Classically trained guitarist to self-proclaimed Jeep guy, Christian Hazel of MotorTrend Group on Episode 93. There’s a lot about Christian you wouldn’t guess by his outward appearance. Rock-n-roller, scientific editor, long-distance commuter, listen in to find out where his story began and where he is now with all the changes MotorTrend had undergone.
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3:53 – that’s the kind of spirit Boston has
8:31 – my heart and soul were in this other genre of music
13:47 – I just got up and walked out of that class
20:21 – I’m not hanging my success on the shoulders of someone else
28:17 – the world is my oyster out here
31:03 – in anything you’re trying to do successfully, you can’t fake it
36:17 – I wasn’t a huge Jeep guy, but I took to it like a duck to water
49:35 – I tried to infuse bucket list things into the event
1:14:08 – what a company does or does not spend with us holds no sway in our decision making
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:20.230] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations With Big Rich. We have Christian Hazel. Most of you going to know Christian from the media side of the off road industry, but we’ll find out about his early years and what got him into off road just to let everybody know we did already have about a ten minute conversation. Thought I was recording, found out I had a corrupted card or something, and we had to start over. So here we are, starting over. Christian, thank you for coming on board and being patient with our technical difficulties.
[00:01:54.010] – Christian Hazel
Hey, my pleasure, man. It’s just like being out in the trail. Stuff breaks down, right?
[00:01:57.960] – Big Rich Klein
Yes. There you go. So let’s go ahead and jump in again. And of course, nobody there knows what we’ve talked about. So we’ll just hash back over it now I have better questions, maybe so. Anyway, born and raised, where did that all happen for you?
[00:02:16.090] – Christian Hazel
I was born in West Virginia. I have just about no recollection of it because I was a baby when we moved to Canada and then from Canada, we moved to Houston, Texas. My dad was an engineer, and so he kind of went wherever the project was. And so we landed in Texas just a little before my baby brother was born. I would have been probably about a year and a half old and lived there right up through kindergarten when my parents separated, and then my dad stayed in Houston, and my mom and I and my brother were there, went to Iowa, went to New England, I’ve lived in Georgia. I’ve lived kind of bounced around quite a bit, but up until I was about eleven or twelve, my brother and I would go visit my father in Houston over the summer for a couple of months. And so I’ve kind of considered myself having two homes. One is primarily Boston New England area, and the other being Texas.
[00:03:15.790] – Big Rich Klein
One of the things I grew up just south of San Francisco. And what I found visiting Boston is Boston reminded me of San Francisco just on a smaller version.
[00:03:29.830] – Christian Hazel
Yeah, that’s interesting.
[00:03:32.350] – Big Rich Klein
But so is Seattle. I mean, all three of those towns, and I don’t know if it’s because of the water or just the basic lifestyle of the cities. I don’t know if that’s true today, because things are so messed. Things are a lot different now than they were even when I visited Boston five years ago.
[00:03:53.710] – Christian Hazel
The thing I love about Boston is it’s either sink or swim. There’s a meme that goes around that shows like a map of Boston streets, and they’re all tangled and gnarled, and they’re all carriage roads that were just paved over with the historic buildings. And then there’s one of New York where it’s nice lay down on a grid system and the mean goes something like New York, because we want you to know where you are and get where you’re going. And then it says Boston, because Fu and that’s kind of the spirit of Boston is like it’s hard nosed Irish Catholic knuckles up and sink or swim. It’s interesting that you equate it with San Francisco because when I’ve been to San Francisco, it’s a little more welcoming, you know, Boston’s welcoming. But on Boston’s terms.
[00:04:47.350] – Big Rich Klein
It says welcoming to all that’s kind of that whole Northeast.
[00:04:52.510] – Christian Hazel
It really is. Yeah. You know, winters will get you early, those long winter by about March, early March. You’re just sick of it. And you’re seeing all the crap that comes along with anything. So just get me to warm weather where I can kind of defrost my soul, right? READ MORE
