Alex Olson talks about 917, Austyn Gillette and Jason Dill

[LouisONeill]

Hi All,

I interviewed Alex Olson for DOSE Magazine about the 917 team fallout, his thoughts on FA, and why he and Austyn never ended up working together. I hope you enjoy!

https://doseskateboarding.com/articles/alex-olson-interview

[Gary Bucket]

Comics unleashed

[k-nutz]

Thanks for the interview.  I appreciate that Alex voices his thoughts and opinions rather than being all corporate white washed.

[BroBruhBra]

Damn, calling Dill annoying? Didn't Dill help him tremendously when he was younger?

This makes me not want to makeout with AO anymore.

[HORSES]

"Yeah, he's very cool. He's got a very unique style. I think that's really the key to standing out at this point in the game. You ever thought of recruiting him? What's he on?"



Interview should've been terminated there

[yungthug]

In AO's Bunt interview they asked him "last person you want on the sesh?" as part of their rapid fire segment and this was his response:

"I dunno - fuckin' Dill. That's the last person I want on the session, 'cause he's gonna be like 'fuck yeah'... like cheering you on, but you're like 'dude, I don't trust you.'"

[spanyard]

Great interview, but with all due respect, you gotta have another set of eyes proof read that for you my guy.

[shannamal]

"I was just looking at Zack Allen's Instagram. He's pretty cool to watch."

lol

[slappies]

I don't know how else to ask this without sounding shitty, but how old are you? I ask because based on the questions I imagine you're pretty young.

[ChronicBluntSlider]

AO’s the coolest as far as I’m concerned. Hope he does something interesting with 917. Does he really snowboard or was that some kind of weird troll?

[lemonchicken91]

 "How do you grow a skateboard company outside of skateboarding without it becoming like Element?"
lol dude is very self aware and honest

[Don]

Too much interviews, Alex, let it go.

[skatingisntspecialstupid]

Why does he say, “I’ll say that much” about everything he says?

[Pete]

"I was just looking at Zack Allen's Instagram. He's pretty cool to watch."

lol

AO must really be grateful for Robin getting that shit into bakerboys right before it imploded. unless hes trolling. but thats where the interview got weird, you didnt know who zack allen was?

It's never been a routine for me. Before COVID, it would be wake up, do my routine and go to the mall, go to my office and just work on stuff.

lolwut. is the mall the name of a surf spot in malibu or something? or is he really just talking about being at a mall in the valley. power-walking with old ladies in teal fruit of the loom sweatsuits and a visor on at 7am or whatever



free max b

[Shrinedescender]

Great interview, but with all due respect, you gotta have another set of eyes proof read that for you my guy.

[alex]

Good read, interesting to get more insight into the FA thing.

[fakie nollie]

This isn't MMP or Chops so I refuse to read

[figureitout]

Thanks for the AO interview, i really enjoyed reading, i Also enjoyed the Ryan Allan one.

"Dose Skateboarding" on the other hand appears to cover some horrific topics, and most of what is bad in skateboarding.

ex) -Nineja's new board brand
      -that french guy that only skates parks and does ghetto bird flyouts
      -The Olympics
      -Mud Margera
      -Mike Alfred 9club  (or anything from those two)
      -Jordan Hammax's onlyfans
      -etc

[Pavs323]

I enjoyed that.

After hearing all this stuff about what’s going on with 917 from both sides, honestly it feels like AO is a lot more self aware of the falling out than some of the dudes who left. I mean he’s admitted he wasn’t present enough and played a big part, but in my opinion, he has a fair point when he says he started 917 to take it in a direction he wanted, not what other people wanted. It seems like many of the team riders wanted to control the direction of the company, and I understand why Alex wasn’t down with that. And if because of that the team left, then no harm no foul on either side I say. I understand both sides perspective in that scenario.
What’s odd to me is Alex seems to understand that, but Cyrus in particular seems sour grapes about it in his Bunt episode. It rubs me the wrong way when people air out a ton of shit and then go “but I don’t really want to get into it.” Like buddy, you just did.
I don’t know, I think it just seems awfully contrived to put off this facade like you don’t want to talk a bunch of shit when you just did. (Which to be fair, Alex himself has been quite guilty of too.)
Intrigued to see where 917 goes next.

[Lou Strux]

Good read, interesting to get more insight into the FA thing.

I came away thinking that I didn’t really get anything new, re: FA, poaching, & the lot.
Did I miss it?

EDIT: I was hoping to get the inside scoop on how he wound up under the Baker Boys umbrella. Like, did they offer to bale him out of his debts to the wood shop if he gave them control of distro & a chunk of profits, or something juicy & insider.

[formula420]

Thanks for the AO interview, i really enjoyed reading, i Also enjoyed the Ryan Allan one.

"Dose Skateboarding" on the other hand appears to cover some horrific topics, and most of what is bad in skateboarding.

ex) -Nineja's new board brand
      -that french guy that only skates parks and does ghetto bird flyouts
      -The Olympics
      -Mud Margera
      -Mike Alfred 9club  (or anything from those two)
      -Jordan Hammax's onlyfans
      -etc

So basically dose talks about the same things slap does?

[alex]

Expand Quote

Good read, interesting to get more insight into the FA thing.

[close]

I came away thinking that I didn’t really get anything new, re: FA, poaching, & the lot.
Did I miss it?

EDIT: I was hoping to get the inside scoop on how he wound up under the Baker Boys umbrella. Like, did they offer to bale him out of his debts to the wood shop if he gave them control of distro & a chunk of profits, or something juicy & insider.

I say insight, but it is more like piecemeal with this stuff. More just after the last interview and getting small mentions about AO's opinion on FA/Dill and now finding out one of his gripes is the way they've gone about acquiring a team makes me wonder specifically who he's thinking of or whether they're doing more than a bigger paycheck to bring people over.

[fakie nollie]

alright, glanced at the interview. That said, I went to the Volcom outlet in the mall looking for a good pair of board shorts (left mine at a public pool a few weeks ago and the temp pair I got fits poorly). I walk in and they have all kinds of stuff for sale: keychains, wallets, belts, etcetera. I’m looking through all of the shorts and low and behold, guess who comes to assist me with my purchases? Alex fucking Olson. I immediately tell him how cool it is to meet him in person and that I was sorry the entire 917 team quit on him. He opens and closes his hand in my face, hyperventilating through his nose and starts rolling his stomach (said that it purified his blood? I thought that’s what kidneys were for?). I go to checkout with my new shorts and he scans them 4 times, knocks on the desk 3 more times and says “7 lucky 7 to avoid intefference!” (I don’t even think that’s a word). I ended up paying 4 times the cost of a single pair due to his scanning but that’s ok. Times are probably rough for him. I told him deserved it to ease the mood.

[swishfrontblunt]

Looked like he spent a week or two at Mammoth this spring based on IG stories, dude probably has some buttery style on the slopes but disappointed he didn't post anything from the skatepark there.

[winnasoda]

Well done interview I’m happy for more reasons to shit on FA.

[BroBruhBra]

Looked like he spent a week or two at Mammoth this spring based on IG stories, dude probably has some buttery style on the slopes but disappointed he didn't post anything from the skatepark there.

Saw some videos from then, I think, of him carving on some speedy looking directional board, and yea style for days.

[too fakie]

Damn, calling Dill annoying? Didn't Dill help him tremendously when he was younger?

This makes me not want to makeout with AO anymore.

Ever been friends with someone that you ended up being annoyed with as the years go by? Now pretend that friend is Jason Dill. I’m a Dill fan, but I still find him annoying at times.

Can’t really blame AO especially after Dill started poaching his guys. Sounds like he never came to him before hand to talk it over which is what you’d expect from a friend.

[manysnakes]

Expand Quote

Damn, calling Dill annoying? Didn't Dill help him tremendously when he was younger?

This makes me not want to makeout with AO anymore.

[close]

Ever been friends with someone that you ended up being annoyed with as the years go by? Now pretend that friend is Jason Dill. I’m a Dill fan, but I still find him annoying at times.

Can’t really blame AO especially after Dill started poaching his guys. Sounds like he never came to him before hand to talk it over which is what you’d expect from a friend.

Yeah, I love Dill but he seems absolutely insufferable at times.

[BroBruhBra]

Expand Quote

Damn, calling Dill annoying? Didn't Dill help him tremendously when he was younger?

This makes me not want to makeout with AO anymore.

[close]

Ever been friends with someone that you ended up being annoyed with as the years go by? Now pretend that friend is Jason Dill. I’m a Dill fan, but I still find him annoying at times.

Can’t really blame AO especially after Dill started poaching his guys. Sounds like he never came to him before hand to talk it over which is what you’d expect from a friend.

Oh, I get it. I just think it could be handled differently. There are people in my life who helped me at a point but I'm no longer friendly with them. Out of respect for the help I wouldn't bring it up and if I had to I'd say, "well some things went down that I didn't feel great about and we went our own ways." If anyone cares enough they can look into the subtext on their own.

The way he handled it wasn't very graceful, although I assume he's not wrong.

[dallou]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Damn, calling Dill annoying? Didn't Dill help him tremendously when he was younger?

This makes me not want to makeout with AO anymore.

[close]

Ever been friends with someone that you ended up being annoyed with as the years go by? Now pretend that friend is Jason Dill. I’m a Dill fan, but I still find him annoying at times.

Can’t really blame AO especially after Dill started poaching his guys. Sounds like he never came to him before hand to talk it over which is what you’d expect from a friend.

[close]

Oh, I get it. I just think it could be handled differently. There are people in my life who helped me at a point but I'm no longer friendly with them. Out of respect for the help I wouldn't bring it up and if I had to I'd say, "well some things went down that I didn't feel great about and we went our own ways." If anyone cares enough they can look into the subtext on their own.

The way he handled it wasn't very graceful, although I assume he's not wrong.

I mean he did not say anything bad and you don't know anything about their falling appart