Driving east out of L.A.'s urban sprawl on the 210 Freeway, watching the sun rise over San Bernardino, we had a sense of dread, as if we were about to see a man die. Sure, we made jokes and put on a brave face, but beneath the surface we were terrified. And neither camera ace Adam Campbell nor I would even be riding a quad today.
Our foreboding was only reinforced as we arrived at the maelstrom that is a Wes Miller shoot. To be fair, there was a good amount of misinformation bred of playing phone tag with a number of other cellular warriors, never actually speaking to Miller himself, rather a series of intermediaries on our side and his.
Despite leaving Campbell's Valencia base 110 miles away at 4:30, we still missed the guys going out for their frosty, early-morning ride on the slopes of Snow Valley, high in the San Bernardino Mountains. The crew returned once the snow started to soften sometime after 8 a.m., and we met up with the players. Foremost in the gathering was the man of the hour, Jon Guetter.
Guettera big guy for a freestyler at more than 6 feet tall and about 200 poundsis a "Just do it" kind of guy. While he's done backflips on BMX bicycles and phat jumps on his freestyle ATV, nothing could prepare him (or us) for what he was about to do. It reminded Campbell of that scene in The Right Stuff in which Chuck Yeager was about to try to break the sound barrier and nobody really knew what would happen (to the airplane, to him, to the universe ... ) once that barrier was breached.
After hours of waiting and changes to the snow landing ramp, the video shoot was all set up: a specially made, ultrasteep freestyle ramp to launch from and a giant pile of custom-plowed snow in the shape of a ramp to land on. Hopefully, the landing ramp would be just the right consistency: soft enough in the likely event that one of the early attempts went wrong, yet hard enough to support a flying ATV on a successful impact on all four ITPs.
So Guetter lined up for a practice run to test the ramp and snow consistency. For grins, we set up to shoot photos of this, because a quad buried up to its axles in snow after dropping 20ish feet sounded like a fun subject.
Blam. With little warning, Guetter just went for it. On his first try, he rotated three-quarters of the way around and dived neatly into the packed snow, the quad falling somewhat gently onto him after impact. He immediately got up, pumping his fist, and the tension in the air dissipated. Once he'd all but landed it, nobody was worried anymore. Thoughts focused on the slightly bent and snowy quad parked upside down in the snow. A little tweaking to the tie rods and other minutiae, and the YFZ was ready to go again.
On the second run, he looked much better than he did the first time, but just at the end he killed the engine with his knee, sending his bird nose-first into the snow once more. Unbeknownst to us, Guetter actually hurt himself on this attempt but put on a brave face and kept going for it. The third go might have been good enough for the record books as he did a complete rotation but got bounced off the ramp due to a cockeyed landing.
His fourth and final flirtation with a cold grave saw him pull off the flip as if he were born to do it. There was no "gathering up" the machine after the landing; he just stuck it and slowly descended the ramp like royalty.
Interview with H-Bomb Films' Wes Miller
I first met Wes Miller a few years ago at the premiere of his Huevos 4 video. I had arrived a little early for the preparty at a hole-in-the-wall joint in Long Beach, California, so I hung out in the parking lot waiting for the action to start. Next thing I knew, a massive tour bus, completely decked out in H-Bomb logos, came rolling down the streetit was totally decadent. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was a sign of things to come. Later, we headed out to a club for the premierea few bands played, then the video was presented full screen in front of hundreds of eager fans and friends. I left at around 3:00 a.m. as Miller and his crew continued to rock the joint until late the next morning as if this were an everyday occurrence.
Since then, I've been involved in a few "Wes Adventures," as my wife likes to refer to them. I did the Baja 500 with him (actually, he raced the entire event himself while I was his lowly pit slave). I've pulled him out of scary illegal backwoods bars at 4:00 in the morning and have hung out taking photos of him stuck in a rickety crane three stories off the ground (which coincidentally looked as though it were about to collapse at any moment). Some people call him crazy, and sometimes I find myself agreeing.
His wild behavior aside, Miller happens to be one of the most-creative visionaries the action-sports industry has probably ever seen. From his cutting-edge film work to his budding freestyle events and booming line of casual clothes, Miller is definitely one of the hardest-working men in showbiz. So is he just some crazy partyer with big huevos, or is he simply a creative video connoisseur? Well, actually, he's a bit of both.
"I don't know what else to say about Wes other than that he's a rock star, yet he can't sing or play any music."
An industry insider sums up H-Bomb Films'
owner Wes Miller at the Glen Helen MX opener
Want to live the rock-star life? Here's what it's like.
JH: I'll never forget hanging out with you in Pennsylvania back when you were making Huevos 5. We visited a hick bar in the woods, and there was a bachelorette party going on. An "older lady"to put it politelywas dancing center stage in front of her friends with Lifesavers applied all over her clothes. You bust through the doors, waltzed in as if you owned the place and headed straight to her, immediately getting on your knees to take the Lifesaver out of her crotch with your teeth! I just remember thinking, "Here we go again!"
WM: (laughs) I wasn't really doing anything all that bad. They were out having fun, so I figured I would just liven it up and give 'em something to talk about the next day. Growing up, my bros and I always did kinda crazy stuff like that, trying to one-up one another. Whenever we went out, the the race was on.
Switching gears, let's talk about your professional life. Where does the company name originate from?
I need to think of a cooler story (laughs). I minored in history in college, and when I was coming up with a name for the company, I wanted to have a distinctive iconsomething that had power to it. While I was brainstorming ideas, I kept coming back to this bomb logo in my head; and the H-bomb is one of the most-powerful bombs, so I settled on the name. I really like the logo we came up with for the company, too.
On attempt number two Guetter hit the key with his knee, halting his spin mid-flight.
Aside from your new film, Huevos 6, your most-recent venture was the Dirt Riot. What prompted the event, and were you happy with how it turned out?
I'd been thinking about doing a show like that for a while. I enjoy going to quad races, but they're not very spectator-friendly. They don't expose the sport to many new people. The way we put on Dirt Riot, we had a lot of people showing up to see the bands and the spectacle of the show itself, and I think they ended up having a good time and were impressed with the quads. Hopefully, down the road they'll go out and buy a quad, and we'll keep bringing new people into the sport.
I was really happy with how it turned out. It went really well, and everyone I talked to afterward had a good time; they were stoked about it. I learned a lot from the first event, too. I didn't expect it to go perfectly the first time because there were so many things going on. When you take on an event of that magnitudewhere you have a quad race, a freestyle event, a 50 race, some of the hottest bands playing and a vendor area in a large venuehandling all those things at once becomes a major task. I really think we pulled it off, though, and the next one will blow away the previous one. We had some of the best racers in the world at the event, and we had one of the largest Pro purses in history ($10,000). We put out a DVD that shows what the event was like.
How do you come up with your ideas?
I'll get ideas as I'm falling asleep or when I wake up in the morning. I keep a notebook by my bed, and twice in the last week I woke up and wrote down some notes on stuff I want to do. The other day I dreamed about a new desert quad that I want to start working onit's going to be badass.
You have the Huevos films, a successful clothing line (with Division 4); the Bomb Squad freestyle shows and, most recently, Dirt Riot. If you had to pick your proudest accomplishment, which would it be and why?
The Huevos series, especially the later ones, which I shot mostly on film. I think that is the best expression of my most-artistic talent. I definitely have my most-creative influence going into those films. It's really nice when I'm at a premiere or just sitting around and someone comes up to me to say they appreciate the films or the creative vision that went into them. It's very flattering when someone says, "Man, I love your films."
What got you interested in the film scene?
When I was in my sophomore year in high school, I took a photography class. I was also racing three-wheelers at the time, so I would take pictures when I wasn't racing. I came up with this idea of doing a slide show set to rock music with guys jumping. This was in precamcorder days. I just thought the concept of the slide show with guys riding would be really cool. It's funny how it has come full circle with the way I'm doing my filmmaking right now.
Later, when I was in college, there was a surfing video series called Run Man that was like the original "Jackass." It was pretty crazy, and I and a few of my buddies came up with the idea to try and make some movies like those. We borrowed my buddy's dad's video camera, and it fell off the roof of his car before we even got started. That basically trashed the camera. We were all in college and broke, so that temporarily halted my film career (laughs).
What would you be doing today if you weren't making films?
I think I'd still be doing something in action sports. I'm definitely not cut out for the average 9-to-5 job. A lot of people don't know this, but after I got out of college, I went to work as a marketing coordinator for Endura, which was a sports-nutrition company, for two and a half years. It drove me nuts. I have to have my own job, where I'm calling my own shots and making my own hours. I have to have some sort of vehicle to let my creativity out, too. Who knows, maybe I would have started up my own surf shop or something like that.
Attempt number three was close, but the cockeyed landing bounced him out of the saddle.
With all the high-tech digital cameras available, you stick with relatively old-school equipment. Is there something about the quality 16mm film provides that you can't capture with newer equipment?
I think the new cameras are getting pretty good, and I keep debating about switching over. When I started out, all my buddies were into 16mm, and most of the movies at the time were a mix of 16mm and digital. I just decided to set the bar higher and shoot mostly film. To keep one-upping myself, I continually bought better and better 16mm cameras, and I tried coming up with different techniques. I just feel that if I went to digital, it would be a step backward. There are a lot of advantages to filmespecially when you shoot at high speeds for slow-motion shots. You just can't achieve the same look on video.
What's the most-epic place you've filmed? And what has been your most-personal/favorite scene in your films?
I can't really say I have just one favoriteI love traveling out of the country to shoot. I'd like to go back to Namibia, though. I definitely want to have more time to shoot there. The dunes there were awesome. One of my favorite scenes was in those dunes. Tavis Cain and Keith Little were out on some S-berms, and they both hit them going in different directions. That scene ranks pretty highly. But as far as a favorite placeHawaii is awesome, and Argentina is really cool. The exotic locations are great because they are a whole new experience. You get to see different cultures, learn new things and meet new people.
You travel to some very exotic locations to film your movieshave you ever seen anything that has humbled you?
There hasn't been just one thing that stands out above the rest. Growing up, I always wanted to travel. I graduated from college with a degree in geography. I have a good knowledge of the landscape of the world, and I always wanted to explore it on my own. This career has given me the ability to do just that. When you get to travel and see things in person, it's way different from hearing about it or reading about it. By and large, I've found that people are really good and friendly all over the world. Most stereotypes and misconceptions you have about people and places are quickly broken down when you go there and hang out.
You've always had really tight music in your videos. Many bands that are big today and ones that get heavy rotation on MTV can be found in some of your films.
One of my good friends, BC, is the drummer for (hed)P.E. Through him, I've met a ton of people in the music industry. He's helped me a lot with picking music. We've had some really big groups that were relatively unknown show up in my films. I remember getting Linkin Park's promo CD before its first album came out and thinking, 'These guys are kinda cool,' and deciding to use a few of their songs. Next thing you know, they're huge and they're all over the place. The same thing happened with System of a Down. All year long I try to listen to new groups coming up that I think will be big, and try and use some of their stuff.
How long have you been into ATVs?
I got my first three-wheeler back in '83a Honda 185S. My dad had a Baja Bug and sand rail, and we used to go out to the dunes and ride together. I had it for six months then entered my first race. It was pretty funnymy parents ended up taking me to enter an enduro night race in the desert near Lucerne Valley, California. It consisted of a 20-mile lap, and it started at 10:00 at night. So my parents drove me out there in the middle of July, and it was still about 100 degrees. I remember it was a little sketchy because I really didn't know how an enduro worked, and I was also only 13 at the time! So I headed to the starting line and took off as fast as I could on my bone-stock 185. My parents said that after I took off from the starting line, they looked at each other and said, 'What the hell did we just do?' I still don't know how to do an enduro race to this day. I think I came into all my checkpoints ahead of when I was supposed to, and I don't even know how I finished ... I continued doing desert races after that, and just kept at it.
Even though I still race mostly desert, I've competed in many different styles of racingI've raced Mickey Thompson events, the Pace series (now known as the Clear Channel indoor series), speedway races, ice races, GNCCs and some TTs and MX races in the GNC series. I also dig racing whenever we go to another country to filmthat's always an interesting experience, because as an American going up against the locals, you always have a big X on your back.
We went through the roof when he actually landed it on attempt number four.
The Baja 1000 is sort of your personal albatross. You've had some bizarre luck at that event, yet you keep going back for more. In the past, you'd say, "This is the last year I'm going to race it, even if I don't win it"; yet it always seems to pull you back.
I wanna race the damn thing until I win it! I remember sitting on the beach in Newport Beach, California, back in the day, kicking back with some buddies drinking some beers. They had the idea of racing the 1000. I grew up going to these desert races as a kid, so I was interested right away. They wanted to get money together to race a car down there, and at the last second, they all backed out. I said, 'Screw it, I'm gonna race a quad.' Doug Roll built a machine for me, and I got some great advice from him on how to race the event.
I teamed up with William Yokley, Joe Byrd, Tom Miller and John Gregory, and we ended up breaking down only 50 miles from the finish. It was heartbreakingwe could literally see the lights of the city of La Paz from where we were stuck. We overcame a lot of adversity to get to that point, so it was really hard to get over that one.
After that race, it kinda got under my skin. I've always liked going down there anywayI like to surf there, I like the atmosphere and it's a beautiful country. It became a big challenge for me. The Baja 1000 is one of the toughest races in the world to win. I've raced it a bunch of times, with some moderate success. I raced it in '98 with Tim Farr, Shane Hitt and Harold Goodman, and we finished third. The next year I rode with Goodman, Keith Little and Justin Gandy, and we finished second. So going into 2000, I figured I was ready to win, but [the promoters] changed the race from a 1000 to a 2000. The Raptor had just come out, so Yamaha set us up with a support-team deal. The team consisted of me, Farr, Doug Gust, Keith and Greg Little, Goodman, Hitt and Brad Goodfellow. We led it until a third of the way in, but had some mechanical problems and it took us forever to finish.
After that, I got burned out on the whole deal, and H-Bomb was also starting to take off, so I just concentrated on the business at that point. I did race it a few more times after that, and just kept having bad luck. Every year we've had some stupid thing happen that cost us the race. But I'm sure I'll be there again next year ...
When was the last time you were scared?
It would have to be the last time I raced in the Baja 1000. I was on the machine, trying to make up some lost time after getting stuck in a silt bed, and it was dark and dusty and I couldn't see the course all that well. A few times, I overshot some of the turns while doing around 50 mph. That was pretty sketchy.
I also get scared when any of my riders get hurt. I think a lot of people believe I'm crazy and I just want these guys to go out there and jump stuff and hurt themselves. That couldn't be further from the truth. I've gone out and done a lot of the stuff in the films myself to prove that certain jumps can be done. The last thing I want is for any of these guys to get hurt. I consider them all my bros, and I don't want anyone getting hurt out there!
What do you do when you're not filming?
Well, this morning before the interview, I was out surfing, which is something I really dig. Last weekend, I went snowboarding with some friends at Mammoth Lakes, Californiathat was pretty cool. And lately, I've been getting into spearfishing. Whenever I film in Hawaii, I try and goI shot my first mahi mahi there. The thing I like about spearfishing is you are actively "hunting" the fish ... you're not just sitting in a boat with a string dangling in the water. There's also an element of dangerI haven't seen any sharks yet, but I keep looking around (laughs). When we were in Hawaii, the locals thought we were nuts. Where we went, there were buoys, and people use chum around them to bring the fish to them. Well, that also brings the sharks. So you pull up to a buoy and hop into the water, but you don't know if the sharks are there.
What advice would you give aspiring filmmakers?
I don't want to give them too muchthey might be my competition someday! Seriously, though, I think that in life you have to have a vision of what you want, set goals for yourself and figure out the path to achieve those goals.
And aspiring models?
(laughs) Go to www.hbombfilms.com, and you can post your photos; my highly skilled team of talent scouts will make sure that I personally help all the needy models out there ...
So what's next for you and H-Bomb?
Right now we have a ton of things happening. I'm working on Huevos 7 and a Bomb Squad DVD, and we have a ton of new shows and tour dates for the Bomb Squad. We also have the new Huevos Dirt Riot DVD, which should be out by the time people read this, and I have some pretty slick designs for the clothing lines. I also have a cool thing coming up called the Huevos Home Videoit gives our fans who have always wanted to be in a Huevos video the opportunity to send in some footage of themselves, and they might make it into the video. They can check out our web site for all the details.
One big thing on the horizon is we're currently in negotiations with Ozzy Osbourne and the people who handle OzzFest to have the Bomb Squad on tour with them. The ball is in their court right now, though. If it goes through, the Bomb Squad would be on hand doing jump demos at all the shows. There are 26 shows this summer, so it would be really dope if it happened.