Inside The Mysterious Mind Of Tom Curren

Forgive our tardiness. Blame the holidays. But not two weeks back, we may have been graced with the rarest of spectacles: a Tom Curren, loose of tongue, maybe the most unguarded we’ve ever seen him. 

Part of Tom’s allure surely lies in his mystique. He shuns interviews, carries a social awkwardness that hints at a mind too vast for simple conversation and, according to Sterling Spencer, who hosts Tom on his Pinch My Salt podcast, he simply cannot think in the third person. As Sterling puts it, “With Tom, it’s all first-person. He’s just looking out of his own eyeballs. He’s pure presence. That’s why interviews are such a struggle for him. If you were to ask him the secrets of surfing, he wouldn’t know. He can only feel.”

That about sums it up. But here’s another line to drive the point home:

“Tom is a walking pyramid. You know how people can’t figure out the pyramids? We all have our theories about how he was made. He’s just… mystical.”

All of which to say, he’s a tough interview. Many have tried before, but can anyone recall a time when he’s opened up like this? Perhaps Sterling owes it to the couch pillow, adorned with Mark Occhilupo’s face, a whimsical object that immediately disarmed Tom. But the more likely culprit is Sterling’s interviewing style. He’s soft-spoken, always seeming on the verge of a joke, while also managing to remain interested, attentive, and sincere.

Sterling gets Tom talking board design, Slater, the state of modern surfing, Gerry Lopez selling out, and even his forbidden romance with foiling. The episode was so revelatory that Sterling and Ryan felt compelled to release a follow-up, dissecting every morsel of wisdom they pried from Tom during the interview. You can find that here.

Essential listening.