Vast Lives

Kevin Kinnear pulled up outside the shop in Oceanside in a car with a hail-shredded hood, on his way to collect a Stratocaster with a skull etched into the red paint. He had not planned to sit down for an interview. He sat down anyway, and what followed is a walking history of California surf, skate and snowboard culture told by a man who was in the room for most of it. Kinnear came up through Bre...

Across the road from his own shop, Chad Marshall is sitting in a stranger's living room. There are no walls. The fire came through Malibu a year and a half ago and took the house with it, along with most of the street, and from the slab where a family once watched television you can now see the pier — a view nobody has had since the 1930s. That is where this conversation happens. Chad is the...

At CHP, the surf shop his father opened in Chiba nearly fifty years ago, Shingo Nakamura talks through a life that was never really a choice—it just always was. His father, Kazumi Nakamura, quit his job in the early 1970s and shipped himself off to California to learn how to shape boards, apprenticing under Tak Kawahara, a second-generation Japanese shaper working in the same circles as Hobie Alte...

Ryo Shimizu meets us on a quiet football pitch in Chiba, fresh off an 8am flight from Bangkok, to talk about a life spent behind the lens. Ryo didn't set out to become a photographer. He picked up a camera in elementary school and never really put it down, carrying a disposable waterproof one into the surf as a teenager in Kyushu before eventually landing in Tokyo, then Chiba. Work came slowl...

Matt Archbold is California free-surfing royalty: one of the first riders to walk away from the tour on his own terms, a founding face of the MCD campaign, and — almost by accident — Patrick Swayze's surf double in Point Break. Vast Lives sat down with him at Archie's Garage, his San Clemente workshop, surrounded by half-finished cars and a 1959 Harley Panhead in pieces. Archbold grew up...

There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over a conversation once someone tells you, plainly, what it cost them to get where they are. Chad Hanning — known to most as Bushy — has that effect.  He talks about Mitchell's Plain, the Cape Town neighbourhood where he spent four years after his parents' divorce, without theatre or self-pity. One cousin was murdered.  Another cycled...

Some artists paint what they see. DJ paints what she hears. Recorded at Pridi, a quiet garden coffee shop tucked into Bangkok's Phra Nang Klao Nuea neighbourhood, this conversation follows DJai — a Bangkok-born multidisciplinary artist working across painting, textiles and sound — as she explains a visual language entirely of her own making, one where every sound she hears is translated into...

Some people design letters. CJ Dunn designs for a place. Recorded on the steps of a Kichijōji café in Tokyo — a neighbourhood he chose deliberately, for its quiet creative energy, and its community of artists — this conversation follows CJ Dunn, a typeface designer originally from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, now building a career that moves fluidly between Honolulu, California, New York and Tokyo. CJ was born...

There's a certain kind of person who doesn't fit neatly into the world around them — not because they're difficult, but because they see things differently. Teppei is one of those people. We met him on a cold riverbank in Tokyo, where he arrived exactly as you'd expect: on his fix gear, no fuss, no gear bag, just the bike. The same bike he rides every day. The same bike he uses...

Some people earn a place in the water. Takayuki Wakita earned a reef. Born and raised on the Shonan coastline in Kanagawa, Japan, Takayuki grew up treating the ocean as his backyard — swimming through reef tunnels as a kid, watching the windsurfing boom of the 80s from his father's shop window, and eventually making the kind of quiet, decade-long journey to Pipeline that results in something...

In this inspiring conversation, we sit down with Wishulada — social activist artist and creative force based in Nonthaburi, Thailand — whose extraordinary work transforms discarded waste materials into breathtaking sculptures and installations. From upcycled plastics to everyday throwaway items, Wishulada  weaves together Thailand's rich tradition of handcraft with a powerful message about su...

In this episode of the Vastlife Podcast, we sit down with Tapiwa — a man who is genuinely difficult to put in a box, and who would prefer it that way. Originally from Zimbabwe and rooted in Cape Town for over two decades, Tapiwa moves fluidly between food, visual art and sex education — not as separate careers, but as a single, unified mission: to make the lived experience of Afro-descendant peopl...

In this episode of the Vastlife Podcast, Steve sits down with UG in his coastal studio in Chigasaki, Japan — a quiet, considered space that reflects a life rebuilt with intention. Raised on the remote Goto Islands, UG once set his sights on professional football, before injury redirected him toward nursing and rehabilitation. What followed was less a pivot than a collapse — burnout, disillusionmen...

In this episode of the Vastlife Podcast, Steve sits down with Atsushi — a longboarder shaped by movement, curiosity, and a refusal to settle. Raised in the coastal town of Shiratsuka in Kanagawa, his early ambitions lay in football. But years spent commuting into Tokyo, working within the rhythms of retail and routine, led to a quieter realisation — that the path in front of him wasn’t one he inte...

Frank Solomon is a disruptor. Starting his journey out as a professional surfer Frank quickly found his resolve in doing what matters most to him. Community leader, humanitarian and sustainability spokesperson. His seat of motivation behind Sentinel Ocean  Alliance is recognising the need to get involved with the underprivileged community in his hometown of Hout Bay , South Africa. They say charit...

In this episode, Steve sits down with Samantha — the sole owner of Earth House, one of Bangkok's most enchanting plant-based restaurants. Hidden away behind a towering mango tree and lush vines, Earth House is more than a restaurant — it's a philosophy made manifest. Born in Texas to a Swiss father and Mexican-Native American mother, Samantha grew up barefoot on the beaches of Pattaya, T...

Sho is a one of a kind human being. His goal is to remain as low key as possible. Our conversation was in downtown Yokohama, Japan.  Sho's studio is hidden in the shadows, blink and you will miss it. This is just how Sho likes to conduct his life - low key and true to himself. The studio holds a special place in his heart, as a child his parents would bring him there to eat Sushi - little did...

Barton and Steve sit down for a candid conversation on the state of surfing. Filmed in 2024 at Barton’s home on Sunset Beach, the discussion reads today almost like a forecast — a reflection on an industry in transition. Barton calls things as he sees them. Direct and unvarnished, he praises the foundations that once defined the surf industry while acknowledging, with equal candour, its gradual de...

Yudai is one of those individuals where you feel an immediate presence. An aura of warmth and kindness. In this episode Steve and Yudai meet up at his popular little coffee shop in Chigasaki Japan. A small yet cosy space that is an extension of Yudai's low key, beautifully curated humble approach to life. They discuss his childhood struggle of finding his path through failure & experiment...

Bernie Shelly is no stranger to the South african surfing community. Bernie has been surfing for half a century. 5O years of wave riding, while navigating family life, motherhood whilst majoring in psychology at Cape Town university.  Bernie and steve discuss what it was like in those early days, when surfing was relatively new in South Africa.  Bernie goes on to relate stories of old and her clos...

Steve and Reita discuss his early years doing his best to help his ageing father whilst realising that only later in life he would get to follow his true passion. Not only did he pursue what he loved most by travelling the globe learning the various techniques and culture behind Indigo dyeing  - he also decided to forge his own path despite skepticism from the community. To reshape an ancient craf...

On a sunny afternoon in downtown Hanoi ,Vietnam over 8 million people go about their daily routine. Many of which do not think about the long term impact that trash , pollution and miss managed waste might have on their lives and those of future generations. Tho' the dynamic owner of Hidden Ge, a restaurant made from up cycled trash is motivated to make a change.  His visionary outlook underp...

Stanley Toledo aka Crunky and Steve create a podcast space in central Osaka. Shot on location outside a busy ABC mart where an ironic twist of Crunkys past as a counterculture street clothing and footwear dealer weave's together his story about his love for street fashion, skateboarding and being a foreigner adapting to life Japan. Joins us as we explore Crunkys past and his reborn love for F...

Nestled high in the North West region of Vietnam is a small village called Ta’Van. Here you will find three different ethnic groups of Vietnamese people living in harmony.  In this episode Steve shares a heartwarming connection with Giang, although not local to the region Giang is a big part of this close knit community. His coffee shop/bar is on the village main road ( although it’s so small it f...

In this episode, Steve is in Osaka with Shinji Mizuno aka Shinji Dog. Shinji meets Steve at a local coffee shop that has been run my the same lady for over 50 years. After a traditional breakfast of toast ,butter and a strong cup of local coffee Steve and Shinji find somewhere to talk about his journey. Shinji is very open and candid about his narrative - he started working from a young age, choos...