James Ahern Interview

Interview: James Ahern

by Nicholas Boserio, photos by Aiden White



So, I haven't got to have a good chat with you in ages so lets catch up here. Do you live out of home??

Hmm, I did move out of home about 4 months ago to live with Aids (Aidan White) and it was sick! But that�s the thing - I have no job and haven�t had one since about a year ago so I had to move out about a week ago ha-ha.

I see�

So yeah, next time I�m out of home I�m gonna get some stable job beforehand.

From the look of your blog you also spent some of those savings on boozing it up, is that a correct impression?

Yes, the house was always full of beer. I had a little income from doing skate lessons for Bowring a bit and some odd dollars here and there but nothing permanent, but it was a good experience. I had a dope room too.

You said you were doing skate coaching for a bit; did you get to see kids do their first kickflip?

I have seen a few first flip tricks hey, but I see more kids drop in quarter pipes before that. They�re so psyched when they do that, then they do it by themselves without us holding their wrists and stuff.

Have you ever dropped in on a vert ramp?

Yeah I�ve tried the vert ramp.

Hit the coping?

Yeah a few fifties, rock to fakies are a scary business though.

So true!

I wouldn�t mind trying some airs to be honest; I think it would feel pretty amazing flying like that and not having too much impact taken on your legs. Not sure if it just goes down like that though�

It definitely looks like fun doesn't it.

Yeah, something to look forward to I guess.

Maybe I�ll see you on the platform some day. So I�m assuming there are skate photos to go with this interview, did you shoot the whole thing with Aids? Sorry, Aidan White*.

Yeah all the photos were from Aids. We committed when I was on school holidays.



Smooth moves, are you filming for something as well?

Yeah, I filmed a bunch of stuff for Quentin Guthrie�s video which is premiere-ing at the bird this Sunday, so psyched for that. And got some stuff in the montage for Neb and Pidge�s video too. Both of those videos should be amazing. I can�t wait.

That�s fuckin� awesome, who's part are you looking forward to most?

Probably Tyson May�s, and Barry�s� And Eugene Stewart�s. Ha-ha I can hardly remember who is going to have parts.

Ha-ha well perhaps your memory is being dedicated to better things, what are you studying at uni?

And Matt Reilly�s! I�m nearly finished my last semester of a third year degree, but I�ve had time off and stuff. I�m studying geology and a bit of chemistry, so I get a geology and geochemistry degree at the end of it all. Pretty much picked to do a geochemistry degree because of the cool sounding name at the start, then it ended up being a bolts unit, so that was a bonus.

Very nice, any particular end goal? Mining? Petroleum? Save the whales?

Um, not really any idea hey. I�m just doing this Uni thing so I have a kind of 'back-up' plan. I want to skateboard and travel more and live in different places and lots of that stuff you�d want to do whilst you�re still young-ish before I think about getting a job.

Any weird shit you had to do for your course? Lab stuff or excursions?

Labs are pretty boring in geology... most of the time, looking through microscopes and such. But we go on weeklong field trips to look at really old rocks or really deformed rocks or to do some mapping exercise or something. It�s pretty hectic but in the end you find you�ve learnt heaps of stuff and you connected with lecturers and other students. And to be honest it�s a pretty fun time too

I don�t doubt it, the skate tour of university.

Very much so. With less drinking.

Ha-ha true. With your knowledge of geology, could you potentially one up Jeremy Wray and tell me on a map where all the skate-able natural land formations are on a map?

Ha-ha holy shit, just by looking at the map?

A geology map...?

Um, I guess I could tell you what rocks are smoother than others, and if they have a kind of structural geology map I guess that would aid with choosing skate-able terrain. If you knew that you were in a highly deformed (or metamorphosed) area that would help too.



I think you should try it.

James Ahern: I wouldn�t mind trying to skate that wave rock thing that�s somewhere north of Perth. I�ve never been there.

Oh yeah for sure, that thing looks amazing! What have been some of your more recent out-of-Perth adventures?

I just recently I came back from France after staying there for about 6 months. And I had been to Melbourne a bunch of times before that and been to Sydney once where I stayed with Powell. That was all last year.

Yes I saw your Facebook said you spoke French. Fluently? Or fluently enough anyway?

Ahhh, it would take me a few minutes to pick it up and start speaking to a French person again, but yeah, I guess I can get my French conversation on.

You�re killing it. So quickly, what were you doing there? The who, what, where?

James Patrick Ahern : I went with my girlfriend at the time in order to learn French (I�d been trying to study it out of an exercise book for a year or so), to meet new people, to try and get a job and to skateboard. We lived in Toulouse for 2 months and Bordeaux for 3.

That sounds so sick man.

We found places through skateboarding folks who we met there so skateboarding really did help in that sense.

Did you get a job?

Nah, ha-ha I got a French visa from Sydney and everything with the intention of getting one, but I just wanted to chill mostly. There were so many people just to hang with so I ended up changing my mind; I wanted it to be more of a holiday rather than working holiday. When it comes to getting a job I can get really unamped.

Well it�s not fun at all.

But I saved a bunch of money before going over so it wasn�t too hard to live. That was the same savings that I used to live with aids and its nearly all gone now... devo.

You came back from a 6-month holiday with savings still though, I�d be happy with that.

Yeah man, I was living for it!



Let me rifle off a few France questions, I�ve never been there.

Alright go for it, ha-ha.

Did you eat a snail?

No! I should have though. And I didn�t eat frog legs either.

Wait, were you still vegetarian then?

I was when I went over.

You switched while over there??

Yeah that�s it. I was when I went over there, but because I was in a different land and everything, I was pretty curious to taste their cuisine. So on my 2nd year of being vegetarian I bought a kebab. It was pretty bad quite honestly. So I got another... But since going over there I haven�t gone back, yet.

That�s how you came back to the land of omnivourousness?? With a French kebab? You�re weirder than I thought.

Pretty spontaneous purchase I guess.

And you still didn't eat a snail or frogs legs?! Did you at least eat a lot of cheese and drink a lot of wine?

Yeah for sure. One of the first months we get a cheap bottle of red, brought it back to the house to drink and the housemates spied it. They proceeded to tell us not to drink it because 'it's used for cleaning the floor'.

What did they have red floors or something??

I guess don�t try and drink cheap wine with certain French people.

Ha-ha I suppose so.

Yeah, they did not live for us buying cheap wine. But we drank it anyway, it was pretty shit.

Ha-ha! Did you ever go on a boat? For some reason i think the chances of being on a boat are higher in France...

Ha-ha, no I didn�t go on a boat whilst I was over there. But we met a few kiwi travelers who bought a boat with their savings and lived in it on the river. That was pretty insane I thought.

Definitely!

But I didn�t go on it.

Damn it.

Yeah they didn�t like paying for accommodation. They made a little camping ground in the woods at one stage too.

Those crazy kiwis. I feel like I�m asking the wrong questions here, what's some weird stuff you did in France? Aside from end a 2-year bout of vegetarianism.

Hmmm. skated a homemade mini ramp in the forest? Lost my board in a fishing dock harbour and had too jump in and search for it, that was pretty funny.

Fuck that's sick right there. I�ve never skated in the forest I don't think... did you find your board?

Yeah, finally. It fell under this floating jetty, so I had to swim under it in this cramped space in freezing water and swim to the bottom of the harbour to blindly feel around for a skateboard.

You beast, I think I�d have just let it swim.

Yeah normally I might have but when travelling you don�t have as much proddy or the ease to get it as when living at home.

Very true. So no more vego� have you eaten a steak?

Nah no more vego, for the time being at least. I had a steak last night.

Ha-ha fuck yes. Have you eaten a servo pie?

Yeah. Especially on those field trips hey, always stopping on long highways for filthy foodstuffs.



They�re sounding more and more like a skate trip.

Ha-ha. It�s just so easy to eat meat, you know.

Oh I know, pub meals and fast food all day.

Still sucks pretty hard for animals at times I reckon. Not all of them, but there�s a bunch that get fucked up. Just watched a gnarly veganism video not long ago that was pretty brutal. Anyway that�s a bad subject.

It�s tough man, there's some bad shit in this world, we just have to keep on doing what we can I guess, keep the good vibes up.

I like that, what you just said then.

I think we've covered some good shit here.

Yeah I think so too.

Did I miss anything? Want to throw some shout outs?

Ha-ha ok, mum Janine, dad Dennis, Joseph, Molly, Ben and Karman at Gmta, peter at Dekline, Grant at Momentum, Terry at Odyssey, Bec, Gabby and Brooke too, Uni mates, Elise Nick Bones and Thirsten, Perth cats; Robbie, AIDS, Nukka, Quayde, Ben McNeb� shit there�s a few, Matt Reilly, Quentin, TYSON, Freo and NS cats. All the guys I met over in Melbourne and Sydney, all my French friends, this is too long. Skateboarders, musicians, artists and global warming.... bring on the change! Oh yeah, Drew at skateboard.com.au Sparkes and you Brasserie. I guess that should about do it. Everyone I�ve ever had the pleasure to skate with. Sorry to you if you know you�re in there but are not. Peace!