Moshpits & kickflips at the Volcom Garden Experience 2026

Family affair — Last weekend, the skate, surf and snow culture brand hosted a free mini festival in its European backyard of Biarritz. We went along and chatted to legendary artist and surfer Ozzie Wright.

It’s 7pm outside Biarritz’s Atabal music venue, and a full throttle circle pit has broken out. Playing live are Twenty One Children, a punk trio who’ve travelled to the south of France from Soweto, South Africa to play at the Volcom Garden Experience festival. Lead singer Abdula Skink, donning a Slipknot t-shirt, gets the crowd chanting “Twenty One… Twenty One… Twenty One” before explaining that the next track is only 24 seconds long as they launch into their up-tempo, raged number ‘Let It Doom’, and the pit 

Until the band took to the stage, the day had moved at a more leisurely tempo. It kicked off with a conveyor belt of kid skateboarders attempting ollies and kickflips – many succeeding – on a mini-ramp, before older heads and pros attempted to land a tough trick on a fire hydrant. Others casually sip lagers as they peruse a creative market by friends and family of the brand, including pottery made on the spot by fresh Volcom signee and surfer Bodhi Leigh-Jones, surfer Issam Auptel’s art and snowboarder Arthur Longo’s paintings.

Having organised events in Breda, Berlin and Bristol in recent years, the free of charge event at the doorstep of Volcom’s European headquarters is a joyous day out, which has the feel of a family homecoming, while celebrating the intersection of sport, creativity and community. Volcom team members across surf, skate and snow are present, with skate legends Omar Hassan, Victor Pellegrin aka Doobie and Simon Bannerot in attendance – the trio fresh off a tour round Greece – alongside rising local stars Tom Barthélémy and Lucien Gourdal and several other riders. Other music highlights meanwhile include five-piece band The Big Idea and Iguana Death Cult featuring a go-go show from Bella Bizarre and Pascaleader.

• Read next: Capturing the spirit of the ’90s surf scene with Volcom

The slate is topped off by an art show featuring the works of longtime Australian surf icon Ozzie Wright, who exhibits several paintings and tapestries around Atabal’s interior. There’s references to our planet on fire, a tapestry that simply reads: “FUCK COMPUTERS” and a depiction of his partner rollerskating while gripping a knife in her mouth marked with “ANARCHY TILL JUSTICE PREVAILS”, which serves as the backbone of the event’s poster.

We caught up with Wright in the art room to chat about his long life in surfing and art, his musical endeavours and the uncertain future of the surf rat lifestyle.

Hi Ozzie, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. You’ve been surfing your whole life right and you’ve been with Volcom for a long time – was it your first sponsor?

Yeah, I [started when I] was two or three on a boogie board, just on the shore break. Actually, my first sponsor was Quicksilver when I was in high school. I was like 16, then at about 19 I started riding for Volcom. It’s been a long time, it’s crazy.

How important has surfing and the beach been to your life and who you are?

So important. So fun. So lucky that we grew up at the beach. It was always just the excitement and play, and I’ve always absolutely loved nature and surfing. I feel so lucky to have grown up there.

I hear you have a nice place in nature now.

Yeah, I have a nice house on the north coast of Australia near the waves. There’s a lot of grass, surrounded by trees and it’s pretty beautiful.

• Read next: As the Cornwall & Devon coastline gentrifies, what’s left at UK surfing’s spiritual home?

When did you first start making art?

I honestly started doing art when I was a baby. Like every kid does art, but I just never stopped.

I think I probably stopped because I didn’t think I was that good at drawing.

I had aunties and uncles and mum and dad that al did a lot of art around me. So a lot of adults in my life did art. They always encouraged me and said, “That’s great.” So maybe that’s why I never stopped, because I always got a bit of attention for it. And then when you’re at school and people used to be like, “You’re the best drawer in the class,” so maybe that’s why I kept going – I got encouragement from the community.

It’s a shame more people don’t get that, because you only get better when you draw a lot or make a lot of art.

For me, my favourite art isn’t the people who are necessarily good at it. I know some people that can draw like a computer, but it doesn’t mean that I love their art or anything. I just think if it comes from a place of joy and comes from the soul in some sort of way that’s entertaining – that’s what I like. I hope that’s what my work does.

• Read next: “Skateboarding is the best culture”: JJ Villard on his boardriding past, animation’s future and his new Volcom collection

Can you tell us about the show here? 

Yeah, I’ve been interested in space a lot recently, and I love sewing, There’s a few paintings of my girlfriend [fellow surfer and artist] Karina [Rozunko]. I did six paintings in the six days before we got here. I thought I was doing a group show with a lot of artists so I thought I’d just bring what I was selling, then I saw a photo of the room, and it’s huge and I went, “Oh, fuck,” and worked really hard. It feels good to just work hard and do shit.

Is that when you feel most creative?

Yeah deadlines. It’s cool because you don’t second guess anything. You’ve got to make something – let’s fucking draw. 

Can you tell us about your music as well?

I’ve grown up as a member of the Goons of Doom. They are my oldest friends – we’ve been friends since primary school. We all share the songwriting, but the other two guitarists are really good, so they do most of the solos, but I do a few as well. It’s just a real fun collaboration, and party and rock & roll. We did just play in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, and Adelaide earlier this year.

What about recording?

We want to record this year, because we haven’t done an album for maybe six or seven years. It’s hard to get everyone together recording but this year we’re going to do one.

• Read next: The rise of France’s rollerskiing scene, as its snowfall thins

Do you ever get creative blocks? And do you have any solutions?

Yeah. I don’t really know if I get creative blocks but sometimes I just have low energy, when I can’t make anything happen when I feel like a pile of crap. So I then I’m like, “I’ve got to get energised.” Also sometimes it’s hard to focus and put shit on paper and stop looking at your phone, and that’s not good for creativity.

Technology is one distraction, but also these days rent is so expensive, and so are bills and food. Do you have any advice for someone who’s younger who’s trying to get into what you do now, but 30 years ago?

It’s such a luxury to have time to spend making art. It’s freaking gnarly, but I feel like if it just has to come out, I don’t think it has to take a lot of your time. Even if an idea is just a written sentence, some of my favourite things I’ve ever done is just made up a sentence, which could take three seconds to just write it down. If you don’t have a lot of time, just try to have a lot of ideas and write them down.

What do you think the future is of the surf rat, or skate rat, or artist living on the fringes?

It’s such a great culture, and it’s the coolest thing in the world and it always will be. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere – it’s always going to be the funnest, coolest thing to do with the time we have and every kid knows it. So I think it’ll always happen. Whether there’s millions of dollars in it or not, I don’t care – I hope not. I think it’s better when it’s just fun.

See more from Volcom at its official website.

Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.

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