THE MAKING OF 'DIRT QUAKE' TEASER TRAILER

 Great day recently, filming the teaser trailer for Sideburn Magazine's next event DIRT QUAKE.
Weather was amazing, Hayley Saull and Dan Walsh from Patteran Productions did a super job as did my co-star Wilky # 99!
Extra big thanks to Kaitlyn, our glamourous starter girl who patiently hung around all day waiting for her call...and also Jonathon Saull for taking the photos.

Bikes featured in the shoot were my '82 Suzuki GS 850 shaft drive and Wilkys newly imported '38 Harley Flathead. The bikes were required to be street legal for the road sequences and it was a bit of a challenge to achieve that. Wilkys bike wasn't even registered in the UK and mine had been stood in a damp shed for over six years. Favours were called,  queue-jumping MOT's sorted by Gary at NORTHWEST CUSTOMS, emergency carb stripdown, new battery and filters by Paul and Tony respectively at PITSTOP MOTORCYCLES.
Wilky jumped through hoops to re-register his sickle on a UK plate....just in the nick of time.
The choppers rode surprisingly good out on the track....considering the hardtail frame, high bars and forward foot positioning. the Flathead developed a fault half way through the day....but Wilky somehow managed to keep her running and got the job done....a real trooper!

Keep an eye out for a cameo appearance by SKOOTER FARM team manager Joe Crawford!

Watch the trailer

DIRT QUAKE PREVIEW from SIDEBURN on Vimeo.


More event details http://sideburnmag.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/dirt-quake.html

Verona Bike Expo 2012....part two

I didn't get a lot of time to look around the show this year....so just a quick whizz around the custom hall. Here's a few things that caught my eye.

RACE WITH THE DEVIL

This film has been floating around in my subconscious for many many years. I was on Youtube exploring a recent obsession with 70's Carsploitation movies (more on that in another post) when I stumbled upon this mighty gem.

The first few minutes of RACE WITH THE DEVIL make great eye candy for vintage Flat Track freaks.Great shots of Bultacos in a mid 70's workshop, followed by a well filmed race scene on asphalt!!!!.......I love the fact his mate in the Winnebago shows up mid race and obliviously pulls onto the track at a snails pace!
Great shots of vintage race leathers and helmets....wonder where this was filmed and who the 'racers' are?

First released in 1975, the film is a weird mix of horror and car chasing and stars Peter Fonda and Loretta Swit (hotlips in M.A.S.H.) so that ticks all my boxes! Not sure if it is commercially available on DVD but I'm gonna try and get a copy for my ever growing Biker movie collection

POLY STYRENE PASSES AWAY ....."OH CANCER UP YOURS!!"

Another idol of mine claimed by cancer at the age of 53. With her band X-RAY SPEX she really was a unque artist. I played the early singles to death IDENTITY, OH BONDAGE and DAY THE WORLD TURNED DAYGLO.

I met her backstage once in London in 1989 on a Youth of Today/Jailcell Recipes tour . She had Krishna beliefs and was friends with Y.O.T. vocalist Ray Cappo, a new Krishna convert. She came down to see what the current punk scene was like. I remember her being very positive about the gig...very sweet and soft spoken and not looking any older than she did in 1977!

SEVENTY-SIXTIES

Had a pretty crappy day today. I came home and cheered up when I found this cool set of pics I took in 1999 when US BOMBS came to stay with us for a couple of days.I gave the prints to Duane the next time I saw him at the Blackpool punk weekender in 2000 and the shots finally see the light of day on his official website http://duanepeters.net/
There is shots of our kitchen (hasn't changed at all) my chopper, the backyard ramp, my Evel Knievel BMX and even my little Honda CM200 flat tracker being built in the workshop!!

UPDATE:
I actually did a more indepth post about the time The U.S. Bombs came to stay when I first started this blog, Almost a year to the day!
Read it HERE

VERONA EXPO part two... EVEL KNIEVEL EXHIBITION

The Evel Knievel exhibition was on display at the show. It all packs into a big trailer and is on tour throughout Europe for all of 2011. The blue leathers are the ones he wore for the Wembley Stadium Jump. Also on display was the Canyon Sky Cycle (complete with damaged nose cone) his XR750 he used for the jump over the tank of sharks, the EK Dragster and the Jet-Bike. The highlight of the exhibition was a skeleton showing all of Evels broken bones........I purchased an EK bathrobe!

Glam Rock....as ugly as it gets

Following on with the recent early 70's Glam/Pre-punk theme, here's 3 shots of some of the ugliest bands around at the time.

First up is CHICORY TIP resembling the cast from an Estonian knock off of Dr.Who.

Next is a great shot of THE SWEET pre-dating the Sex Pistols in the 'outragious' stakes by a good couple of years.

to conclude, we have a promo shot of THE HAMMERSMITH GORILLAS whose bassist was so ugly...they had to dress him up as an actual gorilla!

FINLAND TRIP pt.4 Petrol Circus Chopper show

The PETROL CIRCUS CHOPPER SHOW was held in a plush exhibition hall in Helsinki.here are a few bikes I liked the look of.....

Below is a bike called THE ROCKET REDUCER after an MC5 song, this was a very unusual bike which represents the Fins radical approach to bike building. Its a VICKER-WOLSEY crank/bottom end with VOLKSWAGON BEETLE cylinders engineered to fit

below is a bike belonging to Mala, the owner of Finlands best chopper mag KOPTERI. Its called DOUBLE-MOTOCROSSER!

Found these swastika hats for sale at the show in amongst the usual Ducati, Yamaha and Repsol merchandise.......Hmmm??!!