Interview: Surf filmmaker Taylor Steele talks Sessions Surf Festival
Photo credit: Sessions Surf Festival
For over 30 years, filmmaker Taylor Steele has been one of the biggest names in the surf film world. With a slew of awards to his name, the director has also been showcasing the best in surf and music with Sessions Surf Festival in Encinitas. From September 12 through September 19, the week-long festival will deliver surf sessions, film sessions, an art exhibit, and live music from acts such as the Osees and Unwritten Law. We had a chance to speak to Steele about the upcoming festival and thoughts on the current surf film scene.
MP3s and NPCs: Sessions Surf Festival will return to SoCal in September. Do you normally begin working on the following year's festivities after the event takes place or are you brainstorming ideas during it?
Taylor Steele: I think during the festival, we’re always looking at how to do it better and more efficiently. But after the festival is finished, we start looking at how we can make each category bigger and better, and grow it in the right way.
MP3s and NPCs: Aside from SoCal, you also run the festival in Australia. What made you choose to run something like this down under?
Steele: My first trip to Australia was when I was 16. I went with a couple of friends, bought an old car and drove around the whole country for two months. I fell in love with it during that time, and I even ended up living there for six years. The area we chose on the Gold Coast reminds me a lot of Encinitas. It has a very strong community, great waves, and a really strong surf culture. But the arts and music scene isn’t as strong as in some of the other places where I’ve lived. The idea was that we could add value to that area. Hopefully, we are.
MP3s and NPCs: This year's festival finds you reuniting with Unwritten Law. What was it like working with the band on the GoodTimes Tour?
Steele: We worked with Unwritten Law, I think, on the Focus tour, which was the movie before Good Times, and traveled throughout the United States, on both the East Coast and West Coast. That was probably their first big tour, and it was amazing. I’ve known those guys for a long time. They’re a lot of fun, and they’re roughly my age. We were all enjoying the popularity of punk-rock music as it was really beginning to take over with a younger audience.
MP3s and NPCs: How did you pick the other musical acts for this festival?
Steele: One of the filters I really wanted to use for the festival was choosing bands that had a connection to surf movies. There have been so many different genres used in surf films over the past 40 years that it creates a platform broad enough to feature all kinds of good music. It also gives each band a story and a reason for being part of a surf festival.
Osees were part of Psychic Migrations, which is an amazing film. Their section is one of my favorite surf-film sections of all time, featuring Ryan Burch and Ozzie Wright in Chile. When the right surfing footage and the right song are placed together, it’s just magic. That was one of those magical combinations. Unwritten Law have probably been in four or five of my films. MT Warning have also been in around four of my films, and Yoke Lore were in another film about traveling through Alaska. Most of the bands at the festival have appeared on a surf-movie soundtrack.
MP3s and NPCs: After working on surf films for over three decades, how amazing is it to still see people releasing great surf films?
Steele: I’m always excited to see new surf films come out. I don’t think the genre is at its peak financially, but it is at its peak creatively and talent-wise. Seeing people make surf films and put that much effort into them - knowing it may not necessarily be something they can turn into a career, is incredibly inspiring. They’re doing it to share that stoke with other surfers and to tell a story they feel they need to get out.
MP3s and NPCs: With so much music out there, how do you decide what songs to include in films?
Steele: Music, for me, is the emotion of the visuals. When I’m deciding on a song, I want it to feel as though it elevates the footage. It should either make the performance look bigger or give the visuals a particular mood and tone that relates to how I felt during those trips.
MP3s and NPCs: What advice would you give someone looking to jump into making their own surf film?
Steele: I don’t really know the current distribution landscape, so I can’t give much advice on that side of it. What I like to encourage is for someone to look at the market, see what people aren’t doing and make something fresh and different from what is currently out there. The idea also needs to genuinely resonate with the filmmaker. Working on a film can take years, so you need to be passionate about it and make sure it continues to resonate with you. If you start to become bored with the idea or concept, you’re still committed to finishing it. Make sure you love the idea as you go, and then make the best thing you can.
More information about Sessions Surf Festival can be found here.
Since 2009, MP3s and NPCs owner Terrance Pryor has written about music, conventions, cosplay, and video games for publications such as AXS, Examiner, Fake Walls, and Ranker. Based out of Los Angeles, the former rock concert promoter/radio host can be seen talking about rock music on AXS TV’s Music’s Greatest Mysteries and discussing music and whatever else on their Black Man Talks Rock channel on YouTube.