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CLOCK IN: NICK LAW

Cowboys, abbrevo's and Freddie Mercury's facial hair...

    Written by
  • Henry Harbeck
    Photography by
  • Henry Harbeck

BACKSIDE 5-0


BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – 3:36pm

Where did you grow up?

I’m from a small country town about an hour south of Brisbane called Beaudesert.. Full of footy legends and cowboys. There was no skate scene out there whatsoever. I was the only kid at my high school who rode a skateboard and we didn’t have a skatepark.

What got you in to it then?

I bought my first skateboard when I was about 14 and skated the high school after school each day on my own. In primary school I had roller blades and did the same shit, I guess I just realised how legit skateboarding was and upgraded. I was expelled from school when I was 15 because I lost interest in it and used to catch the bus to the city to skate and lurk the streets. My mum lost it and kicked me out of home. I ended up hanging out with a bad crowd and didn’t skate for 3 years. Just partied and did stupid shit. I got sick of that eventually and started skateboarding again when I was 19 and haven’t stopped.



Would you say skateboarding was responsible for getting you to turn your life in a more positive direction?

Yeah man, skateboarding definitely saved my life. I’d hate to think what sort of boring slave to the system or lowlife drug addict I’d be if I didn’t skate. [Laughs]

I couldn’t help but notice you’re rocking a dirty moustache these days. How’s that treating you?

Oh yeah, the mo is good gear mate! I met a rad babe who kicks ass on roller skates and scored a date with her. It made me realise how much I love the 80s. I’ve always listened to a lot of 80s music, Queen especially. The first album I had as a little kid was Queen: Greatest Hits. So you could say I’m Freddie inspired. My mo aint got shit on his, but it’s going good with the ladies and it makes me feel like an 80s porn star as well as a figure of authority of some sort which all helps in the streets.



“…it makes me feel like an 80s porn star as well as a figure of authority of some sort which all helps in the streets.”



Tell me about your job delivering flowers…

I really enjoy it, seeing people’s faces light up when someone who loves them went out of their way to get them some flowers. It’s beautiful. I’m a contractor and just get assigned jobs and can decide if I want to do it or not. I can take days off to skate whenever which my bank account doesn’t get hyped on when I do it too much but skateboarding is always my first priority. I’d like to save some money to travel but life is good here in Queensland, and there are so many spots here that I still have business with.

Any other perks on the job?

I find a lot of spots while I’m working. There’s a great sense of accomplishment when I find a fresh spot and then get to be the first to skate it and set the bar on it. It’s like ‘Yeah have fun with that now!’ when you get something good on it before anyone else has a chance. I also get discounts on flowers to give to special people in my life. The girls at the florist gave me a dozen rainbow roses for free one time, I shared them with a few nice people.



From what I know you’ve been whaling on the streets for a long time. Where’s all the footage?

Ahh, yeah, about that, the last part I filmed I put everything into and worked super hard on it for years. The guy who filmed it let his ego get the better of him and talked up his filming so much that he couldn’t bring himself to release it. He’s got some hectic OCD problems. It’s a shame, because I really wish I could see the results. I’ve got a bit of other footage spread out between a couple of filmers but haven’t got any plan to what’s being done with it. Hopefully I can find a filmer who’s down to put in the dedication to give me a full part but for now I just take whatever opportunity I get to film with whoever is out.

What’s the deal with you skating capped rails?

I just skate them because they are still rails that can be skated and usually haven’t really been touched yet. Capped rails need love too mate.



You’ve got some pretty unique sayings, how do you come up with new stuff to say all the time?

I wouldn’t really call them sayings, but I do take abbreviations pretty far sometimes. Like calling coffee ‘coff’ or esplanade ‘S’. It started when I was living in Sunnybank. A lot of Asian people live there, and I noticed they tend not to use the letter ‘S’. They would say ‘4 spring roll’ instead of ‘spring rolls’ and stuff like that, so, I started using it. Calling Coles ‘Cole’ or Queensland ‘Queenland’. People usually spin out on it at first but then catches on and they start using it themselves. Queenland blew up pretty hard after I used it on Instagram one time in a clip I posted of Joey Cormack doing a line starting in New South Whale, crossing the border and tre flipping a 9 stair in Queenland. It seems like most people understand it, but they just get taken aback for a second… Before it changes their whole world. They’re like ‘Oh, I don’t actually need to finish words anymore. Look how much time I could be saving!