Harry Bryant on Mysto River Mouths, Ritualistic Tendencies, and What's Next

From one of the great tens of all time at the Vans Pipe Master Invitational, to his iconic feature film Motel Hell, a standout Hawaiian winter just gone, a mysto mindless river mouth in Asia surfed solo in "Roasted," a killer section in Snapt 5, and a star turn in Ritual Vision’s new blockbuster, Ritualistic Tendencies, Harry Bryant is in the form of his career. We caught up with the rugged Aussie slab lord while recovering from a bunch of titanium that’s just been removed from his leg and talked Ritualistic Tendencies, connecting with old school shaping legends, surreal solo strike missions, and much more.  

SURFER: We both got our first look at the Ritualistic Tendencies film at the premiere in Sydney last week. What was your impression?
Harry Bryant: Wow, it was just amazing reliving those trips. It's only been 12 months since the first trip for that video. And it was all a bit of a blur. And I was saying to a lot of the crew that night that when you're actually on a surf trip and focusing so hard on surfing and the waves, a lot of stuff gets missed and looked past. And I think (filmmakers) Wade (Carroll) and Dion (Agius) did such a good job of capturing the vibe on the trips. And that to me was the most special thing, reliving how good of a time that we're all having on those trips. Every single trip that we did was super fun. We've all become extremely tight over the last 12 months traveling with each other. And I think they've just done a really good job of piecing that film together. And there's a really nice, happy kind of energy that's gone throughout that film. So I was stoked, really stoked on how it came out.

Wade Carroll is on an absolute tear and Dion is probably the most esteemed creative in modern surfing from this generation. What was it like working with those two guys?
Yeah, incredible. I've definitely followed Dion's career pretty closely since I was a teenager. Dion's always been the guy that's been in the limelight, but lots of different kind of limelights, and he's rebranded himself constantly to stay relevant within the industry in some way. And I think just recently, he's finally found his groove and Ritual is the creative outlet for him. He is just absolutely fucking on fire at the moment, man. Like I've never seen him click into such a gear that he's in at the moment because I've been pretty tight with Dion for at least the last seven or eight years. We've had a lot to do with each other and I've seen him go through a lot of different kinds of phases within his surfing career with the brands that he's working with. He's obviously hugely into his art and he's just a full-blown creative little ball of energy. But I think this Ritual thing is his baby and he's just absolutely sunk his teeth into it. And he's absolutely bursting with creative energy at the moment. I feel extremely privileged to be tied into this movement and this next chapter of Dion's little creative splurge. He’s absolutely firing on all cylinders.

The talent in the Ritual team is so crazy (Harry Bryant, Mikey Wright, Noa Deane, Hughie Vaughan, Jai Glindeman,  Milla Brown, Holly Wawn, Hughie Vaughan, Dion Agius, Lungi Slabb, Rolo Montes, Benny Howard). What were some of the standout moments for you in terms of pure surfing?
Watching the blossom of Hughie Vaughan has probably been one of the standout things for me because he's been on my radar for a few years. He's a little punk and he's a cheeky little kid and he's got so much character, but he's also like this full blown sponge that when we've been on surf trips, he's asking heaps of questions and looking at like me and Mikey (Wright) and seeing what things we're doing on surf trips, what we're doing before surfs and that to me has been super cool because I can tell he's extremely inspired, it's getting his cogs ticking big time. But then seeing how he performed in some of the waves, like that Indo trip, the waves got pretty big and gnarly and he’s pretty mature, and well-spoken, but he's in a pretty childlike body at the moment still. In the next few years he’ll fill out into a pretty big kid. He started training and you can tell his neck's starting to flare out a bit, and he's kind of taking the form of a man. But I feel like in the last couple of years spending time and surfing with Hughie, he's really progressing super quickly and he's really eager to learn. And he's really keen to push his surfing to the highest limits that he can.

Mikey (Wright) I've never really spent that much time with Mikey to be honest. We did contests and stuff together back in the day and I've always been such a huge fan of Mikey’s surfing and we share a lot of similarities; a pretty raw, Australian, power surfer kind of vibe. I feel like we are very inspired by a similar aspect of surfing. So spending time with Mikey and doing these surf trips with each other over the last 12 months, we've really formed a pretty sick bond with each other and every surf that we've had together has been unreal. Between the whole team, everyone's pushing each other really fucking hard. And I reckon this is just the beginning of it. In the next couple of years, it's only going to get more and more skits with pushing the boundaries of getting clips and surfing as hard as we possibly can.  It's a pretty exciting thing to be a part of, that's for sure.

Motel Hell, Roasted, which we'll get into in a second, Ritualistic Tendencies, you've got a 10 at the Vans Pipe invitational, a killer Snapt5 section, and a handful of the best waves ridden at Pipe last winter as well. You're clearly in the best form of your career. What do you put that down to and how are you feeling about where you're at?
I'm super happy at the moment. I just feel like I've recently clicked into a groove within surfing where I've had some really good equipment under my feet and just a really good team of people supporting me. I'm just set up in a really nice part of the country here on the South Coast that I can come back from surf trips and really switch off and relax and recharge before going again. I just put it down to being in good rhythm and being content and being really stoked on surfing and grateful for all the opportunities that come my way. There are a lot of things that I can't necessarily believe happened. Like the Pipe wave in the (Vans) contest a couple of years ago. I still think about that a lot and just can't even really believe that happened. And then I had a really spiritual connection in Hawaii, which has been a really amazing and beautiful part of my career that I'm really happy about. And now this Ritual stuff is taking off and it's just heading in a really positive direction and the kids and everyone seems stoked and (filmer) Dav (Fox) is there ready to go whenever I'm ready to go. The world's my oyster, it seems at the moment. And I'm just so grateful for the opportunities and really looking forward to the next phase of my surfing career.

I've had a really nice time in the last couple of months switching off and turning things right back. I've been going at a pretty crazy pace ever since the start of filming for Motel Hell, which is about four or so years ago now. I’ve been pushing through some niggling injuries that I've just gotten on top of. I had some hardware removed from my leg from an injury when I broke it a few years ago. I’m taking the time to slow right down and just reminisce on the last few years, which has been quite amazing. When you're going at such a fast pace, you kind of move on to the next thing. And it's actually been a really nice time over the last few months, just sitting back and getting my body in good shape and trying to get healthy and slow things down. I just feel like I'm in a really nice part of my life at the moment. I'm super stoked.

Add to all those accolades and highlights, the discovery of a new wave; this ultra hollow, roping right point, river mouth somewhere in Asia that features in "Roasted." Without revealing too much, just tell us about the moment you rocked up and laid eyes on that thing.
That was some of Dav Fox's handywork, sniffing that wave out. The exploration side of surfing and going somewhere off the beaten track and not just rocking up to your everyday kind of surf camp, just doing things a little bit outside the box and going to countries that aren't necessarily known for surf and experiencing new cultures and surfing new waves, that to me is just the ultimate, the absolute ultimate. That trip was out of control. I was on my way to America to go to Palm Springs for the Stab E.A.S.T festival at the Palm Springs wave pool.

I was leaving on Friday and it was Tuesday and Dav’s like, ‘Hey, I'm pretty sure there's this wave in a tropical island off China is going to be good. He's like, ‘I’ve had my eye on it for years.’ He's like, ’It hasn't really broken in about six or seven years, but there's this typhoon revving up big time, and I reckon it could be good.’ That was all filmed in one surf, and it was just a full-blown sunup till sundown session. And it was probably one of the most glorious days of surfing I've ever had. The whole year and the last couple of years have been pretty high impact, like pretty full-on surfs and hunting pretty gnarly waves and trying airs and you can kind of put a fair bit of pressure on yourself and your body surfing waves like that. But that was just the most blissful session. I was on my favorite board that I've ever had, and it was just this glistening, beautiful, long, right-hand wall for turns and tubes. And the water was warm, there was no one out, and I was just in this place in the world that I've never been. And it was just a really surreal kind of moment where I was like, man, this is just so epic right now. I'm so relaxed and so stoked. I wasn't even thinking about the footage. I kind of forgot that I was even there to document any of it. I was just kind of at peace with the wave and having such a mental time out in the water. 

We got in there at like four o'clock in the morning and we were dragging boards and camera gear through this tiny little fishing village. There's no tourism, no tourists kicking around. It was a really traditional little village and I imagine seeing a bloke like me walking through cobblestone streets, through little fish markets, and Dav’s dragging his big Pelican case with a Red Camera and I'm just walking through with a blonde head of hair and a yellow big bloody surfboard and people were just looking at me like I was some sort of alien, like I’d just literally dropped out of a UFO.

You've made a real point of connecting with some old school underground icons in the shaping game, Paul Gravel down there in the Desert, whose board you rode to one of the great 10-point rides at Pipeline in the Vans Invitational. And also Wayne Lynch, you got a yellow 6’6 that you rode in Roasted and in Snapt5 at Cloudbreak. What do you get out of connecting with these legendary elders?
That era of surfboard shapers, I hate to say it, but they're starting to go extinct. A lot of these guys are wrapping it up. Even Rod Dahlberg, he's starting to shut up shop and not shape any more boards. And the way that the machines and the technology and the surfboard industry is heading, I'm basically trying to learn as much as I can and do this last minute rescue of these amazing surfboards out of these iconic shapers whilst I can, because I don't want to reach a stage in my career in 10 or 15 years from now where I'm like, "my God, I wished I got a board from him while I had the chance to." And that's why I feel extremely privileged to not be tied down by one specific shaper. I really love the opportunity to ride a bunch of different stuff from a bunch of different people and going to places and tapping into local crew’s boards.

That's something I think is really key if you really wanna sink your teeth into a wave or a certain destination. To be able to source a board locally from that area is the way to go. But I also just love the interactions and the eccentric characters that the board building industry has. There's so much politics to it. You know there are some fucking fruitcakes out there, too. I've been talking with Greg Weber recently and he’s the craziest guy to talk to. He’s so cryptic and gets along with some crew and then he doesn't get along with other people.

I just love the experimental side of surfing and I think it's extremely important and also beneficial when it comes to riding new things and new sensations. If I was a pretty clean-cut guy that just rode the same kind of stuff 24/7, I don't think the personality and character would come out as much as being able to work with a specific shaper on a specific board. And then the boards just have great stories behind them. And it also gives me this amazing lifelong connection with these shapers. And then I know them on a personal level and can ask them questions and if I'm ever bouncing up and down the coast I pop in and go and hang out with Wayne (Lynch). And if I go down to South Australia, I go and spend time out with Paul (Gravell) on his farm and, you know, everywhere you go, there are shapers absolutely everywhere.

Finally, what's next?
I'm cruising pretty hard at the moment. I got some metal taken out of my leg, so I’m on a pretty strict rehab program at the moment. Two months booze free, which has been a pretty big milestone for a thirsty young lad like myself. So I'm just really taking some time to slow right down and just let the year kind of sink in and it's been really nice all this footage that's been emerging of the last few years and I've just kind of been in a pretty heavy reminisce mode. I've been flat out going to Premiers which has been insane. I’m basically going to have a really nice, mellow Christmas down here on the South coast. And then I'm going to Hawaii at the start of January for the Backdoor Shootout, which I'm really excited about. That's been a contest that’s been a lifetime goal to be able to get a start in. Hopefully the waves are good for the Shootout period and the body's firing on all cylinders, too. I've been jamming some pretty good gear into it so I reckon by the time the new year rolls around, I'll be feeling good and ready to attack the year and start all over again.