What’s your book going to be about?

The book’s all gonna be about my life, you know? Really you’ll have to hear something, like a few things from the book, to be able to understand what I’m talking about. I’ve already writ 472 pages of my book. It’s fuckin like you know, I’m into it. The book is already finished, and I already started to write the end. Now I’m writing the start of the book, so people will understand how shit got so fucked up. So right now I’m at the end of the book. I just wrote the last chapter up and it’s called “Escape to the streets. It starts from the 16th of February 1998…

I had to leave my father to live on his own. I felt like a piece of shit, but I had to escape. That shit was just getting too fucked up. My brother had too many debts with the local drug dealers and they now had pushed the debt onto me, only because I was his fuckin brother. And at 15 years old and living on a chancellors estate with your fuckin retired father only receiving a state pension, 1,500 pounds is quite a fuckin hard thing to find. I only ran away as they said, the drug dealers that is, “We’re gonna fuckin smash your fuckin head in, and kill ya to death with baseball bats.” I was scared. I was living in a small town of England, where there was no place to hide, with the threat of something like that happening to me for a problem that was not mine, neither my fathers. I knew that the drug dealers were serious as that I witnessed their violence many times previously. Like the time when one of my top school mates owed the cunts just 18 quid, 18 pounds for some hash. He was only two days late for the deal so the cunts went and picked him up on his way home from fuckin school in a chapmobile. They took him to an apartment and gave him a shoe-in, which is like a kick-in, then stamped on the back of his head so fuckin hard it got stuck between the fuckin floorboards and the radiator. They then pissed on him and poured bleach into his ear. That small town of England, Lester, was so fuckin violent, full of smackheads, crackheads, alkies, glue sniffing gas head petrol fuckin inhalers. You fuckin name it. But the main problem was the skin, Scarface-want-to-be, drug dealers. Not my kind of a town, as all I wanted to do was ride my skateboard. I had to say goodbye and lie to my father, you know, that there was no problem with it at all. In the back of my mind I knew that my pop always knew. The craziest thing was I was actually excited about being homeless and running away from home and hitting the road all on my own, like a rolling stone with no place but the streets to call home. My father made me ham and cheese sandwiches, he gave me twenty pounds. We then said our farewells. It was a cold morning still dark with frost on the pavements and roads. I had a small bag containing an extra set of clothes, a knife and the sandwiches, my father had made me, as I made my way to the Hickley train station hoping that no cunt would see me trying to escape that fuckin shit hole. This time I was lucky only ten minutes for the train to arrive. The train arrived and all I remember feeling is free. So far so good, maybe not, maybe yes. Lester station was like a fuckin airport…

It goes on man, it’s all my life story. I was only fifteen years old man I just ran away from home. I’m twenty six. My brother ripped off a load of drug dealers and started using my name to get credit cards and stuff and then when I tried to get a bank account I wasn’t allowed to get a bank account. It’s like he’d already fuckin bummed my life away. And I got arrested by the police, and then I’m in the courtroom and they’re saying, “Right your gonna go to prison” Like scrap, I’ve just been drinking on the street, you arrest me for being drunk and disorderly, why am I going to prison for first offense? Then they find out all this shit, my brother has been using my name. I fucking ran away man, and when I did that shit, I got hit by a car. So I started wanting to write a book you know about my life story.

How did you get hit by a car?

I’ve been hit by loads of trucks. I got hit by a truck in England. I used to live in the back of a fuckin, ya know, you know what a carpet is? A carpet.

A carpet?

A carpet, uh… carpet.

Like in a house?

Yeah like you put in a house, carpet. It’s like soft shit you put on the floor.

Yeah, I know what carpet is.

I fuckin found this carpet factory, I was like “Yo!” Fuckin go around the back of this carpet factory they have this big dumpster, yeah. I open that shit up, all these odd cuts of carpet, you know, left over pieces. I look in the back of the fuckin dumpster I’m like “Yo.” I take my beanie out my head and fuckin, fuckin, wrap myself in all these pieces of carpet, real yo yo yo, really wrapped up real fuckin nice. Tired, I sit there some time smoking weed, drinkin a fuckin nice beer, laughing at how shit, the fuckin the world is. I sit here and fuckin geezers all fuckin pissed on booze walking past here going, hahaha they’re laughing, they’re going home. When it comes to paying rent, I’m fuckin… I feel like a ten year old boy, wrapped up in carpet smoking a joint drinking a heavy can of lager. Honestly, honestly I really love living on the streets.

How did you start writing?

I got hit by a car so I started wanting to write a book. I got my fuckin head smashed by a car, I couldn’t see any more. And, Ali Boulala told me to write a book he was like “Mills…”

Ali Boulala gave you the idea?

Of course, yeah we were all living in his house up real near to Melbourne. They was all staying at his house Rowley fucked off to Australia. But then he (Ali) had the motor bike accident.

Do you know what’s happening with that?

I don’t fuckin know. I haven’t really heard from him, all I know is he had us at his house. It was like “Yo, what’s up man?” It was like some kind of fuckin, Flip team house. I just said to Ali like “What the fuck can I do, I can’t skate any more” He was all like “Yo Mills why don’t you write a book” and that was it. And then Ewan, is like “Yo just write a book Mills” and I started to write a book.

Do you read skate mags? Do you follow the skate mags and all that shit?

No I don’t really like skate mags cause they’re all wank.

Yeah man there’s fucking ads for the army, and movies, in Thrasher. What the fuck?

I don’t even like that cause they think they’re all underground hardcore skateboarding, but they’re not shit. I want to see a fuckin skateboard magazine that’s got the fuckin real shit on the street. Real people you know not just a fuckin skateboard magazine but like maybe someone who’s got nothing to do with skateboarding at all, like a homeless guy at MACBA, you read an interview with him and you find out about his shit.

Yeah that’s just part of skating, living on the streets.

You know the black guy at MACBA yeah, comes here with fuckin shoes on his feet, he wears like sandals and he’s doing like frontside 180 ollies on the flat,

Yeah, like I’m trying to start this magazine…

Yeah, Little Sister that’s the best shit, You got Big Brother, fuck Big Brother man, Little Sister man. What’s better looking a big brother or a little sister?

Yeah everyone likes a little sister, man.

I always love little sisters, but they got to be eligible for it, hehe (burp). If you want help on your magazine man I’ll help you, bang. If you want to make a magazine I’m up for writing for you. 100% mate, 100%.

I live in Madrid right now man, but I think I’m about to be done with that. I go to college but like… fuck college.

Fuck everything man.
Sasha: Do you want to see my disappearing cigarette trick?
Mills: Yeah, this is good, this is good
Sasha: Watch very closely, ready… it’s gonna go, it’s gonna go
(snap) and it’s gone. (snap) And it’s back again.

Impressive, I have to say.

Mills: I’m really lucky you know, I’ve known a lot of people like Tom Penny and all theses other fuckin skater kids. I’m really lucky that I know all these fuckin guys they’re all my fucking friends and shit.

Where did you meet Tom Penny?

1992, something like that yeah it’s a long time man, loads of time man, we grew up skateboarding together man bang, smashing everything.

What’s Tom up to right now?

He’s living in Argentina, Buenos Aires. He’s got a child out there and he’s got a wife. It’s weird man you know, shit changes.

What’s one of your favorite things about being a low life, just living on the streets and doing this shit?

No, no, I like it, I love it so much cause you get to learn the real quality of people, you know what I mean? You get to really understand people. People you see on the street wearing nice slacks and shoes, and they see you rocking some old school shit and they look at you like a piece of shit. Like one time I was skating at the clock-nine (a nine-stair near a clock) I was dressed in like a long fur coat, I was wearing like some fuckin super skin tight trousers. I didn’t even look like a skateboarder. I fuckin sat on my skateboard and all theses mutherfuckers thought that I stole a skateboard. I didn’t look nothing like a skateboarder. They looked at me, and they were all trying to ollie the stairs, I just fuckin ran up first go, bang, pressure flip, snap. Pressure flipped the stairs first go. That’s one of my star tricks, I’ve got that every time, any spot I’ve got the pressure flip first go. So I got it bang yeah. I hurt their feelings. They thought I was an asshole. Yeah they thought I was a homeless shit bag, but I fuckin smashed it to em man, I’ll smash any cunt man, any time.

You’re still pushing around man right? I mean you’ve been hit by trucks and stuff but…

Of course, yeah man I’m like Rocky fuckin twelve or something. What kind of skating are you into, what kind of shit do you like doing on the board?

I like skating with my friends and having a good time… I like people who smile and stuff you know not guys who make faces like … or …

Yeah there are people doing this shit who don’t even seem like they’re having fun, just stressing or some shit.

Yeah, wankers man. Have a good fuckin time cause you know what? You’re gonna be fuckin dead one day. So why can’t you just fuckin smile. Yeah you know his hard flip was a little loser style wasn’t it? I don’t give a fuckin shit. Everyone’s got to be happy. Be happy all the time and stop dissing people. Really, for fucks sake everybodys got to be happy. Have a fuckin laugh we’re all gonna be dead one day.

Yo PJ you got a cigarette for me?

Sasha: What’s the coolest ward in a hospital?
PJ: Hahaha
Sasha: The ultra sound ward.
PJ: yeah, yeah, yeah
Sash: What do you get if you put a rubber next to the window?
PJ: ha
Sasha: condomsation

What was it like growing up skating in England?

I was the only fuckin skater, you know? So I was whack, You know? Skateboarding was shit, you know, like skateboarding’s nothing. I whipped down the street, I love skateboarding man. I’ve always loved skateboarding. Ever since I was nine years old, I always had a skateboard, I love to skateboard. People don’t understand like, I mean when I first kickflipped three stairs in like nineteen ninety fuckin one, or something 90, 91, 92 nah, maybe 93. I kick flipped this three stair and they were all like … Tom Penny got a heel flip and all these school girls were like … hehehahaha

You were offered a pro sponsorship right?

Oh, I could have turned pro yeah. But I didn’t feel good enough, cause my switch shit is really bad. I didn’t feel ready, I didn’t mind taking free boards but like, I looked at all the tricks that everyone else was doing and I just felt like… I don’t want to be the joke. Don’t want to be wank you know, I don’t want to be like the gay pro you know, it’s crap. So then I kind of got bummed out, and then the company they really hated me. I just went “Fuck you then, you wankers” Yeah then I went skateboarding. I end up down at the bar like fuckin drinking loads of booze, fuckin getting mad and fighting people, robbing people in the street and doing all this fuckin stupid whack stuff, you know stealing cars cause I thought it was cool. Stealing cars is cool, yeah? Like, what a wanker.

What is cool then?

I don’t know, I was just young, you know trying to show off to the rest of the lads. When I was 17 or 18, I started to grow up and I thought, what the fuck am I doing? Going into people’s houses trying to steal their stuff, doing all this fake West side stuff. I’m a fuckin white lad from England. Why am I trying to be West side. It really seriously makes you realize these guys are like thirty years old now, and they’re probably still doing the same shit. They wanna kill me cause I ran away from the clique, you know what I’m saying. My god man. Honestly be careful of strange people. Honestly.

March 7, 2008 MW/MM