– LOS ANGELES: 11:47am –
Did you end up golfing yesterday?
Yes. At the Roosevelt Golf Course. It’s across the road from that big rail at the Greek Theatre.
Are you still trying to become a Pro Golfer?
I was playing contests and going to see a coach and everything, but I’m just doing it for fun now. It’s so hard to get into pro golf, you have to have taken it seriously from when you were a kid; Swing coaches, go to school for it, the whole thing. You pretty much have to be on a college golf team to get a PGA card and stuff.
You can’t just swoop into golfing?
I mean you could if you were the best, but it’s not easy. There are so many insane golfers that never do it. Once you get on the PGA tour though, you’re earning ridiculous amounts of money. They had this contest on the weekend and this Australian guy was 38 over par, like, I could easily beat 38 over par and he made $45,000 for the weekend. The Australian that won it got 1.6 million and he won the one the weekend before that so he made like 3 million dollars in two weeks.
How did you get into golfing?
My dad. He’s a super good golfer. When I was about 12 I started really getting into it and playing with him every weekend but then just skating took over and I kinda forgot about it. Once I moved over here and had a bit more time to chill out I got more into it again. He named me after a golfer. My uncle’s name is Jack so my Mum named me Jack but my dad got to choose the second name so he named me Jack Nicklaus (Fardell) after the golfer.
FRONTSIDE OLLIE
Do you think you’re playing golf now as a way to reminisce about family and Australia?
Nah, I just fuckin’ love it. Golf is a game of centimeters, just like skating. You could be off by less than one centimeter and everything’s off. It’s super hard and impossible to perfect. When you play a perfect round, which is near impossible, it feels so good! But yeah, me and my dad just talk about it all the time too, we both love it.
Are the courses better here?
Just different. I’ve played courses all over the place. I played the Emirates golf course in Dubai which is like the most amazing golf course I’ve ever seen, but the courses in Australia are like Kangaroos and gum trees and super nice, the courses here have like deers and coyotes and different grass too, so it’s all different and it’s all fun.
What were you doing in Dubai?
Oh my father in-law lives there. So we went over to visit him.
What does he do over there? You marry into Oil Royalty?
Nah, property investment I think. Not married into royalty, just a nice girl.
Do you think you and your wife will ever move back to Oz?
Eventually, yeah. Later on though, stick it out here for a few years. I like LA a lot.
“Golf is a game of centimetres, just like skating. You could be off by less than one centimetre and everything’s off.”
FRONTSIDE BONELESS
You kinda crushed SF for a while is that plan for LA?
Fuckin’ tryin’, trying.. It’s not as easy cause the place is so big. SF is a tiny little city and you can go and hit six spots in a day, but here you’ve got traffic and everyone’s done everything and everyone from every other country has come here and done what they can, so, you’ve got be creative and skate stuff differently or find new shit, but I like LA, it’s fun.
Do you like the spots here?
I do, yeah, when I manage to find them. It’s fun, cause it’s so big you can search and find hidden little areas. You can skate all the famous spots if you’ve got something for them, but there’s so many other little things you can find that are really good too.
You and your wife are right in the thick of things in Silverlake.
We were coming down to visit and staying with Alex Hawkins and he lives in this area and we liked it, and when we were moving down here it seemed like you, Choi and Riley (Blakeway) were there so it just seemed like a good area to be in.
Party zone.
Kinda. It kinda goes both ways, it can be super mellow, but you can party too.
I haven’t seen much of the mellow side. You’re not partying these days though huh?
Nah, not while I’ve been working on the video. The Adidas video (Away Days) is comin’ up so I can’t be goin’ out and getting wasted.
Have you been drinkin’ at all?
I didn’t drink for nine months. Injuries, video deadlines and trying to get my shit together.
FRONTSIDE 5-0
How’s buying a car going?
Oh man, it’s so fucked up. Unless you’re like a millionaire and can walk into the dealership, it’s the worst experience. I’m like a stickler for a bargain and I’ve gotta haggle them down as much as I can and if I feel like they’re ripping me off I’ll tell ‘em to fuck off. It’s the worst. I’ve almost bought like five cars and in the end something goes wrong and I have to walk away from it. It’s getting closer though, I’m gonna have to pull the trigger. I just wanna buy an SUV, something easy that’s not too gnarly on fuel. But, seriously people selling cars here are just like super hard to deal with.
What do you think about driving over here.
I don’t mind it, I’d definitely rather drive than sit in the passenger seat. Especially when you’re not drinking and you can just drive to dinner and all that and not worry about Ubering or whatever. You 100% have to drive here and have a car. I was lucky cause when I moved here Alex Hawkins had a Ford Bronco that he wasn’t using, so I had it for like a year, which was good, I also learnt alot about cars when I had that car. It broke down at least 20 times. But I managed to fix it up and eventually he sold it.
So you’re not driving now?
Nah, straight Uber dawg. Lyft actually.
I’ve been using Lyft too, it’s way better. I got a Lyft from Beagle’s the other day.
It’s taking over, I saw that on instagram. It’s way better. Lyft is taking over, Uber is fucking out. You can get it from the airport now too (LAX).
You used to have to get a shuttle to like a rental car place and get an uber from there.
I’d always think I was gonna do that and then get off a 13 hour flight and be like, fuck this, I’m getting an $80 cab.
COMPLICATED WALLRIDE
“I find myself sitting at home here watching Crocodile Dundee and eating Vegemite sandwiches cause I miss Australia so much.”
Where have you travelled while filming for ‘Away Days’?
Well yeah, it’s about being ‘away’ so we’ve been on lots of trips. Skin came up with the idea actually, cause he’s super into football and played when he was a kid and of course when you’d have to travel to play soccer games out of town they’d be called ‘away days’, so he thought that would be a good idea for the name of the video. We went to Barcelona on a trip, we’ve done a bunch of stuff in LA and done a bunch of stuff on the east coast. I was injured for a while but the other guys have been going fucking everywhere man, there’s been so much travel going on.
So it’s going to be pretty different to your last few parts.
Yeah, a lot of stuff from Barcelona, some stuff from LA, East Coast.
Do you have any Australian footage?
Bugs has got one trick there from Australia. I don’t have any Australian footage though, I haven’t been back in over a year.
Wow, when’s the next trip back?
In May for the Australian premiere of the video and we’re gonna stay for a week or so, go up to the Gold Coast.
Man, I’ve only been back here (LA) a couple of months and I’m already losing it.
Yeah, it’ll be good to get back. I hate being away from Australia this long and family. It’s the worst.
It’s hard to figure out timing and finances to go back!
Yeah and there’s always something else popping up over here that you have to do so it’s hard to get a couple of weeks to go back there and once you’re back there you don’t want to leave. I find myself sitting at home here watching Crocodile Dundee and eating Vegemite sandwiches cause I miss Australia so much.
Has it ever crossed your mind to go back and spend an extended period of time and doing an all Oz part?
I’ve never really thought about it, but it’d be fun. Maybe when I move back there I can film an all-Australian video part. All at Pizzey! [Laughs]
FRONTSIDE 180 NOSEGRIND, OUT FORWARDS
Who do you go skating with in LA?
I do a lot of solo missions in LA, just cause when you have a big crew it’s harder to navigate. So a lot of the times it’s just me and a filmer and we’ll go to a spot and try to get it done or get a bunch of stuff in a day. I really like going on all the Adidas trips though. Getting to skate with Silas, Dennis and Gonz, guys like that ya know, Jake Donnelly. It’s always fun being on those missions cause it’s just the boys and the best spots and stuff. Super fun skating with Dennis and Gonz cause they just wanna go 100 miles at all time. Super high energy and skating the funnest spots, creative shit.
I kinda forget you’re not pro. I think you must be the only dude that had a Transworld cover, Thrasher cover and parts and didn’t even have a board sponsor.
The dream. The dream that doesn’t happen. [Laughs]
How old are you?
25.
Oh shit, you’re young.
I guess you’ve gotta earn it. Keep picking away at it.
It’s funny how that works.
It’s crazy, some dudes will blow up in 6 months and have a pro board and that’s it. But It just happens when it happens and it’s gotta be natural. You can’t think about that shit, otherwise it’ll eat your brain! Just be happy with where you’re at and just focus on that.
It seems like it’s been a long journey to finding where you fit with sponsor stuff.
Man, it’s so fucking unreal that I get to go on a trip with Gonz and be like “I’m on the Adidas global team” it’s the most unreal thing, fuck it, pushing down the street next to those dudes. It has taken a lot of hard work to get there but it paid off and it’s amazing.
Umm, gimme a Riley Blakeway story, to wrap this up.
Oh my god, there’s so many. Probably when I chased him half way up the beach telling him I had a wasp in my hand. That all comes from this story where there were two wasps in his bedroom, and he’s fuckin’ terrified of wasps, and they’re in his doorway and he sat in his bedroom for half an hour with a leather jacket, gloves and a tennis racket trying to get out of the bedroom from these wasps.
BACKSIDE 180 OLLIE
