Nate Sherwood, based on the thousands of people he has on his friend’s list, is well liked.
Nate Sherwood, based on the criticism of hundreds of people in various skate online forums, is well hated.

One thing that can be said with 100% certainty is that Nate Sherwood does his own thing, and he doesn’t care either way.

While talking to Nate on the phone to get this email interview set up, I came to feel like Nate was like a hyper little brother… extremely full of energy, with a million things running through his mind… all of them attempting to escape into our conversation as quickly as possible. I was also struck with how nice Nate was… and as weak of a word as “nice” is, I don’t think there are many other words that can describe the warmth Nate has for his fellow skater. Love him or hate him, he’s down for the cause.

Over the past few weeks, Nate and I have been exchanging emails, all of them to be put together in the form of the 20-questions format you see below. Some of you may find this interview hard to read, but I’m leaving everything unedited because I think seeing his writing in its raw format will give you a better glimpse of the man I’m talking to… I think it actually gives you an idea of how eclectic of a person Nate is. Hopefully this will shed some light on who Nate is, beyond the glimpses of him seen on Fuel TV or the random You Tube clip. Cheers.

1. Let’s get the sponsorship stuff up front immediately… as of this writing, you have a new pro model coming out with Step Sister Skateboards… what’s the story behind Step Sister, and while we’re at it, who else are you representing?

At this point in life I Ride for willy santos and his shop.
willysworkshop, I have no truck hook up anymore but love indy,s. I get
them for free from willy now. I get shoes from es and stepsister, it
is a new co that is out of la that is ran by my good friend eric b and
his boy trent. pete ness does the graff work and it is going to be
rad….

2. Do you have a typical day? When I talked to you on the phone, you were about to get hit by a low flying plane while waiting for Laban to find a broom so you could skate a spot on the beach… what’s an average day like for the Notorious Nate?

oh crap every day is nuts i never have a mellow one, for instance today i had to scare my neibors behind my house a bit, llng story short i built a brick wall that looks ugly cause i suck at building, and my neabors want me to break it down they thrated to get the city in here but my room skate plays poker with the mayer so the city inspector came over and did not give a fuck. told the cocks behind me to eat a cock u know, so today i wake up 2 a note on my door saying please tear down the wall so we can have our ocean veiw back, now to explain this , it is funy there ocean veiw is only threw my back yard threw my living room out my front door window. lol like these cock suckers keep trying to spark shit up. my land loard told me they been ass holes for fuckin ever and love to boss people around, they only built there house to sell it at a profit, the ocean veiw threw my house ups there price etc. so anyway i dressed in all black today grabbed my boom box put slayer in the tape deck. went out back and took a garbage ca and paited a target on it. took my friends bow n arrow set up and went to work on some noise, thump ding over and over with metal playing, sonia the bitch of the husband behind me pops her lil lame face over the fence and is like “can u turn that down.” so i turn it up say nothing open a beer and stare at her. then she says “i am calling the cops for desurbing the peace” i sad not till 11 pm is that leagal. i know this de to living in apts and shit 4 ever u know. so i was .ike sure call um up. she freaks out and leaves i waited for the cop but none showed up. i want them to move out so i might just burn some freah cut hair from the buty school down my street. hair clipings from humans smell like death burning no joke. they will move f i burn that shit 4 sure….

3. Do you ever experience Nate-hate in person? I mean, as you already know, there are some people that hate on you in skate forums or other outlets, but at the same time, you have about a million little Myspace friends… it almost seems like (for some people) that it’s “cool” to hate you, even though they probably don’t. Does anyone ever vibe you to your face?

only once. this guy in portland named andy banoa was trying to spark some shit. he was a skinny fucker and i was 16 and full of anger so i tossed an elbow to his face broke his nose and he tried to hit me with his board. i ducked out of it and my boy jason wordoll grabbed him and takled him we ended up skating away. that was the only time. lol. wow that was so long ago i bARILY RECALL IT.

4. In the “Hated and Misunderstood” issue of Big Brother, you mentioned that the Earth was very possibly going to be destroyed a few times by a large heavenly body traveling in this direction… was it a bad call, or is the planet closer to cataclysmic destruction than we realize?

just watch discovery tv or study histery. the dino,s were killed by one. jupitor was hit in 93 with 4 giant astiroids that had the force of 55 nuke bombs. you tube it there is footage from the palimor observitory . people are just lame topo grade sci fi nerds who study the earths flying patern and astriod belts say that we are ruffly 60 thousend years over due for a hit. due to where we are in the sky the off center of many astriods and the time line at hand. there was a small meteor that hit in the yukon 4 years ago that the us government did not worn us of. it burnt down 4 miles of forrest and the siontist at the acridge observitory found it in the sky but it was to late, they thought it would miss us then at the last second it eneterd the earths atmophere and hit in the woods. the city of colluth saw it hit and the impact broke out windows of churces and tipped over cars up to 5 miles away. now this meteror was only the size of a small fridge. now the ones that we worry about are basicily small mooons in the range of 4 staduims in suconfrance. plus it has to do with air speed if the astriod hits after being swong out of the nebula astriod belt it will be moving at a speed no less than mock 9. the lil space dust ones that have hit so far are only going 800 mph. so this has a ton to do with it. fuck spelling i am to lazy. Lol

5. Do you get into politics at all man? Any particular political leanings?

Good question by the way I ask that often to other pro skaters. The sad thing is most are spineless fucks who would never say anything that is on there mind for fear of not sounding “rad” .
I am sick of living in a country defended by mindless trends . huge cooperate lobby’s controlling the house and senate. I am sick of Dick Chaney and bush making 75 million a year in Halliburton stock that is upped by the blood of 19 year old men who have given there body and limbs to oil. I am sick of close minded humans weather it be the condescending people who run skateboarding to the much for lethal and diabolical men who pull the strings on all of us like Debold and IBM. Who have contributed to rigging voting and controlled the minds of The masses with propaganda of fear to keep people scared to think outside there narrow box. I am opposed to the illuminati and the elitist who run skating and act as if it is an open minded art form. I hate killing whales and I hate the Japanese’s government not the people , for slaughtering the last dolphins on earth. I hate the Canadian government not the people for letting nefarious people kill seal pups with clubs and electric prods. I want Ted Nugent’s head on a pole mounted to the front of my car as I drive by his mothers house. I hate 150 buck a month medical insurance I pay due to the fact I am not employed by anybody on paper. I hate the fact that I do not have a day job in skating even though I gave my soul and blood to it for over 17 years now. I hate the fact that something as median as a pressure flip can cause so many to rise to levels of hate. I think it is funny how we are post to unite as skaters and be agent’s carbon copy’s but we end up all being one. Politics is dead apathy is in and people fallow the trends look when Clinton was in office weed was huge. Bill smoked it so it was okay by the masses. When W got into office he was on coke and look now cane is the new weed I cannot go to a bar anyplace and not hear snorts from bathroom stalls in la. People are sheep. They fear me because I remind them of a dark time in skateboarding. When there was no cash in it and the ones that were in it were for passion love and addiction. Not greed range rovers and hi fashion bullshit models etc. They never want to see the days of CHRIS FISSLE surface. They never have helped me. Ad,s contracts hook ups etc I been slammed on beaten but never defeated the circumcised mind state they breath everyday is to not rock the boat and bow to there master. I will be here well after there jobs are fucked
DUE
to there master axing them due to a pie Graff not being up to par.

I will be here long after they decompose due to the fact I am not in this shit for a Lexus or gold chain or to drink like a rock star. I am here for skateboarding.

6. Fuck yeah, man. Tell me this, do you foresee another burst of the skateboard industry bubble? Like maybe another early 90’s era? I mean, there was once a day when you could open up a skateboard magazine and see a twenty shot sequence of someone doing a trick on a parking curb… now people are hating on other people because of the way they manipulate a skateboard… is this what skateboarding is going to be as a whole, or do you think we might see the industry collapse on itself and get back to reality?

That is such a complex question at hand. The skate industry is based on trends. Look at this dumb knit cap pivot to fakie trend on natural wedge spots trend? I mean it was dope when fired Gall was doing them switch in the sub zero video. But now every lil fuck who thinks they are earthy or worship JAH or whatever wants to find a steep wedge and do a piv fakie pic or clip. It is played out but the sheep keep fallowing. It is lame like how can a guy ride for a corporation like element and claim he is down for JAH. Element has sweat shops for sure. I am no better but I admit I am a evil fucking being. Others try to build an image to hide that from the real world. Skateboarding is loosing cash due to trends. And not being Diverse. Zero sells more boards due to the fact those who fallow it toss there corps down huge rails and snap boards. They company’s that have strictly piv fakie guys on board loose cash due to the fact you cannot snap a board on a piv fakie. Then the industry cuts jobs and fucks over people due to the trends they let happen. The industry is just going to build more and become more of a damn fashion show and less about true art or skateboarding and more about trends and what trick is cool this week and what guy is cool and “what tricks are not cool” skateboarding has become a bunch of trendy fucks who strive to fit in and conform. Back in the day it was the polar opposite.

I hope it skateboarding goes the way of roller skate rinks and dies down to a small core few. I hope the money from nbc quick time espn mtv red bull and others who have nothing to do with skating and do not know the difference between a 360 Ollie and a 360 kick flip all die and get fucked by there stock holders, I hope it shows up in a vh1 show as a trend of the 90,s or some shit. Then we will see who loves skating or who loves profit. The fat fucks who have not done an Ollie up a curb in over 20 years will go find a job selling car incurrence or at Cosmo girl or some shit as the real skaters who bleed and die everyday will still be doing there thing. The industry is going to grow from shoes and clothing. Nobody skates it is just the trend of the moment and girls and dudes want to rock dc shoes but have no clue who dandy or Colin are. TAHEY THINK IT IS RAD DUE TO THAT BLINK 287? Guy rocking dc shoes . they could care less if dc has a hard hitter on board like ran gallant. Deck sales are going down due to narrow minded people running the company and not expanding there team outside tight pants and hand rails or on the other side of the Spectrum big pants and hip hop. Real / krooked and enjoy and baker sell well due to the diverse teams and different taste in tricks and life that are under there roof. Others faultier due to huge ego’s. there are a million good skaters so the formula has to change .
personality is going to sell decks. Not skills alone. Look at skating back in the day. Ed Templeton was there for the art kid who was pc and vegan to latch onto. Then you had Jeremy Klein and wade Spyer / slayer for the kid who loved meat and littering . the diverse personas of skating sold boards. Now they all look the same skate the same and act the same in a interview bland and boring as fuck. That is why board company’s are hurting and why small board co,s like traffic do well. No over spending in range rovers no 400 grand a year advertisement team and no filler. Gorilla tactics won cub why cant it work as well in skateboarding????

7. What’s your role as a pro skateboarder?

To be different to not conform to any other. This is incredibly hard to do in a pool of skaters that all try to hard to be different. The bottom line is there is this tribe of elitist pricks who think they are the next goons or the next rowelly on every corner and they end up on the nollie heel down 12 step boat with everybody else. My Life has been a typhoon of shit from rejection letters as I try to get a job to video parts never dropping due to political bullshit and pressure flips not being cool. People say skateboarding is open minded but it is the most narrow art form and sport to ever step foot on the earths crust. There are more meticulous anal stuck up Close minded people in skateboarding than in fashion or Hollywood combined.

My job being a pro skater if I was a pro skater Which I feel I am not. Due to 6 years of bullshit. Would be to open up peoples minds. Help them think different than sheep and to bring comedy to the table in a time of apathy and chaos and turmoil. I am just an entertainer like a juggler or a pool shark. Mix that with creativity and hours of fun on a curb and you get what skating is about.

It is my main job to get under the SKIN of those who do not skate but run skateboarding. It is my duty to keep people in check when they sell out and to ruin anybody who fucks with real skaters. No matter the cost. I think skateboarding saved my life. I never had any talent in any field other than skating and I can tell you any fact you need to know about skating. The sad thing is skating is dead and I am a man who needs his methadone everyday and if I do not go out and skate at least one hour a day I go threw withdrawals and become an asshole prick. Skateboarding has been dead sense xgames and mt dew and Arbys got into it and these so called core company’s back them fucks. I hope somebody can bring skating out of the grave and bring it back to its roots in the underground. I am sad to say it might never happen as long as corporations think they can profit off our blood….

8. Speaking of blood, how is it that skateboarding can be a multi billion dollar industry, lots of people (pros and ams alike) can be given the responsibility to represent a particular company, yet they’re very rarely offered health insurance? Should sponsored skaters start a union or something? It seems that they’re practically disposable in the eyes of the industry sometimes.

True. I agree . I know for a fact that what you stated is true. I have to give respect to jamie thomas at zero for taking care of people uin the afterlife. for instance drae jones works there as well as anybody from sd who was huge in the 90,s . he helps out skaters from the past. i think you are right a uninion would be rasd chris gentery tried to stasrt one but it was sum lame vert dog contest whore thing. it pisses me off how a owner of a compeny can drive a bentily have 2 houses when his riders are getting 2 grand a month to live on and no med insurrence. dental or any game plan after they are not selling, i mean there should be a deal hat after the fact you should have a job lined up at the place u rode 4. like jeremy klien at b house kendell at santa cruz and jason maxwell at syndrome. i have to give props to the above for helping out riders. medical is a huge deal 4 sure. fuc the rich help out the ones in a ditch you know?

9. When I was a kid, none of us ever uttered the question “how do I get sponsored?” Back then (80’s, early 90’s), sponsorship was something reserved for the select few… the elite (and I mean elite in the special & rare way, not the country-club-dining-Mercedes Benz-driving sort of elite). These days, it seems that when a kid learns how to drop in on a ramp, he immediately starts wondering how he’s going to get hooked up by Element or something… am I crazy in making this observation, and if not, what do you think has caused this change in mentality from the kids who were at one time just fans (only to become fans with a sponsored-skateboarder agenda)?

i agree kids are to spoiled now and just want fame and forget about
the fun and great times that come from just skating. asaop rock said
that it is true with rap as well very kid wants to be a mc now and
there is no fans that just like the music. the same is here in skating
kids just want to take u out not respect your histery.

10. Who is Cheazy-E?

eric barry aka best switch heel in the biz aka the actor who was on b
town public. he is a funny dude….

11. Recently there’s been a big stir in the industry concerning the way blank skateboards may (or may not) be affecting the paychecks of pro skateboarders… have you been following this debate, and if so, what’s your take on it?

pro skaters make to much anyway. fuck um it is karma for maxing out
visa cards on trips to barca every month and buying gold bullshit for
there neck wjen kids are starving around the globe. fuck pro skaters,
fuck there fake image shit acting punk rock and driving a 70 grand bmw
do not mix. in skateboarding it does but karma can call u out on it.
blanks are good there the same shit just not painted with some fuck
nuts name on it.

12. What’s the most fucked up thing you’ve ever witnessed on the industry side of things?

not giving pros medical insurance.

13. I often hear comments by kids and (what I believe are) overly cynical skaters that claim that “X” skater has “no style” or even “bad style”. I don’t really understand that illustration, since style is completely subjective… I mean… it’s like saying “this shade of blue sucks dick!” I find it to be hypocritical when I hear something like that applied to you in particular. I’m going out on a limb here, but when you see someone like Mullen or Gonz, two skaters whom I appreciate more than just about anyone, I can’t really say they have a graceful style, but they still have style… hell, they reek of style… they may not have that Ray Barbee or Marc Johnson smoothness to their skating, but I see the roughness of their style as equally, if not more, interesting to look at. It really gets to me when I consider the fact that there have been contests in the past in which “style” was part of the judging criteria… I just don’t get how anyone can judge such an abstract and flexible concept. My question: In your own definition/opinion… what is style?

I agree with you. it is so fashion show. Next thing i know skaters
will read Vogue and Cosmo and rock turtle necks and shit. who cars
about style that shit is for fashion show kooks not skaters.
i hate that shit we are post to all skate different.

14. How did you wind up on TV?

i went to willy santoses house one day and he told me laban and ted
were going to shoot him for this free dvd thing in the skateboard
trade news. then I re met ted and laban and we chilled hard. then they
thouight i was funny. they got my number and asked me to be apart of
the show. asked me what I wanted to do I told um lets just go crazy
and it worked out. lol…

15. Finish this: In the year 1017, Nate Sherwood…

i hope to be alive healthy and have a good job that makes me smile

16. What role does religion or supernatural belief play in your life? The reason I ask is because I’ve been seeing a lot of overlapping of the two… from Christian Hosoi (whom I respect a great deal), to companies like Untitled Skateboards that are trying to use skateboarding as a vehicle for pushing a religious agenda. It seems like that religious push has really increased in the past few years.

i love the lord. or Lords. not sure if it is many or one women man a
carrot or just the genome in a DNA spool. we could all be recarskated
into Addams in dirt then work our way to seed life or etc and god just
wants that us on earth, god creskated the sky the moon the stars etc
it is endless i think god is busy and has a ton to do and he she
whatever the lord is can make a sun set so why would he write a book?
i am in noway a antsiest those people are out of there mind. i know
the power of god is real for my life has been spared 2 times by his
grace. when i had Meningitis i was pronounced dead by Dr fricks at
scripts and i came back to life in a morphine drip. this was rare let
alone almost impossible the DR fricks said in his report. this is a
medical doc who works in the ICU with everything from gun shots to
blue baby’s etc. and my case is still under study by the scripts
hospital staff. i only lived by gods hands. i was dead. plane and
simple my family was in tears and I Lived not only did i live but i am
not blind or have any nerve damage in my legs arms etc. i pray to god
and thank the lord whoever he is for saving me that day in September 1
03. i was in the hospital for a month still after that but i lived. i
owe god big time for that. a week ago i had a temp of 103 and was
freaked out i had the flu i asked god to not kill me and boom i made
it. so i know god has my back i know he is the all powerful and i
would never take his name in vain or say anything to piss him off. i
am down to glorify him in all that i do and am more than happy to hype
him up for saving me and i am stoked he has by back. i owe him
everything for every breath i take and every good or bad day i have.
the whole staff of that hospital still trip out when i go to my post
op visits with Dr ling. i am a folk tale or something. it is odd. I Am
not with the 7 day poof earth was here thing i know that the earth is
billions of years old and we have hard avoidance of this. the bible
thumps i hang with who i love for there love of god as well hate
science. this is wrong i cannot see why god did not take billions of
years to creskate the earth. why did it have to be 7 days by the roman
calender? maybe in gods life 7 days is 900000000 00000000 600000 80000
100000 tril. years?

i have a shark tooth that was dug up in an African dessert by m friend
Lisa Buckingham. she carbon skated it and it is 50 mil years old. i
have a mil mil old tooth of a rare shark in the Essene Ara of earth.
in my room. now a bible thump out say it was planted there by left
wing radicals, lol how does a shark tooth end up in the dessert ? at
one time the dessert was an ocean. 50 mil years ago. simple and easy
to imagine but for a Bible bro they would try to say u r insane. now
who are you going to listen to a dude who reads a book all day o a guy
who has gone to Harvard? that is where i draw the line. i think god
would be pissed to if people are to dumb to get his meta fores in the
bible.
people are too dumb for god to spa to them that is why he had Jesus
make a fun pop up book to keep them in line till he could come up with
a better way to speak to people. i mean who knows what the truth is
but coveting the next door neighbor’s ass is not really a thing i
would think god would say. i mean man would but god would not stress
out on some dumb shit like that. who has an ass now anyway? last time
i checked there was no mules in any house? so we know he meant not to
get jelled out on the sports car next door. see metaphorically
speaking. so i cannot hang with the ones who think the stars are just
made 4 us to look at at. there suns and they have plantes around them
and other forms of life. we are not alone. how could anybody think
that? humans are dumb fucks. look at what pople like on tv? lol.

17. Did you intentionally make an effort to become a pro skateboarder, or were you just at the right place at the right time?

right place right time. i went to slam city 99 with this chick shilina
i drove from portland to vancouver in 6 hours and we hung ut i entered
the comp 4 fun and then i got props and my friend ben told me i should
go pro so i did 4 the fucks at vision turned me pro too errrillly it

18. Was Brad Dorfman as much of a kook as he appeared to us from the outside? Any tales to tell about him?

that man is a fucking con man cane head coke loving pile of evil shit
as clown colon diving monkey fuck who should be hung upside down by
his cock and beat to shit with his own arms after there cut off by a
kichen aid blender mixer. he jerked me gonz gator and so many more j
kopp etc u name it.
he told me to go to Tampa and send him the receipts to be paid back
then i did and he never sent me one cent. that was the tip of the ice
burg he would make me Any Filmer’s and photogs with a board not boards
but a a board. plus he never took in put well never did ads with
anybody and was stuck in 86. fuck that cock sucking pile of shit. he
sucked ass i would kill im if i did not fear prison so much i wish
gator would have killed him and not that poor girl it would have been
rad he would e a Martyr to me if he killed brad fucking dumb ass
dorfmen.

19. On the flipside, who are some people you’ve worked with in the industry that you feel are in it for all the right reasons?

mike v . ryan clemens. eric stricker. mark waters. drew dorin. Chris
Ray. Donez ant and chris both. grant brit. anybody at 5boro john igie
Seu T. Chris Haslem. Patrick John Ladd. Ryan Golllant. Eli Reed. Tony
vALSINIE AT matix. D won is the most true guy out. he will talk to u
on the phone at peack mins about back yard arm wrestling he is so rad
. Willy Santos is real as shit to. he loves skating. Rp Bess is rad he
has a good heart as well as russ pope.
Eric Berry aka cheazy e is core as fuck as well. Birdo at
Consoliskated karma there real as fuck. Dan mostimoto my faith leader
is rad as it gets. Ted newsome and Laban are real they would cut there
cocks off for another man. patric weir as well.
jason maxwell gets a bad rap but he loves skating and is still ripping
but he has 2 kids so he i not around much but he will put his head out
4 cats. a ton og humans hate on him but he is dope as shit. nick
lockmen is rad he needs to skate more but he loves skating ad is not a
kool guy lover same goes for daren harper he is real as it gets 3 kids
sells crack to live. he rips and should have a shoe out. the world is
evil to the ones who love skating and are not fake kool guy loving nut
sack sucking fuck nuts. i hate the industery i love the in da street.
u know? Brian Wennning is real as shit his boy ian reed them to cats
are not freaked out of what people think of them. there raw.

here is a list of people who are in it 4 the wrong reasons.
ron whaley.
i used to think he was dope when he back smithed rails in 91 in
strange notes hell he was my hero but he fuct me over for not being
fully kool. he lost his heart and went to the dark side he needs to
come back or he will get more hate down the road. the dude used to be
so raw but now is mr kool guy lover. he needs to wake up and help out
the real b 4 he is just a fucking mark. i love his skating but his
mind has went full darth vader he was a jedi and now is just a fucking
tall fucker in a helmet….

20. Awesome man… I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your time. As for the last question: When are you gonna come down here and skate with the swamp trogs over here in Louisiana?

man as soon as i get over my surgery and get a job and get some real
cash to be able to to travel…. i love la laffeette is rad. pece
to all the trogs all overr

Nate can be found on my space by clicking here: http://www.myspace.com/natesherwood