INTERVIEW: ‘Sacred Steel Bikes’ follows motorcyclists making customized dreams come true
Sacred Steel Bikes, the new motorcycle reality series set to premiere Monday, Sept. 12 at 10 p.m. on Discovery, promises to be an hour of programming dedicated to customized rides, good friends and transformation. At the helm of the series is Jason Wilson, who opened up Sacred Steel more than a decade ago to realize his motorcycle dreams. Wilson and his friends also founded Douche Larouche Motorcycle Club, which is dedicated to “building, riding and working on motorcycles.”
In a recent phone interview, Wilson said he was a little nervous and a little excited for the big premiere of the new series. “It’s a whole different world I’m stepping into,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
The team behind this new series ventured to make a show that broke from typical “build” formats, taking out all the contests, deadlines, people yelling and throwing wrenches. “It kind of went from there,” he said.
As he was taping Sacred Steel Bikes, Wilson tried to put the camera and the recording out of his head. He didn’t look at clips after they were filmed because he wanted to keep everything real; he simply wanted a show about building motorcycles with friends and all the “crazy stuff that happens in between.”
Wilson has always been interested in cars and motorcycles, and that passion led him to be a career as a union sheet metal worker. He was sent to school to learn the particulars of different mechanics, like air conditioning, but he didn’t have much interest in the subjects — at least not for traditional reasons. Instead, he started applying that knowledge to custom cars and bikes. “It never stopped from there,” he said.
Sacred Steel Bikes features Wilson’s true friends, and that’s a quality that can be unique on biking shows. “It’s not like some of the other shows where they just kind of throw people together,” he said. “This is my real family, my real friends. Like we’re all there, and if our personal lives and stuff happens, it’s part of the show. If someone walks through the door, we don’t stop or have them sign a release. Cameras are running all the time. They come in, and whatever happens, happens. If it’s good enough to make the cut, it’s in the show. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He added: “It’s not like one of the shows where someone does something, and then a minute later the guy is sitting somewhere else in a different shirt explaining what just happened.”
Wilson also requested unique motorcycle shots for the series. He wants the same feeling viewers get when watching the opening scene of Easy Rider. He wants the scenes to feel big, open and filled with, as he put it, freedom.
For the music, he didn’t want the “cute and loud guitar” that has become a staple on many series. Instead, a friend of Wilson’s from the club offers his own original music for Sacred Steel Bikes. “It’s not your normal motorcycle reality show,” he said.
What truly gets Wilson excited about motorcycles and riding is when a company spends millions of dollars on engineering in some factory, and then his team comes in, cuts up the bike, changes it and make the machine the way they want to ride it.
“At that point, it doesn’t matter what the bike started out [like],” he said. “In the end, it’s something personal, and I love to be part of those moments. Not everyone has rad bikes, but they’re all customized to what they wanted and what they needed it for. And I think that’s cool about the custom motorcycle world.”
As far as the takeaway for the fans of the series, Wilson hopes some lessons are learned amid the joking and messing around. “I think everyone hopefully by the end of watching this is going to appreciate their group of friends and things that maybe you overlook and take for granted that we’re highlighting,” he said. “Money and all this other cool stuff, you can’t take any of it with you. What you do for your friends and your brothers, that is going to make you live forever.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Sacred Steel Bikes premieres Monday, Sept. 12 at 10 p.m. on Discovery. Click here for more information.
