The Brian Deegan Interview

Brian Deegan and the Metal Mulisha are two names that have been synonymous with not only Freestyle Motocross, but with action sports for many years now. What stared as a group of misfit friends has over the years turned into a multi million dollar clothing line and has forged alliances with numerous athletes, celebrities and other major companies in the action sport industry. There is no need to tell anyone out there about the growing popularity of MMA, but what you may not know is Metal Mulisha has been involved with the sport for many years now and they are really looking to make their movie into MMA’s limelight. Brian has been many things and one of them is misunderstood. He has gone from hell bound, face punching, whiskey drinking wild man to staunch business man and family man in the last ten years. He has almost died and had more injuries then most NFL line backers and also had to say good bye to some great friends along the way. Being one of the owners of Brass Knuckle Therapy, the Canadian distributor for Metal Mulisha I have known Brian for a long time now and I have seen many ups and downs in the Metal Mulisha camp. Perseverance is the name of this game and the only way to be successful and Brian Deegan has no shortage of perseverance. So read the interview and get to know Brian Deegan and the Metal Mulisha because they are going to be around for many years to come.

1) For those that may not be in the know why don’t we start with a brief history of the Metal Mulisha. How did it get started? Who were the original guys and when was it that you decided to turn the concept into a clothing line?

Well it stared with a group of friends; but I basically met Larry Linkogle back around 1995 when we were racing. We were both kind of over the whole race thing and just rebelled against that and all the politics that went along with it. We were more into Freestyle Motocross (FMX) and back then I also met Mike Metzger and Travis Pastrana and we all kind of kicked off FMX back around 1997-1998. Larry and I thought it would be cool to just give ourselves a name to set us apart from all the other FMX and racer guys and we came up with Metal Mulisha and started writing it on our bikes and our equipment when we would do shows and stuff. Then we built the first FMX moto park in Temecula and called it the Metal Mulisha compound. From there we stared to doing contests and at big ones like X-Games we would play it up like we were the bad guys of the sport and guys like Pastrana were the good guys and we ran with that for a while. At that point it was just a name that represented FMX and the lifestyle that went with it and from then it grew into a brand that we created. We always had kids asking about Mulisha tee shirts and stuff and thought that there was something good here so we started the clothing line in 1999.

Deegan and myself @ X-Games a few years back.

2) I know that the Metal Mulisha has actually been involved in MMA for a long time, when was it that you guys decided to make the real transitions into the sport?

Well we were always into the bare knuckle fighting way back in the day and we were always into the UFC back in the late nineties like 98-99 I remember watching some of those UFC”s. Then around 2001-2002 I built a fight gym at the compound and we would train in there all the time. At that time we started to associate ourselves with some fighters, just some real underground no name dudes. I think that before fighting was considered cool we were all really pumped on it. We used to have some underground fights in our garage and ESPN came and covered it and it was actually pretty funny. The UFC and the whole deal of MMA blew up and got really huge and we decided to take the Mulisha brand in that direction.

3) Who are the main guys that you have brought onto the Mulisha fight team and why have you chosen those fighters? Did they fit a certain mold, or have you known them previously?

Well with the moto side it was all usually friends first and then sponsor after that and I already knew most of the guys that we brought onto the Metal Mulisha team. In the fight game though, that is like my second home, so it had a lot to do with people that I met while training and being down at Team Quest and hooking up with Dan Henderson. It was great to bring Dan into the Mulisha team because he is like on of the top five guys ever in the fight game and he is a huge name in the whole MMA deal. Another guy that we have been helping out for many years now is Renato “Babalu” Sobral who is 100% on the program the guy is so bad ass and he even went out and got a Mulisha tattoo (laughs). Also we hooked up Jason McDonald from Canada who was kind of random. I had seen him fight in the UFC a few times and he had a lot of heart and would fight anyone at anytime it seemed, so I called him up and got him on the program as well. We also have a guy named Eric Apple who fights every now and then and he hooks guys up and kind of runs the MMA team right now. Other fighters we have on the team now are Mark “The Bear” Smith, Clay Guida, Troy Mandalonz, Kyacey Uscola, Dominick Cruz and Brody Faber.

4) I know that in your upcoming catalog you feature a fight short and a few other items that you have geared more towards the functional side of MMA as opposed to the causal side, is this something Mulisha is planning on expanding with? We will be seeing gloves, heavy bags or any other training equipment in the future?

I really feel that the Mulisha thing is based in action sports and I think that there is a really good market for fight gear and a bigger catalog dedicated to it and maybe we will move more towards that later on. With the fight shorts because a lot of us train and we have guys we sponsor now, we just got sick of wearing other peoples shorts so we thought lets just make our own shorts so we can pump Mulisha instead of giving other companies free advertising. If it all turns into something bigger and better in the future then that is cool, but right no we are just sticking with the shorts.

5) Brian I know you have always been a fan of the martial arts and training in general. What have you been training in recently? Where do you train and with whom?

I have been training quite a bit with Dan Henderson down at his gym and with some of the other guys down there as well. There is another little dude that I train with that they call the hobbit, he is like 145lbs and I have been training with him a lot. I was training a lot right around the time they had that celebrity fight event with Ryan Sheckler and we were trying to find another action sports guy to fight me in the cage, but then it kind of fell flat, there was nothing, no one really wanted to fight.

6) No one would step up?

(laughs) Nah I think it is a different thing for people that are celebrities they don’t want to get beat up. (laughs)

7)The Mulisha has been involved in FMX since day one. Over the years we have seen you guys totally dominate the sport from the X Games, The Dew Tour and the Moto X World Championships. What is next for the MM as far as FMX goes?

As far as FMX goes we want to keep just building the team and farming young guys. The next big thing for me is that I really want to help organize the sport of FMX. There is a group called the American Freestyle Motocross Association and it is an off shoot of the Lusk Legacy Foundation and through that I want to start to sanction our sport and make it better organized and safer for all the riders. I see Mulisha having a big part in that because Mulisha started FMX when you think of FMX you think of Mulisha and I would like to see us help organize the sport that we started.

8)I really don’t think people truly appreciated how dangerous FMX was until the very tragic passing of Mulisha team member and great friend Jeremy Lusk. It really puts’ a sport into perspective when a death occurs in competition. I have always felt that it is so important to take a positive out of every tragic event. How has life changed for you since this event and how do you feel it will impact the sport? And can you give us a little insight into what the Lusk Legacy Foundation is and does?

Ya it was a major tragedy when Lusk died while doing a FMX event and it is still really hard for us to even grasp that it actually did happen. That being said it is something that if we don’t do something positive out of that happening then it makes it even worse that it went down in the first place. What I am going to make happen out of this accident through the Lusk Legacy Foundation is too keep his name going and protect other riders from bad situations like what Jeremy Lusk got into. We want to make sure that riding situations are safe, the proper medical staff are on site and see to it that the events are well organized and braced for a serious fall and injury to the head and or spine.

That death in the family has also brought the Mulisha team closer together, you know when that tragedy hit our team we all pulled together and became way better friends. All the stupid little arguments and all the bull shit just was not that important any more. It made us realize that this could happen any day and any time and we just need to make the best of what we have right now and not get caught up in small things that don’t really matter. That is kind of what we got out of it.

9)Over the years Mulisha has remained a tight family unit. All the guys on the team have always been close friends and helped out one another. Is this something that you have tried to carry over onto the business side of things as well? I know we have worked together for many years and LaHoya really seems to have a tight knit atmosphere to it. Has this helped MM to run smoothly?

Ya that has been hard. For the last eight or nine years it had been me in the office trying to build this as a brand and doing the marketing and sales and trying to keep everyone involved and I was able to keep my friends and the business separate or running along side one another with no problems. The problem is as business grows this becomes harder and as it gets more legit and more money gets involved then it becomes even harder still, because unfortunately at the end of the day business isn’t as friendly as friends can be. So I had to walk a fine line, but once LaHoya came in and took the company over and grew it to ten times what we could have done before I have had to really step back and just really focus on the team and the marketing. I can’t control all the things that I used to so some of those bro relationships have been harder to keep intact on the business side of things. All that being said the bottom line is that we still carry that attitude that we have all have been in this since the beginning and we all built this so we are all going to stick together. I have learned that end the end business may be all about making money, but it is not worth burning friendships over money. I guess everyone’s mind is always stuck on the money thing, but in the end how much money do you really need?

10) Another media outlet that Mulisha has been going after recently seems to be music. With the addition of the “Bands” section on your webpage and the Mayhem Fest tour you really seem to making some moves. What bands are you guys going after and tell us all about the Mayhem Fest tour.

Music has always been a huge part of the Mulisha and FMX. Ever since the days of doing Warped tour and touring with bands like Strung Out, Pennywise and NOFX we were always into the music side of things. Then all that punk transferred more into heavier stuff and it all just seemed like such a good fit for Mulisha. So we thought we need to do something with the music side of things and started working with bands like Bullets and Octane, Blackride, Machine Head and Slipknot. So we are slowly creeping out there and getting more bands to run our clothing. We are also on the Rockstar Mayhem tour as well, which will be headlining with Slayer and Marilyn Manson and we do FMX shows at every stop of the tour and that tour goes all over North America so it will be really good exposure for us. I think that Mulisha has always been known for the whole metal deal so this tour is a really good fit for us and will allow us to really expand into that market fast.
Its actually funny that you asked me about this because I was in the studio yesterday with some guys that were doing a Metal Mulisha song and they got me and some of the other guys in the Mulisha to do some back up vocals. (laughs) it was pretty funny dude. (laughs) I actually wrote the lyrics for the song even. (laughs). The song ended up sounding really good and I want to use it when guys come into the ring and fight or when there is a Mulisha guy riding at X-Games, it just fits our whole style it sounded really cool. (more laughing).

11) So what has changed with you and the Metal Mulisha since the beginning? I know there comes a time where we all grow up and are responsible for kids, wives, mortgages and all the old bull shit has to kind of fall by the wayside. How do you make that change and just calm down and focus?

Well there is no doubt that Mulisha was built on the most hardcore lifestyle. Sort of you know partying, fighting, girls and dirt bikes but FMX has been around for 10 years now and once you start getting into your 30’s and even 40’s you just start looking stupid doing all that stuff. There will always be the young guys coming up doing that stuff, but for me I’m a dad now I have two kids and a wife and I have to represent them the right way. I really had to grow up, I am running a multi million dollar company and the liabilities for me to act the way I used to are way too high now.
Also in 2005 when I almost died on the set of Viva La Bam after I crashed on my bike while doing a back flip that was really a life changing experience for me. The doctors basically told me that I was going to die and asked me if I wanted to say anything to my family before surgery to do so because they did not expect me to make it out alive. So I kind of just made a pact with God right then and there and said if I make it out of this I am going to try and be good. Also at that point I was so out of control and I never thought that I could change and I think after making it out of surgery I just really wanted to try and be a good person and leave all my demons behind me.

12) Are there any other sports that Mulisha plan on getting into to? Are there plans to bring on Surfers, Snowboarders and or Skateboarders in the near future?

Well we did a colaboration with Danny Kass through Grenade gloves and put out a Metal Mulisha/Grenade glove and that worked out really well. He is running Mulisha and I run grenade sometimes as well. I guess it just needs to be the right time and the right fit and we want only the hardcore dudes to me on the Mulisha program. I see maybe some street skaters and perhaps some BMX guys in the future, but that would be all that I see in the immediate future.

13) As some people may not know you have been racing trucks for the last few years. Is this something that you want to continue in the future? Tell us about the truck and the team that you are involved with.

I started racing trucks last year and I got a deal to race through Rockstar Energy Drink. It was a real learning curve for sure and I raced on the Cor series and the Pro Lite Class. It was really hard, I thought it was going to be easier, but its gnarly being in that truck and hauling ass and jumping 100 feet while going so fast, I mean these trucks have like 800 to 900 horse power so they move real quick. I really like it and am getting into it and there are some other older riders like McGrath and Ricky Johnson that are racing as well so I would like to build my own team sort of a Rockstar, Metal Mulsiha, Lucas Oil team for racing trucks. This year I will be doing all the Lucas Oil series races so I am looking really forward to that. You can see the schedule on www.lucasoffroad.com. It’s just such a rad sport for anyone who has never been to a race if you get the chance to go out and experience it you will be super pumped on it. What I would really like to do with the sport is get it into the X-Games, but for now to tide me over I am going to do the rally car event at X-Games and try and spend some more time on four wheels.

14) What is next for Mulisha? Where do you see the company heading in the next 3 to 5 years? Also where do you see Brian Deegan going in the next 3 to 5 years?

Well I guess things have been kind of weird after the last few moths with all that happened with Jeremy and some stuff that happened with my family I guess my vision is not as set on short term anymore. In five years with the company I see Mulisha being like five times or more the size it is right now. We are going to be a major player in action sports and just a huge force in the industry like Quicksilver, Billabong or even Volcom. I just want to see Mulisha get to that level and that will enable me to do a lot of cool stuff with all the sports and the Mulisha team over all. And for me in five years I just see myself being a dad, running the team, still riding dirt bikes and racing trucks and whatever else happens to come around.

15) Ok well that is about all for us Brian. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us and we will catch up again real soon.

Ya no problem it was my pleasure thanks for doing the interview dude.

For more info on Brian Deegan and the Metal Mulisha check their website : Metal Mulisha Website

Related posts:

1. Brian Deegan and the Metal Mulisha/Rockstar team take 1st and 2nd @ Lucas Oil Off Road Truck Race this past weekend.