Nate Sherwood

Thrashin' Before Fashion

By Brian Brannon

09.22.08

Love him or hate him, Nate Sherwood is his own man. He skates the way he wants to and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. For that alone, you have to salute him. Not to mention the fact that he invented his own way of ‘representskation’ and carried the banner of the pressure flip through the lean years until now it has come full circle and is cool again. Hats off to Nate for living the motto, “Thrashin’ before fashion.”

So Nate, you’re known as kind of a maverick of sorts in skateboarding. You don’t really fit into any neat package of this type of skateboarder, or that type, what are you all about?

I was drawn to skating for the raw creativity that could come from it. When I started, it was still evolving at a fast but an amazing rate. The slogan “skate and create” was a perfect mantra for what I did and I still feel it is the spirit of skating. I got into punk rock and hip-hop and jazz for the same reason. People within the subcultures would challenge the norm within their own tribe. I mean, Ian MacKaye and Taz Rock and John Coltrane would never get along in a circle but they all brought their own originality to there genre of art.

Is it true you’re the most hated man in skateboarding? I thought that was someone else...

Man, Austin Seaholm, Benji Galloway, Billy Rohan and Ryan Fabre, not to mention Josh Kasper, and I should start a board company and name it “The Odd Fellows”. Maybe I can get Sean Sheffey on board as well. I think even though Alex Olsen gets made core love, the mainstream guys hate him. He clowns on people hard and I think that got him into hot water, but yo, I respect that. People are soft in skating now. True, I am hated, but the people who hate me are not the people who are my friends or fan base. They’re corporations who are paid by huge backers or advertisers to plug and only promote the ones affiliated with their sponsors.

Where have you been skating these days?

I’m hung up right now with a hernia, but before that I’d been skating some fun ditches in odd spots around Oceanside, CA and some fun ledge spots I found in Del Mar. Also, this manny pad at the Vons down the street. It rocks. I found a fun gap there too. I am stoked on Tory Pines; that place is the best spot in San Diego right now. I dig anything I can find. I skate all over solo, just hunting for stuff to shoot on.

What kind of tricks are you working on?

Right before I got the hernia, I pulled my first fakie big spin pressure flip manual to backside pressure flip out at the Vons manny pad. It was sloppy, but I want to film it clean when I get back in the game. I was stoked.

Now you also speak your own language that you are good at ‘articuskating’, but sometimes it needs a little ‘transkation’. Could you tell us about that?

Yeah, man. It all started due to the fact that I am dyslexic and in school I would not spell words right. I would just change everything that had an “ate” or “ation” in it to “skate” or “skation”. Then I jammed hip-hop, and cats would say stuff in songs like “What up cousin?” “What up player?” “What up brother?” And so I changed it to “What up skater?” Then it just built to a full vocabulary.

Do you do any kind of visual art?

I shoot photos a bunch. I love shooting stuff. At times it comes out terribly and at other times it comes out looking warped. Painting and sculpture are not for me. I dig installation art. I have made giant things out of cardboard, like an aircraft carrier that I made to save my parking spot. It was made with a fridge box and a bunch of eS shoe boxes. I painted it Navy gray and I put guns on it by using paper towel rolls and I even brought some toy planes to park on the deck. I have drawn up funny slogans for T-shirts and had stuffed animals rock them. I did a show at Overload Skateshop with this stuffed alligator named Etouffee and his homey Bougainvilla, who is a bear. Some of the shirts are on the D.L. until I get them made.

If you could say anything to all the young up and coming skaters in the world, what would it be?

Skating is a drug. It will ruin your life. Do not give up other fun things like family trips, rad girlfriends or other hobbies just for skating. Skating will not feed you or take care of you when you are sick. It will not put money in the bank for your whole life. If you are lucky, it will for five years. And if you are one of the two percent who can live their whole life from it, you will still be messed up for giving up rad fun things other than skating. Skate and have fun, but do not stress out about it. A good trick can get you fame and limelight, and maybe a check to pay bills with, or maybe even a TV show, but none of those things can happen if you do not have a solid trick or 50.

Thanks bro.

You are welcome. Thank you…

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