PA Woods Interview: Chris Janis
When it comes to trails scenes on this green and blue planet of ours, few can rival what they have over in Pennsylvania – or perhaps more specifically, Catty Woods. Chris Janis and the guys there hold down what is regarded as nirvana when it comes to riding bicycle motocross in the forest, and it’s all been highlighted in a series of videos that documents what goes on there. For around a decade they have filmed and produced the PA Woods Videos, and they have now brought out a box-set to help raise more funds to keep the woods alive. So we caught up with Chris to find out how the scene’s going, how the Catty Woods campaign is shaping up, and about this new collection of must-see videos…
Q: How are things going in PA right now? Been up the woods lately? CHRIS: Well it seems like we get a big snow storm once a week, it’s snowing right now actually. Went up to the woods last week to take some snow covered trail photos.
How’s the scene doing these days? And what’s the latest on Catty Woods? The scene is doing good, lots of people meet up to ride the Little Devil bowl at Penn Skate right now. Catty Woods is doing good, we’re just brainstorming some ideas for some contests and jams this summer. Just trying to raise funds for insurance and stuff.
So when did you start making PA Woods videos? We started making videos and selling them around 2001. Ever since I started riding trails and filming with a camera it got me excited to have a final product for everyone to see. The first video ever sold was called More Glitches Then That, and it was a learning experience, but it got me on the right track to make videos.
How many have you made since — and what is the running order? Well, we made ten that were available for sale plus a few others that were never for sale. Namely, More Glitches Then That VHS in 2001, This Diminishing Scene VHS 2002, Local Vid ‘Nam’ VHS in 2003, Sicker DVD and Pawoods DVD in 2004, Danny Dangits Backyard DVD in 2005, Fun Vid DVD 2006, Save the Woods DVD 2007, Summer 08 DVD 2008, finally the Pawoods 10 Year Anniversary DVD 2009.
Which was the hardest to put together? Definitely the first one — More Glitches Then That — because it was just a pain trying to figure everything out the first time. I had so many problems getting the damn thing to render all the way thru, I can still remember all the glitches which is why it was called that. When I got the finished product all the videos had the time stamp on the bottom of the screen, I was so mad and didn’t have a clue why it came up. This was also before DVD was mainstream and everything was still on VHS, which I think also made it harder.
Do you have any personal highlights from making the PA Woods series? Just filming with some legendary trail riders like Brian Foster, Jay Bone, Joe Rich, Chase Hawk and such. It’s just great knowing you can put the camera on a tripod and let the tape roll and you will get great clips from them.
Which riders do you think stood out, across the whole video series? I would have to say Mark Tomasic and Ryan Hillegass, they are like your true underground riders who shred no matter what and these videos really show it. Marky T pretty much goes as high as anyone on a bike and Hillegass has been doing wild stuff way before people thought of doing it and you see it from even the first video.
OK, so which is your favourite single video out of the lot? I would have to say Danny Dangits Backyard, that was a real good summer for trails and it was really fun making it, pretty much stress free there.
Right, so the new Boxset has come out – tell us about it. Basically some of the videos were never put out on DVD and I wanted every video to be on DVD and thought why not just burn every Pawoods DVD and put it on eBay as a box set. It’s basically a rare boxset and if it gets enough interest can sell for pretty high I guess, and help out with some money for the trails. Maybe just maybe, if enough people want them I’ll make a few more, we’ll see how it goes. Nothing special about the packaging or anything, just each video on a separate DVD.
CLICK EBAY LISTING FOR THE BOX SET
