He’s not wrong, is he?
There aren’t too many things more synonymous with music than surfing.
There’s basketball, there’s skateboarding, and of course there’s dancing, but for as long as I can remember surfing and music have always gone hand in hand.
Playing a huge role in soundtracking surf culture over the years, there’s the music featured in surf movies such as The Endless Summer, In God’s Hands, and Jack Johnson’s Thicker Than Water documentary, there’s the music that always accompanies surf competition videos – have you ever seen a surf video without music? No, I didn’t think so – and then of course there are the groundbreaking Taylor Steele videos that helped surfers become rockstars and rockstars become household names.
And don’t even get me started on the sound of the ocean being music in itself.
For National Album Day I sat down with Rob Machado, one of the world’s most respected surfers who stars in new movie Momentum Generation, to find out his thoughts on the album format and also discuss which complete body of work is the most important to him.
“That’s such an interesting word, right? Album,” he begins. “Because nowadays I don’t see people buying albums. I don’t think people create albums like they used to.
“I love the album. Growing up I’d go to the record store and I’d buy something tangible. I came home with a CD, with a record, and I loved the idea of sitting down and pulling out the notes and reading the lyrics and just having something. Touching it and feeling it and just picking apart all of the work that went into it. It was just so gratifying.
“But nowadays it’s kinda evolved into something where there’s more of a focus on individual songs. With iTunes you can just go in and buy one song, you don’t have to buy the album. I used to have to buy the album and then to get to my favourite song I had to listen to all of the other songs.”
Asking a person’s favourite album, or the one most important to them, is 99 percent of the time met with, “That’s such a tough question to answer.” But not for Rob. The surf legend who has twice ranked in the Top 3 surfers in the world had an answer instantly.
“Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix,” he answers. “It was one of those albums that I would listen to from start to finish all the way through. It was like this rollercoaster ride of emotions and experiences and sounds and craziness. I remember being 16-years-old and my mind was just blown.”
Still a huge fan of the album, Rob’s more a vinyl man these days, claiming: “I still buy records. Bon Iver has put out some really good records lately – I’m a huge fan. I have a record player at home and I still like listening to records. It’s such a great experience.”
Momentum Generation will be available to download digitally from November 5th 2018.
