On The Couch...
Inside the mind of Larry Linkogle
& a rad new action sports film
What: Mind of the Demon
Who: Larry Linkogle & Joe Layden
Format: Paperback
Availability: Out Now
Mind of the Demon is the story
of Metal Mulisha founder and OG
freestyle motocross pioneer Larry
Linkogle (Link), as told by ‘The
Wombat’ himself. Most people
remember Linkogle for his badass
video parts, world record long distance
jumps, his ‘f**k you’ attitude and the
Metal Mulisha. This book lays out all
the stuff that went down in private; the
part of Larry’s life that the public never
really saw – and believe me, it’s not
sugar-coated.
The story starts with Link’s early
motocross career. It is soon revealed
that Linkogle was a super talented
schoolboy racer, and went on to
become the youngest rider ever to turn
pro in motocross at the age of fifteen.
The story follows his breakaway from
racing and his move into freeriding in
step with his blossoming ‘f**ck you’
attitude, and the creation of the Metal
Mulisha. Larry played an integral part
in developing freeriding into the sport
we now know as freestyle motocross.
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It’s easy to forget Link was really at
the top of the game for a while back in
the day, and the story jogs some good
old memories of Link’s glory days with
stand-out video parts, contest wins
and sick magazine shots.
As the old saying goes: ‘what goes
up must come down’ - and Linkogle
came down with a crash. Larry goes
on to describe, in pretty horrific detail,
the story of his addiction to pain
killers following a huge slam on a long
distance jump, and his subsequent
decent into a world even he couldn’t
believe he ended up in. Guns, meth,
bare-knuckle fighting and heroin were
suddenly at the forefront of Larry’s life.
Mind of the Demon is a book any
true Metal Mulisha fan needs to read.
Link takes the opportunity to tell his
side of the story and clear up many
controversial rumours and topics that
have been floating around for the last
ten years or so, such as his connection
to white supremacist gangs and the
falling out with his friend and business
partner Brian Deegan. Link’s version
of events and how he was essentially
tricked by Deegan into signing papers
that would legally lock him out of the
Metal Mulisha – his own company –
were pretty shocking to say the least.
Although all of this sounds pretty
heavy, the book does have a positive
ending. The chapters covering Link’s
return to jumping dirt bikes like a
badass and taking a World Record
at the Crusty Demons Night of
Records in Australia, were an inspiring
introduction to his hard road back to
sobriety.
The Larry Linkogle story is a dark,
analytical look into the psyche of one
of the most brilliantly talented, yet
aggressively self-destructive minds of
our generation. I urge everyone with
an interest in FMX and freeriding to
check out this book, but if reading is
not your thing, then there’s also an
accompanying film you can watch.
Either way, you are sure to learn
something new about Larry Linkogle,
the Metal Mulisha and the world of
freestyle motocross. T