Photography by Kerr Melville & Interview by Rue Liddell
Tell us about your job please, Dojo. Where do you work?
I work for a hospitality company in Dundee. I’m the general manager for Nola, which is a late night cocktail bar, and the King of Islington, which is one of only two rum bars in Scotland. Both are on Union Street, just up from the V&A street spot. Definitely worth a visit in you find yourself in Dundee.
How did you fall into this line of employment?
I started working in a nightclub called Society in Kirkcaldy when I was about 15, and just didn’t leave (laughs). Here I am, 11 years later, still working in bars.
I can imagine that Dundee’s nightlife gets pretty rowdy. What have been some of the craziest situations you’ve seen unfold whilst working a shift?
Aw man, there are too many to pick from, and probably a lot that aren’t suitable for printing in the mag (laughs). There was this one time I was working in a restaurant up the Perth Road, and as I walked in the to the kitchen, there was a less than desirable member of the public trying to walk out with a 5kg hunk of cheddar cheese (laughs).
Similarly, every bar has its cast of entertaining locals. Who are some of the most prominent regulars in your bar?
Susan needs a shout out for sure. She claims she wrote every The View and Robbie Williams song that they have ever done. She’s even handed out USB drives with 3000 plus inventions on them, that will make the world a better place... I plugged it in to a mates laptop first, just in case it turned out to be a kill switch (laughs). Everyone wants to have a chat with Susan, so it can be a laugh having her there.
Someone started calling me ‘Brandojo’ a few years back, then it just got shortened to ‘Dojo’, and it stuck.
When did you first sit down for a drink in a bar in Dundee?
I moved here in 2021 from Galashiels just before COVID hit, so I didn’t actually step in to a bar in Dundee until November 2022, and that was actually for a job, which was at The Wine Press.
And how has the drinking scene change there between then and now?
There’s a lot more Uni students now than there was, and definitely an increase of roasters… those are aggressive drunk belters (laughs).
I’m sure I’ve been told you mix a mean cocktail. What would you consider to be your signature drink?
Got to be a Caipirinha; it’s the national cocktail of Brazil with cachaça, muddled with lime and sugar. I highly recommend it!
Are there any drinks that you get asked for at the bar that you really look down on?
Venom. It’s an awful drink; don’t know what else to say. It’s bright green and tastes awful (laughs). I don’t know why anyone would want to drink it.
What area of Dundee is ‘home’ to you?
I lived in Lochee for the most part, although the last 18 months I’ve been living in Blackness. But of course, Dudhope Park, seeing as I’m there seven days a week, unless it’s raining (laughs).
You said you moved to Dundee from Galashiels; is that where you were born and raised?
So I was actually born in London and still have family down there, but moved up to Fife, which is where I grew up. There’s family still in Kirkcaldy, then some in Germany and Australia too.
Tell us a bit about life before skateboarding. What could a mini-Dojo typically be found getting up to before skateboarding entered the picture?
I played football for the Raith Rovers under-16s, and was a cross country runner ‘til I was 17, both of which I did since I was like five or six. Beyond that, it was just the usual: riding around on my bike with mates, being a wee nuisance, getting chased by the local coppers (laughs).
So carrying on from that, how did you and skateboarding first cross paths? Was it something that you saw much of around Fife before you started skating yourself?
My older brother and cousin both skated when I was a kid, so I grew up around the culture and music, but it wasn’t until I was on study leave in the third year of high school that I decided to take it up. I spent the first nine years skating pretty much solo, kicking about Kirkcaldy and Galashiels, but it wasn’t really until my move to Dundee that I got my squad of homies.
Am I right in thinking that you broke some teeth skating at Dudhope?
(Laughing) Aw nah, it when I was in Galashiels. I was trying to double flip a stair set and got hit by the board and it chipped my tooth, which serves me right. I was booked in to get it fixed, then COVID hit four weeks before, and with Dundee already known for being pretty shit for dentists, it’s been a total ballache to sort. It will get fixed, but it seems to be becoming a bit of a signature now (laughs).
What are some of your favourite memories from your early years of skating?
My first Fundee jam at Duds back in August 2021 is a big one. It was fucking crazy and definitely against the COVID rules (laughs). There was one summer I broke my hand there too, and within three or four hours, five other dudes from the park turned up at the A&E (laughs). Mostly after a big fight there, where another dude opened another guy’s skull up.
What are the top three standout tricks that have gone down at Dudhope over the years?
Dundee Ross when he kickflipped the leap of faith either in 2012 or 2013, then I frontside flipped it at Fundee 2022, which was the first flip on that part of the park since Ross. Then it’s got to be Josh (Brown) when he did an indy over the top of the music note into the wallride. It was gnarly as fuck.
A lot of the scene does seem to be focused on the park these days, naturally. Who are some names from there that everybody needs to be keeping an eye out for?
Unbiasedly, it’s got to be my Knatchbull teammate Rocoo Vendetozzi, and Dan MP2, who are part of the Dundee young team. Both have been on the board a couple of years now, and you can just see it in the way they land their tricks, they’re definitely going to be ones to look out for. Tola (Giszter) has really been pushing forward and is killing the game. She’s just been signed by Treatment too!
As with working in a bar, I can imagine that an open expense of concrete like Dudhope attracts some characters. Tell us about some random or amusing interactions with the general public that have taken place in the park.
There are far to many to name, man, but by far, the best local has to be Nipper Picker Robby; you can always count on him showing up at Duds. He’s always on the hunt for a doob (laughs). This one time, never having been on a skateboard before, he dropped into the bowl for a gram of dawg and broke his arm! He still asked for the gram after he got out (laughs).
When and why did you retire the dungarees?
Aw, there’s not enough bag, man. Can do more in the Big Boys (laughs). And I couldn’t take my top off when it was hot; don’t really fancy cutting about like Mario (laughs).
You’ve definitely run with the name ‘Dojo’. Where does this moniker come from? Are you a martial arts master?
On the contrary, no. My big brother beat the shit out of me every day growing up; he is the MMA fighter (laughs). The moniker just comes from my first name being Brandon, middle being John. Someone started calling me ‘Brandojo’ a few years back, then it just got shortened to ‘Dojo’, and it stuck. More people now know me as Dojo these days, including a lot of friends.
Living in Scotland, it’s a constant battle with the weather, even in the summer.
In Dundee you have legends such as Blair McCafferty and Wee Joe Ward, both of whom have roots in skateboarding that go back decades. Tell us a bit about these two legends, how having them to look up to has influenced you, and any favourite memories of the times spent skating with them both.
I first met Blair when I was 12, skating at a Beveridge comp at Kirkcaldy. I followed his skating going on from that, then ran into him at Dawn of the Shred at the old Transgression park. He ended up smoking me at a game of SKATE (laughs), then since moving to Dundee, I’ve skated with him pretty much every week. He’s one of the closest homies I have in Dundee, and has now designed my first pro deck, which was sick as fuck!
I met Wee Joe after signing on for Knatch. I was made aware of his skills and career after the fact (laughs), then he became my TM, so that’s when we got a closer relationship. I’ve had plenty of good trips with Joe, there’s a lot of ludicrous stuff he’s said that I need to remember (laughs).
Let’s talk about Knatchbull - for the sake of those who may be unaware, give us a bit of info on the brand. How and when did it start, who runs the show, and how you became involved?
I’m not sure as to how it came to live initially, but they began in 2016, and I started skating with them around the end of 2017. Scott Macdonald runs things with his wife and kids; they all seem to pitch in to keep things progressing, which is inspiring, and I really enjoy being a part of that. Scott was taking photos for the Dawn of the Shred comp, which is where I met him. I ended up winning a Knatch board, I broke it within the week (laughs), but he sent me another one straight off the bat, and it just continued from there really.
Between Knatchbull, Solus and the now sadly departed Loaded Skateboarding, you rep a heavy line up of local brands. For you, how important is it to be seen supporting the local companies?
It’s vastly important. A lot of these companies are run by skaters in their own right, trying to make a living, a life out of what they love doing, which I really admire. I want to support the people supporting my skating as well. The community needs these brands to survive.
So Loaded has sadly closed its doors, but whilst it was here it certainly helped push the local scene. Tell us about the work that Dean (Mackie) and Scott (Ramsay) did with the shop, and how having those guys pushing skating in Dundee helped the local community.
They didn’t just help support Dundee, Loaded helped support most of the east coast of Scotland, and will be sadly missed. Scott and Dean are prolific skateboarders in the scene in their own right. I’ve skated with both of them since I started skating with the Fife locals, and at that point they were already pushing and supporting the community, so it’s a sad loss, but I know those guys; it wont stop them from making moves within the scene.
So Dreich was primarily the work of three people - Dean, Josh and yourself. How did you three first meet?
I met Dean at the Kirkcaldy park and it just grew into a friendship from there. And the same too with Josh, who I met when I first moved to Dundee. Me and Dean started filming together before Loaded was created; he was filming other skaters and I asked him if he could do a solo vid for me. Then Loaded came to be and he asked me and Josh to be on the team, and Dreich just naturally grew from there.
I was trying to double flip a stair set and got hit by the board and it chipped my tooth, which serves me right.
Was it daunting entering into a video knowing you would be 50% responsible for the skating? That’s some pressure (laughs).
Somewhat, but I didn’t really think about it to be honest, I just thought about my tricks. Mine and Josh’s styles of skating are very different but very complimentary of each other, so I had no worries on what he was going to produce. From the get-go, the three of us knew it would change things up for us all.
Give us some memorable tales from the filming missions please.
It’s called Dreich because of the amount of times we got rained off while shooting for it. There was an Edinburgh security guard that tried to kick Josh’s board as he was jumping a set of stairs; an argument started as usual, then Josh landed it as perfect as he could, right in front of him; was a beauty to see. Two years of filming across Scotland, you see a lot of different people and get told off a lot… We had some super weird interactions (laughs).
Tell us about the premiere night. It looked like quite a solid gathering, with people travelling from all over Scotland to be there. How were the nerves?
I wouldn’t say I was nervous; we hosted it in Nola, so that helped take the pressure off. I was more worried on how people would react to the vid itself, but it turned out to be an absolute fucking riot, mate! It was one of the best premieres in Scotland for a skate film. We had 300 plus people in a 100 capacity bar… It got very sweaty and very loud. By closing time there was no booze left to sell!
Did you have any idea that Knatchbull would be turning you pro on the night? How was it seeing your board for the first time?
I had no idea, mate; was oblivious! Blair showed me the design, but it was shown to me as a gifted board, a one of one that I could put up in the gaff. Having it brought out and presented in front of all my homies was wild!
So when you’re not skating or working in the bars, what do you get up to?
To be honest, between the two of them, there’s not much time for anything else, but I have played music for the last 12 years, and I do it when I can. Oh, and I do love to give myself a tattoo. That’s a once a fortnight thing, when it’s too wet to skate, or I’ve got time to myself, which is pretty rare.
How has it been shooting for this interview? Again, have you felt much pressure to get it all shot in time?
Yeah, there’s always going to be bit of pressure when you’re skating for something like this. You want it to be the best that it can be, it does get stressful when that doesn’t go to plan, and there are factors you can’t control. Living in Scotland, it’s a constant battle with the weather, even in the summer (laughs), but getting to push myself to levels I didn’t think were possible, and the excitement of getting to do it with the homies, overtakes the pressure.
Give us the story of the switch frontside flip down Buchanan - it seemed like that one was a long time coming, and the night itself when it went down was eventful. Break it down for us please.
So I had attempted just a switch flip down Buchanan for the Dreich video, but I couldn’t land it in time for that, although I knew it was one that needed to be got. I decided I was going to do it for this interview instead, ended up going back four times with Kerr (Melville), and got rained off before I even touched the stairs.
I planned to go back the night before the deadline, but my original ride cancelled on me half an hour after we were meant to leave. Then my homie Jakub (Proctor) rocked up at my door telling me he was taking me; total legend! We got to the spot and I started trying to switch flip it, not knowing that Kerr thought I was switch frontside flipping it (laughs), then of course the rain started again, and we couldn’t rest up, so I decided to just ping the switch frontside flip instead, and it worked! It took 58 tries altogether, and on the very last try this random dude stopped and asked if I was hitting the set; he made a tongue-in-cheek bet that I basically couldn’t do it, he went and stood next to Kerr to watch, and I landed it the next go! I’m still waiting for the cash from the guy (laughs).
Give the readers three reasons to visit Dundee.
The skate scene is fucking dope, the street spots are slept on, and it’s a good place for a drink… In my bars (laughs).
Any final words? Anyone you’d like to thank?
Yeah, for sure! Dean Mackie, Josh Brown and all the guys at Loaded! Scott and the fam at Knatchbull. Solus, Pusher Bearings and Deez Nutz for supply me with the goods to push ever further! The Loading Bay Pipeline team. Big up Blair McCaff for being just an all-round good cunt, massive shout out to Kerr for the shoots and always being up for anything and everything! Rue Liddell for collabing and helping massively with design, spot unlocking and destruction of her art, Jakub Proctor for being the chauffeur (laughs), massive shout out to all the homies for being around for the battles. Special thanks to my mum for pushing the most and having faith in my skateboarding, and to The Skateboarder’s Companion for all of the help they’ve given to myself, Josh and Dean on the Dreich vid, and getting me to where I’m at just now.
Follow Brandon - @d0jo_
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