Watch Metal Neck here, now

Before we go any further, Stab must first offer the definition of a Metal Neck, as told by Andrew ‘Droid’ Doheny, who used the term as title of his new film: “I think it’s when you headbang so hard at a damn metal show, your neck hurts. It’s a combination of your neck hurting, and metal. And Metal Jimmy knows what that feels like more than anyone.” Which, as Droid also tells us, doesn’t pertain to surfing. But it makes sense to Droid and his co-stars, being Ford Archbold, Creed McTaggart, Bobby Okvist, and of course, the legend that is Metal Jimmy.

Metal Neck was a long time coming, an idea that Droid and pal/filmer/chopper Matt Tromberg had discussed at length. What they created doesn’t attempt to emulate the status quo of surf films, mostly because the only ones Droid watches now are old Volcom films, and also because they “wanted to do our best to make it as original as possible.” They succeeded. But, how does Droid see the movie? “I’m into it. There’s no individual part I like better, I like the movie as a whole. It’s all freesurfing, it’s pretty relaxed and fun. Some parts are fast and might get you amped, but some parts are more slowed-down and chilled. I jumped in on the editing a lot and gave my two-cents. Matt Tromberg and I worked on it a lot together, but it’s mostly Tromberg’s project and he edited it.”

And don’t think for a second that Droid’s motives for Metal Neck are selfish. “I’m mostly stoked for my friends,” he tells us. “Ford and Bobby and Metal and Creed. ‘Cause they all got to have a good showing in it. I think the movie makes those guys look good. That was cool for me, I was stoked to give those guys a good section and show people how good they surf.”

So, has this opened up a new line of interest? “It totally got me psyched to do this kinda thing again,” Droid offers. “It was a super fun project. It’s definitely not something I’d done before, it was the first movie I’d worked on, and I really enjoyed it. Metal Neck 2 coming in the next year or so (laughs).”

So, there’s that. Stab shall not muddy your perceptive mind with opinion just yet, because you can watch the movie above and, as Droid articulated so well: “I just want people to watch it and… figure it out for themselves.” – Elliot Struck