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It seems like every kid growing up involved with BMX wants to start their own company at some point. It was time to catch up with a guy who made that dream happen, and has been kicking ass ever since. Aaron is best known as the guy behind Solid, and there is a good chance you may ride, or know somebody that rides something that came from him. Check out what Aaron has to say, and then leave Aaron some love in the comments!
Name:
Aaron Huff
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Thing have been slow, I know! Finals are coming up at school, weather has been amazing, I’ve been finally getting all dialed in with Dig, and Adam just went on a trip to California for 10 days so that means The Come Up needs updating from me. Things will get rolling again soon, I know this!
However, the point of this post. I was talking with Brian Kachinsky about all his recent trips and I told him “Why don’t you get DK and Etnies to sponsor me as a pro for the Summer. That way I can ride all over at the best spots, and hang out with you all Summer.” Then I got thinking, what if that actually happened to me or a random kid who wasn’t pro material… keep reading, you might find this interesting..
So what the hell am I talking about?
Have you ever noticed that a lot of pros who are already good, get even better once all the sponsors come through? Example: Harry Main! The kid killed it before, but look at how fast he has been progressing lately! Check out an old edit, then a new edit of him at the bottom of this for a little proof!
So my theory that I think needs scientific testing to be done is this…
We take a kid who rides decent, sponsorless, and really loves BMX for the right reasons. Hook him up with two or three pro sponsorships for the Summer. Pay check, product, and travel budget. You know, the real deal!
Once the kid is all dialed in, we send him on trips all over with pros to film at some of the best spots all over the place and just live the pro life you know? Maybe even get them into the Dew Tour or something too just to really push buttons.
I am convinced that we could have a kids progression level turbo boosted by something like this happening. I’m not saying BMX is easy by any means. I am just saying that once you get the opportunities to ride all different kinds of spots with people who will push you to try bigger things without having to worry about a job or how they will pay to get to these places, good things will happen.
They need to make this into a MTV show! The kids would eat that right up.
So am I just imagining things or does this actually sound possible? I mean obviously the factor of money to hook the person up is really the only thing holding this idea back, but it would be an interesting thing to see.
Tell me what you think in the comments, and if you are a company who would be into this, lets make it happen! haha
Now for the Harry Main idea, this is his first edit from when he first got hooked up by KHE two years ago…
This is Harry’s new edit that dropped just the other day… Yeah.
Have a good weekend everyone!
I’ve been looking forward to FUTU for a long time… ever since I heard they were doing a sequel, because I enjoyed the first BMXFU video. I expected more of the same in FUTU, but I was wrong.
REVIEW BY: BRETT ROHLFING
I got much much more.
Everything was better! The packaging, the menu, the camera quality, filming quality and riding quality… all improved. I got more when it comes to length as well. FUTU is probably twice the running time of the first. Some did stay the same, such as the song choices being smart. Never overpowering the riding or standing out too much, but always fitting the style and adding to the fun feel. Also the outtakes and random clips from TV shows made appearances just as in the first, showing that while the level of riding was serious, chances are they don’t take themselves too seriously.
The traditional summary of who is in the dvd and what their section consists of is a format this review cannot follow due to the length of the dvd (over 1 hour). I will whoever run down some people that stood out the most for having unique style, something that has always been synonymous with BMXFU in my mind.
Chris Orbell- Starts off the disc and has the most manuals in a part I’ve ever seen, often with a few tricks throw in the middle of them.
Jake Montgomery- His clips with front brakes are some excellent, one or 2 I don’t think I’ve seen done like that before.
John Murphy- rocket everything
Josh Cameron- A style thought lost years ago, he keeps the gyro alive with manly park moves like bar fuf bar on subrails and everything else that people would go for before everyone’s brakes and pegs came off and bars got huge.
The Come Up section- Some flatland guy kills it all set to a song I had expected to be used with TCU long ago. Jake Seeley also produced, as always.
Steve Bureau- SkateFu! His style fits perfectly with the crew, smooth, tech and a little more creative than I’ve ever seen my local skaters get.
Andrew White- Hangovers are as easy as feebles for him it seems and does them everywhere on anything.
Shaun Swain- Dude is wild! Nose to feeble on a tiny ledge to no footed can can? Hop Nothings? Also a frequent use of strange no footed riding across things using his arms to hold his weight over the bike.
Lee Denis- I guess hang tens are easy now, or that’s what you’d think when watch Lee. Also a bad of tricks both up and down rails and some savage rail to ledge moves towards the end that stand out.
Charlie Crumlish- I saved him for the end because he was the stand out of the dvd by far. Charlie has always had a different entertaining style but this time it’s on a whole different level. I can’t explain it without typing out every trick in detail, which still wouldn’t do it justice. The whole dvd is great, but his part is worth the cost alone.
That’s about the amount of sections most dvds have, but in this case it’s probably less than half. Everyone else not mentioned still laid down dialed stuff, I just wanted to point out the more unique styles.
Bonus has another 30 minutes of leftovers, which are definitely not scrap. Also Shaun Swain has a bonus part and there is a tripod shot trails edit that totally doesn’t fit the vibe of the video at all.
My only wish was that they had made a 20-30minute highlight video of the best clips in the video to have something to pop in quick before a session to get pumped. Other than that I loved it.
So go buy it at The Come Up store right now!
Tom is one of those guys who makes BMX sound real good. He’s been doing his own thing for years, and one of the lead guys for Vinyl. It was time to catch up with him to really get to know the guy. Check out the interview, his part from the first Vinyl DVD, and some real good photos. Leave him some love in the comments too!
Photo by: Brian Yeagle, David Leep, Andrew Brady.
Name:
Tom Arkus
Location:
Pittsburgh, PA
Sponsors:
Fly bikes, Vinyl
Years riding:
8
What was it that first got you into BMX? Any real early memories come to mind?
My mother took me to a Schwinn bmx stunt show a week after I got a bmx bike. Watching those dudes ride got me so psyched then it was on from there.
You have been a key driving force behind Vinyl, what exactly is that crew all about anyways? Along with the DVD, what else are you guys up to these days?
Well it’s funny, I had a website about 6 years ago, I started making web edits of our trips. I was really inspired by midwestbmx.net. I after a while I started getting out of my scene more, thats were Vinyl was born. I met many new people, made friends, got inspired by my friends to make fun, creative videos. The crew is a large variety of personalities, everyone brings something to the table for vinyl. It really doesn’t matter if we produce something for vinyl everyday, as long as everyone is psyched on what’s going on with Vinyl, creativity is key. Everyone that is apart of Vinyl is an amazing rider. Some are big time pro’s some are very underground. They are all friends with one and other, that’s why the crew is so unique. We started an Apparel Company it’s been on the DL at the moment, just trying to come up with a good strategy in what direction we want to go in.
How are things going with Fly? Any big news with you and them that you can tell us about?
At this point I’m a Flow rider for Fly. I do some video projects for them. Hope fully in the near future we can work on some bigger projects. Just learning about fly and it’s history is a treat at itself. From how everything is made to riding prototypes. Everything is pretty new with Fly, I’ve been riding for them for about 9 months now… They treat me very well.
When you first got into BMX did you ever imagine it would turn into the opportunities that you have been given? What do you feel your biggest accomplishment has been?
Bmx is a small world, everyone wants a piece of it. You can only give out some many opportunities to kids. Everyone has certain goals they want to achieve in the bmx world. It just depends how you want to go about it. I was fortunate enough to know the right people, Kevin Porter had a huge impact in bringing me into the bmx world. If you do your own thing with out worrying what people think then you will be just fine. My biggest accomplishment riding wise has been riding the trails out east to it’s full potential. I never thought i would be shredding trails with some of the biggest trail legends…
You have been able to travel a fair amount in your days, where are some of your favorite places you have had the chance to go to and ride? Where are some places you would really like to go to?
I love the east coast, thats why I chose to live out this way. ATX is a good time, I got really burnt out on living there, had to make a change in life. Phoenix is really great for riding. Chicago is amazing in the summer time. I’m just laying low at the moment, for a little while saving money to make my way to Europe. I have to work a few kinks out before I go over seas.
The Vinyl crew is really spread out all over, so who is your typical riding crew these days? Any up and coming guys you can tell us about?
I ride with Brian Yeagle pretty much every single day, I moved pretty close to where he lives (2 miles away). When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I rode with Brandan Pundai everyday, but things have changed since then. Doyle is awesome to ride with whenever he’s home. During the summer we have a dope crew. Mulville is here through the whole summer, Glen Johnson, Josh, and Protoz are really great to ride with. Hope fully this summer we can build a nice scene with the new Trail Spot.
Where can you usaully be found riding on a more regular basis? Any all time favorite spots you can tell us about?
I pretty much never leave the woods during the summer, we have a couple of trail spots here in Pit. I ride concrete in the morning when everyone is in school. I would have to say Posh, Catty and Terrible One are my favorite things on earth riding wise. The people that ride at those spots are so fun to spend time with, shoot the shit and do some shredding at the same time.
Besides your part in the Vinyl DVD, are you filming for any web videos or other video parts?
Once spring rolls around I would like to make a web edit for fly. But right now I’m concentrating on filming for DIG, and our full length. Vinyl Web videos on occasion too…
Do you think that you would have ever got into filming and editing if you didn’t get into BMX?
I doubt it. The reason I even picked up a camera was cause of my friend Tim Timpe. On one of our trips he was filming, but kept fucking up the clips, so I was like let me film. I became an addict after that. I started perfecting more cause of filming. You kinda have to be a perfectionist to be a good filmer.
Do you ever find yourself getting burned out on bikes? What do you do to keep things fresh?
At certain points I hate my bike, sometimes I hate the way my bike looks color wise. Majority of the times when I don’t want to ride I transfer all the energy into my shovel to build something new to get psyched on riding again. Sometimes I go a month with out riding and sometimes I don’t put my bike to down for a year straight.
In your own opinion, what is the true meaning on BMX?
Ha, bmx is nothing serious in my mind. If you making a living riding bmx bikes think of it as a bonus for shredding everyday. I get really bummed out when kids talk shit on the come up. I never really understood why you can’t critique some one for the better, instead you have to butcher them on the internet. Do your own thing don’t follow trends fuck that shit. 10 years ago no one gave a shit what was hot on a bmx bike, everyone did their own shit how they wanted to. Now day’s it’s rare to see a unique rider that stands out from cookie cutters.
What is your injury list looking like these days? It seems like everyone and their mother has had knee surgery these days.
Man, where to start. I’ve hit my head way to many times my short term memory is fucked up. I broke my elbow last summer, I’ve knocked all my teeth out, broke my nose a couple of times, blown out blood vessels in my ankle…
If you could go on a road trip with only 5 people. Who would you pick, where would you go, and why?
Brian Yeagle, Joe Rich, Lil Jon, Chase Zink, Matt Trievel (Treebell). You have your biggest tranny roasting apes, all those dudes can ride trails like no ones business, and endless amounts of comedy on the trip with lil jon and Treebell.
In a perfect world, where would you like to take BMX as time goes on? Would you want to work in the industry?
I would like to be apart of the industry at some point, maybe work for a company of some sort. But at this point I want to do my own thing. Do things the way they should be done in my eyes.
What do you think you would be doing if you never got into BMX?
I Probably would of been a burn out, sitting on my mom’s couch bitching about life.
What are you usually up to if you aren’t filming and riding?
Spending time with my wife, working, I travel a lot for work.
Do you have any crazy stories involving cops, security, drunk people, midgets, hookers, and or homeless people?
Shit, I can write a book with all the shit I’ve seen. The other day Yeagle and I roll up to our trails. Where we park, some dude was getting head from a hooker. Brian and I park right by them get our bikes out to head to the trails and we walk right past the car as they were panic mode. It was just funny to see that because the road where we park is pretty busy… Tony Cardona and I were in Baton Rough for a jam about 4 years ago, Tony ended up Finger banging a midget with his sausage fingers. His finger was just enough for the poor girl. The best part was he did it on the deck of the ramp. I remember getting liquored up and riding while this was going on.
What makes for a good night of partying for you?
A good crew, some of the best times of my life were in Austin, some of the best house parties in atx. The Hunk house in B-town was a good time probably one of the rattiest place’s i’ve ever stayed at but the partying and riding made up for it. Ride trails all day then get loose at night till the sun came up. Wake up with a hang over go jump of some bridge’s swim the hang over off. Go to the trail and do it all over again.
Who or what are the biggest influences in your life?
My Mother is amazing, I can talk to her about anything. My wife has my back 24/7. My friends mean a lot to me… I need all those things in my life to be happy.
What is the first song to come to mind? Any reason why?
Three 6 Mafia “Bin Laden” Thats what just came on shuffle while I’m filling this out. Wishing I had some Chronic right now…
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Riding dubs, enjoying life to the fullest.
Did you go to college at all for film? How do you feel about college?
I went to school for a year. I hated it with a passion, I feel that sometimes college isn’t for everyone. I never went to school for filming. I just hate it when your in high school you get a list of jobs to pick from then you have to go to college and at the end you still can’t get a job. If you are good at something stick with it. Do what ever you have to, to get by till everything falls into place. Just do everything with reason and passion.
Do you work at all? What is the worst job you have ever had?
I do work, I’m a race car mechanic. I work on Formula Mazda’s I fly 2 times a month to races. One time I worked at a furniture store, it was horrible. I applied for Dairy Queen one time got the job, but I never showed up for work. I think I went and rode some trails out of town.
If you could live like somebody else for one day, who would you pick and why?
It would be sweet to live like Travis Pastrana, wake up in the morning do some base jumping, around lunch go do some whips on the dirt bike, in the evening go drive the rally car in the woods try not to flip it. Come home and party with the crew.
If you could go back in your life and re-live any day. When would you go to and would you change anything?
To many things have happened in my life. I honestly wouldn’t want to go back and re-live anything I want to keep going and make new memories.
Do you have any favorite websites you like to check out?
Vimeo, Flybikes, twitter, Build the woods, Dig, Fatbmx.
If somebody gave you $1000, would you go a round in the ring with a UFC fighter?
Nope, never the medical bills would be way more then a G.
What is the best advice you have ever been given, or been able to give?
Don’t every take anything in life for granted. Things can happen with a flip of a switch. From my experience enjoy what you have, look forward to better greater things don’t let the small stuff bring you down. I know it’s hard to do but take a deep breath and keep going. Life is a precious gift you only get one life might as well make it count have fun on this planet.
Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
My wife Kristine, Mom, Vinyl Crew, David Leep, Ryan Melia, Andy Brady, David @ Fly, KP, Joe Rich, Pittsburgh crew, B-town Crew, ATX homies, Punjab, Real Region, everyone I’ve cross paths with thank you for the inspirations in life.
Anything else you want to say?
Grip it and Rip it.
Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been getting started on Dig stuff, then running The Come Up for the last few days. I’m waiting on about 5 different interviews so hopefully things will get rolling here again soon.
Jeff K had sent me over a little email telling me about the video contest they are doing again. Check out MidwestBMX.net to see what that is all about.
Check back here soon for more!
Sometimes really truely amazing opportunities can come from BMX. In my case it seems like some how all of the interests I have had growing up are starting to work out in my favor. Maybe some of you guys noticed that Dig banner to the right…
Well, that banner is there because I am working for Dig on the website side of things. I’ll be doing daily news updates, and some original content interviews, bike checks, and other fun projects.
I am really stoked on the opportunity Will, and the rest of the guys at Dig have given me. I owe a big thanks to John Povah for dropping a good word or two also! So, if you are a fan of this site, or already a fan of Dig, keep checking it out! It will be interesting to see where things go.
So, maybe you just asked yourself “what about this site?” It will keep going. I still have a goal of at least 100 interviews in 2009, and will keep doing reviews if people want me to. I have no plans on giving up on this. Don’t worry about that.
I’ll be helping out on The Come Up still from time to time. Whenever Adam goes on trips or whatever you will be seeing me popping there.
So expect good things! I am excited to see where things go and look forward to wherever things go.
By the way, in BMXunion news. If you have somebody you want to see interviewed shoot me an email and let me know right here.
As you are pretty sure BMXunion has never really been a Press Release kind of site. However, I usually get 2 or 3 a week in my inbox talking about something going on. I don’t know if you guys remember all the other sites talking about Jack Links new beef jerky sticks called Matador. You know, the stuff that Dennis Enarson is sponsored by now? Well, I happened to have a chance to try it out…
Like I said before though, I am also real stoked on the fact that they are sponsoring Dennis, he’s a real good kid and I think he fits well with the brand. I can’t imagine he eats very healthy though. I mean Rockstar, that candy sponsor, and this. I wouldn’t buy food either haha.
I say next time you are at the gas station getting your slushy on to grab one of these guys too. Definitely goes well with a slushy.
Oh, and another thing I am stoked on about Jack Links….
Best commercials.. EVER.
When I had heard Jared was making the switch from Seshin over to the Superstar I was curious what it was all about. So, I shot Jared over a little Q&A about his recent changes in sponsors. Check it out and leave a some comments for Jared.
Name:
Jared Chilko
Location:
Edmonton Alberta, Canada
Current Sponsors:
Superstar Bike Company and Meloncholy Clothing
You recently made the switch from Seshin to Superstar. What had brought on the change?
Well, things were great on Seshin and I owe Ted so much for letting me design my own bars. The new laws forced Ted to not release any products in 2009 and gave me his consent to take other sponsorship offers. I have always been down with the image and products of Superstar. I sent Julien at Superstar an email letting him know my situation and he offered me a spot on the team. Stoked for the future now.
What exactly happened with Seshin? I heard they weren’t making frames for 2009? Are you and Ted still on good terms?
Yes, Ted and I talk at least a few times a week. Still pretty tight. The new testing laws made the future of Seshin a little uncertain. I Hope he gets the company up and running again in 2010. Good luck Ted!
With being on Suprstar will you be able to travel more and spend more time riding?
I hope so. Julien is planning team trips which I am super stoked on. I only have 2 semesters left in university until I earn my degree. Once that is done I will be doing nothing but riding for a long while.
Will you be hitting any contests at all this year?
I sure hope not. Haha. Well, If it was really needed of me to hit a certain contest I would be down but contests are not really my thing. I would much rather go get some photos or footage.
Even though you having edit coming out for Superstar, have you been working on any more web videos or video parts for anything?
Actually yes, It was a few days of filming in a distant indoor park. In the winter here, it is far and few between. Spring and summer is way better and expect more edits once the snow melts. This one will be on the superstar site pretty soon.
Will you have any signature parts with Superstar? Anything you can tell us about just yet?
Nothing yet. Julien said he wants lots of rider input so be ready for some dialed stuff!
Did you happen to get any other offers for sponsors prior to picking up Superstar? It seems like you get plenty of peoples attention.
I had a few, I was working on a deal with Simple but Julien at Superstar made the chance to ride for Superstar my best option. Both are super good companies it’s just Superstar gave me the chance for some even better opportunities.
Where do you see yourself by the end of 2009?
Almost done at uni, having good times with my friends and girlfriend, and having fun riding my bike.
Any other big news you can tell us about involving you?
Not really, I guess I could say that I bought a new car a while back and I have been spending a lot of time putting work in. It’s a MK3 GTI VR6, slammed, low miles. So fun.
Anything else you want to say in general?
Yeah, thanks for the interview and thanks to Superstar and Sidewall Distrobution
Check out Superstar
s site for a little more on Jared.
