Interview by Dean Palmer and Sam Coady


bsflip - photo: coady

Sam: Alright lets do this, give us the basics, whos the real George Kousoulis ?

25 years old from Sydney, skating and good times with the homies

S. Kousoulis isn�t your average aussie surname, whats your heritage ?

No not Aussie at all (laughs ) It�s a Greek Surname, All 4 Grandparents where born in Greece while my Parents and myself were all born in OZ.

S.You pulled out the Greece jersey the other day for the backside flip, it looked like you had a fire light up in you ( laughs ) ? You used to play soccer right ?

( laughs ) yeah I played soccer from 5 years old until I was 18

S.Is this your first interview ?

Yep Dean: Straight to business ! What was the inspiration for making "Another Every Other" ? How did you find the the video making experience and will you make another one?

In my head i always had an idea that i wanted to make a video at some point in my life. Not many DVD�s come out of Sydney these days. Early last year I had really bad bone brusing in my knee. Bone bruising takes longer to heal than a break so I borrowed the cam and from not being able to skate for 3 months and slowly learning how to use a VX I ended up with a fair bit of footage. The first lot went to your Death part then we started off a clean slate and started collecting footage for �Another Every Other�. It was a really cool experience to see all my good friends killing it on the board, that�s who gets me psyched to skate the most, and being able to document it and have something we can all watch together when we are old and grey was the dream. After finishing the vid I really missed having a camera on the backseat of the car when we are out skating, so I ended up saving up and getting a setup of my own. You and Nik Stippo already have a couple things filmed so why not keep it rolling.


fb pop out - photo: coady

D.The camera you filmed the majority of it on has a bit of history with it right ?

The main camera I used I borrowed off my good buddy Hadenham and with a month left to film it got stolen on a camping trip up north, lost 4 tapes of Pup & Eriks footage. Was so shit. On the bright side the VX was pretty much dead, turning itself off and missing tricks. So Hadenham got everything replaced by insurance thank god but I still feel heaps bad. One month to film and no camera and stressing out luckily Guy Miller came to the rescue and lent me the camera and lens he used to make the Juice video "Flick of the Switch" I was honoured that a camera that has seen so many amazing tricks in its life was going to help finish the vid! Still has the old Juice warehouse in Newtown phone number engraved all over it ( laughs ) S.Whats the best excuse you�ve ever heard from someone to not come skating while you were trying to finish it ? What about that time you told me you couldn�t come skating because you had to help your girlfriend deliver flowers ( laughs ) ( laughs ) I only deliver flowers for my girlfriends florist like 5 days a year and on one of them days you happened to be doing a camping trip. Pretty much just Valentines Day, Mothers day etc cause it gets so busy. I do enjoy it, loading up the van with heaps of flowers and driving around Sydney, always funny stories from it, getting invited in by grandmas for cakes and instructing dads who answer the door that the anonymous guy who bought the flowers wants them left on your teenage daughters bed. As for the excuses I think im the one who usually has the ridiculous excuses.

D.What about that night at darling harbour when a bunch of people got arrested ?

One of the gnarliest seccy incidents I have ever seen. You were stomping tre flips down the long four at Darling Harbour. Dane hadn�t done anything on his board all night besides trying handstand flips and then just Hardflips the long four second shot with seccy presh(his last trick in AEO). You were so close and went for one more while Dane was standing in front of the ranger to block him, big angry skinhead seccy pushes dane and starts grabbing him and shit. Before you know it another 6 rangers run over and Dane is being choked with one ranger holding his arms, another holding his leg in the air and another trying to kick his leg he is standing on from the side. Cody, Dean, Nik and Vanessa all getting in the rumble trying to pull them off Dane while I film it all to show the cops how fucked these guys were acting. Using force they would not be allowed to use as they are just piece of shit darling harbour rangers. The rumble and scuffle went on for 10-15mins until I looked up after trying to dodge rangers knocking the camera out of my hand for the whole incident and them yelling don�t film cause they knew they weren�t allowed to be doing what they were doing and there are hundreds of people crowded around, more than I have ever seen in darling harbour for the best busker ever. Everyone filming on their phones yelling out to the seccys to leave us alone. Sirens got closer and cops stormed in arresting everyone in the scuffle and somehow also Rhys Grogan who was eating his mcdonalds away from the scene. We went back to the cop shop , the cops captured the footage off my cam which took forever and watched back surveillance footage too. We left the police station at about 4am and all that happened was the police were going to tell the rangers boss to sort them out, which means he was probably going to congratulate them on there efforts when really they should have been the ones locked up. One day ill upload all the footage to youtube from the rumble but it just annoys me everytime I watch it as they can act like such dogs and get away with it.

S.Dirty dogs, that sounds shithouse. You�ve travelled around a fair bit too yeah ?

I travelled around Europe once a year after high school for 5 years. Basically bailing OZ at the start of Winter and catching the Euro Summers. I have friends and family in Greece and good homies throughout Europe I meet up with and do little skate missions with always take a little camera and try bring back some footage to give to OOK for his videos or make fun little clips for the memories from the trips. Last year I went to USA for 3 weeks, cool experience totally different to europe. Love coming across O.G spots I grew up watching in 411�s, bumped into some friends from OZ too so was sick to meet up and skate a bunch. This year hit up China which is just ridiculous for skating. I really want to get back there asap, so many un touched spots surrounded by friendly locals who are really interested in everything you are doing ( laughs ) With out the scoadster China bible you gave me this wouldn�t have been possible, thank you again!


wallie - photo: coady

D.What about Sydney skating, Whats the city skating like now compared to when we were young?

The weekend meet up time of 8:am at Martin Place doesn�t really exist anymore ( laughs ) A lot of spots are either gone or capped now, but saying that it gets me motivated to explore areas in the city, find something new to skate or skate the city at night and try get lucky at spots which are normally busts during the day. I still get that grommie excited feeling everytime I do skate the city, so not much has changed there.

S. You make it over to perth a fair bit too ?

Yeah ive been to Perth 3 times now, I really like it over there, especially Freo, always a good vibe over there and cool crew to skate with. Super down for everyone from GMTA, its always good times over there. Bowring is the man too always making time from his busy schedule to sneak in a roll at woollies & grab a beer.

S.How long have you been riding for GMTA now and how did that come about ?

I think close to 5 years now, I can�t remember exactly but I think Brett Stokes hooked it up back when he was running supra/krew OZ.

D. Whats the Top 5 things about working in lodown skateshop ?

� Gavin Aston, the 18yr old in a 40yr old man�s body is my �boss�
� Always someone hanging out in here talking shit
� Open the shop up at any early hour if we are out partying
� lodown crew is dope to go skating with
� Dice gambling for lunch money


fsnose - photo: morey

D. Are you Shire for life?

25 years deep ( laughs ) If the park ever happends in Cronulla I really will be here for life but for now its close to work, friends/family and a good base to come back too after trips.

S.I hit Jake up for a question... Can you elaborate on The high street house ?

Hight Street house was the first house I ever moved out to when I was 20, and my favourite house ive ever lived in. Living off easter eggs my extended Greek family gave me and toast. It was Demos, Hadenham and I. We got it on a short term lease so we made the most out of every minute living there. Made a little High Street video all together and had a sick premiere in the back yard and then smashed everything we owned in the kitchen before the lease came to an end and the owner knocked it down to bulid a shitty packet home on the land which looks like every other house on the street.

D .Can you explain � the bubbler � and why is it so useful ?

Originally founded by Cronulla legend many, many years ago Mitchell Crossing AKA �the Bubbler� himself. The bubbler has really made a come back in the last couple years spreading contagiously all over the world. Jake Demos describes it like Camo, It comes and goes and at the moment it�s new cool thing. I cant really explain what it is right now, you are going to have to catch Troy West, Callum Paul, Erik Cole or the bubbler himself impromptuely feasting upon an unstaged bubbler where and when you least expect it to get the full experience. �Bubble & Destroy�

S. Do you get up to anything else non skate related ?

I help my old man on the job site when hes got heaps of work on and I also enjoy hanging out with my lady doing non skate related activities. Also been doing a bit of D.I.Y at my buddy�s house getting on the barrow and trowel but in the end that�s skate related I guess cause we built a bowl ( laughs )


fs krook fakes - photo: coady

S. I think that�s about it, Anything else you want to say ?

Thanks to my family, Joanna Stalker, Gavin Aston & the lodown family. Ben Bowring & the GMTA crew, Sydney city/Waterloo homies & the Scoooadster�s motivation. Lastly thanks to my Uncle Phillip for buying me my first skateboard a very long time ago.

Thankyou George

Fuck oath what a good cunt! Good read too. Nice one coady- hermans woulda went fish

So sick Sam and George! Good read.

<3 good stuff george x

sick

Love you george!!

george is the man ! such a geniune human being

George is the man!

such a sick part ook!

Part is so rad! ^^

Fuck yeah that part was dope George !

The intro was fun to make :)

Awesome interview also lads!