What it's called: Hotrod Havoc II
Who done it: Skyndel Enterprises
What it's about: It's an hour-long music video that merges aggressive music to video footage collected during time spent in the rough-and-tumble underbelly of the latter-day hot rod counter-culture.
Notes: What's loud, fast, and in your face? A few years back, two brothers, Mark and Arie VanSchyndel, did something novel-made a film based on a well-received model of applying aggressive punk rock to film snippets of extreme activities. But, instead of employing footage of extreme sports like snowboarding or freestyle bicycle or motorcycle maneuvers, as is usually the case, they incorporated vignettes of general hot rod hooliganism. What resulted was Hotrod Havoc, a veritable melee of burnouts, donuts, high-speed blasts, and so forth set to the music that would make Lawrence Welk impale his eardrums. As one can infer by the title, Hotrod Havoc II is merely an extension of the same-at least a louder, faster, and even more in-your-face version of it, that is.
Aside from the outlandish footage, what's particularly impressive about this work is its global perspective. Since it's basically a frenetic dash, we'll treat it thusly.
First is a romp through New York City alongside Mel Stultz's Nailhead-powered Model A roadster. From there, we get brief video articles about various Northern California and New York personalities and their machines: Scotty Strebel's latest Model A coupe, Pepe Dearmas' gray-primered A-bone, Matt Winter's roadster, Lars Federiksen's (Rancid, Lars Federiksen and the Bastards) shovelhead bobber, and Ritchie Rich's Merc, "Hey it's Nate's" banger-powered roadster.
Making the video truly global, the Brothers Van traveled to Japan for Mooneyes' 14th annual Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. There, they spent a little time with Choppers clubbers Vern Hammond and Keith Weesner as they needled their way through narrow, drive-on-the-left Japanese streets. Back stateside, they shot the Antique Nats at L.A. County Raceway and shot some pretty neat rolling footage of Eric Limones' '54 Plymouth, Greg Castle's DeSoto-grilled Merc, and Alex Gambino's (pre chop) '54 Chevy.
Returning eastward, they attended the Rumblers' Kustom Kill & Hot Rod Thrills show under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. From there, they once again toured The City with Rumblers Willie G in his Model A sedan and Roger Miret (Agnostic Front, Roger Miret and the Disasters) in his '32 Chevy coupe. Other highlights include Brian Darwas' tire fry and Johnny Nomad and Rick Esposito's roadster pickups.
More West Coast features include Nate Menkes' roadster pickup, Steve Caballero's Model A coupe, Dean Ekdall's Y-blocked T touring (on the stretcher, no less), Petey Bobosz's rattly '46 Chevy pickup, and Adam Haley's T coupe. Additional features include footage from Viva Las Vegas, Paso Robles, and various NorCal events. We also get to ride alongside Skotty Chop's coupe and watch Skratch 'stripe Ian M's Brokeville (broke, as in poor) rpu. Last but certainly not least is a considerable amount of footage of Billy Wishart's Weber-carbureted, Hemi-powered Model A coupe as he bombs around San Jose.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, this video is loud, aggressive, and somewhat antisocial. There's no dialogue, no plot, no story line. If you're looking for some sort of meaning, look elsewhere. These guys are true proponents of the backyard-built movement; aside from hosting an online forum for grassroots hot rods and their advocates (www.ruffrodders.com), they film their videos themselves and edit them on their home computers. Like the cars in the film, this isn't a slick and glossy production; however, it's certainly an honest one that redeems itself with unchecked fun.
Where to find it:
Skyndel Enterprises
www.hotrodhavoc.com