Hey, Man, Is That Freedom Hawk?!
So you heard how the waves got big enough this week-averaging over 20 feet in height-at Oahu’s famed Waimea Beach to hold the prestigious Eddie Aikau big wave surfing contest for the time in five years? San Clemente, California’s Greg Long won the event by riding the “monster drop” of the day, a 40-foot wave that broke during the competition’s final heat. Totally awesome, for sure. Also awesome is the above video, put together by the contest’s sponsors that assembles footage of the biggest waves and craziest wipeouts from The Eddie over the years. The song that makes the soundtrack is good. It’s called “Land of the Lost,” by a band called Freedom Hawk.
Armed with that sublimely ridiculous name, Freedom Hawk hails from Virginia Beach, Virginia (maybe they know The Clipse?) and provide a pretty dead-center brand of Black-Sabbath-by-way-of-Queens-of-the-Stone-Age stoner rock. (“Rawk with the Hawk!,” their website instructs.) But that is okay. In my opinion, there is not enough of this music in the world.
Here’s a question, though: When watching that surfing video, and rawking with the Hawk, and lifting a hand in a gesture of salute, are we to extend only thumb and pinky finger, indicating the surfer’s “hang loose?” Or also extend the index finger, so as to pay to tribute to the goat’s-head horns of our metal lord Satan? Confusing. And important.
Oh, and in case you need to watch it again, here is the “Freedom Rock” commercial.