Tasou Micah Pappas, better known as Tas Pappas, is an Australian sponsored skateboarder. He was previously a professional skateboarder, primarily in the discipline of vert skateboarding, and competed in a number of major international events. During the 1990s, he and brother Ben Pappas were highly regarded skateboarders on a global scale, reaching the top two places in the world rankings.
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» All Man InterviewsThe guys at VICE, Eddie, George, Greg and James, the producer behind Senna and Exit Through the Gift Shop helped me tell mine and my brothers story. Check out the film HERE!
EDIT: Thanks for asking the questions, I've got to go to work, but if you've got more questions just send them through and I'll get back to you.
Hey Tas!
I've always been a huge fan and can't wait to watch the film! When was the very first time you can remember picking up a skateboard?
my nan used to have a little penny board in the backyard i remember being 3 years old knee boarding around the backyard
Hello Tas, thank you for doing this AMA, I am very excited to watch the film and hear the story of the Pappas brothers. A couple of questions:
1) Do you have any favourite skate videos or is there a part in a skate video that you find inspirational?
2) Who is your favorite vert skater to watch? Do you have any favorite street skaters?
3) Did you see Danny Gonzalez's part in the Globe video? It was off the hook! Who is better Danny Gonzalez or PJ Ladd?
4) Who is better: Rodney Mullen or Daewon Song?
1) my favourite part as a kid was watching Danny Way in Shackle Me Not
2) I like watching Alex Perelson
3) Didn't see it but i do like PJ Ladd
4) Umm ... (thinking about it hard) .... I don't know .... I always liked Daewon Song but Rodney Mullen is the godfather, you know, the original
Hi Tas! Fellow Australian and big fan here.
What did you learn from your time in prison? And; what has been the most positive thing to come out of your experiences with substance abuse? (I am 3 years sober myself).
Looking forward to seeing All This Mayhem!
What did I learn from my time in prison? That that thing people call karma is actually god, the holy spirit, which goes around paying you according to your deeds. And that if you turn to god and you know, read the bible, that he keeps his word. He will get u out the shit. um I know it's a cliche finding god in jail, but there's a reason for that. because when you're in the yard every day with killers and you can't escape each other and one of them just turns on you cause they're bored, that's when you see god answers prayer. um ... and the same thing goes for my addiction. the urge will be there for the rest of my life but when i pray strength just comes to me to not do it. don't get me wrong, i'm still a work in progress and i've had slip ups since prison. but god is merciful and he keeps strengthening me and taking me back. so i'm sober 99% of the time. thank you jesus.
Hi Tas! Where is your favourite place to go for a casual skate in Australia?
the Park with the obstacles vert ramp. the park is in geelong. but my favourite is doing mega at Pete's. He built the first mega in Australia down on Philip Island
Hey, Tas, I have a Tony Hawk autographed skateboard. What do you think it's worth? (It's just the deck, and I had him sign on the top, where the grip tape would normally go. I planned on keeping it for a project, but now I'm thinking about selling it.)
Do you whatever you feel is best mate but know this .... i still think he's an amazing skater i just don't particularly like his style or the way he operated
Favorite trick?
backside tailslides just coz mine are so shit
Have you ever hung out with Bam Margera and the rest of the Jackass crew? Any good stories?
Nup ... but I hung with the dirty sanchez crew in england... those guys were bonkers. Dan Joyce good mate of mine .... but I hung with Steve-O in the early days when Tommy Caudill asked me and Ben whether we should put him on XYZ ... that's what you see in the doco his little try out to get on XYZ then he went on and started Jackass ... bang ...
Have you ever skated the Dany Way megaramp ? If so, what was it like ?
Danny let me skate it once or twice ... but anytime I made leeway with Danny it seems that Colin McKay and Jason Ellis would get in his ear and he'd get all distant so I never really got a chance to get into mega in the states. Some people just can't forgive and forget. Peter Wilson in Australia has built a mega on Philip Island .. that i recently did the 9 on. If anyone out there knows a bored millionaire send em my way because I want to do the world's first mega half pipe. 33 foot tall, 60 foot roll ins, and 8 wall comp runs back to back bangers on mega. That's where megas headed
Hey Tas - loved the film... I really enjoyed you speaking about your son and being supporting of his skating... what are some things skateboarding taught you that you'd like to impart on him?
That every journey begins with the first step. And certain tricks are going to feel like walking across the sahara desert, like it's never going to end, but if you keep going and you keep faith, just keep putting one foot in front of the other you'll get there
and to always thank god for your blessings
Any cool stories about Christian Hosoi?
Nup ... he was my favourite skater back then but i didn't really hang out with him and it's amazing what jesus has done with him.
What is the worst skateboarding related injury you have suffered, Tas?
Loved All This Mayhem!
Ohh snapping my femur wasn't good. Umm ya know all of them are shit, and breaking the back wasn't good, but the femur was more dramatic
Hey Tas, loved the film... Looking back, how do you feel about the US now (presumably) you can't go back - do you miss it or does it bring back the bad memories these days?
I miss it to death. I love America. My kids are American. it's the one place you can truly chase your dreams. I just hope that they let me back in god willing. It doesn't bring back bad memories I mean you can stuff up anywhere ....
Hi Tas,
First of all, I love this Doc one of the best I've seen in a while. What was the most rewarding part of filming All This Mayhem?
Thanks bro. The reward is this ... the fact that you're saying you're loving it. The ultimate reward is if my kids find me after seeing it.
Tas is there any plans to issue some more of your board on cliche? I wanted to get another and they seem impossible to find
just keep hitting up cliche bro ...
Hi Tas, congratulations on the movie, I loved it. What are your thoughts on it being nominated for 'Best Feature Length Documentary' at the AACTA's?
Thanks bro. It's an honour .. you know it would just be icing on the cake if we won. You know it's just a trip ... I didn't go into this for those reasons, I went into this to help some crew and shed some light on me and my brothers situation
How does one become a pro skateboarder?
Remember why you skate and go for it
Hey Tas, in the doco you said that skateboarding took you away from crap in St Albans, but somehow you got sucked back in to the life you would have had anyway. What do you mean by that?
Alright, what I meant by that was my brother and I had a lot of underlying issues from our childhood. And um, cause St Albans is a rough place with a lot of drugs we would have gravitated to that anyway because these issues weren't addressed and we just used the drugs to mask how we were feeling. I mean my baby sitter used to bash the shit out of me when I was 5 cause I'd wet the bed and then my my mum's sister, my auntie she had these friends that would come over and one of them sexually abused me as a child. And then mum and dad would fight because mum would just leave us at the house alone and go off and party whenever they were split up. Dad in the end told us how much he stuffed up by letting us see the physical fights, so basically, yeah we just, you know, grew up with the "who gives a shit" attitude because we were sad inside. I'm not blaming my mum or my dad because I know they were young parents, and I've grown up now and I can see that i made the same mistakes in my past. You are a product of your childhood and i know the same things happened to my mum. And that's where god comes in to strengthen you to try and not make the same mistakes again.
What was it like working with the guys from VICE? Not only are they great journalists, they've done some far out stuff. Any good stories?
Look my personal thoughts on VICE as far as keeping their word, i mean, we had a lot of opposition trying to get this docco made a lot of people in the skate scene didn't want it to happen ... and Vice came through and showed nothing but love so my experience is good
Hey Tas, what's your nastiest trick ?
Nastiest? Roast beef .... coz its a disgusting trick and I don't do it ... I have done it as a kid