If you ever find yourself in Australia and are trying to get a clip or two, you’re going to want to link up with our friend Fiddy, AKA Jonathan Fitzgerald, the filmer for Hoddle Skateboards.

If you’re unfamiliar with Hoddle, they’re a sister company to Pass~Port, representing the Melbourne skate scene. Hoddle had a brief but powerful section in Pass~Port’s Kitsch, and have released solo videos like Heavy Mayo, as well. Now, Shaun Paul is here to cement his name in Hoddle history with his own part. Enjoy!

How often do people yell “Sean Paul” in a Jamaican accent at you?
Pretty much every day of the week since I was like 10 years old.

When American skaters go to Australia what is the first thing they need to check out? The wine bag?
[Laughs] You mean goon? Been a long time since I had a sip from one of those.

Give us the low down on some slang.
Yeah, fuck, I forget the lingo here is kind of crazy to others. Razor, zor, brental, skint, hamie.

So how would you guys say, “Let’s go peep this spot.”
Let’s peep this spot [laughs]. It’s more like if we were to peep the spot and it’s shit we would say, “This spot is skint.” Or if it’s good we’d say, “The spot is absolutely brental.”

What inspired the filming of this video and how long were you filming for?
It’s a Hoddle intro clip, but most of the squad got tricks so it’s like a mini team vid. It took maybe like four or five months but we may or may not have snuck in one or two older clips.

Tell me a little about yourself…
24. Approaching old head. And I ride for DC, Bronze 56k, Venture, Fast Times, and now Hoddle.

Sick mate, all that is brental.
To the bone, lad.

As a skater what is the mindset that you’re in right now with so much shit coming out and so much skating being produced all the time?
I hope you figure it out because I don’t know [laughs]. Just travel and skate, hang out with my friends, and make some new ones along the way.

What’s the deal with Melbourne right now? Are the streets still empty cause of Covid? Can you street skate?
We just came out of lockdown like three weeks ago. Things are pretty much back to normal and the city is busy again, people are everywhere. Didn’t really skate more or less than I usually do through the lockdown. You can kind of work your way around restrictions if you play it safe. They allowed two hours of exercise a day, 5km from your home and a 9pm curfew.

Do you know where the name Hoddle came from?
It’s named after the Hoddle grid. The entire city and surrounding suburbs are all rectangle and square, first laid out by a surveyor named Robert Hoddle in the 1800’s. Makes life pretty simple and easy to get around. A lot of the spots here are on corners, all the trams in the city are all going up and down and side to side, parallel to each other. Pretty much as Melbourne as it gets.

A little bird told me that you have some chess moves.
I play online chess every day. I picked it up from my housemate. It can be a headache but I really enjoy playing. Some players have got mad style while others are so calculated.

Are you ranked now?
I’m ranked 800 [laughs]. But I’ve been on the up since I started. If anyone wants to add me on chess.com it’s Shoepaul. I’m probably going to get some shark come here and smoke me, but oh well. I’m going to start going hard. Now I gotta get my game up.

Video by: Jonathan Fitzgerald
Interview by: Alex Raspa
Photos by: Bryce Golder
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