Erin Ashley

Erin Ash­ley is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer/musician/artist whose pop­u­lar surf blog, Worm’s Town, is part jour­nal and part soap­box. Her pas­sion to help those in need is equaled only by her uncanny abil­ity to ride the nose. We caught up with Erin to talk story.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I grew up in Long Beach like a child of the 80’s, where my brother, sis­ter and I—two other sis­ters came later—could ride our bikes any­where as long as we were home before the street­lights came on. In the sum­mer, we went to 49er Camp (at Cal State Long Beach) and the Bay, where we would try and trap octo­pus in two liter bottles.

When did you get your first surf­board?
Around the year 2000.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
That it was awe­some and I was so dread­ful at it that I had to get better.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young girl?
In mid­dle school, my sis­ter and I started going to punk and ska shows around Orange County. I didn’t surf at all back then, so I looked up to peo­ple in bands (such as Sub­ur­ban Rhythm, Das Klown, Link 80, Slow Gherkin, Pocket Lent and The Aqua­bats. It was all about hav­ing fun, get­ting your voice heard. It felt like a fam­ily of peo­ple who got what it was about.

Efran San­tana from Hep­cat. When I first heard Out of Nowhere and the sax solos, it blew my mind. I never knew that ska could be so smooth, beau­ti­ful and rad­i­cal. I’m sure it made every­one in my house so  mad. I would just play that album repeat­edly (at eleven) until I learned every horn line and solo.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Home. Of all the amaz­ing places I have been, com­ing home is always my favorite. Noth­ing beats it.

Who/what inspires you?
Prob­a­bly every­thing I sur­round myself with—from friends, fam­ily, lit­er­a­ture, music, movies … all of it. I’m a hoarder when it comes to ideas, quotes and pho­tos. That said, I try to model my surf­ing after Steve Pre­fontaine. The surfers who’ve inspired me the most are Matt Cud­dihy and Levi Prarie.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Try to be a lit­tle kinder. Stand as close to the edge as you can with­out going over—it’s a bet­ter view. “We are what we pre­tend to be, so we must be care­ful what we pre­tend to be.” (Kurt Vonnegut)

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
Sure there are things that I wish I could go back and change, but as they say, “So it goes.…”

What are you most proud of?
That I’m happy. I’m not the most suc­cess­ful or wealthy, but I like where I am right now.

Talk a lit­tle about your vis­its to New Orleans after Kat­rina.
New Orleans is one of the great­est places on earth. If it had a real beach and waves, I would move there. I felt at home when I was there, and think that was due to the peo­ple. I spent all my time gut­ting houses in St. Bernard Parish—areas right out­side New Orleans and next to the Lower Ninth Ward.  Dur­ing our breaks, peo­ple would bring us drinks or bar­be­cue for us. Peo­ple who lost every­thing still went out of their way to show appreciation.

I was lucky enough to spend Christ­mas Eve there. We had col­lected heaps of toys, and another guy and I got to spend the day dri­ving to FEMA trail­ers of peo­ple— deliv­er­ing gifts for par­ents so their kids would have some­thing to wake up to the next day. I hon­estly don’t think I’ve ever been thanked so much in my life or cried so much. It really showed me what the human spirit is all about—not giv­ing up, peo­ple help­ing peo­ple and all that.

Tell us about GOGO13.
GOGO13 is the band I’m in. I’ve been with them for maybe ten years or so. Our genre could pos­si­bly be described as two-tone ska with mod and some other rub­bish thrown in. It’s mostly what­ever we like. The band con­sists of some of the most cre­ative peo­ple I have ever met in my life and couldn’t be luck­ier to not only know but play with the guys.

I play mostly sax­o­phone and I think there are a cou­ple of songs we want trom­bone on, so I’m going to be play­ing that a bit more in the near future.  In the past, we’ve played shows when friends or bands that we enjoy ask us to play. This sum­mer, we’re going to put out an actual album and play a few of the West Coast dates of the (Vans) Warped Tour along with some other shows.

What is it about cre­at­ing sten­cils (which you, in turn, use to cre­ate art) that you find so appeal­ing?
That it’s not to cre­ate some­thing for one to see, but for one to see some­thing that already exists. It’s not about me, but what I’m show­ing. Take the human ele­ment out of things.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Friendship.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
All of it. I love it all … even the part I hate.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Pho­tog­ra­phers are what shape surf­ing. They are how we see surfing—outside of actu­ally expe­ri­enc­ing it. Hon­estly, I think that Kyle Light­ner is help­ing to shape the path of long­board­ing. He may end up being a Craig Stecyk-type who is able to doc­u­ment the whole life and get shots because it is what he is. Also, log­gers that are push­ing the lim­its (like the Stop­niks, JJ Wes­sels, Cody Simp­kins, Jared Mell and so many others).

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
Right now, my favorite board is a 9’6 Dano Los Creeper. It’s a dou­ble stepdeck and works insane. Dano really knows what he’s doing.

Blackies—it’s a crummy beach break, so I have to learn every­thing faster. There’s always some­one there I like to surf with. And even if the waves aren’t great, there is always Sea­side Donuts.

What’s your favorite meal?
Any­thing Ital­ian … with Dr. Pepper.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
I lost the best iPod ever some­where in Roma­nia, and lost inter­est in them shortly after. In my car is Les Sexa­reenos, Alka­line Trio, Mon­ster,  Jay Z  (The Blue­print 3), The Black Keys, The Cramps and I love see­ing Thee Cor­mans live.

What causes/organizations do you sup­port?
I’m a coun­selor at Poly North, which is a human rela­tions camp where we take 10th graders from Long Beach Poly­tech­nic High School and spend the week­end up in the moun­tains. We talk about things like val­ues, vio­lence, stereo­types and many other top­ics that aren’t really dis­cussed in school, but are very impor­tant. Due to bud­get cuts, fund­ing is gone for the pro­gram (that has been around since 1973). So, if any­one wants to donate to a great pro­gram, it’s tax deductible. Mail­ing Info: Poly­tech­nic High School 1600 Atlantic Ave Long Beach, Ca. 90813 Attn: Rob Shock/ Poly North Director

What are you most grate­ful for?
All of it—all the peo­ple who put up with my unclever quips, Hur­ley, Cap­tain Fin and Dano Surf­boards for find­ing a spot where I fit in. Being lucky enough to find some­thing that makes me incred­i­bly happy. Liv­ing in a part of the world where I can do what I want. Oden for the shots!!!!

What’s next for Worm?
This sum­mer, I’m going to New York to hook up with Rob Kulisek and Justin Jay to surf and sum­mer it up. Hope­fully, I’ll get to go to some other rad places as well.

Find out more about Erin Ash­ley and Worm’s town at her blog here. Pho­tog­ra­phy by Justin Jay ( 1, 3), Cam Oden (2, 4,) and JD Massey (5). All images are copy­righted and my not be used with­out per­mis­sion.