Episode 81 of The Nine Club with Chris Roberts sees Alex Olson sitting down with Chris, Roger Bagley and Kelly Hart to talk about growing up in Santa Monica/Malibu CA, his dad Steve Olson, being un-schooled, getting flowed by Black Label, Toy Machine, Foundation, Jason Dill asking him to get boards from Alien Workshop, getting on Lakai & Girl Skateboards, almost getting on Gravis Footwear, leaving Lakai for Vans, then leaving Vans for Nike, moving to New York, starting his own companies Bianca Chandôn & 917, becoming vegan and much more.

Growing up with skateboarding by default due to his illustrious parentage, from his rise to prominence with Girl Skateboards and Lakai to his recent company 917 (the first release from which, The 917 Video, was one of the surprise hits of 2017 which we can highly recommend watching if you somehow missed it) Alex has been in the skateboarding public eye for most of his life and managed to so far avoid the pitfalls which can come with such a position. There’s not even a hint of ‘doing a Nyjah’ or ‘doing a J-Casanova’ in the public eye so far – in fact he comes across as a fairly level headed dude in this one and has plenty of stories to boot, from getting punched in the face by Mic-E Reyes to Jason Dill buying him his first ticket to New York City after a Myspace message and plenty more. Having been involved with seemingly half the major board companies to come out of the USA may be an unusual way to deal with the pro skateboarding life, but it undoubtedly leads to a wealth of tales to tell…

The Nine Club seems to have definitely hit its stride over the last few interviews and this is another solid watch – once you’ve got through a brew or two watching this one, refill the kettle and get settled in with their lengthy back catalogue.