“Fucking Hipsters”

Every major company in the surf world has a team house on the North Shore and every one is jam packed with dozens of rippers stickering up brand new surfboards, stretched out, fuelled on psyche, and ready to make the big time. But by far the most interesting and misunderstood (and maybe loathed) team house is the RVCA House at Rocky Rights. This two-story plantation style house is filled to the gills with RVCA’s most unique characters from all around the world. Over a course of three weeks, guests and visitors have included Ford Archbold, Beau Foster, Alex Knost, Sam Wrench, Dino Adrian, Davey Cathels, Ellis Erickson, Adam Bennetts, Aaron Swanson, Reo Kenco, the one and only Christian Fletcher, and the guy trying to keep the whole place in one piece, Brophy. “It’s like a surf-frat house,” laughs Brophy. “There are people sleeping everywhere, in every closet, on every couch, and every corner of floor space.”

Some team houses live on Lei Lei’s (a nice restaurant with a fantastic Prime Rib) and personal chefs, some live on leftovers and scraps—the RVCA house is the latter. “We live on eggs and beer,” laughs Ellis Erickson. “But, you have to get up pretty early to get the eggs. Usually it’s just beer and whatever chips or snacks we have lying around. We just surf and drink beer mostly. It’s pretty good living.”

Alex Knost, elegantly dishevelled. Or something. Photo by Dane Peterson

Living this close to the most fun and consistently photogenic spots on the North Shore has its advantages. Alex Knost has been surfing Rocky Rights three-to-four times a day, winning over critics with some incredibly deep tube rides and tightly coiled hacks that seem nearly impossible on the hand shaped single-fin boards he’s been riding. Christian Fletcher has been logging tons of water time, but when he’s not punting airs at Rockies, he’s juggling. Always juggling. “Christian juggles all day every day,” says Ellis. “He’s taught us all to juggle, there’s never a dull moment over here.” Whenever Christian’s in the area, you’re gonna get a good story. “The best Fletcher story I’ve heard so far was out in the water at Rockies,” says Ford. “He paddled up to these two kids who had GoPros in their mouths and said, ‘good thing you have your pacifiers in your mouths, now I don’t have to hear your squawking and now you can get my shot.’ That was so funny, the kids were tripping.”

After a week or so in these North Shore team houses, team riders start to earn reputations within the house. There’s always a house leader/regulator (Brophy), the most psyched surf rat (Knost), the house slob (Ford), and a house beer (in this case it’s actually called House Beer). The soundtrack is important to the vibe of any house, and in the RVCA house’s case, it’s been a steady stream of Kiss, Neil Young, Otis Redding, Van Halen, Beck and Motown.

You’d think it would be a loud mess and the neighbours would be bummed, but overall, the crew has been quite chill and you’d never know that there were 17 surf rats scurrying around. “We’re just trying to cruise and stay out of everybody’s way,” says Ford. But with a rather large crew of stylistically “different” looking dudes on a constant rotation from the house to the point on a slew of retro and/or odd surfboards in the mix—there are gonna be critics. Twice I overheard conversations on the road and the path to the beach grumbling, “fucking hipsters.”

Rocky Point local and one of the best ever at Rocky Left’s, Flynn Novak, is not impressed. Flynn voiced his opinion on Instagram with a video post complete with the hashtag, #death2hipsters. Flynn’s friend and filmmaker Alex DePhillipo is currently working on a new surf flick Death 2 Hipsters, “In a sport where people act ‘too cool for school’ it’s time for some comedy.” Also stating, “No hipsters were harmed in the making of this film”.

“It’s all in good fun,” laughs Flynn. “They do their own thing and we do ours. Rocky Point is fun that way.” Death 2 Hipsters is meant more as a comedic element than a straight-up diss, and will no doubt offer surf fans a different video vibe than what’s currently being seen.

Either way you slice it, left or right, short shorts or long trunks, new boards or retro sticks, beard or moustache, Rocky Point is its own microorganism within a larger ecosystem of radness. It’s a place where hipsters, tricksters, locals, groms, girls, haoles, rippers, pros, and bros can get together and paddle around in circles thinking, ‘Damn, it’s crowded out here.”

When all is said and done, as a team, RVCA had one of the best beach vibes of any crew on the North Shore this season. For more evidence, check out the RVCAloha videos for visual confirmation of aquatic awesomeness.– Chris Cote

Getting approval for Instagram group shot? Watching trailer for Death 2 Hipsters? Checking the stock exchange? Probably none of the above.

Oh, and…

While Death 2 Hipsters is quite general in its sentiment, here’s some words from its creators, Flynn Novak and Alex DePhillipo, about what sparked it. Turns out, it was kinda Stab!

Flynn Novak: Alex DePhillipo, Andrew Gesler and I finished a few projects together this summer and we were trying to figure out what we were going to focus on next, when we saw the Stab ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ episode where they interviewed a bunch of big names in surfing as well as film maker Kai Neville, about ‘the backflip’. It was funny how everyone, at some point in their interviews, was bashing me for doing my thing. We collectively felt it was wrong how everyone kept referring to me saying if someone else did a backflip first, then the manoeuvre would be ‘cooler’, or how they didn’t feel backflips fit in surfing. It made me feel like I was in the line of fire for doing my own thing and not conforming. I thought that was so opposite of what REAL surfers are all about.

The Stab Interview sparked the idea to make this comedy satire.

I feel the art of surfing is not based on the name behind the talent, it’s based on the individuality and passion of the artist. Art is not meant to conform with the industry, it is meant to be something that you, as an individual, are proud of. Talent is not about “fitting in”, it is about expressing yourself and doing “your” thing, not “the” thing. This film is not about any one group or circumstance, it is a reminder to everyone that the “cool thing” is not fitting in with another individual, but creating an individual and standing for something…

Alex DePhillipo: I look at it this way; Take motocross, skateboarding, BMX and any other action sport. They all have innovators. For some reason, the surf industry is the only industry that seems to not only discount the innovator, but has a problem with the popularity of the athlete who does it. Before being a filmmaker, I am a surfer first and foremost, and I have always used my talents to express myself. What draws me to film making is the ability to give my friends and other athletes the publicity that they deserve. I do not base my work on what “fits in” or what sells, but on the passion behind the individual. We are not using the title Death 2 Hipsters to target any one group, but rather to expose and put an end to a mentality that has taken over an industry meant to be based on individuality instead of popularity. I don’t want to see the sport of kings turn into the sport of queens. That’s what Death 2 Hipsters is all about.