Gallery: Kelly Slater In Tight Red Vinyl

During last year’s Worst Kept Secret, the Future Classic, Stab‘s Morgan Williamson and Mikey C. might have gotten barred at the gates of Surf Ranch (at first), but they were welcomed with open arms to the Tachi Palace Casino, where on that fateful evening Slater and the WSL had brought up Los Angeles’ hardest working Eighties cover band, Flashback Heartattack, to play their party. 

The resulting scene involved more than a handful of the tour’s best on stage, singing their hearts out to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”, as well as WSL owner Dirk Ziff flexing his guitar chops for his gathered crowd. 

With Flashback Heartattack again closing down the day’s events—this time, conveniently in the back field of Surf Ranch, instead—it came as no surprise to anyone present last year when Kelly Slater wasted no time taking the stage, slipping into the second guitarist’s red vinyl jacket, and staying through what must have been a ten-song set, which we’re hazy to recall in its entirety, though we can distinctly remember INXS (“for all the Australians out there,” Tommy Tutone, The Beastie Boys (“You gotta fight…” of course), and Journey. 

Oh, and The Ramones’  which he interrupted to tell the story of seeing a Johnny Ramone tribute show, three years before Johnny died, where the musicians playing the tribute called Johnny up on the phone as they [;ayedand someone held the phone out to the mic and Johnny said, basically, “tell those fuckers I can’t hear you, sing louder.”

As Kelly and the band closed the night out with “Don’t Change,” by INXS, one WSL veteran was overheard saying, “He just can’t help himself, can he?” and thank goodness for that. 

Kelly Slater in red vinyl.

Photography

Sam Moody.

Hey, ho, let’s go.

Photography

Sam Moody.

“Don’t change for you. Don’t change a thing for me.”

Photography

Sam Moody.

Strider and Raimana.

Photography

Sam Moody.

“You gotta fight. For your right…”

Photography

Sam Moody.

Kelly doing his best Ramones.

Photography

Sam Moody.

Looking around the small VIP crowd, even the most chapped-ass cynic couldn’t deny everyone seemed to be having a damned fine time.

Photography

Sam Moody.