WAX Talks with Eric Greene of LATER. Magazine
Where are you from and how did you end up in New York?
I’m from Vancouver Island, Canada. I surfed there a bit growing up, but come from more of a snowboarding background and found surfing a bit later in life when I was doing a lot of renegade traveling to weird places. I moved to New York in 2013 with my girl when she changed her job to work at an agency in Manhattan. It’s been great for me trying to expand the reach of our magazine and gain access to creating better and more diverse content.
How did LATER. magazine come about and what are your goals for its future?
I was working in a couple editing roles and doing a lot of freelance writing for different magazines. A good friend of mine was doing the same thing and we were both into traveling a lot and surfing. We came up with the idea to start our own thing, not really knowing what that would be. We wanted to create something that was about adventure travel and based on the surfer’s lifestyle, rather than in-flight magazine kind of travel about five-star hotels and where to find Western food in the non-Western world. We pitched the concept to a publisher in Toronto I was working with at the time and he took us on to make a print publication. All of a sudden it was a real thing and some brands invested, so we had to actually make something. We got another friend to join us as the photo editor, and the three of us had enough connections to call in all favors and generate enough content to make a debut issue without any money and then it became a tangible thing that we had made ourselves, which was pretty rad.
We’ve done six issues now and though we still haven’t paid ourselves anything, we’re doing it, you know? I can see its potential and the response has been great as more people discover it, so we’re hyped to keep making content and grow our own title. I constantly want it to be a better product. We spend so much time creating a print issue that by the time it’s released I'll nitpick all the flaws and don’t even want to look at the finished product.
The next issue will always be better. We come from freelance backgrounds and want to be an outlet for all the other freelancers who are creating cool content, but don’t have anywhere to share it.
How did you get into writing about surfing?
I wouldn’t even claim that I write about surfing. I try to find other people who have stories and we can be the platform to share them. I interview a lot of people, often pro surfers, but we often don’t even discuss surfing. I think all the external things that go with surfing are a lot more interesting and everybody has stories and opinions. Our content direction is generally about those in-the-moment experiences that happen on the road, whether they’re good or bad. Stories about disaster trips are great.
In your opinion why is NYC surfing unlike any other scene?
Well, the subway commute is pretty weird. I’m down to take the A-train to Rockaway for some morning waves because there are few places in the world where you can leave home to surf, be in the water in less than an hour, and do it via public transportation for $5 round trip. But when you’re on the A train with a surfboard, you always have to talk to people you don’t want to talk to. I’ll talk to anyone, but the subway surfer conversations always seem like a major chore. Aside from that, I think it’s a pretty good scene. I come from a place that’s really localized and vibey, but New York surfers are the same as New York people, where almost no one is from here. Everyone came from somewhere else, so you’re all kinda on the same level. People are stoked in the water. It’s cold and dirty and crowded, but the waves can be great and it’s always accessible. I think surfing here makes you hard in a good way, just like the city does.
New York City surfers seem to be very proud of their surfing and very inconsistent waves. Why do you think that is?
I haven’t been here long enough to know all the spots and read the conditions really well. On the west coast, a ground swell comes in and lasts for a couple days, where you get waves the whole time. Here, the wind and direction is key, and it can come up and disappear in a matter of minutes. I’ve seen spots in New Jersey turn from flat to world class thumping hollow beach break inside of an hour and then be gone as quick as it came. I have a lot of respect for those who know and read the conditions well, and can be on it in the right spots when the time is right. They should be proud of that knowledge. And going back to the waves… They’re no joke when it’s on. The guys who are putting vaseline on their faces and wading through snow so they can go out and charge some of the heaviest, coldest barrels in the world should be proud. They should be super proud. They’re gnarly.