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Reflection Session + Book Announcement!

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It was the tail end of the first winter swell in Southern California. I had caught a little of the first full day, but most breaks weren't really able to handle the size, resulting in huge dumpy waves. As the swell waned, I was hoping to catch a little of the smaller stuff, but still big enough to be fun and challenging. After a couple of failed spot checks, my good friend Russell and I landed at Dockweiler with a little desperation in our decision. You see, Dockweiler isn't what it used to be, so it's a spot I don't find myself at very often. I have memories of massive waves peeling off the main jetty at the north end of the parking lot. If it wasn't working there, we would try heading farther north about half a mile to another broken down jetty, where lefts and rights would break and even barrel at times. Couple that with ample free parking on the main road, as well as firepits right on the beach, and Dockweiler had become my favorite place to surf in Los Angeles.

Happy Christmas - Here's New Music!

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Hey everyone, I wanted to share some new songs that all came out last weekend, just in time for the Christmas season! First up is "Seeds," the newest Yonder Breaks single. This one started as a request from Betsi Freeman Booking to donate a song to Seed Capital Network , an organization that provides loans to small businesses in developing countries. Instead of just offering one of my old songs for the compilation album, I thought I'd write something new! It's a simple tune, but so is giving, if you let it be. I like the way it turned out and asked if I could release it before the compilation is ready, which Betsi happily complied.  It's got a nice and easy beachy beat, with layered guitars and a simple melody. I like the dynamics of this one and the way the harmonies landed, as well as the climax after the bridge into the instrumental at the end. I hope you enjoy it, and also encourage you to look into Seed Capital Network for yourself! Amazon Music Apple Music

Meant to be Shared

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I've always had this problem when I'm on the cusp of landing new trick, that I keep imagining what it will be like to tell my friends that I landed it. It goes way back to high school, skating my little fun box in the driveway or just trying some flatland trick. It was as if half of the excitement of learning something new was found in telling someone else that you did it, going to school with a, "Guess what I landed last night, guys!" But even back then it felt kind of selfish or like I was acting like a show-off. Was I just bragging, or did I really just want to share something I was excited about? I usually decided on the first one and fought those feelings, as if they weren't a noble enough reason to land a skate trick. Here is a clip from our earliest edited skate video, with homemade ramps in my driveway. Nowadays, this feeling is more about what my Instagram post going to look like, which I'm a little ashamed to admit. Sometimes I'll st

When God Interrupts

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I try to start each day with some time with God. Usually, this is reading the bible or a devotional-type book, but sometimes it's writing down prayers for my kids or going on a prayer walk. It was something I was really disciplined about in my youth, but got away from about a decade ago. However, in recent years, I've been trying to reclaim that discipline and make it a habit, and it's been really good to do so. But then there are days when I just want to rest, and so I don't do anything. Today was my day off and so I sat down for breakfast after the kids had gone to school and decided to watch TV. I just wanted to relax and turn my brain off, which isn't a bad thing. Well, whether or not my brain was off, the TV turned on but the Firestick inexplicably wouldn't, so after a little hesitation, I decided this was my signal to do my devotional time instead of watch (God interrupts us in ways like this sometimes). Like I said, my time with God isn't always the s

Live Music - The Good and the Bad

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Playing live was always something of a struggle for me, a sort of back-and-forth between hard work and payoff. After I did my first solo show in December of 2018 at the Republic of Pie (my favorite LA venue to-date, mostly because they pay in pie), I set out to play one show a month for the following year. It was a New Year's Resolution that I actually kept, (as you can see on the  Live  page) and which I talk about in the video from my most recent show below (along with the only other resolution that I kept). My friend Josh Moreno sketched this during a show at the Republic. But at the end of 2019, I felt like I had done a ton of practicing, endless marketing, editing photos and videos, staying up late playing shows my wife or kids couldn't go to...and at the end of it I felt like I had very little to show for it. And so I decided to spend the next year writing and recording more. Well, we all know what happened in 2020, so it wasn't like I had a choice in the matter, b