Surf Music: An interview with Nick Huggins

CH: How does shaping surfboards relate to producing records?

NH: I think they’re kind of similar. To mix a song you have to balance all these different forces; low-end forces, dynamics, rhythm, melody, space. It’s a similar number of factors with a surfboard. Trying to balance rail thickness, rocker curve, concaves, fins, and all these forces that play together. You just want it to flow.

CH: The surf film you worked on starring Dave Rastovich and Alex Knost?

NH: It’s called “The Heart and The Sea”, by Nathan Oldfield. The sound was matched to the vision, started off quite ambling and builds to a crescendo. It’s a beautiful film.

We enter Nick’s private shaping bay next to his studio in Point Lonsdale.

NH: This one is made from cork, it’s got a wooden bottom. I just muck around. I’ve made boards from fibreglass and foam, this other one is made from board scraps. I got the scraps from 4D surfboards. Dean Gladman (DMG Shapes) does most of my glassing, he’s great.

CH: How did you achieve the sound on “The Submarine” with Whitley (Lawrence Greenwood)?

NH: We had all sorts of ideas and we were young enough to think that we were inventing something new while also just re-living the stuff we loved. We listened to Chris Whitley a lot and the project got named after him. I remember listening to Caribou (Dan Snaith) and Aphex Twin (Richard James) a lot. Lawry was listening to lots of Gillian Welch at the time. It all goes into the pot and sometimes it’s easier to see the influences years later.