I have no opinion on the perfect size band I have liked all size bands down ti the one man band. I am playing in a three piece and and ten a ten piece atr this time and it just comnes down to everybody understanding ther role. I like the the Ten piece cause is is a lazy gig for me. I like the three piece because of the freedom in the playing choices. oh yeah I play bass.

4 out of 5 people prefer Thee Swank Bastards to nothing.
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dp

Brian
In general, I don't like trios for surf. IMHO, you need at least 2 guitars. I would miss that Astronauts-style damped muted reverb 'boooching' or the frenetic fast rhythm chording. Maybe you could pull it off by multi-tracking on a CD, but live it sounds too thin...

...of course there are obvious trio exceptions: Slacktone, The Surf Coasters, etc. (The Surf Coasters had a rhythm guitar in one incarnation I believe). But those guys are so good anyway.

brian:

I think I like playing in a trio setup for exactly the reasons you mentioned: the challege of "rhythm and lead" that pushes a trio...but, you are right, often a trio can sound thin... a good trio figures out a way to arrange their tunes to help ameliorate this inherrant weakness.

Dick Dale is another trio that overcomes the "thin" factor... I think he solves his thin-problem with sheer volume...

-dp

I would agree that there is a 'sheer volume' factor, but it's also a texture factor. We play a bunch of stuff as a trio, and while I find myself thinking sometimes how it would be great to have a rhythm guitarist, we don't really seem to miss it that much. I think arrangement is key, and I try to think as a bassist and rhythm guitarist to fill in that void. I'm not really sure how successful that is, but I've been told by some other surf players that it works. I don't try to play a lot of notes, but am always conscious of the 1/8th note rhythms, and how things are accented.

There is a HUGE flexibility factor too. Josh can run off into pretty much any direction he wants, and I can follow. There's no fourth guy who also has to hear that and figure it out. We've played 10 song medleys that we never worked out, but just 'morphed' because there's just me to listen to whatever the hell it is he's doing (sometimes he doesn't know, either and just react. It's very liberating.

Kanekila

Aloha,
Kanekila

3 piece
drums keyboard guitar

JakeDobner
This was a seriously dead thread.

Ideal, to me, would now be 3 guitars, bass, combo organ, drums. Counterpoint is the key here. To me it is absolutely the most fascinating thing in all of music and you need the extra guitar for this while retaining a guitar to play rhythm. The keys couldn't be a constant distraction either.

The album would have more tracks than that. Extra guitar here and there, electric piano, acoustic on two or three, extra percussion. The goal is a lush but not overproduced sound. It may seem like a lot in a surf context but in reality it is not that many tracks.

The danger lies in doing too much. I'm sure the SP's came to that realization early on. Too much counterpoint or syncopation can be overwhelming, it must be used sparingly. This isn't orchestral or prog music. That being said, I'm sure there are some geniuses out there who can make it work.

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

I specifically know we are not geniuses.

With out influences it is kind of natural.

I did say ideal to me.

And I mentioned that i think we got it to work because I think other bands could definitely get it to work. Plus it is just a ton of fun to come up with even more parts to a song! Or talk about what gear or instrument you are going to use for the overdub. Melodica anyone?

I'm not in a band right now, but I often fantasize about being a rhythm guitarist in a 5 piece band like the Astronauts. I don't think this will ever be a reality because I don't think most bands want the 5th wheel.

WR
.:?: .... .... ( )

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

_I_
.:?: (what, there's like a how to make music manual?).... (now let me think about that....) .... (No, there's not! Bad idea.) ( (just messin' with you Danny, Im not trying to pick a fight)

I was actually wanting a "there's-no-'ideal'-in-music,-so-'ideal-in-the- general-sense'-is-still-'ideal-according-to-Danny'-or-'ideal-according-to- Jake'-so-if-there's-a-band-that's-happy-making-really-bombastic-music-with-lots-of-counterpoint-that's-great-cause-the-last-thing-we-want-is-all- music-to-conform-to-the-same-ideal"-smiley, but alas, I couldn't find one.

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

We're trio - it's hard sometimes (everyone is heard and seen veeeeery well), sometimes a bit limitating, but very satisfying:)

the question of expanding - may be, but it's more of finding the right people that from the pure musical point of view

thinking of some trumpets or piano...may be...

but somehow I like a lot the trio format.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin