Long before surf brands became corporate assets and beach culture was packaged for fast fashion, surfing, as Makua remembers it, was “punk rock as they come.”
“Surfers were never blamed for being misfits or doing their own thing and going against the narrative,” he says. That outlaw spirit — the one that once tied boards to battered vans and punk riffs to saltwater sunsets — shaped him as much as any wave ever did. It’s also the current running beneath his new single, “Catch a Wave,” a collaboration with AWOLNATION that honors fallen surf legends while quietly calling for a cultural reset.
Makua grew up in a world where music and surfing weren’t separate lanes — they were the same highway. “Music really, really drove that,” he says, recalling the era of surf films soundtracked by bands who had something to prove. “There was really a cross-pollination of music and surfing and they really did go hand in hand.” The scene was raw, grassroots, and deeply communal — less about image, more about identity.
“Da Hui was the perfect example of punk rock as it gets,” says Makua. “Its was family beyond profit and we just didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought. We did it our way period. We had to protect what we had control of and that was the water. The land was fucked by the politicians they took everything else, but the water was ours! And we made sure the Hawaiians had a chance.”
At its core, surfing was a tribe. “Even companies like Volcom — Youth Against Establishment — I mean, when you put on a shirt or you’re a part of a brand at one time you felt like you were part of that ohana,” he explains. That feeling of belonging — of rebellion wrapped in unity — defined a generation of surfers who proudly leaned into the misfit label.
But somewhere along the way, Makua believes the culture drifted. “I think surfing really lost that,” he says. “They’re going for corporate dollars. They’re going for fast fashion. It really lost the essence of what it meant to be a part of something and create and be a part of culture.” For him, the issue isn’t growth — it’s dilution. “The actual ohana, the actual cultural part of everybody being a part of something cool has been watered down because of corporate profit and interest.”
That’s where “Catch a Wave” fits in. The song, originally written after the drowning of a fellow surfer, became something bigger when Makua joined forces with Aaron Bruno. Together, they turned it into a tribute — not just to loss, but to lineage. The music video honors surf pioneers who helped shape the culture before it was commodified.
“A lot of the people in the video had a hand in creating the culture of surfing as it exists today,” Makua says. “It felt like an honor to honor them with the song and give it more meaning.”
For him, this isn’t nostalgia — it’s restoration. He wants to reconnect the surf industry with its soul, to rebuild the bridge between distortion pedals and reef breaks. “I want to build culture,” he says plainly. “When we put something out, it’s going to be real — not just for likes.”
In Makua’s world, surfing isn’t a brand category. It’s a belief system. It’s misfits chasing something sacred in the swell, guided by feedback-heavy guitars and the understanding that community matters more than commerce.
And if “Catch a Wave” succeeds, it won’t just remind listeners of those lost at sea — it’ll remind surfing who it used to be.
