Okay Wilson (Robinson), let’s get this started. First of all, why don’t you tell us what it was like growing up on the iron range and trying to learn to blade?
Growing up and blading on the range was honestly amazing. I started skating when Hibbing got its first skate park. Back then I would strap on the rec blades and air over the spine for six hours. When I met John Christy and watched him steezin around the park, I knew I wanted to look as cool as him. John and I started getting better at grinding and being able to grind small street rails. All our friends saw how much fun we were having and decided to strap up, too. From then on we always had a huge crew, a steady group of dudes who all just wanted to get better. Eventually, more street skating and filming got added to the mix and it all took off from there. The crew of dudes has steadily changed, but I have always been extremely fortunate to have motivated, cool dudes surrounding me, making me want to keep blading and filming.
How did you and Josh (Ulrichsen) become friends?
I got a scholarship for spring board diving at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, all four years paid for. I couldn’t really pass that up even though I hated diving and didn’t know anyone down there. I moved to Green Bay and didn’t skate for like two months. One night I was drunkenly walking back to my dorm and saw a Valo sweatshirt across the parking lot so I chased it down. It turned out to be his girlfriend at the time and she introduced us. He was kind of dick to me at first which is hilarious seeing he is one of my best friends now, ha ha, but he was literally the only person I knew who rollerbladed so I just kept calling him and skating with him. Now Josh and I are a super productive filming team and really close friends.
How long have you been filming for?
I have been filming since the middle of high school, so I guess that’s like 6-7 years. I don’t really consider myself a filmer. I’m the one who has always kind of got stuck with it, ha ha. I’m glad I have always been the one to do it though, because it has led me to the coolest places and helped me meet the coolest people.
What was it like going from a camcorder to a DSLR?
It’s so miserable. The fisheye is dope, and the convenience of capturing is awesome, but everything else about it sucks. No zoom is so annoying, shakiness is annoying, tripod shots are boring, audio is miserable, and equipment is expensive.
