Name?
Well I go by a few names,, my real name is Josh Nesius,, I picked up the nickname Yoshi when I was a senior in highschool from an old boss and well it has just stuck ever since,, even my niece and nephews call me uncle Yoshi,, there are a few other names people have called me over the years that I just cant mention in this interview. Ha Ha

Age?
Well lets put it this way I am old enough to vote,, buy porn, cigarettes AND BEER,,,, hell if I am in the right part of town I can do it all at the same time.

You're from?
Well I grew up in a small town in NW Indiana called Griffith,, its right next to scary Gary,, over the years I have lived in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and now I am back in NW Indiana residing in Hammond where I get to watch coroners walk out from the woods behind my house with a body bag containing a 16 year old boy.

Sponsors?
Right now I get to skate for Black Market skateboards/footwear, Expendable Youth clothing(full throttle to the funeral),SlipTape, Woodland skates, Snot/notanotherskatezine(they are in some kind of transition right now im unsure what is going on. But i am still good friends with tht company and they help me when needed),,,, If there are any other companies out there that would like to pick me up,, hmm mm Independent Trucks,, hmm hmm sorry clearing my throat,, then hit me up!

So what's been going on with Black Market, anything new?
There is always something cooking hot over at the market. The new line has just been released and just re-released our hottest selling deck,,the Louis B,, its a Louis Viton rip off that kicks ass! Other then that there is a Baker rip off and a Night of the Living Dead movie poster rip off. The Danzig/Misfits/Samhain rip offs were the best,,, to bad Glenn Danzig and his lawyers didnt think so,, Black Market got a disist order on those. Other then that Black Market is also getting larger and turning into a distrubution company. They now carry a new line called Harvest, a wheel company, and some other things.. check out the new stuff at www.blackmarketskateboards.com there is too much for me to mention in this interview

How was the 2005 Volcom Damn Am?
Well the first year I was there I skated 60 miles in 14hours straight fully geared up(75lb back pack) from LAX to Volcom in Costa Mesa and slept on bus benches all week,, the next time i shown up I arrived in a Stretch Limo rock star style, Drunk at 10 am from the full stocked bar on the limo and checking into a hotel. Then last year 2005 I got a rental car ,, partied like a rock star,, hell even looked like one for the costume day (Gene Simmons from Kiss) and slept in my rental car. I dont know if I am improving or just having fun,, I vote for fun!!

Do you think rockin' the "Kiss" look got you more attention from some of the media guys?
Well over the years I have been getting some more and more attention. Hell Transworld said I skated to the beat of a different drummer. For some reason there is a small Yoshi cult following at events. I cant explain it but I am not saying it is a bad thing. Its fun. I just had to think of some stunt to do last year. I figured Tony T. dressed up like King Diamond at the Quicksilver bowl jam I was going to keep in tune and dress up as the main member of the All time greatest glam band ,,,,, KISS!!! Dressing up as Gene Simmons did get me alot of attention. There is a pic of me doing a f/s smith grind during warm ups for the best trick dressed up as Gene Simmons on damnam.com and skateparkoftampa.com and if you look closely my eyes are partially closed because I never had that many flash bulbs going off at the same time while I skated. Im suprised I landed that trick all I seen was spots for a little bit after.

What exactly is the Yoshi Flip?
OH that ,,, ha ,,its a frontside heel big flip REVERT,, well it all started with me doing f/s heel big flips on EVERYTHING. when i say everything i mean it. I do them in bowls, halfpipes, quarterpipes, eurogaps, stairs, bank ramps,, ,you get the picture. Well they named two things one year at damn am,,, one was a Fiero Flip,, thats nothing more then a Lazerflip(360 heel varial) to boardslide down a handrail. I was the first one to try that in a comp. Now you have Billy Marks doing one switch at the end of his toy machine video part(who by the way was skating with me in best trick when i first blew peoples minds when they seen someone crazy enough to try that). Then there was the naming of the Yoshi flip... I first did one last year at Damn Am in minnesota at 3rd Lair.. I accidently found the trick messing up my f/s Heel big flip up the Euro gap there. I figured out what I was doing wrong then started doing it on purpose. And BAM! new trick. I dropped in and did it first trick in my first heat,, first try. The place went nuts, the judges had no idea what the hell it was. It was the talk of the parties and get togethers all weekend long! When everyone asked me throughout the weekend what the hell it was i simply told them,,, oh its a frontside heel big flip REVERT! It just blew there minds and people started calling it the YOSHI FLIP. Now I do them flatland when the kids piss me off when we are playing a good game of skate and I want to give them all a letter. ha ha

What is Yoshi jamming out to currently? Any good bands you wanna plug?
Well I am always jammin to the old rock,, like T. Rex, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Aerosmith, Twisted Sister, etc. I have been skating to Johnny Cash in my MP3 player as of late. My girl has me listening to some new rock and there are two bands out there I think people should check out,, Six Ounce Gloves and Wolfmother. These are two newer bands I have been jamming out to lately. Wolfmother is another band out of Australia. That country has been pumping out some good tunes lately. Now Six Ounce Gloves are from California. This band kicks it hard. When their CD came out me and my girl had to order it because everyone was sold out on the first day it was released!!!
check out these two bands over at Myspace and you can hear some tracks,, I recomend "The Joker and the Thief" By Wolfmother,, and everything from Six Ounce Gloves

Anyway, how is it that you got hooked up with Black Market? Did they contact you or did you work on getting with them through the wonderful world of networking?
Well that is kinda funny story. I was riding for Snot skateboards and they went to cut the team and put the company on hold. We were already working on a deal that I would ride for Black Market Footwear so the owner of snot got a hold of the owner of Black Market and told him that he had first dibs on me before I hit the market. Within an hour the response came that Black Market wanted me and well I networked with them and struck a deal. Crazy thing is ,,I never went out looking to be sponsored. I just went out to have fun and do the thing I loved ,,, skateboarding. That right there is why my sponsors picked me up. They liked my style and views on the sport.

How sick is the skate scene in Indiana right now?
Oh man the scene is getting crazy out here. There are some kickin Rippers out this way. I skate mainly in NW Indiana in the Chicago region but I get around the state. The skaters out here are good but a lot of them just try too hard to get sponsored and all that jazz they lose touch what skating is all about and they stop having fun and then quit when they dont make it. I think that is the way it is all over right now though.

I've been out there a few times to Major Taylor for some events and to the Bloomington skatepark, there were some rippers. Are there any up and comers that you can think of?
Well I dont get to go down to central Indiana very often but I have skated with some rippers from down that way. Sorry guys if i cant remember your names but if you ever met me I told you from the get go I was bad with names and would forget yours within minutes,, i wasnt joking,,lol. As for up here in NW Indiana there are a few rippers,, Dustin Wilson and Jeff Walker: these two have mad ass style and some crazy board control. They can skate switch almost as good as normal. Joseph: Now I probally spelled his name wrong and he will slap me later but this kid has some mad ass hammers. He doesnt seem to stop amazing me with some of the biggest tre flips and just big gap skating he pulls out. Taco and Josh G.: These two guys kill the tranny. Taco used to ride with me on Black Market and well he still kicks some craziness. Josh just amazes me with some awesome control in the tranny.

So to wrap this thing up, give us the craziest experience or story that you have been a part of due to your skateboarding career.
Man there are so many things so many crazy stories. From watching Terell Robinson Tre flip gap to boardslide down a handrail at damn am last year to the crazy parties... watching top ams pissing on bars, to pros getting kicked out of clubs for being to wasted. All the way to meeting Andrew W.K. and getting to go on stage with them. But the main thing is with all my travels I am happy to be doing the thing I love......... skateboarding. For all of you people that have said skateboarding will get me nowhere... F you,,, where are you all now? sitting at home in a job you dont like and maybe leaving the state once every few years. Me hell I get to see this country coast to coast every damn year and have fun doing it!