Slaw Dog
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If you don’t follow the Nuclear Blast/Team Solitaire Yamaha Twitter account, you need to change that. As Troy Dog wrote about earlier this year, they are probably the best team at ENGAGEMENT on the platform.
The account is run by team manager Chris Elliott and honestly, they do amazing work. You can check out more about Chris and the team in this episode of Supercross Beyond the Track.
Anyway, the other day, the team fired off some questions for us, and we answered them. Enjoy!
In the all the years of shooting, what shoot went the absolute worst! Did equipment get lost, did riders not show, did riders show…but were being clown shows? Give the people all the dirt!
Chili Dog: With enough claws, I could ramble through a story per 12-ounce sip, as I’ve had mishaps of every sort. But there’s one in particular that really stands out to me at the moment.
I think this was summer 2017. Jeremy at Red Bull came up with this brilliant Straight Rhythm promotion idea to have James Stewart, now unaffiliated with any bike manufacturer, ride three different bikes at his house in representation of the past, present, and future. Know what that meant? His 2006 KX250 got spit shined and race ready with all-new everything, a CRF450 primed up, and an Alta ready to be dominated by the most talented shredder on the planet. All three bikes were meticulous.
The next step, we had Jason Baker of Dream Traxx come and rebuild one of the supercross tracks in a way we could emulate Straight Rhythm. It was going to take some movie magic, but it was going to look like he was swapping bikes over each speed check and representing each era accordingly.
ALL OF THIS DID IN FACT HAPPEN. I hired a shooting crew, lighting crew, a phantom 4k camera, and even purchased a Flowcine Black Arm and CanAm 1000 SxS (not just for this shoot, just in general) and had some rather large ambitions to make this the video that would quite literally break the internet.
Night one went as planned. We set up a studio in the garage with fog machines galore and got the most epic hero shots imaginable of each bike. I still go full heart eyes thinking about the KX250. We did utilize a handful of these in the lead up promo that year and even some in the TV show itself.
Nights two and three… not so much. Our rider never showed face. Never drove through the gate. To this day, still don’t even know why and what happened.
So what did we do to drown our sorrows? We extended our five bedroom with pool Airbnb rental and pretended like we were on Florida Spring Break. Par for the course for us, and we actually did play a few rounds of golf as well. The last thing I really remember is that Bratwurst Bolling woke up in a pool of throw up on his bed the final morning. That was my cue to bust a move back to Atlanta.
If you could jump on for a video collab with someone else from a different moto outlet, who is it? The @vurbmoto X ????? edit of doom…
Chili Dog: This might sound crazy because the dude has been disappeared forever at this point, but I grew up watching all of Joe Nell’s work. He was responsible for shooting and editing a ton of titles throughout my teens, including Mini Warriors 3, 4, & Greatest Hits, Revelation 199, and a ton more. He was a talented ass dude. He was even lead shooter for Bubba’s World. After that, he’s dropped off the face of the planet, but he pioneered a style that, to this day, is hard to replicate. His sense of editing, music, flow, and vibe were just on point. So much so, I can still watch all those movies with full attention and the biggest smile on my face.
Outside the industry:
Snowboarding – Absinthe Films
Mountain Bike – Anthill
Skate – Spike Jonze
If you could poach any sports guy from anywhere or other sport and force them to work for Vurb Moto, who is it and what are you making them do?
Bird Dog: I’ve really been into wrestling docs lately. I pawn it off as study for ideas on how to make our film department more awesome, but the truth is they are simply amazing entertainment. I recently finished one on Booker T., and I was left truly inspired.
Here are a few reasons I would choose Booker T. to work with Vurb. Note that I said “choose” as nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to force Booker T. to do anything he doesn’t want to do.
1. He robbed 26 Burger Kings. That’s a LOT of Whoppers, bro! That could feed our crew for a LONG time.
2. He could be our enforcer anytime someone doesn’t want to pay their bills. Imagine if Booker T. showed up at your office with an invoice in hand?
3. He seems like a good hearted person who has taken full accountability and truly turned lemons into lemonade.
4. He’s an 11-time WCW Tag Team Champion, so he works well in team environments. A skill I always look for when bringing people on board.
Who would win in a slap fight?@troydogvurb VS @vurbslawdog
Troy Dog: The truth is I’m so much more elite than Slaw in pretty much every category under the sun. If you’ve seen me you know I’m very physically blessed and super strong. My looks are very superior to Slaw’s too. I could keep going on and on. The one thing I cannot do, however, is beat Slaw in a slap fight. This is the only way that the slaw of dog knows how to fight and it’s gross to watch. He beats me in this fight because I forfeit. I would not get near that. Now, if we’re talking about speed on a dirtbike then I will lap him. He’s not as good as I am on a dirtbike.
Slaw Dog: Troy Dog was blessed with the physic of a 12-year-old. Slaw tells no lies when I say he weighs 105 pounds soaking wet… on a good day.
I could continue to ramble on and on about everything Slaw excels at over Troy Dog, but I’ll let my friend Rick James set the record straight on what Slaw would do to Troy…
If you had to lock 8 current riders in a house for a Big Brother/Survivor style reality game show, who is getting thrown in there
Troy Dog: Man, I wish this was for any racers of all-time, because boy, do I have a lineup for that! The current crop of riders are boring with a few exceptions so I’ll try to narrow it down here. I’ll put Kenny Roczen and Cooper Webb and make them be roommates together. In their room I will put a final turn and a finish line so that Webb gets fired up everytime he looks at it. So, if you’re keeping score at home…it’s Roczen, Webb, and a final turn all in one room. TALK ABOUT DRAMA!
Next I will choose Justin Cooper, because I know he will bring his dog and then I will choose Jett Lawrence because he will bring his donuts. Those two will beef about that.
Next I’ll grab Cameron McAdoo because he will accidentally fall and break everyone’s stuff, causing quite a stir in the household.
I’ll pick Adam Enticknap to join the house and he will be the peacemaker. That is until it’s 2 a.m. and he’s in the studio working on his new album. Could you imagine?
Jett would come in like, “Excuse me mate, do you mind keeping down your racket? I gotta get up early for remote learning.”
722: “BRRRROOOOOOO, heck ya…my bad…remote learning is super tight. Will you please check out this hook first?”
To round out the house I’ll put in Phil Nicoletti to hate on everyone and then Kyle Chisholm because I want to include my best friend in everything.
Got a question for us? Hit us up at [email protected] or leave a comment below and we’ll answer in the next edition.
Chiz would be there to keep Philthy Phil from killing everybody.
That’s good stuff especially the Big brother stuff!.
What state do you guys live in?
I’m working on a project about ways to grow the sport of motocross at the grassroots level level and I plan to make some Videos about it.
–> Mx-collaborations.com