It’s said that “print aint dead” and we’ve done our own bit to keep it alive …
Stuz Leel is a creative mind from the north east of Scotland that’s doing his bit to keep the lost art of paper thriving.
Photos by Chris Johnstone.
The north east riding scene is and has always been one of those almost unknown to those who have never ventured there. Those paying attention will see that through the videos of Stuz Leel and the rapid riders that hail from these parts, that the scene is very much alive and well.
Pete caught up with the man behind Scotland’s only mountain bike print ‘zine.
Who is Stuz Leel?
A bike rider, beer drinker, pizza connoisseur, graphic design lover and videography hobbyist based in Aberdeen, Scotland.
How did Shredder come about?
Shredder Magazine came about from my love of mountain biking and making things. Having a passion for bikes, design, writing and videography meant that Shredder was something that just had to happen!
What’s your background in cycling?
I started with the classic bricks and wooden board kicker ramp in the garden when I was 8 years old, not long after that I was introduced to mountain biking through my school buddy Ben. The term ‘mountain biking’ is loose at this stage as although we were in a forest I was riding a BMX.
It wasn’t long after that I upgraded to a rigid Diamond Back Traverse complete with cantilever brakes and 21 gears which I rode at any given chance. When I left school I started working in the local bike shop where after numerous years I moved up the ranks to the managers position.
During my time at the shop I bought a video camera and attended as many races as possible and made edits as a hobby. I’ve been making videos for 6 years now and had the pleasure of filming with some of Scotland’s fastest riders at some of the best races Scotland has to offer.
After a long time at the shop I decided a change was needed so I started studying Visual Communication at the North East Scotland College which has led to my latest print creation; Shredder MTB Zine.
Joe Connell | Rise Of The Shredder from Stuart Leel on Vimeo.
The magazine isn’t the first incarnation of Shredder, is it?
No it’s not, I’ve been using the name Shredder for a couple of years now. It initially started as a joke with my friends, I thought it would be funny to make a parody of the Thrasher skateboard magazine logo using the name Shredder.
At that time I hadn’t even opened any design software so my friend Craig helped out with that one. I got a bunch of stickers made and handed them out to friends, before long a few people had mentioned it would make for a cool t-shirt design.
When I started working on my next video project with Joe Connell I decided to get a bunch of t-shirts printed and use the video to promote them. Joe was really into the idea and can still be found to this day blasting around the pits of any given race rocking a Shredder tee!
Why a magazine, why now?
Growing up I always had a magazine in hand. Whether it was a school trip or an evening visiting a family member, I’d always carry the latest issue of Dirt with me to read. At the time, reading about bikes was the second best thing to actually riding my bike.
It’s almost hard to imagine a time where you couldn’t just go on your phone and see high quality content at the hit of a button, but there wasn’t that kind of technology when I was a kid so magazines served as my inspiration. I guess it’s a combination of this nostalgia, my love for owning physical copies of media and my enjoyment of making things that made the magazine happen.
It’s been over a year since Dirt stopped in print form and I felt like there was a massive gap in the market that needed filling. To my knowledge there hasn’t been a mountain bike magazine/zine previous that looks at more niche areas like creative people who ride bikes, so to include illustrators, trail builders and not just the usual pro riders was another idea of mine to make the zine stand out from the norm.
What’s the response been to the first issue?
It’s been absolutely amazing, I’m completely overwhelmed by all the positive comments and nice things everyone has said about it! Seeing people posting about the zine on social media was awesome, there were a lot of people I’d never met before congratulating me on my work which I was totally blown away with. Hearing how many people were hyped on it really was the most rewarding thing for me and knowing the riding community is willing to support a project like this really means a lot.
How many people make up Shredder and what do they do?
Right now Shredder is just myself but there’s no way I could have created the first issue without the help of all the photography and illustration contributions. Being the editor, videographer, photographer and social media guy is hard work but it’s been a lot of fun so far.
Did you have to sacrifice to get to this stage?
The biggest sacrifice is giving up precious riding time for the project. It’s ironic that doing a project which evolves around how passionate I am about bikes means I have less time to ride my own bike. So far it’s totally been worth it, as long as I can get the occasional ride in I’m happy.
Did you have to juggle work about to get the magazine printed?
For the first issue I was really lucky that I could treat it as a full time job and literally work on it at any given opportunity. For future issues it will be harder to squeeze the zine around other commitments like work and video projects but I’ve become used to the unsociable hours that comes with this kind of work. Lots of coffee helps!
Will there be a second issue?
Definitely! Work on issue two is currently underway, I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head for this issue and can’t wait to get the design process underway.
What’s the overall vibe behind Shredder?
The zine is very much about good times riding bikes. The main objective is to find out about the different characters that build up the Scottish scene and writing about more niche articles that you wouldn’t generally find on the web.
The aesthetic of the zine is a mixture of styles; I tried to make the design suit what I was writing about. For example Innes’ photo article is very clean and minimal so that the main focus is on Innes’ incredible snaps. Ronan’s article is inspired by the work of Neville Brody and David Carson with messy text and grunge effects to suit Ronan’s erratic, loose riding style.
“The Shredder branding is heavily based around a Lo-Fi aesthetic with plenty of VHS static, VCR text, cassette tapes, floppy discs, pizza, beer and cheesey 80’s colours and text.”
The Shredder branding is heavily based around a Lo-Fi aesthetic with plenty of VHS static, VCR text, cassette tapes, floppy discs, pizza, beer and cheesey 80’s colours and text. A lot of these designs are a play on the out dated media formats of yesteryear, which I guess is a category that print is beginning to fall into. I think with the videos I’m unconsciously trying to recreate the worn out bike video vibe that I grew up with.
Where do you want to take it from here?
If I’m dreaming big I’d love to expand the Shredder brand into more than just a zine, with a clothing line and a race team. At this stage I’m happy to build up a presence within the Scottish riding community and continue making zines and videos in my own style.
Was the magazine in the pipeline before the college project?
Before I started college I began making a zine in the more traditional sense of using pens, paper and a photocopier. The first incarnation was extremely Lo-Fi, mostly featuring a selection of local riding photos and goofy drawings.
Whilst I had fun working on it I didn’t have any reason to release it to the public as it was very much a personal project, which I can imagine a lot of people wouldn’t find very interesting. A full blown magazine is something I’ve always dreamed of doing but I didn’t have a clue where to start previously.
My time at college was vital to learning the software skills to make it and also gave me the time to carry it out. Having a deadline for the college hand-in helped as I knew I had to have it ready for that specific date, even if it meant a lot of late nights and early mornings to get it finished.
“The first incarnation was extremely Lo-Fi, mostly featuring a selection of local riding photos and goofy drawings.”
Has there been anyone or anything that made it happen more than anything else?
The last college unit I carried out was to make up my own brief, so I literally had the freedom to do anything I wanted. With already having the idea to do a zine previously it was a no-brainer to use this time to create a more professional looking Shredder zine than the the first version. In terms of people, there’s no way I could have done it without the support of my girlfriend Kimberley. How she puts up with the endless bike chat and late night editing sessions is beyond me!
Has it been a massive learning curve or did previous experience set you up well for putting the magazine to print?
I learned so much from doing the first issue it’s unreal!
Previous design projects helped with the art direction and general layout of the zine but it’s the first thing I’d ever put to print out with printing something at home or at the college. This was extremely daunting for me and I held off printing until the last minute to ensure I had everything perfected.
Having a friend with over ten years of graphic design experience was a huge help as I was able to ask technical questions to put my mind at rest about document set up. Thanks Craig!
I really enjoy making short hype videos for edits so this came in handy when promoting the zine. I tried to make all the posts a little different; rather than just posting photos of pages from the zine I made slideshows and videos to go alongside the articles.
Pleases and thank yous?
Huge thanks to all my friends, family, workmates and the riding community both locally and worldwide.
As I said before, there’s no way I could have done the zine without the help of all the riders, photographers and illustrators – Ronan Taylor, Greg Williamson, Innes Graham, Reece Wilson, Zach Faulkner, Bart Rakowski, Alex Matheson, Johny Cook, Mike Hughes, Jonathan Dawson, Neil Kellas and Craig Scott, thanks so much guys!
Last but not least, a massive thanks to Pete and Jamie at Wideopenmag for the opportunity to do this interview and for sharing all my videos over the years.
Thanks for the chat Stuz!
Check out Stuz’ videos on his Vimeo channel and find out all about Shredder here. Why not order yourself some glorious print-based cycling goodness while you’re at it?
The post Return of The Shredder | Stuz Leel Interview. appeared first on Wideopen Magazine.