INTERVIEW: ‘Garage Rehab’ is here to save the day
Building off his success from Fast N’ Loud on Discovery, Richard Rawlings is back in the shop, but this time he doesn’t own the garage. On the new series Garage Rehab, which premieres Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. on Discovery, Rawlings and his team head across the country to help struggling garage owners renovate and succeed.
He has his work cut out for him on the inaugural season. There’s a Texas garage filled to the brim with junk and a southern California hot rod shop that is ready to close its doors. Rawlings sweeps in with Russell Holmes, project manager, and Chris Stephens, garage designer, to try and save the day.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Holmes, a construction expert with 20 years of experience, about the new TV project. Here’s what he had to say:
On what fans can expect on the first season of Garage Rehab …
“One of the things that our show brings to the table more than some of the other rehab-type shows is there’s a good dose of business sense, the whys behind why we do what we do, so even though we’re not fixing up everybody’s garage in America, they’re going to be able to learn a thing or two from what they see us do and how we explain it.
“The other thing is the pure scope of what we do to these garages from an entertainment standpoint. We come in, and we give them everything that they could possibly need based on us talking to them, and walking around their shop and the needs of the area. So we do such a great volume of work in such a small period of time that they’re actually going to see — and I’m not going to bash any other shows — but you’re actually going to see me swinging a hammer, and doing the work, and staying there late and actually getting it done. It’s not one of those TV magic-type things, so the entertainment value, in conjunction with the education from the show, I think is second to none.”
On working with Rawlings and Stephens …
“I truly believe that this team coming together and the amount of knowledge that we have is really, really paramount to the success not only of the show, which to me is secondary, but to the garages that we go to. We can walk in there, and if you had just someone with their own agenda, maybe we don’t give them what they need. Maybe the shop owners end up suffering, so when you have someone like myself, and Richard Rawlings and Chris, we’re able to balance each other.
“Richard always had these great, fantastic, grandiose ideas of what needs to be done, and sometimes it takes me to tell him, ‘Easy champ. We’ve got to take it down a notch because I would love to be able to do this, but in the amount of time and the budget we have, we can’t.’ So it’s a real balance of giving them what they truly need and what Richard would really like to see them have all the time, and that happens few and far between. But it does happen because we don’t want people to think that we just go in there all half-cocked and say, ‘OK, you’re all getting this. You’re all getting this.’ It’s really individually tailored to each one of their needs, so we get along really, really well.”
On his history with cars …
“I got into cars when I used to have the old remote-control cars on the track and being able to use the eraser to clean the contacts off to make them go faster. … I remember when I saved up my allowance to be able to get my first remote-control Ferrari Testarossa. It had a little turbo-shift knob on the remote control, and I was hooked. … I was blessed to be from the generation that on most of the TV shows, the main star was a car, whether it be the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard or KITT from Knight Rider, so being able to have that as part of my growing up, I had no choice but to love cars.”
On the unknowns the team faces each episode …
“I don’t know if viewers are going to pick up right from the beginning, but we don’t what we’re doing until we walk in there. … So they stump you just because you’re not expecting them, but with the amount of stuff I’ve done in my life, it’s just a matter of just take a deep breath. And we’ll figure it out. That coupled with big Richard Rawlings standing over your shoulder going, ‘You need to get this done. You better not spend anymore of my money.’ It’s a little bit added pressure, but as of yet, I welcome any of the problems we have. And I hope we have more because if I’m not growing from learning, then it’s pointless for me.”
On whether the TV cameras get in the way …
“That’s one of the amazing things with this. The crew that we’re blessed to be working with, I never really know they’re around. My background and everything I’ve done is from construction to cars and everything, and then I had a long stretch where I was volunteering in emergency ambulance. I was a captain. I was a lieutenant, so I always had to be the take charge, this is what’s going on, let me make sure I can handle everything. So I think that enables me to have a really outgoing personality, basically tell it like it is, just be myself. I’m not one of those guys who if someone sees me on the street, they’re going to go, ‘Wow, you’re the same dude that’s on TV.’ … I’ve been blessed with the crew that we’ve had, and they’ve enabled me to just be me. And they haven’t tried to go, ‘Oh, Russ, we’d like to see you do this, or maybe turn it up.’ They haven’t had to do that. I’m from New York. I’m on 11 all the time.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Garage Rehab premieres Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. on Discovery. Click here for more information.
