The similarities are indisputable!
This isn’t news, but it’s still worth talking about. Noa Deane’s move from Rusty to Volcom is the biggest of his career. It’s also quite fitting. The young man seems genuinely passionate about not giving a fuck, and isn’t that what Volcom’s all about?
At least they used to be. When I was maybe 10, my friend Tommy Salvesen had the coolest rashguard. Black, long sleeve, with the digital representaion of a human skeleton across the entire front. I wanted it more than anything.
Somewhere along the sleeve were embroidered these three words: Youth Against Establishment.
In all its glory.
“What does that mean?” I asked Tommy, a knowledgable 14-year-old.
“It’s kinda like us kids saying F-U to The Man, and doing what we want.”
The coolest! But then in 2014 Volcom changed it’s slogan to True to This and it’s like… True to WHAT?
Watching this clip of Noa, I’m reminded of a man who was once very young and very against establishment. His name was Bruce and he was just as belligerently raucous as Wayne’s towheaded progeny. While Noa’s stylish approach, creepy fingers, and general disregard for life or limb are fair points of comparison to our beloved BI, those giant lien grabs are downright uncanny.
It will be interesting to what comes of Noa, who is dripping with talent but has an apparent proclivity for substance abuse. We’ve seen what happened to Andy, to Bruce, and to tens of other world-class surfers who were all but destroyed by their taste for the hooch or the crack or the smack
Stab reportedly offered Noa a profile concept in which he would get sober and fit for a month to see how a change of lifestyle would affect his surfing. Noa declined because he felt that it “wasn’t him”, and that it would hurt his personal brand in the eyes of his fans, most of whom are probably sixteen. That seems troubling on multiple levels.
But hey, welcome to Volcom!
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bruce was the face of volcom for over 15 years . basically built their surf brand image from the ground up. only other surfer that has done that has been slater with quicksilver
I thought that maybe an introductory edit of their new poster boy would’ve maybe sparked a little more creativity from Volcom outside of all those frontside and backside straight airs. If I’m not mistaken, there is one mediocre turn and one frontside 3 (both of which came after, you guessed it, a straight air). Noa is raw and exciting to watch, and the future looks to be bright for both parties. All that said, anybody seen this new edit ‘Surf Trash’ from a much lesser known Brad Flora? https://vimeo.com/199053443
I like that he’s riding LSD boards, I always referenced those initials to harsh runny poo poo
LIQUID
SIT
DOWN
Pac Sun and Tilly’s had a Volcom baby and it’s Noa. He got there a little late, The Corpo Stone is an empty shell and a couple shit tag lines. They’re desperate so this is their last hail Mary.
you came up with this one too huh? https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Shouldn’t the press release read “the Kering Group looks forward to the signature Noa Deane Puma shoe. Welcome aboard Noa. So punk.”
If Noa is the new Bruce, I nominate his bro Creed to be the new Andy.
I swear I typed in beachgrit.com but somehow I feel like I’ve ended up at Stab.
Nothing more hardcore than worrying about your brand image. Fuck you Noa, you fake attention craving whore.
I’m quite surprised that Wash doesn’t sound that bad for a surfer band. I almost, ALMOST thought is was Bauhaus.
Anyway, Rusty is nerdy as hell.
and teetering….
A stab reality show?! The last fucking thing I need
stab giving interventions now?
Wait. What? Stab offered Noa a profile concept on the grounds he get sober? Or perhaps moreso hoping he fails and licking up the scraps with a horribly written profile piece.. Fuck Stab.
Youth establishing finance against establishments.