Music for watching waves

By SCOTT KARA


Being paid to travel the world and ride waves is what 31-year-old Donavon Frankenreiter has been doing since he was 15. Then, three years ago, he married, did less surfing, and started singing and playing guitar more.

"I never really knew that I could do what I'm doing now," he says. "I still surf professionally, and still surf for Billabong and they still pay me. It's like the best of both worlds because I have two wonderful jobs that I just love."

It's something his family, from Downey, California, still struggle to understand - how does their son make a living?

"It was an odd thing for them because nobody surfed or played music in my family, so they thought I was some kind of alien. They were like, 'How do you surf and make a living?' Even to this day they're like, 'How the [expletive] do you get paid?' And now that I'm playing music," he laughs, "they're like, 'What the [expletive] is going on here?"'

Frankenreiter released his self-titled debut album this year and plays Auckland's Transmission Room tonight. He hasn't been home to Laguna Beach, California, since April and is looking forward to a break after gigs in New Zealand and Brazil.

His wife, Petra, and 2-year-old son, Hendrix, have been on tour with him, but they headed home before he travelled Downunder after the Billabong Pro in Spain.

It's his second visit to New Zealand after supporting singer/songwriter and former pro-surfer Jack Johnson last year. Johnson, a close friend, also produced Frankenreiter's album and released it on his Brushfire record label.

It's not so much surf music, more like music to watch the waves by. It's a pretty lazy, laidback, summery affair.

"It's the sort of music people gravitate to when they're looking to relax, or kick back and have good times with friends. People I meet who enjoy the music seem to be people like me who just want to enjoy life, and who have a smile on their face."

The need to surf was what brought Johnson and Frankenreiter together when he was 16. On a surfing trip to Hawaii, which became an annual pilgrimage, the group of surfers Frankenreiter was with rented a house from Johnson's mum.

"Every year we went there for two months in November and December. Sometimes it was November, December, January. Obviously all of us knew about Jack and his brothers and his family because they had such a deep-rooted history in surfing.

"The house he grew up in is right in front of the best wave in Hawaii, Pipeline. It's the Mecca. That's when I met Jack, we hung out for those two months and surfed and played music together and ever since then we've been friends."

But it would be a long time until Frankenreiter would make his own music. "If I'd have tried to sing and express myself in the way I'm doing now when I was 19 or 20 then I don't think it would've been right.

"I think I needed to grow and learn and experience playing in a band [Peanut Butter and Jam] for 10 years.

"I grew up playing the guitar, but I never sang, I never wrote lyrics, I never wrote songs.

"Three years ago a lot of stuff happened to me - I met my wife and got married, then a year later was the birth of our son. It was a time in my life that I started a big transition musically, too.

"I wanted a challenge in music. I didn't know if I could sing, and I didn't know if anybody would enjoy it. But I wanted to do it because it just felt right, and that's what life is all about, doing what feels right."

It's not surprising his album sounds similar to Johnson's albums, Brushfire Fairytales, and last year's On And On. After all it was produced by Johnson, recorded in his studio, and they used the same amps and guitars.

But you get the feeling Frankenreiter thinks it sounds a little too similar to his friend. Next time, he wants to rock it up a bit and get away from the strictly acoustic songs of his last album.

"I want to use all my own stuff, and have electric guitars, and change it up a bit, and I want it to be a band effort. I'm just looking forward to writing an album that's more upbeat than the one that's out now."

Performance

* Who: Donavon Frankenreiter

* Where and when: The Transmission Room, Mayoral Dr, Auckland, tonight