Toby Cregan Drops Another Cult Classic — Rage 5
Five self-funded films in 10 years? That’s Quik-level execution on the Vonzipper budget.
Toby Cregan on LinkedIn would be like Banksy pushing his work on Pinterest.
Wrong platform. Undeniably impressive portfolio.
If he was less allergic to self-promotion, he could technically list the titles of Entrepreneur. Musician. Filmmaker in his bio, without any Diamond-Dobby 4-way stretching.
There’s not many people in our cottage industry who can say hundreds of millions of people have streamed their music. His previous band splintered stages, maxed out sweat-soaked venues overseas, performed on Triple J’s iconic property Like a Version, and did a few thousand laps of the global radio circuit.
Rockstar shit.
Yet in 2023, at the peak of their powers, Toby dipped out the doggy door at Splendour in the Grass, having rinsed it for all it was worth, and never looked back.
“I still do all that stuff now,” he laughs. “Just with fewer eyes, which is fine. Preferable, actually.”
He’s already onto the next band–the running gag is whether it’s called GREG or GLEN (it’s the former), filming the next Rage movie (even though Rage 5 just dropped), wrapped another stellar season of Ferrari Boyz, helped Rage turn ten, and opened its first flagship store in Brunswick Heads.
But there’s no time for navel-gazing when your default setting is novelty and making more stuff.
“I hate routine and being locked into a schedule,” he explains. “I love waking up not knowing what the day will bring.”
Case in point: At Stab High Japan, Toby will be operating a broadcast camera for the first time in his life.
“We had a Zoom call with the broadcast team the other day,” he laughs from Ballina Airport. “And when they asked if anyone had questions, I wanted to ask if we had to hit record… but I couldn’t, ‘cause I felt like such a grom. So I just gave ‘em a thumbs up and said nothing. I guess I’ll figure it out when I get there.”
Most weekends, Tobes and his wife Kel can be found manning the mothership in Bruns—though Wade Goodall and Holly Wawn have been known to cameo behind the til as well. Kel’s from Sussex Inlet too, that sleepy South Coast hamlet which also birthed Ocean & Earth, the surf hardware label founded by Brian Cregan, Toby’s old man.
Naturally, you’d think Toby was destined to sling rope and traction. But no one expected he’d do it with this much flair—or with a soundscape that spans DJ Andrew to Lil Ket.
In many ways, he shares Dane Reynolds’ rare gift: unearthing music that breaks the loop of predictable surf soundtracks. His taste is elite. Literate. Eclectic. A product of long hours in the van, and just as many in the game.
Here’s a rambling chat about his latest surf vid.
Stab: Rage is 10 years old, which is pretty crazy to me. Did you ever think it would make it to a decade? What’s changed and what’s remained the same?
Toby: Yeah, I never had a plan to wrap it up, but it is pretty surprising that we’ve somehow managed to keep it going with long stints of having no time or money to put towards it. I just figured I didn’t want it to die. When we were making Rage 5, I kinda had to run the company on my credit card for a little bit. That essentially means we were broke before the video came out.
What’s changed? Not heaps. Creed’s started helping a bit more. We got the shop in Brunswick, which is pretty solid. Ellis stepped away from the day-to-day. We sell to a couple more surf shops now, and we’re trying to get the international side of the brand going. There’s shit happening every day.
How did the Brunswick shop come about?
When I started making Rage 5, I was in the house all day. I wouldn’t leave for five days at a time if I was editing hard. So I was just looking for an office space or something. Found a spot in Brunswick we could sell crap out of too. Some days I’ll just be in there, it’s not technically open, but I’ll chuck some grips out front. Sometimes people walk past confused and buy a hat. One of the coolest things the other day was a grom walked in and handed in a printed-out resume. I was like, that’s actually mad. Someone wanting to hang in that little room and be a part of it—that’s cool.
True, I suppose there’s all these funny little milestones you never expect when you start a brand.
I haven’t really noticed ‘em because it’s just happened so slowly over time. I had to look it up the other day—we launched the Rage site and dropped Rage 1 on January 2, 2017. But we were drawing pictures and filming for two years before that.
Rage started from a place of necessity because you wanted to do trips together but no one had a hardware sponsor. In hindsight, it’s cool how many adventures you’ve got to go on because of it.
Totally. Making a surf vid just for the sake of it is sick. But back then, especially, you couldn’t just say no to your sponsors and go do your own thing. The team—that’s everything for Rage. It’s the whole DNA. That was the main reason we started the brand: to make the videos. We had no idea how to make accessories. Still don’t, really. We’re not business people. But we love making the films, and that keeps everything else going.
Yeah, which is cool because it does feel like supporting Rage is supporting the arts
Exactly. That’s the whole point. Hopefully one day everyone can just do what they want artistically, within the brand. Everyone on Rage has their own thing—design, music, art—and it all feeds into the vibe. That wasn’t the plan, but it’s worked out that way.
Have you always been that passionate about both music and film?
Yeah, totally. When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was be in a rock band. That was everything. I did that for a decade, but then wrapped it. Filmmaking came later, but it felt like there were fewer limitations. Not that I’m making avant-garde guy, but I can use music in my videos, have more control over what I’m making. There’s visual and sound elements. I love novelty. I hate schedules. I like waking up not knowing what’s going to happen. That’s why I like to travel, make stuff, stay busy.
Do you miss the rock star life?
Not really. I still do the same shit, play gigs, go on tour, just with fewer people looking at me. That’s fine. Preferable, actually.
When you make films, do you plan it out or just shoot and figure it out later?
Bit of both. I’ve got an idea of how I want it to feel. Music’s a big one—Rage 5 was mostly songs made by friends. I don’t give people direction, though. I never tell anyone what to do when we’re filming because I don’t want to be punishing. Plus, I like when people act naturally. When I’ve worked with other brands and they’ve got a big production plan, it always ends up looking cheesy. I’d rather film people enjoying themselves.
Do you feel weird pulling out a camera sometimes when everyone’s just vibing?
Yeah, sometimes. I’m a nervous person. But if it’s my mates, I don’t care. Filming people I don’t know, I do get nervous. Like when I got sent to shoot Rob Machado last year—I was shitting myself. But when it’s Creed or Noa or whoever, it’s fine.
Do you think there’s such a thing as surf music?
Nah, not anymore. People used to say Skegss was surf punk and I was like, ‘is it that just ‘cause we surf? ‘Cos I wasn’t even surfing much then’. For this movie, I wanted variety. There’s that DJ Andrew song in Holly + Wade’s section. I just make playlists of stuff I like, then pick songs that give me a feeling. Not always songs I’d listen to on repeat, but they suit the film. Drill and trap gets me hyped, but it’d probably blow people’s lids off in a surf vid.
You were kind of early to TikTok. Was that strategic?
Was I? [laughs] I dunno. Maybe. We’re not good at it. I post stuff that doesn’t get views. Then I’ll post a random vid of Noa getting yelled at by some dude on the beach and it blows up. So yeah, marketing guru right here.
What about that moment when Kelly Slater was riding a Rage grip?
Oh, that was the best. We were all at the airport about to head off for the Rage 3 boat trip. Shin sent me a photo of Kelly at Bells using the grip and we lost it. Just fully tripping. I think it was Adam Robertson’s board or something, not sure. But yeah, that was iconic. I did a post after, screenshot of Creed going kneeboarding and captioned it ‘Kelly Slater.’
That’s some good low-calorie humor. How are you organizing your life these days? More films? More brand stuff?
Filming a lot. Movie came out yesterday and I’ve already been shooting for the next thing. I want to do more regular trip-based edits, not just big features. Just keep it fun. It’s hard running Rage but we’ve kept it alive by loving it enough to almost do it for free. That’s the spirit I wanna keep.
You just did a world tour with Rage 5. Is it still trippy seeing Rage stuff in the wild?
Yeah, I see people wearing Rage stuff or a grip on a board and it’s wild. Sometimes I just want to hide. I’m like surely this happened by accident. But it’s the coolest shit ever.
