EP 124 King of the Hill Part 5: Bonded by punk rock with Rick DeVoe

Crude Conversations

In this one, Cody talks to Rick DeVoe. From 1994 to 2018, he promoted and managed bands like Pennywise, Unwritten Law, The Offspring and Blink 182. The bands weren’t the ubiquitous names they are today, they were local bands. Punk rockers from California, still trying to make a name for themselves. Until Rick had an idea: What if he got their music into surf videos? They could play at video premieres, events and competitions. The first time this idea was put into effect was in 1994, with director Taylor Steele’s “Good Times.” Taylor’s videos featured guys like Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian and Rob Machado, and the sound of punk went right along with their styles of surfing. Eventually, with the help of guys like Rob Morrow — the founder of Morrow Snowboards — Rick found that that punk sound fit nicely into snowboard culture as well. He found that, at the time, there was a common language of anti-establishment and punk rock mentality that ran through surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.

In the early 90s, Rick brought punk bands to the King of the Hill competition in Thompson Pass twice. The first time, it was Pennywise and The Offspring. The second time, it was Pennywise again, but this time with Blink 182. He admits they were all out of their element in the mountains, but when they took the stage they were right back in their element, rocking a crowd. Before all of that, though, they were on a plane — Rick, the bands and their entourages. There were about 20 to 25 of them and they had flown from LAX to Anchorage, then they hopped on a smaller plane that took them to Valdez. This moment, in that small plane, is one that Rick will remember for the rest of his life. How some of the most influential punk rockers of this generation were buzzing along, headed to some of the most iconic mountains in the world.

Thank you to Loft 100 Studios in Carlsbad, California for letting Rick use their studio to record.