INTERVIEW BY JAKE BROWN
INTRODUCTION BY DAN LEVY
PHOTOS BY ANDREW MAPSTONE
I’m not sure what they put in the water in Australia, but I think it’s beer. Jake Duncombe comes from the land down under and he straight up annihilates everything on his skateboard. He goes all out on and off his board and he’s always the life of the party. Jake is an all terrain skater and he will skate whatever his wheels will roll on or fly over. We are stoked to present the Australian connection of Jake Brown and Jake Duncombe, so get a beer going and enjoy the read.
“When I finally saw you, I saw you diving through the air onto a fucking table that was filled with glass bottles. You were just skydiving. That was sick. The funniest thing was when you grabbed one of the bottles and it was like, “God Bless Australia.”
Where do you want to start, Jacob? Where the fuck are you from? [Laughs]
I’m originally from a little surf town called Byron Bay, but I reside in Encinitas, and the Gold Coast, Palm Beach.
So you have a couple different residences?
Yeah. I get around. [Laughs]
How was it growing up in Byron Bay?
It was good. It was a little surf hippie town, but then I needed to get out of there. I got small town syndrome. I started getting into trouble and needed to get out of it.
[Laughs] Jacob just spilled a beer on my foot. You bugger. So, you were a troublemaker and the town wasn’t big enough for you?
Yeah. That town wasn’t big enough for one of me. [Laughs]
Did you go from Byron Bay to the Gold Coast?
Yeah. I went to the Gold Coast and then Sydney. That’s when I started traveling around Europe and America. My dad and I had some family that lived in Gold Coast.
When was it that I met you in Melbourne? That must have been over 10 years ago.
It seems like it.
I think it was one of the first World Cup contests over there.
It was probably about 10 years ago. I remember the first time I met you was in Germany. It was you and Tas Pappas. Tas had just landed a fakie 900 at the contest and I was on the first Europe circuit. Someone was like, “Yeah. Jake Brown is here!” I was like, “Fuck, yeah.” So I tried to do my best to try and get a hold of you. When I finally saw you, I saw you diving through the air onto a fucking table that was filled with glass bottles. You were just skydiving. That was sick. The funniest thing was when you grabbed one of the bottles and were like, “God Bless Australia.”
[Laughs] I love that country.
The first time I really hung out with you was at the first Bondi Bowl comp. You had just got on Blind and it was just after the World Cup.
Oh, yeah. We were trying to plan the video?
Yeah. We were trying to plan a video up there, and then you had a room. I think Duncan and Sasha were there. We were drinking Patron and the next day was the contest. We pretty much didn’t even go to the contest. We just sat next to the beach and you called Bod and Steve and everyone you could get a hold of and you got me a ticket back the next day. I went to the DC ramp and I remember there was a hurricane or tornado warning or something. It was a miserable day. Nicky hired a Caddy or something that we drove from LAX. Then I dropped in on that old DC ramp and carved it and hit that wall.
You ate shit. [Laughs] Kaboom.
[Laughs] There were three walls in a row that were kind of offset. I just carved that shit and didn’t see that they were offset and I fuckin’ slammed and ate shit. Then I was trying backside airs. I think Colin or Danny was there and I was trying to do backside airs. I was like, “I can’t do it.” I tried to backside air and knee bend with jeans on. I was loaded, three sheets to the wind. That’s how we got to know each other.
FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #68 BY CLICKING HERE…
