Drift Surfing » devon lanes and longboards

Devon Lanes & Longboards – The Soundtrack

Staff Writer — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:05:16 +0000

Following on from Andy Haworth’s film’s success, Chris Warner is now releasing the film’s soundtrack which is set for 2nd May 2011.

Devon Lanes & Longboards is a surf film by Barnstaple film maker Andy Haworth, in which he documents the fun and beauty of being a longboard surfer in Devon throughout the four seasons. Featuring some of the UKs best longborders such as Ben Haworth, Ben Skinner, James Parry and many more, motivation for the film came when Andy received the sad news that his sister had been diagnosed with secondary cancers in April 2009. Since the film’s release last summer, it has risen over £4000 for cancer charities with all profits from the film being donated.

Meeting through mutual friends, the films soundtrack was written by singer-songwriter Chris Warner. When Andy first approached Chris asking if he could use a song or two of his for the film, Chris was naturally flattered and happy to oblige. Learning more behind the reasons of the movie however, not to mention being utterly impressed with the shots Andy had captured so far, Chris immediately felt that it deserved more than just a ‘yes of course, feel free to use any of my pre-recorded songs’. This was a project that deserved care and attention. And so it was, with Andy granting Chris full exclusivity, he set to work writing and recording a new set of songs particularly for the film.

Whilst it gave the opportunity for some of Chris’ older “new” songs to have a home, half of the 10 track album was written two weeks prior to the recording date, with Light the Fire being written the night before. It also gave Chris the freedom to experiment in a way he’d never done before; writing instrumentals and playing and recording each instrument himself.Recorded, mixed and mastered in just 3 eight hour sessions, work was carried out quickly and instinctively, with all parts being down in just one or two takes. This of course wouldn’t have been possible without working with good friend, co-producer and engineer Rob Connolley, who Chris had the good fortune of growing up with and therefore seem to have a telepathic connection.

Looking forward, both Andy and Chris are excited about promoting the film over the coming summer & thank everyone who decides to support it. They truly hope that everyone enjoys the film and its soundtrack as much as they have enjoyed creating it.

For more information please visit Chris Warner Music.

Devon Lanes and Longboards…..

Chris P — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:06:48 +0000

Chris Preston caught up with Andy Haworth, the man behind a new British longboard film, for a sneak preview and to find out more about the man behind the lens…

North Devon is a beautiful place to live, a rugged coastline of wide sandy beaches and secluded coves. It’s a fantastic place to be a surfer, especially if you enjoy the glide of longer equipment.

The area’s natural beauty and the way surfers immersed themselves in it captured the imagination of a young boy on family holidays from Sheffield. Like so many before and after him, he convinced his parents to rent him a board and on his 16th birthday, way back in 1975, he stood up on his first wave and the hook sunk deep.

It took Andy Haworth another 30 years of growing obsession to finally make the move to the coast, helped in no small part by his son’s obvious keeness and natural aptitude for surfing. In 2004 he moved his family to Landkey, a small village a few miles from the North Devon coast, retaining his job in the Midlands and facing 40 000 miles a year in the car to keep the life/work balance steady.

Many Surfers are creative people and Andy is no exception having painted, written peotry and made several of his own boards through the years. As his son, Ben, grew into one of the countries best longboarders, Andy picked up a camera to document and help promote him in what can be a difficult niche of surfing to make your mark. Inspired by other local filmakers he had a half formed idea to do somthing more concrete with the pile of tapes in his spare room but it took personal tragedy to inspire him to take the plunge.

In April last year, Andy’s sister was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer a difficult time in anyone’s life and often bringing with it a desire to DO somthing to help. Andy himself jokes that he was hardly in shape to run from Lands End to John ‘O Groats, instead it became the push he needed to embark on a surf film, with the intention of donating any profits to cancer charities.

A year later, almost to the day, I’m sat with Andy watching a preview copy of “Devon Lanes and Longboards”.

It’s an impressive debut but setting himself the target of a year from start to finished product certainly heaped the pressure on and was not without some difficulties. A few months in, Andy had to almost start again from scratch after computer failure forced a switch from Pc to Mac and a whole new piece of software to get to grips with. Add to that problems with the beurocracy of trying to work with various charities, leaving Andy scratching his head musing that it shouldn’t be that difficult to give money away and it’s ended up being a stressful twelve months.

With a deadline looming and working near Leicester for much of the week, almost every spare moment at home has been spent standing in front of a tripod or in front of an expansive Apple monitor. Andy describes the film as an attempt to convey the joy and sense of community that being a longboarder in the close knit North Devon scene brings and it’s loosely organised around the changing faces of the spots and characters as the seasons change. The film has a relaxed pace, mixing some high quality modern longboarding with scenics that really convey a sense of the beauty in our everyday surroundings.

Ben Haworth features heavily, and that is perhaps to be expected, but he is ably supported by local standout Ashley Braunton and several others including younger up and comers like Greg Norman and Zak Lawton who are beginning to make a name on a national scale.

There is a voice over and I must admit to being slightly allergic to voice overs in surf films, especially British ones. I think they often come over as poor imitations of Bruce Brown. Andy, however is ot afraid to poke fun at himself and enlisted the services of a very Devon sounding fellow and it does work well as a result(honestly!)

The soundtrack reflects the mellow feel of the footage and meshes well with the visuals. The man responsible is singer songwriter Chris Warner, a chance accquaintance who offered to score the film and wrote eight new tracks specially for it. Initially Andy says he was unsure about just using one artist but the music is varied enough in style for this not to matter and if anything adds continuity to the idea of the year cycling through as each section fades into the next.

Overall it’s a fine first effort and hits it’s mark to showcase one of the biggest and most vibrant longboard scenes in the country. The final section especially will make you want to go surf, evoking the dying moments of a summer evening solo session,catching your last wave as the sun slips beneath the horizon. Despite it’s obvious Devon centric focus, Andy hopes the film will have a broader appeal, as he says “good surfing is worth watching wherever it’s filmed”

With this project nearly in the bag, Andy’s thoughts are already turning to the next one. He says he likes the idea of a more documentary style film focusing in depth on a single surfer.

I have a suspicion his wife might have other ideas!

Devon Lanes and Longboards premieres at the Surf Show in Bristol on 24th April but you can see clips and more info at http://www.born2surf.info. The dvd will be available to buy for £15 from the end of April on the same website.

surf photos by Jamie Bott, huts by Andy, more of my musings at http://adventuresintrim.blogspot.com

Devon Lanes and Longboards

Howard — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:26:17 +0000

Andy Haworth’s latest project gets an update and trailers, before this summer’s release.

Andy Haworth, of Ben Haworth fame, is creating a film dedicated to life and surfing in Devon, featuring some of the UK’s best longboard sliders, including Ashley Braunton, Phil Hill, Ben Skinner and Elliot Dudley amongst others.

The film documents the surfing community in Devon, through all of the seasons, portraying the beauty and welcoming nature of the Devon surfing life.

Please visit the web site for more information.