105: John Rattray/Predatory Birds

“To be lost in the dark is a different feeling than being lost with a map.”
John Rattray is one of the UK’s most successful and certainly best-loved skateboarders. His is a success story that seemed to mirror the mid-to-late 90s expansion of UK skateboarding as a whole, as he made the journey from his native Scotland to the States, and a breakout career as a pro on Zero.
And yet away from the spotlight, John’s life was marked by a series of personal and professional crises that affected his mental health and led to bouts of depression and anxiety.

Now John is bringing the singular energy and ferocious inquisitiveness that marked his skateboarding career to the conversation around mental health, depression and suicide.
He’s doing so in two ways – by organising initiatives such as his online Why So Sad? Mission; and by talking honestly about his own experiences, and what he’s learned from them, in that hope that it will help others and relax some of the taboos that surround the conversation around mental health.

The result is a conversation as honest as any I’ve yet featured on the podcast, and definitely among the most important. I’m grateful to John for trusting me to have this chat, and for approaching our exchange with such openness.
Listen to the episode here:
Some links if you have been affected by anything discussed in this episode:
Connect with John
Show Notes
- Having a Mexican with John two years ago.
- “Yep, still living”.
- Switch panel in Vancouver.
- Facilitating more conversations in skateboarding.
- Opening talk at Pushing Boarders this year.
- Skateboarding scholars.
- Underrepresentation of communities in skate media.
- The TED model.
- Agreements with debt.
- Psychedelic research.
- 3 years into his fundraising mental health awareness campaigns.
- Healing.
- “Being lost in the dark with a map”.
- “Depression doesn’t come from nowhere”.
- Giving yourself avenues to explore.
- Control the narrative to move on.
- ‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari.
- ‘Waking Up, Alive’ by Richard Heckler.
- ‘How to Change Your Mind’ by Michael Pollan.
- Loss of social connections.
- Private ownership.
- In-built community in skating.
- Michael Pollan on The Tim Ferriss Show.
- ‘The Botany of Desire’ by Michael Pollan.
- Ego and the Default Mode Network.
- Rewiring.
- Psychedelics in a professional setting.
- ‘The Doors of Perception’ by Aldous Huxley.
- Grief.
- 12 Month Comic Instalment.
- Sad plants.
- Why ‘Why So Sad?’ started.
- The Good Egg.
- Puns.
- “Mental health is a physical thing”.
- Finding a light-hearted way in to a tough subject.
- “Campaign isn’t a dirty word”.
- New skateboard?
- Biking 100 miles.
- Shock to the community with Ben Raemers.
- Personal struggles.
- Powers of safe spaces.
- Periods of transition.
- “I’m still going through the-life-after-skateboarding”.
- John’s LinkedIn profile.
- His work with Nike.
- Home in Portland.
- Glaswegian winters.
- Glasgow to Edinburgh bike mission.
- Second green card.
- “You just wanted to talk about all that stuff?”.
- Leaving Blueprint.
- “Was it one of the Conservatives?”.
- His ‘gap summer’.
- The Seahorses – You Can Talk To Me.
- 500 miles.
People Mentioned
- Owen Tozer
- Steve Douglas
- Bod Boyle
- Geoff Rawley
- Tom Penny
- Jamie Thomas
- Ben Raemers
- Michelle Pezel
- Everett Tetz
- Rosie Archie
- Joel Pippus
- Kristin Ebeling
- Jonah Bayley
- Joe Buffalo
- Madeleine Uggla
- Philippa Rattray
- Ivor Rattray
- Johann Hari
- Richard Heckler
- Michael Pollan
- Tim Ferriss
- Timothy Leary
- Jon Horner
- Lance Mountain
- Scott Pommier
- Ewan Bowman
- Louie Lopez
- Dan Magee
- Skin
- Danny Way
- Charlie Dark
- Cara-Beth Burnside
- Jamie Thomas
- Nick Jensen
- Tim Leighton Boyce
- Tim and Gendle
Places Mentioned
- Portland
- London, UK
- Brighton, UK
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Falkirk, Scotland
- Huntington Beach, California
Companies/Brands/Organisations Mentioned
- Zero
- Nike
- All Aboard
- Vancouver Skate Coalition
- Antisocial Skate shop
- Switch
- New Line Skateparks
- Why So Sad?
- Hull Services
- Skate Like A Girl
- Vancouver Queer Skate
- Pushing Boarders
- Scottish Association of Mental Health
- Grassroots Suicide Prevention
- The Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research
- Thrasher
- Raemers Foundation
- New Balance
- Kings College London
- Shire
- Blueprint
- SR Trade Show
- Travel Portland
- Hertz
- Black Diamond PR