Hank Robinson

Jeremy Perkins 0:00
This is bucket talk, a monthly podcast taking you across America meet the most badass trades, people, industry leaders and personalities. If you're looking to level up in the trades, you're in the right place.

All right, this episode of bucket talk, we're here with Hank Robinson, the engraver. We're out here in sunny Phoenix, Arizona,

yeah. Just want to get to know you a little bit better. I know we've crossed paths at a couple of different places, but, you know, I'm really interested in your story, your background. A lot of the projects you've done, super cool. But

Hank Robinson 0:35
yeah. I mean, take us as far back as you can go, you know, young young Hank into the military and then into what you do now. Hell yeah. So, yeah, young Hank was a straight up, screw up. Man, like horrible, horrible kid. Man, pretty much my story, I think my story starts with the military, obviously, yeah, joined right after 911 you know, something just hit me. I was three days after that happened. I was signed up, yeah, so I had nothing going for me at the time, obviously, and just some just clicked in me. Man, so ended up spending 10 years in the Army, did three deployments to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and just infantry. Man, all way. Man, no, I didn't know it at the time. Obviously, I really wasn't interested in kind of family lineage stuff, but like literally every male in my family since the beginning of Robinsons, has served in the military. So it was kind of cool after I figured that out. But, ya know, something hit me, man. I really didn't know much about the army, right? I went in, took the test, and they, they literally gave me two choices. They said you could be a bus driver or a bus driver, or infantry. And I was like, oh, show me when this infantry stuffs all about Yeah. They showed me some badass who wrote video. And I was like, done, yeah, let's go, yeah. And then the entire 10 years I was in man on the infantry Where's basic fort? Benning, Georgia, okay, yeah, yeah. And then right from there, what was your first unit? Vilsack. I was with two, two in Germany. Okay, yeah, that's crazy. Is there any schooling for that? Or you just go, right? No, no, yeah, just straight up infantry school. So it's basic and then they do whatever, like the AIT for infantry, it's just like, how long is that? You wake up, 1617, weeks, something like that, yeah? But yeah, like, you wake up and they're like, congratulations, you've graduated basic training, yeah? And it's the same.

That's crazy. So you, then you shipped out to Germany, yeah, so got to Germany, chilled there, just did some cool training. It was cool, man, like, 18 in Germany, Caboose, like partying. And there was a lot of influx of, you know what I mean, young men coming in at the time. So met a lot of really crazy people, man, and a lot of awesome friends that are like, to this day, Die Hard brothers. So it's definitely a brotherhood like no other and then first deployment was from Germany. Yeah, from Germany to Kosovo, and that was just a straight up peacekeeping mission. Was that a six month tour? Yeah, yeah. So we actually stayed a little bit longer than that for whatever reason. As far as relief comes, as soon as we get back to Germany, we do train up for Iraq. And then we get to Iraq, February. Oh, four. Okay, wow, wow. How was Iraq gnarly? Yeah, the first tour was insane, yeah, it was still wild, wild west. That was what, probably oh six or so, oh 404, wow, yeah, no, we got into Iraq February, oh four, yeah. And we were our main our main spot was in Bucha, which is just right outside of Baghdad, yeah. So they make videos about guys like, you, oh, yeah, there's some NARS. Yeah, I'm telling you, man, the the craziest people that you'd meet are do the, the most heroic things. And like, I can't even explain the amount of awesomeness that comes from young Americans going over doing, you know, I mean, whether, whether you like it or not, yeah, whatever's happening. You know, we're there for each other, and we're kind of fighting it, not for political reasons, but for us to come back home. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of, it was kind of funny. It was like, it was like, three fold for me in my military journey. And it resonates with a lot of guys, because it's, like, it's a form of non conformity, even though you're you're conforming to military regulations, but like, I'm not going to college. I'm not doing that stuff. So you go, you know, it's kind of a alternative path. But for me and for a lot of guys, it's, it's like, the only path, right, right? So you go in there, but you obviously have your sense of duty and pride. So you're like, you know, same with my family. They're all, all the males in my family that I that I know we're all in the military all the way back to Vietnam, World War Two. So that that was wild, even on my wife's side is pretty crazy. Funny story that you said that the wife side. So my, my great grandfather was in World War Two, and then so I, when I meet my wife, we're talking, and she was like, Oh, my great grandfather was in World War Two. So we start talking, but she's German, yeah, come to find out he was on the other

and I was like, Well, I kind of hope my granddaddy killed your Granddaddy. Yeah, it was funny. So my wife's my wife's grandfather. He just passed a couple of years ago, but he lied about his age. Got into the army, and then he was a baker.

At the time, they asked him if he could type, and he said, Yeah, I can type. So they shipped him off to add to Alaska as a typist. So he did his he did his duty over there because, you know, it was the closest to to the European front from the United States. Yeah, and yeah, he did his time at 16 years old

as a typist. And he's, it was funny any anytime you talk to him, he's like, I'm not a world war two fat. Yeah, you are everybody, everybody fingers put in work.

He's like, what I signed up to do,

Jeremy Perkins 5:31
but I was like, my great, my grandfather, the same thing. He lied about his age to join the Marine Corps, and went to Korea at 16 as well. So yeah, and that them up the whole way through life, like, I think, Social Security, he could collect early, even though it wasn't his right birthday. Like, it really screwed things up, and at some point in time he had to get it, had to get it fixed. But back to what I say. And so we're talking about, you know, getting into the military. It's kind of like last resort, even it could be a first resort, sense of pride and duty, and then, I mean, honestly, the camaraderie, the adventure, it was, like, it was wild. It was like, my first chance on my own. And it was funny when I drill instructors were like, You guys get to fill out your dream sheet. And it was, I don't know if you guys got Yeah, we did. And he's, like, he had a list of where everybody was from, and he goes, I better not see a duty station on here

Hank Robinson 6:21
that's close to your home. So I put in, like, Guam, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, like, all the places I could. And I ended up in Key West Florida, yeah, Where'd you put it? What was your Germany? Oh, really, yeah. And you were originally born in Germany, yeah. So my dad was stationed in Germany when I was born, so you wanted to relive it a little. It was just, you know, kind of wanted to go back. I'd love, you know, I left there when I was a kid, and then kind of just wanted to go back and something about it, if I had to choose, I didn't want to do anything stateside, obviously, I've heard stories about, you know, you're 18, you're new private, you can't go out to the bar, you can't do anything. But in Europe, completely different story. So, yeah, we can go on this if you want, but I did a little research on you, and it's crazy, but you have three bronze stars, yeah, yeah. That's, that's no small feat. One Bronze Star, never mind. Three, yeah. So just, man, I'm telling you, just put in gnarly situations, and you kind of, you got to come out of it the right way. You know, there was, there was only one option for me. And there's so many guys that have done crazy, crazier than me. I don't ever think about anything like, I'm not cool at all. I don't think you know, most of the time you meet guys and they're like, yeah, yeah, it was Delta Force this as I was like, No, I was just regular infantry, dude, yeah. Like, we was just walking and gunning, bro. Well, it's actually funny, because, like, you know, we bust each other's balls and stuff like that, but it's for the listeners. I was in the Coast Guard and you were in the army, and there's, like, this level of hierarchy, and we bust each other's balls. So I don't like, I don't actually like to talk about my service a lot in front of other service members, because I don't feel like I could hold a candle to half the guys out there. Yeah. But what's humbling about a lot of these guys in the military is is it's like a pecking order guys like you who I couldn't hold a candle to. You're like, Nah, dude, I don't even want to talk about it, because there's somebody out there doing bigger and bad. So it doesn't matter how big and bad you are. There's somebody out there that's doing bigger and better stuff. But no, I mean, obviously, thank you for your service. Thank you, man. A lot of guys put in that situation, especially in our age and, yeah. I mean, they bunch of fighters, you know, they say we're nowadays, that we're softer than we were, you know, what was it World War Two vets? Where were they called the what, Greatest Generation? Yeah. I mean, that's downplaying some of the guys. For sure, for sure. I mean, we're collectively as a whole, like, if

Jeremy Perkins 8:40
you the broad, the broader horizon that there's not a but there's still that fighting spirit. And, you know, a lot of guys may not, may not, have fought for reasons that they wanted to fight for, but they always fought for their brothers. Yeah, that was cool, and that's what it's all about. And then, you know, fast forward a little bit. You talked about the GI Bill, So what made you get out?

Hank Robinson 9:03
Just my last deployment in Afghanistan, I was with 158, Scout Snipers, and it was just a, just not a good deployment for me. Came back, dredged up more that happened to me in Iraq, and then I kind of, I lost it for two years when I got home. So, yeah, dipped out, moved to Mexico, like, left the fam, bam, life and all that. Like, how'd you, how'd you get yourself out of that? I got arrested. Okay, you

know what I mean, happens a lot, yeah, so kind of straightened me out. And it really, it was just right the right at the time my son was born, and it's nothing ever compared to being a father for me, like to this day. This is all I live for. This is all I do. Everything in my life for, is for these kids. So I think it really was the kids and then my family support structure kind of just, you know, get your head out of your ass that happened over there, you know, yeah, but it was good. I have a really good.

Friend support group as far as veterans go, and then I do a lot of work with warrior built Foundation, yeah, and those guys are always, you know, ready to lend a year if you're in a situation or need some help. But that's a long time ago. I'm good.

Speaker 1 10:17
It's also okay to not be good, and it doesn't know for sure, and it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what, what level of you were in. People are always dealing with, it's okay to ask, ask for help. And that's, you know, that was, what was great about the military, is, is, if you were with a good group of guys, there are a couple of, there are a couple of bad, bad areas, or bad, bad groups. I was with at some point in time, but, like, majority of my my tours in the Coast Guard, you know, I had a good support group, guys that I still talk to every day. You know, there's a kid that said something questionable on Facebook, and there's about 15 guys I haven't talked to, all of a sudden texting each other, going, Dude, this dude, all right. And then two guys drove down to New Jersey, check him out, see if he was doing well. And, you know, I guys I haven't talked to in 15 years, but it was like, it was like, it doesn't matter. It was like, yesterday, you know, and that's too cool, yeah, dude, it is, it is, and it's and it's good to see the you know, you sticking with it and helping, helping others. So walk me through some of that. Like, what do you what are you doing for the these foundations? Yeah?

Hank Robinson 11:16
So, um, really, just anything I can do personally, like on a volunteer level, or anything like coordination, anything like linking up specific companies to help out, yeah, as well as just engraving, you know, a lot of my engravings I do for certain events, and then we'll raise money for it, for specific charities, or kind of, I'm involved with the West Valley Mavericks Foundation, which is like a philanthropy Group here in the West Valley, and it's literally just a group of local leaders and kind of men who have their together, you know. And we do so much for specifically the local community here, but I do as much as I can for the veteran community. And we were doing a kind of a PTSD art therapy with super brain fart right now anyway, yeah, I totally forgot the organization. It's one of the biggest organizations there are for veterans, wounded warriors. Yeah, Jesus. And we haven't done in a while, but I would take six or six or eight veterans, and we kind of do a weekend course about just basic engraving and kind of just getting them to shut their mind off completely and just focus on the task at hand. And it really helps with, you know, people's PTSD, kind of like triggers. They know that there's something they can go focus on and kind of shut everything else out. And then we've had guys take over and kind of do it on the sides, doing yetis and stuff. You know what? I mean, making a cool little living out

Speaker 1 12:38
of it. So I'm gonna jump ahead just because it's following the path. We'll come back. Does that help you?

Hank Robinson 12:43
It did, no, for sure, yeah, it did. So, yeah, after I got back from Mexico, it was kind of, what do I do now, you know? So I used the GI Bill. I first went to welding school. Yeah, I completed my accommodation welding course there, and I literally, that's when I picked up the Dremel for the first time. Is kind of working with metal. I made a surfboard for my son, and my instructor told me to write my name on it, and there happened to be a Dremel there, and I just something in my head was like, Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So, and then how'd you

Speaker 1 13:10
All right, so you went from picking up a Dremel and liking what you do to how do you happen upon this? I mean, there's, there's a lot in between. There's

Hank Robinson 13:19
all definitely a lot in between, a lot of hours I would it really just started for me. It was right around Christmas time, hella broke at the time, so I was like, I'm gonna make mom and dad some engraved signs or something, you know. And I really just started doing small, little projects, little household stuff that I look at now, and I'm like, I can't believe you did that, but it's always cool to see kind of the progression. And where I've gone and really just from there, man, just start blasting on social media and companies, picking stuff up and kind of doing all

Jeremy Perkins 13:51
the shows that I really could. So were you doing that as a full time job, or were you still

Hank Robinson 13:55
not at all? Yeah, no. So I was, I was still welding. I was actually a grinder before I started welding. I mean, it's one of those start at the bottom jobs. And I was doing that, I really wasn't happy. I was kind of doing the, just the engraving on the side at nights or whatever, ended up going that's when I moved to Florida to do diving school, yeah. And still kind of doing the engraving there as well, yeah. And then after I finished that school, I really just, I knew that that's what I wanted to do full time, and kind of put all my effort into every single day. No,

Jeremy Perkins 14:28
yeah. So what landed you here in Arizona, this family

Hank Robinson 14:31
for me? Okay, so, yeah, no, Arizona is like home, home. So grandparents, my wife's parents, live down the street like my dad lives 10 minutes away. So, and

Jeremy Perkins 14:41
then you set up this shop. When did, when did you build this shop? Yeah, so got

Hank Robinson 14:45
the house about six, seven years ago, and then about a year after that, so, because we were in a commercial spot with my buddy Troy from FX auto body, and then just to travel, so much travel, and then when people would come into the studio, it'd be like, All right, we got. Talk, but now I'm not working, yeah, and kind of didn't make sense, yeah, I absolutely love it, man. Just and then

Speaker 1 15:05
this is, this is full swing. This is like, all right, I got, I got Hank Robinson engraving up and running. And you, you kind of, are you gonna take somebody on? And I know I,

Hank Robinson 15:17
I, I've probably brought on three apprentices, really, yeah, throughout the years. And I don't know if I just have a weird work ethic to where I'll go all night if I need to, you know what I mean, like on a on a repetitive basis, but there's definitely talented artists out there that can do what I do for sure, right? I have no doubt about that. Just for me, I think just solo is where I need to be. And focus on that was, it was almost one of the business plans was, you know, run it like a tattoo shop, like I gotta, I got a guy that does traditional, I got a guy that does this, you know, and really just the more built the brand and kind of just doing all the traveling, it's just without me. It doesn't work. So just keep it real by myself. So

Speaker 1 15:59
we did all, we did a little walk and talk prior to this, and we went through some of the pieces. But what's one of the what's one of the most challenging pieces you've done that you're like, what the like, am I even gonna be able to accomplish this? Are you time crunch? Like, walk us through that? Probably my

Hank Robinson 16:13
first truck. So, yeah, my first full truck was freedom blues. And that was a 150 it was the second year they came out with the aluminum body. So, like, it was already in my head. I'd already done, like, some hoods and other other car parts that were aluminum, and I just knew in my head that I could do it, and it could be just the first of anything that's ever been seen before.

Jeremy Perkins 16:34
Who pulled it off? Wow. How long did that take you to do? So I probably

Hank Robinson 16:37
had 1800 hours of engraving in that. And then, I mean, it's full custom build, so literally, everything on and off, yeah, about the same thing. It was probably like seven, eight months for the full build. And then I finished, I finished the engraving live at SEMA throughout that week that year, yeah. And that was just awesome. Which kind of does the first time engraving live on a vehicle, and I didn't bring anything, and somebody had a bucket, and that's what I was rocking with. Man, that's about, there's some pictures right there. So we're coming full circle right now. The bucket is home. For me. We are good. Well,

Jeremy Perkins 17:07
that's actually pretty interesting. The amount of automotive work you do, I'm surprised you actually don't have a lift in here. Yeah,

Hank Robinson 17:13
that was, we talked about it. And I have a buddy who has a real shop like and with real tools and all the that really needs to be done. So I kind of, I'm more of the helper when it comes to that aspect. I'm definitely not the leader on on the mechanic portions of vehicles. So I figure as

Jeremy Perkins 17:30
you get older, you're gonna have to have it up so you're not crouched over all the time doing it. Hell yeah. Definitely was a thought, man.

Hank Robinson 17:36
I was like, Dude, we could put a little two pole. We could put a four post in here. I was like, Oh, shit.

Jeremy Perkins 17:41
Factor, what, at what point in time were you, like, I've either this up or, you know, the customer is going to be pissed. What's your biggest a

Hank Robinson 17:48
few times in the early in the early years, for sure, just, I was not good at portraits for a long time, yeah. And it was kind of just, there's really no shading you can do with the type of engraving that I do. You're working with one solid color, and then I have to remove that so it's a negative, yeah, and I have no shading whatsoever, so it's just aluminum lines all the way down. And I've said I messed some people's faces up, for sure, for sure, misspelled some words, for sure. No regrets, exactly. Well, it's

Jeremy Perkins 18:20
actually pretty funny that you say that, because, like, I could, like, you're hyper fixated, but you know, a lot of these pieces anyway, you see the whole picture when you step back, yeah, yeah. You know, when you're when you're up on it, is it a lot harder to see the whole picture for

Hank Robinson 18:34
sure? It's definitely a come in and out, yeah, scenario all the time. And kind of just make sure proportions are correct. But that's really what I want to do, especially with the vehicle engravings, is make it so, like, at a far, you're kind of like, what is that? Then you get a little closer and you're like, Oh, you're really close. You're kind of confused, and it makes you want to, you know, just guide your eye to make you want to kind of go all the way around and see all the details.

Jeremy Perkins 18:56
Yeah, because that's a good point that you bring up. Like, tattoo artists a there's like, portrait is a specialty for a lot of tattoo artists. So for sure, it's kind of cool that, you know you had to learn that and get really good at it. Yeah, I went

Hank Robinson 19:11
to art school where, after I got back from dude, how many schools did you go to use my GI Bill to the max, to the max. Yeah,

Jeremy Perkins 19:19
yeah, you're on once you have post 911

Hank Robinson 19:21
Yeah, post 911 and some other I opted in bays, or I did something and got, like, a booster or something like that

Jeremy Perkins 19:27
too. I think we, I think when we got out, we had Montgomery, yeah, and then it switched over to post 911 and then now it's like forever, GI Bill, so yeah, I was able to go whatever it

Hank Robinson 19:37
is. I ain't got it no more. I used, I used every single ounce of that, yeah.

Jeremy Perkins 19:41
Did you get the BH when you were when I was

Hank Robinson 19:45
going to art school? Yeah, but it was short lived. I did, like, a couple semesters there, and I was out, Well, what'd you take for art school, art classes? It was literally just all the basics. So it was like perspective and contours, and it was really the basics, and it was a lot of typography. Okay, it just wasn't my vibe at all. Like everybody, there's so many, like, a lot of talented people in there, and then you've got some, some old man coming to critique your shading on your Apple. I just wasn't with the vibe. I was like, yeah, so I got better to do in my life. So

Jeremy Perkins 20:15
that's, I guess you can go down the rabbit hole apart. But how'd you get associated with monster? Because you're it's funny, because monsters niches athletes, yeah, yeah, there's

Hank Robinson 20:27
never been an engraver, right, right? For sure,

Jeremy Perkins 20:31
branch out and awesome. Great for them that, you know, bringing in some makers. They're bringing in some different, different types of musicians, yeah? So they're really covering the gamut. But, like, was that a, was that, like, work your way in, or you got a phone call, you're like, oh, shit, it very

Hank Robinson 20:46
much. Was a work my way in? Yeah, yeah. So I ended up meeting one of the big wigs at Monster at an event, got his card, and probably for eight months, every two weeks or so, like, if I had a magazine cover droppers, like a big project, I kind of gave him just like, a brief email review every two weeks or every month for almost a year. Yeah, and then finally got the call and was like, I really think that the lifestyle brand that you portray fits exactly in, and it really does. Man, this would be my seventh year with monster, and it's crazy. It's family for sure. Yeah, they

Jeremy Perkins 21:20
stick behind their people. And that's, that's amazing, you know, getting to meet some of the athletes and just people in the, in the, in the Monster Energy circle is, is it is, like, family, yeah. So that's, that's cool. So once you got the hat, you're like, yeah, it's

Hank Robinson 21:35
on, like, John So, and we get to do a bunch of crazy events and, like, that's, that's the first time I've ever, I never was a bull riding fan or any like, just didn't know my name's Hank but I'm not a cowboy. You know what? I mean, yeah, we were at SEMA one year, and one of the Monster Girls was there, and she was like, Hey, you guys wanna come to PBR and I was like, I'll go watch some bulls. Let's go. And went down, fell in love. And it's just the most phenomenal sports.

Jeremy Perkins 22:01
So the way Hank looks, we're at PBR World Finals, this is hysterical. So Mac goes, there's cowboy Cerrone. And I was like, Oh, cool. And then next the cowboy is him. And I was like, what fighters that I don't know. I go, I get,

Hank Robinson 22:17
like, a fight that every time me and cowboy are chilling, somebody's always and I take it, I'm like, hell yeah, not a chance, no, but

Jeremy Perkins 22:27
it was funny. And then when I went back and I went through monsters website, and I was just trying to put a name to the face, and then I saw you, and I was like, that's not what I anticipated him, yeah. And yeah, after that, I love the work. And, you know, like I said, we got to meet a handful of times, but this is a, this is my first time sitting down with you and actually vibing on this. So I'm like a kid in a candy store, because this is great. But, yeah, what's next for Hank

Hank Robinson 22:51
dude? Summer is gonna be crazy for sure. So SLS skateboard Miami. Yeah, I'm doing incarceration in Ohio at the Mansfield penitentiary. It's like a huge three day Rock Festival doing all the big three again this year. Yeah? Ice cubes, basketball league. Yeah, that's a summer league. That's

Jeremy Perkins 23:10
so fun, man. That was, is that incarceration? Incarceration? Is that? Because I know you did a piece for Jelly Roll, is he in? He's involved with

Hank Robinson 23:18
that? No, no, yeah. So incarceration is strictly through monster Yeah, they're gonna do tattoo festival, or whatever you want to call it, at the same time as the concert. Yeah, so monsters got the tattoo portion. So I'll be, I'll be over there, kind of just doing live demo, as well as doing some guest judging for the tattoos of the day. Okay, cool, yeah, yeah. And

Jeremy Perkins 23:39
yeah, how cool was that with with Jelly Roll and

Hank Robinson 23:42
jelly is so cool,

Jeremy Perkins 23:44
so cool. Is he? Is is he, as he portrays himself? He's down to Earth.

Hank Robinson 23:49
Even more. Oh, yeah, even more, for sure. So I first met him at cowboys ranch. I was at cowboys I did a piece for jelly, and he was already gonna go. We got a show in Albuquerque, so he was already gonna be there. So we kind of all just made it happen together. I got to present the engravings to him, and then me and cowboy went to the show afterwards, like behind the tour bus. Yeah, super cool, man. But jelly is I've met him a few times, and every time it's the most hospitable person. He's not above it. We chiefed up in the RV for like, four hours. I don't know how this man performed after that, because I was done, done.

Jeremy Perkins 24:29
I mean, it's just years of years of practice that's

Hank Robinson 24:31
wild. I went in Rome. Let's go. So if you

Jeremy Perkins 24:35
can divulge, do you have any cool pieces you're doing coming up, or

Hank Robinson 24:41
I do have some secret stuff that I can't talk on, which kind of sucks. I hate doing that. Yeah? Well,

Jeremy Perkins 24:47
that's good. That's

Hank Robinson 24:48
how you know businesses go, yeah, for sure, but we'll definitely, I'll be out at PBR finals coming up too. So I've got some stuff for Jose we're gonna get down with. And I'm excited for that, man. That's gonna be

Jeremy Perkins 25:00
so fun. Yeah, yeah. And you said you got kids, right? Yep, they out here with you. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Any of them good? I

Hank Robinson 25:07
might. My middle daughter, azalea is a phenomenal artist, like a beast artist. I let her tattoo me three weeks ago. Nope. Off her drawing. She did a little her name's Azalea, so she did a little azalea flower, drew it out, stenciled it up, tattooed me right here in the shop. No Clean

bro, right here on my thigh. I'm not gonna make it. Take your pants off. Hey bro, it's gotta cash that check

before he's come down. I'm just, there is a price. There is a price, though. I'm just saying

Jeremy Perkins 25:35
that was actually another great I'm glad you went. Went there. Do you tattoo yourself? Absolutely

Hank Robinson 25:41
not. Never in my life have I picked up a machine. All three of my kids have tattooed me. They're 1214, 15, yeah, you know. And that's, I mean, that's almost how I started. At the time, when I started engraving, I was living with the owner of the country legends truck, Justin, yeah, literally living on his couch, and he's been a tattoo artist for 30 years now, you know. And that's that my whole group was tattoo artists, and you have never picked up the gun, no, not once. Do you think you could do it? I think I could. I think I would be, like, the most hammered down person. Now, just because I worked with metal for so long, I was like, it's probably not gonna feel too good, yeah, but maybe one day I'll give it a shot.

Jeremy Perkins 26:17
What's what's holding you back? It's not even on your bucket list, it's probably on

Hank Robinson 26:22
there. It's just not something in my forefront right now, like, What if I fall in love with it and then I got to choose between metal and skin. I like metal? No, no. Bleeding, no. Yeah, I can work on it when I want to. Yeah?

Jeremy Perkins 26:34
You can replace the door if you're really there's always the laser. Yeah, yeah, a

Hank Robinson 26:43
few years of that. Oh, really, yeah. So I had when I was in Mexico. I mean, I have my whole head and everything blasted. But I had letters up here. I had underneath here at all down my sides, and I did, like, three years of laser to take those off. So

Jeremy Perkins 26:56
actually, I know it's a little personal, but clean cut military, you know, nothing below the sleeves, all that stuff. Why the transformation? So I had

Hank Robinson 27:08
pretty much everything to hear so as long as it wasn't showing in your classes. So I pretty much had everything starting. I mean, my first tattoo is 16, and then just went from there. So especially in Germany, man, my boy, Johnny, was out there tattooing, and we was getting it.

Jeremy Perkins 27:24
What made you do that? Ah, kind

Hank Robinson 27:27
of just running out of room, to be honest. I don't know what I was thinking at the time. As far as, yeah, it's gonna be badass, yeah. I mean, we flipped the belt. I'm rocking with it. Yeah, I'd probably change, if you think I would change what I tattooed versus that, where the placement has that's the only kind of regrets that I have now, kind of just getting older into it and be like, Man, maybe those, maybe those 17 year old decisions weren't the right ones. You know what I mean? Well, you

Jeremy Perkins 27:51
know, I got some pretty bad tattoos, and that's one of those things that, like, even you're gonna regret that. No, it's part of who I am. It's my story. Yeah, it's my story. Everywhere I went, I got a different tattoo, and it brings up a different memory. So even though it looks like dog, it's still, you know, it's something that, you know what I mean, I like it,

Hank Robinson 28:12
yeah, yeah. I was like, I just, I just got some work done on my leg a couple weeks ago, and my wife's been bugging to get me to get her name, but her name's Christine. You're not gonna do it. And I asked all, I asked all the kids. I was like, Are we watched funny movies? Is our you know what I mean? So the Christina from Will Ferrell, yeah, your boy got Christina's but I

asked all the kids. I was like, what should it be? Should it be Christine, or should it be Christina? That all three of them were, like, 100% Christina,

Jeremy Perkins 28:48
she's saying over there watching. She's always

Hank Robinson 28:52
None. None of this happens without her. She does all the all the contracting work, all the finance stuff, all the, like, literally everything. I handle social and I handle the work itself. So,

Jeremy Perkins 29:01
so you handle social, you shoot all that stuff, edit it. Yeah,

Hank Robinson 29:04
wow, yeah. Sometimes, dudes, you know, sometimes I have, like, the photographer or the videographer guys come in and do some special stuff if it's a cool project. But yeah, for the most part, man, it's just me and my camera in here. Oh shit, solo dolo,

Jeremy Perkins 29:19
and it's gotten better and better. Yeah, for sure. Yeah,

Hank Robinson 29:23
that's crazy. It's only climbing up, man. I'm just getting started too. So I got big plans. I got big dreams. 4242 Yeah, your boy getting old. I'm starting to get the grays and

Jeremy Perkins 29:32
turn 40 this year. So which doesn't feel that

Hank Robinson 29:36
I'm ready for it. Yeah, I'm so ready. I'm ready to be old, old, like, just old, old walk around cussing people out. Yeah.

Jeremy Perkins 29:45
So outside of this, what do you do for fun? Literally,

Hank Robinson 29:48
my kids are in sports, so I do nothing, nothing of the fun? Yeah, at all. Every, every single day, like my daughter and my son are pretty competitive in basketball. They're eighth grade and for. Freshman year? Yeah, yeah. My, my 14 year old daughter's six, two shoes on, so she's six one. Son's about to creep over me right now, and he just turned 15, six, four. So, so hopefully they gonna keep going, yeah, and then kind of have a future for them, but they're really into it, man. So it's, it's literally five days a week there at practice, and then we've got games and tournaments on the weekends. And we travel like, we travel like we're my daughter and my son. We're going to Vegas, Cali, Chicago, like, all through the summer, like, it's wild, pretty gnarly. What they're doing these travel teams

Jeremy Perkins 30:33
nowadays is just out of out of control. Yeah, I live that. I live that life. I live that life

exactly. That's crazy. So, yeah, just following the kids around. I mean, yeah, I mean, that's,

Hank Robinson 30:47
I mean, I'm like, you know, I mean, my wife talked about it, obviously, hanging with friends and kind of doing, doing what we do. But we'll get we'll get away. Every once in a while. We just got back from El Salvador not too long ago, just me and love it, yeah, love it. Never hanging up. I ended up winning it, like, I bid on something at a golf event we were doing, and it was a trip to El Salvador. And I was like, I guess I was drinking that night. I picked, like, Costa Rica or something. But I know we'd never been there, and it's literally the most beautiful country. The people are fantastic. Man just rented a car and kind of drove the whole countryside. So it was super cool. Dough beaches

Jeremy Perkins 31:23
never been there. Did Costa Rica and Panama, but I love me some Costa Rica, yeah. Well, Golf was great, and then we did the Gulf of America side. I'll put Gulf of Mexico in there, just in case you have to clip it out. But I think it should be

Hank Robinson 31:41
Marico, Gulf of America.

Jeremy Perkins 31:47
Yeah, the port of Lamone, we pulled in there. We're doing Counter Narcotics, and had a couple of buddies get beat up and robbed. And, yeah, it was that, that side was not, was not good, but civic side was great. Yeah, yeah, it was very hospitable, great people. But yeah, I got something in my head about the Gulf of Mexico side being a little testy, not going back. Let's just put it that way.

Hank Robinson 32:11
But like, we, I mean, we go to, I mean, rocky points, like, three and a half hours from here, so go to Mexico all the time. And just, you know, still, people are like, Oh, my God, are you gonna go? And I'm like, if you're not buying coke at 3am from a sketchy dude, everything's gonna be okay. You hang out. You treat people respected. You know, life's pretty good, yeah, regardless of where you say, when

Jeremy Perkins 32:31
I was in Columbia, was it was like, great place, even the cops will rob you. I was like, it was, it was awesome. I had the best time of my life in Columbia, and the cops held us at gunpoint. Kid from Arizona actually spoke Spanish and tall dude, and he just started yelling at the COP, and they let us go, but we just walked out of the ATM. He pulled up on a dirt bike and started yelling Exactly. We were just getting out of a cab. White guys were like, oh, yeah, no, that was a wild time.

Hank Robinson 33:03
I wish 100 bucks could get you out of trouble here, though, sometimes, you know what I mean, like a couples movie Harris, like, dude, if I slide him a couple 100, do you think? Not a chance he's like, Mexico. I'm like, oh yeah, this happened. We're going away. We're fine.

Jeremy Perkins 33:16
So what's the biggest thing on your bucket list

Hank Robinson 33:20
do for me right now. So I've actually, I've been talking with a couple boat manufacturers, and for me I want to do, like freedom blues two so my first truck that I did was freedom blues, and it was just dedicated to all f1 50, yeah, the f1 50 fully engraved, and it was just all O, i, f, o, e, f, yeah. Kind of inspired. So kind of what I want to do is do a freedom blues two with a boat. Okay, so my dream would be a pavati, all aluminum body, yeah, just a sexy machine, yeah, and just have, maybe, like an Army Air Force truck, marine, Navy boat. And just, I can see it going down the freeway right now, hitting the water. Coast Guard, Oh, yeah. We gonna put the Coasties in the back

Jeremy Perkins 34:06
on the life ring. I literally left that off just

Hank Robinson 34:08
to see if you say something. Well, now we get to make it's about the Coast Guard,

yes, yes, that's awesome. Yeah. That's been my entire that's been my entire

Jeremy Perkins 34:25
service. Was just like, what do you do? Where are you

Hank Robinson 34:27
stationed? Dude, I know some of those guys that are on those crazy teams that are literally in the way more than any other brand. They're out there, like gun and gun and in the middle of the ocean. Man, yeah,

Jeremy Perkins 34:38
it was for us. It was cool. We were kind of somewhere in between, because I was on a ship. My normal day was being a mechanic, and then you have like, you know, hits the fan. You're also a firefighter. But then we did Counter Narcotics and alien immigration, and so that was cool, because, like, every now and again, the alarm would go off and you'd go deploy a helicopter and go chase after you. Drug runners and doubts exhilarating. We chased after some pirates at one point in time, these poor bastards, I don't I can't remember where they were coming, where they came from, but I think they were going to Galveston, Texas. So a husband and a wife, you know, probably from Cali, went through the Panama Canal and a sailboat. They're being chased by pirates in the Caribbean. It wasn't like what you would think they would be, but the minute this big white boat showed up, they they went away. But yeah, the whole time we're, like, just steaming towards them to go chase pirates. I was like, Dude, this is gonna be great,

Hank Robinson 35:31
best day ever. And

Jeremy Perkins 35:34
then it was, it was anticlimactic. But yeah, so the teams you're talking about actually, was during my service that we finally, I think we had two or three Coast Guardsmen go through SEAL training, yeah. And then, I guess once you go through SEAL training, you kind of strip your service, and you join the SEAL team itself, yeah. So they went, they went off to a SEAL team and, and, yeah, but they the, forget what they

Hank Robinson 36:02
were called, like, Swick team or something? Yeah, maybe even the Coast Guards. Forget about the Coast Guards, bro, yeah.

Jeremy Perkins 36:08
It was like, literally, they drove these boats. They trailer the boats right onto the back of these c1 30s, and they go everywhere. Yeah, now I'm having a brain for right? It happens to the best of us. But yeah, it was like our Special Forces, and they'd go out and, you know, do higher, high interest vessels, and drop in, do boardings, hostage negotiations, stuff like

Hank Robinson 36:29
that. It was crazy, yeah, and then sipping a Mai Tai on the beach later that night, somewhere Fantastic, fantastic stuff. Should have went another route. I picked up a Dremel and messed up my life.

Jeremy Perkins 36:40
I mean, we were talking about it before. I mean, it's, it's funny when you have parents who have been through it, the whole military process, because it's, you can have a you can have a good experience. You can have a bad experience. I mean, and then obviously there's that, the conflict part. But like, there are ways to get set up in the military, and all it takes is, like a mentor, for sure. And my dad, again, walked me down. Was like, No, we're not doing this. He goes Army, Navy, and this is our situation. He's like, I don't want you to be a number. He goes when I was in, when I was in the Marine Corps, you know? And obviously I'm listening to his advice through his lens. But he was like, small knit service. Like it was a little different. He goes when I was in the Navy. So he was in the Navy prior to that, he was like, a radar man, and he was just on a big ship. He was, like, basically a number. So he's like, I'm not going to do that to you. So he wanted small service. And yeah, pointed me the Coast Guard was more personable. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Let's do it. And he goes. The other thing that he had a problem with was now this is in the 80s, when you get out of the military. At least in that time, nothing transferred. Now the military is doing a good job. You know, guys are getting out and getting their CDLs without having to take the classes or some of their certifications are now actually transferring over, which they didn't before. And so here is a helicopter crew chief with hours of flight time, and he can't get a job in the aviation formal, and so he ends up in corrections. So he's at a jail for 20 years, yeah, where he retired. So he was like, you gotta have a job in the military that actually transfers? Yeah, exactly. But now they've done a whole they've done a lot better with with that, and now they're really helping a lot of these veterans, you know, cross that gap from from active duty to civilian, yeah? So that's that's good, and it's only gonna get stronger and stronger.

Hank Robinson 38:29
So, yeah, you learn so much that definitely just comes full force on the other side, like my military service, I could clean up some civilian company real

Jeremy Perkins 38:38
quick, right, right? And why? It was funny, because, like, I use my GI Bill to go to to go to automotive school, but like, the amount of mechanical knowledge I had from the military, I actually sold myself short. I could have gone right into the field, yeah? And here I am paying 20 grand. Granted, the GI Bill helped me out there, but I'm paying 20 grand to learn the that I learned already in the military, to get a

Hank Robinson 38:59
piece like these guys stuff right now, bro, yeah. So it's like, it's like,

Jeremy Perkins 39:03
obviously, you know, do the best you can with the money and but don't, don't shortchange yourself, because there's a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge that you learned from the military, for sure. Yeah? So, I mean, that pretty much wraps it up. Let's go, Yeah, anything you want to shout out,

Hank Robinson 39:18
dude, just everybody that supported me so far, nothing but love and respect, man, it's my family. I love you guys, and hopefully me and Brooke gonna be do some

Jeremy Perkins 39:25
do some cool yeah, man, yeah. We gotta get something going, all right. Well, thank you. Make it

Hank Robinson 39:29
happen, my man. You.