Jordan Thackeray

Where are you right now?

Currently in Bristol! Sun is out and it’s a beautiful day to be alive.

Give us a little background on yourself.

I'm originally from Essex. I grew up in Colchester and then moved to Bristol about three years ago now during the lockdown. Bristol is wicked, there's always someone about to skate with at some point during the day, regardless of the time of day, which is nice. There's also so many different places to go and skate as well. There's also nearby towns and other cities that are amazing – so it feels good to be around town.

How does your average day shape up?

I usually wake up, learn a little bit of Japanese, play some banjo and then go skate for the day, head home and rest up, then go for a boulder in the evenings which I’ve become really into. Either that, or go grab dinner and maybe head to the nearby towns of Bath or Cardiff to skate or chill.

And learning Japanese?

It's been a good one, a good mission! I’ve been on it for about a year and a half or two years. I love it over there. However I feel like I only just worked out the method to learn how to do it.

I've been fascinated with the language for years but only the past year and a half have I been able to work out a method for learning it in a way that sinks in.

Talk to us a little about “Where Is Tom?”

That was real fun to work on - a long time coming. It was nice to go on the trips with the boys and skate. The first trip I went was a trip to Poland with Paul Labadie and some of the other boys, it was a real good time. We then went on a ton of other trips after that all across Europe. I saw the video premiering for the first time the in Milan, It was mad. Paul did a great job

My highlights were enjoying playing a lot of chess with Albert and getting smoked by different spots and stuff trying to keep up with all this street madness that those boys are doing. Axel and I always try and sample as many different chocolate mousses as we can on the road from the different places we’d eat at in the evenings. That was the absolute best. I can’t tell you where the best one is though, it’s a secret…

How would you describe the dynamic of the Vans skate team?

It's really good. It’s so diverse. The dynamic is always amazing and very entertaining, such a rare bag of heads I feel stoked to know. When I first started going on trips, I didn't know everyone but I knew most people, so it felt really comfortable - everyone that I didn't know I got to know real quick. Everyone has become family - so there's no judgment, everyone's just happy to kick it, skate and get on with each other.

We put up with each other for better or worse it's truly like being in a family!

Summer plans?

I imagine this summer is going to be really busy, there is a lot of trips coming up already. And I plan to go to Japan at the end of it in September. Hopefully spend some time there as well. But I think there's going to be a few events like contests and other events, non-competition related going on. I’m going to Canada and then hitting a few festivals as well. So looking forward to that, just generally try to film as much possible in between, as well as kicking it with the missus.

And outside of skating? What gets you fired up?

I really, really enjoy climbing and bouldering, that always gets me excited. I love listening to and playing music. I've been playing a lot, I just got a new electric banjo and I’ve been all over it. Also just wandering around town and seeing all the mad stuff that goes down – it’s crazy with all the people there - you honestly never know what's gonna happen!

And in skating?

The majority of the time it's my friends I'm skating with that get me hyped to try new stuff, to push myself and get inspired to try something new. I don't often get inspired by skating on Instagram, I'd much rather watch a video part, seeing a constant stream of the best skateboarding that the world has to offer every second of everyday seems to dilute the magic of it all to be honest

How do you see the value of full-length films like “Where is Tom?” versus Instagram Reels and posting stuff straight away?

I like surprises a lot.

So, if I've seen someone do a trick, let's say someone's just learned a trick and they then immediately put it out on Instagram. Then when I see them do it in a video part, I'm not that surprised anymore. Because I've already seen that process of them learning it and doing it at the park or wherever.

When that then goes out in a video part it kind of goes over my head. Or, I end up watching someone's ender on Instagram before and a reel of all of their best clips from the edit and I feel it just detracts from the whole process.

I feel like with Instagram, it kind of takes away the surprise factor quite a lot, so I really prefer to not watch skating on Instagram and save it for when I want to sit down and watch some properly well put together, full length video parts that inspire me on so many levels. I feel when you actually fix your attention on something for that much longer the rate of interest and excitement really spikes.

Any last words? A message for the internet?

We got the one life, so just live it. Appreciate it and enjoy your time here.