular so when he first came
01:07:49
out he was wearing like pink polo shirts
01:07:51
then there's the mega hat it's almost
01:07:53
like he's like what can I what can I
01:07:56
what's the most uncool thing that I can
01:07:57
try and make popular it's almost like
01:07:59
counterculture right so he's like has
01:08:02
he's like got taken counter moves
01:08:04
against like what popular culture may be
01:08:06
or popular opinion is and it's almost
01:08:08
that thing when others Zig he zags
01:08:10
almost and that keeps him sort of ahead
01:08:12
of the pack yeah it's quite cool um the
01:08:14
music's bloody great I'm obsessed with
01:08:17
this music even the the latest the
01:08:19
latest stuff he's done it's incredible
01:08:20
it's so cool and every album's kind of
01:08:23
different in a way and that just some
01:08:25
people get over it cuz they just want
01:08:27
they want the old Kanye um but David
01:08:29
Bowie was like that too you know he
01:08:30
would he would get into this character
01:08:33
like method acting every album you know
01:08:36
get into this new character become Ziggy
01:08:38
Stardust and even his friends are like
01:08:40
[ __ ] this guy's weird what the hell is
01:08:41
he doing but he was in this character
01:08:43
living and breathing it for this album
01:08:45
that he's creating and I think Kanye's a
01:08:47
lot a lot like David Bowie yeah I agree
01:08:50
is ye's album the first time I heard
01:08:52
that I was like what the [ __ ] is this
01:08:54
pile of [ __ ]
01:08:56
like it just sounded like industrial
01:08:57
noise then you give it a few lessons and
01:08:59
it's like oh this is brilliant yeah it's
01:09:02
really good very industrial that album
01:09:04
yeah yeah so um what's the special um
01:09:08
connection with barley so you and Lou
01:09:10
you got engaged in barley and then you
01:09:12
went back there and got married by the
01:09:13
way how what sort of thought went into
01:09:15
the the engagement like how long were
01:09:16
you sitting on that did she know it was
01:09:18
coming had you disc no no she had no
01:09:20
idea um so barley Barley's always had a
01:09:24
special place for us because she had
01:09:27
never been to B before I'd been there so
01:09:29
many times in my in the '90s when I was
01:09:31
trying to be like a pro Surfer for years
01:09:32
and so we'd go do magazine trips over
01:09:35
there um and I always loved it it was uh
01:09:37
it was the first overseas place that I
01:09:39
ever went to outside of Ragin um so I've
01:09:42
always loved barley and then about a
01:09:45
year after me and Lou started Lou and I
01:09:47
started going out together I was like I
01:09:49
want to take you to Barley cuz I want
01:09:50
you to experience this place that that I
01:09:52
love and [ __ ] man seeing seeing her
01:09:55
relive barley for her first time and
01:09:57
reliving that through her eyes just made
01:09:59
me fall in love with it and she just
01:10:00
fell in love with it and I'd never
01:10:03
really had that with a girlfriend like
01:10:04
had a place that was ours um and so yeah
01:10:07
barley became our place together our
01:10:10
special place and so I think it was we
01:10:12
went there two years in a row and then
01:10:14
the third year I believe was when I
01:10:16
decided I was going to like get on one
01:10:18
knee and and pop the question um so all
01:10:20
my friends there was a bunch of about 10
01:10:22
of us traveling together they had no
01:10:24
idea um I was basically hiding this ring
01:10:26
sort of in my pocket and we were just on
01:10:29
the um Cliffs at IL 2 and sun was going
01:10:31
down and I just pulled out the ring and
01:10:34
just asked her if she wanted to be my
01:10:35
forever girl and um she [ __ ] just
01:10:38
yeah broke down crying and then all our
01:10:40
friends started crying and there was
01:10:41
people around us that were cheering and
01:10:43
[ __ ] and it was it was cool it it was
01:10:46
beautiful and it was I'm I'm obsessed
01:10:47
with sunset so it had to be at Sunset I
01:10:50
love a good Sunset and so a couple years
01:10:52
later we got married and barley and
01:10:54
again on on were two Cliff tops at
01:10:57
Sunset oh that's amazing yeah it was
01:10:59
incredible it was one of the best days
01:11:01
of my life um we had 80 people there I
01:11:03
think we had friends that came from all
01:11:05
around the world this was just after um
01:11:07
Co after the lockdown year I believe
01:11:10
after 2021 in 2020 so no one had really
01:11:13
been traveling it was the first time
01:11:14
we'd all traveled and it was this huge
01:11:15
reunion and yeah I'll never I'll never
01:11:18
forget that moment actually think about
01:11:19
a lot um every morning in my routine
01:11:22
when I'm I'm practicing gratitude before
01:11:24
I start my day the wedding is actually
01:11:26
one vivid memory that I bring into my
01:11:29
gratitude yeah well let's talk about
01:11:32
that then what what is your morning
01:11:34
routine um it's pretty yeah it's quite
01:11:37
different to what I used to be I used to
01:11:38
be a bit slack um well I saw I saw a
01:11:41
YouTube interview of you maybe like 10
01:11:43
or 15 years ago and um I I suppose
01:11:46
that's the good thing about these it
01:11:47
sort of time stamps a person's life so
01:11:49
back then you were living on like coffee
01:11:50
in the morning and red ball in the
01:11:51
afternoon and I I laughed when I saw it
01:11:54
because um yeah you're on a sober kick
01:11:56
at the moment uh yeah I I've been a
01:11:59
little sober I've been not sober was it
01:12:02
sort of like um pregancy solidarity
01:12:04
sober yeah yeah I was you know there was
01:12:07
a time there where I was going out every
01:12:08
every Friday night and I was I was
01:12:10
getting you know pretty lit and sort of
01:12:12
you know a bit of escapism um and having
01:12:15
fun you know I love having fun love I
01:12:17
love a good party um but after a while I
01:12:19
was like [ __ ] you know like am I am I
01:12:22
actually on the track on track to reach
01:12:24
my potential this human being you know
01:12:26
like what could I be doing differently
01:12:28
that could you know allow me to be
01:12:29
better at work to be a better partner to
01:12:31
be a great father and so I thought let's
01:12:33
just cut out the alcohol and see how I
01:12:35
go and I just wanted to I wanted to do a
01:12:37
month I don't want to put a Time sort of
01:12:39
thing on it I ended up going for like
01:12:42
quite a while I think I went for like 3
01:12:43
months and um it felt great I had
01:12:46
ultimate Clarity I was waking up in the
01:12:47
morning feeling good I was getting to
01:12:49
work on a Monday and and solving all the
01:12:50
world's
01:12:51
problems and then so and I had a quite
01:12:54
an unhealthy relationship with alcohol
01:12:56
it was for me it was a coping mechanism
01:12:58
so I would I would get lit to be able to
01:13:01
walk into a crowded room and feel
01:13:03
confident if that makes sense a lot of
01:13:05
people like a crutch yeah a lot of
01:13:06
people relate to this 100% um and I
01:13:08
didn't I didn't believe that that was a
01:13:09
good use of alcohol um and I wanted to I
01:13:12
want alcohol to be more like special
01:13:14
occasions for me not just happy Friday
01:13:16
um so just you know like I had a
01:13:18
friend's birthday a while ago and um we
01:13:21
got lit up for that and that was cool
01:13:23
cuz that's a special moment you know you
01:13:24
should celebrate that together um but
01:13:27
there's heaps of Fridays and Saturdays
01:13:28
that I don't need to drink and I can go
01:13:30
out and socialize with friends and I can
01:13:31
just drink water or I can drink a zero
01:13:33
ALK beer um so that's been sort of my
01:13:36
new relationship with alcohol and I feel
01:13:38
like I'm in control of it which is way
01:13:39
better and then to sort of top that off
01:13:42
I've I've kind of changed my lifestyle
01:13:43
with how I start my mornings and stuff
01:13:45
so religiously um I've had a lot of back
01:13:48
trouble in my life so I have to work a
01:13:50
lot harder than most to to sort of ward
01:13:52
off the back pain so part of that um
01:13:54
that process is always going for a walk
01:13:57
in the morning walking the dog we have a
01:13:58
dog so that's a great great excuse to go
01:14:00
for a walk and what time is it an early
01:14:02
morning start or so yeah pretty early um
01:14:05
I mean depending on sometimes I'll go
01:14:06
walking first or I'll go to the gym
01:14:08
first so whatever I do I'll get up
01:14:09
around 600 or 6:30 and if I want to go
01:14:12
to the gym I'll go to the gym first and
01:14:13
do a workout or I'll do a a kilometer
01:14:16
swim and then I'll do a sauner and then
01:14:18
I'll do 20 minutes in the sauna
01:14:20
practicing gratitude so um being
01:14:22
grateful for everything that I have in
01:14:24
my life
01:14:25
um instead of [ __ ] worrying about all
01:14:27
the [ __ ] that I don't have in my life or
01:14:28
being envious of others that seem like
01:14:30
they have more than me um cuz that's a
01:14:32
big thing cuz then that steals your
01:14:33
happiness right so I have to I have to
01:14:35
practice this gratitude in the SAA every
01:14:37
day and that's after a workout I feel
01:14:39
like I've deserve it you know I feel
01:14:40
like I've earned it and then if I
01:14:42
haven't had the walk then I'll have the
01:14:43
walk straight after with my wife and
01:14:45
that's a really special time for us too
01:14:47
where we have a great chat and stuff and
01:14:49
we get some fresh air and get some
01:14:50
oxytocin you know some nature nature in
01:14:53
us which helps and then we started day
01:14:55
and we're more equipped to deal with you
01:14:57
know problems and and stuff like that
01:14:59
how how good are saers I've only been on
01:15:00
the SAA bus for like the past year but
01:15:02
it's a game changer I'm with you bro
01:15:04
like I've only I've only been on it for
01:15:05
about a year as well um and I'm addicted
01:15:08
and you know the the statistics and the
01:15:11
data on it through the roof you know
01:15:13
there's there's a guy that I go to the
01:15:14
gym with and he works for one of the
01:15:16
health uh medical insurance companies
01:15:18
and I bumped into him when I first
01:15:20
joined the gym and he was like can I
01:15:21
have a SAA bra I was like I'll come and
01:15:23
have SAA why not Henry thought about it
01:15:25
and he was like you know the the data on
01:15:27
the research on saers it lowers your all
01:15:29
cause mortality rate by like 30% you
01:15:32
know so it's going to lower like the
01:15:34
risk of maybe getting heart disease or
01:15:36
something like that and um he was like
01:15:38
you got to get into it bro every day or
01:15:40
at least 5 days a week do 20 minutes
01:15:43
minimum and so I'm just addicted to it I
01:15:46
love the feeling of getting you know
01:15:47
getting into that sauner and sweating
01:15:49
everything out yeah in terms of the the
01:15:51
the benefits for heart health in
01:15:52
particular it's just through the roof
01:15:53
what about um cold plunge you got to
01:15:56
cold showers cold I do the cold shower
01:15:58
but only because we don't have a um we
01:16:00
have a cold Plunge at our gym and it's
01:16:02
[ __ ] so shitty it's not even cold you
01:16:03
got to Chuck ice cubes in it and it's
01:16:05
like it's warmer than the shower so
01:16:07
after this sauner I go and just have a
01:16:10
cold shower it's way more effective yeah
01:16:12
yeah I I mean there's um whm Hoff and
01:16:14
all this scientific sort of evidence but
01:16:16
I don't know I can't help but think part
01:16:18
of it's Placebo but [ __ ] you feel good
01:16:20
after a like one to two minute cold
01:16:22
shower oh it just wakes you up and and
01:16:25
it's the first 10 seconds is always kind
01:16:27
of hard and you're you're doing this
01:16:28
hting deep breathing and then you're
01:16:30
like wow it's just actually on my skin
01:16:33
it's only just hitting the surface of my
01:16:34
skin it's not in my body and then you
01:16:37
start to Zen out and then afterwards you
01:16:39
can just you know have a full shower and
01:16:40
it's ice cold yeah it's incredible and
01:16:42
and it's discomfort but you know it's
01:16:44
not actually going to hurt you it's just
01:16:45
discomfort it's a the the Gratitude
01:16:48
thing you're talking about um yeah I've
01:16:51
I've started doing that probably about
01:16:52
the same time time as what I've been
01:16:53
doing SAA like a year and it's been an
01:16:55
absolute Game Changer I always thought
01:16:57
it was um I don't know like gratitude
01:17:00
has sort of like woo woo connotations
01:17:02
but it's it's [ __ ] great and whatever
01:17:05
position you are in life you actually
01:17:07
you you don't actually have to look that
01:17:08
hard to find things to be grateful about
01:17:10
eh yeah like even if you go real basic
01:17:12
level like having a a roof over your
01:17:14
head or your people that love you or
01:17:16
fresh water out of the tap to drink like
01:17:18
you can take it down to a real low level
01:17:20
of things to be to be grateful about but
01:17:22
you're surrounded by stuff um but if you
01:17:24
constantly chasing stuff you're you're
01:17:26
always looking forward and you're never
01:17:28
sort of stopping to smell the roses of
01:17:29
things you've got to be happy for here
01:17:31
and now you missed the magic right I
01:17:33
mean and if you're not happy with with
01:17:35
what you have um and what you have
01:17:37
around you and stuff I feel like you're
01:17:39
not being open to New Opportunities and
01:17:42
and you know having new things and
01:17:44
having more love and having more things
01:17:46
you I mean you can be gratitude uh you
01:17:48
can have gratitude for material things
01:17:49
too don't get me wrong you know you
01:17:51
practice your gratitude you start with
01:17:53
your family and your health and wealth
01:17:55
and freedom and then you make your way
01:17:56
to your friends and your business and
01:17:58
all that in your experiences in life but
01:18:00
then you can chuck a few nice material
01:18:02
things but the key with gratitude is
01:18:05
your brain doesn't know the difference
01:18:06
between you know what has happened and
01:18:07
what hasn't happened so you can trick
01:18:09
your brain if you're on this gratitude
01:18:10
thing so I'll do half gratitude for all
01:18:12
the things I have and then the next half
01:18:14
is gratitude for the things that haven't
01:18:15
happened yet but I'm visualizing that
01:18:17
they have happened you know um like
01:18:20
manifesting yes and so I mix the two
01:18:23
together and it's an amazing spiral that
01:18:25
you get into you know and I'll Chuck a
01:18:27
really nice car in there and and and you
01:18:29
know there'll be a few things there'll
01:18:31
be a few there might even be a beach
01:18:33
house in there some some mornings I'll
01:18:35
Chuck a little beach house in there at
01:18:36
the end you know and I'll visualize
01:18:38
being on the beach and being with my
01:18:40
family and and teaching my daughter how
01:18:41
to surf like I go that deep right I got
01:18:44
to try doing that that's [ __ ] forward
01:18:46
thinking it's powerful man do half and
01:18:48
half um and what about um have you had
01:18:51
any therapy or anything over the years I
01:18:53
had a little bit um I had I think I had
01:18:56
about four sessions it was really good
01:18:58
it was about my father um when was what
01:19:00
sort of age uh that was
01:19:03
about I reck that was about
01:19:06
[Music]
01:19:07
2021 yeah oh so recently quite recent it
01:19:11
was this amazing guy Tony um he was
01:19:14
recommended um by a friend and they were
01:19:17
just like [ __ ] it's really good to go
01:19:18
talk to someone especially someone you
01:19:20
don't know someone unbiased who's not
01:19:22
going to weigh in with judgment or
01:19:24
anything and
01:19:25
[ __ ] the first I reckon it took about 20
01:19:28
seconds and I was balling my eyes out I
01:19:31
walked out of that place going what the
01:19:33
[ __ ] just happened yeah how did that
01:19:35
happen yeah yeah ex I i' I've had some
01:19:39
sessions I put it off for years and
01:19:40
years CU I was like I don't [ __ ] I don't
01:19:42
know where to start I don't know if it's
01:19:43
for me and then you you get in the room
01:19:45
and you realize they're a trained
01:19:46
professional so that this is what they
01:19:47
do for a job so they get you talking
01:19:49
[ __ ] it's amazing something like like
01:19:51
the um the situation with your dad it's
01:19:53
amazing how something like that you up
01:19:55
for yeah totally like I'm lucky it
01:19:57
didn't [ __ ] me up more you know I'm
01:19:59
lucky I was able to use that as some
01:20:01
fuel to get where I am now um I kind of
01:20:04
put a lot of that on that that sort of
01:20:07
pain and that that fuel that I use
01:20:09
that's kind of how I've got to where I
01:20:11
am in business and that's how I got to
01:20:13
where I was in surfing you know not the
01:20:14
most talented Surfer but here I am in
01:20:16
the top 10 every year and I've won
01:20:18
national titles now and yeah it's cool
01:20:21
yeah um how yeah how's your siing now
01:20:23
you want a like a an age script title A
01:20:25
couple of years ago you you had back
01:20:27
surgery recently was that to rectify the
01:20:29
snowboarding thing from like 20 years
01:20:31
ago same [ __ ] injury so damn had the
01:20:34
snowboarding thing had a lot of trouble
01:20:36
with my back L5 S1 so dis bulge um 2004
01:20:41
got that operated on they just cut the
01:20:42
Bulge out cuz it was um heading on the
01:20:44
sciatic nerve
01:20:45
basically 20 years later to the month
01:20:49
they were like let's just clear this
01:20:51
disc out it's completely collapsed it's
01:20:53
just mush got and cleared it out and
01:20:56
then put a synthetic disc like a spacer
01:20:58
in the bottom of my spine like a 12 mm
01:21:00
spacer so just opened me up went through
01:21:03
the front it's amazing how modern like
01:21:05
science and medicine has advanced in 20
01:21:08
years so no longer go through the back
01:21:10
cuz it's too much um risk with hitting
01:21:12
nerves so they go through the front and
01:21:14
then they put this dis spacer in sew you
01:21:17
up I've got like the cesarian sort of
01:21:19
Scar looks like I've had a C-section
01:21:21
through my tummy um and it's been it
01:21:24
three months on the in a couple weeks
01:21:26
it'll be three months since the
01:21:28
operation and U I'm going to knock on
01:21:30
wood but so far so good yeah feeling
01:21:32
great um the back pain that I was
01:21:34
experiencing has gone um I've had to be
01:21:37
extremely diligent with the with the
01:21:39
rehabs I followed the physio
01:21:41
instructions to the letter um you know
01:21:43
doing like an hour and a half of walking
01:21:45
a day and then getting into the pool
01:21:46
doing half an hour in the pool and doing
01:21:48
all these shitty exercises that don't
01:21:50
feel like they're even doing anything
01:21:51
but you know physio exercises they're
01:21:54
the wor [ __ ] that's so mundane I'm like
01:21:57
is this doing anything um but honestly I
01:21:59
I followed it to the lad and I and I'm
01:22:01
stoked I I did because I'm feeling
01:22:03
pretty great and we're almost 3 months
01:22:05
in so oh how good about time 20 years
01:22:07
say how how bad was the pain over there
01:22:09
those years [ __ ] it was terrible i've
01:22:11
been I've been taken to hospital um one
01:22:13
time [ __ ] this is actually funny um I
01:22:17
couldn't move one night and I got stuck
01:22:19
in bed and the next morning I was just
01:22:21
in pain all night the meds weren't doing
01:22:23
anything and then Lou Got freaked out
01:22:25
and then she just called the ambulance I
01:22:27
called 111 next morning they came and
01:22:29
got me in the ambulance and these two um
01:22:32
small girls walk in paramedics and Lou
01:22:35
was like [ __ ] they're real little like
01:22:36
they're going to have to lift them out
01:22:37
of here and then they just pull out this
01:22:39
green whistle and they're like just suck
01:22:41
on this I've never seen a green whistle
01:22:43
before have you seen a green whistle no
01:22:44
it's this thing that the paramedics use
01:22:46
it's like this green whistle and you
01:22:47
just Huff on it and I don't know what
01:22:49
the [ __ ] in there but I got up out of
01:22:52
my bed and walked to the ambulance like
01:22:54
two three minutes later and had no pain
01:22:57
and I was high on life it was the most
01:22:59
powerful thing ever and I just I
01:23:01
couldn't move was could not move it it
01:23:04
would hurt so much would send needles
01:23:05
down my legs and then here I am just
01:23:07
standing up and walking my ass to the
01:23:09
ambulance and then I go to hospital they
01:23:10
do all these X-rays and [ __ ] and what
01:23:13
was that like morphine I don't know I
01:23:15
should Google it actually should just
01:23:17
Google what's in the green whistle where
01:23:19
can you buy it from but they didn't ask
01:23:21
for it back and so I was in the hospital
01:23:23
room waiting for my x-ray and I was just
01:23:26
just huffing it and then the doctor came
01:23:28
in and caught me huffing and was like
01:23:30
where did you get that and I was like I
01:23:33
was like [ __ ] what's wrong like the the
01:23:35
paramedics gave this to me like I
01:23:37
haven't broken any laws and she was like
01:23:38
they needed to take that back that was
01:23:40
so dangerous and I was reluctantly I
01:23:42
gave it back cuz it made me feel amazing
01:23:44
like my back pain went never never
01:23:46
experienced anything like that but yeah
01:23:48
my back pain used to get so bad it used
01:23:50
to just incapacitate me and I couldn't
01:23:52
work and um I remember people would call
01:23:54
me creepy Jesus cuz I had the long hair
01:23:56
and I was hobbling around you know bent
01:23:58
over it's quite a good nickname creepy
01:24:00
Jesus creepy Jesus yeah yeah yeah yeah
01:24:02
um how are you with um with
01:24:04
vulnerability are you you good at having
01:24:06
like real open discussions like with I'm
01:24:09
getting better yeah totally I'm getting
01:24:10
the last like five five years I'm
01:24:13
getting a lot better you know I'm I'm
01:24:15
honest with my emotions and I can be
01:24:18
honest with my friends I'm [ __ ] lucky
01:24:20
I've got such great friends around me so
01:24:22
many different friends from all walks of
01:24:24
life but I'm able to have really deep
01:24:25
chats and you get a lot out of a deep
01:24:27
chat right than being surface level all
01:24:29
the time oh yeah 1,000% when you start
01:24:33
having those deep chats suddenly your
01:24:35
your tolerance for just small talk or
01:24:38
[ __ ] chat becomes less and less you're
01:24:40
like what are we [ __ ] doing I bet
01:24:41
that's um a massive case for you too
01:24:43
because this is what you do for a living
01:24:46
yeah you you have deep chats and that's
01:24:48
pretty much all you're doing every day
01:24:50
and so that would be the worst nightmare
01:24:52
for you to go to a pub and just have
01:24:53
shitty small talk yeah well I mean the
01:24:56
PA of these conversations like you I've
01:24:58
just got so you know it's been such a
01:24:59
good saling Journey for me and you get
01:25:01
so much from them and it's so [ __ ]
01:25:03
powerful but it's um it's funny like you
01:25:05
and I S similar ages similar demograph
01:25:08
and you yeah I feel like we're on the
01:25:10
same sort of path yeah and it often
01:25:12
takes a while to get to where you need
01:25:14
to be but you get there eventually yeah
01:25:16
and it's not a race and yeah you're
01:25:17
right everyone gets here in their own
01:25:19
time you know and that's one an
01:25:21
important thing to to know when you're
01:25:22
growing up and stuff and you or you're
01:25:24
competitive or you you know you get
01:25:26
there in your own time and yeah r% is
01:25:29
there um anything that we haven't talked
01:25:31
about that you you want to bring up or
01:25:34
um no I think we're pretty good I can't
01:25:37
remember all the questions about the
01:25:38
business stuff I hope I'm I'm hoping
01:25:40
that we covered that off I'm just
01:25:44
wondering what people out there would
01:25:45
would want to hear you know that's on
01:25:47
the on the way here I was just say [ __ ]
01:25:48
I hope that our check can help some
01:25:51
people that are struggling with
01:25:52
confidence in a way you know like that's
01:25:54
kind of what I wanted out of this
01:25:55
podcast but then I was like what do
01:25:56
people want to listen are they going to
01:25:57
want to hear about the business cuz you
01:25:59
know a lot of people know stolen
01:26:01
girlfriend's Club um it's well known
01:26:02
certainly in New
01:26:04
Zealand um and then not a lot of people
01:26:06
know about me sort of personally Yeah
01:26:09
well yeah I mean from my perspective
01:26:11
it's been a bloody great chat and I I
01:26:13
think for these things it's just showing
01:26:15
that regardless of you know where
01:26:18
someone is in life um everyone deals
01:26:19
with the same [ __ ] yeah like I've had
01:26:21
Dame Lisa Carrington on you know the
01:26:23
most successful New Zealand Olympian
01:26:24
ever five gold medals and she deals with
01:26:27
insecurity or you never guess it right
01:26:29
moments where she's like am I good
01:26:31
enough am I doing enough and it's like
01:26:33
you realize if if she's feeling that
01:26:35
then it's perfectly okay for the rest of
01:26:37
us um I will end with this one um saty
01:26:42
funeral and people are standing around
01:26:43
and there like is this is ble no no no I
01:26:47
had a guy on the podcast called DG Allen
01:26:48
who's um like a multisport guy and he's
01:26:50
in Team New Zealand and he did some
01:26:51
Adventure races with Richie mcco and he
01:26:53
said in the middle of the night Richie
01:26:55
asked all the teammates you know what
01:26:56
three words would you like people to use
01:26:58
to sum up you at your funeral and for
01:27:00
Richie um one of the words was integrity
01:27:03
and this guy dogle said it's funny
01:27:05
because that would have been the word
01:27:06
that I thought of so what would it be
01:27:08
for you three words three words to that
01:27:10
you'd like people to throw around when
01:27:13
they discuss Mark more passionate would
01:27:16
be one um creative would have to be a
01:27:19
big one and I think Integrity would be
01:27:21
another major one as well I I'd like to
01:27:24
think that you know um my friends might
01:27:26
have another opinion but yeah I think
01:27:28
those those three things passionate
01:27:31
creative I kind would be high on the
01:27:34
list as well you're a kind person yeah
01:27:37
yeah I am very kind a bit mushy
01:27:39
sometimes I thought you were going to
01:27:41
ask me what um what song I was going to
01:27:42
have at my funeral I was like this is
01:27:44
going to be interesting oh no what song
01:27:45
would it
01:27:46
be Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here cuz I'd
01:27:49
want everyone [ __ ] crying their
01:27:50
[ __ ] asses
01:27:52
off oh that's a good one probably be up
01:27:54
in heaven [ __ ] looking at them
01:27:56
laughing oh yeah is there a is there a
01:27:58
heaven do you think there's anything
01:28:00
okay so your religion's a weird one um I
01:28:03
I believe that there's a higher power I
01:28:05
don't know if it's God um we we just
01:28:07
released a t-shirt basically it says God
01:28:09
is a woman you know is she a woman is
01:28:11
she a man who knows have you seen her I
01:28:13
don't know I haven't seen her um but I
01:28:15
do believe that it's a higher power out
01:28:16
there maybe it's the Universe um and I
01:28:19
do believe that we go to somewhere
01:28:20
potentially better when we pass on I'd
01:28:23
like to believe that yeah I like that
01:28:26
hey Mark Mo thank you so much for your
01:28:27
time today thanks Dom thanks for all
01:28:29
you're doing in the space too mate these
01:28:30
conversations are important
