Thanks a lot Tuck! I discovered them with their dashing Continental theme on the Double Crown on the ROcks Podcast. I'm happy to hear it all now and I'll be more when I'll receive their 7"! [http://www.doublecrownrecords.com/shop/cds/double-crown-records-releases/the-boss-martians---the-intoxicating-sounds-of-the-boss-martians-7/]

Evan was one phenomenal surf guitarist. He's a very talented musician, and he wanted to make a living playing music, which ruled out surf. I can completely understand his decision, though Í miss having the surf Boss Martians out there. They were one of my favorite bands in my formative surf years ('94-'96), and I learned a lot from Evan, both listening to him and also reading the stuff he used to write on the old Cowabunga email forum (he's the first one I've seen recommend the 6-6-6 reverb tank setting, as well as point out that you have to turn up the treble on the amp to get the richest reverb drip). In fact, the Space Cossacks' "Solaris Stomp," our first original song, owes a lot to the Boss Martians' "XKE!" I remember playing the song to Doug (our drummer) during a practice, trying to get him to play in that Astronaut-ish way - in the end he either couldn't, or a straight-surf beat just worked better in this song, or some combination of these two - I don't remember anymore. But the whole arrangement of the song was very influenced by the Martians (as well as the Fathoms, who I was listening to a lot at the time).

Even was really one of the most technically accomplished guitarists in surf music, maybe ever. He could just fly on guitar, but he would always approach it from a very trad perspective (playing a Jag with flat 13s) - a kind of a combination of the Trashmen's Tony Andreason (who could really rip it up), the Astronauts' Rich Fifield (ditto), and Ritchie Podolar AKA Allen (ditto ditto!). There's nobody out there since Evan that's channeled those influences nearly as well as him.

The main criticism I would sometimes hear of the surf-era Martians is that their songs could get monotonous, with a fairly non-dynamic organ in the background and similar rhythms and melodies. I do think it's true that they would sometimes get stuck in one particular groove in those early years, but when they nailed it, such as the awesome "XKE!", I think they were as good as surf gets. And even with some of their more 'monotonous' stuff, I really love the atmosphere they would create, which could be very ominous and tense - I'm thinking of "Storm Warning" from their debute album. I really love that song.

Like I said, I do miss those guys. But I do hope Evan and Nick are enjoying the music they're now making and having a lot of success with it.

Ivan
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Last edited: Jun 27, 2011 18:06:33

It seems to me that the original Boss Martians must have made a deliberate stylistic decision to contrast continuous chording by the organ with a complex lead guitar part. It is fairly unique in surf music. There are songs that go the other way. For example, on Boss Martians Money (a vocal) and Batman (instrumental) have a lead organ (or the organ as the vocal) and Maxine and Best Little Girl have somewhat more rhythmic chording. The comparable songs on Jetaway Sounds are What'd I Fly, Boeing, Boeing, Gone and Story of the Dash-80. The continuous chording in most of the songs makes the non-lead organ more of a melodic support but than a rhythm instrument per se. I assume that the band disliked the esthetics of pulsing chording in an organ, or liked the effect of the elaborate guitar line over the continuous organ A pulsing organ line can be effective, but too much of it does seem to me tend to reduce the organ to a second rate piano. The alternative to pulsing is continuous modulating patterns, with the note lengths and the repetition of of the patterns providing the rhythm. But I suspect that approach might tend to get in the way of the lead line in surf music. It's pretty common in garage.

This continuous chording approach is definitely somewhere between mesmerizing and monotonous depending on your perceptions. I notice that there is more vibrato in the chording on Jetaway Sounds, and I think this is might be a subtle attempt to "pick up" the chording and give it more presence.

The classical Boss Martians approach is abandoned in 13 Evil Tales, and you get a lot more pulsing and modulating. Outlaw Drag, X-2, Evil Martian, Double A Growler, and Coffin and a Six Pack are more in the old style, but this album on the whole has the most interesting organ from the band's surf period. Move! takes a big step toward garage. Only a few songs are surfy at all.

I hope I have these albums in the correct chronological order.

Incidentally, though I joked on Facebook about going over to the Flip Side (garage) and here about "coming out of the Garage," I'm perfectly OK with the band having done that. It turns out I'm not very interested in their more garage-like output, but I understand the economics of it. I don't see them as musically or morally compromised, whether they moved on out of economics or changing interests. I'd be sorry if their surf stuff was forgotten.

There's a really complete Boss Martian Discography at http://www.grunnenrocks.nl/bands/b/bossmart.htm. I did have the order right. The organist 1991 to now (c. 2003) is Nick Contento. It looks like the big change was from Dan Israel to Joel "Jet" Trueblood on drums in 1997. It looks like there was a big gap from the first single (On the Rocks/Boss Martian's Theme) in 1991 and the next (XKE!/I'm 'A One You Need) in 1994 and then a lot of recording activity after that.

Overthinking is always a danger with me, as is, I need to admit, a degree of sheer musical ignorance. Underthinking, of course, is the usual weakness with rock & roll historiography. We tend not to want rock & roll to have involved thinking, so it shouldn't need thinking to figure it out either.

I'm sure Nick was a better organist in 1997 (13 Evil Tales) than he was in 1995 (The Boss Martians) let alone 1991 (On the Rocks 7"), and that would explain a more elaborate style in later work, assuming the needs of the group permitted it, but what would explain a simple style in most of The Boss Martians vs. a more complex one in Money and Batman specifically (both The Boss Martians 1995)?

Sure sounded good to me. Still does.