The Union tapes Episode 24 with ex S&M UK rider James Cox, we go back to the start of his BMX journey coming out of Portsmouth in the mid 90s and the routes he took a long the way. We cover BMX influence through out his life and the ever evolving projects he had, from riding to music, to creating his own brands Retribution and then later Antidote. His fascination for S&M bikes and riding for em later on, making videos and becoming a magazine regular, moving around the uk to different scenes, working at 4 down. UFO’s, lucid dreams and astral projecting…get it on!
Isaac Clark, Morgan from Southsea, Farren Downes, James Newrick, Daniel Benson, Cookie, Marv, Clarkie, Kris Bennett, Shaun Butler, Shane Steels, Tommy C, Geoff Slattery, Corey Martinez, Nathan Williams, Ryan Metro, Chris Moeller, Ricky Tribble, Mark Tanner, Fathead, Steve Bancroft, Paul Bromfield, Ed Docherty, Robin Fenlon, Ben Lewis, Buzzard, Dan Cox, Joe Cox, Josh Bedford, Dave Young, Steven Laidlaw, Tom Sanders
Hello hello this is the union tapes episode 24 our 2year birthday and this one is with xsnm Pro UK Rider James Cox uh we go back to the start of his BMX Journey coming out of Portsmouth in the mid90s and The Roots he took along the way to discover all the various BMX
Scenes through the UK we cover the influence of BMX throughout his life and the ever evolving projects He had from R into music to create in his own Brands retribution and then later on antidote and his fascination with SNM bikes in the mid90s and riding for them later on
Making videos becoming a magazine regular moving around the UK to all different scenes up and down the country and working at for down also cover UFOs lucid dreams and astral projecting get Some let’s have some then um just give us a bit brief uh bit of background like where you were born where you were raised what you got up to as a kid and stuff like that uh I was born in Portsmouth and uh
Well we got up to on a bike no no like you you was born in Portsmouth and you lived in Portsmouth for well till I was about uh 21 okay 21 so there a little while yeah yeah and then what what was like you went to school in Portsmouth yeah I went
To school well a little I say Portsmouth but his faam is actually where I was from um which is basically a little commuted town on the side of Portsmouth uh so I went to school there like in a sort of a little joining bit between Portsmouth and faram and uh yeah I lived
There till till I went to uh University okay a university course in eastborn well I thought I was going to Brighton um but I I picked the wrong I picked the wrong campus and I ended up in eastn but well I’m not too far though
No what was you into like as as a youngster um the first thing I was ever into was Harley-Davidson’s and UFOs oh really yeah yeah that just both both because of my dad really um he take me around motorcycle showrooms and that buy me Harley books tried to get me to ride
Motorcross bikes or ride motorbikes but I just wasn’t interested at all I just thought well I could for a start of Too Young what age was this like six was I I don’t remember I was too young to ride a bike you know so a bike was always more appealing and I had
A mountain bike for a bit and stuff like that but I wasn’t like into mountain bikes but yeah just want to ride around yeah and I was just into like weird you know every Christmas you get like a weird book about like greatest Mysteries of the world or UFOs or
Whatever and stuff like that so they were my two my two interests growing up um before I found bike riding BMX bike riding did he used to take you on the back of his bike and that yeah yeah what was that like uh honestly I remember it just
Being like amazing really yeah I loved it I always was scared of getting on back of motorbikes yeah I was scared I was scared but it felt like if get a [ __ ] rush out of it you know but I mean in hindsight it was probably going about 40 m hour or
Something you know but yeah at the time I remember still still like if you’re on the back of M and you’re a kid that’s still pretty yeah yeah it’s weird cuz he’s quite uh he’s quite an anxious man my dad but for some reason of all he always wanted me
To ride a motor bike he always seemed a bit sort of counterintuitive to the way he was because motorbikes quite dangerous aren’t they yeah yeah that was my sort of what I was kind of pushed into being to or and the UFO things carried on throughout your life so yeah
Yeah I’m still still got a past interest in it all now actually yeah and that’s where it started that book yeah yeah yeah like I remember we we be like we’d be like driving off to like you know visit mean or something and he’d see
Like a blimp in the sky and be like right we’re following yeah amazing yeah so I remember as a kid like I saw was taking these like weird detours hours out by way oh no no it was just a just a nightclub light excellent and uh then what what what did
You like get into from off your own back like after that like when you was like what were you been like eight 8 to 10 or something was did you when was your first bike like you had a mountain bike I had a mountain bike and
Then I would ride that around sort of my local neighborhoods and I’d heard this rumor about um about this BMX dirt jumping place called Skelly woods and uh being like I was a young timid sort of kid I was like I don’t have I want to
Go down there you know like was in this big bom hole like once you’re in like you’re kind of in there you know and saw these Lads down there let’s go down there you know was on our mountain bikes R down there like right fellas who these who these losers sort
Of thing and I remember tried to sort of like you know I’ll get to know these guys a bit and I was anyone can anyone here do a 360 and just like pelted with stones so you you found the BMX scene then yeah yeah yeah
Okay yeah yeah I found the the con and old but I remember like before I was pelted with the stuff and like had to run away remember like this is cool like the these some R yeah yeah yeah yeah like and at the time like I’d never seen
Anything like that i’ never seen like dirt jumps like in a road like I never seen J Trails yeah yeah they actually had Trails they actually had Trails they had like a big double in the middle and they had like a smaller like six-pack
And then like a a big line at the back that I remember looking at thinking there’s no way anyone can go over that you know so yeah that was my sort of introduction to it but I mean at that point I was so far from actually having
A BMX like um I couldn’t do like a bunny op or anything I couldn’t do anything I was just sort of bumping off tree roots on a mountain bike or yeah whatever um who were these guys they were they people that carried on riding for a bit
Or the guy who was like the kind of main person down there was called Isaac Clark and he’s still rides of course he still rides people yeah yeah yeah and I think he’s still just as mad as he as he used to be um but yeah he was like the
Kind of older guy remember he had like a u What did he have he was in he always do flat bit of Flatlands like in the in the park where I used to go to and he had a paper around and he had like a cool bike you know I don’t I can’t what it was he
Had a cool bike at the time I think it was like a [ __ ] California or something okay that’s a cool bike never seen a proper BMX either so this was early days for him as well by the sounds of it it must have been yeah but like at the time
He seemed like an adult to me you know he was the the experience of of the group so yeah for sure yeah but I mean at that point it was like I knew that I wanted to have a go on it but I was still just like some kid with a mountain
Bike I actually had this um babysitter that come around that’s how young was had a babysitter and she had this uh she’ bring her boyfriend around who’s called Julian Julian I wish that I knew his last name because I want to track this guy down and thank him because he
Was at the time just the coolest guy i’ ever seen in my life he had I remember what he looked like yeah used to wear like cut leather jacket cut like curtains and uh he just sh like that guy’s cool like and he’s got a girlfriend and uh he brought he brought
Like a mixtape with like body count on one side all right Cypress Hill on the other like and like Know music was like that you couldn’t hear on the radio yeah yeah you couldn’t find it yeah he used to bring around Wrestle Mania vhs’s cuz
My sky this guy was like a god to me do you know what I mean yeah and then one day he was just like Jo Le how to buny up your bike and I was like yeah and he got a brick out and he put it in the
Back in my yard and he was like right here’s how you going to do it BMX I bet he didn’t he didn’t he didn’t look like a BMX but yeah he’s taught me how to hop over a brick all right and that was it for me once I’d cleared that brick I was
Like right that’s it I’m ready I’m in yeah I’m getting a BMX and and how did you did you like had to go on your friends BMXs or anything you have mates who had a BMX or no no no and i’ know the only ones I’d ever seen that were like decent ones
Were down at the trails and they look so different the ones that I’d see kids riding around the park like rally burners or whatever like that cuz they were proper you know yeah yeah SNM like pad sets on them and you know so what was this been like 94 or something 95
Yeah I remember I started riding probably around 94 95 oh excellent good good time it a great time to start yeah yeah man so um how did you like where did you get your first bike how did the first bike come about I got it uh my dad
Got it from Friday ads it was a 30 quid rally Arrow um Chrome one Chrome one yeah and it had I remember it had uh these like I think they were called pear drop rims on it the little W spots tear drop tear drop that was it tear drop
Yeah it had them which apparently like oh they’re cool didn’t what they were still don’t obviously they’re cool but yeah I took that down went down there down down to Skelly woods and that and jumped like jump my first jump and the whole thing just like exploded like
Forks right out like that that’s an 80s that’s an80 bike yeah yeah and obviously like I don’t know what I was doing I think I probably cased something real bad and like the whole bike was just written off in like I got it on whatever whatever day it was next day right off
Done yeah yeah completely done yeah and then I got H Shredder after that that was my first proper bike where’d you get that just some like local shop some local shop in Portsmouth yeah and had you had you seen like a a BMX mag before
You got these bikes or that was after No in fact I remember when I got my bike I didn’t really know what to do with it I didn’t know what tricks what tricks were possible so like I remember I go to the car park and just learn like back
Hops just hopping up and down the back wheels yeah yeah cuz there was no one telling me I remember I do a bun by doing a crank to get the front wheel up like a wheelie and then yeah yeah yeah cuz I just had no clue um until I saw my
First sort of BMX video and saw stuff happening I was oh okay like you can do this but until then yeah I was totally in the D with it which is mad really think about it now like you just would have a bike like what what’ you do on it
Then yeah yeah but that’s yeah that’s that reminds me of the time I got a computer and I was just like oh now what got a machine but you still can’t do anything with it yeah yeah and what what was like how did you discover like magazines was that that the First Media
You took in was magazines I assume at this time it’s quite early still I think the first I can’t remember if it was either um a ride magazine from that had a king of concrete thing I probably bought it at South skate park or something so you you started going to
South SE skate park yeah yeah quite quick like cuz we were when I sort of made friends with the guys at the trails they would go there at the weekends to ride the the snake run and the bows and that so fly outs yeah the little fly
Outs and things so start going there they had a little shot there um it was either that or I did have like a um VHS like a sort of one that been recorded that had a video on it called tense nervous headache Cheeky Monkey yeah that was the first video that I
Ever saw like first video amazing yeah that was 94 I think yeah yeah and that that was like a real eye opener seeing that and like even just the music on it and stuff like what is this music you seeing a whole whole new scene in that
Package yeah yeah like that’s still like quite an important video for me that like if I ever hear any music off it I remember that like is that the one with the wolf man section in it it didn’t have a wolf man section I don’t think War I can’t even remember
People I remember like I remember it was good like it had Green Day in it and stuff Green Day was from like the first pop punk and good good soundtrack for The yeah and it had like I remember the John Taylor section it had like there
Was some guy who was like I can’t remember his name but like he was like a real Street guy he would like be doing bar spin like like acid drop bar spins downstairs in the dark and stuff and doing [ __ ] the bag on and things I remember being like well that’s cool
Wonder who that was I can’t remember what his name was he he looked cool I feel he was the coolest one and there was a pin section that was pretty good okay that is the one with Matt Warren in I it is yeah yeah yeah
Yeah I love that video I loved it so that was your first BMX crew was the guys from Skelly Woods yeah okay yeah yeah and then you end up going to South Sea skat Park did you remember seeing any like big names at South Sea skat
Park for that period of time I mean at king of concrete obviously like to King of concrete yeah I went to a few of them and like the the the other one the Easter jam one but if you went to King of concrete like I’d always just like be
There 90 riders in it yeah so you’d be there all day waiting for you run or whatever and you always i’ always come last anyway whatever but yeah there was always good people there weren’t there at the old K concretes like yeah I meant just for the sessions like sessions no I mean
Like we are are the only people I remember from South SE MCO Connell yeah Mark web when he was about this big okay Ben Wallace when he was about that thing but no like we just I don’t really E frame E frame obviously yeah but not
Like Carlo or anyone you didn’t see any of those guys I think like at the time I just felt like even if they were there there’s no way that I would have gone over and like spoke to them no I would have known who they were no idea yeah
I’m trying to think of who else would have been around at that point in time but that’s probably yeah that’s all I can think of yeah and then so after like South SE skate park like you seeing the real BMX scene is you like that’s a
That’s a real scene is it like yeah yeah so so that pulled you in more right yeah definitely yeah and what did like where did you go from there like you at South Sea skate park you’re finding out there’s more and then you Mee in other
Kids from other areas well yeah but not really through sou SE we were quite lucky in that one of the guys Rob uh from our little scene he was a bit older than us and he got a driving license and and then that was it every weekend we
Would just be going off to you know we go to Manchester go to pipeline skate park or we go to different Trails or yeah we were everyone was quite adventurous with sort of just getting out there yeah and um that’s probably where I saw more like cool people I me
Went to Graves end and saw like Scott Mal on riding for the first time I was like [ __ ] hell like this is amazing I mean we would and it was like we’d sleep in the car park wrapped in salane and stuff like that you know like it was
Always like there’ always be a disaster or some big thing but that’s where that was just a normal thing to do and farum is surrounded by motorways and a-roads so it was a very easy place to leave with a lot of cities around it so we just sort of start working our way
Out and um yeah I think that’s that was like when I started just seeing all these other scenes around the place and like even like going we used to go to Norwich quite a lot and I remember seeing Paul Brumfield that guy of course yeah he was amazing just seeing people
That good yeah and low key as well cuz like not many people knew who he was back no they didn’t did they he was yeah but yeah we were really lucky to get to travel so much from so young it was brilant was that the Norwich Park would
Like the bowling and the spine and that that’s right remember that yeah did you ever ride Ashford Trails no I never ride asford Trails no interesting we used to ride uh Winchester Trails quite a lot and uh there was some in Southampton called Lord’s Hill trails that used to ride them sometimes but
We didn’t I most of our travel was like we were going to skate parks really like all those big famous ones at the time like great Aon and uh like I never wode I’ve still never rode like epom yeah I’d go I’d visit him later in my sort of
Life but at the time we weren’t because we had a bit of a Rel oh Petersfield had some cool Trails oh that’s right yeah yeah and we used to kind of do a bit of a sort of like scene swap thing they’d come and dig at our jumped for a bit we
Got dig their jumped for a bit cuz like for me at first it was all it was all trails and skate park I didn’t ride any Street at all really I said backups in the car park or whatever like who was you you saw Trails where like where other than like your local
Trails you must have caued on to trails in the mags or on videos or yeah who’s whose riding was you like looking at thinking these these [ __ ] dudes are doing it yeah well at first probably West Coast American stuff she Dusty sheep Hill stuff sea Butler and
All that kind of stuff yeah yeah okay but then like probably the East Coast stuff was like basically where we ended up because it’s just better in it like just better better bigger jumps more stylish sort of riding we evolved into yeah evolved that way in it so postion and
You know the famous ones yeah and they were more like so for instance typically on the on the west coast they were flat yeah then when you went to the east coast it was like a a roller coaster of junks down and I like that it just sort of like Vis I like
That those ones are always in the woods with like grass the back of the lips and stuff where rather than being like an arid desert a desert a flat desert with I mean they weren’t all like that but for the most part that’s the ones you saw in the M yeah yeah
Definitely so so you went moved from that’s the way that the media moved as well didn’t it it went from like she Hills was like the massive blow up of trails yeah and Twin Palms and some of them other spots and then it moved to like Posh and then that was like covered
For a long time wasn’t it that was all the and that was like the next phase of like it’ gone from like Cali pop punk Cali kids with like d blonde hair like big chainet to like a bit more of a like grounded and gritty sort of just less
Trick orientated wasn’t it yeah it was less dirt jump and more Trails say anyway so but like for me like that’s what I’d always sort of aspired to ride like but I never had a good style in TRS I was just like just lawn D through
Me but did you learn like tricks over the jumps at this point yeah yeah yeah I yeah he do with tricks mate oh really yeah I could nor only clear him if I done a trick over I just like just stip as a ball inle what was some of the
Tricks you was perpetrating early on uh I like no footed X up oh nice probably got that off fits I reckon some old fits videos uh B one foot X was one of my favorites or no foot to one one foot X stuff like that yeah uh I couldn’t have twist a
Jump though okay obviously loads of bar spins as well loads of bar so he was already bar spinning oh like things like you know one hand bar spin the other hand you know B spin X and all that sort like the one where you do like a kind of
Seat grab X up and then oh okay All Tech yeah all that kind of stuff yeah have you seen like you must have seen some backyard videos then you seen fids doing that I reckon all yeah I think yeah last resort and all those kind of videos but and like yeah
Basically like I used to liked watching FID sections when I was a kid because just cuz he was just like it was just so [ __ ] loose fling it he be like I could probably try this I’ll be all right like he’s all right but he had a good no footed X yeah
He did yeah I think that was on one of them backyard vids was it yeah quite maybe a Pinner even yeah but like like I would I couldn’t do a turn down at the time tables were pretty middle of the road and I just kind of realized straight
Away like I can’t toog I probably clamping the seat bit so just I was definitely a bit more of a like bit more ferity you know with the trick stuff that I was doing but still young so I got a pass what bike did you like graduate to after the the
Shredder after that it was just SNM just for almost the rest of the time I Wasing straight on that yeah yeah yeah I got a dirt bike um just a regular one you a shared stem on and then I cracked that and I got a mobile welder to come around and weld me
A an sta style gusset on the front of it okay had that for years and then it was just like dirt bike after dirt bike and then I mean where was your shopping at this point Cyclone oh really yeah yeah cycl if if you don’t have it a cyclone then I
Probably use custom riders or backyard or yeah I was quite sort of I feel like in general like I was quite sort of when I chose what I was into whether it’s the brand or the shop or whatever was committ I just like yeah that’s just
That’s the only thing I’m going to do now and what was the the first event that you went to then it was it definitely would have been a oh it was no it was it it was either king of concrete it was probably king of concrete but that didn’t really feel
Like a proper one cuz I just got the train there spent the day you know took a few pictures and had a ride went home but the first proper one I went to was a backyard Jam that was uh the one where the Hell’s Angels were the security and
They had a big vert around who who was there there was some good people there 96 or 976 it was where they had the um Mar Marvin loty okay 97 I think Josh Stricker was there had the little they had the chasm and that that was the
First one actually went on a trip stayed in the tent you know and did the whole sort of yeah I think so that was the year that like had a lot of stories was it yeah that was it was wild actually craziness in the field yeah was that one
Before and it was I remember people was detonating a lot of canoun to bake beans that night that that there was always it was like gunfire going off beans going everywhere was that the one where the the burger van got like rolled down the field I don’t know if a burger down
The field but I wouldn’t be surprised a big event yeah it was it was either it was either 97 or 96 where it was Carnage in that field one night and I think maybe that’s why the Hell’s Angels would air the next year right yeah so you
Might you might have missed that one but so that that was your first like and that was that was a [ __ ] cool event as well when that was it was amazing it was amazing yeah and I’m trying to think of where went from there was that the last one it
Wasn’t a 98 I don’t no cuz it went to B 98 so that was it yeah I remember going to B 8 okay yeah no was that the last one yeah the kind of field yeah yeah yeah it was good that was that’s [ __ ] crazy
Was Taj w at that one was he I don’t think Taj was at that one Jimmy lean no Jimmy lvan might I’ll tell you what I think Chris M was the okay yeah yeah yes that was 97 yeah I remember he was wearing a sky blue
Harron jacket yeah nice did you know he owned S&M at that point in time you must have done oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I got kind of obsessed with that brand quite quite soon on actually and can you remember who you went with it was just the same Lads from the
Trail and also Ashley Ashley Charles cuz we were quite good friends with the BN cuz that’s not far from where we lived so all the slades like locals I think we all met there and sort of made like a big kind of I think Ashley was the only person
That actually rode in the event though all right did you meet anyone else at that event I don’t think so I think I was probably scared of most of the yeah it was it was pretty [ __ ] intimidating really if you were young like I was I
Was in my 20s then so it was all right yeah I mean that was probably the first time I ever got like a like a train like far away and like you know little little backpack the tent in it yeah yeah yeah nice and then like so where where’ you
Go from there like you carry on riding trails I guess right because it’s still booming at this point in time were you like were you watching videos at this point like other video like us ones and that yeah I mean like uh 121 and lights out those two scum videos
Were pretty like heavily played and then it would have been handsome Thunder vide like that is real good yeah because so the footage on Thunder was from that backyard it was wasn’t it okay okay that’s the one so I was watching those um but then I basically my we moved house we moved
Like kind of far from the trails cuz I used to just cycle there and then we just moved far enough away that I was just suddenly ended up in a completely different part of town that just happened to have quite a lot of Ledges and and Manny pad and stuff like that
And so I I want to pop out for a few hours I found myself just learning manuals instead of Cu by that point I was kind of knew knew what to do yeah yeah you’d seen all the riding you how to do it yeah yeah and a lot of the
Trails tricks that I’d learned so I can kind of do a lot of these just on a drop on the way down rather than on the way up so that I just started riding street instead really and then from then I think I just got scared of trails after
That cuz I kind of got out the rhythm of it and just sort of didn’t feel that confident looking at jumps anymore yeah yeah it’s [ __ ] scary yeah yeah I think if you don’t keep your hand in with that stuff well for me anyway yeah for I think that’s normal yeah yeah yeah
It just becomes like big hurdle do it mentally and like so where where was you like whose street riding was you looking at to think like oh this is this is how you do it it was uh Rat boy gon or the Arizona scene yeah 100% like they like top of my
List of what I was trying to do um I don’t know if that’s cuz that’s just the video I had but like that was definitely right up there and then I guess that would have moved on to like obvious one Edwin and you know but that Arizona
Scene for me was and I loved the way that the videos was quite Sinister and creepy was it was creepy yeah and they were real long like weird bits I didn’t understanding stuff and yeah something about it kind of really appealed to how many of those videos did you have cuz
There was one real what was the one that came out that was like on the down lad was the one I used to watch on the down was the real famous one where they said they basically like Ching B riding and then at the end it’s got that clip of
Chris Toof breaking his back then that parking me just expires and there just a clip of a tide rolling in backwards [ __ ] that’s a good way to finish a video but I remember it was stuff like that I’m just like I never met El’s or
And I never even met anyone and I always wanted to I never met any of those guys but I always kind of thought I reckon they’re like kind of there’s an interesting thing going on there you know they were characters yeah yeah and that they was that was when sort of the breakless
Thing sort of started becoming more popular as well when it were those guys with BS and stuff like that yeah I didn’t know that yeah I didn’t know he got that video um so after after those guys like you’re getting into like what East Coast yeah East Coast riding
Yeah what like what did you think of like those videos like thunder and ampam and the ones you mentioned just previous like have you thought about filming at this point or have you are you just taking it in as Observer I think um I think I got a video camera when I was
About I got it quite soon after riding I was maybe like I don’t know 16 17 I got a video little high eight thing but to be honest like me filming and I only got it because I wanted to know what we look like on a bike okay from watching those
Videos to see if it looked the same yeah um but I think at the time the idea of like us going out the high eight like we used to put those videos on such a pedestal you know like if someone said something in those old videos each other you know it that’s it
Yeah and he’s like I’m not going to be able to make that movie yeah yeah I’m not making that I mean so no I don’t think I ever really I didn’t put those two bits together for quite a while hang on I’ve got a we could do
This so you just just film the stuff and watch it yeah just film and watch it years or yeah I mean I think um I bought well my first video I made was two VHS dat decks on top of each other some weird setup like that where I
Was like having to do some pause and record stuff to try and make Cuts or whatever um I was probably I’m so bad with my sort of timeline it must have been like when I was like just left school or something like that I was like
I’m going to try and like cut all those all that crap out of it and just keep good stuff but it was really hard um doing the old pause and record she always get the fuzzy lines in between and all that but um I ended up buying
This like weird little deck thing where you could like fade like fade in titles or fade fade the clips together and stuff like that I started making little videos just for us lot but by that point that was just that we were fully just riding Street at that point doing like handrails and
Yeah okay but so who who was riding street with you like in the early when you when you moved and you first started sort riding Street was there a few few little guys there or what well it was a few well I remember we would say let’s
Say we were riding trails on the Saturday on a Sunday you go to sou Hampton and try some handrails this so I remember there was that crossover for a bit you do a bit of everything just riding yeah yeah but then um a bit later on around about time
We started making videos I met uh faren DS who he still rides actually’s still incredibly good but he was he was a rollerblader when I met him okay but I still thought I didn’t hold it against him he so you Ro Street and he rollerblade yeah but he’d come out with
Us and he’d like you know I’d like do a sort of roof drop and he’d like you know come skating off like 720 off so he was good at rollerblading he was really good at rollerblading yeah surprise yeah he was good at that and then I think
Um I I I remember he might say it different but I remember kind of like kind of encouraging him to like you know why don’t you get a bikee instead so you’re not skating around everywhere and he just I remember he just got some like Mongoose and was just good straight away
Yeah and he was good to rise because he’s not afraid of anything so he was kind of he was kind of pushing me quite we were kind of pushing each other quite like when we were younger too all right but he just got like just he just yeah
He’s got like real good one of those natural yeah naturally talented yeah definitely yeah he was really really good and was who else was was there anyone else there um I mean we’d all we’d all hang out and stuff but I mean I only really remember like faren being
Like the one who was like if we’re going out he’s going to do something yeah you’re bounce in off him yeah yeah and stuff that like you’d see in a video or like that you take a picture of you know I mean all of us were trying stuff but
He was actually doing stuff that was good let me uh just have a quick browse up here yeah how how was like how was it being on a BMX in that time period like was it was BMX perceived as something that was accepted or was it like still did you
Still get [ __ ] for it I got so much [ __ ] for it when you was at school so much [ __ ] for it yeah yeah like like uh well yeah just getting like hit I remember I got like hit hit with a chain and like uh be like riding down and get punched
Off your bik like people slashing your tires like was this early days like or it carried on for a few years I think it carried on for a I mean all like the more sort of aggressive stuff I remember that being quite when I was just
Starting um I mean you get [ __ ] for wearing a pair of Vans yeah yeah that’s right and or like wearing like a black windbreaker do you know what I mean it’s just but um yeah I don’t I remember it wasn’t cool it definitely wasn’t it wasn’t something that people like
Whether it was your parents or your peers or like what are you doing that for you know it wasn’t even a real thing to a lot of people that’s right yeah that’s interesting because that’s like probably 10 years after we was getting [ __ ] for it you you guys it was in the
’90s and you guys were still yeah I I don’t know if it was just my environment at that time in that like I felt like where I lived it was quite a close-minded little town maybe if I lived in a better place maybe it wouldn’t have been like that but yeah
Maybe yeah I definitely didn’t feel cool on the bike like that was when you was at school you got a lot of [ __ ] for yeah yeah definitely but like I was quite lucky in that we had this little I had my secret group of friends outside of it
Down at the jumps or whatever so but yeah it wasn’t it wasn’t like a pleasant environment to ride a bike and compared to make what it might be like now where like it’s like a thing now isn’t it yeah yeah yeah I quite liked it in a way like
I liked it because at that time I was like getting into anything that wasn’t popular like I liked the sort of the music I was listening to like the kind of artwork I was looking at and the way I was dressing like everything I felt like I
Was kind of really immersed myself in the fact that it wasn’t like so mainstream it felt like and them kind of thing I enjoyed that you was uh propelling yourself away from the norm so to speak yeah and it felt really good doing it it was worth it yeah yeah
So that’s like so not only do you like the weird thing about riding a BMX but you also like music that’s not in the mainstream yeah so is that you got into music through BMX videos 100% oh yeah 100% yeah I don’t know if I’d be into
The music I wasn’t that I’m into now if it wasn’t for those early videos that I watched for sure yeah I would have heard of it so where was like what were some of the bands that you listen to on there that you were like I need to I need to
Find out more about I mean it sounds quite pedestrian now but it would be like um Screech and weasel uh like just like fat records or like epit sort of punk which you know it’s not something I listen to now but it was definitely it’s a gateway gateway music um a lot of
Stuff of like Nails in the coffin and like in that Integrity song Earth Crisis and yeah like Penny wise I remember as well a lot of the a lot of music that Stu Johnson was using on his videos just that kind of like punk rock sort of
Stuff and just the aesthetic of it all like it just really appealed to me but then I think yeah like a Gateway thing you kind of work through those yeah you get deeper you get deeper and deeper and it kind of gets a bit more serious
Doesn’t it yeah and and from had Earth crises in it yeah yeah but I would know way I don’t I never would have found another I didn’t ever see another Avenue for that music it was all coming in through BMX videos and then I guess that might
Give me a few Clues to look at that record label or look like what else is on this record label and where did you get the music when like how did you shop for the music I I remember I’d go to HMV with my little list and have you got
This have you got that and they be like what what you talking about like oh we might be able to order it from America for getet and what I ended up doing was um i’ record the music straight from the BMX videos but it would have the grind
Noises on it too but that’s what I listened to when I was riding so I’d you’d almost like memorize like there’d be a bit of a song then you’d hear like a yeah almost became part of the song so yeah all my music was just B just ripped straight from the
Vhs’s but yeah it was massively influential like to and like I said still now I still haven’t stray that far yeah obviously over time it spreads and you learn a bit more but of course there’s for me there’s a direct source like straight back to those old BMX and
Probably only like four of them as well like w weird yeah because funder wasn’t it the soundtrack wasn’t that great was it on Thunder it was it was it was a fun video I think the soundtracks like we’re talking all right Dirty Deeds BMX Inferno uh 1201 Nails in the coffin just
With those four that probably was enough you know I know there’s a bit of a time span in between that but between those four videos that everything I needed really to get going quite a nice selection of different variations of music yeah and how did you get into like
The oi side of music that’s what I always wondered uh because none of those are really like you don’t ever hear much o in uh in BMX videos do you but you got quite into that right I did get into it yeah yeah like riding with like Fred
Perry on and yeah all that sort of stuff um I don’t even know it must have been I think that might have been the one thing that I ever got into on my own okay but you got into that through that music as well I think that um it was either as an
Offshoot of a punk sampler I might have bought that might have had some cockp on it or something or or Coty rejects on it or something like that got o influence I suppose it does in a way but that’s still very Americanized isn’t it yeah I remember
Like yeah cotney Rejects forkins and Cox Sparrow were like my sort of power three that got me into it amaz and were they all functioning at that point in time when you got into them or they I mean Cox Barrow were but I wish they weren’t
Because it just got worse and worse um I don’t think that cotney rejects maybe I never got to see any of them I don’t think forkins were still going I think I liked the um it was probably just my age I like The Angst of it yeah yeah it was
And it was English it really English yeah and and it felt like something that you could cut bit of ownership on and I liked the I never liked crusty like that crust Punk sort of stuff like it pisses me off I don’t like the moars and studs
And all that finery I really like the look of like the I like the look of the skin Ed sort of stuff kind smart really smart and like well put out and there something practical yeah that’s the word it was practical was it yeah and yeah I
Kind of like try to weave that into sort of my taste of music but to be honest it was weird cuz I was super into that for a long time I was putting it on videos and I was listening to it a lot I was dressing like that and then I just kind
Of drifted drifted back out of it again I still love listen to Cox Sparrow but yeah it was weird quite transient it felt permanent but it wasn’t really no I I I mean I quite like some of that music as well I think the other thing is like
I I think Co Spar is musically pretty good guy’s got a good voice as well but um a lot of it like musically isn’t like there’s not a lot to it is there do you know what I mean yeah yeah but still got a lot of vibe to it
And it’s scary it football Igan is like yeah yeah I think I definitely felt a bit fascinated by that okay yeah I wonder where that come from and then like so how does the like you make your first video what’s your first video uh my like did you make your first
Video before you got your first picture in a MAG yeah yeah okay yeah definitely um it was been yeah one of those shitty things I said we just recording one tape to another and I’d give them out to everyone in the okay so people other people would see like I couldn’t cut the
Music so I would put on I remember the first I ever did I just put on a whole a whole paranoid Al whole Black Sabbath album hit play hit record and that was the soundtrack for the whole video of everything you know just track by track
And I was gave that out to I made a video and like we all loved it though at the time sit there watching it cuz you ain’t seen yourself on a bike before local scene as well yeah but then I made a proper one where like it was actually
Edited I um it was in my first year of college I think uh I was allowed access to the they had like an editing room all right where was the college in gosport which is near to faram so I actually made a I made a video properly then and
It had like footage from like Urban games on it and like other contests I’ve been to and a bit of us and bit of everything bit of people that I’d film I didn’t know like conventional video Yeah from back a lot more like that wer they um so yeah that’s basically what the
First one was um what what name was that released under I think it I know I know what it was called it was it was called social outcasts okay perfect it felt kind of cool at the time it resonates with with what You’ said yeah yeah um
But that was the first one and then I just kept on making them do you know what I mean just little bits and Bobs and uh it was only once I left that whole area um and I was New Life in East Sussex and East born s that’s when I
Started making videos using the computer and it got a lot easier yeah to do what I wanted to do and what when when did like how far away is retribution at this point retribution was uh I think I come up with that in 2000 okay so a little
Bit off yeah so that had already started when I was in far and then I when I moved to eastborn um it was kind of it was a thing already we had I remember we were putting some adverts in magazines and yeah it felt like we had like I had
Like some clothes I was selling stuff you know it was real when I was there in fact I even lived off it for um about six months or something I don’t know how but was selling quite a lot of t-shirts and was that the first company that you bike
Company that you did like yeah related to bikes anyway um yeah that was the first one I actually like I mean I always experimented at home with uh before that with like uh buying paper that you could put through a printer and it would and you could iron it onto your
T-shirt and stuff like that but yeah retribution was the first thing I was selling stuff to a screen printer and there was actually we were getting real products back all right and how did who who was buying it just local guys or what what how did it come about like who
Was there people in the mags with at this point with retribution not really it was just like local scene stuff it was local scene stuff that’s how it started and then after the videos came out it’s branched out in there little pockets in weird countries or weird
Places but yeah for the most part it was a kind of it was a southern it was a southern sort of thing but then I think I think that it ended up I’m yeah it ended up being Dred by was it uh maybe Pariah or something
We had that we had that link to the north yeah we were like the only Southern maybe there was 5710 and sakas or something I think there was only a few Southern brand most of the good ones were all up North but I remember making
Those links with the North and so that I think a lot of people up there was wearing it how how how did you know those guys though um I think it’s because we had I had NSF 2 I’ve got that at some point which became like my new sort of Bible okay
For watching street riding the first time I saw like a hot whip on the ground or whatever like the Newcastle scene at the time like it was quite young then nsf2 but it had a real again had this like interesting Edge to it what are these guys up to their bikes looked a
Bit different they had a little bit of different way dressing and really good music too and uh I think the way it actually started was one day I was gone to thingss to ride Hill Crest school where had these really easy handrails and um I just happened to bump into
James n there he was just there all right he was doing the same yeah yeah and I was just like are you and he’s like are you and then we ended up sort of being mates ever since then and um obviously I met cley uh so that’s my
Little connection with the North and then that’s kind of close to Sheffield and I think when you know one of them up there he know all them join the dots yeah yeah but it was um that was not rightner getting to sort of involve myself with that Northern scene because
As far as street riding goes I thought they were just leagues ahead everything down here well they had it from from the outside it looked like they had like a scene of guys who were all riding the same way yeah in them it was movement wasn’t it but and then down for instance
In London at that point there wasn’t there was like one or two guys that was doing it but there wasn’t like a a crew of people yeah so that’s how it differentiated and the like retribution was you how did you do the first graphics and that like you just drew it
Or just drew it yeah just drew stuff or I mean a lot of it I mean what was what was like the the idea and the ideal was behind it like as it went from like a like a wish do conversion and bicycle Union I guess like I always liked that I always
Like that look I always like the look of um when I go to a contest I’d always see the union lot and I’d be like I’ll go I’ll walk past them on the other side of the skate you know and but I like again I like that maybe the same thing that
Drew me towards all that o stuff or whatever I quite like that sort of like oh like what’s going on and I think I just like that look I was just quite influenced by by the union stuff so everything was like everything I was doing was kind of a bit
Scratchy and a bit like kind of I mean I don’t think I was ripping you off I was going to say I think I’ve seen most of the early logos they don’t look reference to it at all I think I like the kind of like stenciled sort of like
[ __ ] up and photocopied sort of Xerox print sort but I mean I’m not really a great artist uh so a lot of it was based on like oh that’s a good font I’ll just [ __ ] it up a bit or I find something and just I never really Drew anything that
Good anything I ever Drew no no one ever bought it because it sucked and what was the first one oh man I think the first one was like something me like just I don’t even know why I did it I think the first one was like just a square
With like an r in it like the rock it was like the Rockstar logo rockar computer games I’m sure it looked a bit like that or it sucked but I guess I I guess I was learning to use a computer and like do designs and stuff um but
Then after that yeah it was always like stencil fonts or like maybe like just real obvious stuff like two cross combat knives I was going to bring up yeah they like like ger knives yeah yeah and then like some splatters yeah like blood splatter that one I vividly remember
Yeah and it had like the r was like a weird shape on it yeah yeah we end up doing this r that was like a the left side it was a dagger that’s right and then after that I ended up wanting it this is obvious when I was St into o
Music I I kind of wanted everything to look like what football casuals might wear so then the logo was that AR thing with the little Magpie sat on top of it and we used to do shirts and harringtons and okay we called I think I called it
The hooligan range and I just completely changed the whole look of it to just look more smart and like more oi more oi yeah and I think that that’s where it finished I think that was the sort of swans song of it really how was that getting like stuff printed and that like
Early days just taking paper to the printer and saying can I got really lucky because um I mean yeah the first couple were probably done in a local t-shirt place in far but um I can’t remember how I made this connection but I ended up uh befriending uh what’s his name from Love
And skate uh Stu Stu I still speak to I see Stu often he used to print all of my stuff for me amazing and then and and he was good because I would send him a design and I’d always sort of send him an orientation note I want this side and
This color and I love that he would if it was wrong like he would always call me and say I think this would look better if you did did it on like a smaller print and did a big one on the back and and that was amazing like this
Guy really cares about it looking good and then he also I don’t know how he did it but he managed I’m sure it was him he helped me to get carart to start doing my stuff so then a lot of the retribution stuff was printed on carart
T-shirts for a while too and I think a lot of that was just him like he was really helping it I think he liked the fact that it was kind of just a grungy little company um but yeah that um that’s how I was doing it in the end so
It was it was great and that’s when he was in Bethal green is that where he was yeah didn’t know where he was so he was it was all over letters and F amazing yeah yeah no I yeah I see him often he helps me out with some stuff every
Cheers I did some artwork for him on on maybe you didn’t see it some skateboard graphic oh did you yeah but now he’s in uh Tottenham yeah so they they move down he does the same thing he got [ __ ] really good really good place yeah yeah I’ll tell him you said hello
I’ll speak to him probably I’ll send a message tomorrow yeah yeah he did some great stuff for us and then how did you get like what was on the the jackets were I embroided or the jacket what the retribution jackets were screen printed and but they had they had they had woven
Labels which was a big deal at the time we got them made in and uh I just emailed a factory in India and we just like I’m a I’m a big British businessman and would like to get many jackets made can we have 50 samples or whatever oh
Then that’s how you got the jackets yeah yeah so we just got all these like hooky samples and like they they they looked real good but I remember like the sleeves were like that long like the Zips were falling off or whatever but um yeah I think the second run were all
Right but yeah I remember getting the jackets done was a big deal when that box come back I’m sure it was India or some like that and I remember getting out being like we’ve done it we’ve made a real like a proper thing there not a
T-shirt cuz at the time it was [ __ ] hard to not to know what you’re doing like with all that stuff well yeah easy to get well not easy but like easy enough to get t-shirts sweatshirts and hats hats was like a little bit further of a step yeah like t-shirts and
Sweatshirts but then like yeah stepping out of that was like was was tricky it was expensive as well like you’ve got to pay more a lot more money but I got a lot of help from uh St I always got a lot of help from uh a guy who now runs a
Big street wear place in eastborn it’s called Urban industry I think it’s a big mail order but back in the day he used to have a little clothing shop but on a sideline he used to run a little sourcing company so I’d go in there and
Say I’m looking can you find me an all black mesh hatz I was like that’s like the unicord of mesh hats you know and he like I can do that and so I had people a lot better A lot clever than me going out and finding this cool stuff and I
Was banging these crap designs all over it all but it was it was wicked I really enjoyed that time in in my sort of BMX riding life because yeah it looked funny it kind of like it it gained momentum didn’t it because for instance I’m I’m starting to see it
Like what’s this like and then you see it frequently and then you see like you see someone in dig or or ride it’s probably dig covered more you guys than ride at that time and and it was like retribution rider was it like yeah Ricky Ricky trible Ricky trible who else
Someone else basically I was try what I was trying to do again I think I was really interested in the idea of like how your team like looked like I thought again probably influenced a bit by your lot I was just such a powerful thing and I remember like I
Liked that like I was just trying to it wasn’t like I was manufacturing it but like that’s how you pick a team you pick people that youd like they all like kind of quite big skin head fell you know just wear all black so and Rod a bit
Road Street who else was on it so we had Joe Bell he was a great big skin head just all black he was a street Rider from eort and he don’t do it anymore we had faren on there we had um Ricky Tribble [ __ ] hell else was there’s a
Guy called Matt Divine whose brother was um we met his brother when we went to see lyris back in the day actually oh I remember yeah okay he was from Brighton and then James nck okay um and cookie it was like nk’s prodige yeah um PUD from Sheffield
Um I can’t there’s a guy called matchell like was like a kind of tech sort of guy and I remember he got the retribution logo tattooed [ __ ] massive on his back no way so he’s still out there with that um I think I mean maybe that was it
I can’t remember where was the trible from he was from gosport which is like a little town next to far okay I I actually looked him up quite recently because he comes up quite a lot because he’s there’s a lot of stories yeah yeah exactly that’s what I was
Going to say like there is stories about there’s a lot of stories about him but um I thought I look him up up and [ __ ] hell I thought he was scary then he’s massive great big he’s huge and uh I mean I don’t want to S this podcast he’s he’s he’s been [Laughter]
Busy yeah but there is a lot of stories around him yeah that’s the person who who sticks out in my mind as being like the main rider for Retribution yeah he was like the whole brand in a nutshell he was good as well yeah I remember yeah
I remember see did he maybe it was a retribution video like so was you making retribution videos at this point how many did you make uh three so there was the first one was called times up and that was um that had a lot of slap shot
On it and like um it was like a real hard cor sort I remember the cover was some the oi boots with the wreath around it and stuff that was just VHS oh Buzzard he was another person who was on retribution that guy okay so that’s another guy he’s got stories around him
Okay so there was times up that was the first one and that was that never went anywhere really yeah you had to know me if you wanted that one but then the secret was the the first one that that was the breakout one that sounds familiar yeah yeah that that was a DVD
Like a proper job and it that you could buy that in all sorts of different countries we have different we had you could buy it all around Europe you could buy it in South Africa you get in America get you s that out uh I would just be emailing dros uh just saying
With this little scene from you like I’d send them like a trailer do you want to stocks on the video just s a return and so I just started just getting these things out there and then obviously load of them here that was that was the big
One and then the last one we made cuz there was supposed to be a third one but um our friend like a very close friend of USS Tom he died in the middle of us making the third one and it just took the window out my sales with the whole
Thing and um so that’s why it was called 2.5 and I think it was called worst case scenario because as soon as that happened like obviously it just just it kind of it changed the dynamic of everything and I didn’t want to make a [ __ ] BMX video about it anymore you
Know so we just kind of stopped it but it’s still a good video it’s just um it’s a hard one for me to watch actually that one because it’s like a little time capsule um I find out on really hard to watch but that’s that was probably the
Better of all of them I guess it was because it was the last one so everyone’s a bit better at riding the music’s a bit more everything about is just a bit more refined it’s still Scrappy though but yeah that was the last one was
2.5 and then the secret was a DVD or secret was DVD they I don’t know did we sell that in Cyclone I’ve got no idea if you sold it some reason I Dred it well in the UK ones I was sending them to shops directly so you
Might sleeve it came in no had a proper jeel case Okay seen it yeah yeah it was like a black just a black case and it just said the secret at the bottom with a little dagger on it definitely yeah 100% yeah um I’ve still got one somewhere I’ve got a couple somewhere
Yeah that was a I was really surprised by how many people actually bought that one and um yeah that did how many sold I don’t know I think we I I’ve got no idea it was it was like more than I ever thought I would cuz I remember I
Got a few 100 made and I had to get more made and but it was gaining Pace at this point was it like yeah had you had a picture in a MAG at at this time what what was your first magazine picture my first well I had one in Rod that was
About that big at SL Jam but my first proper with your name on it yeah but it was it was honestly like it was like that little black and white thing and me doing a fly out find it um but the the first thing I actually had was a I think
It was a sturdy wrists in uh so you had the cover I had the sturdy wrists in one month which was like a six page thing and then I had the cover the following month but it was shot on the same it was the same same issue no it was all from
The same shoot and I don’t think I don’t think I think all of the stuff because I had interview and ride but I think that was quite a while after that I can’t [ __ ] remember Man actually you know what interview was years after just make you laugh because I was
When that dick came out with your sturdy wrist I don’t think I knew it was what sturdy RIS was really about at that point but I remember what’s this and I was reading it and I was like and I was reading the questions and the answers I was like this just sounds like
Union yeah fny what the [ __ ] like and I just distinctly remember thinking what’s happened here like yeah [ __ ] that was probably like disciple of it 200 yeah but I I didn’t know like and it just seemed like because I didn’t know like where it all come from and I was just
Thinking how come these guys have put this in their mag like like what how com I haven’t been in the maging stuff like it was really like distinctly remember reading it like thinking [ __ ] hell CU that was like what 2002 2003 I reckon yeah maybe yeah distinct memory of like
Because i’ never I didn’t know he was so yeah that’s funny is it yeah yeah because you probably I’m going to read it after we’ve done this I’ll read it again I’ll pick some bits out but yeah it was like basically saying yeah what we’re doing is we’re doing
Like I don’t know if I’ve got the genres right but we’re doing like like hardcore music and BMX yeah basically was what we were saying I was like what the [ __ ] like gimmick infring man yeah yeah man for sure but yeah it was it was you know obviously I’m reading I
Remember I used to ring up cyclone and over answer the phone because you know you used to have an account so you could see what I’d bought I think so i’ like what haven’t I got yet oh right really no you haven’t got this one in blue
I love that then oh oh yeah I remember kids doing that and they’d be like well we’ve just got this new one and it’s it’s a black zipper with a green print I’ll take it I’ll take that yeah yeah make sure you put some stickers in as
Well yeah yeah I was one of those kids so that was your first real and that was quite a big that was a big feature wasn’t it who shot that head Ed doy shot it and it was a joint shoot cuz I was with Kayla Kilby who also
Didn’t really know that well at the time I know him a little bit but I don’t know what he was shooting for but he was he was throwing himself over the place and watching sort of I mean Ed doy was on road Falls one wasn’t he so [ __ ] Ed
Ed doy on road Falls one shooting me and I was really I was really nervous about the whole thing um in fact I think I did I remember like I think the whole 30 wrist it was only me jumping downstairs just different different numbers of stairs I don’t think I did anything else
In it okay and I think that’s CU I was just panicking like just like I know what to do no no idea and how did that come about like how did they know who you was and like just from the gradual buildup of stuff over the years must
Have been must have been I think they it must have been that because I don’t I wasn’t even riding for anyone at the time you not met Ricky Adam at this point though I’m just think wondering if you’re in leads maybe you met no I don’t
Think so I don’t think it I had any sort of in there I think it might have just been from because I was living kind of near to Hastings which at that point was you that scene was pretty pretty vibrant at that time and I think I was just in
The periphery of it and uh maybe someone from as couldn’t make it or something so let’s do that was cool though that they put someone in who sort of no one had seen before really like oh yeah definitely yeah yeah I remember it being a very intimidating thing because I
Remember I remember feeling that like I don’t know why I’m here like doing this that was cool though yeah and then like I was looking at the cover the other week and uh I was thinking how you how did you come up with a one footed X up fakey Dave
Parrick oh was he yeah copy up Dave parck yeah he was one of my favorites what what was that on I think he does one in Dirty Deeds that’s what I was going to say Dirty Deeds yeah he to throw one for xops in because that’s a
Weird trick to do in a fakey that’s what I was looking at the other when I was looking at the other like that’s an odd I suppose yeah I suppose it is I still love doing them yeah and what was it where was that that was on a mini r that
Was e born as well it was a real nice Min actually had like a like a hip on it and yeah it’s one of our sort of local things a real good lip on it it’s like you know if you imagine well for me a perfect Min ramp like a wooden mini ramp
Nice wide deck quite steep with a hip on it without everything so I think it was an afterthought actually I think um we’d already done all the things we were going to do so let’s just stop off at the mini ramp or whatever and I just
[ __ ] but I didn’t know it was going to be on the cover no one told me I went to W Smiths to see him all just like oh that felt good yeah yeah Wicked yeah I could believe it in mags massive deal is it great maybe it’s not anymore well
There isn’t one is there well it’s probably more so now because there’s hardly mag any magazines to get into it it was yeah it was big deal so you you was happy with that feature as well like when that came out I suppose when you were young and you see it’s your first
Picture just like [ __ ] out amazing well yeah I mean I think you don’t I was so green to it all at that point I was just sort of pretty amazed that I was on a printed publication was and then multiple Pages as well so yeah yeah yeah
Just sort of a like w is this even is this even real was you you weren’t sponsored by anyone at that point no no I was riding at that point um Amos was selling me his SNM frames whenever he got a new one G him because he was SNM
At the time so whatever he had last that’s what I’d have next I had an agreement with him okay when you get a new frame I’ll buy yours so I was kind of just riding whatever he used to have and what was you riding dirt bikes
Uh uh PBR was I had for a while LF and I think LF and ltfs I got one as actually riding for S then but all right had some I had some dirt bikes and some pbrs from Amos I think it’s quite good because he’s he he has quite Snappy little bikes
That’s what I like so he was kind of per perfect size on yeah yeah nice and then what’s your do you get sponsor after the cover I would assume something comes your way after a cover yeah yeah I think I think it was after that I don’t think it was like
Immediately after yeah yeah it was some point after that thing but um I think well to be honest I think it was probably just because I was friends with kley at the time and he somehow wangled himself a job at four down being a team manager and he just said well
James loves SNM so what what where how how late was this though this is way after that interview is it for yeah four down started in 2006 so was I already sponsored when I was I’m sure I wasn’t that’s what I’m asking like what when when what who was
Your first sponsor SNM was your first sponsor uh yeah I think so yeah yeah I mean proper proper brand sponsor yeah well you didn’t have like a small clothing sponsor or shoe spor I was sponsored by like my local bike shop for a bit okay uh and then there was J
Morgan from s yeah yeah big fell yeah he he had a skate shop Morgan The Misfits logo was his oh I vaguely remember it BMX skate shop I was on I Ro for that for a bit was on that for a bit yeah yeah um you know I don’t remember my own life
John like well I think that that Cy got that TM job once four down started which wasn’t which was 2006 so if he got that in 2006 when did I have that dig thing that I thought that was I I would 2003 or 2004 maybe
Okay so that makes sense then so I would have got sponsored after the the Dig thing that seems a long time that’s what I’m just surprised well yeah was cuz he was doing a tiller as well right yeah at this point yeah was you on a tiller
Well well yeah but it doesn’t really count because I was helping to like I was kind of working for him as well so had you moved in between this time period you moved up north yeah uh see you know what though like I’m questioning my time now because when I
Lived up north I don’t think I was sponsored then either by but that would make sense though right would it well if you moved up north and you wasn’t on snn yeah I don’t think I was well yeah so so you moved up North for a period of time
Yeah and then when you came back because I because I remember that I wasn’t on SNM because I I [ __ ] pissed I pissed them off at 70s and uh I pissed them off and they uh I rang them up one day to cuz I used to give me like deals on
Stuff like on Slam bars and whatever and I R up for some and they’re like you can [ __ ] off mate I was like why it’s cuz I’d been a [ __ ] on the internet oh really yeah what you say you remember yeah yeah like it’s pretty juvenile like yeah yeah
But it would be if you’re young wouldn’t it I so I had this fell making he was like making me a new retribution website and I said why don’t we do one that looks like a newspaper um with like different stories on so like you click like a headline it
Be like the team and you click another one it’s the blog sorry about this if anyone I should I’ve started now um so basically there was this one I had this flashing Black Box that said Federal product review like that and when he when he clicked it
It just forced a full screen thing up saying [ __ ] [ __ ] and it was just like what was the point of that unprovoked totally unprovoked just thought it was funny like it could thing is it could have been anyone it could have been any brand I just like [ __ ] it Federal that would
Do they’re a big brand and um yeah and rightly so R up Dean one day all right de Just DE was like no you ain’t getting [ __ ] m why that I’ve seen the website oh yeah [ __ ] yeah sorry about that but yeah that was totally on me I was just being a
[ __ ] idiot Bridge burn Bridge burnt yeah yeah I have to just own up to that I was just uh I deserved it I thought it was funny at the time but like I wish I you know what I’m instantly regretting even bringing that up I like hearing these stories funny
Like if this is the funny bit about doing these people like front up to like yeah [ __ ] up there yeah I did enjoy I did [ __ ] up cuz I was getting a good deal on all that stuff till I [ __ ] started RI [ __ ] hell I think but then
Um obviously forgave me in the end yeah yeah yeah you know people make mistakes don’t they people people get better usually as they go on in life as well yeah yeah I always do stupid [ __ ] like that same yeah it’s just funny at the time done you don’t even think about the
Consequences no no and also like you just you’re just basically trying to make your mates laugh aren you yeah yeah yeah he trying to be more outlandish than what they are bit like M with his old bad rap Easter exactly yeah I don’t any of that but that’s an age thing I
Think well when you get to a certain agent and yeah you just think you can do that stuff yeah and get away with it especially when you know like you yeah you know we we’re into something good we’re you know we can do whatever we want but we can’t actually M yeah this
Is our posy you can’t [ __ ] with us you’re paying full price of Slam bars now [ __ ] how’ you like that how did you end up moving up north like what was that you moved to Newcastle yeah it was uh just because that scene up there was really it was
Really thriving that NSF kind of drawn to that yeah hug piece of that yeah yeah and I that I just went up there I said can I come and live with you and so I lived in um Liv in the cupboard uh in it
Was in a I’m pretty sure it used to be a brothel but then it was turned into like a a really [ __ ] uh house and I lived in the bath I mean I lived in the cupboard for10 p a week uh a lot of people had bedrooms there was a guy called Louis
That lived in the bath for5 pound a week so I had quite a good deal having a cupboard and I was there for like not long seven months or so and I just couldn’t I couldn’t were you under the stairs no I was at that that was the old
House the old F where Jim lived under the stairs I lived in this um I lived on the top floor in a Cupboard but the door was only about about that tall so you had to craw in proper Hobbit yeah little hobbit hole yeah yeah and it was just like I loved
It at the time but I remember like the way they were living up there at that point at the time I thought was well I still do think it’s pretty cool actually like that I think a lot of it just worked out like we just want to
Ride street and that’s all we want to do and anything that we have to in life that ain’t [ __ ] riding BMX bikes is going to be an annoyance so they just worked out right I need to work exactly three and a half days a week and that’s
All I’m going to work and then if I share this house with seven other people like a refugee camp sort of thing all bunk beds if you had a girlfriend like if you had a girlfriend a lot of them they have like a blanket that come down
Over the bunk Stu it was like rough you know but at the time that’s how you do it yeah like eating out of bins or waiting waiting in the Kebab shop you know for like someone some drunk person to order too much and he just swoop in like a vulture yeah proper
Like like it wasn’t like luxurious living but like it was cheap and you could just really immerse yourself in what you wanted to do in what you wanted to do and like I’ve got really fun memories of it but like yeah I did I did like seven months
And I was okay like I I need to I need to [ __ ] get into like a normal house again now was it was it rough up there being like do you think it was rougher being a souer up there than it is for a local uh not with a Riders obviously but just
A general General Joe’s around well I remember I used to wear two coats none of the local guys did so so yeah maybe it was yeah maybe it was like I think I think I always knew that I wasn’t going to stay out there um
So I just kind of embraced it um I mean to be honest there was people living in that house that probably weren’t living like such a shitty lifestyle as I thought my lifestyle was really shitty like I wasn’t spend I didn’t want to spend any money how would you get money
Then I was working for the NSF store cuz they had their own shop for a little bit that Chris Su owned and I was making their adverse for ride all right and if that I think I don’t we give me under quid or whatever but that’s that goes
Far when you yeah so I was living off of that um yeah just eating like just eating chips and crisps every day and stuff like yeah Scavenging or whatever and what was what was the like what was the do you know what the view of the NSF
Crew was on the rest of the BMX scene in the UK that they wasn’t friendly with like like did they have like a [ __ ] these guys [ __ ] we the we we’re doing it now like it seemed like from the outside that was a vibe that they kind of carried for a while I
Think they did carry that Vibe a bit yeah yeah they did um and I think if you look at geographically where they were they’re just such a remote thing even from the other Northern towns it’s like it’s far up in it yeah and so yeah I
Remember I remember back in the day I think it was one of them sting like a map a map of ride UK coverage and like you know made it quite obvious like why aren’t you coming out here all that sort of thing but I mean I think by the time
I got there they were a lot less an antagonistic than they were when you heard the stories of the [ __ ] they’d all get up to beforehand you know there was all a little bit more sort of well they’ve got a couple of years older as
Well probably so I mean a lot of them were still a bunch of bastards but they weren’t like they weren’t as gnarly as what I remembered hearing stories of them doing yeah CU they had they had quite a reputation at one point in time I remember yeah probably early maybe
2002 2003 yeah but it did seem to like relax a bit especially when funny enough once they start getting in the mags it kind of yeah funny it but that’s what happens that’s what happens to everyone like yeah yeah but also I think that like if you’re getting in the mags because
You’re taking the riding a bit more seriously and you’re a bit more focused what you’re doing in the mag it’s not like you don’t just say I want to be in the mag and you get in the mag you got to earn it like yeah but but that’s
Usually what happens yeah but it was I remember that was a great that was such a great time living up there I mean you go riding and there’d be like a a fleet of people with you yeah 15 yeah huge crew riding around it’s brilliant you
Don’t really get that very often do you did did you guys aware of like the the older guys that used to well they still did ride but Dave Young and Steven Le yeah yeah those guys are very aware of them yeah they would talk about them all
The time like what they we ride past like I there was a guy called Mark Bell as well that was quite prominent up there but Dave Young was one him for sure we like oh yeah he’s done that and this has been done yeah they were always sort of that’s excellent I’d always
Heard about what they’re up to back in the day brilliant amazing um and then like so you moved back down south yeah back to where uh I think I had a brief I think I had a brief pit stop back in uh Portsmouth for a bit and then
After that I was off to Hastings okay and then that’s where I was for like eight years or something I was there for ages and ages and was you working at four down be like before you moved to Hastings or was yeah yeah what was the first things you were doing there how
Did that come about that um you’re on SNM already right I must have been right I’m help you’re going to help me with this time here I would say got I would say that you come back move to Portsmouth guess I think that’s when I that’s when you get on
SN I think you bang on there John I think you bang on trying to guess guess work C’s doing stuff for four down so yeah I think you’re Bang the Inception of four down is probably at the same time so yeah no it definitely was when I was back in Portsmouth actually okay
Yeah it was so that was um so retribution wise that would have been 2.5 all right nsf3 would have been just coming out then and uh yeah I was there for a bit and I was working as a graphic designer at the time in a design studio
And I had to go and we was on this awful shoe company called Odessa I remember it horrendous things they were that’s what I thought you were sponsored by them before but it was a good good team though it was just mates on the team oh
They were horrendous wer they you had to put like three insoles in them to make them function yeah real bad um but yeah the team was it was me uh cley Josh Bedford uh James nurick Kelly Bolton for some reason uh bomber he was on it oh bomber was on it
As well yeah and they they sent us all on a trip to um to Barcelona I think was barcel I remember the magazine feature you had pictures in that didn’t you yeah and um and Cy was making the video Cy was filming it making the video okay and
Um I think it was whilst I was on that trip I think Dean or someone said to me we need somebody to you know make regular videos for us and you know would you be interested and honestly I’m pretty sure the only reason they asked me to do the
First place is because they asked Joe Cox first and he didn’t want to do it so so like they asked me and I was like yeah definitely want to do that um and I think whilst I was on that trip uh I I just called the students I’m
Not I’m not coming back I’m going to make BMX videos now and then then that I just started making these fall down videos so that was imminent yeah yeah yeah I’m pretty sure I came back up a trip with the n and what was the do you remember the first
Video you made for them um I think that it was uh it was either at home with Ben Lewis um where I just PL the weekend with very young Ben Lewis um shadowing him or it might have been something to do with that summer and Badness thing
That’s right I think I had to edit that together in fact the very first job that I did for him was do you remember that United DVD called [ __ ] what was it called oh no don’t matter yeah yeah right they they emailed me and
Said can you do you know how to author a DVD I thought no i’ got no idea author a DVD I like yeah I can definitely do that because I was like they’re going to ask me to author a DVD for him can you author don’t matter video yeah no
[ __ ] problem and I remember just learning how to do that did learn to do DVD menus and all that sort of thing that was the first paid thing I ever did from for or yeah that that was the Inception of United by it was their yeah yeah that’s
My first little job I did but yeah the filming thing came a fair amount later and that was filmed by um Fraser Fraser bur burn Fraser Burn yeah and then so and then you’re in and you’re going like four down yeah then that was me for 10
Years what was was you doing other stuff for them or was it just the video stuff at first um I don’t think I did much else okay that’s what I thought yeah no I don’t think I did much else just video films and editing and stuff but like through but it was quite
Good because obviously at that point they had there was quite a few Brands kicking around on four down with quite a lot of active team Riders so there’s always something to do um and that lasted all so I’m getting my timeline sorted out now because then
We went to Australia in 2008 for three weeks to make that down under tour thing oh yeah and then that it was on that trip that Ian said um so we make like a a new United video yeah full video so yeah but by that point i’ I’d been
Pumping out loads of fall down United edits on all sorts of people and that was just as like you basically BMX YouTube was kind of becoming a proper thing was it yeah yeah yeah or Vimeo whatever you put it videos online were like becoming yeah I think it was
Starting to slowly become accepted by the riders that you could do something good and it’ be fine it’s just going on the internet rather than a hard copy thing cuz I remember having that conversation with people a lot when when that crossover was happening like they’d
Be asking me is this going on DVD or is it going for web and if it was DVD they’d do the hammer if it was web they’ just sort of do something bit [ __ ] you know I’m saving this for a hard copy thing yeah yeah no I kind of remember
That sort of thing as well people weren’t people weren’t convinced about it were they they were throw really yeah but then like if you think about you know how many DVDs you’re going to sell compared to how many people going to watch the online you know it does make
Sense do the better thing for the web but at the time I would have thought the same I for the internet everyone’s everyone’s Viewpoint was like that at that point yeah it’s probably to some extent a lot of people still are like because ultimately something hard copy is better than the
Internet people see it the people see it usually more into it like yeah you buy a DVD it’s cuz you want it yeah yeah and then like so you you’re fully on SNM at this point as well like what what was your obligations to for riding for SNM
Was it was it just like nothing you just had to just ride yeah I have any obl had ads and stuff I had to do an ad every now and again okay yeah that was an obligation um no like I mean at that point I was quite I was quite active off
My own back doing my own stuff um I never really felt that and also it was pretty I don’t know what the pressures are on a sponsored Rider now in terms of H up they got a post on their Instagram and all that [ __ ] but obviously didn’t
Have to do that yeah so I did a print out every now and again and yeah just keep keep riding really so yeah and who who was you riding with around this period um and where where where would you been going like what would have been the the normal riding session for you
Cuz you turned into filming turned into like a real full time didn’t it yeah there’s definitely a fork in the road for me where you sort of uh stopped looking at stuff thinking right maybe I’m going to build myself up and I’m going to try this to being like Oh I
Know I’m going to tell this person because they’ll be perfect for me to film them on this um but har was riding with what when I was in in Hastings yeah I used toide the in a lot actually okay um Mark Tanner used to ride with quite a
Lot um yeah used to r e an awful lot when I was living around there cuz we get up early and go early morning sort of stuff and then still traveling around I mean obviously I was traveling a lot when I was living in Hastings I wasn’t at home
An awful lot really we because we was so was quite lucky I was getting to ride with whoever I was filming and in the early days of it you know I’d often put you you wouldn’t start filming till whoever was film we’d have a bit of a ride together grab the
Camera um see I was R with all sorts of people really but still we’re still traveling a lot and doing our own things own trips so quite a wide sort of Network people out north people around our area never really spoke to anyone back where I was from though from I left then
Weirdly oh no about faren though right a little bit but yeah I mean it’s strange really you think those people you grow up with you’re going to you’re going to have this special bond ride with them forever be friends with them forever but it’s weird some s I’ve moved around a little bit
It’s always sort of surprised me every time that like you leave a scene you’re like oh like like we were never made yeah gone like tur the feel my flesh yeah yeah sometimes yeah he’s like that but I was coming here a lot as well um especially when I living in h every
Weekend yeah i’ always come up here stay with b or Marv yeah and uh that was like my weekend sort of ritual if that would be a very regular thing for me so that was that was probably that’s was my sort of favorite people what what when did the four piece
Bar Fascination come in is that around this time yeah probably okay yeah that how did it come about as well from so you saying you slam bar guy at first right yeah and then it moved to what Bob bars yeah yeah I mean they were better
For bar spins cuz they’re smaller yeah I just felt they something about them because they’re a bit flatter and a bit smaller thought they just [ __ ] I have the same the same thing a lower bar is better for but this goes around quicker yeah you can get over it
As well get your shoulders over it okay this is this is in in line with the way I’ve always thought as well power lights were good for bar SP I think if you want to do a good bar spin you got to got to be like in a perfect box do you know
What I mean yeah over there you wait see so what’s the etiquette for the perfect B spin well I’m I’m actually not qualified talk about because I don’t even spin them the right way I spin my bars the wrong way so for a start I think you should spin them the opposite
To the way I do cuz I you spin them both you can spin them the other way yeah I can but my regular my regular is an opposite for okay so you’re so if you’re doing a truck you’re going the long way around with the B spin so you’re throwing it into your
Back foot yeah okay so for a start don’t do that yeah and yeah but what like so your ideal BP because I know that you’re known for the B spin like is is what what in terms of technique yeah technique and position right then well yeah like I said I think the
Box I don’t I don’t like the hanging off the back ones okay you got be in this box position nice clamp shoulders over the bars this this kind of a position when you throwing them tend to sort of drw you let go of them at about you know
90 just before 90 then you adopt this position yeah and then this hand’s coming down and you’re catching it just before they get back to where they’re supposed to be just a fraction before so do you catch it you you catch it at like 45 like so say that would be 90 you’re
Catching it a 45 before yeah just before just before bang not 90 no no no no no no no that’s that’s a faux part yeah I believe so okay and also you know when people do that that thing oh no no no you get the salad toss that’s not on
Either that’s and uh I like to land if pass both both EX not not if it’s a big one but none of this like yeah no no no and same with the bar position a bit like a good three you know like a good three you’re level
Aren’t you all the way around there something I was never much good at this either but like you know you’re level the whole way same with the bar spin like I like it when the bike’s like horizontal yeah that’s when it looks best when it’s horizontal or even like
You know get like a good truck driver photo and the front is actually lower than the back I say in 360 I say the front end should be a little bit lower the back I think so but sometimes they like they do look good flat like yeah
Yeah I know what you’re saying amazing when you do that sort of Tuck you know that little pop in the middle good good I like trick talk and so yeah the baring you got and that was it you you got into him four piece bars and you never went back right
No I guess not I mean I did I did move up to Big Bobs but I cut them down to the exact same length as normal Bobs to kind of mask it okay but yeah I just felt like I just I think as well what I like about four piece is that you’re
Categorizing yourself straight away as like you’re in the Box yeah yeah that’s sort of run that I like don’t talk to you about that’s what I think yes it’s definitely and I think a lot of it’s probably that just like that sort of that look I mean if you ride like riding
Trails or junks with but that it looks [ __ ] doesn’t it yeah it looks real bad for the most part I mean sometimes you watch old videos and some people look really good on them and what about the the seat height for the bar spin you mean like what do I think is
Acceptable yeah yeah like cuz you know remember when people were having slam seats and doing bar spins and it was just like well yeah because you got side to S side the bike was always pointed out well you it’s cuz basically there you’re just catching yourself before you
Flip off the back that’s right yeah I mean I like I like clamping just above the just above the knee just above the knee yeah cuz you get a solid clamp then the bike don’t move at all you do whatever you want with your hands you
Got seat up there so that’s what I mean I think the bike looks a bit better when the seat’s actually a bit lower than that but uh yeah I think for a perfect bar spin you got to sacrifice you got go up a touch yeah you got to go up a touch
Yeah so same what about a suicide cuz I know you you b a suicide guy same thing same same exact technique exactly the same but the I don’t know why I even got into them because I don’t even really like them that much I think they look
Cool yeah I can’t remember I think that’s again that’s probably something from the old L’s Bells kind of stuff like suicide bar spins and all that sort of thing or maybe like there was definitely an influenc in there because none of the R Street riders that I well
Modern Street Riders I like did that sort of [ __ ] it just feels good I think I think it looks good yeah yeah and it’s no Nobody Does it as well distinct same technique as the bar exactly really exactly the same just the bars yeah still that same shoulders over the grips yeah
Yeah nice and did you ever do any filming for um ride uh I might have film I think I filmed a fit ride to Glory once or something I thought you filmed a ride to Glory but I wasn’t 100% sure I think that’s when I first met M was filming
Him on a fit right to Glory Marv was on a ride to Glory yeah that’s [ __ ] insane was so Benson must have been on it orward no he was on it I don’t know if he was double double duties on that one maybe but Marvel’s definitely not
Dakota Roose was on it uh who were Scott ditchburn I reckon Bango maybe I don’t [ __ ] remember okay it was a long time ago it was good one though I it was a good one I remember I met Marv on that one because he tried immediately
Bullying me you what you not met him before not before that R of Glory no [ __ ] crazy huh yeah it’s sort of like yours hovering in similar circles but never got a chance to I had that with a few people um like really a big scheme of things I
Only met Joe Cox fairly recently which is mad really I lived with his brother for years yeah that is mad but it’s just like you know ships in the night yeah yeah totally how many times have you been mistaken for Joe Cox I’ve had a lot I’ve
Had a lot of free pints for voices say you that I get mistake for him all the time well I used to I’d even I remember like I’d go on some some trip to America to go and film someone I me this what story I’m going to talk about is I film Ryan
Metro for the United video and he just decided not to book any time off work for my stay so I every day just doing nothing and um so I just befriended whoever he was riding with we was going riding with him we had a great time whole week of riding together they put
Me on their blog you know like all right get home amazed to meet Joe Cox [ __ ] week it happened all the time but yeah lot of I’ve had a lot of points that a lot of hats on the back yeah I’ve been there for a few of them yeah funny is it
It’s good yeah I like the way you just go along with it yeah yeah I did I did go along with it yeah no worries yeah it just became easy that way but I remember it was frustrating CU like I mean he was a [ __ ] legendary guy obviously this is why this has
Happened I I’ve made I’ve made 60 videos this year he’s made two of the [ __ ] I’m still get mistaken for Joe Cox yeah I don’t know if it I’m sure it still would happen now I’m sure some would still think I was him yeah yeah I’ll take it though you could be
Mistaken for someone worse could you yeah I don’t think I don’t think I’ve ever met him yeah I know of anyway um and then like where so where do we go from there you film this is United yeah is that is that the next step I feel
Like we bounced around a little bit yeah it’s all right we can go back and forward I started filming this is united in uh I mean like I said that Australia trip was 2008 um and it was in February and I think later that year we started filming it
What was the Australian who was on that it was quite it was um Cory and Nathan and that was the first time I’ve met Cory on that one okay and we didn’t get on at all we hated each other um well he hated me so I just disliked him back out
Of all and then uh we had K and Leo on it um and then I think Ryan Metro was on it can’t remember who else maybe that was it Jeff L maybe I think maybe that’s was before he was even on it okay but we were there for three weeks and that was
The first time I’d been out of Europe and I was just three weeks in Australia BOS I remember it being like [ __ ] hell this is crazy what we doing here for three weeks but um yeah it was good did loads of shop you shop visits and signings you
Know all that kind of stuff yeah I remember the video yeah you went to that like skate park where Kai jumps over the he almost jumps over one of the like minis or something yeah it was good but yeah I remember um Cory didn’t like me because
Uh I mean I was quite a star struck cuz it was like Cory from Nightmare yeah and it was my well that was one of my first big sort of filming gigs with him and so I was just always L to music in one ear
Just to kind of get me you know get me going but so I’d be like sat in some bowl or whatever waiting and Cory would just be going like coxy coxy be like just jamming out what do you want and I remember him just being like he’s at that point like
A veteran professional Rider he’s like what’s this Joker doing listen to music but yeah we learned to love each other in the end good so yeah you and then you film can you can you remember like how that what that was like this is United like what what what was the what
What what had you been given like what what was the time frame like was there a budget like like was there an idea of where you was going like or or did it was it just made up as they went along because it I think it was a big budget video for the
Time or well at the time stop like at the time I don’t think that there were people going to that many countries yeah and especially that like just that many times it wasn’t just like one cool trip somewhere it was like multiple cool trips but I was never really that
Involved in like the production of that video like the managing of it like it would just be I just get like a ticket in the inbox you know like an e ticket for a play oh I’m going I’m going to California again or oh I’m going to Africa or
Whatever so I remember it being like an exciting time but I mean it felt like it was a big budget I mean you’re taking usually I mean towards the end we would cherry picking like you know Jeff needs an Ender or Kai needs an Ender so we were taking smaller Crews at the
Beginning you’re taking these eight eight man Crews to bloody God knows wherewhere for 10 days Hawaii was Hawaii I think that one was funded by um finger bikes oh okay well I think the finger bike thing helped like [ __ ] it we’ll go to Hawaii because there was a United
Finger bike so I think that was a cool thing to do like whatever come in like right let’s just let’s all have a um I mean I might be wrong there that’s what I remember it being uh but yeah it was it was mad really going to those places
And like I’ve got a map at home of uh all the places I’ve been filming I put a little pin and over be and to be honest even now it was years ago even now the vast majority of those were from that that video just went everywhere yeah I remember well when the
Video we done a few of them with you didn’t we yeah when the video came out like it was Global was it like yeah I mean I think you know come in that case there was a book yeah the opening spread of that book is just all these College
Of plane tickets they were just my ones oh yeah and it looks like you know hundreds of that was just my ones don’t even think I own that anymore wonder where that’s gone I’ve sure got a few in stock still who who was like the good people
To film for that Jeff latry straight away was like one of my favorites because he was I like hanging out with him as well yeah um Nathan was really good in fact you know at that point I’d already been filming with that whole team pretty much for so long that it all of
It was fun and all of it was easy oh I was they were all friends yeah yeah we were all we were really close because I mean I wasn’t filming any other teams or any other Riders and it was a long time that I was working with United
So yeah by that point we spent and you know the time that you spend with someone on a trip it’s like I think a day you spend with on a trip is like a week in real life especially if you’re filming and doing like like dangerous stressful
Things as well yeah you’re part of the conversation as well like you feel like you know I’m actually involved in them saying like shall I do can I do this which was quite a sort of felt like a responsibility but um I remember Jeff being quite hard to film because the
Setups that he was riding were so big that you could often not get them in one nice frame you’d have to use two angles or be like quite far back and at that point I had this kind of idea for this video that I was going to film it in a
Very particular way and that was actually it was basically I was trying to I don’t really know why I did it really I was trying to film everything either just like fisheye or it it would have to be like on a steady cam or like on a gliding sort of like
Tracker or a tripod tracker and that yeah uh I think it was just to sort of make it give it a look but that was actually end up being quite a constraint filming people like Jeff because the easiest thing to do would be to like do
It like H and I don’t know if that was a mistake looking back but you you know it was good to have a a brief for it to give it a certain look but Jeff was hard to film Cory was really easy to film but all of them were like a pleasure you
Never you never have a Fallout you know never think oh [ __ ] this it’s just like a good time okay that’s nice no low stress on the uh on the people yeah no it was always it was always um it was always good I mean every now and again
Ian and I was still sort of exchange message you know send like a little screen grab or something like do you remember this [ __ ] it out that was amazing what it so I think it was quite a special time for everyone involved in that really yeah it was good and it was
It was a good like I think the company was in a good place at that time and it sort of lifted it was it was a good video was it it like lifted everything up at that point they felt like elite team then as
Well yeah it was a big deal and it came out well like expectations were probably quite high for that video and it delivered so that’s a quite and also like the brief for that video was it was like I knew that Ian loved Lai videos girl skateboard videos those
Kind of chocolate stuff Ty Evans work and so that’s always in fact lot time I was pissing cor if I listen to music it was normally listening to music from those videos to try and keep me in that kind of get you in the vibe yeah CU they
Always had this kind of high production value and it was like they they didn’t really have that kind of that kind of dirty Edge to him it was always like good like high like it’s elevated sort and so that was kind of brief like let’s try and make something
Like I mean I don’t think he even told me in words he was just oh James what’s this what’s this watch’s this and I was like okay I get I get the kind of five what we’re going for here and it was interesting to work like
That you know to uh to sort of okay I’m going to try and make something that feels like a BMX equivalent of of this kind of work how how long was that two years or something yeah about that it was about two years I guess it would have been about that yeah just
Completely consumed by it for and then like it won a nor a cup right yeah it got it got the video of the year one and it got and Cory got video part of the year as well and how was that what bit did you you went yeah
Yeah yeah got to go in so that would have been inter bike interbike 2011 I think or 2010 one of the two yeah yeah yeah I mean premiered it in London as well didn’t they remember wied Premier it really good bridge but so they said I mean we used to we were
Going to intern bike every year anyway um and you know obviously because our video was up oh we’re going to go to that obviously and you know we get these special passes we get you some free drinks and picked up in a posh car and
All this I was like [ __ ] know this is all right and I thought like you know we’d have a chance I think we got a chance for this you know like you remember who else was in there yeah so another video that was in it was a documentary about Matt Hoffman like yeah
When fudger um kind of I don’t know we sort of met him at the door or whatever and he took me aside he was just like you know that United video you done was really good and if it wasn’t for that Matt Hoffman video I think you would
Have had it and I was just like and I was just like all right we didn’t get it and so I just set about drinking then I was like I’m not going to have to go on a stage or do a so I I just started drinking and you can smoke anywhere you
Want in Vegas except for in this one place where we they were doing the Norah cup and I’d found that like I could lie under the stage and just smoke like under the stage and I could just totally get away with it so I was using this
Band that i’ been given and just I was just too drunk basically and I was just lying on this stage smoking these siggies and I can hear they’re doing the the thing for the video of the year and uh [ __ ] want it doesn’t matter and
Then I heard like this is United so to like come like just sliding out from under the stage I went up onto the and because I was under the stage already I was the first person up there just like a sort of don’t I did it’s NJ it’s me I’ve got get up
There yes I’m up there and like kind of got got to the mic and and I just like stopped and sort of like sort of feedback [ __ ] there’s a lot of people here and uh I just sort of just I’ve just Frozen like a deer in the
Headlights and I I remember I just went this is for England like just like tumble weed I figed [ __ ] me someone just come up here and say something well you was on your own up there for a hot minute I was yeah and then and then it was like
Filmed and everything I this sucks and then in the end like you know the whole team’s up there Ian’s up there and and then it’s like all good again but I remember I was just dying up there man like [ __ ] hammered you know just like really intimidated oh yeah it was
It was bad it was bad and I always wanted to redeem myself for it but I never got a chance to really it was like really horrifying moment but um so why did he tell you that you had one guess he was just [ __ ] with
Me oh really yeah but it sent me on a wrong course really I wouldn’t have been lining me back under the [ __ ] stage if I’d have known that I might have to get up there and say something coherent can you remember what what other videos what
Ones were up there so that was what bir of the big air or something yes yeah is that what it was called I think so not 100% sure that was the last one I it’s the one where he’s riding the big ramp and stuff like and he crashes
Into yeah there lots of like talking in it yeah yeah I think I think it was that one so yeah that was another one I wanted to talk you about the ride interview oh yeah that was just before I think this is United was it yeah it must have been I think so
Anyway I’m pretty sure what how did that one come about like so were you you becoming a regular in the mags at Point yeah we were all in quite a lot at that point not so much in ride though but okay um yeah we was in it all the time
Like I started cuz I used to collect them you know I used to keep buy an extra one and keep them safe if all right one of us lot was in them but I remember in the end I just stopped doing it cuz I was like well one of us is in
All of them so it kind of devalued it a bit almost but um I don’t remember how the ride one came about but I was definitely I think I know maybe maybe like Ian or someone would just like said oh do something whatever it was but I
Did it did that one with Steve Bank oh that was with banners I thought it with Robin some reason Robin was there shooting some uh depressing behind the scenes video of the whole thing oh okay because so basically we did this we did this ride interview and it that was like
10 pages or something it was big yeah and so I had this kind of list of like I’m going to do this this this this this and I was just like I’m not going to do like a double bar spin I don’t want to cuz I’m always doing them and like I
Thought I want to like you know do something different so I found like some cooler stuff to do and I thought it went quite well you know I did it over a couple of days and then when was it done I did most of it in Cy okay and I few
Things that I was quite scared of and it all sort of worked out fine pictures looked good so I was sort of done with it and then I got a phone call from banners like a few weeks later a couple of weeks later and he said I I think
That you need to go and do this you know it’s good interview but like you need to do this double bar really I I want those Steve that’s not how you have to really because you know think about it you got you know you got this SNM thing and you
Know fall down and like we’re back he talked you into it yeah he did talk me into it yeah and it was a it was drizzling and B I was in the middle of moving house and c I was in a bad mood that day so I was pissed off but I was
Like all right I’ll [ __ ] do it then I’ll come and do it I was like right meet me in Southampton find some stairs and that’s the day when Robins come out with his [ __ ] camcorder to shoot so I’m I’ve got them cuz I don’t want to do
It and we’re going to all these different stairs I’m just trying to basing down I’m like no this isn’t right this isn’t right then baners takes us to this great big whacking great set of stairs really like coily like really no no it’s just something else I just jump that’s I
Jumped over the okay that’s out focus but he said his [ __ ] long set stairs and I jumped I like probably down a bar been done before or whatever and I just like these are too long cuz for me the way that I do this trick is like I
Need if I go too fast there’s some sort of physics that I don’t understand why but it makes my bars go around slower so I need a big drop but I don’t be going if I go full Pelt it won’t go around he’s not along but he’s setting up the
Flashes all right explaining why you flashes right we’re doing it and then yeah basically I had three three Pops at it and I really [ __ ] I [ __ ] myself up really bad like I the third one I I did something bad to my ribs my both my ankles my finger like everything
Was hurt and I couldn’t ride for months after that and uh I got Robin on this [ __ ] video camera was lying on these stairs like that and he’s just like thought he said you could do this every time [ __ ] off yeah but they run the sequence did
They of me crashing it yeah remember with a caption saying something like James said that he had this trick on lock but that clearly wasn’t the case or something that and that but I’m still laid up just read and when you say double bar spin is
It no it’s bar catch bar okay all right that’s that’s one yeah I always think because no one does double bar spins really no I could I used to do them off um like a speed speed bump you know or just a straight let them go but I just
Found downstairs I could never I could only ever get one and a half so I just started catching them halfway and spinning them again because then it was a trick that I found really easy just twice rather than a difficult trick I couldn’t do I think a double looks much better though doubles
Gnarly as [ __ ] yeah yeah yeah it’s a way czy does them now but as far as I know I’ve not seen anyone really do them like that’s what they call a double bar spin his catch is a one to one or something you’re right that’s not a double bar is
That a one to one or is a one to one I thought a one to one was back again yeah okay okay so that’s what what’s that then a catch B being catch B spin what yeah I guess so but it’s definitely easier it’s a lot easier to do that than
That’s be clear I thought the one to one was that yeah that makes sense then it one yeah yeah from the ’90s yeah oh nice what else we got here um yeah so the SNM signature seat what was what’s the story there uh uh I don’t remember really I don’t
Remember much much of my Life by the you tell me joh why I want that then I don’t know I think they just offered it they they came to you with that idea I definitely can’t imagine I’d have gone to Chris M said I need a seat yeah yeah
Me neither yeah and yeah I think obviously I just went for like a [ __ ] Big B seat pivotal but it was a nice looking seat though when it under the the like graphic through a keyho what was the idea of that um I just kind of into that I was into
Like eyes all seeing eyes and like you know like look like people through a keyho to like you know to a conspiracy or something you know um but I remember like even now actually I mean I don’t know I don’t talking about really now BMX but I always find hard to find a
Decent seat which just black yeah with no [ __ ] on it like weird Graphics or anything yeah no you’re right a nice just a nice black seat yeah subtle yeah yeah I don’t think the seat should really be a focal point of your bike really well not with yeah not not all
Like weird colors and stuff yeah so I like a black just a black seat and like the did you pick the fabric that went around it I wasow yeah yeah I mean doing a pivotal seat it’s like ordering a pizza is 100% so I just
Got the fat the fat was it yeah it was a fat the biggest one and just had these I remember I said we wanted to have like grippy a grippy fabric cuz yeah yeah and then that little Stitcher thing on it the little K that was all
There was to it really but they had the emboss yeah yeah they is that your idea or theirs I think that that I think that maybe they come back and said we should put some SNM branding on it somewhere but rather than having a shield I think
We must have agreed let’s keep it really subtle cuz I think I was quite intent on it being like very simple black seat it did look good though it was a nice product packaging was nice as well when it yeah yeah you can still you can still
Get it but they took me name off yeah I saw yeah but it’s like it’s not that subtle now though either oh really version is like oh the SNM logo the de it’s quite deep or or like it’s shinier or something I do remember seeing it recently thinking know it looks
Different so I think that’s what it is I should have kept how it was yeah yeah it it was nice with it with because you could barely see it could you that’s right Ang yeah especially when he’ ridden it for a while yeah I mean I don’t know how happy they’d be about
That really a couple of months almost completely gone and did you ever meet mola yeah how was that uh him over here or over there I went I went there I went to the the factory snn oh cool yeah um I was really [ __ ] Star Struck yeah I think I’m I
Think every time I met him I was Star Struck all right so you met him a few times I yeah like uh yeah I met him a few times and I just be like just sat there like it’s [ __ ] legendary just a legendary character and he yeah and he’s really
Good at [ __ ] making people cracks yeah so I’m just G [ __ ] don’t catch his attention you yeah yeah keep quiet and hope nothing happens yeah yeah exactly and uh yeah so so like if we go on a bit further than that what was the next like video stuff that you made uh
After you just did it was probably an uh probably antidote antidote but you did like a whole run of four down stuff oh yeah that kept going like that kept going doing Day in the Life do lives we did the Canada Trip thing we did I mean
That was just ongo all sorts of product all the time and Team guys yeah it was a busy it was a busy time from what I can remember yeah if we weren’t making a promo for someone’s bars and I was doing a day in the life with someone or video
Part then and then you move then you kind of moved on to antidote yeah which was which had which was pretty popular really like considering it was quite shortlived it was it was small and shortlived with a very Niche look and a very Niche team as well and what was
What was the the ideal behind that like the idea behind that was basically having been like a kind of career BMX film for so long I felt like I wanted to make some stuff that was like how I wanted something to sound or for yourself yeah it was just a pure vanity
Project just to make me happy yeah and I mean I loved all the stuff I used to do but obviously you know doing your own thing yeah yeah yeah yeah you constantly if you if you doing with someone else for all them years not even all them
Years but like you want to do your own thing you’re creative you want to you want to let something out don’t you and I think the stuff that I’m like really into is maybe a bit darker or you know bit more different Ed to it yeah so yeah it was
Really therapeutic to and basically the whole idea of the the clothes and the rest of it like I liked that logo but then it all just became about like this is the best reason to assemble another cool crew of people that I like and go and make another video and do something
EXC basically my everything to BMX right from the start it’s an excuse to do something creative yeah printing a t-shirt or you know yeah yeah making a Zen or making a video taking a photo that’s it’s a great Avenue to do stuff isn’t it yeah so yeah that was yeah that
Was brilliant I loved doing that antidote stuff absolutely loved all of it and also having done it before with retribution and learning some lessons and things and being older a bit wiser just I felt like the whole all everything do was just a bit closer to I
Don’t CRM so hard when I look at that stuff you know yeah no I remember the videos being cool as well did was the video just online thing or did you DVD it um I did I did do DVDs but they were like right back to my sort of roots
Again like duplicated at home okay and printed out my own sleeves oh completely took it back yeah yeah and how did you come up with like that that logo and the name like um like was the was the name like an it’s an antidote to the stuff
That you didn’t really like in BMX exactly that’s exactly what it was yeah and then the logo is an old symbol used in Alchemy for arsenic all right which I thought was quite a nice parallel what would it be an antidote and a poison for
The logo and also that logo just look it just had a look to it that I I really liked especially when we printed it big on a T-shirt and you’d see someone wearing you’d be like what the [ __ ] is that gold is it like there’s a lot of
Power in in these old symbols you know it’s a and it’s really nice to kind of inherit some like you know adopt some every now and again yeah of course but yeah I I love that logo it’s a good thing to just scroll on stuff and scratch on things
Yeah and what was was there like a double triangle in there somewhere as well yeah it was like yeah so that the actual a it was like the top triangle was upside down and the bottom triangle was open-ended like almost like an a it’s basically if you it’s pretty
Similar to the Alchemy version of it it’s just a little just a touch more style I think I rounded off a couple of but it’s pretty true to the original one and what was the product range uh well again right back to square one just started with t-shirts but um nicer
T-shirts yeah and then we did some a bunch of hats but again it was Al a lot raar again like I was SE in my own labels onto the caps and the beanies sorry um there’s a lot more to a DIY like of the t-shirts and like crew necks
And things I’d like bleach them like tie like do tie dye like stuff and just do one-offs and things and every every t-shirt I mean I didn’t end up doing this all the way through because it it got I was selling too many but I used to
Always draw a picture draw a little picture and write a little letter and everything would come out okay cool yeah yeah um but yeah ended up doing some more more windbreaker jacket well coach jacket sort of thing so a bit more lines bit more like this one um
I think that’s about it really it was a really simple range of stuff like often if someone did you do pin badges oh yeah we always did pin badges always did little packs of pin badges yeah I’ve always liked to pin badge but normally it would be like someone off the team would
Say I want a I want a cap like this I’ll do that then you know I’d ask people what they wanted who who was the team um all right so it was Sandy Marv uh Leo McKenna was was on it for a bit he’s from a strange ways kind of crew
Okay uh shanki from Sheffield Tommy C from Sheffield uh nurik I mean it was a bit of Reincarnation of of Retribution yeah yeah but I mean it was going to be I think that was the main sort of the main oh Nathan Williams was on it which
Anomaly and then G little Jeff from uh New York I think he was on it for five minutes or something oh and then I had um Peggy and Oho from the motor bunker SC and I think that was my first little introduction with those guys and I
Cannot remember how I got in touch with them or how they got in touch with me but I saw them riding I was like it was because they were doing this thing called horig at start before it was motor bunk I was like this is an interesting scene yeah and um someone
Helped me reach out to them and I had those I Japanese connect as well so on a lot of the labels we had the like the three flags for the like the UK flag the American flag and the Japanese flag and uh yeah that was cool having this kind
Of like little mini International crew but it was good fun when we were doing the stuff I loved it yeah yeah man it looked fun as well was how long did that last that was short I think it was only a what we talking a couple years two
Years or something something like that and what how comes that just peted out I mean I think a lot of it was because um it had legs like like to be fair you know like yeah well I remember I still get the occasional you know person
Saying you know K you still got anything I want and I still see people wearing it sometimes but I think it was mainly because I wasn’t I just wasn’t riding like cuz because now when when antidote was really G I was living in London by this
Point all right and uh I think by the end of it I just wasn’t really riding that much anymore I just I just peed it out so much that I was just like this is such a true orientated brand that if I’m just making everything out of like
Submitted Clips I wasn’t even there I just feel like it’s not real it’s not you turned I’m playing a [ __ ] part one of them yeah and so I just thought I’d rather just like if I’m not there and I’m not then it’s just time for me to stop it so I just
Over why did you get out of riding like uh I think it’s probably burn out do you think I think being inside the industry for so long I think I don’t think that helped um a lot of the like hobbies that I have now I try to look too far into it
Because I think when you know too much about Tak the beauty away when you but when you’re riding for fun and then you end up it’s your job as well it’s easy for it to take the beauty away like yeah because you you’re so involved and you
Know all the bad bits about it yeah that’s right so even if like you you say like having some Hobbies now you’re never going to get that deep into some of them things you know no I don’t think so I mean you’re not never going to live
It like that stuff and even now like I still would on a kneejerk reaction I’d sort of describe myself it would be like right BMX you know you’re not [ __ ] PMX Ro anymore but like it’s so far in there do you know what I mean but yeah um but don’t you see that
Like I I would I mean I’ve yeah I don’t know this I’ve not I’m not F out love of it to the extent where I don’t do it anymore but like I would say that if you’ve ridden BMX for that long at that level and done that stuff that you’re
You’re almost never going to not be a BMX r no way your mindset is always going to be a BMX mindset and I still navigate myself around cities using handrails and flat Banks but I mean I think that for me it was just it wasn’t
Just that it was just um my job is a big part of it I’m so busy doing other stuff and also when I now we’re living down in Ry you know there’s it’s different when you’re with your mates and you know you going around some cool spots it’s
Different to draging yourself out on your own as a middle-aged man like right I’m going street riding like [ __ ] hell you know what I mean it’s it’s just kind of happened that way um we’ve got there’s a little skate park a little burn around that but
I’m not going to force myself to yeah I I’ll still go out occasionally and do like I did a three hot the other day on the ground see if I can still do it [ __ ] splended but yeah I think I’ll always you know I always consider myself to be a rider of
Some some description you still got a bike that’s cool it like still got a bike and I still I mean I think I make up for it inside my head by um because I do I still like work with Brands like I helped try Jones with the animations for
His swamp Fest thing this year and do like the design for motor bunker and if if someone comes with like oh can you help this little BMX thing or like can you help with this clip or whatever I’m always trying to help people as much as I can with whatever knowledge I’ve got
From the job I had you know yeah so I still feel involved in it but just maybe a different way you do threee hop first go oh I didn’t fall off the first one was a bit back wheel but you did it yeah first go yeah
How many did you do I reckon I did four just on the flat not off like curve on the flat yeah in a wet car Prett [ __ ] good didn’t see him I’ve not done a b in a while what you reckon I I’d like to think I could still
Do one yeah be pretty disappo scary like if you haven’t done one for a while right it’s easy to sit here without my bik no problem mate you want double yeah it’s easier when I’m here if you get me on a bite then maybe it’d be
Different a [ __ ] I could do a b [ __ ] h of course I could surely what what bike have you got now I’ve got a naan WI Willam King at the moment yeah no comment uh [ __ ] hell we Bree for them pretty good um what what I heard a story about lucid
Dreams yeah I went through is this when I went through a phase of trying to train myself to have lucid dreams yeah yeah I did for like a long time and what what was why well because I was working so lucid dreams is like when you when
You know you’re asleep right yeah you wake up in your dream and your whole life is like a Sandbox there you can be like right I’m going to go flying or yeah yeah okay yeah I’ve I’ve experienced it or you can even I’ve heard of some people who even have an
Alternate life there you know like they they’ll leave a life there and then they’ll revisit it the next day so I was kind of fascinated by this because a guy that I worked for once when when I was younger he it’s this [ __ ] boring job and he was just like I don’t care
Because I’ve got yeah because I’ve got a much better life in my in my sleep and so how do you do it and he told me these kind of basic ways to start doing it and like I tried it for ages I’ve got nowhere with it
Well you couldn’t do it no I did it a the only time I’ve ever managed to do it is um I was reading up on online and uh someone saying if you drunk this black absent stuff it and that did work I but it’s not a good life Habit to get into
His drink and absent absent alcohol disgusting strong alcohol okay and it LO it just locked me asleep and I just sort of woke up like oh it’s working and and because normally if you have a lucid dream and you think oh I’m asleep it wakes you up but this absence
Kept me it kept me locked into my dream so I was like oh I’m asleep Wicked like and what what did you what did you master up then I don’t remember I think well I think I went flying over a rainbow colored Valley actually oh you should remember if it’s
Lucid yeah so have you ever had sleep paralysis I’ve never had sleep paralysis um I’ve heard stories of it because that’s what people used to think was uh a demon sat on their chest isn’t it yeah I’ve heard stories of it but I’ve never suffered from it I used to have night
Terrors when you’d open your eyes and the dream would continue in your oh [ __ ] Waking Life uh but I’ve never had the paralysis I’ve had it twice yeah the paralysis was it terrifying yeah did it feel like something sat in your chest um it oh man
It it just felt like I was awake but couldn’t wake up I couldn’t move like but were you at were you awake and and the more I tried to get up the harder it was and I couldn’t I couldn’t I couldn’t move anything but I knew I was was awake
That’s weird and it was like yeah it was terrifying do you know what brought it on no is there a reason that brings these things on I don’t know I’ve not really looked into it but it I was actually asleep on Adam Peter’s couch and I slly the cushions come out this
Way and I was like real I was actually like in it you know and it was [ __ ] terrifying yeah and i’ never exper and it when it happened the next time I knew what it was so it wasn’t as bad oh so you remembered the last one even
Though so are you asleep you’re asleep you’re awake so you’re awake but you’re paralyzed yeah so you you can look around no you can’t you can’t see anything you can’t open your eyes or I couldn’t [ __ ] hell and it was I could the more I tried to like
Move the the less effect it had and then when I relaxed I woke up right yeah I don’t ever want that sounds terrible well it’s not bad the second time CU you kind of know what’s going on but just relax and get up it’s almost so that’s
Almost a lucid dream that’s a lucid moment isn’t it yeah yeah yeah but you couldn’t have converted it into like well I’m going to be on I was in such a panic like that I thought I was like I wasn’t going to move again or something like yeah it was pretty
Mad that’s going happen to me tonight now we spoke to spoke about it what about um astral planing like when when you um so you can sort of uh transmit your mind into like looking back at aliens building the pyramids and stuff like that I don’t know if that’s Asal projection astral
Yeah yeah yeah that’s it yeah yeah astral projection I had a friend who reckoned he he he could do it like yeah yeah I like listening to astral projection stuff but yeah I believe the military actually uh they called it something else though they VI give remote viewing that’s right they gave it
A proper go didn’t they yeah I’m not sure if I really what do you think about I’m undecided on the fence yeah I could see that what did your mate see he he used to say that he flew over the north circular [ __ ] sake what a
Waste he was into all of that magic stuff and that yeah but that’s that’s the only thing we was kids he was probably like 20 maybe 19 and he reckon he was astral [Laughter] projecting the north circular yeah over the north circular not really the best place to go i’ go definitely go
Somewhere else um but yeah what what about um UFOs what about give us the the what do you Reon I know that you you kind of gone into that a bit in depth so yeah I used to yeah like said I enough through my life I’ve had these phases of getting
Quite heavily into listen to hours of people talking about all sides of that sort of world I think most of them are absolutely insane but I think I think there’s something there’s something out there is there there has to be just just probability wise the
Amount of yeah yeah yeah def I would say definitely have they been I don’t know well I’ve I think I’ve seen a UFO I’m I’m almost C well I’ve seen one okay out of a plane um so I mean it unidentified flying objects so yeah do
You know about it yeah of course I do yeah where where was this plane I was flying back from Lisbon uh daylight so good ligh conditions and I’m looking I’ve got a window seat I’m looking out the window and uh there’s another plane flying parallel to
Us and um I’m just sort looking at the window at this plane and I see this uh this is the plane going along I see this ball thing just right behind it and it’s it’s it’s right on the back of the tail of this plane and it it’s got these
Three what looks like three lights that are like rotating and I’m watching this thing [ __ ] hell I’m sure that wasn’t there a minute ago wiping the window thinking’s that I’m looking at it and uh follows this plane like perfect how far from a good a good few minutes a good
Few minutes watch how far away from the plane was it it’s far away so I couldn’t tell exactly but I mean it looks like it would have been about under 10 ft back from its tail Al really close really close but it’s quite small and then I’m looking at it and I
Said to person at time look at this and we’re both looking at it what’s that and as we’re looking at it it just sun went [ __ ] off just straight up really fast and it was gone and we both saw it and it was such a weird thing that we didn’t
Even speak about it like what’ you say do you know what I mean like yeah just sort of sat there inide [ __ ] hell when was this uh good probably about seven years ago or something recent really yeah I suppose so yeah I was a full
Grownup and I saw it but I said I’m sure that was that was something weird um the thing is though right if if there was loads of about if there’s loads of about you think you get better footage of them aren’t you yeah yeah that is there’s not a lot of great
Footage of them if people are filming on phones and you you can’t really film you can’t zoom on a phone can you zoom [ __ ] like yeah I mean and that’s what you’re going to instantly going to do is zoom a you yeah yeah yeah it’s always like a zoom yeah
Well I’ve actually seen some good stuff recently of um this weird like this weird craft that looks almost organic with these tentacles hanging off of it and it’s flying over this AR it’s like a drone drone shop so don’t know where it is some sort of war zone at it’s just
Floating over all these barracks and it’s not making a shadow or anything it’s only getting picked up CU it’s on this one of these uh heat camera things I’ll send you it’s weird that’s one of the weirdest ones I’ve seen I thought well that looks that looks pretty good
Yeah but also right it’s a bit like what I think about ghosts in a way I kind of if ghost were to exist and I’m not putting ghost in the same bracket as as uh UFOs UFOs I think that’s a different world but if there were If ghosts were
Real you would be able to [ __ ] move for ghosts they’d be everywhere be busy be well busy you you’d be sick of the sight of them you would to see one old you know Victorian woman you don’t know how it works though I don’t know how it works
But you’d have thought that you know think about all the people who ever died ever with unfinished business who’s ever died thought well that’s all my business Tak care yeah yeah happy with that well I don’t know it’s quite probably yeah quite a few old people have probably
Take taking care of all their business they probably had a few years left to spare even with that though you’d see one you’d see a few every day everywhere you one there’s another one yeah I’d have I wonder what the theory behind that is but I don’t I don’t want to muddy the
Waters of euphology with the Paranormal don’t get them mixed in together don’t you dare get them mixed together and one other thing I wanted to ask you what do you think of uh of BMX the current state of BMX now do you do you follow it still I do follow it yeah
Okay I follow and I follow all of it like anything that spoon feds me on the internet anyway um I watch all the live contest stuff as much as I watch all like the independent little videos probably watch more than I do yeah I mean what’s my well it’s not my thing
Anymore is it like uh yeah that’s that’s why I want to know like what from the outside like looking back into something that you sew into like because I know a lot of people have this view of like oh it’s not what it used to be you know it has to change
Doesn’t it yeah if it was if it was still my sort of thing then it’ be a state it wouldn’t have moved for years you know but at the same time it is what it used to be maybe in the moment when you’re actually on that bike that’s
Exactly it that’s what’s who’s it attracting now is it attracting a different sort of person I don’t know maybe more of that kind of a athlete sort of style people might be getting a bit more into it now I mean that yeah that side of it is
Definitely that’s a big part of it isn’t it I don’t think it’s a big part I think it’s a small part think but it’s it’s it’s looked upon by the people that cover it differently to how that sort of stuff would have been looked upon in the ’90s and early 2000s it’s not
Like it’s not regulated as as it was no it just I mean I could say something nice and generic like I think it’s great that people are doing something but I I don’t know I feel load of B [ __ ] yeah pissed me off that’s why invested in it
So I like that uh I like things like magazines and like people I like there’s a bit of AIT hierarchy and a few guidelines and well I think it’s better that it has them because it wouldn’t have got good if it didn’t have them it’s people have kept it like it’s like
A music you know like you’re going to get like these these good bands and the further in you go into that music you’re going to find better and better and better stuff whereas like you can just look at a pop band and be like oh well we’re just
Going to stay here and if everyone’s self-publishing then you got no Editor to say you’re not you know say not not yet for you right bit more this build you know show a nice accurate I don’t know sometimes I don’t know if like it’s just you know just because it looks
Different and like I don’t understand the music I listen to anymore whatever but I mean we’ve met I’ve met like we were talking about those um Infamous like yeah there’s loads of really good stuff yeah yeah that’s exactly it like there’s still a ton of good it’s not a
Million miles away from the stuff that we love and also a lot of even a lot of my lot still they still riding there’s a lot healthy stuff going out there I think the things that have changed right it might not be my thing but if it have
Happened back then I wouldn’t have been into it either yeah but things always evolve like they but they yeah I think you got to let you got to I think look how good them you know then videos like like the sand video that he put out and and the nux
New video like that style of riding is so specific it’s so like purist stuff isn’t it and it’s but it’s like it’s progressed so fast at that point yeah and then you’ve got like someone doing like a double whip off of a roof which they also consider
Street riding but it’s it’s not really is it no I don’t think it has that same focus on finesse yeah that’s that’s not like a grounded piece of like creativity of of those guys when doing that they’re like jumping a gap and grinding like a letter box almost
You know like sniffing a letter box or something like totally dangerous and totally precise yeah and like stuff that you wouldn’t even notice you could ride I think to me that’s the classiest to me that’s and if you don’t get it that’s your problem purest of
Street stuff and I think there’s just as much progression in that as there isn’t some janky old trick that you and yeah I just think like if you boil something down and distill it more and more and more and more uh that’s where you can find real finesse rather
Than that’s what I’ve seen a little less of maybe as time’s G on is the tricks are it’s a lot more trick based it’s so difficult that just getting out of it you’re like oh cool you did it rather I think the simpli the Simplicity is where you can find like real something
Beautiful you know a bit like you know if you um if you want the gauge of a good good pizza play place you’re going to get the margari aren’t you yeah yeah cuz if you got that that’s that’s what it is with that sort of riding it’s like it’s something
Simple but it’s just so distilled and so perfected that it’s it surpasses any extra toppings you could put on it yeah no pineapple on that one no yeah man but yeah that was definitely something that I wanted to speak to you about because like that’s everyone I know who’s not as
Involved in riding now or or people that have quit for like 10 years say or 15 or 20 years they always they always tell me H oh it’s it’s not like it was is it what do you mean go like you can just turn up nearly all your friends still
Ride yeah and they’re all doing virtually the same stuff yeah and you can just do that how how is you watching YouTube made that different like it hasn’t made it different but yeah and then then at the same point in time like you say those guys doing Infamous and like there’s loads of
Pockets of them all around but they just don’t get the attention no from the bigger the bigger media Outlets you know but that’s what makes them good I think at the same time but it’d still be nice to see him like pop up into something yeah it would I think it’s and
Again not having that kind of like establishment like a platform to like to to pick these people and so have a look at this that’s what makes it harder I guess for that cool stuff to to get it’s saturated is it yeah yeah but it’s saturated with like with bad stuff
Like yeah there is a lot of stuff that I I I think is bad interesting to see what what turn out yeah but like I said to you earlier about this um the in Japan like that Mo motor bunker stuff like it that’s that’s got that makes me feel about that run
How it used yeah maybe it’s because it’s a new sort of a new thing they’re doing in the big scheme of things yeah it has this kind of like late mid School sort of feel to it and yeah it’s it’s all still out there and I think I hope that
It continues to have that element to it well is that is that alive is that part of them yeah it’s all the same kind of like group of people isn’t it yeah because Peggy’s gotten a live signature frame all right cuz it’s I think it’s the that’s similar isn’t it it seems
Like it seems like something from New Jersey or something yeah yeah yeah it’s got like a a certain thing to it they’ got they’ve got a really unique way of riding out there as well it’s like um it’s almost quite percussive they like they like bang the
Like bang the pedals on the floor like hit the handlebars on like shutters and do like they do weird little yeah like but again it’s [ __ ] hard what they’re doing you try and do it yourself and you’re like [ __ ] me that’s really difficult I have to check some out look
Yeah it’s good it’s good nice all right well I’m good with that if you’re good with that we’ve done pretty well there good Innings what it yeah it’s good what’s that two 223 [ __ ] hell done well I like that enjoyable thanks y thank you very much hello right so we’ve just got
Patreon page we’ve been doing this show for nearly two years and it’s it well it will remain free and it has has always been free but if you want to become a supporter or send something our way go to our patreon page I think there’s four
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13 Comments
That was a good watch 👍
Another Banger! Thanks and Happy Birthday🍻
best podcast, love UK BMX & Bicycle Union. B.U ETERNAL
ps.
One day I will make a UK trip happen and ride ROM.
Great episode and James is right about the amount of scenes around Fareham in the late 90's at the time and how they all overlapped. I'm sure I have Hi8 footage of James at Winchester from back then!
This one was ace. Coxie has always been amazing.
Pretty juvenile!! Well it would be when your young !!! 😆😆😆😆 Great vid 🤘🤘🤘
James what a treat ! still got a RTB all black mesh cap 🖤
Great episode john. Really lost myself in this one. Im not a 1/4 as accomplished im ny riding as james is/was but ill be riding and repping s&m until im 80 if i get that long. Soo crazy to think how he could just give it up like that. The dude is very calculated and driven. Thx again from the other side of the pond.
Formby jay
I remember sharing a beer in that horrible little hobbit hole back in 2006
The best thing on the net just keeps giving. Thanks John and james for this one.
Another cracking episode, keep em coming!!!
mint! wish cox told us what happened to that banjo though?