Before Jack Johnson hit the big time with his music, he was just another great surfer from the North Shore. He surfed better than most, even finding himself in the finals of the Pipe Masters at the tender age of 17. Shortly after, though, he quit competitive surfing and put his nose in the books at UC Santa Barbara.
Although he’d been messing around with a guitar for a few years, it was in college that he truly began writing music. There, he penned Thicker Than Water, which in a round-about way led to a tour with Ben Harper. It wasn’t long before music labels were courting him with record deals, and in 2001, he released Brushfire Fairytales. It went platinum, as did his next work, On and On.
But way before that musical fame, Jack was just hanging around with a bunch of friends who were destined to become some of the most influential surfers on earth. Here, in a funny little look back in time, is a bonus interview with Johnson from Taylor Steele’s Loose Change.
