Dion talks Proxy Noise, Taj Burrow and the Internet

With the Quiksilver Pro in full swing Byron Bay aerial wizard, Dion Agius, avoids it all keeping himself busy with new venture Proxy Noise, a digital magazine visually landscaping the travels of buddy Warren Smith and himself around the globe. Dion can also shred through film and just before the Quik Pro on the Gold Coast commenced he and Taj Burrow fled to a secret beachy to try out some new craft. Above is Dion’s edit from the session. Stab called the internet punching bag, man with the camera, blog and sharp opinion, to talk Proxy Noise, the death of magazines and how creative surfers are being saved from the crushing mainstream.

 Stumbled across your clip of Teebs and y’self, looks like you scored some fun beachies. That was just the other day on a secret little beachy. TB was trying to get away from the Goldie. It’s just a circus up there, there’re more wild surf dogs than you’ve ever seen in one place. It was small, but compared to trying to surf D-Bah it was pretty awesome. That little board Taj’s on is the one he’s riding in the comp, I think. He was like a little kid, going loony, surfing so fast! 

You’ve been keeping yourself busy with your blog, your videos and now a digital mag. Proxy Noise is our little project. We’re pretty excited to sink our teeth into. It’s Warren and I, and one of Warren’s friends – graphic designer Grady (Archbold, of the Matt Archbold bloodline). We’re trying to put together a little monthly zine-thing, which has been really fun.

Do you like where the surf industry is moving? Yeah, I think it’s good. The whole industry is becoming a bit more appealing. Everybody is kinda implementing creativity into campaigns and videos. There’s a lot of young kids who’re interested in other stuff as well, not just surfing. It’s been more accepted, rather than just, surf all day, surf in contests, train, and that’s it. It’s pretty exciting. I mean surfers, generally, are creative – look at the guys back in the day. Somewhere along the way they tried to make it like football or something, the ASP and all the contests and everything. I think it’s cool that there is still that other side, you know. Not everyone’s interested in just watching WT events.

What do you think about the rise of the surfer blog? To me it seems like everything is becoming so disposable with the web. Say this video of TB, someone’ll watch that and get 30 seconds of enjoyment out of it and that’ll be it. Then it’s gone, lost in a sea of content forever. The web is taking away that quality – It sucks! When I was a kid growing up you’d wait a whole year or two for a Taylor Steele movie, but now it’s like everybody’s getting so much content that it’s becoming mundane. And I’m the first one to blame, I’m putting up stuff all day long.

Is this something you’ll peruse after surfing? I love it so much. I came out of school wanting to go to uni to study film and television.

The mag seems to have a anti-surf overtone, was this a conscious effort? (Laughs) You think so? Warren’s writing style is tongue-in-cheek. We just did this because we were living in New York and we didn’t really surf. Alot of the time it’s hard doing anything like that without having people hammering you from every angle –”What are you guys doing, living in New York, not surfing?” I’ve come to the realisation that if you do something that the majority of people hate then you’re probably doing something right. Everyone has their own opinions and the internet definitely draws it out. If you do anything that is a bit left-field, everybody’ll put their two cents in about it. We’re the the first generation of surfers to be exposed to that. It’s a pretty steep learning curve not to be disheartened by it. It’s cool because it gives everybody a voice, but at the same time 90 percent of the time it’s the lamest stuff you’ve ever heard – an anonymous little dude going mad on his keyboard, having a quiet day sippin’ his coffee and lighting you up. Surfing’s been sheltered for so long, this secret little place where everything is rosy and perfect. It’s good that we’re not living in that padded little world anymore. – Simon Nicholas

Stumbled across your clip of Teebs and y’self, looks like you scored some fun beachies. That was just the other day on a secret little beachy. TB was trying to get away from the Goldie. It’s just a circus up there, there’re more wild surf dogs than you’ve ever seen in one place. It was small, but compared to trying to surf D-Bah it was pretty awesome. That little board Taj’s on is the one he’s riding in the comp, I think. He was like a little kid, going loony, surfing so fast!

You’ve been keeping yourself busy with your blog, your videos and now a digital mag. Proxy Noise is our little project. We’re pretty excited to sink our teeth into. It’s Warren and I, and one of Warren’s friends – graphic designer Grady (Archbold, of the Matt Archbold bloodline). We’re trying to put together a little monthly zine-thing, which has been really fun.

Do you like where the surf industry is moving? Yeah, I think it’s good. The whole industry is becoming a bit more appealing. Everybody is kinda implementing creativity into campaigns and videos. There’s a lot of young kids who’re interested in other stuff as well, not just surfing. It’s been more accepted, rather than just, surf all day, surf in contests, train, and that’s it. It’s pretty exciting. I mean surfers, generally, are creative – look at the guys back in the day. Somewhere along the way they tried to make it like football or something, the ASP and all the contests and everything. I think it’s cool that there is still that other side, you know. Not everyone’s interested in just watching WT events.

What do you think about the rise of the surfer blog? To me it seems like everything is becoming so disposable with the web. Say this video of TB, someone’ll watch that and get 30 seconds of enjoyment out of it and that’ll be it. Then it’s gone, lost in a sea of content forever. The web is taking away that quality – It sucks! When I was a kid growing up you’d wait a whole year or two for a Taylor Steele movie, but now it’s like everybody’s getting so much content that it’s becoming mundane. And I’m the first one to blame, I’m putting up stuff all day long.

Is this something you’ll peruse after surfing? I love it so much. I came out of school wanting to go to uni to study film and television.

The mag seems to have a anti-surf overtone, was this a conscious effort? (Laughs) You think so? Warren’s writing style is tongue-in-cheek. We just did this because we were living in New York and we didn’t really surf. Alot of the time it’s hard doing anything like that without having people hammering you from every angle –”What are you guys doing, living in New York, not surfing?” I’ve come to the realisation that if you do something that the majority of people hate then you’re probably doing something right. Everyone has their own opinions and the internet definitely draws it out. If you do anything that is a bit left-field, everybody’ll put their two cents in about it. We’re the the first generation of surfers to be exposed to that. It’s a pretty steep learning curve not to be disheartened by it. It’s cool because it gives everybody a voice, but at the same time 90 percent of the time it’s the lamest stuff you’ve ever heard – an anonymous little dude going mad on his keyboard, having a quiet day sippin’ his coffee and lighting you up. Surfing’s been sheltered for so long, this secret little place where everything is rosy and perfect. It’s good that we’re not living in that padded little world anymore.