Stone

This is an extract from Dave Bevan's essay on the 1974 Australian biker movie, Stone, written exclusively for Sideburn 24.

The film opens with surely the weirdest (only?) didgeridoo-flecked space-jazz-swamp rock ever to grace a soundtrack, and what would be, if not for the acid mind-melt score laid over the top, a tranquil scene of a politician addressing a crowd toting placards baring environmentalist slogans and ’70s hippie goodwill. 

The relative peace is destroyed by the four-cylinder thunder and whine of sixteen brand-spanking Kawasaki Z1s with psychedelic customised fairings and paint jobs.

Read another 1630 words of this memorable article in Sideburn 24. Stone is often mentioned in relation to Mad Max, and while there are similarities, there are more differences. I've been meaning to watch it for years and finally got around to it while making the last issue. It's well worth £10 from Amazon.

We cover a lot of dirt track related stuff, but it's not all we do. Road trips, custom street trackers, adventure riding, Pikes Peak stuff and the odd (very odd) essay about bike films too, from Once a Jolly Swagman to On Any Sunday. G

Sunday Slide 'Furry Road'

The best advert for an amateur dirt track race ever? Possibly. Our Australian brothers The Jerkyls worked with Stories of Bike to create a video for their upcoming Sunday Slide event.
Find out more about this race, an hour out of Sydney on April 24th, by visting The Jerkyls.

The Furry Road video is creating such a storm it's already be knocked off by some other chancers, see below. It's not a patch on the Jerkyls original though. G

One-Off Wednesday (on a Tuesday)

UPDATE: SOLD

One only.

Colour version of the two-tone artwork produced by British artist Raid71 for Sideburn 17.
It depicts Mad Max and the last of the Interceptors meting out some justice to the Toecutter's gang.
It is printed on  Somerset Enhanced Textured art paper.
This limited edition print is signed by the artist.

It is approximately A3 size (300 x 420mm, 12 x 16.5in)

Get your for £22 (plus post and packaging) from Mad Max art print.

Not angry just disappointed

I had my inkling of what Mad Max Fury Road was going to be like after seeing the trailer, and gave my thoughts here (What have you done?). But I always intended to go and see it at a cinema, not wait for the DVD.

After it was released, I thought I'd got it all wrong, that I'd been a bit hasty, because I listen to a film podcast from the BBC, Kermode & Mayo's Film Review, and they and their listeners were almost universally positive.

Well, it finally came to my small town cinema last night, and I paid my £5.30 and sat down to all 120 mins of it.

And I was right. I thought it was shite. G

This mash-up below shows you all you need to see. Contains spoilers.

The Real Mad Max heir

Lots of people are getting very excited about Mad Max: Fury Road, opening all over the world this week. I'm not, read why here. I'll still go and see it though.

If you share my skepticism then track down this minimal, dystopian, lone 'hero', Australia-after-a-global-meltdown, kind of road movie, The Rover. It's now out on DVD.

It stars him from Neighbours (sorry Mr Pearce, but I'm of a generation that means for whom you will always be that. Still a fine a actor, though) and him from Twilight (sorry Mr Pattinson, I've never seen any of them) and has lots in common with the original Mad Max.

And if you're a fan of the early Mad Max films you really need to read our two-part celebration of the original film in Sideburn 17. Our very own Mick Phillips interviewed many of the main players, including the Toecutter and the director, George Miller. And cult director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy) wrote an essay on the movie that was illustrated by Raid71.

And you can get all that for £5 plus post? We must be as crazy as the Nightrider! G

Raid71

I first contacted Raid71 for the book I wrote and collated called Motorcycle Graphics.  Lenny Schuurmans brought me to his attention.

Raid71's work is clever and original and Sideburn commissioned him to create a Mad Max illustration (above) to accompany an essay by film director Alex Cox for Sideburn 17.

We wanted a new take on Dirt Quake posters for this year's event, our fourth UK DQ, and Raid71 was top of the list. This post is just to share some of the other work he's produced. Hope you like it. G

Mad Max by Raid71 for Sideburn

Our latest giclee art print is a colour version of the two-tone artwork produced by British artist Raid71 for Sideburn 17.
It depicts Mad Max and the last of the Interceptors meting out some justice to the Toecutter's gang.
It is printed on  Somerset Enhanced Textured art paper.
This limited edition print is signed by the artist.

It is approximately A3 size (300 x 420mm, 12 x 16.5in)

Get your for £22 (plus post and packaging) from Mad Max art print.

What Have You Done?

Our friend Dael sent us a link for the newest cut of a trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road (a different trailer was released a while ago). I'm sorry to say, as a Mad Max fan I'm bitterly disappointed.

The fourth film in the 'franchise' looks like the Burning Man Festival crossed with Grand Theft Auto. Which you might like the sound of, but it's taken all the tribalism and cosplay tendencies of Mad Max II and III and turned it up to eleventy-stupid*. It looks more like a dumb-ass Transformers movie than anything approaching engaging.

I don't know why I'm surprised, the original had B-movie appeal; was made less than the catering budget of Fury Road; had a great bike gang of truly unsettling misfits and stunts so gruesome-looking that fanboys started rumours the riders were killed in the process (they weren't, obviously). Then each instalment became more outlandish, until now we're at the point one of the aggressors seems to be driving a perfectly restored, bare metal Willys Coupe (I think) with huge tractor wheels. They must have a lot of spare time from surviving and that to keep those cars so pristine.

The Toecutter couldn't kill Mad Max, but CGI just did. I know it's not supposed to be a documentary, but  it's turned into a superhero film. Mad Max's strength was its realism. You could imagine the world going off-kilter in the way it did in MM I. The stunts and crashes and vehicles and costumes were believable. The gang's mildly modified Kawasaki and Honda super bikes from MM I were so believable in comparison. They seemed just what a bunch of bad asses would ride in a molten society - the fastest bikes available. With a bed roll on the front. Perhaps TV shows like The Walking Dead are now so good and have inhabited that area it has left the filmmakers nowhere to go but CGI Town.

If you want to read two killer articles about the original Mad Max, buy Sideburn 17.

Our own Mick Phillips interviewed George Miller, the director (referred to as a mastermind in a cringeworthy caption in the trailer above); Hugh Keays-Byrne (the Toecutter); Tim Burns (Johnny the Boy); extras/stuntmen Dale Bensch and Bertrand Cadart; cameraman David Eggby - on the back of a stuntman playing the part of the Goose below, and one of the reasons the original is still so vital.

There is also an exclusive essay on the movie by Alex Cox (director of cult films Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell) PLUS a wonderful original artwork by Raid 71.

Get Sideburn 17 for just £5 plus post. That's less than going to the local multiplex to watch Fury Road.

*kudos for anyone who gets that reference.

Mad Max in Sideburn #17

In the latest issue of Sideburn, we run two pieces on the first, the rough and the dirty... Mad Max. We interviewed key players in the film's making, including the director George Miller, cinematographer David Eggby, Hugh Keays-Byrne (bike gang leader The Toecutter) and Bertrand Cadart, who made the fairings for the (mainly) Kawasaki Z1000s. We even managed to talk to Dale Bensch, reputedly killed when the infamous bridge stunt went wrong (see clip below). He seemed remarkably chatty for a bloke 36 years dead.

On top of that, in a separate feature we asked Repo Man and Straight To Hell director Alex Cox for his views on what has become a post-apocalyptic benchmark, shot on a budget, featuring Melbourne bike gang members as stunt men and that only made it to the screen thanks to long nights and hard graft by a couple of blokes with a vision. There you go, just two reasons of many to pick up Sideburn #17. MP