I called Thomas Robinson (AKA Lobster Cooked) severely hungover a couple weeks ago which I usually don’t do if I have to interview someone but I figured if there’s anyone that can deal with hungover people it’s Lob.

Back home down south, Lob is still on a high from the whole project that is Motel Hell as he was when I saw him five mai tai’s down at Lei Lei’s at the back end of last year. And rightfully so. After a big few years chasing Harry Bryant and Dave Fox around Motel Hell is plainly and simply a masterpiece surf film and newspaper. If you missed going to a premiere, well, you’re an idiot. But it’s online now (go on and watch it again). So are the newspapers available on Lob’s swanky new website. Here’s my chat with the man behind the lens and undoubtedly some of the raucous.

I was going to ask you if your life has gone uphill or downhill since your photo of Noz landed on our cover but you just got another cover so it’s obviously doing pretty good.

I don’t think they’re really related. A cover is sweet because you get to keep it but that’s not the real pay off of that kind of stuff. I don’t think it gives you more or less opportunities. I think it’s just a sick thing to keep considering there’s less and less magazines around.

Yeah nice thing to put on the wall.

Put in the cupboard and pull it out every now and then (laughs).

When you’re feeling sad (laughs) just pull out your cover.

Fully.

How much of the three years it took to put Motel Hell together were you following Haz, Dav and the boys around with a camera?

Yeah on and off for three years. I was living in Sydney for the first two years of it, so I would just tap in and out. The last year I felt was really intense but the first two years I would just go away for a month, or go down the coast for a few days here and there.

Was the last year more intense because of the amount of trips back to back or just because Haz and Dav were trying to get certain stuff?  

Realistically we could have bought it out a year ago and it still would have been sick, but not nearly as sick as it is now. Harry and Dav had already put so much work into the video it would have been a shame not to go real hard at the end and make it as good as we could.

Yeah it’s so polished. And you guys really thought about every aspect and not just from a film perspective. All the graphics, printing off the papers, touring it. Everything was so put together. 

Yeah thank you. The way that Dav works and with having that much footage, he couldn’t really edit it while making it. So we had to go real big at the end and then Dav just locked himself away for a month and edited the whole thing.

Which country or place was the highlight?

Wherever we went it was always going to be fun because Dav, Harry and I are such good mates. And all the people that we got to come on trips were mates it wasn’t like we had to go away with anyone that we didn’t like to please someone. One place would have been Ireland though. It was probably the sixth time I’d been but I hadn’t been in a really long time so it was great to go back and hang out with friends that I hadn’t seen since I was nineteen.

I love Ireland.

Yeah! Harry hadn’t been before too so it was cool for him to meet a lot of my old friends and hang out with them for his first time. It felt really natural and exciting at the same time.

I felt that mix of familiarity and excitement in Ireland too. I feel like we have a lot in common with the Irish. Both love going to the pub.

Yeah exactly (laughs).

What was the dumbest thing that happened to you on that trip?

Oh so fucking many stories. There’s probably three from each destination. Dav and I come from a real povo, winging it background. Since Harry started working with Dav he’s really embraced that too. I mean he was probably always like that anyway. We were always winging it. There isn’t any form of structure. We don’t have team managers booking our flights or anything like that. The whole thing was a shit show but that’s what made it so fun. It would be sick if there was a team manager booking some stuff so you could just be real asleep at the wheel. It’s fun letting the world take you though.

Always makes for more fun (laughs). Alright so Motel Hell got 2nd place in Stab’s Film of the Year despite being unreleased online – what do you think that says about surf films these days?

That there isn’t many surf films of that nature. Obviously Wade Carroll makes those really impactful longer length films. He’s really at the forefront of that. Dane Reynolds makes films like that when he has the opportunity. James Kates with MASH. But otherwise there’s not much out there like it. Harry hadn’t really put anything out in a while either. He’d get little clips here and there, you know him in Hawaii or something. It’s crazy that it got second because the only people that had seen it are the people that went to the premieres.

Yeah that’s what I mean – to get that kind of recognition just off the people that had attended prems is wild.

It’s almost a shame too because if it was online before that it might have won. The Repeater video is fucked up though. Maybe not.

It was cool to see you guys releasing it in that format though. Not online I mean. Seizing the opportunity to bring people together and hype it up. Backed it. Same with Noz and Katesy.

Yeah and also if you spend that long making something there isn’t that rush to put it online. Having the premieres with everyone is way more of a rewarding thing. You get to celebrate the work that everyone put in with people that you don’t get to see very often because they might live in different spots and you don’t get to link up.

Which premiere was your favourite? Which one was the rowdiest?

The Noosa one was nuts. But my favourite was in Ventura. We had a prem at Dane’s Chapter 11 shop. We got there two days before and Dane wanted to check the projector before the premiere because it’s just onto a wall outside. It was just me Harry, Dane, Eithan and Dave and two lads friends with Dane. Eithan hadn’t seen it yet, neither had Dane and to be honest I hadn’t properly watched it yet because it was always in such a big environment. That was the sickest one. Watching Dane watch it was wild because he's such an inspiration to both Harry and I.

That’s so cool, a full circle moment.

Yeah it was so crazy. Just pulled up in this carpark. It wasn’t even a premiere but that was my favourite one.

That’s a nice memory. Okay what do you think of the current state of surfing right now?

I don’t really think I’m in a position to have much of an opinion. I’m not some industry dude.

I think that’s exactly why you should have an opinion though. You’re in the surf world.

It’s hard to say hey. All of these companies are pretty cooked at the moment but who knows maybe it will make it better. I feel as though it’s a great time for brands like FORMER, RAGE and smaller companies owned by people in the surf world to get a chance to make it how they want it to be. Shape the industry back into good shape. That can only be a good thing.Vans does an amazing job of being a corporate business but still holding it down. It’s not impossible but yeah. I think as long as people who are cool and rip get to do it then it’s sweet. It would be sick if it was orchestrated better but that’s just my opinion because I don’t really care for the coloured rashies.

Couldn’t agree more. If I was an idiot and missed the Motel Hell premieres will I ever be able to get my hands on a newspaper?

I’m making my own website with photos that I’ve shot from the past ten years so they’ll be available on that. I’m going pro. I’m finally becoming a professional photographer.

Yeah you are Lob! Are we going to see another newspaper? The Lob Daily?

I would love to make another paper. Every trip I did for Pass~Port we used to make a little zine. It’s old head mentality but anything in print is just so nice to keep. It’s kind of dark too but weird shit starts to happen when you get older. People you know pass away. It’s nice to have a physical print out of photos of people that you love because you never know what is going to happen and it’s so easy to forget that you have a photo of that person if it’s just on the computer or your phone. Not that I hope that it ever comes to that.

Nah I get what you’re saying. You’re more likely to pick up an old zine in twenty years and see that person, and have that memory.

Yeah you’re not going to pick up a hard drive. In five years I’m not gonna wait three seconds for this file to open and hope it’s something good (laughs).

So true. Haz did pretty good with those interviews I’m actually a little bit scared for my job at this point.

Yeah that was a huge thing for me and I think it bought a lot too it. Harry interviewing bought a deep mutual respect and was able to communicate on a level that others might not be able to because they were in it together.

Alright last one – do you have a favourite photo from the paper?

Rolo in Java getting a backside barrel. It looks so nice and there’s heaps of empty space but it’s actually a really gnarly barrel.

The Motel Hell Newspaper is available at thomasblairrobinson.com for $20 of pure joy. Catch the film online HERE.