And from unspeakable tragedy, a new love for making surfboards…
I doubt I have the words to express how much I enjoyed interviewing Britt Merrick, the forty-seven-year-old heir to the Channel Islands shaping throne, although not to its riches for that belongs to snowboard company Burton.
Britt lives in pretty Carpinteria, near his shaping muse Dane Reynolds (a lesson on how to correctly pronounce the town’s name is contained within the hour-or-so interview) and we back and forth on the topics of protestantism which lights Chas up for he, like Britt, believes in the popular narrative of the Jew Jesus appearing as a prophet and such, and the exchange includes a wonderful anecdote about Aimee Semple McPherson, a wild hard-loving preacheress who would chase sin around on stage with her motorcycle; drugs, Britt was busted for dealing LSD in high school, five dollars a tab, he thinks was the sale price, and talks about his Daddy and Mama’s conversion to Christianity in prison after they got busted hustling weed across the Mex border; how an unspeakable tragedy turned him back onto shaping, first, with Reynolds, then as CI’s gun shaper; and the wisdom borne from killing animals for food.
“Every time you eat, something has to die, ” says Britt.
Warning: interview contains clumsy ad-libbed ad, which Charlie describes as “legendarily awful”, something I agree with. Hits around the hour mark. Cover ears.
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finally sat on the lawnmower for a few days today and listened to this… two takeaways: One, Channel Islands has most definitely stolen the bible bashers mantle of the surf industry away from misfit shapes. Two, I’m never buying a board of this hypocritical piece again. Three, for good measure, if I follow Jesus, or the upside down dove, or whatever the hell he was talking about can I get rich and have a social conscious too?
Love Derek’s attempts at an American accent
he’s a legend (in his own mind)
Derek and Chas… thank-you… clearly superb work on this one especially… I had absolutely no clue about Britt’s former life in sales… still have a few yellowed C.I.s in the basement under an inch of dust and guilt from decades ago… on another note perhaps the board room execs and their shareholders over at Billabong advise Occy to watch you two at your podcast interview expertise to save the Occ-Cast… no disrespect to Occy himself intended…
Who’s ever had/ridden a CI Taco Grinder? Wade’s P Pass heroics has made me hot for one.
Jesus is just all rights with me, Jesus is just all rights, oh yeah
Jesus is just all rights with me, Jesus is just all rights.
When I first met Jesus, well I thought he was alright; when I first met the saviour, well I thought he was alriiiiight, he’s all alright etc. Housemartins.
did he want you for his sunbeam? or is sunbeam not for thee?
And Britt shoots to the top of the Dirty Water Shaper Podcast likability rankings whilst Mayhem remains very firmly locked in the bottom.
Also, coincidentally – the new Perry Mason series on HBO has a storyline based around that 1930’s LA lady preacher.
Hi Jen, maybe you intimidated him with your blunt request? Would you be ok with a guy coming up to you and wanting to touch your hair? It might be a little unnerving. But if you thought he was handsome, maybe you would? When I had long sunstreaked hair, sometimes chicks at bars would tell me they loved my hair and ask if they could touch it. I only would agree if they were hot.
Last time someone involved with BG rubbed a beard it didn’t go over too well.
Hahaha
I sorta want a CI now.
I like Britt. He’s honest, and good company.
Derek – how bout Bobby Martinez on dirty water?
We should petition for Chris Ward.
Oh we’re chasing.
you took the words right out of my mouth…
Things that make you go hmmmm……
I typed a dumb comment and erased it….
You can erase them?
OMG!
I had a Covid19 beard going Jen.
Wife stopped kissing me, though I tried.
Ate corn on the cob one night, tasted butter on my lips the next day duck diving. Upon arrival home, I checked my pillow cover and yes, butter grease.
Shaved that moment, haven’t looked back.
And my beard was new… you can hide a lot of LSD in Britt’s beard.
Ohman, I got an LSD story….
I have a mad mo at all times as you can see in my profile pic, sometimes full beard. My first job after high school (pre uni) was moulding the concrete sound fencing for the Monash Freeway, a guy I worked with had a full Ned Kelly beard with a circle shaved around his mouth so he didn’t lose compression when sucking down bongs. That might be what you need so you can have a full beard and still enjoy corn and maybe even pash the wife from time to time.
There is no known beard that any wife will pash at any time.
Let’s hear the LSD story!
i got a decent one. involves sneaking into a chinese 5 star generals daughters wedding.
You guys are looney.
Fuck the church and fuck Channel Islands.
Support your local shaper
Agree, but what if your local shaper sucks?
regional shaper then…
what about if you live in Carpinteria and technically CI is ‘local’?
Local machine not human
Guaranteed god liked him more when he was on acid.
I’ll listen to it later
I came for this comment,,,, please don’t stop
I’ve probably ordered 5 customs from CI and absolutely loved them all, but I always resented that christian fish drawing, it felt so passive aggressive, Imagine a chevy tahoe with a fish? Or U2 on your itunes? Having said that, Britt sounds like a good guy from a good and tested family.
Best pod cast yet. By far. Buy some decent microphones please.
Microphones are pretty good, internet connection awful.
Everyone doing a podcast should have one of these.. And please, the closer the damn mic is to your mouth, the better it sounds. Pop shield – even better.
https://www.sweetwater.com/…
I’m not being a snob, just want you to keep up.
Remote guests need to put the mic within 6 inches o they mouth.
Sermon over.
You have a podcast?
nah, but I know a thing or two about recording.
On the GarageBand knobs, which do we tweak for sexy basso profondo sounds?
Distance is the enemy. Having said that, don’t put it in your gob.
Any further technical advice will crash this site from sheer boredom.
The only 6 incher near DKs mouth ain’t a microphone
Is it Wiggs’ finger after he’s put it in Chas’s wife?
I dunno but it sounds like my kind of party!
Jesus Harvey, four hundred dollars. Y’got anything in the basement that works?
I say go with an EV Re20, then he can record his bass cabs and kick drums as well.
good call, love me a well placed RE20.
@da_pe:disqus with the up vote?!?! You listened already?
Upvote was for the U2 and Christian scepticism. However, I always do listen eventually.
I wouldn’t have said Britt Merrick was going to be the interviewee I looked forward to the most. But He was pretty interesting. Almost gave up in the first few minutes with the sound quality, although it did improve.
Have you ever wondered about that expression.
‘You can’t have your cake, and eat it too”…or a similar variation
Who the fuck doesn’t have the cake and eat it, what else is it for…who has cake, and doesn’t eat it?
You guys with all this religion, really got me pondering all of lifes great mysteries today
You right. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. It’d be more correct to say: sorry mate, you can’t have a slice of cake there in front of you while also having eaten that very same slice of cake.
Which doesn’t make much sense either. I mean, imagine you are in a cake shop and fuck yeah you can have a slice of cake, eat it, and then get another one of the same type.
Italians say something like: you can’t have a drunk wife and the full barrel. Then again, what about if I have two barrels and one is enough to make me and my wife drunk?
So what you’re really saying is that as long as you have enough money, you’re golden?
Totally