Some New Tunes: The Smart Brothers

The crew over at Almond Surfboards & Designs held a little gathering this past Friday for friends, associates, peers, investors, shop rats, wanderers, freeloaders, tourists and anyone else who have stumbled upon the groovy shop on Old Newport Blvd. While the event doubled as a chance to promote a few new developments in the world of Almond, it mainly served as a good time for good people. 

The highlight was the folky brother duo, The Smart Brothers. Armed with a range of instruments, an awkwardly funny sense of humor, black suits and ties (a la The Blues Brothers), and a simple, yet soothing foot-beating sound, the brothers kept the crowd enraptured by the pleasant hour-long set. Words can rarely do good music justice, so listen for yourself. Find 'em here. This is certainly NOT for the rap-aholic out there. 

The new Almond unveilings were the super-stylish, somewhat retro boardshorts (in a range of colors), a few t-shirt designs, and a teaser of their in-progress video project (the gist is that Nathan Adams is silky smooth slider, or in shortboard terms, he rips). 

I've talked about the Almond team and their faithful, ultra-friendly leader, Dave Allee before, but if you want to find out what may be coming up in the near future or just want to check out what all the fuss is about (the boards are constantly moving in and out, always something new and eye-catching on the racks), walk in and say 'hey!' Everyone's nice, knowledgeable and willing to chit-chat. 

Dave Allee + Almond Surfboards & Designs

Met up with Mr. Allee at his super duper surf shop off of Old Newport Blvd. this past weekend for an interview for the mag. I'd heard some talk about some nutty new surfboard label popping up in my backyard, and finally stumbled across the facts on the blogosphere. We crossed paths at a surf flick premiere, played email tag a bit (that's not supposed to sound as suggestive as it seems), and finally were able to set aside some time for me to come and dig into the background of Almond. I must say, after spending the early afternoon wandering about the shop and chatting with my fellow Chapman alum Dave about the company and what's gone into the the thing coming together, it's rather apparent that it's quite a unique being in this oh-so-predictable thing called the surf industry.

Read a bit more in the upcoming issue of morSURF. Or, if the anticipation is just a bit too much, navigate your way over to Almond's website or blog and scour the depths of the Almond spirit.