Surfing's not fun. It's hard work. It's a daily grind. A nine-to-five dead-end way to make a living.
Just ask Jamie O'brien.
Working stiff.
So, here's the j.o.b. Ready? Okay. Paddle out into macking Pipeline. It's eight foot but call it six. Call it four. Shh-yeah. Catch a bomb but stay casual during the airdrop. Dig in deep and get barreled. Twice. Switch stance on the second one, just to trip people out. Doggie-door the closeout and ride it back to the beach. Find a filmer who shot the clip. Arrange to meet him later. Show up later with your laptop and cash. Buy the clip. One down.
Repeat the process. New trick. New angle. Every wave's gotta be different. Push the limits. Gimme a good variety of aerials. Focus on stuff we haven't seen yet. Flips. Twists. Awkward grabs. That kinda stuff. With turns, make'em exaggerated, over-rotated and fucked-up looking. Tubes - I know, I know, it can get pretty boring in there after a while - make em look new and different with weird lean-backs, parallel stances or, hey, if you can ride em without any fins on your board and spin 360 in there... no wait, make it 540, oh fuck it, 720. Spin 900 degree in the barrel without any fins on your board, Yeah, kids'll dig that. OK. Now do it all again so we can get a second angle. A different backdrop. Better lighting. Nice. Perfect.
OK, do it again. (Sorry, forgot to push RECORD for the first one). Ready, Go.
This is the day-to-day of North Shore circus-boy Jamie O'Brien. Chasing clips for the next production. With his dad, Mick. His friends. Art guys and business bros. Couple weird random dudes. Filming. Chasing Jamie, chasing clips. Blasting through California. Over to the East Coast. Back to the North Shore. Down to Australia. Around New Zealand. Ball. Malaysian wavepools. Call standing waves. North Shore. Oz again. Another angle. Better lighting. Cleaner landing. More tweak. More funk. Get the clip. Sock it away. Don't miss your plane. Don't miss the swell. Don't forget the autograph signing. Don't forget to drop by the mags and say Hi. Don't forget... shit, what was that other thing you weren't supposed to forget?
Stab: Do you ever just blow it and forget a bunch of important things on a trip?
Jamie: I've been travelling a lot since I was little, so I've got it down to kind of a science. I'll forget a leash or something now and again, but never anything major. So you must spend a lot of time just getting from Point A to Point B? Same deal, 've got it pretty wired. Laptop, movies, PSP, iPod. I'm the guy you wanna be sitting next to on the plane.
What about when the swell's off, like, at home?
I tend to stay busy. If I'm at wie, I'm editing the movie or doing yard work at my house, just slaving away :or myself. Sometimes I'm just driving around listening to music trying to come jp with songs for the soundtrack. I'm answering emails, doing Myspace, mating... whatever, you know.
You have a pimped out myspace, huh?
Yeah, it's fun to mess with. I get to chat with fans and stay in touch with friends all over the world. I've been working on jetting my website dialled, too. It's gonna be sick, with videos and photos and all kinds of stuff.
Why are you making another movie?
Just because I want to market myself the best I can. Maybe that doesn't sound right. I want to leave my mark on surfing, want to be remembered as a great surfer and a hard worker. A movie is a way to mark a point in time. To remember specific waves and certain moves or a •eally good tube. And it's fun to put it all together in a way that's entertaining to vatch and gets you stoked, like, with good music and tight editing. Plus, I'm jetting kinda over the WQS, so this is a good way to keep yourself in the spotlight. In some ways, surf movies are more important than contests cause leople keep em around and watch em over and over. Lotta people don't even want to watch a contest the first time.
OK. Hold on. Go back. Way, waay back. Back to the start. Back when you were a tadpole bellysurfing the fallopian groundswell. Okay, maybe not that far. How bout starting a couple years after Mick O'Brien first rode with you on the nose of his longboard. A former Torquay surfer, working as a North Shore lifeguard to raise his son in surfing's best definition of paradise. Ready? Okay.
Start by winning a shitload of menehune contests. Longboard contests. Bodyboard contests. Whatever contests they'll let you enter. Win em. Pile up your Rell Sunn trophies. Smile for the cameras like a golden-god super-gram. Quiksilver swag stuffed in the mailbox from the time you're eight. Rip Curl wunderkind when you're only 12. Win, win, win. Win em all, you little prick. Oh, yeah, that's the other thing. Be hated on. Beat up. Bullied. "You think you're so cool?" Tied to a pole. "Take that, you little shit!" Chased out of the water. "Fucking haole white boy!" Take your knocks. Pay your dues. People get jealous. People get weird. Gotta let all that slide. This shit don't come for free. Even when they say it does. You know better. Work hard. Paddle out at macking Pipe (call it four-foot, though). Wait your turn. Take your closeouts when the boys hoot you in. Leave some skin. Play your cards right. Contest. Promo. Contest. Do your j.o.b. Surf the globe. Stay shacked, eight hours a day. Frequent flier. Mile high. See the world. Suss mad punani. Live the dream. Bored, yet?
Okay, how about a hobby? Learn the Final Cut Pro editing software. (Hard, huh? Okay, get a little help.) Collect together all your surfing clips. Pile them up. Edit them down. Get the music dialed. La la la. I mean, boom boom boom. Okay, it's starting to look like a surf movie now. How about some skits. Some stunts. Bikinis. Sunsets. Dog fights. Dirt bikes. Start planning premieres. Distribution. Cover art. All this shit, might as well be a second job. But don't forget the WQS tour. Don't forget photo trips. Autograph signings and promo events. Don't forget to license the music rights. Don't forget anyone's name in the credits. Don't forget... shit, what was that you weren't supposed to forget again?
What sorta problems did you run into in the making of Freak Show?
The only major one was hiring some kid who only kinda surfed to log my tapes. I was paying the guy top dollar and there were a few sick clips that he didn't even log. You gotta recognize good waves to deal with this stuff.
How is this next movie gonna be different?
This one is going to put the first one to shame. Better clips, better filming, better music, everything. They say it just gets better and better, so let's hope that's true.
Why are you making this movie?
Brah, you already asked me that one a minute ago. I don't know. Why do people do anything? Why are you writing this article?
Because it's my job. Hey, don't try to drag me into this article. I'm the writer, you're the pro surfer guy. This is about Jamie O'Brien.
I'm just saying. Why you gotta ask the same question twice?
Sorry, dude. I forget things sometimes. Now, where were we, i forget?
Maybe you should write this article without the interview part. I'm kinda busy right now. (Don't worry, reader, he's just joking, teasing the interviewer, cruel though it may be.)
Okay. Hold on. Next thing you gotta do: win the Pipe Masters. This is important. Around the O'Brien house, the Pipe Masters is the biggest holiday of the year. How could it not be? Box seats. Barbecue. Big party. If you're doing the j.o.b., you've gotta win it. Sure, you already won the QS at Pipe last year [Hansens, 2003], but this is the PIPE MASTERS, This is The One. This is Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving and fucking Hanukah all rolled into one. Everyone's on the back porch watching. All your bros. All the pros. Team managers. Sponsors. Hot chicks. Some weird French dude. Everyone. Time to get some respect out there, Dominate the all-Hawaiian final. Go switchstance in the tube. Ride parallel. Come out soul-arch hair flick and flyaway laughing. Buzzer sounds. Straight to the victory stand. Jump up and down for two weeks straight. Stoked. Right? Fucking stoked. Big trophy. Big check. Big party. You've never really drunk alcohol before in your life before, but hell, you just accomplished a lifetime goal with plenty of lifetime to spare. So, fuck it. Get loaded. Oh, yeah. Woohoo. Hey look, everyone, you can fly! That's gonna hurt in the morning, by the way. Now, what was that other lifetime goal? Oh yeah, making the WCT tour.
So, uh, how'd you go on the WQS last year? Did you make the WCT?
Ho, brah, don't even joke. Frickin' six-inch, onshore Hossegor. Blown out Brazil. Double-cheese mushburgers at Trestles. I'm not sure if I can surf all those shitty waves again. I don't even want to talk about that right now. I'll probably do some events next year and see how it's going, but mostly I wanna work on finishing my new movie. Take some good trips and focus on surfing good waves.
So yeah, OK, how we doing on that?
Hmmm, I see. Well, look, we're a little behind schedule so could you pick up the pace a bit. Also, change sponsors. You've been with Rip Curl, what, eight years? Yeah, a bit long. How about Rusty now. The sticky logistics of that change should keep things interesting for a while. Also — in case all this isn't enough — build a new house over by V-Land. No, don't hire someone to build it - fucking BUILD it. That's right. Okay, how about some landscaping. Guest house. Barbecue area. Tenants. Mortgages. Bills. How's that editing coming? You told us the movie would be ready by summer. We need a media sponsor. We need distribution. We need... KNOCK KNOCK.
Hold on a second. Shit. Dana Brown wants an interview for his North Shore documentary. 'Mother Pipe Masters coming up soon and everyone wants a soundbite from the defending champ. Here's your cue-cards: "Yes, you're stoked to live right at the world famous Banzai Pipeline." "Yes, you want to win another Pipe Masters this year." "Yes, you enjoy making movies. It's fun."
Try to ignore your dad, Mick, over there making fun of the interviewer's predictable questions. He doesn't have to be accountable for the media backlash if you don't answer them pretty. And try to ignore the backlash anyway. There's always gonna be haters out there. What do they know? Just ignore the predictable questions. And don't forget to answer them, too. It's all part of you j.o.b. Don't forget. And don't forget all that other stuff either (whatever it was).
Between working on your house, making your movie, changing sponsors and competing on the QS tour, you've got a lot going on these days. Does it wear on you?
Not really. It's fun. It's all the stuff I like doing. It's still all based around surfing. I work on the house or edit when the surf is off. Edit at night or on the road. I'm not sure how much of the QS I'll do, so maybe I'll end up focusing on the movie this year. Make it the best it can be and do some good premieres.
So, why is it again that you're making this movie?
It's not funny that you keep asking that. I'm just making it to get people stoked. Same as any other surf movie, except this one's mine.
Not many people have the patience and vision to make a movie. Even fewer have the talent to star in one of their own. I can't think of anyone who's done both.
Yeah, well... was that supposed to be a question?
No, not really, i was just thinking out loud. Sorry.
You're kind of a weird guy, you know that?
So, where are we now?
Now. Or, at least, by the time "now" is really "now", the recent past. December 2005. Another North Shore winter season. Everyone's here again. Six guys sleeping on your couch. Sixty guys crowding on your wave. KNOCK KNOCK. Fox TV wants an interview. Quickly, to the cue cards. "Yes, you're stoked. Blah, blah, blah."
"Yes, you want to win, but there's a lot of other good surfer;s blah, blah, blah." "Yes, you enjoy making movies, blah, blah, blah." Okay, where were we?
North Shore winter season. Your backyard's facing Pipeline. Two hundred photographers on the beach. A final push for clips before gofng into the editing bay on Freak Side. Mick's filming. Chad Thurman's filming. Tim Reardon's filming. Everyone's filming. Do some flips 'n' shit. Over-rotate those turns. Freak out in the barrel, When it's big, tow into giant outer-reef bombs on your jetski. When it's small, do flippy-do shit on the inshore. When it totally flat, dig out Waimea rivermouth and get freaky on the standing wave. Is someone recording all this? Good. Make sure you get a second angle. Good lighting. Stick the landing. Sharp focus. Tight cropping. Tricks no one's seen before. KNOCK KNOCK. The Triple Crown TV-show guys want an interview. "Yes, stoked." "Yes, winning good." "Yes, movies good."
KNOCK KNOCK. Brazilian Surf-TV wants an interview. "Yes. Uh-huh. Super." KNOCK KNOCK. Surfing Magazine wants to follow you around all week. '£ure, whatever. Yadda yadda." KNOCK KNOCK. "Hey, is the Volcom House?" "No. Two doors over." KNOCK KNOCK. Jamie's not here. He's out surfing. He'll be out there all day. Come back next year.
Another Pipe Masters. 2005. Sunshine. Six to eight and and spitting rainbows. Everyone's here. Big party. Box seats. You make the quarters and get pinched in the final seconds. Still, a good result. Plus, your lifelong bro Kalani Chapman just made the final. He gets fourth and you're chairing him up the beach. Blinding him with champagne. So stoked he won, er, made the final. It's almost the same as winning for a non-tour local boy. Fuck it. Party on the O'Brien porch. Drag every available girl off the beach and into your yard. Hey, that one's not coming. Someone go grab her and carry her up here. Yeah, that works. Okay, now hose them all down with champagne and Bud Light. Even better. Wet t-shirts. Yes. Wrestling matches on the lawn. Don't spill your cocktail. Somebody turn up that music. Somebody go get more booze. Fire up that barbecue. Perfect. Now turn off that tape recorder and shotgun this beer with me. Again. Again. Woohooo. Hey, look everyone, you can fly again!
So, were you bummed you didn't win the Pipe Masters this year?
Of course, everyone wants to win it, but only one person can. Andy surfed insane out there. He deserved it. Why do people even ask that question?
I'm just kidding, really. Journalists ask a lot of stupid questions, huh?
No comment. Everyone's got their job to do. I try to help everyone out.
Yeah, you're good about working with the media. Photogs and filmers and journos. It's like, you're right there with them, coming up with ideas and playing along. But there's no pretense. No mocked-up soul-guy attitude. That's cool. It helps.
I grew up watching all the movies, reading all the mags... it's fun to be part of making it all happen. All the pros and companies and media people, we're all just in this because we love surfing. Just like any other surfer out there.
We're all just having fun doing it.
Is that why you're making this movie?
Alright, smart-guy, this interview is over. Get a job.
(Look for Jamie's new movie, Freak Side, in winter 2006. Check out www.jamieobrien.com or his Myspace page for more info)
