Jesse McClure - The King of Storage Hunters talks to Music Trespass!!!

Jesse McClure the king storage bin buyer comes to the UK!

Music Trespass: Can you tell me about your promotion work with Wychwood Brewery's (Hobgoblin) and Dave TV?

Jesse: Tomorrow I paired up with them, It's funny because there is quite a misconception that American's don't know their beer so well. Which I totally understand because when you think American beers you think Budweiser, you think Coors Light and things in that nature. Recently in the few bars that I have went to, there is not too much of a choice far as craft brews that are made in America are concerned. That is really what I enjoy as when I want a brew.

Music Trespass: In an episode of 'Storage Hunters' you said that you brewed your own beer one time?

Jesse: Exactly! but I am no means an expert and it certainly got me drunk but I certainly would never do it again. As far as taste and quality are concerned, I enjoy a good quality beer and I tasted Hobgoblin in a local bar in my hometown and which is amazing and I found it a really good beer so I wanted to reach out to them and tell them how much I enjoyed it. And as it came along we decided to put together an event so I could get a tour of the brewery and hang out with some fans and really see how the 
process was made.

Music Trespass: And get some free beer!

Jesse: Yeah! of course, you don't have to be Bs'ing to know that is the whole point in doing it to get the free beer 

Music Trespass: Is their going to be a 'Storage Hunters' brew?

Jesse: I would hope so, I want to say Yes! I hope they have a theme thing, but I would have a feeling that the flavour would be like a suicide mixture of everything that is wrong. You know use mattress, an old TV, kids clothes all the taste you would get in a storage unit. I don't know if I'd want that in a beer but it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a 'Storage Hunters' brew. If I picked my own flavour, I'm really a fan of the brown ale with more of a slight nutty taste to it, and have a full bodied 
flavour. More so than a quick taste at the end. And something that would get you drunk to. Obviously the higher alcohol content the better.

Music Trespass: What have your best moments been in the UK?

Jesse: It's one of though's things I have to look as from a greatest hits point of view. Not particular any point in time, I thought this is the best time ever but just the fact going from city to city. Every place has been different from the other. I was in Canterbury a small quaint town, had a lovely church  and a small nit community fantastic place. London was going a million miles a hour like New York City, so not necessary my flavour or my taste. But it's cool to experience it once or twice. You know going up to Stoke and having oat cakes and having their community of potters and Blackpool and their type of Atlantic City gambling feel at the seaside.

Liverpool which is almost turning more Americanised with it's strip mauls, you know a lot of shops I see back home.And everywhere else in between has just been a great new experience. And Oxford of course, but I have just been here two hours so I have nothing bad to say about here so far so good. The thing I know about this place is that it a big student area for Oxford University and things like that. It just blows my mind that this is one of the older cities here, so you see these big historic buildings which are amazing. Back home it's sticks and a couple of roof tiles and there you have a house.

Music Trespass: I saw in Preston that you had a picture with Vader one of my favourite wrestlers!

Jesse: You know it was one of thou's things where the twelve year old version of me would have been so jealous. Though's were my childhood hero's when I was 
growing up so it was great to actually be a part of an event with them. Rikishi and Vader and Terry Funk and just sit down with Terry Funk and have a cup of coffee. Nicest guy you would ever meet.

Music Trespass: It's really surreal when you have to do something like that!

Jesse: Yeah! to see their real personalty rather than their actual stage presence When their in their wrestling character. So you really get to learn something new and see the man behind the mask or behind the name.

Music Trespass: Amazing that their personalties are so different, I found this when I met Kane and Jeff Hardy and other famous wrestlers!

Jesse: I feel like I am almost in that category a bit, being on the show I have been labeled more as the bad guy, the antagonist, but as more people seem to tell me as I meet them face to face. That I am actually a decent guy I have respect for people and only push buttons for people who deserve it. So I like to put myself in that regard, You get the good kind of people and you get the bad kind of people, but on this side of the coin then you really truly understand who people are. Celebrity or not.

Music Trespass: What is your best score in a storage bin?

Jesse: My best score ever! Was over fourty thousand dollars in vintage camera's. So we have Leica, Cannon, Nikon, Kodak all types from the early 1900's, from 
the first ones the brownies up until the eighties and the nineties. So it was a great day. I'll leave it at that.

Music Trespass: How much did you buy that bin for?

Jesse: Just a few thousand bucks! I don't remember the exact amount but it was a good day.

Music Trespass: Who do you get on best with off the show?

Jesse: It's a tie between two people T-Money and Papa Bear, if I had to choose I probably say Papa Bear just because he is my boy. He makes all the wrong moves 
but I love him just the same and he is just a down to Earth guy, so he is a great guy.

Papa Bear (Pictured Above)

Second place is T-Money, super funny guy. He is a comedian on the side he came from Detroit at the very bottom and worked his way up. All the way over in Los Angeles and give him all my respect and he is a good friend as well.

T-Money (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: I respect people that build up their own company and work their way up? 

Jesse: Yeah! I am in the same boat, my family owns an antique mall in Los Angeles and it's been their since 1979, so I take a lot of pride in small business and 
that is a big reason why on my first UK tour that I really wanted to target small businesses, because I felt like it was a good fit for me, understanding what they wanted having me their and what they could benefit by me being their. So when I go into a small cup cake shop in Liverpool and there is a line out the door, you can see other small businesses saying "That's a big deal!". The people in the community see that line out the door. Whether their in a three hundred capacity bar and five hundred people show up You know it really shows, what I am trying to accomplish. I think I have done a good job so far. 

Music Trespass: How much is the most money you have bid up Brandon and Lori on the show?

Peter C: The Gruesome two-some!!!

Brandon and Lori (Pictured Above)

Jesse: I would like to say over time it has been way over a million dollars that I have cost them, but I don't necessary go on the dollar amount so much as the vibe and feel I get. It's like you're sitting at a poker table, and you're trying to bluff your way through a hand. So I know it's in the several thousands of dollars, but I cannot give you a particular dollar amount. I like to think as it in a running total amount and I hope I will reach that one million dollar goal one day.

Music Trespass: You don't have a on the wall chart with the million dollar amount at the top and put a red line up every time you bid them up?

Jesse: Yeah like I will fill it in until I reach my goal and all that million dollars goes to a kids charity or something to that affect. That's a good idea, I am going to have to look at doing that. 

Music Trespass: What is the worst ever bin you have had?

Jesse: Oh Man! Well I've had quite a few... you get several!!! A lot of time what people stick in storage is empty boxes, they buy a new TV 60 inch they buy a Mac book pro (Brand New!) and you're thinking this is going to be a score and you open it up and it's just the manual. Where are you going to put your brand new electronics, their going to be in your home with you. You're going to use it on a daily bases, So there is tricks a lot of first timers fall for and I can admit that I have fallen for it a couple of times.

So I think what it was, was a combination of ten to twelve used peed on mattress and a combination of kids clothes and broken toys and boxes labeled inappropriately that I really thought was something else. I spent like a thousand bucks on it and I made negative fifty bucks, paying for dump fees, so getting rid of mattress there is no good way to do that. Unless you have a secret spot that you can light them on fire and hope they go away. 

Music Trespass: What they do in this country is that they look for someone that has hired a skip and they dump it in it and run. 

Jesse: Exactly, Well you usually have a box van and you leave it unlocked so right when you hit the speed bump, hopefully the door flies open and you make a quick turn and everything flies out and you pretend like you never saw anything. I'm right their with you.

Music Trespass: But you never do that?

Jesse: No, No, No!!! 

Music Trespass: What music do you listen to?

Jesse: I used to DJ a little bit, back in the day and unfortunately I think it's diluted my music tastes. Simply because I think I became a sort of  human jukebox of sorts. Where only people give me a quarter and I would play the latest Pop song. So more so than what I like. My roots are in House music Electro House which I really have a thing for. It's not every ones flavour, not a lot of people are into the Dance music and what I like to do is blend a lot of music together. Whether it's Classic Rock or Dance music. Whether it's Metal with Dance music or any of thou's things. If I had to choose favourite bands, I love Daft Punk as a group, I love Justice as a group, as a House / Electronic group. but I also live finding new music that is completely of the edge. The more Electro Punk kind of stuff Tesla Boy, which is a band out a Russia a great band and then outside of thou's kind of off the wall things minus Daft Punk as a recent. I love all the Classic Rock kind of stuff AC/DC you know Led Zeppelin, Queen all the stuff that is a go to that everyone knows about, I'm always down with that.

Daft Punk (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: What do you think of House remixes of Led Zeppelin songs?

Jesse: House music has got a little mainstream in the last five or ten years, with the emergence of Kanye West, Daft Punk and all of a sudden everyone thinks 
they can make their own Hip Hop remix with a Dance feel to it. So anytime you can make a great song even better, I am always up for them doing it. Even if 
it's House music or smooth Jazz, it doesn't even matter if it get's better I'm down for listening to it, at least once.

Music Trespass: Have you ever thought about doing 'Storage Hunters' in the UK?

Jesse: Yes! Certainly, this whole tour was essential a feeler tour, it was just about getting down and dirty and hanging out fans, hearing what they want, hearing what they like, what they don't like, if they like me, if they hate me and seeing what else is missing on television. Seeing what else we can offer to them... which is good quality entertainment. So that is hopefully in the works and that is my plan so hopefully I can get some original UK content really soon.

Music Trespass: Have you thought at being in a Movie?

Jesse: Movies, well that's the thing. When I got started in this all and 'Storage Hunters' I was never trying to be an actor, I was never trying to be on TV. I was good at doing what I did doing storage auctions and I left it at that, but what I am is an opportunist. I saw the opportunity to show what I really could do and show off my skills and I felt like pushing people's buttons and knowing people and really giving them information which was really one of my strong traits.So I felt like I could offer something in the entertainment industry as far as the TV show is concerned. Now as far as going above and beyond and doing acting, if the opportunity was their i would certainly consider it and maybe persue it, but as this time I am probably the worst actor on the planet. So what I do have back home in Los Angeles is a radio show that I do on a daily basis which I think suits me a lot better, because it's more off the cuff and I can say what I want. I can hit on points were I fell I can connect with and really at a hyper local level. So I am really into that right now. The whole radio thing, because I feel like it's more my thing, I think there are less big ego's floating around as far as the radio thing is concerned opposed to the television side. 

Music Trespass: How did you get into the Storage Hunters in the first place?

Jesse: As I was saying my family owns an antiques mall which is in the top five in Los Angeles. I think this because it was open in 1979 and I don't think it matters 
that much here because I am sitting in a bar which is probably two hundred years old. I have been working their since I was twelve years old and I was out doing storage 
auctions and they found me and thought I would be a good fit for the show and next thing you know three years later, I'm sitting here in front of you drinking my beer 
in Oxford having a good time and hopefully I will be able to make some new episodes soon.There you have it.

Interview and Questions by Dan Devour and majority of photo's taken by Dan Devour

Jesse McClure and Dan Devour (Pictured Above)

Check Out! the UK trailer Video for 'Storage Hunters' Below...