I’m not one to casually throw around the word ‘genius’ but when it comes to Taylor Steele and Mikey Bee there’s no better alternative. The dudes are geniuses. The fruits of their collective genius? They call it La Casa, a beach shack located at a secret spot in Byron Bay perched 10 feet back from the waves. Ergo, Heaven.
La Casa was conceived as a place for various creative folks – musicians, artists, designers and surfers – to escape, find inspiration, jam and make art. To date, La Casa has hosted residencies of bands like Alpine, Oh Mercy and Angus Stone, visual artists David Bromley and Todd DiCiurcio, and random drops-in from Kelly Slater to multi-talented twosome Ozzy Wright and Mylee Grace.
These artist sojourns are documented by Taylor Steele to capture the creative process which, based on the resulting footage, involves a pretty substantial dose of hang time and beer drinking.
Oh Mercy at La Casa:
If you’re into surfing you’ll need no introduction to the work of Taylor Steele, one of the most influential surf directors and photographers floating around the continents right now. Non-surfers might be familiar with the brand-defining “From Where You’d Rather Be” campaign that he directed for Corona (a collaboration with Monster Children’s Chris Searl aka “Hollywood”).
Taylor is a nomad, a man with a series of “five-year plans” that involve five-year stints spent in various paradise-like coastal spots across the World with his wife and kids. His current temporary home of Byron Bay, Australia, is where he met local musician and fellow dad, Mikey Bee.
That Corona ad:
Mikey and Taylor, whose daughters attend the same school, came up with the concept behind La Casa as the result of a brainstorm session inspired as a way to support emerging and existing talent – partly fueled by their mutual motivation to hang out, indefinitely, at a beachfront haven ten paces away from waves. Taylor could cover the visual stuff while Mikey would bring in a continuous flow of artists and manage the crib. Taylor pitched the idea to his mates at Corona who liked the idea so much they offered to support the endeavour and throw in a bottomless fridge of Mexico’s finest. See what I mean? Genius.
“All we wanted to do was make a space where artists could come, relax, drink beer and create with no pressure or expectation… Where they can jam and record tracks and go for a surf,” Taylor says. “It’s an inspiring environment for [me and Mikey] to be in too, because here we are surrounded by talented friends and good music.”
As well as beers for days, the house has a fully equipped recording studio, a pile of instruments, editing suite, a “jam couch”, and a tonne of artworks created by various guests. Take a look.
Drumkit and artwork by Ozzy Wright.
Gratuitous Corona shot:
Beer fridge featuring anti-bad vibe shield courtesy of Ozzy Wright.
Melbourne six-piece Alpine enjoyed a four-day residency at La Casa in 2012. Vocalist Phoebe says it came about when “we met Mikey at a gig we did in Byron. He came up to us after the show and said hello. He told us about the house and asked us if we would like to come a stay, and we were like, Really? We will definitely come! [laughs]. It was such an amazing experience.”
Phoebe said Alpine spent their time at La Casa starting the day with “jamming in the studio working on new songs. When we weren’t in the studio we were either on the beach or drinking beer and making tacos… I think that was all that really happened [laughs]. We also worked on some covers that we might be playing at Laneway.”
Alpine at La Casa:
2013 at La Casa will include a residency for Sydney producer Flume, who scored the stint when he took out “Record of the Year” at the 2012 SMAC Awards, as well as presenting a bunch of free live gigs by impressively moustachioed singer-songwriter/surf bro and former La Casa guest Donovan Frankenreiter in February and March. Check all the dates and more artist videos at the La Casa website.
Taylor told me that at this point the future of La Casa is pretty open-ended. “We’ve got no set timeline or a particular end point for the project. We’re going to keep getting artists in and keep the house going for, hopefully, as long as we can.” Then he went for an afternoon wave.
Break
