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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Videos »

Permalink Grim New Reality Pt 1 The Kahuna Kings

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I applaud all new music that has been released over the past year. The most difficult year in history for bands, fans and venues. The crushing magnitude of this unprecedented experience is still unfolding. The Kahuna Kings performed three time in 2020. Once before the pandemic and two smaller outdoor shows. Just feeling safe to practice in my garage was difficult to organize. Recording in my small studio has been very concerning where just one could be carrying the virus unknowingly and infect all of us.

This project started with the drippy rhythm track that I used as a simple exercise to help bring more precision into my drip rhythm playing. I then came up with the very dark and solemn lead melody. Rather than being a typical song, it is more of a snapshot, a portrait in time of what the world is experiencing but scaled through the eyes of the music industry. The idea of doing a surf song with just two main guitar parts and some extra sounds seemed very untraditional but fitting considering social distancing.

I wanted to create a video that tells the story. The piece by itself does not make the statement alone. It is merely the soundtrack for this dark and somber statement. I think as a surf musician, I too can reflect on the world through music but being instrumental music, the video messaging helps create the optics for that statement. This piece shows the load out of a show performance with quick cuts of some of our favorite surf musicians fading out to roadies moving equipment then on to empty stages. I have been in communication with Lorenzo through all of this chaos and most of the musician shots were from the Surfer Joe Festival. I can think of no other surf musician that has been more affected by all this than Lorenzo. This has been our reality. The Grim New Reality.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Jan 17, 2021 04:47:22

Dave, a song very befitting of its (heavy) theme. It is very cool, though a bit of an uneasy listen - as I'm sure you intended. (I was a bit surprised to see a photo of me in there, but thank you, I was honored.)

Well done, but here's hoping the Kahuna Kings can fully reconvene sooner rather than later!

(Given that it's a dark, heavy-reverb drum-less track, it reminds me a bit of this rare track by the Crossfires - are you familiar with it?)

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

Thank you very much for your kind words Ivan and no, I hadn't heard this song by the Crossfires. I will say that the rhythm track is very intense and sounds full of youthful rebellion and energy! Somebody ate their Wheaties!
Like Lorenzo, I wanted you in this as we had talked awhile back about what this was doing to live music. We are basically shut down for now. We can only hope that the vaccine distribution will crank into high gear and we can see the population becoming immune to the point of gathering to perform live surf again later this year. Seems a bit ambitious but at some point we can all get back to doing what we love to do which is to perform loud, high energy surf and see the faces overwhelmed. Lets hope this new reality fades away soon! I want Lorenzo to pack his beautiful restaurant and host Surfer Joe again and return to NE Ohio. I want you back out there performing blistering surf. I want all the bands and fans and venues buzzing again. We will return!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Heck yeah! Headbang Headbang Headbang

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

That is one COOL track. The experimental part is just great, and damn those drips are insane. Drums & bass would diminished the emotion I get from it. I’d love a 45 minute version haha!

Daniel Deathtide

So many thanks Dan! I always felt that the drip guitar part was percussive enough to stand on it's own to maintain the beat. To get that drip rhythm I had to modify my guitar picks so that I could maintain the beat and not allow the pick to slip or slide sideways. I needed a very light grip.

This song was actually a bit difficult to record. Without a band and drummer pounding away every move was fairly delicate and stood out.

The echo's were created with my new Belle Epoch Deluxe and an expression pedal. The expression pedal allows you to feed as much repeats as you want then back off. I modified the switch of the pedal so that I can kick it with my foot and use the expression to control delay time which I did at the end of the song. Overall I am blown away with this combination, Still very delicate to record.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Jan 17, 2021 17:31:35

Very interesting take on last year. Lots of work went into that. Smile

Thanks so much Bob! Yes, the recording was very different for me from the typical type of recording. I worked very hard but I must admit, I worked harder than what I think the finished piece represents. It took two weeks of takes to get the rhythm part recorded. No amount of practice prepared me for how important every nuance of the sound was going to come out. Without full band there was nothing to hide behind. Every pluck sticks out. I look forward to full band recordings going forward!!!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

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