Editor’s Note: We recently hung with Collin Provost in his Long Beach home. Michael Cukr filmed and edited a Fairly Normal with Blake Myers that day. Scott Chenoweth shot some photos around Collin’s house, the Hager brothers Cody and Jared showed us around and conducted the interview (which you’ll find in it’s entirety in What Youth Issue 9) and Michael also shot some really rad portraits on some ancient camera he carries around. It was a fucking well documented day. All of this is below, as well as some fun conversations with Collin about Motorhead, Lemmy, Sam Gopal and Geoff Rowley. —Travis
Michael Cukr: Went and skated North Park in Long Beach. On the way back we had to stop at the bar Pike because Collin left his card there the night before. (I was at the same bar that night, some how we didn’t see each other. Pretty weird.) It was close to sunset by the time we got back to his house and everyone kinda knew each other by then. We made burgers and drank some beer.
Collin noticed my shirt and asked, “You ever listen to Lemmy’s older shit?”
“What? like Hawkwind? Yeah, they’re fuckin so good.”
CP: “No. before that. Like when he was a roadie for Hendrix. he was in a band called Sam Gopal. He was really young but you can tell its him. His name is on the record as Ian Willis. Here, I’ll put some on.”
I followed him into his house where he searched for that record. He passed Iron Claw, Sorcery, Damnation, Pagan Altar and Witchfinder on the way. Finally coming across ‘Sam Gopal – Escalator” He dropped it on the turntable. That was the soundtrack the rest of the evening. We went back outside and continued to talk about Lemmy.
Me: “You ever seen Motorhead live?”
CP: “Oh yeah, a bunch of times. Probably close to 10 times now. I remember when I was younger David [Gonzalez] and I would always go to shows with Geoff [Rowley]. Well because Geoff knows Lemmy from being from England or whatever so we would always get in with Geoff.
Me: Fuck thats crazy. Geoff Rowley and Lemmy? Two of the biggest fucking legends. You ever get to meet Lemmy?”
CP: No, not really we’d be backstage and shit with him and Geoff would always be with him but I never really talked to him. but any time before Lemmy would go on; geoff had this book, I don’t know what was in it. but Lemmy and Geoff would go in the back and read that book by themselves.
Me: What? Like some black magic shit? satanic bible?”
CP: “Yeah, Fuck. I don’t know. Probably some shit like that. I just know they would go in the back and nobody was really welcome to join and they’d read that fuckin book.”
Collin Provost, 2014
Portraits by Michael Cukr