On Saturday, May 18, The Hundreds and H2O commemorated the band’s 25th anniversary with a limited run merch collaboration designed by Bobby Hundreds and a free concert. It was the quintessential H2O party: free water, vegan food trucks, a skate sesh, tons of people ready to rage, and enough PMA to chase the rain away from our outdoor stage.
MYFRIENDSLOOKOUTFORMELIKEFAMILY
H2O
Stella ready to drop in
Chris Cole and Rick Thorne both pulled up to HQ and all of the skaters that showed up to the show ready to ride were stoked to take turns with the legendary pros. The Hundreds X H2O show was an amazing mix of people, with longtime fans and new ones united in one place to support the ultimate punk party.
Rick Thorne, Toby Morse, and Chris Cole
H2O lead singer Toby Morse and Bobby Hundreds go way back, so it was only right to host this legendary show at The Hundreds HQ. To top it all off, we booked a very special opener for H2O, an up-and-coming metal band called Rend that Toby’s 16-year-old son Max happens to play drums for. Rend was set to perform first, followed by British punk outfit Sharp Shock before New York hardcore legends H2O touched the stage.
Toby and Tony Kanal of No Doubt
The crowd was deep, all packed in and ready to wild out when the bands went full blast. But before the show, we thought we’d honor this special occasion by sitting Toby and Max down to interview each other. We wanted to get a sneak peek into their relationship since not all of us are lucky enough to have a dad who can incite riots wherever he goes.
TOBY MORSE: How does your dad’s band inspire you to be a musician?
MAX MORSE: It didn’t inspire my music choices because I listen to very different music than what you play and what you listen to but it inspired me because I knew when I went on tour with you, I wanted to do this for myself.
Toby: Travel with your best friends.
Max: Yeah, it’s fun to do and it’s good to go around the world and be able to do what you love.
Max Morse sitting in on drums with H2O
Max, Toby, and a fan
Toby: So is that what you want to do when you grow up…and graduate?
Max: Probably, yes. There’s not really a lot of other things in my life I want to do.
Toby: Today we’re playing together and that’s a huge thing for me.
Max: That’s going to be fun.
Toby: I’ve already seen you guys play at your own shows and to have you open up for your dad’s band is pretty crazy.
Max: Yeah, that’s sort of a big thing. I never really thought of it. I thought it would happen but it would be like “This is a joke. Max is opening for his dad’s band. Ha.” But this is for real and it’s sort of surreal because we get to open up for you. It’s sort of crazy how a band that I joined turned into something, going to practice every day, always jamming out with my friends, and now it turned into an actual thing and we get to open up for you guys. It’s pretty fun, pretty cool.
Rend before the show
Toby: And you guys are a real band with a following. It’s only your 3rd show, but you still have a buzz going on around your school.
Max: Yeah that’s sort of cool.
Toby: That’s awesome!
Max: The teachers are very supportive. Everyone around is just really supportive of it.
Toby: What’s crazy to me is that you grew up around hip-hop, punk rock, hardcore, some rockabilly, and blues, but you found your own music. You found death metal and crazy screaming music that we didn’t introduce you to, which I think is cool because usually, people think “oh he’s my son, he must love Madball and the Cro-Mags.” You like those bands but it’s not like they’re your favorite. But it’s like some people expect you to be a punk rock kid exactly like me but you listen to the total opposite, so you found a way to rebel.
Max: It’s not rebelling.
Toby: It’s some crazy, satanic WAHHH sound.
Max: [Laughs]
Toby: It’s crazy music. You found something to bring into the house that’s something I didn’t play you growing up.
Max: That’s the thing, all the music that you guys played was like momma’s hillbilly weird music that I didn’t understand and techno.
Toby: What is hillbilly music?
Max: Just a bunch of weird music. And then the blues, and you brought hardcore, punk rock, and all of that stuff.
Toby: Original hip-hop.
Max: No one really brought the country in my life. Or death metal. I don’t like country. It just happened to be the thing that I chose was the thing that you guys didn’t show me. I was never really hating. I never hated punk rock, it just wasn’t my thing and I feel like I overheard it over the years.
Toby: A million times.
Max: I’ve already heard that song like 30 times.
Air Max
We stan a stan
Toby: What are your top 3 bands that I can’t pronounce or spell?
Max: Dying Fetus is good.
Toby: I can spell that. What else?
Max: Fit For An Autopsy.
Toby: Yeah, that’s your fave. Slayer?
Max: No. Well, yeah, obviously Slayer. But I don’t listen to them everyday, so probably not.
Toby: So, Fit For An Autopsy is your number one? They even grew on me.
Max: The Black Dahlia Murder is great.
Toby: Sounds Wonderful. What else?
Max: I like Job For A Cowboy.
Toby: It’s literally pig squealing.
Max: Yeah, the whole thing is pig squealing. I found out about Job For A Cowboy a long time ago, they’re from like 2003. Just pure [insert pig squealing noise]. Oh, White Chapel is good, too.
Toby: You nervous for today?
Max: Sort of.
Toby: What’s your biggest fear for today?
Max: Messing up.
Toby: You’ll be fine, dude. It’s your third show, you’re playing with your dad’s band.
Max: People have prom tonight and I’m worried that prom could affect people from our school coming. I hope Miss Launder comes.
Toby: Tell them what the school said about extra credit.
Max: Oh, so we have an AP Bio teacher named Dr. Yannis and he posted a flyer for the show and said if students came to the Rend’s concert, they’d get extra credit. Our teacher Mr. Hawkstein came to our second show, shout out Mr. Hawkstein. He’s really into that kind of music, so it’d be really cool if he shows up again tonight.
Legendary music photographer BJ Papas taking a look at her classic photo
The photographer and the designer behind The Hundreds X H2O
Toby: How come you don’t sing?
Max: Well, I can sing, it’s just a secret talent of mine I’ve been holding in.
Toby: You’re going to sing with us tonight, right?
Max: Yeah, that’s going to be fun. I can sing like Motley Crüe.
Toby: I can barely sing, I just pull it off. Do you like traveling on tour with me?
Max: Yeah, it’s been a very it’s a good experience starting as young as I did at like 3.
Toby: Yeah I think you went to Japan at 3.
Max: It’s a good learning experience about what to do and don’t do with music.
Toby: What are your favorite places to travel in the world so far?
Max: Since we’ve been to every continent except for Africa, I would say, out everywhere that we’ve been to, probably Spain and Brazil.
Crowd participation
Flying lessons
Got real, real quick
Toby: How has growing up around a straight edge, vegan dad inspire you and your choices in life?
Max: You inspired me because you were my dad and said “I’m not telling you not to do this but if you do it, you know the consequences. If you don’t do it, you know the benefits and what it does bring you.” It’s not like you told me yes or no.
Toby: You weren’t force fed it.
Max: No. You didn’t force feed being vegan, vegetarian, or being straight edge. I saw how it brought you where you are.
Toby: The Hundreds office. Can’t wait to go skate the ramp. How did skateboarding impact your life?
Max: I sort of feel bad because I used to be really good at skateboarding...
Toby: …Here’s the biggest letdown in my life for you, is that you quit skating because you were on the path. My wife works at The Berrics, you skate there all the time, you were so so good, then you got distracted by a girl.
Max: That’s not true! I stopped after I broke my ankle skateboarding.
Toby: You rolled your ankle, you didn’t break it, but yeah.
Max: [Rolls eyes] Whatever.
This was Toby’s green room before the show
Thrasher Mag Alumni 1983
Toby: But your skating was so amazing.
Max: Last time I skated was two years ago when I tre flipped the 7-stair. Weren’t you pro?
Toby: I was in Thrasher in 1983, that’s my claim to fame. But you were a street skater and you were incredible.
Max: I tried and I skated every day. I thought that was going to be the rest of my life.
Toby: I fell in love with skating and ruined my life with skateboarding. I quit skating for the first girl I fell in love with and I didn’t get back on track after that. I blame it on her, don’t let that happen to you. You were on an even better path than I was with skateboarding, that’s my point.
Max: I wouldn’t let a girl take over my career, I don’t know why you let that happen.
Toby: True. [Changes subject quickly] Let’s talk about your sneaker collection because you have been wearing the dopest shoes since you were a baby all the way up until [looks at Max’s choice of footwear for the day] well, not really now. But you always had the craziest Dunks. I still have boxes of all of your baby shoes.
Max: I had those Spider-Man Jordans.
Toby: The Frankenstein Dunks, all that stuff.
Max: Those little baby Air Force 1s. But you’ve been the one to always have cool shoes, even though you’ve stopped wearing cool shoes [looks concerningly at Toby’s brand new Nike React Prestos].
Toby: I’m getting old now, I have to change it up a little bit.
True Colors
Jacket Game So Proper
Max: You threw away all of your Off Whites. You don’t like any of the cool ones anymore.
Toby: The Sean Wotherspoons are sick.
Max: Ok, but you barely ever wear those.
Toby: Yes, I keep them safe. They’re Easter shoes.
Toby: What’s it like having the coolest dad with the most tattoos?
Max: You’re a freak for sure. Random people at my school will be like, “oh your dad seems so cool, does he do drugs?” I’m just like “Nah.”
Toby: Nah. Were you ever embarrassed by my tattoos?
Max: No. When I was little, I just got used to it. I would see other people and be like, “why do they not have tattoos?” It was just normal, all the freak shows you took me to with crazy tattoo people around
Toby: You definitely have some crazy uncles for sure.
Max: Why did you never get your face tattooed?
Toby: I’m too handsome. Your mom would divorce me, straight up. Do you want a dad with face tattoos?
Max: [Points below Toby’s eyes] You should get R-E-N-D.
Toby: No thank you. But I will get a Rend tattoo someday.
Max: Soon.
The PMA Way!
Appreciation
Toby: Do you ever feel any peer pressure at school to do Juuling or anything like that?
Max: [Laughs] Do Juuling? No.
Toby: When I was in High School, I’d go to the keg parties and everything but I wasn’t drinking.
Max: I’m not cool enough for keg parties.
Toby: I still found friends even though I didn’t smoke or drink because I was a hyperactive weirdo like you. It works for you.
Max: My friends say I’m exactly like you. The way we sit, the way we tap our feet, the way we stutter.
Toby: That’s the key to friendship, though, just being yourself. Even if you have friends who eat meat or aren’t straight edge, they’ll respect you for being you.
Max: Everyone at my school is very open-minded. People will ask if I want to hit something and when I say no, they’re just like “oh ok cool.” I just use the restroom and it’s chill.
Toby: Use the restroom?!
Max: Yeah, that’s where all the smoking happens at school. There will be like three kids smoking in the bathroom when you go in there.
Toby: It’s like an 80s movie. So, what will be your first tattoo?
Max: Hmm, RG maybe.
Toby: What is RG? Oh, I know what that is, it’s your crew. Shout out Roof Gang.
Max: You know, I do want an H2O tattoo.
Toby: Thank you, that would be awesome.
Max: Like maybe on my face.
Video by Xander Mozejewski
Photos by Ben Shmikler
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