Willow’s 2nd Kingpin interview

November 18, 2008 @ 2:24 PM

Willow (aka Christoph Wildgrube) Interview

Tell me, “Willow”—that’s a will-o’-wisp, right?

Huh? Nah. Do you know the movie “Willow”? I don’t know what to call it, it’s an elf, or a gollum…

Does that have to do with Lord Of The Rings or something?

Not at all, it’s like, a small fairy, or an elf. Small, with huge, pointy ears—it’s a styler. Small, thin, but equipped with a lot of power.

That fits. That’s where your name comes from?

That’s where it comes from. Small, flexible and sleek, but really powerful. My sports teacher gave me the name. She looked at me, and just said: “You’re Willow. You move like a small elf.”

Now, how many people get their nicknames from their sports teacher?

Probably not that many, but I’m happy with it. Christoph Wildgrube sounds a little bernd, that’s really deutsch. Nothing against my family name, that’s nice and all, but Willow is short and crisp, and it sums me up pretty good. A willow is a tree as well, a beautiful one too.

So, you consider yourself beautiful?

Not while I’m eating.

Now, you’ve been skating for quite some time now, and you went through a phase in Barcelona, where you suffered a kind of burnout. What do you do, when you’re not skating?

In Barcelona, I got myself a bicycle, and went up to the hill behind our house every day. I was hurt back then, twisted my ankle, and I wasn’t feeling to happy with my whole situation, so those tours gave me the power to get through those times. I was homesick. Petr Horvat, Foppa Forsberg, Eero Anttila and Simon were like my family back then, but it was kind of hard for me not to speak any German all the time. That sounds a little nazi-ish, but I needed someone to share my problems with. Philipp Vollmer came to Barcelona to do his civil service there, and I hung out with him a lot. I really wasn’t up to date around that time, I didn’t film anything for the Alis video, I wasn’t motivated at all, I was just fucked. I only went skating for myself, with the Spanish locals. I learned a little Spanish, but professional skateboarding, filming, and all that was beyond me, I didn’t give a shit. I was jaded. You know, you get a 12 stair set for breakfast, you have a certain trick you want to do, but then someone tells you to do another trick, because yours has already been done. That just fucked with me. We wanted to produce a good video, but it didn’t work out, because we wanted it too badly. That wasn’t skateboarding, that was more like training for track and field. Jump a little further.

You used to do that, too, right? Track and field?

And I was really successful at that. I started when I was eight years young, or somewhere around there. My father used to be runner-up champion in track and field in the GDR, and he wanted me to be a good athlete, so he was kind of like my trainer. I was sportive and talented, I succeeded in pretty much everything I tried. I was a really good sprinter, and long distance runner. I was fast. I’m not fast anymore, because I’ve been smoking for the last ten years.

Watching you skate tells all about your talent, I’d say. Now, if we take a closer look at the photos in your interview, the fs nollie for example...you told me that the backside version worked on the second try...

Actually, it worked on the first try. But you know how it is sometimes, you want to check it out before you commit. I could have done it first try, I knew the stairs and all, I just wanted to be completely content.

Where do you take your motivation from, what does skateboarding mean to you?

That’s really hard to say, where do I get my motivation from…

I mean, it’s obvious that after 15.000 switch flips, you can pretty much do them however you please, but taking your stuff down huge gaps and all that—what drives you?

I guess I just grew up with it. I grew up with skateboarding, learned ollies and kickflips, and immediately took them down gaps, because that was just so much fun to me. You know the Baustelle spot in Berlin, right? I used to skate lines there, just an ollie over the block, push three times, then some random flatland trick, and then, as fast as I could, nollie down the doubleset. Clean pop. I just thought: “’I’ll just try it and see what it feels like...what flying feels like.” If you get that pop clean, it’s no problem at all. You’re flying straight, your board and your body work all by themselves, you have to do nothing for it—except maybe bend your knees to absorb the impact. But I have to say: the faster you go, the easier it is. So much fun. Hirosh, an old friend of mine from Berlin, was like: “Willow, you’re such an idiot, you’re jumping those stairs all day long...” and all I could reply was: “I’m skating lines, man, that’s fun!” Ever since that day, it’s just working for me. I wouldn’t want to do a kickflip 5-0 on some curb at top speed, because I’d be scared I might hit my head on the curb. I’d rather have my head up in the air. I can do a kickflip 5-0, but I don’t necessarily have to. Occasionally, I might do one, but it’s not as much fun to me as flying is.

How would you describe yourself as a person?

I don’t know where to go. Give me a piece of paper and a pen, for example. I’ll try to draw a letter that looks different. And the lines will end up going in all possible directions. It feels like my brain is actually rattling, and I can’t decide...I always think: “That line would look amazing,” but it always ends up being way too much. And I’m hectic, a natural stresscase. I mean, I can actually relax and chill, when I feel safe—then I can let go. But I look around a lot, I see a lot, you need to keep your eyes open these days. I’m winding down though. The only times that I really become hyper are when I get angry, and when I’m really euphoric. Like, when Gentschiebaby calls me to go shoot, for example. Plus, I’ve found skateboarding again.

Does that sponsoring stuff mess with your head a lot? Do you still feel pressurred, does it stress you out?

Not at all, man. They all know me, and they let me do what I want.

Come on, getting on Flip, that’s an impressive thing. That had to touch you in a way...

Certainly, I was stoked, and I couldn’t really believe it. But I had met Arto and Ewan before in Barcelona, they knew my character...I mean, they don’t just go by the skateboarding, you know? They look at you as a person as well. Of course they’ll send you skating, demos or whatever, but hey, they take care of everything as well. Money, food, lodging, hundreds of boards, and all you have to do in return is skate. That’s a pretty fair deal, if you ask me. So, even when I don’t really feel like skating a demo, I most definitely will skate. Most of the time it ends up being fun, too. I’m not allowed to think about the spectators watching me though, it only works for me if I envision just skating a session with my friends. So, the first demo on the Feast Tour was kinda gnarly for me, because except for Arto, I hardly knew anyone on the team closer, like Apples or David, for example. That was kinda crazy skating with them, those were “new” people to me, if you know what I mean.

And the audience in the US didn’t know you either...

Right, that came on top of it all. They were all like: “Who’s that guy?” That was kinda hard, it’s easier when you’re established. But it was alright, I knew Arto and Ewan before the tour, so it was no big deal. Those guys know what my skating looks like, and I guess they like it. Good skateboarding comes from the inside, anyway. Sixteen minutes already? Wow.

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