April Birthdays 
Here in landlocked W. Central Florida, where the nearest beach sports massive 2-7 inch waves, and the mosquitoes wait for windless moments to carry you away... surf inspiration has to come solely from surf music.
It's not like anyone pointed me to it. I had to remember hearing it (where?) during childhood, find the song names and the recordings, and then keep seeking out more examples.
Sometime in the late Eighties I realized that the original Chantays' Pipeline was the ULTIMATE "drive awarely" music for me. With commutes bordering on 2 hours each, and iPod playlists some 25 years in the future, you had to make song choices COUNT on a mix tape.
I invariably found that surf selections were never clunkers. Never, ever. Out on the roads where it mattered, the surf songs were the most epic, the most groovin.'
Sometimes I'd just listen to the ride cymbal - sometimes, just the guy in The Astronauts who played the drippy "tick tick tick tick." Many times it was the reverb I marveled at. Where did the guitar end, and the reverb begin?
Some surf tunes possess both an exquisitely minor melody AND a rocking attitude that I took to like lifeblood. "Surf Rider," "Mr. Moto," this means you.
Others were so explosive that no other kinds of music mattered. When I first heard "Misirlou," nothing else in the world sounded heavy anymore. (P.S. to a kid who grew up on early Sabbath)
Others yet have an attitude that I will never tire of. "Mr. Rebel"
And there's something about the recording quality that I loved more the more I heard it. The sound of old surf spoiled me so that nothing else sounded that great anymore.
These findings led me to explore the genre (blindly and alone), and soon I had a very modest collection of tunes good enough for an ALL-SURF mix tape.
Predictably, this became the mix tape that mattered. A trip to the beautiful Smoky Mountains proved this beyond doubt. Surf music is just as epic when descending a foggy hill into a gorgeous valley. It sounds just as cool heard while driving in the rain, eating the licorice from the old-time general store.
I can't imagine what it's like in California, where this music was born. I can only imagine the waves and the hills (mountains?) and deserts and beaches, and let the drip of the guitar take me where it can.
It's always somewhere sad, mysterious and yet pleasant.
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Well, sometimes it's funny.
I found "Sleeper" by The Trashmen and it was both epic and hilarious to me - the perfect soundtrack for my not-so-speedy, safe drives sround this coast's hideous traffic.
When I found out that the Trashmen were from Minnesota, I was so stoked. They were fellow landlocked surf lovers like me - just, thirty years earlier.
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Even just last year, I found some more first wave tunes, mentioned by members of this site, that blew me away and inspired months of daily listens on my commute. "Everybody Up," "Ali Baba," "Pintor" and "Harem Bells" hit me HARD, decades after I'd decided this must be the best music of all time.
Thank you, surf music, for accompanying my best drives, and for keeping me safe out there.
Last edited: Aug 24, 2017 12:37:53
