Interview: Mike Reilly

Interview: Mike Reilly

Ladies and gentlemen it’s the big Jiu-Jitsu show I’m Rob I’m Randy and we’re sponsored by trap and roll Soap Company once again hey go trap and roll look at some of their products and uh just he’s coming back trust me get your head start get your soap now but uh

He’ll be back in the States making soap I don’t know between now and next year is in like next December I’m kidding he’ll be back sooner than that but yeah check them out links in the description so we’re joined today by a very special guest somebody who’s basically eaten up half of my

Paycheck in the last few months so I’m very excited about this so Mike Riley from Gen X refined uh is has honored us with his presence to talk about him his business clothing line and basically why I’m wearing almost nothing but their stuff right now so Mike thanks for

Coming on the show man sure thanks for having me guys happy to be here so before we get started could you give us kind of a little insight into how you started uh Brazilian ji- jits or martial arts in general and then uh what kind of

Led up to you know where you’re training now and what you’re doing sure so um I think like a lot of people I had seen UFC 1 and I was like I need to do this like this it was just mindblowing right to see you had never seen anything

Like that obviously boxing was huge with Mike Tyson and and everything going on with that but now you see this you know like street fighting going on you’re like I want to do this like I I would love to do this and um it always been a

Dream and my kids started getting older and I found myself sitting on the couch I was working out a lot but I was really craving something more I didn’t know what it was and uh one day I just showed up at tftc I’ll never forget Brad it was

The middle of the day I knocked on the door Brad’s like what I’m we’re not open and I was like I want to come and he’ll tell you the story too I was just like this widey guy like I want to do this and he’s like all right here you know

I’m like no I want to sign up right now he’s like you don’t even want to do a trial class and um that was it I I walked in met Randy and I was in stantly hooked I remember being so scared because you know they tftc and Brad have

A great program where they don’t just throw you in to start grappling right away and you know hurting yourself or hurting somebody else and I was there for a month and Brad was like all right we’re gonna we’re gonna grapple and uh I remember he was on my back he just put

His arm around my neck and I tapped and he’s like I haven’t even done anything yet and I was like uh I don’t want to show my back and it was just this this feeling of of just being overwhelmed like trying to learn a new language you

Hear people say or trying to learn how to play checkers or just anything like that but now on the other end you know you got somebody who who’s there to submit you and I was instantly hooked um I would go five days a week like other white belts I was signed up for

Tournaments um and I I just dove in and it really gave me I mean you’ll hear everybody talk about this now a sense of purpose but it just the the people that you meet at Jiu-Jitsu it was like instant bond like I was like these are

My people I want to do this so that was probably four five years ago I I say four because you know we lost a year of actual training with covid in there um but yeah so I was instantly hooked of uh kind of chasing this dream of of being

Able to handle myself and show my kids that even though I was 45 years old or whatever it was you can still go after your dreams and do what you love to do nice and so you said like the five days a week thing I always always enjoy

The uh like how did you feel in those first like I’d say few months trying to do five days a week was your body just hating itself or you did you kind of adapt pretty quickly so I was a little crazy I was doing five weeks five days a

Week uh early bird workouts and then I would do five days a week of Jiu-Jitsu and I will tell you it was so hard to get out of bed like you hear people tell these stories of like their bones hurting and you know I played football

In high school I was an athlete and you you remember being sore but this was a whole new level of sore I’m like why do my ankles hurt so bad and my hips were like killing me and it’s just because you’re doing these movements that you

Know most of us sit at a desk all day right and now you’re on the ground you’re standing up you’re getting thrown down and uh my shoulders and elbows were an absolute disaster like I thought I I I literally like tore my shoulder off but it just wasn’t my body wasn’t used

To it and I was I was overtraining when you say early bird workouts what were your workouts consisting of in the morning oh gosh yeah so it would be dead lips you know kettle bell swings squatting lifting I mean I was I was I was killing it at 45

Minutes a day with those type of you know rowing machine doing these really hard ass workouts um and then being like okay I’m just gonna you know go about my day and now I’ll go do Jiu-Jitsu at night and it just it just wasn’t they weren’t they were not complimenting my

My workout regime has totally changed you know my mindset and doing some more work on central nervous system but I was doing probably what everybody else was for years years ago when we all started following you know guys like jao and everybody else it was get in the gym

Kill yourself and then uh oh yeah come back and do jiujitsu which is you know like it is doable but it’s also like you said very difficult sometimes you wake up and what when you say like oh you’re like Oh I thought i’ ripped my shoulder out I always remember like even still

Depending upon like how hard I roll some days I’ll just like my forearms not the muscles but the bones hurt just like like from doing what ago because I’ve been trying to do nothing but straight ankle locks and like other stuff you for all class but I mean it does um it does

Build up after a while did you were you do like any recovery stuff during that time or just kind of just I was I was I was so I mean we’re all as we get older I think we’re all think we’re still 20 years old 19 years

Old and you’re like ah who needs to I mean My Generation stretching it was non-existent right even before any sporting events or anything you like okay let’s you know you run a lap and you’re ready to go and I was not taking care of my body like there was there was

No real recovery and it it really I got slowed down by my body at least a month into it I was like this is not sustainable and I didn’t know why I was like what is going on and then you finally like I’m like I am 40 something

Years old my body needs time to recover and then I started really focusing on you know I bought a hyperbolt like or a theun or something like that I started watching you know uh I remember Jordan was like you got to do some yoga man she’s like this is you can’t even get

Your hip like like if I tried to play close guard I couldn’t even touch my feet together like I was like oh so it really forced me and I really think it helped me to shift my mindset and get into functional workouts and functional mobility and then once I started doing

That now I was like okay you got to train to to Jiu-Jitsu sure you can deadlift and you can do all those great exercises but you you better be you know doing something overhead to get that extension whether it’s hanging from a bar or something like that but um yeah

That’s that’s really I hit a brick wall pretty fast well I think it’s I think it’s good you know I think I think that Jiu-Jitsu schools martial arts schools in general don’t put enough stress on the importance of strength training and physical fitness but then on the flip

Side if you leave people to their devices students of their devices that’s what ends up happening sometimes with people is they get bought into it which is fantastic but then they get carried away and trying to be all these things at a super high level and it’s like you

Know I learned the hard way too very much the same way you did um I learned at about like blue Bel levels when I kind of figured it out was that I was trying to do CrossFit and Olympic style weightlifting and Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai right and be a police officer all

At the same time and I was young so I lasted a pretty long time doing that but eventually something had to give and that’s when injuries started happening overtraining started happening loss of motivation started happening um things you’re you’re it’s eventually you’re going to break down no matter how

Stubborn you are and then you start to realize okay I have to balance this somehow like I think it’s important to train in strength in Fitness in addition to Jiu-Jitsu you can’t rely on jiujitsu to be your everything but you can’t try to do everything at a super high level

Unless you’re Jeremy Seth then you know for some reason that guy can do whatever he wants but it’s started to catch up to him as well right you see you see it with him but yeah I think you know a lot of us I can definitely tell you the

Three of us here we we see you know we we gravitate to social media whether it’s Joo David gogins or all these guys and you’re like yeah I got to get up at 4:45 I got to do this thing well guess what you’re not them right it’s a great

Motivator to get you into the gym or into Jiu-Jitsu and yeah but guess what sleep is really important and you may need eight hour sleep versus four hour sleep and minding your body like listening to what your body is telling you like you just after

A while it just does not work and you know I’ve really spent a lot of time probably the past year really just focusing on you know listening to my body and being like okay you know what you had a killer workout this morning guess what don’t go to the lunch class

Today like don’t don’t ruin it as much as you want to you know what give yourself six hours between workouts go home hydrate eat do all the things that your body’s craving and then see if you want to go that night and you know what like you said I started feeling it at

Bluebell too I was like wow I’m not getting injured anymore guess what and I’m starting to move better and my jiujitsu game actually changed as well which was wonderful because then I wasn’t like is you you almost develop bad habits because you’re trying to protect the things that are hurting

Right you’re like well I’m not letting them grab my right arm and put me in a kamora right so you’re doing weird and your Jiu-Jitsu game is affected if your hips aren’t open you’re not going to be good at guard passing or guard retention so I think it all works together but

It’s it’s you have to figure out what works best for your body absolutely yeah it’s it it is kind of like one of those interesting like paradoxes as well like you know like you said a lot of people do like follow a lot of these social media personalities

I don’t even say influencers because like I feel like influencers don’t give a lot but like some of these people like you said like Joo or like David goans or I mean hell just even some of the more basic people just say hey just get up go out work out like you

Don’t have to follow EX exactly what they do to a te getting up at 4:30 is if it work like you said if it works for you and it it’s fine great like I get up at 4:30 to go to work unfortunately because I gotta be there like real early

So like work it out before work because one of my friends does that I pretty much have called him a psychopath because he’s like yeah I’m at the gym at like 2:30 a.m. it’s like yeah when you go to bed at what like 7 p.m. yeah yeah like what’s what’s the benefit there

Like but but it works for him whereas for me I have to you know I’ll get up for work and when I’m done I’ll either you know I’ll roll I’ll hit the rowing machine I’ll go to the gym and I’ll lift I’ll it just something but like you said

As long as you’re doing something and listening to your body that’s where I feel like like you said all your the biggest uh I guess gains and uh Improvement in your Jiu-Jitsu and your lifting and whatever you’re trying to do is where you find it because for a while

Like you said I’m I’m not 20-some years old and when I started Jiu-Jitsu was white belts it was was basically can we can you and I start on opposite ends of the mat and like run at each other as hard as we can try to whoever rips the

Kamur the hardest first usually wins like that’s really it and they yeah like I’m paying the price for that now because all it was is just my you can look at my arms and I will tap because just my shoulders are so D do you remember how bad your hands hurt when

You were white Bel from gripping the ghee so hard I remember coming home and putting my hands in ice because I was like I can’t like I got the GI Joe Kong Fu Grip over here I couldn’t get my hands to open up and I was like is this

Normal and everyone’s like stop gripping the geese so hard and I’m like I don’t think I am but you’re probably right but yeah that’s I forgot to mention that like the hand pain of just get you know just constantly if you ever played guitar it’s the same thing like when you

First start your fingers are killing you and then all of a sudden you know you’re like wow they don’t hurt anymore now your knuckles might be swollowing all the time and you’re starting to develop Jiu-Jitsu fingers but um I I remember that being like one of the

Things that stuck out to me when I was a white belt did you play the guitar no I did for a while back back in 92 I think I loved it but then he want my instructor wanted me to to teach me musical Theory and I was like I just

Want to play Nirvana yeah uh we could definitely agree on the the choice in music I think that’s that’s actually a perfect segue too is you know um Gen X refined viously has a kind of a base theme of of rock and roll and Jiu-Jitsu and I love that because I

Love rock and roll and I [ __ ] love Jiu-Jitsu so it’s perfect um what’s kind of how did you come up with that how did you what kind of made you connect those two things together yeah so that’s a that’s a great question you know Gen X refined started

Out as Gen X grappling Club remember like I remember showing up at that shirt and everybody was like that’s really cool and and I remember Thomas was like I’m not wearing anything with Gen X grappling club I’m not I’m not Gen X and I’m like you don’t have to be Gen X and

I was like thinking to myself this isn’t going to work one I went to register the domain name and it was way too long and then two I really started thinking and looking at designs there’s there’s some great Jiu-Jitsu power companies out there right but the secret that I’m

Learning now is you got to pick a niche right what’s going to set you apart and I started coming up with these ideas in my head I can’t draw to save my life but I found some designers and I was like hey take this skull and roses take this

You know Jiu-Jitsu move and let’s mash them all together and I was like oh my gosh I’m like this is something that two things that I love I love rock and roll music I love jiujitsu and now I can take this and put this together and put it on

Quality apparel and that’s where Gen X refine was born I mean Randy you know we we love to rock out out rolling and it’s just I never realized how big music not just rock and roll music could be ree rap whatever it is is so I mean you I’ve

Been to a lot of different gyms across the country and there’s always music pipe right always it’s always playing uh we might not all agree but we just want to listen to something that kind of gets you motivated and for me I was like you know Iron Maiden think of the album

Covers from the 80s and 90s you know Mega Death Iron Maiden and go down the list and they were it’s it was amazing artwork so let’s just take those two and smash them together and lo and behold it works so that’s kind of how I ended up

Here with a rock and roll inspired Jiu-Jitsu apparel company and I think it works out too because um because I hit Randy up because you know we both got sh I said there’s one thing that really sets it apart too is that I’m not getting like shirts or the the the

Hoodie the one you’re wearing the one I rock all the time at work like it’s a good quality like the the beanie you just put out it’s a car heart beanie like I’m not getting like hey man what can I get for $3 and you just put my Lo

Just do that and like it’s good quality gear on top of it being like you said just something we haven’t seen before in uh in MMA and Jiu-Jitsu clo and apparel um we always joke on the show about like you know the more skulls it has on it

Like for like the MMA stuff I know people are interested in that but like you know I don’t need tribal barbed wire like yeah for touch me first lesson is free type [ __ ] I don’t want it definitely doesn’t it doesn’t have the Affliction Vibe which I love I love that

It’s yeah it it has a a badassness to it but it also has an artistic vibe to it and I think it’s important that you don’t go too far into one or the other you know what I mean uh my favorite current design by far is the Even Flow

But I know that Rob is not a uh Pearl Jam fan so why why you telling him man it’s all right it’s the only shirt he doesn’t own in his closet so it really is I mean we won’t hold that against you don’t like Pearl Jam but you

Know I really appreciate you guys picking up on the quality because we’ve all been there before we see an ad and we’re like I want that and you’re buying it and you get it and it’s a gild in t-shirt they probably paid a150 for it you throw it in the washing machine and

Dryer once and you’re like what happened to the shirt or you buy ghee or I mean I haven’t gotten to GES yet it’s coming or rashguard or shorts and you’re like you know in my head I was like what am I doing I’m like I want to do this I mean

I always had a passion to you know own my own business and I was like let’s find quality stuff that I would wear and that’s what I always tell people like you if something is wrong with the material or the fabric or you don’t like it you know we’ll refund it that’s

That’s fine with me but I’m telling you you’re going to get these shirts they don’t say that you know they’re not the standard shirts you would get but guess what they’re really good quality and um you know I love what I do I can’t you

Know I can’t get away from it and it’s stuff I wear all the time like you said this this hoodie everybody who has this hoodie is like I don’t take it off I mean I I sent uh um I think uh Brandon mcfine has one and he did a video the

Other day and he sent me know and he’s like I love this hoodie I I don’t take this hoodie off so to me that’s the that’s the biggest compliment that folks are noticing that I’ve taken a time I had no idea about the apparel company but I like clothes like everybody else

And I have a friend my friend Jay that grew up with who owned a t-shirt shop who really let me get in there and feel the texture of a t-shirt or you know you know feel the hoodies and you know that allowed me to to really put out quality

Stuff same thing with rash gards and shorts I found it you know I could have went the route of you know I get messages all the time from folks from Alibaba and Pakistan and they’re like we want to do and I’m like I don’t want to

Deal with this I have a day job right I’m not GNA wait three weeks for you to send me some rash guard and I’m pulling on it and I can see that seams already you know shredding so I found another guy who’s got already has that in you

Know his repertoire he’s got that all figured out and guess what I’m going to use him for rashguards gese and shorts so um yeah and it’s it’s it’s done well and folks are noticing the quality not just the designs they’re they’re noticing the quality of the clothing

Dude the rashu guards man that rash guard I think I told you Mike in person but I’m saying it on the air because it’s important that rash guard is top notch man like it is the perfect blend of like durability and thickness without being so crazy heavy that thing fits

Amazing um and obviously all the sulated logos and everything on them they they look fantastic but that is that has to be the nicest rash card I have in my drawer I’ve got oh you named the brand I probably have a rash I was gonna say you

Are definitely a Rashard expert and a ghee expert so uh hearing that from you and I’ve said this before that’s thank you that’s that’s a compliment and again it was you know this stuff is not cheap right we’re paying we all work to buy the things that we love and the last

Thing I want to do is put a Rashard on you and someone’s pulling on the sleeves and you come back to me and like yeah the arm basically just pulled right off right we all have had a Ras guard or even gese where the knees are blowing

Out right you’re like I had this thing a year the stitching’s coming here so um it that’s it’s one of my the most important things in what I put out to everybody else yeah like for the shorts I do like the short design as well

Because so I did give uh I did the full ronin’s Vis Vis like combo I’m like one of the I will say it’s very difficult for me to have matching tops and bottoms in there just a lot of [ __ ] right but I was like no I want both today let’s see

How this rocks one yeah I got compliments on it but two like put through its paces and like Randy was saying is a really good just like quality material as far as you know like I do a lot of weird like splits like scard stuff and it like I’ve had no

Issues getting my legs moving around in it so that’s good yeah send me some uh some video of you rocking it I I’ll put together a re we’ll put you on the page I mean you’re you’re one of my top customers so definitely should give you

Give you some hits out there um but yeah that you know again the the shorts were the same thing um I love I mean everybody has their favorite shorts wear right I’m not rocking five inch shorts I don’t have the legs for that they come up a little bit high but nobody wants

Shorts that are coming past their knees when when they’re rolling or um you know they’re you’re constantly playing with your shorts so I could have went the velcro lap route but we all had those and you’re like I can’t get the velro to stay your rash guard’s getting stuck in

It so it really forced me to think about okay what’s comfortable that is durable and um looks good and ended up with what you guys are seeing on the site and what you guys are wearing yeah those shorts are awesome the the four-way stretch the drawring like that’s the way to go with

With no GE shorts nowadays I mean we’ve you know we we were talking I think it was the last episode me and Rob about like the old school days of like tap out and sprawl and all that stuff man in in that time those were cutting edge those

Were amazing but we’ve learned so much over the years you still have companies it’s probably the ones from your what you’re saying they’re calling you from like Alibaba and stuff that are you know they’re not doing Jiu-Jitsu they’re just trying to sell product and they’re sticking they’re sticking with things

That aren’t functional and I’m just not a fan of those types of shorts anymore yours those are perfect man I don’t the L L is right on them they’re light like super super light um I wear a pair of spats underneath them and you don’t even

Know those things are there man I feel like I’m rolling around naked with Rob that’s good that’s well I mean yeah it’s it’s interesting so I’m I’m I’m currently researching a pair of joggers to do just you know obviously and uh I ordered a pair from uh a

Knockoffs of another one from from alib Baba one of those places and I was wearing them and my fiance is like what’s the matter I’m like these are not breathable like my legs felt like they were on fire so then I’m trying to get them off and they’re stuck on the bottom

I’m like you’re gonna have to go get a pair of scissors and cut these off she’s and she’s like so I guess you’re not selling those on your site I was like no no no way so and that’s really important is to like test this stuff like get it

In people’s hands like I love that you guys are wearing a stuff and giving feedback and pretty soon there’s going to be a ghee and love for you guys to test it out because that’s the the feedback I want nobody wants to be in something in Jiu-Jitsu and be like I

Don’t know about you guys I don’t like I I there are some people that like this heavy stuff on whether it’s a ghee whether it’s a Rashard I mean you’re you’re hot enough from you know exerting yourself you don’t want to be sitting there like feeling like you’re wearing

100% cotton on on top of what you’re you know sweating already so um yeah yeah it’s it’s pretty awesome and you talk about feedback as well and I mean I I think this is a good little segue into something we had talked about before because um I know

You do you’ll send me messages ask questions once in a while and i’ remember asking like any chance of a SCA or Punk uh shirt because everybody knows that’s who I am and he said yeah actually maybe but I do have a funny story about almost dying at a Boss Tones

Concert or something like that like I really want to know what it is because I’ll I’ll say this like every scholar show I’ve been to minus like one and it was just a weird oneoff it was at pump in last year um was it street light Manifesto was playing we’re like you

Know in the circle pit just you know skanking our way around it and some dude just grabs somebody else and just bull rushes him out of the circle pit and throws him and everybody’s just the hell is this guy’s problem like that’s not what this is about we just keep going

Back to it so like I want know I gotta know what happened yeah so but I remember you sent me that note and I because I love suggestions right it starts creativity and you’re like you gonna do scy Punk and I was like what are you thinking of and you were like

Boss Tones and I like bad religion and I was like I love the Boss Tones like I was one of the biggest Boss Tones heads but yeah I was thinking about this earlier so I get this story straight and I do have witnesses that were there but

They were playing it was 94 it was the question the ANW tour yeah so uh sad silence like just all there like great that whole album is when you just throw it on and we’re waiting for them so I’ve never seen them before I’m all amped up

We’re at this club on Long Island called Malibu which was basically like a dance club some nights and then they had to Stage other nights and uh so we’re doing the whole Mighty Mighty Boss Tones chant for them to come out and I’m like when

They come on you guys throw me up and I’m going to crowd Surf and uh because let everybody dance on stage they would let they wanted you to come up dance and you dive off so they come out they’re rocking and I friends throw me up I’m

Crowd surfing like Superman and I grab the stage and the bouncer drops an elbow in the middle of my back like the so I fall down on the ground and I did have a couple of uh Cocktails so I probably didn’t feel it as much as I should have

But I fell on the ground face first and I look up and it’s raining Timberland boots and I’m like I and I couldn’t do anything I just kind of turtled up and uh Dicky all all I hear is Dicky say hold up hold up stops the entire concert

And uh he’s like let that kid up and I’m like oh who are they talking about and he’s like that kid right there let that kid up and he’s and he’s like get him on the feet and he and he bouncers finally back up I get up I’m dusting myself off

And I jump on stage and he’s like are you all right man and I’m like yeah I’m good like good and he looks at the bouncer he’s like you touch another one of these kids we’re going to burn this [ __ ] place to the ground and starts

Playing and uh all I hear is my friends in the back they’re like Riley oh my God and he’s like dance up here as long as you want so just started playing and here I was dancing on stage so that’s that’s my finest concert moment right there almost died almost awesome yeah it

Was but my buddy like it was it was pretty scary obviously you know you get blindsided like these bouncers are not small but the fact that you know this is when people really started to be aware like artists started to be aware what was going on in in the crowd because I

Remember being at Iron Maiden concerts or Meads and you get in that pit and it was you know you didn’t stay lock especially someone my size but people started you know artists started realizing folks were getting hurt at these concerts and um next thing you

Know you know I I have that in my in my history books that I stopped the Boston concert because I was getting the [ __ ] kicked out of me by bouncers that’s amazing well I mean it kind of makes me feel better than it wasn’t like you know the people there

Watching the show but dude like some bouncers we get to go in one of my Chang I feel like just some bouncers are there just to [ __ ] people up for no reason 100% they they were there like that guy had no reason to you know I

Wasn’t even all I did was touch the stage and you know he didn’t you know he was he went bread and just was ready to kill me so um it was yeah it was quite an experience but I think you know concerts and crowd surfing really

Started to get out of hands in probably the mid 90s like people would like pull your legs apart and when girls were so it was really a changing time of like you started getting these these younger kids not that I was that old who were

Just so violent in this and it kind of took away from you were trying to do and just have fun like no one’s there fighting in a m you know a m pit you’re just well they they do but it was just a chance to it was started to get rid of

Some of your angst that you had uh you know when you went to a show so um yeah it it wasn’t a braw I’ve seen plenty of those but it was it was H some douchebag bouncer wanted to kill me couple of the shows I’ve been where they had mhing i’

I’ve noticed I’m not a big first of all I love rock I do I’m a big food fighter fan that’s my favorite They Don’t Really mosh at Food Fighters concerts so that’s kind of out but I did go to some other shows um some of my friends are in metal

And I’ve gone to a couple of those shows and when they MOS one thing I’ve noticed is there’s almost like a like a code like I’ve seen it where somebody gets knocked down because they get bumped into really hard and they lose their footing and they fall and people will

Help them up like quickly they’ll help them back to their feet and if they’re good they let them keep going if they’re not they kind of push them out of the circle um and I I can respect that I’m not a mher myself I’m not really any of

That um um but I can respect that there’s a code to it and that’s pretty cool that the artists are are taking note that’s pretty cool I mean yeah Dave Dave girl is a big one like there’s videos like him on YouTube like you know kicking people out of the show and

Yeah and it’s great because you know what now you pay a lot of money for a concert like I don’t need some Meathead like oh yeah yeah I just bought tickets to the food Fighters because they’re coming to Ries for me and Britney and it

Was like 500 bucks for the two of our tickets so you know like it is what it is yeah yeah I’ll be at that show too yeah must be nice I tried buying tickets and they’re all G so oh you can always find them you got to go on like subhub

And [ __ ] yeah I’m not well you guys paid 500 I don’t want I I don’t want to think about what it’s gonna be it was 500 for two tickets and I’m like I’m not where I wanted to be so real quick brief story for me it wasn’t Dave Gro unfortunately

I wish it was um but I went to my very first food Fighters concert I’ve been a Die Hard fan since middle school I’ve wanted to see him forever just never played out but I finally get a chance because they came to Greensboro this is several this is maybe what five years

Ago something like that they came to Greensboro get tickets I was seeing a girl at the time so I got two tickets she broke with me the day of the show the day of the show she dumped me how dare her and like I I was crazy about

This girl so I was actually legitimately pretty upset and emotional about it but I’m like it’s the [ __ ] Foo Fighters like I’m going to the show I’ve waited my whole life for this so I go to the show with just I got two tickets I’m just going with my one and I’m sitting

There and I had got regular seats because it was in the Greensboro Coliseum then door and so I’m I’m in there and I’m like these seats aren’t really what I want like I got these because I was bringing a date you know what I mean this is not what I want so I

Started looking on my phone for other seats and I’m looking at the prices I’m like God these are so crazy and I find one and I go to the the usher in my section the lady was there’s like this lady standing there and I’m like hey I

Want to get different seats I want to upgrade I don’t like these seats but you know what I have to do to like get I don’t understand what I got to do I just buy them here and then I just walk there how do I scan in you know and she’s like

She’s like honey why would you want to get new tickets you have seats right here these are good seats I’m like these seats are trash this is my favorite band my girlfriend broke up with me the day today I’m here about myself to see my favorite band I will pay whatever I need

To pay to get better seats and she’s like hang on one second she walks away she comes back and she goes how do you feel about floor seats I was like what are you talking about I would love to go down there but I can’t afford that those

Are like $600 and she reaches into a little sweater she had she pulls out a wristband she slaps it on my wrist she’s like go straight down these stairs that security guard right there will let you out have a nice concert and hook me up with floor seats for the Foo Fighters

Dude I couldn’t talk the next day that that was a crazy I was there that was their three-hour show with yes entire catalog it was that was a great show yeah dude and everybody I’ll tell you this I had the food Fighters at at that concert everybody on the floor they were

Awesome like if I wanted to get up near the stage because they were playing one of my favorite songs they would let you get up there and then you just rotate out you know when it was time for you get a beer or whatever nobody gave you a

Hard time everybody was freaking awesome it just it was still to this day my all-time favorite concert moment unlike I I mean I would take an ass kicking to get acknowledged by Dave Gro so your example still beats mine but yeah yeah so I so I gotta ask so Rob how did you

Get into Bad Religion because I mean that was I remember seeing Stranger Than Fiction on MTV and I was like who is this band and I bought that it was probably a CD back then it wasn’t tape yet so that was like 91 92 around there

Maybe 93 so how do how did you get into Bad Religion so um I can kind of blame my cousin who’s actually from Long Island as well all right when we go Vis him he’s like hey here listen to this I’m like what is this he’s like ah you

Know it’s no effects you know hey boss to like he’s the one who got me into a lot of it as well and like between that and then like when I went to high school I was I was kind of like a kid like I I I came from private Catholic

School my parents like bless them and everything but they’re like hey this music doesn’t fly in this house so I’m like who do I know what do I listen to like I don’t know and being the weird kid from the private school going straight to public school it was like

The punk kids you kind of help like they took me in they were really nice about it but um so I mean between my cousin high school and everything that’s kind of like how I got introduced to it I’m like yeah this is like this is the

Music this is the stuff I enjoy and just yeah that’s pretty it’s I think everybody has that and that’s the best thing about music I mean I was telling somebody this I think it was Anthony at the gym who you know was born a little

Too late he’s such a big grung head and I was telling him the story I remember 198 7 I was visiting my sister in Slippery Rock Pennsylvania and we were going to get some beers and uh one of her friends was like you got to listen

To this song and he put his tap he put a tape in and Smells Like Teen Spirit came out and I was like what is this and he’s like this is some band out of Seattle called Nirvana and I’ll never forget I remember I can tell you the details the

Car I was sitting in what the temperature was like I mean it was a life-changing moment and I and I had the same thing with the first time I heard Iron Maiden there’s lead Z Le Zeppelin rock and roll like there’s so many songs I think everybody can relate to that

That you like you remember that exact moment and it’s the same thing in Jiu-Jitsu everybody has a song they love to roll to right I mean me depends on what mood I’m in you can you can ask R Randy when when I take over the the uh

DJ at the gym there some nights I’m like oh hell we’re we’re going some heavy metal here to the point where always like what are we listening to get this off but then there’s some nights like I’m like Beasty Boys is perfect and you know it it’s it’s such an IT weaves so

Much into our lives uh whether you’re in your car hanging out with your friends and uh it’s I mean music’s awesome and we got a we got a great selection of it now and the fact that I can go to my Spotify I mean folks are out there

They’re like do you have a record collection I’m like I did back in the 80s and I don’t want to have to flip to the bside to you know hear uh my favorite song by Iron Maiden I you know I’m I’m pulling it right up on my phone

So it’s it’s it’s for me as a rock and roll and music fan it’s it’s a great time to be alive you’re right though man music and that’s why I think it’s such a perfect blend uh Jiu-Jitsu and rock and roll like and everybody has their genre

And it doesn’t I’m not trying to knock on the other genres because I listen a little bit of everything but I am definitely a rock and roll fan first before everything else and you’re right the the grung jar takes me back my parents hated it um you know I I

Had a group of friends that brought me into the world of Nirvana and Pearle jam and you know like beas and Butthead and Wayne’s World and you know my parents freaking hated it oh my God they hated it when I’d go home and you know talk about Tepe for my bung hole and

[ __ ] but uh you me in the Jimmy yeah dude I was I was the black sheep in the family for sure on that end but uh you know oh it takes me back I could smell the cigarette still in the back of that freaking station wagon you know what I

Mean like and I didn’t smoke them that was just my friend’s mom she smoked them like it was just a different time but I think jiujitsu and rock and roll and music in general they both have a tendency to bring people together I think that’s why it’s such an awesome

Collaboration that you’re doing between the two which you also have a kickass Spotify uh playlist the genx forine Spotify playlist oh I’m glad I’m glad yeah that’s that’s got a little bit like you said it’s got a little bit of everything it’s got it was when we were

Training what was that two weeks ago on that Friday night and I was like what mix is this this is really good and you’re like this is yours and I was like I don’t remember putting that song on there but it yeah it’s cool and then and also like you said I

Mean it’s it’s nice to be able to talk to people that you would normally not talk about music just think about it like here’s Anthony’s what like 24 years old and here I am a 50-year-old man and I’m looking at him and he’s like did you

Ever see sound garden I’m like I did with line melon it was pretty awesome it was raining that night it was a great concert and and you could just see like it was everybody has a story and usually that story revolves around you know music or it’s kind of it was playing

Somewhere in the background so uh it is it’s it’s a natural fit and I’m honest honestly I’m surprised someone hadn’t thought of it before me to be honest with you I’m glad that we know you that you know we get to we get to see it evolved

We get to see where it’s going like get to see it from the beginning it’s cool you guys have been great and I love the fact that I love to be able to like bounce designs off people because it is it’s ner like you’re putting something

Out there and we all know the internet is not kind right and to you know to have really good friends and and buddies that you can be like hey what do you think of this one because the last thing I want to do is throw something on on on

The site and people are like what is this like this is this is terrible so I think it’s it’s really helpful just having this whole uh group of friends that are kind of there enjoying this with me and you’re all get to wear like really good stuff and we get to do stuff

Like this it’s pretty cool can you give us a little bit of a sneak peek a little hint of some things to come design oh yeah I will so I just got one there’s this artist his name is uh Jeremy Kramer he does um a lot of tour posters for

Bands like Smashing Pumpkins he did rful dead I mean this this guy is legit and uh I just got his design tonight and um I will tell you this it’s I have figured out with his help how to combine the Rock and sck and robots with jiu-jitsu

Which is gonna be it’s it is amazing that sounds that’s that’s there’s there’s gonna be a little teaser um graffiti or rollway was my my best shirt by far that was my first one Still The One I Love graffiti 2.0 is coming out that’s going to be I shared this with

Rob the other day but I love giveaways you know the the best part about this is you know I read somewhere I forget who said it maybe it was Alex horos or whatever is giveaway is something your competitors would never give away right so that’s why you see my giveaways like

I love like the jean jacket I gave away with the skull and roses on the back so took the the new graffiti 2.0 design that we just teased on Instagram and I put that on a skateboard deck so that’s going to be a giveaway of uh of graffiti 2.0 and then

Um I tried to do a couple of uh simpler designs this year because I’ve been getting a lot of requests of I love your stuff but I don’t do Jujitsu and I was like okay so that’s good how do we how do we kind of take um this one is I

Don’t know if you remember the club was called cbgbs in uh in New York City it was like look it up some of the best bands that played so kind of took their you know pretty simple logo and overlaid what I wanted to do with Gen X refined

So that one coming out so right now I’ve got four designs that are are ready to go but kind of just took some time to kind of take it all in of what I was doing this year and I dropped a lot of designs last year so um it’s it’s kind

Of nice to sit back and say okay this is what we’re going to do for this year and it gives me a chance to kind of archive some of this stuff like ronan’s Vis will go away um it will come back at another point and and maybe you know it comes

Back with some uh on different clothing or different apparel but it’s kind of cool to you know I’ve went through the past what is it September I launched this thing how everybody’s reacted and now it gives me a chance to be like okay when I re release this it’s going to be

You know a new hoodie maybe it’s the same I know this quality is great but different color different design we’ll do some rashu guards again I was just talking to my Rashard partner today so and like I said there’s a ghee coming um it’s going to be I like simple GES uh is

Gonna I’m going to make sure it has rip stop pants because we all love those so I’m going to be getting a sample of one of those so um there’s there’s a lot of good stuff coming this year I’m excited for it as you know I’m probably once

Again you know on paycheck all the time I’m okay with that but um before we uh before we finish uh the episode Mike could you tell them where we can find you your you know social media your web page stuff like that sure so web page is

Gen xref find.com and then uh genx refined on Instagram Facebook I am on Tik Tok which feels really weird because I am way too old to be on there but I know why these kids get sucked into it actually uh uh I’m really surprised just one thing I wanted to mention is you

Know I launched this thinking my my Niche or my uh my audience or or customers would be people in my age range but the data is showing it’s 25 to 35 year old that are the the folks that are most intrigued by this which is pretty

Awesome because I have a 20 you know 24 21y old daughter and a 19-year-old son and I see them retro t-shirts are coming back like this style is is coming back which makes me really happy and it kind of just Falls in line to what we’re

Doing but yeah so Gen X rein.com and gen xref on Instagram and then you get the Spotify linked on your Instagram don’t you I do yeah I actually noticed that uh I I got to make sure that one was still working so uh we did some changes we

Just launched a new site I I switched over to Shopify we did a whole rebranding different color scheme love the way it it came out so uh things are rocking rolling one one other thing I forgot to mention uh I’m gonna consist consistently strive to do like one or

Two band shirts um and really kind of like we did with Even Flow was you know take Even Flow and you know but you know take a lyric or something from this the song and that was perfect put the butterfly sweep in there and yeah Butterfly lyrics so uh there’s a nirvana

In a hopper right so it’s gonna have to do with h In Bloom which is is a great song so and then uh Rob has inspired me to do you know I love the boss Stones album so we’ll have to we’re gonna have to do something and the Boss Tones will

Be coming to the Gen X refined playlist because I can’t believe I left those guys out Rob robs are seeing money he’s already setting aside money for the boss hones and I’m definitely being set aside so I’m definitely setting aside money for the Nirvana shirt so that’s already

A done deal I’m pumped I’m pumped hell yeah so Mike once again thank you so much for coming on the show this is a blast having you on here talking about your uh about your wild ideas that I love like they’re it’s so good man I’m like legitimately I know you’ve said it

A million times I’m very pumped for a clothing company that’s like going a Jiu-Jitsu clothing company that’s taking the direction that you’re you’re taking well I appreciate it guys and thanks for having me on I’ll uh I’ll come on on whenever you want hell yeah we’ll

Definitely get you back on here man for sure all right guys thanks a lot yep ladies and gentlemen it’s been a uh this another episode of The Big Jiu-Jitsu show I’m Rob I’m Randy and you can find all of our old episodes on Spotify you can find them on your favorite podcast

Uh player whatever you want to be our YouTube we’ll have all the links in the description and uh thank you for listening we’ll catch you guys next time

Mike Reilly, owner of Gen X Refined, is on the show to talk about his company and discuss martial arts training.

GenX Refined – https://www.genxrefined.com

Trap and Roll Soap – https://www.instagram.com/trapandrollsoapcompany/

Big Jiujitsu Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/@bigjiujitsushow1558