Josh Pall

Turn and face the strange. Ch-ch-Changes. Already away from home since leaving Brisbane for Sydney, Australia six years ago—PASS~PORT’s and Nike SB’s rookie pro—Josh Pall (also fittingly the holder of multiple real world passports) is pondering some imminent further moves. Wherever he decides to call home over the next year (LA, NYC, EU, or elsewhere), said locale will also serve as the backdrop for his part in the upcoming PASS~PORT full-length— tentatively scheduled for winter 2018. Raised on the wholesome/not-so-wholesome videographic trio of Jump Offa Building (’98), The Storm (’99), and This is Skateboarding (’03)—Josh sat down for a phone interview to discuss severing his working class safety net/side gig to jump headlong into skateboarding for a living, and the truths and fallacies of “lucky yellow shirt” theory, Come on in. The water’s great. —MACKENZIE EISENHOUR

- Mackenzie Eisenhour

Where are you at right now?

I’m still in Sydney. I’m in the process of moving out. I’m packing up my house right now. Then going over to Europe in a week. But I’ll still be based in Sydney after this trip.

Is there some possibility of you moving to LA?

Yeah. It’s funny how word can get around when you just mention it to one person. But I’m in the process of figuring it out. It’s a possibility. But still early. I never really thought about it as an option but maybe while I’m still relatively young it could be cool to do for a little bit. Something different. Get out of the general work vibes and just do the skate thing.

Are you still working at a screen-printing job?

Yeah. I’ve actually got three days left and that’s it. I’ve been there on and off for six years—pretty much the whole time I’ve been living in Sydney. It’s been one of those jobs that was so flexible and the boss was always super cool so it’s totally perfect for myself and most skateboarders’ situations. But at the same time it’s so lenient that’s it’s almost like a safety net.

Yeah, like almost too comfortable.

Exactly. I haven’t really tried to do anything else because it’s always been there when I’ve needed it. So it’s cool to try something new now. Of course it also causes a little anxiety like any new change. But it’s not hard to find new work if need be. I’ve always worked so if I need to I’ll find a shitty job to make a little more money.

If you did move to LA, what are the upsides and downsides from your perspective?