HUCK magazine The No Heroes Issue

The No Heroes Issue - Scotty Wittlake Shane Dorian - Basque Freesurfers Jamie Anderson - Rap Battle UK

ÂŁ4.25 | issue 31 | Feb/Mar 2012 Stan Piechaczek by J.ROMERO

“A funny argument I always hear is the one of ‘providing for generations to come,’ which is just hilarious. It’s like, ‘Oh, my kids will have money.’

Great. Who cares if they don’t have snow or trees, or if they all have to live with fucking gas masks on their faces. It just doesn’t make sense.“ – Scotty Wittlake

THE SMALL STORIES

T he B i g S tories

E NDN O T E S

14 W hat ’ s u p 2 0 1 2 ?

16 U n d er g ro u n d Do c s 18 W il d Coast 20 Celia M iller H i p H o p I n d ia 22 24 Dri n k W ater

26 S c ott y W ittla k e 32 the M attso n 2 34 De f e n d O ah u 38 Kalle L as n S ha n e Doria n 42 50 O n li n e S u r f Films 52 J amie A n d erso n 58 Cle v ela n d S u r f 64 A f g ha n T ra n s p la n ts 70 B as q u e Frees u r f ers 76 R a p B attle U k

86 Ki n g A d z 88 T S F 90 F E S T 92 Dallas Cla y to n 94 Y v es S u ter 96 J a z mi n e M iles - L o n g 98 so u r c es

10 HUCK

t h e M at t s o n 2 B Y E mbr y R u c k er

Publisher Vince Medeiros

Creative Director Rob Longworth

Managing Director Danny Miller

EDITOR Andrea Kurland

Senior Designer Evan Lelliott

Commercial Director Dean Faulkner

Associate Editor Shelley Jones

DesignER Fabrizio Festa

Advertising Sales Executive Becks Scurlock

Online Editor Ed Andrews

Words David Benedek, Sarah Benton, Isabel De Bertodano, Rob Boffard, Dallas Clayton, Jon Coen, Natalie Langmann, Jazmine MilesLong, Joel Muzzey, Chris Nelson, Cinnamon Nippard, Guillaume Perrier, Charlie Reid, Elisa Routa, Stefan Slater, Yves Suter, andy tweddle, Alex Wade, Tamie Wexler, Tony Weinbender

Editorial Director Matt Bochenski

Published by The Church of London 71a Leonard Street London, EC2A 4qs +44 (0) 207-729-3675

Global Editor Jamie Brisick Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni SNOW EDITOR ZOE OKSANEN EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SHANE HERRICK Translations Markus Grahlmann copy editor sorrel neuss

12 HUCK

Images Benjamin Cunningham, Billy Delfs, Mathias Depardon, neil dacosta, cheryl dunn, Greg Funnell, liam gallagher, Garima Jain, Korduroy.tv, Juan Lagarrigue, Morgan Maassen, Robin Mellor, Dan Milner, Jonathan Minto, Dominic Owen, Benjamin Rasmussen, James Robinson, Elisa Routa, Embry Rucker, Liz Seabrook, Yves Suter, Jack Teagle, Aaron K. Yoshino

info@thechurchoflondon.com Distributed worldwide by COMAG. Printed by Buxton Press.

Digital Director Alex Capes Special Projects Steph Pomphrey Marketing & Distribution Manager Anna Hopson Publishing Assistant Hannah El-Boghdady

The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team.

This publication is made with paper from sustainable sources.

Huck is published six times a year.

71a curator liz haycroft

Š TCOLondon 2012

g r a v i s f o o t w e a r. c o m

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14 HUCK

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15

Skin For some, tattoos are an art form. But for others, they’re simply body deformation. New documentary Skin seeks to challenge these polarised views by positioning tattoos as works of fine art while posing the question: is art a possession? Or is it an idea?

“Tattoos are a way of life,” explains director Ryan Hope, who invited leading artists Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince and Jake and Dinos Chapman to design tattoos for five very different people. “The concept for Skin was conceived by Garage Magazine and former Pop editor Dasha Zhukova. Together, we cast each individual based on their manifesto of why they should have the tattoo.”

Twenty-five-year-old Jack Driver wants to be a part of “a moment in modern art history”, while Shauna Taylor, the recipient of Damien Hirst’s ‘vagina tattoo’, is eager to become “a living canvas”.

According to Ryan, “art is oversubscribed, but undervalued” so experimenting with artist-drawn tattoos provided the opportunity to question who, if anyone, owns a work of art. “It could change [art] history depending on what happens to these individuals,” says Ryan about the five bodies that are now adorned with pieces that would fetch thousands of dollars if they were hung on a wall.

So, why should you go and check Skin out? “Because it blurs the boundaries of what constitutes a documentary,” says Ryan. Besides, it’s not every day you get to see a Jeff Koons original tattooed onto somebody’s skin. Sarah Benton stamplondon.com

16 HUCK

Beneath The Boarder In January 2010, Australian filmmaker Cassie De Colling travelled to Kashmir to make a documentary about a snowboard school. The school was nowhere to be found, but a couple of weeks later a little girl came crashing into her on the slopes of Gulmarg.

Raja, the girl’s sixteen-year-old brother, was teaching her to snowboard and Cassie was invited into their family home to drink tea. “If God likes, I will become Kashmir’s first professional snowboarder,” said Raja, so Cassie started capturing his every turn and grab.

“Raja’s father was once a militant freedom fighter and he built a hut for his family in Gulmarg in 1985,” says Cassie, who abandoned her original

Photo: Benjamin Cunningham

idea to tell Raja’s story instead. “In efforts to recoup money lost in wars, the Indian government constructed a ski lift in Gulmarg in 2005, which happens to be the highest in the world. Hardcore riders came to check out the extreme terrain, so Raja had a chance to connect with westerners, practise English and learn snowboarding.”

“He’s better at riding his mountain than any Australian snowboarder would be,” says Andy Turland, an ex-pro who’s now mentoring Raja.

With filming set to end in February 2012, Cassie hopes to release Beneath The Border in June. “Raja’s father taught him to be brave and not give up, and he’s applying that to his snowboarding,” she says. “It’s difficult for Kashmir citizens to get a passport, but if Raja becomes a professional snowboarder he could travel and represent his country in a new light.” Tamie Wexler beneaththeboarder.com

Everybody Street Last year, the Seaport Museum in New York invited photographer Cheryl Dunn to create a film inspired by their retrospective of famed street shooter Alfred Stieglitz. “So I took the opportunity to go and meet the photographers that I really loved,” says Dunn. “Stieglitz was sort of the first street photographer in that he took a tripod and a 4x5 camera and roamed around New York, so I wanted to focus on the photographers that came after him.”

Dunn tracked down the likes of Bruce Davidson, Ricky Powell and Mary Ellen Mark and interviewed them at their homes. “I found that, being a practicing street photographer for twenty-odd years, I had a little more insight into the mindset of that type of artist,” she says. “I liked the challenge of someone saying to me, ‘Okay, you can have thirty minutes,’ then gaining their trust and hanging out with them for a couple of hours. Everyone told me, ‘[Bruce Davidson’s] so curmudgeon-y.’ I was nervous because I wanted Photo: Cheryl Dunn

to like him. Then I got in his studio, and now we’re bros!”

Inspired by the interviews, Dunn decided to make a feature-length from the museum edit and raised $45,000 on Kickstarter to cover costs. “It’s a curious time for photography,” says Dunn, who hopes to release Everybody Street within the next few months. “Technology is changing so fast, but I hope that people come away from this doc appreciating the importance of [street photography] history. Just because something new comes out, it doesn’t mean that what was there before is obsolete.” Shelley Jones everybodystreet.com

17

Wrestling For Good Eco project WildCoast is using the fighting spirit of lucha libre to clean up the coast.

Text Isabel de Bertodano Illustration JACK TEAGLE

Serge Dedina never meant to become an eco guerrilla. When he set up

endangered sea turtles’ eggs possess aphrodisiac qualities. The advert

his charity, WildCoast, in 2000, he simply wanted to preserve his beloved

– which featured Dorismar in a bikini alongside a slogan that read, ‘Mi

Californian coastlines.

hombre no necesita huevos de tortuga’ (‘My man doesn’t need turtle

But he soon found himself engaged in open warfare. “With the election

eggs’) – made headlines provoking discussion in newspapers across

of Bush in the US and Vicente Fox in Mexico [in 2000], the floodgates

Mexico and even reaching The New York Times and The Guardian. It also

of development opened,” he says. “We were trying to do proactive

succeeded in cutting the consumption of turtle eggs. “The ad was funny

conservation projects, but we’d wake up every day fighting Chevron,

and sexy, that’s why it worked,” says Dedina. “We were saying that saving

Texaco, Mitsubishi, Shell, or the Mexican government, which was trying to

the turtles is an authentic part of Mexican culture.”

build twenty-six mega resorts. It was overwhelming.”

Since then, WildCoast has been working to pre-empt future

Over the last decade, WildCoast has become an irritating thorn in the

developments that could end up gnawing at the coastline by buying great

side of some of the world’s most powerful corporations. This is partly

swathes of land, particularly in Mexico. In 2010 alone, the organisation

thanks to Dedina’s ability to persuade big names in Mexican popular

conserved 4,371 acres and 2.3 miles of coastline along the Valle de los

culture to help mobilise people who may not normally take an interest

Cirios Pacific Coast through conservation agreements with local residents.

in conservation. What Bono and Bob Geldof have done for charity

Says Dedina: “Over the past year, whether it was in Cabo Pulmo,

fundraising in Britain, a wrestling hero and a former Playboy model are

southern Mexico, Magdalena Bay, the Tijuana Estuary or the Otay River

doing for conservation in Mexico and California.

Valley, the WildCoast team has worked diligently with government

El Hijo del Santo, Tijuana’s best known lucha libre wrestler, has starred

agencies, local residents, business owners and land owners to conserve

in a series of short films about overfishing and the protection of marine

amazing areas and wildlife that thrives there, so that future generations

areas. Last year he worked with Dedina to prevent development of the

may have the opportunity to enjoy a wild coast at its very best.”

tiny fishing village of Cabo Pulmo in Baja California, where a Spanish

And he’s not backing down anytime soon. “I’m optimistic,” he insists.

company, Hansa Urbana, had received the green light on plans for hotel

“I want future generations to be able to see places on earth that still look

and condominium accommodation for 40,000 people.

like they did 1,000 years ago. I believe it’s important.”

Another WildCoast campaign saw Dedina enlisting the help of model-turned-soap opera star Dorismar in a bid to expose the myth that

18 HUCK

wildcoast.net

OST M R OU MES F O E “ONANTED GAEAR” W THE AYMESRADAR OF –G

© 2012 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, EA SPORTS, the EA SPORTS logo and SSX are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. “2”, “PlayStation”, “PS3”, “Ô and “À” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. KINECT, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

OUT MARCH 2, 2012 www.ea.com/uk/ssx

Powder First Pro snowboarder Celia Miller is taking all the chances she can get.

Text Ed Andrews Photography Dan Milner

It’s snowing in Davos for the O’Neill Evolution. Well, that’s a bit of an understatement. Torrents of glacial soup have been falling non-stop on these mountains in southeast Switzerland for the past few days, playing havoc with the 6Star Ticket To Ride (TTR) snowboard contest set to go down. Irony aside, one competing rider isn’t about to pass on the opportunity to get knee-deep in the white stuff.

“I was riding powder with one of the judges yesterday,” says Celia Miller, the twenty-six-year-old Breckenridge local, currently competing on her first full season of the TTR circuit. “You forget there’s a contest to ride. You just think, ‘There’s a cliff I want to drop off’, and get lost in the moment.”

For the past three seasons, Celia has immersed herself in filming, claiming parts in Peep Show’s all-female Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow and SixEleven’s STOP... Hammertime! It may seem like a reversal of the conventional order to now don a bib and trick on demand for money and points, but Celia’s got her reasons. “Next year, it’s qualifications for the US Olympic team, so I’m going to make a push to qualify,” she explains, optimism lacing her every word. “It’s a once-in-alifetime opportunity – you’ve got to try.”

This

Rocky-esque

attitude

seems

all-encompassing

for

the

Connecticut-raised shredder who only started snowboarding on the state’s bullet-proof hills when she was sixteen – by which time most pros these days are already nicely hooked up with sponsors. “It’s the ice coast for sure,” says Celia, about the Eastern Seaboard’s challenging climate. “It’s cloudy and cold in the winter, but it makes you appreciate snowboarding more when you go out west and think, ‘Holy cow!’ I try not to take it for granted.”

Celia may aim high, but she’s not about to gamble her future on the sport. Despite riding for the likes of O’Neill and Flow snowboards, she also owns and runs her own store, Moxie Clothing Boutique, in the centre of Breckenridge, Colorado.

“We’ve got cute sparkly shirts and jewellery, handbags and all that girly crap,” laughs Celia. “It’s completely separate from snowboarding – it’s kinda like my outside life. I have a lot of girls working for me, so I can handle it from the road. It makes me feel like an adult because, as a snowboarder, I feel like I’m a twelve-year-old kid all the time. It brings me back down to earth.”

Back at the contest, the snow keeps falling and Celia seems anxious to go out and bag some more powder lines while it’s good. She may have failed to qualify for the finals, but like any go-getter, she’s not phased: “It’s what we live for, the personal stuff. When I’m older, I’m not going to be like, ‘I remember that contest!’ It’s the experiences with your friends, those backcountry powder days. That’s the stuff that makes an imprint.”

20 HUCK

. s r e id r 8 . s o 8 vide old Medal.

1 x games G

photo: natalie mayer

crepel/sollors/walsh/m端ller/r端f/oksanen/backstrom/jackson

feb 21: watch the top 8 backcountry riders battle:

facebook.com/burn

22 HUCK

Bollywood Breaks Think New York is hip hop’s only home? B-boying project Tiny Drops is determined to put India on the map.

Text Cinnamon Nippard Photography gARIMA JAIN

A world away from the streets of New York, in abandoned spaces in Delhi and Mumbai, groups of b-boys are practising their moves. Over the last few years, dozens of crews have sprung up across India, rocking names like Slumgods, Roc Fresh Crew and Agnastik Crew. And it’s all thanks to a b-boy from the States called He Ra. Netrapal Singh, aka He Ra, grew up immersed in New York hip hop.

In October 2001, he and his mother were deported after their case for political asylum was rejected. In India, He Ra continued to dance in his spare time. Then one day, in 2007, he was invited to visit an after-school centre in the Dharavi slum and decided to start an impromptu throwdown.

The kids joined in and b-boying project Tiny Drops was born.

With projects in Mumbai, Delhi and Dharavi, He Ra is constantly amazed by the talented kids who come to Tiny Drops to hang out and learn new moves – kids like local orphan, Rishi. “He’s a really quiet kid with a lot of soul,” explains He Ra. “He’s doing footwork and I’m like, ‘Where did you get that?’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, I just made it up.’”

For He Ra, the beauty of b-boying is that you don’t need money to join in; the kids dance anywhere, accompanied by hip hop tracks buzzing out of cheap mobile phones. “You can feel really lost here,” explains He Ra. “You’re just, like, one in 1.3 billion and you’re poor. It can feel a bit like, ‘Who are you? Who am I?’” India is a country divided along hierarchical lines, but He Ra says b-boying gives the kids a way to connect: “It’s starting to break class and caste walls, because you’re connecting, like, ‘Yo, you rock a headspin, I rock a headspin!’ which is amazing. It’s just straight human-to-human communication that didn’t exist before. There used to be massive walls, but these kids are just obliterating them.”

Of course, there are those who see hip hop’s global spread as a form of ‘cultural imperialism’, but He Ra is quick to point out that similar Indian dance forms date back to the eighties. “I’m Punjabi and we also have a form of freestyling dance where we get down on the floor,” explains He Ra, who says he’s keen to help the kids embrace their own heritage.

And with plans to expand their programs to include filmmaking, music production and a multi-lingual hip hop magazine, Tiny Drops is determined to create a culture of its own. “Yesterday we were beatmaking with a friend of mine who’s a deejay from LA and he was blown away,” says He Ra. “He was like, ‘Yo, how did they pick it up so fast?’ And I’m like, ‘Because, here, you have nothing else.’ If I was in New York I could do a million things, but here you’re like, ‘Give me anything and I’ll rock it.’” tinydrops.org

23

No Fizz!

Pro snowboarders Austin Smith and Bryan Fox want you to appreciate H2O. Text Ed Andrews Illustration Dominic Owen

“Billions of dollars are being spent on marketing to get people to drink

“It’s more about raising awareness that not all snowboarders and

energy drinks and sugary beverages,” says pro snowboarder Austin

skateboarders like energy drinks,” says Smith, who stresses that he likes

Smith, “but there’s no one telling you to just drink water.”

his water from a tap, not a plastic bottle. “We’re still trying to figure out

Spurred on by this marketing void, Smith and fellow pro Bryan Fox

where we want to try and take this. Whether it’s about raising awareness

decided it was about time someone started championing the benefits of

[about the benefits of drinking] water in the snowboard scene, or trying

H20. So, to that end, they set up their own awareness-raising venture – a

to provide water for people that don’t have it, I’d just like to get kids

‘movement’ they’re calling Drink Water.

psyched on water.”

It all started in early 2011 when the pair scrawled ‘Drink Water’ on

It’s a brave move, though. Head to any action sports event, watch any

their boards as a joke, mocking the many drink sponsors swilling around

video, and you’ll be bombarded by logos from one of many soft drinks

snowboarding. “We’ve never been fans of energy drinks,” says Smith,

companies trying to sell you their brand of caffeinated pop. In fact,

passionately. “I don’t want to promote something I don’t use and don’t

without their cash, many events and videos may not exist. So, are these

believe in. If you don’t use it, you don’t tell kids you love it. I think it’s

companies a necessary evil?

pretty obvious and well known that most people don’t support these products beyond the pay cheques they receive.”

“They do provide a lot of opportunities within snowboarding and action sports,” concedes Smith. “They’re pumping an insane amount of money

The idea may have started out as a joke, but seeing the potency of their

into snowboarding and enabling it to grow even through this recession.

simple motto, the duo were given a screen-printing press by friend and

It’s hard for people to say no to them, but somebody has to do it. I owe

former Nitro Snowboards team manager Tonino Copene, who suggested

snowboarding a lot. I’ve gotten to travel around the world and meet all these

they print out T-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers to help spread the message

amazing people. I value it so much and want to keep it cool. Right now, I kind

from their Oregon base. So they did. Before long, the pair found themselves

of see it getting whored out and I’m trying to bring it back a notch.”

selling apparel via their website and donating ten per cent of profits to water.org, a non-profit that provides drinking water to those in need.

24 HUCK

wedrinkwater.com

all originals

have the look

avignon

adidas.com/originalseyewear

© 2011 adidas AG. adidas, the Trefoil, and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group. Silhouette Int. Schmied AG, adidas Global Licensee. © 2011 adidas AG. Le nom adidas, le logo trèfle et la marque aux 3 Bandes sont des marques desposées par le Groupe adidas. pic ©: Alex Förderer

26 HUCK

Scotty Wittlake by Neil DaCosta

In an exclusive interview with HUCK last y e a r, D a v i d B e n e d e k e x p l o r e d t h e t h o u g h t process that led him to segue from pro snowboarder to publisher in the space o f t w o y e a r s . T h e r e s u l t o f t h a t j o u r n e y, Current State: Snowboarding, is a massive 450-page, double-volume book that cuts straight to snowboarding’s inner core.

Here, he shares a personal highlight – a conversation with Scotty Wittlake that’s about as honest as it gets.

grew up with snowboarding already firmly

many disparate worlds co-exist within it:

on the global map but a long way from being

a mainstream that’s incredibly powerful,

an established sport, so I feel fairly lucky to

especially at distorting people’s perceptions

have experienced such a rapid development

of what snowboarding can and cannot be;

in such a short period of time. The reason I

and a core that is certainly very healthy and

started working on this book was because,

vibrant, but often blurs the border with its

for a while now, I had been wondering

commodified counterpart. What I wanted

where exactly snowboarding had arrived

to create (or curate) was simply a subjective

since then. Where are we, now that we’ve

line-up of people who, to me, embody the

ascended up the ranks of established sports?

qualities and attitudes I personally associate

And, maybe in more general terms, what is

with snowboarding, and assemble them, and

left of a subculture when it is embraced by

their opinions, in one publication.

the mainstream?

Scotty Wittlake is one of these people.

So, propelled by my own curiosity rather

Having quickly risen to fame in the early

than for the sake of the book’s title, I started

2000s because of both his incredible video

to interview people about snowboarding’s

parts and eccentric mentality, Scotty surprised

current state; people who I thought played or

the snowboard world by formally retiring just

are playing a significant role in establishing

a few years later, at the peak of his career. He

and defining what snowboarding culture is

lives in Portland, Oregon, still snowboards

or has been. I wanted to know where they

most winter days, and works on construction

think we’re heading and what they feel

sites, Alaskan fishing boats and as a bike

snowboarding currently is, given that so

courier to pay his way. DAVID BENEDEK

27

David Benedek: Why did you quit being a professional snowboarder?

Scotty Wittlake: [Laughs] Oh, everyone who’s asked me this has probably gotten lots of different stories. There are so many different reasons why I chose to do that, and whatever happened to be a more important reason that day is what that person got as their story.

What would be today’s? Well for me, personally, being a part of this industry – any industry – was already kind of a stretch from what I believed in.

What part of the industry didn’t you want to be a part of? Well, marketing an image, basically. You’re promoting an idea to make people act a certain way, and I find that manipulative character very repelling. Also, I’d have to say that at some point I wasn’t progressing as much anymore, and I really started noticing how repetitive the seasonal cycle was. You know, I still loved snowboarding, and had a blast every time I went, but I wasn’t really getting that much better, and that made me feel kind of shitty about myself. I never wanted to

Did that uncomfortable feeling have a lot to do with the fact that

be the guy who’s just doing the same thing every year and playing it

snowboarding had become your job? Especially with the pressure

off like hot shit in each new video. I never wanted to be that guy, and I

that comes along with it? I don’t think so. You know, I was really

was thinking, ‘I can still go and snowboard as much, no matter what.’

young, and I was just like, ‘This is awesome.’ I still thought it was kind

The professional side has absolutely nothing to do with the feeling of

of a fluke that I was making it at all, so I think I was pretty immersed

riding your snowboard.

in the moment, simply enjoying not having to have a job.

But do you really think you were too close to the centre of that

Productions video from 1999], I was still working in the snowboard park

manipulation? The reason I ask is because it felt like you had a decent

at Squaw Valley at nights. It was more that once I wasn’t progressing

amount of control over whether the image you personally promoted

that much on the filming side anymore, I wasn’t really putting all my

was contrived or not. It’s not like you were particularly engaged

heart and soul into it and living up to my end of the bargain. So I was

with, or guilty of, replacing people’s dreams with a sponsor’s

like, ‘If there’s no other reason why I’m doing this other than money,

product. Sure, people were saying, ‘Man, you were doing your own

I’m selling out. Am I scared to give up the pay cheque? I fucking hope

thing and saying ‘fuck it’ to a lot of stuff and really following your

not! If that’s what I’m scared of, I hate what I’ve become!’

During the whole year I filmed for The Revival [a Kingpin

ideals.’ But really, coming from my background – and I had already departed from my really anarchist views, you know [laughs] – I was

Weren’t you already donating part of your pay cheque at that stage,

still compromising my ideals just to be mildly involved and become

anyway? Well, I had been giving my board royalties to Outside In [an

part of the machine. The fact of the matter is that I don’t believe in this

organisation that works with homeless and marginalised youth]. But I

crazy civilisation we all live in. At all. And even though that’s probably

still made plenty to live, you know? Mervin [Manufacturing] gave me

not going to change today, or even in our lifetimes, it doesn’t mean I’m

a flat monthly cheque anyway, which was way more than I needed to

going to give up and say, ‘Okay, I join in.’

live off, and then on top of that they were going to pay me whatever the

I grew up in the DIY punk scene here [in Portland], and I just never

pro model incentive came out to be, which was like seventeen bucks

wanted to become that older guy you see around who doesn’t care

[for every board sold] or something. I didn’t need all that money. What

about his views anymore and says, ‘That shit’s never going to happen.

for? I found it really bizarre that people thought I was crazy to not be

Just fucking give up.’ I guess I needed to cut my ties with snowboarding

hoarding as much money as I could.

and tiptoe back into levels I felt good about.

Did they find it crazy? Oh, yeah [laughs]. ‘You’re being a fucking idiot – you’re ruining your life!’ was a quote someone said to my face. And I was like, ‘How am I ruining my life? Do you realise how much money

“THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT I DON’T BELIEVE IN THIS CRAZY CIVILISATION WE A L L L I V E I N . AT A L L .”

we all make in snowboarding?’ And I find out now that I was making considerably less than a lot of people, and small potatoes compared to what people make now. I am not trying to say I’m right and they’re wrong, you know? Who am I to judge that? Obviously, this is right for them. At least they think so… But really, it was just like some of these people and I were coming from two different sides of the universe, or something. People kept talking about how much money they were making, and how it’s not enough because they need to refinance their second beach home, or something. And I was like, ‘I don’t understand.

When is enough going to be enough?’ I doubt anyone will ever get to a point in their life and say, ‘Perfect, I reached the amount of money I was looking for.’ What is it with people having to carry on this absurd and never-ending mission?

28 HUCK

“ I ’ M N O T A P S Y C H O L O G I S T, BUT I THINK AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL THIS IRRATIONAL LONGING FOR MATERIAL SUCCESS LIES A S U B C O N S C I O U S F E A R O F D E AT H .”

Powder panic: Scotty and Bryan Fox by Bryan Fox.

29

[Laughs] Because life… it’s like a fight, man, to get to the top. It’s rooted in our most primal instincts. To get to the top of a mountain that doesn’t exist? There is no top.

Oh, yeah. Of course there’s no top. But fighting towards this elusive destination is what gives our lives a sense of purpose. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a substantial qualitative difference between hoarding as much money as possible and attaining your specific goals, but I think both are rooted in the same drive to progress – just in different value systems. Oh, yeah – I’m not saying it’s about the physical aspect of money in your bank account, but much more about this idea of success; what it means to be successful, and why that’s worth pursuing. A funny argument I always hear is the one of ‘providing for generations to come,’ which is just hilarious. It’s like, ‘Oh, my kids will have money.’ Great. Who cares if they don’t have snow or trees, or if they all have to live with fucking gas masks on their faces.

It just doesn’t make sense. And I don’t know what pro snowboarders did with all that money; they probably bought every PlayStation that ever came out, or a new Apple iPhone every month and a half. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with that, but I personally didn’t feel comfortable living like that.

And seriously, I wonder what the goal is. When I look at our ‘normal’ way of life, it no longer has anything to do with actually living. We all just perform some task in exchange for monetary compensation, which we then exchange for things we need to stay alive, literally.

That’s really the best we’ve come up with? I’m not a psychologist, but I think at the bottom of all this irrational longing for material success lies a subconscious fear of death that’s ingrained in human nature – of it all ending and us being forgotten. And the more stuff we have our names on, the more we live on after death. People don’t want to disappear thinking they didn’t matter, you know what I mean?

Whoever has the most things when he dies, wins. [Laughs] Yeah.

How about just trying to be a good person, you know? And just for yourself, for your own comfort, I think you need to cut yourself off at some point. At least check yourself a little bit; otherwise, you’ll be chasing these things for the rest of your life.

Since you stepped out of that marketable world of snowboarding, it has arguably become more mainstream. Do you still see the same thriving culture that attracted you to snowboarding beneath the surface? Yeah, I think so. The good side to a lot of these mainstream things is that they create a backlash – a whole scene that’s an antithesis to it. So, however far something develops in one direction, there will be a current pulling it towards another. Although, I currently do wonder a little who might represent this antithesis… Is it dudes who slide down handrails and dress like they take their silly outfits serious?

I don’t know. If that’s the antidote to jumping into foam pits, then I am not so sure. Generally, I just look at some of the stuff in magazines that’s supposed to be the counter-model to polished and over-produced content, and so much of it just seems fashion-oriented, which can be really gross sometimes.

Do you mean because it’s robbed of actual content or substance?

Yes, but not only that. I mean, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with fashion when people have fun with it and laugh about it. But when it gets taken even mildly serious it really rubs me the wrong way, especially because it’s so manipulative and creates social stigma. And seeing that much of it in snowboarding is a little weird.

30 HUCK

Where do you see that counterculture thriving, then? Well, maybe you just need to look closer for the real antithesis. Just looking at other parallels in our society – as far as political groups or so go – the people who represent a real backlash to something usually live on the fringes of what’s visible because what they do is not really a marketable, sellable idea, although some eventually might become that. Take the NoBoard movement *, for example. The guys that started that could be seen as one counter-model in snowboarding. Those dudes are badass, and they were just doing their own thing with no ulterior motives, you know? And even now, its potential to be exploited is pretty limited.

Hiking in the trees is a pretty hard thing to market; it’s not like you’re selling bubblegum or something.

Or when I look at my best friend Paul [Laca], who lives in Alaska year-round – he’s a perfect example of that. He’s not part of any of those things, but he shreds up there all winter long and works as a fisherman in the summers to be able to afford that. So, maybe that individual level is now the antithesis.

It’s kind of the same thing that you’ve reverted your snowboarding back to, wouldn’t you say? [Laughs] Yeah, I’m completely out of touch with any part of the snowboard scene. I go up on the mountain and there’s not really a scene here, you know? It’s stormy days most of the time, and everyone’s just bundled up with their faces covered, riding the trees.

So, did it work out after all? Your plan to be in the mountains just as much and retain what you loved about riding your snowboard? Oh, totally. I worked a crappy eight-to-five job in the city last winter, and

Paul Laca, breaking trail for Scotty in AK.

I’d still snowboard three days a week on average, which is a lot for a weekend warrior.

You should see Bryan [Fox] and I when we go up: I don’t know anyone else in the world who has the powder panic that we have [laughs]. It’s ridiculous – we’ll literally be running across the parking lot, in sheer panic mode to get to the lift, even though there’s only one person waiting in line and it’s not even open yet. It’s totally irrational how excited we act on powder days – just total chaos for the first few runs, chasing each other off cliffs and anything we can find. If you had audio of us on some of those runs in the morning you’d think we were on nitrous or something [laughs].

This ability to have creative control over what you’re doing, and exercising at the same time… it’s just such great mental therapy, if nothing else. And it’s a side of snowboarding you don’t get with filming, you know? It’s really fun to film and land tricks that you’ve been working on – that’s an accomplishment and a great feeling. But it’s really different than just being out when there’s no ulterior motive.

When Bryan and I are up there shredding on pow days, it’s like no one else even knows we’re there. No one would know any of that existed besides the two of us. You’re in a peaceful area, with no people around, and the snow sucks up all the noise. It’s that magical silence you’re in that’s just… it’s just not man-created, you know? It’s just snow falling in the wilderness *The NoBoard movement is credited to a variety of individuals but is most prominently associated with Revelstoke, BC, snowboarders Greg Todds and Cholo

Scotty Wittlake by Liam Gallagher.

Burns. They began riding binding-less boards in the late nineties and have fuelled a resurgence of more surf-inspired freeriding and out-of-the-box board shaping.

For more information about David Benedek’s Current State: Snowboarding, and to order a copy, go to almostanything.com.

31

32 HUCK

The Mattson 2 are getting SoCal stoked on their unique blend of surf jazz.

Te xt Joel Muz z ey Photography Embry R uck er

he Mattson 2 aren’t exactly ‘jazz’. And

jazz, only wanted to listen to jazz,” remembers Jared. But it

they don’t really fit under the nebulous

wasn’t until a chance meeting with artist Thomas Campbell,

‘surf music’ banner, either. If anything,

founder of Galaxia Records, that the boys started to see

the music produced by these snappily

potential for their music beyond their bedroom walls.

suited

twins

falls

into

the

hard-to-

“Our older brother Micah was shooting some stuff with

navigate ‘experimental’ sea. But unlike

Thomas for TransWorld Skateboarding magazine,” explains

the electronic pings and technical pangs

Jonathan. “So, one day Thomas calls up, hears us playing in

of most instrumental music, Mattson

the background and is like, ‘What are you listening to?’ The

2 melodies are much more accessible.

following week he came and met us at our house and listened

They’re fun and groovy, with an oddly

to us rehearse and that kinda started the whole thing.”

familiar yet somehow foreign sizzle.

Since that fateful day, they’ve gone on to record three LPs on

Mattson family lore has it that twins

Galaxia, a label that boasts skate legends Ray Barbee, Tommy

Jared and Jonathan danced to Ornette

Guerrero, and surfer Alex Knost’s band Tomorrow’s Tulips.

Coleman in their crib. “My dad was super

Galaxia bands may share common roots in board culture, but

into jazz, he’s always listened to it,” says

the twins believe that Thomas inspires diversity. “When we got

guitarist Jared, the elder of the pair, now

into jazz, we started out listening to the giants like Miles Davis,

aged twenty-five. The dusty blonde brothers are sitting across

Bill Evans, and John Coltrane,” says Jared, supposedly the less

from me, shoulder to shoulder, sipping margaritas in a classic

talkative of the pair, “but we started exchanging music with

Mexican bar tucked down a lush jungle-like canyon in Solana

Thomas and he introduced us to the guys on his label as well as

Beach, California, just a few miles south of where they grew

Chet Baker, Chico Hamilton and Gábor Szabó…”

up in Encinitas.

Jonathan chips in: “He also introduced us to the Thrill

Skinny suits aside, they look right at home here in the

Jockey label and the Chicago scene: Tortoise and Sam Prekop.

sunburned beach towns of San Diego’s North County, home to

That kinda opened up a whole new dimension for us. From

the area’s best surf breaks and the cradle of SoCal skate culture.

there, we were able to have a more open-minded approach to

And at first glance, it’s hard to tell them apart. Jared is a hair

composition. We just used the jazz background as a kind of

taller, thanks to a Morrissey bouffant, but his features almost

palette to draw on.”

mirror Jonathan’s, if perhaps a bit more aquiline. Jonathan’s look is a tad more measured – subtler, one might say.

A seemingly bottomless love for music carried the brothers through their undergrad years at UC San Diego, where they

But as much as they may emanate a jazz cool vibe, there’s

studied music and composition. Today, the twins are currently

something harder at their roots. “At first we were into The

enrolled at UC Irvine on a full scholarship, where they’re

Clash and GBH and stuff; old-school punk,” says Jared,

undertaking an elite master’s in experimental music.

munching on nachos. This influence came by way of their

But it was the opportunity to feature on Thomas’s soul-

older brother Micah, who skated on the Zero team for a time

surf films Sprout (2004) and The Present (2009) that really

and, by junior high, the two brothers had started learning their

gave them global exposure. “Those films opened a big door

own instruments and working out the mechanics of punk rock.

for us into that whole surf world,” says Jared. “They were so

It was Jonathan who first rediscovered jazz in their pre-

respected and stood apart from everything else that was going

high school days. “I actually saw a John Coltrane poster,” he

on in surfing. It was really incredible to be a part of that.”

says, “and I asked my dad who he was because I really liked the

As we drain our margaritas, I ask them what it’s like

photo. The next day he brought home the Giant Steps record

being twins and whether the whole ‘special connection’

for us. That kinda started it all. I remember we were so used

phenomenon is real. Does it affect the music they make?

to listening to punk music and Modest Mouse and stuff, where

They nod simultaneously. “Whenever we’re talking we finish

the songs are like three minutes, that Giant Steps felt like it was

each other’s sentences, so why wouldn’t that happen with the

just going on forever. I’d never heard a song that long.”

music, too?” says Jonathan. “Lots of guys in bands have to look

It wasn’t long before the twins were hooked and started exploring the genre in more depth. “We only wanted to play

at each other to see what part is coming up next, we just kind of feel it.”

33

KEEPIN' IT COUNTRY 34 HUCK

Hawaiian bodysurfer Mark Cunningham is defending Oahu with all his might.

Te x t Jon Coen Photography A a r o n K . Yo s h i n o

ark Cunningham has his own parking bay at work. Actually, he’s retired now, but he still shows up on important days, and no one hassles him for claiming his spot.

The ‘important days’ are generally those when Pipe starts unloading.

On these winter swells, the cars parked at Ehukai Beach Park spill out of the lot, onto Kam Highway and the surrounding residential streets.

And you don’ wanna block da driveway, cuz.

Cunningham, who lifeguarded for the City and County of Honolulu for some thirty years and is widely regarded as one of Oahu’s preeminent bodysurfers, pulls his ’83 bio-diesel Benz right up the access road and parks next to a tree house belonging to surfing golden boy, John John Florence.

This is one such day. The wind and swell direction are ideal and triple overhead monsters are unfolding in a violent lurch. On days like this, Cunningham can be found sitting just inside the pack of some fifty or more hellions, picking off spitting tubes on his chest.

But after years of saving lives, Cunningham, fifty-six, is now fully involved in saving something else. Today, he sits on the board of the Defend Oahu Coalition. These are the guys who are fighting to ‘Keep the Country Country’. And while that sounds like a pretty broad scope, in reality the organisation has one specific mission. “Even though the name of the organisation is Defend Oahu, which sounds allencompassing, the real battle that we stay focused on is the proposed expansion of the Turtle Bay,” says Cunningham.

35

“ A s a n at i v e o f H a w a i i , it absolutely breaks m y h e a r t that w e ha v e s o l d o u r s o u l comp l e t e l y to th e to u r i s m d e v i l . ”

While Turtle Bay itself

North Shore. It’s been really

is a little body of water full

good

of giant shelled reptiles on

providing jobs and benefits

Oahu’s North Shore, between

for the people here.”

to

the

community,

Kuilima Point and Protection

And yet for Cunningham,

Point, it’s the growth of the

the most obnoxious aspect of

375-room,

thirty-one-suite,

the resort is probably the golf

forty-two-cottage resort that

course – although he’s aware

Cunningham and his fellow

not everyone would agree.

activists stand in opposition

After all, Cunningham’s bud,

to. The hotel is the setting of

Kelly Slater, who’s also voiced

the 2008 Jason Segel film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. (“Oh, a wedding in

his desire to ‘Keep the Country Country’, enjoys a round or two on these

Hawaii,” exclaims Cunningham, “real original!”)

Arnold Palmer-designed links. “I’m not a golfer. I’m kind of old-school

Under the management of its former owners, LA-based Oak Tree

in that what golf represents to me is not where I place my values,” says

Capital Management, Turtle Bay has for decades been trying to build

Cunningham, watching the spit pump out of another man-eater. “The

and subdivide 700 acres of its land to eventually create 3,500 more

amount of fertiliser and pesticides that get dumped on these things,

units. “They had been wooing the community in the late seventies and

and eventually run into our reef and water, is just appalling. I think the

there were a handful of community activists who were going, ‘Oh my

environmental impact of a golf course is pretty huge.”

god. One is enough,’” explains Cunningham.

For Cunningham, it’s all part of a bigger problem. “As a native

The ‘Keep the Country Country’ rally cry has become as much a part

of Hawaii, it absolutely breaks my heart that we have sold our soul

of North Shore life as the hotel itself. In that sense, the battle would

completely to the tourism devil. We’ve put all our economic eggs in the

seem an odd one, yet it’s been going on since the seventies. On one

tourism basket,” he says, gravely. Cunningham is not an opponent of

hand, you have folks who want to maintain the natural integrity of the

tourism – quite the contrary; he’s pulled many fanny-packers out of life-

North Shore. On the other, you have the only hotel game in town.

threatening situations and truly lives the spirit of Aloha. It’s the lack of

And we’re not talking about some garish, Vegas-style high-rise

business diversity he laments.

casino offering half-day seal-hunting excursions to the filthy rich.

Decades ago, Hawaii’s top industries were sugar and pineapple

There are dozens of hotels on the South Shore far more offensive to a

exports, with US military bases being a third source of revenue. Now,

sense of ecological and aesthetic decency. Instead, the Turtle Bay is a

everything is imported and the cargo ships depart sitting much higher

low-key kind of place that fits into the natural landscape and embraces

on the water than when they came in, leaving Hawaii more reliant than

traditional Polynesian culture. It has taken a long road to become one

ever on the cash visitors bring to its shores.

of the few Green Hotels as certified by the state of Hawaii. They grow

With that in mind, Cunningham isn’t out to preserve the North

food for their restaurants and herbs for the spa on-site. The staff is rich

Shore just for locals. “It’s for everyone who visits here. It’s for everyone

with Mahalos without being overbearing. They sponsor the Vans Triple

who lives in Honolulu and needs a little time out and greenery. You

Crown, spearhead the ‘Clean Sweep’ beach clean-ups, host local school

don’t want to be stuck in two hours of traffic to get to it. I feel like Hawaii

events, encourage guests to reuse, and host a Christmas breakfast for

is shooting itself in the foot sometimes through its lack of planning

hundreds of underprivileged local families.

[strategies] and not taking better care of the guests and residents.”

And just this winter, Surfer magazine partnered with the hotel to

On the issue of expansion, the Turtle Bay’s Public Relations

open a bar that will host star-studded events all season. Unsurprisingly,

Manager, Keoki Wallace, offers a valid counter argument rather than a

they’re almost always booked to capacity.

canned corporate response: “I live here. My daughter graduated from

“We totally support the existing hotel,” concedes Cunningham, of

Kahuku High School last year and she can’t find a job. Five of my six

the resort built in the late sixties. “It’s the number-one employer on the

kids have had to go to the mainland to find work. I think we can create

36 HUCK

reasonable growth and I think the ownership has that in mind. There

Though most people on the North Shore are generally supportive of the

has to be a better alternative to sending our kids away to the mainland.”

Coalition (a sign off the Kam Highway reading, ‘Nuff Hotels Already’

He runs down a list of charitable programs and fundraisers

has been sitting there for years), Cunningham explains that it’s hard to

supported by the Turtle Bay, including the non-profit Ko’olauloa

get people engaged.

Educational Alliance Corporation (of which he is a chairman), which

“The newest owners are finally sort of getting it,” he says. “There’s

works to set up local high school students with specific education for

an organisation called Replay Resorts running it now. And they seem

their chosen careers. “I think both sides need to talk,” says Wallace.

smaller, younger, hipper – they have their finger on the pulse of the

“We need realistic expansion. But do we need to make it excessive? No.”

community out here. It’s quite obvious how they’ve been able to attract

In fairness, Defend Oahu’s real gripe was with the Turtle Bay’s

the surfing community to have so many of their events there. It’s a real

previous owners, Oaktree Capital – a venture capital fund headquarters

Catch-22. They’ve at least engaged in the conversation with us. But the

with no roots or connection to Hawaii. Their plans for expansion would

people who manage the hotel are the same people pushing for two to

have flown in the face of a decision taken decades ago by Honolulu city

three more hotels and hundreds of millions of dollars of resort villas.”

planners that any urban sprawl should move toward the west side, leaving the North Shore’s natural environment in tact.

Of course, Cunningham’s celebrity has been bumped up a notch thanks to Keith Malloy’s bodysurfing documentary Come Hell or High

According to Wallace, the Turtle Bay will never become as

Water, which was screened at Sunset Elementary School in December

overpopulated as Waikiki, thanks to its 850 acres of land. The whole

2011, following day two of a historic Billabong Pipe Masters. As a star

of Waikiki’s tourist trap is only 400 acres with a combined total of

and producer of the film, Cunningham was invited to receive the award

60,000 guest units. Even with expansion, the Turtle Bay would cap

for ‘Best Cinematography’ at the Surfer Poll Awards – held, ironically,

out at 5,000 units.

at the Turtle Bay.

But for Defend Oahu, a spike in traffic is still a real concern.

But he didn’t attend.

King Kamehameha Highway – an old, two-lane road that runs

“It’s always the big debate between jobs and preservation,” says

from Kaneohe to Haleiwa – already gets choked up periodically.

Cunningham. “Like all of life, it’s a balancing act, trying to find

Development begets more roads, which beget more development.

the right balance.”

37

Mags WITH Yes, they exist! Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine, speaks to HUCK about the future of a more disruptive media.

38 HUCK

Interview Vince Medeiros ost magazines are full of ads, right? A commercial assault

at the philosophical roots of revolutions or talking about aesthetics and

on your senses as you flick through page after page of

the backbone of activism, then it’s hard to beat a hard-copy magazine

sexy this and oh-my-god that before you get to what’s

that feels good in your hand. This is a complementary model that people

probably a piece of PR-led editorial, let’s be honest. Not

like us can pioneer.

Adbusters. Kalle Lasn, the sixty-nine-year-old pioneer behind the iconic anti-establishment magazine, has made it his business

It also allows you to make a more collaborative kind of journalism,

to challenge advertising for twenty-odd years now. With thousands of

as opposed to a mag made by a bunch of editors and journalists in an

loyal subscribers and an online network of over 100,000 followers, the

office. Do you agree? The internet has allowed us to have a global creative

magazine is one big resounding ‘fuck-you’ to corporate advertising and

model. Our creative director is in São Paulo, Brazil. One of our editors

consumer culture. And in 2012, as the economy crumbles all around us,

is in Berkeley, California, and I’m fifty kilometres outside Vancouver

he remains one optimistic dude, seeing a new future in print and hailing

in touch with our team all over the world. [We now] play a global game

the Occupy movement (which he had a hand in creating) as the catalyst

creatively. And that sort of creativity is hard to beat. […] We have this

to a new era.

culture jammers network, and almost 100,000 people have signed up.

We’re in constant communication with those people – we send them

Almost every media outlet out there relies on ads for revenue, and you

stuff and they send us stuff. We let them know what the next issue will

guys have managed without it. That’s incredible. Yes. Right from the

be about, and people send ideas for what the next issue could be about,

start we called ourselves Adbusters and went head on against the whole

and if they shoot some wonderful magical photo on their iPhone then

fucking industry.

they’ll send it to us. The internet is feeding into our system in a pretty profound way. Learning how to harness these kinds of possibilities is

And how’s it going with the mag? Things are pretty good. After Occupy,

what the future is all about.

we’ve had a hell of a resurgence. Now we’re excited about [developing] a new magazine aesthetic that can somehow come to grips with the

Is there a post-advertising publishing model on the horizon? When

internet crisis that all print magazines are in. […] We’re totally dedicated

I was a young man the model of a magazine had something to do

to staying hard copy and pioneering this new aesthetic.

with advertising but it was fairly marginal. It was all about having constituency, a bunch of people who loved what you did and felt they

Tells us about how you guys use the internet. The internet is really

were part of a tribe surrounding what you were doing. That was such

good for doing what we did with Occupy. We sort of riled the world up

a beautiful, down-to-earth model that somehow got subverted by

in some way and catalysed something and then put out various tactical

advertising. Now a design student, or someone like you, doesn’t even

briefings that kept the whole thing going. The internet is great for

contemplate not using advertising. You start calling up advertisers and

campaigning, for the action side of things. But when it comes to looking

putting ads in your magazines even before you get your writers together.

39

Insane, huh? Advertising has occupied our

feel that this time it’s different – we’re actually

minds. There are now roughly between 2,000

going to start picking up momentum and

and 5,000 marketing messages a day seeping

changing every institution in our lives.

into the average brain of anybody who lives in the UK or Canada, the US or Japan. That’s a

There’s a sense of urgency right now, right?

huge onslaught of marketing messages coming

Yes and it’s personal. Revolutions don’t

into your brain, whether you like it or not. A

happen until things get really personal. […]

lot of people who feel stressed or anxious

[And now] we have the tools, we have the

don’t quite know why it’s happening to them.

social media, the internet, and we are able to

Of course it could be happening for all kinds

mobilise ourselves really quickly and create

of reasons, but one of those reasons is this

a flash mob somewhere if we want to. The

incessant onslaught of advertising that not

internet has given us a new model of activism

only attacks your mind and puts a lot of noise

that I think is the best model we’ve ever had.

into your system, but it also tells you lies; it

There’s a lot of potential that we haven’t even

tells you that you can be happy if you buy this

started to realise yet.

or buy that – it’s an emotional mindfuck. […]

But the world is going back. The [future will

And what role do designers play in this

be in magazines] that are driven by the sheer

upcoming revolution? I’ve been saying it

joy of communicating deeply with the largest

for years: designers have been corporate ass

number of people.

kissers. Of all the professions I can think of, designers have ingrained themselves [the

So producing less toxic media is a part of that

most] into the needs of corporations and

process as well. Yes. Part of the reason why

given them beautiful door handles for cars

the Occupy movement started is because there

and wonderful thirty-second TV spots and

was a feeling, that I think was shared by young

full-page ads, etc. The design community

people all around the world, that the future

has a lot to answer for. But then again, lately

does not compute. The future is all about

there’s been a lot of out-of-the-box thinking;

ecological crisis, financial crisis, political

a lot of young designers don’t wanna spend

crisis, and they will never be able to have a life

the rest of their lives kissing corporate ass. I

that’s anywhere like the one their parents had.

have a feeling they’re waking up to the fact

Unless they stand up and fight for a different

that they are very powerful people. […] They

kind of future, then they’re not going to have

realise they are the people who create the style

a future. This is what binds all young people

of culture, the tone of the media, the ambience

of the world together. That’s gonna manifest

of the spaces in which we live and in this sense

itself in all kinds of ways. One of the ways is as

one could argue that they’re some of the most

a major backlash against corporate advertising

powerful people in the world.

and corporate PR, especially in the United States of America, where corporations right

Lastly, what do you think of magazines

now are deciding who’s going to be the next

such as ours, with an activist edge but also

president of the United States. We’re going to

commercial in nature? We live in a world

start occupying the media power centres to

where ninety per cent of the people are living a

make sure they’re working for us and not for

lie. They’re in denial; they don’t want to think

the corporations.

about climate change or political corruption.

They’re caught in their own bubble, especially

That’s exciting. Do they know you’re coming?

in the so-called rich West. So magazines like

We’re at a strange moment right now where

yours can do wonderful things in helping

nobody quite knows what will happen. We had

wake up that ninety per cent. We’ve done a

a big blast last year when it was suddenly cool

lot of stuff in Adbusters about the audience

to be a leftie again. I think the biggest thing

you speak to. These are people with an edge in

the Occupy movement did is rejuvenate the

their lives. Adbusters talk a lot to the converted,

political left worldwide. The political left has a

but you have a whole bunch of interesting

history of fizzling out. Back in 1968, we fizzled

unconverted people, so fuck it, convert them.

out. The Battle of Seattle, we had a moment in

And once the buck starts flowing really good,

the sun there and then we fizzled out. […] But I

turn on your advertisers!

40 HUCK

L I F E L I N E

Shane Dorian charged through the nineties as a celebrated member of surfing’s New School sect.

He chased the trophies, paid his dues – and then swiftly broke free in search of bigger things.

N o w, h a v i n g s t a r e d d o w n d e a t h o n e t o o m a n y times, the big-wave charger and everyday dad has stumbled on the fact that the secret to life is learning how to hold onto it, no matter what.

Te x t A l e x W a d e Photography Morgan Maassen

ona airport, on Hawaii’s Big Island. It’s a clear and hot midDecember day. Two women, bedecked in leis and blue silk dresses, greet new arrivals with dark hair and bright smiles and a gentle, flowing dance to gentle, flowing music. All is unhurried, tranquil and benign. Picture-postcard Hawaii is alive and well.

Outside on the sidewalk, suffused with sun and serenity, I recall what I know about the man I’m waiting for: Shane Dorian. First up, I know what everyone else knows: Shane is one of the twenty-first century’s greatest living surfers. Next, and again like anyone who cares about surfing, I know that Shane is accomplished and fearless in big waves. I also know something that not everyone knows just yet: that he’s invented a wetsuit that inflates when you pull a ripcord. The V1-Suit is for big-wave surfers, and I’d wager that every one of that select breed knows about it, even if they haven’t all acquired the suit yet. I also know that Shane is into hunting, which bucks the norm for après-surf recreation: most professional surfers seem to gravitate to golf or poker. Lastly, having heard his relaxed yet authoritative commentary at the Billabong Pipeline Masters (which has just finished) I also know that Shane is one of surfing’s most articulate sons.

But I don’t know what kind of man Shane is. I wonder if he’ll be gnarly, hard, ruthless; the kind of man who puts his ego first, who enjoys killing the elk and deer that he’s known to hunt. I wonder if he’ll be full of machismo, as menacing as the big waves he surfs. And I wonder whether he lives on the Big Island to escape, to put some space between himself and the circus that is professional surfing at the highest level.

In the midst of these thoughts, Shane arrives. He’s driving a Toyota Tacoma V6 SR5. It’s a big car, the kind that you might expect a big-wave surfer to drive. He pulls up, pushes open the passenger door and says, “How’re you doing?” I say pretty good, after all, I’m on the Big Island, it’s sunny and warm, what could be better? Shane smiles and we set off for his house. He says it’s fifteen minutes’ drive away; he says this in so calm and pleasant a voice that it’s almost an apology.

43

“My family is the most important thing in my life.

I want the best for them, so I try to make sure that the choices I make aren’t t h e r e s u l t o f m y e g o .”

Outside on the veranda, chez Dorian,

So, how does Shane reconcile risking his life in big surf

I watch as Shane pushes his two-year-old daughter Charlie in

with his palpable commitment to his family? “Lisa and I try

a red swing. She’s all eyes for her daddy; he’s all eyes for her.

not to put limitations on each other in our marriage,” he says.

Charlie gurgles with delight as Shane – all the while carefully

“But I will definitely get to the point when it’s time to throw

pushing her back and forth – explains that he and his wife Lisa

in the towel. In fact, I look forward to the day when the charts

are trying to break their daughter’s dependence on her pacifier.

show a huge swell is on its way and I don’t want to go. I’m

Their house is high up in the mountains above Kona, set

It’s no surprise, then, that Shane is regularly invited to the

not a single trace of surfing anywhere. All around, trees are

Eddie, a Waimea Bay big-wave event in honour of legendary

swaying softly in the breeze. Some fifty yards away, almost

Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau. ‘Eddie Would Go’ T-shirts

hidden in the forest, there’s a treehouse that Shane built for

abound on Oahu’s North Shore, and Shane’s commitment

his five-year-old son, Jackson. Inside the living room there’s a

to outsize surf has enabled him to garner the kind of respect

large painting of a dancer, a pair of elk horns on the wall and,

reserved for the likes of the late Aikau. He’s known for riding

adjacent to the kitchen, a blackboard on which is written:

massive Teahupoo with such coolness and poise that he could

‘There are two gifts we should give our children. One is wings,

as easily be a longboarder trimming on a mellow Malibu day.

the other is roots.’ There isn’t a single surfing photograph,

He holds the paddle-in record for surfing Jaws at a mind-

trophy, forgotten leash or tattered magazine. I can’t even see

boggling fifty-seven feet, and scooped the $50,000 Ride of the

any boards outside. A stranger chancing upon the house and

Year award in 2008 for a remarkable Teahupoo ride that saw

its occupants would never guess that the man pushing his

him correct his position not once but twice (the second time in

daughter on her swing was a professional surfer.

the tube) to make one of the thickest, heaviest and downright

Is it deliberate, the way the house is denuded of surfing,

44 HUCK

nearly there already, but not quite. I still want to go.”

in eleven acres of Ohia forest. Suddenly it hits me: there’s

gnarliest waves yet ridden.

or just an accident? “It’s deliberate,” says Shane. “I want to

But big-wave surfing has also taken its toll, both physically

have a home, not a shrine to my career.” The absence of visible

and psychologically. In February 2009, Shane was given

evidence of ego is unusual among top athletes. They get to

such a beating when surfing Mavericks – the notoriously

the top precisely because they are driven to see their name in

dangerous Californian break which, in 1994, claimed the

lights; rare is the medal winner who doesn’t display his booty.

life of Mark Foo, a man Shane knew well – that it took

But Shane, who’ll turn forty in July 2012, is happy to subdue his ego. “My family is the most important thing in my life,” he

two full days to recover. “I went there on 13 February, my wife’s birthday,” he recalls. “I’d never surfed Mavericks but

says. “I want the best for them, so I try to make sure that the

had been building up to it for years. The chart showed a huge

choices I make aren’t the result of my ego.”

swell so I went. The first day was really good. It was really

big, but I felt comfortable and confident. The next day was supposed to be smaller, but it wasn’t. I fell on a wave and had a two-wave hold down.”

Shane speaks in an even, measured tone that masks the drama of that day. According to one witness, he was under water for over a minute. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm,’ but after a while it was impossible not to panic,” he recalls. “I knew I was getting close to blacking out.

I had to start fighting and scrambling for the surface. It was either that or die. Just before I surfaced, I thought, ‘That’s it, there’s no chance, I’m not coming up.’ But I did. There was just time to catch a breath before the next wave hit me.”

Soon, another wave pushed Shane in towards the rocks before Frank Quirarte, a photographer known for his coverage of Mavericks, came to the rescue. “I think I would have been okay by that stage, but was glad to see Frank arrive on his jet ski,” says Shane. For the next two days, Shane felt “really out of it. I had concussion and my body felt battered. I slept for a whole day and night and had a headache for two days. I was so spaced out that I forgot to ring Lisa and say happy birthday.”

But on the plane back to Hawaii, the idea for the V1-Suit crystallised: “I’d been experimenting with foam floatation in wetsuits, but realised that they wouldn’t be enough at a place like Mavericks. The idea of a wetsuit with an inflatable air bladder came to me and as soon as I was home I went online to see if there was anything like it. I was really surprised, but there wasn’t. I did some more research and then got in touch with Hub Hubbard, Billabong’s wetsuit designer. It took another five or six months, then one day a package arrived in the mail. It was the first prototype of the suit, using a CO2 cartridge to inflate the bladder when it’s pulled by a ripcord. I tested it the same day in calm water and couldn’t believe how quickly it brought me to the surface.”

The acid test came soon afterwards in the form of a Cortes Bank paddle-in session: “I wore the suit at Mavericks, but didn’t fall and didn’t need to use it. I wasn’t about to fall there on purpose just to test it. But at Cortes Bank, 100 miles out from the southern California coast, I had a bad wipeout. I

Shane Dorian was born on the Big

got pounded and pushed down really far and knew that this

Island in July 19, 1972. His father, Patrick, was a stunt

was the time to test the suit. As soon as I pulled the ripcord

double for Elvis Presley. “Elvis shot a lot of films on Hawaii,

I stopped panicking, because it brought me to the surface so

but couldn’t swim,” explains Shane. “My father did all his

quickly. I didn’t even swim, I just let the thing take me up. I

swimming scenes.” With his wife Susan, Dorian senior opened

couldn’t believe how well it worked.”

a restaurant on the beach at Kailua-Kona when Shane was

Shane has since tested the suit on a number of other occasions, and reckons he hasn’t been held under for more

three. It was called ‘Dorian’s’ and the original restaurant sign now hangs above a garage outside Shane and Lisa’s house.

than ten seconds whenever he’s used it. Word about the V1-

As a child, Shane learned to bodyboard with nine-time

Suit soon spread, as did demand for it among the big-wave

world bodyboarding champion Mike Stewart, but switched to

community. “I designed the suit to save lives,” says Shane. “It’s

surfing aged five when his father gave him his first board. “My

not for the mass market. Initially I had a list of ten guys who

parents split when I was twelve,” says Shane. “It was difficult

might want one, but the list just keeps growing. Mark Healey

for me. I guess it was the typical experience when parents

and Kelly Slater both have the suit, and people keep emailing

don’t make it. There was a lot of financial hardship. I messed

me about it.”

about with drugs and behaved like an idiot. Some of this

It sounds eminently sensible, the kind of invention that no one could possibly knock. But there have been a few

46 HUCK

Shane pauses and then, in his habitually calm voice, says simply, “I’m sick of seeing my friends die.”

would have happened anyway, but some of it was definitely because I was angry about their divorce.”

naysayers. “I saw one comment on a forum saying that instead

Though he flirted with the idea of going off the rails, Shane

of climbing the mountain, I wanted to make it smaller,” says

never lost focus. At fifteen, he decided to try and make it as

Shane. “Some purists have said that big-wave surfing isn’t the

a pro and, thanks to his mother, a novel education system

same anymore. To an extent, I agree, but I don’t want to die

was devised, with Shane attending high school on the North

and I want to see big-wave surfers return to their families at

Shore of Oahu for the peak winter season. By the time he

the end of a session. Todd Chesser, Donnie Solomon, Mark

graduated at seventeen, he had racked up crucial North Shore

Foo, Sion Milosky – they were all super-fit, confident guys.

experience with Brock Little and Todd Chesser (the new crop

They all died big-wave surfing. It can happen to anyone.”

of big-wave chargers with whom he lived when on Oahu) and

was ready to move to California to begin his pro career. “I’d

a poster of Laird’s Teahupoo wave. It triggered something in

won an event at Sandy Beach on Oahu when I was fifteen and

me, especially coming on the back of the heat I’d just had. I felt

got sponsored by Gotcha,” he explains. “Moving to California

angry and knew that I wanted to do something different, that

was a natural step. I lived with Todd in his house at San Diego.

my days on the road doing contests were numbered. I went

He was a huge help to me.”

to Billabong a few months later and said that competition

Within three years, Shane had joined Billabong – still his major sponsor today – and was having a blast as a young pro.

surfing wasn’t really working for me anymore. They were really supportive in helping me carve out a new direction.”

“I was this little kid from Hawaii and suddenly I was gone. It

It took another couple of years, but by 2004 Shane had

was like being given the keys to the world, but with my best

retired from the WCT. Since then, unlike others who’ve left

friends, too.” Those friends would all become luminaries

the Tour, his profile has gone up rather than down, thanks

of surfing and, together with the likes of Kelly Slater, Rob

mainly to his remarkable blend of fearlessness and poise

Machado and Taylor Knox, Shane helped blaze the ‘New

in giant surf. The result is that today, like Hamilton and a

School’ trail, getting air and sliding on the lip as effortlessly

handful of other freesurfers, Shane Dorian is now paid to just

as he charged big surf.

be himself.

After a year on the World Qualifying Series (WQS), Shane had qualified for the World Championship Tour (WCT). He

Being Shane Dorian may yield a

bubbled under the top ten for a number of years before a

lifestyle that many people would envy, but it entails plenty

fourth-place world finish in 2000, and a win at the Billabong

by way of discipline. Shane is up early every day to be at

Pro at Mundaka. That same year, big-wave pioneer Laird

his local gym for a 5am start. He gets home by 7.30am and

Hamilton bagged a historical ride in Teahupoo when he

has breakfast with his children and Lisa, who he met aged

conceived of a low crouch with the hand of his trailing arm

twenty in California and married ten years later. Often Shane

almost level with the outside rail of his board, an instinctual

then looks after Charlie for a morning before surfing in the

act to counter the hydraulics of the wave. The surfing world

afternoons and picking up Jackson from school. If, as a

was astonished. But for Shane, Hamilton’s radical reinvention

teenager, he was prone to excesses, they are no longer a part of

of surfing in extremis resonated on a personal level, too.

his life: Shane rarely drinks, and is in bed most nights by 9pm.

“I was in Portugal at a competition. It was foggy and the

A number of film appearances have helped consolidate

surf was about one foot. I lost my heat to two guys I didn’t

Shane’s reputation, not least Solid: The Two Days that Teahupoo

even know and then later, inside the ASP office trailer, I saw

Blew Minds, released in 2005. But although he is now famous

47

“Whether you’re riding an eighty-foot wave or lying on your dad’s back on a bodyboard, it’s all the same. It’s surfing.“ for his big-wave exploits, Shane isn’t elitist about surfing:

homemade guacamole and hummus courtesy of Lisa I’m

“Whether you’re riding an eighty-foot wave or lying on your

pretty full already. Shane has also been snacking, but his

dad’s back on a bodyboard, it’s all the same. It’s surfing. It’s

appetite is undiminished. “You’d be amazed at how much I

healthy, psychologically and physically; it gives you a release.

eat,” he says.

My best sessions haven’t been in big surf, either. The best

He’s right. Shane’s routine obviously works well; he looks

ones are those you remember because of who you were with.”

like he could dine on fast food three times a day and still be in

Unhesitatingly, Shane names a session at Restaurants in Fiji

shape. And yet, as still and calm as he is, there’s more to Shane

as his most memorable: “I was alone in the water with Kelly

than meets the eye. He tells me he likes to read, adding that

[Slater]. We were surfing under a full moon. It was awesome.”

for the past six years he’s been studying financial markets –

Slater is one of two surfers Shane singles out for praise:

and making a few investments, too. Recalling some free-form

“Kelly’s defying gravity at the moment. I don’t how, but he

sketches of naked women that appeared in Surfer magazine a

is. He’s on borrowed time, but he’s surfing better than ever.”

few years ago, Shane confirms that he’s also passionate about

The other surfer he mentions is fellow Billabong rider Dave

art: “I’ve always liked drawing. I seemed to be able to do it

Rastovich, who he says is “super-stylish”.

easily, but for some reason I have to force myself to do it. I feel

Talk of Rastovich, a vegan, prompts a question about

We’re talking about well-known surfers and parental

antithesis of what a man like Rastovich would do in his free

separation. Laird Hamilton, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater and

time – for the sport? “Not at all,” says Shane. “I feel sad when

Shane all experienced their parents’ divorce, and each went

I kill an animal. I’m not into it for the fun of the kill. The idea

on to turn adversity into triumph – to become a master in the

of going off and killing, say, a tiger as a trophy doesn’t do

strange and beautiful art of riding waves. “I think it’s because

anything for me at all.”

you feel like you’ve got something to prove,” says Shane. “You

So, what’s the appeal? “Lisa and I bought this land in 1998; the house was built in 2000,” explains Shane. “There

48 HUCK

guilty about not pursuing it.”

Shane’s passion for hunting. Does he enjoy hunting – the

gain independence earlier. For a son, there’s that drive to be a better man than your father.”

are pigs in the forest and they would terrorise the whole area,

We climb into the Toyota and head towards Kona airport.

eating just about everything in sight. My neighbour gave me

We shake hands and Shane heads off for a surf. The women

a bow, and I shot a couple of the pigs with it. I then got into

with bright smiles, dark hair and leis have gone. I sit in the

bow-hunting as a means of escaping, of getting away from

sun and recall the stillness of Shane and Lisa’s house, a family

everything for a day. I like to go out into the wilderness and

home in the middle of a forest, one which betrays no sign of

bring food home for my family. I’ll field dress an animal I

Shane’s livelihood. I understand why Shane lives here on

kill, pack the meat up and process it at home, then maybe

the Big Island, why he’s escaped back home, why he enjoys

make sausages and trade them with friends for fish. It’s

hunting expeditions on his own, and then I remember another

something I really enjoy, and I like the adventure and

thing he said: “If I had to choose between being successful and

survival aspects, too. In that respect, it’s a bit like surfing.”

happy, I’d go for happy every time.”

We’re sitting at a Mexican fast food

out how to be successful and happy. There aren’t many of us,

restaurant on the way back to the airport. Thanks to some

surfers or otherwise, who can say the same

The peculiar genius of Shane Dorian is that he’s worked

analogclothing.com

As branded surf footage amasses online, can the independent filmmaker still keep things DIY? Te x t C h r i s N e l s o n I l l u s t r a t i o n c o u r t e s y o f S t o k e d a n d B r o k e / K o r d u r o y. t v

50 HUCK

Moviemaking used to follow such simple

Kavanagh’s film Manufacturing Stoke asked

lines: shoot the film; screen it in front of amped

many questions of the surf industry. “I love

crowds. Then came Betamax, VHS, DVD, and

surfing, and always will, but the industry is

the formula changed: stack ’em high in the surf

out of control,” he explains. “A toxic $7 billion

shop; cross your fingers and pray you recoup

dollar a year industry telling us what it means to

enough to fund the next project. But what

be surfers? That’s a fucking joke. Surfers should

now? The indie producer is faced with a new

control the industry, not the other way around.

dilemma – outside the traditional distribution

I wanted Manufacturing Stoke to inspire, to

model, how do you monetise your output and

be a wake-up call and to highlight individuals

stay afloat while shooting in the line-up?

who are striving to take their surf industry back

“We’re at a crossroads regarding the future of the surf media,” explains Cyrus

in a more responsible manner. It’s up to us to demand the change that we want to see.”

Sutton, whose prolific output centres around

But what about making sure your project

Korduroy.tv and includes award-winning movie

doesn’t sink you financially? “You have to

Stoked and Broke. “It’s really the corporately

hustle to make it happen,” Pierce explains.

backed vs. the independent passion projects.”

“My wife and I put up all the money. It cost

For some, this is a brave new world where

us $9,000 for a film that should have cost ten

the medium has been democratised, bringing

times as much. I called in every favour from

relatively inexpensive, high-quality equipment

every friend I had. The support we received

into the hands of more creatives. “There is a

was overwhelming because people believed

splintering of genres as never before,” says

in the message. It renewed my hope. I’m an

Tyler Breuer of SMASH Surf, the collective

independent filmmaker. I’m in this for the love

promoting surf culture nights in New York.

of surfing and cinema.”

“Technology has levelled the playing field, giving

all

surfers

an

opportunity

to

Like the music industry, which suffered

be

these pains first, the solution seems to be

filmmakers. Ten to fifteen years ago, only a

two-fold: embrace the digital as well as the

handful of people could afford to make and

tangible experience. Outlets for downloading

distribute films. For the most part, these looked

and streaming content like thesurfnetwork.

and felt the same. Now, you can find incredible

com are offering a monetised lifeline to the

surf documentaries, short narratives, comedy,

filmmaker, while the growth in popularity of

surf porn, films with a cause, the avant-garde...

surf film festivals playing to packed houses in

the list goes on. But also, we are seeing more

New York, London, San Sebastian and beyond,

brand-made films. They’re going to be the

demonstrates the desire we have to engage with

most technical and high-performance out

the offline movie experience – and with each

there because they have the financial backing.

other, face to face.

They’re not concerned with turning a profit on

“There is an increasing appetite for people

those films. They want to get the exposure and

to connect and feel a part of something,”

market themselves.”

explains Tyler. “We live in a world that’s

But just because a brand gets involved,

becoming more isolated in terms of human

does that mean the process is compromised?

interactions. We buy our stuff online instead

“I see the lines get blurred as surf companies

of going to a store. We watch movies on our

embrace the lifestyle aspect of surfing and

computers. We’ve cut ourselves off. We need

fund more and more artists,” explains Cyrus.

to get that connection and surf movies are a

“It all comes back to each artist calibrating

great way for us to come together on a more

their

human level.”

internal

compass

and

not

letting

the affiliation with companies affect the

Last

year’s

outstanding

film

on

the

he ground is moving beneath our feet. The

integrity of their work, regardless of where

festival circuit, Come Hell or High Water, was

‘digital revolution’ – that all-encompassing

it’s coming from.”

an independent production made with the

subterranean shift – is changing the landscape.

Cyrus is a perfect example of this. Although

backing of two surf brands. Shot on 35mm

Every day, as if propelled by a ridge of binary

he has just penned a deal with Reef, he remains

this was an artistic endeavour that focused

code, an upwelling of moving images spills

an

fund

on a marginalised, uncommercialised section

forth from every laptop, iPhone and tablet

Korduroy.tv – a site that has become a platform

of the waveriding world: bodysurfing. And

screen

Surfing

for free-thinking creatives – he turned not to

there wasn’t a board logo in sight. Now that, if

online is not just a metaphor, it seems. Every

traditional advertising or sponsorship but to

anything, is a sign of hope

session is captured instantly and fired around

crowd-funding

the globe, with every brand packaging their

his goal, it's clear that financing has become

Chris Nelson is the founder of the London Surf Film

latest expedition as a glossy travelogue of

fluid. “I think there will always be a place

Festival. londonsurffilmfestival.com

‘webisodes’ and distributing them, for free, to

for media that serves no commercial agenda,”

the masses via social networks. But here’s the

he explains.

demanding

our

attention.

independent.

via

When

looking

Kickstarter.

to

Surpassing

thing: with so much surf footage competing for

For the majority of independents, their

our attention, just how is the independent surf

driving force remains the story – and a desire

filmmaker going to survive?

to tell it. Narrative is still king. Pierce Michael

51

At fifteen, Jamie Anderson was the youngest ever snowboarder to reach the p o d i u m i n t h e W i n t e r X G a m e s . N o w, a g e d twenty-one, the contest-killer is ready to tap into less competitive pursuits.

Te x t Natalie Langmann Photography Benjamin Rasmussen

52 HUCK

53

amie Anderson walks into a quaint coffee shop in downtown Breckenridge, Colorado, with a big smile on her face. She’s oblivious to all the eyes following her every move. Despite hailing from South Lake Tahoe, she’s a bit of a local celebrity after winning the Dew Tour overall last season (and the season before that, too). Every shred and their dog seems enthusiastic to see her back for this December contest stop – the first of this season’s Tour.

She’s wearing a gold-threaded, black slouchy beanie – which she later tells me she crocheted herself – and is so well put together that it’s hard to picture her just an hour ago, hitting rails and spinning off seventy-foot jumps among 300 other park rats. In between hits, she paused to chat with the park’s crew and gave them props for building such a “sick course”. But as soon as they were out of earshot, she admitted that today wasn’t true snowboarding for her, and that she wanted to go hide out in the woods and chill.

“Competitions get so draining,” she says now, with a far-off look in her eyes. “I’ve been doing it so long, and I have a great time competing, riding with my friends, learning new tricks and riding park, but there is definitely a whole new inspiration burning inside of me where I just want to go hit more powder and gnarly lines and go to new terrain where there are cliffs and backcountry jumps.”

For a snowboarder who’s lived and breathed the competition lifestyle since being a gorby-gapped grom – she won bronze in Slopestyle at fifteen and knocked Shaun White out of the history books as the youngest person, male or female, to reach the podium in the Winter X Games – this may be hard to fathom. But she’s used to adapting, having been raised in a pack of eight siblings (six girls, two boys) by hippie parents who couldn’t afford to take their kids to the mountains. When she laughs and calls her young self a little ‘worldtravelled, home-schooled rockstar’, you get a good sense of the girl who has won countless contests from the X Games to the Ticket To Ride (TTR) series. “It was never my dream to be a pro snowboarder,” divulges Jamie, adding that her two older sisters got her into snowboarding after a family friend hooked them up with equipment and later got them all on the team at Sierra at Tahoe. “I just fell in love and started doing small events like USSA, following my sisters around, wanting to be like them, and then slowly we all started doing bigger events.”

Despite kicking off this season by winning all three TTR Slopestyle events in New Zealand in August, Jamie’s enthusiasm for the Dew Tour today is lacklustre. The competition has cut the women out of two stops: the skier girls won’t be competing here at Breckenridge, and women snowboarders are cut from the next stop at Vermont. Jamie explains that she wants to address the situation in a positive way, and has openly asked the head of Alli Sports why they’ve chosen to take a giant step backwards in women’s snowboarding.

“We’ve been a part of this for three years,” she says, “and this fourth season they decide to make severe cutbacks? Many kids look up to girl riders; they relate more to us because we’re not doing double cork 1280s. We are doing realistic tricks where little guys can say, ‘Oh, I can maybe do that too.’ Do you think that the title sponsors of the Dew Tour

54 HUCK

only want to watch the guys compete? I guarantee that Nike and the

Jamie’s commitment to keeping a positive attitude has seen her

others sell tons of product to women, and I guarantee they want their

turn to a roster of books with titles like, The Power of Now, The Mastery

women and their product out there representing.”

of Love, and The Four Agreements. On top of this, she says yoga keeps

Jamie may be frustrated with the industry’s attitude towards

her balanced and sees music as a refuge. “The last couple of years I’ve

women, but she doesn’t think over-egging ‘girl power’ is a solution,

been riding with my iPod Shuffle,” she says, “and it’s a game-changer

either; after all, she grew up riding with a lot of guys and credits them

when you’re questioning why you are out in the mountains when the

for having pushed her. “It’s great there are a lot of girls that stick

weather is bad. One good song can change the mood, and that’s when I

together and ride,” she says, “but I find a lot of the time girls tend to

remember how grateful I am that I’m outside.”

over analyse, saying things like, ‘I might overshoot it. I might not go

Although Jamie played the piano as a kid, she admits she’s no

big enough. I don’t know if I can do this. What if I fall?’ When you ride

musician. But she loves all music. Her favourites? “A little rap, some

with guys they don’t even think for a minute; they’re way more driven

oldies, reggae, new stuff like the song ‘Pumped up Kicks’ [by LA indie

to be better and one-up the next one. For girls to tag along with that

pop band Foster the People], anything that is jamming. And I love

mentality can be really positive.”

bluegrass music, good instrumentals,” she says. “My dad jams country,

So, what drives Jamie to be the best? “I absolutely love snowboarding,”

so I’ll listen to his choice of country songs.”

she says, passionately. “It’s not always about being the best; it’s about

Jamie’s dad, who’s obsessed with snowmobiling, fly fishing and

being my personal best and having fun and trying to always stay in a

hiking, lives in a little sled-accessible cabin right below Sierra at

positive place.” She pauses, grins and then adds, “If it’s not fun, I’m not

Tahoe. She casually drops that he plays the harmonica, adding that

doing it. If I ever do find myself complaining, I make a little gratitude

she’s recently taken to it as well. “I’m not really good,” she says, slowly

list and call my mom – who runs her own lawn care business in South

starting to whistle Neil Young’s ‘Heart of Gold,’ before adding, “I try

Lake Tahoe. She’s a huge inspiration and her high spirit puts me in a

to jam that song a lot.” She admits that guitar wasn’t for her, but will

good place. Sometimes I do get a little stressed and overwhelmed, so

happily pluck away at a ukelele because it’s smaller and only has four

I tell myself to stay in a joyful place. Whatever happens in life, if I’m

strings. “I guess it fits better in your board bag?” I ask, half teasing. “No,

broke or don’t have a job or whatever, I always want to be happy and to

I just carry it. It’s too fragile,” she replies.

know that the universe and life is always changing, and when one door closes another opens.”

As we sit drinking coffee, Jamie moves her homemade black beanie around the table. “Ever since I was really little I liked making stuff and

55

“I ’ v e d e c i d e d t o l a y o f f c o nt e s t s an d s p e n d a l o t m o r e ti m e I N t h e m o u ntain s . I h a d a s p l it b o a r d m a d e , an d I want t o g e t m y s n o w m o b i l e d ia l l e d s o I c an j u s t g o e xp l o r e . ” designing,” she says, “so I think that’s the direction I will pursue after snowboarding. I want to help keep this world beautiful, so I will strive to continue using recycled polyesters and organic cottons like we do with my Billabong streetwear collection, and also start using hemps, bamboos and more earth-friendly products, too. In America we’re all about saving, but we’re not always about sustaining and using the best quality products that won’t pollute the environment as much. If people spend a little more buying a nicer product, then it’s going to last.”

Jamie delves further into her latest passion project, a little clothing company called TRYE (To Respect Your Earth), and explains how she’s going to start with undies made out of organic cotton and bamboo.

She hopes to grow it into an environmentally conscious company that she can introduce to the school system. “I want to teach the younger generation about living a non-toxic life and the little things they can do like clean up the trash in their neighbourhood, buy the products that do [decompose], put good things in their bodies, and help reduce waste,” she says.

And it’s not just the planet that Jamie’s keen to help. Recently, when Sierra at Tahoe offered her a few season passes to give away to friends and family, she approached her old middle school about developing a sponsorship program, offering season passes, Billabong outerwear, and Gnu Boards for two sixth-to-eighth graders who have good grades and want to snowboard, but can’t really make it happen financially.

“Snowboarding is such an expensive sport,” says Jamie. “I feel so lucky that I was given hand-me-downs from family friends, my sisters and everyone else, and that I eventually got to become this professional snowboarder. I also want to give back to the mountains that have supported me for a decade strong.”

After interviewing four kids who met the criteria, Jamie was disappointed to only be able to hook up two of them for the full

in the contest scene these past five years that I’ve hardly had time. So,

sponsorship. “They all deserve this,” she says. “So on Christmas Eve

this year I’ve decided to lay off contests and spend a lot more time in the

[2011], I’ve asked Sierra at Tahoe to give them passes and rentals, and

mountains. I had a splitboard made, and I want to get my snowmobile

I’m taking all of them snowboarding. I’m always into doing things

dialled so I can just go explore and be out in the mountains. I want to

that allow me to give back in my own way, but I don’t want to donate

film a good video segment riding more natural terrain.”

to an organisation if I don’t really know where the proceeds are going.

Jamie will still do the big events, especially since it’s been a dream

I want more of a connection than just giving; I want to be the

of hers to compete at the Olympics. She acknowledges that life is going

organisation. Eventually, I’d like to develop this into a [fully fledged]

to get busier over the next two seasons, and that she’ll have to stay at a

Jamie Anderson Scholarship. If you get good grades and want to make

high-competition level if she wants to make it to the Games. She may

your life better, then you should get a chance – money should never be

want to ride mountains with a whole new perspective, but she doesn’t

an obstacle for anyone.”

want to disappear and then have to play catch-up to try and come back.

As the conversation shifts from wanting to donate crocheted organic

“I want to be consistent with everyone competing,” she says, “but

beanies to children’s cancer wards to what got her on this giving-back

take my riding to more natural terrain. I think it will only better my

path in the first place, Jamie opens up about how she wants to make

riding in the parks. When I look at the contest schedule, I kind of want

moves outside the park. “Growing up in Tahoe, I always rode powder,

to do this-and-that event, but then I tell myself, ‘No, remember: ride the

and obviously it’s my number one,” she says, “but I’ve been so caught up

mountains, ride the powder, and have fun.’”

56 HUCK

Edgewater locals: Steve Dalpe, Marcos A. Vega and Steve Decapite.

Freshwater Frontier A sun-loving surfer from the Californian coast heads inland to Cleveland, Ohio, to meet the w o r l d ’ s m o s t p a t i e n t , d e d i c a t e d c r e w.

Te x t S t e f a n S l a t e r Photography Billy Delfs

58 HUCK

n 11 November, 2011, the first morning of my surf trip

made two new surfing friends: Rich Stack and Brian Willse. Without

to Cleveland, Ohio, local surfer and filmmaker Scott

even knowing me, they share their knowledge of the lake, and offer the

Ditzenberger meets me outside my hotel to lend me a

use of their gear. I end up borrowing Rich’s seven-foot Dewey Weber,

board. The weather is brisk in an I-can’t-feel-my-limbs

which I am told is perfect for the mushy rollers this morning. The man

sort of way. It’s freezing. Surfing in below-freezing

is beyond stoked; he laughs and smiles incessantly, even while he suits

weather is going to be a new experience for me.

up in the freezing rain. I opt to suit up inside my heated car.

The six-foot, neon-blue single-fin Scott gives me, which barely fits

The lake is the colour of chocolate milk and, as I walk down

inside my recently rented Ford Fiesta, looks like a prop from eighties

to the water, wet autumn leaves cling to my wetsuit. Down the

teen surf flick North Shore (the retro movement is more than just a

shoreline, I notice a large sewer run-off point. No one mentions

passing trend in Cleveland; boards like logs and fishes just tend to be

anything about pollution even though I later find out that Edgewater

more practical in this environ). Before he leaves, Scott tells me that the

is quite capable of producing a vast assortment of pungent,

surf is about waist-high at Edgewater Park.

eye-watering odours.

I drive to Edgewater – a Lake Erie surf spot in downtown Cleveland,

I paddle out and it begins to rain harder. Despite the layers of

approximately ten minutes by car from my hotel near Progressive

neoprene I’m wearing (4/3mm with a hood, booties and gloves), the

Stadium, home of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. Scott has to

rain stings my face. I look back at the muddy shore, which is now

work, but tells me to go ahead and introduce myself to the local crew,

surprisingly white. “Hey Brian, what’s that?” I point to the pale

all of whom he assures me are perfectly friendly. But hell, what have

distance. “That? Oh… that’s sleet,” he says.

I got to fear? I mean, I’m only heading to an unfamiliar surf spot, 500 miles away from the nearest ocean, and introducing myself to a closeknit group of locals that I’ve never met before.

Well… that’s new.

The surf, though small, is fun. All of my worries about pollution and hypothermia melt away after the first wave. It seems illogical,

‘Hi, I’m a surfer from Los Angeles,’ I imagine myself saying, ‘I’ve

but here I am, surfing Lake Erie. At that moment, the possibilities of

come to surf your… lake.’ In my mind, that introduction is closely

scoring epic waves on the Great Lakes seem limitless. I paddle over to

followed by a quick tour of the bottom of Lake Erie, viewed from my

Rich, who is still visibly stoked. “Hey, the surf out here has potential,

sinking Fiesta. Regardless, I try to remain optimistic.

doesn’t it?” I ask, enthusiastically. “Nah,” says Rich. “It never really

Within fifteen minutes of arriving at Edgewater, it starts to rain.

The wind has picked up to a surfboard-tossing gale, and I have already

gets that good. But it’s good practice… and at least you’re surfing.”

Silver linings are popular in Cleveland.

59

Some History Surfing is not new to the Great Lakes. Due to their immense size and propensity for powerful wind swells, the Lakes are able to produce surf all year round. In fact, according to Matt Warshaw’s The Encyclopedia of Surfing, surfers have been riding waves on the Great Lakes since the

So, why is this part of the world slow to fully embrace wave-riding

1940s (some locals even believe that the Lakes were surfed sometime

fever? Well, it’s not easy to surf the Great Lakes. The waves are fickle

around WWI). Lake Erie has a number of surf breaks in all three of

and extremely unpredictable. Conditions are often brutal: freezing

its north-facing shore states: Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. In

temperatures, extreme weather and poor wave quality are just some

his book, Surfing the Great Lakes, P.L. Strazz estimates that as of 2000

of the difficulties surfers face on a regular basis. Surfing on the

there was a population of about 750 surfers in the Great Lakes, with

Lakes, especially in Cleveland, demands a crazy level of patience and

Lake Michigan and Lake Erie being the most popular, respectively.

dedication. It requires a different breed of surfer; a freshwater creature

Compared to the East Coast though, surfing on the Great Lakes is

that’s uniquely divergent from its saltwater cousins.

still in its adolescence. According to Warshaw’s Encyclopedia, the state

I was first introduced to the Cleveland surf scene through Scott’s

of Virginia has over 10,000 surfers – arguably more than the entire

appropriately named film, Out of Place. In this documentary, released

Great Lakes area combined.

in January 2011, Scott follows a crew of Cleveland surfers who run the gamut professionally: from artists to lawyers to blue-collar workers.

Their personalities are unique and diverse, yet they are all anchored by this common love. Some sacrifice quite a bit for their passion, forsaking sleep for days on end just to catch a few waves. They chase fleeting breaks up and down the coast of Lake Erie, often driving hours at a time.

60 HUCK

Cleveland surfer, Mike Miller.

Finding Waves A day after my first dip in the water, local surfer and shaper Vince Labbe (who heads up a small, bespoke company No Na Nalu) joins me and Scott as we make our way to Mentor Headlands Beach, about half an hour away from Cleveland, to check out the waves. We meet up at Edgewater again, but the surf is pretty meagre at best. Vince says the Headlands (a large, sandy beachbreak) will probably have something a bit better, so we set off north. The sky is gunmetal grey, and light rain pitter-patters on the windshield.

“Sun and surf don’t usually go together here,” says Vince, who goes on to explain that cold, wet weather is a good sign; it means that waves are brewing on the lake. If an air front comes in that is colder than the average temperature of the lake, it can cause the water to stir up.

Generally, the waves on the Great Lakes are created by local storms, and require a constant wind (lasting five hours or more) blowing over at least fifty miles of water.

Vince’s van is packed with boards, including a ‘Zuma Jay’ longboard, which has found its way across the continent from Malibu. Jazz plays on the radio and Scott sits wedged between the boards, chatting with me about some of the surf trips he and Vince have taken together.

61

62 HUCK

”I t’ s lik e be in g a zo o an im al . Yo u co ul d be ou t on th e w at er on a go od da y, an d so m eo ne w ill st ill co m e up to yo u on th e be ac h an d sa y, ‘W ha t ar e yo u do in g? Yo u ca n’ t su rf he re !‘” The two surfers first met at the University of Akron, Ohio, in the early nineties. Both had heard rumours of surfing on Lake Erie, and hoped one day to find waves. During a sizeable storm, they drove north to Cleveland and were surprised to discover not only waves, but other

deindustrialisation, and numerous manufacturing companies left for

surfers as well. “We exist in a lull… sometimes, we just get lucky,” says

more profitable locales. Unemployment rose, and a population decline

Vince as he tries to find a way to pass the car ahead of us. “You can’t

quickly followed suit. So, has it improved much in the past forty years?

plan your session ahead of time. It’s a total shot in the dark, because

“This city was built to be great, but it’s not that kind of place anymore,”

it’s not consistent. The report can say ten-to-twelve feet, but it could

confirms Scott. Vince chips in: “But the people are fun!”

be totally flat.”

The waves in Edgewater are knee-high and slushy, and the

Scott explains that the NOAA forecast program that they (and the

temperature is steadily dropping. While we stand there, looking out

Coastguard) use to check surf conditions is often inaccurate. Ohio sits

over the lake, Rich, the enthusiastic surfer from my first session, pulls

in the middle of a jet stream, which runs parallel to the lake and creates

up. Everyone greets one another, and talks about the surf. Rich (smiling

unpredictable weather patterns. “It’s just a matter of luck,” says Scott.

as always) suggests that I paddle out with him. I don’t see much worth

When we finally arrive at Headlands, the surf doesn’t quite match

catching, and I’m still frozen from my previous surf, so I offer to paddle

the beauty of the beach – it’s dismal at best. The wind is blowing hard

out with him the next day. He shrugs, laughs, and starts rummaging

from the northwest, and the waves are jumbled and messy. Vince is

through his truck.

bummed. With less than an hour of sunlight left, he hustles us to get back into the van, and we drive back to Cleveland.

As I drive off, the sun now barely visible, Rich is just starting to suit up.

“Headlands is the nicest beach in Ohio; clean sand and clean water,” says Vince. “But Edgewater is a cesspool. It’s like swimming in a toilet bowl because of the current. Trash from the city gets pushed in and circles constantly.” They point out that the same current can cause a “fuel smell” to linger at Edgewater for long periods of time.

“We still get attention for being out here,” says Vince, referring

Here to stay?

to the gaze of non-surfers. “It’s like being a zoo animal with people

So, will Cleveland become the next big surfing destination? Well,

coming to watch you. You could be out on the water on a good day, and

probably not. After my initial surf sessions, I drive up and down the

someone will still come up to you on the beach and say, ‘What are you

Erie coast several times looking for surf. The largest wave I find is an

doing? You can’t surf here!’”

awe-inspiring ankle-slapper. “Finding waves out here is like finding

The hardy surfers tell me that the largest wave they’ve ever caught on the Lake was around overhead, though they’ve seen bigger. And

water in the desert,” says Scotty. “It makes surfing in Cleveland that much more special.”

the average drive for a surf check varies, they say, with some surfers

Before I head back to LA, I meet up with a number of other local

choosing to stay close to Edgewater and others trekking for hours to

surfers. We eat hot dogs at a joint called Happy Dog and talk about

breaks in Buffalo, New York, and Ontario, Canada.

football, the Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000 cult B-movies,

We finally make it back to Edgewater and the sun is close to setting.

California girls and surf trips. They tell me about the Cleveland

“Historically speaking,” says Scott, “people in Cleveland are really

Surfrider chapter that they and Scotty are trying to start to help clean

separated from the beach. They just don’t go to the beach here; they go

up the local beaches. I also learn that many of them have been offered

to Florida or North Carolina.”

the opportunity to leave Cleveland and relocate to more consistent surf

Much of the Lake Erie coastline (at least around Cleveland) is heavily industrialised, making public access difficult in some areas. The steel

spots, like California or Hawaii. But more often than not they choose to stay – the lakes are in their blood.

industry played a key part in the city’s economy since the mid-1800s,

As difficult as it may be to remain stoked after so many flat surf

but during the 1970s it faltered substantially. The city fell victim to

checks, Cleveland surfers are unfailingly upbeat. Some of the surfers have been there for decades, and they’re still hooked on the ride. It may be far from paradise, but the Cleveland surfers make surfing in Ohio a unique experience. Their stoke and dedication is infectious

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64 HUCK

For the thousands of illegal migrants that tip toe across Western Europe under the cover of night, every border is seen as a portal to a better life.

Te x t G u i l l a u m e P e r r i e r Photography Mathias Depardon

“There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don’t come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.”

– Isaac Asimov

very year, thousands of migrants cross the border between Turkey and Greece – the man-made point at which East meets West – in search of refuge and a fresh start. Without the correct documents, their journey unfolds in the shadow of the law. For the scores of families and young people who make the journey each year from Afghanistan, Burma, Russia, SubSaharan Africa and the Dominican Republic, reaching the Greek city of Orestiada (‘the portal to Western Europe’) is a milestone in itself. From here, their final destination may feel within reach, but at every turn the European Union is ready to push back and protect the fort.

At the fore of this battle is Frontex, the European agency for external border security, which has come under criticism for failing to adhere to key human rights laws when dealing with illegal migration. In November 2010, Frontex descended on Orestiada in a bid to secure a particularly permeable eight-mile section of the border. Now, Greece plans to block the path with a concrete and barbed-wire wall, and build more detention centres in the surrounding area – a move that was condemned as ‘deplorable and barbaric’ on 15 January when protestors gathered in Athens to oppose the plan.

More than 50,000 migrants have passed through this gap, with about 300-500 people making it through every night. But those figures veil the risks involved. Aminata, a twenty-seven-year-old from Sierra Leone, reached Athens in December 2011, having crossed the Evros River onboard an engineless Zodiac boat, along with two friends and some thirty young Afghans. “I was really scared,” she says. “It was cold, and if any of us had fallen into the water, nobody had life jackets or flotation rings.” This January, eleven Algerian migrants were saved from drowning after succumbing to recent floods, while three others, including an Iranian woman and her son, froze to death in the first week of the year.

Those who make it usually end up in the harbour city of Patras, Greece, or further afield in Calais, France – both of which have become sites for makeshift migrant camps. Once here, daily life becomes a challenging tapestry of poor living conditions and xenophobic attacks. Those who push onwards do so at their own peril, clinging on to the axle of a truck heading to the port, or paying a driver to let them stow away illegally.

Over the course of two years, photographer Mathias Depardon joined disparate groups of Afghan migrants as they tried to overcome these lines of control. This is their story.

65

2.

4.

66 HUCK

3.

5.

6.

7.

67

8.

9.

A

1

p

p

e

An Afghan migrant takes shelter in a forest near ‘The Jungle’ – an unofficial migrant camp near the harbour in Calais,

n

6

d

i

x

Travelling migrants sleep alongside a railroad in Nea Vyssa, Greece, after crossing the Turkish border overnight. The

France. Living conditions are difficult, but food is distributed

crossing between Turkey and Greece is a risky journey.

by a local French NGO twice a day.

Migrants have to find their way through fields and across the Evros River without the aid of maps or GPS. Every year, a

2

A group of Afghan families arrive in Greece, having crossed the

number of lives are lost to those waters.

Turkish border illegally in the middle of the night. They have spent all night picking their way across fields and the Evros River. It’s an exhausting journey, especially for young children.

7

A migrant guzzles down a bottle of water after trying to sneak inside the back of a truck that is heading to Italy through the Greek harbour of Patras. It takes a certain type of skill to get

3

Makeshift shacks in the The Jungle. Between 2002 and 2009,

yourself onto a ferry and past Greek security forces. The slow

hundreds of Afghan migrants passed through the port town

ferry to Italy takes over thirty-six hours, which feels like a

in an attempt to cross the English Channel and reach the

lifetime when you’re hiding inside a truck with no access to a

coast of Britain. In the summer of 2009, over 800 migrants

toilet or food.

were staying here.

4

Afghan migrants play cricket near the harbour in Calais, France.

8

A piece of wood and a tennis ball is all they need to start a game.

Underage Afghan males gather near a fire at night in the streets near The Jungle’s original site. In September 2009, French police detained 278 camp dwellers, nearly half of them minors, and bulldozed their makeshift tents.

5

A young Afghan tries to get himself in the axle of a truck that is headed for Italy through the Greek harbour of Patras.

Hiding in the axle of a truck is about as dangerous as it gets.

Get it wrong, and it can end up costing you your legs.

68 HUCK

9

Living conditions in Calais get especially tough during the winter months, so gathering together to make a fire is a daily activity

“We are nobody & we’ll stay nobody” A n e w g e n e r at i o n o f c r e at i v e freesurfers are emerging from the Basque Country and they're determined t o d o t h i n g s t h e i r o w n w ay.

T e x t & P h o t o g r ap h y E l i s a R o u t a

70 HUCK

It’s 8am when the guys go into the water. The

local charity shops or shape them themselves,

full moon is still out and their eyes are red. The

follow their own crazy styles and surf

pillow marks on their cheeks are just fading.

whenever, wherever and however they want.

Like most kids who put images of Kelly Slater

When they do pick up sponsors, they stick to

up on their walls or in their notebooks, I was

smaller brands who understand their ethos

fascinated by the competitive pros when I was

and support their art instead of their image.

little. But today, I admire guys like Biarritz

But they’re happiest representing themselves

locals Juan, Charles, Stan, Simon and Steven.

and recently formed The Switched Kick Out

These talented riders, who reject comps to

Surf Syndicate to share ideas and build a

surf and create without compromise, are

likeminded community.

pushing the sport in a different direction.

There may be more to surfing than “the

And they’re here, every morning, to do what

urge to win and produce results” but that

they love most.

doesn’t mean you have to live in the woods

“We are nobody and we’ll stay nobody,”

and burn your laptop, either. These dudes

is their collective battle cry. “We’re just a

ride and survive on a local, sustainable level

group of people with different personalities

and it’s a whole lot more fun, they say, than

messing around.” They get their boards from

busting their balls on the World Tour.

Juan lagarrigue | 24

This hairy guy, with a weird taste for flowery jeans, has an incessant urge to please the people he loves.

He moved from Bordeaux to Biarritz two years ago and recently picked up Insight as a sponsor. He’s a talented graphic designer, who works for local surf mag Desillusion and the Surfrider Foundation, and a passionate photographer who takes inspiration from his surroundings and the people he meets.

Juan: “We are nothing and we’ll remain nothing. Just a group of friends with different personalities who mess around. We are not the first to do that and we won’t be the last. We do it for ourselves, and that’s what inspires and motivates us. [The Switched Kick Out Surf Syndicate] is just some kind of ‘melting pot’ where we can share our nonsense amongst friends. Above all, surfing is a way to express ourselves, a creative outlet, whether we’re in the water or elsewhere. Everybody posts their latest shit, what they are doing, writing, listening to or shooting. We have our own vision of surfing and the style associated with it, we're just trying to do it in our own way.”

71

steven Dunn Videau | 22

Steven has only two things on his mind when he wakes up in the morning: surfing his Michel Junod ‘pig’ longboard and fixing his 1971 Triumph TR6 motorcycle. He carries a comb in his right pocket so he can evenly spread his hair gel, and he gets his Cycle Zombies and Captain Fin & Loser Machine T-shirts all the way from California, where he spent a few months recently on a break from his job at a surf shop in Anglet.

Steven: Dane Reynolds lives his own life. That's what freesurfing means – surfing freely. And I don't think it's just a fad. People are fed up with the money-making machine that is the surf industry. Stopnik, Brian Bent, Max Schaaf, Mike Black, Rudy Jacques, Bud Ekins, Dick Dale, Da Cat, the fifties, surfing, old cars and old bikes. Those are all my inspirations!

72 HUCK

In between working in a couple of different surf shops, playing drums, painting, drinking and surfing non-stop, Stan also does some work with RVCA. He rocks around in oversized jackets like an old Russian Mafiosi, ties his jeans with a shoelace, walks barefoot and only washes his hair to go to work because he has to.

Stan: “I’ve never competed and never surfed for anybody but myself. And for me, freesurfing is everyday surfing. I admire anybody who stands by their surfing styles or lifestyles. I like extravagance. I’ve never been tempted by contests in any sports: there is too much stress, too many downsides. I don’t like to be compared to others either. Maybe I’m just saying that because I’m not a great surfer, but I have fun.

That’s what counts.”

stan Piechaczek | 22 73

Charles Prat | 22

“I’m off to work!” shouts surf shop worker and student Charles Prat at 9.30am after a onehour session at the Côte des Basques. This anarchic blond punk, also part of the Insight fold, surfs every day, everywhere he can. He loves skateboarding and is happiest with a leather jacket on his back, a silver skull on his finger and the Growlers turned up loud.

Charles: “The Switched Kick Out Surf Syndicate isn’t about promoting us, it’s about promoting surf differently. I know that other people [and brands] try to do that, but we are simply saying, ‘Hi, do you like to mess about on a surfboard?

Great, us too.’”

74 HUCK

Simon’s life turned upside down when he discovered surfing just two years ago. He gave up on being a sports coach and physical trainer and now works odd jobs at various grassroots surf brands, getting up at 6am every day to catch the right tide. When he’s not getting waves, or playing guitar, Simon’s dreaming about surfing in shorts on the Californian coast.

Simon: “We don’t care if people say ‘freesurfing is just another trend’. Those people will get bored and we’ll still be here surfing these spots on our own.” switchedkickout.tumblr.com

simon Routa | 22 75

Forget the beat-heavy scenes you saw in 8 Mile: rap battles are nothing like they used to be. HUCK goes inside the world of the battle leagues, and meets the fast-spitting, shit-talking comedic emcees who come armed with words and ready f o r w a r. I t ’ s a b o u t t o g e t r e a l u g l y.

Te x t R o b B o f f a r d Photography Greg Funnell

76 HUCK

S D R O W G N I THEM’S FIGHT

avid Adams is trying hard not to be nervous.

From a distance, the stocky guy with the name ‘Jayden’ tattooed on his neck looks calm. But get in close, ask him why he’s in the Fiddler’s Elbow pub in Kentish Town on a freezing January afternoon, and you’ll soon start seeing the little tics: the hands clenching and unclenching, the unconscious rubbing of his shaven skull. “I’ve done a few rap battles before up in Newcastle,” he says in a thick Northern accent. “This is the first one I’ve done in London, though. Spent 170 quid on the train to get here.”

He and his buddies stand off to one side, watching as the pub slowly fills up. The crowd is a mix of New Era fitted caps, testosterone and tattoos. But the mood is jubilant: winning or losing isn’t as important as putting on a good show. If they entertain the crowd, the battlers will gain entry to the ranks of Don’t Flop, the UK’s biggest rap battle league.

Adams – who battles under the name Adamzy – is in for a long wait. In the line-up of twelve one-on-one battles, his is number eleven, against someone named Master Krisp. He watches from the back as the host steps into the middle of the crowd, yelling at everybody to form a circle. This is Rowan Faife, better known as Eurgh (pronounced exactly as it’s spelt), and Don’t Flop is his show.

Eurgh and his organisation are part of a worldwide collection of leagues – others include Grind Time Now in the US, King Of The Dot in Canada and Got Beef ? in Australia.

They all operate the same way, and they all command a collective, online audience of millions. Top battlers aren’t just local heroes – they’re global superstars namedropped by obsessives like rare bird sightings.

Eurgh is a tough, ‘take-no-shit’ promoter. He calls the first battlers up: Mr Tongue Twister is rocking the regulation fitted cap, while Enigma is a heavily-tatted bruiser. They stand, hands in pockets, not meeting each other’s eyes. “We’re short of judges today,” says Eurgh loudly. “Any other battlers here want to step up and judge the rounds?”

77

Adamzy shouts out his own name and sticks up his hand.

meticulously well-prepared barrage of punchlines. Finally,

Eurgh waves him over and, as he makes his way up to the

Spliff cracks. He stands, staring at his feet, muttering, “Fuck.

front, a camera’s bright light flashes on. Every one of these

Fuck. Fuck,” as if the litany will help his next bar spring to

battles will be filmed and posted to YouTube, and even the

mind. The crowd is dead silent.

rappers who lose will be guaranteed thousands of views from an eager worldwide fanbase.

Then something odd happens. There’s a voice from the crowd. “Just start from the beginning of your verse. It’ll

Eurgh starts his opening spiel to the camera, name-

come to you!” Enigma shouts. There’s no malice in his voice.

checking his league, shouting out the sponsors and battlers in

He – like the rest of the crowd – wants Spliff to do well. They

attendance. He’s a showman at heart – a former battler who

want hot bars. Crazy punchlines. They want to be entertained.

graduated to running a demanding organisation. But like a rap Vince McMahon, every so often he’ll jump right back in the ring, spitting bars alongside the other emcees.

“One minute. Go!” he says to Tongue Twister. And it’s on.

Modern rap battling works like this.

But Spliff can’t salvage it. Eek takes the win, his place in the league assured.

So, how did rap battling get this way?

How did it turn into a kind of consciously staged reality show where almost every lyric is pre-written, there’s no beat to

There are no beats and no mics. Almost every rhyme will have

speak of and everything is caught on camera? Where you can

been pre-written days or weeks in advance, with opponents

throw an insult at somebody that, anywhere else on earth,

studied and dissected for weaknesses. Anything goes; literally

would get you a pounding, but somehow here ends in high-

everything is fair game. Family members, race, physical

fives and hugs?

“I’m so high above you lyrically, I practically live in the sky. You look like a mix between John Terry and an illegitimate, little-titted, syphilitic dyke.”

defects, sexual preferences – as long as it’s rhymed, it’s all

Up until the early 2000s, battles were usually done over

good. Obvious and clumsy are bad. Witty and cunning are

beats, with microphones and regimented sixteen-bar verses.

good. Rhythm is not important, but theatricality, comedic

Becoming well known was a lot harder, unless you snuck onto

timing and personality are. Make the crowd laugh, and you’ll

a VHS compilation or got to battle live on the radio.

walk away from the battle a winner.

scene, grabbed, twisted and turned the whole damn thing

Tongue Twister’s verse is good, but it’s clear that Enigma has

inside out. It wasn’t just that rappers’ victories could now

a bright future in the league. “I’m so high above you lyrically,

be seen by an audience of millions; the format of the battles

I practically live in the sky,” he spits at high speed, getting up

changed completely, too. If you want to film a battle, then

in Twister’s face. “You look like a mix between John Terry

a mic and a beat pumping through the speakers is going to

and an illegitimate, little-titted, syphilitic dyke.” The crowd

sound distorted and horrible – and those rappers on stage are

explodes, screaming and laughing in a huge burst of noise.

going to look super small. Far better to film them close-up,

Casual misogyny aside, when an emcee is on form, as Enigma

and lose the mic and the beats.

is today, it can be as riveting as a great monologue.

78 HUCK

But then YouTube happened. It reached into the rap battle

Each rapper takes turns with three one-minute rounds.

“You get a lot more articulate and lyrical when there are

When Enigma and Twister are done, the camera pans

no restrictions, like the beat,” says Eurgh’s partner Cruger

around the judges to gauge reactions. “Close battle, but

(Freddie Scott-Miller), who handles much of Don’t Flop’s

definitely Enigma,” says Adamzy. Enigma wins with a

video work. “In beat battles, the lyrics are a lot simpler. I love

unanimous vote, and he and Twister hug it out, patting each

that form of art as well, but I think it’s turned into something

other’s backs in the middle of the circle.

different, where it’s a lot more complex.”

Next up, a plain-clothed guy named Eek takes on a scruffy,

It’s an opinion shared by anybody who organises battles

lethargic dude called ShakeSpliff. And this one gets ugly.

and relies on that immediacy for their income. Decoy

Circus ugly. ShakeSpliff is outgunned on every front by Eek’s

(Garry McComasky) runs the Australian league Got Beef ?

“You get a lot more articulate and lyrical when there are no restrictions.�

79

and according to him, the format works just fine. “You can hear every single word that a rapper has spat, line for line,” he explains. “Back in the day, it was battles over beats, and depending on how the sound system was, you couldn’t hear some lines. Even the good rappers would run out of breath now and then, trying to cram too many words into a sentence over one beat.”

But if YouTube was the earthquake that shook up the scene, there were still a few aftershocks on the way. When YouTube first became popular, The Jump Off, a UK company run by music entrepreneur Ara Stevens, organised a World Rap Championship. Fuelled by YouTube views, it had rankings, stats and a huge cash prize of $10,000. For around three years, until 2008, it persisted, then slowly fizzled out due to financial constraints. So smaller leagues started springing up in its place.

Modern rap battles came of age in a world of Twitter, of democratised access and little companies doing big things.

Where The Jump Off was big and unwieldy, these leagues keep it simple by offering minimal financial reward. Instead, they capitalise on the fact that there are a hell of a lot of eager battlers dying to step in the ring. And so, where the cash-rich league failed, the smaller leagues have thrived, attracting sponsors eager to get their logos in front of hundreds of thousands of online viewers and take full advantage of a world geared to instant access.

But back to that reality show thing. Key battles are hyped up weeks in advance, feverishly discussed on Twitter and Facebook, with opponents encouraged to bait each other long before they actually face off. One of the biggest criticisms of the battle leagues is that the people doing it aren’t really rappers at all: they’re just two dudes throwing ‘yo momma’ jokes at each other. If anything, the battles you see at Don’t Flop are what would happen if stand-up comedy grew teeth.

In many ways, the people in rap battles aren’t traditional emcees – most will never bother recording over beats. They’re a new breed of rapper, wearing rap like a tattoo while beneath the skin beats the heart of a comedian. According to Eurgh, it’s the comedy that makes it so much fun to watch: “When you’ve got the time, the comedic [element] plays such a big part in it. A pause or a look… on a beat you can’t do that! You get battlers who don’t consider themselves to be rappers.

They don’t make music, and they don’t even have the pretence of riding a beat. I’ve invited people to beat battle tournaments and I respect them when they say, ‘I’m not gonna enter that, ’cos I’d be shit.’ That’s fine!”

He continues: “People pay to come to the battles, and they’d rather watch a bunch of people spitting flawless disses that are worded really well, delivered really well and practised, rather than seeing people right then and there going, ‘Um, ah, er…’

It’s evolved. I’ll never complain about it being pre-written.”

“You’ll find that a lot of people who come to our events don't necessarily even like hip hop,” adds Decoy. “They like the jokes, they like the stand-up comedy side to it. They like seeing two guys break each other down verbally and just mess with each other.”

The format isn’t everyone’s thing. Enlish (Dave Pererra) is a Cornwall emcee who took home Battle of the Year in 2011 for his bout against Cruger. But while he might have been an active battler with several victories to his name, he’s gently critical of the scene. “My main issue with it is that it has become its own geeky subculture,” he explains. “I know kids who have learned to rap without a beat, which negates

81

the whole point as far as I’m concerned. They learn to rap a capella, and they don’t even get into hip hop – they get into rap battling.”

But

the

one

thing

that

nobody criticises is perhaps the

most

offensive

part

of

the entire setup: the relaxed attitude towards insults that

“It’s the most bizarre way to make friends.

Insulting somebody as horribly as you possibly can, and then it’s all water under the bridge.

You chill out and have a pint afterwards, like two boxers beating the shit out of each other then going out for a drink.”

in any other situation could

most other Don’t Flop events.

Though frankly, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who looks more out of place in a battle situation.

O’Shea – who battles under his surname – looks like any local

down

the

pub

who’s

wandered over to see what all the fuss is about. He’s a

get you killed. People go off

jovial, chubby dude who works

on each other in battles – and for first-time watchers it can

nights stacking shelves at his local Morrison’s supermarket.

be uncomfortable. So it’s a surprise when Eurgh and Cruger

In a battle, he’ll stand there, bearing his huge teeth in a shit-

argue that, despite the massive homophobia, casual racism

eating grin, a pint in his hand, as the crowd gets hyped and

and horrific sexism thrown around, the battles have their own

his opponent tries to mean-mug him. But then Eurgh will give

moral code.

him the signal, and he’ll verbally pummel his opponent into a

Apparently, it’s all about the crowd. You can be as racist

bloody red mist.

as you like, as mean and dirty and horrible as you want, and

“I just enjoy it for the laugh of it,” he says. “I enjoy the

still lose the battle. Being offensive won’t get you the win.

weekend away. I’ve got nothing bad to say against rap battling.”

Ripping off a battler, like Uno Lavos, for being Puerto Rican

O’Shea, perhaps more than any other rhymer, is here to

is lazy – and more importantly, he’ll just smile at you and keep

entertain the crowd. “To be entertaining is more important

on coming, brushing aside the insults like old cobwebs. But

than anything to do with rap battles,” he says, surprisingly

finding a clever or funny way to mock his heritage will get you

humble and soft-spoken when out of the arena. “You’ve got to

points – and that elusive love from the crowd, which means

entertain, you’ve got to hold the crowd. There are rappers who

props from the judges.

are technically brilliant, but if you can’t control a crowd and

“If you have fun with the stereotype, then it becomes

physically get three or four hundred people focused on what

acceptable,” says Eurgh. “If you use race jokes to get the crowd

you’re saying, you’re not going to be able to do it. The people

on your side, they have to be really funny. If you flip it up and

who can take the piss out of themselves are better rappers,

make it rhyme really well, and deliver it in a cocky way, then

and have a better chance of winning battles.”

people will love it and your opponent will probably laugh!”

Justifying the casual racism and sexism in battle raps is

Back at the Fiddler’s Elbow, it’s

absolutely impossible. But when you start to see the battles

Adamzy’s turn. Four hours have passed since he adjudicated

through this strange moral lens (where prejudice and piss-

Enigma’s win, and he looks tired. But he gives it his all,

taking are considered entirely different things), you begin to

spitting in that thick accent: “How does it feel to know you’ll

understand it, if not perhaps condone it.

never be a star on a label, like Newcastle Brown Ale?”

There’s an odd side effect to this radical freedom of speech

Heartbreakingly, it’s just not good enough. Master Krisp

that puts rap battling in a category all on its own. Where else

might have a silly name, but his bars are hot, and Adamzy

in society can you say anything you like without the fear of

narrowly loses. But in a way it’s not a loss, really, seeing as the

repercussions? Plus, there’s rarely any lasting beef between

crowd laughed along with every line. Eurgh and Cruger will

rappers. If anything, battling breeds friendships, not feuds.

have to review the footage, but his chances of being invited

“It’s the most bizarre way to make friends,” laughs Enlish.

82 HUCK

today, but he’s a fixture at

back look good.

“Insulting somebody as horribly as you possibly can, and then

The future of the battle leagues is promising, and the

it’s all water under the bridge. You chill out and have a pint

organisations seem to just get bigger and better. Whether they

afterwards, like two boxers beating the shit out of each other

can sustain it in the long term, or whether fans will get tired

then going out for a drink. Like Rocky and Apollo.”

of the format after a while and move on, remains to be seen.

No story on rap battling would be complete without a

But even if they were all to shut down tomorrow in a haze of

word from O’Shea – a UK legend whose quick-witted bars

moral condemnation, there’d quite simply be nothing else like

have elevated him to the elite. He’s not in the Fiddler’s Elbow

them out there

So instead of worshipping at the foot of false idols, why not take a minute to listen to what regular folk have to say.

Welcome to Endnotes, where stories unfold straight from the source.

85

86 HUCK

’ve just been on a trip around the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India,

through the pages of a magazine – a platform supported by advertising

China and South Africa; countries that are defined as ‘developing’

– I’m helping expose these undocumented scenes to a brand-obsessed

but, in reality, are culturally streaks ahead – for my next book,

world. As a vehicle for under-the-radar stories, we’re complicit in the

which goes inside the world of youth advertising. Apart from

co-optation of all things good. Unwittingly, we package subcultures in a

all the wicked creativity going on out there, one of the things

way that looks appealing to ad men.

I discovered was that culture and consumption have become

And as soon as that happens, it’s game over. It’s just a matter of

intertwined. And this got me thinking about emerging culture in

time before a career-hungry grom in his inner-city ad agency spots

such a different way.

whoever/whatever we’re talking about – sees some homemade video

When the interesting stuff happens, it’s spontaneous. The rest of the

on YouTube, or a few scribblings on Tumblr – and is hit by an epiphany.

world isn’t party to what’s going down. Instead, only a select coterie

“I know,” he’ll say. “All I have to do is latch brand X onto scene Y and the

of people – true pioneers – get to see, smell, taste and hear the kind of

kids will go nuts for it and start buying all this shit!”

culture that exists at grassroots. The public may luck out and accidentally

The internet is a fucking brilliant thing, but in my jaded opinion it’s

discover what’s happening; some will get involved, others will criticise,

also a terrible thing. Yes, some talented kid in outer-Mongolia can get

and the really good stuff will gently simmer underground.

recognised and not die unknown (if, perhaps, still penniless). On the

Before the internet took over the world, that’s how things worked;

other hand, nothing remains sacred for very long.

culture spread by word of mouth, passed like folklore between people

Maybe capitalism cannot be stopped; money makes the world go

who didn’t just watch from a distance, but were actively contributing

round, right? But does our cultural consumption have to come with a price

in a hands-on way. They were deejays, designers, musicians, skaters,

tag? Can’t we ‘consume’ culture without turning talent into a commodity

doers,

makers,

believers.

That was how movements started, often born out of hardship or in reaction to something or someone: Rave culture in 1988, for example, was a direct reaction to the right-wing selfish society that Thatcher spawned in the UK. But

nowadays,

there’s

a huge white elephant in the room; people are often under the illusion that they’re part of something cultural, when in fact what they’re actually doing – and this is the vital point – is confusing consumption

with

culture.

Just because you order a book from Amazon, buy a T-shirt emblazoned with a

– into experiences that only

King Adz has spent enough time inside ad agencies to understand how the marketing machine works. Having turned his back on that life to author books on graffiti culture and street food, he’s now roaming the globe for his forthcoming title, The Stuff You Can’t Bottle, an in-depth look at the world of youth advertising. Here, in the first of a series of essays, he shares some thoughts that s truck him along the way.

stencil of an audio cassette,

money can buy? Street culture plays such a huge part in selling stuff to the youth, it’s hard to decipher the real deal from the carbon copy. Than again: what does ‘authenticity’ really even mean, anyway?

Who’s to say that Tyler The Creator is any more ‘real’ than Sir Cliff Richard? And what happens when a brand jumps onto a movement? Does it kill it or does it help to spread the

word,

albeit

attached

to a logo?

This is something I have spent the last fifteen years trying to figure out. Full disclosure: as a former creative director in

advertising,

brands

still

ask me to introduce them to

luck out and get a ‘LTD’ edition pair of sneakers (that have been mass-

fresh young talent around the world. Sometimes I hook them up, if it

produced in their 100,000s), you may well think that you’re part of

feels like a situation where everyone wins. But over the years, these

something, but all you’re really doing is consuming a thing that’s been

experiences have just made me more aware of the strange predator/

fed to you. It’s no more or less meaningful than wearing a badge, or

prey relationship that corporations have with the cultures they want a

pressing ‘like’ on someone’s Facebook page.

piece of. Today, I spend my days working as a writer, hunting for those

And we’re all guilty of it; we’ve all felt the joy of slipping on a new pair

little nuggets of culture sparkling in the gutter, searching out content

of rare-as-fuck Nikes and feeling like we suddenly ‘belong’. It’s become

that is free from commercial ties and trying to reassure myself that

almost second nature to buy into a movement that is seen as cool. In many

it still exists. How do I know when I see something real? All I’ve got

ways, buying shit has become an integral part of the culture we live, sleep,

is my gut reaction.

eat and breathe. And it’s not our fault; the line between consumption and culture has become so blurred, it’s easy to feel confused.

Now throw in the large corporations behind every youth brand and that’s when things really get complicated. On my travels I witnessed what can only be described as truly spontaneous, unpremeditated and, dare I say it, authentic culture: stuff you won’t see on the internet – people

There is nothing more exciting than cultural movements that exist for no other reason than because it feels right. I’m talking raves, skate jams, anonymous graffiti tags, rap battles on a corner; reggae, punk, grunge, Teds, Rockers, Mods, yada yada yo.

Next time around, I’ll introduce some of the people I’ve met along the way who believe it’s enough to do things for love. King Adz

and movements that remain hidden. But here’s the rub: now that I’m typing this up and choosing to share the things that I stumbled upon

KingAdz.tumblr.com / @KingAdz

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photography BY Robin Mellor

Andy Gott and I set up The Snowboarders’ Foundation in early 2011 for a

Since we started the company, we’ve become aware of the British Winter

simple reason; we thought we could make a difference to something that we both

Athletes, who are campaigning to put money back into all UK winter sports, not

love. I picked up on two stories when we first started thinking about the project.

just snowboarding, and they’re working on some projects to raise money to help

The first was about UK snowboarder Zoe Gillings, who was setting up her third or

the youth coming through... But we hope to provide a sustainable level of funding,

fourth business in order to fund her training and competing, and the other was Dan

year on year, for those people that don’t qualify as youth. If we can do that, and

Wakeham, who retired from competitive snowboarding in 2009. I’ve never spoken

people can see that riders like Jamie Nicholls, Aimee Fuller, Ben Kilner and Jenny

to him about it, but all reports claim that he quit because he was disillusioned with

Jones are getting the funding that they need, then hopefully it will encourage

the lack of funding. This was, and is, a massive loss for British snowboarding and a

people to stick at it.

poor reflection of the current state of affairs.

Since these fridges (indoor slopes) have popped up all around the country,

It’s a sad fact that UK Sport [the government’s organisation for directing the

we’ve seen the UK produce a much higher calibre of athlete and there are many

development of sport] cut the budget for skiing and snowboarding from £600,000

more snowboarders coming out of the UK... I have no idea what the funding

(with £248,000 earmarked for snowboarding) in the run up to Vancouver 2010, to

situations are like outside of the UK, but Europe and the US naturally have more

£0 for Sochi in 2014. But the timing of our inception is more of a coincidence than

riders and a greater following because of the easy access to snow and mountains.

a direct response.

Now we’re getting more access to snow, UK riders are improving, but training and

We want to support all British riders competing on an international level – and

travelling can be really expensive.

those with the potential to. In reality, there’ll be a limit to the number of riders we

I suppose the difference between us and other organisations is the fact that

can support each year and we’ve concluded that the best deciding factor is talent,

we’re ‘not-for-salary’. Andy and I will work for free and give up as much time

both present and potential. We will exercise some sort of means-testing discretion

as we can to make this happen. When it comes to putting on an event, there

if we think a particular rider already has more money than they need. In theory,

are costs that will have to be met, but we’ll never personally receive a penny.

our plan goes like this: we support the riders at the top, Britain develops medal

With this in mind, we think that we can encourage more companies to look at the

hopefuls, the government reintroduces funding, riders earn medals, there’s wider

sponsorship opportunities, knowing they’ll get good publicity and the riders will

interest in the sport, businesses grow, there’s more direct sponsorship of riders,

receive the money direct. Apart from a condition to spend the money on training

more money comes in from non-industry companies, and it all starts to trickle

and competing, there are no other strings attached.

down to young upcoming riders. We all win!

There will always be one more British rider with the potential to go all the way,

Our mission is to exploit the commercial angle of snowboarding for the benefit

so there will always be the need for additional funding. It gives both of us a massive

of those in the sport. Large snowboarding brands already do a lot for their team

buzz working on this and we’ll keep going until we’ve exhausted every possible

riders, but there are a load of different companies outside of snowboarding that

avenue of fundraising. We hope that along the way we’ll be doing some good for

want to be associated with action sports, and they can help put money back into

the continued growth of the sport. We don’t want to turn snowboarding into a

the sport. We’re trying to get a UK slopestyle competition we’ve been calling The

mainstream sport, we just want to give more people the chance to experience what

50.Grandslam off the ground in 2012. If we can raise £50,000 and split it between

we feel every time we strap on our boards. Charlie Reid

a few riders – who will be chosen by a committee including our patrons Lesley McKenna and Ed Leigh – then we can really make a difference.

88 HUCK

thesnowboardersfoundation.org.uk / @t_s_f

Check in to the

music world of

90 HUCK photography BY Jonathan Minto

like Post Teens and Rose Cross; it’s not just the old guard like Grabass Charlestons and Assholeparade... Gainesville is an awesome town to host FEST in because it has a rich punk rock heritage, but it’s also small, super friendly, and the weather’s nice. It’s the perfect environment.

Thinking Left Gainesville is a college town so a lot of people leave after they graduate, but then a lot of people settle down here, too. It’s one of two left-wing cities in Florida, which is a very right-wing state, so we get a lot of people moving here who want to live in a liberal environment. I think that’s why a lot of bands start up in this town.

Boca Fiesta

bocafiesta.com

Warren [Oakes, the former drummer of Against Me!] and his buddies started Boca Fiesta, a mexican restaurant where the Hardback used to

Gainesville, Florida: ‘rock city’ of the South. everyone from Less Than Jake to Hot Water Music

be, and now they’re a big part of this community... The university brings a lot of money into Gainesville, but there is a whole other demographic of people here and we want the city to cater to our needs and wants.

A Parking Lot Downtown

has kicked back in this porch-and-picket-fence,

FEST has come up on its own without any major corporate backing.

pot-smoking town. Now, on Halloween weekend

ethics... We’re working with the city to put on a show in a parking lot

each year, local record label No Idea plays host to fest, a punk festival that's proudly homegrown. we asked Founder Tony Weinbender to t a k e u s o n a t o u r o f h i s m y t h o l o g i s e d HOME t o w n .

We started FEST just to do FEST, and it still has the same principles and downtown soon and if it’s successful we might be able to do something cool like a craft beer festival during FEST... I care about this town a lot and I want to put back into it.

Wayward Council

waywardcouncil.biz.ht

The best place to buy new records in Gainesville is probably Wayward, our cool co-op record store. Wayward’s been around ever since I came to Gainesville in the nineties and it’s all run by volunteers. There’s another cool record shop downtown now called Here Again, and it’s got a really good selection of vinyl... But if you’re here during FEST time, I think the best place to buy records is the No Idea sale because we bring

The Hardback Cafe

out the whole distro. You’ve just got to fight the line!

In the mid nineties, when I got introduced to punk rock, there were less bands and it was harder to tour. Gainesville was a town that supported

University Avenue

touring bands. The Hardback was a small bar with a pool table and they

A huge motivating factor for FEST is that we can bring everyone

had bands playing every single night. Even though it was a small scene

together [along one main street] and support the bands we love... It’s

– 100 or 200 people – they would come out to every show, every night...

the ongoing growth of a family, which is why we call it a family reunion!

We had Less Than Jake coming out then, and No Idea was thriving.

But at the same time, a lot of people are coming here for the first time and making new friends so it’s nice to know that we’re able to be a

The Atlantic

atlanticnightspot.com

My favourite venue to attend a show at is The Atlantic. It’s the perfect

catalyst for a lot of new relationships. We’re the band matchmakers of punk rock! Tony Weinbender

size, the sound is really good and the staff are all our friends... The Gainesville scene is still really strong. We have new bands coming up

fest.fl / @tonythefest

91

I make kids’ books because... I like to share things with people. I like to make people happy. I think kids are some of the best people because they haven’t built up the walls that come with age and wear. You can tell them things and they’ll turn

Dallas Clayton is a writer and illustrator who makes the most stoked kids’ books you

them upside down right there in front of you, and give them back in a way you never even considered. It’s pretty magical.

The people who inspire me are people who wake up every day and do something that no one even knows about, just because it excites them and they think it’s important. My happy place is anywhere there are other people to talk to.

I like to take really big themes and try to tell them in really simple ways. The larger, the broader, the more widespread, the better. Classic ideas – dreams, love,

could imagine. His work is full of dinosaurs, skateboards, rainbows and robots, with

hope, appreciation; things that everyone in the world has a relationship to, no matter where they are or where they’ve been.

This year, I feel cheerful about getting the opportunity to share what I do with total strangers every single day. I’d also like to learn how to do a backflip.

I think most people are a lot closer to their inner kid than we give them credit for. Sometimes it only takes a melody, or a word, or a smell, or a taste, to bring you back – to make you forget about traffic for a minute, or taxes, or bosses, or the rest

a simple me s s age : ge t r ad a nd be happ y.

of it, and remember what it felt like to jump off a roof into a swimming pool for no real reason except ‘just because’.

In the future, I hope everything is more rad all the time, forever. Dallas Clayton dallasclayton.com / veryawesomeworld.com / @dallasclayton

92 HUCK

NO STARS “A HORRIBLE ALBUM THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO. AND I MEAN THAT. I DON’T HAVE EARS. PUT ME BACK IN THE DIRT.” – AN EARTHWORM

ENJOYED BY ALL LIVING THINGS WITH EARS. Introducing 1% For The Planet: The Music Vol. 1, featuring Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings, Jackson Browne, and more. All proceeds benefit 1%’s continued efforts to make the planet a more beautiful place.

Visit music.onepercentfortheplanet.org to listen to exclusive tracks.

SOMETHING TO KeeP Yves suter is a swiss photographer and self-publisher who documents the lifest Yle and culture around

i love self-publishing because i can do what i want,

snowboarding. his most recent

to places i’ve always wanted to, and produce a body

book, strawberrY snow, documents a one-month trip through Japan with swiss rider dominik betschart.

how i want. i just follow my dreams and ideas; travel of work that’s worth publishing. it’s basically the completion of ideas without compromises. it’s always good to find a partner or brand that will help finance a trip, but if you do, you always have an obligation to produce the work they expect, for the money they offered. Sometimes you lose enjoyment in that process and you find yourself at the other end of the world, producing work that lacks commitment

here, Yves explains whY he prefers

to your own ideals. that’s why we fund these trips

t o m a k e t h i n g s a l l b Y h i m s e l f.

but it’s worth the struggle to be your own boss and

ourselves. it’s much harder to get the money together, make your own decisions. a book is one of the best ways to present your work. i have a huge passion for art books and i love seeing the printed work of other photographers that inspire me. i love ari marcopoulos and a ton of new, young photographers like this Swiss guy called linus Bill. a lot of artists i like are young and wouldn’t be published by a big company. it’s cool to see younger photographers who aren’t in this artsy, fartsy mafia – which i’m not in either – and don’t have connections, and self-publish a book or ’zine on their own.

Self-publishing is a lot of work. you’re not only the artist; you’re the producer, editor, designer, publisher, financer and sometimes the printer, too. But i love the challenging process of creation, being totally focused on the work for days or even weeks, and turning the project into a book you always wanted to make. the internet goes so quickly, but if you do something in print it stays for a lifetime. with my new book, Strawberry Snow, Snow, i had the advantage of already having been to Japan before. i knew what to expect and felt really comfortable over there. i love the food, the nature and the people are just so nice. knowing this made it a lot easier. i don’t tend to question or think a lot about things. maybe it’s naïve in a way, but i always believe in the good. i try to prepare as much as possible, but then i just let it flow. if you try to force something, it’s never gonna happen. never. that’s something i’ve learned in my life. yvEs sutEr yvEssutEr.com

94 HUCK

First st in in SURFING S SU URFING NEWS NEWS First

www.surfersvillage.com Rider: Tim Boal / Photo: Agustin Munoz/Red Bull Photofiles / Design: ID

Tim

Bo al

photography BY Liz Seabrook

For ethical taxidermist Jazmine Miles-Long, stuffing a n i m a l s i s a w a y t o c e l e b r a t e t h e i r l i v e s . B u t a s DEMAND FOR HER CRAFT CONTINUES TO GROW , a r e o u r f u r r y f r i e n d s more in danger than ever? Here, the twenty-five-yearold takes us through the process – from cutting and gutting, to casting and pickling – and sets us straight on the issues that arise when artists deal with death.

96 HUCK

My First Mole i volunteered at the Booth museum for six months in 2007 after studying sculpture at Brighton university, and they have a huge collection of taxidermy. i started with a mole and i was really freaked out that i wouldn’t like it, but i enjoyed peeling back the muscles and understanding how it worked. i’ve struggled with bigger things like deer; getting their stomachs out is tricky because you have to pull down the whole diaphragm and put your arms inside. and brains are not nice. they look like strawberry mousse. when you die, everything just flops – it’s squishy. it was weird, but i’m okay with it now.

Mammals & Birds with a bird, it’s pretty simple. i get the dead bird, either defrosted or fresh, and skin it, leaving the wing bones, the leg bones and the skull. i clean all the fat off the inside of the skin and throw away the body after making a copy with a lot of measurements and diagrams. then i make a body out of balsa wood. i wash the skin in fairy liquid and dry it with a hair dryer. you don’t need any preservatives on a bird. a mammal is a lot harder because the anatomy is more complicated. i have to skin it and take away every bone, then shave the skin down thin and turn it into leather using acid pickles. the body is moulded using a mixture of casting, wire and some of the bones. the eyes are fake eyes.

Rights & Wrongs i’m a vegetarian and i love animals. everything i stuff died naturally; either it was hit by a car or dragged in by a cat. i don’t take animals that have been put down at the vets... the laws regulating taxidermy are not new. you can pick up any animal as long as you can prove that it died naturally. if it was shot, you have to prove that it was a game animal that died in the gaming season. i agree that demand for taxidermy makes illegal trading more likely, but by promoting ethical taxidermy it’s more likely that consumers will consider what they are buying. it’s important that people know there are responsible ways of purchasing taxidermy and that every taxidermist is legally bound to keep a log book of where their specimens have come from. you can contact the guild of taxidermists (taxidermy.org.uk) for more information.

Beyond Bell Jars i don’t want people to feel frightened of the animals i stuff. i want them to understand them, see them up close and even touch them... i rarely get a negative response to my work, i guess because the stuff i do is really inoffensive. i love the animals and i think that comes across to people. i don’t do cryptotaxidermy – where you stick different bits of animals together – and i don’t do anything you can wear. i’ve learnt a lot through doing taxidermy. i deal with grief and death a lot better because i understand what’s going on and the fact that we’re so fragile. you can’t ignore what’s going on inside your body. death is hidden away in this country. we’re brought up away from death and dying things, but it shouldn’t be scary or weird. JAzminE milEs-long JAzminEmilEslong.com

97

1.

1. Brash is a cut-and-paste ’zine dedicated to all things skatey and creative, made by Stockwell shred grrrl ‘alana Brash’. it’s full of photocopied skate photos, interviews with skaters and artists, comics and artwork, for people who just love to push ‘n’ roll. brashzine.blogspot.com 2. legendary street shooter Cheryl Dunn sent us a care package twelve hours before we went to press. inside, we found the third issue of Victory Journal – ‘the new refuge of the true sportsman’ – featuring 2.

an interview with Dunn and a thirteen-page folio of her sporting photographs. it made our day. victoryjournal.com

3.

3. huck hosted the london stop of rolling Back the years this month in collaboration with lovenskate and vans.

Skate punk band Ssssnakes from Swansea came up to play the private view. this is their recent lp, Kissss Thissss.

4. according to this story by aBC 7 news, a great lakes

4.

surfer was arrested on 17 January for surfing in lake Michigan, where the beach is apparently closed until May. Further proof that only the hardiest, gnarliest wavehunters will brave these challenging shores. 5. uk rap battler eek! released this Crack compilation in 2011. expect songs like ‘effing Bored’, ‘fuck School ft. Beeff’, and ‘Silence is 5.

violent’, spat over sixteen-bar beats. eekthealien.bandcamp.com

6.

6. in the spirit of hUCk’s reclaim public Space creative brief, ‘pothole gardener’ Steve Wheen has been brightening london’s

7.

urban sprawl by planting mini gardens in the rubble. Check out thepotholegardener.com for more of his cheery greens and join our creative call-to-arms by sending examples of reclaimed space to publicspace@thechurchoflondon.com. 7. the church of london, the publishing team behind huck and Little White Lies, decided to make a happy newspaper in seven days to subvert the doom and gloom of mainstream media and cheer people up in london. it was distributed on 16 January, supposedly the ‘most depressing day of the year’, and the whole production process was made transparent online, including a live editorial list (eek!). goodtimes.thechurchoflondon.com 8. hUCk partners and friends Stack and MagCulture hosted the first printout! event of 2012, to celebrate independent publishing, in Shoreditch last month. among the paper treats in the indie mag library was Cairo Divided – a collection of photographs

8.

by Jason larkin, with an accompanying essay by Guardian journalist Jack Shenker – which documents the urban regeneration of Cairo. 9. in between running skate jams, making a new doc, shooting photos, joining the huck indies stand at iSpo and holding down a day job, rogue Skateboards founder Jenna Selby also found time to release this rad howling wolf tee. nice. rogueskateboards.com 10. Despite being under house arrest for fifteen years, pro-democracy Burmese dissident aung San Suu kyi was released in november 2010 and is now running for parliament in the april 2012

10.

elections. Letters From Burma is a collection of columns written by her between 1995 and 1996 for the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun. 11. the kids at the 826 valenciainspired creative writing centre ministry of Stories helped spread some January joy for The Good Times newspaper by responding

9.

to the statement ‘if i ruled the world...’ this is just one of many awesome handwritten replies. ministryofstories.org 11.

98 HUCK