Big Germ — An Interview With German Nieves

📝 Interview by Ted Barrow
📷 Photos by Anthony Claravall, Corn, Pedro Raimundo & Zander Taketomo

To follow up our release of German’s part earlier this week, Ted Barrow interviewed German about what it’s like putting out your best video part at 47, plus much more ;)

+++++++

When did you start skating, German?

I really started skating around 10 or 11.

So like ’87.

Probably yeah. I used to ride a lot of BMX bikes with my friend Andre Rivers. He lived around the corner from me. We were into dumb shit, man. I would take these missions on our bikes to this other town called Fairlawn [New Jersey], which had this BMX dirt track along railroad tracks. I remember on our way back home one time, I seen these skaters with a launch ramp in a basketball court.

It was a couple white kids — like tall or older, they just looked cool, kind of on some punk rock shit. I was like, “Yeah, [let me] try your skateboard.” I remember first thing I did was try to drop in off this launch ramp. It’s the first thing I wanted to do.

What was your first trip for skating into the city? You know, like into New York.

I would go into the city all the time because my mother would go. She’s from New York, but my first time going into the city skating with my friends — I was like 13, 14 maybe?

It was me, Andy [Bautista] and Bobby Puleo. And Puleo drove his blue Chevy Nova. He could only fit two people in the car. I seen Harold Hunter, we went to The Banks and he had like the cutoff Half Cabs. He was doing back foot kickflips on the Banks. It was kind of surreal, just seeing those banks. It seemed so like epic at the time, you know? Being mad little and seeing that; I was like, “Who are these dudes?” I seen Harold, and it just looked like this was his place.

I remember interviewing you about The Banks a long time ago. It was like 2007. You ended it by saying something to the effect of like, wherever good skateboarding was happening — whether it was like Barcelona, Philly, New York, wherever — that’s where you wanted to be. And I thought that was such a cool way to put it. It was really meaningful. Considering that half of this part is filmed in Europe and you’ve been living in Portugal for a while, I want to like shift gears a little bit and ask what brought you out to Portugal? Did it rekindle a new sort of phase in skating for you?

I had went there once on a trip with Anthony Claravall. And I was teaching tennis in The Bronx; I was living in Brooklyn. And I remember I had quit my job two weeks before. It was on my birthday, I’m gonna be in Europe, and I’d never been to Portugal. I met him there and I was like, “Man, this place is incredible.”

I went another two times and I was like, “Fuck, I just want to live here.” There’s just a cool little skate scene. It’s really small, but there are so many spots there. There’s just so much shit that’s not blown out. I mean, now you’re probably seeing a lot of footage these days coming out of Portugal.

Photo by Pedro Raimundo

Yep. One of the things I noticed about Lisbon is that there are good spots, but because of the historic quality of the city, the sidewalks are crusty and you can’t skate around like other cities. And maybe that’s a good thing for the scene because it keeps it small. It’s not as if you can just go to a place and blow it out. It might be more like an east coast city in that the spots are a bit crustier, even though they’re beautiful.

Yeah, I feel that way. You’re definitely riding away on some of those small tiles. I find something special about that city. It reminds me of when I lived in Philly; it had this little scene there that was just happening at Love Park and City Hall.

So it’s a plaza skating culture.

Yeah, I like that. I like to hang out at the spot, and just sit down, watch some skating. If I feel like skating some flat, let’s get some flat.

I was rewatching your Logic part and, and when you look back on that era, so many people were going to Cali and skating boring schoolyards, trying to skate handrails or trying push skating in a certain direction. When I look back at the type of skating that you were doing, it becomes more timeless because it’s in a city and skating in a city will always look better than skating on some campus, a schoolyard or some bland background. To your credit, being consistent, knowing how you want to skate and what you want to do and being able to do it for shit – man, almost 30 years. And you seem to be improving. What’s it like to film your best video part at almost 50 years old?

I know man. I’m still like a little kid. I mean you too, man. You’re one of my inspirations. I’m like, “Ted’s still ripping, so I can still do this too.” It’s not many people that I know my age trying to film. I like to see it look good or at least try to make a good production out of it. It’s not easy, man. There are days where I feel good, and then some days I’m just not as into skating. I haven’t skated in a couple of weeks, actually.

Well, this part’s done and it sometimes takes a little while. You got to circle the wagons a little bit, and also just focus on real life shit too.

I have bills to pay. I still feel like a little kid, but also I’m 47, and I just move the way I move that allows me to skate. I make sure I make the time to do these things so I can skate. I’ll say the reason why I’m still skating is because it kind of leads my lifestyle. I feel like I wouldn’t be living in Portugal if it wasn’t for skating. It’s my guiding light in a way and I can’t really give that up until I find something else that replaces what skating does for me. And it’s not always I go there and film a trick. It’s a good way to see cities, to travel and to meet people: like, “You skate, too? Yeah, I’ll meet you over there.” Create a day out of this.

Photo by Pedro Raimundo

I sort of realized that skateboarding was still the most rewarding thing and it becomes even more rewarding as you get older.

It really does man. I think the act of like, “Man, I’m still able to do this. I’m still able to step on my board and just push.” I’ve earned this right to do this in a way that makes me feel good. I don’t even know how to explain it. It sort of creates your own perspective of how you mold your life and these things in your world.

The young kids I see that are just dirt balls — I was that too. You’re still a part of them. Don’t judge anyone off age. You’re just skating with skaters.

You can immediately recognize that connection. It could be someone who comes from a totally different background, who dresses different, who skates different, but you can probably agree on about three quarters of the things that really matter in life.

There’s some scales that might be a little off, but there’s this unspoken code in a way. You can laugh about the same things.

Who’d you work on this part with? Who are the consistent filmers that you helped to build this thing? Because it’s a beautiful, beautiful part. And I’m not just saying that because you’re my friend and we’re about the same age. It’s fucking sick, dude. It’s like a love letter to east coast skating.

Thank you. Damn, man.

Some of the New York footage is pretty old, but a while ago, my friend Anthony [Claravall] was like, “Hey you should come to Brazil bro.” He was pushing me and I wasn’t really skating much at this time. And yeah, I went out there. I got one clip. And I feel like he’s the one who got me sparked on skating and to film a video part. It’s a switch 180 over a street gap. I don’t know how I did that. This dude Wilton did a couple tricks over it, no problem.

Photo by Pedro Raimundo

That was crazy.

Brazilians are amazing skaters. They have some incredible strength and finesse that’s special. Yeah, and this was what sparked me. And then we went to Portugal and Barcelona. We filmed a lot of that Europe shit together. And then with Paul Young in New York.

It seemed like there was this nice mix of classic iconic spots, like you open it up and you’re at a Grant’s Tomb. And then you have that manual pad bump thing in the East Village, a lot of like midtown, or that crooked grind over the gap at Baruch on 25th Street. And then it’s just cutty banks. It’s unexpected, characteristic but unexpected.

It’s something about landing into a bank that feels so fucking good. I think growing up skating the bricks — the Brooklyn Banks — helped mold that style of skating for me. I loved going to indoor parks back in the day with me Andy, his brother, and Puleo. We had a lot of indoor parks and I’ve never really been that good at skating a mini ramp or transition, but I like bank skating.

I think this part really demonstrates what a lifelong love of skateboarding is and a commitment to a thing. There are certain skaters where it’s like a consistent through line. It’s all really good. And the older you get, the more amazing that is. I’m giving you props; you don’t have to respond. I’m just saying it is fucking sick to see this part. It’s good for 2024. It would have been good for 2004 and it’ll probably be good for 2044.

I mean, thanks man. I had all this footage and I was like, “Okay, I can’t just put this out like regular. This is like a few years of stuff. I need to make it special.” Not saying that it’s amazing, but I wanted to make it look like a production. It’s fun man, getting the clip. It’s just so… I don’t know, it’s like winning the match. It’s like, “Damn I pulled through and got the win.”

What was the biggest struggle?

Probably the switch 180 over that street gap in Brazil. The thing felt fucking huge to me. And I was like, “I want to do this.” But 45 minutes into this shit, I’m sweating; my t-shirt is drenched. And I’m like, man, I don’t think I can do it.

It looks big, you can tell. And then the perfect 360 flip afterwards is just to show the sword is still sharp.

I don’t know, it was just what came out!

Photo by Zander Taketomo

I see a correlation between, this kind of classical plaza style of skating you do, and your brand Paterson, because you’re looking back at certain eras of tennis that inspired you. And some of it is the 80s, but some of it feels just like sort of loud and timeless in this cool way. What’s up with the brand?

I started this brand when I really started getting into tennis and I was like I want tennis to be a look for the brand. It’s not a tennis brand, but it’s a look for it. It was always a skate brand; I made boards for a while. I’m still doing the brand, but I licensed it — I did that so I could sort of live off the brand.

This video part is for the brand and myself. I started this brand in 2014 and it was basically a showcase of myself, tennis and skateboarding. And what better way to showcase it than where I’m from? I grew up in New Jersey and the name Paterson sounded heritage. It had this heritage sound to it. And I was like, this feels like Rawlings or Spalding, you know? It’s the tennis skate brand.

Your skateboarding looks good in all of these places that you’re skating, and it’s because you know how to skate in a city and you know how to be in an urban setting. It’s an expression of what you can do in a city.

It’s interesting where you place yourself in the world and it’s what you can do in the city, whether it’s skating or what you do in life as a skater, with a skater’s perspective. It’s a crazy thing to be a skater at your late 40s. I have a perspective of a grown man, but still have this sort of humorous young approach to life as well. I don’t really look at age.

Yeah, me neither. I sometimes tweak out about it because I’m like, “Shouldn’t I be older than I am?” I’m about to turn 50, too. And I’m like, like, “I remember what my dad looked like when he was my age.” And I remember what like, I thought someone who was 47 was supposed to be doing. I can’t believe this is what I’m doing when I’m 47, but I also wouldn’t ask for anything else.

Exactly, man. I’m 47 and I’m usually the oldest person at the spot with these skaters. I don’t know if skaters even think of how old I am. I think it’s just like skating with the homies.

Photo by Corn

I witnessed something really magical earlier this summer. I went to Sweden for the rebuilding of that section of Love Park. It was amazing. It was like everyone from Freddy, Penny, Shanahan and Jahmir, but also like Serge [Trudnowski] and Ricky [Oyola] and Roger Browne. Like I saw Roger Brown do a kickflip at Love in Sweden.

None of this stuff would be happening if it wasn’t for skating. It’s paved this way, of like, they’ve created this foundation and this scene. When I was little, motherfuckers was calling me “Tony Hawk white boy.” I had to fight. I was the only skater in the fucking school, man. And now if you skate, you’re cool.

It’s crazy to have a skater’s perspective. You’re almost a ninja or this sort of martial artist in a way. You have this insight into things and you know certain alleys. Any normal person wouldn’t go to certain skate spot places that skaters congregate at. As a skater, I see things way ahead.

That’s what I really noticed and appreciate about your part is you look natural skating midtown and also Barcelona and Brazil and also Portugal. That style of skateboarding looks good against any backdrop. But the thing that all those different backdrops have is that they’re in cities, that they’re in places where there’s other things going on. And that’s what I think really comes across in your part.

Thanks, man. When we were putting this together, I wanted it to feel like one of the pros that I looked up to, like a video that had a little bit of Barcelona and Europe footage, and their hometown footage. I wanted it to feel my age or express my approach to the way I skate and the style that inspired me. I wanted it to feel like Photosynthesis a bit.