INhonolulu Magazine Issue #15 - March 2014 | Page 18

MUSIC
Profile / Makua Rothman

Ride the sound wave
Will Caron
Photos by Zak Noyle

Y

ou’ve likely heard the name
Makua Rothman before. The
29-year-old professional surfer has been a part of the international
surfing circuit for over a decade, first
turning heads in 2002 as an 18-yearold when he won that year’s historic
Billabong XXL Big Wave Challenge
(his wave, 66 feet tall, was the largest
wave in the world to be surfed that
year). But you may not have heard
that the O‘ahu born, North Shoreraised Rothman recently stepped into
a very different professional arena—
that of music.
“My personal trainer, Rob Garcia,
is actually the reason why I’m sitting
here in this recording studio today,”
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said Rothman about his decision to
enter the music industry. He and I
were joined by Jon de Mello, the brain
(and production skill) behind Mountain Apple Company and the man
who has helped many a breakout Hawaiian musician get their start.
“I was going to go to Indonesia, but
he wanted me to stay here,” Rothman
continued about Garcia. “He goes,
‘Every time you go to Indo, you mess
off. How much further in life and in
your career are you gonna go going
to Indo again? Why not try and get
in the studio and make some music?
Maybe you could start another career
path—because you know you’re not
going to be able to surf forever.”
Rothman had taught Garcia’s sons,
whom he refers to as his nephews,
to play music. After some thought,
Rothman made first a single track,
then an EP and then—with the help
of de Mello and production great
John “Feldy” Feldmannn—he made
Soundwave.
The album was released on iTunes
in December and debuted at the
number one spot on the Billboard
Reggae Chart, iTunes Reggae Chart
and iTunes World Chart, beating out
Snoop Lion’s new album Reincarnated. The album’s street date was February 4 and in between the two dates its
singles have done well in the islands
(“Lovely” reached the number one
spot on KCCN’s Top 5 at Five with
Shannon Scott).
Its catchy mi و