Actually I think it is a bit sad that we don't have that many performance shots (or photos in general) of a lot of the surf bands from the 60s.

+1 on this, and for the lack of live recordings! It's a constant source of frustration for me that there are so few examples of what the bands actually sounded like when they played live. It's great to stumble on some classic vintage pix, but I'd love to know what the first wave really sounded like: no PA's, drum mikes, pedals, etc. I'm always bugging the first-wave guys for tidbits on what their gigs were like back in the day, i.e. how they set up, did they mike anything, what the venues were like, etc. (Tracy Longstreth of the Rhythm Rockers reports on the awesome drum sound he got at the Rendezvous, and how LOUD the place was! The dance floor had some "give", and when the joint was really going off, the whole building would pulse). Other than the Hollywood Bowl tapes, and that B&W Beach Boys TV thing from '64 (where you can hear the reverb units splashing when the stage shook), I'm hard pressed to think of any other actual live recordings, give or take Surfer's Choice and that Battle of the Surf Bands LP. You gotta believe somebody back in the day got out the old Wollensak and taped some of the bands' gigs. (It's also easy to imagine what those tapes might sound like: No drum mikes, bass player actually playing bass though a Bassman, and a couple of guitars through Showmans----well, let's just say the guitars would be front and center!). Sad to think that surf music is probably the least-documented musical genre.

(Note to early R&R and Rockabilly fans: If you don't already know, there's a treasure trove of LIVE stuff from the late '50's on YouTube. Search "Town Hall Party", and set aside a few hours at least! Sensational stuff!).

reventlos wrote:

Actually I think it is a bit sad that we don't have that many performance shots (or photos in general) of a lot of the surf bands from the 60s.

+1 on this

Ad a plus one for me too. I know many surf groups made TV appearances on local Teen Dance shows but no footage of that has survived. And where were all proud parents with their old Brownie 8mm Cameras?

This live recording of Eddie & the Showmen from Y-Day at the Hollywood Bowl in 1963 gives us a glimse of the power and energy they had live. How amazing would it be to see footage of this?

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This just in! Here's a transcript of a recent FB conversation with Pat Gagnebin, one of the original sax players for the Centurions:

Hi Pat---As a Costa Mesa resident, I've always thought of the Centurions as "our" surf band. We had a lively discussion on SG101 recently about the band's sound, and what equipment you guys used back in the day. I've always thought your uber-cool dark sound was due in large part to the guitars being tuned down to D. Was this by design? Maybe to accommodate the sax players, like the Rumblers (who tuned up to F)? Or just because it sounded cool? Inquiring minds would love to know! Are any of the guys still around, active and playing? We would LOVE to get you guys out to play the Surf Guitar 101 Convention held every August. You'd be welcomed as heroes!

More reverb, Matt Quilter

Hey, Matt

Good to hear from you. You guessed right on the tuning. Our Tenor player, Ken Robison, talked the guitar players into tuning down a step to a more "saxophone friendly" key. It took some persuading, too.

The tuning certainly is part of the "dark" sound, combined with soakin' reverb, and a bari sax on the bottom. We got pretty dark.

The guitar players were Fender all the way. "Rosey" (Dennis Rose) was a Dick Dale copycat as far as equipment went. First, it was a Strat thru a Reverb and Showman. Then when Dick "upgraded", Rosey did the same going to a Jaguar and Dual Showman. Ernie played a Jazzmaster thru a Reverb and Bandmaster. Jeff played Rosey's P-Bass thru a Bassman. Joe Dominick played Ludwigs.

Dennis, Ken, and Joe (assumed), have all passed on. Ernie lives down San Diego way, I think. Jeff's in Florida, and I live in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

You don't realize it, but we've played surf music together before… at the '60's O.C. Musicians' Reunion summer before last. And I had a blast!

I'm planning to get out there for the "reunion" next summer. A Surf Guitar 101 Convention sounds great. It'd be cool if the timing worked out where the two events were somewhat close together.

Keep in touch, my friend. I look forward to seeing you next summer.

Pat

Huge fun at the 60's reunion gig! Look forward to the next one. OK if I post your reply with the great info on the band on SG101?

Sure!

What Brian said!

Interesting story about the transposition for the saxophone. Having played in brass groups and bigbands myself I can assure you that having to transpose from instruments in "sounding notation" (like guitars, piano etc.) to the transposed notation of saxophones and trumpets can get a bit annoying, especially when it involves tunes in guitar-friendly keys like E major or A major.

And here come these guy and basically turn the problem into a signature sound!

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Great bit on the Rumblers, too!

Hi All,

I came across this very old discussion while searching for photos and thought I'd confirm something that was suggested above. I'm the son of Ken Robison, one of the Centurion sax players being discussed, and just wanted to confirm that he did indeed pass away. He died in 2001 after battling cancer for about 4 months. Happily, he was still composing and arranging on a small table-top keyboard up until that time

John Robison

It seems like the best recordings were made in 1963. Being Surf Instrumental bands were really only around like two years before The Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan Show, Surf never really had a chance to develop properly. But there again think of all the great music recorded in those short two years (It was worldwide craze as well).

Many Surf bands where already playing "I Saw Her Standing There." before the Beatles came over. The Crickets converted to Surf for a while and even recorded the song on a album. Eddie Bertrand said he remembered playing Beatle tunes before the Ed Sullivan as well. The girls wanted the bands to play the songs and after Beatlemania hit the only work a Surf Band could really get was on cruise ships to Hawaii. Many traded in gear for more Beatle like equipment as well. Hence a lot of Jaguars and Jazz-masters in pawn shops in 1965 or so.

Eddie and The Showmen were a top notch band live (Even though too fast) and many other groups were not that great live back then. Many bands didn't even play on there records or were actually fake bands made up of studio players. I did hear one recording from 1964 in Vegas of a band I forgot their name. They were freaking horrible, guitars out of tune, and couldn't sing either (OK maybe the recording was bad maybe) but they couldn't have played on the studio album they represented.

What really happened has many Surf Bands were broke up by members being drafted into the Vietnam War post 1965. Others went to college and many became Landscapers etc after Beatlemania was hopping. Another thing was the music broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and pretty much peaked at the JFK assassination in November of 63, So Surf had a lot of headwinds against it and declined fairly fast. Some bands like The Trashmen tried to tour up to 1967, then Sargent Pepper hit the shelves and Acid Rock took over from there.

Most of the best Surf Instrumentals were made between Marilyn Monroe and JFK dying. Just one short year and then it died as well for a while. But like Christmas comes around every year, so does Surf Music. All three are now legends.

Last edited: Jan 15, 2019 19:39:24