Oftentimes, when I go somewhere with Angela Brown, the Editor of this fine rag, people instantly assume I’m her little brother. I’m used to it by now, and try not to get annoyed. To compensate for this, and to help people feel stupid, I always reply that she’s my ex-wife, but kept the last name because of the power it holds. So, I’d like to start this piece by clarifying that I am not related to Nate and Jordan Brown—unless you go back far enough, then I suppose we are all related.

Nate and Jordan Brown are a pair of identical twin skate rats hailing from Kaysville, Utah. Initially, when putting together this piece, I had fantasies of taking them out shredding and making them do the same tricks at the same time. But, even though they look alike and talk alike, and at times, they even walk alike, they actually have different skate styles.

There’s an old saying that men usually prefer two types of women: You are either a Mary Ann man or a Ginger man. The same is true of skateboarding. A skater is fundamentally either a kickflip man or a heelflip man. Nate is a heelflip guy and Jordan is a kickflip guy. Nate takes his power to big shit, and it’s safe to say that Jordan is a bit more of a tech rail killer. It’s probably a good thing that their styles differ so much. When they start popping up in videos more, that might be the only way for people to tell them apart.

There are always tons of questions that you want to ask when you meet identical twins. Nate and Jordan were nice enough to put up with my stupid twin questions, which are scattered throughout this article. When I asked them what twin question they get asked the most by people, the answer was simply, “Are you guys twins?” thus, proving how stupid humanity is––but Nate and Jordan were good sports about the whole thing.

Although their skate styles differ, I still had to ask the obligatory twin question: Are they connected telepathically? They can actually finish each other’s sentences, but I think this may be more coincidence than actual brain waves connecting. Ironically enough, though, Nate informed me that he and his brother are planning on putting together a video called Twin Telepathy where, “It’s going to be me and my brother hitting the same shit,” he said.

Then I wanted to know how the twins’ telepathic powers transfer over into their skateboarding. “Once Nate learned back tails, I learned them,” said Jordan. They can’t telepathically tell each other how to skate, but when one of them does take a gnarly slam, the other does feel the pain. How’s that for some twin shit?

I’d imagine identical twins do a lot of things at the same time. I can’t imagine them learning to talk and walk at different times. When it comes to Nate and Jordan’s skating, they literally started the same time on the same day.

I learned that they got into skateboarding from their uncle, Jason Brown––the same pro snowboarder Jason Brown who started Capita and used to interview himself in international snowboard mags. Jason was one of the first dudes to do hand rails on a snowboard, and used to claim that he wasn’t a snowboarder, but a skater who likes to snowboard. Talent definitely runs in this Brown family. When I asked the twins if they snowboarded, the reply from Nate was, “Yeah, but I’m a skateboarder. Snowboarding’s lame.”

Another super cool thing about being a twin is always having a buddy to skate with. That always pushes a skater, and it shows in how far these kids have progressed. Nate and Jordan are only 19, and last year, the somewhat-unknown pair came down to the Summer of Death Roughside contest and blew the socks off some well known Salt Lake rippers. Nate actually won the whole enchilada that day. I don’t see this pair being unknown by anyone for too much longer.

These days, Nate and Jordan claim Annex Skate Shop in Bountiful as their headquarters. Ezra Moss, the shop owner, has been bringing them up proper in the skate scene and keeping them out of trouble. They both work there from time to time, windexing the display cases and gripping decks for the local hood rats.

Ezra and the rest of the Annex skate team do a great job taking the twins out on skate missions, hitting untapped spots in the area, and getting footage. Like most sacred footy these days, it’s staying secret until it can be released at the proper time, and I wasn’t allowed to see any of it, which I take no offense to.

There is plenty to watch of Nate and Jordan on Annex’s YouTube channel, though. You all know how to use YouTube, right? You go on the Interweb and type in “AnnexSkate” in the YouTube search box, sit back and watch, and don’t spill your beer on your computer.

The twins make it to the big city of Salt Lake every once in a while for skate missions, but as of yet, they have no plans to make the move south. This makes a sighting of the albino duo down here a rare and pleasurable sight—like seeing a bald eagle—or more like seeing two bald eagles at the same time.

Aside from getting hooked up through Annex Skate Shop, Nate and Jordan share flow from Crux and Stereo. They also get stuff from their Uncle Jason’s new project, the Portland-based Red Clouds Collective, which does a nice job mixing fashion, art and man purses.

I also wanted to know: If one of them goes pro down the road and the other doesn’t, would they get mad at each other? Nate and Jordan both agreed that would never happen. These brothers get along tremendously, and I can’t see them getting mad at each other for anything.

Another twin question we are all dying to know is if they have ever pulled a switch-a-roo on a chick before. Like, how it used to get done in bad ’80s sitcoms. Nate and Jordan told me that they didn’t think they could pull it off given the fact that Jordan’s hair is scummier. But seriously, if they both wore beanies and the same clothes, it could totally work.

Now, for some obligatory shout-outs and thank yous. Nate would like to thank the following shred heads: Matt Mia, Red Pants and Burke Nixon. “I also want to give a shout out to SLUG Mag! Ezra and the whole Annex shop and team, my sponsors Stereo and Crux (flow) and Red Clouds,” he said. Jordan would just like to thank Nate.