Brian Tunney Interview

Brian Tunney has played all sorts of roles in the BMX industry; professional BMX rider, team manager, writer, and more.  Tunney recently shifted his focus from contributing to Dig BMX magazine towards being one of the main forces behind the ESPN website's action sports section.  Tunney is constantly pushing out well-written and well-researched content, so I figured it was an opportune time to get in touch with Brian to talk about BMX journalism.

(Photos: Mike Kuhn)

What's new in the life of Brian Tunney?

Sadly, not much. I know what I like, have a pretty awesome routine and don't stray much from it right now. I am pretty excited about filming for Dane Beardsley's next flatland video. I have about 5 solid minutes of footage so far.

You've been writing BMX-related content since I started riding BMX; where do your writing roots trace back to, and when did you start writing about BMX?

Growing up, I was a slacker that never set out to be where I am now. My primary focus throughout high school was riding flatland, going to contests and reading BMX magazines. I really didn't put too much effort into school or studying. But I somehow did okay, ended up going to college, had to write a lot of research papers and realized that I didn't mind doing research or writing eight pages on the adverse ways in which the worldwide distribution of sugar changed humanity.

Somehow, I ended up putting two and two together: I didn't mind writing and I was a devoted product of the BMX magazine generation. Along the way, I did a few zines, wrote for random BMX magazines, and then got an e-mail from Will at Dig asking me to write a flatland column. That was sometime in 1997, and even though I never set out to write about BMX, it seems to have happened. But going back to the original question. I had no real writing roots, though I read and re-read everything on BMX and underground music that I could get my hands on, and I suppose that influenced me more than I knew at the time. Before all that though, I wrote a letter to Freestylin' Magazine in 1988 about getting to see Mat Hoffman and Rick Moliterno do a Haro demo, and it got printed. I guess that would be my unofficial start...

You wrote for Dig for a number of years, including the period when people often say the magazine was in its prime.  What was it like working with such a well-received and well respected magazine in the BMX world?

I think anyone involved with a BMX magazine will tell you, magazine work isn't easy. Most of the time, it was awesome, and at the end of a drastic period of work, you'd be able to hold the final product and be psyched on it. But sometimes, it really sucks. (I think that's the case with any job though.) To Dig's credit, I guess the easiest way I can say it is that one time, Mat Hoffman told me that Dig was now carrying the torch originally lit by Freestylin'. If you're under 25, that won't make much sense, but for me, it was a huge honor.

Do you still contribute to Dig?

Yeah, on the occasion. Ideally, I'd like to do more, but with the amount of content we're churning out on a weekly basis now, it's pretty tough. I used to think creating a bi-monthly magazine required a lot of time and work, but now I feel like we're doing a magazine's worth of content in just two weeks time on the Web, which is crazy when I sit back and think about it.

You recently began writing for the ESPN website.  How did you get that position?
ESPN came to me, told me what they wanted to do and asked if I would be into the idea. To be honest, at the time, Factory Media (who publishes Dig) had just dropped one of their skate titles, and I was thinking that if they dropped a BMX title, Dig would probably be the one to go. So I was sweating that to begin with, and then ESPN came along. It just seemed like a logical step for what I was doing. Leaving Dig was rough, but I'm glad I made the decision. And the change was awesome for me. It turns out that working at home from a kitchen table for 10 plus years wasn't very healthy for me.

Your articles and news items go beyond the basic story and dig a bit deeper into the content.  Is this a trait you got from the magazine world?

I suppose so, I never really thought about it. I think I just tend to ramble. I'm trying to remind myself that people don't read on the Internet anymore, but I can't help it sometimes. And as silly as it sounds, when I have the chance to write about something as mundane as the history of tailwhip nosepicks (which I know about and still enjoy doing it) I get into it.

How do you go about researching an article (i.e. the Spike Jonze was a BMXer article)?  Are a lot of your facts from your own experiences and memory, or do you have to go back to certain articles and magazines for reference?

For however long I've been living on my own, I've lugged this monumental selection of milk crates around with me, full of BMX magazines and videos dating from the time I started riding in the mid '80s. Whether I wanted to believe it or not, they've slowly but surely become my personal archive of sorts for BMX history. And those get referred to quite often. Unfortunately though, most of what I seem to know about BMX is stuck in my head and won't go away. I had to keep a Post-It note on my desk with my new phone number on it for two months after getting a new phone number, because I couldn't remember the damn number. But if you asked me what banger trick Joe Rich did at the 1994 Emmaus, PA B.S. comp in the Stuntboy Park class, I can easily say, "Back rail fufanu to half barspin back in," without even having to think about it.

For all intents and purposes though, it's real easy to research anything on the Internet. 23mag.com has a wealth of information on anything BMX related, and they have PDF downloads of magazines if I don't have a certain issue. And I can always refer to previous interviews I've done to fill in the gaps, such as the Mark Lewman interview I did for Dig a year and a half ago. (Lewman worked with Spike Jonze at Freestylin')

What is your personal favorite piece that you've written?

There's way too many to pick just one favorite. I've gotten the chance to interview a ton of truly influential people over the years, and those are always kinda special to me. Recently, I wrote something about the alleged closing of the Brooklyn Banks, and in the process of writing that, I had to research bridge data reports done by the New York State Department of Transportation in 2007, call the NYC DOT for statements, get quotes from 5Boro's Steve Rodorguez and finally, write the darn thing. That whole process took more than a few days to do, but I'm lucky that I would even get an opportunity to get the story right.

Are there any other writers in the BMX world you enjoy above and beyond the rest?
Nick Ferreira from Holeshot seems to have it down. He says what he wants without talking ****, and doesn't beat around the bush about anything he's into or not into. He also seems to still enjoy riding bikes, which I think is hugely important. I'd put Ryan Fudger from Ride in the same category too. Additionally, I'd also buy any book written by Leland Thurman or Steve Crandall if they ever did that.

What do you feel that BMX journalism is lacking at the moment?
Money to pay the hardworking people that create their own content and get it right. I also think that BMX journalism is lacking concrete support from BMX companies. I know advertising is expensive and everything, but even Metal Bikes can afford to put a Metal banner on the Dig site, and they haven't sold any product in over a year. To Metal's credit, they know that Metal would never have been Metal without the support of Dig, and so they return the support. I think a lot more companies need to step up and do the same. And again, I know that times are tough, so please don't take this as an indictment anyone.

Where do you feel print and the internet relationship in the BMX world? How do you think they should be modeled?
Ugh, I hate this question. One goes up and down, and the other goes left to right, so maybe we need some diagonal thinking in there? Seriously though, I don't know how far I can take this analogy, but I think of print and the Web as older and younger brothers. They look somewhat alike and act somewhat alike, but they're also vastly different people that will occasionally step on each other's toes. I am really tired of this argument though. The people on the "Internet is better" side of the argument seem obsessed with the idea of a magazine-less world (and I don't really understand where that indignation comes from) while the people on the "Hey, print isn't actually dead" side of the argument go out of their way to have comprehensive, dialed Web sites. It just seems like a big mess of ideas that maybe weren't meant to intersect in the first place. I like both and think that both serve an important purpose. There just isn't a lot of money to go around in BMX, and because of that, the two major media outlets battling for advertising dollars are of course going to be going back and forth about who's better, just like the Mandelbaum family on Seinfeld.

Any last words, shout outs, or thanks?
Thanks for the opportunity to talk. If I had any last words, it would be to go cruise and enjoy the last few decently warm days of the year.