A 14 minute tropical roast-up with Haz.
A buffet of truly ridiculous surfing served on long, glistening walls. From buttery Fiji to oily Indonesia to a hidden oriental rivermouth that’s absolutely dripping in duck fat.
It only felt right to chat to the guru behind the lens, Monsieur Dav Fox, to get the scoop on creating yet another visual feast with Harry Bryant.
It’s been two years since Motel Hell. How did Roasted come to fruition? What was the catalyst for you and Haz to do another project together?
We kind of haven’t stopped working together. The main focus for last year for Haz was his Snapt part. I filmed a bunch of that with him and edited it to a suitably outrageous track. This was initially an edit of a bunch of kinda decent b roll stuff from a handful of sessions filming for Snapt5 that was gathering dust. But then a good opportunity for some long warm water waves popped up at an oriental rivermouth so we jumped on that. Seemed like it would tie the clip together well. then I had to polish up the previous edit a little and ditch the Hawaii stuff to match the quality of the stuff from the rivermouth.
Whilst Motel Hell was so conceptual and essentially a full length feature. This feels like much more of a straight to the point surf video? Was that the plan all along?
There wasn’t really a plan going into this at all. I shot a few trips with Haz for Snapt5 and just wanted to drop a decent to the point surf edit with the Snapt b-roll stuff. We almost did drop the clip. Then I saw some charts for long right waves that matched the long wally left handers. Pitched it to Haz that we should try and get another one session that could round out the clip and he was down. I’d love to get the opportunity to go into a project with concept and budget one day haha.
Once again the soundtrack is so on point here. Are they all your choices or does Haz get a say on what tracks he surfs to?
I usually bounce around tunes for an edit with the rider and try different tracks out . I feel like my job is usually to showcase the personality and vibe of the person as well as the place. So it’s nice to begin with shortlist selections from riders to head in the right direction. With Haz its usually a case of him coming around to my place and we just drop tunes over the clips and see what is working / funny / appropriate. For most of this we did just that. But for the rivermouth section I couldn’t find anything that worked for this edit.. then I found an artist on TikTok (via goog.. i don’t actually have TikTok haha) and got her to make tune that I was pretty stoked on.. went back and forth with her for a bit and landed on that ancient oriental trap fusion sound. Is that a new genre? Probably not.
What’s the deal with the pink Merc?
I didn’t even notice it in the background of the surf clips at the time.. but got back to the accommodation and saw it buzzing through a few shots in the background. Its probably lucky I didn’t see it or I would have missed a lot of waves just rolling tape on that thing. It was absolutely mental. Completely blew my mind when we stumbled across it the next day parked up down by the beach. Haz left a note on the windscreen requesting a ride but we kind of ran out of time. It was a weird corner of the world .. very tech forward shit going on in otherwise traditional villages.
Having recently released Samudra Spirit Glitters with Craig, what’s the big difference when shooting with Ando and Haz?
I feel like 95 percent of a trip is spent on land just hanging out and they are both pretty funny units that don’t take anything too seriously. So day to day, pretty good value. Both approach the ocean and read a lineup and a wave in vastly different ways and I’m not always sure what they are up to when I’m filming but then they always seem to get the job done in their own way at the end of the day. The main notable difference is Craig’s wave count is notoriously low, most patient surfer I know of.
Logistically and from a film-making standpoint, what were the differences between making this film and making Samudra Spirit Glitters?
I kind of want into Samudra Spirit Glitters with an idea of the clip I wanted to make. The waves at the spots we went to were all super tricky closeouts (that look nice on footage). That was kind of, do one trip to a few destinations and try to tell a story through sound and vision (without telling the story v log style). The focus there was more of a travel piece than an action clip. Roasted was really just make the most of the footage we had for an action edit.. But it’s fucking hard to find the time to watch anything these days because there’s so much stuff… I don’t like to short change people’s time. Felt like it needed to have something unique like that last trip to round it out into a watchable clip. I actually like the way the long lefts and the long rights and the board choices all work together in that clip. I feel like it does showcase some of the uniqueness and versatility in Haz surfing.
You kinda answered it already I guess. But Harry seems to be a true 4×4 in term of wave-riding. To your knowledge, is there any type of wave he can’t surf?
Yeah I think Haz really is able to connect with boards of all shapes and sizes and ride them how they want to be ridden. Rather than having a robotic style and trying to get the boards to conform. I think the secret here is his quiver.. the thing is stacked with well oiled machines. The Keogh board from the last section is the same one he’s been riding since Motel Hell and it’s just getting better.
We think there’s a common thread/a feeling running through the film (hence the title link with locations/soundtrack) and connecting these different parts. Could you maybe give us an interpretation of what this common thread might be to you and Haz?
I like that when making a film with Haz there’s always a bit of room to be tongue in cheek.. Definitely pushed it that way a little with the soundtrack. Strong island reggae vibes coming through.. it’s a tropical roast up. There was some challenges in making a clip with 90 percent long waves and long shots watchable for our collectively short attention span.
In the first part of the film, we can see a few waves from James Kusitino. Can you tell us more about him / the upcoming wave of Fijian locals?
Yeah James is also someone who is able to ride any board and adapt his surfing to that. He completely crosses the line between alternative surfing and traditional surfing .. sometimes three times on the same wave. On top of that he is fucking legend. It was actually on the trip to Fiji that all that stuff in Roasted was shot, that I got in Craig’s ear about him and Former ended up sponsoring him. I did a trip with him and his brothers and Che Bula (who also all shred) with Mikey Feb the year before and hung out with them heaps. They’re a cool bunch of surf stoked legends.
To us, the true gem of the video is that last section in Asia, with Harry scoring amazing waves with a minimal crowd. Without divulging any specifics, could you give us a broad sense of how you ended up scoring these sessions?
Yeah I just caught a few crumbs on a rivermouth in Asia that allegedly got good from time to time. I’m always kicking tyres on the wind maps of these places so I’d been casually watching it for 4 years or so. But then I saw a typhoon make landfall and dump a bunch of rain followed by one of the better looking typhoons I’d seen for that wave. It just didn’t make sense not to go. Luckily Haz was down to snap his credit card on some last minute flights.
With the multiplication of surf films being released online, we’re seeing more and more spots getting blown. However it seems you make a concerted effort towards protecting these places. Could you give us your take on the matter, and how you handle the delicate balance between shooting a less known spot and protecting it?
It is a tricky one. Being involved in surf media at any level is weird balance of trying to share a dream of surfing, that is at the end of the day, the only reason any of us even picked up a board in the first place. But also trying to keep waves from being overblown. I think what really does the damage to places is knowing the dates that somewhere was good.. Plus I’m going to have to point the finger at social media and the weird psychological effect it has around FOMO and keeping up with the neighbours. Going live on your location or session is significantly worse than saving any spot for a video part. I love surf films and think they sit somewhere above the 10 second social clip. But I’m really just finger pointing here.
There’s a bunch of spots I know about that I wouldn’t shoot at all because there are crews of good people that keep them low key and I don’t want to burst their bubble. There’s other places I’ve been where a bunch of privileged ex pats in a third world country are trying to reinvent localism at a spot that is all over the internet. That one was laughable. I don’t know.. It’s all a weird web of ego, feeling of ownership, and the special feeling that surfing gives everyone. Some people can process it – others can’t. People will bicker over anything. I probably shouldn’t even enter the conversation. Except to say that it pays to remember at the end of the day we are just splashing around in the ocean with floatation devices .. it’s all a bit of a fucking joke really.
