Interview: Why Did Creed Mctaggart Cover His Living Room In 80 Meters Of Tinfoil?

First up, a quick kudos to Bong. 

In a time where folks, in particular companies, are walking on eggshells hyper aware of navigating the increasingly complex matrix of politically-correct tripwires, Bong’s backing creative endeavors that take courage. 

Case in point? Swellians, the (mostly inebriated) Burleigh Single Fin contest, Fraternite, Pioneers of Pipeline docuseries, and Good Call to name a few in recent months. Very different properties in their own right but unified by a core authenticity that’s lost most of the corporate stink. There’s a lot of risk involved in supporting characters and projects that differ from the norm, particularly for the major endemic labels who have more to lose than they have to gain from hurt feelings. 

Bong’s also recognised the value of giving brand ambassadors agency. Otis Carey, the Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung surfer-artist released his GULUUN GARAALA COLLECTION last year, based on the number of blokes wearing them at the Pass (potentially a skewed sample), it was a tremendous success. They’ve since done collections with Peter Crawford, Kamea Hadar, The Simpsons, and now, Creed Mctaggart. 

But enough praise, it’s just nice to see the big dogs find their roots and spill some water from the can. The roots are gritty, but people can see through the polished corp. We’ll take grit over polished corp any day.

Here Creed tells us what their new collection ‘Acrylic Red Alien Face Mask Volume 2’ is all about.

Stab: How did this collection start?

Creed: I did a collection a few years back with my friend, Finn Parker who used to have an independent label called ‘exotic underground’. We collaborated on some designs and pitched it to Billabong who decided they’d give us a run. I just wanted to make clothes that I was excited to wear. Not that Bong doesn’t make nice clothes, just something that was more reflective of my personal aesthetic. 

Tell me about this edit. 

We wanted to shoot it in this old pub but then COVID happened. So I ended up just decorating my living room in tin-foil. I think I brought 80 metres of tinfoil, $300 of fairy lights, lazers, a smoke machine, strobes and stuff. Jel (Jaleesa Vincent) came over one night and we just got it done. The original edit was actually a lot more full on, pretty intense and obscure so we had to reign it in a little. Start to finish was all pretty DIY, I made the soundtrack and Mikey Mal and I sat down and edited it together. 

It’s nice Bong are letting team riders have more control over self-expression.

Yeah it is. For me it was more of a passion project than anything, so I’m grateful they decided to support it. It’s a diverse cast on board to Bong team, and everyone can leverage different strengths. On the relationship side of things it’s nice to have a bit more bi-direction and collaboration.

You’re riding a lot of 90’s inspired boards and some of the graphics and branding in the collection also feels reminiscent of that era. What do you like about that era of surf culture?

I just think there was better quality stuff back then, and then creatively I think people just took bigger risks. Was grittier, rawer, all round more interesting. The idea behind this was to create a fantasy world that I can live in. That’s what surfing was to me in my youth, a fantasy world. Jack McCoy films took you there, but that feels very exotic and remote now. This was my attempt to recreate that feeling with my own twist.

The title, ‘Acrylic Red Alien Face Mask Volume 2’, what’s that all about?

It was just a mixture of words that I thought sounded cool together. It doesn’t mean anything, I guess it doesn’t have to. Maybe it invokes a feeling, maybe not.

Thanks Creed. 

You can check the collection here.