it's somebody I don't know I'm not going to walk up and say, "Hi
how ya doin'? I'm Natas Kaupas." Some people say I'm an asshole
because I don't say anything when I skate with them. "That Natas,
he's big headed. He didn't talk to me when he was skating." What?!
Do I have to talk to everybody?
People expect more from me because they've heard of me. People
have read a little bit about me in the magazines. You're reading more
about me now, but you still don't know me. It takes a while to get
to know me. You certainly won't get to know me by seeing my pic-
tures in the magazines. You won't know how I skate, you'll just know
some of the tricks I do and have done.
Do you feel like your privacy is violated?
No, because these people are just assuming. You can't see me for
ten minutes and get me wired. I could just be in a bad mood for
those ten minutes, and you think that I'm an asshole. Someone else
could see me an hour later, and I could be in a good mood. I don't
want people to assume things from that.
What does skateboarding mean to you?
It's pretty important. If I don't get to skateboard for one reason or
another I get in a really bad mood. If I don't skate well I feel bad
all day. It's a way to express myself, let out anxieties and take the
pressure off.
How do you let out anxieties and express yourself at the same
time?
I go to the beach and ollie to grind on a curb, ollie the crack in the
curb and land back to grind on the next curb at high speed.
And that makes you feel good?
Real good.
How did you get to a level where you can release pent-up anxiety
by skating?
Instead of doing the same tricks over and over I make up a new trick
every day. I have enough control over the skateboard now that I know
what it's going to do. Like, for some people, it's probably easier to
skateboard than it is to walk or run.
Can you run?
I can run well. Because every once in awhile I get chased and have
to cross grass.
How would you describe your skateboarding style to somebody
who didn't know what type of skater you were?
The ability to adapt to anything there is. I attempt to make everything
skateable-walls, curbs, ramps, whatever.
Give me a situation you come up against and adapt to.
A block of cement, about two feet high and four feet wide. Not think-
ing, I ride up to it fast, wallride up and over it into an ollie. It's called
a wallie. A year ago that piece of block would have been useless,
no one would have done anything on it-maybe ollie to tail, ollie
to grind, whatever. But you adapt and expand and that opens up
a whole new thing. You can do ollie to mute grab, ollie to frontside
"They should be named obstacle
contests. I mean, how many streets
really have jump ramps on them?"
grab, 180° ollie. It continually branches out. That's why it's hard to
compare skaters. One person might go off and learn every variation
of streetplants while another will learn every variation of an ollie.
And then someone will ask, "Who's better?" And there's nothing
you can really say.
How has your skating progressed since you rode down the
driveway on your belly?
I moved up to my knees, then down the street, and then pretty soon
I was riding. I actually remember when I stood up, rolled a couple
feet and then jumped into the grass because I didn't want to get
too much speed. We'd go skateboarding if there were no waves. We'd
go surfing in the morning and skateboarding in the afternoon. We
skated a 12' bank called Cheerios. There were no ramps in our
whole area so we'd do ramp tricks on the little bank. We'd do tail
taps and little airs. I got bummed out after that because I'd heard
about all these tricks people were doing-flips and Caballerials and
stuff. I don't know why, but I stopped skating as much. Then one ▸
WAC