SLOW
A KIDS & COBRAS MAGAZINE
KIDSandCOBRAS.com @kidsandcobras
ISSUE 001
SLOW
001
Mag
Collecting Stories about People who love motorcycles & Coffee.
Slow Mag is our unique way of inviting you to slow down and enjoy that brew. With a heavy emphasis on photography, each issue captures the sexuality, danger, rebellion freedom, and adventure that motorcycles bring to our lives. So pause. Sip some coffee. And enjoy.
Table of Contents
Photographers: Sean Benesh Grant Benesh Sam Wake Enrique Parrilla FEATURES: @samwake_ @eparrillacreates @grantbenesh @urthtrek @seanbenesh @kelsey.wake @legionmotoco @lonely_design_co @tomorrowrecordspdx @charitywater
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EnRique Parrilla
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THE STORY BEHIND K&C
Rider of the Month
Ride Fast Drink Slow
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COffee W/ Cause
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Tomorrow Records
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SpotlighT 1
Charity Water Coffee Pop-up
Lonely Design Co.
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Spotlight 2
Legion Motorcycle Co.
@kidsandcobras kidsandcobras.com
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Rider of the Month Enrique Parrilla _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ PHOTOS Enrique Parrilla
Interviewer Sam Wake
@eparrillacreates EPARRILLA.com
ENRIQUE PARRILLA INTERVIEW /// SLOW MAG /// RIDER OF THE MONTH /// ISSUE 001
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ENRIQUE PARRILLA INTERVIEW /// SLOW MAG /// RIDER OF THE MONTH /// ISSUE 001
Enrique Parrilla Interview There is truly something to be said about the motorcycle community. The people who find commonality on two wheels share a mythical sort of solidarity. Motorcycle history is riddled with tales of adventure and exploration. Lifelong friendships have been formed between complete strangers who happened to randomly find themselves sitting at the same bar at an unexpected time. The passion for the open road and raw experience of your body cruising down the pavement with no roll cage is special. It brings people together. We reached out to Enrique about collaborating with Kids & Cobras because we were inspired by his creative work. We were super honored when he agreed, and we are grateful he was willing to share some of his story with us. We wanted to take a moment and highlight some of his tale for you, so that you can enjoy the Enrique Parrilla Blend in context. He is an incredible creative and a good friend. You recently moved from CO to NC, why the change?
We wanted to move away from the city and buy a little piece of land. We looked all over from Oregon to Iowa and we just couldn’t find the perfect combination of price and weather and land. Eventually we heard of a little town called Brasstown, NC. A little town with a rich history of grassroot music and a folk school that brought a lot of people from all over, including us to check it out. Next thing you know we are in a wormhole on zillow and shortly after we are visiting North Carolina, 2 weeks later we have a little piece of land, a modest cottage home and an amazing barn.
Yes, I have seen the barn on your instagram. It looks amazing! Tell me about the barn.
Well the barn was what sold me to this land. I’m not sure when it was built but I am glad it was. Upstairs houses our offices and downstairs is my workshop and our motorcycles. We have a lot of grand plans down the pipeline but right now we are enjoying the process of accomplishing small victories in the barn.
Did you guys have any connections in North Carolina before moving out ?
No, not at all! But it’s fine because we are finding some really awesome people. There is this coffee shop called Rare Bird Emporium. It’s this great little place and the owners Kate & Pav ( @rare_bird_emporium ) are really sweet and have done a great job at this location. It’s nice to be able to ride and work from here while having a sweet cup of joe.
What is your connection with Harley Davidson? How did that relationship form?
I’ve been working in the motorcycle industry now for almost 6 years and have met some amazing people along the way, one of them my good friends at Harley-Davidson. The opportunity to bridge the vintage motorcycles with the choppers with the modern Street Bob came about and I was fortunate enough to be the candidate for it. I love my old machines, with my panhead and shovelhead, so I’ll be the first to say that my Street Bob gives me similar vibes and feel extremely lucky to be part of the H-D team promoting it.
When you look back on chapters of your life, what was a defining moment for your career as a creative?
Back in my early 20’s, I used to play music and did the whole touring life. I would always bring my camera with me and take photos of the trips when I wasn’t playing. Eventually though, as much as I loved music it wasn’t going to pay the bills. I was living this life of touring and being broke, which was a lot of fun but not sustainable. Don’t get me wrong, I miss playing music but, I had to make a decision and I realized all the while unintentionaly photography had opened up a new world for me, this was the defining moment of career change. Today, I do a lot more than photography but that’s where it started. I have been blessed to get unique opportunities to create awesome things for amazing people. Photography was the starting point. Now it’s telling stories with all forms of media (photos, video, writing, etc…) It’s true what they say that everyone’s a photographer, I mean we all carry amazing little cameras in our pockets. However, the creativity comes from the person, the camera is simply a tool and so is Social Media. No matter what the amount of followers you have is, it’s about how you use these tools you have to tell your stories.
When did you start riding motorcycles?
I got into motorcycles later in my adult life. I am 38, but I started riding when I was around 27. My first bike was a 1981 KC 750. That thing was a piece of shit man. The good thing about it was that it taught me how to work on bikes. Always breaking down helped me figure it out. It fuckin pissed fuel all the time hell I’m suprise I didn’t catch on fire, it was awesome. haha! The more I started to learn about old bikes the more I appreciated the vintage world, it’s always a love hate but it’s always a good time.
What ’s the most memorable ride you have been on?
I have seen some beautiful roads, man - with some questionable weather circumstances. If things aren’t going sideways then is it really a memorable trip? One such experience was a trip to Utah from Colorado, destination Zion National Park. If there was ever a state that brought some beauty compared to my beautiful Colorado, it will have to be the neighboring state of UT. With such beauty came lots of obstacles, including some of the gnarliest crosswinds I’ve ever encountered - heavier than those in Wyoming. Somewhere between Moab and Hanksville going through some canyons we hit winds that tossed us around like little hot toys. I remember saying to myself “oh fuck” as the wind veered me towards the opposite lane. Shit was gnarly.
Who are the people who have been highly influential for you? My family - with the direct honesty and none of the filer.
What ’s a word of advice you live by?
For me it’s pretty simple. I would encourage people to not take themselves too seriously and have some fun, KISS (keep it simple stupid).
ENRIQUE PARRILLA INTERVIEW /// SLOW MAG /// RIDER OF THE MONTH /// ISSUE 001
ENRIQUE PARILLA BLEND
For a limited time we are releasing our first ever specialty coffee blend in collaboration with Enrique Parrilla, and we are STOKED about it!!! It has a sweet berry aroma with a chocolatey flavor profile. There is a Limited Supply! [ONLY 25 CANS] Once they gone… they gone.
THE STORY BEHIND Kids Cobras ___________________ Words Sam Wake
Every human being is on a transformational journey. Our lives are like chapter books. When we look back we can see them. There is the chapter when you were poor, the chapter when you were betrayed, the chapter you fell in love, and the chapter you felt like giving up. No two people are the same, but if we look back we discover that we share similar chapters. Kids & Cobras was born on the heels of a dissapointing chapter in my life. I think the title of that specific chapter would be called BURNOUT. I was completely exhausted. My career path had failed by all traditional standards and I was left picking up the shattered pieces of my soul. I was a bit lost, and struggling to bury hatchets. If you have shared this chapter you know all to well how failure can cause you to spiral into an isolated whirlpool of identity crisis. My knee jerk reaction was to point fingers and blame others, but down deep I knew that the crucible of my pain was more about my growth as a person than recieving self-centered-justice from people. Though the ghosts of childhood wounds were visiting me, I was able to keep moving forward. I give a lot of credit to my wife Kelsey for that. Her support and bravery has been unparralleled. She is a yes person, always willing to jump into the frey of life and help. It was the first season of my life I was ready to stop dancing. I was depresed. It was in a rut, and getting out of a rut is hard. Failure tests our wits. How we handle it determines what kind of people we will be. One day my brother got home from delivering pizza and told me something that quite literally changed my life.
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He said, “ Hey I am getting a motorcycle.” I remember it really well because it caught me off guard. Somehow his statement helped me to see how I had stopped dreaming. The last thing I was thinking about was getting a motorcycle. I was to busy licking my wounds and singing my woes. In my pessimism I said, “How? You don’t have a license.” He responded, “Well I guess I will have to get one of those too.” My brothers and I carry a small dose of competitiveness about us, so I wasn’t about to let him get a bike before me. PLUS this was the exact justification I needed to act on my early life crisis. It was time to buy a motorcycle. Now, before I continue, it needs to be said that I don’t believe in buying stuff to feel good inside, unless we are splurging on chinese food. Ha! Consumerism is like a band-aid on a flesh wound of the soul. Neither motorcycles, or chinese food heal fractured hearts. Meaning in life is drawn from a different source, a deeper source. It’s that small voice deep within your gut that tells us we are made for more.
A few months after that conversation with Matt, I was tearing through the winding back roads of Oregon in and around Portland. If you ride, you know why the word “freedom” is assoicated with motorcycles. Few things feel better than cranking down an old highway in a perfect fitting tee with a powerful machine of Iron and rubber under you. I believe it was Todd Blaughbagh who said... “The truth is, risk is what makes a bike worth riding. The borders of our mortality have always been an alluring road, and we have yet to build a better vehicle to explore them.” The experience is nothing short of mystical. It is elemental, just open roads, iron, and air. But I think the best part for me is all the time it gives me to think. It’s just me and my thoughts cruising through space and time at 70mph. The white noise of the experience is profoundly healing. The second best part is the people. You won’t find more down to earth folks than those in the moto community. The problem though, is that it can be hard to find your way into a new tribe.
As a new rider, I noticed quickly how unapproachable the scene could be. I was scared to go to the local moto bars and cafes as an amateur rider. I kinda felt out of place though all my soul wanted was to affiliate with this inspirational culture.
from church when a drunk driver crossed the center line hitting her head on. Her death impacted my mom in ways I will always struggle to understand. Then later her dad almost died riding a motorcycle he laid over. So my mama has experienced what it’s like to lose someone you deeply care about on the I grew up a country boy. My folks road. With that said, road bikes owned a log cabin tucked away in weren’t in our rhythm as a family the woods. We heated the entire so Matt and I didn’t have anyone place with a log stove my grand- to welcome us into the family of father built out of scrap metal. two wheel riders. The firewood came directly from trees we cut down. Year round our Along the way, I came to realize property was our little kingdom. that a large population of people We rode 4 wheelers and dirt bikes were in the same saddle as us. but somehow I missed out on riding road bikes. My mom lost her Thus Kids & Cobras was born... mom when she was 13 years old. My grandma was driving home I began to meet all kinds of people
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who were new to riding and had never been on a group ride. I even met people who had been riding for 5 or more years who had never rode with others. So we started riding together, and before long a new inclusive family was formed. As curvy roads formed friendships, I began to share my story. Some good friends held me up in a tough time and breathed on new dreams. With the help of a company called Urthrek we launched Kids and Cobras. Origianlly we were just planning to sell apparel but when my buddy Sean offered to sell me his coffee roasting equipment I took him up on it. Sean taught us to roast and we were off to the races. Today we have grown to have a customer base of about 90 people with just over a dozen folks on our coffee club program. We have a couple wholesale accounts and are dreaming about how to grow this company. Our goal is simple... We want to inspire you to live a life without regrets and leverage your influence for the marginalized. You only get one life, so let’s not waste it living in fear. There is more courage in your tank than danger ahead of you and we are committed to creating cool stuff that dusts off the ol’ imagination and gives you the excuse you need to get on a bike and chase down your future. The backstory of Kids & Cobras is rooted in a thread of people taking care of each other. This thread has become a center piece to our companies ethos. We have learned that people get out of ruts when their friends and family help them get out of ruts. So we started a program called Coffee with Cause. We donate a dollar for every order and are currently working with Charity Water to end the global water crisis! Thanks for reading! Enjoy that brew! Grace & Peace, Sam Wake RIDE FAST DRINK SLOW
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Nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide live without Clean Water. That is twice the population of the United States. The majority live in isolated rural areas and spend hours every day walking to collect water for their family. Not only does walking for water keep children out of school or take up time that parents could be using to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that can make everyone sick. But access to clean water means education, income and health - especially for women and kids.
This is why we have partnered with Charity Water! We want to make a difference. Coffee and motorcycles are simply conduit for leveraging our influence, assets, and Relationships for marginalized people in marginalized places. We aren’t just selling Coffee. We are working to change people’s Lives. That’s What it means to be a part of the K&C Family.
Just $40 can give one person clean water for life.
The # of people we have helped provide with fresh water for life.
SCAN QR CODE TO SUPPORT AND LEARN MORE
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785,000,000 People in the world Live withouT Clean Water
$1.00 of every coffee ordered is donated to fight the water cirsis
COFFE POP-UP with
Tomorrow Records SATURDAY 02.20.21
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Tomorrow Records COffee Pop-Up Photo Recap
SATURDAY /// 02.20.21
On a Saturday in February, the clouds split in Portland for about 6 hours creating the perfect day for coffee and records to come together. It was a rad event and we were honored to get to share the day with such a unique record shop. Tomorrow Records is located on Hawthorne and 7th in the inner Eastside neighborhood. Sometime this spring, Kids & Cobras is set to open up a coffee bar at Legion Motorcycle Co. just a few blocks from Tomorrow. A big thank you to Patrick (the owner of tomorrow) for having us. Enjoy these pictures of the event. RIDE FAST DRINK SLOW
KIDSandCOBRAS.com @kidsandcobras