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NICKY
(From page 45) south, raging and com-
ing together like a big family. Total
excitement, me and my friends.
What was your most memorable
contest?
The one I enjoyed the most was in
Denmark because that's where I'm
from and that's where the best atmo-
sphere for me is in the whole world.
The best contest was probably in
Copenhagen at the Scandinavian
Open. Plus the European Champi
onships in Warrington, England, a
long time ago were really rad. They
had these horns. It was like an
English football match. Every time
you made a rad trick the people
would slam dance, there was so
much energy in the crowd. That was
in 1985 or 1986.
How Important is music in your
life and what kind of music?
I discovered music early because
my father was in a band. He played
the bass in a band called The Immi-
grants and did not want to go to war
in Vietnam, so they went to Denmark
instead and played music. One time
on the Danish hit charts the Rolling
Stones were first and The Immi-
grants were second. They made
three records in Denmark. They
played some good music. I have
some tapes at home. My uncle is a
musician and my grandmother in
Denmark used to sing. She had
records out in the late forties. Music
is very important in my life. I like
most kinds of music. It depends on
my mood. It's always been a big
influence in my life.
Are you political?
I just feel that people should try to
work together instead of working
against each other. In Denmark, for
example, they have thirteen different
parties, some communistic, some
socialistic, some neutral and some
other. There's a lot of working class
in Denmark. There are a lot of social-
ists and the government in Denmark
right now is capitalistic, conservative.
Do you like the Danish system?
It is pretty good. It has a good
safety net for people that are home-
less. If you don't have a job, you can
go to the social security and get
money. You can get a place to live
and get food every day. No one
starves in Denmark. Some other
things are not good, like the capital-
istic people saying that you pay a lot
of tax. Everybody pays like fifty per-
cent of what they earn. Hospitals are
free now. If you break a leg they will
take care of that. Mark just broke his
arm and he didn't have to fill out any
paperwork because the doctor knew
that he was in pain and it needed to
be taken care of. They trusted him.
Where do you stand on current
International events?
I say that I just want peace and
happiness. I like green trees and for-
est and nature. I don't think that we
should destroy that. Some of my
friends don't have respect for me
because they say that I'm a skater
and that I don't know about anything
but skating. They try to tell me that,
but they are wrong: I just keep quiet
because I feel like I don't have to
brag. I don't think that I am especial-
ly good or anything. I just see myself
as here standing on earth and skat-
ing around on my four wheels; I'm
having fun with that.
How long will that last?
I'm going to be skating forever. I
forever, but I wish they had an old
might not be skating competitively
folks league in the next decade, the
year 2000. I'm planning on taking it.
safe. I'm not going to risk anything. If
I don't slam and break my neck, I am
going to keep skating.
You like space, what about it?
I love science fiction. I was really
amazed by the ideas in Star Wars
when I was little. Space films and
underwater films are rad. In Copen
hagen they used to have this punk
rock club, but they took it down and
put in a planetarium with a big round
screen. They would show films in
there, in space, and they would show
all of these star signs and stars.
I'm amazed by weightlessness,
because in skateboarding you kind
of play with gravity on a big ramp....
you fly out of the ramp until the grav-
ity takes you in again. But in space,
you are out of gravity's pull all of the
time, weightless, just floating around.
I would like to skate on the moon.
You would have to have weights on
to keep you down and you would just
do the biggest ollie and grab it.
How would you describe your ulti-
mate skate experience?
The ultimate skate experience is
probably a big bowl with corners. In
France last year, they made this per-
fect wooden bowl. It was like two big
ramps facing each other with cor-
ners. Perfect for me would be twelve
o'clock at night in an open area with
some bands playing live music, a lot
of people dancing and a lot of chicks
hanging around. A lot of my friends
hanging out having a good time, the
biggest skate area right there lit up
and big vert ramp with true vert and
big transition, and then another ramp
right next to that with big hips all over
it. A street course for the street peo-
ple. Like a big festival in the middle
of nowhere.
What is your ultimate goal in
skateboarding?
I just want to skate really good.It
helps my body, it keeps me in shape.
This skateboard on four wheels, you
can use it for everything. You can
use it to keep your body and mind in
shape. You can grind things and you
can ollie things and you can get
around faster without polluting the
world. Pollution is no good. We have
to clean this place up a little bit. Big
factories and corporations need to
try not to make so much waste and
try to put filters on their exhaust
pipes. A lot of the money that they
use on the military they should use
for better things. They could make
homes for the homeless and they
could make youth clubs for young
(From page 52)
people so they don't get into street FLETCHER
gangs and stuff like that, places
where they could play pool, listen to
music, scratch records and write
raps like we have in Copenhagen.
That's what I like.
If you wake up one day and hear
on the radio that this is the last
day of the world, what would you
do? Describe that last ride.
I would drop in to a big fat alley-
oop tweak air over the channel and
then I would do an Indy air so high.
that I couldn't even see the coping
anymore. I would do the biggest
Madonna, then a big lien air and the
biggest one-footed backside olie tail
grab, then I would do a big air-to-
takie and then an alley-oop-to-fakie.
You feel that you have been a fair-
ly strong influence on the skaters
in your country?
I have achieved something that
maybe they want to achieve. I've
achieved being a professional in two
continents. I've skated with the pros
in America, and it's just rad to be in
Europe and skate with the people
there. People are going to say Nicky
Guerrero did this and Bod Boyle did
that; they went to America and skat-
ed the raddest spots. Natural street
terrain everywhere. Handrails, paint-
ed curbs, you can just go down in
the parking lot. It's natural street ter-
rain. People in Europe and the rest
of the world don't really understand
what that is. A lot of people from the
rest of Europe are going to be here.
When everything is said and
done, what would you like to be
remembered for?
Being nice and helping people out
when they need it. I would like to be
remembered as someone who
achieved a lot of things like being a
professional. There's a lot more that
I want to achieve. I would like to play
in a band and make people happy. I
would like people to be influenced by
my music. Rhythm music. I can play
a little bit of everything. I play guitar
and I play a little whip bass.
Are you happy with your life?
I'm really happy with my life.It
absolutely could not be better. As I
go along the way, I set more goals
and more things that I want to do.
Right now I am so stoked on skate-
boarding and I'm not even finished,
I've just begun. It feels like that. It
couldn't be better.
Could you ever do anything other
than skateboard?
Yeah, sure. One time I was work-
ing doing art stuff, typewriting, mak.
ing plates. That stuff really stoked
me. Or photography maybe, video
filming. I have a video camera in
Denmark. I could make a skate
video where the music fits right in the
skate scene. Music art.
What kind of colors do you like?
I like earth colors. Right now, I like
purple and yellow. If it was a picture,
I would like a big contrast, almost
black and white.
Do you change your mind about
the colors that you like?
All the time.
Do you use wax on your boards?
Mostly just Astro Deck and Ultra
Deck covering my whole board. It's
good for skateboards, too. It was the
original one.
Do you have kicks on it?
Yeah kicktails on the nose and the
tail. I walk over the board, hang five
in the tube, do floaters on the nose.
It's bitchin', just wrap my toes right
around it on both ends, my toes lock
onto the kicktail
Is your surfing ability paralleling
the levels of skating where you
see something radical and go "I'm
going to do that?"
No, because in surfing you have
fins so you can't really go backwards
very well because it automatically
spins you around the other way. Not
only that, you're always moving, and
there are a lot of things you can't do.
I did my first Smith grind the other
day on the lip. It was a weird feeling.
because I'm so used to doing that on
my skateboard, my board turned like
that and I'm all 'wooooeee,' barely
made it. Strange. Mostly I do regular
airs and stuff like 540 boardslides.
But, yeah, my surfing has definitely
improved in the last year because it
was just stalefish, liens and slobs.
Then it turned into indys and mutes.
Tweaking it backside sometimes or
coming all the way around and land-
ing almost backwards and then spin-
ning forward again.
What are the best conditions?
It's best in glassy conditions, and
then for stalefish I like a strong north
wind. That way, I kick it up and when
I grab stalefish the wind stalls me
there for a little bit and I get time to
let go and land it. When there's no
wind, you gotta go up, snap it and let
go real quick. That way you get on
top of your board with your weight
over the center of gravity.
Do you ever go out with your dad,
your grandfather and your brother
for family sessions?
Yuop! Down in Cabo and in Bali,
too. It was bitchin'.
Do you do a lot of travelling?
Yeah, I always bring my skate,
too. The only place I went without my
skateboard was Tahiti, and they had
a big ramp there. I was pissed.
Did you borrow a board?
Yeah, but the tail was all tweaked,
something from a long time ago.
somebody left it there or something.
Then my brother got a shot in Surfer.
Magazine on that board on the ramp
in thongs. He was skating in thongs
on a ten-foot ramp. Thirty or forty
feet of flat bottom.
Who shapes your surfboards?
Up to about six or ten different
guys, probably, depending on where
I'm at in the world. Nev Hyman
shapes my boards if I'm in Australia.
He shapes rad boards. And in
Hawaii Pat Rawson shapes some of
the best boards I've ever ridden. I
like getting concave in the tails on
my boards. It (Continued on page 86)
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