Hanging out with Wes Miller 12-15-05

Name: Wes Miller
Nickname: Wes
Occupation: Owner H-Bomb Films, Division 4 and Bomb Squad
Residence: Fallbrook, CA
Birth Date: 1/11/70
Hobbies: Surfing, snow boarding, mountain biking
Wife: Still looking
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 205
Proudest Moment: Finishing any of my films and seeing people’s reactions when they watch one for the first time
Restaurant: Tough, I like any place with really good food
Chevy or Ford: Don’t care, but have a GMC right now
Tech Gadget: Treo 650
Cell Carrier: Verizon
Twist or Thumb: Twist, but ride both
Magazine: Any and all the quad mags and Racer X
Favorite Place: Cabo
What’s in your CD player: Social D, Dropkick Murphys, The Clash, Misfits, Jack Johnson, Hollywood Undead and Johnny Cash
Movie: The Runman Series
Other Sports: Charger football, Laker basketball
Admirer: Anyone that is the best at what they do – be it sports or business.

ATV Scene: How did you get started riding and racing ATVs?
Miller: It all started by going to the desert with my family. My dad bought me a 185s and I started desert racing it soon after.

ATV Scene: As far as your own personal racing career goes, what stands out to you the most?
Miller: I have been racing for a long time. I think that one of the coolest things is the different types of racing that I’ve done. I think that I’m one of the few guys left that can say he raced a SCORE and Mickey’s on a 3-wheeler as well as a quad. I use to joke that my old 250R had done more types of racing than any other quad because it saw action at; the Baja 1000, Mickey’s, PACE, GNC MX & TT, GP’s, and speedway racing.

ATV Scene: Do you have a most memorable personal racing moment?
Miller: Recently Dana Creech and I had a good run at the Baja 500. I started and rode the first 170 miles. I gave it to Dana with a 10 minute lead. We ended up having some mechanical problems though, and lost by a minute and a half. I don’t think I’ll forget that one.

ATV Scene: Where did you go to college and what was your major?
Miller: San Diego State University, Geography

ATV Scene: How did you get started making videos?
Miller: I rode in a few videos, Crusty etc… Soon after I decided to roll the dice and make my own video.

ATV Scene: Committing to making a video for retail, especially a never-been-done-before ATV-specific-video, was probably a pretty risky business adventure. Were you worried about losing your butt if it didn’t take off?
Miller: Not really. I’ve never been afraid to take chances. You need to be willing to lose everything in order to gain something that you love and want.

ATV Scene: How many videos and how many years do you have invested into H Bomb?
Miller: I’ve done this full time for about eight years now. I think we’ve made about 12 films in total.

ATV Scene: Are you winding down? Are you burnt out at all?
Miller: No way. I love my job.

ATV Scene: Why?
Miller: I’ve always been an ATV enthusiasts and I always will be. With the videos I’m able to continue with this and at the same time express my sense of creativity. It’s really challenging and rewarding. I mean I get to travel a lot, film with my buddies and ride. Life’s good. Basically, my worst day is probably better than a lot of people’s best.

ATV Scene: You’ve certainly done your part to take this sport to a higher level. We sincerely think that your videos have directly influenced this sport in many positive ways. Has anyone ever told you that? And were you purposely trying to introduce our sport to the masses or did that just happen along the way?
Miller: I have heard that from a few people. I find it very flattering. When I started out, my goal was to make something cool for our sport. I was tired of all my dirt bike bro’s talking shit about quads. I wanted to make a movie that showed what quads could do. I wanted respect for our sport.

ATV Scene: What do you mean by “Leaders of the Revolution”?
Miller: I felt like we were the leaders in making quads cool and revolting against the 2-wheeled establishment. I started Division 4 clothing so that quad riders wouldn’t have to wear dirt bike clothes anymore. Prior to us, the only clothes with quads were made by 2-wheeled companies. We are by quad riders for quad riders. Basically I don’t want hardcore quad riders to have to wear something made by a dirt bike company posing as a quad company.

 

ATV Scene: Of all the things you’ve accomplished, what has meant the most to you?
Miller: To build and maintain a company is hard work. I’m proud that I was able to build something from the ground up, be in business for almost 10 years, and make an impact on our sport. I really want to thank the riders and our fans for all of the great support. H-Bomb would be nothing without them.

ATV Scene: Okay along the way, what’s irritated you the most?
Miller: To be honest it has been a good ride. One of the toughest things with filming outdoors is weather. That is always an issue.

ATV Scene: What do you have to say about others following in your footsteps? Are you threatened at all by competing video makers?
Miller: I think it’s cool. It makes it a little harder for me, but it also motivates me to push myself. I’m interested to see how it all plays out. Quads were kind of the last market to be saturated by video makers. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and do the best that I can.

ATV Scene: You’re a video connoisseur, which videos would you recommend our readers check out?
Miller: I would tell them to just check out what ever they’re into. There are bad ass films in all genres. I like watching some of Taylor Steele’s surf work and Standard’s snow boarding.

ATV Scene: How does a rider get featured in one of your videos?
Miller: We are always looking for new riders and locations. If someone is interested, they can e-mail me at wes@hbombfilms.com . Send some photos of what you can do or the ride spot you think should be featured in one of our films.

ATV Scene: You’ve put a lot of riders on the map and certainly made their ATV racing and riding careers more valuable in the eyes of sponsors and the ATV public, maybe even mainstream public. With this said, do you still pay the riders for their part in the films, or do they agree to be in the videos in trade for this valuable exposure?
Miller: Paying riders for filming is a tough subject. We have always held the policy of not paying riders to film. If I were to pay one rider, then you end up paying them all. And then there would be the question of who gets paid what, why did he get paid more than me, etc. We shoot about 90% of our movies on 16mm film and the budgets for this are ridiculous. If we ended up paying riders, we would loose money and there wouldn’t be further Huevos movies. Quad magazines don’t pay riders for photo shoots and athletes in other sports (surfing, snow boarding, skate) don’t get paid for filming either. The riders generally make money from their sponsors. In the other sports, there are riders that make a living out of just doing photo shoots. Instead of paying our riders, I help them find sponsors. I sponsor the GNC series with Division 4 and offer rider contingencies as well.

ATV Scene: And you’re helping freestyle riders with your Bomb Squad correct?
Miller: Absolutely.

ATV Scene: Explain what the Bomb Squad is for those that don’t know.
Miller: ATV freestyle is incredible. I wanted to showcase it to people a little more. The Bomb Squad is basically a collection of guys that have ridden in my films. We book shows for them all over the world and provide sponsor support for them as well. By doing this we’re building careers for them and they can continue to do what they love.

ATV Scene: How is the music in your videos selected?
Miller: We work with a lot of managers, labels and bands. I listen through tons of CDs and select music that I think will work good with my video footage. I then give them to my editor and we sit down and pick songs for each segment.

ATV Scene: “Huevos”, can you clear it up for all the people pronouncing it wrong?
Miller: “Huevos” is Spanish for eggs, but in Mexican slang it means “balls”. We choose the name because it takes “huevos” to do what these riders are doing. The correct pronunciation is more like “Wavos”.

ATV Scene: How about Division 4? How did that name get the nod for your clothing line? And how’s the clothing business doing?
Miller: I wanted a name that wasn’t cheesy. Division 4 is more subtle, but still conveys that it’s tied into quads. D4 is doing awesome. We just came out with our new Holiday line and its bigger and better than ever. I really like some of our new designs. Check out what Wes is talking about HERE

ATV Scene: Yeah we’ve seen quite a few people sporting your colors. We’ve also seen you signing autographs at a few ATV events. Did you ever envision this happening?
Miller: I love going to the track and seeing more people wearing D4 than Fox or other 2-wheel brand stuff. I see our clothes everywhere now and it’s a cool feeling knowing people are proud to represent our sport. It’s crazy when we are at events how many people come up and say “hi” or ask for an autograph. I love our fans and thank them so much for everything. If anyone reading this is ever at an event, definitely don’t be afraid to come by, I really enjoy meeting our fans.

ATV Scene: In 2005 your Huevos 7 received two Xtremmy Awards from distributor Impact Video. Was this the first award you’ve received, and how do your videos sell compared to all the other extreme videos in the Impact Video lineup?
Miller: Actually we’ve won an award every year that we’ve been nominated. H2, H3, H5, H6, and H7 have all won Xtremmy’s. I think that we are one of their better selling titles, but I don’t know all of their sales.

ATV Scene: What would you be doing with your life if you were not involved in the ATV scene?
Miller: I would probably be involved in the surf/snow industry.

ATV Scene: Let’s talk a little racing. Which would you rather watch, and which do you feel is the more prestigious series for bike riders; Supercross or the Outdoor Nationals?
Miller: I like watching the Supercross. You can’t beat a stadium environment. I always loved racing in stadiums in front of a large crowd, so I think they are the coolest and most prestigious to win. There are just so many people and you can see the whole track and not miss anything. However, I do think it takes more skill and training to win an outdoor.

ATV Scene: RC, Bubba or Reed?
Miller: RC, love him or hate him, you have to respect him. He’s a rock.

ATV Scene: What about ATV racing? What do you personally enjoy watching the most and what do you think is the future of ATV racing?
Miller: I like watching races that have the best riders in the world. Be it GNCs, GNCCs, the new Great Outdoor Games (GOGs), whatever. I just like watching good riders ride. I think there are big things in the future for quads.

ATV Scene: What’s left to do with your videos? Will there be a Huevos 9?
Miller: I just finished H8, so I haven’t sat down and planed things out just yet.

ATV Scene: Will there be a Dirt Riot event in 2006?
Miller: I’m not sure yet.

ATV Scene: What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?
Miller: No plans. I’ve always felt that New Year’s eve is a rookie’s night out. Everyone makes these huge plans and it seems like they never live up to how great of a night it was supposed to be. I would rather hang out at a dive bar with my good bro’s.

ATV Scene: What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Miller: I don’t really make them, but I guess to continue to be the best person that I can be.

ATV Scene: Of all the adventures that go along with your video shoots, what comes to mind first?
Miller: After almost a decade of filming, there are just too many to choose from. I would say any of the international shoots would stand out the most.

ATV Scene: What’s your favorite Dana Creech story?
Miller: Too many, but they are always exciting.

ATV Scene:Quick what comes to mind when we say:
Michael Jackson: Child molester
OJ: Murderer
Christmas: Presents
McDonalds: Stomach ache
Home: Work
Baja: Good times and we need to win the 1000
Women: Good times
Party: Friends
Golf: Beer and getting kicked off the course
Hunting: Killing something with my Terracross bow
The Final Four: Hoops

ATV Scene: What’s in your future?
Miller: I’m going to keep making quad films and clothing.

ATV Scene: Would you be willing to answer a few questions from our readers in our forums?
Miller: Yeah, I’m down. When?

ATV Scene: Okay thanks. Let’s give our readers a week or so to post the questions. We’ll lock the thread after you’re done answering so it doesn’t turn into a never-ending conversation.
Miller: Alright, sounds cool.

ATV Scene: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Any last words?
Miller: Just another big thanks to all our fans and riders.

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