Nate Harrington is a writer, photographer, zine maker, DJ, student and all-around nice guy. He’s a fixture in the small (but quickly growing) art and music scene surrounding The Smell, Family bookstore and the Ooga Booga boutique in LA. At 22 he’s written for ANP Quartery, published his own zine called Constantly Pregnant and DJ-ed top-shelf events on both coasts. Now he’s the latest addition to the VLU roster.

You’re a fairly young guy, but you seem to be an encyclopedia of sorts on music, art, writers, weirdo movies, and crazy ice cream flavors. How do you accumulate all your information?

I got into skateboarding when I was 11 or 12 and my favorite skater was (and still is) Ed Templeton. He seemed more damaged and less clean cut than most other skaters and he was an artist and I was really drawn to that. Seeing Welcome to Hell, which is still my favorite skate video had such an impact on me. That's how I got into Sonic Youth and The Misfits, because their songs were in that video and it just grew from there.

Since then I've been the kind of person that will hear about something and then go home and read up on it as much I can. Over time it has turned into me going through my friends libraries of records or dvds and asking them about things that stick out to me. If you talk to any of my friends, especially anyone older than me, they will tell you that I ask a lot of questions, but I am fine with that because that's how you find out about things. Similarly I will read interviews with artists I like and they will mention a book or a record that has influenced them, luckily most people I look up to are very inclusive about their influences.

What are some things you’re really excited about right now, besides minimal techno…

For me the most exciting thing right now would be the art and music my friends are creating. That’s the greatest inspiration I experience on the regular. I feel really lucky living in LA where there is a great sense of community. I think The Smell is still the best place to see shows but to me the community is much larger than just where I live. What community is to me is all my friends doing their own thing and just living whether it be in LA, New York, overseas, wherever. People and bands like Gang Gang Dance, Soiled Mattress And The Springs, Lucky Dragons, Soft Circle, No Age, Scott Mou, Matt Damhave, Ashley Macomber, Eva Michon, Wendy Yao, Brendan Fowler, Rusty Santos/Jesse Lee, Infinite Body, The Sads, and Oliver Payne & Nick Relph are all really pushing things forward.

What’s Constantly Pregnant?

Constantly Pregnant was the first zine I made when I was 18 or 19, it was all photos but it was only like eight pages and maybe 20 photos. Photography was my first love and I still love taking photos but there was a point where I stopped for a while because I felt it was too easy, you see it too much. Last year I got back into it and I want to do something with my photos eventually but the drive to show people my work hasn't been there so much. I think that's why the next zine I made was all interviews, because I didn't know how to do interviews and I think there is something really fun in the naivity of that.

Welcome Nate!