The Union Tapes

So we reached the big 50…A harder task than you'd think in this BMX podcast thing. For one reason or another a fair few people that I want to come on and tell their story are difficult to convince. Anyways lets hope that they do eventually change their feeble minds! Cause there are a few that myself and other people know should come on... But onto Paul. A very fitting episode 50. This guys has bee...

The UKBFA has been brought up numerous times in the Union tapes, often in a disapproving way. Its fair to say at one point the UKBFA was a target of the core riders of the 80s. Its never had a chance to tell its side of the stories-excluding a few letters in BMX Action bike back in 1986, so when I got an email from ex 80s pro Simon Kefford, son of Colin Kefford, the UKBFA founder, when I saw his n...

Dylan Clayton is one of the UK's most winning racers, not only that but also known as one of the guys who rewrote the book on how to gain speed without pedalling, a method most others had not yet thought about. With an addiction to BMX starting at a very early age, and a thirst for riding even if it meant taking the occasional unofficial day off school. Dylan takes us through his path into riding...

There's not many in UK BMX more legendary than Mike Pardon, Pike was there from the start. In the early days living near the first Alans BMX store. Mike got into the early race scene, soon developed a skill for BMX racing, travelling the UK race circuit with the Alans BMX team and landing a sponsor from Torker. He soon got disillusioned with racing taking up Freestyle riding as it just started dev...

Effraim Catlow has been riding a BMX almost as long as BMX has been about in the UK. I first saw Effraim riding flat in the car park of Woking sports centre when I and a friend-park Watling- went to watch the Tizer worlds Woking stop. He just picked up a Hutch sponsor and was on a pink or purple trick star. From then I saw him very often at all the events, and when BMX died off in the late 80s ear...

Nerd alert….As if this podcast aint nerdy enough already...Union tapes episode 45… We have Issue 7 of our magazine/zine due out in the next few weeks. Featuring all the usual BMX entertainment and more…I love magazines and back in the early days of BMX life magazines is what kept us all in the loop of what was happening with in the BMX scene. Before TV shows started showing BMX there were BMX maga...

As a key player of the Trumpton scene I been trying to get this guy on for ages, James has been working on a book and wanted to do this once it was completed, he stayed true to his word and came on, and in person! The Retford/Trumpton scene became a major piece of the puzzle in the mid 80s to early 90s. The Hudson brothers had one of the early half pipes in the grounds of their house. Featured man...

Keith has been on one of my original lists for guests before I even started, and this one gets a bit real, Keith has certainly lived a life and come through a lot of tough times which I'm sure many of us have never experienced. Keith has travelled a path and still managed to come out with a life time of passion for BMX. Keith started his journey in BMX in New Jersey where he got into the local ska...

Seamus Mckeon has sailed nicely under the BMX radar for a long time now, cutting his teeth in BMX in early 2000's seems so recent in comparison to our usual guests. None the less Seamus has had an equally interesting path from starting out his journey on an 80s GT performer, then ending up working at Eastern bikes in his home town. Early influences and VHS tapes and DVD's. He became a progressive...

Nothing says committed BMX filmer like Stew Johnson, the guy has had his hand in many a classic BMX video in the last 30 years. Back in 96 I got a copy of Scum Lights Out on VHS from Cyclone-the legendary ole retail store in Waltham Abbey. I'd heard of Scum , it was a low key -in the uk- T shirt brand but id never seen a t shirt. The cover looked good and professional for those days, so I dived in...

What more can be said about this guy? From the UK BMX boom in the 80s right through to present day, Jamie is still ripping on a bike. We get a good delve into the early days of how he first started out and the beginnings of progression that came from those days riding in sports halls. His thoughts on BMX media in the 80s, early influences and why they were important. Who was the main competition a...

James Newrick is a seminal name in UK BMX, from his early start in the streets of the north east to present day riding and still putting out videos of unique and real BMX. James got an a bus from Newcastle to sit down with me here in London and talk about his BMX journey. We get into it all, from the start and getting his first BMX, early BMX influences, meeting his first riding crew and finding o...

This one delivers some good insight into the Scottish scene, a scene which has certainly been over looked for years by the BMX media, other than a few token shots its still largely an untold story. Lots of info I was unaware of in this one, David Frame gives us the brass tacks on his journey in BMX which he is still on today. Framey's been ripping for decades, more so than most of us realise. We g...

Northern John, NJ, Norm, Nawf, real name John Deprieelle has always been a fun dude to hang out with when ever most people have come across him. It's a humorous experience coming across NJ, I cant think of anyone who tell ya any different? John started out in the dark days of 1991, long past the BMX boom, when BMX was at one of its lowest points. From his early start in Southport he quickly starte...

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...

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 p...

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 p...

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 st...

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 h...

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 conti...

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 te...

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, w...

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...

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. Ther...

BMX action bike was the real BMX bible back in the 80s, it set the standard for uk bmx mags in its approach to covering BMX and how the many themes of it grew. I don't know where to start with this intro, this is the first person on the show that has never ridden BMX, but contributed so much to it and many people have requested I get him on the show. If you are into BMX you would have undoubtedly...