About: What’s Up with SWR?

1. What’s up with Square Wheel Rolling?

SWR was inspired by Henry Rollins. The Rollins Band did a cover of ‘Move Right In’ by The Velvet Underground, and on the Rollins version there’s a verse where he says, “I’m a square wheel rollin’…” Very first time I heard it I knew exactly what he meant: Feeling like a bad fit for the world, but still going forward with Grit, Determination, and Will Power. That phrase landed with me, so I wanted to give that idea some legs to stand on. I wanted to give it a recognizable identity, which is how SWR the brand was born.

Years later I started training BJJ and the significance of the theme – the need for grit and determination and willpower – along with the idea of “rolling”, seemed too important to ignore. So here we are.

2. Who’s behind this?

Me, Robert. I live in Kansas City. I started training jiu jitsu in April 2019, a month after turning 50. A thousand classes later, I got my purple belt. I’m still working on not dying. It’s a process.

3. Cool Logo. Did you design it?

Nope. A guy I train Jiu Jitsu with (Berto Cruz) designed it. He’s a graphic artist, and when I told him about the concept of SWR and asked for some help with a logo, he came up with that logo the next day. Everyone thought it was cool, so it stuck. I like how it has BJJ embedded into the SWR DNA, which is PFC AFAIC.

Because the idea of SWR resonated so deeply with me, I thought other people could relate to that feeling as well. Now it’s on shirts, mugs, patches and decals. Nobody asked for any of this, but y’all know it’s both cool and true.

4. How Can I Buy Products?

Click on the ‘Shop‘ link and give it a go. This site is under construction as we speak, but everything should work. If you have any issues, send an email to squarewheelrolling@gmail.com and we’ll get you squared away. <= see what I did there.

5. Are you on Instagram?

Yes (@squarewheelrolling), but I generally loathe social media, so I don’t post or create any content there. If you’ve got a cool SWR story, tag the account and share it. Maybe it’ll get some traction. Or not.

6. Did anyone actually ask these questions?

No. I don’t think anybody knows this site exists. (See #5 above)