Rob Pruett has been tearing up Rampworx ever since he moved up form Wales a couple of years back. BE-Mag have caught up with Welsh wonder to see what he has been upto recently. Check the full Interview and pictures out after the jump out.
Interview, Photography and Edit by Richard Johnson
Rob Pruett what can I say, I’ve known this guy/machine for some time now and while I’ve seen rollerblading change over ten years and the tricks progress from a soul on a kink rail to someone throwing down a tech 540° to whatever. It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong. It’s fantastic to see the dedication and commitment that guys have to do tricks like this, but it’s also amazing to see one of the very few people left that just goes big, one of the guys who just gets up after taking the skin to the bone after bailing on a 25 foot gap and then just getting up and trying again. Kids take note, there is another side to rollerblading, it’s in the form of RP.
RP, give me some stats, please. What are you all about?
Rob Pruett, 24, male, from south Wales, UK. I love to travel, music, cliff jumping, BBQ’s, partying, beer. Erm… at the present I’m all about getting clips, rollerblading, living my life to the full potential.
So in your 13 years of blading you must have picked up some injuries here and there, you wanna reel off some of them?
I’ve broken all my fingers on numinous occasions, both wrists, I had a hematoma on my spleen, been in a coma twice, bled from the ears, disfigured my elbows and knees. Broke my jaw, cheek bone, nose, ribs and over 100 stitches. Dislocated larynx.
I guess I should have just asked what you hadn’t broken. That’s a pretty long time and a long list of injuries, what changes have you seen in the 13 years that you’ve been around?
When it comes to changes, styles have changed. People have come and gone, the way people skate today, it’s all about the style. Where as a year or two ago it was a lot about spinning onto tricks with maybe a rotation out as well, but now it’s more about the style going into tricks, style in between and style coming out of tricks. Rollerblading has took a dive over the years, just not getting involved in corporate sponsors, the sport has not had chance to grow to its full potential. Which is good in some ways but if there’s no growth, people can’t get to see it if it’s not there.
So you’ve talked about there being different styles in rollerblading and the guy that I know fits into the style category but you’ve got something different. You go big and it’s not something you see every day. So what possesses you to try and take the boundaries of rollerblading to a different level?
I try to do things that no one else is doing because it leaves a shock/it gets a reaction. Also people outside of rollerblading see the bigger you go… they think “Wow, how did they do that/how can I get into this…?” Even if I’m not up there with the best, I like to do my own style and do things that people think “Oh my god, that shit was crazy, that shit is tight!”
You want people to watch rollerblading and ask how did you get involved. So how did you?
I started just recreational skating in the streets on a pair of plastic wheel Seneca skates and then I went to my parents, down to a local beach resort called Barry in south Wales and I looked over a wall and there was a metal outdoor skate park and I saw a guy with green Bauer Stancity skates with a cast on his arm trying a grind down a pole. And for me that was it, the inspiration… Even though he was injured, he carried on busting out a big trick. And that guy was Richard Taylor. Rest in peace, homie. After that I just started buying magazines, Unity, DNA, Inline Skater Magazine and Daily Bread. Then I started learning to grind and that’s when I got my first pair of skates with grind plates , they were blue cuff Roces Romes. Then I started going down the local community centre building ramps with friends and trying to skate rails and as time progressed, more skate parks started opening and I started going and it just built up from there.
So the guy who you first ever saw on skates turned out to be Richard Taylor and he seemed to have a big influence on you, growing up in Wales, do you see a bit of rich in your skating now?
I certainly hope so ’cause I like to skate with the same characteristics as how he skated. He was always happy when he skated and always had time for other people and man he went big! Rich was renowned all over the world and I was blessed to get to know him, gain his trust, gain his friendship. He was a good friend to the end. When I had just come out of a coma, he came and saw me and I was overwhelmed. A few days later, he went in, he unfortunately didn’t have the luck that I did. Rest in peace. We still miss you, homie.
You can read the full Interview over on the BE-Mag website over here.
