Jon Taylor has been around a while eh, Jon first got exposed to the BMX masses-probably a few hundred people back then-in 1989 feature in Freestyle Magazine doing a hand plant. At a mini ramp jam at the infamous Roller snakes skate shop, with a bunch of other well known BMX faces from back then. From that pic we would later see Jon appear in print on the regular, Also from that pic he received the name Mad Jon, which he has never managed to shake off. Then he would pop up at the contest and jams of the time often getting coverage in RAD and Invert magazines. Then appearing on video parts for the Backyard and other VHS tapes coming out in the early 90s. He’s ridden throughout the times since then and continues to do so now. We talk about all the decades and how he got back into BMX after a stint on a skateboard in the mid 80s. From going to the annual Holeshot 87 contest where he saw the BMX chaos and Craig Campbells rebel run on the halfpipe, to riding for GT and Hoffman bikes and Vans…Going on to demo days, riding at download festivals then putting on big music events which is what he has a hand in now, this is a long, fun and colourful journey that is still going strong. Riders mentioned: Mike Cow Rose, Paul Harrison, Graham Critch, Jim Tomlinson, David Slade, Warren Sid Sydall, Steff Evans, Mat Hoffman, Eric Steel, Andy Brown, Nick Philip, Craig Campbell, Owain Clegg, Ian Morris, Stu Dawkins, Zach Shaw, Paul Roberts, Jerry Galley, Jamie Bestwick, James Hudson, Graham Marfleet, Shaun Allison, Jason Ellis, Alistair Whitton, Jamie Clegg, Ruben Alcantara

David Slade has gone on quite the journey in this lifetime, I think the first time I ever saw his name in print was a full colour spread in a 1985 BMX Action Bike Hole Shot report in mid air sky diving next to an ejected pink Dyno bailing something high above a quarter pipe. I'd seen him before that on the BMX beat tv show…but that seemed to have not gone into my brain as deep as the Action bike pic. Un be knownst to me at that time David was one of the riders to look out for on the Freestyle contest scene in those days. Growing up in Barnsley he got deeplly into BMX in the first boom with a bunch of friends who formed their own trick team-the blue tile trick team, demoing locally in those early days of Thatchers Britain. As things began to evolve and his universes began to expand he found other riders and scenes further afield and certain creative out lets started to flow….and didn’t stop, to this day. We talk about the Blue Tile trick team, Sheffield YMCA days, early competitions, learning 540's, the PPLA, the love and influence of culture in BMX, discovering a music scene, putting on the first street jam in the UK, Zine making, Damage zine and clothing, riding for GT, shooting pics with Windy Osbourne for Freestylin magazine, Ninja scooters, couch surfing in London, getting chased by cops, making one of the first BMX videos in the UK-‘Smart people in a car crash’ Where he went from there, directing music videos, TV shows and movies...Right up to what he is up to now and how BMX shaped his future…. Key figures mentioned: Shaun Allison, Jason Ellis, Sid Warren Sidall, Cow-Mike Rose, Andy Brown, James Hudson, Mick Hudson, Craig Campbell, Dave Curry, Tim March, Andy Ruffell, Darren Whitfield, Martin Bernstein, Lee Brown, Anthony Christian, Stu Horner, Mat Hoffman, Nick Phillip, Ron Wilkerson, Zach Shaw, Simon Tabron, Ross Marshall, Mark Noble Jess Dyrenforth, Aju Bubu, Lee Reynolds, Eddie Fiola, Jon Taylor, John Povah, Rob Varney, Richard Darlow, Jason Bacon, Damon Nicholls, Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther, Spike Jonze, Ged Wells, TLB, Andy Jenkins

Eddie Roman has, coincidently, made a few appearances online over the last month or so. We started this interview in early December, and had to come back for another sit down in early Jan. I was surprised that no one had asked Eddie to do an interview before, the guy was a major part of the BMX scene and the direction it went in back in the mid 80s to early 90s, and beyond. A major innovator and pioneer, from riding to video making to product development. We go in depth as usual, from the start of Eddie’s BMX up to todays activities. From getting on Skyway and UK tours, riding the AFA contests, getting the first wall ride pic in the USA magazines. The following explosion of sponsorship. The decline of BMX in the late 80s, the Enchanted ramp and 2 hip events. The riders that influenced and helped shape what was being created in those recession days. Getting into video making and filming of the most influential videos of that era-Aggro man, Ride like a man, Head first and Ride on (How's that for a video back to back body of work?) This is a good un, lots of stuff that hasn’t been spoken about before. Get some!

Back in 95 myself and Fids took a trip to California to experience the American dream, we stayed in HB with Neal Wood, Chris Moeller, Steve Emig and Jason Timmy Ball, who’d moved to California the year before and was working at S&M bikes. Timmy was one of the Sheep hills locals and popped up in many a magazine and video riding the many trail spots of So Cal from those days. 30 years later he is still working at S&M bikes, we get the low down on how he got into riding BMX as a kid in Colarardo, to everything alone the way. The years of working at S&M, the manufacturing process, the machines and tooling, the products, some talk about the iconic S&M vhs BMX inferno, right up to present day and the LAMF frame story.

 

Riders mentioned: Chris Moeller,Neal Wood,Brian Foster,Fids,Alan Foster,Lawan Cunningham,Jay Bone,Chris Sales,ToddLyons,Grotbags,Chico Hooke,Alex Leech,Keith Treanor,Mike Griffin,Vic Murphy,Bo Usher,Steve Emig,John Povah,Mcgilla,Stew Johnson,Steve Crandall,steve ob ,ray luscombe,john fagerburg,brendan brown ,claybrown ,troy mcmurray,brian taylor,luscombe bros,Robbie Reid,Nick Coombes,Andy Coombes,Stuart Dawkins,Ian Morris,Barspinner Ryan Brennan,Adam Pope,Jason Pope,Josh Stricker,Corey Nastazio,Hucker,Kris Bennett,Shaun Buter,Jimmy Levan,Freddie Chulo,Shad Johnson,Mike Griffin,Dave Parrick,Timmy Strelecki,Chase Hawk,Dakota Roche,Robbie Morales,Mike Tag

Fids was the first episode we did for The Union Tapes, and served as the perfect launch for what we were trying to do.

This is a tribute to Fids, who left us on the 08/12/24 he leaves a legacy and a half.

The stories I tell here are from his early days, when we started hanging out, he started getting back into BMX again and some of the stories that followed.

From the early days Fids lived a life he was pursuing with a passion putting as much into it as he could.

We all learned lessons from this guy.

As some one online put it recently, "the afterlife ain't ready for the Fids"

Some highly progressive riders came through after the early 80's BMX explosion, the kids inspired by the King of the Skateparks and early Freestyle contests at the start of it all. The next wave was snapping at the heels of the big pros of the time. Joe Johnson is one of those guys, making a lot of noise on the east coast, Joe built his own quarter up against his moms house, mastered it then continued on to create many of his own moves. Joe went on to become part of the prestigious Haro team in 86. I remember watching Joe ride at the Manchester worlds and thinking how does he stretch everything so far and land so perfectly at the top of the ramp. There was definitely a new technique being used here. We touch on a lot of Joe contributions and riding ideas as well as all the usual topics of how it started…

 

Bob Haro, Dennis McCoy, Eddie Fiola, Mike Buff, Craig Campbell, Tony Murray, Ron Wilkerson, John Povah, Mat Hoffman, Mike Dominguez, Carlo Griggs, Chris Potts, Jerry Galley, Kevin Martin, Rick Moliterno, Marc Mcglyn, Rich Sigur, Dave Voelker, Dave Nourie, Dave Mirra, Kevin Robinson, Jason Ellis, Scott Carrol, Jamie Bestwick, Simon Tabron, Spike Jonez, Greg Guilliote, Jason Hassle, Andy Brown, Lee Reynolds, Brian Blyther, Zach Shaw

John has been in BMX since the start, he’s been involved in a lot of projects both in front of the camera and behind the scene, we tap into all of that and more. From John’s start in BMX in the west London area to present days BMX projects. We get into his first BMX, the early race days, the first quarter pipe ridden. Discovering Harrow skatepark and the early 80s scene. Riding for Raleigh, the team and the BMX programme they tried to create in the mid 80s. Meanwhile quarters and the London scene in the darker days, leaving the UK and moving to California in his late teens. Progressing street riding, filming for the ultimate weekend VHS, ramp building, being in the iconic Dirty deeds video, working at Schwinn. Later being a part of the Etnies BMX programme when they had there most popular push in BMX right up to present day and the Old School BMX Reunion out at Woodward west they he puts on.

 

Darren Wood, Lee Shuri, Dean Iddiols, Andy Ruffell, Jason Lunn, Paul Zack, Paul Gerlach, Andy Brown, Greg Guiliotte, Lee Reynolds, Joe Johnson, Ron Wilkerson, Todd Anderson, Keith Treanor, Chris Moeller, John Paul Rogers, Dave Clymer, Brian Foster, Steve Mccolud, Dizz Hicks, Craig Campbell, Jess Dyrenforth, Damon Nicholls, Tony Mckenzie, Nathan Lunn, Rich Sigur, Davin Halford, Chris Day, Jay Miron, Ruben Alacantara, Taj Mihelich, Joe Rich, Aaron Ross, Ian Morris, Carlo Griggs, Neil Ruffell, Brian Blyther

Kurt Schmidt is without doubt the fakie pioneer, no one was doing fakie tricks like him in the mid 90s, we delve deep into that topic and as usual go right back to the start. Kurt grew up near Minneapolis in middle America, a long way from the sunshine drenched concrete skateparks of California but the lust for BMX was strong and these guys made their own thriving scene, mostly in Kurt's garden, where they constructed quarter pipes to rip on. I never knew just how deep Kurt's BMX roots were, he started way back in the 80s BMX boom. Progressed up the ranks in the local MFA contest scene, Met a bunch touring BMX teams and through riding with Rick Moliterno and DMC ended up riding for Haro, just as BMX was collapsing….We get into the stories in this episode and uncover a bunch of tricks that that Kurt owns, that most people don’t realise. The inception of Standard bike co, how and why it came about, what the idea was, the way they rode, where they took inspiration from and how they picked the team….the BMX beefs back in the 90s and the whole story up until now! Riders mentioned: Rick Moliterno, Bill Nitschke, DMC, Dave Voelker, Eddie Fiola, Rich Sigur, Taj, Joe Rich, Chad Degroot, Dave Freimuth, Eddie Roman, Ron Wilkerson, Mike Dominguez, Todd Anderson, RL Osbourne, Mat Hoffman, Chris Moeller, Bob Haro, Woody Itson, Tim Ruck, Marty Schlezinger, Dale Madson, Andy Jordan, Steve Swoope, Perry Mervar, Mike Kranich, Hugo Gonzales, Scotty Freeman, Krys Dauchi, Dizz Hicks, Martin Aparijo, Randy Tischman, Kevin jones, Darren Pellio, Chase Gouin, Chad Herrington, Chris Potts, Kevin Martin, Sandy Carson

Dan Price made an impact on the UK scene in the mid 90s but his BMX roots true back much further than that. We take a step back into the archives of Dans active mind and uncover a lot of things most of had no idea about. His journey into BMX being quite different to most others who came through the 80s BMX explosion where he went in a few different directions and found himself returning back to a BMX scene that was desolate but he didn’t even realise it. Get into this one, we cover 80s BMX boom, discovering Southbank, early influences and being heckled for being too dirt brothers like, early street jams, meeting life long friend James White. contests, moving to Hastings, never being bothered about riding ramps, magazine pics, video parts, the ideals of street riding, the trouble with being sponsored, trips to the USA and his take on modern street riding, the never ending battle of still riding BMX and what it all involves.

Back when I first got into BMX, we used to go Rom on semi regular basis, dreaming of one day being able to air the concrete bowls there like the other kids could. Rom had some amazing locals, low key and top sponsored guys. But what everyone really fawned over was the California skateparks, under the picturesque blue sky, light coloured concrete, motocross googles and colourful race uniforms. There were a few riders that featured regularly in the UK magazines, pics started coming out in UK magazines of riders like Eddie, Brian Blyther, Mike Dominguez and Rich Sigur who specialised in aerial moves at the pipeline skatepark in CA. These pics were the ones all of us aspiring youngsters looked to and dreamed about. One of the riders that I started to see feature in the uk magazines was Eddie Fiola, Whom by this point was aboard the new GT performer fully kitted out in matching race gear. The buzz was well and truly out there and this guy was on everyones radar, more photoshoots and a visit to the UK to compete on the new UK BMX TV show Kellogs track wars was perfect timing. Now almost a house hold name in the UK. That year yellow bike part sales no doubt got as popular as they have ever been. Eddie was all over the magazines and events for the next few years, but then slowly faded out of the spot light, even though he never quit riding BMX. We do the usual here and follow Eddies story from his first bike into BMX, creating skatepark riding with the early pioneers and what evolved from it. First photoshoots, the start of the King of the Skateparks events. Multiple sponsorship stories, visits and tours to the Japan, UK and Europe. Controversy at the Kellogs event. Shows, the changing face of BMX, right up to present day and releasing the EF frame fork and bar kits….An information over load on this one for me. Enjoy.

Bob Morales Bob Osborne Tinker Jurez Fred Bekker Bob Haro Jeff Watson Mike Dominguez Brian Blyther Dave Vanderspek Donovan Ritter Tony Murray Rich Sigur Richard Anderson Josh White Jess Dyrenforth Dave Curry Ron Wilkerson Dave Breed Terry Jenkins Andy Irwin Craig Campbell Neil Ruffell Maurice Meyer Josh White Mat Hoffman Dave Voelker Stu Thompsen Harry Leary Greg Hill Timmy Judge Scot Breithaupt