the industry and the people in it, it went against my ideals. I was trying to come to grips with a flawed human society’s interaction with something so pure.” As Sutton dove deeper into the fimmkaing aspect, he began to garner more attention and accolades than ever before, like receiving an Emmy Award for 2005’s “The Next Wave: A Tsunami Relief Story,” a film he directed and wrote alongside Justin Krumb which originally aired on the action sports network Fuel TV. It centered on the devastating effects of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, following four people into the heart of the catastrophe with gripping results. Showing his range, Cyrus made “Tom’s Creation Plantation” in 2009, a much lighter film chronicling the ancient art of wooden surfboards known as alaias. Since then, however, Sutton notes that the audience for independent surf films has changed. “The market has just shrunk exponentially. Nowadays there’s so much stuff on the web for free, and so many companies sponsoring surf films. That, coupled with the fact that the cost of camera equipment is so cheap, it really waters down the market. In terms of surf culture, there’s a bombardment of media out there.” Nevertheless, knowing a good idea when he sees it, Sutton managed to secure funding from Ubiquity Records to make “Under the Sun,” and in a career that brought him all over the globe, he decided to focus the film on two beach side communities in Australia that perfectly captured the idea he was trying to convey. “I first went out to Australia when I was 18,” recalls Sutton. “I realized that there were these two contrasting surf cultures there: Byron Bay and Gold Coast. Even though they are so close to eachother, they are so different in every way, both mentally and physically speaking.” While there, Sutton was reminded of the culture back in the states: specifically the competing vibes of Los Angeles and Orange County. “The differences between (Byron Bay and Gold Coast) so perfectly reflect what I grew up with (in California).” A half a world away, Cyrus also notes that “both areas in Australlia gave birth historically to archetypes and the environment that I was raised in; a lot of it is rooted in these two towns.” Just like famed surf film “The Endless Summer” introduced a America to surf culture in the 1960s, Sutton is introducing an entirely new American audience to Australian surf culture in the 2000s, and the many lessons that can be drawn from it. “There’s a lot of conclusions you can make and everyone is going to drawn their own,” explains Sutton “What people can take away is that there are amazing things in the world and you can really get wrapped up in what you’re being marketed, whether it’s surfing, or even skating or snowboarding, or any of these relatively new sports that are being branded. What’s really important through all of this is
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being happy doing what you’re doing. It’s about being on the mountain, the waves, or in the skatepark. It doesn’t matter what clothes you’re wearing or how you look, what matters is that there are things deeper than all of that.” At the same time he was making a name for himself with his films, Sutton came to a crossroads.“I had been spending all my time pursing my passions and I was feeling kind of turned off by whats going on in the economy,” he remembers. “I realized that the most important thing that I could do was to be as healthy as I could and teach myself basic skills of living, whether it’s building or cooking or whatever else. I realized that if the end of the world came tomorrow, I’d be screwed.” As a result, in an attempt to further anyalyze and explore this insight, Sutton teamed up with some friends to launch Korduroy.tv, a website with a mission statement that says it “was born from our disillusionment with mass production,” and whose slogan is “Spreading Digital Aloha”. More specifically, according to Sutton, the point of Korduroy.TV is “to try to empower surfers through tutorials and interviews with artists and creative types; inspiring people to look outside the box and to take control and take stock in their own lives.” First online in 2009, Korduroy is in the process of a massive overhaul which, as Sutton puts it, “is a gift to all of our fans.” Videos on the site include clips like “How To Live in Your Van,” (self explanatory), and a look at a recent trip Sutton took to Mexico. Korduroy also boasts a recurring segment dubbed “Inner-views” which profile various people across the country, most recently a pro-snowboarder in Salt Lake City. As usual in Sutton’s ever-changing life, he came to yet another fork in the road and had the opportunity to start shooting commercials, something he’s been working on in addition to his duties at Korduroy. Not to worry, he’s not producing spots for McDonalds or Coca-Cola, but as you may have guessed, for surf products (he recently filmed one featiring veteran surfer Wingnut). Most notably, however, is that more than 10 years after getting that staph infection in Samoa and leaving the world of professional surfing, in December 2011 he was signed yet again, this time to Reef. “They’re supporting me to learn the things I want to learn,” explains Sutton, but this time he has the knowledge of the reality of the industry he’s so perfectly captured in all of his films. Whether it’s his website, films, commercials, or anything else he may be working on, his love of surfing is something that overrides it all: “Surfing is beyond comprehension really, it lets you listen to yourself and your intuition and that thought process winds up influencing your entire life.”