January Birthdays 
Last night, Clutch Draggin’ and the Lug Nuts did a show at the (Tucson) Reid Park Zoo. It was our first post-lockdown performance and between the fact that we hadn’t performed in public since 2019 and the fact that I felt like crap yesterday … let’s just say that we’ve had finer moments, but it was still good enough to please the audience.
For an outdoor venue, it was quite good. There was a 3’ high wall around the area and it directed th sound nicely. No echo to speak of and we were audible at modest levels of volume, which is good, because our drummer was using electronic drums and was at the limits of his amplification. Being ad hoc, there wasn’t a house PA, but we really didn’t need it and our modest 200 watt PA system did the trick.
We didn’t do a strictly Surf show, but mixed it up with mostly ‘60s material. Before the show, I had spent about an hour out in the 100 degree heat and much of it directly under the sun, so I was suffering heat exhaustion and my reflexes were poor. Fortunately, I was in good voice and after rehydrating a bit, I was at 80% with my playing. The other guys in the band did pretty well and I have to hand it to our drummer, who is sensitive to direct sunlight; once he was setup under the canopies, he played exceptionally well.
Not knowing in advance just what the volume requirements would be, I took a 40 watt Winfield Elizabeth amp, which is basically the Blackface Fender circuit in a single channel with no tremolo. Even though this has very good reverb built in, I used a Catalinbread Topanga, a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini with a Plate TonePrint and a Boss DM-2w analog delay, along with a Boss OS-2 Overdrive for the three songs where I wanted an overdrive sound. Even though the design is at least 7 years old, that Topanga is still a great Spring Reverb sound and I got some nice drip. Kicking in a bit of short-period delay from the DM-2w gave me a great sound. The guitar, BTW, was a Gretsch Tennessean with a pair of Supertrons. For reasons I can’t even begin to define, the Gretsch sound really works for me as a Surf guitar. I used to play Strats and a Jaguar, but as soon as I got my first modern Gretsch, I was hooked.
Our band has played a lot of community events over our decade together and I love playing these. The audiences are usually families and playing live music for families usually means that you will have some children that are fascinated by seeing live music for the first time. We had one little fellow yesterday, perhaps 2 years old, that stood right in front of us for quite a while. Kids make for a great audience.
We also had a duck that became very interested in our music and he spent about half of the first set on stage, sometimes seeming to shift his weight from foot to foot, in time with the music. He seemed completely comfortable, just a few feet from the bassist.
All in all, it was a great gig and we got to spread the message of Surf Music to a fresh audience, along with some Del Shannon, Neil Diamond, Roger Miller and even one song by a British boy band, from the mid sixties. 
The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
