A Self-Scored, 23-Minute Jaunt Through New Zealand, Hawaii, Portugal, El Salvador, And Indonesia

If I were to make an edit featuring myself and my friends scoring waves in five countries, I’d be stressing on the music choice. 

There are endless options to choose from, but licensing tunes ain’t cheap, and artists gotta make a buck, too.  

“It can get really tricky. At the end of the day, it can be a nightmare,” Jordy Lawler told us, echoing what we’ve heard from so many surfers of late. “So I was like fuck, I can play guitar, and me and my mates jam every now and again. Let’s just record something.” 

So began Jordy’s quest to make an original soundtrack for Cadence. After collecting footage in between QS comps in 2023, Jordy assembled Shannon Stitt, Chef Richards and Lennox Varney to set the scene for the 23-minute film featuring delightful waves in New Zealand, Hawaii, Portugal, El Salvador and Indonesia. The film stars Jordy, Reef Heazlewood, Oscar Langburne, Micah Margieson and Tommy Butland.

“I think we did three jams together,” Jordy said. “Twice we thought we were recording but we weren’t. So the last one we made sure shit was getting recorded. We got really into it.”

With SEOTY winner Russell Bierke, Noa Deane, and Harry Bryant also opting for mate-produced soundtracks in their latest films, we may be seeing the beginning of a very enjoyable trend.

It begs a humorous hypothetical: Much like many surfers back in the day had to shape their own boards, what if today’s pros had to ignore their Spotify playlist and all create their own tunes for their content? Some would likely struggle, but there are a few (see: Tom Curren, Kelly Slater, Ozzy Wright) who could rise to the occasion.

Let’s hope the trend continues.