In celebration of the released of ‘Home’, the first single to be taken from their debut EP of the same name, the self-described Byron Bay ‘surf rats’ are heading off on an East Coast tour. Kicking off in Lennox Head this Friday and wrapping up in Brisbane mid-December, the tour sees the guys visit venues in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Torquay Hotel, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, and more. Ahead of their 12 date tour, we chatted with the band’s vocalist/ guitarist Josh ‘Froggy’ about some of his favourite moments when music and surfing collide.
Intro
“Growing up as a salty froth dog I spent many a frothy night watching my favourite surfing sections on repeat. I also acquired a good chunk of my musical taste from surf movies, good surfing to a grimy song filled my belly with fire leaving a lasting impression. So to put myself on familiar grounds I’ll give you my five favourite surf sections of all time where the music and surfing came together in a special way, not surf rock but rock in surfing.”
The Datsuns – ‘MF From Hell’
Featuring: Surfer Ozzy Wright in Doped Youth, directed by Adam Blakey
“Gritty guitars with riffs for days, blasting drums, slippery bass and vocals that make you want to kick the door in out of pure joy. Ozzy Wright’s surfing style is balls to the wall go for broke punk/rock n’ roll, its the perfect marriage of sound and vision as the surfing and the music are of the exact same attitude. you don’t believe me watch the first five seconds of the section where Ozzy takes off under a rocky arch and belly slides over dry reef to the mind shattering intro riff of the Datsuns. Ozzy plays in a classic rock band of his own now called ‘Goons of Doom’ we’ve played a couple of shows with them and every time I see Ozzy’s head that Datsun riff takes over my brain.”
Bloc Party – ‘Helicopter’
Featuring: Surfer Dane Reynolds in Campaign 2, directed by Taylor Steele
“I’ve always had a great big soft spot for Brit Rock; The Clash, The Cure, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin etc etc. When this section dropped I though it signified two things; the coming of Dane Reynolds, and the re-emergence of a new wave of Brit Rock.
It seemed obvious to me that Dane was going to qualify for the world tour and win 50 consecutive world titles and that Brit Rock was sure to take over the world once again. In hindsight I guess I got a little carried away but it doesn’t take anything away from the section, it left me twitching with froth speeding up and down the coast looking for waves. Bloc Party somehow found a way to make two guitars, bass, drums and vocals sound unexpected, I really like the way they gel the two guitar parts together when they sometimes play different parts to a singular riff. Dane’s surfing was exactly the same, he was surfing in a way that was completely new and innovative, I had never seen surfing like that before and from that day forth I’ve been green with envy that I don’t surf anything like Dane Reynolds”
The Refused – ‘New Noise’
Featuring: Surfer Andy Irons in Momentum Under the Influence, directed by Taylor Steele
“I loved watching Andy Irons surf, he had everything; power and aggression mixed with technical finesse and precision. sometimes its the music that makes you appreciate the surfing but in this case it was the surfing that made me appreciate the music.
I had never truly liked a song this loud and aggressive and I remember thinking that style of music was not for me. I have since realized genres are meaningless in the recipe for a good song when compared to if its done with unique style, passion, attitude and fines, and this song most certainly has just that. to this day I still cannot tell which is more loud and aggressive Irons’ surfing or the blood boiling screamer that is ‘New Noise’.”
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Andy Irons – Momentum Under The Influence from The Media Garage on Vimeo.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – ‘Rise Or Fall’
Featuring: Surfer Bruce Irons in Campaign, directed by Taylor Steele
“To me this is as good as it gets. No other surfing section has made my blood boil, my arms and legs twitch and sent more tickles down my spine. The song and the surfing are a match made in heaven, its the Kim Kardashion and Kanye West or Cheech and Chong of surfing sections.
The drums start plonking away in this tight gritty groove then this fuzzy melodic bass line slots right into perfection and from there its just on, the guitar gives the song an emotional undertone and the vocals just slap you right in the heart. I watched BRMC perform last year and just like Nick Cave they completely shattered my ridiculously high expectations. In the middle of their set their drummer lordess took a break while the other two placed a single mic in the middle of the stage and picked up acoustic guitars. it was the most delicate and vulnerable moment i have ever witnessed in a live performance, as they placed themselves with precision around this single mic to get the perfect sound while they played ’shuffle your feet’ it was so delicate that when the audience went to applaud you could no longer hear the song, at the start half the audience was cheering and the other half was shushing and by the end everyone came together swaying and singing I’ve never seen anything like it.
Bruce Irons was my favourite surfer as a kid and it was always all about his style, it’s how I wanted to look on a wave, when other guys would go fore broke with reckless abandon Bruce would go even bigger without ever compromising style. Bruce flows through a wave with the same feel that BRMC flow through a song never compromising style and just feeling it every step of the way. It was because of the mind numbing perfect barrels at the start of the clip that i carted a box full of rations, three surfboards and a ukelele to HT’s where I camped out for a month hoping to score it as good as Bruce”
Nick Cave – Red Right Hand
Featuring in the film Dear Suberbia, directed by Kai Nevil
“Nick Cave is a fucking genius, I got to see him perform in Melbourne a little over a year ago, I knew It would be mind blowing but he somehow completely shattered my expectations. nothing makes me happier than seeing talented musicians ageing like wine in a world were musicians appear so disposable. his lyrics slap you in the face with poetry, emotion and depth with a voice neither lazy and sarcastic nor trying too hard and over the top ‘You’re one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan designed and directed by his red right hand’. The visuals to the clip are much newer and Hi Fi than any of the other ones I’m gonna give you today and it’s quite masterfully shot and pieced together, long drawn out desert shots to set the scene and match the mood of the song mixed with some tasty angles and good surfing. I won’t be able to bring you the surfing section to this doozy but I highly recommend blissing out to the song.”
Waxhead 2014 National Tour Dates
Friday, 7th November 2014
Lennox Point Hotel, Lennox Head NSW
Friday, 14th November 2014
Torquay Hotel, Torquay VIC
Saturday, 15th November 2014
Alia Arthouse, Melbourne VIC
Friday, 21st November 2014
Mum – World Bar, Sydney NSW
Saturday, 22nd November 2014
The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Sunday, 23rd November 2014
Frankies Pizza, Sydney NSW
Saturday, 29th November 2014
Home Grown Festival, Bangalow NSW
Friday, 5th December 2014
The Pier, Port Macquarie NSW
Saturday, 6th December 2014
Yamba Shores Tavern, Yamba NSW
Sunday, 7th December 2014
Broad Beach Tavern “Sounds of Sunday”
Gold Co
ast QLD
Friday, 12th December 2014
The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay NSW
Saturday, 13th December 2014
Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
