The Albion Issue 2 by The Albion BMX Magazine

Contents — Issue Two, June ‘11 12

The Lords Of Fun Photos from Steve Crandall’s latest trip on the road

The Florida Assignment Imagine if your dad’s girlfriend was younger than you

Thomas ‘Robbo’ Robinson Alone in the woods

Mike Hoder Doesn’t hold back

Stay Sick The many faces of Sean Burns

Seth Kimbrough Balls deep in the Bible belt

Skavenger Edwin De La Rosa discusses how it all came to be

102

Tommy Curtin “I was really shit for a hell of a long time”

138

Chris Moeller Open mic night: The other side of the story

18 22 24 26 112 130 134

Video Days: Mike Escamilla Artifacts: Nick Ferreira Soapbox: Nick ‘Marv’ Martin Head Banging: First Aid Strays Extended Family: Steve Wilson Quitters: Matt Wakefield

Live far from a bike shop or just plain lazy? — Subscribe! Six Issues for £8.88 Yeah yeah, subs have gone up, but Royal Mail hiked up their prices right after issue one came out. Still, £8.88 isn’t a bad deal and still not much more than a couple of pints or a roll of film. See thealbion.cc for further details.

n issue one the Hoffman article clocked in at an enormous 10,000 words and the Hamilton piece wasn’t far behind it at 6,500. The latter dealt with a subject that seemed so controversial we were concerned as whether to run it at all, and Mat’s interview delved so deep into his psyche that we wondered if anyone would be brave enough to follow. Although both of those articles featured true BMX luminaries, neither piece showcased any groundbreaking riding; the images were just the garnish. It was the words that conveyed the real meat of the meal. After the release of the first issue, what surprised us the most was just how many people actually sat down to read these articles. The feedback was unanimous – people were stoked on reading! We are almost ashamed to say it, but we had nearly lost our faith in BMXers actually taking the time to sit down and read. It had been so long since we’d heard people talking enthusiastically about what’s been said in print. But then ‘have you seen that article?’ Became ‘have you read that article?’ It’s gratifying to know that we were right to run with that slim sliver of faith in the capacity of BMX to fully appreciate the written word. Deep down we knew people wanted

Masthead

Editor Daniel Benson benson@thealbion.cc Publisher Tim March tim@thealbion.cc Associate Editor George Marshall george@thealbion.cc Associate Editor Steve Bancroft banners@thealbion.cc Art Director Robert Loeber rob@thealbion.cc

this, we knew that riders wanted to read well researched, thought-provoking journalism. Riders who have never read a book in their lives spent time working their way through articles that evoked reaction and prompted debate – and that’s exactly the response we were looking for. It’s easy to rest on your laurels and fall back on the old adage that ‘a photo says a thousand words.’ It’s a sentiment that in our game has become the clarion call of magazine contributors who disregard writing and the impact words can have when strung together with thought and effort. It’s journalism where you’d rarely find it before. It’s subjective where it was previously objective. We’re not trying to put ourselves on a pedestal, we just appreciate that the time we spent working on issue one was recognised. It wasn’t always fun, some of it was uncomfortable and most of it was sandwiched inbetween working other jobs, but we’re proud of what we made and genuinely appreciate all the positive words that have come our way in the past two months. Issue two continues down the same path – with interviews and articles that stimulate, about the interesting, introverted and the downright scary characters that BMX creates.

Contributors Rhys Coren, Joe Cox, Ross Teperek, Edwin De La Rosa, Scott Marceau, Nick Delapena, Matt ‘Bowlhead’ Adams, Iain Fuller, Nick ‘Marv’ Martin, Aaron Sarkisian, Nick Ferreira and Steve Crandall. Thanks Ron Bonner, Rickey Bates, Aaron Sarkisian, Russell Lowe, Mike Cottle, Joey Juaristi, Mark Mulville, Tom Molyneux, Trey Jones, Charlie, Wert, JPR, Colt Fake, Ryan Thorne, All Castelberry Locals, Chris Moeller, Melissa, Sean Burns, Riley Bonewench, Party Management, Ferbert, Albie Bennet, Geoff Slattery, Keith Terra, Bad Timing, Mute Tim, Lee ‘South Side’ Hopkins, Johnny Elia @ RIDE UK, Bob Scerbo, Katie Marks, Elizabeth Ramos, Vinnie Sammon, Tom Grunwald, Edwin’s dog Gerry, Amy Silvester, Richie Goff, Elizabeth Kimbrough, Joe Duffy, Thomas Robinson, Chris Janis, Tiff Janis and Scania Price. Distribution The Albion BMX Magazine is avalible at all good bikes shops in the UK. See thealbion.cc for stockists. Contact Inquiries: info@thealbion.cc Advertising: ads@thealbion.cc Mailing List: maillist@thealbion.cc Subscriptions: subs@thealbion.cc Editorial: editorial@thealbion.cc Competitions: comps@thealbion.cc

Logo and icons designed by Ross Teperek. This issue is typeset using the Plantin font family, designed by Frank Hinman Pierpont in 1913. Albion Didot was designed exclusively for this publication by Robert Loeber. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form without premisson from the publisher. The publisher cannot accept responibilty for errors in articles, advertisments or unsolicated manuscripts. The opinions and words of authors do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

The Lords Of Fun Steve Crandall guides a motley crew of friends from Virginia to the beaches of North Carolina for a week of carefree days on the road.

ZEBRA, AKA Zeebs, The Beach!

For no good reason the ‘Lords of Fun’ convened for their second ‘official’ gathering with a 12 person motorcycle rally from Virginia to the birthplace of aviation, Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, followed by a Green Lincoln Limousine with BMX bikes in tow. For almost a week we rode, camped, partied and eventually ended up in a rented beach house in the Outer Banks, where at the turn of the 20th century The Wright Bros. successfully experimented with homemade airplanes. Perfect. If nothing else, it was an opportunity rather than an excuse, for friends who all live thousands of miles apart to spend a few days together, laughing, exploring, traveling and taking it easy, all at the same time. Working class BMX knucklheads, taking advantage of a few days on the road and a chance to ride the wild. No clip counts, trip goals, stress, worries or deadlines. Just a good time, with good people, living out the essence of our version of the BMX lifestyle.

Words and Photograhy by STEVE CRANDALL

THE FIDS (sleeping), Currituck, North Carolina.

JASON ANDERSON, Soundside Skatepark, North Carolina. 13

JASON STIEG, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

EVAN VENDITTI, Currituck, North Carolina. 14

The Lords Of Fun, Anywhere, USA.

CHRIS NEIGHBORS and JASON ANDERSON, Hot Tub,The Beach! 15

STEVE CRANDALL, Anywhere, USA.

THE FIDS, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 16

Video Days Mike ‘Rooftop’ Escamilla discusses his epic section on Etnies Forward and the positive and negative effect it had on his life and riding afterwards.

Unfortunately the word count limit was reached early on in this interview. This is a real shame. We talked for ages about Dirty Deeds, doing crooks, over grinds, rails to no footer, and rails to barspin aged 12-17 back in the mid 90’s. We also talked about how doing 40ft 720s on snowboards helped him learn the 720 over a spine, Road Fools 2, his total admiration for Van Homan’s Criminal Mischief section and flying out to Iraq to ride for the troops out there. But this is an interview with Mike ‘Rooftop’ Escamillia about his Etnies Forward section only. Because, quite simply, it was one of the craziest BMX sections to have ever, ever have existed… Ever. Albion: How’s it going? Rooftop: Good, just trying to get everything done before I got to go to work. What’s work? Filming for L.A. Ink. It’s the second season I’ve been on. But it’s fucking annoying as fuck, I just want it to be over! Ha, do you get free tattoos though? Yeah, yeah, all of them are free. I kind of stopped getting them because I also work as a stunt man and that shit needs to be covered up which is a pain in the ass. It takes 45 minutes to cover it up and they have to pay me for like another hour before I even work. I don’t really want to give them any reasons to not hire me. I still make money riding bikes, but only a couple hundred bucks from the BMX industry, and some TV, but it isn’t quite enough to survive, so I have to do at least two stunt jobs a month. Well, that’s a coincidence you say that really. My first question was going to be about some of the crazy shit you did in your Forward section. A lot of it had a sort of stunt man style craziness to it! Ha… it’s kind of funny. You know what? I lived like five blocks from [Dave] Parrick at that time, and all the crazy shit I filmed for that video I did in the space of about eight days. Because I know Parrick, and I know not to believe any of his deadlines, I didn’t start work on any of the big stuff because I didn’t want any of it to become old or for people to hear about it. I mean, Ruben [Alcantara] had a dope part but, for

him, it would’ve been a lot doper coming out when he actually filmed it. Not to take anything away from the part, it was dope, but people had heard about a lot of what he’d done, and I didn’t want that to happen. So my real big stuff - the rail flip, swing set and big 360 tailtap - were all done in four or five days. That’s a risky game plan, you’re playing with fire, pardon the pun, if you got hurt on the first thing… Well, yeah, but that’s the way I always do it. Ha! So, what the fuck were you thinking when you set yourself on fire and jumped over helicopters and that? OK, so that whole thing, like the fire, the snow, and the helicopter, that wasn’t shot for Forward. No? No, that was shot for a short film we were making, for this dream sequence, with all this bizarre shit, hence why so much of that stuff is shot on 16mm, but we just never finished it. I just thought ‘fuck it, let’s put it in the Etnies part’ as it was just getting old at that point. I had no idea people were going to take it that fucking serious. I thought people would clearly think ‘it’s a joke, he’s on fire!’ I didn’t know it was going to be a defining moment in my career, like 30% of people thought it was wild, while like 70% thought ‘what is this fucking kook doing?’ It put people off my shit. I just had the footage lying around and didn’t realise it was going to cause that big of an upset, you know what I mean?

Interview by RHYS COREN

LEO FORTE DANIEL BENSON PHOTO

facebook.com/dcshoes.europe

20 I didn’t realise it caused that much of an upset, I liked it! It did man. For me, personally, it’s weird how it’s been that one single thing that people know about me. It was some crazy shit, but it wasn’t just kooky, there’s some hammer riding there too. Some shit was savage… But people were not psyched on it, man. I think people just thought that I was over bike riding and just off doing all this weird stuff. The thing that sucked was, after years of getting ridiculed for it, I started to believe the shit that I heard and dipped and started doing my own thing. Which, actually, is fine… but when you’re not around to back yourself up, and people are talking shit on you… you just kind of become that, become what people say. For years that’s what people thought of me, so I thought fuck them, I just want to ride my bike and do some fun shit. Do you think you may have regretted some of it? Uuurgggh, maybe just regretted that I didn’t put it out in some sort of weird edit, you know? Like, made it a weird commercial or something. But, then again how much all that stuff did for me with other things, like stunts and bigger things outside of BMX. That’s been the way I have been able to support myself, you know? I could support myself in other ways because of that. BMX may not have appreciated it, but the regular public did… You didn’t need to be a bike rider to know that it was entertaining. You know, I re-watched that Forward section today. It still just blew me away… some of that shit… it’s heavy man… People were divided… I really think it was a state of mind… like what they thought was cool at the time. It was a very wishy-washy time in BMX, where it was really cliquey. It’s different now… I’m more into BMX now, and I am riding better than I have ever ridden in my entire life. Better than when you were 15? Yeah… I mean, back then I could do more tricks per se. Like, I don’t jump anymore and back then I would do trucks and stuff… I mean, I can do them now, I just don’t do it very often. I’m way more confident now. For a few years I did loose that will to just make something happen. Every pro goes through this, where you just get sick of getting hurt all the time… you just aren’t willing to get hurt for eight months.

Now, knowing you’ve got to work doing other stuff, do you ever have that in the back of your mind, that you’ve got to do film or do stunts? Right now, yeah. Me and Catfish have just got our own TV show starting in June, so I am worried about getting hurt before that, but at the same time, when we were just in France filming for United and

“

WHEN I FILM A SECTION I’M FILMING FOR THE LAST PART

”

that’s where I got the news about the show. I hadn’t filmed any bangers yet, so I just couldn’t get excited. I was so concerned with making sure I got good clips and being part of this United trip. Then, a day later, I filmed like 3 or 4 clips and I was psyched, knowing I had clips for this video. But, you know, all the TV stuff still comes second to how I still feel about BMX. So… The rail flip? Oh man, the rail flip was a wild one. I couldn’t get anyone to help me out. I had this big fucking rail attached to the top of my car, just

driving around. I didn’t know how I could do it. I ended up taking it to the park, putting it on the grass and surrounding it with empty cardboard boxes and tried to get off the end. I didn’t have many boxes as they were too expensive to buy, so I got about ten tries before all the boxes got crushed. I got off the end of that rail just two times! All the other times I got sprung off to the sides, and the two times I did get round I landed on my chest… Fuck… So I was just like, ‘Fuck it, we’re doing it’. I knew I could do it. But, that flip into the bank took about 50 tries, and only two times did I get round. On one I landed on my chest and burnt the skin off my knuckles. That’s why I was wearing gloves in that clip because it was just bleeding too much. I also knew that people would probably have issues with me building a rail, so instead of doing it into a grass bank like most probably would, I just thought fuck it, I’m going to do this into the gnarliest shit possible so that no one can say a fucking thing. And if anyone does a grind to flip soon, they have to do that on real street otherwise they just can’t fuck with it. Did you manage to pull everything for that section? Was there anything you left because you couldn’t quite get it? I’m pretty sure I got everything or I just can’t remember… Oh, wait! No! At that time everyone was so Ruben crazy… Ok, when I film a section I am filming for the last part. That’s the goal in my head, to make my section as gnarly and as good as possible so that I could be in the running for the last section… to give my all. But, I’ve just remembered, there might have been other shit I wanted for Forward… I did! I had more stuff! I just remembered asking Dave if I was in the running for last section, how much more I’d need. He said that there was no way I was going to get it. It didn’t matter what I filmed, Ruben was having it. So I just remember thinking, ‘OK, Parrick, I’m done filming then!’ Ha! At that time, Ruben was like god… People just loved him, you know? He was just so fucking good and so fucking groundbreaking. But, I remember when Dave told me that, I just thought well fuck you guys then!

Artifacts Holeshot Zine’s Nick Ferreira talks BMX’s appetite for stickers

Collecting stickers, whether to save for the right moment or cover your bike in an unrelated mess, is a BMX phenomenon that continues even in the increasingly digital landscape we live in. Kids typically plaster their bikes with any sticker, midschoolers have a Metal Bikes ‘Spade’ logo they’ve been saving to put in the “perfect spot” for the past decade and older guys still have that Club Homeboy sticker they’ve also been saving for two decades to place in that same, elusive “perfect spot.” Whilst these groups disagree about seat height, already-been-done tricks and what company will go under next, one thing they can all agree on is stickers. My sticker collecting followed the route that most take. First, I plastered my chrome DK in every imaginable sticker available. They went on as soon as they came in and it seemed as though my sticker hunger would never be satisfied. To keep up, I cut out letters from any vinyl bumper sticker I could get my hands on. Allowing the available letters to dictate what would become my “sticker” Most of the time it was complete nonsense. Eventually I grew out of the plastered phase and took a more tasteful approach and started only placing one or two stickers on at a time. The silver foil Hot Water Music sticker I got at Warped Tour was a perfect match for my Terrible One Progression. That stayed on for a long time until I sort of went full circle and began to plaster my bike with stickers again. This time around though, I was a little more selective. I wanted stickers other BMXers wouldn’t have. I got Murphy’s Law stickers from flea markets, the Dig Magazine sprocket logo (for some reason these were elusive), and even made my own decals like when I was in seventh grade. Only now I used Letraset letters. By and far the stickers that had the most influence on me date back to the first BMX Plus Magazine I ever laid eyes on. This magazine featured an advertisement for a sticker company called Stick Em Up. That ad, unbeknownst to me at the time,

would become a source of inspiration for years to come. Stick Em Up Stickers is a family owned and operated business. Started in 1971. It’s located in the Bay Area city of Pleasanton, California. They specialize in BMX, Motorcycle, Humor, Flames, Skulls and much more. Basically, they sell stickers like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes pissing on a Ford logo, ‘This bike eats Huffys and pukes Murrays’, and various bootleg relics from the 1990’s. Their advertisements were simple; a quarter page that had tiny images of each sticker that you could circle and cut along the convenient dotted line and mail in with the correct money order. I distinctly remember my first order. It included a “Is that your face or did your neck throw up?” A bootleg GT ‘Wings’, and much to the chagrin of my parents, “School sucks, I’m going BMX racing.” Not too long after my first purchase, I bought another one that read, “I Really Really Really DON’T CARE” Of course, it was a bit of a false identity for me; I did care about most things. I was a decent student, nice to my parents, and was just about the opposite of a disaffected youth as you could get. Except one thing, everything besides BMX really was just noise. I played the part but as I grew up it became clear that BMX reigned supreme. Work schedules were based around what days skateparks let bikes in, school vacations were a waste if BMX wasn’t involved, and when not riding, my friends and I watched BMX videos and discussed BMX. The story is familiar, but it’s true, I didn’t care about anything but BMX. And, more than a decade later, the idea behind this sticker is still inspiring. I still play the part and like most, have a lot more responsibilities now. There’s school, work, friends, family, rent, car problems, etc. that constantly swirl in my head. It’s incredible how easy it is to forget but, after a particularly stressful day, or month, with no actual BMX riding, I am reminded that I really really really don’t care about anything but BMX.

Words by NICK FERREIRA

Soapbox Nick ‘Marv’ Martin talks about street riding today and how he feels it’s changed for the worse

BOB SCERBO, Bank to bank wallride. Where did it all go wrong? Gone are the days of Vic Ayala and the Gonz and now we’re left with Garrett Reynolds and Kevin Kiraly. In the late 90’s there was a name for trails riders who felt the need to do tricks over every jump and that was The Tricks Ferret. They were widely frowned upon in the trails scene and often thought of as fools. Well, it seems that the tricks ferret has migrated and has set up camp on the streets. These riders spend their time searching for the perfect handrail to film the latest hip grind on and upload to the Internet before anyone else. I’m sick of seeing manual to tailwhip and truck drivers down 8ft drops. It’s all merging into one. But it isn’t all bad, there are some people still keeping the dream alive. Riders like Mark Gralla and Joey Piazza. They still take the time to master certain tricks and keep their eyes open for obscure set ups. Now some may say that these guys simply aren’t as good at riding as the tricks ferrets and that may well be true. But they aren’t some skatepark kids turned street chic pros. And the way they conduct their actions isn’t some flash in the pan that will be tired this time next year. Their riding is timeless and beautiful. Now is this just the opinion of an ageing rider who can’t keep up with the pace of all the tricks that are being invented? An insecure man who’s trying to justify his own riding? Who knows, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Just like Keith Terra did back in the day by calling out dirt jumpers parading as trails riders, I’m just putting it out there. Words by NICK MARTIN Photograhy by DANIEL BENSON

Head Banging What to do if someone hits their head and gets knocked unconscious

‘Now what?’ Silksworth Skatepark BMX riders put themselves in dangerous situations all the time. They always have and they always will. It’s most of what it’s about. We all know that danger is alluring, danger is exciting, danger is rewarding and danger is fun. But, unfortunately, every now and then, someone goes down hard and we’re reminded that danger is also very much dangerous. In its brief existence, BMX has progressed at a phenomenal rate. 30 years ago dropping off a curb was a big deal. Nowadays riders drop 360° front flips in their first runs. The gaps have gotten longer, the drops have gotten higher and the risks have gotten riskier, all in the name of progression. Removing the risk is not an option. Removing the risk would be to remove the spike of the point itself. So we’re left with no option but to acknowledge and respect the risk whilst being prepared for every eventuality. Niki Croft, Mike Aitken, Van Homan, Jimmy Levan, Toby Forte, Mat Hoffman, Ron Wilkerson, Stephen Murray, Matt Berringer… The list goes on and on… All of these rider’s lives have been permanently affected by crashes. And all have crashed on either their heads or their necks. From that list, the vast majority of those lucky enough to still be riding a bike, all now wear helmets. They know that it only takes once. They know that a momentary lapse in concentration, an error in judgement or a hasty decision can be the difference between a happy healthy life or one of constant struggle and pain. Unfortunately, this year’s BSD Jam at Unit 23 saw the all too familiar sight of a big head impact, meaning pro finals had to be cut short. Jason Phelan had spotted an ambitious line to start his final run with a bang. He planned to drop into the bowl from the rafters, so a ladder was procured and up he went. The distance between himself and the flat bottom was at least 20 feet. Ever hungry for an extreme manoeuvre or a brush with death, the crowd were baying for blood or glory. Never one to disappoint, Jason allowed the red mist to envelope him and he prepared to jump. With one final shake of the head he launched off his perch in a cave man style. Like all drops involving a static start and the earth’s gravity – things happened quickly. He plummeted through the air like a lead balloon. Things couldn’t have gone much worse. Somewhere in the split second

it took for him to touch-down he neglected to get his hand on his bars. His wheels hit the transition low and with just one hand on his grip he folded in a flash and was sent headfirst straight to flat. The previously ecstatic crowd let out a disturbed gasp before falling into an eerie silence. Laid out motionless on the cold wooden floor, a pool of crimson red blood slowly grows around his head. The music stops and lots of goodwilled people rush down to help him. But when they get there – just like the music – they too stop in their tracks. They want to help, but the sight and seriousness of the situation combined with their fear and lack of knowledge means they have no idea how to help, they have nothing to offer. Lot’s of suggestions are made… “Don’t touch him, he’ll be paralysed”, “Put him in the recovery position”, “Give him some beer”, “Take his helmet off ”, “Give him mouth to mouth”… But through fear and ignorance no one dares touch him. He could be surrounded by all the good intentions in the world but with a lack of relevant knowledge he’s left to battle it out by himself, all alone in a world of unconsciousness. Eventually someone who knows what they’re doing comes along, takes care of the situation and everyone feels a bit less utterly usless. Riders will not stop putting themselves in life threatening scenarios. A mysterious but perfectly natural chemical imbalance in the brain draws us to adverse risk. When we’re on the run up, the mixture of adrenalin and apprehension coursing through our veins is too powerful of a drug to ever try to substitute. Nothing with any lesser risk or reward can come close. There’s no point trying to talk people out of it, each one of us is freewilled, all we can do to avoid catastrophe is be prepared for every eventuality – which is why we at The Albion recommend every rider learn basic first aid. As bike riding progresses, it’s inevitable that serious head trauma will become more common. But it’s not only the big moves that can end in disaster, it only takes one unfortunate crash and you or one of your friends could find yourselves in a life threatening situation. Luckily, after coming round, Jason only suffered a concussion and some new scars but head injuries can be deadly serious and by taking just a few moments to familiarise yourself with some basic first aid you could well save a fellow rider’s life.

Words by STEVE BANCROFT Photo by DANIEL BENSON

What to do if someone hits their head and gets knocked unconscious Your Aims: - To maintain an open air way. - To assess and record the level of response. - To treat any major associated injuries. - To arrange urgent removal to hospital. Do not: - Attempt to give an unconscious person anything by mouth. - Move the casualty unnecessarily because of the possibility of spinal injury. - Leave an unconscious casualty unattended at any time.

1: Check Response After making sure the scene is safe, establish whether the casualty is conscious or unconscious. Do this by gently shaking his shoulders. Ask “Are you OK?” and “Open your eyes”. Always speak loudly and clearly. If there is a response then leave him in the position he’s in. Check for life threatening injuries and phone 999 if needed. If there is no response leave the casualty in the position found and get a helper to phone 999 immediately. 2: Open Air Way Place one hand on his forehead. Gently tilt his head back. As you do this the casualty’s mouth will fall open slightly. Have a look inside, pick out any obvious obstructions and make sure the air way is clear. Place fingertips under casualties chin. Lift the chin. If you suspect a spinal injury, open the air way by gently lifting the jaw but not tilting the head. 3: Check Breathing Look for chest movement, listen for sounds of breathing, and feel for breath on your cheek. Do this for no more than 10 seconds. If he is breathing, examine the casualty quickly but systematically to identify and external bleeding or major fractures. Control any bleeding and protect any suspected fractures. Place him in the recovery position (see fig 8). If the casualty is not breathing, give rescue breaths. 4: Pinch Nose And Open Mouth Make sure the air way is still open. Make sure the casualty’s head remains tilted by keeping two fingers under the tip of his chin. Use the thumb and forefinger of your other hand to firmly pinch the soft part of the nose. Make sure his nostrils are closed to prevent air escaping. Open his mouth. 5: Give Rescue Breaths Take a deep breath to fill your lungs with air. Place your lips around the casualty’s lips, making sure you form a good seal. Blow steadily into the mouth until the chest rises. Maintaining

head tilt and chin lift, take your mouth away and watch the chest fall. Give two effective breaths. Look, listen and feel for signs of circulation, such as breathing, coughing or movement. If circulation is absent, perform CPR. If the casualty starts breathing but remains unconscious, place him in the recovery position. 6: CPR Give Chest Compressions Locate you casualty’s lowest rib at the point it meets the breast bone. Place your middle finger at this point and your index finger next to that. Place the heel of your other hand next to your index finger. This is the point you will apply pressure. Place the heel of your first hand on top of the other hand, and interlock your fingers.Press down vertically on the breastbone and depress the chest by 4-5cm. Allow the chest to come back up before giving the next compression. Compress the chest 30 times. 7: CPR Give Rescue Breaths Move to the casualty’s head and make sure that the air way is still open. Repeat steps 5 and 6. Continue the cycle of 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths until either the emergency services arrive and take over, or the casualty starts to breath. 8: The Recovery Position Once the casualty is breathing put him in the recovery position. Kneel beside the casualty. Straighten his legs. Place the arm nearest you at right angles to his body with the elbow bent and the palm facing up. Bring the arm farthest from you across his chest and hold the back of his hand against the cheek nearest you. 9: Recovery Position Cont.: Roll the casualty towards you onto his side. Adjust the upper leg so both the hip and knee are bent at right angles.Tilt the head back and ensure the air way remains open. Monitor and record vital signs – level of response, pulse and breathing – until the emergency services arrive.

Disclaimer: This article is aimed at highlighting the dangers of BMX riding and the importance of first aid training. All information on this page has been thoroughly researched and is in line with current medical practise at time of print. The Albion accepts no liability for any outcomes resulting from readers acting on this information. The use of this content is at your sole risk. The Albion encourages all readers to undergo basic first aid training from an accredited body.

THE Florida AssignMENT INFILTRATE A COMMUNE OF ECCENTRIC BMX RIDERS IN CENTRAL FLORIDA AND REPORT BACK ON WHAT MAKES THEM BEHAVE SO IRRATIONALLY... The assignment came through via the Internet. I’d heard about these kids. I’d heard about this place. I was excited. I was apprehensive. These people were crazy redneck Americans, whilst I am a comparatively mild mannered Englishman. I turned inwards and played the upcoming saga out in my mind and it wasn’t good. Although I’ve not jumped the shark just yet, now in my 30’s I’m partial to classic literature, mellow music and a glass of red wine. These kids are illiterate, thrash metal listening, self-confessed scum-bags, hell-bent on spending every waking hour on a weed and alcohol fuelled fire ride – this wasn’t going to be easy.

Words and Photography by STEVE BANCROFT

he commune in question is the home of Casselberry Trails. And the commune in question is the home of many, many colourful people. They are colourful even though they mainly wear black. At least ten crazy bastards live in the actual house itself and just as many again live around the yard in an assortment of scraggly huts, sheds, trailers and tents. I needed to find out what makes them tick. I needed to find out what fuels their fire. I needed to earn their trust so I could move around freely amongst them. So I got really drunk, passed out and pissed myself. The crusty items of clothing found lurking in the bushes at trails spots have always intrigued me. Where did they come from? What’s their story? Well, after a few too many cans of cheap beer, I stumbled out the house to go leak by the jumps. It was dark and I kept falling over. I grew very tired so I sat down. Then I lay down. Then it was getting light and I’d pissed myself. I was hot and drunk, so I took my jeans off and went back in the house and slept sat up on a stool. In the morning, the jeans were lying there in a bush, all crumpled up and spent. Used and abused. Their story wasn’t the most glamorous but it’s a story that – judging by all the other crusty garments littering the area – is a familiar one here. I’d cracked it. I was familiar.

“ EVERYTHING

SMASHABLE HAS BEEN SMASHED. EVERYTHING THAT’S NOT HAS BEEN TESTED AT LEAST TWICE

”

People in Florida just don’t give a fuck. The heat and the dirt get to you after a very short time. The layer of grime and sweat is like a straight jacket. The house is squalid and there are no rules. In the surrounding area unemployment and drug addiction are high and mosquito life and gang culture are rife. All this surmounts to people just not giving a fuck in Florida. Away from the Keys it’s not like the brochures would have you believe. After a few days all previously held conventions are out the window and there is a total breakdown of what was previously held as normal. I’d only been there for two days and I’d already acclimatized, hell, even my bladder had relaxed into the swing of things and had stopped giving a fuck. The first night I stayed at the house a lot of the inhabitants had eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms. It made them calm and it made them stare at static, uninteresting objects with a child-like curiosity. It was disturbing to

watch heavily tattooed longhaired BMX kids acting so out of character. The night continued in line with the Banned videos and my preconceptions. It’s all blurry. Not a lot in focus. Beers being shotgunned, thrash metal being played loud, bikes being ridden under insufficient lighting and the influence of alcohol. There’s beer in my eye. What would Dave do? There was a slight panic later when Aaron, the owner of Casselberry trails, came out back and spoke the words “Has anyone seen the kids on mushrooms?” He’d lost them. I carefully wrote the words on the inside of a book of matches – really small. They were only missing for a few minutes. They were found following each other in a silent conga fashion down by the swamp at the bottom of the yard, touching the trees. With the sun up the place is a BMX house on speed; the inhabitants have a lot of fun and are excited. They shout and scream. Sessioning the trails and the ramps, talking about banging chicks, drinking beer, smoking tree whilst listening to loud music. With the sun down nothing really changes except that more people are involved and they don’t just talk. There’s more screaming, singing and laughing. The Orlando scene is largely centered around this house at 71 Winter Park Drive, the main reasons for this are the trails, the ramps and the backdrop of tie-dyed freedom. But there is another reason- these kids don’t operate well out in public. They function better on private land with a fence around them. “Can I get a fucking beer here!” shouts a shirtless Spence as he slams his fist down on a busy public bar. After a while the barmaid reluctantly pours him one. He hands over money. She hands over his change. He throws it back at her. She gets mad. “We shouldn’t be allowed in bars” says a more sober Tom in an apologetic tone, “We should be made to stay in the yard”. But not all of the residents drink too much. Charlie, who is not long out of the army, barely drinks at all. When asked why not, he simply replies “I don’t give a fuck already!” And Trey doesn’t get weird at all. Weird? Inside the house it’s a mess. Everything smashable has been smashed. Everything that’s not has been tested at least twice. Some of the individual rooms aren’t too bad. Some are almost nice. Almost. It all gangs up. It seems superheroes have been fighting in the living room – throwing one another through walls. Every cockroach, every hole in the wall, they all join forces and it’s an awesome power. On their own they’re fine. A single crack on an otherwise sound wall, nothing to be afraid of. One little roach scurrying under the sink, still not a problem. But when it all gangs up

(Top) GREG SMEE, here for kicks (Bottom) MARK MULLVILLE, here for sunshine, trails and parties.

TREY JONES, Bathtub backflip.

on you, when the crack is everywhere and the roaches are all around, then it packs one hell of a punch. It changes you. You stop caring and relax into the way things are. You have to. I stopped caring. I was relaxed. And I was enjoying myself. But I needed to delve deeper.

“

AT LEAST TEN CRAZY BASTARDS LIVE IN THE ACTUAL HOUSE ITSELF AND JUST AS MANY AGAIN LIVE AROUND THE YARD IN AN ASSORTMENT OF SCRAGGLY HUTS, SHEDS, TRAILERS AND TENTS

”

The uniform in the house is shorts and no shirt. It’s a dress code enforced by the heat and the lack of laundry facilities. There is a shower – but you’ve got to be brave or excited to use it. If a t-shirt is needed then it’s either one from a bike sponsor or one of a metal band. Most Banned rider’s bikes are more dialed than their living conditions – people work in bike shops, people are sponsored and Sparky’s Distribution is just down the street past the dog racing place – the wheels are kept true. What would Dave Mirra do – he’s the best BMXer – he always has been. How would Dave handle this? For some reason I keep wondering how Dave would deal with all this? How would he report back on these kids? He’d probably drink them all under their own table and backflip their trails in one hit – from the first take-off to the last landing. And he’d do it without a shirt. That’s what I should do. I find myself all hungover and motivated to ride the trails. I’m dehydrated, dizzy and feeling desperate. Inspired by Dave I approach the jumps. There’s a smaller main line to the left, with eight or nine poppy sets. Then there’s the bigger line. I act like I know what I’m doing and I’m out by where the cars go past – that’s the run up – that’s where all Dave’s mirrors are. I jump the first couple, get sketchy and pull out to the side – it’s scary and sobering. The pull out technique is not endorsed or encouraged by the authorities but as a last resort it’s safe enough. After a few goes I’m in. I’m making it through the line. I’m jumping like a German – with ultimate efficiency – least chance of accident or incident – low and stiff. Always low and stiff. Arriving at the last jump and there were two landings to chose from. Choose left: turn to page 138. Choose right: turn to page 459. Choice right is a hipped landing that all the locals were using. Choice left was straight on. Being German I thought “I’ll keep it simple for the first run through and just go straight.” I knew, with all his confidence, Dave would go right but I thought “I’ll get warmed up first and jump the hip in a bit.” But it turns out that the straight-on landing is the last landing for the big line not the main line! If you’re riding the main line then you have to hip right – you don’t get to chose the page – you just have to read the next one otherwise it doesn’t make sense. No options here. So I’m up in the air going forward, up until that point very happy and proud. The feeling slinks away as I look ahead and see the landing a long way off in the distance. In a long nanosecond I assess my position; I’m in the air, I’m not going forward very fast and the landing is still a long way away. The calculations don’t look good. It’s not a pretty equation. I don’t have nearly enough

speed. I didn’t bail – Dave wouldn’t bail – I managed to just scrape my front wheel over and hung up sprocket. Both my nervous sweaty hands blew off and my face hit the bars. Then my body hit the floor and I did that rolling sliding dance down the landing. It’s the only dance I know. Go Johnny Go. Then I rested at the bottom – sandy and twisted. I’d turned on, tuned in and dropped out. And it worked. The people knew I looked up to Dave and they warmed further. The trails are an island in a sea of Floridian insanity. I’m in Lord Of The Flies and I’m turning into a savage. I’m one of the hunters now. I don’t know when I eat. I don’t know when I sleep. How much longer can this go on? Luckily street riding with the Banned people gets me out the house. We drove around for two hours, Rickey Bates jumped off a roof and landed on his ass. We rode around for two hours, smoked some sprigs of weed and went back to the house. It’s flat in Florida so if you want a change in elevation then you need to climb something man made. Some people don’t get on the roofs because in Florida people have guns and in Florida if someone is on your roof then you have the right to shoot them – God Bless America. We met Colt. He jumped from a roof to a tree. The tree snapped. I watched President Barack Obama address

the nation to tell them that he’d killed a man with a beard. Barack is good looking and black and speaks well – he looks famous, like an actor – but not Reagan. They let off fireworks and shouted in the streets – it’s scary here. Would Dave let off a firework? Pat King drove down. He told me about how he filmed one of his last clips in Banned 4 whilst tripping. High on mushrooms he described how he was all weak on the run up but when he hit the wall he felt like superman and he was on the wall for what felt like half an hour and when he rode away it kicked off the best trip ever. But he doesn’t trip anymore because of reoccurring flash backs from a dark one. He crankarm slid a pole-jam but hurt his foot on a bar spin and drove back to South Carolina... Dave wouldn’t have pissed himself, Dave’s a professional. In the house it’s a diet of the cheapest cigarettes and beer in the store. The beer is called Natural Ice. It’s what bums drink. Natty Ice. Not even the residents are crazy enough to use the kitchen to prepare food – they’re crazy but not yet suicidal. For food you have to drive. Usually sat in the back of a pick-up with bikes, dogs and bodies. Glad for some moving air to dry the sweat and cool the sunburn. The streets are scoured for specials. Most are known but

(Top left) JOEY JUARISTI “What you wanna see? I’ve got a table or a turndown” (Bottom left) GARY D, Roof to ramp (Top right) RICKEY BATES, Bump to over tooth 180. 37

TREY JONES, 360 transfer behind the back.

there are some nights missing. It’s Taco Tuesdays where it’s 99cents a pop. Hot Wing Wednesday. Happy Hour Pizza. Or the Dollar Menu from any of the thousand fast food chains in the vicinity.You can get full up for $2 most nights. It’s not good for you, it’s cheap and it leaves you feeling weird – content but weird – it’s much like living in the house. There are strange men who come to the house to drink beer. I think that’s why they come anyway. That’s what they do when they’re here. So I guess that’s why they come. They watch the bikes going up and down too. Aaron Houseowner’s dad, Paul, lives in the shed in the back garden. He had drug problem after his wife died. He’s over the drugs now. Now he drinks. The house is in foreclosure and has been for 11 years. He roams around carrying ladders and drinking beers, giving slurred rambling speeches to anyone who will listen – there’s never a very big crowd. That’s him in the bath. Money in the house comes from a small screen printing empire, two residents play guitar in the band Andrew WK, some get paid by sponsors, one is an artist, one has just got a pay out after leaving the army, two work in a bike shop and the rest work for tree guy. He is one of the random drunks who hang out. He’s a tree surgeon and is happy to pay a bit of cash for a few days work. Money doesn’t really play much of a part here. If you’ve got just enough, then you’ve got plenty and it doesn’t need anymore thought. People in Florida don’t give a fuck. They go to the store so often that they get fat. They get so fat they can no longer 38

walk to the store. So they get a mobility scooter and drive to the store. Store gotten to. Problem solved. Lottery ticket, scratch card, bladder buster, fried chicken and a hot dog – all safely in the basket up front. Silent electric sit-on scoot back home. See you soon! One day we escaped to the beach. It was a busy nudist beach. As soon as we got there one of us stands on the railings of the boardwalk overlooking the crowded beach and shouts “You call that a dick!?!”. It went quiet. We shouldn’t be let out. Every male on the beach looks round and we’re faced with swinging dongs on old leathery skinned angry men. We laugh. They angry swing. We go back to the house. We took the canoe up river to the springs. There were many large alligators on the way. We paddled right by them. I was scared. Cottle jumped in. After a week I had a flight to catch. It left at 6:00am, meaning I needed to be at the airport at 5am, so we’d need to leave the house at 4am. People here only know 4am from the side of the day before. No one has experienced 4am as the start of something, hell, it’s not even the end of most nights. So it’s decided that we’ll be staying awake all night. We go out to karaoke and drink like alligators, 4am rolls around and the fire’s still lit and everyone’s up. High fives are exchanged and we’re off to the airport. The lights look blurry to me. Rickey has been drinking all night so I’m sure they lights look blurry to him too. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. We pull up at a stop light on the freeway behind perhaps three other cars. Next thing I know I’m opening my eyes and there are no cars insight and the light is green. We’re still

“ I’D ONLY

BEEN THERE FOR TWO DAYS AND I’D ALREADY ACCLIMATIZED, HELL, EVEN MY BLADDER HAD RELAXED INTO THE SWING OF THINGS AND HAD STOPPED GIVING A FUCK

”

(Top) COLT FAKE, Chinese tree house drop (Middle) COLT FAKE, Nollie to green box (Bottom) RICKEY BATES, Roof to roof bar.

TREY JONES, Groundchuck. sat 40ft back from the green light not moving, clear road in front. I look to my left and driver Ricky is fast asleep slumped in his seat – I’ve no idea how long we were there but I do know that I missed my flight. The commune is a hive of activity. No mobility scooters here. Always something going on. In amongst the insanity there is a wealth of talent and motivation. To some the talent could be considered wasted and the motivation misdirected – but that’s bullshit. Screen printing, website running, bike shop working, trail digging, ramp building, fine art painting, professional guitar playing, house building and world class bike riding – this place should be frowning on everyone else. This place is pure Orlando Magic. Q: What makes them behave so irrationally. . .? A: Ask Dave.

in the WOODS THOMAS ‘ROBBO’ ROBINSON INTERVIEW

Words and Photography by GEORGE MARSHALL

t’s deep winter. Most people are indoors, in warm offices, shops, homes or factories. Out in the sticks of the Midlands, miles from the riches of the south or character of the north, sits a plot of secluded backwoods, forgotten and charmless. Beneath a dead canopy of leafless trees, all is silent but the crack and pull of a spade against smooth clay as Robbo digs into the hard frozen earth, releasing a cold damp smell into the wintry air. His wooden spade handle shines, polished from hours of hard graft. He is alone and quiet, spellbound by his work. Next to a hut made of scrap wood a small fire encircled by bricks burns and cracks. He hasn’t seen a soul all day, and is unlikely to until he makes the seven mile ride to his home village before the temperature drops at nightfall. Sometimes other riders come to help, but he’s often alone. His only company will be the dense maze of over a 100 jumps, berms, lips, hips, landings and lines, all covered in tarpaulin sheets and in hibernation as sleeping giants for the winter. For three consecutive winters Robbo has lived this life of solitude, coldblistered fingers and damp feet. He has been dedicated to the task of working the land – a peasant like existence that few even within BMX could comprehend, let alone admire or endure. “I don’t want to know how many days I’ve spent down here on my own.” He says smiling, possibly embarrassed by his peculiar nature. “For three years I didn’t have a job and came down here five days a week, all winter. I’d get down here early, about ten and stay ‘til it’s dark. This last year was hard though. I’ve been digging since I was 12 years old and this was the first year that I couldn’t get a shovel in the ground. Now I’m 23, so I’ve been digging for coming up to 11 years, it never grows old.” He continues one night as we sit by the fire in his natural habitat of the woods, sheltering from a light shower.

shirts, two hoodies and a coat. I’d be down here all day and all I’d do is dig ice blocks. But winter is a good time of year for the trails – nothing is riding and we’re just building new lines. We plan stuff in May and look forward to building it the following winter. I think a lot of people don’t know half the shit you do when you ride trails. I dig more than I ride, by far. I reckon I dig 70%, and ride 30%. Most kids these days just ride 100% and that’s why they get so good. They haven’t got 100 jumps to look after. It’s like a full time job maintaining this place. People who ride street or skateparks have got it easy.” He stops and puts his out his hand palm facing upwards, looking to night sky. “This rain better piss off or we’ll be sleeping in hut…We’ll just sleep close to the fire, it’ll be alright”. When in the woods, with pick or spade in his hand, only the constant drone of M1 nearby reminds Robbo of the busy, fast paced world outside, beyond the reaches of the woods. For Robbo the woods are a sanctuary from the mundane distractions of 21st century life. “That’s the best thing about trails – when you’re down the woods, no one knows you’re here. You’re away from everything. It’s lawless in a way. I love the freedom. Freedom from all the drama of life. That’s why we named the trails Villij, after a film about a group of people who were unhappy about their lives in modern society and built an isolated village in the middle of nowhere, free from the outside world. They had a myth that the woods that surround them were full of monsters to stop people leaving. It’s a pretty shit film but I suppose that’s like us, we’re building trails in woods to escape all the bullshit and people outside. When I’m digging my phone’s off in my bag – I’m building a landing. I also love the freedom to build whatever you want. With your head and a spade you can create anything, you could create a skatepark if you wanted to. There’s no money involved. It is all your hard labour – a bit of elbow grease and a bit of imagination.”

“

I PREFER BUILDING LANDINGS BECAUSE THEY TAKE LONGER

”

“In winter I was getting down here with three T-shirts, two flannel 44

Kickout, Catty Woods, PA. 45

Most would regard Robbo’s days in the woods as nothing but hard, gruelling labour, sacrifice and hardship, an experience they’d only endure if forced to in a Soviet style prison camp. Digging to Robbo is in no way the necessary evil of riding trails, it’s the reward in its own right. “Flying through a set of woods going mach ten and pulling up just beats anything… apart from digging. I love coming down here and banging out a massive landing. As you dig a lip or landing you see it grow, starting from scratch. Once you’re finished you stand back and can be like ‘fucking wicked – that took three days to build’. I prefer building landings because they take longer. We’ve got some landings that are 10ft tall and they take a while, especially if the dirt is on the other side of the woods. Some landings take weeks, especially in the winter. But I wouldn’t use a digger, they take the fun out of it. I’d rather stack it with a spade from scratch than get in a digger. If you got a digger in here it would destroy the place. We haven’t got the room. But that’s not the reason we don’t use a one, we just don’t want a digger in here, they cost money. I’d rather use the money to buy tarps or new spades. It’s understandable getting a digger in for comps, where the jumps will only last three days, so whatever floats your boat…Actually, no fuck it, I think it’s cheating.” I appear to have hit a nerve with Robbo over the use of diggers. His logic seems strange until I remember what happened last time a digger was here. “Yeah diggers smash in jumps as well, but I don’t want to talk about it – the time some jumps got ploughed by a mountain biker, I’m sick of talking about that.” Despite being one of the best known and most respected trails riders in the UK, if not the world, BMX for Robbo pays him less than if he did a weekly paper round delivering the Loughborough Echo. His worldly possessions are tin of labelled balls of clay sampled from his favourite trails around the world and one of the first Square One T-shirts. His camera is outdated, heavily dented and pink, handed down to him by his mother. Robbo is definitely a character that is happy to go without. “I was on the dole for three years. It was at the time of the recession and I used to go to the job centre and there’d be 50 people signing on. There was always a huge queue and they’d always tick my paper without question, just to get through the people as fast as possible. I never had a review, not one in three years, you’re suppose to have one a month. When I first signed on I got £90 every two weeks. Then it went up to £100.50 for two weeks. I loved being on the dole. I came down the trails everyday anyway, I didn’t spend the little money I had. Digging was my job, the government funded me to dig Villij.” Unemployed and desperate to pay off his overdraft Robbo found another source of income more fitting to his artful dodger, pickpocket like appearance. “I was speaking to Erny from Sheffield, and he told me about weighing in scrap metal. He told me it was free money and he was right. I started to go to old rundown pubs and rip out all the cabling. You just find some wires, pull them out, get it home, then strip it all down to the bare copper and weigh it in – Bobs your uncle, you’ve got money in your back pocket, tax free. When you take it you just say you’re a sparky, and it’s offcuts from a job, then they weigh it in. You can earn good money, for a tonne of pure 46

Table pocket air, The Bath Tub, Norwich.

“ PEOPLE SAY THE DOLE’S GOOD, BUT SCRAP METAL IS LOADS BETTER ” 47

Downside, Catty Woods, PA.

Turndown, Oswestry, Wales.

copper stripped can get you £6000…six…thousand… fucking pounds, buy a car with that, not that I can drive. Most I’ve got for a load was a few hundred quid. People say the dole’s good, but scrap metal is loads better.” “There’s so much money in scrap, guys who own scrap yards are millionaires. We get a Rag and Bone man come round our street all the time. He’s rolls round in a Ford Transit pickup with a stuffed green crocodile on the roof. He drives round shouting ‘any scrap metal, any scrap metal’. People come out, give him washing machines and freezers and stuff, for free – for free, I told you it’s free money. He caught me once as I was stripping down 50 metres of thick armoured power cable. That one big cable was made of four smaller 10mm cables, so that’s 40mm of copper. I was stripping it all in my garage with the door wide open. The bloody Rag and Bone man pulled up right in front of the house and his eyes lit up, he almost had a heart attack I reckon. It must have looked like an Aladdin’s cave to him, the pikey bastard, I’m lucky he didn’t rob the garage, good thing BMXs are light or he’d weigh that in.” “I only scrap metal here and there. I don’t hunt it down anymore. I’m only a part-time Rag and Bone man. But there’s gypos down the woods that are full on pros, they

risk their lives for a bit of copper. It’s rare to see someone come in the woods but when they do it’s suspicious. No dog walkers come down here, the only people we do see are guys with metal detectors or gypos who rob metal. One digs it up, the other rips it down. Gypos love it down here for the same reasons we do – you can do what you want. Some gypo was even camping down here in the same woods, a small weedy bloke, he looked like Gollum he did. One day I found his camp, and he’d cut down two telegraph pylons, the old style wooden ones. He’d sawed them down and pulled all the cable through. They were live 11kV power lines, that can kill you, gypos are nuts. I think he shorted them out because the wood was singed and burnt. He pulled hundreds of metres of cable through. So yeah I only scrap metal part time, but those guys are full throttle.” With the exception of the occasional gypo cutting down powers lines and the odd motorist pulling off the M1 for a call of nature, Villij trails are rarely visited by anyone else but Robbo and the other locals. The issue of guests, invites, lifelong bans and pulling your weight with a spade has been the source of endless arguments across the country, and an issue Robbo seems opinionated about. “Anyone can come down Villij and ride. Anyone is welcome. If anyone fucks up, cases a landing or whatever, I say to them ‘look man, just ride, we’ll fix 49

it tomorrow. No worries for breaking it, I’ll enjoy fixing it thanks, it’ll give me something to do.’ I let mountain bikers ride down here, it’s fucking funny – they pedal in bowls and shit. One guy came down and he pedalled in every fucking bowl, it was hilarious. I love it when mountain bikers come down, they smash the place up, it gives me more digging to do. I welcome young kids to come down as well. But it’s a good idea to lock up trails. It stops random kids riding them and killing themselves, breaking a leg, going home to mum and she’ll send the authorities up here. Locking your trails up isn’t a salty thing, it’s saving some kid breaking an arm. I don’t want people riding while we’re not here, it’s pretty shitty that people do that, they should have more respect than that.” “I think some people have the wrong idea about trails. I know you put all the effort into building your trails, but you want other people to enjoy what you’ve built. That’s a motivation for me, having someone walk out of your trails with a massive grin on their face. Seeing that is winter months spent digging here paid off. The trails are not just for us, they’re for everyone else.” “When I went to Eastside, in Austin. I’m not knocking the Eastside guys, their trails are amazing and people are awesome, but their attitude was weird. I didn’t feel comfortable riding. Gaz [Sanders – owner of Mutiny Bikes] had to buy them two crates of beer so we could film there. I don’t understand that. I build trails, I love people coming down my woods. Why would you give someone a hard time if someone hasn’t rung you before they come down, why would you give them a bad time? Any person that comes down to some trails wants to ride the ride jumps because they think your trails are good, you should take it as a complement. When we were at Eastside, the locals were drawing all over my t-shirt, writing ‘Eastside Trails’, so they could see it on the edit. I thought what’s this about? I was weirded out. I said on come on, I do what you guys do.” Watching Robbo digging is like watching a master craftsman at work, such as a blacksmith or sculptor. He’s constantly stacking, packing, moulding, sweeping and adjusting, all the time surrounded by a range of different spades, shovels, 50

brooms and picks. I ask him how he learnt everything. “I was taught by the best – Jay Sponge. It’s thanks to him I can shape a lip. He showed me what BMX is all about. He took me to my first big set of trails when I was 12 and made me jump them. He showed us how to dig, he taught me everything. He also got me on Mutiny through Gaz, I owe both those guys a lot. Jay was also the man first inspire me to go PA.” At an age of 16 when most teenagers are still going on package holidays to Spain under the watchful eye of their parents, Robbo took a risky but life changing trip to Pennsylvania, America. As he left his home village little did he know how PA would become a part of his life. “I was so young – dead young to be doing a trip like that. Three of us went out; me, Deville who’s a bit older and Gary who’s in the RAF now. We got a flight to JFK and a taxi to Manhattan, where we had a hostel booked. That first night was the only accommodation we had booked for our entire three week trip, we had no idea where we’d end up. Next day we walked 40 fucking blocks carrying our bike boxes and eventually got a bus to Bethlehem, PA. We got to Bethlehem, and chucked our bike boxes in the bush and rode around trying to find the infamous Posh trails, which I’d spent hours looking at in mags and on videos. We found a skateshop and they pointed us in the right direction of the estate where they were supposed to be. After not too long I saw a gap in the trees but that was Old Posh trails. I knew new Posh was really close by but we couldn’t find it. There we were pedalling around this small estate for eight hours, and every house looked the same - we were lost. We knew nobody. We’d almost given up and thought we’d be sleeping on the roadside. Then a kid went by on a BMX. We heckled him down and he took us straight there. We got to Posh and there everyone was, some trails legends like Chris Stauffer was there and a young Chase Hawk, he would have been 18 at the time. That night we stayed at Stauffer’s.” “That first trip was for three weeks and I was completely blown away, it was like a pilgrimage for me. For the next two years I went for back every summer for three months. The second time I stayed at a BMX house, with up to 30 riders so every night was a party. When it got a bit

Wet full pipe carve, Snowdonia, Wales. 51

(Top) Seat grab X-up, Villij. (Bottom) Table, Basildon Banks.

much my good friend Janice let me stay with his family. He’s asked me to be the godfather to his kid. He said to me ‘you’re the only person I know who’s not sketchy as fuck.’” “The third year I went there was meant to be a jam at the big trials in PA – Catty Woods. The airport down the road owned the land and said the trails would be ploughed if it went ahead. Loads of riders had flown in for the jam, with Catty closed everyone went to Posh. I remember walking into the woods and just seeing a shit tonne of people. It was a jam at Posh for three days running.You can’t explain how amazing that was to watch those guys ride. To this day the is best thing I’ve seen on a BMX bike was Aitken riding Posh. He said hello to me and said he loved watching me ride. At the time I was gob smacked, I’ve watched him for years, I’ve always looked up to him. On the Anthem website, on the Aitken page next to his favourite riders to watch in 2010 and it says me…UK Robbo… you’ve got to me kidding me.”

and Magilla walked up and didn’t seem himself, he said something bad had happened, that Aikten taken a really bad crash and is in coma. I think I’d left the jumps about ten minutes before it happened. I went from this epic high to a real low point, all within a few hours. If it happened to him it can happen to anyone.”

“ EVERYONE WAS THERE, AITKEN, DOYLE, PUNJAB, BRIAN FOSTER, CHASE HAWK, MUVILLE...TRAIL LEGENDS

”

“One of those days down Posh I left a bit early. That night there was a benefit for Catty to raise money for the trails. I remember standing outside having a cig, 52

“I’ll never forget those days doing trains through Catty and Posh, with the likes of Aitken, Foster and Doyle. That truly was an honour. I’ll never forget it to the day I die. It has to be one of the proudest moments of my life, but I didn’t realise at the time. I just remember doing a train with all those people who I’ve up looked to for years thinking I’m just a kid from a village in the middle of Leicestershire, who am I to be following Foster through a set a doubles.”

Although Robbo may feel out of place rubbing shoulders with trails legends such as Brian Foster and Mike Aitken, he really shouldn’t. He is one of the great talents of our small island and his dedication to riding trails should be an inspiration. Those long winter days spent digging Villij has kept that passion pure, and that’s where he belongs – in the woods.

MIke Hoder DON’T HOLD BACK

Story 1: “When I first met Hoder he was stood at the bar at Interbike. I thought I’d go over and say ‘what’s up’ so I walked up behind him and just as I was about to tap him on the shoulder he turned around, took the cigarette from my mouth and started smoking it. He blew the smoke in my face and turned back around without saying a word. I didn’t even get the cigarette back.” Story 2: “When I first met Hoder I saw him eat a live goldfish.” These weren’t the only stories, more came my way as I mentioned my plans to travel to New York to interview Mike Hoder. These two stuck in my head because the first is particularly menacing and the second slightly crazy. Menacing and crazy, before I met the guy these are the only things I pictured he could be. He couldn’t always be like that, surely. I didn’t doubt for a minute that he did these things, in fact I was sure that he had, but could he really be just these two things, menacing and a bit crazy?

Words and Photography by DANIEL BENSON

Pegless ice, New Jersey.

irstly, a few facts about Mike. He’s 25 and grew up in Seattle. At school all the coaches from every sport the school did would follow him around asking him to be on the team because not only was he tall (about 6.5ft), he was strong as fuck and quick. He can’t run properly these days because a broken foot was left unchecked and over time has healed in a direction that’s both funny and painful to look at. His first bike was stolen from pro racer Robbie Miranda, after Mike never gave him the $100 he’d asked for it. He’s good at drawing and also at having noisy sex with his lovely girlfriend Katie, who he now lives with in New York. He’s scared of heights and eventually he’d like to get a dog. When I meet Mike at the airport he’s surprisingly quiet. “When is he going to eat a goldfish?” I think. He’s tall; he actually looks taller than 6.5ft. People would ask him in the street if he played basketball. The tattoos, which follow no particular style, cover a lot of his body. Most done by friends, there are names of ex girlfriends, sayings that you have with mates, an S&M shield on the top of his right hand and a ‘Perma Jersey’ back tattoo of his second name and a big number one beneath it, done by a friend, drunk one night and with a needle so thick it looks like a black marker. They instantly make him look intimidating; together with some deep-set eyes that… well, I guess do make him look menacing. Hoder arrived at the airport with Bob Scerbo and Edwin De La Rosa in the Animal van. Bob and Ed decide that we should check out a pizza place not far from the airport, somewhere near Coney Island and after that head out to the beach. Bob and Edwin explain the view of New York to me and over a beer and some cigarettes I talk to Hoder more. “I got your room sorted back at the crib man, you’ll love it. I just moved into the place with my girl. You’ve got your own room, you don’t have to sleep on the sofa” As we talk the menacing side of Hoder disappears, he’s just a big unit who you know not to fuck with. He thanks me for coming out to shoot this interview and I relax about the whole thing. The original stories I heard before I arrived lost any insanity and menace and became funny. That same night we go into Manhattan and drink until the early hours. I could tell then that booze plays a big part in Hoder getting crazy. Whilst we’re drunk Hoder gives me a friendly slap on the back and it almost makes me almost swallow my own tongue. I don’t know what the best way to interview Mike is, when I pull out the diaphone he clams up a little and gets his stories mixed up a little. Roadtrips to different places get confused with others as he tries to get his story straight. I decide to just hide the diaphone in my pocket when I talk to him. I don’t know if it’s the best move but

he talks freely and sincerely about his wild past when he thinks the recorder isn’t on. I know he’s spent time in jail for fighting during his past so I bring it up with him one night whilst we watch the basketball play-offs on television. “I got a job at this pizza place and I was supposed to work one New Year’s Eve until 2am and – this was one of the worst decisions of my life – I skipped out and bought a big gallon bottle of Carlos Rossi wine and went to this hotel party where I knew some friends were. I drank the whole gallon bottle and was fucking wasted when I got there. I broke a few things and the guy who had rented out the room for the night called up a load of his buddies to come around and try to fight me. So I was like ‘Ok, bring them over, I know what they look like, I’m going to see them.’ By this point I’m wiling out, trying to break more stuff and security is trying to restrain me on the ground until the cops show up. Whilst I’m on the ground I see all these guys who have turned up to fight me, so I broke away from the security guards and punch this guy just one time and broke his entire face. His eye socket was broken in four or five places and his eye was hanging on his cheek. Right after I hit him I just ran off, it was probably the stupidest thing of my entire life. I ran into the parking lot of the hotel for some reason and was hiding from the cops. They came down and looked for me but didn’t spot me, so I got on the phone with my Dad and was like ‘Yo Dad, can you come and pick me up, I’m fucked right now, I’m seriously fucked right now’ And he came through man, I arranged to meet him at a particular block and I just ran out of there as fast as I could, there were cops everywhere man! So I get in my dads car, and he’s asking me what’s happened, he’s pissed at me as he knows I’ve fucked up, we start arguing as I won’t say what’s happened but he can tell it’s bad and at this point I’m still wasted off the wine. Then, for some dumb reason I said ‘Fuck it’ and jumped out of the car as we’re driving. I rolled across the road and there are all these cars that just missed me. My dad grabs me, throws me back in the car and is like ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ He takes me home and holds me down to restrain me, he’s the only guy I’m scared of, he had me in a choke hold, telling me to shut the fuck up and I need to sort myself out.” The story takes me aback, it doesn’t seem real, but you know Mike has told it how it is, with an unflinching honesty that’s both regretful and glad because that chapter of his life is done and over. New York seems to have been a wise move; he values his friends and his girlfriend Katie more than anything and he seems thankful that the riding scene has accepted him. “I’m so appreciative of people like Bob, Ed and all the rest of the guys showing me spots. It’s such a huge place and these guys know the place so well. There’s no way I would’ve been able to see what I’ve seen if it wasn’t for these guys. They take me to the coolest shit, I’m not try57

(Above) 180 over rail, Manhattan.

ing to be taken to every spot. I just appreciate being taken to all these places, especially with these riders who I used to have on my wall! They know everything there is to know about this city, hands down.” I’m told from other people that Mike has calmed down a lot recently, but old habits die hard and after a few drinks he can get volatile. A good amount of local riders had been at a party at the Bicycle Film Festival office and Mike sprayed a bottle of Champagne over the walls and a photo that got us kicked out. I could see that happening for a long time, the fridge had been full of free beers all night and as it slowly got its innards stripped out, all that was left was this big green magnum of Champagne sitting idly at the back, just waiting for a BMXer to get their hands on it. Brett, the guy who runs all the BFF stuff, tells us not to come back, but in a way that’s polite and a bit nervous. I’m sure he was just scared of Hoder. Mike, Katie and I get the subway back to Bushwick. I’ve got my bike but Mike has come down on foot. It’s busy with drunken fools heading back east and the bike is like a beacon for idiots. A few drunk guys get on and one makes some comment about the bike and tries to sit on it. I pull the bike up so it hits him in the balls, but he keeps on talking shit. Hoder is to my left, surveying the whole scene. I can tell that he’s watching and also that the guy doesn’t know that I know Mike. The guy shuts up for a moment and goes to take a bite out of the slice of pizza he’d bought. Then, out of nowhere Hoder erupts. With an open hand, he slaps the slice from his hand with a force that causes a draught down the train. The pizza flies out of his mouth and slams up against the side of the train, catching some innocent bystander on the left shoulder. “YOU WANNA GO FOOL!? YOU WANNA FUCKING GO FOOL! LETS FUCKING DO THIS!” Everyone goes silent, the only person now talking is Katie, who is trying to calm Mike down. She hangs off him like she’s not even there, telling Mike not to hit him. Mike just stares him down for the rest of the awkward journey whilst his buddies continue to eat their pizza. It’s a sight that makes me nervous and almost laugh. When the guys get off the train, the rest of the passengers who witnessed it said he had it coming, which lightens the whole mood. I think Katie, myself and the rest of the train were just happy he didn’t hit him. I didn’t want to see a guy with his eye hanging off his cheek. On the last night out we head to a grimy spot called Mars Bar somewhere on the Lower East Side. We’re all loose, it’s my last night and at this point I feel like I’m part of the scene, Ed’s birthday had just gone by, so we’re half celebrating that too, or at least using that as an excuse to get wasted. I can’t remember why we left, I remember writing our names all over the

bar, but if you saw this place you’d know that shit wouldn’t get you kicked out. We’re walking down the road, I’m not sure where, but we’re heading somewhere. Hoder is hyper, it was obvious something was going to kick off. All it took was some small, forgettable remark from a group of guys and Hoder lost it. We get in a prolonged brawl with about eight people, right in the street. Ed’s girlfriend Melissa gets punched in the face from one of these fools, then after that things got real messy. Hoder ripped his shirt off and lost his shoes. He then ran off to meet up with his girlfriend who was at her old place close by, very aware that it’s crazy that the police aren’t already here. The problem was: he had no clothes there. So in the morning, when he came back to Ed’s, he had to cross New York with no shoes and shirt. Later on, I ask him, how he did it. “Oh man, I was fucked! I left the house and I still had no shoes or shirt. I looked crazy. I had my Metrocard and I started walking into the subway with no top or shoes… and I was like ‘Ah man, I can’t do this!’ All these fools were looking at me, so I came back out onto the street and hailed a cab’ Mike shows me how he hailed the cab, on tip toes, waving his arm. Imagining him doing this midday, topless, with that perma jersey tattoo of his name across his back and no shoes makes me laugh. I can’t believe somebody stopped for him. For the most part he’s calm, much quieter that I expected. Maybe that was the old Mike, I don’t know, but he still has a short temper. When that gets mixed with alcohol and the right situation arises, he has no problems whatsoever with starting a fight. Like a lot of riders, Mike put his life on hold for BMX. “I was in Seattle when I got the call to go on that first trip to Atlanta [with Sunday]. I was actually in class trying to get my General Diploma when I got the call and I was out of there, of course I was going to go. At that point I dropped everything to ride a bicycle. I thought ‘You can do this, you can make it work.” It didn’t go to plan with his first sponsor, you can tell the whole situation left a sour taste in his mouth. “So I was living up in Portland. I’d just left home, I was chillin’ and riding a bunch with Rich [Hirsh]. Then I got a call from Jim [Celinski], asking me to ride for Sunday. This was before Sunday had even been launched yet. So I’m thinking ‘fuck yeah dude’. He’s telling me he’d put me on the pro team. I’m fucking psyched to be on a bike team, other people start getting added like Ian Schwartz, Vinnie Sammon. All the homies. Then I go out on a trip and I get a bunch of stuff done. At this point I wasn’t getting paid, it’s a new company y’know? So I’m cool waiting with it. Then on the following trip I thought I’d just ask what people were getting as I wasn’t getting shit. I found out they were making dough and it was a kick in the balls as I was the first 59

Hop over into the bank and through the poles, New Jersey. 60

guy on the pro team. I was told I was going to get paid the same as everyone; I was doing just as much work, riding all the time. I was still young, so I didn’t really know how to go about bringing it up but at the same time I’m getting photos every single month for a whole year. At the end of this year I got the balls to bring it up with him and he gives me the bottom end of the barrel with 100 bucks plus photo contingency. So, I knew it wasn’t that good of a deal, but I also knew I’d been getting a lot of photos, so I was like ‘aright cool. I’ll make some money that way, through the contingency money’. Right when I said this though, the photos dried up. It was bound to happen, I mean, I’d been getting so many pictures the mags are bound to want to keep it fresh and put somebody else in there. So for the first three months I got 100 bucks a month on the pro team and nothing else. It was an insult. I mean, the other guys weren’t getting a shitload more, but it sure as hell wasn’t 100 bucks. I started to sell everything I got sent to make money.” I can tell recalling this story gets Mike angry, he tells me he resents even getting on the team, wished he’d never bothered. He tells me about going on a trip and not getting his daily allowance whilst the rest of the team did, so he had to ask Vinnie Sammon to buy him breakfast because he was broke. He continues on, still angry and for a minute I think maybe Mike thinks BMX owes him something, that he deserves more than what he got. Then you remind yourself how Mike rides, even to a guy like Mike it’s scary stuff, it’s taken its toll on his body, left him with huge medical bills and stopped him finishing school. I understand why he feels hard done by. It’s difficult to ride like he does, how do you step up to the next big thing? People know how he rides and if he delivers anything less he’ll get called out for it, if he’s representing a company it looks bad on them, which comes back to him. It’s a stressful way to ride. I’d love to have the balls to do something half the size Hoder would do, but I couldn’t deal with the pressure. After Sunday, that’s when Mike’s life took a wrong turn. He quit riding for over two years, got into drugs, worked a few menial jobs and lost them, one time having to quit a decent paid cash job because he’d written off the owners car. It seems amazing that he managed to fit in so many bad decisions in such a small amount of time. It’s clear now why New York was a clean break for him. A guy who owned a local bike shop in Seattle eventually helped him get back into riding by giving him a job. “So I managed to get this job at a local bike shop in Seattle. The guy knew I used to ride and knew I still knew all the riders in the area. He wanted someone who knew something about BMX so he gave me a break and hired me. At the time I was doing a lot of cocaine, like all the fucking time. I’d always be going out to my car to do it and it was so fucking obvious what I was up to. The owner was real 62

cool about it, he didn’t fire me but he told me that I needed to sort my shit out… Mike stops mid sentence and remembers something else that was a big influence for him sorting himself out. “I was chillin’ with Davey Watson and Jack Maddock while they were at Roosevelt Highschool. Bruce was filming them for the Shola video. I wasn’t riding then though. Just getting fucked up and working at the shop. I missed it when I was there that day watching them ride but it wasn’t till a while after that I started riding again. I tried to hide what I was doing but it was clearly visible. Bruce noticed me always going off to the car to do coke. The talk that Bruce gave me was a good one, having someone you respected so much telling you like it is. It helped me quit” The bike shop is what eventually got Mike back into riding. “I bought a Subrosa complete and started going down the local skatepark. I was riding every day.” Mike also realized that most people in the industry had written him off. “I was having to ring up all these companies to get product for the shop and everyone was like ‘I thought you quit?!’ but nobody wanted anything to do with me, especially when it came to getting sponsored again. I’d gotten such a bad rep from Sunday, even though it was a long time before, nobody wanted to go near me.” Eventually S&M hooked him up on a flow deal but the fight that had happened over six months previously, where Mike had punched the guy’s eye out, reared its head and even though he was trying to sort himself out, his past caught up with him and he did his time in jail.

“

IT SEEMS AMAZING THAT HE MANAGED TO FIT SO MANY BAD DECISIONS IN SUCH A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME

“Six months later I’m at the skatepark riding my bike and I keep getting loads of missed calls off a number I didn’t know. I finally answer it and it’s a prosecutor telling me that this guy wants to press charges. I told them what happened over the phone and that ended up almost being my statement. I was fucked from the start. He had an expensive lawyer that probably cost $10.000 and I had a public defender that cost me $25, of course I wasn’t going to win. So I did my jail time, then I was on probation and my probation officer really sorted me out. He could tell I wanted to ride my bike again as this was so long after the initial event that I was kinda different by this

”

point. Also, when I went on probation I couldn’t smoke weed or do drugs as I was having piss tests three times a week, so it really made me want to ride all the time….I went to jail whilst I was still working at the bike shop. Working there helped me out so much in court, and also my boss ‘Trask’ came to my sentencing and gave an amazing speech on how great an employee I was. Thanks again for that man. My DOC officer made an awesome move and let me travel while I was still on probation. I went from getting drug test once every few days, to being able to leave the state to ride my bike. I lied and told them it was my job at the time. My officer fully bought it. So I went to SF to film with Marco

and get back on it!!! Now, the agreement I made with my officer was I was only gonna be gone a couple weeks, but right when I showed up I said ‘fuck it’ and started smoking a bunch of weed again. It had been 6 months so I needed it. I was supposed to take a drug test right when I got back so I just kept extending the trip longer and longer. 2 weeks turned into 2 months. That’s how the whole video came about. Got a bunch of FIRE clips, and knew I was back!” The edit, filmed for Lotek and appropriately titled ‘Hoder’s Back’, Made it seem like he hadn’t spent any time off his bike at all. Not only did it end with a wild 360 in San Fransisco, he was

(Below) Access hop, Staten Island. (Right) Access hop table, New Jersey.

“

FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS I GOT 100 BUCKS A MONTH ON THE PRO TEAM AND NOTHING ELSE. IT WAS AN INSULT

”

Wall ride, Brooklyn.

also the first person I’d seen manual down a big set of stairs, or ‘Firecracker’, to borrow the term from skateboarding. S&M picked up on it and put him on the pro team, throwing caution to the wind after all the past stories about him that were still lingering around after the whole Sunday debacle. He got a signature frame and bars that continue to sell well and appreciates that Moeller took a chance on him and gave him the break he deserved. You could describe Michael Hoder as lucky, there are a lot of reasons why he shouldn’t be riding today. If things had panned out slightly differently, Mike could be in jail, twisted out on drugs somewhere in the Northwest America, working some dead end job with BMX being some bitter memory or at the worst, dead already. You could describe it as luck, but you’d be missing the point. Hoder has worked for everything he’s been given and in turn has become one of the most idiosyncratic riders around today. Nobody really rides like Mike. His decision to keep his trick count to an

absolute minimum has made him look for bigger and higher obstacles to ride. 360ing the Brooklyn Banks gap that Sean Burns jumped. Hoping over the concrete ledge into the bank – a good 20 feet below – in an old Facad video back up in Seattle. It does make you wonder what makes somebody get into the frame of mind to do this stuff. Maybe he is insane, like I originally thought? At 25, Mike is at his prime for riding. He’s got a lot to look forward to but is also old enough to appreciate what he’s got and how he’s gotten there. He’s made bad decisions, still has no problem with fighting and even after meeting him I can tell that the stories I’ve heard about his antics are probably still true. None of this makes him a bad person. If you were broke and Mike only had a dollar, he’d give you 50 cents. He values where he is right now, New York: the spots, the riding scene, his sponsors and most of all, his girlfriend Katie. All have had a good effect on somebody who seems to have experienced way too much for someone who is 25. When you talk to him he’s humble, understands he’s made mistakes, is glad parts of his life are over but still has the fiery side that is unmistakably and unashamedly Mike Hoder.

Stay Sick THE MANY FACES OF SEAN BURNS

The city of Boston is an incubation unit for crazies. Not in any other city on earth is there such an abundance of foamy-mouthed street people, such a vast array of loonies, fruit loops and misfits. Such is the smorgasbord of freaks, kooks and quacks that after just a couple of hours in the city you learn to turn a blind eye to the man in the dress shooting imaginary planes with his walking stick, you ignore the one-eyed woman with a green shaved head and you don’t even bat a lash at the laughing dwarf dressed as superman with a Burger King crown on his head. It’s fine to be a freak here. It’s par for the course. And it’s that kind of all-encompassing acceptance that allows Burns and his undead Bonedeth army to roam the streets at night, to scale the roof tops and to cruise around terrorising the neighbourhood. In most any other town, the sight of a spiky haired leather-clad character from a Tim Burton movie jumping from buildings on a bicycle would cause quite a stir. But not here.

Words and Photography by STEVE BANCROFT

(Above) Roof to wall. (Right) “Quick, one’s escaped and it’s on my roof!”

“ THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE

WHO WERE PREVIOUSLY DEEMED PSYCHOTIC WERE TURNED OUT ONTO THE STREETS TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL THEY PLEASED 70

”

he abundance of crackers in Boston can be attributed to scathing budget cuts to the city’s mental health institutions back in the 90s. To free up space, the authorities tweaked the parameters that defined who was crazy and who was not. So with lenient interviewers putting ticks in all the right boxes, the doors of the asylums were opened and thousands of people who were previously deemed psychotic were turned out onto the streets to do whatever the hell they pleased. It’s as if a carnival came to town, went out of business and left all the carnies here to run around and get drunk and consume lots of drugs. I don’t know what’s more crazy though, standing in the middle of the road shooting imaginary fighter planes with a walking cane or dressing like a vampire and jumping off roofs on a bike? But it doesn’t really matter, as both appear permitted around here. I knew Burns would be a bit out there, I’d seen him enough times on my TV. He’s renowned for putting out some of the scariest video sections that BMX has ever seen. His riding is all about wide-open gaps and grinds. A dangerous combination of flat-out speed and a total disregard for his own wellbeing has lead to a NORA cup for his part in Metal’s Dead Bang as well as the final section in Stew Johnson’s epic Anthem II. His part in the aforementioned is one of the most talked about sections ever recorded. The slams are ferocious, the drops to flat are verging on suicidal and the whole thing makes for disturbing viewing. Watching it evokes reactions like no other video before it, set to a slowed down version of that funeral music, the crash section is a meddle of ligament ripping, skin shredding and bone crunching brutality. At premieres around the world grown men winced and girls screamed as they bore witness to his own style of sadomasochistic ritual. The lair of this evil, leather-clad comic book-looking bike guy is aptly called ‘The Boneyard’. From the outside it looks almost unassuming, a large wooden house laid out over three floors. It’s darker than the other houses on the street and has some kind of black bark chippings as a lawn, which further stands it out amongst the lovingly pruned lush green yards of its neighbours. The house looks slightly menacing but it’s not quite the Transylvanian castle from a horror film.

But inside The Boneyard it’s a different story – it’s not even a little bit normal. The walls are all painted in a bright slime green, there’s leopard print everywhere and a bunch of passed out punks on the floor. The walls are adorned with skulls, giant eyeballs and masks. Inside, the air is thick and hazy, partly due to the amount of weed and cigarettes that get smoked in there, but mostly due to the steady stream of dirty punk BMX types that frequent the place. In the middle of the living room is a large pirate chest and there’s a piano in the hallway. But the freakiest objects by far are the babies! Hung from the walls, sitting on tables or just lying on the floor – there are babies everywhere. Children’s toy babies, but painted black and burnt and maimed – it really is quite disturbing. Meeting Sean for the first time I was taken aback by his calm demeanour. When he picked me up from the airport he looked like the crazy guy from the videos, but he acted like any other rational human being. He spoke with polite intellect and drove conscientiously. For the first part of the journey back to The Boneyard I saw no evidence of the preconceptions I’d checked in with. It wasn’t until we stopped to fill up with petrol that I caught the first glimpse of his Mr Hyde. He stepped out of the car, went in to pay and walked back out to the filler cap which was on my side. Sat in the front passenger seat I watched in the wing-mirror as he pumped the petrol. When he was done he gave the nozzle a shake – much like anyone would – to get any last drips out, but instead of removing the hose and returning it to the pump, he once again began to shake the nozzle, and again, and again. Three or four times he calmly shook the thing before bursting into a prolonged shaking frenzy with his whole body convulsing violently. Other customers on the forecourt stopped and stared as his fake epileptic fit episode continued. But, when he was done, despite the attention, he just slowly walked round, got back in and drove off as if nothing ever happened. This would be the first of many weird idiosyncrasies that slipped out of his brain and into everyday life during the two weeks I spent with him. From random horror film screams, to strange facial contortions, to full on character conversations – riding and dressing like he does, I knew he had to be weird.

The Boneyard has five permanent residents: Party Management, he lives in the front bedroom. Burns has a room. One guy was in rehab, he’s usually there. There’s Tim, a mute artist drug dealer who has the back room and The Bone Wench lives in the cupboard. Party Management takes care of the entertainment, Burns is the star of the show, Mute Dude supplies the cake and The Bone Wench cooks, cleans and generally services the crew. It’s a dark but happy household, reminicent of The Adams Family. Downstairs is the basement, that’s where all the real fruity shit goes down. Girls, bikinis, slime, chocolate pudding and video cameras are all assembled down there on a weekly basis and the whole sordid scene is thoroughly documented. Sometimes it’s filmed for skits on a DVD, sometimes to promote Bonedeth and sometimes just to suppress a deep-set kinky appetite. Burns has been running his company, Bonedeth for a good few years. The small t-shirt and events brand was once best know for organising a series of crazy jams in swamps or alleyways, where contestants rode dead armadillos and landed on beds of broken glass and other animal carcasses. But now, after leaving long term bike sponsor Metal, he’s grown Bonedeth into a full-on bike company. For a while he was running Metal for Jimmy Levan, but although they’re great friends, it wasn’t meant to be and they ended up going their own separate ways. Whislt Burn’s was telling me how Bonedeth ended up as a frame brand, I couldn’t help but wish I was a fly on the wall during some of the old Metal Bikes’ board meetings – Sean and Jimmy are two of BMX’s most colourful characters and after meeting them both – I’d be intrigued to watch a heated argument between them. The Bonedeth Wench is no ‘Cum Dumpster’. Clocking in a cigarette paper under five foot she’s technically a midget (Burns and Party Management can precisely define a midget and a dwarf . . . I overheard more than one conversation on the topic during my stay), her name is Riley and she’s a 21 year old tattood black haired buxom Bone Wench who lives in a cupboard that looks like a Turkish sex parlour and she dresses accordingly. She’s no ‘BMX Mattress’ though. Apparently a girl must have slept with three or more BMXers to earn that title. . . Riley is on for her hat-trick though. . . it’s only a matter of time before she slips another one in.

“

THE BONE WENCH IS NO CUM DUMPSTER

”

Throughout my stay The Boneyard is frequented by numerous Spikers. By definition, a Spiker is an old rusty biker chick and it’s safe to say that at least a couple of the Spikers were BMX Mattresses, 72

some had definitely reached the prestigious position of Cum Dumpsters and one of them even turned out to be a dude!! Burn’s sure does have some fruity friends. Whether they want to fuck them, film them or get fed by them, broads play a key part in making The Boneyard tick. When I asked if he was into any kinky shit, he replied “. . . Well, let’s just say I’m not really the missionary type.” Their favourite pick-up spot is a bar down the street called The Model – you know that bar in Star Wars? Well then you know this place too. If you’ve not seen it already, you really should make the effort to watch Bonedeth’s latest video, Surfing For The Ugly Broads. It’s worth it for the intros alone, they feature scantly clad busty girls covered in slime, blood and body paint, all dancing around in a b-movie horror fashion. It’s fantastic and like nothing BMX has seen before. Burn’s creative influence for Bonedeth – and his life in general – is undoubtedly The Cramps. Formed in 1976 The Cramps were a hugely influential early punk band. Fronted by the husband and wife duo of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, the content of their songs and image is humor and retro horror b-movie – much like Burns. The resemblance between Lux Interior and Sean Burns is uncanny, they share the same body language and in their respective fields they’re both raw and uncompromising. “Now they say that virtue is it’s own reward, but when that surf comes in I’m gunna get my board, got my own ideas about the righteous kick, you can keep the rewards, I’d just as soon stay sick...” The Cramps famously played at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa to an audience of insane inmates. Watching the crazies all monging up and down while Lux and the band strut around spitting out their sounds I can’t help but draw parallels to Burns and his Bonedeth compadres cruising around the streets of Boston entertaining, upsetting and blowing minds. I guess, if he had to be called something, then his music tastes and style could be described as “Punk” or “PunkaRockaPsycobilly Voodoo” or “Mutated Elvis From The Inbred Swamp” Strangely enough, the rest of Sean’s family are in the police force. His dad is a detective, his brother works undercover for the Drug Enforcement Agency and his mother is currently off work due to injuries sustained in the line of duty after being thrown from a moving car by a robber she was attempting to apprehend. I asked whether his folks had ever put any pressure on him to follow in the tradition. He kind of blew a raspberry and went on to say that his dad just thinks he’s weird and knew it would be no use. He likened the way his dad looks at him to the way the guy in King Of The Hill looks at

Gap to rail ride.

his son – like he’s really, really weird. “My dad would come home from work and I’d be running around dressed up in my moms clothes – and he’d just look at me and shake his head.” But, as strange as the situation is, his parents being in the police force has helped him get out of numerous sticky situations – most notably, after being charged and fined $2000 for grinding a ledge at a prestigious university, his dad intervened in the courtroom and the charge was dropped and he ended up paying just $100. “Do they mind doing that for you?” I enquired. “Of course they mind” he replied as if I were a complete moron. Burns makes enough money from Bonedeth and his sponsors so he doesn’t have to work. He lives within his means and apart from a freezer full of turkey nuggets, the only other thing I saw him eat was Burger King. Surprisingly he doesn’t really drink much alcohol but he does smoke a fair amount of weed. At his parents house he can’t use the internet if his dad is cooking bacon. He

spends way more money on face paint and random costumes than he does on food. Before moving to Boston, Sean grew up in a town called Penbroke, about 40 minutes outside. He’s been riding the city since he was 13 years old, he’s now 27, so that’s 15 years. After riding the same city for such a long time – and after filming as many sections as he has – finding new spots is hard. With all the obvious setups already sessioned so heavily, Burns is forced to look for evermore elaborate spots. So on the second night I’m in town, we take a trip to do some spot modification – to make a previously unridable spot ridable. It’s midnight and it’s raining hard. The spot is around the back of a Jewish Temple, there’s a wooden rail set-up that needs some alterations with a saw. So the three of us creep up to the spot: myself, Burns and the designated driver Bone Wench. With no nearby streetlights it’s an eerie place. We were all feeling a bit creeped-out but we needed to get the modifications made so Burns set about cutting 73

(Left) Pegs to flat. (Above) Dock to ice to dock.

out a section of railing. The folding saw is not the most efficient and the loose blade on the hardened wood is making quite a racket. He was making good progress with the first cut when he stopped dead and looked up, something had caught his eye. Myself and The Wench freeze-up too and follow his stare. It leads to a tree not 15 feet away under which is a dark figure in a long black raincoat, stood silently smoking a cigarette in the pouring rain. It was too dark to make out any detail, the only thing visible was the glowing end of his tab. A silence descended. We knew we were being bad, the place was creepy enough already and now there was a silent figure lurking in the shadows – we ran off. I guess you had to be there but that “Creepy X-files Smoking Guy” just seemed to fit right in with the horror movies we were watching before leaving the house. It seemed like this kind of thing that happens to Burns on a daily basis. So, is he actually weird or is it all a bit of a charade? That’s a question I’ve heard more than a few times since getting back. And the answer is yes: he’s weird. He’s not cuckoo-fried-brain weird, he’s more like Jack Nicholson Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest weird. I don’t think they’d have the grounds to get him in there (when he really tries he could almost pass as normal) but if they did manage to get him through the doors he wouldn’t be getting out in a hurry. One day it was raining, so a few of us were sat around passing the time chatting and watching TV when Burn’s comes smashing through the door dressed in a mask, a wig and a tight white suit. He proceeded to whirlwind his way around the house spewing out some kind of violent alien dialogue. I was shocked and taken by surprise and laughed hysterically but no one else really acknowledged him – to them it was just rainy day Burns keeping himself amused.

“

IT’S AS IF A CARNIVAL CAME TO TOWN, WENT OUT OF BUSINESS AND LEFT ALL THE CARNIES HERE

”

(Above) Garage wall ride with a dabbed foot. (Below) Garage wall ride with a dabbed head.

Later that evening we shot the portraits on the opening spread of this interview. They are characters that usually live unseen in his brain. They are, from left to right, top to bottom: Rimple Bubbernugget: The English Prince [Monty Python inspired British accent] Stinky Pattel: The Nightclub owner [Heavy Indian accent] Mavis Beacon: The Sex Farm Operator [Very slurred and drunk] Biddy Mulligan: The Boxer [Thick old time New York accent] Duncan Pumpnuts: The Dog Breeder [Sounds like the Wizard Of Oz] Morbid Stingray: The Nuclear Insane Asylum Patient [Speaks like The Cookie Monster] One night I recorded a conversation that came out of Burn’s mouth. The dialogue was from a scene involving all six of his counterparts. It would be unfair to subject you readers to the whole mind bending episode, but here is an excerpt so you can catch the general gist: “[Pattel walks in with an entrée of women’s asses on a silver platter] Morbid: Silver surfer, surfing on a silver burger. Rimple: Burger bitch fun the bun! Which should I eat first, the ass? Or the cunt? Duncan: Well don’t dig right in it’ll be dry and tight, first you have to beat it up! Stinky: Beat it! Beat iiiiiiiiittt! Just beat it! Mavis: Let’s get ready to rumble. [Mavis conducts a boxing match between Biddy Mulligan and Stinky Patell] Mavis: In the left corner . . . number one ass fetish of East Bombay. . . STINKY PATELL! And in the right corner . . . breast bruiser pie tester heavyweight abusive father of the year. . .

BIDDY MULLIGAN! [Now in the ring Mavis hands the mic to Biddy] Biddy: First I plan to crimson his face with a series of dabber lefts and to finish it off with a powerful blow to his dark and mysterious brow. [The mic swings over to his opponent] Stinky: Beat it! Beeeaaaaattt iiiiittttt!! [The fight gets interrupted by Morbid Stingray shitting into one of the ass entrees] Duncan: Nobody! Nobody defecates into the Forever Loved Feast Of Ass! Nobody! Rimple: Don’t mind of I do. [Rimple begins to fuck the Forever Loved Feast] Duncan: You’re all ruining my sexual appetite. Mavis, get a butter knife. Draw a path and get me one medium sized sex farm. Morbid: What about the fuckin’ cheeseburgers?! Rimple: Eat the cheese! The Cheese! The cheese on your plate!! Morbid: There’s no burgers and no cheese. Mavis: He’s talking about the pussy lips, shithead. Eat the cheese! Stinky: Just eeeaaattttt it. Just eeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaatttttttttt it! Duncan: You faggot fucks, I bring the finest asses – aged and sautéed – and you want to eat cheeseburgers and shit where you eat??!! Rimple: I came for two things: eat a piece of ass and see a fight. [Biddy starts a fight with Morbid] Biddy: I’m going to embarrass you and leave you with life altering changes! [Morbid looks horrified] Morbid: Sex changes? [Mavis and biddy cut off his penis and staple two hams to his chest.] Mavis: You’ve deemed yourself the title “Marble Hamchest: The Prince Of No Dicks” [It carries on in this fashion for another 10 minutes – ending with the line: “Can your pussy do the dog?”] 77

Back to Sean Burns the BMXer. With his jaw dropping sections in Dead Bang, Surfin’ For The Ugly Broards and Anthem II, Burns has set the bar for his riding excitingly high, so going out to shoot photos with him was interesting to say the least. We were up on roofs, dodging the police, modifying spots and sneaking around places where we really shouldn’t have been. During email correspondence when lining up this interview, Sean primed me with a word of warning “Sometimes I get killed in one day, sometimes I get tons of shit done in a week, so I’ll warn you, I’m a gamble, hahaha.” I had a feeling that would be the case - you can’t ride at that level for too long without taking a heavy digger. Throughout my 2 week stay we rode everyday it was dry, we’d hit a warm-up spot for an hour or so and then venture out to some ludicrous set-up. They call them “warm up spots” but you really can’t warm up for most of the stuff Burns lines up for himself. For the most part it’s “Do or Die” But Burns doesn’t huck, he doesn’t just find a big gap and throw himself over it. Everything he does is calculated, risks are assessed and educated decisions are made. And for the most part things work out. Rain stopped play a few times but we were getting a few decent “Do’s” as the days rolled by. We’d shot some strong stuff and he had a few bangers lined up for the last day’s photographing, but we never made it to those last days. Burns did a “Die” After calling out an optimistic gap to wallride over a garage door, everyone apart from Sean was looking decidedly skeptical. The set-up was gnarly and the angles were not favorable. After a couple of lucky escape ejections he rode the wall and made the drop, landing on both wheels. But due to the adverse angles all his speed was lost the instant he hit the wall and it resulted in him dropping 10 feet to flat from a dead-stop and subsequently he was forced to dab a foot. The photo looked good, but Burns wanted to ride away clean. But on the next attempt his front wheel washed out on the

loose dirt bank and he was slammed straight into the brick wall. He hit his head hard, stuck for a split second, then fell like as stone, landing heavily with his arms twisted under his body. He let out a blood-curdling scream and everyone knew something was wrong. Luckily it turned out to only be a fractured wrist and some heavy bruising but it was enough to put a stop to the riding and we called it a day with the interview. After spending the best part of two weeks riding and hanging out with the legend that is Sean Burns, I still have no idea whether he’s a genius, a dare devil, a schizophrenic, a rock star or a prematurely released lunatic (but I have a suspicion that he could well be all six of these things?).

THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH SETH KIMBROUGH INTERVIEW It’s one in the morning and I have eight hours until I need to be at Heathrow Airport. I go online to check my flight details for the second time that hour – this time I refuse to miss my flight. Out of routine my hand involuntarily guides me to a news website. I see the headline and stop, ‘Hundreds Dead As Tornadoes Rip Through Alabama’… Alabama, the Deep South of America – my destination and home of Seth Kimbrough; the first rider to make judges scratch their heads and score an x-up grind against a flair, a corner stone of the Road Fools golden era and one of the most creative and progressive riders of the last ten years. I pick up the phone and pray he answers.

Words and Photography by GEORGE MARSHALL

receive word from Seth that he and his wife Elizabeth are safe and that I should still come, but with a vague warning that Alabama is hurting. I sit on the flight unable to sleep, preoccupied by Seth’s ominous description. My long haul thoughts turn to the scale of the damage and the risk of further storms in the days ahead. Seth collects me from the airport in a lowered black GMC pick up truck. Within minutes of setting off I’m woken up by the brutality of the damage amongst a haze of jet lag and surreal shock. My question over the scale of the damage has been answered - Alabama is a disaster zone. Never have I seen such devastation. Ambulances, police, and army trucks flood the roads. People are still missing and many are dead. Police have been shooting looters on-sight and there’s a curfew after dark. The roof of a house rests beside the state highway, out of place and lost. Driveways lead to piles of scattered rubble where homes and businesses once stood. “The death toll has already gone over 300, and most of that is here in Bama. We had somewhere between 150 and 200 tornadoes rip through here in one day, some up to a mile wide. The one that ripped through Tuscaloosa City was a mile wide and destroyed the city. They say on the news they’re the worst storms in American history, and the death toll is set to rise.” Seth tells me, pausing for a second. “You just missed President Obama, he came down to check it out.” says Seth, ending on a lighter note. Seeing the destruction in person I am unable to take in what lies in front of my eyes. I stare at the scene from the truck with my seat belt on, like a kid on a ghost train, marveling and gasping at the horrific scene that surrounds, with a sick sense of hope for something more terrifying to be round the corner. I am surprised, guilty even, at my lack of sorrow for the people effected or killed, as my emotions seem to have been overtaken by a fascination at such a supernatural like force. “A guy in the gas station today said an entire Olympic size swimming pool has been pulled from the ground, tossed in the air and broken in half, but he didn’t remember where. I don’t know if I believe him – he had bad teeth.” Seth recalls as I stare shaking my head at a crushed electrical pylon lying in a field of folded and twisted metal. “That’s why we have no power. A few places have power, like the gas stations, which have their own generators. We’re told it’ll be a week ‘till the power’s back, but there’s a lot of talk going around.” Seth says staring forwards at the unlit highway. 82

Seth turns off down a narrow country track. At the end of the track a devastated trailer park of homes burns into the warm Spring evening as an Alabama State Sheriff wearing perfectly a ironed light brown shirt with polished gold buttons stands in the road waving us down. Seth winds down his window. “Where you boys heading? You can’t go through here.” The Sheriff instructs with razor like authority. We turn around and head back to Seth’s house by a different route. I turn my shoulder to look back at the burning ruins of the weak metal homes. “People died there, we’re only a mile or two from my house. A tornado came through and tore all those trailer homes up, the people there were poor and didn’t stand a chance. Imagine that – being in a trailer when the tornado struck. I guess the police are still looking for the bodies and stopping looters, I’m not sure if they’ll let you take pictures.” He tells me and we begin to question the ethics of photographing the damage where people may have died. After a couple of minutes Seth turns to me with clarity and he says in a thick southern accent, doing an impression of an old timer of faultless logic, “My grandma always said, ‘if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ Tomorrow I’ll take you to Cullman, they got hit pretty bad. We should try and get some photos while we can, there’s more bad weather forecast for tomorrow evening and it could be bad again.” As darkness falls and the curfew comes into force, we arrive at Seth’s house that he shares with his wife of eight years, Elizabeth. The house is immaculately kept and set in the countryside, a green agricultural landscape of old wooden barns, fields and woods. Dogs and goats roam in the few acres of land he calls his backyard, and crushed armadillos litter the roadside. “Armadillos are everywhere in the country, they’ll bite your leg straight off.” Seth jokingly says to me in his slower and deeper, exaggerated southern ancient — a character I’m beginning to like but learning not to trust. At the side of his house a garage stands full of tools, motorcycles, bikes and a Ford Mustang. “When the tornadoes hit, me and Elizabeth were sat in the Mustang with the radio on listening to hear if there was a tornado heading this way. We were ready drive away and risk it on the open roads. But a tornado never came. We were lucky...” As promised, the next day we drive into Cullman through the countryside, passing farm after farm. “Look, we’ve still got slaves here in Alabama.”

Fakie toboggan, Cullman, Alabama. 83

Seth jokes as we drive past some Hispanic farm workers picking cabbages in the heat of the day. “It doesn’t get more deep south than out in these parts. You heard of the Ku Klux Klan? The KKK?” He asks, the words grab my sudden undivided attention, producing images of men in white robes lynching blacks and burning black churches. I nod in reply. “Well that all started in Cullman, 40 minute drive from my house. Up until about ten years ago there used to be a sign up at every entrance to Cullman that read… ‘Niggers, Don’t Let The Sun Set On Your Black Ass’ Seth says, pausing for a second, obviously uncomfortable saying the word nigger. “You don’t hear too much from the KKK anymore, but the mentality is alive and well. There are still no black people in Cullman. I’ve seen maybe one my entire life and I grew up riding there. The town has a bad name for being racist, this whole area does.” I ask him how he feels about coming from a notoriously racist area. “My parents aren’t racist in any way. I was raised with the saying ‘We all bleed the same’. It makes no sense to me to judge people by their skin, damn, look at my dogs: they’re different colours, they don’t even recognise that.” We arrive on the outskirts of Cullman. At first the wooden white houses, some with confederate flags out the front, look untouched. A church spire comes into view and dominates the skyline, the structure is ragged and barely standing. On top sits a bent cross. As we near the church and the town centre the scene dramatically changes into 84

complete devastation. Insurance surveyors armed with pocket cameras document the damage, helicopters fly low overhead and every patch of grass has a plastic advertisement for ‘Gu R Done Roofing’, by some quick thinking opportunist. All roads leading into the areas directly hit by the tornado are again sealed off by police checkpoints. We park up and walk along a quiet side street into the residential area, silently staring all around. Unknowingly, we’d bypassed the checkpoints and found ourselves in the heart of an area directly hit by the tornado. Hesitant at first, with my camera in my bag, we walk down the road of collapsed homes and debris. “I don’t know if we should be here, it doesn’t feel right.” Says Seth pushing his bike. We pass people and there’s ironic feeling of calm and community. Everyone who passes nods or waves. An old woman approaches us. “You boys from round here?” She enquiries with a caring manner. “No, I’m from Hartselle. We heard it was bad here so figured we’d come take a look, is that ok?” Seth very politely replies. “Yes, that’s just fine. Well God saved us. It’s a miracle we survived. He showed mercy – that be the truth. People from across street are gone. God bless them.” I remove my camera from the bag and begin to take few uncomfortable shots as we keep moving toward a crossroad guarded by a US Army Hummer. On the corner a

Wall ride to one foot table, Huntsville, Alabama.

single lonely house is left standing, battered and encircled by fallen trees. I walk closely behind the Hummer to take a photo. “Sir. Excuse me sir. You can’t be here. No photographs.” A militant voice barks from the Hummer and out steps a marine. The second I say I’m from London he bizarrely shakes my hand. “Well just take your photo and please leave the area, there’s still people missing, this zone is closed. It’s residents only. Thankyou.” During the drive back along the country lanes to Hartselle – passing the old farms, endless churches, old wooden gas stations and trailer homes – one thing is clear; this is the true Deep South. Seth’s homeland is far from the sailor tattoos and liberal views of Austin and even further from the cultural hubs of LA and New York. This is white America, deep in the Bible belt; a haven for hard working Christian white folk and little else will be accepted. I begin to wonder what it would be like to grow up here as a tattooed punk BMX rider, standing out and being an individual. “It all starts when you’re going through high school, at that time you choose your path whether you

realise it or not. You have two options, either you choose baseball and football and the teachers give you a break, or you choose to be a failure, a meth head. It’s one or the other. I remember my teacher in 3rd grade making me stand up in front of everyone saying ‘everyone look at what Seth is wearing today’ and the kids would all laugh at me because I wore Airwalks when that was the skate shoe, some cut-off shorts and a tye-dye shirt. The teachers told me I was destined to be a failure, just because I chose another path outside the mainstream. In bigger cities there’s more going on, such as art and music, here in the country that stuff is seen as gay. In the country you have to be manly, work hard, put in hours, sweat, go home and look after the kids, people don’t see an alternative and that there’s more to life than working and having kids. Hearing Seth talk about meth addicts on his doorstep seems strange in this peaceful country setting. “There’s a lot of meth out here in the country. Two houses near here burnt down this year as they were meth labs. People don’t just get on meth and think that was just a phase. You get 85

Channel gap, Huntsville, Alabama.

“ THE POLICE ARE SHOOTING LOOTERS ON SIGHT ”

on it and you’re done. My family rents out a house and we had to kick out the tenants because they were cooking up meth in the kitchen. It’s so easy to make. You can get all the ingredients like lithium batteries and drain cleaner from the store. As soon as those people return to the store with sunk faces and no teeth the store stop selling the stuff to make it, and those meth heads figure out different ingredients, it never ends. Later that evening we return to Seth’s home to find the electricity restored. Seth pulls out a box of dusty videos. “You want to see some history?” He asks, inserting a tape. A typical 1990s home video appears on the TV screen, showing a group of boys on chrome bikes in a field jumping a dirt kicker. “We jumped that dirt all day. My brother was the first person I saw doing tricks and bunny hops, he got me into BMX.” He says, speaking loudly to be heard over the Nirvana soundtrack on the video. “There really wasn’t any influences back then. There wasn’t the internet or magazines. My first BMX video was Team Haro, because I could rent it from the video store. We had no idea what we were doing. Our only goal was to get as high off the ground as possible. I just started riding street and that’s when I met Corey [Martinez]. We were both 12. We got all into racing but that didn’t last long. People at races would say that we were good, that we could really go somewhere with BMX. It was our motivation to stay serious about riding. After a year or so we got copies of Road Fools One, Mad Mat and the first Backyard Jam. We’d go out, ride and learn all that stuff we saw. That was a time when Corey and me pushed each other all day and all night riding a curb.” Seth stares at the TV, watching a train of five boys still jumping the same dirt kicker and goes quiet for a moment. “He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s in prison. And he’s in Prison. That’s my brother.” He casually lists, as if ordering food. “How did they die?” I ask surprised. “O.D. both of them. I grow up riding with those kids, we learnt bunny together in my driveway when we were nine. They were my best friends, me and Corey started travelling to comps, and they stayed here and got into different things. We watched them go down hill. They both ended up overdosing two years apart.”

Before I met Seth, his reputation as a devoted Christian had always preceded him; a Bible nut with a strict stance against drugs and alcohol. I feared he could be a narrowminded preacher and someone who may look down on those with different beliefs. Over previous trips I’ve come to know him well and we’d had many long conversations. Never once did the topic turn to religion, drinking or drugs. He is anything but a preacher. He’s tolerant of other’s views, open minded and intelligent. Having never spoken to him about his views on drugs, drinking and religion I am unsure how he will react and how open he will be. I sense he could be opening the door to talk about those matters and cautiously ask him if the deaths of his friends are the reason for his stance against to drugs... He pauses to gather his thoughts before he answers. “When I was born I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. The doctor told my parents I’d never be able to do any physical activity. As I was born sick, I didn’t have much of a chance to live. It then didn’t make sense to me to then go out and smoke or drink. I thought ‘there’s a reason I’m alive, there’s a reason why I’m here’, and that thought kept me from going down that path. But a lot of my friends did go down that path.” “In Alabama, if you choose music or skateboarding, it’s easy to do down that path of partying and drugs. When I was 13 or 14 I got into the scene a bit, my brother was smoking so much weed. I’m not going to say weed is bad, I’ve been there. But I have an absolute hatred of painkillers and heavier drugs. The reason why I got ‘Drug Free’ tattooed on me was as a reminder to myself. I’ve seen drugs destroy my family, I’ve held my mom as she’s cried endless times, over things that have happened because of drugs. Because of that, to this point, I have never taken a pain killer. I get angry when I see junkies, just because the effect that had on my life. But I don’t know…” Seth looks to the ground, looking frustrated and uncomfortable. He then looks up with a smile. “That’s just a whole different can of worms George.” He says in his deep south old timer voice, breaking into laughter to ease a tense moment. To my surprise Seth is keen to talk about the sensitive issues of his life. I think we both realise we’re only getting started, and this conversation is going to last long into the 87

Table air, Oklahoma. 89

Toothpick to over, Cullman, Alabama.

night. We head outside and light a fire that he has cooked on since the tornado struck. He hands me a beer. “I was always taught in church that drinking was bad” he says inspecting his Corona. “At that time, going on trips, I didn’t want to associate myself with that. I remember sitting in the van with Corey on Road Fools as everyone partied. Later when I realised that what’s important in life is enjoying the company of people, my opinion about drinking changed. I’m a quiet person and when I get around a group of people I tend to sit off on my own. When I was younger I drank and I remember coming out of my shell. One night my friend was having a party and I thought ‘I’m going to have a drink.’ Everyone was staring at me and saying ‘Look Seth’s drinking.’ It was at that point I realised it’s not a big deal. I understand you can go down hill quick with drinking, I know when to stop. You’ve got to draw that line with everything in life.” “I always went by a rule book in my mind from what I’d been told in church - don’t do this, don’t do that. Then one day I was like ‘why? This is what I’ve been told to do my whole life…why?’ I need to know for myself. You have to question everything you’re told and look at the outcome of everything, and if it effects you negatively, don’t do it. People round here have strange ideas. My town of Hartselle didn’t get hit too bad by the tornados, but Cullman did. People round here are saying it’s God’s way of punishing Cullman because they just went wet. Hartselle is dry and didn’t get hit by the tornadoes.” “Dry?” I ask. “Yeah. Dry – no alcohol. You can’t buy alcohol in Hartselle, you have to drive to the next town. There’s old people who refuse to change it but that decision is holding back the growth of the town, and it’s dumb because wine is mentioned throughout the Bible.” Over ten years ago, Seth had a legendary bio in Props Video Magazine that featured a young and high-voiced Seth being interviewed by a then unknown Cory Martinez sat on a lawnmower. At that point in Seth’s life he wore a helmet with a Jesus sticker on, had ‘Christ is King’ scratched onto his top tube and a tattoo on his arm that read ‘Jesus is the only way to life.’ “I got that tat covered up simply because it was really bad. It was nothing to do with a loss of faith or anything like that. At that time I wanted people to see that tattoo or my Jesus sticker because I wanted people to talk to me

about it. I look back now and I was so openly Christian, and I’m unsure if I like the image I put off. People see that stuff and take it as a turn off, due to the reputation of Christians thinking they’re superior, the whole ‘I am a better person than you because I have God’ attitude. But now, looking back, I do regret the image I portrayed. That’s just the way we do things here in Alabama, we shout about being Christian. The Jesus stickers on my bike were some Jesus bumper stickers – it’s the done thing in Alabama. Here people dress up and go to these churches every Sunday morning and they want people to see them do that and they feel good about themselves. But at some point I slowly realised I don’t have to be seen to be religious and live by all the rules to worship God. I used to think those rules were God – that was religion. And I think that’s man, that is how man has corrupted religion. Every member of a church donates 10% of their earnings to that church. In the Bible it says you should give a part of your wealth to help others. The churches have definitely twisted that to get money from people. You see poor people going to expensive churches, thinking their money is helping God’s work, and then you see the preachers have the best cars and houses around here. I give 10% of my earnings to charities and I don’t go to church.” “Growing up as a child I always felt like there was something more. I’ve always searched that feeling out. I can sit out in my backyard and look at the sky and know there’s something out there that’s real to me, and I don’t need to go to church to have that. I think my faith helped with my confidence with riding. I think we are here for a reason and our lives are planned out. The Bible taught me to strive to be a good person and to believe there’s someone looking after you.” With God in his corner Seth started to travel across America on the contest circuit, standing out from the pack thanks to the long nights spent on the streets of Alabama. “The first B3 contest I went to I got 4th in amateur and then a few weeks later a friend called me to let me know I got full page fakie barpsin air photo in Ride US Magazine. At that point I thought ‘I’ve made it in a magazine, this might happen you know?’ Nine months later I got the call from Mat Hoffman.” Life for the outcast from Alabama was about to change. 17 year old Seth was on the verge of setting the 91

foundations for long career as a pro rider and was about to start one of the longest and most loyal sponsorships in freestyle history. “When I got on Hoffman Bikes I felt like I had made it. Hoffman Bikes was “the” company. They had a dream team of riders: Butcher, Rooftop, Taj and Chad Kagy. Within a year everyone left, I thought I’d hang on? What’s going on? That was 11 years ago and I still ride for Hoffman. People always ask if I’ve ever thought about riding for someone else, a company that will push me more? But I say ‘come on – you push yourself’. I remember what Mat [Hoffman] was to me when I was 16 or 17 and he’s still that now. I know he doesn’t have such a big part in company anymore but everything goes through Mat. There’s been rumours that Mat has nothing to do with the company and that he sold it to Taiwan but that’s all talk. When it comes down to it, Mat calls the shots. Hoffman have always supported me, whether they could’ve done more or should have done less…it don’t matter. I think it’s important to be loyal. I understand in conventional careers you watch out for yourself and do what’s best for your wallet, but it’s not like that in BMX. If a rider jumps around companies chasing pennies, those pennies will run dry. Respect is the most you can expect to earn in BMX.”

“I remember seeing Dave Mirra doing a nose bonk bars over a spine and being so psyched because I felt like that was my move you know? I always did nollie bars and nose bonk bars at those comps. I remembered being happy to see more street stuff coming out of the ramp guys. But I don’t take any credit for that change. Everything I did I got from someone else like Butcher, Troy McMurray and Taj. I was in the right place at the right time. I went out and did moves I saw Butcher or Troy do but on a bigger screen. When Van Homan starting riding those comps in 2001, that’s when we ready started to see things change.” “I remember the next contest season people were super serious. Me and Bruce [Crisman] were becoming close friends and we both hated contests but at that point if you didn’t do contests your sponsors were dropping you. We were always saying we couldn’t wait until contests don’t even matter, that for me started to happen when I was invited on Road Fools.” Favoured for his enthusiasm for riding all night, his positive attitude and progressive riding, Seth became a regular face on the legendary Road Fools trips, affirming his position as one best street riders of the era with Corey at his side every step of the way. “I remember years before, me and Corey saw the Road Fools bus in Westwood, Virginia. I think it was Road Fools 3, we just stood across the road looking at the bus in amazement. I wonder who’s all in there. Two years later and we were both on a Road Fools together. Being on the those trips definitely motivated me. Just going on any trip with riders that are better than you, it pushed me. Thinking about those days makes me look back at where me and Corey have come from and everything we’ve achieved in riding. I think ‘where would I be if it wasn’t for Corey?’ and hopefully he thinks the same. We just pushed each other so hard, we’re both where we are because of each other.”

“ IN THE X-GAMES I NEVER GOT HIGHER THAN A FOOT OFF THE GROUND ”

In an era dominated by the big riding styles of McCoy, Mirra, Miron and Hoffman, when a flair guaranteed a podium finish and full face helmets with matching body armour were common at competitions, Seth with his piercings, size 42 inch waist baggy jeans and street tricks didn’t fit the mould of a pro rider. Once again he was the outcast, he was the ugly duckling of the contest scene, but his creativity shone through. “We didn’t have skateparks in Alabama, all we had was street. I went to comps and would see a massive quarter and thought ‘I don’t know what to do on that.’ I remember thinking ‘right, I’m going to drop off this, barspin off that and three off the deck of this to flat.’ In the X-Games I never got higher than a foot off the ground. I’m not saying names, but I remember hearing comments like ‘you placed higher than me and you didn’t even jump the spine’, the truth was I couldn’t jump the spine; I’d never ridden one. They seemed mad at me for placing higher than them. In 2000, I got 4th in the X-Games, but I never believed I was good. I was just doing something different. I honestly didn’t deserve all the credit I got. It’s a struggle for me to do whips and I wouldn’t three a spine, that stuff freaked me out. I thought ‘maybe I should become that rider’, so I learnt flips and flipped the box but then I found that flipping a box onto the deck and doing tricks into the landing was more fun. I never could get into doing the regular stuff.” At the time Seth was the only rider at the big televised competitions doing street tricks. His success helped usher a wave of street riders into competitions. The style of competitions changed, the courses changed, the faces changed, riding had changed, seeing a shift away from traditional padded ramp riding to the more dominant street riding it is today. Suddenly other pros were taking notes from Seth’s riding. 92

Seth has been at the top of BMX for over a decade, constantly furthering himself and riding. Few have been responsible for such a long period of constant progression. His name sits comfortably alongside the ranks of Chris Doyle and Van Homan, as a true legend and innovator of riding. After more than a decade as a pro rider I’m curious if he has plans for the future and if he thinks about life after riding. “Apart from Corey, everyone that I rode with when I turned pro is now done with riding. It freaks me out. I’m next you know? In the past year I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’m not worried about it. Every day of my entire life has been about bicycles, and there’s so much more. There will be that day when I have to turn a page and start a new chapter. Looking back at everything, it’s been a dream come true. I don’t believe I deserve the credit I get, I’m so thankful for all of it. But if I left riding now I’d feel like I’d have unfinished business, I’d have regrets. I feel like just now I’m at the point where I really love being on a bike, I feel I’m still progressing in ways that keep me happy.” Seth pauses staring at the floor and changes his voice to his old timer character and looks up at me. “I’m just getting started here…”

“It started as a joke, a funny word, a saying… it was never meant to be anything serious” Words and Photography by DANIEL BENSON

ne of the great things about BMX is that it still isn’t so big that you get afraid to try something new. BMX practically cries out for D.I.Y approaches to things, whether that means making some zines, printing some t-shirts or making some stickers, the Do It Yourself aesthetic has never had such a rightful setting. Most brands out there today have humble beginnings, it’s how the businesses in this industry are started that I believe keeps BMX grounded, you know how much work it’s taken to get somewhere, so it never gets ahead of itself, never gets too big for its boots. Skavenger couldn’t have come from more humble beginnings. Started as ‘a joke’ by Vinnie Sammon, Vic Ayala and Edwin De La Rosa, they started out making stickers after the name was coined on a roadtrip that Vic and Edwin had gone on in the late nineties. “It started on a trip we went on. I was sixteen, Ralph [Sinisi] had to film a Props bio. It was Jeff Zelinski, Rob Dolecki, Vic, Ralph and me. We were all broke as fuck, Ralph hooked it all up. The first town we got to in Florida was Jacksonville and there were a whole lot of homeless people there. We just started using this word Skavenger to describe them, but at the same time we were doing the same thing as these people, like the food truck that comes around, when people queue up to get soup or some shit, well we were doing that too. We slept at a gas station one night. Me and Z were asleep and then some woman came up and gave us some money, thinking we were homeless. She was like “Hey guys, are you hungry”…. There’s a lot of history in Skavenger, like the Florida trip was the first real time I’d left New York. We didn’t go on the trip to launch it or anything like that, we just picked it up along the way. Then after a few months, back in New York, we were still saying it loads, so that’s when we decided to get some stickers made up. You know how that shit goes man, it started as a joke, a funny word, a saying or some shit. It was never meant to be anything serious.” You can’t tell the story of Skavenger without Animal and Ralph Sinisi. It was Ralph’s idea to start a frame company outside of Animal and because Skavenger had already started making some moves, it seemed like the perfect place to build on. Another motivation for Skavenger was that the majority of bike companies were based on the West Coast. “There wasn’t really a frame company that represented the way we rode, the whole New York, New Jersey East Coast thing. Nothing that really focused on street riding.” The story of how Animal started is unsurprisingly similar to that of Skavenger and encompasses that D.I.Y aethestic that all rider owned companies have, regardless of how big they get or the direction they go in. Ralph built on a soild idea - He apparently decided to start Animal when he was high on mushrooms, at some sort of amphitheatre in rural America - and in turn, when animal got to that point, he asked his friends and riders to help out. I wonder why Ralph didn’t want to make frames under the Animal banner, even though it had set out as a components company, it seemed like a logical step. “Ralph came to us and said ‘I wanna start a bike company, do you guys want to run it?’ I don’t know why he didn’t want to do it through Animal …He’s such an awesome dude he gave Vinnie and me an opportunity. He’d been talking about it years ago; it just took a while to set up. I’d been riding for FIT for a long time and after riding for a team like that you can’t really do anything else. Ralph asked us to do it around 2006/07, it wasn’t rushed. It took a while.”

TACO, Toothpick Hanger 180, New Jersey.

During my stay in New York I hear nothing but kind words and funny stories about Ralph. I’m told of the time when whilst on the phone to filmer Ryan Navazio, Ralph forgot who he was speaking to and asked Navazio to “get Navazio to film it.” “Ralph, this is Navazio, who do you think you’re talking to man!” I know the answer, but I bring it up with Edwin anyway “Do you think the whole FIT/CULT debacle could happen if Skavenger got huge?” “What?! Fuck no man! Of course not.We’re all friends first, before all this happened. We’ve all been there from day one on all of this.” The teams for both brands are largely made up of close friends from NewYork and New Jersey, but as Ed points out, “we were also keen to move away from that a bit with Skavenger, so we hooked up Davey [Watson] and Jack Maddock who live in the North West.” Even so, the teams have a lot more depth than most. Friends first, teammates second. Admittedly, not everyone knows each other as well as other people (Bob Scerbo is the self confessed team babysitter), but there seems to be a strong mutual respect between all the team riders. People like Mark ‘Ratkid’ Gralla, who’s soon to be bumped up to the pro team, has a knowledge of NewYork that would put most cab drivers to shame. It’s almost like they view the city as natural; it’s street riding in its totality. Every aspect of the city is appreciated. Both Animal and Skavenger are the embodiment of this idea. With Skavenger, Vic Ayala was a big part of the scene back before he decided to quit. He was one of the most progressive riders, if not the most progressive rider, during his seemingly brief period riding. I ask Ed if Vic has anything to do with Skavenger anymore. “Nah, Vic doesn’t have anything to do with it anymore. Before he quit riding we’d only made a couple of runs of shirts. It hurt when he quit, it hurt my feelings, when a best friend stops riding. We hung out all the time, y’know. And we never even spoke about riding…. I feel like I should know more about it, but I accepted it early on that he’d quit when he stopped finding it fun. I mean, he was real good man, really fucking good. I’ve never seen shit like it…” “Did he find it too easy?” “Yeah, maybe man, like if something took him more than a couple of goes he’d get real angry. Like back in 98/99 he was doing backwards rail to barspin, backwards rail to 360. It was an honour to ride with him. I was there when he did that crazy grind down the kinker to hop over to opposite pegs. He named it the Predator grind there and then, just because he liked the movie.” I find it funny that Vic doesn’t know what’s become of Skavenger, he only lives over in Manhattan, but at the same time you get the feeling that Edwin is right, he wouldn’t give a shit either way. He moved on from BMX and what became of Skavenger I’m sure would be of little consideration to him now. There’s still a bit of that amateurish, haphazard nature to Skavenger that you don’t see in the frames and products, like Vic not knowing and even the blog posts you see on the site such as a homeless bum asleep in a mattress, with only his legs sticking out the end, so he looks like Spongebob Squarepants. Or a shot of the Beatles photoshopped to look like they’re drinking 4Lokos. Vinnie had a black eye when I met him “Fighting?” I ask. “Nah, think he fell outta bed.” Somebody answered. As you can imagine, Ed and Vic’s roles within the company aren’t exactly clear. (Top left) MARK ‘RATKID’ GRALLA, Wallride, New York (Above)TOM WHITE, Ledge Crook, New Jersey.

MARK ‘RATKID’ GRALLA, Tuck, Manhattan. A: So, do you have set jobs each of you do? E: Erm, nah, not really. A: What about the team? E: Yeah we decide all that, but… fuck! I never knew how much stress it would actually be! Like, people calling up ‘yo, can I get a frame?’ I actually called Robbie [Morales] up after it’d happened and said ‘Robbie, I gotta hand it to you man…’ He deals with that shit so well. I don’t know how he does it… A: So how do you deal with it then? E: [laughs] Well, what normally happens is they’ll email me or Vinnie asking us for stuff. Then I‘ll be like ‘ask Vinnie’ and Vinnie will be like ‘ask Ed.’ We’ll pass people between each other like that until they eventually get bored [laughs]. When Ralph asked Ed and Vinnie if they wanted to develop Skavenger into a frame company it was bound to be a success. Animal has one of the strongest reputations in BMX. Ralph has created a brand that is synonymous with street riding and respected the world over. Yet the story of how Skavenger started and what it has become should serve as inspiration for smaller companies out there. Companies like DUB, whose reputation, even as a t-shirt company from Liverpool, matches that of most big bike brands, should look at it and see that it’s possible to move forward, if they want to. It shows that you can start a company out of nothing, just off the back of a good idea, a joke even and get a team together and if people are into it, they’ll follow it. They just have to like what you stand for. Skavenger’s strength and depth lie in a solid, likeminded team with characters that you look up to and want to ride like. Animal undoubtedly lie at the reason of why Skavenger ended up making frames, Ed even mentioned that if Ralph hadn’t asked ‘they probably wouldn’t have bothered,’ but I’m sure Ralph knew that Skavenger had that core following that he knew could be more than just a t-shirt company.

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Roadtrip photos courtesy of Edwim De La Rosa.

1st Skavenger Flyer, 2001. 101

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On this side of the pond, Skavenger hooked up one rider, and that guy was Tommy Curtin. Here he talks about being the little guy, moving to Sheffield, not believing he was on the Skavenger UK team and being shit for a long time. Tommy’s just finished work and he walks down to the shop in his work clothes and with his usual swagger. His arms tight to his sides and with a smirk that rarely makes it into a smile. “I can’t smile, I look stupid” he’d say later. I mean, it’s not entirely true, of course he smiles, it’s just every time you meet him he’ll ball up with this same swagger and smirk. Tommy looks young for his years, yet with this imitable mooch and his ballsy approach to riding it’s a face value approach that belies the 26 year old joiner from Birmingham.

Interview by DANIEL BENSON Photography by JOE COX and DANIEL BENSON

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meet Tommy outside the Spar on Hunters Bar roundabout in Sheffield. It’s a part of town that recalls countless memories of Sheffield’s long and influential history within UK BMX. Dave Proctor, original G-Sport rider and inventor of the busdriver hop, had a BMX shop a few doors up and on Neill Road behind the Spar, the second Hate House played host to parties that became so legendary riot police would be called to quell the madness. It’s a fitting place to meet. Tommy is buying painkillers, yesterday he came off bad and I can tell he’s sore. His left shoulder seems to hang lower than his right. It’s a bad sign and all I can think is that he’s damaged his collarbone. “Tommy, are you ok? Seriously, you can tell you’re holding that shoulder funny.” I ask, thinking that we should probably be doing this interview in the waiting room at A&E. “Nah, it’s alright man, I’ll double drop these painkillers and it’ll be ok. I’ve worked with it all day so if I’d broken it I’m sure I’d know by now.” Occasionally his manner can become annoyingly self-deprecating. He’ll play down his ability on a bike quickly. “All I can do is grinds” It something I’ve heard from him on more than one occasion. But as the saying goes, ‘the jack-of-all-trades is the master of none.’ Some guys spend all day flowing through trails and it’s considered virtuous. Tommy’s hand is grinds; rails, ledges. Big, balls out stuff. He’s really fucking good at it. Albion: So, what happened yesterday? It seems like a good place to start. Tommy: I went into town to try and get a picture of this gap out to smith that I wanted for the interview. It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. The ledge is made out of tiles and when I landed on it my back end slipped out sending me over the bars about six or seven feet to my chest… After that I just went to a pub quiz and I did just as bad at that! Funny thing is though, I had it in my head that as long as I just get the landing into the smith part out of the way, I’ve got it sorted. Obviously not. A: How do you think the interview has gone? You’ve gone pretty hard for it haven’t you? T: Kind of… A: Kind of? I’d say you have. What’s the reason for that? T: Well, you just don’t want to put something out that’s toss. You want something good that you can look back on. A: Has being hooked up by Skavenger pushed you to put any extra effort in? T: Nah, not really A: No! That’s quite a big statement C… So no pressure when you got hooked up by such a heavy hitting street team? T: To be honest, I haven’t had to do too much [laughs], so I don’t really feel that much pressure off anyone. A: I hate to use this word, it reminds me of people at the end of Road Fools, but were you honoured to be asked to ride for a company that is full of riders I know you look up to. T: Oh yeah, of course! But to look at all those guys on the team, I don’t think they would be any pressure from them, do you know what I mean? A: Of course man. It’s your first sponsor right? T: Yeah. A: It was a while back now though wasn’t it? T: I got asked at the United premiere. We were all real drunk late on in the night, then Rhys [Coren] mentioned that Ian Morris was looking for me and he wanted to ask if I’d like to ride for Skavenger. I told him to fuck off…[laughs]. Then Wozzy [Adam Wasylenko] came up and said I needed to get a shot next to Ian to see who was smaller… A: Who won? T: Dunno…. Maybe Ian… Then after that, Ian just asked me if I wanted to ride for Skavenger. I was like “Yeah alright Ian, get Vinnie [Sammon] to send us an email then” A: You didn’t believe him? T: Nah! Then a few weeks later, I was sat on the

toilet at work and thought I’d check my emails, as you do, and Ian had sent me a message about the Skav thing, confirming it basically. A: Skavenger don’t make short bikes, has that being a problem? T: It was at first, but I think that had just as much to do with the fact that I hadn’t ridden in ages because the weather had been so shit. It took a few rides; I ground the back end in and put a top loader on… But I quite like it now actually. It feels good. A: You often put down your own abilities on a bike. Why is this? T: Erm… I dunno, I still wouldn’t consider myself a good bike rider. [laughs]. Like when I go down Devonshire Green Skatepark in Sheffield, there are guys who can do everything after only riding three years. I can’t 360 on flat, I can’t wallride on flat ground, can’t do whips and I’ve never been around a curved wallride. [laughs]. A: Is that why you got into grinds? T: What else am I supposed to do! When I was younger, it took me a year to learn to hop… How do I say this… Basically, when I was young I was really shit for a hell of a long time [Laughs]. I got my first bike when I was 13 or 14 and I didn’t do anything for at least four years. I just used to sit at the trails and not do anything. A: Then you got street balls? T: I suppose I’ve gotten more confidence over the years. I’m still scared of stupid stuff. A: What do you think of street riding these days? You seem focused on grinds. T: I find a lot of it too hard to relate to if I’m being honest. It’s so ahead of what I’m doing. It seems sometimes like it’s jumpbox riders doing stuff down stairs. They’re still going insane, but… It’s not exactly Don’t Quit Your Day Job and Neighbourhood Superheroes is it? [laughs] A: Have you always had four pegs? T: I actually started with none, just because the bike didn’t come with them. Every now and then I’ll take them off, maybe run two or something. Just for something different. A: What do you think about the new pegs trend? T: What, three pegs? Erm… I dunno… Three pegs has always been about. [Corey] Martinez used to run three. Seth Kimbrough too. I used to run three for a while too… A: Oh, so now you’re putting yourself up there with the big guys?! T: Nah!.. Peter Adam dropped the reverse three – two on the back and one on the front – The reverse three [laughs]. It has taken off though, the three pegs thing. You don’t see many x-up grinds though, do you?

Over pegs on Concrete Ledge, Sheffield. 105

60-40 Grind, Sheffield.

A: Nah, you don’t. Where did you grow up? T: Great Bar, which is near to Birmingham. A: Was it always street riding? T: Erm, no… I used to ride trails! Well, if you could class it as trails. Then when they got ploughed we didn’t have a park so we rode street. A: So how come you ended up moving to Sheffield? T: Mainy [Chris Mainprize] was down doing a years work experience from Hallam Uni in Sheffield. I met him down Epic Skatepark in Birmingham and after that we rode together all the time. His year down here ended, so he moved back up to Sheffield and said he had a spare room going and that I should move up. So I moved up, start of July 2005. A: Was it what you expected? T: I didn’t expect anything, I only knew Mainy really. So I didn’t have any expectations. A: What about everyone riding Devonshire 106

Green Park all the time? T: Well, you’ve got to expect it really… A: Why’s that? T: Well, if you think about it, Sheffield doesn’t have that many sessionable spots… Black Bars are good, but they’re a little bit out of town. Sheffield has lots of good obstacles, but not that many places that you could spend a while at and everyone can ride… There’s Wickes wallride too, but what am I going to do there? Get heckled off Dan [Cox] to do a wallride. A: Have you ever felt like your height has made things with riding difficult? T: Not really, I mean what other choice have I got? You just deal with it! A: Sorry, I worded that badly; I’ll try and say that in a better way… Basically, big stuff doesn’t faze you at all. Big ledges, rails, lots of hopping onto stuff… T: I used to think that you needed to be tall to hop

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WHEN I WAS YOUNG I WAS REALLY SHIT FOR A HELL OF A LONG TIME

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Crook, Sheffield.

high, but then people like Benny L [Ben Lewis] came along and showed you otherwise. Before that, I used to watch big riders like Dan Price hopping benches and onto rails and it made me think, the taller you were, the higher you could hop. Not that I can that hop high… A: You hit stuff really fast, is this anything to do with it? T: Nah, not really. I just prefer to hit stuff at speed. I feel less scared if I’m raking at something. It gets you psyched up doesn’t it? Ian Morris too, on S&M 4, he’s short and he’s never had any problems with riding and doing big stuff. A: You’ve always had a job haven’t you? You didn’t bother with Uni? T: Nah, I’ve been a joiner since I was 16. I started my job as soon as I left school at my dad’s mate’s shopfitting firm where I did my work experience. I got on with everyone there real well and they said that if I wanted a job there when I finished school

they’d sort me out. The money was terrible but I was learning a lot there so it kept it interesting I guess. I actually used to look forward to going into work back then! That’s where I worked for just over 4 years before I moved up here. A: Did you find that difficult to tie in with riding? Maybe not so much now, but a few years ago most of the Sheffield scene went to Uni or did nothing. T: Nah, not at all. I’d probably find it harder if I worked on site but in the workshop I know when I start and when I finish. A: Working can motivate you to ride as much as anything. T: When I moved back here I didn’t work for about ten months. I started to find it really monotonous. Every day I’d wake up late, go riding for a bit, go out, go to bed and wake up and do the same. A: You finish pretty early anyway don’t you? T: Half four. 107

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I STILL WOULDN’T CONSIDER MYSELF A GOOD BIKE RIDER

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Tyreslide Feeble, London. 109

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I TRY TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT I DO BUT THEY JUST THINK I RIDE DOWN THE STREET IN A STRAIGHT LINE AND THROW MYSELF OFF

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Icepick, Sheffield.

A: Do they [the people you work with] get what you’re doing? T: Nah, not really. Like today when I went in they thought I’d been in a fight. I’ve got a lump on my head and cuts on my knuckles. I try to explain to them what I do but they just think I ride down the street in a straight line and throw myself off. I can’t really be bothered to explain myself to 62 year old men. “Do you race?” No “Do you enter competitions?” No, I just jump on handrails and shit and potter about. [laughs]. It’s a bit hard to explain to people isn’t it? A: Ok, top five right side street riders? T: Fuck, that’s a bit hard isn’t it… Vinnie, Edwin… I’m thinking of saying Marv but… A: You know it’ll go to his head… T: Addy Snowdon from Liverpool… A: Good choice T: It’s hard to think actually… I’m trying to think who I’ve got photos of on my bedroom wall… A: You’ve got BMX photos all over your walls? T: Yeah, but my mum binned half of my old BMX

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magazines so it’s only from the last few years…. I still can’t think of right side grinders… A: Ok, any riders. T: Vinny, Edwin, Butcher… A: You don’t need to please your sponsors Tommy! T: I know! It’s pretty much the whole Animal Team. A: Ok, some questions to finish from two people who might have influenced you at some point. Firstly, from Marv. How long do you think it’s physically possible to lock a crook in for? T: I’ve thought before that it could be just as possible to lock into a crook on a BMX as long as someone can do them on a skateboard… That’s all depending on you’re choice of peg length as well. A: Ian Morris came up with a choice question to finish. What would you rather be, short and ginger or short and chubby? T: Not ginger that’s for sure! If I was the ginger one and not the chubby one I wouldn’t be able to get a buzz from calling Rhys Coren ‘Ginger Balls’, or ‘GBalls’... Plus, if you type ‘Gingers Do Have Souls’ into Youtube it doesn’t look much fun at all.

Strays

TOM DUGAN, Arizona Photo by Francis Delapena

NIKI CROFT, Romford Photo by George Marshall

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MATT BURTON, Bedford Photo by George Marshall

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BOB SCERBO, Bump jump to wallride, New York Photo by Daniel Benson

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RYAN HOWARD, Brooklyn Photo by Scott Marceau

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CARL WOOD, Hull Photo by Joe Cox

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DREW BEZANSON, London Photo by George Marshall.

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For further details and overseas subscriptions visit: thealbion.cc Yeah yeah, subs have gone up, but Royal Mail hiked up their prices right after issue one came out. Still, £8.88 isn’t a bad deal and still not much more than a couple of pints or a roll of film.

130

Extended Family Steve Wilson talks about life being a TV presenter, owning a BMX shop, and kissing ‘the little cute one’ from S Club 7

teve Wilson is the man behind Lifer BMX, the rider owned BMX shop in West Devon that sponsors both local shredders like Darren Rowe and national treasures like Alex Leech. However, when not out drinking cider or street riding with Northern John, Steve dabbles in some television presenting. Having cut his teeth on children’s TV, he now resides on ITV’s This Morning. If you get out of bed early enough you might have seen him, or if you’re old enough you might remember him presenting TV shows when you were young. So, here’s what life is truly like being a BMXing celebrity! Steve Wilson: Do you know who Huey Morgan is? Albion: No He’s the Fun Loving Criminals lead guy, and he’s really into BMX. Really? Yeah, and he has been for years. Like, to what extent I don’t know. But, basically, I read in a magazine quite a long time ago how he was taking some time off and had some serious BMX time owed to him. He just said he loved to ride street around New York. No way! Yeah, though I don’t know to what extent, but he loves BMX and spends loads of time in Britain. And, if you want, I have the same agent as him when he’s in Britain. I could probably get you to him some how. Hell yeah! Well, I guess you and me should start with some sort of formal stuff. What’s your name, your age, and where are you living at the moment? OK, so, Steve Wilson, I’m 36 at the moment and I don’t have a showbiz age, and I live in Tavistock in West Devon. And what would you say your current form of employment is? My full time job is owner and man-

ager of Lifer BMX. I also have a second job which is TV presenting, but it used to be the other way around. TV was my main job and all the time I wasn’t on television, I was buying and selling BMX bikes, restoring old ones and that. Working on TV is kind of feast or famine, so bikes were supplementing my income. Now Lifer is my full time job and I supplement my income with TV stuff. Who are you working for on TV at the moment? This Morning are the only people I work for in TV right now. I haven’t got time to work for anyone else as I want to concentrate on running my BMX shop. It’s been my passion far longer than ever being on TV, it’s the biggest thing in my life. Well, nothing compares to having kids, that makes the world make sense, but you know what I mean. Anyway, with This Morning, I am kind of like the odd jobs man… I’m kind of labelled as their gadget man. That looks good on the old CV: Steve Wilson, Gadget MAN, duhd-d-duuuhh! It must be fun when you’re young and you can party loads? Interview by RHYS COREN

Yeah, back when I started on Children’s BBC, there weren’t all these channels they have now. I did the Broomcupboard links between programs, and the amount of viewers you’d be getting would be in the millions, which is unheard of now, but there wasn’t any other option for the kids then. So, when you’re doing that, you get invited to absolutely everything. We used to go out an awful lot. So who was your party crew back then? It would be me, Dick and Dom, anyone who was free from Blue Peter… Richard Bacon? Especially Richard Bacon! It’s funny, Chris Evans once said that everyone at the BBC was on cocaine, but I never once saw it at a party. Never. If they were doing it they were hiding it. Really? I was always too scared. I was known as the cider drinker. So, tell us about working with Holly Willoughby… was she your way into This Morning? Weirdly no. I was at This Morning before Holly was, when it was Phil and Fern (Britton). But both me and Holly got onto This Morning because

132 we moved from Children’s BBC to Children’s ITV, and they tend to move you up and look after you at ITV. Was there a taboo to switch between those two channels then? It’s funny. When I did Live and Kicking, we were up against Ant and Dec’s SMTV, which was just the best Saturday morning program there’s ever been. I used to tape SMTV, you know, it was that good. Me and my co-host… Was her name Emma something? She was really hot as well. You’ve done pretty good for hot co-presenters! Ha! You’re right, she was beautiful. Emma Ledden was her name. But anyway, once that’d gone a bit pear shaped, they got rid of me and Emma. Once you get dumped like that, you just can’t get any work and it was like that for about a year and half. But then I finally got myself back into CBBC, doing a show with Holly Willoughby about the movie industry called Call The Shots. That was so cool man. I did a stunt course with the James Bond stunt team! I basically managed to get the BBC to love me again and when they tried to tie me down into a ‘handcuff’ deal to keep working with them for a while, I felt quite proud to just say ‘no, it’s alright, I’m going to move over to ITV.’ Oooooooh… I know, I had unfinished business, I didn’t like being dropped and not being able to prove myself. But it all went really well after that and ITV moved me up and onto This Morning in 2006, and I’ve been there ever since, which is really cool. I remember always seeing you with some Etnies on or a BMX label t-shirt whilst on the TV. It was the era when there weren’t that many people riding… that kind of dead period. So I’d always make sure I wore stuff by Village Idiot… the digital 4130 t-shirt was amazing… Etnies t-shirts if it was just the symbol, Little Devil, UGP… I even asked Etnies to send me some free shoes to wear on the TV. Did they? They did. I’d always try and plonk my feet up somewhere so that you could see the ‘E’ on the side. In fact,

I’d really only ever worn Vans my whole life, but Etnies were really cool about sending stuff. But it was a great era. That era of BMX was the most exciting in a way, if you saw anyone else on a bike or wearing a certain label you’d be so excited… Who did you ride with back then? Initially my brothers. We lived in Buckinghamshire, but then we moved to Devon and I rode with Northern

“

CHRIS EVANS ONCE SAID THAT EVERYONE AT THE BBC WAS ON COCAINE

” John as he was at Uni in Plymouth, Tommy Bowers, Questy, Ross, Dave Tappy… Actually, didn’t you break your arm or something at a Mount Hawke comp and have to go on the TV a few days after and explain your cast or something? Ha, yeah! I was transferring from the spine into a feeble down the grind box on the driveway. I did it at least four

times then, on the 5th, I missed it and landed on my wrist. I had to wear a sling on the TV… I seem to always do my wrists at Mount Hawke actually. One other time we were filming with Simon Tabron for the show Exchange, and he was trying to teach me how to 540 for it. I nearly got it, but then slammed again. Would I be wrong in thinking you had a pair of Primo Moe’s Bars and a General Lee? Yes!!! Black Moe’s Bars, white Hoffman Super Forks and a DK General Lee. But now I have an ATF customized with a taller standover and permanent brake lugs. Its pretty much always been S&M. I heard some rumours that you might have been a bit of a ladies’ man on the television circuit when you were younger? A few famous notches on the bedpost? Ha… erm… for most of the time I had a girlfriend. I may have had a few snogs with a few girls… Like who? Hannah from S Club 7. The cute little one. Who are you still in contact with? Sarah Cawood, we did Call The Shots together, actually with Ferne Cotton and Holly too… Wow, that’s quite the dream line-up of super hot co-presenters! The dream team! And I’m still in contact with Dick and Dom too. Apart from those guys, TV presenters are a lot of hard work… the egos are just unbelievable. What about Schofield? He’s amazing. Obviously, I grew up watching him and he’s as amazing as I’d hoped he’d be… he’s such a dude. Who would win in a fight between Trevor and Simon and Dick and Dom? Dick and Dom And who would win between Ferne Cotton and Holly Willoughby? I don’t know, but if it involved water or mud I’d like to see the fight for sure. Wow. Me too. Should I do a thanks section? My mum, my wife, my kids, Questy… Nah. BYE!!! Love you, BYE!!!

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Quitters Matt ‘Wakey’Wakefield discusses the joys of life after BMX.

few short years ago Matt Wakefield held cult status amongst English street riders. He was infamous for his reckless creativity, his skinhead mentality and addiction for trouble. He was handpicked by Ron Wilkerson to ride for 2HIP, was filmed forcing a coin up the rectum of The Gonz whilst on Props Megatour, featured on the cover of Ride UK twice and had a well received interview punctuated by an epic wall ride sequence. But the day he dressed up as a French mime artist and jumped over a red Citroen 2CV for a photo was his last on a BMX. With no injury or obvious reason he disappeared. The Albion drove out into the idyllic Oxford countryside to find out why. Matt: You recording this? You cheeky git. [Matt leans over to my voice recorder and speaks directly into it.] M: I quit BMX because I wanted to be like Mick Dundee. Matt’s fiancé Gemma: Are you recording all of this? Albion: Yeah, sorry, I should have said. G: Oh right… Matthew you’ve got a huge cock. M: Oh yeah? Big nose – big cock. The rumours are true. G: Just like Andrew Lloyd Webber. A: Yeah I heard that about Andrew Lloyd Webber being well hung. G: But apparently he can’t get it up in the morning, he’s got prostate cancer. A: Oh…[Silence. Matt’s attention turns to some mystery white powder on his tomato plants]. M: What’s that stuff? Oh… bloody hell Londonites are here aren’t they, down here sniffing up, bloody Snow

White crew isn’t it. Are you going to roll up a fifty and stiff that up for us? You’re from London right? A: Yes Matt. M: I hate London I do. I can’t hack it down there, too many dick heads. I had a night out there at Christmas. I’d been trying to calm down but old mates brought old habits. Before I knew it I was robbing crates of whisky from the back of a strip club with big bastard Polish bouncers running after me. In another bar I throw fake snow everywhere and one guy moaned at me so I threatened him with a steak knife and he ran out. In a club later I poked some dick head in the eye because he had no lenses in his specs. Why wear glasses without lenses? Speccy London twat. Anyway he went nuts. I ended up fighting him on stage next to a band of synph dick heads. I got into about four fights that night. Afterwards I felt like I’d let myself down.

Interview by GEORGE MARSHALL

136 I thought I’d stopped living that way. I’ve calmed right down nowadays. A: Over the years you got away with a lot stuff eh? M: I know. We’re all lucky we all didn’t end up in prison or beaten up badly, and that’s all of us from Notts [Nottingham]. Like when I lit that massive goth’s hair on fire and it went up like a fire ball because of all his rock hard hair spray. I can’t believe I got away with that. There’s no way I could have continued on the way I did. Like the time me and Beanpole pushed that lad through a glass phone box in a shopping trolley at a DFTU jam – try explaining that to the police when you’re 30? At 20 you can get away with living like that. All that mucking about to me was BMX, I couldn’t do one without the other. I had to leave that life behind and BMX went with it. There comes a time where you have to move on. For me that time is now. A: When did you decide to calm down then? M: It was when I left Notts. I had to get away. I miss everyone there, but it’s good to get out your routine. You have to keep changing. With riding I felt stale. I wasn’t progressing. It’s hard to keep yourself motivated to do stuff, especially when you move away from your mates and there’s not much of a scene. There’s no STPs or Niki Crofts around these parts. A: There isn’t a scene in Oxford? M: Yeah there is, but they were all a bit ‘Mick Jagger’ for me. A bit rock ‘n’ roll for my liking. They’re like the Rolling Stones all Lima, Pipe and them lot. Nice lads them though. Nice lads. At that point I just didn’t see myself progressing any more with my riding. I look back at it all, the magazine covers, the photos, the trips and thought I’ve got everything I could from it. I knew I’d never beat that wall ride down Hackney Wick as well, I knew that was the best I could do. Now everyone’s doing gap wall rides aren’t they? Cheeky sods. People need to get their own tricks… I nicked it off Ruben first… first come first served. After that there was a few lines I wanted to do, I went up to them and knew I was never going to do them, I’d lost the balls. A: Is that what you’re most proud of? That wall ride?

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I WAS A LAGER MAN, NOW I’M A BITTER MAN – I TAKE IT EASY AND SMOOTH, NO BUBBLES

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M: Just having all the memories. I’ve kept all the mags to look back on and show people. Riding Backyard Jam against Jamie Bestwick, and all I did was a tabletop, and I slept by the bins outside the park. That stuff is worth remembering. I loved the traveling, waking up in abandoned schools and shooting all the daft photos. But you’ve got to grow up at some point haven’t yer? I didn’t want to be one of those middle aged blokes down the skatepark riding with kids, there’s a name for them and it begins with a ‘P’… Pediatrician. A: Do you mean peadophile? M: No. I mean pediatrician… [Laughs]. It’s a teenagers sport. I don’t want be hanging onto my youth. It’s all well and good to keep riding into your 30s but when these people get to the point they physically can’t ride, what are they going to do with themselves? A: Did the bad crash you had after your interview effect your riding? M:Yeah it did. It made me a lot more scared and I can’t handle the heat anymore. Usually I love the heat, but after that hit to the head I can’t handle it. I sold my bike not longer after that. I don’t miss crashing

one bit. Another I don’t miss about BMX is lengthy video intros of some soppy cunt pushing his bike up a hill, ride up you lazy sod. Too poetic for my liking. If I wanted some art I’d go hang out with Picasso down Paris. Skip that art shit and get to the fucking action. A: What made you sell your bike then? M: I sold my bike to get some money for Gem’s engagement ring. Kiss, kiss, bang, bang – gone. 250 nicker. [The Albion later realised Matt sold his bike an entire year before proposing to Gemma]. A: What do you do now then? I heard you were back into CycloCross riding? M: Yeah I did for a bit. But I’ve sacked that off as well now. I haven’t got the fitness anymore. I have new things in my life. I have my shed and van. I’m into woodworking now, Dewalt Router is where it’s at youth. It used to be all about jump and grind but nowadays it’s about Tongue and Groove. I do the same shit I used to on a bike but now I do it with wood. Table top – table saw. Half cab – Half Lap joint. Corner air – Corner Bridle joint. Moto air – Mortise and Tennon. Its all the same to me, I used to have tricks, now I have wood joints. G: Did you know Matthew now has an iPhone4? I got it him for Christmas? A: Really? M: Yeah. iPhone4 mate. Axminster tool app, got it, Woodworkers union app, I’m on it, Vauxhall Forum app, I’m on it, BMX app – deleted it. That’s a point can you email us the photos from today? A: Sure, is your email still madballskins@hotmail.com? M: Nah mate, its matt.wakefield@ hotmail.com, I’m pro now, a pro div. A: That is grown up. What do look forward to nowadays then? M: Now I look forward to the new issue of Ron Fox Router Master Magazine, the start of the strawberry season, working on the van and spending time in the shed. Couple of years ago if you’d asked me if I wanted to spend evenings in a shed making joints on the Dewalt Router I would have told you to fuck off. But I appreciate it now, I don’t know why. People change and I needed to. I loved BMX it was brilliant but I had to stop being an idiot. I was a lager man, now I’m a bitter man – I take it easy and smooth, no bubbles.

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139

Chris Moeller OPEN MIC NIGHT AT THE ALBION

Everyone loves a bit of drama. They always have. The average person’s life is actually pretty boring, void of many major altercations or controversial episodes. Other people’s drama offers a relief from this mundanity, an escape from the daily grind of working to pay bills and doing the laundry. It’s why movies are so popular. It’s why soap operas and gossip magazines are so prolific and followed with such devotion. Drama and controversy sell. They always have. Last issue we ran an interview with Cult founder Robbie Morales. He chose to focus the dialogue on the active conflict between himself and the owner of Fit Bike Co Chris Moeller. Robbie had been involved with Fit since day one and was instrumental in developing the brand into one of the most influential in the game. 18 months ago Robbie left to start his own brand, he took many of the key Fit team riders with him and there’s been a running battle between the two parties ever since. Chris Moeller knows the BMX business better than anyone. With a history that can be traced back to the very roots of the industry and as the founder of S&M Bikes – arguably the most legitimate brand in BMX – his armour of credibility is a tough one. So after printing Robbie’s version of events in issue one, we thought it only right to give Chris the chance to put his views on the matter across. Both of these interviews followed the same path. Neither party needed much prompting, questions were kept to a minimum and we simply transcribed the dialogue and ran it unedited. These two pieces have been like an open mic night – with The Albion as a venue – where the interviewee has used the opportunity to vent their frustrations about an issue that is deeply personal to them. Read on and take from it what you will.

Words and Photography by STEVE BANCROFT

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his interview was conducted during the weekend of the S&M video premiere jam for the fourth and final chapter in their Q.P video series. Chris organised the low key gathering at his friend’s trails out in the hills of Southern California. The jam was attended by close friends and affiliates of S&M, as well as the riders who star in the video. Approximately 100 riders, out in the open air, sessioning the jumps, drinking beer, riding dirt bikes, watching the big screen, flipping burgers and shooting the shit (and guns) – just like the brand itself – the scene couldn’t have been anymore BMX if it tried. What follows is an unedited conversation between The Albion and Chris Moeller, it starts by us asking Chris for a bit of background info about his beginnings in BMX...

Chris: My family had dirt bikes. My dad was a surfer and a skateboarder. As a little kid we’d load up the trailer and go ride dirt bikes on the weekends. If there were waves then we’d go surf, and me, my dad and my brother would go to the park and skate. I used to bring a BMX bike along when we went riding dirt bikes. Then, in the 70’s, gas prices shot up so we stopped riding motorcycles and I started riding my BMX bike around a little bit more. Albion: When is this? What year are we talking about? Mid 70’s? C: Yeah, it was the late 70’s, I was skateboarding, I was having a good time. . . Riding my bike occasionally. Then one day me and my brother were hitting a jump in front of the house. I was hitting the jump and I was hit by a car, I was knocked out for a little bit. It was a hit and run. But the next day the guy came back, I guess he was feeling guilty or something. So my parents made a deal with him that if he bought me a new bike then they wouldn’t press charges or anything. So the next day we went to the shop and bought an awesome little bike with all the best parts on it. A: A BMX? C: Yeah, a BMX bike. A Race Incorporated. It was a dialed bike. That was probably 1980. Not long after that we stumbled on a track, racing looked fun, so I filed in the paperwork and the next week we came back and I raced – and I loved it. So in the next couple of years things happened real fast. I met some kids in my neighborhood, their dad was Rich Long, the guy who owned GT. So I started hanging out with them and going to the track with them. A: How big was GT at that point? C: It was pretty big. They probably had 50 employees at that point. They had a big manufacturing operation. That’s when just about everything was made in the USA. BMX bikes were almost all made here. At this point I was test riding and writing articles for BMX Action Magazine. A: Were you Mad Dog back then? Did the magazine make that name up or were you already Mad Dog then? C: No, I was before. From the local track. It’s because I used to fight a lot at the local track. A: Haha, fighting at the track huh. Sorry, carry on. C: Well that’s about it for the early days, when I was writing the magazine stuff, that’s when we started S&M, when I was 17. A: Well anyone who’s reading this will know all about S&M and what it stands for – so I guess the S&M story is for another article. C: Yeah that story has been told so many times, but for me, as far as being in the industry I am now, I couldn’t have been any luckier. All the people I 140

came into contact with were in the same business. A: And, back then, this place was the epicentre for BMX I guess? C: Yeah, skating, BMX, Motocross. . . snowboarding was starting to happen. Yeah it was all happening out here. A: You have a reputation in the industry for being out-spoken and always calling people out on stuff. Do you do it for a reaction? C: No, if I believe in what I’m talking about then I just say it. I’m not strategizing. I’m normally just running my mouth. A: Would you say you’re an overly competitive person? C: I’m definitely a competitive person. A: Did you used to wrestle? C: Yeah I did, but I wasn’t good. But I did wrestle. I was just a practical joker, a clown on the wrestling team. I did it just because I used to fight all the time. And that way I could fight with people and not get in trouble. A: It seems that you’ve kept that mischievous side of it going with S&M and made some money with Fit. If you didn’t have Fit then would you still be able to do S&M? Does Fit subsidize S&M? C: Well we wouldn’t be able to do what we do now if we were only the S&M brand. Fit has the complete bike thing happening, and that’s how bike shops make a living. That’s how kids get into BMX. And as far as the business side of things goes, you can’t do that with frames, forks and bars. We could have a business, but we wouldn’t be able to sponsor riders like Homan, Aitken and Foster, we wouldn’t be able to fly people all over, we wouldn’t be able to have big parties like we did this weekend. A: I’ve heard you referred to as a harsh man. What do you say to that? C: I’d agree with that. But I’m not a politician. I’m trying to make bikes. I’m not running for office. I’m self-employed. It’s a fully independent company. Yeah, I’m crass and a little rough around the edges but I’m trying to get better. I’m better than I used to be. A: The other day you were telling me that you buy other companies products and cut them open to see if they are manufactured how they claim to be. Any interesting discoveries? C: You can’t always believe the hype. A: In your career you seem to have been involved with some strange people, would you say they’ve helped to shape S&M into what it is today? C: Well. . . I don’t know. The guys I grew up around in the bike business – Chuck Robinson, he passed away, committed suicide, he was a mentor of mine. Rich Long was a mentor, he crashed his motorcycle and died. And then Rob my sponsor

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...I’M NOT A POLITICIAN. I’M TRYING TO MAKE BIKES. I’M TRYING TO MAKE BIKE PARTS. I’M NOT RUNNING FOR OFFICE...

”

at Pedal Power, he had a drug induced stroke and is partially paralyzed. I learned a lot from these guys for sure. But, I always talk about the three Ds: Death, Drugs and Divorce and I’m just trying to avoid ‘em. A: You want to talk about the whole Robbie/Cult thing? C: Yeah, I’m down. Obviously that’s what people are really interested in. A: Ah, I don’t know. That’s not the only thing. That’s just the lowest form of entertainment – conflict. But everyone does love a bit of drama. C: Well it’s an interesting story. A: Obviously we interviewed Robbie in the first issue, we were interviewing him about Cult and he used the opportunity to focus on that whole Cult / Fit debacle.

C: One thing I always pitched to Robbie was the creation story. Having a legitimate reason for starting that isn’t just “Oh we just started some random business because we needed to make a living.” So I was always pressing him for his version of the Fit creation story, and he never really got it dialed in. We all know the creation story of S&M - it grew organically from needing better products and making them a reality. So the creation story for the Cult brand is obviously that I’m a big oppressive corporate employer and he was being held down in some way so he broke away to let his creativity soar. It’s just total bullshit. But I’m glad to see he’s taken my advice and come up with a creation story, it’s a ridiculous one, but it’s better than not having one. 141

A: Ha, yeah. I guess we printed all that in the first issue. C: Well it looks like you bought into it. You even compared it to your own creation story. A: Ha, well when you hear it come from him then it is similar. C: Yeah, he’s fantastic at spinning a story. A: The other day I heard Robbie referred to as the used car salesman of BMX. C: I wouldn’t say anything like that about a used car salesman [laughter]. A: What was your reaction to reading the interview? C: My first reaction to reading the interview. . . ? I was sad. A: Sad because that’s what he said happened or. . . ? C: No, sad to read about the tittie bar and that tittie bar has since been turned into a Honda dealership! And I miss the tittie bar! A: [laughter] That’s what you were sad about? It reminded you of a tittie bar? [laughter] C: Yeah, I miss the tittie bar. I used to go all the time. Loved it. It’s gone now. That interview you guys ran is typical Robbie, I’ve known him since he was a kid and I’ve known how shady he’s been forever. But he was always shady in a funny way.

plain about those guys. He was all “Joe and Taj aren’t paying me any money, they don’t know how to run a business, they’re dirty hippies.” I got so tired of hearing about it, I think subliminally I cooked up this idea to start a brand. I was in the shower, I was literally dripping and I rung Robbie up and I told him to stop by and talk about it. He was fishing around for another sponsor, or a job, or for me to take over the manufacturing of T1. So anyway, at

He was shady to pick up girls, he was shady to get the house cleaning lady at Motel 6 to blow him. He was a hilarious dude and I liked hanging around with him and nobody believed a word he said and I didn’t either, but it didn’t matter because he was fun to hang around. When he was hanging around S&M, when he was on T1, in the late 90’s, every time he came over he would com-

that time he was getting married, to a good girl. Him with her was cool, he couldn’t really be as crazy as he was before, definitely couldn’t be as shady as he was before. So we decided to try out this plan. And it was good, we had a different image, we didn’t have the pigeon hole of the ‘made in the USA’ thing, we could build a whole other team and I could work with my friend who

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was really funny. So, we started with some simple objectives, one was come up with a simple logo that could be stenciled. He worked on that for a long time, he looked through clip-art books and found the logo in there. The four arrows, the H-Street skate logo basically. It’s really a recycling logo, in Asia it’s on everything, it’s on soda, it’s on beer cans, it’s on the trash cans. The Fit logo is everywhere. It means recycling. Two, we needed a name that was single syllable that was pretty clean and wasn’t offensive in any way. He worked on it for a long time. The name? Fashion Institute of Technology. At the time his wife was considering attending, it’s in New York. When you pull up the website it’s FIT, it’s not written out. It’s just called FIT. It’s also a vegetable spray, it really is. It’s a spray to put on fruit and vegetables to clean them off before you ate them, so either she was on the website trying to attend the school or Robbie was trying to buy fruit and vegetables – I’m going with she was on the internet. [laughter]. It wasn’t a hamburger spray – it was fruit and vegetables. So we got the name, the logo – and he just went out and started his magic, and my job was to run a business, and his job was to run around. And it was a good combo, I’m not going to run around and blow smoke up people’s asses and massage people. . . it’s not what I do. I’m trying to run a business. And things grew from there. A: Why did he end up leaving? Was it like he said, about how it had gone of course from its original goal? C: PPPsssshhhhhh!! A: How do I spell that? How do I spell that noise you just made?

C: What? The flat tyre [laughter]. I just got a flat tyre. It’s just bullshit, total bullshit. From the beginning I was pushing to keep the Fit brand real small, to get a couple of stylish riders and put them in a van and have them drive around keeping it low key. It was Robbie who wanted to sponsor the best dudes in the world. Van Homan, Mike Aitken, Brian Foster. I was friends with them at the time and they were pulling in big cheques. Mikey on Mosh/ Giant, Van and Brian on Schwinn. They were doing better than all of us put together. I’m not going to go to a guy who’s making a tonne of money and ask him to ride for me. A: And that’s what he did. C: I’d tell those guys to ride the gravy train until it runs out, then get off and let’s do something. I’m not gonna ask someone to stop getting that cheque and come get peanuts from us. I couldn’t do it. But once he did it, then I did everything I could to make it work for everybody. A: Obviously at that point it needed to be successful and make money to honour promises? C: Yeah, it’s like chasing your tail. Hooking up every dude you meet, every kid that blasts an eight foot air at the skatepark, every kid who does a sick footjam. Pretty soon you’re hooking up 2000 freaking people! Who’s going to pay for all this? We

have to sell more and more bikes to pay for all these guys we’re hooking up and deliver on all the smoke that’s been blown up everybody’s ass. That falls on me. That creates “It got too big” or whatever he was talking about. A: What about the ownership issues that he spoke about? C: Pppppppsssshhhhhhh! (another flat) He’s got his head up his own ass. Completely. A: I don’t want to dish too much dirt man! We can switch topics if you like? C: I know. What I’d say is, his biggest problem is the lying. And trying to wedge himself in the middle of everything so he can manipulate people for his own personal reasons – whatever those are – they may not be financial, they may just be ego. I don’t know. So after it became obvious he was trying to cook up his own thing I just asked him. After the trade show, I said that if you’re not going to be a team player with us, if you’re not going to start being honest, you need to throw in the towel and move on. You know, the Standard thing lasted so long, the T1 thing lasted so long, this just lasted so long. . . it’s time for round four for you. And he just said “I guess it is”. A: Had he been putting in work on Cult before that?

C: Oh yeah, he’d been trying to cook that up for ages. A: So you knew he was doing it? C: Oh yeah, absolutely. I knew he was doing something. He’d been putting feelers out for years. . . talking to FBM about making frames, talking to different people about partnering up with him. At one point he even pitched it to me – but he pitched a new brand, with only the young riders, so he could be a legitimate partner. He wanted ownership. A: Which is like admitting that he didn’t have any ownership in Fit? C: He knew that absolutely – without question. He got a pay cheque every two weeks. He got paid from the minute he came to work for me. When you start your own business you have to come up with capital, you have to make an investment, and eventually you might start making some kind of an income. He started getting a cheque immediately, with health insurance, straight up on the pay roll. There really is nothing to this “split”. There was no split. All it was, was a guy quitting his job – and talking a few team riders into going with him. Which is not a big deal. He was just our marketing guy. He told us what skateboard company to rip off that week. Even after illegally signing contracts, illegally taking money from royalty and sponsor-

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HE TOLD US WHAT SKATEBOARD COMPANY TO RIP OFF THAT WEEK

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ship deals, I wasn’t giving up on the dude. I just looked at him as if he had a problem, and I was trying to help him with that problem. I mean. . . some people drink, some people do drugs. . . this guy makes up weird stories and manipulates people. Eventually he came in with his signed employment contract, he hugged me, said everything was going to be awesome and he even teared up. He was fine with it all then. A: When was this? C: It was September of whatever year it was. Towards the end I was trying to really get behind the young guys like Dak and Hawk and Dehart. Their cheques were pretty small and I was pushing to get Dak a signature frame. Robbie didn’t want Dak to have a signature frame. He thought Dak was too greedy, he thought Dak was too hungry, he thought Dak wasn’t kissing his butt enough. I was a big Dak supporter, I was trying to get all these guys raises. In the end I said “These guys are putting in a lot more work than anyone else is. Why aren’t we paying them very good? We need to get them raises.” Robbie told me to give them $100 dollar a month raises! I said “That’s insane!” I normally let him make those calls on everything. But I said “That’s insane! I’m going to double their pay cheques because they deserve it.” And he got mad. Looking back on it now, I can see what was going on. He was keeping Dehart, keeping Hawk, keeping Dak, keeping everyone down as much as possible until he could figure out what he was going to do. So that when he went to take them away, it was going to be easy to do it with a Fox sponsorship, a Vans sponsorship, a Cinema sponsorship, whatever other peripheral deal he could cook up, and a tiny little cheque or no cheque from Cult. He kept me from getting to know a lot of the riders. If people came to town he’d put them in a hotel and wouldn’t tell me – I wouldn’t even know

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they were in town. Like you saw how it is now, you saw it today, Mikey and Beringer are over hanging out, Eddie’s always there, the guys come in and hang out. They get to know me, they get to hang out. . . and now they realise they were being lied to. It’s now become painfully obvious that people were asking for things and being told that wasn’t possible, but I was never privy to it. A: So they thought it was you that was saying no huh? Anyways, that’s enough on that, let’s move on. FIT is still around, it’s still doing good and it’s moved on from that right? C: Definitely, it’s back to all the original dudes. The guys who have been there since day one. Foster, Inman, Van, Aitken – to me that’s a dream team right there. Those guys made Fit what it is. Robbie was a big part of it. . . running around and putting on his show. But those guys are why it is what it is. It’s better than ever. A: And you have the younger riders coming up too right? C: Sure, we still have Eddie, and now Ben, Shawn and Pat – they’re all killing it. And the business is much more fun now. A: On a completely different note, Burns told me to ask you about The Jogger. Is that some kind of alter-ego you have? C: Oh The Jogger [laughter]. I haven’t seen The Jogger in a long time. He hasn’t been coming around. A: Where did he used to hang out? C: Running distance from the house. The Jogger is pretty wild, he’s into heavy drinking, wearing a sweat suit, running around from spot to spot, getting into all kinds of funky business. He hasn’t been around for a while though. A: Burn’s also mentioned that there’s a good chance that you’ve killed somebody. Is there any truth in that? C: If anyone’s killed anyone, it’s Burns…not me [laughter].

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