“I‘d heard of Buff through the Flatland grapevine while I was living in Europe. The word as I’d heard it was that there was a new guy on the scene who was riding hard. He’d started riding hardcore at a much later age than most riders, but was seriously making up time for this with his dedication & focus to learn.
Add all this in with a guy who’s built like a tank, is down to earth & drives a ’67 Mustang & you’ve got one very interesting character. I’ve been fortunate to spend a bit of time with the man & it’s always good moments from hanging out at some of Perth’s best beaches & riding spots to cruising in Red 67 – read on for the low down…” Shane Badman 2010
1. Full name & years involved with riding and/or flatland?
Andrew James McDermott. aka. ‘Buff’ or ‘Andy Mack’. Officially/seriously riding Flatland now for 4.5yrs.
2. So how did you come to be involved with flatland?
As a kid, I was always impressed by Flatland. How these guys got their bikes into these different positions, and the way they moved around their bike was just the coolest looking thing I’d ever seen!! One quiet night at work I stumbled across ‘Ground Rules’ online, and decided it was the perfect time to get serious about learning Flatland, so I ordered the dvd, laid some pesos down on a Hoffman bike (I had no idea Flatland-specific bikes existed at this point), and devoted a huge chunk of my spare time to practising my tricks. A few months later, I introduced myself to a jesus-bearded Jason Parker at a local Huck-Fest, and competed against the W.A. Flat-Crew the next day at the same event. I came last, but was so stoked to be in my first competition, and so began the 4-year journey of being a part of the West-Aus Flatland crew, from the humble beginnings of Scarborough Car-park, feeding off the energy, knowledge and experience of guys like Jason Parker, Shaun Jarvis and Aaron Bandy, to the dream-spot in the heart of Perth City where many travelling rider has shared a session, a Subway, and a good perve with the W.A. trio 
Viva la West-Aus Flatland scene..!!
3. What are your motivations/inspirations for getting out there each day to ride?
Ok, so I’m 33 now, and not getting any younger. Scary!! I’m kicking myself for not getting into Flatland when I was younger, so one of my main motivational factors for riding hard and often is that my Flatland tank probably only has about a good 10-15 years left in it. There are so many tricks I wanna be able to do before I retire, so that fuels my fire to ride. Besides that, there’s nothing like pulling up to our City spot on a sunny weekday morning, putting my bag down, taking a deep breath and smiling to myself because I know that for the next 6 hours I’ll be doing something I love with good mates who share my passion for Flatland. I gotta admit, I also love being able to do something that very few people can, and that makes people stop, watch and smile because it looks so cool .
4. Living in Perth, Western Australia is possibly the furthest away from the rest of Australia as you could possibly get. How do you find living there? Do you think the BMX culture in Perth is any different to the rest of Australia given its isolation?
To me, W.A. is what you make of it. If it’s non-stop night-life you’re after, I’d recommend moving East, but for me I find Perth to be a great place to live. I have beautiful stretches of coastline 10mins drive from home, and everything I need is only minutes away, including great riding spots. I think that regardless of how far apart riders may be from each other, and no matter what state you live in, a bmx community is only as strong as the desire within the rider/s. Take the Flatland scene here, for example… 3 guys with a shared passion for riding, yet there are demos running almost every other week! At a competition level, however, East Coast riders have an easier time of travelling the Coast to various comps, which there tend to be more of over there. This makes the BMX culture over here more of a casual one, where the riders are more into jams and roadtrips rather than competing.
5. Tell us about the scene you’re a part of…
Oh man, I’m lovin’ being a part of the scene over here..!! The scene has had more highs and lows than a season of Bold and the Beautiful, but every rider has found his place now, and the terrific-trio of myself, Shaun Jarvis and Mike Brandt (+ the odd guest rider) are out riding on the daily, whether it be on our own after work, or the three of us jamming it up on a Friday in the City. Our sessions are like a college cram-group… we’re there to progress, and we do just that. Shaun and I nick-named our weekly night-jam the ‘Wednesday Night Progression-Session’, because we would land something new at almost every session..!!
At one stage it was just Shaun and myself hittin’ it up, after the original crew had a fall-out, but then Mike Brandt came along and the spirit of being part of a crew was alive again. Throw in the memorable visitors who washed up on our shores for while, ( Michael Husser, Eric Effinger, The Ben Moran ), and I’d say the scene has gotta be one of the strongest, most enjoyable scenes in the country
6. What are you thoughts on Flatland & BMX in general?
You’re never too old to ride..!! People say it’s for kids, but what’s bad about learning a skill and getting exercise at the same time..?? There’s something about Flatland that amazes people, and I love being a part of that. We do things with our bike that people probably never thought possible, or could even imagine. Almost everyone identifies with riding a bike, so I find people appreciate what we can do and the dedication and time taken to learn it.
7. You’ve travelled a lot to the DownUnderground contests around Australia in the past few seasons. What are some stand out memories from these events?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have the time and money to travel to almost every Flatland competition in Australia since the ’07 BMX-Games. The only event I’ve missed was the ’08 Games, so I didn’t get to meet Terry Adams, which woulda been cool, but I’m just as stoked to have met Simon and Shane. Awesome riders and really good blokes, too!! The DownUnderground weekends are a guaranteed blast, and the memory banks are choc-full of highlights In the first season, they were just as stressful as they were fun, because I was on top after the second stop, and wanted to stay there for the next two stops, but this time round I’m competing against the big boys, so I’m just focusing on bringing a new combo to each event and setting a goal of nailing it on competition day. As for the shenanigans outside the comps, standouts are…
- Hyde Park sessions with Mike S. and crew.
- ‘California Games’ battles with Tomaz
- All-day IMAX sessions
- Late-night rides around Sydney
8. So I understand that you do a lot of personal training outside of BMX – how do you organise everything into your day?
I earned the nickname ‘Buff’ from my 20yrs of gym-training, so it’s pretty much a way of life, now. I work 12hr shifts, days and nights, so it’s hard to juggle my two passions in life, and fitting a good amount of each of them into my wacky working week can get tough, but I do this thing where I’ll write down a plan for the next day, and schedule my workouts and riding times around my daily tasks. I recently met a beautiful girl who goes by the name of Lauren, so I gotta fit the two ‘second-loves’ around my first love, now. lol All the above means I get very little sleep, usually around 4-6hrs a day/night, but once a week I’ll write off a day with a 10hr sleep to recharge. It’s chaotic, but I get the most out of every day.
9. Tell us about Red67….
“That’s funny, MY name’s Roger! Two Rogers don’t make a right…” After seeing ‘Gone in 60 seconds’, I was hooked on the 1967 Mustang Fastback, and vowed to one day own one. Well, that day came late last year I bought it intending to restore her to look like ‘Eleanor’, a replica GT-500 from the film, but I’ve since grown fond of the classic-look of my beast, and so that way she will stay. It’s a fuel-injected 302, with a top-loader 4spd manual, converted to right-hand drive, with a Mach-1 bonnet scoop. I’ve named her ‘Hayley’, after the hot little red-haired singer from Paramore, and she turns heads everywhere she goes..!!
I always remember the time Shane Badman and I pulled up to the lights next to a car full of guys who were revving their engine. I made Hayley sing in all her American-muscled glory, and they just cowered in shame. lol I try to forget the day it took us 3hrs to discover we were out of fuel. Ha ha ha!
10. What are the future goals of Andrew McDermott? Plans for a web edit? More travelling?
Goals..?? Ooh, let’s see… One of my main ones is to do a full restoration of my Mustang over the next few years. Traveling with my beautiful girlfriend Lauren is definitely on the books, too… I’m thinkin’ Vegas I’ve been so inspired and impressed by all these web-edits poppin’ up, I just gotta make one of my own. I have no idea how to edit video… but I’m gonna learn, shoot some footage, and put something together for sure.
11. Final words of wisdom & thanks?
I’ll take this opportunity to thank all those people who are a positive influence in my life. Shaun and Mike for the support and dedication to the W.A. scene, Shane Badman for the honour of giving me this interview, my parents for helping me out when my wallet’s in a pickle and my pups need looking after, all the riders Australia wide for their friendship and hospitality when I travel East, and finally, I want to thank my girlfriend Lauren for being the sunshine of my life. Love you, babe!!
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