Creed McTaggart

For our eleventh installment of our Vinyl 5 series, we sit down with Australian surfer, writer, and musician Creed McTaggart, and we’ve got it on video!

Creed is the embodiment of effortless style, both in and out of the water. Hailing from Western Australia, he’s carved out a name for himself as one of the most stylish free surfers of his generation, blending power and grace with a raw, unfiltered approach to wave riding.

But McTaggart isn’t just a surfer—he’s a storyteller, a musician, and a creative force. As the frontman of Wash, he channels the same energy into music that he does into surfing: untamed, electric, and undeniably cool. Whether he’s charging heavy waves or crafting gritty lyrics, Creed moves to the beat of his own drum, redefining what it means to be a modern surf icon.

1. Harumi Hosono: Hochono House

Video transcript:

So a couple records, five of my favorite. I got a few records, so it's hard to pick like a top five. 

Harumi Hosono. He's a Japanese artist from Japan. I don't know heaps about him, but he used to play in YMO, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, bit of a tongue twister. He mainly sings in Japanese, so I don't really know what he's singing about, but I kinda like that in a way, it'skindamysterious.

I think he made this when he was like 70 years old. And he played all the instruments on it. Mfavorite song on here is the second one. But I don't know what that [song title] means because it's in Japanese. 

Q&A

How important is music in a surf video? 

Well, I think with surf movies and stuff, if you didn't have music, then it'd just be shit. You know, it wouldn't be that good- it'd be boring. The sound of the ocean just sounds like static.

Basically, music makes the movie good, so you gotta have good music. I’ve listened to heaps of music trying to imagine what it would be like if there was surfing to it. 

2. Helios Creed: Superior Catholic Finger

This is Helios Creed. He was the guitarist in Chrome. They make real crazy, industrial, psychedelic punk music.

Like if Jimi Hendrix and Darren Newman andJohnny Rotten made a baby, they'd make this guy. 

3. Arthur Russell: Calling Out of Context

This one, Arthur Russell “Calling Out of Context”. He played the cello, but he would play it with distortion and echo and reverb on it and it sounded kind of dreamy and weird and kind of chilling.

I don't know too much about him, but that's a good record. 

4. Low Life: Dogging

These guys, Low Life, they're an Australian band from Sydney, one of my favorite Australian bands. I think the lead singer is like a rapper now maybe, I don't know. I've seen him play once at the Opera House and it was amazing. 

[Looking through his record collection and pulling some out] 

PiL, XTC. Townes Van Zandt. [Singin “Living on a road, my friend”]. Brian Eno. Ah, here we go. [Pulls out an album by his own band: WASH “Undercover Slimo”] This is the best band in the world, man. Look, there's me with hair. There were the days, man, when I had hair. 

Q&A

Favorite song you have surfed to in a video? 

Well, I got the chance to surf to Gil Scott-Heron, "I'm new here", in Strange Rumblings, in Shangri La. And then in the same year that that film Cluster came out,

I got to surf to David Bowie's "Life on Mars". Both those songs were my favorite songs, and I can't believe I got to surf to them. Isn't that pretty crazy? Yeah, that was probably the best year of my life. 

5. Fred Neil: Other Side of this Life

Alright, this one, Fred Neil .He's like a folky songwriter from the 60s or the 70s. He never really popped it off as a big musician, but he made that song "Everybody's Talkin" that that other guy covered, Harry Nilsson or whatever, and probably made heaps of money from that.

My favorite song on here is called "The Dolphins". I think after he was a musician he ended up working with dolphins and preservation, looking after dolphins for like 30 years or something. I googled that, so I don't know.

Anyway, Fred Neil. It's a really good album, really good musician. Bit of a legend. Yeah, you should listen to him. 

Bonus. KISS

Then I’ve got like 15 Kiss records. Starchild - I would be Starchild, he's my favorite. All the albums have really cool covers and besides that one [holding up “Smashes, Thrashes & Hits”], that's not that cool.

[Singing “I was made for loving you, baby.”] Fuck, I'm jacked up for singing.

Listen Wirelessly

As part of our Vinyl Five series, we ask our esteemed participants to play their thoughtfully picked records on a premium turntable while sharing their thoughts and feelings.

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