Videographer: Backyard’s Mark Richards
This weekend it’s the Backyard Video Premiere Party in Hastings… get on down there!
Backyard Jams were the best of times – and the resulting videos from these pivotal Jams were always nothing less than rad. They perfectly captured the Jam, the people, and the state of BMX at the time. Seventies UK are about to release a boxset of classics completely digitally remastered and with new commentary, so we spoke to video creator Mark Richards to find out more.
So, finally, the Backyard video is done – how do you feel about that Mark? I’m over the moon… and relieved… it seems to have taken forever… this all stemmed from the idea of getting the anthology out on dvd in late 2002, some commentaries were recorded for that video by Taj Mihelich and Zach Shaw – these are now present on the boxset some six years later – but we still get people asking about the old vids and the idea came up about re-releasing all the videos and after taking a look at the state of the master tapes – which weren’t great – I set to remastering them as best I could, this was in 2003 I believe… so it’s taken about four years on and off to get to this point… phew!
Having watched every Jam through a viewfinder, what are some of your best memories of Backyards? It’s hard to pin one thing down… just the whole atmosphere… seeing old friends, the amazing riding and the great parties that went on around the Jams… the Jams for us in Hastings seem to go on for about two weeks; people would start arriving about a week before and then we always had trips up to various skateparks in the week after the Jams… Dave Clymer flipping the Chasm in 1994 was amazing… the Chasm in general was amazing! It’s hard to imagine how blown away everyone was in 1992 when Fuzzy 360’d the Chasm.. of course nowadays that’s just a normal jump, but then it was insane!
You go way back to the early days of Bexhill track Jams – what were those Jams like for you? It’s funny, back then those first Jams seemed so busy, but when we were doing a commentary for that vid it looks like a little Jam session – but with some of the biggest names in BMX. Ian Morris, DMC, Jamie Bestwick, Fuzzy… all jumping over the smallest tabletop you’ve ever seen. For me those early Jams were the best times, and I think for all who were there as well; some of the amazing quotes I’ve had from riders for the boxset cover makes me realise just how special this time was for all who took part.
I remember one year the Jam was medium size, a few hundred in the crowd, almost everyone knew each other – then the very next year it was pandemonium with thousands of people swarming over the Chasm – what do you think made the Jams so damn popular? I think the timing was perfect… the Jams started in 1991 at a time when BMX was dead, but it was growing and by the 1995 Jam enough people who had gone to the old Jams had spread the word of the amazing times they’d had so more and more people came every year, from all over the world – in a time with no internet and no mobile phones, it almost seems impossible now… When I see photos or video of the 1995 Jam at Bexhill… I still can’t believe how big it got in such a small space of time…
What video gear were you using back then? God… by today’s standards it was pretty primitive… I started out using full size VHS beasts and anything I could grab to edit on.. just basic home recorders… Betamax.. can you believe it! Then moving on to 8mm video when we did the 1992 Jam video and Dennis Wilson at Crowhurst kindly let me his semi pro Panasonic SVHS recorder to edit on – thanks Dennis. The slowmo seemed amazing at the time… looks pretty ropey now though. The first master tapes were just on normal VHS… crazy! All the later ones up until digital kicked in were on SVHS; the last SVHS master was the Word video (1997). I started using SVHSC cameras in 1994 when we did Unlock Your BMX.. I stuck with those cameras right through till I finally got a digital camera in 2001… it’s amazing nowadays how easy it is to put a video together – all you need is a mid range DV camera, a Firewire cable and a PC; there’s no loss of quality and anyone can have a go. You just could imagine what is was like back then editing a video, just adding each clip onto the master tape, and it had to be right – once it was on there that was it, no going back. Battling against the picture quality as well, the quality dropped so quickly… it was an absolute labour of love. If you talk to anyone who edited videos in the old analogue days, you will see their eyes roll… haha!
Which was your favourite Jam year? And what was your favourite video? Hard to pick one Jam… they were all great times… the earlier Jams 92-94 were pretty special… in fact they were almost perfect, haha! As for the videos I think Behold The Wonders (1993) and Last Resort (1996) are my faves I think I hit the nail on the head with those.. I look at them now 15 years on and I’m still pleased with how I put them together. after you’ve edited a vid you’ve seen it so many times you never want to see it again, but after a little time has passed you can look at it with fresh eyes and it’s a lot more enjoyable to watch. I can hardly remember the actual process of editing them, haha! Actually, my fave is probably the Anthology video (2002), but that’s not really one of the old vids.
What about those old Chasm jumps – what do you remember about those crazy, crazy times? Oh yes… the legendary Chasm jump – they became the bit of the Jam everyone was waiting for… “okay, that’s the end of A group dirt… now it’s CHASM TIME!” The classic words of Grotbags, a full on Evel Knevil show, the place went crazy! The Chasm was something that happened by accident, Keith (Duly) and Dave (Bishop) had this jump at Bexhill track they made and they called it the Chasm – it was about 12 feet I think… haha! This was the late 80s remember! When the 1992 Jam came about, loads of dirt had been dropped off to build up one of the berms at the track… Keith and co set to work for the Jam and created the new Chasm… 26ft this time, and history was made – everyone young and old knows about the Chasm jumps from the Jams… it’s crazy!… gnarly jumps and even gnarlier crashes… even being in the USA, Taj had one thing on his mind when he came to the Jams – gotta jump the Chasm… it used to be great when someone had done the Chasm the day before the Jam, like Fuzzy and Maddog did when they were over, all the rumour would be doing about; “I heard someone’s done the Chasm” haha, great times.
Do you think there will ever be anything like that again? It’s sad to say, but probably not. There will be great comps and times ahead, but I don’t think anything will ever be quite like those old Jams.. they were of their time… it’s all to do with how BMX was then as well – they were small enough for everyone to know everyone… and if you didn’t you had a bunch of new friends when you left. The chaos of it as well, you didn’t think about it at the time… it’s just how it was.
What’s next for you then? God knows… I would love to make a documentary about the whole Backyard scene.. something like Dogtown and Z-Boys, but doing this boxset, whilst being great fun has also been extremely hard work; it’s amazing how hard it is to get four people in a room together to record a commentary track, even though everyone was so up for helping with the boxset, everyone’s just so busy and doing their own thing now – but with perseverance I got it all done. And thanks to everyone who helped with this boxset… all I spoke to were more than glad to help out, it really made me realise what those times meant to people and how important they were to BMX… maybe time to kick back for a bit. My family keep me busy enough these days, maybe someone else could make that backyard documentary and I could be producer – any takers?
Check this trailer out! Nuts – and the best music!
