Joleon Pressey
July 10, 2007
Everyone who knows Joey knows that he’s been graced by the touch of lady luck and, most of the time anyway, everything seems to work out for him. I could tell a thousand stories that show this but none of them will ever do the man justice. Just trust me on it; he’s got the golden touch. There is no one I would rather skate all day with, go feed the dog with or share a damp freezing-cold room with. I’d lend him my last quid and as far as I’m concerned every man makes his own luck. UP THE WAYWARDS Danny Brady
A while back there was a month or two when Joey, Brady and myself were indoor camping in the trash and clutter of Sarah’s old room up top of Waterloo Palace. We had a little pit of space cleared; just big enough for three to sleep in and all around was her odd detritus; aborted paintings, castanets, old sports bras, a didgeridoo. This was the dead of winter - before Brady’s mum got us a heater - and it was gulag-chapping cold up there. We’d sleep in all our clothes, zipped into bags; wake up, teeth chattering, a couple of times a night. We’d get dead drunk a lot, just to sleep like the dead. It wasn’t plain sailing but we kept chipper. It was in those days that the Palace Wayward Boys Choir was born. We lived like illegal Chinese migrant workers and we made our own dumb fun. It’s hard to be glum with Joey about. He’s a real upbeat kind of dude, eternal optimist, always stupid-grinning, more laid back than laybacks. More than anyone I can think of, Joey embodies that freewheeling and effortless-globetrotting cosmic-outlaw roll-forever beat-larrikin of old skateboard folklore. He goes at things freestyle and makes the record in his own way. He hardly ever works, he’s never not working; he hustles and swaps and boosts and shots and scams and gets about and never does anyone harm. He’s been doing it for years. He really doesn’t give a f**k and I, we, and everyone who knows him loves him and the Universe looks out for him, gives him little pushes, little thumbs-up, little high-fives; PROVIDES.
Let’s tell everyone about that ridiculous luck that follows you around like a big shitting force field; it’s real isn’t it? - Oh yeah that. I do have quite good luck I suppose. Like I’ve been sat outside a shop in town and a ten-pound note has just fallen out of the sky and into my lap before. Other stuff too: like being given change for a twenty when I hand over a fiver, or when I found that Annual Gold Travel card on Waterloo Bridge. On top of that, I guess it just seems to go that in situations that could be tough I generally land on my feet. But sometimes things have been a bit rough for me and it got to be a real pain in the ass when people would go on about how lucky I was. Now I just laugh it off.
What about the time you lost your phone after some audition and lost out on £10,000? - Yeah that was for some Playstation advert. My friend called me about the casting and I was skint so I went along. It seemed to go ok but then I lost my phone in the party vortex later that night. Then a few weeks later I got a new one and when I checked my voicemail there were loads of messages from these Playstation people saying that they wanted me for the gig. But it was too late by then and the dough was long gone.
Was it really for ten grand? - Something like that yeah. A lot of money anyway; but, you know, easy come easy go.
That’s the spirit pal. Hey where do you see yourself five years? - With a steady place to live I hope. Somewhere warm maybe, especially for the winter. Still skating loads and in possession of a couple extras like a dog and maybe a driving license: maybe a cool 2012 hairstyle too.
Yeah my hair’s going to be off the hook by 2012.
Your hair’s going to be off your head by 2012…
We’re straying from the subject here. Just say some shit about skateboarding. That’s the stuff these cats dig to hear. Like what do you like so damn much about it? - I like the fact that it’s traveling about using just human energy. What I also think is really cool is that I can lie in bed and think of a trick and then get up and try to do it - make something happen from an idea, even if does take three hours to land. It’s a feeling of real accomplishment: like ‘I MADE IT’. Learning a new trick is a brilliant feeling, best thing going. Traveling is great too - getting to bro-down all over the world.
