Episode 914 – Marvin Stammel – Flex, Rocks & Rollovers

Marvin Stammel

Marvin is the owner and founder of the YouTube Channel Flex, Rocks and Rollovers. He’s the creator of the popular YouTube series 24 Hell and Back Trail Challenge and Reign of Rocks. He’s been wheeling since he was kid. He’s originally from Germany where he wheeled up until he was 21 years old and then moved to the USA where he continued his passion. He started his first business in the off road industry shortly after and now over 12 years later he he’s one of the most popular off road content creators in the world.

Off-Road Madness with Marvin

We’re thinking about hitting up some local trails here while I’m here

Marvin: But, uh, yeah, we’ve been to MOA many, many times. I just finished Trail Hero in San Holo. I just got back from that. Right now I’m sitting in Las Vegas in an airbnb. And, uh, we’re thinking about hitting up some local trails here while I’m here. I’ve never really wheeled in Nevada. There’s this event called Hump and Bump that I always wanted to check out that’s going on during the time that I’m here. So we may go check that out. Yeah, so Utah has some great wheeling. Our Helenback was actually also in this year’s helenback, that’s coming out in December, um, was also in Utah, but a completely different part of Utah that nobody’s ever really seen.

The Jeep Talk Show interviews new and exciting guests every Friday

Tony: This Jeep talk show interview episode is brought to you by the Jeep Talk Show. The Jeep Talk Show has been in publication since 2010 or 2010, depending on how you like that. We are in our 13th year. We have four episodes a week and the only Jeep show that has women hosts. Make sure you look for us wandering around at SEMA. Oh, and you can advertise on the Jeep talk show. Just go to Jeeptalkshow.com slash contact to find out how to reach out. I’m Tony, and welcome to the Jeep Talk Show. The talk show where we talk about all things Jeep, from trail riding to overlanding and everything in between. Every Friday, we have an interview with a new and exciting guest. Sometimes they have products you need for your Jeep, and sometimes they just have a great story to tell. Man, I love both of those things. So sit back, grab a cold one, and get ready for another great guest right here on The Jeep Talk Show.

The Jeep Talk Show wants to get more Patreon subscribers

Marvin: Are you ready?

Tony: It’s time for the Jeep Talk Show with hosts Tony, Josh, Wendy and Know. We kind of gloss over, uh, the Patreon subscription. Uh, he’s sounding like a broken record. Uh, but yeah, well, I know I keep talking about the Patreon thing, but we want to get more Patreon subscribers. It just helps the show out, especially for, like, this SEMA thing. Uh, we wouldn’t have as many people going to SEMA this year if we didn’t have subscribers and do advertising. And it’s just one of those necessary evils to make the show better for you. We have to have some sort of income and, uh damn it, the lottery thing is going to hit one of these days, I know it. And then I won’t have to do any advertising. God knows I don’t even like talking about it. But we’d love to have you as a Patreon subscriber because we have additional things that we can provide to you to make your Jeep Talk Show, uh, episode show experience better. For example, I haven’t talked about this much. I’ve kind of glossed over it. Uh, the discount codes. Man, these discount codes are major and really can make a big difference whenever you’re buying something for your jeep or really anything. I mean, you may even have a bronco that you’re buying stuff for. Uh, so this is a really good one and works in any vehicle that you want to take off road. We have a 25% off discount at Trailsoftroad. Trailsoftroad.com, great, uh, offroad mapping software. Uh, you just have to check it out. Of course, you can check it out for free. Just go to Trailsoffroad.com and have a look or download the app and install it on your phone. Uh, now this is a bit, little confusing because we don’t have a definite percentage for this. But it varies depending on the manufacturer. And we’re talking about Northridge four x four. They have a lot of different uh, manufacturers that uh, they make uh, products available for and it just depends on what kind of discounts they get from those manufacturers. And I’ve gotten some pretty, uh, actually some really good uh, discounts. I don’t know if it’s still uh, the same, but all the motorbuilt bumpers that I bought for the Gladiator I got through Northridge Four X Four.com. And uh, not only did uh, I get a good discount off at least 10% or more and uh, when you’re buying a uh, $700 bumper, that’s good savings. Uh, Northridge also gives you free uh, shipping on anything over $70. So uh, it’s save and save and save some more.

We also have 20% off Tyree Lights on our Jeep talk show

Tony: Uh, we also have a 20% off Tyree Lights. And yes, those are those amazing lights that I have on the 2021 Jeep talk show. Gladiator you’ve seen the videos. If you haven’t, just go over to the Jeep talk show, YouTube and search around for the tire light stuff. They are just simply amazing. Uh, keep in mind that uh, the uh, Casey Gravity I think it’s right, gravity Pro Lights is what Bill has on his uh, 392. And uh, he is in uh, those videos that we shot out that are at Hidden Falls, uh, so we could uh, show off the Tyree lights, uh, wonderful lights. I’ll never buy another light again. Just the way they’re built and just how damn bright they are. And if it’s cold out, you can warm up uh, in front of them. And this is one that I had forgotten that we had uh, this absolutely wonderful product. I actually got to see one out at EJS, at the Armor Light Booth. Now uh, Bill um, who I just mentioned recently bought, he bought another Jeep. God, uh, help him. He got another rubicon, but this time a two door and he swears to God he’s not going to modify it. Uh, I’m calling bullshit because he’s already bought the Armor Light flooring for it. And uh, he sent a picture there on our discord server. And uh, he said, uh, sorry Tony, I had to go to a competing podcast for a discount. And uh, I went back and looked and son of a gun, we do have an Armor Light discount. So I’ve added that. Uh, it’s the same percentage that Bill got. So it’s just as good as that other unnamed podcast. So when you become a Patreon subscriber, you can go over there and, uh, look up and use, uh, each and every one of these discount codes. Oh, and we are serious when we are telling you to subscribe to Patreon. Could save you more money than it costs you for the membership. Uh, I think it was Zabo that, uh, sold that saved over $500, uh, on a purchase he made, uh, with, uh, KC. He went through the northridge, uh, four x four.com to buy his KC light. So, uh, he specifically sent me that information to show me how much he saved. I said, Good God, man, you must have spent a lot of money to save $500. He goes, yeah, I did, but savings is a savings.

Bob Fu: I’ve been thinking about starting up a local meetup

Tony: All right, let me throw something, uh, out at you guys. I don’t think I’ve talked about this before, not on the show, uh, to JTS team members, maybe a few people on the discord server. Uh, I’ve been wanting to start up a local meetup. Something, uh, having to do with coffee, I think. Everybody likes coffee, and even if you don’t like coffee, you can usually get something else, uh, at a coffee place. Uh, but, uh, I’ve been thinking about starting up a local meetup, uh, here, close by, uh, Studio A. And if you don’t already know, studio A is in Southeast Texas, specifically the Houston, Texas area. Uh, in Katie. Uh, if you’re in the Houston area, you know where Katie is. It’s west of Houston, not about 20 miles west of Houston. So Katie has lots of great places to get coffee, uh, or breakfast and coffee. Or you probably can get tea, you can probably get cokes, you can probably get gatorade, all kinds of stuff, uh, you know, places, restaurants are. So, uh, I was thinking about starting up, uh, a quarterly or maybe even a monthly get together on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Early, too. Get there early so we, uh, have a place to park. And it would just be so much fun to have a nice, uh, contingent of Jeeps all parked out, uh, in the parking lot. And, you know, the people that don’t have any idea about this going on are going to see all those Jeeps and go, what the hell? I got to drive my Jeep over there, see what’s going on. And it’s just fun. It’ll be fun to talk to people and look at their Jeeps, uh, uh, frankly, I think it will just make, uh, the number of listeners grow for the show and it’ll be a lot more fun when we have our next Jeep talk show off road event, uh, Texas offroad event. And, uh, we, uh, get a few more people out there that didn’t know about us. Uh, I personally think it was just going to be fun to sit and meet and talk to people and look at Jeeps. But I do like the added benefit of, uh, getting more people, uh, that know about the Jeep, uh, talk show. And uh, so, uh, I did an interview with Greg Underground Graphics, uh, the other day. He did the logos on the Gladiator and the XJ. Uh, and uh, he had talked about being at some Jeep and Java event, uh, somewhere here in Houston or something. And I told him, I said, you know what, I’ve been thinking about doing something, uh, similar to that uh, but here in the Katie area here close to home. And, uh, I told him, I said, would you like to maybe be a part of that? I mean, it’s good for him too, especially with his, uh, Gladiator that’s all decked out with all those, uh, graphics that he has on it. Uh and you know how jeepers, Love Stickers. So, uh, being able to talk directly to somebody that is in the sticker business and the big sticker business, the whole vehicle wrap business, uh, it would be good. Uh, of course it’s good business for Greg, but it’s also good because the people that are coming there now, they can just talk to somebody about it. They don’t have to make a plan to make a call or send an email and catch the guy at the right time or any of that stuff. He’s just there, he’s there having a good time. He’ll talk to you about it and maybe you can work something out. It’s just a good way of, uh, a good, friendly way to pass on more information. I mean, I’m sure there’s people that are, uh, going to come and, uh, they don’t listen to the show, uh, and they’re not going to listen to it afterwards. I don’t care. Just seeing their Jeep and uh, I just want more people to know about the show. I think that they’re more likely this is a duh. They’re more likely to listen to the show if they know about it, right? And if they don’t, it’s not for everybody. I understand. And uh, there’s lots of other uh, jeep and off road shows out there that, uh, may be uh, more to their liking. I was talking to the JCS, uh, team about this and of course the team is all over the country and uh, Fu Bob asked if we could have these meetups at various places at the same know, same day, same time, uh, but local to where the team members are. And I went, oh, absolutely, that would be so great. Because that’s kind of the downside to this is I don’t expect people to travel, uh, I don’t expect Chuck to drive down from Kansas to come here, uh, for a three or four hour thing on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Uh, but how cool would it be if, uh, maybe Chuck had a place there, local, uh, to his house, which is probably within 50 miles because he’s out in the sticks, but you know what I mean, someplace that, uh, people could go to a Jeep Talk Show coffee, ah, event and meet up and talk. And, uh, we could do live stuff, uh, on Facebook and, uh, all kinds of crap. I think it would just be a lot of fun. And, uh, we used to do meetups, uh, whenever I was doing the XJ thing. The Xjtalk.com, we would do, uh, meetups, uh, like this once, uh, a month at a Sonic. And that was fun doing that. Uh, Sonic had no problem with it. It was more business for them. And we did have a few people driving in. So this isn’t something new, uh, it’s just new for the Jeep Talk Show. And, uh, it’s going to be more coffee related and morning, uh, related. So I just think it’d be a lot of fun to do this and, uh, meet more people and see, uh, more Jeeps and just see how they put them together and what they’ve got on there. So what do you think of the idea? Uh, maybe you’re already doing something like this with another group, a club or others event, maybe it’s a yearly thing. Uh, but, uh, I don’t know, I just think it would be fun, especially because the Jeep Talk Show is going to do it a little differently because we’re a little different than everybody else.

What do we call our reoccurring event, Jeep talk show

Tony: All right, so now for the really important part of all of this, what do we call it? So, I’ve been doing a little research and not copying somebody because that’s what I’m trying to do is come up with something, uh, unique or fairly unique, but not dumb. So I like these mud meeting brain juice. Morning, Thunder. And I just love that one because it has a dual meaning, especially for the morning, uh, Java Jabber, which is coffee and talking. And, uh, this one I like, too. Sip and spill. So it would be something we would be promoting. It something like, uh, jeep talk show. Morning thunder. Or join us, uh, Saturday at, uh, 07:00 a.m for jeep talk show. Morning Thunder. Uh, hi. I’m Tony. I’m live from Jeep talk show morning Thunder. Or sip and spill. You see what I’m talking about here? So do you have any ideas for a good name? Uh, again, I’m looking for something that’s fairly unique that’s going to stand out and maybe have a little tongue in cheek, uh, humor to it. So help name our reoccurring event, and if you’re in the Houston area, or even better, in Katie, maybe you’d like to join us. Greg and I on our exploratory search to find a good place. Now right now, we’re thinking about snappies in old Katie. If you’re in Old Katie, or you’re, uh, from Katy or maybe even nearby, you know about snappies. snappies is just a real cool, uh, morning and lunch uh, place. It’s relatively small, but I think there’s a lot of parking there. I think we could probably get uh, at least 20 Jeeps there without uh, any problem. Now snappies might have a problem with it, but there’s parking. This part of the Jeep talk show is sponsored by Fuel. Can’t drink it, but you can’t live without uh, it. And I dare you to show me a Jeeper who doesn’t like the smell of race gas fuel powering your Jeep dreams for over 128 years. I think your Jeep smells like gas from around the world or from your city and sometimes just down the street. Howdy neighbor. It’s the Jeep talk show interview.

Marvin is the owner and founder of YouTube channel Flex, Rocks and Rollovers

Tony: Boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep Talk Show interview. Tonight we’re going to be talking with Marvin. Marvin is the owner and founder of the YouTube channel Flex, Rocks and Rollovers. Uh, he is the creator of the popular YouTube series 24 Hell and Back Trail Challenge and Reign of Rocks. He’s been wheeling since he was a kid. He’s originally from Germany where uh, he wheeled up until he was 21 years old and then moved to the USA where he continued his passion. He started his first business in the offroad industry and now over twelve years, he’s one of the most popular offroad content creators in the world. Marvin, uh, thank you very much for being here. I just want to mention the website real quick so people that are listening can just jump over to your website right away. Uh, that’s, uh, flexrocks rollovers.com. And of course you can look uh, for the YouTube channel just by searching for Flexrocks and Rollovers or look at the show notes for this episode for this interview. Marvin, thanks a lot for joining us tonight.

Marvin: Thanks for having me to be on your show, for inviting me.

What brought you here was the music industry

Tony: So Germany, that has to be uh, some um, amazing scenery there. I mean I have never been to Germany but I have heard and seen pictures. I guess I’m thinking of the sound of know where she’s spinning around and you see all that green in the mountains and stuff. That must be a wonderful place to go off roading.

Marvin: Yeah. Where I grew up, we don’t have like there’s some mountains, just nothing too much. I kind of grew up in the midwestern part of Germany and Cologne is what the city is called. Pretty close to the Dutch border or uh, border to the Netherlands I guess you have to say. And yeah, that’s pretty much it. I lived there until I was 21 and then right after college, packed my bags and left.

Tony: What brought you here? Why move?

Marvin: What brought me here was the music industry. That’s what brought me here. What kept me here was fall wheeling. So uh, originally during college I worked for a record label in Germany, uh, for a hip hop and rap music label. And, uh, at a certain point, I had a job offer, um, from a reggae label in New York City. And I have nothing to do with reggae music, but, uh, I thought that was an awesome opportunity. And until that time, my uncle had an apartment in New York just for about 18 months. And he was just like, if you want to do this and take this on and get the experience, you can live in my place and you can make it happen. And so I did and moved to New York City. Realized pretty quickly that if you’re not super passionate about the music that you’re promoting, it’s just a nine to five job. And, uh, yeah, during that time, I started flexworks and rollovers as a Facebook page, where I just shared basically videos and photos of previous off road trips I took with my dad and back stuff from Germany and just viral cool stuff I found on the Internet. Grew that pretty quickly. And, uh, my dad at the time had an ad agency for over 25 years and was super burned out and wanted to get out of it. And we, uh, decided that we’re going to try this and then started our first business together, uh, in the off road industry. And that’s what kept me. And then I moved from New York City to Atlanta. And the rest is history. Man.

Tony: Wow. 18 months in New York City. That had to have been nice, especially. And I’m assuming you didn’t have to pay for the apartment.

Marvin: Correct.

Tony: That was the end because, uh, that’s.

Marvin: Great job was also just a minimal pay. It was a marketing internship at a record label, so there wasn’t much of a pay. And without my uncle having that apartment, that would have never happened. We all know how expensive New York City, but I’m forever thankful for that experience. Obviously, if you live in New York and you want to start a business or you want to start your life in off road, it’s not the greatest place to be at. So, uh, yeah, we had some connections in Atlanta. We had basically family in Atlanta. My godfather has a Jeep shop in Atlanta and I went over there and visited him when I was a kid. Already when I was like 1012 years old, my parents sent me over here with a little kid’s travel passport and I worked at his shop over the summer months, helped him do cheap stuff, stack tires, whatever a twelve year old can do, pretty much. It was just a fun experience.

Tony: Great. Yeah, great experience. Yeah, tires are fine. That’s a good place to start.

Marvin: Exactly. In the Atlanta heat in the summer, stacking tires and shipping containers. That was definitely, uh, yeah, again, all of that added to my nowadays off road addiction. But my dad and I started wheeling back in Germany. He bought his first Jeep right when I was born in a whole YJ well, it was brand new by the time, at the time, but then, um, that’s pretty much it. And then wheeled all over Germany, belgium, France, Italy, went to all these places and um yeah, wheeled all over there. And then when I turned 13, I think my dad moved to the United States. And then from there on, everything moved over to here. And I spent every single summer wheeling all kinds of cool places, uh, from Moab all the way to what got me hooked was a place called Teleco. I don’t know if that’s still uh, something that people remember, but it was basically the East Coast moab, back in the days. A huge off road area that reached rent from uh, Tennessee to South Carolina all the way into North Carolina. Uh, unfortunately got shut down, I don’t know, 1520 years ago already, sadly. Ah, uh, that place is what got me hooked on four wheeling for good. I mean, again, my dad and I have been doing it for years, even back in Germany. But the real bug, the rabbit hole, started right then and there. And, uh, yeah, like I said, every single time I had some sort of school vacations, I came over here and we know, made it out to Moab and uh, wheeled some places in Alabama and back then, like I said, Teleco was like our Holy grail, our favorite destination.

Tony: So I, uh, know uh, I had a friend in uh, New Zealand and he had a Jeep XJ. And then he traded or sold that and got a TJ. And people were just telling him, wayne, why the hell are you doing all this stuff? Off road stuff in this XJ and the TJ? Those are rare vehicles here. Uh, was the jeep rare in Germany?

Marvin: Not really. They were available. They’re not the most popular vehicles out there. You will find them and they are available at dealerships and whatnot. So it is a thing for sure, uh, Land Rovers and whatnot and Suzuki Samurais or now they’re called Jimneys. They’re definitely uh, more popular, I would say, because also the parts are m more available. But uh, we were always Jeep people. Always since day one.

Tony: That’s really mean. I’ve never really spoken from anybody, uh, from Germany about Jeeps before and I just didn’t know how big a thing it was there. I’m finding that uh, the Jeep virus, so to speak, is all over. If you can get one.

Marvin: It’s a worldwide.

Tony: Exactly.

You have a slight accent, but it’s definitely not Southern

Tony: So, um, I’m just curious. So you go out, you’re here in the United States, you’re wheeling, you’re in a Jeep, uh, and uh, a Jeeper, uh, probably an American Jeeper uh, walks up to you and starts talking to you. He notices the accent, he asks, or she asks, uh, where are you from? And you say, Germany. Do you get weird? Looks like you have such a passionate off roader in a Jeep, uh, that’s.

Marvin: From like, no, I never got weird looks over it’s.

Tony: More curious, I get weird looks. It’s okay.

Marvin: They’re totally, totally excited about it nowadays. Since I’ve been in Atlanta for almost twelve years now. Eleven years. I tell people I’m from Atlanta, Germany, if I just say I’m from Atlanta. Ah, I’m from Georgia. Oh, you don’t really sound Southern at all. I’m like, yeah, well, originally I’m from Know, so I shortcut that by sure.

Tony: Well, I mean, you just have a slight accent, but it’s definitely not, uh, from Alabama or Atlanta rather.

Marvin: No, exactly. No matter how much you’ll never be able to get rid.

Tony: Well, that is really cool.

You said you wheeled a 91 YJ back in Germany

Tony: Now, you said you were wheeling a YJ back in Germany. Uh, do you remember any details about it? Like the year or the color or anything?

Marvin: Yeah, it was a 91 YJ. Um, that ah, started off with 31 inch tires and just super basic stuff. And we were part of an off road club that mainly did a little offroad, like friendly offroad competitions and old sandquaries and all that kind of stuff. That was like the most local stuff to us. And then over the time we started building it, uh, it went up to maybe a Dana 44s front and rear 35 inch tire. Later on we went to 30, no, 35s was about the be we started with. Thirty three S at some point went to 35s, which back then was a huge tire. Ginormous. Uh, at some point right before my dad left, we restored it a little bit and gave it a new paint job and was all sand colored, like a flat military sand color. Uh, some black wheels and um, had a worn winch on it. And compared to what Jeeps are now, it was super basic. But it did everything we wanted it to do back then and we had a lot of fun in it and I learned a lot from that Jeep.

Tony: So where is it now?

Marvin: Unfortunately, we had to sell it at some point. When my dad left Germany, uh, he gave it to me and it was my Jeep for a while. And then when I left Germany, there was just no point of bringing it over here because at that point my dad had already, uh, purchased another YJ in the United States that we then focused on building and just bringing an old beat up Jeep over here just didn’t make much sense. No, it had a lot of value, but that unfortunately was about it. So we sold it right before I left Germany.

Tony: Yeah, that had to have been tough though, with all the adventure, the building and uh, all that part of it.

Marvin: My worst memory on it was right, we sold it, let’s say a month or two before I left. And the guy that we sold it to was somewhat local to where I lived. And then, uh, right before, I want to say, like the week before I left, I saw it at my local in town bakery, parked up front with some huge chrome bull bars and chromed it out. And yeah, that still hurts my feeling.

Tony: I was just going to say, I’m sorry. I know how I feel about that. I shouldn’t say that because that might have been okay with you, but yeah, I assumed as an offroader that was going to be, no, there’s no chrome. There’s no chrome.

Marvin: Black and military, like a sand tone on it. And there was nothing on that Jeep that asked, uh, for chrome accessories. Not one thing.

Tony: Yeah. No. Uh, I remember showing, uh, my XJ to a coworker many years ago, like, probably around 2005 or something, and he walked out to the garage and it was lifted, had 33s on it, and so on and so forth. And he looked at he goes, there’s no chrome on this anywhere. I said, oh, hell no, there’s no chrome on Jeeps. What’s wrong with you?

Marvin: Old classic CJ seven S and CJ five S and whatnot on that kind of stuff, I can tolerate it. Like when it’s all original.

Tony: Exactly.

Marvin: Period. Correct, I guess. But everything after that chrome has nothing to do right.

Tony: It’s just something to rust or something that’s going to get messed, uh, up whenever you’re trying to, uh, uh, tow or pull something, uh, uh, get you out of a bad situation.

What’s the difference between going off road in America and Germany

Tony: So, uh, I have to ask because I know there’s going to be people curious what’s it like? What’s the difference between going off road in America and off road in Germany?

Marvin: Um, I mean, it depends on what part of the United States. You’re know, America has so much variety. You, uh, have literally every possible terrain in this country. So it all depends where you’re at. But, uh, I live in the Southeast now, so we have a lot of rocks and a lot of very slick rocks. And Germany was more like germany doesn’t have a lot of rocks in the off road areas that are legal to ride, other than sanctuary, maybe, but that’s a different kind of rock. So for the most part, it was all dirt. Mud, uh, not like mud pits, but just woods trails or just dirt hills, uh, that are being ridden. Kind of hard to explain, uh, but it’s definitely basically like a light trail at any southeastern park. Just take the rocks out of the equation and add a little bit more mud to it. That’s pretty much what it was. But like I said, we traveled around there, too, and we did some Jeepers jamborees in France every year, or we did that two years in a row, actually. That was super fun. And you get to see the beautiful countrysides of France, and then you came to certain areas that were very rocky and in some areas that were very muddy, sometimes even down all the way down to the beach. So, um, we saw a lot of variety, even when we were there, but the majority in Germany, I would say, is, uh, a sand query, a rock query, or, um, woods. Uh, but the woods don’t have rocks, so it’s just like muddy dirt trails. And the German way of competing or the European way of competing or doing offer competitions is similar to what it is here. Over here you use cones. Over there you use little wood sticks. And on the top of it, like, you have little gates where you have literally like, a two x four in the ground. And on top of that, two x four is like a little plastic cap that holds a ball on it. And as soon as you touch that pole, that ball falls off. And that’s a negative point, basically. So you want to make sure that you drive through these gates as clean as possible. The cool thing about it is you don’t really need a whole lot to make a cool course, because the tighter you make it and you can get creative on how you make it in order to get a really technical course. So that’s kind of how we started. Uh, uh, wheeling was that style of offroading where somebody sets up gates all over a certain terrain, back and forth and back and forth, and crossing each other, where you really have to know how to drive. And then, uh, you got negative points for touching one of the poles. As soon as the ball falls off, you get negative points. Every backup gets counted and all that. So the cleaner you drive something, the more points you get.

Tony: Interesting. Very nice.

Is there any place in the U.S. that you have not gone

Tony: Um, so I, uh, would assume that this the variety of terrains here in the United States makes, uh, off roading very, uh, interesting and, uh, almost a new place to go to. Is there any place in the US. That you, uh, have not gone that you want to go?

Marvin: Yeah, there’s still a few left for definitely for next year. I put Virginia on my map. I want to check out Good Evening, Ranch and the Chaos offroad park up there. I heard lots of good things about, uh, I want to check out South Dakota. I’ve never wheeled in South Dakota, and I have not seen much of Colorado. I’ve wheeled some trails in Colorado, but not a whole lot. So Colorado is also on my list, but other than that, we have literally been from coast to coast. I’ve been all over california, Arizona, uh, Pacific Northwest. We wheeled in Oregon, we wheeled in Washington, uh, uh, all the way down to Florida. I mean, literally all over the country. Last year’s, 24 Helenback was in New Hampshire from all places. So even spots like that, we’ve been to, um yeah, we travel all across the country all year round.

Tony: Very nice.

Easter Jeep Safari 2022 was your first trip to Moab

Tony: So you have been to Moab then?

Marvin: Oh, yeah, like 15 times.

Tony: Probably to me. I went to Moab for the first time. Easter Jeep Safari 2022, 1st time to Moab and uh, it was like being on another planet to me.

Marvin: Yes, that’s the best way to describe it. Yes, I love Moab. Moab is definitely one of my favorite places and will always have a special place in my heart. Like, that’s one of the places that we started going to just on my vacations when my dad, ah, had a YJ on thirty four S and Leaf Springs and whatnot. We took it out to Moab for the first time in the middle of summer. Total mistake, but we still had a great time.

Tony: Sure.

Marvin: Uh, but yeah, we’ve been to Moab many times. I just finished Trail Hero in San Holo. I just got back from that. Right now I’m sitting in Las Vegas in an airbnb and uh, we’re thinking about hitting up some local trails here while I’m here. I’ve never really wheeled in Nevada. That’s this event called Hump and Bump that I always wanted to check out that’s going on during the time that I’m here. So we may go check that out. Uh, yeah, so Utah has some great wheeling. Our Helenback was actually also in this year’s. Helenback, that’s coming out in December. Um, was also in Utah, but a completely different part of Utah that nobody’s ever really seen. So I’m excited to put that out.

Tony: Well, tell me more about Helenback then. That’s an event that you do, is that correct?

Marvin: Yeah, correct. So Helen Beck is something that we started our YouTube channel with basically. Uh, I was always a fan of uh, Ultimate Adventure and all of JK Adventure and what all these, uh, video series were called. Um, but just from a production I’ve participated in similar events like Ultimate Adventure and just from a media side, production side, uh, I could never wrap my head around the whole seven day trip again. From looking at it from a media perspective, from a wheeling perspective, it’s awesome. But from a media perspective, having a camera crew for seven days and then usually the atmosphere is like or the general vibe. The first two to three days, it is just very lightwheeling and more overlanding and nobody wants to break in the first couple of days. So first couple of days are always content wise, kind of a waste because nobody wants to get into anything fun and it’s more of a sightseeing trip and then eventually you get into the cooler stuff. Um, I grew up with the 24 hours of nervous ring race. I grew up 40 minutes away from the nerve ring. So the whole 24 hours racing was always a huge, uh, something that I just always thought was super cool. So, uh, yeah, we started, uh, this 24 hours Helenback Trail challenge at the beginning of our YouTube channel, where the idea is basically to, uh, invite, uh, about, I don’t know, eight to twelve vehicles, depending on where we went, and, um, picked the hardest, gnarliest, craziest trails that we can possibly find that are not already all over the Internet. Like, we’re really taking a lot of pride into. We’re doing a lot of research throughout the year and finding very unique spots that people just haven’t seen yet. And then, yeah, like I said, invite a bunch of cool people, cool characters with unique vehicles, good driving styles, and take on a 24 hours hardcore trail ride. And we call it a trail challenge because it’s a group effort. At the end of the day, we’re not racing up these mountains. It is a group effort. We are taking these vehicles, these Jeeps that are mostly street legal, uh, on trails that they have absolutely no business being on. Like, I’m talking about buggy trails, straight up buggy trails. And, uh, the one this year definitely took the crown. We’ve had some really gnarly ones in the past, uh, for all those that have been following Helenback, the one in Arizona, the one in Oklahoma, and even the one in New Hampshire. All, ah, absolutely prime wheeling and gorgeous scenery. But I think this year is one for the books. If you can imagine, we had ten vehicles this year, uh, including trail guide and tailgunner. Both of them were buggy guys. And those were the guys that had originally broken in that trail just a couple of months ago. So only a handful of really hardcore moon buggies have ever been through that trail. Even less have finished it. And here we are with a bunch of full body Jeeps, uh, trying to push our vehicles through there. And the trail was 0.9 miles long, and it took us 20 hours and 40 minutes.

Tony: That’s great.

Marvin: That tells you how extreme we gained just as much, uh, elevation as we gained distance. Uh, it was literally a canyon from hell. The style of rock changed several times due to the elevation, uh, and, uh, absolutely gorgeous scenery. And, yeah, like I said, a super fresh trail. Everything was still used, nothing was really broken in yet and settled. So every rock you put a tire on moved all of a sudden. And most of the obstacle, all obstacles that we encountered, we don’t know if it’s even drivable. It’s one thing to see a purpose built moon buggy rock crawler drive up these obstacles, but as soon as you put a Jeep on it, they look a lot different. So that was a huge gamble, and fortunately, we made it. How many vehicles made it and how they came out at the end is something you guys going to see in December.

Tony: I was going to say that’s something you got to watch on the YouTube channel.

Marvin: It was absolutely gnarly. We don’t have an exact count. I have to wait for the editing to be further through. But I think we counted somewhere between 30 and 35 obstacles in that 0.9 miles, and those obstacles were all skyscraper high. I mean, serious, serious stuff.

Tony: I think that’s a brilliant idea. I mean, it makes sense. Ah, of course this makes sense to do, but I don’t see people doing this. You go to places that haven’t been videoed the hell out of it already, go to someplace new, uh, something that people haven’t seen before. Correct.

Marvin: And there’s a great opportunity to promote those areas, promote parks, uh, uh, that just haven’t made it on the Internet already. And for us, it’s cool because it’s a whole new adventure. There’s no footage, we can base it off. We don’t know if vehicles like ours can even make it. And every single time, those were all trails that, like I said, full body vehicles have never been on. So we are always kind of the guinea pigs and see, okay, is it even possible, first of all, and then obviously curated a great group of guys that are skilled and willing to push through this kind of stuff. And this year’s group was off the charts. I mean, we invited a bunch of other YouTubers, as you know, I’m sure you guys know ian Johnson and the Fab Rats. And Rudy’s adventure and design. And Rory from Trailmator. Ah, the, um, just all the cool people from the Internet, basically. And I know the Internet likes to make the off road YouTubers are coming. Well, just wait until December and then you change your mind about those off road YouTubers.

Tony: Well, I mean, that says a lot about your channel to actually get them out there, because, um, these guys aren’t I’m not saying they’re not friendly or they don’t want to go off road, but, uh, to get them involved in this stuff, that’s a big feather in your cap.

Marvin: Exactly. That was something we’re very proud of, honestly, to get all these guys together and leave their egos at Trailhead and just see what happens, you know what I mean? Because there’s no space for any big egos or trying to be cool or trying to prove something that you aren’t all that within 24 hours, everything comes out.

We try to have as much variety as possible in our vehicles

Marvin: And those guys, uh, put on a show, to say the least.

Tony: Um, correct me if this is wrong, but you were in a Jeep. But that doesn’t mean everybody the eight or other twelve, uh, people that were out there, uh, this isn’t just a Jeep event. It’s whatever they want to bring. Right?

Marvin: Right. We try to have the majority as full bodied vehicles, but like I said this time, because the people that have broken this trail originally and that are familiar with it, and that showed me this trail, they are buggy guys. So we had, ah, tailgunner and our trail guide both were full blown buggies. The tailgunner, we even had rear steer. Uh, but everybody else in the group had Jeeps, and we even had one Toyota with us.

Tony: Well, I mean, it’s a good idea to at least have a couple of, uh, that trail capable. Just in case you got to get somebody in case you’re going to get somebody to the hospital, you need to be able to get them there.

Marvin: Correct. No, we always, uh, try to get as much variety into it as we possibly can. Uh, but it’s just not always easy because, uh, it just doesn’t always work out where we can have a huge variety of vehicles because honestly, the character of the drivers and how good they are on camera and just the whole camaraderie aspect of every person plays, uh, a bigger role in the vehicle itself.

Tony: Oh, yeah, to be an interesting video, of course.

This year we had four professional videographers on the trail

Tony: All right, now you mentioned now you mentioned a camera crew. So you literally have people dedicated to, uh, the video and the audio portion of this, right?

Marvin: Correct. So this year we had four really high end, very professional videographers that were capturing the action. Then one professional photographer, and then for the first time ever, we even had a vertical videographer. So a guy that literally ran around the trail for 24 hours with an iPhone and a power bank hooked up to shoot instagram reels, YouTube shorts, all that kind of content.

Tony: That’s a good idea.

Marvin: And then plus a producer, which is uh, me, plus my partner Yanni, we both, uh, put the producer hat on whenever I wasn’t know just to keep everybody in line a little bit. But yeah, that’s pretty much is a it is not your typical YouTube video. It is very high end. People always say, why has Netflix picked us up yet? Well, because we’re a YouTube channel and we like to make YouTube and we like to get it out there for everybody. Um, the level of production comes close to something you would see on Netflix.

Tony: Yeah, I mean, Netflix is going to be dictating to you. I, uh, like the idea of having the majority of the control. I mean, YouTube can always demonetize. YouTube can screw you over. But generally speaking, uh, they pretty much leave you alone as long as you don’t step out of line. So no, I think that’s a great idea.

Marvin: That’s exactly why we’re doing that. Because as soon as you sign up with somebody like Amazon or Netflix, they will tell you what to do. And that’s not what’s going to happen. That’s not what we’re about. And then it will lose its personality.

Tony: They’ll take away all the fun. They’ll make everybody wear helmets and uh, knee pads and stuff.

Marvin: As hardcore as we go. You’ll be surprised. We all wear helmets, especially good. We have a little side gag, side joke going on since the first one we’ve ever done. Uh, with a pink helmet though. Whenever you mess up, you have to winch or you break and you have to wrench or you’ve run out of gas or you fall asleep. That all gets you a pink helmet, and as soon as the next person messes up, you hand it on to the next one. But sometimes there are situations where somebody messes up and has to wear the pink helmet. And then we take a lunch break and that person has to sit through the whole thing with his pink helmet on.

Tony: I would hazard a guess that the pink helmet probably smells bad, too.

Marvin: We have a French one every year, but, yeah, it was very heavily worn.

Tony: It’s got the stink of shame in it, is what it holds down to.

Marvin: But on top that we also had, we provided everybody with a helmet right off the gate just to wear, because this trail is not for the faint of heart and we don’t want anybody to get hurt. Of course, vehicles getting used and abused is one thing, but we don’t want somebody smacking their head or it’s usually not. The problem that, uh, the biggest problem with this is that you will hit your head on your own roll cage. And there’s big holes in between rocks, and sometimes they come very unexpected, or rock rolls underneath your tire, and all of a sudden, your vehicle shifts against the wall and there’s a million and one opportunities to really bust your head open. So, uh, we want to keep everybody safe and we don’t want anybody to get hurt. So, uh, a helmet is part of the standard equipment.

Tony: Oh, good. I’m glad you mentioned that.

Hell and Back has several marathon videos available on its YouTube channel

Tony: So now the 24 Helen back. Um, you’ve done one of these before, or you have one, the first one you’re doing in December?

Marvin: No, this will be the fifth one.

Tony: So there’s ones already out there on your YouTube channel that people can go.

Marvin: And look for, correct? Yes. Uh, we have four seasons of Hell and Back already on the YouTube channel. And the way we usually do it is when they first come out, we want to tell the whole story, right. So when they first come out, we release it in episodes. Each episode is 30 to 40 minutes long, and so you have episode 1234, sometimes even five. And then about eleven months later, we release what we call the marathon video, where we reedit all of that footage one more time and pack it into a 90 minutes video. So, um, yeah, if you go on our YouTube channel, you have to kind of pick and choose if you want to watch each episode individually and get a lot more detail and a lot more content, or if you just want to let it play and want to watch the whole thing, watch one of the marathon videos. And again, you can distinguish them, uh, by, uh, the title, but also by the length of the video. If it’s an hour or longer, then it’s a marathon video and you get the entire season in one video. But if you want to see every single detail of it, and all the behind the scenes and whatnot. Then you want to watch the individual episodes?

Tony: M, yeah that’s a really good idea. Uh, because that can get uh, you more views. And for those folks that don’t want to have the Episodic, they can just get the Reader’s Digest version in the 90 minutes. Good idea.

Marvin: And it’s always nice to refresh that before the next season airs. We usually release the one, the previous one a couple of weeks before the new season airs just to kind of waken people back up. And Helen Beck is coming back. So here’s the one that summarizes our last trip and kind of get them hyped up for the next one.

You have 247 videos on your Flex Rocks and Rollovers YouTube channel

Tony: So um, just kind of curious. One of the things I was going to ask you before we started talking, now I have a better understanding, but I see you have 247 videos on your Flex Rocks and Rollovers, uh, YouTube channel. And I’m like, how the hell do you get 97, uh, thousand, uh, subscribers with only 247 videos? I mean the YouTube gods always tell you you have to have regular, a lot of uh, content. You got to key it out there and you don’t have a lot. So this must be that. You’re focusing on the quality of the video and the marketing of it.

Marvin: Quality over quantity, that is for sure. And that is something that we really write on our uh, foreheads for the entire year of 2024. Even more so, um, because productions like Helenback is what really sets us apart from everybody else. And that is what people want to see and what everybody talks to us about. No matter what event we go to, no matter where we are, everybody talks about Helenback. So uh, we want to focus even more on bigger productions like that. And um, yeah, usually we release one video a week for the last couple of years and um, uh, we hope we can keep that up. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we even tone that down further and just release when we have something new and then it is really worth a watch, you know what I mean?

Tony: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Marvin: Instead of forcing us, uh, oh man, we need a video on Sunday. We have to go wheel. We have to go wheel. I never want to get into that situation where I feel like I have to and then just go out and do stuff because we need a video. And um yeah in order to avoid that, uh, we’re focusing even more in the future of quality over quantity and uh, have good ideas and go on crazy adventures. And we have even this year, we’re already kicking it off. I mean, obviously Helen Beck is coming in December. But then also, um, uh, in the end of November into December, uh, I’m going on a trip to Malaysia to experience something called the Rainforest Challenge, which is pretty much imagine king of the Hammers meets Indiana Jones in the rainforest of Borneo, the oldest and largest rainforest in the world. Or I don’t know if it’s the largest, but the oldest. And, um, it’s a ten day race throughout the entire rainforest. Different stages every day. You move on into a different area and, uh, they race through the jungle during monsoon season. So it is a muddy mess. You are deep, deep in the jungle. The race teams have to survive by themselves. They pull their winchline up a tree, put a tarp over it, throw cards under it, and sleep there at night, um, until they can continue to fight their way through the jungle the next day. And that’s been something on my bucket list for years. And finally, it looks like it’s happening this year. And I get to make the trip over there and experience that and obviously also do a video about it.

Tony: Yeah, it sounds wonderful. Uh, but my God, the mosquitoes. I can’t help but think how many.

Marvin: Mosquitoes I have to start taking malaria medicine. I was thinking that start to get my body used to all the different bacteria and the different stuff that they have. So, uh, yeah, that’s going to be quite the adventure, to say the least. And I’ve talked to a couple of guys that have competed in that from all over the world. I mean, I think they have 39 countries competing in this. It’s been going on since 92 or 93. So it’s a very old event, very well known on an international scale. And, um, yeah, the people that I’ve talked to say, man, King of the Hammers is Glamping M compared to this one. It is not even comparable. So I’m scared, excited, all at the same time.

Tony: Oh, it’s definitely going to be an adventure one way, and no matter how you look at it’s, going to be an adventure.

You co-raced King of the Hammers this year

Tony: Um, you mentioned King of the Hammers. You sound like that’s something that you would do or will do sometime in the future.

Marvin: I co raced the 4400 race, the big race of the Kings, the main race. I was a co driver this year, so, uh, I was able to cross that off my bucket list this year. Maybe I race it one day, but I at least experienced it from the passenger seat, which is just as intense, honestly, I’m sure. And yeah, I did that with proving grounds racing. Good friend of mine, John Grounds. He has a Millamoto sports car, solid axle, 4400 car, uh, super fast, super crazy. And, uh, yeah, I was in his passenger seats throughout the entire thing and pre ran for weeks in a row and got the car dialed in and then participated in the big race.

YouTube founder says he invests every dime he makes into the company

Tony: So what, uh, lottery did you win to be able to enable you to do all this? Hiring, uh, people to, uh, the videographers, the editors, uh, the vehicles, the traveling all over the place. Uh, did you win a lottery?

Marvin: I’ll be honest with you. I literally invest every dime I make. I don’t live large, I don’t do much. Like, this is all I do. And every diamond that I make from YouTube or, uh, just anything I reinvest into what we do. We have a bunch of great sponsors and partners that believe into what we do that help us finance our year. And, uh, yeah, that’s pretty much all it is, man. My Jeep I built before YouTube. Pre YouTube. It took me five long years to build this thing. That also tells you that I’m not made out of money.

Tony: Well, I was going to say, you got a Jeep, you have limited funds.

Marvin: Because you have a correct that hasn’t changed.

Tony: Yeah, no. So, uh, this is really a passionate thing, but it’s amazing that you’re able to do all these things. So, uh, kudos to you for this. Sounds like a wonderful thing to be able to be doing.

Tell us a little bit about your Jeep and what it looks like

Tony: Um, so, uh, tell us a little bit about your Jeep, and uh, I’m sure you have more than one vehicle, but I’m kind of curious about the Jeep, like, for this, uh, uh, 24 hours Helenback thing that you took your Jeep on, what all you got going on with that Jeep?

Marvin: So, the Jeep is, um, a 1973 Jeepster Commando, uh, but completely built to the guts. There’s not much jeepster left. Uh, actually there is. I mean, the body and whatnot, but every panel has been touched. The whole front end, including the hood, is stretched, and a bunch of other body work has been done to it. It has a 6.1 liter, uh, Hemi V eight in it, 14, uh, bolt reaxle Dana, 60 front axle, 42 inch beef, Goodrich tires, uh, RCV axles all around. This thing is bulletproof, pretty much. So, um, it’s rowdy, to say the least.

Tony: Yeah. Do you get any kind of, uh, comments for people, but oh, you’re tearing, uh, up that beautiful commando.

Marvin: Yeah, I did, but I’ve now been also wheeling this Commando for six and a half, almost seven years. And people are amazed. And through our YouTube channel, people have been able to follow along the adventures we’ve been on, and everybody’s amazed how I was able to keep this thing together. I rolled it really bad last year and destroyed a bunch of it and blew up the motor and had a huge hiccup there. Um, but yeah, it’s all fixed at this point. Got a new paint job, looks all fancy again. And, uh, yeah, we just keep it alive, man. I take good care of it. And we had to repaint it twice now at this point since it was built, uh, just to keep it fresh and not let it disintegrate. I live in the south, so once you have dead scratches, they turn into rust and then it just starts peeling off and things, it just starts to disintegrate. So we have to give it a refresh every couple of years. Luckily, I’m really good friends now with a really talented, uh, painter and custom painter. And we just gave this thing a whole new look, uh, at the beginning of the year, this year, and unveiled that. It’s deep beach. It has a crazy custom paint job all over it now. Already scratched up, but I knew that.

Tony: Before I went, well, yeah, you know, that going in.

Marvin: Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I take good care of it, man. I try to keep it alive and keep it fresh and put a lot of time and work into it.

Tony: So have you thought about a, uh, flex Rocks and Rollovers wrap? Uh, actually doing a wrap on it. Do a little advertising as well.

Marvin: Now that me and, uh, my painter became good friends, I think I’m going to leave it with that. And the thing is, with paint, you can always touch up and do certain things. With the wrap, you can screwed. Uh, again, the paint job that’s on it right now is such an eye catcher and so unique. And, uh, the way we did it, every scratch that I get kind of adds to it. It doesn’t really bother anymore, which is great. Before that, it was just, uh, flat red and, uh, everything showed a lot. Now it’s still flat, but the whole Jeep is painted like a cartoon character. The guy that painted is a graffiti artist and custom paint job years later. So the whole car is painted with graffiti paint and graffiti markers and a bunch of automotive clear. And it basically looks like a cartoon character, like a drawing. It’s unreal, especially in person. Pictures don’t really take it doesn’t really come across too well on pictures. When you see it live, you’re like, man, this is unreal super cool and we’re really good friends. That’s actually who I’m with right now. That’s why I’m in Las Vegas. We’re painting a couple of other vehicles for people and yeah, I’m just here for the ride and enjoy myself and hang out with those.

Tony: Very, very nice.

Your Jeep is being displayed at SEMA this year

Tony: So, uh, you’re in Las Vegas. Are you going to SEMA this year?

Marvin: Yeah, my Jeep is being displayed at SEMA as well, so that’s why I’m going to stay. We’re going to paint a couple of vehicles while we’re here. Also, uh, a couple of vehicles that people out there may know, but I’m not going to spoil that one. And yeah, um, my Jeep is going to be at SEMA as well.

Tony: Now, I believe you met Chris out at Great Smoky Mountain Jeep invasion. Chris, uh, is going to be representing, uh, the Jeep talk show out at SEMA this year. And Julianne from Wrangleher. Do, uh, you know what booth or where you’re going to be located? Because I definitely want to direct one or both of them over to where you’re going to be.

Marvin: The, um jeep will. Be outside. Outside, um, next to Ebay Motors. That’s all I know. I haven’t gotten a full detail yet near the Ebay Motors. I think it’s outside, right where the drifting and all that happens right by the central hall. That’s from what I was told.

Tony: Mhm. Yeah. Julian’s, uh, Wrinklehur Rig is going to be out in the it’s going to be outside. I don’t know if it’s going to be in the same spot or not, but, uh, I’ll, uh, make sure Chris knows. Of course, he listens to all the interviews. Uh, he’s our guest acquisition person, so I’m sure if nothing else, you’ll hear it here and make sure and come on, say hello. Um, well, very cool.

Helen Back is in the books now. It’s coming out December 10

Tony: Now what else? I think you were telling me about another, um, big event that you do or planning on doing, uh, for your YouTube channel.

Marvin: Yeah, that was the Rainforest Challenge in Malaysia.

Tony: Okay, good.

Marvin: We just helen back. Helen Back is in the books now. It’s coming out, uh, I think for Helen Back, the timeline that we’re currently looking at is that we air the first episode December 10, and then it’ll be, uh, a Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday kind of rhythm until we have all the episodes done. And in the meantime, I am in Malaysia for the rainforest challenge. That’s a two week long trip that we’re doing there. And that will probably be released right after Helen Back, uh, which is also cool. Cool contrast from desert rock crawling all the way to the jungle of Malaysia right after M. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I got lined up for the rest of the year. And then next year we got a bunch of other cool things already planned out.

Tony: Oh, you got to be really excited about all this. Especially that you know that people are really enjoying this content. That makes a huge difference. I mean, it’s such, uh, a concern whenever you go to put something out. Uh, for me anyway, it’s like, oh god, is people going to like this or not? I may not be like everybody else, but you’ve had success with this. So it’s got to be a great feeling that you know, that you have.

Marvin: Excellent puts a lot of pressure on someone too, because you have a standard people expect a standard of action and you never know what happens. You drive into these trails. Like I said, the Hallenback Trails are not trails that people are usually running, especially not into vehicles and vehicles like ours. So this can, uh, turn into a total chaos from 1 second to another and nobody’s moving anymore.

Tony: Oh, it’s a crapshoot.

Marvin: Yeah.

Tony: You never know what’s going to happen. Yeah. Weather can be horrible and just ruin the whole thing.

Marvin: Correct. Because this is a once a year thing and we put a lot of money and time into this. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You may pull up to this trail and it’s going to turn into a huge chaos and nothing works out the way you want it. And you have bad content or not enough good content at the end of the day. So there’s a lot of pressure and a lot of, um, you want to keep up to people’s expectations. That’s definitely not easy, and especially after this year, as I keep telling to my guys, how we’re ever going to top that. And we know we don’t have to top what we did this year because I think we reached the pinnacle of awesomeness. But, uh, at least keep it up and maintain that level.

Tony: And I may have missed this, but you guys go to a different place, a different location for each 24 Helenback. So there’s no repeats there’s no oh yeah, I’ve been down this trail, I know what to expect. So it’s just a crapshoot.

Marvin: Correct. And none of the trails we drive beforehand, so we walk them, we don’t drive them. So even I have never driven any of these trails that we’ve did in the past, prior to Helenback.

Tony: Yeah, this is really cool. Oh, I remember.

I wanted to ask you about your crew, your camera crew on the Helenback

Tony: I wanted to ask you about your crew, your camera crew. Uh, I wouldn’t think that they had prior off road experience. Maybe they do, and I’m curious about.

Marvin: That m that sets them apart from a lot of other guys. Like our main camera guy that has literally been on every single Helenback. Uh, he was friends with a girl that competes in southern rock racing, so rock bouncing in the southeast. So that’s how I met him throughout that section. So he’s not an off roader by any means, but he’s had lots of previous experience filming that kind of stuff.

Tony: Right.

Marvin: And then, uh, we teamed up with another media production company this year and kind of merged our existing guys with a new production company that we put a lot of hope into. And those guys absolutely killed it. They’re amazing. And they’ve filmed some stuff for off road companies in Moab and San Hollow and whatnot. So they knew what they were getting into. But they also told me that this was by far the most extreme and the most mentally and physically exhausting thing they have ever done in their career.

Tony: Yeah, I could well imagine. I could see somebody getting out there. Oh yeah, I’ve done all this video stuff. Yeah, no problem. I’ve done drones, all the hole in the whole nine yards. And then they get out there and they go, oh, holy shit.

Marvin: Yeah, exactly. And I’ve been around Jeeps and offroading and then all of a sudden they see the level of offroading that we do there and they’re mind blowing.

Tony: Well, just walking around is tough.

Marvin: We always pick trails. That where we don’t. Logistics on these trails makes it really hard when the trails are too long or if we have to crisscross trails and drive from one trail to another. So we always find trails that are not too long but absolutely brutal, where the media team never has to get back inside a vehicle, make space for these guys. They have gear and all that stuff. So that’s a huge factor, uh, when I’m trying to find these trails is that it is walkable, uh, for the media team and not too long and has enough action to keep us busy for 24 hours. And uh, we’ve done that. We’ve had one in the past in, uh, the very first, I think the very first one where we’re like, oh, we’re doing this trail and then we drive over to this trail and then there’s a 20 minutes dirt road until we get to this trail. And that is what makes it that kills so much time because you have to load all these guys up into Jeeps and distribute all the gear, break it all down, put it back up and it kills time. Plus we need a lot of extra seats, open seats for these guys and for the drivers. Uh, you think it’s tough to wheel for 24 hours and it is. But what is the most exhausting part about that is if you have a long break, like a dirt road, well.

Tony: That’S when you’re 24 hours thing, you’re going to go to sleep. That’s a time for a nap.

Marvin: Exactly. And that’s when people get tired. If you keep the adrenaline level through the roof the entire time, nobody gets tired. It doesn’t matter if you’re 24 hours on the trail because you’re constantly under adrenaline. You’re constantly helping somebody winching people stacking rocks, whatever is necessary to get these vehicles to these trails. You’re constantly helping. Like I said, it is a team challenge. It’s a team effort to get all of these vehicles through there and um, you’re not getting tired. The biggest mistake you can do at a Helenback is sit in a seat. Then you get tired. If there’s somebody broke in front of you and you’re not willing to help and you’re just sitting down in your seat and that’s when you crash, that’s when you get tired. And then things get miserable. But as long as you stay up on your feet and you always see where somebody may need a hand or somebody needs a spotter or run, help the camera guys bring gear back and forth, there’s always something to do. And as long as you have that mindset, uh, you’re not going to get tired.

Tony: Mhm promise?

Marvin: Not on the one.

Your website is just a place to purchase merchandise, right? Correct

Tony: Now we really haven’t mentioned, uh, your, uh, Flexrocksandrollovers.com website. You actually have things, uh, that you sell on that site, right? Correct.

Marvin: Yeah. The website is kind of that page needs a revamp that it’s happening hopefully next year as well. But for the most part, it’s just a place to purchase merchandise. If you want to get t shirts, hats, hoodies, uh, all that kind of stuff. Uh, trash sacks, all that is on the website. If people want to support us, that’s the best way to do so. Buy a t shirt, buy a sticker, whatever you want. That goes a long way. And, uh, yeah, that is what the website is for, basically.

The Flex Rocks and Rollovers Wildcard is something new this year

Marvin: Now, something new that we’re doing this year, that we just now started before Helenback, is something that we call the Flex Rocks and Rollovers Wildcard. A lot of people are asking us, how can I be a part of this? I have a Jeep or whatever vehicle I’m totally willing to, uh, take on these trails with you guys, and how do I get to be a part of this? Um, now we have a solution for that, and that is called the Flexrocks and Rollovers Wildcard. So you basically just go on Flexrocksandrollovers.com Wildcard, and you get to a page where you can submit your information, uh, you can just a personal info, talk about your vehicle, submit a couple pictures. That is step one. And that way you are entered into our pool of people that we pull from. But there’s also a step two that hires your chances to get chosen drastically. And that is a video that you upload, a video to YouTube where you introduce yourself, your Jeep, or whatever vehicle you have, and, uh, why you should be a part of this. And, um, make a five minute long video. It doesn’t matter. We don’t judge editing, we don’t judge film quality. It doesn’t matter. Just get the message across. And it gives us an opportunity to see how you are on camera because it is still a media production. And if you’re awkward on camera, this is probably not for you because you will have a camera in your face the entire time. So, by people submitting a wild card video, that’s something that we can look at and we can get a good idea about if you’re a good fit or not. And, uh, that is the pool of people that we pull from for these events, for Helenback, and for all other future stuff. We’re even doing fan rides a couple of times a year now where we pull from those applications. So you may have not gotten picked for Helenback because whatever reason, but there will be a time where you will get a phone call or an email from us inviting you to exclusive offroad adventures that you get to experience with us. Then whenever you fill up that application, that application will be, uh, a constant now. It will always be online, and it is good for everything we do in the future.

Tony: That’s a great idea. That’s really nice.

Marvin: We picked one. So, for the first time ever, we just started this previous to the last Helenback we just did. And we had a guy, uh, from California who, uh, won. And man, he absolutely put on a show. I mean, he lived by the term wild card. He was wild and completely killed it. It was awesome. It was such a good experience. And he had his dad as a passenger and they’ve been followers for years and it’s been just the greatest thing ever.

Tony: That’s got to be such a wonderful feeling that somebody just likes you, like what you’ve produced so much that they want to be a part of it, but wonderful feeling.

Marvin: Yeah. So we really want to endorse that throughout the next year.

Tony: I’m glad you mentioned be and you know how hard it is to get YouTube, uh, views. So would this be open to, uh, people that have fledgling YouTube sites and they’re trying to get more views?

Marvin: If you have one subscriber or a million, I don’t care. We do not judge you ever by the amount of followers. Again, I do not care about video quality, editing quality, amount of social media followers, all that doesn’t matter when it comes to that wild card, it really does not matter there. You need to be a cool cat. You need to be decently on camera. You have to have a unique vehicle of some sort, something that people would enjoy watching. And um, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Tony: Well, there you go, guys. If you’re trying to build up your YouTube channel, it might cost you your Jeep, uh, being out on this 24 Helen back, but I mean, no pain, no gain. So there you go.

Marvin: Like I said, we even pull there for other events. And I also have a 1981 Toyota pickup that’s on, uh, 315 tires, which is like a 32 and a half that we take out and wheel. So maybe next year we want to go on a trip that is just a little bit lighter wheeling, but still cool. Then, uh, we will pull people that have less build Jeeps. We won’t invite people on forty s and wanton axles, but people on a little bit smaller.

Tony: Yeah, people with daily rigs really like the idea of being part of it, too. Even if they’re not there. They like the idea that they could have been doing it because they have a similar type rig.

You’re providing our listeners a discount code on Flex Rocks and Rollovers

Tony: Now we were talking about flexrocksandrollovers.com the shop. You’re providing our listeners a discount code.

Marvin: Uh, for yes, yes I did.

Tony: Uh, Jtsrocks, uh, is the discount code that, uh, we had there in our notes. So, uh, you can go over to Flexrocks Rollovers.com and just use Jtsrocks, uh, I’m assuming, at the checkout, correct?

Marvin: Yeah, just write in the coupon code section at the checkout and give you guys a little discount on merchandise and all that kind of stuff. We take a lot of work, pride and work into our merchandise. It is not utilized.

Tony: Oh, it’s very nice stickers. I like the 24, uh, Helenback stickers. I think that’s a hell of a thing to have on your vehicle. Yeah, that’s cool.

Marvin: In November, mid November, um, we are releasing a whole lineup of merchandise, uh, for this year’s, Helenback, we did some really cool brand collaborations with uh, other companies that are supporters. Uh, warren, for example. Warren Industries, uh, is doing a collaboration hoodie for everybody. So it is flexworks and rollovers. Uh, X Warren? That’s the whole theme of the hoodie and has the Helen Beck design on it. And it turned out absolutely amazing. My favorite piece of merchandise we’ve ever done and that will be available on there. But obviously also Helen Beck t shirts and all kinds of other cool stuff.

Tony: Very nice. Now you know how the kids love the social media these days. I’m sure you guys are on social media, right? Where can they find you guys?

Marvin: Flex Rocks and Rollovers all across all platforms. So flex rocks, rollovers on. Uh, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. We even have a TikTok channel. But TikTok doesn’t like us. We always get claimed for dangerous activities.

Tony: Oh yeah, you guys are trouble. You’re going to get somebody killed.

Marvin: Yeah, I have like one more strike and then they delete my TikTok because of dangerous activities. And so uh, yeah, we’re keeping it very on the low end on TikTok because of that. But again, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube are all about that.

Marvin, thank you so much for being with us tonight

Tony: Well, I am m so glad that Chris ran across you at, uh, Grace Bookie Mountain. Jeep invasion. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating story. And uh, I felt like we’ve only scratched the surface here. So uh, hopefully we can uh, get you entice you to come back uh, sometime in the future and uh, tell us more about uh, uh, all your adventures and your YouTube channel. Uh, I wanted to ask some questions like uh, the most surprising thing that’s happened out on the trail. Don’t answer it now. Uh, but uh, that’s something we’ll go into in, uh, our future interview.

Marvin: I would love that. Yeah, anytime guys. Anytime. I love to support this kind of stuff. You guys do a great job. I listened to a couple of episodes prior to us coming on just to see what this is all about. I was familiar with it already. I’m not the biggest podcast listener, but I have a 2000 miles road trip ahead of me when I’m driving home. So I know what I’m going to listen to.

Tony: Well, four episodes a week, so uh, there’s lots of content and I think we just hit 903 episodes. Awesome.

Marvin: I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to listen to some when I get drive home.

Tony: Great. I hope you enjoy it and uh, give us some feedback even if you don’t like it. We love hearing feedback, uh, uh, when it’s uh, negative too. Marvin, thank you so much for being with us tonight. And be careful when you go to Malaysia. I mean, I’m worried about you.

Marvin: I’ll uh, be as careful as I can.

Tony: What, they got anacondas there or something?

Marvin: I’m sure everything there, man. They got literally everything they want to kill you is right there. And there. Exactly.

Tony: It’s worse than Australia.

Marvin: It is.

Tony: All right, Marvin, thanks a lot. Thanks so much for, uh, being thanks.

Marvin: For having we appreciate it, guys. Have a good one. Bye bye.

Marvin Stammel of YouTube sensation Flex, Rocks and Rollovers interviewed

Tony: Hey, thanks again to Marvin Stammel of YouTube sensation Flex, Rocks and Rollovers. Uh, you can visit their website right now, flexrocks and Rollovers. Or actually just flexrocksrollovers.com. No Ann Flexrocksrollovers.com. Oh, and we didn’t mention it in the interview, but Marvin has provided you, the listener, a discount code for all their merchandise at that website. It is. JTS rocks again. Another one. Another thing with dual meaning there. Hey, coming up next week, Tony Pellegrino, uh, of Genrite, uh, off road Genrite.com. Tony’s been on the show before. It was just a blast talking to him, uh, about, uh, uh, his, uh, King of the Hammers rig and all the little questions I had on that. It was just a fun episode for me, a, uh, fun interview for me. I hope you guys enjoyed it, too. Anyway, I told and this wasn’t any kind of an agreement. I just told Tony, the next time we have you on, we’re going to talk about Genrite and the parts and stuff that you make and sell, the stuff that allows, you know, drive that vehicle at King of the Hammers and stuff. And he’s like, okay. He wasn’t worried about it. So we did that in, uh, this upcoming interview. I really enjoyed that one, too. Tony’s just fun to talk to if you ever get a chance to, uh, talk to him. Whenever you’re out at an event or something, you see him, uh, give him a chat, ask him anything. Uh, he is really very interested in, uh, teaching people everything he knows. I love that type of individual. I try to be the same way.

The Jeep Talk Show has been broadcasting since 2010 and has over 900 episodes

Tony: And that’s a wrap for today’s episode of The Jeep Talk Show. I want to give a big thank you to our special guests for joining us today and sharing their knowledge and experience with the Jeep community. Remember, we have four episodes a week, and it’s understandable. I, uh, really don’t understand, but it’s understandable. If you’ve missed past episodes, you can always find us on your favorite podcast platform or on our website. With over 900 episodes, there is plenty of Jeep Talk Show to entertain you while driving to your destination, working out at the gym, or mowing the grass. Just don’t do it while your wife is talking to you because you need to pay attention. Improve your day by listening to more Jeep talk show. Yeah, I know, it could be your husband talking to you. I got it. We love hearing from you, our listener. Reach out to us via, uh, email, phone, or social media. We use your voicemails on the show, so be careful what you say. Until next time. Until next time. Keep on Jeeping and we’ll see you on the trails. Hey, remember, Fridays are red. Remember, everyone deployed broadcasting since 2010.