FIVE THINGS WITH STËVIL KINËVIL OF ALL HAIL THE BLACK MARKET

FIVE THINGS is a feature on the Banjo Brothers Blog. It’s a short interview about life and bicycles with a notable person. This week's notable person is cyclist and cycling industry icon Steve Smith, better known far and wide as Stëvil Kinëvil.

For those not familiar with Smith’s shenanigans or weekly musings on his blog/journal, here, in his own words is the backstory: My name is Steve, but have long been known in some circles as Stevil. That originally came about via a woman I used to messenger with after riding a recycling bin down a long flight of stairs and after getting pitched onto the sidewalk at the bottom, I scorpioned and kicked the back of my own head. For the last nine years I’ve managed all things ‘All Hail The Black Market’, and before that handled Swobo’s marketing duties, where I dusted off that old moniker.

What started as an experiment in marketing and testing my own abilities as a writer has turned into a full time job. I grew up in Colorado, but have spent the last many years in Oakland, California. I’m married to a woman named Monika, who is patient to a fault, and together we are part-time parents to a neighbor cat named Ike who’s recently taken a shine to us.

I’m a formally trained ‘artist’, but that’s worth about as much as being formally trained juggler. Probably less, actually. (BTW, lot’s more imagery from the art side of things is housed here.)

We hope you enjoy this week's Banjo Brothers Five Things.

BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU RIDING?

SK: Recently I’ve been spending a whole lotta time on my Blue Collar Dirte’. It’s a road bike that my amigo Robert Ives built for me that has slightly bigger tire clearance and some new wiz bangy Shimano technology that I don’t think the powers that be there know that I have yet. It’s been a real nice partner these last bunch of months. Second, to that, I have a Hunter cross bike that I do absolutely everything on. It’s dented, and run ragged, but I love it more than any bike I’ve ever owned. I rode and raced mountain bikes for years, but these days I like a long adventure on one of these bikes where I hit all kinds of terrain instead of just one.

BANJO BROS: WHERE ARE YOU RIDING?

SK: I ride to nearly all of my rides, which limits me a bit, in that I don’t often ride places that take an hour or two in a car to get to. Luckily there is an awful lot of beautiful open space around the Bay Area that I can immediately access. Otherwise, any ride to the bar is an enjoyable experience. I also prefer any ride that ends at a creek or swimming hole. I’d spend way more time riding if every ride ended at a creek. I love creeks a lot. However- If I had a machine that could zap me to wherever, and whenever, I would spend far more time riding mountain bikes on my hometown trails in Evergreen, Colorado. I appreciate everything about them and thoroughly enjoy visiting any time I get the chance. (photo credit Joe McManus) 

BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO, READING OR WATCHING? 

SK: The current television adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s graphic novel ‘Preacher’ has occupied my attention recently, but I don’t spend much time watching television. If I have free time I ride a bike, or a skateboard, or go to my studio and paint. While I’m down there in that hole of stifled creativity, I tend to spend a lot of time listening to music. Some of my recent favorites are The Budos Band’s ‘Burnt Offerings’, naturally, anything by Rocket From The Crypt, because I adore them, and Graveyard’s newest album ‘Peace’ I think it's just about as perfect a piece of music as I’ve ever heard.
 

I also prefer any ride that ends at a creek or swimming hole. I’d spend way more time riding if every ride ended at a creek. I love creeks a lot.

BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU COOKING EATING/DRINKING?

SK: Of all people, the trainer who I work out with at the gym turned me onto 'pickle backs'. A shot of bourbon and a shot of pickle juice. Some people shoot the bourbon and then the juice, but I think they taste so good together I just take a sip of this, and a sip of that. I mean, if you got a delicious burrito, would you eat the whole thing as quickly as you could? Of course not. Apparently savoring things is a component of getting older or something.

BANJO BROS: WHAT'S STUCK IN YOUR CRAW?

SK: In the small margins of things that don’t matter, I think e-scooters, e-boards, e-bikes, and the like are stupid, but that’s just like, my opinion, man. In the big picture of things that do matter, the current political/environmental/social everything. We are truly in upside-down times. I don’t remember the last time someone asked me how I was and I could honestly answer 'fine'. I’m just trying to be a good person, and run my business, and be empathetic for those whose views I might not agree with, but with every day that passes, and any bit of news that crosses my radar, I find that more and more difficult. Moving forward, I will continue to try and be a good person, try to be understanding, keep one foot in front of the other, and for the time being anyway, try to keep both of them above the ground.

MORE ABOUT THE FIVE THINGS INTERVIEWS FROM BANJO BROTHERS

A big Banjo Brothers thank you to Stevil for participating in this week's edition of Five Things. These short interviews about life and bicycles will appear every Friday on the Banjo Brothers Blog. If you liked this FIVE THINGS from Banjo Brothers you should check our full series of past five things interviews.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR FIVE THINGS?

Use the contact form on our website to send us a note. See you next Friday. Also, since you're here, we do need to mention, Banjo Brothers make a whole line of tough, practical and affordable gear for cyclists.  Thanks for reading.