"I want to be motivated by doing things the way I want 'em to be done," says Craig.
Craig Anderson is one of the the most alluring and memorable characters in surf of the last twenty-five years. His extravagant surfing, his brushes with movie star-style fame. (Last February, I watched as a Jew supplicated himself before Craig at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; the day before at the Jaffa Gate, American girls had swooned as Craig roared past on a Segway, your reporter in the hottest pursuit!), his dazzling movie roles in Kai Neville’s films as well as his own Dane Reynolds-produced film, Slow Dance.
In November, it was reported, here, that Craig was trying to climb out of his freshly signed $500,000 contract with the bankrupt company Quiksilver (whom he’d been with since he was 10), joining his best friend and creative partner Dane Reynolds, who’d torn up a $4,000,000-a-year deal with the same company. Read about that, here and here.
And, now, a new film, a new label?
Let’s examine the film, called Welcome Elsewhere, first. It is 12 minutes long and it’ll be loosed online on January 12.
I called Craig at his home in Newcastle, Australia, to discuss. His telephone would pop and fizz and disappear for seconds at a time, often in the most crucial part of the conversation, the gaps filled by the noise of me nervously clinking the ice in my Christmas brandy.
This is what Craig said:
“January 12 seemed an appropriate day to drop an edit. I’d been working on it for a few months, then I ended up parting ways with Quiksilver so January 12 seemed a good enough day for a fresh start. I always have trouble with letting things go and letting ‘em out into the internet space.”
This is the first time you’ll have seen Craig since Kai Neville’s Cluster (Craig’s section was Kai’s favourite) and the year before’s Slow Dance. It culminates in that now very-famous sequence at Kanduis, in the Mentawai islands.
“I finished Cluster at the start of this year and I didn’t feel like filming for a couple of months. Then I went to G-Land for (Newcastle legend and Grajagan pioneer) Peter McCabe’s sixtieth birthday. I was gonna go home and then I saw that Indian Ocean blob and I got Kai Neville to come and film.”
Is there a narrative to Welcome Elsewhere or is it a compilation of random clips?
“Just a bunch of clips. Just a fucking 12-minute surf film.”
Welcome Elsewhere has already premiered in Brazil at the Mimpi surf skate film festival, in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro. But I’m guessing you missed that.
It was amazing to ride for Quiksilver, they were lenient with me and let me do what I wanted to do, but the emotional connection has been lost a little, with Kelly leaving and so on. I look at Quik in the eighties and nineties, the team, the soul of the company, it was what I wanted to be a part of . All the product, everything, was super amazing. Nowadays, in my opinion, the soul isn’t there. So we want to start something that’s true to us, with products we believe in. To be motivated to do fun, cool shit.
And, so, in two weeks, you’ll find it on Craig Anderson’s personal Vimeo account, perhaps guided there by the embeded file in aggregative surf websites.
“I’ve never put anything out on my Vimeo account before, never on my own back. I’ve only ever worked on bigger projects with Dane and Slow Dance and Kai and all his films, now it was time. Even though this was edited by Kai and filmed by a bunch of different guys, I’m going to rev up my Vimeo and hopefully drop clips every six or 12 months.”
And the clothing label? Maybe with Dane Reynolds?
“…oh…that…”
Yeah…
“There’s not that much movement. It’s an annoying time to try and start something. Everyone’s off holidaying. I want to start fresh, get the wheels…”
Secrets are exciting, don’t you think?
“Yes they are, they build anticipation. But I was going to say, everything’s still early days. Stab did that piece that was… a sort of rumour mill, but there was a little bit of truth to it. (Dane) Reynolds is the driving force, the CEO-type behind the brand. We’re going to wait and do a nice release. Keep some shit on lock.”
Will you be US or Australia based?
“Oh shit, don’t write too much. Keep it to the edit. We’ll come to you first.”
Why start a label?
“I just feel like that at my point in my career, I want to be motivated by doing things the way I want ’em to be done, as we as friends want to do it. It was amazing to ride for Quiksilver, they were lenient with me and let me do what I wanted to do, but the emotional connection has been lost a little, with Kelly leaving and so on. I look at Quik in the eighties and nineties, the team, the soul of the company, it was what I wanted to be a part of . All the product, everything, was super amazing. Nowadays, in my opinion, the soul isn’t there. So we want to start something that’s true to us, with products we believe in. To be motivated to do fun, cool shit.”
Are you worried about not get a regular cheque? Or are you carefree, weightless?
I feel like everyone was telling me not to take the leap of faith, but how could you not with the people involved and the idea behind it all? I mean, who gives a fuck? You only get one shot at this career.
“Totally! I feel like everyone was telling me not to take the leap of faith, but how could you not with the people involved and the idea behind it all? I mean, who gives a fuck? You only get one shot at this career. I wanna look back when I’m forty and be proud of what I’ve done in the industry. I want to take a chance…”
Tell me about your relationship with Dane Reynolds.
“He’s like my big brother. I’ve got a lot of people around me that I look up to. I’ve got a lot of people I’m close to who I think are amazingly creative and talented and Dane’s one of those guys. We’re both seventh of September Virgos. It’s an interesting dynamic. He helps me and he supports me with everything. I’m bad at making decisions, he speeds that up. We’ve never got into an argument and we’ve always been able to see eye to eye. There’s no agonising between us. Only a mutual respect.”
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For their own sake, I really, really hope Dane isn’t the CEO. The skate guys that have been doing brands have a much bigger and more diverse (ethnic, socioeconomic, stylistic) market to tap and honestly, they just seem smarter. Surfing can only have so many hipster/soul/alternative brands…
But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us all and try to do a surf FUBU or RocaWear, or edgy streetwear. I could get behind that, but not the same flannel and beanie vanilla.
Chas needs to update his surf novella ……when’s the next ep Chas?
I’ll do one tomorrow!
IMO they need to make some kind of hardgoods for this to work. Without cultivating some kind of equipment innovation, what will be their excuse for existence? “We’re really good at picking screen placement on Tees”?
The boys should keep following Kelly’s lead (with the wavepool and the surfboards) and invest in something that could potentially change the sport!
look at Baker skateboards, its not rocket science. kids these days are smart, they want their money going to people that they respect, not a bunch of MBAs trying to “stay core”, which is what he just left at Quik.
Doesn’t the Inertia guy have an MBA?
ha, no, I think you’re missing a few things. First, surf money is not close to skate money. Everyone skates everywhere, but the surf market is small. Second, groms buy the majority of surf threads, and it’s their parents who do the buying. Third, what’s he going to do – make a few shirts? You know how may shirts you need to sell for it to matter? And to be sure, he left Quik because quick is broke and wasn’t going to keep him living the life he grew to love. To think he really had a choice is naive.
the parents buy whatever their kids want. if skate rats can get their parents to buy stoner-vibe Baker stuff, they can definitely get them to buy whatever Ando is peddling. between the two of them they got a quarter million Insta followers. if Quik can’t afford him they can try getting people to like Kanoa instead, as if that strategy has worked.
My kid follows everyone and anyone on IG and certainly doesn’t buy gear from them all just because they surf well. And if I’m current, Baker also sells decks etc., with their clothing line as support for that business. That’s similar to Rusty, which sprung clothing well after boards. No real sense in arguing this though – it’ll play out over the next few years, just like Outerknown and the other many surf labels that have launched lately.
yeah, i don’t expect a second SummerTeeth though. Dane is about as influential as they come in the US market, they can get creative people for nothing around here, distribution is basic, don’t need a “tech” angle or $200 boardies if you can sell $37 tees and beanies
Baker skateboards is a GREAT example actually. They didn’t really reinvent the wheel. Although I will say that their videos were probably their “flagship product”, and everything else flows out the doors on the strength of the videos and the team…. and damn you’re right that model has worked over and over again….
I don’t think he’s going to have much success, but more power to him for giving it a go. There’s nothing like laying on the line to see what you’re really made of.
Well obviously the horoscope that week indicated that he was on to a winner…
Drop clips every 6 or 12 months, man the pro surfer life is gruelling.
hahaha, thats what I thought, that Indo sesh at Kandui’s was 6 months ago. Any editor can cut 12 minutes of footy in a day.
I’d probably see the 500k thing through then do a start up. Course I can’t ride a 5’4 nor surf near as good as craig. It will be interesting to see what these two come out with, I tend to think it will be a hit.
Well if summer teeth is anything to go by…. No wonder Quiksilver are bankrupt – paying this guy 500k a year! His ability to ride a 5’4 has got nothing to do with his ability to think, which you would have to question in light of leaving that contract!
True, ya never know what the free surfer uses as motivation. If I was getting that kind of money to more or less do whatever I wanted, no personal label/brand would be in the cards.
Gotta figure he’s been making $500k a year for at least, what, the last 4 years? A cool $2 mil in the bank from JUST Quik, not to mention his other sponsors? Leaving that contract, even if a new venture goes belly up, ain’t gonna leave Ando begging on the streets of Newcastle. He’ll still be living much higher on the hog than you or I could hope to scrape out way up to.
lulz. Where do you live where taxes, agents etc. don’t get paid? If he’s making a cool $500 a year, he’s only seeing $200 or so himself. House, car, food and drink, travel, health insurance etc. all come out of that. Now, he’s still doing quite well for himself, but that coin won’t last more than a few years on its own.
You’re nitpicking, and not doing it very well. Not sure where you live, but the average American salary is about $50k – pre-tax. So you have to compare apples to apples. His pre-tax salary from Quik was still 10x what most of us make and manage to live on, still affording house, car, food and drink, travel, health insurance, etc. So while it’s not “in the bank,” his Quik money he made should keep a pretty large buffer between ol’ Ando and living like a peasant, no matter what this new venture does.
There is currently so many startup surf brands all trying to be cooler than the ‘old’ surf brands you can’t help but think that ‘old’ surf brands might be cool again sooner than we think…
Nahhhh.
Good to see the boys taking some risks and hopefully bring some freshness on the table
yeah getting rid of that $500K contract must have felt like such a relief, lol
CRAIG:
“It was amazing to ride for Quiksilver, they were lenient with me and let
me do what I wanted to do, but the emotional connection has been lost a
little, with Kelly leaving and so on.”
Really?? LIAR!!
MEDINA:
“Ermm urgghh i am super sto-ked to ride for Mitsubishi errm.”