#johnny devlin

I think I drive an obscene amount lately. Nothing long distance trucker but I definitely do spend 2+ hour in the road most days. I’m at the point where my music tastes have settled so I listen to more or less the same thing I did 3 years ago and even 10 years ago but that can get old. So I listen to podcasts a lot. I really like “BMX Is In Our Blood” podcast series by some old head, I don’t even know. Dude mentioned he raced and remembered when Brian Foster was young so he’s definitely before my time. The newest one I think is the best cause it had Ron Bonner of UGP, Shadow Conspiracy, Sparky’s fame. Definitely an interesting guy with interesting thoughts regarding the process behind those companies. One thing did irk me. They were listing off videos and Ron Bonner seemed like he was overlooking one but could never put his finger on which one it was. I was in my car going “Into the Void! Into the Void!”, which brings me to today’s choice. 

I can’t really blame him for forgetting this one. It’s a lot more subdued than the average Shadow Conspiracy project. Cause Shadow stuff is really in your face out there and that’s something that Ron Bonner mentions in the podcast. That he really wants the consumer to have a reaction regardless of whether its good or bad and his critique on brands trying to be Supreme and lack of BMX identity all feel spot on. But back to the video. “The Calling”, the first video back in 2006 was an extension of that Shadow ethos of being in your face. I remember people even rumoring that it might be a full length narrative with riding somehow incorporated into it. People really didn’t know what to expect from it. The hype machine was built up and the final product wasn’t that extreme but their choice of B-roll, music, and intros/extros still had that Shadow “in your face” feel. It’s memorable cause honestly outside of the Alistair Whitton crazy ziptie grinds I remember the b-rolls better than the actual clips. Which isn’t anything negative it’s just an old video and the original riders are all retired but it does speak for the strength in what Ron Bonner is trying to achieve. 

“What Could Go Wrong” is equally memorable in the crazy amount of hype it generated. New filmer on board, crazy countries, the world premieres, and the usual Shadow imagery pushed in a more contemporary setting but “Into the Void” was a sneaker. I honestly don’t even remember any hype regarding it. It almost seemed like it just dropped, people saw it and then it kind of vanished from people’s minds. Which is really weird cause to me personally I remember it the most vividly. It was Eli Platt’s last section and he had that super soft folksy Fleet Foxes song that only someone like Eli Platt could pull off. It was when Chade Dehart had a quick section to Converge. Ricky Bates rides prophetically to Live Fast, Die Young by the Circle Jerks. But once again it’s hard to remember these things unless you seek them out, nearly all the riders don’t ride or isn’t in the spotlight. Time moves on.

I never meant this to be about Shadow and their videos so much but I’ll try to bring it back to what the video actually is which is Johnny Devlin. Florida native. One of those myth riders who honestly don’t have too much clips out there but everything he ever did is just really memorable for me. He had a style unlike everyone else, he was hesh, he had pop, like I remember in some Sputnic promo he did a 3 hop over a planter or something and he was going so fast and it was so clean. All it was is a flat 3 hop and somehow I remember that. Plus the man can get tech in his own weird way, that and he could handplant 180′s which is the most bizarre trick. I feel like it’s a trick that may have potential today.. but who knows. 

He was also very memorable as a person with his own personal style and beliefs. He’s white guy with dreads thats not Rasta and doesn’t listen to soundcloud rap. He actually comes off very crust punk, like the type of guy who has maybe 3 t-shirts, all plain cause he can’t support any corporations. Had that weird Native looking fanny pack. I think at some point he said he was very Christian, which in BMX street world is like ehhh unless you’re an OG Christian from the mid school days like Seth Kimbrough or Cory Martinez or you’re like Vic Murphy where you became a BMX equivalent of a skate pastor cause you have to repent for the terrible life of sin that BMX forced you into. But like right after this section dropped and he got bumped to Shadow pro then just as quickly he disappeared. I remember reading that he was protesting the “School of America”, this organization that teaches ex-patriots of other countries, politics and military so they can overthrow their own native countries and increase US global hegemony. Real cool stuff if you find conspiracy and things like that fascinating like I do. Even though its less of a conspiracy and more of a fact but then I think that’s what every conspiracy theorist says haha. Johnny Devlin was a cool guy like that. A real individual, which is something anyone can respect. 

I think the fact that he was both noticeable as a person and as a rider led me to think that he could definitely become bigger... but that didn’t happen for whatever reason I don’t know. I also think that Johnny Devlin comes off as a type of person who seeks out BMX grandeur. A lot of these individualistic people are self motivated by who knows what. God, family, their own beliefs. BMX can be a hub to help deliver them to their destination but if they don’t feel that there is anything to offer or there are better ways than BMX can be relegated back to just bike riding or even be gone. Johnny Devlin is a name that pops up every two years with some fresh clips that are always welcomed. I don’t think he has an instagram cause of course he doesn’t. This essay is a bit fragmented but oh well. 

Johnny Devlin

Disengage by Youth of Today

Shadow Conspiracy - Into the Void (2008)

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Dame Mabel Howard jiving with New Zealand singer, Johnny Devlin. Photographed by Green & Hahn, Christchurch, in 1959.