20 Musicians Who Surf

frankenreiter guitarI love music and I love surfing – seems like a pretty obvious thing to put together a list of musicians who surf then, doesn’t it? What I found interesting is the variation in the types of music that these surfers play. A Jack Johnson or a Donavon Frankenreiter is a pretty obvious selection, but a Chris Martin or a Kirk Hammett maybe not so much!

jimmybuffett_surfing

Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett
So Jimmy, what’s the secret to staying young?For me it’s being in the water every day, whether it’s surfing or swimming. I look at these guys in Hawaii and they’re 80 years old in the surf break and look great. And that’s all they do. I want to be in that club when I’m that old.”

Chris Martin
The lead singer of the Coldplay is another regular surfer. Back in 2010 he injured his ankle quite badly surfing off Long Island while spending time in the Hamptons recording an album.

Anthony Kiedis Flea Michael Balzary Surfing St Barts Island December 29th 2011 Red Hot Chili Peppers RHCP

Anthony Kiedis and Flea

Anthony Kiedis and Flea
As long time residents of California it makes some sense that the two Red Hot Chili Peppers spend a fair bit of time in the water. They are regulars at celebrity fundraising surf events.

Eddie Vedder
Despite being born in Evanston near Lake Michigan, Vedder has become a pretty passionate surfer. His song “Oceans” was inspired by his love for surfing.

Donavon Frankenreiter
At 15 Donavon Frankenreiter (pictured at top) was already bringing home a paycheck as a professional surfer. A sponsorship by Billabong led to Donavon’s ultimate dream, the ability to be a free surfer – paid to ride the waves but not required to surf in competitions, until his music career took off.

jack_johnson_surfing

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson
At 17, Johnson was youngest invitee to make the finals at the Pipeline Masters, but one week later his career ended when he wiped out at Pipe and had more than 150 stitches in his forehead and removed a few of his teeth (which inspired the song “Drink the Water”). Some time off playing guitar and the rest is history!

Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo
The men from Metallica are frequent surfers who regularly make the most of their touring schedule to catch some waves all over the world. Trujillo has even partnered with Billabong to market a new line of boardshorts.

Perry Farrell

Perry Farrell

Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction)
Farrell moved to California in the early 1980s to live as a surfer, and lived in his car and made money working construction and waiting tables.

Murphy Karges (bass player Sugar Ray)
Karges got into surfing growing up in Orange County in California.

Peter distefano home_surfing

Peter DiStefano

Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) DiStefano is a regular at Celebrity Surf Jam and no doubt gets a few waves with ex-bandmate Perry Farrell.

Dean Butterworth (Morrissey) This drummer had the ultimate answer to the question of what he does with his down time: “Practice drums; write songs, do session work and surf.”

Alex Knost

Alex Knost

Alex Knost (Japanese Motors)
Knost is probably more of a surfer than anyone on this list as he’s well known as one of the best longboarders in the world.

Brad Gerlach (Musket)
Another former pro surfer – ranked number one in the world in 1986 and still one of the best big wave guys going around. And make sure you check out Musket – they’re awesome!!

jason mraz

Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz
Mraz only started suring at 28, but has travelled to Costa Rica, France, Australia, Morocco, Bali and New Zealand all in the name of wave-riding.

Avril Lavenge
Not too sure how good Lavenge actually is but she does seem to appear on a surfboard regularly in paparazzi shots… We’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

Mike Einziger

Mike Einziger

Brandon Boyd, Ben Kenney, Mike Einziger (Incubus)
Now this is a band that works and plays together – all three are avid surfers and have even scored surf movies.

Got any more? Post ‘em in the comments!

6 Comments on “20 Musicians Who Surf

  1. Pingback: Surfing musicians include members of Metallica and the Chili Peppers

  2. Pingback: Shuffle Aces: Barefoot Truth – The Ocean - The Cavan Project

  3. Pingback: Research Indicates Surfing Is Statistically Proven to Bolster Creativity | The Inertia

  4. Pingback: 25 Musicians Who Are Golfers – And That May Surprise You - The Cavan Project

  5. Didn’t Neil Finn of Crowded House rescue Eddie Vedder whilst Vedder was surfing in New Zealand?

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