Hawaii Surf 61

DG - Then you must miss the surf when you're away for a time?


TL - Yeah I do miss the ocean when I am away from it. In New York I went about six months without surfing, and I was having some serious withdrawals. I think I forgot that the Atlantic Ocean could get surf too. Peter Cole, Jr. and I ended up taking the subway out to Long Island and got some fun little waves. We borrowed boards from Patagonia down in Soho where Peter worked. My time in New York was more focused on music and writing and just experiencing something different. I guess it made me re-appreciate surfing and the beach when I returned to California pale and skinny from the East coast.

DG - And with music, is it the same kind of withdrawal if you're separated from your guitar?


TL - It isn't often that I am separated from my guitar, not cuz I'm weird about it, I just have a habit of bringing it along. I feel like my guitar would be bummed if I left it behind and went on a trip (maybe that is weird), but if I do leave it behind... I usually find a guitar to play wherever I am, like at an antique store or if I'm at someone else's house and there is a piano, I end up playing it. I always feel better when there are instruments around even if I am not playing them. It is like the potential to create sitting there that comforts me...and makes me feel at home.

DG - So what about where you grew up, what was it like?

TL - I was born and raised in Foster Park, which is ten minutes from the coast of Ventura and nestled back in a little canyon--a nice combo of mountains/ocean environment, real mellow and peaceful. I come from a big family...lots of music in the blood, so I was introduced to it from day one. Some of my favorite memories are of camping out on the Channel Islands with our family and the Malloys, and my dad would be playing music around the campfire with all of us chiming in.


DG - That's right, you're a close friend of the Malloys. I really like their approach to surfing as a whole. What was it like growing up with them?

TL - We had a really golden childhood together. We called ourselves "the bros" cuz there were the three Malloys and then me and my two brothers and my cousin Vaughn. We all grew up surfing Emma Wood together, it was a lot of fun...they took surfing to another level with the contests and getting sponsored. It was interesting to see them make that transition from surfing just for fun to surfing professionally.

DG - Have their lives encouraged you to move in your own direction as a musician?

TL - Their determination has inspired me. To be able to do what you love for a living is a beautiful thing.

DG - My wife told me you had a chance meeting with Elvis Costello. Could you tell me about it?

TL - It took place in downtown Manhattan. He ended up listening to one of my tunes that I had recorded the night before at a friend's studio. It was a big deal for me cuz I grew up listening to my dad's Elvis Costello albums. He had some nice things to say and told me he was playing a show in Brooklyn that evening if I wanted to check it out. He asked me my name and said he'd keep his ear out for me.