Duppy Art with Liam "Duppy" Tracy

[00:00:00] Liam: The Swell Season

[00:00:08] Tyler: Podcast is recorded by the Newsstand studio at Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan and is distributed by the Swell Season Surf Radio

[00:00:20] Liam: Network.

[00:00:48] Yes, friend, me friend them sent me three.

[00:00:55] Tyler: Hello and welcome to the Swell Season Surf podcast. [00:01:00] I'm your host, Tyler Brewer. Liam Tracy is a creative force. He has worked as a creative director with massive companies such as Peloton, rock Nation, Burton, Fary Brothers, Collie Media, Mr. Purple Cava, and More.

[00:01:17] Under his alias, Duffy, Liam creates beautiful poppy paintings that carry influences from skate and street art. His work reminds me of beautiful blend of Barry McGee, ed Temple Templeton, and Peter Webb. Liam has embarked in 2023, starting his own creative agency. Dupy Design, looking to expand his network and sharing in art direction.

[00:01:43] He's recently returned from Portugal, no doubt. Inspired, and he is our guest on this episode of the Swell Season Surf podcast. Liam, welcome to the show. That

[00:01:55] Liam: was great. Yeah, that, that was a great intro. That I loved it. I loved it. You nailed it. [00:02:00] I didn't expect it to be that good. Well, all I did was cut and paste from here out, you know?

[00:02:05] Sure, sure, sure. So the

[00:02:07] Tyler: first question I wanna ask is, how was Portugal?

[00:02:11] Liam: I loved it. I absolutely love, have you been before? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Most surfers I feel like have, and now that's more on the radar with tourism. It's, oh my God.

[00:02:19] Tyler: Well, also the work from home, like if you work from home Yeah. They have a special

[00:02:24] Liam: visa for you.

[00:02:24] Exactly. Which is wild. I I saw now with Instagram algorithms, it's crazy. And yeah, for some reason it came up and it was like they're losing a percentage. I think it's down like 20%. Wow. People going there Whoa. For the visa because the real estate is becoming more expensive. The gentrification. Yeah. So now the, the government actually upped all their real estate Wow.

[00:02:48] Pricing and they're building a lot. So people are kind of getting turned off by it because they're like, I didn't come here for this. I moved out of New York to not pay 3,500, 4,000, [00:03:00]whatever it is a month. And they're going back and leaving their leaving there. It's, it's

[00:03:05] Tyler: interesting 'cause they did that with like, there's also Madera, which was the island.

[00:03:09] I read a really interesting article about how there's like this, this, uh, group of people who tried to make it like a whole work from work remotely, kind of utopia and everything. You know,

[00:03:20] Liam: I was gonna go there really? But I didn't do that route because I heard a couple things I heard. It's very touristy.

[00:03:25] Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I don't think the surf. It's not a big surf spot. I think it's more, it's big. It's big. It's a big surf spot, but it's, I think it's more kite boarding. Yeah. There's a lot of that. And I just, the tourism bums me out. Like if I'm going to a super touristy spot. Yeah. It just kind of like, I don't want to go somewhere to be in a Disney World or Times Square.

[00:03:44] Mm-hmm. Like I'm trying to avoid that. Mm-hmm. And we did Lagos for a couple days. Love loggers. Amazing. But you had to figure out where to go to not be in the touristy. Yeah. Overwhelming. So there's like, I hate to use this term, but it's like Euro trashy kind of Yes. Kind of [00:04:00] seas. Yeah. And it was a lot of Britts in certain areas.

[00:04:03] And then Germans in certain, I believe they call 'em punters. Oh yeah. What does that mean? It's

[00:04:07] Tyler: like, like, yeah. Kind of white trashy kind of tourists, which, uh, I used to live in the French Alps and we, we would be like, oh, look at these

[00:04:16] Liam: tta. I had no idea that was a term. I love it. 'cause that's exactly what it was.

[00:04:20] It was like a hard rock cafe. Yeah. And then like burrito spots. Oh gosh. Where you're like, why am I, why am I in Portugal to eat burritos? Yeah. Like, that's not, that doesn't look right. Yeah. And like lights. And so, but then you could kind of figure out where to go in Lagos. And then we also did, uh, Vade Mae.

[00:04:39] Mm-hmm. Like on the way, which is on the coast, which was in the middle of nowhere. Great. Um, and then also did Ada. I, ADA is nice, which was great, but there was no waves. Dude. I know. I got skunked. I totally got skunked. There was a swell before I got there. And a swell after. In between, there was nothing like, not [00:05:00] even rideable, like, not even like soft top foamy kneehigh chop bullshit.

[00:05:05] That seems rare too. Very rare. And the whole time I'm tracking, I'm like, this is gonna be six. Should I bring, you know how you play that whole dynamic? Yeah. Do I bring my board? Do I not bring my board? Do I rank? 'cause then I have to lug it around and it could get damaged. Were you with

[00:05:18] Tyler: your, your partner?

[00:05:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was

[00:05:20] Liam: with my, your girl and, yeah. So, so that's always tricky, right? Tricky. Always. Yes. You know, she's cool with it. 'cause she'll chill on the beach. Yeah. She's Brazilian, so like, they're like big beach culture. They, she doesn't mind. I did a trip to Brazil. Wow. And have you

[00:05:35] Tyler: been there? No, it's the one place I

[00:05:37] Liam: haven't been really in South, south America.

[00:05:39] I really, it was, so I traveled around there in, in, uh, when did I go? End of January Through, like early February. Amazing. Oh my God. So you were there for carnival. I mi Well, carnival was canceled. Oh, it's fake canceled. Okay. Because like the people still did it. Yeah. So I saw Carnival like a day in Rio. Okay.

[00:05:58] And then we kind of [00:06:00] avoided car Carnival, like, and did Fernando Deya, which is where they just did the stab for Itlo. Yeah. Yeah. So I saw the footage. I'm like, this looks like that left that I was surfing in World's greatest closeout. Yes. It was a And it's a heavy closeout. Yeah. And it, and there was a shark attack.

[00:06:17] Oh. Oh. I read about that before I was there. I read about that. Everyone was freaked the fuck out and I was, it was freaky for me. 'cause a girl, I think she was like nine. Oh my gosh. Got her leg chomped off. And I, I wanna say she died terrible, but that's awful. And they tell you not to go swimming on one side of the island.

[00:06:36] Mm-hmm. Which is not really where the waves, there's waves, but it's like rocky and not really surfable. Yeah. Um, and that's where there's like one coast spot where you can go swimming and that's where it. That's where it went down.

[00:06:48] Tyler: So Portugal, then having your, your girlfriend who speaks Portuguese must have been really

[00:06:53] Liam: great, really helpful because I'm like, help me.

[00:06:55] I don't know what to do. But then I clinging onto her too much. Yeah. Different. And now I'm [00:07:00] on Duolingo and I was doing Spanish forever. And then like, I'm like, all right, I'm switching to Portuguese. She's like, do Portuguese, why are you doing Spanish? I'm like, I, I don't know, because no one's in my world besides before you came into my world, no one speak, spoke Portuguese.

[00:07:15] So why would I learn Portuguese? And now I'm around it all the time. Yeah. And the Portuguese, the Portugal, Portuguese and the Brazilian Portuguese. So different is very different. Totally. You can hear it without even knowing what they're saying.

[00:07:28] Tyler: I, I, I remember like. Feeling like it was, it was just there was total accent.

[00:07:34] Yes, you could totally, I would be like, what? They don't sound like Flavio OTs here. You know? Like, they don't sound like the pro surfers that I've, I've, I've heard, uh, no. You know, being

[00:07:44] Liam: interviewed and they almost sound like Russian. They do a lot of, I'm just gonna say that. Exactly. Yes. They do a lot of that ch Yeah.

[00:07:51] So everything has like a, um, a lot more of that ch whereas in Brazil it's like a ju instead it's a, yeah. So they don't, they don't sound any, and it's, I don't, [00:08:00] maybe 'cause I'm exposed to more, it was easier for me to understand the Brazilian Yeah. Than the Portuguese. But I could like get by and be like, Can I have a coffee?

[00:08:09] And then when I get the coffee, I'm like so excited. I'm like, I ordered this myself. Tupe. Yeah. Yeah. That whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could, I could get like, bye by with five seconds of saying hello and then bye.

[00:08:22] Tyler: That's it. I remember, I, I, this is not Portuguese, but I remember living in France and then like, um, I didn't learn any French or I learned a couple things.

[00:08:31] Right. But instead what I would do, and I remember trying to show off for my family. I'm be like, oh, let me order, I got this. And I'd be like, re Coca-Cola. And, and then I would just start speaking basically English with a French accent, you know? Right. Which totally

[00:08:46] Liam: helps. Right.

[00:08:49] Tyler: So were you, was it just a holiday there?

[00:08:52] Was it work? Were you there for holiday?

[00:08:54] Liam: Nice. Straight up holiday. We wanted to go somewhere. And like I was telling you earlier, we did Montauk last [00:09:00] summer. Mm-hmm. We weren't doing that. So. We were trying to collect our thoughts as like, what should we do this summer? 'cause Yeah. Otherwise we're not, we don't have anything planned besides just being, doing like Long Island and staying local.

[00:09:11] Yeah. So Portugal's been on her list, my list, go surf it. Nice. Unfortunately, there was no surf, just crazy. But, uh, I brought a wetsuit just in case. Yeah. And shout out to Matus, but, but there was no, I didn't, I didn't even put it on. So I'm like lugging around this least. You didn't

[00:09:28] Tyler: bring a board then? Yes,

[00:09:30] Liam: I, I knew I had it all set up.

[00:09:33] Yeah. To be like, all right, maybe there's a window. Like, 'cause I went for nine days, the last couple days there was literally nothing. I, and then I think like a couple days after. I got home. There was a swell also, which everyone says is so rare. Yeah. So I don't, I need to go back 'cause I, I ate my way through that whole country.

[00:09:51] The food

[00:09:52] Tyler: was hard not to, I mean, it's like the food is phenomenal. Phenomenal. A lot of incredible seafood. Yeah. I mean you, [00:10:00] you have like great wines and everything all accessible there. Insane. It's

[00:10:03] Liam: incredible. The beer Super B is incredible. Totally banging.

[00:10:08] Tyler: Uh, how'd you like Lisbon then? Did you get to see I loved it.

[00:10:11] Liam: What a cool city. Right? I loved it. You can walk everywhere. Yeah. Take the public transit. Then you got that

[00:10:16] Tyler: hill area where all the bars

[00:10:17] Liam: are and it's like amazing. That steep ass hill. We stayed in raa. Yeah. So I don't know if you know where that is, but I, it's been a while I've, yeah. So yeah. Uh, a family friend had a, um, an Airbnb there.

[00:10:29] Nice. So we got, we got a little hookup for Airbnb and then Sweet. I. It's one of those places where I went to go visit. I'm like, I could maybe live here. You could do it. And the art scene, so I didn't know this, but there's a Art and Design week. Yeah, there. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and I got the last day of it. No way.

[00:10:50] On the 28th. I got there in May. I didn't know. So we're like trooping around our first day there and then I see a sign that says Open Studio. Wow. Upstairs. So I walk [00:11:00] upstairs. It was very cool. Like Loft. Mm-hmm. Space met. Three guys from Venezuela and one from Brazil. Nice. And they were there for the event, and they're like, you just missed the whole, you're an artist.

[00:11:11] You just missed the whole thing. I'm like, I didn't, I didn't know about it. So now it's on my radar for next year. I'm like, I would love to go next year, potentially do a show, potentially do something or just check it out.

[00:11:21] Tyler: Well, I was gonna ask, I had this down like, as, as like a creative person, uh, an artist, a creative director, like when you go somewhere abroad, like what are some of the things you look at that might inspire you and, and help give you like a new aesthetic?

[00:11:35] Right? Like, you know, like when you travel, like I always find like you're in this city and has like a feel of vibe mm-hmm. That, that is not familiar most of the time to anywhere else. And you're like trying to capture that. And I was kind of

[00:11:49] Liam: curious and that's so good for your brain Absolutely. To see things that you've never have seen before.

[00:11:53] Totally. Or like, people live like this and people just chilling in the street, drinking beers and mm-hmm. [00:12:00] Listening to good music and it was a good vibe and. It's everything, the architecture, the food to, like, how they put the food into the plate, to like Right. Those dudes, those artists that I met that are from Venezuela mm-hmm.

[00:12:14] And Brazil. I like, it's just great to see people and meet people that you don't know. Mm-hmm. There's no commonality. Yeah. Of I know this guy, so now I know this dude. It's just completely like you're both meeting each other Nice. With no background, with no information.

[00:12:29] Tyler: But you have this shared

[00:12:31] Liam: experience there.

[00:12:32] Yeah. Yeah. With the arts, you know, it's, and, and their English was great. Nice. Everyone's English is really good there, by the way. That helps. It does big time. Like, 'cause in Brazil, no one's English is, yeah. It was rare. Yeah. But Portugal like, and yeah, it was, it was, it was incredible. It was just a good vibe.

[00:12:50] And I think because there's no. Giant, there's not a big scene art scene there yet. Mm-hmm. That there wasn't a huge ego or like material [00:13:00] kind of ethos with it. Like, oh, I'm too good for Right. You like, why are you talking to me right now? Everyone was very open to like, Hey, what's up? Oh, you're here. Like, everyone was very humble.

[00:13:09] Mm-hmm. In that sense. And I think that's where great art is made because it's affordable. Artists aren't Yeah. Usually, unless, you know, they come from a certain background or they made it already. Yeah. They're struggling. Yeah. You know, so if you can have in a city that's affordable, that's welcoming people to live there, and you have these people that are living there and they can live and like get an apartment for X amount of dollars, that's half the price of New York or half the price of Paris, or half the price of London, it's, they're gonna gravitate towards that space.

[00:13:40] So you have like people really doing it, really living a lifestyle there. And I feel like from talking to these couple artists, It's not happening yet. Yeah. Like, they're not moving there yet. But I, I get this vibe that it's gonna go down. There's a lot of availability. Mm-hmm. And like advantages to living there.[00:14:00]

[00:14:00] It, it's

[00:14:01] Tyler: funny, like I always, when I would travel, like always be on the lookout for like Brooklyn circa like late nineties vibe, you know, where, you know, it was affordable, you know, to live in Brooklyn at that time and everyone was just taking abandoned, you know, like lofts and everything and turning them into studios and.

[00:14:24] Those things like kind of create, you know, like the whole community and scene and like, I'm always like on the lookout for that. Like, I feel like, and,

[00:14:32] Liam: and like, did you feel like Portugal had that vibe? Yeah, I

[00:14:35] Tyler: mean, like, I, I, I, to be honest, I mean, it was like 20 years ago I was there, so Oh, in Portugal? In Portugal.

[00:14:43] Oh, okay. So it was a while ago. Like it was a while ago, but it's like, you know, it's like Berlin had a bit of that, you know, and like, you know, you had yes parts in Brooklyn, then you have this popping up like all over, you know, like Silver Lake in LA was like kind of a thriving art scene at one point. And like, you, you [00:15:00] kind of feel like that in San Francisco had parts like that.

[00:15:02] And then all of a sudden, you know, it's like the art, you know, the artists are there. Drives, you know, brings the money in, and then all of a sudden the collectors move in and the finance people move in and then all of a sudden everything becomes too expensive and Right. Next thing you know, you got avocado and toast, uh, and the coffee shop there and you're all set.

[00:15:19] Liam: Yeah. For, yeah, for 20 bucks. So like, I went to Basel or Basel, um, Miami Basil this year. So to see that, even though I just got to catch it for one quick day Yeah. To see, uh, in Portugal, to see like Portugal and then the Basel, Miami mm-hmm. Vibe. It was so opposite. Totally. So different. Whereas like, I like the Miami vibe, I'm like, this is kind of not, I wasn't feeling the, the energy as much, you know?

[00:15:44] Yeah. Like, because of what you're describing, like it's already to that point. Yeah. Whereas like, Portugal on that design week is not there. Which is like a special spot because eventually it could, the idea is that it gets to the Basel. It's like a secret

[00:15:58] Tyler: spot in surfing [00:16:00] almost. Right? It is. You know, it's so remote.

[00:16:03] Liam: Yeah. Portugal's so remote. When you leave that city, there's nothing, I know. There's nothing around you get

[00:16:09] Tyler: out of, out of like Lisbon and like, it's, it's pretty, pretty barren for like, it's barr like a good, especially going south, you know, as you go. Like driving up from Lagos to Lisbon. Yeah. Like it, I remember like camping out, like just on the side of the road over there, you know.

[00:16:23] Yeah. You could, you

[00:16:24] Liam: could do that. You know. And on that drive to Lagos, there was so many buses. Yeah. Of those like Britts and Europeans. The tur. Yeah. I'm like, that's where they're coming 'cause they don't have cars. Yeah. Like how are they getting here? And they're in giant, like mm-hmm. Snowboard trip. Big big coach buses.

[00:16:40] Yeah. Huge. I'm like, yo, every 10 minutes you're passing like three. They're like the Mario Perillo tours and all. Yeah. You know, remember those? They saw that. Yeah. They still

[00:16:49] Tyler: do. They still do. Of course. You know. Um, did you notice any, any like aesthetic there that, that you felt like inspired by or [00:17:00] anything like, you know, like sometimes I'll see certain graffiti or, and, and see like, almost like a different spin on it or a different

[00:17:06] Liam: look and I'm curious.

[00:17:07] Ah, the graffiti's a good, yeah. I, I ended up drawing on a wall. I, I feel guilty doing it. I'm like, ah, should I be doing, I don't wanna be arrested in Bal, I don't wanna be arrested anywhere. But, but it was like a staircase and it, there was graffiti in certain areas and I like, I just don't like aimlessly drawing or even like tagging.

[00:17:28] 'cause I feel like it's kind of, it's not my, my Ste but, um, and I feel like it's something that you draw in, like your, your locker and high school and then it carries, like being an adult tagging, I'm like, that's not really what I'm trying to get at. Mm-hmm. But, so I'm trying to have more of a message and.

[00:17:43] I, I, there was great graffiti and great art everywhere. Yeah. And I think the country is like really trying to embrace that. That's the vibe that I caught. Nice. Um, also the tiling. Yeah. Ah, the tiles in the city are Yeah. Sick. Yes. Absolutely insane. [00:18:00] Like just one tile and there's a thousand on one building is like all detailed differently.

[00:18:06] Mm-hmm.

[00:18:07] Tyler: It's, it's incredible that aesthetic. Right. Like, I love seeing that. And that can then inform your work. You know, like then you're like, exactly. Oh, I gotta do

[00:18:16] Liam: something like this, you know? Exactly. And then there's also a space down there called the, um, the lx, I think it's called LX Factory. Mm-hmm.

[00:18:25] It's a bunch of food bar spots. And then up top there's a, there's a bunch of galleries and then there's like, it's kind of an abandoned mm-hmm. Factory space that they turned into. To something to experience, you know, and mm-hmm. And so like, there's a lot of good art on the walls there, and I think you could go and draw, and I don't think anyone's like, that's awesome.

[00:18:44] Yeah. That's that's so cool. Yeah. Like they're open to that. So that was cool to go see. Um, I didn't really hit any museums. I know there was a tile museum, but I was trying to force it the last day. But we didn't, we didn't get there. But sometimes you just

[00:18:57] Tyler: gotta, you know, like, it, it gives you a reason

[00:18:59] Liam: to go back.

[00:18:59] [00:19:00] Yeah. You know? Oh yeah, I want to go back. That's the whole thing. And I didn't get to surf, so I gotta go back to Surf, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, yeah, it's a whole, but then there's so many other places in Europe that I haven't been to that I know it's overwhelming isn't, I'm like, am I gonna go back?

[00:19:12] Tyler: You know, like I, I, I feel like it's, it's, it's good to sometimes go back though, and especially like, yes.

[00:19:20] I feel like Portugal is a place you can go. Many times and, and just, you know, discover something new. 'cause up in the north is like almost totally different than, than down the south actually. Like the culture is slightly different. The food is different. Some of the aesthetics are different. I remember going up to like Porto and Fi get ups how get, and like it, it felt different than Lisbon.

[00:19:43] Yeah. So, I mean it's definitely, you know, it's a place you can kind of go and kind of keep going back to, I think. Whereas some cities you can go to and you can be like, yeah, that was good.

[00:19:53] Liam: I've had enough. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I definitely had that vibe where I wanted to go, wanted to go back.

[00:19:59] [00:20:00] That's awesome. Without a doubt. So it'll, it'll ha and it's not that far. Yeah, no. And it's not that expensive, like affordability wise, it's nothing too crazy. And you could write it

[00:20:08] Tyler: off for your artwork. There you go. Man.

[00:20:10] Liam: I drew on the wall so I can write off this whole trip. You write the whole trip off.

[00:20:13] Exactly. It was free.

[00:20:16] Tyler: Um, Let me ask, like, uh, I wanna go into a little bit of your biography. Like what was it like, where was your local break growing up? Where did you grow up? I grew up, um, I grew up in Melville, Farmingdale area. Okay. But my grandmother lived in Long Beach, so I spent most of my summers there.

[00:20:34] My mom lived in West Islip, so I grew up surfing. I'm from East isis. You're from East isis. All right. There we go. You know, so we are, uh, we are a Robert, Robert Moses, Gilgo Beach, fire Island contingent

[00:20:45] Liam: here. That's me. Excellent. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So I just drove on, uh, what was it, two or three weeks ago we had that swell.

[00:20:53] Yeah, it was good. It was really nice. So I went to, I drove on at Gilgo. Mm-hmm. I actually served Hemlocks. I actually ended [00:21:00] up driving all the way down. Oh, that's a nice world. Because it was like, it was, I think it was dead low. Mm-hmm. And Hemlock just handles that dead low better. Mm-hmm. And then I served like five hours I day, and then I.

[00:21:12] I, um, I surfed that spot and then it was getting a little too full and then drove to the entrance. Nice. 'cause it's a little bit more shallow. Yeah. Coast Guard. Yeah. Coast. Exactly. And then I drove on the next day to a spot that I won't mention that, you know what I'm talking about? Yep, yep. Oh, oh, that spot.

[00:21:26] Yeah. Yeah. We will not be talking about that place. And you can walk very far too. Yes.

[00:21:33] Tyler: We're not gonna mention that place anymore. No. But, um, fair enough. All right. So cool. I I, I, I wanna know then, like, how did you get into surfing then? Yeah.

[00:21:42] Liam: My, my parents didn't surf. My dad was a clamor. Mm-hmm. So I was always a big Interesting.

[00:21:48] Yeah. From East Isle, so I was always a big, like he was beman always into. Driving. Like his little, he bought me a little boss. It was Oahu, like a little Boston Whaler Center console. Nice. [00:22:00] When I was like 14, like before I could drive. Yeah. So I grew, I actually grew up in Great River, which is a little neighborhood.

[00:22:06] Yeah. Like in East is Slope. Mm-hmm. So like across from the river kind of mm-hmm. Uh, Quai River. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The boat was right there. So that was like our escape. We could fly over to Fry Island, go. 'cause then other, in that area on Long Island, you need a car to get to the beach. I know.

[00:22:20] Unfortunately.

[00:22:21] Tyler: Yes. Or a boat or, or so you can't, or have your parent drop you off. And, and when I was a kid, I would have to call on the, on the, on the payphone. Would you call Rick's? Who would you call? I, I would call my mom. I'd be like, oh, oh, oh. Call collect and be like, all right, I'm ready to be picked up.

[00:22:35] Yep. You know? And

[00:22:36] Liam: same, well, like, so it started, we started sponging. Yeah. You know of 'cause my parents weren't gonna be like, I'll buy you a No. I mean now it's a thousand whatever, $600 Channel Islands. Yeah. Of like, no. And I'm one of three. Yeah. So it wasn't happening. Uh, yeah, my mom was a school teacher, you know, like nothing.

[00:22:56] It wasn't like, they were like, yeah, we'll spend this all on you. And they also [00:23:00]don't know if it's gonna be a phase, right? Yeah, exactly. Like if they're like, yo, you're gonna do it for a summer, and then like, let the thing sit in the shed and collect dust. Mm-hmm. So my best friend growing up, his mom had this terminal illness, and so, and his dad was a cop.

[00:23:15] So we would basically, my mom, before she went to work in the summertime, she would, she wasn't teaching summer school, but something similar. Yeah. And she would just be like, it was like ninth, 10th grade. So he was basically living with us and he would just drop us off at Robert Moses. Nice. My mom would drop us off.

[00:23:32] Yeah. And then sometimes his dad would pick us up, or she was a school teacher in Bayshore. Yeah. So she would just, it's right there. Get you on the way back. Yeah. So she would just get me on. So, but it was like calling. Rick's. Yeah. And be, and be like, Hey, this is Rick's surf report. Yes. And I grew up with Rick's from East Is Slope, so Yes, absolutely.

[00:23:50] He's nephew. I know. Yeah. His nephew is, uh, my, I think he's a year or two younger than me in school. Nice. So his brother's kid. Mm-hmm. And they all, all [00:24:00] grew up in the neighborhood, so just call there. But a lot of times it wasn't even, not, it didn't matter. We just wanted to go and then we would walk to the spot that I was referring to.

[00:24:08] Mm-hmm. Yep. Or just in front of the pencil. Mm-hmm. Whatever with a lighthouse. We w there was nothing else to do. And there was no online services? No. Like a surf line or magic seaweed Only

[00:24:19] Tyler: 9, 7, 6 Surf. And that was it. Yeah. Yeah. Rick's or Unsound. And,

[00:24:23] Liam: uh, that was it. That was it. That was it. Like I don't think Special Sauce did a report, did they?

[00:24:28] I,

[00:24:28] Tyler: not to my knowledge,

[00:24:29] Liam: no. I don't think so. I don't think they did. Yeah. But Rick definitely did. And then, so we would, that's how I got into it. And it was just like, all right, now I'm gonna start. And then my parents took it. Serious. 'cause they were like, yo, he's really into this. So I remember I got like aboard for my 16th birthday, like a soft top from Rick.

[00:24:44] And then just kept growing and growing and growing and growing and just, I got hooked man. I, I fucking loved it. And I remember like surfing sunsets at Gilgo or wherever and just being, I remember the first time I went to Gogo I was like, wow, these guys can really surf. I was super intimidated and I was on a sponge and it was [00:25:00] just like, you didn't look cool.

[00:25:02] Tyler: And those sponges were like a Bez sponge I assume, or so something

[00:25:06] Liam: like that. They were like some shitty, I think it was my uncle's crappy little, like Mach 77, like from like the eighties that had all stickers on it. I thought it was cool. And then you like pull up to Gilgo where guys really surf and not Moses.

[00:25:18] Yeah. 'cause Moses is just this open space. Yes, totally. And you, and they're like looking at you, calling you kook and stuff and you're like, Damn. All right. I, I need to get into surfing. You can't do this anymore. Not to knock sponging. No, no. You know, like whatever's your craft of having fun, but it's, it's

[00:25:32] Tyler: all good.

[00:25:33] Yeah. There's nothing wrong with being a Dick Drager. No,

[00:25:37] I

[00:25:38] Liam: had to say that.

[00:25:38] Tyler: Sorry.

[00:25:39] Liam: Ner, I remember. Sorry for the crafts. Yeah. I remember Rick said to me once, he was like, do you piss sitting down? No. I'll never forget that.

[00:25:50] Tyler: Although I'm sure a lot of people would prefer it if we did piss sitting down. Yeah.

[00:25:54] Liam: Like my mom, my girlfriend. Yeah. My buddy was telling me he's like, [00:26:00]He's like, dude, you don't pee at your house sitting down.

[00:26:01] I'm like, no. He's like, what do you mean then you don't get a mess? I'm like, I never even thought of, it was never an option in my brain. I'd be like, that's not manly. That's stealing my manhood. And I will I stand by that to this moment. You mean sit? Yeah, sit. Sit. Sorry. Sit. Yeah.

[00:26:18] Tyler: Um, who were then, like, were there any surfers that, that influenced you or like any anyone like locally that you would kind of gravitated towards?

[00:26:27] Or was it

[00:26:27] Liam: like, man, that's a good question. Like older guys? Yeah. I don't know. I feel like older dudes in the, in the surf scene out there were kind of bullies. They didn't really wanna like chill, but there was always like this, the special sauce guys, like Pete cba. Yeah. Um, I just saw him actually on Sunday.

[00:26:45] I love that guy. Nice. And uh, yeah, I pop by the Burton shop just to say what's up and I had to talk to him about show that's coming up. Yeah. But we'll get into that in a minute. But, um, And then like Justin Cavalier worked over there. I dunno. Do you know him? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:26:59] Tyler: Absolutely. [00:27:00] He's a legend, man.

[00:27:00] Liam: Yeah, dude. I haven't seen him in so long. Yeah. And then just like my buddies, some buddies from the neighborhood that were older and uh, I actually at St. Anthony's, we tried, I went to high school at St. Anthony's. So like East is okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we tried to do a surf club and it just didn't work out.

[00:27:18] We had like, one meeting we made, I like, I think I made the flyer, I made it in the wrong room. It was like one 10. We had the room and it, I wrote like 1 0 7 on it and then we were like, 'cause St. John's had a team, like a surf team. Damn. Yeah. But they're right there. Yeah. They're next to the bridge. True, true.

[00:27:33] So we were like, yo, we could like be a competitor. There was this one teacher, um, Mr. Anderson, he's probably still there. Mr. Anderson, Mr. Anderson. He moved from Hawaii. Wow. To, I wanna say he was doing some kind of retreat work or something, but he was from a New York and Long Island. Mm-hmm. He was like, why don't you guys start it?

[00:27:54] He kind of like influenced us. Nice. And he was a guidance counselor. Um, so we were like, yo, all [00:28:00] right, let's do it. But then logistically to figure out the busing and liability wise, it didn't work. But

[00:28:07] Tyler: I mean, at least you had some surfers that, that surfed in your school. I was the lone.

[00:28:11] Liam: Yeah. It was rare.

[00:28:13] 'cause like it's north shore. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Totally. So like there, there was like kids from West Islip and stuff, but it was rare. And then a lot of kids drop off. They get into it and then they realize how difficult it is. Like the learning curve is insane to like Totally. And to keep at it.

[00:28:27] Tyler: And especially years ago when it was not really encouraged to ride, you know? Yes.

[00:28:34] Liam: And like perform wetsuit material. You can't move and it's freezing. And then like, you forget your, I I never forget, I surf one time in high school, I surfed and like, I forgot my, I think it was booties or something in the parking lot.

[00:28:47] I was like, Ah, dude, how am I? Well, now what do it, like I don't have the money to buy new boots. Just gonna have to suck it up. Just suck, I guess. I don't remember what I did. I guess [00:29:00] I bought, I don't know. I have no idea. Hopefully it was spring and I didn't need 'em anymore. I have, I don't know, man.

[00:29:06] Tyler: And we will be right back and now back to our show.

[00:29:12] So, so then let me ask, like, then, how, um, how did you discover artwork then? Like what is that something prominent from a young

[00:29:20] Liam: age for you? Oh, young, young age. I had an uncle who was very inspiring, went to SS v a Okay. That was my mom's brother. Um, and like my mother would also set me up like in the big tree, um, and looked like in the backyard between, we lived on Third Avenue, I don't know.

[00:29:37] Mm-hmm. Like in between Union and Montauk Highway. Okay. So there was a big tree in our backyard. She would always have me painting and just always, always, always painted, always. Right. Creative. Weird shit. Mm-hmm. And or whatever. Good shit. And, and, uh, I did it through high school and I remember being in high school and not really knowing what to do.

[00:29:57] Mm-hmm. Like, I [00:30:00] remember my dad told me, take a business class and take an R class and decide one or the other. Interesting. And I, okay, I'll do both the, I hated that business class. I remember the teacher. He's still there. I like, I I was terrible in it. Yeah. I wanted nothing to do with it. And then I did an art class.

[00:30:20] Mr. Heck, that guy. You know how you have one of those teachers that like changes your Yeah. Your like whole projection. Mm-hmm. That was that dude. Nice. So I think I did, uh, I wanna say I did like one class before portfolio. I think portfolio class was 11th and 12th grade. Mm-hmm. I was like, alright, I love drawing these little doodles and stuff.

[00:30:42] And then it just kept growing, kept growing, and I really gravitated towards him. He was a super cool dude. He actually left and like went into the actual field. I think he works at post-production or something. Wow. Yeah. So he's like, I, I should reach out to, my parents are pushing me too. They're like, you should tell him this.

[00:30:56] Mm-hmm. I'm like, yeah. Now it's like, 'cause now it's, [00:31:00] I don't know, when did I graduate high school? I don't know, X amount of years later. And like, I'm like, yo, I, I should reach out to him and be like, yo, you were that guy. So it was great. And then I applied to f i t. Nice. Um, so I went to F I t I went, yeah.

[00:31:14] So I went a couple blocks away from here. Wow. For college. That's awesome. Yeah. So I remember, like, I did this, there was a at home test, there was, um, you had to do like a self portrait, black and white ink drawing. And then I don't, there was two other ones. And then there was one you had to build, like there three D room.

[00:31:36] Mm-hmm. I don't remember what the concept was or why it had to be three D, but I did one called the womb room. Go on. So it was like a three D womb. Oh wow. That sounds, sounds cozy. And like it was cozy. And the idea was like you went into the womb and I made like curtains for it, if you know what I'm saying.

[00:31:54] And like, and it was all red, this red velvet material. And then it had like a bedding [00:32:00] and then I sewed the bedding.

[00:32:01] Tyler: And, and you were the, the only straight white guy at

[00:32:04] Liam: f i t also? Yeah, pretty much. Or like the, the and the other guys, I still am very close, but to this day, because we were the only dudes there.

[00:32:13] So like I made that and I remember like, I made TVs in it. So the idea would be like, it was the ultimate room that you never had to leave. Mm. I had everything you needed. I had like, I put, um, N F L games up top, like I like cut out little, like post-its from like, um, uh, like Best Buy magazine. Yeah. And cut it in a square and then, you know, put it on a frame and hung it up on the top.

[00:32:35] And then I had like a teddy bear in there. Mm-hmm. And I had, I sewed the pillows. I remember going in the interview and the guy that I was, who was critiquing my projects that was letting, you know, letting me in or not. Yeah. He's like, do you have sisters or mom? I'm like, yeah. He's like, what do they think of this?

[00:32:52] I'm like, I, I, I was so nervous. I remember I didn't show 'em. I just remember sweating bullets and being like, oh, they liked it. Like, [00:33:00] what do you say? I don't know. Are you kidding

[00:33:02] Tyler: me? They said that if they could

[00:33:04] Liam: live in it, they would, they would. And then I like had the concept where like food would drop and I think I like made a little beer for it.

[00:33:11] So it was like the ultimate lounge room. Nice. I don't know if that helped me get in, but I think it must've Well, you got in

[00:33:19] Tyler: and, yeah, I got in. Exactly. What was that? Experiencing, getting into there because like there's a lot of different disciplines at F I T also and, and Right. Did you have like a direction when you got there or were you just kind of like open to

[00:33:34] Liam: anything at that point?

[00:33:35] So I remember, I remember very vividly I went there and there's, you go into the, uh, what is it? Like the, um, Uh, you can go check out different majors. Yeah. So it was like illustration, fine arts. Mm-hmm. And I remember being with my parents, and then my uncle went to s v a, so he was a, he was actually a prof, uh, professor at, um, Suffolk.

[00:33:59] [00:34:00] Nice. So he taught like flash classes. Amazing. So I was already, I had a background in Photoshop and Flash and all that stuff because I would just sit in his classes and, um, I was, my parents were like, don't go for fine art. Not to say that there's nothing, anything wrong with that, but commercialization, it's way harder to get into that field.

[00:34:18] And same with illustration. They were like, just go with this. I didn't even know what the fuck graphic design was. Yeah. I didn't know what it was. Yeah. You're like 18 years old. You don't know what you're going to school

[00:34:26] Tyler: for. No, no. And, and it's like graphic design. You're like, what is that? And you don't even realize until they're like, oh, you see that magazine?

[00:34:32] Yes.

[00:34:33] Liam: That is graphic design or that logo. Yeah. Or, and then on top of it, there's so many different channels that you can mm-hmm. Then pursue in that field. Yeah. Like, there's no like, You're gonna be, you're going for to be a teacher. So you're gonna be a teacher. And this is like the program that you follow.

[00:34:48] Yeah. There's no exact program. You, you

[00:34:50] Tyler: could be like a, like a pop superstar, like David Carson, you know, with graphic design, you know, that guy. And like, you know,

[00:34:57] Liam: I dmd with that guy and I, I still have yet to [00:35:00] meet him. I was, yeah, like to do something in Montauk and it didn't work out. But at, uh, so East, yes, he wanted to do some mural and he was super responsive.

[00:35:10] Yeah. And then like, I couldn't get it going. Mm-hmm. And then he stopped responding and I was like, dammit, I, I ruined it. He probably thinks I'm just some. Jerk off who's reaching out, promising him stuff that it's, it's fine. Don't you worry. Yeah, he,

[00:35:23] Tyler: he'll, I used to work at Blue Magazine, which he helped, uh, you know, basically create the design template for, and it was Blue Magazine.

[00:35:31] Yeah, it was like an adventure travel magazine, the late nineties. Yeah, I remember that one. And it was all like his, he just, he did the whole graphic design layout and created the template for it. And it was all really cutting edge at the time for design and everything. But the real star was not him, it was his ex-wife who did a lot

[00:35:49] Liam: of the work, David Carson.

[00:35:51] Oh, really? Interesting.

[00:35:54] Tyler: I'm just saying she did a lot of stuff. I mean, he made the quick

[00:35:56] Liam: logo, right? Yeah. Yes,

[00:35:58] Tyler: yes. True. [00:36:00] But yeah, like, but uh, but yeah, I mean that's the thing with the, the graphic design, uh, aspect is like a very, I imagine it's a very functional aspect to the art world. Yes. Like, it's like it's, you can, you can create, you know, packaging if you want.

[00:36:15] Yes. Or you can do something really creative and visual. That's insane.

[00:36:19] Liam: So the way that school is structured is they do two years and then you do communication design. Mm-hmm. And then after the two years, you have to re umit your portfolio. Mm-hmm. And then re-meet with the professors and basically like interview again.

[00:36:35] Wow. But then you choose after the two years. So you get your associates and then bachelor's, you choose the two years and go, you could do package design. Like, that's what made me think of it. 'cause you mentioned that. Yeah. Package design, toy design, um, advertising graphic. Uh, I think there was a motion.

[00:36:53] Mm-hmm. One, and now there's like a UX ui. Yeah. One also they're trying to like, change the programming, but back then, I can't remember. There [00:37:00] might be one or two other ones, but Yeah. Yeah. So you would kind of select and then be more selective as to what you wanted to do after those two years. So,

[00:37:07] Tyler: uh, was this like, when you started doing that, was like, who were your influences then, and how, how did that shape, like what you're doing now,

[00:37:17] Liam: your hard work?

[00:37:18] Right. So a lot of it was sports stuff. I, I, surfing magazines, like you're saying, like that, that was graphic design stuff.

[00:37:27] Tyler: David Tarson and other Surfer magazine,

[00:37:29] Liam: early nineties, all of that stuff was amazing to see. Like all those, like who makes this stuff? Who does this shit? Like who, how do you, how do you get involved in this world?

[00:37:39] Mm-hmm. Or even just like the t-shirt graphics and. It doesn't have to be surfing. Yeah. It could be like soccer or, uh, I don't know, football or whatever it is, like whatever that art piece is of that brand that you're rocking. Especially back then, like this is early two thousands. Yeah. So the surfing t-shirt, apparel world, the logos were everything.

[00:37:57] You know, it was everywhere. Mm-hmm. It was like the, [00:38:00] the cool kid stuff. It was the mark. It was the mark, yeah. So it was like, and then, and it's, it's wild to think back on like how strong those brands were. Yeah. In your development. Mm-hmm. In getting into the sport, you're like, yo, they really like crafted where I was at and why I went for certain things.

[00:38:19] And it's a, it's like genius marketing, but it's also a blessing in disguise. Right? Yeah. 'cause it's like a beautiful thing. It, 'cause it made me get inspirational into what it's inspir. Yeah. It's inspirational. Totally. So, um, yeah, like even the, I mean, Ozzie Wright, all his little drawings.

[00:38:33] Tyler: Totally. The bunny bunny

[00:38:34] Liam: drawings that he do.

[00:38:35] Yeah. I didn't know about David Carson going to school and then my professors were like, You're really David Carson esque. And I'm like, I don't even know what that is. And then I remember looking and they're like, oh, he's a surfer. Yeah. And being like, oh, this is that dude. I don't know who this guy is.

[00:38:52] Like, and then there were certain professors who hated him. Yeah. Because professors are old school and in their ways and they're like, this isn't [00:39:00] the grid graphic design way of like how you should things, have things aligned and do this. And, and then there was other guys who, or professors that really loved Yeah.

[00:39:09] Him. So it was that mix of like, and I wasn't trying to be that Yeah. That guy. It was just kind of ingrained into my, into my conditioning of like what I was inspired by without even knowing, you know, it

[00:39:23] Tyler: looking at like your artwork it to me, and like I said this in the intro, but it appears like you had a really good like skate.

[00:39:31] Street, uh, kind of art influence. Like, and, and I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but like I could see like a lot of Barry McGee, ed Templeton in that,

[00:39:40] Liam: when you said that in the intro, I was like, yo, he, he kind of nailed it.

[00:39:43] Tyler: Like, like that's, to me it was like beautiful losers kind of vibe to it, but with a little bit more pop and a little bit more Right.

[00:39:52] Kind of modernity to it. Like I really kind of identified with it. I was like, oh, okay. I see where, where this is kind of rooted [00:40:00] in a little bit.

[00:40:00] Liam: Definitely. I think so post f i t or even being in f i t, like hanging out downtown. Mm-hmm. And then being a lower East side and I lived there for 10 years and being in that whole scene and going to different art galleries and it's inspiring you without even knowing, like unconsciously, unconsciously inspiring you.

[00:40:20] So like just being around that entire universe. Yeah. Uh, that neighborhood, you know, has changed a lot. Yeah. But like, it had that energy in that buzz for a while and it was, It was cool. It was cool to be around it. And I think those, like those neighborhoods hold like special times. Mm-hmm. You know, like you were saying with earlier, with Brooklyn, having like that served by for a while.

[00:40:40] Yeah, totally. And you're always looking for that. And now like Portugal could have that. Yeah. Yeah. So like you're always kind like, that's always a good, good thing to be around. Well, it's.

[00:40:51] Tyler: It's interesting, right? Like I feel like there's, um, especially artists, really, some artists can be alone, of course, but I feel like when [00:41:00] you're young, particularly in like in your twenties, you really crave that community, right?

[00:41:05] And, and especially artists like feed off each other and like, and you look at like, history, right? Like there's all these different art movements and scenes, right? That were kind of community based. You know, you had the, the happenings in the forties and fifties, you know, in in New York City and beat generation and that type of art scene.

[00:41:23] And then, Warhol and his kind of community that came along with Pop. And then, you know, you got like, you know, the beautiful losers like in Lower East Side, east Village, you know, Thomas Campbell, Barry McGee, all those guys. Right. You know, like from like the, the late eighties on, like, you're always looking for that inspirational community and be part of almost like a, a bit of a movement,

[00:41:46] Liam: you know?

[00:41:46] Exactly. And then I feel like when you get older, you don't want to be No. Get me away from all these people.

[00:41:51] Tyler: Well, you wanna, you wanna develop your own sense and you, you wanna like, kind of go, go out on your own. Then

[00:41:56] Liam: I imagine, I think also when you're younger, everything's new. Mm-hmm. So [00:42:00] everything from your viewpoint is a new kind of site.

[00:42:04] You're like, yo, I've never seen that, this, that, and the other thing. Mm-hmm. I've never been in this venue, I've never met this person. I've never, and then when you get older, you're like, I've been in this scenario so many times. Right. I don't need to really see this again. Yeah. Like, I need to work on my own shit.

[00:42:18] Mm-hmm. I don't need to be seeing other people's shit. Exactly. So like, Yeah. That, that whole, but yes, like being a part of that whole energy and then, and then checking out is always good too. To, to like go see it again and go like, now I'll be honest, I don't go to enough of that anymore. Yeah. I don't like, I'm like, why would I do that when I can stay at home and paint?

[00:42:37] Yeah. But like, so I need to, like, now I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where I need to force myself to like go to the Chelsea galleries and speak. Mm-hmm. Um, I had a meeting with Roc Nation, like you just referenced, and they're in Chelsea now. Yeah. So like after my meeting, I think the meeting was at like 10 or 11.

[00:42:55] Mm-hmm. So after the meeting, I walked the whole day in Chelsea. 'cause it was a Wednesday or [00:43:00] Thursday. It was a Thursday actually. Yeah. So it was before all the galleries were, were like having their Thursday mm-hmm. Monthly show of the new work. So all the gallery owners were in there and like, they were switching things out and no one was there.

[00:43:14] So I was able, there's so much new stuff over there. Yeah. And when I was at f i t it was all clubs. Yeah, yeah. I know. It's all, it's all galleries. It's all high-end buildings and, and I haven't been in that neighborhood since before Covid, so I haven't been there in four years. So like for three years. And God help

[00:43:32] Tyler: you if you try to survive the high

[00:43:33] Liam: line during the day.

[00:43:34] Oh my God. I didn't even go up there. Yeah. It's like my father man. It was, uh, it was cool to see. It was, it was cool to see like that whole neighborhood change and just like, there's more and more galleries. And then I did, I just gave you one of those coffee bags. Yes, thank you. I did a art for another restaurant in Chelsea That's right by the galleries art bag.

[00:43:56] So like I, I didn't get to meet anybody 'cause we were just, just. [00:44:00] Speaking over email. Yeah. Yeah. I actually had lunch there. Nice. And they comp my lunch and I was like, damn, I'm feeling good today. I had a good meeting, now I'm gonna comp lunch. I'm seeing some art. This is great.

[00:44:10] Tyler: Let me ask you then, like, 'cause you, you, you, your, your main job though is art director, correct?

[00:44:17] Correct. And create or creative director. Mm-hmm. What do you prefer, by the

[00:44:19] Liam: way? Like, I, I feel like the creative director mm-hmm. Term is so played out. Any idiot is like, I was just gonna ask, this pisses me off, man. He's like, oh, I'm creative director of what? Like, of a restaurant that doesn't count.

[00:44:34] Tyler: It's like, were you reading my notes?

[00:44:35] I was just gonna ask like, it's like, yeah. It, it, it, it must feel like, ugh,

[00:44:41] Liam: everyone is a fucking creative, creative director. That's why I just keep it art. Even if I'm at that level, I just keep it art director because it, yeah. It's, I've, and then also now with social media, like people will write that in their bio and it's like,

[00:44:55] Tyler: I'm a creative director.

[00:44:56] I did a few TikTok videos and

[00:44:59] Liam: yeah. What, there you go. [00:45:00] You know, doesn't count. It used to hold for something. Mm-hmm. And I feel like it caught on as like a trendy title thing. Yeah. And it just, like, I don't even, it's, it's, it's one

[00:45:11] Tyler: step above creative consultant,

[00:45:13] Liam: you know? No, I don't wanna use any of that.

[00:45:15] Yeah. No, I, I think a good one now is design director instead of creative director. Like, to be like, so like I was just working with Peloton and the girl I was working with is design director. I'm like, that sounds way better now. Yeah. Than, than creative director. I feel like the Creative director thing is done.

[00:45:36] I don't want that title. So give us, give our

[00:45:38] Tyler: listeners like a scope of like your, your, like what a design. Slash art director does. I'm trying to fit that in. Yeah, yeah. No, what, what, like, what are, what are, what's that scope of, of work that, that you do? Um, because I think like for some younger listeners who might be listening, like, this could be a really good opportunity

[00:45:58] Liam: here.

[00:45:58] Yeah. I, man, I [00:46:00] wish that you brought up f i T and now you say that I had one or two. Do you remember Kid Robot? Yeah. It's still there around Fuck yeah. Yeah. There was one, there was one dude best fucking

[00:46:10] Tyler: like, collectible toys ever know.

[00:46:12] Liam: Amazing. And there was this one dude who was a, uh, he made the little characters, like he did a series and he came into F I T and I was like, you can do that is what I'm doing.

[00:46:22] And he was like the designer for that. But then he also worked at an agency, right? So yeah. Marketing agency. Mm-hmm. So he was like a creative director Yeah. Of, of a marketing ad agency, but then also did this on his side kind of work. And so to have like those real life people in the industry. Um, when you're younger is like, so even more powerful than you can ever think of.

[00:46:47] 'cause it, you don't know when you're in school what these people are actually doing in your profession. Especially like graphic design. If you're going to school to be, I keep using teacher, but like a teacher, you know, you've been around teacher since you were five. You know what to [00:47:00] expect. You know what a cop does.

[00:47:01] You know what a fireman does. You know what, like a, I don't know what a real estate agent does mm-hmm. Or something, but, um, yeah. And that, so, sorry to loop back to your question. So like, what, what are you, what my What's the

[00:47:11] Tyler: scope of like, your, your job? Like what is a, an art director. It's always So what's the, oh, what's the purpose?

[00:47:17] Yeah. What's, whats that purpose of your job when you go in and they, like Peloton hires you, what are you Right. Trying to do

[00:47:25] Liam: here? So I can give you a direct example for Peloton. Yeah. I was our director at an agency and they had this event called Homecoming 2022. Mm-hmm. Um, so it's basically their yearly.

[00:47:39] Marketing campaign. That's a capsule campaign. Mm-hmm. Where they try to do a 360 campaign, which means social, um, uh, print emails. Mm-hmm. Video, everything, everything. Apparel. Yeah. They do a little apparel capsule. And it's a keynote where, as in like a long video [00:48:00] where, um, they had a new c e O at the time.

[00:48:03] Yeah. They had like that whole situation go on. Oh yeah. PO

[00:48:06] Tyler: post covid, uh, sugar high,

[00:48:08] Liam: basically. Yes, exactly. Yeah. That's exactly what it was. So, and it was like a weird time to work with them because people were getting laid off and it just made my job like a thousand times harder because there people were doing, like one person was doing 10 people's positions at that time.

[00:48:22] That's stressful. But like, so it was. Designing out, they give, gave me one thumbnail or image. Mm-hmm. And then it was like, can you create an entire campaign around this one image? It's like, alright, let's do it. So I usually have a designer or two under me. Mm-hmm. And then I have like, I'm reporting back to the client and then we have to make the thumbnails, but keep it, the color palette.

[00:48:46] Very similar. Mm-hmm. Keep the, the typography, 'cause that needs to come in to promote what they're trying to sell. So they had like the c e o come on and it's very instructor driven. Right. So like, their instructors are almost like the pro surfers for Quicksilver [00:49:00] aboard whatever. Like, I'm, I'm,

[00:49:01] Tyler: I'm, I'm part of the Kendall tool

[00:49:02] Liam: crew, you know.

[00:49:03] Oh, work. Okay, cool. Oh, you are? Okay. Everyone has their, yeah, everyone has their, mine was like Chris, uh, not, I was gonna say Chris Tucker, but Tucker something. Yeah. Everyone has like, has their, their, their person. And I love,

[00:49:18] Tyler: I love DT for my meditation. Like, you know, like, yeah, I'm down. I'm, I'm hip, I'm core.

[00:49:25] No, Scott.

[00:49:27] Liam: Yeah. Um, so yeah. And then it was kind of, they were promoting the new rowing machine mm-hmm. That was gonna potentially get them out of their bank, whatever. Little funk. Little funk. They're little funk. Yeah. Um, and it, it went great. But, you know, we, they also do an artist series. So the artist series went into that whole campaign and it was Fleetwood Mac.

[00:49:48] Mm-hmm. So just doing the entire experience and there's a little microsite for it. So building out the microsite, it's like a never ending situation that we had to do in like three months. It was maybe less, but it was a [00:50:00] lot of, it was everything and it was all consuming. But it was, it must be so

[00:50:04] Tyler: overwhelming.

[00:50:05] It was because, you know, when I'm given like, Any sort of creative license or freedom, like I can, my mind will be like, oh, we could do this, we could do this. Like your, your eyes are almost bigger than your stomach. Right. I feel like when it comes to those

[00:50:19] Liam: projects and when you're working at an agency Yeah.

[00:50:22] You're, the client is king. So you're like stuck con and trying to navigate how do we not, how do we tell the client that they can't do this? Mm-hmm. Or that's too much. Or working the budget to do that. Yeah. How much manpower will, will that take? How many hours will that take? Is it possible? Is it not possible?

[00:50:41] Do we have the people? Mm-hmm. Can the client afford it? Does it make sense to do it? Or is it just someone being like, yo, this would be a great idea after like seeing someone else's video. Yeah. And you're like, no, it's not really gonna work. Or, yeah, it's a great idea. Like, yeah, so it's a lot of like juggling that.

[00:50:59] And then it's [00:51:00] also a lot of like, you have to get. Approval from the powers that may be to be like, yo, we really like this. Yeah. And that goes to like C level down. How much do you have to sell it too? Uh, I was selling it weekly. Wow. So I would, I mean, like usually you want communication is king, right?

[00:51:16] Mm-hmm. So, or key, but you want to make sure that they're like satisfied with, you don't wanna like be three weeks in. Yeah. And then they're like, what the fuck is this? Yeah. So you constantly wanna like be presenting, telling them. So now, I mean with Google Slides Yeah. You can put up your, without presenting, you can just have a live feed.

[00:51:38] Yeah. And have them on the live feed or even Figma now as another tool. Mm-hmm. That's like a Adobe. Yeah. It's not Adobe, but, and you can. Add people to the Figma cloud, which is a cloud. And then they can leave their comments in real time. They can leave their comments, they can see you moving your mouse.

[00:51:52] Wow. You can, and all the other, so when like covid happened, Figma blew up even more. Yeah. Because you could see, like if you and I [00:52:00] are designers mm-hmm. I can see you moving the mouse. Yeah. And doing whatever you're doing that can also go astray. Because like I've seen directors go in there and be like, don't do that.

[00:52:13] Don't do. And they're like, yo, I have it. I just, I'm like exploring right now. Can you leave me alone? And I've, that has, and you're like, I'm going, I'm going dark,

[00:52:19] Tyler: I'm going offline.

[00:52:20] Liam: Yeah. But you can't because you're stuck. So you have to do it on like a different Figma board. Yeah. And then it like gets more complicated and.

[00:52:27] Uh, yeah, just Figma iss like an Adobe program. Yeah. Just to give, I don't, yeah, you know what? It's okay. I'm like an illustrator. Photoshop kind of, but it's,

[00:52:35] Tyler: it's cloud-based and everyone can kind of, right. You know, it's like if you're looking at a Google Doc and you're Exactly. You shared Google Doc and everyone's

[00:52:42] Liam: Exactly.

[00:52:42] Putting your input. So that's more internal. And then when you share it external to a client, you have it up on Google Slides or, and Google Slides is also live. So as you're like updating it, they can see what's going on. That's usually how I present it now. Um, I just like built a presentation of her Volcom last [00:53:00] week.

[00:53:00] What day was that? Friday. Oh man. That was a P D F. But like, and also I like downloaded this keynote, um, like, um, template. Yeah. I didn't realized it had all these like, uh, motion transitions in it. So I'm like going through, I'm like, I didn't do all this work. It was like, it was like the type was coming in all cool.

[00:53:20] And I was like, this looks way better than I thought it was going to. How

[00:53:25] Tyler: do you then judge, like metrics in that? Like how, how do you get judged? Like what are, what are, are there KPIs or something that you, that you're like, all right, I did this project that was a success. Like how do you That's a great

[00:53:37] Liam: question.

[00:53:37] Yeah. 'cause like I feel like everyone struggles with that. 'cause it's not, it can be data driven, right? Like if you design, it's not very tangible, is it? It's not. If you're like doing the ui, like user interface for mm-hmm. The Peloton app, let's say. Yeah. And you get X amount of clicks and this many eyes on it, you can tell.

[00:53:55] Yeah. But with something like that, um, like big, that [00:54:00] homecoming thing, a 360 campaign, don't, yeah. You don't, you really don't know. And that's not really what it's for. Yeah. 'cause they're trying to like promote new things. Yeah. But. I mean, you can tell by the microsite and certain things and click through.

[00:54:12] It was also live. Yeah. Oh man. So it was also live, the keynote was live. Mm-hmm. And we were in the, in person at the studio. Yeah. So in that regard, like the, you know, you can tell who's logged in and who's not logged in. So there is ways of doing it. But in regards to like, before you get to that stage, yeah, it's tough because now you're getting, there is no data because it's subjective.

[00:54:36] Mm-hmm. They're like, I don't like that color. I don't like, and then you're like, well, why, why not? So then you gotta try to back it up with data as much as possible. Right. And try to prove like, okay, this is why we did it because of X, Y, Z, and try to stay away from this subject. Do

[00:54:52] Tyler: you, do you think like personality plays into it a little bit because if they like

[00:54:56] Liam: working with you big time, that's, that's part of it.

[00:54:58] That's like any job though, [00:55:00] right? Yeah. If you like click with somebody or don't click with somebody, like that's, it's, yeah. I feel like my. Design work is, I mean, I'm being very critical of myself is all right. Yeah. But like my personality really helps with that. Of course. Yeah. You already love me and we've known each other for now.

[00:55:20] Yeah, I know, man. Like,

[00:55:21] Tyler: we're

[00:55:22] Liam: bros. That's what I'm saying. We're like this, you know, you know I met you

[00:55:26] Tyler: before I, I know you look very familiar. I was like, you know where we met? Where did we meet at? Somewhere

[00:55:31] Liam: Surfing the slate. No, the, well, no, but the Slater Wave Pool. W S L when they bought the wave pool thing.

[00:55:39] Yes. The hotel rooftop. Yes, I do. That was like six years ago.

[00:55:44] Tyler: I don't When was that? It was 2016. Roughly. 2016. Yeah. 2016,

[00:55:49] Liam: 17, roughly. So you were there. Yeah. I don't think you started the podcast yet, did you? We

[00:55:53] Tyler: had, uh, my friend had started it then. Okay. And I was just getting into it with him, but [00:56:00] yes, I do remember that.

[00:56:01] Yeah. And I remember asking Slater like, about the effects of the Wave pool and,

[00:56:06] Liam: and what it's gonna happen social. And you remember this? Yeah. Okay. So I do too. Yeah. And you were like, so I'm a bigger guy. Can I get into this way? I mean, we didn't know what it looked like, right. So Yeah, it was, and he was like, yeah, you can get into it.

[00:56:17] He's, and then I remember you being like, well, I'm pretty big. Are you sure? 'cause we were so used to crappy little weight. Cool. Yeah. And no one saw what it looked, they didn't release it yet, did they? I don't think so. They had released some

[00:56:29] Tyler: photos, you know, we've seen some, some videos, stuff, photos. But there wasn't like, there wasn't a lot out there.

[00:56:33] Any time there was, it was like, oh, you

[00:56:35] Liam: know, or it was Slater surfing and he can surf exactly anything. So that doesn't count. Ah, I mean, I spilled. A beer on his shoes. I'll never forget that shit. You know what? Fuck him. That's fine. Well, he's got a new shoe wear now. We were chilling for a while in, in one side of the bar, and he, we were doing rounds.

[00:56:59] So he would do one, I [00:57:00] would do one. And then, like, so in my mind it was like three hours. It's probably like 45 minutes. Him and I chilled and I talk with my hands Long Island. Mm-hmm. As we do you. That's how we, that's how we roll. Yeah. I smack the beer out of his hand.

[00:57:15] Tyler: You should retire. Yeah.

[00:57:17] Liam: And he was like, fuck my shoes.

[00:57:20] 'cause it got all over his shoes. And I'm like, fuck dude, this guy's going to, he's gonna, I'm not even supposed to be here. I don't work for W Ss l. Someone randomly invited me. I think Surf Lodge did the marketing for it or something. So like in the, in the, yeah. So like, I. So I'm like, dude, you just sold this wave pool for like half a billion dollars.

[00:57:43] You can afford it. You can buy 20 pairs. I said this to him, you could buy 20 pairs of these 2000 pairs of these shoes. You're worried about your fucking shoes. What did he say to that? And he just started, he's like, I'm getting you another beer. And I was like, all right, cool. I don't know if he'll remember this.

[00:57:57] I definitely do. But [00:58:00]

[00:58:00] Tyler: see, all my interactions with Kelly Slater have been

[00:58:02] Liam: really awkward. Okay. I've never seen him again after that. So I've, I've had

[00:58:07] Tyler: a few meeting meetings with him and they've all been really uncomfortable. Why? Uh,

[00:58:12] Liam: first time? Are you nervous? No.

[00:58:15] Tyler: It's like, um, I did, uh, I organized a huge, uh, fundraiser with Surf Rider during the Quicksilver Pro in 2011, and he was there.

[00:58:26] And he's chilling with k Connie and my friend's wife's like, you gotta get a picture with Kelly. And I'm like, no, I don't really want to bother him. I'm fine. And she just like pushes me into him. She's like, Kelly, can you get a picture with him? And he's like, nah, I, I, I don't want to do picture. I'm like, he doesn't wanna do a picture.

[00:58:42] And then she goes and grabs Taylor Steele and makes Taylor introduce me. And, and it was so uncomfortable. Yeah, it's like fanboy and I didn't want to, but it was like being pushed. But then he was kind of a dick about it. And ah, and I was like, Yeah, I organized this event, by the way, yet you, where [00:59:00] was he?

[00:59:00] It was at the Bowery Hotel. Okay. And it was a big like art fundraiser. Oh, cool. We did. And we raised like 30 grand and amazing. It was amazing. Right. So then we do a picture and I got this really nice picture with him, but like he's short.

[00:59:15] Liam: Yeah, he's definitely not. You're tall. Yeah. But he what, six

[00:59:18] Tyler: four? Six three.

[00:59:19] Yeah, but he's not five nine, he's more like five seven I would say. You know? But if

[00:59:24] Liam: you notice all of these guys, they put like five, nine. Totally. And they're like five, six. Totally. It totally is. I mean, yeah, like, 'cause

[00:59:32] Tyler: I get it, but the dude has like a size 14 shoe, so Oh, word heads up. Um, and then the next time was at the momentum generation screening that they did, uh, world Premiere.

[00:59:43] Okay. I went with Taylor. Taylor invited me Steele and like it was awesome. I was stoked. But then I'm like talking to Slater's daughter and we're just talking and I was like, Telling her about this idea. I had to do like a curb, your enthusiasm for surfing. And I was [01:00:00] like, just telling her this funny idea.

[01:00:01] And Slater walks over and he doesn't say hi. He just stands there while I'm talking. And I'm like, do do I say something? Do I like say, oh, hey Kelly, you know? And I'm like, I'm not hitting on your daughter or anything. I'm just talking, you know? And it was, it was so awkward. Like he just didn't say anything.

[01:00:20] And I'm like, oh, hi

[01:00:21] Liam: Kelly. How's it going? We're just talking about this idea. But at this one, he knows who you are, right? I,

[01:00:25] Tyler: I don't know. But then like

[01:00:26] Liam: I go, he has to know. It was so awkward. And then I go, well, uh, I'll, I'll

[01:00:31] Tyler: just let you, it looks like you want to talk to your daughter. I'm just gonna leave you guys alone.

[01:00:35] I'm gonna walk away. And it was just like really awkward and I made it even worse. Like, it was, it was like a curb moment in, in ind So you're

[01:00:44] Liam: talking about it was meta and it, it was very meta. It was Oh, that's wild. It was very meta. That's great. That's awesome. So I never saw him after that and I was like, I wonder, did you end on a high note?

[01:00:56] That's what I'm, I mean, you're like, George, I, they were going out for the after [01:01:00]party of it. Yeah. And I, and I was like, I have a full-time job. I didn't just make like a half a million dollar. Well, I mean, whatever. Have a bill. Yeah. I'm like, I gotta wake up. And I regret doing that. Yeah. Because they were like, Taylor was like, yo, let's roll.

[01:01:13] And, and, uh, Todd, uh, Todd and yeah. And I was like, I, I gotta get up. I should've just called out sick. I should just rolled with him. I know where they were going and I shoulda, could've, would've,

[01:01:24] Tyler: you know, these are life lessons, you know, but maybe it could've been worse. Maybe Slater would've like then like, Connie, maybe you would've s spilled another

[01:01:32] Liam: beer on him.

[01:01:32] That's, you know, yes. I could've made it. Exactly. You end on the high note, like you said, leave,

[01:01:37] Tyler: you know, whereas I left on a low note, so it

[01:01:39] Liam: great. Right, right. Like it could have been, it could have definitely gotten weird, more alcohol, dark places. Let me ask

[01:01:49] Tyler: you, like, do you think then being a surfer has helped your, or hurt your

[01:01:54] Liam: career?

[01:01:55] Um, I think it's helped my career. Career [01:02:00] tremendously. Yeah. Because there's such a community around mm-hmm. Surfing.

[01:02:03] Tyler: Well, you mentioned like Todd, right? Todd de Ccio, I assume. Assume, yes. Yeah. T d c, like the ultimate networker

[01:02:09] Liam: right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's great. I mean, just like everyone you meet is awesome.

[01:02:13] And then, and then you tend to meet, like you mentioned, like Farty, like those guys, they, they have that brand. I worked for them and modeled for them when they started it, and. I, I knew them before they started it. Fucking love their, their stuff, you know, like, and they're fucking gem of guys. I remember

[01:02:30] Tyler: meeting them in their, like their, when it was like a little closet office,

[01:02:33] Liam: you know, on Thompson.

[01:02:34] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I used to hang out at Epstein's. I bartending a couple times. Pat Conlin sold. Yeah. Pat the Rack kid. So, yeah. So, um, and my roommate in college bartended there and then, so we would, that's when I started hanging out down in Lower East Side and they bartended there. Nice, nice. So like I just knew them from that.

[01:02:55] I remember them telling me when they were leaving their respected [01:03:00] positions. Yeah. And I'm still in college and they're like, yeah, we're leaving. One worked in finance, one worked at Double rl, Ralph Lauren was a designer. Mm-hmm. Like, we wanna do like a Patagonia, Ralph Lauren mix. And that's exactly what they did.

[01:03:13] Yes. And that's exactly what they're doing. It's, and they're, it's awesome. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's,

[01:03:19] Tyler: it's incredible. And what's amazing is those guys started with like, Touring, you know, basically having pop-up shops. Yep. They created basically

[01:03:27] Liam: Exactly. Which was really cool and innovative. And I've, I've gone like, trips with them, photo shoots to like Puerto Rico and, and like always rock their gear.

[01:03:36] Love it, dude. Like, stuff is great, great, great quality, great people like everything about, and just to see it from something that mm-hmm. Like, 'cause they are older than me. Yeah. So they have more time in their careers Yeah. To see something that was like an idea. Mm-hmm. And be something that exists and is actually tangible and you can go to the store and touch the stuff and be like, wow.

[01:03:58] They're, they have like 40 stores [01:04:00] now. Yeah.

[01:04:01] Tyler: It's, it's, it's, it's insane. It's awesome. And the stores are

[01:04:04] Liam: beautifully done. Beautiful. And the mom designs out the, the, the stores and like, it's, it's so

[01:04:09] Tyler: cool. And not only that, the, the people that work there seem to really like it. They're just Yes. Awesome

[01:04:15] Liam: customers.

[01:04:15] You can tell when. It dribbles down, right? Yeah. From the top. Totally. So you can tell when, like a company is great in doing the right thing, when it comes down to the, as sale sale associates in the store are like smiling, stoked. Yeah. They have health insurance and they're like, good people. Totally. And they're like, excited to be there.

[01:04:34] And you're like, all right. They're doing something right from the top down. And I've seen it. So it's, it's great. And we

[01:04:40] Tyler: will be right back. And now back to our show. So now I'm gonna ask you a controversial question. Oh, all right. Uh, don't worry, you're not gonna get me toed here. We're not asking something like that, but, um, no.

[01:04:54] Um, I wanna ask like, if you had a choice, like would you want to [01:05:00] just be, do being an artist or a creative

[01:05:02] Liam: director? That's a great question. So I'll give you a background about this. Yeah. Could I have that water actually? Absolutely. My man. Thank

[01:05:08] Tyler: you. So

[01:05:10] Liam: during c mm-hmm. So like I was saying, you're getting distracted going out everywhere.

[01:05:14] Mm-hmm. Doing this, that, and the other thing. Spilling beers on Slater's shoes as you do shit. As you, as you do. And uh, I always did my art if I stayed in the night or something or just like work was slow, like in office or something, you're like, all right, I got like an hour to hear back from a client, whatever it is.

[01:05:33] Like Yeah. Or like you're just home on a Tuesday night and would draw and do my thing. And I'm like, I just didn't dedicate enough time to art. And art takes a lot of time. Yeah. Just like anything does. If you want to get good at surfing or basketball or whatever. Mm-hmm. The hell the craft is. And Covid totally helped me with that.

[01:05:53] Nice. So I moved home, I was living in the Lower East Side. I moved back to my parents' house 'cause I did not wanna be in Manhattan. Yeah. So [01:06:00] the day of Covid happening, I was an art director at an agency that did all the. Creative for Lincoln Automotive. Mm-hmm. So I was there for like close to three years.

[01:06:11] Happy McConaughey. We taking a booger. The agency I was at made, like came up with those concepts. So we like, I'm like, dude, I'm not gonna stay in this Manhattan. I'm not staying in Manhattan. Yeah. So the day of I dipped, I remember I went to Long Island and then the next day I went surfing before work.

[01:06:33] Mm-hmm. I was like, yo, this is amazing. I can go surf Gilgo. 'cause they're telling us to stay home. Yeah. Stay home. I surfed Gilgo in the morning. I remember looking at my phone and being like, we're not gonna be open until Friday. So now this is the Thursday. 'cause Wednesday is the day that everything got weird with Covid.

[01:06:48] Yeah. Then Thursday went surfing. There was a swell was Mar uh, it was March. Yeah. So then got outta the water again. Looked at my phone. Same thing. We're close for the unforeseeable future. I'm like, yo, [01:07:00] alright. So I'm staying out here. So that gave me that time of like two and a half years just to focus on my art.

[01:07:06] Nice. And then another blessing was I, a friend of mine house was getting demolished. Mm-hmm. In Montauk. Oh, on Edgemere, he was building a new house. So he bought this house? Mm-hmm. It was on the Fort Pond. Okay. Wow. And they Beautiful spot. Yeah. They ripped out the electricity because they were gonna rip it down.

[01:07:30] You have to do all that protocol before doing so. And because of Covid they had to stop work order. So the house was just sitting there, but it had no electricity. Okay. So I pitched to him. 'cause now I'm a year deep at my parents' house. Yeah. And I'm like, yo, can I. Can I just like crash live there? Can camp stay there?

[01:07:52] Can I camp? Can I camp there? Yeah. There's no electricity, but go for it. So I lived there for six months. Wow. So it was amazing space to, like, I had my [01:08:00] little like portable wifi thing. Yeah. And then I would sometimes work from whatever coffee shop or another friend's house. I would take cold showers 'cause there was no heat.

[01:08:07] Wow. So I, I lasted until like Halloween. Wow.

[01:08:11] Tyler: That's,

[01:08:12] Liam: that seems. And I, and

[01:08:13] Tyler: that was a beautiful spot. And it was all by

[01:08:15] Liam: candlelight. All it was That sounds romantic. On the, on Amazon. Bought Romantic bought on Amazon. I bought all these, um, uh, the Mason Bowl jars. Yeah. But they had the little top that, uh, has the, um, the solar.

[01:08:30] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like, I would just keep them outside. Nice. And then I bought like 20 or 30 of 'em. Mm-hmm. And then I would bring them in and then I would just put them all over the house. That's great. And it was, it was like, A special place in my life. 'cause I probably would never do it again, but it, and it wouldn't ever happen again.

[01:08:48] But like, and then I was able to create even more art and like get it messy in there. 'cause it was getting demolished, so it didn't matter. Yeah. So I was able to like paint inside, outside. There was a huge deck [01:09:00] looking over the pond. So like, it was, there was a lot of hot nights though, man. Yeah. But you

[01:09:04] Tyler: know, it's like that, that's like what so many people, I think fantasize Yes.

[01:09:11] Doing right. Like a lot of people, like, I'm gonna write if I just had time and, and the, the right location with no distractions, I'm gonna go and create.

[01:09:22] Liam: And which is all in your own head. Totally. Right. You gotta create that time. Exactly. Covid forced me to have more of that time. Mm-hmm. Because then I would be sitting at a computer at an office, so there was no remote working.

[01:09:35] Yeah. And like people were definitely more strict about, Being there, sitting there doing that. Mm-hmm. Which is like not the healthiest for creative people. No. And I feel like Covid really helped with that because now there's a hybrid situation. I feel like they're more, um, like accepting of being like, yeah, you can work from that.

[01:09:53] Just need a different environment. Yeah. You can't sit at the same desk every day. You can't. It's not good for your brain. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, [01:10:00] yeah. And then, don't get me wrong, like, being at my parents' house is great. I had the full basement. Yeah. And 'cause in my head I was like, what am I gonna do?

[01:10:06] Just like drink myself to death in this basement. Yeah. I'm not gonna do that. Like, I'm gonna be productive with my time. And I, I drew on these vans that were like the slip-on vans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I posted on Instagram and it got like, I want those, I want those. I'm like, I, I mean, I could do this for anybody really.

[01:10:26] Like, I was always doing paintings, but paintings are different because they're like, all right, I'm gonna hang it on my wall. Of course now you have stuff people can wear and walk around with. Functional. Functional. So I was doing the Vans a lot, then I did a couple Air Force ones and like, Then did shirts, and then I had this collection from the house in Montauk, and I just had this collection over time of all this work.

[01:10:44] Mm-hmm. And then I figured out like how to draw on black t-shirts with a bleach pen that I made myself, like a homemade one that I took the black ink gout and put bleach in it. And, and then I was drawing on my parents' lawn or out in Montauk drawing on the lawn. And then I was like, I have all this stuff.

[01:10:59] I need to do [01:11:00] something now. Yeah. I have all this shit sitting around now. What? Yeah. And now things started to open back up and that's to circle back. That's where Pete from Special Sauce came in, who now runs the whole Burton. He's like the Burton lieutenant. Wow. You know who I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:11:17] So he, I was like, yo, I would love to do, have you guys done anything post Covid yet? No. Are you guys ready? Yeah, we could. Let's, let's roll. So I did the whole, I took over the whole store and hung all my stuff up and then did a hundred custom shirts. And Montauk Bruco sponsor it. They were great. They were a blessing.

[01:11:37] They like hand-delivered. That's amazing. 500 beer, whatever. Amazing amount of beers. And I had like, uh, Arizona iced tea throw down, they, the non-drinkers. And then I had like Williamsburg Pizza, deliver pizza from my buddy Kyle Bryant. He came in and, and like, was like, how many? How whatever, how many is you want?

[01:11:56] I'm like, mm-hmm. Pies that you want. I'm like, all right. Like, [01:12:00] is 20 good? He's like, yeah, sure. I'm like, uh, great. So it ended up being super successful. One of, and like the staff, there was another spot where the staff was like, incredibly helpful. Yeah. 'cause they took everything. They didn't leave any article of clothing in that place.

[01:12:16] They emptied the whole Wow. Uh, downstairs and upstairs, holy emptied, the whole fucking thing. And then I just took over the whole space. It was so, and they were so helpful. Like, I drove in myself, but like with my truck, but mm-hmm. It was all hands on deck and they all helped. So it was like all day install, did the whole thing.

[01:12:36] Got it. Complete it like it was, it was stoked. And then I caught that bug and I was like, I need to keep this, I love this. Yeah. I need to keep this going. Now I'm getting older. I'm not going to those like parties and lower or just like, I'm not staying at a bar and I'm not trying to do that, or like, I'm just trying to be as productive as possible with my time.

[01:12:53] Mm-hmm. And um, yeah. So I'm just like, the next one I'm having is in Rockaway. Really? So let, let do you know

[01:12:59] Tyler: about this? Nope. Let's, [01:13:00] let's inform, let's inform the audience and let's inform me, I think Justin, our friend who hooked us up Yes. Mentions, shout out. Justin J. Justin J. Go listen to the plug podcast by the way.

[01:13:10] Gotta give a

[01:13:11] Liam: shout out. Yes, yes. Um, he linked us up. I'm having a show in at Rockaway Beach Surf Club. Excellent. August 12th. Amazing. With Brandon. And, uh, with Brandon. And Brady. And Brady. Brady. So I met with Brady in Brooklyn two weeks ago. I've known those guys for years. Yeah. So I have a bungalow in Rockaway.

[01:13:28] Nice. Excellent. Jimmy Dowel. Bungalow. Oh, excellent. Have you been there before? I mean,

[01:13:33] Tyler: I, I know of it very much. You know, Justin, it has like

[01:13:35] Liam: a legacy

[01:13:35] Tyler: out there, Justin. I mean Justin, you know, has, has

[01:13:38] Liam: it and all that sort of stuff. Yeah. Jim, Jim was in it forever. Yeah. All those things. So I'm doing a show.

[01:13:43] Yeah. August 12th, Rockaway Beach Surf Club. I'm taking over there. We're going to, I mean, again, like Montague Brewco, throwing down as a sponsor. Quila. So we got the tequila sponsor. Awesome. And then, um, yeah, I mean, uh, Burton's gonna throw down [01:14:00] also, I think what's happening is they're doing. Um, they're gonna gimme a couple decks.

[01:14:04] Amazing. Like snowboard decks, like new snowboard decks that I'm want dumpy up. Beautiful. It's a verb now. I'm calling it dumping. Dumping dubbing. I love it. Yeah. Dumping. So I'm dumping the whole thing and auction that off. And, um, I don't know how many they're gonna gimme, but a couple of them. And then I have a bunch of, um, paintings as well.

[01:14:24] And then I also, I, Jimmy Dale gave me a bunch of Chapman, like blank skateboard decks. Oh. So I drew on the skateboard decks. He gave me five. He's got a bunch more. He is like, he loves, he's like, he's like, yo sick moose. I love how I came out. So now doing, yeah, so now I'm doing a bunch more. And so I have these caricatures on the skate decks that I basically want to carry throughout the entire show.

[01:14:47] And so I have, now I'm was pa before I came here, I was painting on it. Um, is one of the characters. My girlfriend named it. Poof. Poof. That's a horrible name. It's not sticking with this character. [01:15:00] Maybe it is. I don't know. I, yeah, so like, I, so that character's on one of the decks now. I have it on a big canvas.

[01:15:06] And now I also am doing it on the t-shirts. Nice. So like, I had this kind of Duffy totem pole that I've been creating where it's like multiple characters layered mm-hmm. On top of each other, um, that are gonna be on the shirt. So maybe do some bucket hats. That's also why I had a meeting with Volcom to do some apparel, potentially don't know.

[01:15:24] But, um, that's in the works right now. But we'll see what happens. If not, we'll be in Jimmy Dowd's, uh, house. Like we, either way it's happening, it's going down. That's, that's be, so I'm stoked about that. And, um, it's cool 'cause like, like you said, with the design and the art, it just opens up so many channels.

[01:15:41] Like when you do the art thing, like I'm meeting with Volcom and then you don't know where that's gonna go with design and art and like, it's all kind of one thing, but it just opens up your network to even a greater. Absolutely peace. I also met with, um, I, I had an interview [01:16:00] with this, this one agency. Uh, the guy's name is Kevin Lyons, and he, he's a big artist, but he also does, he does big murals.

[01:16:09] Yeah. He also is a Crate Creative director. Yeah. Yeah. Art

[01:16:14] Tyler: design director. Design director.

[01:16:15] Liam: Yeah. And, uh, he shares his time with, so he's done Kala with Adidas and, um, Uh, endless Harry's, he just did one like the shaver. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So he just did a huge me mural in Bushwick. Um, but he shares his time with agency, with his art, and I was, that was really inspiring.

[01:16:32] 'cause I got to see like, are other people are doing this? How do I, it's like how

[01:16:36] Tyler: you can meld your, meld it together. Your, your art and like your more business kind of, uh, life almost. Exactly. It sounds like you're trying to marry the two. Mm-hmm. You know, and there are these great op intersectional,

[01:16:49] Liam: uh, opportunities.

[01:16:50] 100%. So that's, that's like, and I see him doing it and I'm like, all right, so this is possible where it's funny you, in my experience not to be on a hater tip. [01:17:00] Yeah. But like, you have other creative directors who come to you. I'm not using that term term anymore. Yeah, no worries, no worries. But you have them come to you and you're like, you're working on your own stuff you should be working on.

[01:17:12] And it's like, what do you. Am I supposed to be doing your stuff like at eight o'clock at night? No. Like, this is just my, yeah. So it's weird and it, it's almost like, is it a jealousy thing? Is it something that you never obtained or like, I don't know what it is, but when I meet someone more on that side where you're like, yo, he's doing this.

[01:17:29] Mm-hmm. And he's, he's way senior than I am in that in life. Yeah. And I'm like, he's still doing it and it's incredible. He's doing like Adidas Kicks, custom Adidas kicks. And just to see, I'm like, alright, just to see people that exist in the planet that do both, they're,

[01:17:46] Tyler: you're seeing that like more and more too.

[01:17:48] I think a lot of the, the brands are recognizing that, that these people have great voices, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like a lot of creative voices that can add cachet to their, to their products and, [01:18:00] you know, and come up with something new. Like, you look at like, uh, mad Ste when he did the whole wetsuits with, uh, rip Curl, you know?

[01:18:06] Yeah. Sick. Or even like, I mean, I mean, to be honest, I feel like this was a little too much, but Tokidoki got every, a little outta hand. What is that? Tokidoki is like a design is is an artist, uh, who did like a lot of, um, you know, he did kid, robot, a lot of kid robot stuff. Okay. And then like, did like snowboards and clothing and all this stuff.

[01:18:27] And it has like these kind of like, you know, you know, these little figures that they would draw. And then it was like everywhere and it's really adorable, but kind of badass looking. But it got saturated in a lot of places. Right. But there's, there are like, like, like we were saying, like Mad Ste, you know, is like another artist who, who kind of is finding that way through doing stuff like that

[01:18:46] Liam: too.

[01:18:46] And, and I, I feel like even I'm using Volcom as an example. Yeah. 'cause I had a meeting with them and. To be able to do the art and then be able to build like a deck that you would present to a client and be like, here's my [01:19:00] art. But it's in a deck. Because how marketing budgets work is you need to have, you can't just be like, oh, I have these shirts laying around.

[01:19:06] Yeah. That are inspiring. And these skate decks s laying around and what do you do? Like here's a photo and I'm sending photos via email. I have everything in one piece. It's still a corporate setting. Yeah. Right. Like they still need to show the boss and the everybody to be like, okay, this all makes sense.

[01:19:21] Here's like all the data points. Like how many viewerships on social media between Rockaway Beach Surf Club. Mm-hmm. And um, Whitewater Willie is Yeah. Yeah. Giving us like for this, for the Well scooting. Yeah. Yeah, for the, for this. Like all the mike reach and everything. Jimmy Dow with St. James and like all the reach out and 12 season

[01:19:40] Tyler: podcast, you

[01:19:41] Liam: know.

[01:19:41] Yes. 12 season. That's why I'm here, man.

[01:19:45] Tyler: Well, like, like here's, here's an idea I'm gonna throw out there. You should pitch to Vulcan and be like, yo, why don't I work with Ballam to create an inspired, uh, capsule.

[01:19:54] Liam: That was a conversation there. You York. So you do vetted the vetted series. Nice. Um, like the apparel vetted [01:20:00] series, like, um, you know, they'll do like a Noah Dean one.

[01:20:02] Yeah. And then a, so like the conversation was that they really want to try to get more of their hands in New York and they're, because they're so California driven Yeah. They don't really have that as much. So they're really trying to get like more in the circle and try to get more of a core Yeah.

[01:20:16] Audience 'cause selling. Shirts at Marshall's is a part of the business, but it's not core. No, no, no. And it like pushes us away Exactly. As a core business and as a core audience. So that was also the convo and yeah. Ball. Like I think I also am partnering a bar and I think you went to that bar after he was on fall season last time.

[01:20:39] Yeah. Yeah. Did you go to East Point? No, no, no,

[01:20:41] Tyler: I did not. You did not? 'cause I, I was a responsible growing up who went home to his wife, you know, and didn't get into trouble. Uh, okay,

[01:20:51] Liam: got it. Got it. But fair enough. Yes. Got it. And he texted me. I, I don't, yeah. 'cause he, but it's, God bless that kid. 'cause he's everywhere.

[01:20:59] [01:21:00] Always. I'm like, he's the best Did, he's like in Fiji one time. I'm like, man, that's, it's awesome. It's, it's, it's what

[01:21:06] Tyler: an inspiring

[01:21:07] Liam: person, you know? Yeah. And, and then even like with the Volcom situation, I'm like, to reach back to college was like, yo, I was making these weird. Cartoons, whatever strips in this design inspired by Vogel.

[01:21:21] Now I'm meeting with them. That's awesome. So I cans track the timeline and be like, that's really cool. Yo, this is all right. I'm getting somewhere full circle. Almost full circle. Or trying the fir the circle's not done yet. Yeah, it's not, the circle isn't complete yet. Exactly. So I'm getting there, which is like, it's just like, all right, cool.

[01:21:36] We're, we're getting somewhere. And like these, what's tough with art is that's super untangible, like financially, like, so you're like, how do you make it work eventually? You just gotta keep going. You gotta keep at it. And it can be super discouraging, but it's like you gotta just keep as positive as possible and make it, you know, it's a passion thing more than anything else, but Absolutely.

[01:21:56] Yeah, man.

[01:21:57] Tyler: So Liam, um, we have to [01:22:00] go, but, um, damn. I know. Like, time just flew. This was really fun. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm super stoked to, to, to have been able to connect with you. And like, it's, it's funny, like when I have people on and like, talk to 'em and you're like, oh, you know so and so, and you know, so and so, it's like it's, I have to sometimes refrain from being too much like that on a podcast.

[01:22:19] 'cause people can't relate. No one wants to hear that. Um, so where can our listeners find you right now? And, and let's, this is your moment to shout out, you know?

[01:22:29] Liam: Oh, man. Um, my Instagram is Liam Duppy. L i m d u p p y. Um, liam duppy.com is a website. And then for my design stuff, it's just Liam Tracy, my real name.

[01:22:42] Yeah. Um, not the Dupy Alias. And where

[01:22:44] Tyler: did the Dupy Alias come from? By the way, I meant to ask you this earlier. It's,

[01:22:49] Liam: it's a, in Patois, west Indian culture, right? Mm-hmm. The Dupy is like the ghoul Okay. Character. Do you know this? I am not familiar with this. I'm learning. So Bob [01:23:00]Marley has a song called Dupy Conquer.

[01:23:02] Mm-hmm. So I always was, I, I've been a Bob Marley fan since I was like a, sitting in my parents' car, like, since I don't remember, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Since I was in the car, like my parents playing it. And when Instagram came out, I was like, I can't just be Liam Tracy. Mm-hmm. There needs to be something cooler.

[01:23:19] And at that time I wasn't, I wasn't tagging Dupy. Yeah. And I started listening. I'm like, that's, that track came on. I'm like, yo, I always love that duppy mm-hmm. Concept, which is like the spirit at night, but then he's referencing it to, as a conqueror. So you have that like duality of like the spirit at night, but the conquer of the Duffy.

[01:23:40] Mm-hmm. And it's also not too obvious where you, someone asks a question. Yeah. I'm, I

[01:23:45] Tyler: am unfamiliar, so there

[01:23:47] Liam: you go. Right. And being that such a reggae Yeah. Fan and vibe, it's like, yo, let me, let's that, that'd be cool. Just Liam Duffy. And then I started just, Tag. I mean, this is years ago, but tagging it on [01:24:00] everything that would, that was my alias.

[01:24:02] Yeah. Because my character caricatures kind of have this weird, like I try to promote a positive message, but they also have this gnarly kinda look to it at times. Mm-hmm. So like to have that dual, I feel like it matches that duality of like the love it, the conqueror with the Dupy, the DUP Nest. I love it.

[01:24:20] I actually shipped something out, um, like a piece out, uh, in Brooklyn like a, a month or two ago, and I wrote Lean Dupy on it and not my actual last name. Yeah. And handed it to the woman behind the, the window. And she's like, how do you pronounce his last name with her Jamaican accent? I can't do a Jamaican accent.

[01:24:39] I'm not doing it. And like, I was like, oh, dumpy. And she's like, is that your real last name? And I was like, she's like, you know what that is, right? And I was like, yes, no, it's not my real last name. I was like, that's my Alia. She's like, Oh, that's, and she, we both started laughing then it sparked the whole conversation's.

[01:24:54] Now she's like, that's awesome. When I come in, she loves when I come in there. 'cause I'm always shipping something art-wise. So like, it was [01:25:00] cool. It was cool. It was, it was, it was dope. Like to hear it. 'cause not many people know what it is. So now

[01:25:04] Tyler: I know what our opening song's gonna be too. Oh,

[01:25:07] Liam: snap.

[01:25:10] Tyler: Well, um, Liam, uh, this was awesome.

[01:25:13] It was great. I really appreciate it. It was awesome, man. So your show at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club

[01:25:19] Liam: is August, August 12th. 12th, Saturday. Um, yeah. Saturday, August 12th. Be there. Be square people. Be there. Be square. There's gonna be a bit. Yeah, we're going to blow it out. It's gonna be awesome. Come by, come by.

[01:25:31] It's throw some art. Great. You should get Drew Maloney

[01:25:32] Tyler: to show screen a movie, by the way, at night. And he's

[01:25:36] Liam: also going to be shooting and filming the event that night. So there you go. There it is. Shout out to Drew Maloney Productions. And,

[01:25:44] Tyler: uh, listeners, thank you all for listening to Swell Season. You can, of course, uh, find us at Swell Season Surf Radio on Instagram and swell season surf.com.

[01:25:55] And of course, gotta give a shout out to Joe here at the newsstand studio at Rockefeller Center [01:26:00] recording in the heart of Manhattan. Uh, thank you Joe for making our sound, our sounds, our voices sound silky smooth, and uh, we'll check you all down the line soon. You

[01:26:12] Liam: peace.

[01:26:20] Don't try up,

[01:26:25] I've.