When talking about the Japanese BMX scene, it’s almost impossible not to mention the Horiegumi crew and their amazing video releases. Animal Bikes International Team rider and pegless aficionado, Daisuke Shiraishi has been the man behind the scenes, putting in hours editing footage and plotting the next moves for Horiegumi. However, with the sudden departure of one of Horiegumi’s members, Daisuke has decided to start a new project. Find out about what’s to come below:
With the sudden end of Horiegumi, what is next for you and the remaining members of the crew?
I’m getting ready for new project with Pegy and Kenzo. We will talk about that detail soon. This is not a BMX crew, it’s more of a production making DVD and magazines. This project will include not only riders in Japan, but riders from all over the world and present them in the form of a new DVD and zine. I have been filming unique Japanese riders since 2015 for the DVD and started overseas trip to film other country’s riders over the last year. Also lots of riders from around the world visit Japan and stay at my house, so I have filmed many clips and will film more till. So far I have already about 70 tapes to capture…
Who will be involved?
Videographer, Photographer, Web designer, Product designer, Painter… Some creators are already involved for the new production… Pegy, Kenzo De Witte, Brendon Reith, Justin Benthien, Rei Lem, Hikaru Funyu, and Cederic De Rodot will all be involved in one way or another and I’m planning to invite some more creators.
What kind of impact do you hope to make with the new project?
What we think most important is not the skills, it’s about creativities. For this project we want to make our creative mind in one and want to show that mind made us lots of friends in Japan and all over the world. So I hope we can make more connections with riders who have the same mind all over the world through this project. I also want to support young riders in Japan by making videos and zines. It is my hope that this will help them get opportunities with brands. Also Japan has lost lots of great filmers and editors so I hope to inspire more riders to pick up a camera.
Why DVD over web content?
We think DVD’s and prints will be more worth it in the future and we want to bring back that again. Nowadays there are too many photos and videos on the internet. You have to see it even if you don’t want because it pop ups on the screen randomly. It’s hard to only see what you really love. Doing IG is a good thing but it’s interesting to just pick up what you love and make that to prints. To make more selected things is possible with DVD’s and prints but thats hard to do on internet.
Where do you draw inspiration for your videos from?
As far as filming goes, we have been influenced by Japanese skate videos. When I first saw a Japanese skate video, I felt the details of the filming and editing have some Japanese individual aesthetics. Watched lots of Japanese skate videos like FESN and TIGHTBOOTH videos and learned about the filming angles, tricky cutting, and rhythm for the editing.
Sounds like it will be a quality project. Let’s wind back to Horiegumi, you just released the final video for Horiegumi, can you tell us about it?
Our final Horivideo features the crew and many friends in the Japanese countryside of Toyama! Toyama is Osomatsu’s hometown and has so many spots, we spent 4 days riding there and stacked about 14 minutes of footage!
Damn, 14 minutes in 4 days? You guys were productive. Where can we pick up a copy of the DVD?
The DVD is available for free with any order till end of may through Rodi Connect.
So, I’ve heard rumors of a Google Drive folder containing a well detailed list of hundreds of Tokyo spots…is there any truth to this?
Yes haha. I came to Tokyo three years ago. Pegy, Seiha, Makoto and other friends took me every spots in Tokyo. They are spot seeker. But I couldn’t remember all of that location. So I started to take photos of spots to get the locations and map them out. We have so many photos now, maybe about 500 spots. Many friends comes from overseas so it is great to show them this spot list and let them choose what they want to ride.
Let’s talk about your whip, can I get a run down of your bike?
What parts are you feeling in particular right now?
This is my first time riding four piece bars, and I’m digging the Big 4’s right now. I love the way four pieces look on pegless bikes. I’ve also been riding the TWW tires for the past 5 years, I think they are the best feeling tires on bump jumps.
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