FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Andy Shohara
Occupation: Construction Superintendent
Hometown: Mililani, HI.

First of all, how did a family from Hawaii end up living in England?
Andy Shohara: My dad got a new job at an Air Force base near Banbury and moved there with the rest of my family at the end of 84. I stayed back in Hawaii to finsh my senior year of high school. After I graduated there was a lot of drinking and smoking going on along with a lot of surfing, but a whole lot less of riding. By Christmas of 85 I new I needed a new environment. I flew to England for the holidays and they surprised me with a new half-pipe in the back yard. I officially moved to England on the day of Mon's 2nd jam.

How hard was it to get used to the British weather compared to the Hawaiian sunshine
Andy Shohara: It was brutal. I was used to riding all year long,

Name: Craig Campbell
Age: London, UK
Occupation: DJ/Producer

Craig: Romford Skatepark, 1981

Name: Greg Guillotte
Hometown: Plano, TX

You have moved around quite a bit in your life, lived in Holland for a little while too, can you sum up the countries in short?
Greg: I lived in Holland from 10-14 and England from 14-18. Lived in the US before and after that.

Where was it that you started riding BMX?
Greg: I started racing when I lived in Holland and at one of the out of town events the hosting team had a quarter-pipe. I rode it all day and fell in love with the idea of vert. Then when I moved to England, I built a quarter in my backyard and helped build the ramps at Meanwhile 2. 

Name: Antoine Morvan
Age: 24 years
Hometown: Bordeaux, France
Hook-ups/Sponsors: Myself

The favorite list:

-Spot to ride: BMX Bandits park in Bordeaux, FR
-BMX video: Criminal Mischief of course!

This week on FATBMX we've got an online competition* going on. We received a killer package from Vans with some products that go with the HARO x Vans collaboration. We caught up with Michael de Wit - Sr. Art Director at Vans, who was one of the persons working on the project. Read this first, and then look for the online competition here on FATBMX.

When did you first hear about the Vans x Haro collaboration?
MdW: When it comes to collaborations at Vans, all departments involved (footwear, apparel & brand design) work closely together to make sure it's the right one. We were looking to do collaboration with a company that shared the same amount of originality, heritage and authenticity like Vans, so Haro seemed like a natural fit. Besides, Dennis (McCoy) has been a Vans rider forever and when he got back on Haro, it was a perfect match.

Name: Lee Reynolds
Hometown: San Diego, California
Occupation: Designer / DJ

Do you think the English riders that rode in the Meanwhile days were crazy?
Lee: Ha, that's a funny question! We rarely wore safety equipment, so in retrospect I guess we were a bit nuts. Some of the crazier things I

Name: Jason Davies
Hometown: Tempe, Arizona
Occupation: Construction

We have been doing a few interviews with riders from the UK ramp scene. Who were you heroes when you started riding?
Jason: Bob Haro obviously, him and Mike Dominguez came to the UK and I was blown away and hooked after I saw them ride.

Name: Jason Lunn (lunstone)
Hometown: Presently Bali, Indonesia
Occupation: Partner in a design and digital media company; Chilled Heat

Do you remember when you first saw a BMX bike?
Jason Lunn: Chips TV programme in the 80's. Mongooses with alloy motomags

How long did it take for you to get one?
Jason Lunn: I managed to talk my parents into getting me a yellow and blue Huffy with alloy mags, made of mild steel and it weighed a ton

What jobs did you have to do to buy it?
Jason Lunn: I was only 11 years old so no job then.

Name: Andrew Clifton-Brown (I took part of my wife’s name as I always hated the surname 'Brown')
Hometown: Kent
Occupation: IT/Photographer (freelance)

Let's start off with a big question, what have you been up to the last 10 years?
Andy Brown: Married to my best friend (yeah I know. Sickening but It’s true though), kids, coding and just keeping busy. Photography work is starting to come in more regularly so it pays for the kit that I buy and the occasional trip and I enjoy my life and friends. The antitheses of where I thought my life would be now.

Let's move back 25 years in time which takes us back to 1984. Was BMX a big part of your life then?
Andy Brown: It was everything to me at that time of my life.