Highsnobiety Presents: adidas Skateboarding – Benny Fairfax Interview

Last week we showed you the “Rolling London” film from the adidas Originals 2010 campaign, featuring some of the riders from the adidas Skateboarding team. We caught up with them to talk about the video and the process behind it. First up is our chat with Benny Fairfax. Check it out here below.

Unlike all of the other guys, you were right at home in London since you grew up in England. How was it having your teammates there to skate the home turf?

It was wicked, I got to show the lads all the spots I grew up skating.

Did you mostly go to spots that you knew of?

Yeah for the most part, although we did come across a few random spots I hadn’t seen before… there is always new stuff to skate popping up all over the city.

Read the rest of the Interview after the jump.

Did you grow up following Chelsea FC?

Yeah I’ve been a Chelsea fan since I was little. We’re going for the double this year… The Premiership and the FA cup!

How was it going to the game? Had you ever been to one before?

That was actually the first time I’ve been to Stamford Bridge. It was amazing, such a great atmosphere! And we thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 3-0!

What about the behind the scenes stuff and getting to see the Chelsea news broadcast set? How was that?

It was a real experience to walk around the backstage. I got to sit in the hot seat where they do all the post-game interviews.

One of the main spots in London is Southbank, which you visited during this shoot. Is skating there different when you go back to the home spot after living in California and having a skate career?

I’ve always loved skating Southbank, it’s one of those spots you can just hang out and skate at all day with your mates. It’s always a good vibe! I suppose the only difference is that the kids expect a demo.

So aside from the skate film, you guys also were involved in the adidas Originals commercial that was being filmed in Hackney. What was it like on location?

It was crazy, like a big movie set. There were so many people, I’d never seen anything like it.

A lot of waiting around until the moment they need you. Did that get boring?

A bit boring yeah, we found ways to pass the time though… drinking cups of tea, bacon and egg sandwiches, skating flatground and playing iPhone dice for pound coins!

But they ended up getting you guys a trailer to hang out in, how was that?

That was quite the luxury we definitely felt a little more important.

So lots of dice games to kill the down time? Who came up the most?

Not sure, but I know Jascha Muller took at least 30 quid off me!

You guys ended up building your own skate spot so you had something decent to shoot for the commercial, right?

Yeah we ended up building a really janky setup of banks and ledges… props to Matt Irving who put in the majority of the elbow grease! Then we had to skate in front of about 100 people with the director shouting out commands… It was pretty nerve-racking.

You can check out the video again here.