Photo: Fred Murray
Over the past year, I think it’s pretty clear that things have been pretty hectic for the DUB crew. Between the “Homegrown” DVD being released, traveling the world working with Monster on The Street Series stops that went down in Capetown, Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo and New York, the closing of The Loot and a bunch of new clothing designs and a collaboration frame all dropping, I think hectic is a good word for it. We figured it was a good time to get ahold of Jack now that he has a little down time to find out more about everything him and the crew have been getting into lately! Let’s see what he had to say!
Yooo Jack! How’s it going? It has been forever since we caught up!
Easy Kurt, Things are going really well cheers! Ye it’s been a minute
Things with DUB have been crazy lately with the Street Series, the “Homegrown” video, the fresh threads and everything. Did you ever expect to be so busy with the brand?
Not at all, I just take everything as it comes. Riding round NY with my mates + the OG Animal riders was definitely one of those “How the fuck did I end up here?” moments haha.
The Street Series just wrapped up its world tour for this year. Where did you get to this year?
This year we hit Capetown, Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo and New york.
I know New York had to be one of the craziest and biggest turn outs for you guys. What did you think about the whole event? Did you hope for more riding or were you just happy with cruising with everyone?
It was definitely the biggest turnout we’ve ever had, and everyone seems to think it was the biggest street jam ever. I had a sick time, it definitely would have been cool to hit some more spots, but with that many people getting lose riding around the police were onto us from the first spot. They were making roadblocks and arresting people, so we just called it before it got too out of hand in the end. Nothing beats the feeling of mobbin’ a city with 500+ people, and it’s always sick to get to hang out with people you haven’t seen for years, so in that respect, it could’t have been better.
Photo: Fred Murray
Out of all of the stops from this year, which one was your favorite stop? I feel like you probably made it to a bunch of places you have never been prior?
Barcelona was the only place I had been prior to the jams this year, and I had never been to America, Africa or Asia at all, so it was definitely sick getting to see those places, experience some different culture and meet a load of new people. New York was definitely the highlight though, getting to meet Ralph + all the Animal guys was sick, and it’s such an amazing city.
It sounds like you guys will be doing it again next year, right? Any hints at what we can expect from that?
Next year will be kinda different… Myself and Tom Creasy at Monster are working on plans right now, if people want to keep up on the details they should follow @thestreetseries on Instagram + Facebook.
How important is it to do these big street jams? What is it that keeps you motivated to do these?
I think its really important! Street riding is about cruising around with your friends and having fun, and thats basically what we do at the jams. Every city we went to this year, the locals were hyped and you’d see people catching up who hand’t rode together for ages, so I feel like every city should do jams regularly just to bring the scene together.
Photo: Fred Murray
You guys have dropped all of the sections from the “Homegrown” DVD for everyone to enjoy over the past few weeks. How has the reaction been to the video?
It’s been good. Obviously Lacey, Ben, Bruno etc all killed it and people are hyped on their sections and it’s been good to see the reactions to Josh Roberts, Sam Jones and Millsy’s sections as a lot of people hand’t heard of them before.
I know DVD’s tend to be a bit of a hard sell these days with all of the free content popping up online every day… Was it worth it for you to do the “Homegrown” DVD? Do you have any plans on doing another one after seeing the reaction?
It was totally worth it. We made a little bit of money selling the copies, but not enough to cover a couple of filming trips never mind 3 years worth, but that wasn’t the point. Videos get lost online now, and we wanted to make a legit DVD including the whole crew that people could still look back on in 5 or 10 years. I’m not rushing to make another one anytime soon though, that shit is stressful!
Photo: Aaron Zwaal
How are things going on the clothing end of things with the brand? Do you guys have some new designs out or anything? Where can people pick up the DUB gear?
Now the DVD is done I’ve had more time to focus on the clothing again. We have some new designs that came out a few weeks ago, and we have some more on the way. We’re also starting to make caps + cut and sew stuff now, so I’m excited about that. People can get all our product from www.dubbmx.com, The TCU webstore in the US, and there’s a list of all our distributors worldwide on our website. If your a store or distro in a country we don’t have covered yet, get in touch!
Speaking of shops, a little while back you made the decision to close down your shop, The Loot, to put forth your time and efforts towards DUB. What were some of the factors behind that decision? Are you happy you did it?
Money. I simply could’t borrow anymore to keep it open. There was a ton of factors that made it hard, from the recession to the scooter epidemic and the fact Evans opened a superstore across the street right after we opened. I now have some major debts to pay back, but I have more normal work hours now. I’m just doing DUB and I feel like I’m getting much more done instead of constantly catching up on stuff.
Could you ever see yourself doing another shop or was it something you did and are satisfied enough to call it good?
I’ve left everything in place so I could resume trading as The Loot if the chance ever comes around again, but after seeing how hard it is to make a living selling only BMX stuff, with major overheads and low margins, I definitely have some other ventures I’d prefer to try first.
So you have been traveling the world, throwing huge jams in cities, producing videos and producing new clothing… What else have you been up to? Have you found time for any new hobbies or interests at all?
To be honest this year so far I’ve been working like mad between trips just to keep up with stuff, I have been learning Spanish though. Now that I have some time at home, I want to learn to make beats, and try and get my drivers license finally, haha!
What are your plans for the rest of 2014? Any goals or projects you want to wrap up?
We just got back from Ride To Glory which was sick, after I’ve caught up with stuff I’ll just be chillin’ in Liverpool working on edits with the crew. Oh the DUB x Skavenger frame just dropped last week too, go check it out!
So that about wraps it up… How can people keep up with you and DUB?
Instagram is @dubbmx and @jackdub our FB is Facebook.com/DUBCrew and our site is DUBBMX.com
Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
Shout out to all the crew, thanks to every single on of you for reppin’. Thanks to Creasy and Monster for making the Street Series happen, thanks to everyone who turned up and all the people who helped us organize stuff too. And as always a huge thanks to everyone who supports us, customers, shops and distros, your all sick!
Anything else you want to say?
FREE LUI C!
