I'm not a drummer but I'm trying to develop a better relationship with them. Last night I constructed my first MIDI drum track using Svorzando in Reaper and it turned out decent enough.

I'm curious to hear what people have to say about the role of the kick drum in surf. 20 years ago when I was jamming with my non-surf fanatic buddy in his garage, I remember trying to convey the lightness of the feel of the drums in Dick Dale's The Wedge (played by Earl Palmer) and telling my friend that there wasn't any kick drum at all in there. He was a metal dude so this was a hard sell. And he wasn't really a drummer so we didn't get to far with that beat.

But recently I've come to really love Thom Starr and the Galaxies' previously unreleased South Bay Surf album and it features a whole lot of kick drum. And I realize there is plenty of kick drum in surf elsewhere. But their drummer used a steady four on the floor beat a whole lot and I love it. I'm wondering if that was a "south bay" thing? Was LA surf music really differentiated by regions enough for that to be a thing?

I'll also throw out that the one thing that really ruins the surf feel for me is when there's a kick drum on the 1 and 3 or the 2 and 4. I feel that the drums are really the heart and soul of surf music and a lot of bands don't put enough effort into making them shine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you should be able to cut out everything BUT the drums in a surf song and still have people heading for the dance floor. There are enough purely drum instrumental tracks on original surf albums to support this proposition.

Last edited: Apr 23, 2017 20:25:43

Interesting. I feel the same and like to hear the bass drum on each of the four beats. I discussed it with a pro drummer from a well known band and he said nooo, no one does that unless they're a bad drummer! I walked away. A lot of my favourite old rock and roll records were made that way and I love the 'charge' that you get from drums, bass and guitar when everyone's chugging on the beat. Somehow, the 2 and four bass drum beat sounds more rock than roll

Last edited: Apr 24, 2017 16:33:32

If you think that a lot of the first surf music was for the "surfers stomp" dance.. and that basically the dancers would be pounding the floor, the kick prob was less important (or heard).

People trash 4/4 all the time.... Disco, Techno, Surf.. but it's really the easiest for people to dance to IMHO. Break away to a waltz, 3/4 or foxtrot or samba or any other "basic" rhythm, and dancing becomes more specific and bit harder (for USA peeps). A lot of beats are just syncopated onto the 1 (like Bootsy Collins always says) where basically the 1 is the 4/4 just slower with the rest of the rhythm as fill.

I still keep trying to think how the rhythm of surfing and the ocean, tides, and waves works... and fail miserably!

I just looked up Earl Palmer, as mentioned above for playing on "The Wedge." You mean to tell me, the man who played on "The Wedge" was the same man who played on Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help it," "Rip It Up" and "Slippin' And Slidin'"?!? I idolize those drum performances!

His credits are a who's who of amazing music! Sam Cooke? Eddie Cochran? Ritchie Valens? Larry Williams? Duane Eddy? Herb Alpert? Lalo Schifrin? Ike & Tina? This is the coolest thing I've learned in awhile.

Thank you, Sonichris! I eat this stuff up.

P.S. Seeing your name, I couldn't help but mention - The Gomez G-Spring is the stuff of dreams. I thank you every time I record with it. I redid the bass on my homemade surf album last night and, playing 'em back on the drive to work this morning, EVERY track (even with my lame scratch lead tracks) had THE sound thanks to my having done the guitars through the G-Spring.

I actually wrote to Mr. Gomez yesterday, though he doesn't know me from anybody, to thank him sincerely for the beauty & sheer musicality of his product. People need to hear when their creations touch someone else.

Last edited: Apr 25, 2017 09:52:44

Thank you, Badger! I did!

Thanks for the input, everybody. As always, I'm stoked that this forum exists! Re: Earl Palmer, I learned that tidbit from Ivan over on the surf guitar appreciation page a while back. The discussion was on that Capitol version of The Wedge and he named the session musicians present for that album. The rhythm guitar was played by Glen Campbell and the bass was one of the actual Del-Tones, though I don't remember his name (sorry Mr. Del-Tone!)

Here's a funny story about the drumming on The Wedge and me. 20 or so years ago I was over at my buddy's house (his parents' house) and we were jamming in the garage. He was primarily a guitar player but also had a drum set and could make some noise on it. I got us going on some surf music and he, not really being a surf music guy, says before we start, something like, "If there's one thing I know I can play on the drums, it's surf music." And I'm thinking, "Oh really? Well let's just see about that.." So I put on The Wedge with Earl and just watched as the grin faded from his face. Just attempting that opening roll was enough to make him realize the error of his words. Nevermind all the super fast fills throughout the song. Anyway, it cracked me up and we managed to get something done that day but we didn't sound quite like the Capitol recordings...

Last edited: Apr 27, 2017 17:15:21