I'm in San Diego and picked up a free magazine called The San Diego Troubadour cause the guy on the cover, Skid Roper, has a double-necked Mosrite. So, I start reading about him, and it turns out he was in an '80s surf revival band the Evasions. I've never heard of them, but thought this might be of interest to some of you.

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Here's the text about them:

Surf's Up

In 1980 Roper also performed as part of an acoustic duo - Mutt and Jeff - but his next band of note was a surf band, the Evasions, who started up that same year. "This was right in the middle of new wave and disco so it was something different," Roper said. "People loved it. We were kings of the back yard parties back then in the early 1980s." It was at this point that his prolific songwriting talent first appeared. "We did surf instrumentals and other seldom-played oldies, but right away I started writing my own songs," Roper said. "A lot of melodic instrumentals came flooding out along with rockabilly and other rootsy stuff. There was no road map, but the music just had to come out."

The Evasions released a highly collectible picture disc album, Son of Surf, in 1981, featuring artwork by world-renowned artist Rick Griffin. "Someone gave me the number of a guy in Los Angeles who was looking for a surf band to put out a picture disc," Roper stated. "I called him, he came down to San Diego to hear us, and he liked it." Griffin's involvement came through a visit to Comic Con. "I had met him at the Con and asked him if he would be interested in doing a cartoon in color for a picture disc. He is the guy who is almost solely responsible for that psychedelic lettering that's hard to read on old Fillmore rock posters, like Quicksilver's first LP and Aoxomoxoa by the Grateful Dead. He was an old surfer from the sixties and he said yes." Months went by and then he delivered an amazingly gorgeous blue green oil painting ... with our instruments turning in a wave, with a thousand individually air brushed drops of water. The dark and reduced picture in the picture disc doesn't do justice to the original painting." Griffin took great care in the design. "He wouldn't sign it because he said that it shouldn't have an up or down position. All the skill he used to put a round spot in the center went out the window when the record company weasels intentionally printed the picture off center," Roper stated. "It would have looked great on a turntable spinning around symmetrically, but instead the picture spins off center and makes you seasick!" he laughed.

Read more about him here.

Ivan
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Neat find, Ivan. My only exposure to this band was one single song I heard on KFJC way back. It was called "Road Agent" and I can't remember at all how it went, but I distinctly remember liking it a lot. It was an early favorite of mine in fact. I'll have to dig up that old tape.

That's all I've got, but it's better than nothing.

Ryan, I'm surprised you didn't know about that connection. it seems like an important part of the San Diego history of surf music! Ben, glad to hear that the song you know by them is good. I'd love to hear something by these guys. It does seem like a lot of '80s revival stuff has been woefully neglected in the reissue department.

Here's their Rick Griffin designed pic-LP:

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Found here, with the full track listing of the lp and some more info: http://instromania.net/D2/ART/ART_E/EVASIONS%20The.php

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Ruhar
Very cool Ivan. Skid Roper has had a pretty illustrious career in San Diego; playing with the likes of Country Dick Montana and Mojo Nixon. My old band, Surf Report, played with Skid Roper several times in the mid 90s. I was not aware of his surf band though.

Mojo Nixon recently shared the bill at the Belly Up with the incomparable Kinky Freedman and the Texas Jewboys.

insectsurfer
I have that picture disc!

I have that disk, too. I bought it in Denver at the time.

Thanks so much for the research, the disc itself gives next to no information whatsoever about the band....!!

Ditto!

And, incidentally, it's a pretty decent record. Somewhat unique in style. Maybe a bit in the Big Ray & the Futuras vein, but not as ponderous and driving. The vocals didn't please me as much the last time I listened to it, but I think that with my increasing appreciation for that sort of thing I should give it another listen. I had two girls in dance classes at the time and there was one song I almost forced the dance teacher to listen to. Perfect for a (fast) soft shoe, I thought. In the end sanity prevailed, however, and the world of dance in Denver remains un-Evasive to this day.