Sandy Carson is an incredible story. Grew up in Scotland. Made the big jump to another country and now lives in Austin, Texas. You can change your life whenever you want but it takes guts. Rides for Federal - a cool indie Brit bike company - has a very smooth style and is an inspiration to the riders who do it for love instead of X-Games glory. He also does a lot of writing and photography for DIG BMX magazine but is getting into more general photography and has done a couple of exhibitions.
Sandy was an email friend. Finally met him at the start of 2003. I was very nervous. Do these things work out? It did. Sandy is a generous soul who spreads good vibes and humour. We need more of him! He turned 30 recently. No sign of slowing down.

BMX...how?
With hands on grips and feet on pedals?

BMX...why?
I used to wheelie Raleigh choppers and then a kid's dad in my flat got a huffy bmx nicked off the back of a lorry from the states and I bugged my mum to buy me one the next Xmas. it was a yellow BH California star from Halfords with anodised blue Weinman rims and parts. What a belter!!!

You have left your home country behind - why was that?
It's been ten years since I left Scotland and I don't miss it much, except for friends, family and music. It was a chapter that lasted twenty years of my life, and now this one's been ten. Scotland has made me what I am and I am grateful for that but I needed to get out that culture, its too aggressive and boredom, unemployment, anger and jealousy is rife, its a beautiful country to look at but living there is depressing and rains too much. I just wanted to have the opportunity to do the only thing I had going for me and that was bike riding. I wanted to live in a place and ride as much as possible. Somewhere where I could disappear into another world where riding a bike was not an object or ridicule of frowning narrow-minded people .I just pissed in the wind see where it took me. A change is always good. I still go home and visit though.

Favourite adventure so far?
Life.

BMX and music...any connection?
Side by side all the way, personally. They are both art forms. I don't care what anyone else says. Both have a lot of room for thought and expression and have the same energy whether it be riding a bike or playing a musical instrument. Music makes me want to ride. They give you no worries or grief always there for you when your girlfriend breaks up with you.

Five bands that have changed your life?
Only five? How about thirteen? The Police, the Who, the Pretenders, AC/DC, fIREHOSE, Slint, Minor Threat, Glue, Husker Du, Stereolab, Blondie, Shellac, Lungfish...

Worst injury story?
Trying to run from a gang with a broken ankle fresh out of a cast then being stabbed in the back with a knife with the gang and having a collapsed lung and two cracked ribs from it.

Photography is another passion - how did you get into it?
I got into it when my mum bought me my first manual SLR around my 17th or 18th birthday. Before that I used a little point and shoot to take some bmx and live music photos. My Mother has a big stash of family photos from the 40's to the 70's that got me really inspired, I just loved the idea of any image being drawn or captured from a pencil of a camera lens. My whole family were all artists, and my grandfather was the hub and we all fed off him.

Does photography give you something that BMX can't?
Definitely. But bmx gives me a lot of things that photography can't at the same time. That's a short question, but it's not easy to answer. Just as well I've got a coffee for this one....I think both of the hobbies are a gift and keep giving, and there both fun as fuck! That's why I pursue them. They are both very rewarding to me. I guess I need to accomplish things in my life to feel satisfied with my existence, and these two are up there in the grand scheme of thing that make me tick with music and travel in the top 3 too. Photography captures snippets in my life that I can hold in my hand and look back on, whereas bmx can only be replayed in my head for me to see, which is fine also. I feel like I am still learning both, which is nice. Obviously there will come a time when I can't ride to my potential but I can't ever see not riding. Taking photos isn't as physically exhausting as bmx so I can see it taking over eventually, which is fine. The other day I was filming something for the federal video and I had to do all 3, video, photos and riding!!! I was riding in Portland Oregon and found something I had wanted to do for while. There was a lot of bullshit involved in this one. I had to set up a video camera on a tripod and a still camera also on a tripod, then calculate all the exposures and hit record, have my friend Jamie push the shutter and pedal full speed in wind to peg grind a wild window ledge about 20 times till I pulled it. 4 or 5 times my bike would take out the slave flash and I had to reposition it and go back and try again. It was really breaking my concentration, but it happened eventually and I am thankful for the reward. So the answer is they both make me nuts and its all worth it at the end of the day. Sorry if this answer is a total tangent...

Do you prefer being behind or in front of the camera?
That depends. I think it's easier to be behind it, cos you can hide behind the lens, sit back, think and take it all. Being in front of it makes you feel a bit naked and sometimes nervous. A lot of the times I'm in front of it I can't relax which is ironic cos I take tons of photos where I tell people to chill out. Depending on who's shooting me, will determine how I feel. Like the Amish, I'm not a fan of strangers stealing a moment from my life who I know nothing about, I'd rather know the photographer before i go ahead and take photos with them, it's a little personal. Just like riding a bike and taking photos. It's all a little bit personal in the physical act of doing it, but I guess it loses that after people share your work.

Best advice ever given?
Don't look back because some of life's rules are okay to be broken.

Sandy Carson, pro-BMX rider and photographer extradonaire, took the shots that feature on the front cover and throughout the Sand Pebbles latest record 'Ghost Transmissions'.
Here's the story behind the photos as told to Ben Michael X...

Is this yr first record cover?
no and yes. well...another good friends band - Giant Haystacks, approached me right around the same time as you guys did to do their cover art/jacket, which was both tremendous and flattering to have such great bands give me an opportunity to show and consider my work as a reflection of their music, which i respect. Their record just came out on smart guy records in San francisco called 'we are being observed'.

How's that feel?
Fuckin great! thanks so much. It looks amazing!! I think it came across really well. I get nervous contributing photos to projects cos i am a bit anal and want some control over design, but i had good feelings for this one, and couldn't have hoped for more.

Do you think yr photos reflect the album name - Ghost Transmissions?
i guess so. I picked a few that i thought might reflect the name. they the chair and benches photos have an eerie/lost/vacant feel to them and i've been wanting to use them for something significant. The airport one fits good as well.

Can you give us a little story about each photo...where you took it, why you took it, etc.
the single chair was took outside a knackered ratty old pub in Austin. the walls are painted wacky colours. Fuck knows what goes in behind those doors. I want to go in sometimes. Too scared too.. Old weathered ghosts must drink there after a sweltering day in the Austin heat.

The red bench is next to single chair. I saw both photos and ran home to get my camera to snap them. There's another few i took that same day. South Congress is a hell of a street for a photo shoot. If the pebbles come there, we're definitely having a photo shoot there!!

The airport shot is on my way to Europe. Airports really creep me out. People from all walks of life, sharing a destination via the travel of a plane. cell phones ringing, busy bees talking on phones. I always get spooked out by them, and even more spooked out on planes, and really sentimental. I get really inspired to write on planes for some odd reason.

the two chairs were taken in a hippy hotel in Lakes Entrance, Oz! What a ghetto of a ghost town. The town reeked of fish.The bed sheets were minging, so we had to sleep in our sleeping bags on top. The shower gave me sore balls cos it had no sprinkle head . It just fired a 200 psi jet of water at my groin!! The hotel receptionist ripped me off for a $60 internet connection aswell.

the red beach photo-i took this one on the coast of Oregon. It was a hazy day and i was really really hungover, feeling as hazy as the day looked. The red filter was the same colour as my bloodshot eyes. I shot this one{between dry vomiting}of two of my favourite people paul buchanan and wendi williams. you're never too hungover to take a photo. at least something positive came out of my drunken stupour!!

the hallway photo- vegas will kill you!!!! after a 4 day bender of debauchery at a bike trade show, i decided to stay in my hotel room one night and give my
liver a rest.i got bored really quick with the american obnoxios tv, and poked my head out the door to see what it had to offer. the hallway was really bright and loud, just like everything else in this town...

I don't know why i take these photos...i just do. If i see something that i think would make a good photo, then i do...if it doesn't come out, then it was never meant to be. Why did i take these photos? I often asked myself this, and what am i going to do with the thousands of others that may in my room? well, thanks for using them in your record. It means a lot to me.

©2004 Ben Michael X