All across our industry are surfers riding for brands that make no sense. Product of highest bidder goes the surfer. A cash grab where the surfers are blinded by money and the brands blinded by, well, money. That fucking ROI! Deals are inked and awkwardness ensues. But people forgot a few years ago that this isn’t fucking football; when you sign a surfer, he needs to epitomize your brand BEFORE you sign him, not after. You can’t make him become the person you want him to be to fit your brand no matter how much you pay him. It won’t look good. There are examples all across our industry. No names needed, but when restrictions are put on the way someone acts or is portrayed, that’s a bad signing. Marketing is disrupted and the whole machine is clogged and people have panic attacks or vanish. But today, we get something that makes perfect sense, finally. Noa Deane is singing with Volcom.

Noa is a wildcard. A free spirit animal sent to remind us of an aspect of surfing that has been nearly extinguished: Harmony between surfer and brand. And by harmony I mean being fucking sick together.

Volcom has long represented that in our world, born in a garage amid the industry boom. A great logo turned to an imagination machine for weirdos who could surf. They made the most noise and have long had the most fuck it. And now they have Noa, the voice for “fuck it let’s go surf” we all need. Volcom is a brand who have supported some of the most interesting characters to ever grace a board: Ozzie Wright, Gavin Beschen, Shawn “Barney” Barron, Droid, Mitch and scores of other wildcards who make this shit fun and interesting.

It’s only fitting as well that on a day when the CEO of the WSL (how lame does that sentence sound) has resigned and there feels like there is no vibe existing in surfing, we get this. Volcom signing the dude who was shunned for telling the WSL to publicly fuck off. Bless.

Stoked for Noa, stoked for Volcom. Now get it. —Travis