"I see a red door and I want it painted black…"
foreword by Alex Leech
26 years ago, and still when I hear the opening lyrics of the Rolling Stones classic ALL I see is Rooftop!
A small lad wearing shinguards, Rector knees, a Backwards Cap, literally defining what peg grinds are. A chrome BMX frame with 2-piece bars, 2 brakes and 4 pegs effortlessly sliding every rail in its path. Pedalling out of every clip like there’s no time to waste; there might be another rail round the corner!
Way too many NBD rail variations to mention that 100% hold their own today. But this was the 90s and riders weren’t limited to just one discipline. The first verse isn’t even over and a jump box has been Trucked. By the second chorus we are seeing double Barspins, and FULLY stretched Supermans over dirt jumps. There was no such thing as skatepark snobbery back then.
The section isn’t halfway through and its big 540s on wooden ramps and some more NBD rail wizardry on a skatepark rail. (do the stairs down from a vert ramp count as a skatepark rail or a real rail?).
And let’s not forget the roof gaps! Enough to fool people into thinking that’s how he got his nickname (the real story of how he got his nickname is brilliant). It’s no surprise that I LOVED this section when it came out and I watched it over and over again.
I’d like to say that street riding is where it is now thanks to this section, but I think it’s fairer to say that BMX is where it is thanks to this section.
I def was a product of my environment, i rode with skaters so i think i borrowed some of the way they looked at stuff cause that’s what i would ride when we all rode.
Mike Escamilla
Rooftop
What was going on in your riding career at the time prior to, and up to this section being filmed?
I was a kid, I think I was 14 when we started. My first clip I filmed was the rail to barspin late summer of 93 I believe. I was just riding everyday, didn’t have much contact with what was going on in bmx, I just assumed everyone was doing what I was doing times 10.
Back then were there any specific riders who’s video sections you loved and/or used as inspiration for what you wanted to capture in Dirty Deeds?
We barely saw anything videos back then cause it was hard to get them, I was a mat hoffman fan and I had seen head first, I had bought Rogers garage standard video I think, and I had seen trash sometime around then, which I still hail as the best street video ever made, anybody really familiar with street would have a hard time arguing that.
What was your approach to filming this section? Was your aim all along to really push the boundaries as far as you could?
Well I mostly rode with skaters back then, Jeremy and Jonas Wray and Paul Luna. So my approach mimicked theirs cause that’s all I knew. Pick a good song and map out a part…almost everything was things I wanted to do, not just lets go find something film.
Did you have a set list of the tricks you wanted to capture for the edit, or was it just a case of see what came up?
Things did come up, but yes I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done, some were just tricks we needed to find spots for still.
How long did filming take?
Prob filmed for a year, many weekends dave would come pick me up. I was still in high school so it was was 1 day a week to film usually.
Did you shoot in sessions or just head out to get one specific clip?
We had a bunch ramp session clips, I have an entire ramp edit worth of footage from then as well, but it didn’t get used. Mostly we headed to go film street just dave and I.
It was a very progressive time in riding, what tricks were you most stoked on getting on film for this section and why?
I was such a little kid like I said, I was just doing stuff everyday I had never done before, just stoked to ride. It wasn’t till it came out I realised we had made something special that I would be chasing for an entire career.
Was there anything you were working on at the time that wasn’t just quite ready to film for the edit?
Oh man totally, stuff we left out that we didn’t think was ready yet, like what people call snaggle tooth now, I filmed one for dirty deeds but it was so small it just seemed stupid, i called them tooth overs.
Also I would come close to crooked 360s down a handicap rail at Fullerton college but always just tapped a foot. So many things as well we would say “imagine this” which guys do now, its so rad, but that always is gonna happen. I filmed a bunch of hard 180 backwards grinds on ledges for etnies forward but none good enough so we left them out, i called them spick slides..ha.
Even today, when most (older) riders hear the opening few notes of the soundtrack from this section it sends a shiver down their spine. What do you think has made this section stand the test of time?
The song helps, I don’t think kids or even todays pros realize how much the song is as much a character as the they are to the part. But I just think it was a special time in bmx where video parts were few and far between, and there was an explosion in what was possible at the time.
Plus when you did parts then, as kids, we lived off those parts for months or even years so I think they meant more just cause you didn’t know when you would get something new.
The music used has become eternally linked to your section for many. Did you have input into the choice of song?
Yes, i picked the song. Dave laughed at first then said hell yes!
You’re riding in this section was completely ground breaking. Very few of the tricks you did were being done….at the time…by anyone!!. Where was your inspiration coming from?
I def was a product of my environment, I rode with skaters so I think I borrowed some of the way they looked at stuff cause that’s what I would ride when we all rode. The videos I mentioned before must of helped as well.
How did the Roof gap come about?
Jeremy Wray was skating it, maybe we did it around the same time, I don’t remember, it was our high school. We had a photo in an old Airwalk catalog jumping it together.
Was there anything in the edit that you weren’t 100% happy with?
I’m not sure if I can remember that, but I do know I almost did rail to double barspin off the cypress rail (the one I no hander off) also I 360 the roof gap as well – might be in the slam section, I actually pulled it but my pedal clipped a little pipe sticking up that you had to dodge and I flipped over the bars a few feet after landing, not sure why we didn’t go again.
Looking back. Does viewing the section now feel like watching someone else or can you still feel the energy and movement of every trick?
Man it will always feel like a part of me.
How did this video and your section impact on your BMX career? Was it a game changer for you personally?
Yeah I think it started everything, that and going to the 1993 Hoffman BS comp in OKC, but I think the part cemented me as a legit street rider and that stuck for a long time.
Do you remember the initial reaction to the videos release?
All i remember was Brian Foster telling me he laughed when he heard the song, back then it took along time for people to see videos, sometimes over a year. it wasn’t like today, no instant feedback
Were you surprised by how wild people went when they saw your section?
Yeah cause I thought everyone did that shit!
Do you ever re-visit any of these spots today? Are they all still there?
Yeah, half are there by my parents house, I saw the roof gap a few weeks ago while riding with Brian Castillo.
Any last words?
Only people doing less will criticize you, don’t worry about them.
Rooftop’s video part was like watching a skateboarders video part, not because he copied or wanted to be a skateboarder, just because he didn’t know any better.
He grew up riding and filming with skaters, this gave him a different style to other BMX riders at the time.
Everything about this video part was epic, the riding, the spots, and the song this solidified Mike as rider that would give 120% into any project he’s involved in. One of my favourite riders to this day.