Grom spotlight: Kai Hayes
Sixteen year old biker, KFC serf and future electrician from the Bracken Ridge scene. Kai Hayes on Zeno Lehman, Tear Da Club Up, double zippers and sleeping through alarms. From Issue 01.
Similar to the culture of skate and punk, BMX is an adjacent dweller on the fringes of society. All that’s required for welcoming is a bike and a good attitude, heck you can even have a shit attitude, you’ll just end up limiting yourself. While we have our moments, for the most part the culture lends itself to an embrace of the weird and kooky, an ability to be tolerant and open. Well isn’t our main character a valued proponent of this culture, a vocal and passionate advocate for the plight of gay rights, someone dedicated to current affairs and highly attuned to advancing the interests of the disadvantaged. An emerging leader of a progressive, egalitarian movement and surprisingly, occurring within the bounds of an exciting biker movement in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. Kai 4 gays!
Before my biltong level of dry humour snowballs more than it need be, let’s acknowledge the role of facetiousness occurring to introduce Kai Hayes, a 16 year old biker, KFC serf and future electrician from the rich Bracken Ridge scene.
“Dude Will (Fraser) would sometimes call me Kai 4 gays and the Sydney boys would also call me Kai 4 yes, I fully thought people would just think of it as Kai Hayes haha. My old insta name was ‘chillplugmoment’ and I thought to change it up a bit and use ‘kaih4yes’. Mate if someone offered to pay a full tank of petrol I’d say yes to about anything haha. But nah man politics isn’t quite my cup of tea, I got no political views at all, doesn’t affect me at all too much yet. But fuck dude my Dad doesn’t shut up about the shit haha.”
Born in Albury-Wodonga and moving to Bracken Ridge at a young age, the warm embrace of the M1 and the M3 sandwiching its 20k inhabitants has nurtured a healthy crew of young bikers who are now beginning to find their feet and help drive the BMX spirit in South East QLD.
“I started riding around the age of 13 ‘cause of my mate Sunay (Pabathi). He gave me a go of his bike at the skatepark and pretty much since then I’ve been riding bikes. I heard about LUX from some school mates and bought these Colony pegs, popped ‘em on my bike and started riding with Sunay a bunch. For a couple of months it was just me and Sunay riding every weekend and his mum would sometimes take us to the far away parks which was pretty dope, shoutout Komal. We eventually started riding with some other Bracken locals like Ronan, James, Will, Zeppelin, Cotter and Charles, and made a group called ‘dopplebangers’. We’ve all pretty much grown up together to be honest man and bikes brought us all together which is pretty fucking dope. BMX is the shit and the mates and experiences I’ve made along the way is what keeps my love for bikes alive.”
Ya boy, pre-horsey. Photo: Troy Charlesworth.
I used to be so bad for sleeping through my alarms and I just happened to wake up at like 10am, telling him I’ll be there quick as, but nah I took my time.
Nuts to think that it only took 3 years for the kid to evolve from a closet biker with scooter roots to an up and coming nu-school street hound, characterised by his lurching build and the eclectic influences of a european biker boy possessed by a gaudy aesthetic and a d-grade rapper patina. This is an oblique way to otherwise compliment Kai on his breezy stance, trick and spot selection as well as his taste in individual sensibilities. In response, Kai explains:
“Thanks man, I kinda just looked at the way certain people rode like Zeno Lehman and Jaume Sintes and thought fuck I kinda want to ride like that. I feel like it just happens naturally like I do kinda analyse the way they ride and then try and do the kind of shit they do. It’s pretty cool actually ‘cause we all watch video parts from those dudes and all think it’s fresh as and kind of just talk about how dope their style is. For me I really like the way they look when they ride like they make some shit just look so easy, stylish, not forced at all.”
Kai with a switch pegs to whip at the King of BNE jam last year. Captured from footage courtesy of Ryan Fudger at ourbmx.com.
The nu-school influence extending to homegrown coordinates to the effect of Lewis Mills, Sunay Pabathi and Big Salad’s ‘Tear Da Club Up’ (TDCU), less the unilaterally distinguishing impact to my generation via the likes of ‘Criminal Mischief’, Etnies ‘Forward’ and Square One’s ‘Wide Awake Nightmare’. Comically, these videos, which worked to define mid-school BMX, are now but mere dusty relics with a vague sense of unintelligible importance.
“Nah man haven’t even heard of them, will for sure give them a watch though. I think I’ve watched a little bit of that Etnies Forward one. To be honest, I don’t really remember much from it. Jack Le Page don’t hate me, but I don’t know many hard copy BMX videos, I’m not really tapped into the OG scene, so I’m gonna have to say Tear Da Club Up (as a favourite video).”
What remains a consistent theme throughout the generations is the attraction to adventure and exploration. Just as many of us eager bikers have done before, Kai and his Dopplebanger mate (James Cotter) took a 4 day trip to Sydney last year, keen to sniff out the offerings of the harbour city. Linking in with young James to better understand the trip, I was caught off-guard by some droll anecdotes. For example, at the end of the trip as the boys reluctantly prepare for their flight home, Kai was sweating after a 20 minute bike bag packing episode and a broken zipper, finally realising that there are 2 x zippers, one at each end.
“The zipper had me panicking bro, I fully thought we would have to revolve the day around me buying a new bike bag and I had no idea there was another zip on the other side haha. Definitely not one of my brightest moments, I felt like an idiot.”
Eyeing up the hubba.
Another great example offered by James relates to the kid attempting to arrange a 7am meet-up at Bracken Ridge, to head further into the city from there. Arriving on time, James is slowly watching the hours roll by without sight of Kai, silence in response to messages, frustration growing as calls remain unanswered. Finally getting through to Kai, his lackadaisical response further aggravating the situation.
“For some reason (I don’t know why), we used to go to Bracken Ridge super early in the morning for actually no reason. It’s kind of like our training grounds I guess haha. I used to be so bad for sleeping through my alarms and I just happened to wake up at like 10am, telling him I’ll be there quick as, but nah I took my time.”
Hi fives after the clip.
Good kid from a maad city.
Quick hits
Ya boy, horsey game strong. Photo: Troy Charlesworth.
How do you catch pedals on whips?
”I got no clue.”
Do you piss the bed?
”On the odd occasion yeah.”
Favourite handrail and why?
”Probably Bracken Ridge State High School, it’s small and you can do so much on it.”
Favourite place to ride and why?
”Probably Coops, the out ledge is so fun to ride.”
Why did you get a haircut and a horsey?
”The long hair got too much, and I kinda liked horseys so I got one.”
Who is your favourite rider in Brisbane and why?
”Probably Will (Fraser), he’s sick to hang out with and just really good at riding.”
Can you describe what makes the Brisbane BMX scene so good in your eyes? Try and imagine you’re talking to a biker who has never been here before.
”The infamous botanic garden handrail. Nah but honestly everyone here is so inclusive, there’s no beef and you pretty much know everybody, plus the people you meet along the way just make riding so much more sick.”
Words by Mike Vockenson. The printed version is on pages 44 to 46 of Issue 01.
