CHAD FERNANDEZ.

"I DON'T GO LOOKING FOR FIGHTS"

Where does your hair go from here? Dreads?

Yeah, it's dreads. Probably get cut in, like, less than a year, I know that.

Were there any treatments to get it to this state?

Treatments? Just twisting it, I guess. Lots of individual twisting so it doesn't try and get all nappy and stick together.

Does it have a stank to it?

No, I wash it every day. Every other day. Enough about the hair.

You always kept a pretty clean appearance as a teen, what do your parents think about your new appearance?

They understand. They're cool with it.

What does your dad say?

He's conservative, but he's happy that I'm doing well, so he doesn't have anything to say about it. He's just glad I'm doing good in life.

Are you the star or the black sheep of the family?

I don't want to say I'm the star or anything. That's kind of hard to explain. I have a lot of brothers so I guess I'm kind of like the black sheep because I'm doing my own thing. I'm more like a rebel, but just compared to my brothers because they went to school and did their thing and I'm the one who did things a little different.

Do people ever mistake you for a celebrity?

Mistake me?

Well, I know you're somewhat of a skate celebrity, but do people ever think you're a bigger celebrity?

Perhaps Slash from Guns 'n' Roses?

I used to get that when my hair wasn't dreaded, but that was just from my friends. They know me so it's cool for them to say that. It's not like I was offended--I mean, Slash, he's pretty cool.

Do people ever think you're in one of those rap-metal bands?

People almost always assume I'm in a band. "What are you, a musician?" I get that all the time.

What's going on with World Industries? Considering its history, it seems kind of odd that it's primarily a vert team.

Yeah, I know, that is weird.

They're all good vert skaters.

Yeah. They're all good. I like the whole team. That's just... that's not my department.

Do you get involved in picking the team at World?

I used to a lot, but then all the guys I got on the team were quitting. They weren't happy They were going to go their own way anyway. It had nothing to do with me, but at first I took it kind of personally. Then I would understand that they were trying to figure out what was right for them. I'm still cool with all those people, hut it kind of soured me on trying to get dudes on the team. It made me kind of pissed off about trying to set people up. Like they would get all these ads, all this coverage, and then just leave. It kind of made me mad, but I'm cool with those guys.

Which new skaters are you impressed by?

Chris Cole. Chris Cole is one of the best skaters I've ever seen. Ronnie Creager. Anyone who does anything gnarly but is still well-rounded I give credit to. I'm not too into dudes who are just throwing themselves down things but can barely skate. There's so many kids who are busting out these days.

Has there ever been a time in your life where you've felt completely out of control?

I like to get crazy, have fun partying, like that, but I've never felt completely, completely out of control.

What is your most prized possession?

My car.

What kind is it?

A BMW 

Is it fast?

Yeah. It goes real fast. It's just nice to have something nice for once in my life.

What qualities do you most admire in a girl?

She has to be cool to hang out with. Attractive. Intelligent. Those are pretty much the qualities that are most important.

What is your biggest weakness?

I get pissed really easily. If someone ticks me off, I get mad really easily. But honestly, I've been controlling that, so I don't think that's a weakness for me.

Have you ever had a job?

Yeah, I have. I worked at this sandwich shop in Palo Alto, up in Northern California. I've also worked for my brother, factory stuff, making stuff--assembly and stuff like that.

Are you glad that's over?

Yeah. It wasn't that long, though. It was just about two years of doing odds and ends jobs.

When has being a skater felt most like a job?

In the past two years, because it hasn't been as fun. But lately it's been more fun, because I've been making it more fun. It just seems like in the last two years people have been busting out non-stop, all the time. It's almost like, "Jesus!" you just have to keep on going and going just to keep up. You don't have time to even learn new tricks anymore or to work on other things because of the demand to get stuff out. It's like, "Oh do this ad, do that ad," it's just like constant producing.

Who are skateboarding's pace setters?

Pace setters? Geoff Rowley. He's definitely one. I respect him a lot because he's an amazing skater who busts out and works hard and is also well rounded.

Are you a pretty assertive person?

Yeah. At times I'll learn my assertiveness. But lately I've been working on that. When I rode for Osiris a long time ago, good things were happening, but then things started to go bad and I kind of lost my assertiveness. You've got to keep on top of things.

Are there any older pro skaters whose career you'd like to emulate?

Caballero, he's been around for so long, someone like that. Ed Templeton. Ed's still going, though. He's still doing shit.

Hands down, what's the best Billy Idol song of all time?

"Dancing with Myself."

Better than "White Wedding?"

Yep.

"Rebel Yell?"

Yeah.

Best Van Halen song?

"Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."

Better than "Panama?"

Nah, "Panama" is better.

What's the most overrated thing in skateboarding today?

Skating handrails. There's too much emphasis on that. Even though that's what I love to do and feel like I'm good at and can progress at, but that was something I did before it got big, before it became the norm. I showed that in my video parts because it was something I loved to skate. Nowadays it seems like that's the standard, "Gotta jump down stairs, gotta jump on handrails,"

They make nice pictures.

They do make nice pictures, but it's not everything. I don't see kids noticing that. That's OK, though.

What do you foresee as your career arc? Where do you go from here?

I'm gonna do acting. I'm studying acting. I take classes and watch movies all the time.

Who's your favorite actor?

Sean Penn is my favorite actor. Just, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, every movie he's in is just classic. I could go into it.

Who's crap?

Keanu Reeves.

Yeah, he's pretty bad. Would you rather jump the Leap of Faith or fight Sheffey?

That's a tough one. I guess I'd rather fight Sheffey.

You think you'd have better luck with Sheffey than the Leap of Faith?

Yeah, because maybe I could talk it out with Sheffey With the Leap of Faith you just jump down and you could get really hurt.

Who are your regular skate friends?

It goes on and off. Sometimes I'll skate with Chris Cole, but he lives far off. I like skating with Ryan Kenrich. I'll skate with random people I meet up with at the skateparks. I've been skating with Danny Gonzalez a little bit. A lot of people. I skate with a lot of people. I end up skating by myself a lot of the time, because I skate a lot of gnarly stuff. You can't just go out and skate a 17-stair handrail. You have to gear up.

What qualities do you look for in a friend?

Someone who won't sell you out. Someone who has a mind of their own. Someone who's loyal, who's just down. Someone who doesn't judge you, but just kicks it with you.

How did you and Andrew go from being friends to enemies?

Actually when I was thinking about what makes a friend, I was thinking of everything that Andrew isn't. You know? He isn't loyal, unless it's cool to be loyal, with a bunch of people who decide it's cool. He doesn't have a mind of his own. Me and him were really good friends and I went out of my way for him and I felt like I was a good friend to him and he just sold me out. He'll never be my friend again and he can pretty much fuck off.

Do you wish Strickland was dead?

No, I don't wish anyone was dead.

If you saw him right now would you punch him in the face?

No. At the time I would have, but he apologized to me and my girl, so I'm pretty content to just ignore him. I just don't take shit. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it; if someone wants to say something to me, they're gonna shut the fuck up or something's gonna happen. I'm very deliberate. I don't tolerate any disrespect to me. I don't disrespect people and I don't go looking for fights. I don't go around with the negative energy of trying to beat people up, so it doesn't even occur to me. I just go and do my thing. But anyway, just remember, everyone who's reading this, what goes around comes around. And karma's a bitch.