A friend recently put Palace’s first (and for now, only) American acquisition in great context: “For a British company that seems pretty intent on staying British, you have to hand it to them. Out of all the Americans they could have put on the team, they chose Shawn Powers.”
The following is an interview conducted with Shawn at Tompkins Square Park late this past fall, by Lev Tanju of Palace Skateboards, with some help from QS. Photography by Brian Kelley and Emilio Cuilan. Videos by the Flipmode Media Empire.
Unlike past interviews from talkative, heavily opinionated individuals, Shawn’s personality yields brief, sometimes bizarre answers. His eccentricities have been well-documented on video, but this is about as close as you can get with words. At least 20% of the things you’ll hear him say in real life are Drake and Big Pun lyrics, so this came out surprisingly coherent.
Where are you from?
Queens.
You lived there all your life?
Yep.
Growing up in New York, who got you into skating? Who were the first New York skaters that you looked up to?
My friend Joey from Queens had a skateboard, and it started there. I’d see Harry Jumonji, sometimes Quim Cardona, Billy Rohan. But it was mostly people in older videos [that I looked up to.] Christian Hosoi, Jason Dill, Lennie Kirk, Fred Gall.
How long have you been skating for?
About ten years. Oh, Rob Campbell, too.
You seem like a lone wolf sort of dude, you keep to yourself. Do you skate mostly on your own or with people?
Both. When I come to Tompkins, I skate with everybody. Usually, I like to skate alone at night, and film with Joe Bressler and Peter Sidlauskas. I wake up at night, I feel more alive at night.
What’s your favorite spot?
Tompkins, Washington Square Park, Flushing, the Triangle in Queens, that’s where I learned how to skate.
