The Union Tapes
Episodes
Mike Pardon - Episode 47
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There's not many in UK BMX more legendary than Mike Pardon, Pike was there from the start. In the early days living near the first Alans BMX store. Mi...
Effraim Catlow - Episode 46
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Effraim Catlow has been riding a BMX almost as long as BMX has been about in the UK. I first saw Effraim riding flat in the car park of Woking sports ...
Magazines - Episode 45
24 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nerd alert….As if this podcast aint nerdy enough already...Union tapes episode 45… We have Issue 7 of our magazine/zine due out in the next few we...
James Hudson - Episode 44
20 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a key player of the Trumpton scene I been trying to get this guy on for ages, James has been working on a book and wanted to do this once it was co...
Keith Treanor - Episode 43
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Keith has been on one of my original lists for guests before I even started, and this one gets a bit real, Keith has certainly lived a life and come t...
Seamus Mckeon - Episode 42
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Seamus Mckeon has sailed nicely under the BMX radar for a long time now, cutting his teeth in BMX in early 2000's seems so recent in comparison to our...
Stew Johnson - Episode 41
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing says committed BMX filmer like Stew Johnson, the guy has had his hand in many a classic BMX video in the last 30 years. Back in 96 I got a cop...
Jamie Bestwick - Episode 40
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What more can be said about this guy? From the UK BMX boom in the 80s right through to present day, Jamie is still ripping on a bike. We get a good de...
Jim Newrick - Episode 39
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
James Newrick is a seminal name in UK BMX, from his early start in the streets of the north east to present day riding and still putting out videos of...
David Frame - Episode 38
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This one delivers some good insight into the Scottish scene, a scene which has certainly been over looked for years by the BMX media, other than a few...
Northern John - Episode 37
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Northern John, NJ, Norm, Nawf, real name John Deprieelle has always been a fun dude to hang out with when ever most people have come across him. It's ...
Jon Taylor - Episode 36
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Taylor has been around a while eh, Jon first got exposed to the BMX masses-probably a few hundred people back then-in 1989 feature in Freestyle Ma...
David Slade - Episode 35
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David Slade has gone on quite the journey in this lifetime, I think the first time I ever saw his name in print was a full colour spread in a 1985 BMX...
Eddie Roman - Episode 34
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eddie Roman has, coincidently, made a few appearances online over the last month or so. We started this interview in early December, and had to come b...
Jason 'Timmy' Ball - Episode 33
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 95 myself and Fids took a trip to California to experience the American dream, we stayed in HB with Neal Wood, Chris Moeller, Steve Emig and J...
The Fids Tribute
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fids was the first episode we did for The Union Tapes, and served as the perfect launch for what we were trying to do. This is a tribute to Fids, who ...
Joe Johnson - Episode 32
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some highly progressive riders came through after the early 80's BMX explosion, the kids inspired by the King of the Skateparks and early Freestyle co...
John Povah - Episode 31
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John has been in BMX since the start, he's been involved in a lot of projects both in front of the camera and behind the scene, we tap into all of tha...
Kurt Schmidt - Episode 30
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kurt Schmidt is without doubt the fakie pioneer, no one was doing fakie tricks like him in the mid 90s, we delve deep into that topic and as usual go ...
Dan Price - Episode 29
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Price made an impact on the UK scene in the mid 90s but his BMX roots true back much further than that. We take a step back into the archives of D...
Eddie Fiola - Episode 28
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Back when I first got into BMX, we used to go Rom on semi regular basis, dreaming of one day being able to air the concrete bowls there like the other...
Tim Leighton-Boyce - Episode 27
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
BMX action bike was the real BMX bible back in the 80s, it set the standard for uk bmx mags in its approach to covering BMX and how the many themes of...
Marv, Nick Martin - Episode 26
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marv moved to London in 2005 (with Daniel Benson), I remember wondering why they'd moved to London - I thought they were both from Sheffield and that ...
Todd Anderson - Episode 25
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first pic I ever saw of some over tweaking something was Todd Anderson, who at that point in time-1985-was riding for Redline. I picked up a magaz...
James Cox - Episode 24
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Union tapes Episode 24 with ex S&M UK rider James Cox, we go back to the start of his BMX journey coming out of Portsmouth in the mid 90s and the ...
Nails With Marv
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Got a little bonus going on here, and some thing a little different. Coinciding with the release of our zine 5 and Nails in the Coffin on DVD, ex Uk F...
Shaun Allison - Episode 24
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shaun Allison is a name that was on my original list of guests back when I first started thinking about doing this podcast, and I'm sure many people o...
Owain Clegg - Episode 22
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jumping forward a decade or so from our last episode. I first met Owain in the 90's, he was a tiny chatty kid ripping around the boneyard in Chester a...
Nick Phillip - Episode 21
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We finally caught up with Nick Philip, and we get deep into it on many topics that he had hands on involvement. This one gives us all a deep dive into...
Andy Preston - Episode 20
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Going right back to the start with this one, the northern start that is in sunny Manchester. Back in the early 80s Andy Preston and Mike Pardon were t...
Taj Mihelich - Episode 19
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What can anyone say about this guy that hasn't been said? I'm not even going to try, you know why you're here and this is good deep dive into some of ...
Lee Reynolds - Episode 18
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the 80's Lee Reynolds was a charismatic guy on the BMX scene, and still is a charismatic guy today. Lee Reynolds was a name that blew up in th...
Jason Ellis - Episode 17
20 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the mid to late 80s in the UK the small town of Retford near Sheffield was one the main hubs of BMX riding in the UK. It got known as the Trumpton ...
Tim March - Episode 16
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tim March was the other big name in 80's BMX to Andy Ruffell these guys were legitimate super stars for a couple of years in the BMX boom of the 80s, ...
Maurice Meyer - Episode 15
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is one that goes back to the creation of BMX, Maurice was there at the start when this BMX thing first started. We get into it all here, the earl...
Daniel Benson - Episode 14
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
So we've jumped forward a couple of decades for this episode of the union tapes. But is equally as fascinating as the rest of em. Dan Benson started o...
Dave Young - Episode 13
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Young was a top name pro in the mid 80s. Coming from Gateshead way up north the odds were stacked against the riders from up there, but thanks to...
Meanwhile Quarters - Episode 12
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
So, we got a slightly different episode this month. The Union tapes was originally going to be a series of shows about different aspects of BMX. Every...
Mike Canning - Episode 11
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Canning was one of the guys who caught the media spot light as BMX was well and truly going down the pan popularity wise. A start in racing, he q...
Jess Dyrenforth - Episode 10
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Starting out in the early 80's Jess Dyrenforth became a staple name in mid to late 80s BMX scene. From the first time anyone had seen him featured in ...
Mike 'Rooftop' Escamilla - Episode 9
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rooftop sprung into the BMX spot light in 1993 and scored the last part on the game changing VHS dirty deeds, which was the ground breaking video in 9...
Eric Steel - Episode 8
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Steel is a name that started getting known in the quieter times of BMX, although one of the original Rom BMX locals. The media didnt give him ful...
Craig Campbell - Episode 7
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the 80s I bought a magazine called BMX Action bike, the first issue I bought had a pic of a guy in race gear and full face helmet dropping int...
Scott Malyon - Episode 6
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Malyon was one of the big break out names from UK BMX in the late 90s early 2000s. Whenever he rode an event he was always a name that stood out...
Episode 5 - Andy Brown
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I've known Andy Brown for well over 30 years now. As a kid many of us looked up to him and the crew he rode with as the older riders coming out of the...
Episode 4 - Stuart King
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Stuart King discovered BMX at its lowest point in popularity, we pin it down to around 1990. How the carcass of a 80's kids boom held any interest to ...
Episode 3 - Greg Guillotte
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Guillotte was one of the riders pushing the limits in mid to late 80's, part of the legendary meanwhile quarter pipe crew in west London. Greg sc...
Episode 2 - Zack Shaw
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Zach has done more in BMX than we could ever fit in to multiple 3 hour conversations. I first met Zach in 86 at Chingford halfpipe, we cover a history...
Episode 1 - Fids
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fids is one of the bigger UK names from 90s BMX to present day. He's pretty much done it all. We take it back to the start-the very start. We find out...