January Birthdays 
Tony Bologna and I managed to get an invite to see the DeadBeats play a private party last night. As you probably know, the DeadBeats is the new name for our own Mr Reverb63's (Zanti's) band. I've been looking forward to seeing his band in action for some time. Not only to gauge how far along they are musically, but to see how they'd fit into the roster of SF Bay Area surf bands.
It was a great set of all fast and upbeat songs. Covering the likes of Satan's Pilgrims, Ghastly Ones, The Ventures and Dick Dale. The sound was right and no doubt these boys did their homework. We all know the difference between 'rock' drumming and 'surf' drumming, it's a different approach entirely, and not easily grasped by drummers new to the genre - Jon had it down in spades. Great fills and nice cymbal work. Abraham on bass reminded me of a young Brett Cole of the Pyronauts, whom I consider one of the best surf bassists I've ever seen. Great finger plucking style, solid tone and a firm grasp of what a bassist needs to do. Zanti led the charge on his gorgeous gold strat with a blistering double pick style that would do any surf guitarist proud. But beyond that, he has got the groove. Many people can play the notes, but the talented ones make you feel the melody and make you want to move along with it - Zanti's got that.
As a surprise bonus, our own Wooza -Ben Johnson - slung his beautiful sunburst strat on and took over lead duties for Dark Eyes and Vampiro, and rhythm on a killer version of Misirlou. Really, Tony and I were commenting afterwards that they'd have made the SP's proud. Ben is a fine guitarist with a style all his own and I predict great things to come from him.
I'm proud to say that The Deadbeats far exceeded my expectations. This is a band that has all the talent it needs to propel itself into one of the finest surf bands in the Bay Area if not the entire country. They've got the drive, the chops, the style, and the time. (All under 20 
) I wish I was 3/4th's this good when I was 20.
I hope Zanti and the rest keep at it, hone their skills, explore writing some originals and continue to get better and better. They'll be a force to be reckoned with. Take the opportunity to check out their myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/deadbeats63
—Danny Snyder
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo
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
Wow i can't even explain how i feel after reading that review of our show, im Honored!!!!!!! it really meant alot to us to have DAnny and Tony there supporting us, i must say it was a great show! i woke up feeling great this morning and wanting to play even MORE!! thanks to Ben (Wooza) for being there and kickin ass in Vampiro!!!!! i really hope we get to play together again, thanks for coming tony and danny!! next time you guys see us we'll be way better!
It was a lot of fun though, and we definitely held it together for Misirlou and Vampiro. The former of which we hadn't even rehearsed, and the latter I had only learned the night before, and we kinda rehearsed. I forgot how it ended, and I might not have been the only one, but we made it work somehow and it sounded pretty cool. As an audience member, I thought the whole set was bitchin'. Highlights were probably "Fuzzy and Wild" and "Dirty Sanchez." Killer. 
