Is there tension in the surfboard shaping atmosphere? Maybe tension is the wrong verbiage, and I don’t want to say drama either, but there seems to be some perceived – unease in the air. Possibly some agitation that has been slow-going for years now? Here’s what I got for you.
Britt Merrick was just documented looking & sounding pretty emotional at the live premier of the Stab In The Dark finale. For example, he was just announced as the winner in this all-time candid photo.
He then goes onstage with his “entourage” to accept his award as winner, and gives his acceptance speech. I have yet to find any footage of this speech, but I have heard a few audio clips provided by Stab, notably one in which he confessed his love and admiration for fellow/rival shaper, and runner-up, Matt Biolos of Mayhem Surfboards. Here you can listen to the Stab podcast where they announce the SITD winner. Around the 14 minute mark is when Danny brings up the “I love you” moment.
“All the other guys in the comp, like, I respect all those guys so much. Uhm, Biolos, I love you man. I’m thankful for you. And, uhm, yeah, give him some love.”
-Britt Merrick
Now, I probably would have thought nothing of this particular comment, if it weren’t for Danny Johnson bringing it to light during the podcast. I’m not sure if anyone who was not at the premier would have heard of this at all. The fact that Britt singled out Biolos was the only thing that intrigued me. Acknowledging and congratulating the runner-up in a contest seems like the typical class act to pull, but for whatever reason, this scenario did seem a bit odd. A flurry of questions engulfed my mind. Why would he only say that to Biolos? Are they friends? Has Britt said that to him before? How did this make Biolos feel? Was this pure emotion? Was it planned? I was confused.
So, I did a bit of thinking, and a little bit more “homework”. Firstly, one must remember that Britt was a pastor. After watching multiple interviews, and hearing him on last week’s episode of David Scales & Scott Bass’s podcast ‘Spit!’, I can confidently say that I personally believe it was a sincere “I love you”. Some of the questions still linger with no answers. I don’t know if they’re friends. I don’t know if Britt was planning on telling Biolos he loved him, or if he has before. I don’t know Britt at all personally, but from the time I spent listening to him, I do think he is a very genuine guy, and I do believe it was just emotions flooding out of him. I actually really like that he did it now, looking back.
I especially like this notion of passion and emotion he showed because of Biolos’ reaction. Like I said, I was not at the live premier, so there’s no telling exactly what the initial real reaction was. I wish they had a candid photo of Biolos getting the news as well. However, everything I have heard from Biolos since then has been in a negative connotation. He was just on Stab’s most recent podcast that you can listen to here. The interview starts at 48:00, and the Stab In The Dark talk is right around 51:15.
As an example of Biolos being negative, or condescending, he said Britt’s “entourage” that he went to the premier with was ‘kinda funny’. In the next breath, Biolos explains being shocked at ‘how deep they roll’ at previous joint promotions – they being Channel Islands. Danny Johnson then asked Biolos if he told Britt he loved him once he got off stage. Biolos replies straightforwardly, “No, just went over and shook his hand. High fived him and all his cronies.” Not only the words themselves, but the tone in which they are delivered through this interview indicate to me, this may be a one sided relationship. Danny asks what the dynamic is like between shapers nowadays, and Biolos lists off some (4) of his (big brand) friends that he gets along with great, and the list does not include Britt Merrick.
“I don’t think he loves me. He loves that I exist. You know, The Dark Side. A little bit of edge.”
-Matt Biolos
My initial reaction to this was mixed. Mostly, again, confused. Why is Biolos taking digs at Britt and Channel Islands? Why does he view himself as the ‘Dark Side’? It’s no secret that Biolos is a bit outspoken, especially on social media, but I was shocked to see him take aim at someone who just bested him in what has been dubbed ‘the Shapers World Title’, let alone the biggest surfboard manufacturer in the world(?). That, plus the fact that Britt just told him he loved him, which I viewed as pretty sincere. And Biolos just kinda laughed and shrugged it off. I wonder if the two have spoken since then? I wonder if Britt has heard anything Biolos has said since then? Would Britt be offended or hurt for being laughed at? Biolos just seems a bit pedantic to me. I did a bit of “homework” on Mayhem as well since then, and have found some interesting stuff.
First would just be the entire Stab interview. Very, very mixed things coming out of Biolos’s mouth. Towards the end of the interview, Danny asks him, “what would 21 year old Matt Biolos have thought if he bumped into these characters now?”, speaking on behalf of today’s tour surfers, compared to the surfers Biolos grew up idolizing. Biolos responds with a long-winded, seemingly humbled reply –
“It was just a different era, you know. But, I can’t live that life now, and I’m not that man now. I’m the man I am.”
-Matt Biolos.
The reason this was interesting to me is because the next question brought up by Danny is, “The Mayhem brand was based on anarchy to start off with. Do you feel like it’s got the same spirit now?” Biolos kind of beats around the bush a little, but the meat of his answer lies in, “I think we’re still the alternative to, you know, the status quo, clean-cut, cookie cutter way of running a business.”
He then goes on to straight up call out a few big brands – “If you look at say Channel Islands, or JS, you just scroll their Instagram, or look at their media output.. If you look at …lost surfboards, we’re still different. We’re still edgier. We’re still funnier. We’re still more visually creative. And, we still take more chances.” A lot of shit about the way things look online, especially for someone who had JUST said that he and his colleagues like to chuckle and laugh at “the Instagram shapers” (55:41). Pair that with this interview on the Stab PickUp from 2 years ago where he states “You don’t base your boards off of how they look on Instagram. You base it off of performance, and the feedback from the best surfers. That’s the most important thing.” Like I said, pretty motley dialogue here.
Next would be this old blog post, which is a bit controversial, in the fact that we are not 100% sure Biolos typed this up himself. Nonetheless, online readers are confident that it was him behind this keyboard. This lengthy post is a lot to take in, so, to try to put it briefly, there are a few major key points he is making.
One is a lengthy list of some major contributions that he and his brand …lost have given to the surf industry in an attempt to thwart his “crucifiction” on the internet gossip sites (DISCLAIMER- .hvoide. may or may not be one of these). I’m not going to detail the list, but mostly it’s about board contributions. There were 2 contributions that were not directly involved with …Lost. One being a “thanx4-3” project, in which they donated $1 to Simon Anderson for every thruster sold. The other being the Posca paint pens that Mayhem allegedly introduced to the USA from Japan after bringing them here in 1991. He does mention that T.Patterson was using them a year earlier.
The next point is a major push back against American surfboard manufacturers importing surfboards from overseas that are cheaper to make, creating larger profit margins, but cutting the American surfboard workforce down. He confesses to saying, in print in ‘03, “NO excuse for Al Merrick to make Tufflites, UNLESS the market and customer demand and prefer this product.” He also says that Al was making ‘most, if not ALL’ of his higher end boards in Asia, especially boards with resin tint and polish. Now, I get that this is a fair point to be made, and truth be told, I completely back this.
The final crux is when he delivers his plans to start a new board line called Placebo. While explaining Cory Lopez’s ambition to finally get paid from his board sponsor, Biolos describes how Lopez was offered healthy sums of compensation from Surftech to ride for them, amounts that he could not match due to licensing out the …lost clothing brand and small profit margins on Mayhem boards. Together they decide to create their own line of Cory Lopez models, a la Placebo. Now enters a friend of Mike Reola (co-founder of …lost) from North Carolina named Freddy James. Freddy is heir to “Fox Watersports” in NC, where Surftechs were previously molded in the USA, along with sail boards. They proposed a new type of ‘tufflite’ technology that could be made here, one supposed to have more flex, yet feel more natural.
So, what do we make of this all? Well, for one, the Placebo thing didn’t seem to work out. At least not in my area. I have never in my life seen a Placebo surfboard out in the water or on the beach. Maybe on the East Coast where the Lopez brothers are from, but even that is hard to say. I have seen a few used Placebo boards posted online right now, as well as one “review” video, but I would be hard pressed to say they did well. I believe this company is no longer running, the only online search result I could find is for their Instagram, no website. I feel bad for Cory Lopez, but I am guessing that Biolos somehow found a way to take care of him. He is listed on the …lost website now under the team section.
Here’s what we’ve really been waiting for though. The juicy stuff. The blog post from Biolos is listed as 11/17/05. Here is an article from the OC Weekly 10/6/05 – about a month before – in which it explains that Freddy James just got back from a trip to Vietnam to scope out the factory in which Placebo boards will be made.
“Biolos has several Placebo prototypes leaning against the wall, all of them made at a Taiwanese – owned factory, just outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.”
-OC WEEKLY.
Well.. what happened there? I’m not really sure what the truth is. I get it, he’s running a business, and decisions need to be made that are not favorable, nor foreseen, but wow. Seems like a real backpedal. As of right now, today, you can buy Catch Surf Mayhems – made in Taiwan. Live by the gun & die by it, huh?
And it is still going on to this day, the hypocrisy that is. I am referring to the whole first section of my Biolos research, including the newest Stab podcast. The whole idea of laughing at “Instagram Shapers”, yet when asked if …lost is still the same company from prior years, his first defense is to look at his company’s social media. Confusing, right? I really thought about titling this post “The Crucifiction of Mayhem”.
Look, I don’t know the guy at all. Never met him. I have rode one second hand Mayhem in my life, so I’m not knocking the boards. I have no idea what it’s like to run a business at the magnitude that he does. I have no clue about the trials and tribulations he has been through on a personal level, or with his brands Mayhem & …lost. I do really appreciate the stance he took on importing surfboards. I do respect the work he and his lawyer went through to get surfboards their own classification to track the units and money coming in from imports.
So, back to the original question – is there tension in the board building industry? I wouldn’t call it tension. Tension needs to be pulled from both sides, stretched. As I said, it seems like a one way relationship. I am under the impression that Mayhem feels like it is him and his company versus the world. I personally believe Biolos might care a bit too much about his image. I would like to say that this stuff is just who he was and it’s now in his past, but it seems to still be happening. Including the new look/style makeover.
Biolos, if you read this, leave a comment. I’m not trying to offend anyone, it’s nothing personal. I’m just blogging. Lunch on me. I’d be stoked to hear your story.
-hwilsin
One reply on “The Dark Side”
Awesome read. Loved every word. Till next time!