Ozzie Wright is the inspiration for a whole generation of alternative surfers, from the way he approaches waves and the boards he rides, to his taste in music and art. The kids of today would not look the same if it weren’t for his influence. DGZ’s Ryan Glover caught up with Ozzie to see what he’s been up to lately.
Ozzie hangin in Raglan with Ellis Ericson | Photo: Ryan Heywood
Ryan – Do you mind giving us an update on your life right now?
Ozzie – The only change for me has been having kids, my boy is six and I have a baby girl four months old. Being a dad rules, in the morning I sing an hour of punk versions of Mary Had a Little Lamb and Polly Put the Kettle on for Goldie while Rocky dances around with his mouth wide open. Then I may go surfing and just have a hell time because surfing is the funnest thing on earth. I mean, I get in phases at the moment, The Goons of Doom are in a really fun place, all of our gigs have been going off for quite a while. Being able to get together with your oldest best buddies and have the kind of fun we have is pretty special. I also draw a lot, pretty much every day. I have always had a solid fun ethic – I catch a lot of waves, do a lot of drawings & write a lot of songs. I put in hours and produce a lot of crap, hopefully a few golden moments here and there.
Too fast for Satan | Photo: Azad Sellars
R – Where do you spend most of your time?
O – I spend most of it at home in Bungan Beach on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, it’s a really fun beach with beautiful high cliffs all around and two big headlands. I also travel plenty which is great, I love seeing the world. I Just went to Japan the other day and Mexico and Byron Bay all in the last couple of months. We (Goons Of Doom) jam now coz Killer Whale from The Goons moved across the road from me and set up a garage called the garage of dreams, so fun!
R – Are you painting? Making music? A little detail on what you’re working on?
O – Goons have a gig in Bondi tonight and tomorrow then I’m hitting the south coast with Dion Agius and Noah Deane. I have been drawing heaps with ink and brush, lot’s of grim reapers lately. I have been riding a little 5’2 quad a lot lately, it’s a model that Droid (Andrew Doheny) shaped and Vampirate Surfboards produced called the Inflatable Mattress. It’s super fast and like a skateboard. I also have a few twin fins which I’m pretty keen on. I got a nice finless rabbit foot thing which is fun but I wanna get into finless a bit more, but then I also just wanna do airs and shred as hard as I can a lot too. I have like 30 boards under my house and I ride them all, some are twenty years old and I still ride them.
Photos | Azad Sellars
R – Any surfers in particular you are digging at the moment?
O – So many it’s ridiculous, the whole world shreds. I watched a bit of Dane Reynolds on the net yesterday – so bloody good, amazing. Then shit, I could say one hundred names coz I am into it and there is a lot of great and different surfing going down, from Derek Hynd to Alex Knost to Mason Ho to Noah Deane, Dion Agius, John John, Matt Meola, Rasta, the Fletcher brothers, the Fitzgerald brothers, the Irons brothers, Droid, Ford Archbold, Ellis, I saw some stuff of Shane Beschen’s kid the other day and he is incredible, Creed, Ando, Machado, there are so many shred dogs it is awesome!!!! And also just the attitude of surfers, I think there has been a nice shift in attitude, the whole mindset of this new generation has been really refreshing.
R – You were a big part of the Waves magazine films, Seven Days Seven Slaves, Bicycle, and Doped Youth. These epic cover-mount films were groundbreaking in print media. You have been around long enough to see the heyday and the demise. What is your perspective on Waves magazine now ceasing to print?
O – The last issues of Waves by Danny Johnston were great, then he got poached by Surfing World, which is cool. Waves has birthed the careers of a lot of great writers over the years so I guess it’s a shame, but for every mag that dies a few new ones seem to be born. The video mounts were epic but you don’t need them now with internet coz the net is just saturated, it seems hard to find the gold now with the bombardment of web clips, so I like it when you see something special. Jack Coleman’s new movie Groove Move is great!!! I like a good print mag but if your gonna kill a tree for it, it better be pretty bloody good. I dunno what the internet does to the environment but all that info going around in the air must be doing something, hopefully it’s not too toxic. I like change but it sux when your hair starts to change colour from brown to grey.
R – Yourself and a bunch of other creatives have been involved with a soon to be released short film Someplace Else directed by Riley Blakeway. Can you tell us a little about that?
The crew was awesome, a bunch of total legends, there were artists, skaters, musicians and surfers, we all got on like house on fire and the fire didn’t go out for the whole ten days!
Ozzie with co-stars Rose Ashton, Andrew Brophy, Hanni El Khatib and below with Dylan Graves during filming for Someplace Else | Images courtesy of Corona Extra
