Stayin' Busy: With Jayden Fong
Intro by Mike V, photos by Jayden Fong & Jake Corless
I love firing up the Googles and sussing the latest BMX videos, watching a dude go to work whether its pushing a technical boundary, improving on a previous project or getting to know a team as they take to the road. Paired with the stylings of a producer, there is also an excitement to observe and understand how a particular shot was captured or how a certain style of song was used. Can't get enough of it!
Consuming a BMX video is made even more stimulating when it's an Australian biker. The connection to the places, people and culture is greater and you're able to link into a sense of pride to the scene in which you exist and hope to see prosper.
It is within this context that I present to you the latest LUXBMX Journal feature, a piece centred around Sydney bred biker Jayden Fong and his latest project welcoming him to the Perth based shop, Local BMX.
Catching this on DIGBMX when it was released 3 weeks back, I knew straight away that I wanted to get in touch with the dude and find out more about his story and how he landed in Perth. As you'll find out through the below piece, Fong is a motivated dude, a genuine lover of BMX and is rearing to rip and tear into life. We touch on the Perth scene, the making of his latest video, growing up and what keeps him keeping on.
Get amongst it.
How's this! What a spot and what a way to tame it. Kudos to all involved
Who are ya and what motivates you to get up each day?
I’m Jayden Fong, 25 years young and living in Perth WA. My motivation is to be better than the previous day. I always hold myself accountable to be the best I can be. If I’m not pushing myself it doesn’t feel right, whether that be lifestyle, riding, work, travel, renovating or exercise. With that being said, I try to not put too much pressure on myself and enjoy the process along the way.
If I recall correctly, you're originally from Sydney and now find yourself in the west. Can you explain the move and your assessment of Perth and the crew over there?
I grew up in Mt Annan in South West Sydney (shoutout to Thekirkjerks). It was a pretty quiet suburban area when I was growing up and it took just under an hour minimum to get to the CBD. This meant riding street in the city was a bit of a mission most of the time.
A few years back my partner Ebony and I made plans to leave Sydney and travel around Australia for a year in our campervan. We didn’t have any intentions on stopping anywhere long term. As we were travelling, one of my old tradie’s (a good friend of mine) who was living in WA mentioned there might be a mining gig available when I get to Perth. Eight months of travel went by and as we got closer to Perth he confirmed the job was there if I was interested. We were running a bit low on holiday funds so we thought it was a good opportunity to top up the bank account.
Before we knew it we were renting a place in Perth and back into the grind. Fast track 2 years and we have just bought a house to renovate, which is far from what we had originally planned.
While travelling I tried to roll with as many crews or riders along the way as I could. Stopping in Brissy for a few weeks and filming with Big Salad was definitely a highlight from the trip! As soon as I got to Perth I linked up with the local guys, most of which I knew from Instagram/video parts/DVD’s etc. I think Jake Corless messaged me as soon as I got into Perth and we all ended up rolling somewhere. Jake’s a legend, he is the most genuine dude. Like if you are new to town he will make an effort to link up and make you feel welcomed, even though you’re a blow in!
I love the Perth BMX scene, the guys made me feel like I was apart of the crew as soon as I met them. Since moving here it seems like every weekend someone will be keen on going for a ride either at a local park or hitting some spots and to know I’ve made some lifelong friends from WA is killer. Perth is obviously not as busy as Sydney but I look at that as a good thing because it makes getting around heaps easier. WA has some really good parks and the street spots are insane.
The rig and a familiar scene for those traversing Australia
JF and his partner and what is an increasingly rare sight, young people buying homes. Good on you guys!
What do you do for work and why do you do it?
I’m a sparkie and started my apprenticeship when I was 16. It’s crazy to think I’ve been doing it for close to 10 years now. It took me a long time to actually enjoy what I do. I think that comes from doing it for so long that you eventually get really good at it and build some sort of passion for it. I’ve learnt a lot of skills and gained a heap of knowledge from being in the trade. I think you mature pretty quickly going into the trade industry that early. It’s especially useful while doing the house renovations. Not just being able to do the electrical stuff but having a crack at aircon, carpentry, patching, painting etc.
I enjoy my job but I still think there’s something else out there for me, I’m not sure what that is but I’ll try and work it out lol.
On the tools in WA, renovating and FIFOin', another familiar sight for an Aussie
If you don't mind, it would also be cool to get an understanding of your BMX story, i.e. how did you first find the love for BMX and what are the milestones throughout your BMX life?
I’ve been riding BMX for about 13 years. I actually played rugby league for like 10 years so there was a bit of a crossover there where I loved footy but also really enjoyed riding my bike. I got to under 17’s and realised footy wasn't for me anymore and stuck with BMX.
My brother and I got brand new Hoffman BMX bikes for Christmas one year, I had a 16” and he had a 20”. After a year or so I ended up jumping on the 20” bike and started building dirt jumps with a friend up the road. Before we knew it we had a group of us that would meet up almost daily and build dirt jumps or ride 20 minutes to the local skatepark. They actually became my closest friends. Even though none of them ride BMX now, I talk to them pretty much everyday. I eventually started riding more skateparks and then found my love for street riding.
The passion for BMX for me is how much “you” can progress. Like that feeling of landing a new trick or getting a clip that took you hours to do. It’s the best. You don’t have to compete with anyone but yourself.
My BMX milestones would have to be filming for the Genesis Crew mixtape as well as Tear Da Club Up (TDCU). Getting hooked up by Triple6 Distro/Stranger and Primo (Thanks D-street). Obviously getting onto the Local BMX team as well. I’m really keen to get on the bike more this year and film/travel to a few places and hopefully I can secure another frame or parts sponsor in the near future.
To the video, I see it was filmed and edited by Kyle Ralston, backed by a couple songs that feel super familiar in a BMX setting. Did you have any influence in the editing of this badboy? Irrespective, what do you look for from a filming and editing point of view when you watch a BMX video?
Kyle took charge for this one, he did all the filming, editing and chose the songs for this project. I really like how Kyle makes his videos so I was happy for him to just do his thing. His videos always have a distinct feel about them which is awesome. We actually made this video a few months back and entered it into the ACT Jam video contest but it wasn’t played unfortunately. When I got back to Perth we discussed that we would show the video before the recent 'Wait a While' DVD premiere. That same night Mike asked if I would be keen to join the Local BMX team. We then decided to use it as a 'welcome to' video.
Ever since getting into BMX I’ve watched a hell of a lot of DVD’s, Youtube/Vimeo videos etc and I have always liked the look of the Panasonic HPX/HMC/HVX setup with a century lens. I also love the VX setup, a lot of the early DVD’s and videos I watched were all this style of footage. I think the way it captures BMX riding is unmatched. It just comes out so nice and you get to see every little detail from a big fisheye lens. I feel as though filming/editing/music can make or break a video, like if the riding is on another planet but the production isn’t there it’s hard to watch. It’s a tough thing to do as well because everyone’s style is different and to be able to make a video that captures an audience around the world is a skill in itself.
Ballsy trick on a delightful looking rail, Stibbards on the film
Awesome spot, probably worthy of another use of the term 'ballsy'
Tell us about that steep ledge feeble at 4.50? Looks like you almost got smoked on the initial attempt. It was cool to see the boys in the background, Roddy looking a little tense for your welfare.
Ah yes, we were actually sessioning that flat ledge spot in the video for a couple of hours. Once everyone had their clips we didn’t really have any plans after that. I mentioned to the guys that there was this steep ass ledge that was around the corner. I first saw it when I got the campervan serviced and went for a quick ride around East Perth. I originally wanted to tyre ride the ledge and gap to the stairs but the run in was real sketchy. I would’ve had to swerve if I was going to get on there and not being able to see the ledge was putting me off. I decided to try a 60/40 grind (crash clip) with a half crank run up. It took me probably 30 run ups just to hit it. I got on there but just bailed straight away and landed in the bushes. I went back up and tried it again and somehow landed into a 60/40 grind with my front tyre locking into the rail/ledge. I think we were all laughing cause I rolled away from it.
Should have maybe started with this one, what are some of your favourite BMX videos and why?
Oh man this list could go on forever. My favourite DVD’s would have to be Cult 'Talk is Cheap', The Deadline video, 2020 'That’s What’s Up', Calvin's 'Still Bleeding Black and Blue', BSD 'Living for the City', the Backbone DVD (Jack O'Reilly’s part is nuts), Volume 'The Finer Things' and 'Still United'. I think Cults 'Talk is Cheap' sticks in my head the most because I got it for Christmas when I was just getting into street riding and watched it like 5 times that day. The whole video is just awesome, start to finish. AK and Daks parts are timeless. That probably lit the fire to try and find street spots with friends and film. As for web videos the 'Fiend promo', 'Fiending', Federal 'Barcelona 2013', any Focalpoint video, The Come Up 'Young and Retarded', Dan Lacey 'Beyond' and any Garrett, Nathan, Felix, Zac Gerber or Kevin Kiraly video. I’ll watch any of them on repeat.
Get me here ASAP. This is a stark reminder of the elegance of the west Australian cost
Gap to ghost ice and evidence of commitment
When you think about the videos you've chosen as your favourite, can you describe how they might have influenced the way you ride your bike and how you've developed as an adult?
I’m a big fan of crew videos because when you get a group of different and talented riders together everyone is gonna look at something a little different than the other and try to push themselves when they have all the boys around. You can always get a feel for those videos as this is what BMX is about, just riding and having fun with your mates. Watching all these videos while growing up really made me want to try and film street video parts myself, even though I wasn’t that skilled and didn’t have a great camera or editing software. It was just about getting out there with your good friends and filming it as it happens.
I’ve never really thought about it but BMX has probably moulded me to always set yourself up for the next goal. Like filming a video part, planning the next adventure, renovating a house. I hate the feeling when you have nothing to look forward to in the future. Always set a goal!
There you have it, a bit of life motivation from ex-gypsy, now Perth mainstay, Jayden Fong. Maybe there is something you can learn from this piece, or maybe not. Either way, enjoy the video and maybe spare a moment of appreciation for the effort of Jayden in working with LUXBMX on this project.
