What's Good? Will Fraser x Jack Miller & Jakub Kucharzysyzn
Here we are for round three of the latest LUXBMX journal segment, 'What's Good?'.
To reiterate, we reach out to one of the homies and get a hot tip on the latest biking madness. It's called 'What's Good?' and for the third installment, we turn to LUXBMX pick and packer Will Fraser.
Will's selection comes to us courtesy of a couple UK lads, Jack Miller & Jakub Kucharzysyzn, whose names were not familiar to me prior to this video. That's part of the charm of this segment, and hopefully this happens for you too. The boys have worked alongside filmer Charlie Mason to produce a project titled 'Dumb & Dumber', based around a weekend in the northern UK town of Newcastle.
Interesting that we find ourselves not straying too far from the previous install of this segment whereby we focussed on the Eclat 'Ambas' video which also featured two bikers from the UK.
After a watch just now, my overall response is that this project rules, and while it does feel like a weekends worth of clips, the quality is incredible and there is certainly chemistry between the two which helps keep the atmosphere alive. Nu-school swag is strong in this, and while not so much my thing, I can respect it. In my eyes, it feels like I can forgive the trendiness in light of how good these boys are, they back that shit up.
As a nu-school biker boy himself, let's throw to Will to see what some of his comments were in reaction to this project. Notably, Will narrowed in on the Lewis Mills influence, particularly the period from 2017-2020 and extending to include dudes like Jacman Hins and Jordan Smyth. While it might be ignorant to direct all the credit to one scene/crew, I get it. I suppose this is further recognisable in the music selection with the Lewis and Ben Norris duo very much associated with house/dance music.
On the track, my opinion is that BMX and house music works great. From the start, the moody synth tone got my hyped, you kind of know what to expect, but it still gets you up and about and still works to take the seriousness out of the project. I think the biggest benefit of going with a house track is that it works so well when paired with slo-mo and capturing the essence of what it is to be a modern, technical jibber obsessed biker. Helps that the boys landed everying clean and smooth, a couple words that work well to describe the sound of the track.
Jack Miller, slanted ledge to gap chink. Shot taken from Ride UK BMX
A series of notes I'd taken seemed to align with the thinking of Will. Interestingly, we both picked up on the boys being hyped to be on trip and riding bikes together, I could really feel that. Secondly, there was a heavy amount of technical jibbery and limited sending, so it was cool to see a couple bigger hits here and there, namely that double set barspin by Jakub at 3.50. I like that Will had also picked up on the limited use of fisheye, not a regular occurrence in BMX videography. The filming and editing certainly wasn't a standout, but it was solid and thus didn't steal the limelight.
Speaking of limelight, I couldn't help but notice the fashion - which stood out in a bunch of clips. I'm certainly not a fashion guy, but I do enjoy observing trends as they come and go. It's great to see baggy ass fubu spec pants and small shirts getting some hype, not something I would have predicted! Comically, a Youtube comment described the swag as 'Walmart Parking lot in Alabama'.
Jakub at an incredible spot, simple, timeless. A great photo, also taken from Ride UK BMX
Speaking of specific clips, a couple that stuck out to me were the nose to ice-hard at 3.40 by Jack and a mix of clips (especially the first clip by Jakub handling that pedal grind to hard to 5 cab) at that ledge spot you see at 2.30. Will narrowed in on the feeble to fakie nose/g-turn by Jack at 3.06. I also found this one pleasant to behold.
Not sure what the Dumb & Dumber reference is, seemingly detached from any obvious link. Hell, doesn't matter, Dumb & Dumber rules and if these boys wanna hark back to Jim and Jeff then power to 'em. Also, last though, it honestly took me a while to figure out the difference between those two, think white hat = Jack and beanie = Jakub.
On behalf of Will and myself, we salute you boys. Great show, awesome job.
