wooza wrote:

VIDEOS. SOMEONE.

We were all sworn into secrecy...

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

wow, sounds like a fun time was had by all. Can't wait to see videos. So, who won the DiPinto guitar raffle????

Anyone post this yet? It's awesome!

Crispy is such an amazing talent as well as a good-gracious-how-does-he-do-it organizer! Thanks again Crispy!

Jeremy

aqualadius wrote:

Anyone post this yet? It's awesome!

Crispy is such an amazing talent as well as a good-gracious-how-does-he-do-it organizer! Thanks again Crispy!

EPIC. Man, that Crispy is a talented guy (along with everyone else in Killer Filler and Phatlynx).

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

Ooof! I'm currently a mess: Tired, dehydrated, losing my voice, and trying to do math. But was it worth it? Oh yeah!

I'll bring up my thoughts after I've recovered, but Someone asked who won the DiPinto: It was Instro Summit superfan Dave Billick--yet ANOTHER guitar winner from the great state of Connecticut! This makes three years in a row that someone from the Constitution State has won a Summit guitar.

--Crispy

oh yes......the food trucks !!!

i got up at 6 sunday AM so i could be back to work at noon, so that's why no third day for me.

www.surfintheeye.com

Well, this was indeed a HIGH SPEED WEEKEND for us in the Madeira! I personally spent close to 30 hours in the car (either riding or driving) between Thursday night and Sunday night, getting home late last night, having to get up at 6:45 am today. Damn, that seriously sucked. However, it was ALL worth it! Crispy absolutely outdid himself, and the Instro Summit was bigger and better in every regard this year! We had an absolute blast, though things were extremely exhausting and hectic for us, so we didn't get a chance to see nearly as many other bands as we would have liked to, which was a big bummer. But of the bands I did see, the Mystery Men, with Chad of the Squares on third guitar celebrating his one year anniversary with the band, were EPIC! I was blown away. They delivered a powerful and supertight set with a bunch of new songs that were uniformly at least very good and some of them outright incredible. I cannot wait for their next CD! Aqualads sounded amazing, as they did a year ago. They've truly become one of my all-time favorite surf bands, especially live. Their show the following night in Charlotte was even better, and I can only liken it to seeing the Fathoms in '96 and Los Twang! Marvels in '09, for me two of the most affecting surf shows I had even seen. Aqualads are really that good. I can't wait for both of these bands to play California in August, they will BLOW YOU AWAY! Kill Baby Kill closed Friday night with an immensely powerful wall of sound, the band clearly a tight and well-oiled machine from all the playing and touring they've been doing - they've got it down! They were impressive. Unfortunately, it was after 1 am when they started and I was feeling pretty much completely worn down and wiped out by then, after a very long day of travel and way too early of a start that morning. Once they were done we headed to the hotel where we crashed hard as soon as walked in, collapsed with utter exhaustion, can't remember the last time I was that tired!

On Saturday after gratefully sleeping in late, a delicious brunch, and a run through the Penetrators set through tiny amps in Eddie Katcher's hotel room, we headed to the club for the Astronauts tribute set, which sounded fantastic, they were absolutely nailing it. The three-guitar wall-of-sound with Jamie, Eddie and Chris Aquasonic on guitars (and Richard of the Mystery Men on bass, and John of the Surge on drums) was just a thing of beauty and joy! Eddie brought in a fraction of his incredible collection of Showmans, Bandmaster, and converted Twin Reverbs, all coming through 1x15 or 2x15 cabs. The sound was truly breathtaking. The three guitarists switched roles, with each handling some lead and different rhythm parts, though I really felt for Chris who had to do the 'booch'/'chunk' several songs in a row - after three songs it looked he got pretty bad cramping, the look of pain on his face was wrenching! No pain, no gain, right?? Been there many times.... Hope the right hand's OK, Chris! But they were a blast, and probably did the most faithful recreations of the Astronauts surf songs I had ever heard.

Then it was time for the Penetrators set, and I gotta say that this will probably be one of the most special memories of my life. It was incredible and incredibly moving for me. Everybody's playing was shockingly good, but the most important thing was the overall emotion while we were playing. It was powerful among us playing, and it seemed to be shared by the audience. I don't know what else to say, it was just a remarkable occasion that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I'm so glad that we get to do it two more times in California, though I don't know if it'll be possible to match the emotions of this first show. It was also SO GOOD to see Trace and Sticks and spend time with them, I absolutely loved it. We did a lot of reminiscing, remembering the wonderful times we shared as well as many stories about Rip and Spanky. They brought an album of photographs of their Penetrators days, and wow, I was blown away. It's very, very hard to believe a lot of that was 15 years ago now. Rip and Spanky will in my mind be forever young, forever debonair, forever the very epitome of cool. Seeing those photos just sealed all that. It was a very emotional occasion for me, and being able to share it with Trace, Sticks, Eddie and Robert was almost overwhelming. (It was also wonderful to have Larry "Moon Dawg" White there with us, since he was quite influential with both bands - and is also just a great guy and a very good old friend!)

We hung out, chatted and took photos with friends for another 30-45 minutes after the Penetrators set, but sadly and very frustratingly had to leave to get to Charlotte for our evening show. I so wished we could have stayed and talked to all the wonderful people and friends there. Maybe the next time - or at the Convention. (BTW, Phatlynx sounded PHENOMENAL as we were leaving - WOW!!) Our Saturday night show with Aqualads was just awesome, though, a full club and an enthusiastic audience and Aqualads playing their heart out - one of the best evenings of surf music I have ever been part of. (Even a whole bunch of girls in the audience, and many of them dancing!! Dane asked if this is the sign of the end of times! ) That made the pain of missing all the amazing bands at the Instro Summit on Saturday night a bit easier to bear, though still hard - damn, such an incredible lineup for Saturday night! So close, and yet still so far....

Anyway, THANK YOU CRISPY!!! You've done an amazing job, and we thank you very deeply for ALL your hard work, as well as for having us there. Here's hoping you recover soon! You've truly deserved some R&R, this was a Herculean task, and you pulled it off perfectly. And great to see everybody, and please forgive me if we didn't get a chance to talk more - I truly wanted to talk more to everybody! (I have that problem - my bandmates are forever waiting for me at the end of each night since I can't stop talking to people - on Saturday, they were all in the car and at the parking lot exit with the car running waiting for me to finally get in!) I do greatly look forward to seeing some of you again in SoCal in August.

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

Last edited: May 10, 2013 17:39:47

I was a bit too mesmerized by the tremendous outpouring of music, emotion and stories to take any videos or even pictures, but I feel very fortunate to have been there for the Penetrators' tribute. It simultaneously made me a bit sad I missed seeing the original band and had missed the scene when those guys were pumping so much life into it, but still thrilled to see them briefly manifesting again by close friends, honoring them in the best way possible... really a beautiful thing.

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

Not to toot our own horn, but Killer Filler's bass guy Steve Eisenstadt set up a portable recording device and got most of our set. He's been sending videos to me via Facebook all day. Here's a few more:

--Crispy

My first Instro Summit and I hope to go every year now. Highlights that I remember:

I arrived Friday in the middle of El Mirage's set. Damn, forgot they were playing and I liked Mike's youtube videos and wished I'd seen it all. I had met Fady last year at the Surf Convention, look forward to seeing more with these guys. They ended with Intruder which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite songs. Next up was Mystery Men? Somehow I haven't heard them before, really a cool vibe and an enthusiastic group, sure liked what I heard. The High-Fidelics & Diamondheads rocked the house. From there into one of the main reasons I went, The Madeira! Completely different set than when I saw them last year. They played several new songs that I presume will be on a new CD and they were on fire! Highlight was watching Ivan's fingers race around the fretboard on one number, the word blistering comes to mind. They were followed by the Aqualads. We're in for a treat next summer in California, and I expect some bands will be learning Whirling Dervish, a really infectious song of theirs. I was spent after that, so didn't catch all of Kill Baby Kill... they pummeled, in a good way!

Saturday I sat back and listened to the lunchtime jam. This isn't scripted like the Surf Convention, everything was impromptu, the raggedness of it was fun and some gems came out of it all. Eddie's Astronauts tribute was amazing, how does that guy know so many songs, and plays them so well? I never saw the Penetrators, so I'm ever so thankful for the tribute that was put together. It was emotional and heartfelt. I wish I could have met Rip and Spanky, so happy to hear them through Ivan & Eddie's fingers. With Trace and Sticks on rhythm it was magic. I was in awe with Ivan playing Redlined. I missed part of Phatlynx, but came back to hear the Rumble jam. Great fun! Arrows Out provided a nice counterpoint to the wide open surf that had been played up to this point. They weren't surf but that's okay, they sounded great. I guess Eddie hadn't played enough (hah!), so the Surge were next, two new members but they sounded tight and I always like their music. 9th Wave followed, they always bring a different and unique vibe to the surf scene and I love their passion for it. Finally got to see the Atomic Mosquitos live. If you look up the word tight in the dictionary I think their picture will be there, superb! Another favorite, The Intoxicators were next. I was just thinking how few trio's have played and here there were only three of them, but that's odd, I thought they were a foursome...the other guitarist didn't make the trip...and the drummer wrecked his car. Still they played with their typical intensity and style which I really like. I wanted to catch the rest of the night but again I was shot so I bailed.

For Sunday I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't familiar with any of the bands and didn't know what to think. I arrived late again, in the middle of Team Void's set. Loud and aggressive instro rock played with intensity. They were followed by Meteor Men, great playing there, I really like them a lot. The Monterrey's were next and in a word - wow! Perfect tone with just the right amount of crunch to the guitar and flawless playing, I could listen to them all night long. The Great White Caps were next, they looked like a ska band playing surf and even did a ska type of song. Very energetic and a lot of fun with serious chops. Weisstronauts were next with more great music. Invisible Rays followed with an atmospheric psychedelic set that I think everyone enjoyed. Perhaps the most unique group for the weekend, well worth seeing. It ended with the Vivisector's and some scorching guitar with a final performance by Johnny of the Monterrey's joining in. Perfect.

My thanks also to Crispy and his crew.

It was great to meet some old friends and some new. Hope I can get the time to do it again next year.