TRAVIS FERRÉ

2022!!!

We hope you caught some unforgettable waves last year and had many great moments that allowed you to escape a little you know what....

For this new year, enjoy your sessions, be curious, dream, take care of yourself and have as much fun as possible!

For our part, we are very happy to start the year with this new Focus on Travis Ferré.

Travis is a journalist, writer and producer from Huntington Beach, California.

He started out at Surfing Magazine where he wrote for 8 years before becoming the editor-in-chief.

But it was in 2012 that we really discovered the quality of his writing when he created, with Kai Neville and Scott Chenoweth, the magazine What Youth.

For 6 years and 19 issues, What Youth represented an alternative to the standards magazines with a carefully edited content about riders, Art, music... all with lightness or depth and a sure taste for messing around.

Partying and authentic, curious and educated, enthusiastic and poetic, Travis is a totally independent guy.

He likes to say what he thinks and doesn't hesitate to question, always with intelligence and finesse, a vision of surfing that is too far from what this activity was in the beginning.

In 2017 he said: "Surfing is about much more than just getting up on a wave.

It's the search for the right wave, the friendship between surfers, the failures, the successes, the adventure, the morning coffee in front of the waves and even the paddle that make me love surfing and will always love it."

Three years ago, he created the Inherent Bummer platform.

No longer paper, but a creative digital platform that reflects the spirit of surfing and its culture: production and direction of videos and articles written in his name or for brands (the Red Bull series "Following", Quiksilver, Volcom...).

Enjoy your reading.

Photo Lawrence

Hi Travis,

tell us about you and your first surf ?

"I’m Travis Ferré, 38 years old and I’m from Huntington Beach, CA.

My dad took me surfing with him from a young age.

When all my friends started surfing too, he was always stoked to take us all to the beach.

He was a car painter.

He had this Chevy van full of paint and stuff.

We’d pile in there with boards.

He’d play surf music for us and we’d pile out and go shred.

He taught us how to be surfers, and all the funny things that made it more than just an activity.

I had my first board when I was 5 years old, but I remember distinctly the first real wave I caught.

It was at a beach called Bolsa Chica and I remember sitting out the back (an accomplishment on its own at that point).

The waves were so beautiful this day, just like big mounds of water, sloped and rad looking.

Everything just seemed so big and interesting back then.

I remember being especially mesmerized by them that day.

I was riding my first “real” shortboard.

I think it was like a 5’11” with full deck grip and Diamond Tip on the nose.

It had a Billabong laminate in the glass too for some reason.

But that day I caught a real, open face wave.

I went down the line and have forever chased that feeling.

Enjoyed every weird nuance and experience that comes with that hunt.

Thanks dad."

Photo Lawrence

...that day I caught a real, open face wave.

I went down the line and have forever chased that feeling.

Photo Cukr

- What is your surf culture and who inspires you in life?

"I was a major disciple of Taylor Steele’s surf films.

I remember getting Focus on VHS tape and I couldn’t get enough.

When his next video Good Times came out, I got it as an early Christmas gift.

It’s easily one of the best days of my life...

Coming home, putting it in and watching all my favorites to cool music.

I remember that got me into music and kind of set the tone for my whole life.

Discovering surfers like Dan Malloy and bands like AFI all in one part.

That was what got me hooked on the entertainment and culture side."

Photo DR

- How did you get to Surfing and what did you do for the magazine?

"I made a decision early in college that I was going to focus on being a magazine editor.

It combined surfing and writing, which was all I was interested in at the time.

I attended San Diego State University to study English Literature and I had a chance occurrence in my Shakespeare class, a guy I had seen at the beach surfing named Kimball Taylor was in the class getting his Masters.

He was a writer at Surfer Magazine already.

He introduced me to Evan Slater, who actually worked at Surfing.

Kimball just said I would like Evan more than whoever was the Surfer Mag editor.

I knew who Evan was of course.

He was a great magazine editor and he went on to be a great mentor to me.

We are still friends and go see bands all the time together to this day.

I started at Surfing as an intern and over the course of six years I did every editorial job they have: intern, associate editor, managing editor, and then one day, Evan went on to work for Hurley.

I got my opportunity to the Editor in Chief.

From there I met Kai Neville.

He was making Modern Collective and we formed a unique bond since that time.

We were sort of like-minded in our approach to surfing (his mentor was Taylor Steele so it made sense) and the arts.

We fused that into a partnership.

We did some cool projects at Surfing and then decided to venture out on our own and make a more modern media.

That became What Youth."

Photo DR

- What do you remember from the What Youth years ?

"I remember it as raw creativity crashing head on into the realities of making a business work.

Exploding in one beautiful fucked up firework of surfing, art, passion, music, skating, traveling, drinking and being recklessly young.

It was as advertised through and through.

I’m so proud of the things we created together.

As a close knit group of friends and all the things we pulled off and made.

Me, Kai Neville, Scott Chenoweth, Nate Lawrence, Blake Myers, Michael Cukr, Stuart Cornuelle… and a ton of other talents, surfers, skaters and creatives who contributed and made things with us.

It was all so rad.

But that original creative squad was and is my family forever.

It was so authentic and in the moment it would be impossible to replicate the way we had it.

Many try I know.

I’m so proud of the 19 issues of the magazine I was a part of and I’m also proud of the way the creative team stuck together.

Also how we practiced what we preached for better or worse and dropped the mic together with the same energy we had on day one for what we believed in.

The people who led to that fateful mic drop ending know who they are."

There is something so poetic about going for a surf and it fitting so naturally in your everyday routine, that you hardly notice it.

Photo DR

- What were your best surf encounters ?

"I’ve been lucky enough to surf just about every wave I’ve ever dreamed of.

From Scotland and France to Indonesia and all over Australia.

But honestly, the thing I love most is driving down on an average day, seeing the locals where I live, having a routine surf and continuing on my day.

There is something so poetic about going for a surf and it fitting so naturally in your everyday routine, that you hardly notice it.

We take those simple things for granted.

I also love carrying a board bag through airports, layovers on surf trips, duckdives, surfing alone…

And being a surfer is a great way to meet anyone in the world (we truly are lucky to be surfers).

I love going on road trips.

All the people I’ve met along the way and then running into them years later and picking right up where we left off.

It’s all so magical."

- What are your 3 favorite surf movies ?

"MOMENTUM : UNDER THE INFLUENCE.

It was my peak favorite surfers to favorite music moment.

Taj and AT THE DRIVE-IN and Andy Irons closing it to REFUSED.

I’ll pay a lot to bottle those moments in that video again.

I would put a ton of Joe G vids on this list, but I think he was the man quietly behind the scenes on this one.

It’s my favorite and I never let him forget it."

"THE 5TH SYMPHONY DOCUMENT

I think I have to put this because it totally changed what I thought a surf video was at the time.

It’s crazy because you can see how it subliminally influenced so much of what we went on to make.

Rad movie, dig it up if you can find it.

I think it was Chad Campbell who made that one.

Some really cool moments in there.

CJ Kanuha is the sickest.

Ben Brough part is rad too."

"LOST ATLAS.

I have to put this, I feel like this is Kai at his finest.

Kind of overlooked in his series of vids.

It was the movie when I was at Surfing Magazine that we devoted every page of the issue to the film on.

Didn’t make all the ad guys too happy, but it still stands out as one of the coolest mags we ever made an the film is so good.

The opening scenes with Owen and Dion in Mexico are golden.

Frame them.

Its kinda of when we realized what a mag like What Youth could do combining all our influences.

In print and on video."

- What are your 5 songs to get in the water and the 5 after session ones ?

"5 Before:

(Beware, I’ve been flashing back to my emo and hardcore days…it’s not for everyone)

“Nous Sommes D'Ici” by DAÏTRO

“Funeral for the Death of my Dreams” by BLISTERING JOY

“Late December” by SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY

“Gunshot” by LYKKE LI

“I am Nietzche” by ORCHID

5 After:

“October All Over” by UNWOUND

“Honeyspider” by SMASHING PUMPKINS

“The Con” by TEGAN & SARA

“Disorder” by BED HEAD (Joy Division Cover)

“Gold City” by ICEAGE"

"I have had some of the greatest times and experiences of my life in France.

- Why did you start Inherent Bummer ?

"I started Inherent Bummer because I had to.

I desperately tried to retreat and hide in an apple orchard in northern California, tempting Great Whites daily and surfing great waves.

I realized while I was up there that I love surf culture so much and love sharing and creating and being a part of the whole mess so much that I had to come back and least keep mixing it up.

I can retire to the apple orchard and my 5/4/3 with a hood later.

No one else really picked up where we left off either, so I came back.

We’re just finding our footing now (post-pandemic and all), but you can expect the most honest, authentic, core surf brand and voice in the space to emerge.

I don’t know how to do anything but that."

Photo Lawrence

- What do you find cool and boring in today's surf scene?

"I find the gossip boring, the conservative, “everything for everyone” mainstreaming it approach gross.

I find the creative, renegade stuff exciting and cool.

I love what Kolohe Andino did with Reckless Isolation and Stagnant Ambition.

I love seeing all the community scenes emerge.

Chapter 11 is cool for their Ventura CA scene, the Summer Street stuff in Honolulu with Noa Mizuno and Moniz fam is sick.

I love seeing that stuff flair up.

I don’t see many legacy brands doing anything very exciting, which is disappointing…

But it’s those small pockets and communities I’m hoping to rally with through Inherent Bummer."

Photo Blake Myers

- Ok it’s not the end of the world,

but do you take action for the planet ?

"I think we all have to take our personal responsibility.

I hate seeing the big corporations weaponizing the trends of activism into marketing campaigns.

When the bottom line is they are the biggest contributors to our demise.

So I try not to take their bait.

The bottom line is we consume way too much and these massive companies we see on TV and Instagram act like they’re doing their part.

That is frustrating.

We need to stick to the community level and work together and support the small companies, groups and individuals who are doing things right to even stand a chance.

It’s nearly too late.

That’s probably the single most important thing we can do though.

Dan Malloy posted something recently about how he was going to Christmas shop: drink beers, go to his local Farmers Market and buy everyone a gift locally.

It was magic.

Such a legend.

And we can all just require and desire less.

Buy better and not take the bait we’re being sold and act personally and change will happen.

It’s not easy though."

- How were your French experiences ?

"I have had some of the greatest times and experiences of my life in France.

I drove across from Hossegor to Cassis once.

I have surfed every condition, spent many autumns there.

Which was always my life’s dream and it did not disappoint.

I have partied and drank and ran around the towns and the beaches under the moon dancing drunk like a silly surfer boy and I loved every bit of it.

I will sit on any street corner in France with you and watch the day fade into night.