Category Archives: Interviews

Stephan Hearn BMX Plus interview

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BMX Plus has been around for years, and always represents flatland really well! Check out these shots from the Stephan Hearn interview in the latest issue, really stoked on the xft halfpacker pivot shot! The internet is great, but you can’t beat a great photo in a magazine! It was Stephan’s dream to ride at the beach, Now it’s a reality and immortalized in print! Flatmatters at Bmx Plus!




FlatWebTV: The interview

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Flat WebTv is approaching its 4th episode, and growing by the episode, it’s time for an interview with its creators Justin Huey and Anthony Buglio to find out a lil’ background of who they are and what goes into making an episode of Flat WebTV.

FlatWebTV Episode 3 from Justin Hoey on Vimeo.

Firstly I am interested in how long you guys have been riding for?
Anthony: I got my first bike in 1987 (Dyno Compe). So the easy answer is 24 years. A badly broken leg (a hit and run accident that destroyed my GT Pro Freestyle Tour!), university and jobs though really slowed down my riding from 1991 – 2001. I got back into it “seriously” when I moved to Japan in 2001. Prior to 1991 I rode a little of everything. After the leg brake, I tore down my halfpipe and stuck to flat.

Justin: Well I have been riding off and on for about 12 years or so. Like many people life has its ups and downs, so much of that affect my ability to ride on a regular basis. Now I ride atleast 1-3 times a week.
When I was younger I road a little bit of every thing, but as I got older I really started to get into flatland. Actually it is kind of funny, the thing that sealed the deal to ride all flatland was a GT Stunt Show were I saw with Gabe Weed. He let me ride if bike and I fell and hurt my knee. Hahaha.

How did Flat Web Tv come about?
A: Justin had this idea to do a flatland talk show. He mentioned it a few times. We talked about it, then put it off, then talked about it more. Finally we just sat down to try an episode, and that was episode 1.

J: Well for years I have wanted to do an online show. I kept talking to people but no one really wanted to delicate any time to it. One day I sent out a mass e-mail to the riders in the area and Anthony was the only one that showed up for the taping. The rest is history.

What comes across to me watching the show, is that you guys are flatland fans, you can see you love all that is flatland, would that be pretty accurate? I don’t see any agenda…
A: That sums it up for me. I’m about to turn 36 years old, and at the risk of sounding like a pretentious old fart, I’ve finally learned that having that type of agenda in any part of life is bad (for me). I survive much better when I’m just enjoying life, no ulterior motives. I love the sport. It’s the longest running theme in my life for a reason: to me, there’s nothing more beautiful (except Nana).

J: You hit it 100%. We are fans I still get star stuck when big name riders comment on our show. Yeah like I have said to a lot of people, I love the sport and I want to see it in the spot light and be what we all know it can be. I could go on and on about this but what it comes down to is that we aren’t doing this to make any money, we are doing this because we want more people to see how awesome this sport is. I have even receved a few emails from people that aren’t even into flatland that like watching the show. We know that this show isn’t for every one, but we hope the thousands people that are watching it like it. I hope it inspires people to do more for the sport.


Anthony-two footed death truck.

Set the scene on how an episode of Flat Web Tv goes down? What equipment do you use to produce the show?
A: Justin can answer this one more completely, but from my perspective it happens very organically (which might help explain to some folks why it seems “rough” at times). Justin and I talk all the time. A few days before we shoot, we’ll go over what we think might be interesting, just at the topic level. We make it a point not to discuss in any detail the topics before the camera goes on. Then once the lights are on and the camera is rolling, the topics we’ve chosen just come out naturally. We’ve only ever scripted the opening sentence. Everything else is just off the cuff. Even though this has the potential to look “amateur” at points, I prefer the honest reactions (even if we looks like fools!).

J:Well before the show even gets taped, Anthony and I get together to go over the items that we are going to talk about and refine the flow of the show.
Then on the day that we shoot the episode we go over it again. Then we set up all the equipment, crack open a beer and tape the show. Oh and it is always done in one take.
As far as equipment goes here is a list of stuff we have been using
• 2x Sennheiser Wireless lapel mics
• Sony HDR-FX100
• Canon T2i
• Skull Candy Headphones
• Behringer 4-Channel Mixer (now we can do audio checks lol)
• Lowel Pro Halogen lights (Soft box, Umbrella, and flood)
For all the post-production we use Final Cut Studio 1 on an old Black MacBook (on its last legs, but still does the job)
Maybe we will do a video on that some time…hmmm…

A few people on flatmatters have commented about the drinking, burps on the show, I guess the question is, will the drinking continue?
A: Yes. I can appreciate that underage kids might be watching the show, and that is the only thing that would make me rethink the drinking. But on a nice saturday afternoon here in Portland, after our riding session, the whole crew goes to a pub and we have a few pints and talk flatland. That’s the model for the show.

J: I have seen the comments, but I don’t think that we will stop any time soon. I do think that we will drink less. On episode two I had to many If you look at a lot of the Primetime TV show lots of people are drinking on the show. So I will leave it at that.

What if any are you own criticisms of the show?
A:We have really been concerned with the pacing and have taken to heart a lot of the comments (public and private) from the community. We would love to have more original content, and that will come with time. Technically, I know we really want the show to be flawless from a camera, audio and lighting perspective. I was so bummed my audio spiked in episode 3. I think we are happy with the improvements, episode to episode. I see that continuing.

J: Well I would like to do more with the show. I feel that we need to do some on location stuff, live stuff. Really just do more. Oh and fix the audio problems that we have had.

I’m excited to see what you guys do with the interviews, you mentioned in the last show, interviews with Spaceark crew and Matthias Dandois, when do you have these scheduled in for?
A: We are shooting for the 15th of March for the Space Ark edit. This will be a continuing theme I think. Show on the 1st of the month, then a short edit on the 15th.

J: Well the SpaceArk one will drop in the middle of the month, and the Matthias one needs to be redone because of a software glitch. I hope that I can get back in contact with him to re-tape it. For the next show I’m working on lining up a well known rider right now.

Is the show starting to feel like a job now?
A: Not for me, it’s too much fun, and Justin and Marie are fun to hang out with anyway. For Justin though, he is putting a lot of time and energy into this and he is mostly stuck with the editing, so he might have a different answer!

J: I guess that depends on how you look at it. I will say that it doesn’t feel like work, but the wife and I spend a lot of time on our company and are hoping some day we break even. I love BMX and all of Action Sports for that matter, I would love to have Everyday Paradise be my full time job, but that will some time before that happens.
Right now we (my wife and I) have three other projects that we are working on for Everyday Paradise in the next year and a half. We have two other web show that we working to get rolling. One that is more of a mainstream BMX Freestyle Show, and the other covers my other passion of motorsports. The third thing is still in the planning stages and a few people out there in the community that I’m working with to get it rolling. This one will really help every one.

How do riders and sponsors contact you about the show?
A: Justin can answer this one.

J: People are free to get in contact with us on the website www.FlatWebTV.com and stay up to date with us on http://facebook.com/FlatWebTV.

I mentioned the beer on the show, which to be honest didn’t really concern me, but I know with flatmatters I do feel a level of responsibility as far as corresponding with kids messaging all the time to try and not come across as a dick, do you guys get a lot of mail know asking questions about flatland, and do you feel any responsibility on how you come across etc?
A: First part, as far as receiving emails about flatland, no not really, not yet. We are not really in a position I think to give too much advice or have too much information that isn’t already out there in various places. We’re happy to get questions though, and I think between us and the Portland crew we have a lot of experience that might benefit a beginner. If we got enough questions I can see us answering some in a “mailbag” sort of format.

Second part, as far as feeling some responsibility, yes, I think we do feel some responsibility, and we think about it a lot. For example, and this may sound weird, but I wish I wouldn’t have said “Jesus” in episode 3 (when talking about the REASON DVD). I’m not religious, but I can appreciate that some people may be. The beer though, I don’t see us drinking as something that should offend viewers. If we get intoxicated and the show suffers, yes, I can see that annoying a viewer. I don’t think we are going out of our way to promote drinking. Look at countries that have a less uptight stance on drinking and you see far less underage abuse. We Americans have too many hang-ups. I’m sure someone is offended that I have tattoos as well.

J: On some level we are all role models weather we like it or not. So I do feel some level of responsibility, and I’m planing going back and bleep out some of the profanity in earlier shows and I definitely think we will limit the alcohol consumption, on our second show, it did suffer when we drank too much, and it gave a bad impression.

We talked a lil’ about the flatland fan, the show at the moment is geared towards current news and topics, will you ever be covering older stuff, like you may have favourite riders of yours from back in the day you get ahold of for interviews and suchlike?
A: Yes, I hope as opportunities arise we’ll expand into broader range of original content. My roots go way back so I would be stoked to interview Kevin Jones or John Huddleston or guys like that who really motivated me at a young age. Even good friends like Bill Freeman, I mean, that guy is a rolling Flatland encyclopedia (but Flatmatters already got the scoop on him!). There’s an event coming up in Cali that a lot of old school riders will be at. I’m going and if I can manage to not be too star struck I’m going to try and get a couple interviews.

J: The format of the show is really open right now. We are doing a lot of news and current events, but I definitely think that we will start to have more original content that very well could cover anything from any time.

Any shoutouts to wrap this up guys?
A: Thanks to the flatland community worldwide for constant motivation and my mom for buying me my first freestyle bike.

J: Yeah I’d Ike to give a shout out first and for most to our viewers. Second I want to thank all the people that are out there pushing the sports to new limits, to Anthony for taking a chance on me with this show. Most importantly I want to thank my wife for putting up with all of use, supporting all that we are doing, and for being a great photographer, videographer, and sound woman.

Thanks guys, great stuff!

The Tim Knoll Interview

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Intro/Interview: EC.
Every so often, a rider pops up on the scene, to kick a new lease of life in the game, that person for me, and a lot of my street friends, was Tim Knoll. Watching this last few edits (see below), you can’t help but smile, at his creative ideas, and wonder why did no-one else did that! This is BMX and flatland joined together, how it should be, FUN! Welcome to the Tim Knoll interview…

Tim Knoll BMX from Tim Knoll on Vimeo.

Let’s start with some background about yourself, where are you from, how long riding, how old you are?
I’m from the United States; I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
How long have you been riding, and what got you into flatland?
I’ve been riding freestyle BMX for over 10 years as of now (winter 2011). The first 7-8 of those 10 years I primarily rode flatland exclusively. As of over the past 2 years I’ve switched my focus to purely freestyle – incorporating the use of various objects within an urban landscape. From an early age on I was very impressed with freestyle BMX by seeing it on TV over the years. It wasn’t until the summer of 2000 I started flatlanding. I was drawn to it initially because I could practice it in the comfort and privacy of my family’s driveway, and it was safe. At that time I discovered theflatlander.com which featured a how-to section that was a direct link to bmxtrix.com. That marvelous site listed over fifty tricks including written instruction and videos for each. After viewing each of the videos I was very enthusiastic about the trick possibilities I never imagined. I was very eager to learn. I had a ’97 Robinson with rear pegs and a straight-cable back brake that didn’t work (which I didn’t think to remove at the time). I started learning the few, basic tricks that were possible with the impeding limitations of my bike’s setup. I’ve been addicted to riding from then on.

What is flatland riding to you?
I view it as one of the many forth-dimensional, kinesthetic art forms. Each trick, or piece of art, is an event in space-time. It’s all temporary art, unless captured by video. Flatland’s particularly special because it can be performed almost anywhere in civilized regions due the abundance of level surfaces. It’s minimal, yet very intricate and technical. Personally, for many years, it has been my recreational refuge from the occasional discontent I feel by living in our artificial society. Doing bike tricks feels good. You all know that.

I think it’s fair to say you have one of the most creative styles in all of bmx, I’m interested how you arrived at this kind of riding?
Thanks E! I really appreciate that. I remember within the first handful of months after I first began riding I gave Flatlandfuel a call when Pat had just opened it. I was looking to buy a good video and asked him for a recommendation – it was Dorkin’ 10. He told me all about Kevin Jones and how he invented a lot of the tricks everyone was doing. Upon hearing that I was really impressed that one guy essentially created the foundation of what came to be. From then on I remember being really intrigued by the concept of trick invention. I started trying to create my own original tricks or combos that I hadn’t seen before. During my senior year of high school I became good friends with a skater who showed me a Rodney Mullen video. I had never seen anything like it before. It left a lasting impression. I started dabbling with darkside tricks. It became pretty clear to me that was an untapped frontier and the possibilities were great. My riding started going in that direction. In 2005 I began riding for the Division BMX Stunt Team and made friends with all of the riders, none of which rode flatland. I became inspired to try riding street and park. I wasn’t too comfortable with either initially so I didn’t try very often. Over the years I increasingly dabbled with it. I saw Joe Kid on a Stingray where someone described early street riding as “flatland with obstacles”. I liked that concept, and at some point I decided to take my riding in that direction, which proved to be a lot of fun and very fulfilling. Overall, I’ve always wanted to show people new ideas.

What inspires you?
Watching videos of anyone getting rad on a bike or a skateboard gets me psyched. I’ve had the privilege and advantage of being exposed to three decades worth of freestyle BMX and, to a lesser degree, skate videos. I’m a huge fan of the old school and mid school riding. I love the Baco and Dorkin’ videos. I also just discovered Eddie Roman videos on BMXmdb about a month ago, which showcase some of my favorite riding at the moment. I get stoked on watching skating from Rodney Mullen, Natas Koupas, and Richie Jackson. I discovered Richie Jackson not too long ago and I recommend checking him out. A few of my favorite new school riders include Tate Roskelley, Erik Elstran, Ciaran Perry, and George Manos.
This kind of leads on from the previous question, do you ride how you do in the videos every session, or is this something you work up to?
Not every session of mine resembles what you see in my videos. It all depends where I go to ride and what I’m in the mood to do. Sometimes I go to the skate park and try to hack it as a fledging park rider. I have a lot of fun jumping the box, even though I don’t do any tricks. When the weather’s nice I love cruising around the city, hitting up various street spots. During rainy or chilly evenings I head to my favorite heated parking garage that has marvelous curb-height manual pads. And of course there are those other days where I choose to experiment with new ideas at a particular spot and if it goes well I set up the camera and tripod to document it – a handful of clips in my edits came from sessions of this type.

Do you regularly session with other riders?
No, unless I go to the skate park because I almost always encounter comrades there. Otherwise, I hit the streets and parking garage alone.

I’d imagine you have a fair few crashes trying some of your combos, do you get injured a lot?
I’m usually pretty safe. I have gotten a couple serious injuries this past year trying back flips on the box jump we use for BMX shows. I’m a very inexperienced ramp rider, so I’m poor at gauging the proper speed needed on the approach to huck a well coordinated flip. One time I went too slow, nose-cased the deck, went OTB straight to a shoulder dislocation upon catching myself. Another time the ramp was set up on a decline and I went way too fast, over-rotated, and almost overshot the entire landing. I fell over 13 feet (I think) straight to my back on the tail end of the metal landing, resulting in a few cracked ribs and a concussion. My success ratio with flips had been pretty good overall, but those few incidents have proven to be awful. I appreciate how safe flatland is.

What bike parts do you most commonly break?
As of lately, frames. Within the summer and fall of 2010 I tore the headtube from the top tube on a Travis Collier frame. Then I fatally cracked a Colony Sweet Tooth frame within only 2 months of use!

Savage, so through two frames recently, what’s your next choice of frame?
Back in October I accepted a flow sponsorship from 2Hip Bikes. Wilkerson tells me I’ll get my specially modified street/flat/park frame this coming Spring (19.75″ or 20″ tt, 13″ rear).

That’s sweet news…I mean this in a good way, but your riding doesn’t really fit in a normal flatland kind of contest rider style, you have crossed over, and shown the two are very similar, I feel like you could ride in a disused builders yard and get clips,have you ever rode contests by the way?
As a teenager I aspired to enter contests. My riding sessions reflected that mentality. I’d strive towards 100% consistency with each trick I learned. I remember within my first year of competing I did really well. I placed higher than a handful of people who were way ahead of me skill-wise, but since I pulled every single trick, the judges gave me higher scores. The following year I had improved a lot, but didn’t place nearly as well in the two contests I entered. I remember that bummed me out. I was disappointed that I spent months trying to dial in tricks for these contests only to place poorly. Though, in retrospect I think the previous year inflated my ego and confidence to a higher-than-deserved level. I remember during the second contest of that year I told Rick Wagner, the owner of C4BMX (my sponsor), that I was over it. I continued to ride for the sake of fun and innovation. I couldn’t compete in a flatland contest today. I would require a flat rail, a manual pad and some ledge setup if I wanted to be a competent competitor – but that wouldn’t be flatland. My flatland alone wouldn’t do too well for me.
You mentioned George Manos and Ciaran Perry as some of your inspirations, two riders who have become more popular as a result of the internet, do you feel the internet has helped progress flatland riding?
I’m completely enthralled by George’s and Ciaran’s unique styles. The three of us are completely different, but I know we all really appreciate one another’s individual approach to the 20″ artistry. The internet is indeed the only vehicle for my exposure as well. The web’s great for guys like George, Ciaran and I who don’t go to contests or other high profile events. The ease of Vimeo and YouTube uploading and viewing have served as a tremendous catalyst for exposure. As riders and internet jockeys, we have the ability to share a combo to the global community within the day of pulling it. For example, you (Effraim) and Martti release new riding clips weekly. These days we don’t have to wait for the newest Flatland Manifesto, Diversion, or Intrikat video to release in order to witness the ‘latest’ riding. Any rider can get exposure without having to rely on high profile videographers like Bobby Carter, Chad Johnston, or Stew Johnson to be included in their projects. Free web video servers have made it a fair game for all. I can browse “flatmatters” or “thecomeup” daily and get exposed to brand new clips and edits – for free! I believe the advent of the internet video has greatly contributed to the progression of flatland. Many are trying to elaborate on what’s already been done for the sake of constant progression of the art itself. Aside from that, I’ve seen so many edits from guys who are relatively unknown, who completely shred, it’s unreal. Seeing such an astounding amount of shredders is really motivating. Much of today’s riding looks completely different than it did 10 years ago. A few of the ‘am’ riders I’ve seen in Ground Tactics this year would easily make qualifications at a CFB pro contest in 2001. The bar is continually raised. I’m hanging on tight to see where things end up 15 years from now.

Good points, for me I am using the internet as a tool to progress, to document, share and I hope inspire others to do the same. I know you have inspired many, with your unique approach to riding, with your frame due out in the spring, what’s next for Tim Knoll?
Keep it up, Effraim. Flatmatters keeps me on top of what’s going on and motivates me. We the community appreciate your support! As for me, I’m still recovering from the shoulder surgery I had in late December. I’m due to resume riding by mid Spring, hopefully. I’ll be filming my section for 2Hip’s upcoming video ‘Club 2Hip’. I also plan to release another web edit at some point in the unforeseeable future. I’m not really binding myself to any deadline. It comes when it does. Mainly I’m just looking forward to getting back on my bike to do some g-turns or jump a box.

Thanks for your time Tim, been a pleasure catching up with you!

Related Links:

http://flatmattersonline.blogspot.com/2010/12/defining-moments-in-2010.html

http://flatmattersonline.blogspot.com/2010/05/tom-knoll-digicam-edit.html

Yasunari Ishijima interview

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I first met Yasunari in 2008, at the KOG finals in tokyo, he was competing in the expert class, and was riding as I entered the arena, already I could see he was very skilled, I can’t remember the last time I saw a double in front of bar whiplash to halfpacker in the expert class, but this was Japan, and was healthy to see, that day I got a lot energy out of watching the expert class, Yasunari placed in the top 3 that day, and turned pro the following day, nowadays he is a lot more famous appearing in the 2011 Flatland calendar, online edits, sponsored by Quamen, and also running the jimalog blog, time for an interview.

Firstly introduce yourself please?
Hello everyone, nice to meet you all! First of all, I’d like to say thank you to flatmatters for giving me this opportunity.My name is Yasunari Ishijima. I just turned 25 years old last month.
Tell me about the name “Jimalog: what does that mean?
It’s the abbreviation for Ishijima Weblog. I thought it was too long to call and made it shorter.

Sponsors: Dig-it ( Long standing japanese BMX shop/ distributor) and Quamen Bikes.

How long have you been riding?
I’ve been riding for 11 years.

Whereabouts are you from, and who do you ride with on a daily basis?
I’m originally from the countryside named Abiko city in Chiba prefecture. My main home spot is Maihama is where I’m living in right now and I ride with Moto Sasaki and Yoshihiro Shinde often there.

Do you just have one riding spot you ride, or do you have multiple riding spots?
Not only one spot. You can see my current riding spots on my latest web edit I have three spots. My home spot, a public park in Maihama, there are always people and kids walking around and cutting through. It’s a distraction and dangerous. Other two spots are no pedestrians so I’d prefer to ride there lately.

How do you deal with winter riding?
No particular things for the winter. Fortunately, it doesn’t snow or rain much in Chiba I can ride all seasons without any worries. I feel very lucky about that.

How did you discover flatland riding?
I first saw BMX on TV was a BMX park contest at X-games. I got really impressed with it. I always liked riding my bike and riders on TV were doing tricks on small bikes was looking cool to me although there was no skate park around my home and I started riding flatland.

Three years ago I was in japan for the KOG finals and you were riding expert and just made the step up to pro, how are you finding riding now as a pro level rider?
Wow! you remembered that!? (editors note: yes of course …) Yeah, I turned KOG pro from the KOG final 2008. Well, I’ve never thought of my riding is pro level or not and I don’t know if I’ve found my style or I’m being able to express my style with my tricks. I feel I need more skills sometime though.

Your riding of course developed, huge progression on the infront of bar whiplashes, what are you working on these days?
I’ve been working on the infront of bar whiplash variations coz it’s fun tricks to do also I like switches with brakes. I’m trying so many things.

You’ve seen lots of flatland videos old and new. Which video did you grew up with?
Flatland Manifesto for the win!

Can you pick your top five favorite videos from your library?
Well well…It’s difficult but…here it is, Flatland Manifesto Series, inTRIKat “LAND ESCAPE B”, MILLENNIUM, PROPS “GROUNDWORK”, Video Name.

List your favorite riders, If you pick your top five riders who would that be?
Dan Rigby, Cory Stratychuk, Cory Fester,Simon O’Brien, Brian Rybak.

You’ve been riding for 11 years and what is the motivation to keep on going?
It’s simply fun. Not only when I’m trying new tricks, I enjoy it enough with my certain tricks. Of course I try tricks I’ve never done before sometimes.

How do you describe your riding style?What riding style you aim to be?
I don’t want my combos complicated and want to make it look good. I want to ride like that.

Do you see yourself is going brakeless in the future?
I don’t think so. I like braking switches and riding with a brake. Some might do the switches without brakes butＩdare to try them with a brake.

Can you tell us about your bike setup?
Not about setting but, my current frame Quamen bikes Clad G9, that is the best and the most controllable frame I’ve ever ridden.
I really like the geo especially the lower top tube I think it will help my progression.

How did you get hooked up with Quamen bikes and Dig it?
2 years ago, at KOG round 2 2009. That was my second KOG since I turned pro, I was luckily made it to final then.
After the contest while I was talking to everyone, saying hello and good bye I had an opportunity to talk to Skip who is the owner of Dig-it BMX shop, he kindly asked me if I was interested in joining Quamen team. I was interested in Quamen products and looking from outside I’d always thought the team was having fun. I was pleased to be a part of the team. Since then I’m on the team.

How do you see flatland in ten years? I mean which style or tricks will be the mainline?
I don’t think I’m good enough to answer this but, riding style will be more multipolarzed. In fact, the new style of riding “pegless style” popped up in the last couple of years. Not mainline, I think riders will develop more individualities.

Do you think you will participate in events and contest outside of Japan?
Beside I have a family and a job, I want to participate in them once in my life.

Which event or country you want to go?
Canada, my friend Takuji Kasahara and Akihiko Takahashi, Kazuma Nakajima they went to the Flatland Unlimited contest last year and I hear the stories often and it sounds really fun and very exciting. The contest is very attracted me. Also Cory Fester and Gregory Leuschner visited us last year so why not?

Last words?
First off, I’d like to say thank you to Quamen bikes owner Mr Zenta and Dig-it owner Skip for treating me good always. Thank you very much for your help I really appreciate it. And to my wife Yasuko and my parents, riders who I often ride with. I’d like to thank you to them also. Keep on riding and have a fun with it!

Thank you Yasunari! And Taku for all your help with this interview!

http://flatmattersonline.blogspot.com/2010/12/yasunari-ishijima-2010-autumn-edit.html