(All photos by Scerbo)
I initially emailed Bob simply to ask what “QSS” stood for. An almost instantaneous response prompted a couple further questions and before too long, we had a slightly informative conversation on our hands. Bob was nice enough to supply me with an advanced copy of the DVD which is, in my mind, one of the best to date. A Chocolate Truck mix, a Japan trip section and full parts from Mark Gralla and Ben Lewis set a stage scattered with the most current and groundbreaking street riding from the likes of Mike Hoder and Tom White (wait until you see their clips- you’ll know which ones I’m talking about) along with the usual cast of Animal‘s worldwide team and family. It is worth noting that the soundtrack to this one is a considerable departure from the hip-hop norm that Animal has long been associated with (along the lines of Hamilton‘s ending section in QSS 5).
Firstly, does “QSS” stand for anything? How did the project come about?
It stands for “Quick Shit Series,” It was just something I made up to put on the Animal Roadtrip DVD in 2006 so it would not get categorized as “The new Animal video” when it came out. It’s more like a mixtape series for lack of better words.
Have you edited all of the QSS releases so far?
Yes- Navaz did the Chocolate Truck section in this one, other than that I have done everything else.
The soundtrack to this one is quite different from previous Animal releases. Any reason for that?
No reason in particular other than that was the way it went together. I knew I wanted to use that Janis Joplin song for Ben’s part for a while now and the song In Rat’s part is a song he sent me years ago as a potential song for an older part we had worked on. I forgot about it until one night I had my iTunes on random and it came on. I wanted to use that Husker Du song just because I miss that kind of music being in videos- it sounds like something in a video from the late 90’s early 2000’s and I think that was a sick era for riding and videos and general. I thought that song had a lot of energy and it was a good way to get a video started.
Is there still a new Animal full-length in the works?
We are supposed to begin working on a full-length after this comes out, so I guess technically anything that gets filmed from now on will go toward that.
Word. Still rocking the TRV-900?
Nah, the one I have is broken as of a few months ago. I have a VX2100, a Canon T3i and Panasonic HVX (which I have not used yet)
You guys have any big plans for this year?
I honestly have no idea because I am really only involved with the video stuff. As far as parts, clothes and all that stuff goes- I really don’t pay attention. I personally am just focused on getting this full-length team video rolling, hopefully doing some shit with Skapegoat and potentially helping with some filming for T1.
Nice. Where are you stationed these days?
Philly at the moment, about to head to Austin for a while though and then hopefully aimlessly around the country after that- if weather permits a potential Skapegoat trip to Alaska and then probably back to Philly.
Hell yeah. Anything else?
Thanks to anyone who attended the premiers and supports my videos in any way, I appreciate it.
QSS 6 will premiere online Monday the 20th and DVDs will be available shortly thereafter. For now, check out these teasers and follow @skapegoat256 for updates from the field.