Tijuana
By the USED Teaminterview - bobby tijuana - june 2005
It rained all night.
And that’s strange because we’re in the desert. The headlight beams pick up the cactus and the shadows they create, standing like sentinels as they accompany us on our journey into the past.
We’re here to meet a legend. He used to be a rock star, but wanted to build bikes. Two wheels were his world but he needed to sing. The paradox of the situation only makes everything
more exciting. The man who wrote classics like “No one’s got an asshole like a cowboy” and “I married a nymphomaniac” was waiting for us. The man that had built bmx and cruisers
before Reagan became president, had gone underground in the last couple of years. But loud people don’t go quiet when they get older, especially singers. We found him north of Vegas, not far from the Valley of Fire in a ramshackle ranch house.
He looked old, dusty boots and an ac/dc t-shirt, but the glisten in his eye was that of an sixteen year old looking at the first pair of naked breasts. He was alive and kicking and full of the irony and bravado that people remember on the stages of the world. His name’s Tijuana, first name Robert, also known as Bob.
Tell us the story of cactus10.
Tijuana: Well it started years ago, when I was playing in bands in Tucson. We rehearsed like crazy, and I never had any money to get a decent guitar, until I started building bikes as a hobby. The first ones were crap bmx bikes, welded by a friend of mine on a ranch over in Marana. That’s actually where I met my partner Big Dog, because the guy made bottlenecks at the same time, smooth brass ones that sang like a coyote in the desert. Anyway I called the bikes cactus10,
which kinda stuck after we got used to it. Bikes always intrigued me, that feeling of getting around on your own human power, not wasting precious resources, but still having fun and defying simple things like gravity and common sense. No one that rides bmx ever learnt anything about common sense, I like that.
The cruisers were famous…
Yeah, you know I always told guys “get a cruiser and you’ll get laid more than Mick Jagger!”, but things have not changed. The girl’s eyes still light up when they see those colors and curves. And a guy always looks like a young Marlon Brando on one.
But then you started making music
It wasn’t such a big jump. The dog and I got a record deal in Germany and went off to the land of sauerkraut and schnitzel. Made a few records did a lot of shows and broke up again like all good bands do. 10 years later reunion record and tour and broke up again. I’ve been out here in the desert since then, until Bob Giddens got hold of my number from The Dog, who’s still in Germany, writing for a magazine. He called me and told me about his USED company and philosophy and I said yes straight away. I feel pretty USED myself, so I could relate and I love the way he’s using art and bikes together. I was always a rebel and there’s never been a better scenario for a song like “no one’s got an asshole like a cowboy”, with the Texan in the White House!
I’ve got some songs going up on the web-site that I’ve donated to USED, cos I’m sick and tired of record companies and it would give me great pleasure to wipe them all out. They are the parasites living on my ass, or at least they were. Now I just have flies and mosquitoes, but they’re friendly enough!
When can we expect the bikes?
They should be finished in the middle of 2005. Two bmx bikes are finished now – Desire and Temptation – ain’t that good labeling? The cruisers will follow and some crazy Belgium guy is designing a longboard for cactus10 that should be fun. The whole thing (cactus10) is looking at ways of improving mobility in the cities and maybe in the desert here (Tijuana laughs).
When you’re in Vegas, ride your bike down one of the boulevards, you’ll get shouted at, almost run over and everyone will think you are from Mars, but that’s America and that’s why we use more energy than the rest of the world put together. Just imagine if China in growth uses the same amount, it’s no wonder that war is fought on the energy issue. I love my car, but anything under 5 miles should be done on two wheels, even for old bastards like me.
We left him scribbling frame designs on a page of our notebook or maybe writing lyrics for a new song or sending an e-mail to Michael Moore or Bob Geldorf or just dreaming about a better world, with better people and a lot more bicycles on the road.
Tijuana’s discography:
cliff barnes and the fear of winning - the record that took 300 million years to make (lp/cd)
cliff barnes and the fear of winning - spike (lp/cd)
cliff barnes and the fear of winning - guns, love and a cactus in your heart (lp/cd)
cliff barnes and the fear of winning - live at the world (lp/cd)
cliff barnes and the fear of winning - godsatwork (cd)
the illegal artists - songs for weddings and funerals (cd)
Coming soon: a Tijuana retrospective collection that will be available from the cactus10 website.
Contact Tijuana on his MySpace Site here or per mail: tijuana@used-HQ.com
