Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

Posted on October 1, 2009 - by ChrisDub

StupidBMX – Circa 2001

StupidBMX was started pretty early in my college days, around 2001. I was taking DIT (Digital Imaging Technology) at TSTC with my buddy Andrew, learning how to use Photoshop and build websites. We were meeting a bunch of kids those days that either rode bikes, or were interested in riding bikes.

I had wanted to make a website for awhile. I found Geocitie’s WYSIWYG editor, gathered a bunch of photos together, and got it all online with the idea it would be the spot to go for all the BMX kids in the South Texas region.

StupidBMX was pretty much where the seed was planted for RGVJuice.

Those were some good days, lots of road trips, riding with the McAllen kids, running from the police, and general fun-ery. Back when we had no jobs,  no girlfriends, and no responsibilities. Everything we saw was worth trying to ride.

Click image for full view.

Yahoo is closing the Geocities service down on October 26, and I wanted to put together a little memorial post here on ‘Juice.

Below you’ll find a bunch of photos from the StupidBMX site. Enjoy the time warp, and be sure to check out the original geocities.com/stupidbmx before it’s gone forever.

Thanks to Tanner for grabbing all these photos off the site.

Posted on August 22, 2009 - by SenorMustard

Jonestown Tragedy – Interview & Free Downloads

First off introduce yourselves and tell us what you play.
joey-vocals
biz-guitar
zach-guitar
bones-bass
jason-drums

The vocals are different from your previous music, how did that come about…was it a difficult transition?
Well honestly everything is different about this recording we wanted too have an overly produced sound we added alot of effects too the guitars and vocals our previous recordings were really half assed this time around we really took our time on it.

You guys have a unique mixture of genres going on, what genre do you all identify most with?
Well I know for the most part we all really love punk rock from hardcore/melodic punk too pop punk we all grew up listening too bands like strung out nofx to descedents and screaching weasels but yeah we all enjoy different types of genres but for the most part we all for sure identify best with punk rock.

How do you go about writing your music?
Writing our music can be stressful sometimes but its pretty basic i(biz) write a riff or half a song then take it too the jam session where jason and i complete the song together.

How long did it take you to make your new E.P.?
The EP took about 3 weeks we recorded with Charlie Vela and it was a blast he really helped us capture the sound we were looking for. He’s an awesome dude really has a passion for music so he was awesome too work with.

Where can folks get the cd?
If your old fashion you can buy the cd on interpunk.com or download it at downloadpunk.com

Are you nervous about performing with Girl in a Coma… Any plans on trying to hit on any of them?
Nervous? Not at all. We’ve played with Girl In A Coma a few times already. Hitting on them, Im married as far as everyone else I don’t know, haha.

Any special plans as far as touring or promotion for the new cd?
Touring is something were all itching for and hopefully we’ll make it happen next year.

Any last thoughts or anything you’d like to tell our readers?
Dont do drugs, don’t follow trends and most importantly don’t wear girl jeans if your a guy. haha jk

Is there anything you’d like to say about the 2 tracks you sent us?
The 2 tracks are terrible. na jk they’re fast melodic punk rock songs. ENJOY!!!

Download 2 free tracks from Jonestown Tragedy HERE.

Posted on July 4, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Big Brother BMX/Skate/Blade Comp Tomorrow!

I know I’m pretty late on this one, but I just found out today. The rad dudes over at the Big Brother shop in Brownsville will be throwing a BMX/Skate/Blade contest at the Brownsville skatepark tomorrow, July 4th.

Registration and practice begin at 3:30pm, and the contest starts at 5:00pm.

I’ll be there shooting photos and taking notes to cover the event, maybe I’ll jump on the ‘ol BMX as well. I’m going to try and do some live coverage as the event happens, and make use of my ’smart phone’, to benefit the people that can’t make it out. If I manage to pull it off, you guys will see the post on the front page tomorrow.

See you kids tomorrow!

Posted on July 3, 2009 - by ChrisDub

I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes – Trailer

Just stumbled upon this video while cruising the intertubes. From what I can tell, it’s already out and running at film festivals with limited showings. Probably won’t be showing here in the Valley, but hopefully a dvd will be coming out soon.

There’s a quote in the trailer that reminds me of a time at a Ramp Ranch comp years ago when Crandal chucked an FBM beanie at me from across the room and said “your beanie sucks, buy this one now!” Crandal is a sales-beast. And yes, of course I bought the beanie.

Here’s the description from IMDB, and the video below.

“In reaction to the big business run companies of BMX in the early 90’s, 17-year-old Steve Crandall started a company of his own called Fat Bald Men (FBM). What began as selling t-shirts out of a backpack has turned into one of the most well respected DIY bicycle companies around. Through fortune and misfortune follow FBM through their 15 years of mayhem as told by Steve Crandall and the rest of the BMX bicycle community from close friends to influential Icons like Dave Mirra and Mat Hoffman.”

I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes Trailer from BAD BREAKS on Vimeo.

Posted on May 7, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Brownsville Session – May 2, 2009

Saturday was a good day. It was hot as fuck, but we still had a good time riding bikes, skating, shooting photos, and eating a billion tacos.

I woke up at around 11am, checked the emails and social networks, took a shower and waited for Dominic to meet me at my place. Dom showed up around 1pm with his camera lighting gear in tow. We packed up the Civic and headed to Brownsville to meet up with Walker at the skatepark.

I rode the park for about 10 minutes before eating balls in the flat bottom while carving around the bowl (I need new tires, bad). Shitty. Ended up sitting out for about an hour in the shade. Finally got up, shot some photos, and cruised around some more.

Walker was showing us and the park his stylish ways, and Dom was impressing me how quickly he could get around the bowl in his rollerboots.

We were all getting pretty hot at the park, with the cement park bouncing the sun’s rays around like a mirrored room. So we decided to go check out the Big Brother shop.

I had never been there, and I’ve gotta say, they have a really nice shop. Complete with ramps, rails, decks, parts, shoes, clothes, computers for checking the ‘Space, and on top of it all, they sell bikes!

We rode the ramps in the back of Big Brother with Dylan and Matt for a while and had a really fun session. The ramps need a few more nails, but it was still really fun.

Finally ended the day, at a top secret, all you can eat taco joint. I think Walker put away around 16, and I had 15 or so. Rumor is Damien Garcia killed 19 tacos the next day, with ease.

Let the Taco Wars begin!

Enjoy the photos.

Posted on April 27, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Quick 10 with Cat

NAME: Cat.
AGE: About 23-27, but my liver is probably screaming 30.
HOMETOWN: MacTown. born n raised in this hood!
SPONSORS: I get a lot of free drinks and free advice.
YEARS SHREDDING: I’m probably better at shredding paper. But I’ve been skateboarding for over 6 years.

1. INSPIRATIONS: Activism, people with OCD like me, and people who try 2 use their talent.
2. FAVOURITE SPOT: Secret ditches and backyard minis!
3. FAVOURITE VIDEO PART: Tranny gone wild
4. BEST THING ABOUT SKATEBOARDING: Everything bout it is rad.
5. WORST THING ABOUT SKATEBOARDING: Skate stoppers
6. BIGGEST FEAR: Showin up to a sick spot and forgetting my board. AHHH!
7. WORST INJURY: Either my concussion in ‘06 or all 4 of my knee injuries.
8. OTHER INTERESTS: Baca. Cardiel. Anderson. Bourne. Guzman.Tattoos. My rad little skateboard/skateart shop “ROOTS“. (look us up or stop by)
9. THE LAST SONG YOU HEARD: AL GREENS GREATEST HITS ON MY PORCH IN the HAMMOCK.
10. THANKS: To all the core companies out there that keep skateboarding raw, rude, real, righteous, fun, original. Thanks to anyone who has hooked it up. Thanks to my team for being rad. Thanks to our fans, the RGVJuice crew, the city of Olmito for building that new park, the cops for being cool at my b-day party and to Sammy Baca for having long hair and skating with his shirt off! Keep skateboarding fun.

Posted on April 26, 2009 - by ChrisDub

New Switchfoot Montage

Kevin over at Switchfoot Skateshop just sent me over the link to his new video. It is quite gangster if I can say so myself. It features the Switchfoot team shredding all over the Valley, and beyond. Slangin’ decks out the trunk like the DC sniper!

SWITCHFOOT VALLEY SKATEBOARDING from switchfoot skateshop on Vimeo.

Posted on April 26, 2009 - by ChrisDub

STC Ditch BMX Session – Photos

I Finally got out and rode bikes with the McAllen BMX heads. These kids are getting good. I remember them just a couple years back showing up at the park with thier Diamondbacks, fully equipped with gyros, pegs, and 4 piece bars, ready to rock. They are the next generation of the McAllen BMX scene.

We went out to find some street to ride, ended up at the STC ditch. Things just started to heat up and the sprinklers turned on. Got me and the camera gear pretty good. We ended the session pretty early but still came away with a few keepers.

Click for full size images.

Posted on April 22, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Equipment: Freddy Iorio’s FBM Howler

Name: Freddy Iorio
Age: 15
Location: McAllen TX

Frame: FBM Howler No brake mnts.
Fork: Colony MVP2
Bars: Sputnik Skyline
Stem: Shadow Attack
Grips: Animal Edwins
Barends: Fly Nylon
Headset: Colony Integrated
Clamp: Shadow Alfred Lite
Seatpost: Colony
Seat: Colony Slimmer
Cranks: Profile Racing
Sprocket: Tree Spline drive
Chain: KMC 510 HX
Front Tire: Odyssey Aitken Plyte
Front Wheel: Fly laced to a G-sport Marmoset
Rear Tire: Odyssey path
Rear Wheel: Fly laced to a G-sport Ratchet
Pedals: Animal Hamilton Sealed
Modifications / Extras: Slammed fork, slammed wheel.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being most dialed, how dialed is your bike? 11!

Posted on April 21, 2009 - by SenorMustard

11 Questions with Charlie Vela

How long have you been recording other people?
I started recording other bands when I was about 15. The first band I recorded was called The Retarded Flies. I had no idea what I was doing, but nobody seemed to notice so it worked out.

Have you had any formal training or did you learn as you went?
No formal schooling for me. Most of my knowledge comes from reading voraciously about recording and practicing constantly. There’s such an incredible wealth of information that’s available for free I’m sometimes a little puzzled by the whole formal recording school thing. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of great engineers who went to school, but I have a pretty strong feeling that they would’ve been great engineers anyway. It’s all about the passion you have for what you do.

Could you give us a run through of the gear you like to use?
I try to keep it relatively simple when it comes to gear. It’s very easy to go after every new thing that comes out thinking that it’ll give you “THAT SOUND”. But the truth is learning how to make the most with what you have is the key to great recordings. Take it from me, it is entirely possible to make a $10,000 microphone sound like crap if you don’t know what you’re doing. And sometimes a $12 Radio Shack mic is exactly what a song needs. That said, I use a mixture of high end and low end stuff. When possible I try to build things myself to save money. My mic preamps are all built from kits by Seventh Circle Audio, and are based on classic console designs. They sound GREAT and cost me about a fifth of the real deal. I record to ProTools on a computer that I put together. Buying parts and assembling myself gave me a machine that literally smokes some of the high-end computers you see in music catalogs. Plus I’m one of those people who HAS to know how things work, so it’s a lot of fun for me.

Who would you like to work with alive or dead?
Oh jeez, this is more like a “who are your favorite bands” question isn’t it? Let’s see, Fleetwood Mac, At the Drive-In, Credence Clearwater Revival, Jimmy Eat World, Cursive, Iron and Wine, The Little Willies. I’m just going to leave it there before my wrist gets tired. Rest assured, it’s a LONG list.

“We come in early, work our asses off, and are in bed before midnight.”

If you could only choose one, would you choose recording bands or playing in a band and why?
That’s tough. Most of the time recording is all I think about, and I can usually get my music fix just fine that way. A lot of the time when you’re working with a band, you kind of get invited in as a temporary member. Probably because most of the groups I work with know that I’ve been there, and can relate to a lot of the questions and conflicts that can arise from being in a band. So that relationship can be incredibly rewarding. But on the other hand, nothing really compares to getting on stage in front of a crowd that is actually there to enjoy the music you’re making.

While you’re recording do you ever get the urge to jump in a jam too?
Not too often. In the studio, it’s the bands’ show and you have to always respect that. I’m there to get their ideas recorded, not to satisfy my own ego. Whenever I do get asked to play a part it’s a lot of fun though.

You’ve been recording for a while, any crazy stories you’d like to share?
You know, I really can’t think of any. Things can be pretty relaxed in the studio, and with the bands I’ve worked with anyway, it doesn’t really lend itself to wild debauchery. Maybe if I was recording in the 70’s or 80’s it would be a different story. But we come in early, work our asses off, and are in bed before midnight. If you ask me, that’s the best way to work. All that other craziness just gets in the way of what we’re there for: which is making music.

What projects are you working on next, any project you’re especially excited about?
I’m about to head in with Ideophonic for a new EP, and then after that Dignan and I are headed up to Austin to mix their new record. Madore should be in this May for a new EP as well. I’m really excited about all these projects, they’re all such good bands yet entirely different from one another.

Do work with all types of genres (record any tejano bands)?
I’m certainly interested in all types of music, and I take steps to make sure I’m up on the current trends in a lot of genres. But most of the people who contact me are in the rock arena, so that’s what I do mostly. If anyone reading this wants to make a completely out of this world country record, I am soooo down.

How should a band go about contacting you about recording/are their any requirements?
Getting in touch with me via myspace (myspace.com/charlievelarecording) or email (charlievelarecording@gmail.com) is the best way. I have some frequently asked questions on my blog to help bands get ready for their time in the studio. My main tip is to practice. I know that sounds so obvious a lot of people don’t even listen, but practice. It’s the difference between an ok record and a great record; a painfully slow and excruciating experience and a walk in the park. Plus wouldn’t you feel like a badass knowing that you can totally pull off your parts live?

In the end, what are your goals for the future in general?
I plan to keep making records for artists in the valley and Texas. I really think we have something special here, and things are getting to the point where the rest of the country will start to notice. I just want to do my part in raising the level of artistry and promoting good music by doing the best job recording it I can. Some friends and I are also working on a new business model for a record label something that can be competitive in the current market, and something that will also help showcase the talent we have down here.