Wilding Fifty: Surf Tales

Embrace your Inner Kook with Stephen Back

Christine Foerster Season 1 Episode 14

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0:00 | 25:16

In this episode with Stephen Back we discuss his drumming for the Suede Denim Secret Police, facing addiction with presence, staying motivated to surf in winter, embracing your inner kook, and surfing naked. Steven bares it all with warmth and a good dose of humor.

Highlights:
[00:00] Drumming for the Suede Denim Secret Police
[2:54] Facing addiction with presence
[6:50] Drumming and surfing
[11:38] Staying motivated to surf in winter
[15:43] Embracing your inner kook
[19:45] Surfing naked


Quotes by Stephen:
"I would say that surfing is going to the gym, going to church. going to the bar and happy hour with your friends and going to see the shrink all wrapped into one little session. You gotta understand that it's meant to be all of those things wrapped into one."

"Drumming has been a really good therapy for me. I think people who generally drink too much, do a lot of other things in excess, whether it's social media or whatever. We're characters that go out of control with a lot of different things. It's been a true blessing to get back into it."

"The secret to being a happy kook is that you're gonna have a kook moment every single session. There's not a day where you don't do something stupid, but it's all in the attitude."

Get in touch with Stephen

Mentioned:


More about Christine Foerster

Christine: Hello, Steven. 

Stephen: Hello. How are you today? 

Christine: I'm great. How are you? 

Stephen: I'm doing good. 

Christine: Good to have you here. A couple of months ago I went to an event down at Shoots, it was in support of a local up and coming surfer named Tex Mitchell. And at one point this band started, this punk spa band started rocking the place and it was so cool, it was all these 50 year olds…

Stephen: It was amazing

Christine: going to town. The band is called Suede Denim. 

Stephen: Secret police. Shhh, don't tell anybody, the Suede Denim Secret Police. It's a line from the Dead Kennedy’s, the Suede Denim Secret Police have come for your uncool niece.

Stephen: It's one of the classic punk lines of music folklore from the 80s. So yeah, we played. Tex Mitchell is a friend of all of ours cuz pretty much everybody in the band surfs and we've known Tex since he was a little grom. So that was super cool to be invited to play for his video release. And it was super cute to see his mom, Joanna, we call her Joe Mama, was actually in tears when she watched the clip of her boy on the screen. We were kind of disappointed actually in our performance on that show. Our monitors were in front of us, not behind us, so we didn't play , we weren't as on time, I think, as we normally are. And, everybody was eating, we didn't get as many people up dancing as we usually do, but it was still super fun.

Christine: It was great. It seemed  everybody  moved all the way over to the front where you guys were.

Stephen: Yeah, it’s everybody, the Oceanside Boardriders Club put it on and Shane Magnuson had a video and Chris Abad, who does a lot of work for the community in surfing. So it was a super cool event. 

Christine: Yeah, I had a lot of fun. So, you mentioned at one point that the drinking got out of hand. 

Stephen: I wouldn't say one point. I'd say every point. Every point. 

Christine: But you decided to take up drumming again as a way change the environment. Tell us about that. What does it feel  to be in the middle of a drumming session?

Stephen: I have to kind of hit rewind and go back, cuz 30 years ago when I played in a punk band then and, my drinking was getting outta control and the band kicked me out. We were literally on stage playing the Dream Street in Ocean Beach and my bass player got so pissed at me cuz I was drunk and way off time that he threw his guitar across stage and stormed off. I think that's why I quit. And I  had a bad experience, let's  say a run in with the law a year ago. So I was trying to reel myself in and I started playing music again and I got myself a electric kit so I can practice every night. 

Stephen: The best thing about playing drums is you actually have to set a beer down. You can't hold it and drink it while you're playing. So it actually gives you that time where you're kind of playing music and it's been a really good release. Now, I have to not drink before I play. I can't drink anything before I play, which is really good for me. When I get there, I'll only have one and I'll sip it because as soon as I drink too much, my leg goes to sleep. And if you're a drummer, especially on the bass drum, you don't want your leg going to sleep. So that's been a really good kind of a therapy for me. And I think people who generally drink too much, do a lot of other things in excess, whether it's social media or whatever, we're characters that go out of control with a lot of different things. That's been really good where my mind is  jumping into learning new songs every night. It's been a true blessing to get back into it. 

Christine: Yeah, it's wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that we are living right now in a time and a culture that really encourages addictions, whether it's to porn, to drugs, to what have you. And it takes courage to look that in the eye and, do something about it. But I think that all of us, or a lot of us engage in some kind of activity that we know is not beneficial to us. I think that’s a basic definition of an addiction. But if you can find an activity that really forces you into the present moment like drumming does, that in a way is an anecdote to the addiction, which is numbing you to the present moment. Do you agree with that? 

Stephen: What's amazing is I never thought of it but for me to even play, I really have to be on point and I really have to be in the moment with every single note. Cuz drums, you can't really hide it. You're the loudest instrument. You're the one that's supposed to keep time for four other people. So if you're off, everybody's off. I never thought about that, but I. Kind of an escape, but it's an escape into your own head where you have to be on point with four other people. It's a tremendous responsibility. And it's funny, it's actually more work than fun, and that might sound weird, trying to coordinate schedules with five other guys that all have careers and all have kids. We all have a lot of things going on, but  trying to even find those moments to have the band practice or coordinate a show that's two months out. It's a lot of work actually, but you have those moments when on stage and you nail everything, it feels super good. It's  catching a perfect wave and getting that big nice turn or maybe getting a little barrel, a little cover up and you come out, you got a big old smile and it's the same feeling.

Christine: Well, that was what I was gonna ask, about the parallels between drum and surfing.

Stephen: I think there's a ton. It's that both of them, you have that adrenaline rush that we're always seeking, but it's in a safer space.

Christine: I mean listening to drummers, I've never been a drummer myself, but you can get that feeling, it feels so immersive and powerful and very physical too. Right?

Stephen: One hour of playing, I'm sweating and every limb is going at it. For me, I try and surf every morning. So surf an hour, and then I usually work eight hours a day and then I play drums for at least an hour. I'm a busy boy for 56 years old, by the end of the day I'm ready for bed.

Christine: And drumming also is something that's so primal and ancestral to us. I did a little bit of West African dancing for fun when I lived in LA and the first time I went, I remember it hitting me in the chest. It taps into something that feels so innate or right. And a lot of hip movement and it's so fun to dance with live drummers. It's incredible. Even when you're not drumming yourself, you feel part of the drumming circle. 

Stephen: Well, it's funny you say that cuz the, the way I kind of got back into drumming, my other buddy whose name is Steve O, he's the Steve that puts the O in Oside is what I say. Cuz he's a super positive vibe and he has these big African drums. And so usually after we surf together, in fact, he lives around the corner from here, we would go to his house and play those big drums. And then he wound up getting one of those little Tibetan singing bowls where you hit it and it vibrates and the tone is incredible. I think my first getting back into it was we would play those big old drums in his yard and we would talk about the world and issues and solve them over a cold one and playing music. 

Christine: Yeah, that's great. I wanna ask some of your inspirations then, who are some of your favorite drummers or sources of inspiration?

Stephen: What's funny cuz, you kind of  prepped me with a few questions and I was thinking about it and I can't, I really don't have anyone. There's not a single great drummer because to me, everybody's great, they're all good. You've got the John Bonham of Led Zeppelin that does half beats and he does these slow,  really weird beats nobody else does. And then you have the Beatles drummer  Ringo Star who makes the simplest beats, but he does them in such a happy way that it's super easy to play, but you smile when he plays ‘em. And I was trying to think if I had one, there's not a single one I could say, cuz they're all super cool. It's like surfing or surfers for me. I don't have a single surfer that is an inspiration cuz they all are. There's kooks out there, there's so many people that inspire me, Alden Avro inspires me cuz he has a bad leg. He got in a bad car accident, so he's always getting barreled because he can only stand halfway up. So he is always in a barrel position and there's so many people that are really amazing in different ways. So I couldn't say in either one, a particular person. I think that's one thing I like about myself is I'm able to see really cool things in people and take from them or get inspired by a lot of different people.

Christine: Great answer. And you also said that you can really learn almost any skill, everything on the internet. The drumming has been that way too. 

Stephen:You bring up a really good point cuz. There's a couple drum videos on YouTube that I follow, and this one girl, they call her Hannibal the Cannibal, and she's from the UK. She's in a band called The Sex Pissed Dolls, But Sex Pissed Dolls is an all girl band, and she freaking kills the drums. When I watched most of her songs, I couldn't even play 'em when I first started. So she was the person that I would go to when I learned. and then I would go find the easier way to, cuz there's all these different versions you can learn how to play a song, right? I would go back and learn the easy ones first and then I would go back and now I can finally play the way she plays the songs, which is freaking super fast but still keeps a basic beat and comes back down to the back beat of every song. And so I guess learning from her and watching her and I don't know, she's got this cool little chick from UK vibe that I feel attracted to to.

Christine: Great. We'll have to put that on the show notes and I'll take a look too. 

Stephen: Yeah, she's freaking amazing. 

Christine: Let's go back to our surf session. We went out on December the 18th. It was a Sunday morning. And it's getting chillier. I remember seeing a lot of booties and hats and I felt kind of proud because in the summer I'm usually overdressed, but I was bareheaded and barefoot in the water. 
Stephen: That’s the only way to be. I can't wear booties. Every time I've tried, my foot gets stuck too low on the board and I ruin a perfectly good wave. And I feel your feet need to be connected to the board and the water and your head needs to be connected to the water. I want to hear the sound of the wave when it breaks. It sounds kind of goofy when it fills up with water. I don’t know if you've ever tried to wear a hood. 

Christine: I haven't yet.

Stephen: I think it sucks and it doesn't really keep you much warmer, but to me that's the whole point, your senses feeling all the different sensations of a wave. To me it kind of numbs it. So I don't do any of those. I do a 3/2 full suit, and I can't remember if I told you but, prepping in the wintertime, if you wanna stay motivated and surf every day, which is my goal, you gotta have a dry wetsuit. Put it in the dryer. I know it's not good for it, but put it in the dryer. It's not good for the suit, but it's good for the soul. So if your suit's nice and warm, when you put it on, it's important. And then you have a big old jug of hot water as soon as you get out and then you dump that down your suit and it's all bubbling hot. Those are the things you look forward to, those two in the morning. Instead of, oh shit, it's really cold outside. It's still gray, it's cloudy, it's whatever. The things that are gonna keep most people from going surfing in the morning in the wintertime. You’re, oh, cool. That's okay. I got a nice warm suit came outta the dryer. I got a jug of hot water at the end.

Christine: Well, you saved me actually. By the end of our session, I didn't know how cold my hands were, but I couldn't even put them together to paddle anymore. And by the time I got to my car, I literally could not get my fingers to open up the car lock. And then you came over with your jug of water and you gave my hands an nice rinse and then you poured the water down my suit, which felt 10 times better than even peeing in it. 

Stephen: Yeah. That's why I even had that sticker. I love to pee in my wetsuit because not only does it make me laugh in the morning before I roll out but it's, part of life.

Christine: We had a really nice day. I mean, I think it’s better for beginners now. The waves were fairly small that you said it was small day, but you said you had the best left or longest left. 

Stephen: I had a really long left. Yeah, it was a small day and it was an offshore wind that morning, so it was holding the waves up, which is really fun if you want to streak across the line and get a lot of distance out of the wave. And I think I snuck in a few turns on it but, I had a really fun ride, and for me, when I surf, literally most days I catch three to five waves and then I go to work. I don't surf very long. I surf maybe 45 minutes to an hour. But that's all it takes is one 

Christine: It's your reset in the morning, right? You get up, you wanna get out there and feel the elements. All that sensorial energy coming in. 
Stephen: And, the colder the water, the clearer your head's gonna be when you're done. It really does. So if you're a little groggy for whatever reason, all of a sudden you're gonna be vibing. As soon as you get outta the water, you're done. You're gonna be full.

Christine: I don't know if it's cuz I'm slowly improving, but maybe it's also the wave form, but I felt that day I had more time to get settled right. To get my bearings and then you have the right placement of the hands, right placement of the foot and you actually can  move along the wave a little bit.

Stephen: Yeah, that's totally key for beginners. So days where the waves are a little mushy and it gives you that extra second or two to get up and kind of get dialed in versus the days if it's jacking straight up and it's barreling where you gotta get up right away and you gotta be literally midface soon as you bottom turn or you're not gonna make the section. So we had a super fun day. It was perfect for a cruising or beginner day.

Christine: It was really fun. Let's talk about the kook that you had spelled on your wetsuit with the Ks upside down. 

Stephen: So Kook of the Day, Jonathan Wayne Freeman used to do it, and he's from Oceanside. I don't know if you had it on Instagram, but it would be something funny every day. He was real, and he does his own. So I would recommend everybody to follow him on Instagram. He's fricking hilarious. He surfs South Jetty a lot of times. He usually comes a little bit later in the morning. But it's more of a mentality to me. Putting kook on the back of my wetsuit cuz I've been surfing, now I'm coming up on 40 years of surfing and lately the last 10 years of surfing every single day. I think my level where I'm at for a guy that surfed that long is an absolute kook. Cuz I see these kids that have only been surfing two years and they're out there with John Daniels, learning to rip and they're already winning titles. Or Katie Simmers who at 16 years old is already on the World Tour. I mean, I've been surfing three times longer than she's even been alive. And if you think about that, and I've only won, I won one first place trophy, and that was in the senior men's division. And it's because, Rock and Fignetti got stuck in Huntington Beach traffic. So I see this guy running down to join me in the contest, and there was only three of us in the whole event, and I was the only guy to catch a wave. So with the 2.0 heat score, I won a first place trophy and that's the only one I have outta of 40 years of surfing. So that's an absolute kook if you ever think about it. 

Christine: At least you have the guts to enter the competition. 

Stephen: I think that showing up, sometimes they say showing up as half the battle. So I have a first place trophy for being the only one that showed up. 

Christine: Okay, what's your kookiest story then? You’ve gotta have one.

Stephen: I really think that's probably gotta be it cuz I was the proudest guy rolling with this first place trophy, but I was the only guy that caught a wave. I think the secret to being a happy kook is that you're gonna have a kook moment every single session. I can't think of, the other day I was surfing and I go over this, I don't know what I passed over a person or an animal. And I look down and then I turn around, and this big old seal pops his head up. And I go, oh, what a relief. And I go to grab my board cuz it's a small day It's shore break two foot. And I see this thing come through the water right at me and it darted. And it was not a dolphin. Cuz they usually have a different way of moving. So I think it was a really small shark. I don't know for. But it came right at me and it went streaking through the wave and I jumped up and screamed. And I did a belly flop on on my board and I was shaking my hands and my feet were shaking. And here I am in two feet of water on a two foot wave shaking cuz I thought the shark was coming after me. I think it was a small shark and went to go look at the seal or whatever cuz I saw it dart that way. 

Christine: Oh. I thought it was the same animal trying to get you back or wanted to play more. 

Stephen: No, I see this fin all of a sudden come right through the wave right at me and it scared the shit outta me. I probably have a kook moment every single day. There's not a day where you don't do something stupid, but it's all in the attitude. And some guys I've surfed with, they're screaming or yelling and getting all stressed out and, I  laugh at it and think, man, what a kook I am. Yeah. It's great attitude. Every day, there's a moment, you've locked yourself outta your car and it's freezing cold.

Christine: Oh yeah, done that. Let's go back then. Will you tell us your history with surfing, when you learned, and any challenges along the way, especially in the early days? 

Stephen: I started in 1983, so I'm coming up on 40 years here. And basically, I had moved to San Diego as a kid, another kook story.I lived out in San Bernardino on Riverside, out in the ghetto. So moving to San Diego was a big move. So I was that kook that, I think the first time my buddy in high school, I was gonna go boogie board and he didn't want to be seen next to me cuz I was on a boogie board and he was already surfing. So that was only one time I was allowed to boogie board cuz that wasn't cool. And I think I started in the wintertime and so I was wearing a spring suit. I’m super fair-skinned as it is, so I'm white legs, purple knees, freezing cold in the winter, first time surfing. That was at Torry Pines and I was at Mira Mesa High School. So that was our spot. And then La Jolla Shores was kind of where I first learned. And that was a fun little crew there cuz it was always a party. Then once I finally got my driver's license, I had a Volkswagen van, so everybody would pile into my van and we would go down to the shores and turn it into a little party. Everybody start drinking, hanging out, good old times. The bridge under Torry Pines, that was a great spot back then, cuz not a lot of people surfed there. It was never that crowded. And so we had our own little crew and for some reason there's a ton of dolphins right in that Torry Pines area. There's a million dolphins and they're really playful. So that spot, you're almost guaranteed to have dolphins playing around you every time you go there. It's really weird. 

Christine: It's a beautiful area. The Shores is a good place for beginners too, 

Stephen: It's great place for beginners. All the cool kids would surf Blacks and Surf Wind and Sea. I'd never surf Surf Wind and Sea cuz there was this thing that if you weren't a local, they’d wanted to beat you up. And there was such a bad vibe that even now I have friends that are locals there, but I have never surfed there. It was in my head. It never felt inviting. So even though I got to a certain level, and I'm sure I could be accepted and surfed there, I never surfed there. I don't know, I never felt the vibe. 

Christine: Isn't it so strange? I mean, you have a beach like Blacks, which is a nude beach and it has a whole different community down there, which it's one of my favorite beaches. 

Stephen: I think it's the best. I go every single summer. As soon as the water gets warm, I go surf naked there at least twice a year. I kid you not, cuz you could surf by yourself. And if you've never surfed naked, it's the most amazing thing. But make sure the water's warm cuz it's very embarrassing. You get outta the water and it's super cold. You don't wanna do that. 

Christine: I've seen everything and anything at Blacks Beach, but the best are the volleyball players in the middle of the summer.

Stephen: Sometimes a naked old man will stand and watch me surf for a little while and I kinda like the attention. At least somebody's paying attention to me. 

Christine: If something happens. You've some help. Anything for any of the beginners out there that any struggles? Because you started, sounds like when you were in high school. So what can you remember? You probably remember those awkward moments where people were better than you. Any tips?

Stephen: I still have those awkward moments when people are better than me every day. I would say that surfing is going to the gym, going to church. going to the bar and happy hour with your friends and going to see the shrink all wrapped into one little session. You gotta understand that it's meant to be all of those things wrapped into one. If you get too caught up on trying to do a 12 o'clock turn in front of your buddies and hey, would you have dropped a seven or eight excellent score on that? Then you're doing it for all the wrong reasons, cuz that's when you start seeing people getting all agro and yelling at themselves or yelling at other people.

Stephen: So you gotta understand that it's the full experience and have fun with it. I remember the first time I pumped down a wave, I think I was at PB Pier and down the face of wave and I was pumping. And I did is go down the line. But it was the most amazing feeling. Those are the moments that you're gonna remember and have the best time. Then when I started competing, I didn't even start until I was in my forties. I was doing the senior men's division, but I remember worrying too much about trying to do this or that, or my equipment, maybe I need to go to a smaller board? All you got to do is get out there and have fun with it. And that would be my advice. 

Christine: Well, thank you so much for taking the time. We're gonna end with a song from the Suede Denim Secret Police. 

Stephen: Are we?

Christine: Yes, we are. Let's hear it. Enjoy!