The two-studio-album curse of the '90s surf bands!

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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

The two-studio-album curse of the '90s surf bands!

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IvanP Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 10331 southern Michigan	Posted on Oct 12 2019 03:48 PM Have any of you ever considered that there seemed to be some sort of a two-(studio)-album-max curse on the '90s surf bands? The list of surf acts that only managed to do two is pretty long, including even some of the most influential bands of the decade. Here's what I've been able to put together: Slacktone The Treble Spankers The Huntington Cads The Penetrators The Volcanos The Space Cossacks The Tiki Tones Teisco Del Rey The Apemen The Baronics The Galaxy Trio The Daytonas Husky & the Sandmen Jonny & the Shamen Splashback (Maybe we could even include The Fathoms? Their third CD came out much later, featuring a very different lineup. Maybe even kinda include Jon & the Nightriders? Though they had four albums in the '80s, after reuniting in the '90s they also only recorded two studio CDs - ignoring the all-covers CD they released later.) Interesting, don't you think? — 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 Top
PolloGuitar Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 5125 San Francisco	Posted on Oct 12 2019 10:29 PM There's so many variables. Certainly The Penetrators get a pass. I'll bet the #1 factor is the futility of playing surf music– especially during the 90s. The follow up question is how many of these bands broke up vs those who carried on and just never did another record. Ivan, I think this effect applies to bands from other eras as well. ferenc IvanP wrote: Have any of you ever considered that there seemed to be some sort of a two-(studio)-album-max curse on the '90s surf bands? The list of surf acts that only managed to do two is pretty long, including even some of the most influential bands of the decade. Here's what I've been able to put together: Slacktone The Treble Spankers The Huntington Cads The Penetrators The Volcanos The Space Cossacks The Tiki Tones Teisco Del Rey The Apemen The Baronics The Galaxy Trio The Daytonas Husky & the Sandmen Jonny & the Shamen Splashback (Maybe we could even include The Fathoms? Their third CD came out much later, featuring a very different lineup. Maybe even kinda include Jon & the Nightriders? Though they had four albums in the '80s, after reuniting in the '90s they also only recorded two studio CDs - ignoring the all-covers CD they released later.) Interesting, don't you think? — Buy Endless Drummer @ Bandcamp Frankie and the Pool Boys website Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp Pollo Del Mar website My Blog- Euro Tour Blog Pool Boys on Spotify INSTAGRAM Frankie & The Pool Boys on Facebook Pollo Del Mar on Facebook DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio Top
Kawentzmann Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 1062 Berlin, Germany	Posted on Oct 13 2019 03:48 AM Young labels enjoying the oddity of releasing 1st Surf albums, reconsidered once the great demand for Surf, which happened in the 90s, was shortly followed by greater supply. Bands moved from standing out nationally to competing locally. — The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy. Top
Klas Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 2310 Stockholm, Sweden	Posted on Oct 13 2019 05:55 AM IvanP wrote: The Daytonas We actually did four studio albums in the '90s. I assume you're thinking of our two albums on Sunlight Records but we also did two albums on Australian label Corduroy Records: Don't Look Now But It's The Daytonas! (1994) Parabolica (1996) The first has some tracks from Ready, Set, Go! (including earlier recordings of those) but also tunes not found anywhere else. And the latter is actually a double album which must be pretty unique for the surf music genre! — T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S Top
Surf_Skater Joined: Sep 06, 2012 Posts: 1300 Lawrenceville , GA	Posted on Oct 13 2019 07:08 AM I've always thought that after two albums that most bands have been stuck in a van touring for 3 to 5 years. They're broke,burned out and sick of one another. You also end up with members moving away for jobs. Giving up touring to raise a family. Top
Surfing_Sam_61 Joined: Jan 15, 2019 Posts: 1515	Posted on Oct 13 2019 07:55 AM Not just Surf, its all recording artists. A vast majority of signed artists end up in the cut out bin in about 2 to 4 years traditionally. It's major luck coming up with recordings the public likes in a large scale. Of course Surf is a niche market at best. Most labels only have about 2 to 3 percent of the bands that actually makes money and have decent sales that helps pay for all the losers. Its a numbers game, even in song writing its about the same percentage success wise. I don't think Surf albums are high on the priority list of purchases for the listening public at large. Best estimate was when Pulp Fiction sound track came out and even then not in a big way since 1963. The problem is self production is a very hard thing to do and pull off without a team of writers and production crew to come up with a act that will make money, so most bands just give up after a few albums that pile up that no one wants to buy. Its just a fact of economics involved. Most labels in the past were just tax right-offs for major producers of Cold War Technology like EMI and Capitol etc. So they didn't care if they made money or not, maybe that's the way we all should look at it, the art comes first starting out not money. Otherwise every band will give up too early. Top
Squid Joined: Aug 22, 2010 Posts: 1019 Portland, Oregon with Insanitizers	Posted on Oct 13 2019 11:46 AM What does it take to exceed two studio albums? For the illustrious Madeira and the Insect Surfers I count five and for the Tomorrowmen three. The Insanitizers have four. (This list is very incomplete of course). Commitment and original compositions are apparent. Regular day jobs seem likely (for me two to three concurrent day jobs). — Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com Top
DannySnyder Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 11077 Berkeley, CA	Posted on Oct 13 2019 02:00 PM Squid wrote: For the illustrious Madeira and the Insect Surfers I count five and for the Tomorrowmen three. Nope, only 2, and a couple singles after. We made a comp for our Euro tour but nothing new besides the 2 songs. — Danny Snyder "With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac' Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF Last edited: Oct 13, 2019 14:00:52 Top
DannySnyder Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 11077 Berkeley, CA	Posted on Oct 13 2019 02:02 PM Frankie and the Poolboys have 3 and I think another in the making. For us and most bands I think the main limitation is capital. Not much return on the investment sadly. — Danny Snyder "With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac' Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF Top
websurfer Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 1753	Posted on Oct 14 2019 09:33 PM Lava Rat Bill was around when quite a bit when I joined. In fact, I think I did a review of Don't Drink The Water. I think they just did two as well. Top
MelWaldorf Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 648	Posted on Oct 14 2019 11:52 PM The whole process of making records changed dramatically over the course of the 90s. I started the Mel-tones in 1993, we couldn't afford to use a proper studio with an engineer. Our first output was a cassette (8 songs I think) that we recorded on an old reel to reel live with no overdubs. We bought blank cassettes, made copies on a dual tape deck, printed labels on an dot matrix printer, and I hand drew the cover art. Why I think we sold literally dozens of them! In 1995 we got a deal with Snatch Records in England to produce a four song 7", but we had to cover the cost of recording. The reel to reel had died by then so we recorded using to Radio Shack PZM mics into a hifi VHS machine. Live, no overdubs. I did the artwork in MSPaint. I moved to Montreal in late 1995 and reformed the Mel-tones with new players. We managed to gig enough to save dough so that by 1996 we were able to record a full length album, this time with an ADAT in a friend's basement, and were lucky enough to work with a music placement guy in NY who fronted money for us to release the album on CD on our own Halakahiki Records. That was "Surfin' at Black Point". We were able to release another Halakahiki CD in 1998 called "Surf Before Sunrise", and recorded a final set of four songs that we never released before I moved out to California in Sept 1998. Sometime in the early 2000's, the NY music promoter put out a "best of" CD on his Lovecat label comprising most of the tracks on "Surfin' at Black Point" and "Surf Before Sunrise" called "Surf Sensation". In 2004 Stan-o came out from Montreal and we recorded a new album, this time with Shig Komiyama playing drums, released by Lovecat as "Surf! Spy! Space!" So, all told we made a cassette, a 7", and two CDs in the 90s, with a best of and new CD in the 2000s. Of course, since getting to California I've been in a few bands, The Mach IV (2 albums) and Meshugga Beach Party (3 albums), but new technology has made recording and releasing an album a much more cost effective endeavor. Anyway, I know the Mel-tones were far from influential like many of the bands listed above, but another 90s surf band data point. Top

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