VAGOS M.C. to MONGOLS M.C. 1%er Lifestyle

[Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] we got mooch man thanks for coming in for sure thanks for having me man how was your flight in from Illinois that was really easy real chill we had a direct flight thankfully so no issues yeah how do you like coming back out to California I know you spent some time in college here right yeah yeah I enjoy visiting I don't think I'd live here again but it's fun to visit you know I got good friends here the weather's always great so it's nice to be back yeah speaking of bad weather you come from the Northeast area right Oregon area yeah yeah yeah Northwest yeah where it where it rains like crazy all the time for sure how does that get to you after a while it's pretty depressing that's one of the reasons I think we were pretty excited to leave is you know when you grow up like that you're not used to it and then like you come down here you come other places and realize that you know missing the sun plays a pretty important role in your mental health so it starts to get old right yeah there's a lot of depressed people when it rains it's funny because it rained out here in California and I had a lot of friends that don't like that weather I love it but it's just you know everyone has their different preference a lot of people say they like it because they didn't live it you know what I mean like if you grew up with it it's anywhere like you know your hometown everyone hates of all the drama but when you come to visit you're like oh this place is great it's the same with the rain you don't get it much so you don't mind it yeah not all the time you probably wouldn't like it you know much a lot of a lot of people know you for your podcast Mondays with mooch and um you know our audience uh is certainly going to get to know you you spent a lot of your teenage years your formative years in the hardcore punk rock scene is that correct yeah tell us a little bit about the the feeling of that punk rock era a lot of a lot of Millennials might not know that how popular punk rock movement was yeah and everything about it was so much different like you know you knew about concerts because people put a flyer up on a pole or you know when I was in a band that's how we got you couldn't post on social media or send text out you're out on the ground putting Flyers hang up nailing Flyers to the pole and trying to get you know handing Flyers out at other shows and trying to get Word of Mouth out so it was underground enough where it just people showed up because of word of mouth so there was a real big Community because we were also tight-knit because of stuff like that because we were working together you know it just felt more like family because then we everyone knew each other there essentially right so it was really cool and you know the the punk scene you know they say it originated in the UK and then came over to you know the the CBGB Club in Manhattan New York and um but you know a lot of people outside looking in it was it was it's a lot of angry white boys you know mosh pitting and and it seemed like in the Punk scene that too kind of factions emerged out of it one being you know white supremacists and people that lean towards kind of a white nationalist kind of feel and then there were the other guys that just enjoyed the music and the the scene and kind of the anti-establishment aspects of it where did you lean in that in that mix I first got into punk rock and I was just going to shows and stuff I didn't really have any sort of identity with that yet um and then there was a lot of white supremacists at my high school and they were like seniors and graduating and they used to bully me before and like dead Kennedy shirts and different stuff and so I didn't you know it wasn't the internet back then so when someone called me a sharp I had no idea what that meant so I had to ask around there was a there's a bookstore in Portland called Pal's books it's like the biggest bookstore in the United States I think and I went up there one time and I just bought all the books about skinheads that I could find and just read all of them cover to cover so I knew more what it was about and I really got into the culture of just a traditional skin of the anti-racist skin head like growing up you know like the scene came from from Jamaica and you know the West Indian music and you know the culture was based off like reggae and Scott so there was it was such a multicultural uh you know kind of scene that it really attracted me to it and so you know I just kind of jumped in head first yeah and and for our for for those that don't know what does sharp stand for it's an acronym for uh skinheads against racial Prejudice okay and so if you didn't know any better and saw a sharp skin walking down the street it would be hard to determine whether he was a Neo-Nazi or whether he was Against Racism what would be the the defining factor in the way he presented himself or their different colors shoe strings or depending on probably where you were initially skinhead there was it was just like punk rock where there was no politics involved it was just a culture where everyone liked the same music and the same style dress so even whether you're a right wing or not it was all the same thing and then the 80s they were getting so much media presence they were all over you know all over in the news and stuff that the the extreme rights started using them as security and and you know to get more more media and those are the dudes that became you know racist so a lot of it the looks almost identical I think as it progressed like through my era and stuff like we dressed like a little more smart and like old school and these guys wearing like flight jackets and bleach jeans but for the random person seeing it I'm sure they probably couldn't tell the difference like like you said laces meant different things in different regions but it kind of depends on where you're at right and would you would you find you know you remember some of the Bands The Ramones the Dead Kennedys Sex Pistols Black Flag Misfits um and then later on it kind of distilled into Offspring Brad religion which is kind of more mainstream but right what were what bands were you really uh listening to at that time um The Clash So my aunt is like super in a punk rock and I have a single mom so she would send with my aunt on the Summers and she would wake us up in the morning to like Madness or The Clash and so I really got into Ramones Madness Clash of specials um so I was into that early stuff quite a bit and then I think the more mainstream one I really got into was rancid because it sounded so much like The Clash so that was probably like Junior High School was really into rancid and that kind of those offshoots and then Portland had a pretty good scene you know poison idea was really famous in the 80s and they're from Portland and then Defiance was a really big punk band and so I'd start to go to a lot of local shows and support the local scene and when you when you were up in Portland would you come down down to LA and check out some of the LA Punk scene or that wasn't really um well I joined a band or started a band in 2000 and we toured for five years so yeah we played all over so I met you know that's when I got to really meet a lot of other skinheads a lot of skinhead Crews across the country and from touring like our band played at cbgb's we played at Gilman Street we did some warp tours um so yeah I mean I'm at a network a lot met a lot of people doing that what Drew you to the punk scene just kind of the anti-establishment feel about it I wouldn't even know if it's necessarily that like I had a pretty chill middle class working class upbringing you know so it wasn't necessarily like the need for family out grandma from an Italian family and I had other family I needed so it wasn't necessary like that searching for for family it might have been more identity I'm a twin brother I grew up as a twin and we were you know those younger years we were searching for our own identity and I like the music so much that I got into it through the music did your twin was he in punk in the punk scene as well no we were like sixth or seventh grade we went opposite directions because we're just trying to you know he went to different high schools so we were trying our parents were trying to get us to do different stuff we both wrestled together and so she wanted us on different wrestling teams games and all that so we went to different high schools he got into like country music he was wearing belt buckles was trying to be a cowboy and uh and I really got into punk rock now I mean he does everything I've done and eventually when I got in the skin of Team he came with me we started our first skinny gang together so I mean he's been with me through a lot but at first it wasn't like that that's crazy and during during your punk rock era you were you were you were riding around in Vespas right yeah later on once we moved to Portland so we grew up right outside of Portland so after high school we moved up to Portland and yeah we got we started getting that scene quite a bit we were like rebuilding old Vestas my first one was in 1963 it was like a 150 with a little 180 kid on it you know I thought it was fast I got up to 80 miles an hour and realized doing that on an eight-inch wheel isn't fun at all yeah it was a good time but yeah that was like that was pretty big in our culture for sure now did the Vespa turn into the Harley or was there a was there a gap between that no it definitely did so some of the older guys in our scene were starting to get into motorcycles and um you know we were riding Vespa so much so when the older guys got into riding I would jump on one of their bikes and you know the immediate field that that instant power and the torque and everything that's obviously not there on a small cc motor um yeah we fell in love right away and actually Jeremy and I were my brother we were still riding we were riding motorcycles when we were still on the skinhead scene okay so you're riding motorcycles now and you're getting hooked on the Harley scene and graduated kind of from that punk rock scene into the one percenter world right yeah yeah so to speak I mean so in 2005 I was leaving like that skinhead stuff I feel like it's a youth culture you know I know it was still in my early 20s I felt like I was old for going to concerts and getting into big gang fights and that type was kind of growing out of it um and I think I was just kind of searching for what I wanted to do in life I I tried to join the military and I couldn't because I had a criminal record and I had too many tattoos and I tried to go back to school and I didn't like it um and in fact right around there I had a suicide attempt because I just I didn't think that I had anything left for me and so when I came back from that I just kind of was starting fresh and trying to figure out like what I wanted to do with life and I was really into writing um and I same thing I did with the skinhead stuff I went and wrote every book there was about motorcycle clubs and bikers yeah and so I knew everything like you know under alone just came out so I knew who the models were just from that book and started hanging out with some of the clubs in my area so I it was kind of my same thing as far from like identity I just jumped right into it and that's part of your your personality and you know the one Center world what was the the first Club you patched into so I hung around with the really old school club called The Outsiders they'd been in Oregon since like the 60s they were super old school and I learned a ton about from them as far as like history and motorcycle protocol and there was so it was so much difference you know um but they were these guys were like in their 50s and stuff and I was 24 25 years old so I didn't get a lot I mean I got along with them great but we didn't have anything like shared interest other than motorcycles and once like the I think at first it was like oh it was a motorcycle club so I was just enamored by it and once the kind of shininess faded away I really I looked around I was like man these guys are all cool but I don't have anything in common with these people like I wouldn't invite these guys to a barbecue or catch a movie or go to a show um and so I was just looking for something different so I ended up moving to Nevada and that's when I first met the babos okay the green machine the vagos you were riding with them for how long uh just under two years and how was that prospecting process was it did they put you through the the ringer I didn't Prospect they packed me in yeah so you lateraled in from The Outsiders yeah I was never an actual member of The Outsiders either just to hang around yeah so you didn't go through the the prospecting process correct okay and then after the vagos after that run where'd you end up Landing I joined the Mongol so I actually patched over from the vagos to the [ __ ] so towards my time towards the vagos I really liked it at first was all young guys are like I said we talked earlier in a punk rock skateboarding and it kind of was more my feel of things just because like you said I jumped right into things Without Really knowing what I'm getting into so on the surface level it seemed great the more I was in it kind of saw how things were working and the inner workings of it nothing negative against them but it just wasn't for me it wasn't a good fit and I knew some Mongols when I was living in Nevada and we'd been staying in touch and so when I moved back to Oregon the Mongols had posted that they were starting a chapter in Oregon so I just kind of at first was just reaching out to fish around and end up getting invited to join so me and like 12 or 15 other vagos patched over we started the first chapter in Oregon we started first Shasta County Northern California some guys in Reno and did that did that create a conflict with the vagos and the Mongols or yeah yeah it was a little rough a little bit that was the first time ever I think a FBI agent came to my mom's house and said that uh they had you know they had information that there was a hit out of my life and I was first on something like that's happened to me and I was so surreal I just didn't believe it you know it's like you know when you live your life you think that stuff's in the movies that stuff Doesn't Really Happen uh but try telling your mom that stuff's not true it might be a little different but yeah they were pretty pissed for a while but you but you knew what you were signing up for when you when you were three three three patch a three-piece patch jacket right yeah no I definitely knew it I think I had kind of a maybe a false sense of being just because I grew up in such a violent culture and so like violently myself that I was like oh it's cool I can handle it it's a lot different being in it for sure but I do I still knew what I was doing when I got into it is it common or uncommon to to kind of patch into another club from major to Major isn't super common the vogels one and one percenter Club then yet okay um and they were they were getting bigger at the time but I mean there's been a fair share of guys that have gone from vagos to Mongols you know back in the 50s and 60s dudes jump clubs all the time to figure out for the find the right home and stuff like that yeah um and and for me it was just kind of like I said I I looked at it I was excited and I just I just wanted to be a part of it so I jumped in before I knew enough about it and then I found my home and I was saying the Mongols for 14 years so um you know I tried different stuff until I found where I wanted to be and where my FIT was and where it was like like-minded people that I really felt family with right and when did you move over to Illinois uh five years ago so 2017. okay and with that you brought your Mongol Brothers with you there no man so I moved out there initially I was essentially I was I was thinking about retiring I was kind of trying to get away for things had been a while it was kind of getting burnt out on stuff I was overseeing the Northwest we were doing a lot of stuff together um and I moved out there just kind of chill and I hit up Dave and asked him you know about retiring he said no no just chill just do your thing out there and we'll see how it goes and it wasn't long after that that I started St Louis chapter when I moved out there there was like three marbles left in Kansas city in the whole Missouri now I think they have three chapters there we started two in Illinois three more in Indiana so I mean that grew pretty big when I was out there but they weren't already there and when you got the blessing from Little Dave to set that chapter up was there some conflict with other local clubs out there yeah but you know what so when I started in Oregon it was the same thing the dominant clubs there said we couldn't be there Oregon has this really old tradition where there's like four clubs there there was no main clubs there no dominant clubs there um National ones you know and they didn't want us there and I really kind of gone through that and laid that groundwork I kind of had figured out what worked and what didn't and how to how to do that and so it was pretty much following the same model it was the same exact thing they didn't want us there we can't be there it's not going to work but you know we thought we we throw it we thrived we flourished out there we did really well but it took a little bit a while but I had the experience to do it you know uh who would you say the dominant player is in Illinois that laws I remember asking Little Dave why didn't the Mongols go up to Canada and he you know he said the other team is pretty strong up there so when you open up a new club you're really gonna step on toes and you're gonna have to fight for that right to be there is that how it goes down yeah for the most part I mean like you said you know what you're signing up for and a lot of these people grew up in that area so they knew who the dominant clubs are they know you know what the support system's like out there we were actually really cool with the Outlaws and I spent a lot of the time I spent in the models was you know being cords with the Outlaws I've been to a lot of their events I went to Taco's funeral and then some of you know we've gone to a lot of their events I did all the sit down a lot of the sit Downs with those guys so we had a really good rapport relationship and when we first started out there I started in St Louis chapter of Missouri to appease them because we weren't most of us were in Illinois but we didn't want to claim in Illinois initially and piss them off so we kind of eased our way into it and that worked out okay yeah for a little bit it kind of it got turbulent at one point yeah yeah but we don't want to go too deep into Club business but you know you you've since retired from the Mongols MC yeah I left a year ago okay how have you found the things you love about the one percenter culture without all the politics it's been a blessing man I'm I'm very grateful for the fact that I was very fortunate that when I stepped away a group of guys stepped away with me and so I didn't you know a lot of guys leave and they miss the Brotherhood or they don't still have you know the guys that are riding with and hanging out with and I was super fortunate to still have that and outside of the club world I built a lot of friendships and in a lot of different scenes you know my Jiu Jitsu team and just people I knew from the punk rock and skin of the world so I still had a lot of friends and support um so I didn't necessarily that wasn't a negative in my life and since then things not in say anything bad about the club or whatever but my life's been really positive things been moving forward there's nothing really holding me back from doing what I want to do and it's been a blessing it's been really cool yeah and and you started it and I'm not even going to call it a motorcycle club I call it more of a movement you know lift train ride LTR and it seems like you still can get the Brotherhood the camaraderie the like-minded people you want around you without all the [ __ ] that goes around with it right definitely and that's you know life's kind of just learning as you go right and then learning from those mistakes and not making them twice so what we did with lift train ride was a lot of what we liked from the motorcycle club world and from that scene and leaving behind what we did and we had because we're just a small group of guys we have that freedom that we could do that right so there's an example of of the ability to have all the camaraderie you still party you still ride uh you hold each other accountable right yeah do you hold meetings are there dues are there Club dues yeah we run it pretty similar um I mean we still have officers positions but that's more for accountability than it is for like power and stuff um because like our bylaws everyone has to work out a minimum of three days a week whether that's lifting weights or doing Jiu Jitsu or some sort of fighting art we everyone has to get together once a week but it doesn't necessarily have to be a meeting so whether it's a ride or we're barbecuing or all going to dinner together so it's similar in those rules but they're more tailored to what was fitting us and what was working better you know there's not a lot to talk about at meetings because we don't have politics or other stuff so once a meat month we'll sit down and decide maybe what what ride we're gonna do or you know where we're going to go you know what next run is going to be but most of it is just us hanging out riding motorcycles working out and you know trying to help each other right and how has the one percenter Community reacted to the LTR movement I think it's been pretty it's been pretty positive for the most part from what I've heard you know we're not wearing patches really we're we're not claiming areas it's definitely not about you know territory or anything else it's just a group of guys like like you said holding each other accountable and trying to make them be the best version of themselves they can be so it's holding each other accountable to positive stuff so I don't think outside of maybe seeing each other on events there's not a lot of overlap you know we don't go to the same types of bars they go to that's just there's we just really don't see them out and about right and isn't that ultimately what the whole thing is about the the motorcycle culture is about the Brotherhood yeah and I definitely think that stepping away from it made me realize how far clubs have probably shifted from that over the years like you know that initial was just about riding motorcycles and partying and traveling together and being brothers and that's what we all want and that's what everyone says they want but then when the politics get involved things shift quite a bit you know and then they're so up so many other clear just so much other stuff that goes on to it where I think it's really easy to lose focus of the fact that we're here to spend time and enjoy time with each other right and you know I love the logo it's it's cool but I do notice that there's a diamond there is that is is that a point of contention or is that no big thing and it hasn't been so when we started the club part of lift train ride because you said lift train ride's more just kind of a movement we didn't want to have a name for a club we didn't want to really even call it a club so when we came up we wanted to have maybe a symbol we were trying to think of something you know that represented what we did and a lot of us were X1 percenters so I was talking to an artist friend I have to design something I said no I wanted to show you know we're one percenters which is the diamond but we're x members which is the X but I didn't want it to look like it was an anti one percenter like an X through it and I think he did a great job you know it's kind of ambiguous but it's still really cool um but we're happy with how it came out for sure and so far it hasn't been any issues or at least not that I know of yeah no it's super cool now in terms of your growth plan for LTR are you thinking of opening up different state chapters or is it going to just stay it's hard to say people ask all the time but you know it's really cool right now to just have that Foundation we have you know I do think from my experience in the past some of the things that Waters down that Brotherhood is opening in other areas we don't have full control of like maybe if a guy from that's in it now moved and he got some guys together I would trust it because he's came from the from a central core you know but if it's just someone else that's from the Internet or we met it's like I want to do this let's just say that they're going to represent us in the same way or follow through with the same way and I don't want to get into that like power struggle issue either so I would be interested in at some point we just got to figure out how to do it naturally that makes sense where we can still hold the same Foundation the same values and if you did do that would it be open to guys that weren't former one percenters that were just enthusiasts bikers I'd like to do you know try and do mutai and Jiu Jitsu and ride I think it would be Case by case that's the cool thing right is we're brand new so there's no like really strict hard fast rules about it so you know if it's somebody got along with really well that was you know following like that you said they're working out they're a positive person they're doing really well in life we definitely consider it um so I think it'd be more about who they are as a person than where they came from or what they were doing before I remember you mentioned that um part of the appeal of the one percenter biker culture is that it's Freedom it's it's anti-establishment it's [ __ ] the world but when you touch down you find yourself subscribing to a whole new set of rules and regs right right and so there's kind of an irony in that there is for me I was a positive because I thrive in that like I grew up in doing sports and then I got into the hey what's up guys this is mooch and you're watching Cinema's TV we had bylaws too and there was punishment for breaking bylaws and so going into a club was the same for me I just kind of was just graduating up and I really thrived from the structure and when I was in leadership in the Mongols you know and I was overseeing different regions the really cool thing about with what we did as the Mongols is we had you know bylaws that everyone had to adhere by but as leadership we kind of had some um opportunity to build our own programs and one of mine was a lot of what we do in lift train ride like I banned meth in our regions people couldn't do meth and you know um Dave made it so everyone had to have full-time jobs and you know I wanted to see it in Northwest and when I oversaw the Midwest everyone had to work out that was one of the rules I tried it in the Northwest and there was some pushback but a lot of guys still did so a lot of what we did now I was trying to do with the Mongols too um and so we still are very structured and still very regimented and militant to an extent and that stuff I learned from the club world so I actually like that part but more to your point yeah I saw a lot of people that would join say I thought this was about freedom and there's all these rules right and you know there's there's seems to be two conflicting parties or ideologies within one percent our culture there's the old school guys that have their their ways and then there's the the new version of the one percent culture and it's the version that I think makes sense in an era of ring cameras and cell phone cameras and informants and and I remember Little Dave talking about how you have to adapt or die right and if you can't modernize an old establishment you will die or you'll get jammed up and with Rico now it's not a joke man for sure you know and and so it sounds like LTR is is really the modern distillation of of what one percent culture has really become or has to become right right and I think people need to remember like why did I join this club in the first place what what brought me to this and if it's Brotherhood and writing then you need to really look around and say do I still have that because if you're going to join a club for business or doing legal [ __ ] that's not the place to go right like you said that you can't be doing that anymore you're not going to get away with it you're flying a patch on your back and you're being obvious to everyone right like hey here I am and you can't do that and be doing a ton of illegal illegal stuff like they say so you really have to pick okay what what am I about why am I doing this and why do I want to do it and if it's really for just the bikes and Brotherhood then you can really keep it pretty simple yeah and it sounds like you guys are doing it much you know you mentioned uh suit you you have fatal thoughts of suicide at one point in your life are drugs a part of your story did you get into drugs heavy or not really I was I I drank a little bit in my skin a year so like early 20s never really got into drugs um I was around 35 I started kind of drinking and partying a little bit um but it's never been you know I've been a drug and alcohol counselor when I got really got in I first got into therapy and stuff so I know more about it from that but it and obviously growing up in the scenes I grew up in I've seen it all firsthand but it's not something that I've experienced myself yeah and and you have a master's in Social Work correct yes and so you know that kind of skill is probably very transferable when you're leading Leading Men right yeah definitely I was talking to guys about this Hillary it's pretty funny because you get all these alpha males together you know and everyone's a tough guy in this and I've got this whole group of guys talking about their feelings now or like hey man you know I didn't like how that made me feel when you talk to me like this but it's really helped us become Tighter and I think it's been a super you know it's been a positive but you normally wouldn't get that right like for sure it's not normally not going to happen but we've really created an environment where we can openly talk hey man I'm just feeling down right now we can be there for each other and help each other but it starts with that communication piece yeah which is the real Brotherhood you know as men were taught not to cry or show emotions and and be tough but we all we all have insecurities vulnerabilities problems things we want to bounce off each other and so it sounds like you have a group of guys that you can Mastermind with and also we're all mirrors bouncing things off each other right one how tight can I say we are if we're not open to talk about stuff like that how close are we really if we can't talk about that type of stuff right and you know that's you know life is filled with so many different ironies you know and one of them is if I saw you walking down the street I'd be like dude who's this dude you know he looks like a skin or um but you're a very articulate deep thinker and um is was that is that kind of you know it's funny because some you know I've met a really obese guy and they called him skinny right um and as I've gotten to know you you're such a giving person you're always giving advice helping people where'd you get the handle mooch because it doesn't fit with your whole thing you know it does if you know me uh you know yes so I was in the vagos I just joined and we were at a campout and my chapter's out doing something I was sitting there eating and my pee came up and he's like man you're already eating and I was like yeah Barry made me this he's like there was no chairs at this place and I had one he's like where'd you get that chair I was like oh it's Glenn's it's like man didn't I give you that hat you're wearing I was like yeah thanks Amanda goes man you're a [ __ ] mooch and that was it and it stuck yeah it worked out great because you introduce yourself with mooch and they're like really what do you want so I never went hungry I can promise you that that's great man that's funny yeah mooch when I first when I first caught window view I'm like mooch that's a cool name man you know what I I like that I heard you say is you know with your LTR group um respect is still very much a part of the process right 100 and in your philosophy is you know have a steel fist but put a velvet glove over that fist don't be obnoxious don't be acting like Rambo out in public yeah I mean that's a we're really really strict about how we act out in public and that's a really big thing because one of the things I've always enjoyed like you said when people look at you and think a certain thing and you give them a different opinion I really enjoy that I like it a lot so I used to like you know when we show up places and and they would go you know oh [ __ ] these guys are here and they'd be all scared and then when we left they'd go be a man they were the nicest guys they were great I've always liked that take away and that that's always really helped so that's something that we always want to put back out in the community plus all these guys live in the community these are bars we frequent these people might be on your jury one day why wouldn't you want to make a good impression you know you know all these clubs are getting kicked out of bars and there's no colors rules but it's usually because of how they acted so if we're out acting right in public then we're not going to have that issue now we can freely go where we want we're welcome people are excited when we show up like who wants to be that guy when they go up and they go these guys are here again right like we're welcome and then we can have a lot more fun we're trusted people you know have our back it's just there's so many more positives that come with being respectful and responsible in public so much you know you you overcame a really weird curveball you got in your life you you you you you found out you have a rare disease called Opel and the ligaments in your neck calcified correct yeah and this kind of happened to the you know to a guy who is so active riding jiu jitsu how did you overcome that experience in your life man it was pretty tough so I actually moved to Illinois to join a jiu jitsu team so that was kind of my big focus at the time and so I was trying to train as hard as these 20 year old world champion kids and and just really trying to keep up and so when I was starting to get a lot of pain I just assumed it was from you know being 40 and training that much but it got it started getting so bad I couldn't sleep my I mean it was brutal pain essentially they would have told me I'm gonna have to cut your arm off for you to feel better I'd say Let's Do It um but when I finally did go to the doctor and had everything done and they explained what was going on they were talking about a pretty serious surgery and so my wife and I went to solve four different surgeons around the country because I was really hoping neurosurgeons I was really hoping to not have to have surgery because you know Fusion's a pretty big deal especially at someone my age um but it was ended up being necessary so they fused they were trying to do C2 through T1 which is pretty much my whole neck um and they told me that it was going to affect a lot of a lot of my mobility and pretty much changed my lifestyle they said no more riding motorcycles no more doing Jiu Jitsu um but I man I don't feel like I had a big option you know I pretty much had to do it if the if it worsened to progress they can't stop it they can just or they can't fix it they can just stop it from getting worse right so if all of a sudden I'm losing grip strength or I'm pissing my pants they can't fix that so they're like oh you can wait it out well I didn't want to wait that out so I opted for the surgery um it was probably the most painful thing I've ever been through in my life it was brutal I stayed in the hospital next couple days just because the pain was so bad I remember they were trying to take the catheter out and so I could sit up and pee and I just wouldn't I said no we're giving another day because it was just the pain was so brutal um and Recovery was rough it was like I think it was about six months um but after about I think I was home for maybe a month I was going back to Jujitsu and they'd built me like a little bed in the corner and I'd sit there and watch class um actually would take me to the park and we could do Walks Like I just tried to stay as mobile as possible as soon as I was clear to lifting and I hired a trainer and really started working on like core strength I got more into like kettlebells a lot of functional strength stuff and really started working on you know just my comeback and and then it kind of gave me something like to prove wrong too right Loco you can't ride a motor so I initially I sold my motorcycle I was like oh I can't ride anymore and within a year I'd already bought a new one um and you know then that idea was I'm just gonna ride around town and then last year I rode from Illinois to Oregon and back by myself that's a big ride um so you know I just kept moving wrong and I do Jiu Jitsu full time I can't compete anymore I have to do I have to do a lot of things different but I can still do everything and that's been the important part for me my pains I'm still in Daily pain but nothing like I was before and I think my quality of life is still awesome man and I'm very thankful and grateful so I think it worked out in the long run but it was definitely a huge challenge um but man it really taught me that just you know there's nothing you can do about it right so just put your head down and get through it and a lot of that came from like Jiu Jitsu and other stuff you know when I'm in a bad position and getting ready to get choked out you don't quit right you wait you got to get through the round and so it was the same thing you're on a long motorcycle ride or a painful tattoo you have to just sit there and there's no quitting and so it was pretty much the same thing with my surgery I knew that I couldn't just quit I had to do it so I just put my head down and got through it and you know I've gained a lot of weight back since then like I said I'm still doing Jiu Jitsu I'm riding I'm pretty much doing everything I want to do so it ended up being probably more of a blessing than a curse but it was it was pretty rough right and you know we all know you're a tough guy man you've been in hundreds of street fights and you're you're a biker and a jiu jitsu guy but in your darkest moment how important was it having your wife Ashley next to you was was she the one that helped get you through this and stand by you because a lot of people leave when when the chips are down you know now and you know when I met Ashley um you know I was coming out of relationship she was coming out of a relationship we kind of met I think at the right time in our lives um and she never really cared about like she liked the club because I liked it but that wasn't her thing right she wasn't attracted to me because I was in the club so we liked each other for who we were so she's always been super supportive and like during that whole thing she was physically getting me on and off the toilet in and out of the shower like some pretty Next Level stuff that that in the long term I think just made us closer and a lot tighter um so yeah and it was huge and obviously you know with her and my family and my friends I've just been very very lucky in my life that I've had an amazing support system no matter what group I'm in or what I'm doing like everyone's always supported me so I never felt lost you know what I mean like I was I always had people there to help me out how do you think this world could heal mooch well I just think that's the trick right is to a be the best version of your yourself you can be and then try and help your friends do the same thing help those around you you know and offer that helping hand but the biggest thing is that communication and just really trying to help each other out so you know one of the things that brought me to that is as I've talked about before is back when I was coming around motorcycle clubs the old school guys would tell you hey you're going to lose you're a lady you're gonna lose your job you're probably gonna end up in jail or there was like oh you're joining a club it's death or PR you know it's death or prison and I why would I call you my friend and then ask you to join my club if I thought that was going to happen so being in a leadership position I had that responsibility of I wanted people to come and it'd be a positive impact on their life I wanted people to look back and say hey I joined the Mongols or lift train ride or whatever and my life got better I was held accountable I got in better shape I started eating better not hey I joined this club and I got a drug addiction and I was doing all this crazy stuff and um and my life got turned off track so from that leadership position you really have that you know you kind of have to to balance that but you really got to help everyone else just do the best you can because you're the one responsible for them at the end of the day right and you know it's it's interesting because Jiu Jitsu part of the whole schtick with Jiu Jitsu is being in uncomfortable positions and you've been in a very uncomfortable position in your life what do you think you know if you could speak to somebody who might be on a hospital bed right now or in a really uncomfortable place what would be your words of wisdom to that individual I mean life's as good as you make it look at your strengths I'm very strength focused so look at the things that are going good right there's always at least one thing going good in your life your life is the first one right you're waking up you're putting a meal on your you know you've got food to eat and then you start being grateful for those things you have around you and I think starting slow like that and then just going from that to that macro level level of what's really going going on well for everybody I think that's it but just being grateful for what you have and really acknowledging your strengths I think is the best part gratitude is the attitude for sure for sure no I'm with you on that and the good news is that this whole story this amazing life you've lived and you've lived a lot of life is now going to be memorialized in an autobiography book correct yeah yeah man that's been really exciting do we have a working title for that book or not not yet we're still working through the book itself but man it's just been such a cool experience you know when you get older you'll often forget about old stuff or stories change and so revisiting that and talking to people from those from those days and going back through like the newspaper clippings that old stuff it's been really cool yeah could you is there a title that comes to mind that you've kind of been spitballing or I actually have no idea we were talking about the other day and I'm pretty lost on it so hopefully I'll get some help and inside when do you think we could see that book coming out I know you got a publishing deal already in place yeah the Publisher's shooting for spring of this year so hopefully soon I mean between spring and summer I would assume for sure cool we're going to be looking out for that for sure and then you have a background in helping people overcome addiction and walking them through their lives correct like social work and stuff like that yeah can our audience reach out to you and DM you do you do you kind of interact with people or do you I have to set some boundaries so yes I mean I I'll talk to anybody that reaches out to me on social media I always do it's one thing that that I really like is that anyone can reach out to me just because you know when I when you show that vulnerability reaching out to a stranger you're really putting yourself out there and I'd never want to be that guy that doesn't answer when it starts getting into doing actual therapy or stuff like that I don't think it would necessarily be ethical for me to do that um so I'd have to set some boundaries but if it's something simple I'm always happy to help or give a positive encouraging word for sure and I do I do do a lot of that yeah no I appreciate you doing that and you know you met one of my heroes someone I look up to Jocko willink yeah what was that like that experience man that was wild so um Jocko actually has a lot of connections to the old punk rock and skinhead scene and um his he was on the cover of this old band called Force reality like this old oy album was that was Jocko like dressed as a skinhead back then um his brother was in FSU which is an old crew so he's really tied into a lot of stuff like that and so I've always there's been a lot of overlap but I never met him and there was like people standing in line to meet him and I didn't want to be that guy so I was kind of waiting and he actually came up and was talking to our Jujitsu coach what's funny is my Juju Coast had no idea who he was so I was up there and I just kind of you know said hey man I know your brother and some other people and we talked for a little bit and it was it was really cool man because he was such a humble cool person and you know he's pretty big personality now a lot of people know he was and we just talked about punk rock in the old days and he seemed there was a genuine interest for him listening to me like I thought it was gonna be a quick handshake and walk off and he kept being like no so what's up man were you like he was really cool man so you guys had even talked to Jitsu no no we talked about like skinhead and punk rock stuff and I told a little bit about our team because our the team I'm on has a documentary out and he had watched it so he was asking me some questions about that where can we find that documentary uh flow grappling has it and it's also on YouTube but it's called um Daisy fresh and they have season one and twos out already and I think all of them are free on YouTube and then season three drops here pretty soon yeah we're gonna look for that and is that uh Jiu Jitsu it's about Jiu Jitsu and it's just about our team and our team's a really special place so it started in Mount Vernon Illinois which is like 15 000 people super small area and two brothers the Pedigo Brothers one of which became a [ __ ] when I joined the chapter they started this fight gym I'm in a small town and eventually got good enough where people started moving from all over the country and just this year we won second place in Worlds out of every team in the entire world this little tiny town team from Mount Vernon Illinois one so they've been doing documentaries because these kids that come to our team they're in their 20s they live at the gym they literally I mean literally live there they put mattresses on the gym they on the floor they live there they shower there they train three four times a day six days a week and now they're winning National Champion World Championships but so it's a really cool story and to me it really resonated with the punk rock days of traveling in a van and sharing a house with all the guys from the band and so that's one of the things that Drew me to that team really is it was that was a club on its own or a Brotherhood in its own you know right and so that documentary is really really cool but just that team's really cool and that's been a big part of me being able to stay positive and have a lot of support with those guys for sure one of the things that you said that that I really appreciate is that bonds are built through going through adversity right yeah that's I mean that's been my life right my best friends here around me that you've met we've all gone through something together pretty traumatic things together there most of the time yeah and all from different scenes you know but different parts of my life but we've all maintained friendships because whether I was traveling on the road with these got you know young kids in a band we're living together you know guys we were going to jail together for going to the all that stuff and now we're all still tight but that's because of because of that adversity because of going through raw things together just brought us tight enough and you don't get that with a lot of other people I've been grateful enough that I've got it with a good amount of people you know I'm that guy everyone always gets mad at says this is my best friend well I thought that I was like man I have a lot of best friends like I love these guys you know right no I love that man and you know that's what it's all about humans are social creatures and we're all looking for that Brotherhood we're looking for that camaraderie and some people find it on the golf course others find it on a Harley but wherever it is uh let's hope it's it's maintained in a positive light right right and I think that was kind of a turning point for me in club stuff is when I started really realizing the impact you have on others and how it could either go positive or negative you know um there was a brother in the midwest named Scoops that we really tight with and he kept trying to join the club forever and I kept putting him off because it's not for him it's not for him you know and I met him at this event called The Boogie and it was such a Monumental moment for him that he kept The Wristband from the event he wore it forever every day after that he wore this wristband and uh I'm sorry but um so we got really close you know and when I brought him into the club he did everything modeled after how I would do it he wanted he wanted to make me proud he wanted to make Dave proud he wanted to do everything the right way and he was doing things the way he thought I would do it and because that he got killed another club killed him for for doing that and so I think that was been a pretty heavy burden and a a hard thing for me to deal with because it I had that responsibility you know what I'm saying and it and and we brought him into this life and he did this and and those that's when it really was heavy on me that the decisions you make have affect other people and you want it to be positive or do you want it to be negative but yeah mooch um how how can our audience reach you do you have an Instagram handle yeah OG underscore underscore mooch okay and then we could look out for your podcasts And subscribe to that yeah that's on YouTube it's the mooch 618 or I think it's just the mooch okay and you're doing a weekly podcast and you're you're discussing biker culture punk rock what else are you kind of yeah not necessarily weekly my whole goal with that is I want to tell my story but I want to tell it through the lens of other people that have done it with me so like I had one episode with the singer on my band um so but it's it's when I want to tell stories about myself so it's not every week it's just kind of as it goes you know I've done a lot about the motorcycles I've owned I did some stuff that were more like motorcycle protocol related with another guy but that was more to start kind of building my channel but my vision with it is just to kind of tell my story with the other people that were involved in it to get other perspectives that's definitely the goal I want to take it or the way I want to take it mooch thank you so much for making this long trip and coming out and sharing your testimony and story yeah I appreciate you having we appreciate you man

Channel: CINEMILLS TV

Views: 133,019

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Id: LLpaCRnS1gU

Length: 41min 31sec (2491 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023