THE MONT: Behind The Video: Innocent Bystander- The Hair Of The Dog That Bit You

In an age of web content totally saturating the BMX/Skateboarding communities its nice sometimes to sit back and watch a well made DVD in the comfort of your couch without a million people sending you instant messages to check out their Instagram updates. The internet has seemed to make any kid with a mouse and keyboard a critic which also causes alot of people to take themselves way too seriously. Gone are the days of waiting for a new issue of Props to see what fire the pros are busting out. Which is honestly a blessing and a curse. In these days of 11 year old children doing double truck drivers on 19 pound bicycles it seems to be that the days where to be on top of your game in this sport required you to be a grown man to throw your 30+ pound bicycle around. Anyways the new video from the dudes at Innocent Bystander is a treat! Great vibes, great spots, and by the look of it great times. So for all of you BMX jocks out there trying to flop around like dolphins doing quad whips maybe you should examine your roots and pick up, "The Hair Of The Dog That Bit You." I asked Rick Whitehead some questions about this project and he answered. Thanks for the Disc man!

1. Knowing the spots that you dudes tend to ride being off the beaten path and kept under lock and key for the most part, also usually have the highest risk of crazy shit going down, and sometimes end in a police officers ticket or a gun being pulled on you, what is the sketchiest moment in your opinion that went down when filming for this project?

I'm gonna have to get Jake Hunter and JD to answer this one, cause they've seen some pretty wild shit along the way while filming for THOTDTBY. Those guys put in a whole lot of work filming over the last 2 years. You can see most of the crazy people and places they've encountered in the first 3 mins. of the film.

Personally, I can recall one night in 2010 out in Johnson City, TN. We weren't actually filming at that point, it was the end of the day of riding and we were leaving one the local bars back to Jake's and heading down this alley way that gets some heavy foot traffic from all the drunks leavin' the bars. Randomly, this tall skinny black guy comes up and starts grabbing Kevin Mitchell's arm and trying to touch his sleeve tattoo. Like an awkward two hand arm grab, making him come to a complete stop. I think the dude was on something besides alchohol and just being really weird. Mitchell told him to back off, "Dude, don't touch me, seriously don't touch me." And out of nowhere this older guy in his mid 40's steps in Mitch's face and says, "You better watch out motha-fucka, that's my son you're talking to."

At this point, Jake Hunter and myself were attempting to step in and break it up... but before we knew it, Kevin was beating up both a father and son combo at the same time. These two guys were way out their element, throwing punches in slow motion. Within seconds, a huge crowd rushed in and circled us all like a scene out of Street Fighter 2. I even saw Austin Phillips punch a guy out of left field who was trying to jump in there. It was a crazy night for sure. Definitely a story that father and son will never share with the rest of the family.

2. JD is a sick guy, can the bmx world expect any new footage of him outside of THOTDTBY?

Yeah, right now he's working with Drew Quinlan and Chase D. on some footage for an upcoming Hot Butter edit. There's also a new video coming out next year from Andy "Floyd" Erickson and the Krimzen crew in Tucson, AZ... JD, Kevin Mitchell, Rob Hagmann, and some of the other IB! guys will be helping with that.

3. Your favorite spot filmed in the video?

I enjoyed all the trips and spots we ventured to while filming this one... multiple trips down to Tennessee and out to Arizona. We even took another Ohio trip back to Skatopia. So many places to name.

4. Where is Matt Moore?

Matt actually showed up this year at one of our premieres for THOTDTBY in Atlantic City. He was dressed in a black suit, just like he wore in the old IB! films: "Debt's Coming" and "This Road Ends". It was great to see him out there. He's living it up still, always a fun dude to take on a road trip.

5. Best banger of the video in your opinion?

Haha, just watch the Austin Phillips section.

6. Furthest traveled for a clip?

JD has probably taken it the furthest over the years... from one end of the country to the other, east to west, up and down. Mexico, Alaska, ect. He's been everywhere man, like that Johnny Cash song. The amount of vacation time for trips that he takes off from work is unreal, haha. His job/boss is the best.

7. Any Innocent Bystander jams going down in the future?

No, I wish, but probably not. The old mini ramp got taken down a couple years ago. Those were some epic times. I think we had 6 backyard jams over the course of 3-4 years.

Highlights included: You and Matt Moore standing on the hood of a car with a megaphone before the Standpoint 4 video premiere... giving out random trash, like an old N-64 controller, to drunk kids and beads to topless chicks, wet t-shirt contests, roman candles, ect. There was also the jam that Small Brown Bike, The Casket Lottery, and Rocky Votolato played... Amazing to see that happen in your own backyard. I can even recall one jam where Josh Stricker showed up with John Paul Rogers and they were playing horse shoes with Jake Hunter and JR Henry. Miss those jams man.

8. Who picked out the soundtrack, it was super good and fit the riding and the vibe of the video perfectly?

Thanks, we really put a lot of planning into picking out those tracks. Probably the hardest soundtrack to narrow it all down and decide on which tunes would make the cut. We had some of them songs in mind from over a year ago or more, and just kept them on lock down. The dudes from SBB were even nice enough to send us an advance download of "Just Bones" before their new album came out this year, just so we could get a head start on the editing.

Most of the songs have sincere lyrics that really went with the theme of The Hair Of The Dog That Bit You. There's a track from Tennessee's own Bobby Bare Jr. called "The Terrible Sunrise", that's about watching your friends destroy themselves on cocaine. A song from The National with the words, "I don't have the drugs to sort it out."... The menu track even has a cover by Sparta of Jawbreaker's "Kiss the Bottle".

9. What can we expect from IB in 2012?

Well, THOTDTBY was our fourth DVD release to date, and all I can say right now is that we're still rollin'... rollin' on the bikes and continuing to roll with the filming. Not to mention, those pretzel sticks that Mitchell and Rob Peffer like to roll... steady rollin'.

10. Cameras used while filming?

Mostly the Panasonic DVX100 from JD and Jake, and the HPX170 from myself. Our photographer amigo Jon Stars also filmed and edited a part too, along with Zach Rogers who filmed a lot of Kevin Mitchell's stuff down in North Carolina.
There's some 4:3 ratio, 16:9 wide, 24 frames, 30 frames,
all the formats were mixed in there.

11. Any thanks dude?

I want to thank my brother JD, Jake Hunter, and Kevin Mitchell for being there all along from the beginning back in 1999. Big thanks to Andy Erickson, Rob Hagmann, Wasted Aaron, Austin Phillips, Randy Mobley, Jeff Grindstaff, Jake Booher, Kev D, Jon Stars, Brett Tocco, Rob Peffer, Judd Maul, Chris Lopez, and all the dudes who rode, filmed, and for just kept it fun. We also want to thank Robbie at CULT for being the first so far to carry the DVD. A huge thanks to all the friends out there in the BMX world who have always been there to support IB! - The Angry Penguin in Johnson City TN, The Shred Shack and Two By Four in NJ, Craycroft Cycles in AZ, The entire Krimzen crew, Mike from Clickedbmx.com, Chase and Drew at Hot Butter, Tyler from In Honor Apparel, Jeff G. and JR Henry from Amateur Hour, Delco Brand and you sir for this interview. We have a really strong following of young guns out there too, who keep it all going in a good direction with their support, and I just want to say thanks again for that.