All photos courtesy of james Fox
Intro/Interview by Brodie Butterlegs.
Jonny has been one of my favourite people to watch ride and ride with ever since I first met him five or six years ago on a Brisbane trip, but living in different capital cities a whole state away means it doesn’t happen too often. It’s always a blast though, his general love for BMX and how bloody good he is at it never fails to get anyone around stoked. By now you’ve probably seen his Back Bone video, as well as a few prominent features in trails jam videos, so you’re familiar with his riding. Read on to learn a little more about the dude behind it all.
Name, Age, Location:
Jon Mackellar, 21, Brisbane Australia.
Years Riding:
Possibly 16? On and off till I was 10 then hard out till I’m dead.
How’d you first get into riding?
Was definitely watching my brothers riding and trying to do what they were doing.
I believe you used to race a bit when you were younger. How serious were you with that?
Was only a sprocket rocket and rode when I was young nothing too serious that I can remember.
When did you make the move over to freestyle and what prompted it?
It would have been my dad taking my oldest brother Pete to his first dirt comp the Hoogie Fest or something in Gympie? Which started him off in freestyle with both Matt and myself soon to follow.
Supporter
You come from a pretty bike-oriented family, with your brothers both riding and your old man having a history with racing motorcycles. What was that like growing up?
Was awesome for the fact the every weekend you went out riding. The old man being into racing gave us boys a race team styled vibe, which would show off at any event that was different to most other people at the time which gave us a lot of opportunities and also some negativity. Wouldn’t wish it any other way, had some hell good times and road trips.
Do you think that benefited you?
Hell yeah, being around family and friends you look up to while growing up has shaped me into the person I am today and will continue.
Why trails?
Originally when I was younger it was sick because you could bust the big air off the big jumps and flail body parts everywhere for max fun! Once I finally witnessed a bit of salt at a set of trails at about 12, I thought fuck! I better learn how to build jumps so I can fix up my cases. As the local public jumps were run down at the time and no one was doing anything, I picked up the shovel and had a crack. Once I started to reap what ya sow I just kept on keeping on. Dug there on and off for about 10 years now just helping anywhere I can until I find the right set to call home.
What do you do for work?
I’m a below average truck spray painter that doesn’t apply himself haha. Working for the man blows. Gotta do what you gotta do though.
Any hobbies outside of BMX?
Love a good beer and also having a skate, but I’m just down for a fun time.
You recently got put on Back Bone and put out a pretty amazing welcome video. How’d that hook-up come about?
Well James and myself had came to the conclusion that we needed to make a video as my riding felt film worthy and we seemed to be around each other a bit up in the woods. So we just started filming and we had a bit of footage from Summers and Snakewoods, but it all came together when Weexy, James, my girlfriend Michaela and myself decided to road trip down to Canberra for the Dane Jam to commemorate the legend Dane Searls. We thought we would finish filming there as that was coming to a close. We had one last morning session at Hillfire with the boys. Rhys and Tyson hit me up saying as long as the photo they posted got 4 more likes they would like to have me on the team. So myself and James thought hell yea lets do a little more and present my welcome video to the most bad ass shop ever Backbone! Can’t thank James enough for going out of his way for me.
Top 3’s:
Bands/artists
Pentagram
Neil young
Black sabbath
Agent orange
Black Flag
Video parts/Sections
Chris Harti – Back Bone video
Brian yeagle – Anthem 2
Snakewoods jam – Crispy vid
Spots
Raine Turnbulls yard
Snakewoods
Any other trails with a good crew
Riders
The one and only Tim Weekes
Neil Gabb
Dylan lewis
Movies
Backbone video
Anthem 2
Building the underground even though I seen it a handful of times
Foods
Chicken
Steak
Victorian Bitter
Cheers man. Any thank yous?
Thanks to my family as I wouldn’t be here without you. My girlfriend for dealing with me being a wanker on the piss. Weexy for being the everlasting Stoke in trails. Backbone for putting me on recently buy ya shit from them. All my friends how ever vast the crews are. Good times need to be shared with mates. Thanks to Brodie and Coops and Focalpoint for wanting to hear what I have to say. And last but not least BMX.
Supporter
