I grew up playing in Punk bands from the late 80's on. The late 80's/early 90's surf crossover in the genre led me here. With bands like Man or Astro-man?, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet making a mark and Dick Dale having a second wind of a career, all the stones just turned in this direction. While my main band in the mid 90's did touch on writing a few instro tunes, it was not until the early 2000's when I finally started to see potential in my songwriting and playing ability to actually tackle this genre. Even with that said, my punk roots still have a huge presense in the music I write.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

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EricB wrote:

I lucked out and was born to a father with excellent
taste in music, so when I was a little kid, I'd listen
to lots of Beatles, Stones, the Who, Hendrix, Sly & The
Family Stone, and the Beach Boys. I never grew out of
them. Also grew up watching spaghetti westerns, and the
soundtracks made a big impression on me.

When I was just starting to expand my horizons and buy
music on my own in my early teens in the mid 90s, and
the timing was perfect. The grunge craze I think
exposed or led people to listen to punk rock who might
not have been exposed otherwise. Ended up being a huge
Ramones fan, started a punk band, and then, while all
that was going on, I was introduced to instrumental
surf and related music through Pulp Fiction and Kids in
the Hall. Fell in love with that kind of music, and I
incorporated lots of surf-ish elements into my playing
and writing, but didn't play "surf."

My high school band fell apart, and after college I
started another one where I was the principal
songwriter. But the years between projects where I
didn't write much (broken hand, then played drums for
another band, and a heavy courseload my last two years
of school), I guess my writing tastes had kind of
changed. Maturity, cynicism, or I don't know what, but
those good old fashioned, somtimes angsty themes that
were typical in lyrics for the punk/garage music I dug
I didn't feel comfortable writing or singing anymore.

With rock lyrics, there's a fine line between being
outspoken and preachiness, and for that matter between
having a sense of humor (a la the Ramones) vs. just
being goofy (Primus). It was a line that I didn't feel
comfortable walking anymore. Took me forever to come up
with lyrics for the band's record. "I'm pushing 30, and
I'm gonna sing a song whining about this? Or pledging
my affection for some chick? F-that! I just wanna play
loud, fast, and have it sound cool."(which is probably
the Ramones-fan in me shining through, lol)

So, I decided next band I'm in, it's gonna be primarily
instrumental music. The other band is still around but
pretty much on hiatus due to the drummer and his wife
starting a family. Got the personnel lined up for the
surf band, but I'm coming up with some more material
before we start practicing as a full band. You can
definitely tell that while "surf", the guy writing the
music is equal parts a Link Wray, Ramones, and Ennio
Morricone fan.

It is funny that you mention being uncomfortable with lyrical content these days. I went through the same thing. While in my teens and twenties, lyrics were easy to come up with. Angst, stupid and idealistic values preached at maximum volume...That all seems to come natural at that age....Then my thirties hit. I had a desk job, children, divorce and every other Adult experience under my belt. I quickly realized that I just didn't have that much to say anymore. Well, I didn't have much to say that would be of interest to our target audience....Honestly, what self-respecting teenager or college kid is going to connect with stories of potty training, T-ball practice, weekly reports for work etc. etc. etc... Instrumental music really did seem like that natural place to be for me.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

I started out as a classical player. After a couple of years, I 'went electric' and played blues for a year or so until I got involved with surf in 1992. I was also interested in rockabilly and swing just before it got popular in the mid-90's. I even learned how to do the Chet Atkins fingerpicking from an old copy of the "Play Guitar With Chet Atking" album.

http://jukebox.au.nu/instromania/miscellaneous/play_guitar_with/chet_atkins_1968_play_guitar_with_chet_atkins/200.jpg

If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

I fit in roughly the same generation as ZZERO. Played surf in the South Bay area of SoCal in the early 60's. First influences were SoCal surf bands. Eddie and the Showmen, PJ and the Galaxies, The Lively Ones, Dick Dale, etc. Played rhythm guitar in an unknown surf band, The Caravans. Migrated to pop bands, however, my brother wanted me to learn blues styles, so to get my attention, he turned me on to an LP titled Freddie King Goes Surfin'. which was a re-release of his instro LP from some time earlier. I now play more blues than anything, but I've never lost a yearning for vintage surf and I'm returning to my roots. This site was a great find for me.

Last edited: Dec 11, 2011 16:35:30