Surfing
Surfing
This Magic Surf Wax Will Teleport You to the 1980s
Check out this completely fictional video tale featuring Kanoa Igarashi, Caroline Marks, Leo Fioravanti and Ross Clarke-Jones that pays homage to the quirkiest era in surfing history.
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2 min
Go Mad
Paying homage to 1987 classic surf film "Mad Wax" on its 30-year anniversary, Ross Clarke-Jones passes on the wax to the younger generation: Kanoa Igarashi, Leo Fioravanti and Caroline Marks.
Yep, just when you thought surfing was safe from Hollywood reboots comes Go Mad, a tongue-in-cheek all ’80s digital short that introduces magic teleporting wax to a whole new generation of surfers 30 years after "Mad Wax" hit VCR — and beta!
“I used to watch surf movies in theaters and watch wave after wave of perfect Pipeline,” said RCJ, the star of the original video. “And I remember thinking, this is good for the first few waves, but then it gets boring. The evolution that came from films like "Mad Wax" and Kong’s Island felt like it was more expressive of what surfing was all about … having fun!”
In the spirit of teleporting, let’s take a quick detour down memory lane.
Twas the summer of 1987, and a little sport called surfing was on the cusp of mainstream popularity. The surf apparel industry was just one more unusually tight pair of button up boardshorts away from exploding, and brands and surfers alike remained largely unknown to the mainstream. Enter "Mad Wax": a surf film that borrowed its title from a somewhat better known movie franchise, and was built around a triangle block of surf wax with teleportation powers. The gist? Surfers rub the wax on the board, imagine where they want to surf in the world, and with a 1980s-sound effect and some movie magic, are immediately zapped to the location of their dreams — or more realistically, wherever the budget would allow the crew to shoot. A perfect device for low budget surf films.
It starred some of the biggest names in surfing at the time, including two-time world champ Tom Carroll, and Gary “Kong” Elkerton. It also featured some of the worst acting ever witnessed by theater-goers. Some 30 years later, RCJ is renowned the word over as a big-wave madman, being the first non-hawaiian to win The Eddie, and runner-up to John John Florence in 2016 at 49 years of age.
His surfing has gone from strength to strength. His acting however, hasn’t. Making "Go Mad" all the more fun and representative of the wild Aussie’s mantra — take your surfing seriously, not yourself. It’s an outlook world tour rookie Marks was more than happy to embrace, despite her admirable chops in front of the lens.
Caroline Marks makes her acting debut
© World Wide Mind
“'Go Mad' is a really fun way of giving everyone a unique look at surfing and giving us the chance show off our acting skills too,” she said with a laugh. “There is nothing else like it out there and that’s what makes it special to be a part of!”
Igarashi and Fioravanti said they’d prefer their acting to do the talking for them …
Ross Clarke-Jones Go Mad With Wax
© World Wide Mind
Of course, no 1980s tribute would be complete without the tunes of the time. And "Go Mad" has the best courtesy of GANGgajang, the Australian band that scored the original to have the Mad Wax soundtrack voted one of the most definitive in surf vid history. Check out the track and a whole slew of surfing’s most definitive tunes here, in our Spotify playlist curated by Red Bull Music and Red Bull Surf. It features tunes everywhere from "Endless Summer" through "Momentum," "Good Times," "Lost Atlas," "View From a Blue Moon" and a bunch in between.
Go Mad was co-produced by World Wide Mind and directed by the director responsible for 2013 feature surf drama "Drift".
Listen on Spotify: Go Mad, The Songs That Defined Surfing
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