Although it’s been tough to really sell DVD’s these days with the internet becoming the go-to outlet to reach the most people versus really appreciating the quality and hard work that goes into a video, there are still brands and riders out there that are putting in the hard work to make a DVD happen. The crew over at The Daily Grind are pretty known for their quality over quantity ideals and because of that we always know we can trust that what they’re producing is going to be proper.
We caught wind that the crew have been busy stacking clips for the brands 2nd full-length DVD and after seeing some “scraps” from a few edits that popped up, we were really curious what the story was behind it. We decided to get ahold of Jon “Gremlin” Bechtold and Ryan Howard to talk about what the story is with the new DVD and what we can expect from it! Let’s check out what they had to say along with a bunch of rad behind the scenes photos!
Zack Gerber getting upside down.
Alright, Jon and Ryan! Let’s talk a little bit about the new The Daily Grind DVD you guys are working on. When did you guys officially decide on going in on another DVD versus just doing web videos?
Ryan – I’m always pushing for full-length DVD stuff over web videos. I’ve been saying let’s do another since the last DG DVD came out. Gremlin decide to do some web content for a year with the team and that worked out well, but I kept pushing for a DVD and everyone else agreed. At the end of last year, we took a trip to Atlanta and that was the unofficial start of a new full length.
Jon – BMX is at a weird cross road, web-edits are getting to the point that riders are putting 110% into them like they have put into DVD parts in the past. With guys killing it so hard for web edits, it makes kids less interested in buying a DVD. But, at the same time a web edits life is a week, where a DVD is forever. So, I am trying to push for the happy medium of good web edits, that mostly consist of decent weekend trips or chill session spots. Then all bangers go to this DVD project.
Greg Goldberg putting his tires to work.
It seems like most of the guys on your team are always out filming, I’d imagine it wasn’t too hard to convince them to start stacking for the video, huh?
Ryan – Yeah, everyone was onboard and into the idea of working hard on something that wouldn’t be forgotten online in a week. Everyone trusted my vision and we are all really motivated to film.
Jon – Everyone is dedicated fully to the DVD, now I gotta pry clips away from them to use for the web, even if it’s for sure not going to make the cut. But it’s so rad.
Tony Cherry with a fufanu on the rail.
What’s the title for the video going to be then? How did you guys decide on the name? Were there any other ideas floating around?
Ryan – “Hard Times” is the name of the video. We’ve been throwing around names for months trying to find one that stuck. I think it was either Tony or Greg that suggested “Hard Times” and it seemed fitting. “Fuckwad” was pretty much everyones favorite name idea, but ultimately you have to be able to sell your product and no parent would want to buy their kid a video called “Fuckwad”, so “Hardtimes” it is!
Jon – Yeah, deciding a name for a project like this is an almost impossible task. It’s a conversation that starts out serious then goes into weird places pretty fast. Someone mentioned “Hard Times” and I was stoked instantly, so I started using it on twitter and IG to make it stick.
So you have been filming for a while now. Has the crew been getting in a lot of trips? Where all have you had the chance to film so far?
Ryan – I’ve been trying to meet up with at least someone on the team and go somewhere every weekend and through the week if possible. We’ve done a team trip to Atlanta, Davenport, Iowa twice, Zack made a trip to New Jersey, we’ve done trips to states surrounding Ohio. West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan. We’ve been all through Ohio a few times. Troy did a trip to San Fransisco as well.
Do you have any more trips lined up for the guys? Anywhere in particular you really want to get to?
Ryan – I’m trying to plan a team trip out to New Jersey in a few weeks before winter really hits. We will see how that goes. We’ve talked about doing an Atlanta trip late this year. San Fransisco at the first of the year is something we are trying to do, too. I would like to go to Canada sometime next year before the video is finished as well, but we will see.
Jon – Trips get harder and harder. We all have different schedules and full-time jobs, so we try to kill it every weekend. Which means if your city is within 6 hours of Dayton we are probably heading there on the weekend.
Jake Coulson slaying rails.
Who is handling the filming and editing for this one?
Ryan – I’m doing the filming and editing. I’ve always been into filming and I’m always on all the trips and riding with everyone anyways. I’ve been friends with everyone for a long time and I started to do more with Animal so I removed myself from the team, but I still wanted to help my friends. Tony used to handle the filming but he is working a lot and bought a house, so it made the most sense for me to step up and handle all the work and unofficially be team manager. I’ve had a vision for the video from the beginning so it’s worked out well.
Jon – As soon as the last DVD was out, Ryan was dying to get started on another. He has the cameras and the skills so I gave him the project. We all loved dealing with Bud Dickman in the past, but he’s just to busy for this size project, so Ryan was the best choice.
So, by now you probably have a pretty good idea of who all will have full sections, right? Care to let us know who will be getting full parts for this one?
Ryan – Greg Goldberg, whom people may remember from the Season bikes days, Scott Steele, Eric Mesta, Troy Merkle, A young kid from Columbus named Jake Coulson, hopefully Tony Cherry will have a full part, Gremlin and Zack Gerber round out the lineup.
Jon – At this point, getting ready to dive into a long shitty winter, I’m 100% that Greg, Troy, Tony, Myself, Mesta, and Zack will have full parts. Hopefully this comment will get the other guys to step it up big time before the end.
Who else will be getting some clips in there?
Ryan – I’m trying to get clips of everyone we know in the video. Our dude Dan Hylton from Iowa had a good amount of clips. Everyone loves that dude. I’m hoping to have clips of our guys in Cleveland, Frankie Lang and Vince Smith. My good friend From South Carolina, Nick Will has a bunch of clips. Matt Skaggs and Rick Woodruff have some clips. I’m exited for some of the Michigan crew to have clips. I’m sure other people from Ohio will sneak their way in.
Hell yeah, Dan Hylton kicks ass! I’d imagine it would be hard to say, but who do you think has been killing it the hardest for their part?
Ryan – Really, everyone has. Every weekend we all get together and everyone gets something crazy. I wanna say Zack been killing it the most though. People are going to go crazy for his part. He’s done some seriously heavy stuff. He easily could have died if a few of the things went wrong. Zack hasn’t really ever focused on a real video part before. He did his “Oh Well” DVD but that was pretty much just random clips he filmed that he didn’t want to waste online. He never filmed any of it with the goal of a DVD project. Greg has been on a mission too. If people only know how many beers deep he was before each clip. He only has a handful of sober clips. It’s amazing.
Zack Gerber with a big nollie to double peg.
Have there been any big set backs for the video? Injuries, camera gear taking a dump or anything like that?
Ryan – The name “Hard Times” has been very fitting. Greg blew out his ACL and got surgery this summer. Gremlin tore his MCL and PCL along with strained mucles around his knee. Zack broke his foot. It’s been the worst year of my life battling depression and anxiety. I’m pretty sure Scott broke his foot. The hard drive with all the footage crashing has been the biggest hardship. I’m currently in the process of recapturing something like 80 Mini DV tapes. Thankfully we did the video in SD and I have all the tapes so the footage is safe, it’s just going to be a long month logging it all again.
When do you hope to have the video wrapped up and available for people to pick up?
Ryan – My personal deadline to be finished with the video and let the crew watch for the first time is April twentieth of next year.
I’m doing a magazine with photos from the filming of the video so that could slow down the release a little bitm but hopefully we have it all done and available by mid May.
Troy Merkle curved bench tire side.
What should people expect from the “Hard Times” DVD?
Ryan – If you’ve seen any of the older Team Ohio videos I made you might have an idea of what to expect. We all grew up watching the Little Devil and FBM videos, so mayhem and destruction is BMX to us. We want to keep BMX offensive. Gummo and LSD riders are too of my biggest influences for this video. We want to show the world our side of BMX.
Jon – Bangers, NBD’s, and Rowdiness.
Troy Merkle with a pocket air.
Jon, what else do you have cooking with The Daily Grind these days? Any fresh products or news you can let us in on?
Jon – We are working with our manufactures to bring a street rider approved coaster, not just another gimmick backed by “pros”. We are also working on expanding into some everyday parts like seats, post, but we haven’t decided if we want to go with the Tripod or Pivotal design. We are also working on a badass street tool that Gerber designed.
That about wraps it up! Anything else you want to say?
Ryan – I wanna thank everyone on the team for trusting me to film them. I’ve filmed quite a few videos parts so I know what it’s like to be in their shoes. I try to make it as easy and stress free for them as I can.
Jon – I just want to let kids know, if you have a problem with DG parts, give me a shout out and we’ll take care of you. We stand behind our products! Thank you guys for supporting real shit.
Jon about to slay a rail in Iowa.
