Eds letter MULTI MEDIA
Evolution Issue 45 Words Matt Holmes
There’s been all sorts of hype and talk about the end of print and magazines recently. That and online media being the only way forward. If you look at the magazine world as a whole thats probably the easiest assumption to make. But take a look at BMX media as a whole in the world right now and I’d say magazines are stronger than ever, especially on these shores. Beyond simple talk and anonymous rumours, after 13 years of making what I like to think as the premiere freestyle BMX mag on these shores, would I just simply give up on making this printed documentation of what I’ve grown up loving due to a few telling me print won’t be around any longer? Doubtful at best. About as doubtful as when I was told that if I didn’t include racing in the pages, I wouldn’t make it past three issues. Pure motivation to prove another wrong is a powerful thing. So is the pressure of so many friends and contributors to keep making this mag happening. This collection of 300 pixels per inch photographs and words on recycled stock reproduced with vegetable based inks is a work of passion before anything else. Both from myself and all of those that choose to document the good times that BMX brings to those that share in it’s freedom of expression. More than that, it’s an amazing journey that has kept me in contact with so many that I’ve met in my time traveling these shores and beyond in the pursuit of happiness via a BMX. So, just where is this mag you hold headed I hear you ask? Well I guess we’re in the process of becoming more of a content production company than just a pure magazine. A hub to create BMX media, be it digital, events or print. Let me elaborate... We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to step our game up into the digital age. Sure we’ve had the mag as a digital download for over two years on the Zinio platform, but it was time to up the anté and move with what we see as the easiest way to get this mag to the ever growing tablet audience. We’ve got our new IOS App sorted and ready for your iPad or iPhone (and coming to the Android platform very soon...). Basically search us out on the App store or Newsstand, and download the free 2020bmxmag App and then you can download the latest issue, plus a lot of the back catalog (the whole back catalog will be up by year end). That’s been a big mission, wait, a massive mission, but one I’m very proud of, especially scrolling through the issues one by one. The web was our next mission. It’s been a long time coming, almost as long as the mag has been around to be precise. But one that I’m proud to have finally in a position to do what I want it to do. With the magazine coming out four times a year, quick reaction to news was never our forte, so the web is obvious place for the latest and greatest. So, it’s about time to introduce you to www.2020bmxmag.com.au. The place for all your Australian BMX needs, latest clips and extended content from the print edition. And a place for you to upload your own content and keep in touch with events and goings on around Australia.
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Along with trawling the internet for the best content, we’ll be creating our own editorial just like the magazine, plus generating web clips and extra content to add to the print magazine experience. And just like the magazine, we’re proud to let you know that we’re paying those that are part of the creation. We’re officially live right now, so check it out, there’s a massive backlog of content to check out plus a few competitions to enter to get you into the swing of things. It’s going to be a fun evolution and we hope to make it your first choice when it comes to knowing whats up in Australian BMX. Much like the magazine spiel I’ve been on about here, the DVD is another medium we’re still keen to see happen. While web clips fill the everyday short attention span, sitting down to watch a DVD thats taken time to produce is something special. Thats Whats Up is our next collaboration with Troy Charlesworth, a feature length production showcasing the Australian scene. Read up on that project elsewhere in the issue, it’s something we’re more than a little proud of. It’ll be available around the end of the year in newsagents and bike stores Australia wide alongside a digital download version on our web store. Not content to just document the BMX world, 2012 has seen two events under the 2020 banner, Slay the Rail and as we were going to print, House of Hammers. We’re keen to see more events happen to keep the fires burning and keep the focus on our own shores, and to push the level of riding alongside showcasing it to a wider audience. On that, we’ll have a FuelTV show covering House of Hammers going to air later this year. We’re working on more events in the future, so stay tuned. So where does this leave the mag your now reading? Well in a lot of ways, it’s opened up the door for 2020 being what I always wanted the mag to be, a pure BMX mag with crafted editorial and the best photo spreads we can pull together. Less of the latest news and more in-depth content that you won’t find on the web. You’ll begin to see those changes over the next issues, it’s going to be a fun evolution. Between the printed words and photos you hold in your hands, to the digital version of the magazine that glows on your tablet, to the new website and the events we’re making happen and the DVD’s we’re producing, 2020 is documenting and hand crafting our little part of BMX in the world right now. And we’re pushing the ever growing number of writers, photographers filmers, editors and of course riders themselves to new levels and we’re more than a little bit proud of it.
Thats Whats Up MAKING THE DVD
B e h i n d t h e s ce n e s of
Thats Whats Up
“Thats whats up” is the second collaboration from Troy Charlesworth and 2020 bmx mag. After the great success of “Everyday is a Saturday” Troy has gone out to not only over shadow the last production but capture the Australian talent and show the rest of the world, thats whats up. Troy and crew have travelled all over our great country to bring you the biggest burliest and craziest moves from coast to coast. We asked Troy and the crew involved some questions about the experience and insight from this avant garde project to date. Keep your eyes peeled for the release of “Thats whats up” Intro and interviews by Alex Liiv
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When did you did start filming for this video? I have been going around Australia on cheeky trips filming with different crews for almost a year now. Filming for the DVD started off so crazy I can’t really remember the first clip or trip I got for it. But my first real memory was when we started hiring these big generators and lighting spots up, the footy we were getting on them missions are some of the best clips in the DVD. What clips or sections are you looking forward to seeing in the video and think other people will be psyched on? My favourite part right now would have to be the West Coast part. I still got to get back there and film a little more and haven’t even picked a song for it yet but that week in Perth was one of the best trips ever, everyone was keen to film and the footage is West Coast deadly. What set backs did you encounter along the way? We haven’t had any crazy injuries while filming that I can really think of, we have had a few deadly crashes, Samsons got owned a few times, but nothing to call 000 over. Vockos spine is a
little dislodged at the moment cause he thinks it’s safe to drop off dream world watersides to flat. Ammon had a little misfortune after 360ing a 17 set, as he landed his bars flew off but he was lucky to get out of it with a beautiful back slide Who did you film with in the video? Well so far I’ve filmed with Ammon Chesworth, Anton Ayres, Mick Bayzand, Brock Olive, Callan Stibbards, Calvin Kosovich, Chris Courtnay, Chris Whyte, Cooper Brownlee, Danger, Dave Dillewaard, Dylan White, Luke Gorecki, Flagz, Jack Elkins, Jamie Mauri, Jay Wilson, Jerry Vandervalk, JP, Jye Stewart, Nick Kajewski, Kym Grosser, Liam Zingbergs, Matt Macallum, Matthew Bell, Michael Vockenson, Ryan Llyod, Samson Ross, Shane Batchelor, Tom Streton, Yonny Wakefield and Zac Miner. There’s still a bunch of people I would like to film with, like Marnold, Daniel Johnson, Codie Ryan, Raphael Jeroma-Williams, Lachy Swanton, Jack Birtles, Tom Dunn, Liam Thomas and the Canberra guys, I got to get there soon. I also want to film with the Anchor crew but don’t really know them that well, I could go on for ever here. Con’t page 60.
Thats Whats Up MAKING THE DVD
Photo Ben McPherson
JERRY
VANDERVALK
Double peg to second stage ice
Photo Pete Conway
How long did you film for the video, what was your first filming experience? We’ve been filming since around the start of the year, I can’t really remember the first experience, we all ride and film all the time so nothing really changed! We ended up using most of my clips for an edit not long ago as well so I had to start again recently, but it’s fine we seem to always come through, and thats whats up! What part are you looking forward to seeing in the video? I’m looking forward to seeing peoples reactions to Vocko’s ender, It’s loose! His part in general really hack... Any interesting stories or facts about the dudes? I’m going to say this because it’s funny to me, I get worried for Troys safety when he films lines on a board, hahaha sorry biggs! Any last words or thank yous you wanna say about the video? It’s been fun as hell hanging out and filming for this vid and I can only look forward to more in the future, look out for it ! Hope people can get psyched on everything we’ve put into it! Cheers!
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D.I.Y. MAKEYOUR OWN SPOT
DO IT YOURSELF
INTRO AND INTERVIEW BY PAUL CHAMBERLAIN It goes without saying that any impressive manmade structure didn’t come into being without a lot of hard work. Often much more hard work and trial and error behind the scenes than you can imagine by just looking at the end product. DIY spots and BMX go in hand in hand. Riders are often very creative people, searching for an ideal and trying to satisfy their desire to ride something that often only exists in their mind. It’s ‘the search for the perfect wave’ so to speak. When that wave can potentially be fashioned from salvaged timber, plywood or Quikrete, riders often try their hand and enter a whole new world of possiblities, problems, successes and failures. When it comes to building a DIY spot you can either go legal or illegal and face different challenges accordingly. Illegal would be the choice of the average rider, but a convenient location might be trashed by the local 16 year old mafia, so investing in nice marine ply might be foolish. Putting in a lot of work also might not be a great idea if you could lose the spot at any moment, but at the same time, not going all in and taking big chances might be something you regret forever. Andy Fortini caught up with some WA locals who took this plunge, bringing you the story of their DIY spot in a forgotten Rockingham function room. The dilemmas of building illegally in public, or seeing all their hard work suddenly go up in a smoke are often what lead riders to create the ideal DIY spot on their doorstep, if the chance arises. These riders are, however, faced with a new batch of problems, like what to make, upsetting their landlord, thinking twice about destroying their own horribly expensive property, and again, the mounting cost of everything at the local hardware store where it all seems to ad up, up and up. I got the scoop from Matt Beringer in Utah to get his take on the DIY dream. Read on.
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D.I.Y. MAKEYOUR OWN SPOT
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Interview XAVE KOEN
THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND
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Polack
Interview XAVE KOEN
oe n Xa ve K
PULLING TH E WOOL OV ER TH E IR E Y ES
Sto r y by A l ex L i i v Ph oto s by Ch r i s Po l a c k ,
M i c h a e l
G o r m a n
&
B i l l y
B ro o k s
The slight pale, pink blotchiness emerges on the skin of his face and hands as he is becoming somewhat self aware whilst talking about himself in a fabricated tinge of self promotion into an iPhone sat upon the table in front of us. The person that is sat in front of me is Xave Koen, an identity I have become close with over the past few years of my life. He has a very warm, comfortable appeal to his nature and the way he carries himself, a pleasant sincerity that glues this rare kind of human together. Many people meet Xave and enjoy his humour or even looks, some say an Ashton Kutcher or Josh Hartnett look alike. Some see his brutal frankness to his reality, where some might take offence from his abrasive loud mouth. In the time it has taken me to get to know Xave I have seen both his good and bad, the skeletons in his closet or the obsessions he grasps so passionately. I have been left with one of my dearest and most admiral friends to say the least. I see him as a child sees a toy solider, something that I have a great nostalgia for. He is someone I have very good memories of, something precious that I hold onto, in the same way a child gives meaning to a much loved toy. If you were to look at it as a kind of point value system, that people like to indulge themselves with, to rate things they like or dislike, Xave would be very high in my point value system. We start the interview with some of Xave’s earlier memories of bmx and a comparison to how he feels at the current point in time. We continue to feel silly as we try to act mature whilst taking about kids bikes to a nameless audience. As I listen back to the recording I start to remember all the wild shit we have done together and I feel as if we have have both seen inside each others souls, whilst drinking wine with each other, as lost boys, a sense of stripped back, helpless nudity, can wind two people so closely. He is a real “mate” if I was to give it to you in a fast paced, one word answer. With all the highs, there comes lows, some which I see torment him. These moments in life where most would fail or give up, including myself, but Xave has the strength to push thought the bullshit, a strength in which I see he has built one of his strongest facades… Or as Xave would say “pulling the wool over peoples eyes”.
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The Set EAST COAST TRIP Words by Marc Urlich & Levi Jackonia Photos by Brandon Means
I
knew I’d have to end up writing the fucking story for the mag, I just knew it! I hate writing or typing and texting so here’s my “editorial”, story, or whatever you wanna call it.
Marc Urlich The Set TM/Founder Corey was still injured and couldn’t ride but was keen as mustard to get in amongst it. The most asked question from the team and riders in general was “Is Corey staying with you guys” like he was going to have a gold plated caravan in tow, hahah oh shit. The next day the gold plated caravan rocks up half an hour late… Not... Our only rule was to try get outta the building by 10am. Photographer Brandon Means made the trip all the way from California. This was his maiden voyage to the land down-under, Brandon was a bloody lil champ and always in high spirits, plus his work ethic ranks up there with the best of ‘em. Everyone flew in to Brisbane where we spent 5 days then onto Sydney for 3 days, then Melbourne for 5 days. Since the trip was only going to be 12 days long we didn’t want to waste time driving and having everyone get too tired so we opted for the metal bird to fly us from state to state.
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The Set
Kym Grosser, Nothing, Kym does these like it’s nothing (pun intended).
EAST COAST TRIP
“All the young guns got sick clips everytime we rode so I was stoked on everybody.” 87
Feature WHITE KNUCKLE I still don’t think photos show how wild this place is. Super steep roll in has you bouncing all over the place, then after the hip you run straight into a solid wall of dirt. Ryan giving the guys topside a little spray.
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Feature WHITE KNUCKLE
Story and photos by Dave Rubinich
There has been a thought simmering in a frypan in a room at the back of my brain for a while now. But two semi-recent events caused it to leap from the frypan to the plate so to speak. The first was a trip to Ryan Lloyds ditch and the second was a raining day viewing of some old backyard jam videos and perhaps a little too much caffeine.
he two events got me thinking. Is BMX as a ‘sport’ or ‘lifestyle’ losing its balls and by extension one of its fundamental points of identity? That identity being its balls to the wall and white knuckle roots. Some of you, or maybe all of you reading this may dismiss these views as the jaded views of an older rider, but the evidence of this quite literally in the palm of everyone’s hand. A quick viewing of the unending stream of content on the internet at the moment will give you an idea of what is currently transpiring around the globe. 90% of the content you see you could be forgiven for thinking it’s the same footage recut to different tracks. Jib to jib to 180, carefully choreographed skatepark footage following months of foampit training. Whatever happened to guys just fucking sending it? Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely guys out there hitting it. But unfortunately they are few and far between. It seems we are quickly becoming the flat ledge warrior and foampit generation. Harking back to the backyard jams comps of the early nineties with the dirt sections being run over the chasm, everyone was just sending it. No months of training to get that trick just right. Just pedalling wide open at a lip and letting come what may. The days of wide open riding and wild gaps seem to be dwindling in favour of a much safer and regimented style of riding. So how have we come to this point, it seems as if our bars got bigger and our balls smaller.
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Slayin THE RAILL
SLAY
THE
RAIL Sing
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Slayin THE RAIL
DJ with a steep opposite hang tooth Photo Morison
S TO RY BY MI TC H MO RRI SO N What is Slay The Rail even about? Try explaining it to someone that knows nothing about BMX. No seriously try, it’s hilarious. A fine example is a good friend of mine who lives in Melbourne and messages me when she knows I’m coming to town. “Mitch, are you in Melbourne? Bike stuff? Let’s hang!” “Yeah, we’re having this jam thing called Slay The Rail at a nightclub you should come.” “Wait what?” “Like we ride our bikes and all drink beer and party and yeah...” “You ride your bikes around a night club?” “Yeah, it’s awesome!” “And they let you do that?” “Yeah, it’s a legitimate thing man, there is money up for grabs and stuff.” “Ohhh, so it’s like a competition?” “Well sorta, but not technically.” “So, what do you ride in the night club?” “Well they setup this big stage with a rail and they grind that.” “So are you riding it?” “Ha ha, no way, I just drink beer and watch.” “So you came to Melbourne to drink beer and watch bikes?” “Umm yeah, I guess so? Ha ha, I never really thought of it like that until then. Sounds sorta odd now huh?” “No way, Sounds fun!”
This simple concept of having an event, in a nightclub filled with people and an easy access bar is amazing. Pretty much everyone comes to Melbourne to ride, watch bikes and consume large amounts of alcohol. How fucking awesome is that in itself really? The greatest excuse to come to Melbourne and take a couple of days off work, Slay The Rail 2012!
Sing
Dullah Djawas: Luc-e to 180 out Photo Morison
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