Excellent photos (as always), Arny!! Very cool.

El Bluesky
El Ray
El Ray on Bandcamp
El Twang on YouTube

It was maaaaarvelous!!!!!

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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

Seems it was another great SJSF,
Thank you for the FB feed!

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Wow I can't believe, that already three weeks have passed since the Surfer Joe Summer Fest! Maybe it's because videos keep popping up on Youtube, which allow for a quick return every now and then?

Anyway, here are some impressions from my point of view. I missed the whole Thursday this year because I booked too late to get a flight, so I started my trip on Friday. In contrast to the last years, I could not recognize anybody familiar on the plane, so the journey to Livorno was rather boring this time. Once I had arrived, I headed straight for the Airbnb, which fellow forum member and Boris Bond guitarist Igorilla was so nice to book for us. I pretty much only got rid of my luggage and then we started the first of many half hour walks south towards the Surfer Joe Diner.

I did not see every band this year, so I am going to focus on the bands, which were the highlights of the festival for me (with one or two critical remarks maybe):
MOLOKAI COCKTAIL played a tasteful set of mostly traditional cover songs. I liked that they had a very balanced and pleasant sound, which seems to be a rather difficult thing, when you have two Jaguars as the guitars. They also seemed to have a good understanding for the more mellow aspects of surf music.
THE NECRONAUTICS had a lot of interesting ideas in their tunes, and considering that they had to play with a replacement drummer, they did a fine job.
LULUFIN & THE WOO HOO were a welcome change after three bands, which leaned more towards the heavy side of surf music. But other than that, I did not really get, why people got that excited about them. Sorry.
FRANKIE & THE POOLBOYS were next, and I had already seen them a few days earlier, when they visited my home town. You could sense their excitement, which lead to a few wrong notes, but overall they played a great set, and I would even say, that their drummer was even better than at the Berlin concert. What I like about the Poolboys is, that their songs are always melodic, but they never follow the too familiar lines or patterns. They are played with a lot of energy, but they never the less manage to stay in the realm of light heartedness (is that a word?).
MESSER CHUPS closed the evening and the room was packed, which lead to a bit of trouble between the people, who just wanted to dance quietly for themselves, and those folks, who prefer to jump against other people. I actually got in an argument with someone, who thought it was okay to constantly push me, but somehow did not like it, when I actually pushed back once. Anyway, the band delivered a set that easily surpassed the last concerts I had seen of them, including one of the shows with Polina on bass. Though I never was a big fan of Zombirella's singing or bass playing, I have to say that I only now realized what an important piece of the band they actually are.
Another thing I learned is, that ordering a "rum and coca cola" as it was written out on the menu behind the bar can easily get you a "rum cooler" instead. Not really a problem as both worked for me, but after it took me three attempts the next time, I finally switched to ordering in Italien ("rum e coca"). I danced happily till the end of the set and then went homewards with sore feet, which would get much worse the next day...

Saturday started with OPERATION OCTOPUS, which was another entertaining, rather traditional sounding band.
After them MONOKINI took the stage, who were the biggest surprise of the weekend for me. I had heard about them, but I don't remember ever consciously listening to them before. They combine traditional sounds with intricate songwriting and arrangements, which feature a lot of dynamics and yet still remain very accessible and dance infecting. They totally lurred me in, and I can only recommend to everyone to listen to their song "Taikonaut gets lost" at least once. I also had the luck to guess, which song they had unwittingly "ripped off" from another surf band, which made me win one of their CDs. And since we had a nice conversation afterwards, they also gave me another one.
TIKIYAKI 5-0 played a sophisticated blend of surf, exotica and a lot of other music from the 60s. It was as some of the studio musicians at the end of the first wave had said: "Hey, let's take this music serious and see what we can do with it instead of just making records for commercial ends." The arrangement had an almost transparent quality to them, and the songs were played with great musical sensibility. I especially enjoyed seeing Lorenzo and Luca playing in this broader musical context, and though there were a few minor glitches, this cooperation was certainly a big musical achievment.
THE SPACE COSSACKS were probably one of the main reasons for people to come to Livorno this year. Their songs have become modern classics and were presented here with an energy as if the band had been playing together through all these years. In addition to the fun and excitement from the music, there was a special enthusiasm from the crowd, which included people, who had waited for this opportunity for a long time or never thought it would happen at all. And while I truly am a fan of the Space Cossacks, my appreciation simply paled compared to that of Kennteth from the Illuminators, who stood right next to me and visibly had the time of his live.
I had seen the PHANTOM FOUR earlier this year and looked forward very much to see them again. Unfortunately their concert in Livorno was plaged by tuning issues and a less than ideal sound. I think that their music translates better to the crowd in a club, but I never the less enjoyed their set and everybody seemed to as well.
SURFER JOE & THE BRADIPOS IV started with short sets each and then joined forces for a looong set of instrumental and occasionally vocal surf. I have been a fan of both bands for quite a while and remember that I was thrilled when I heard of their collaboration announcement last year, but at the same time a little disappointed since the concerts were only planned for Italy. So naturally I looked forward to the opportunity to see this trad surf supergroup, and they surpassed my expectations! The crowd demanded several encores and the band kept playing to almost 4 am. By this time my feet were screaming at me for several hours of dancing, but I just couldn't stop as long as there was live music. (Near the end I went to the bar to get some water, and I accidently bumped into someone, which almost let to another argument, yet with switched sides. But this time the matter was resolved very quickly and friendly.)

Having each night of the festival close with a more traditional or dance orientated surf band was perfect for me, and for that reason my favorite band on Sunday were the KRONTJONG DEVILS, who focused on classic surf tunes from the 60s and presented them with a light hearted approach and got everybody dancing again.

I did not attend all of the workshops, but from the ones I visited the discussion about surf in the 90s was by far my favorite. Ivan, Ferenc and Frank each had their very own perspective, which were often not matching, which resulted in some interesting exhanges and also some funny moments (at least for me), when it came to Frank's view on music, reverb and everything else: "I don't like surf music, it all sounds the same. Lose the reverb tank!" And in fact, Frank had already provided one of my favorite quotes of the weekend, when he talked to someone about the day's schedule and only slighly smiled while remarking "Oh, no German bands please!"
The big surprise of the drum seminar was (at least for me), that neither Niels from the Phantom Four nor Boris from Messer Chups had ever taken any drum lessons!
Regarding rhe recording workshop I had the impression, that some people expected a more technical perspective, while it was more about the general approach of making records and delivered some interesting experience from that area.

And of course it was nice to see so many familiar faces again and talk about the bands or surf music in general. I also took the opportunity to try out the Surf Bear and some very nice pedals from Kuro Custom Audio, a local pedal manufacturer. And of course I bought lots of stuff, including some cool Italian comic books:

Many thanks to everybody involved in the planning and realisation of the festival! I had a wonderful time and already look forward to coming back next year!

I am also looking forward to more photos and want to thank everybody, but especially Anry and Pablo, who spent so much of their time to take pictures for the rest of us.

Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin)
"Postcards from the Scrapyard" Vol. 1, 2 & 3 NOW available on various platforms!
"Chaos at the Lobster Lounge" available as LP and download on Surf Cookie Records!

Great write up, Simon! As always, it's a pleasure to see and talk with you.
About the recording seminar, we wished it could be more technical and by example, but we'd really need a studio's worth of equipment to show mic placement and gear tricks. Maybe someday.

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Thank you to everybody for there input. Arny always has great pics. Simon's report was great. I hope the Space Cossacks still have a smile on there face. The whole festival does appear to have some magic there!

Even if the Cossacks hadn't been playing, Simon's writeup makes me wish I was there!

Deal with reality, or reality will deal with you.

Thanks Simon for the review and anybody else who came to the fest. I have basically had no time yet to recover due to the Space Cossacks and my own tours right after the festival. And now getting ready to come to USA next week.

It was as usual an exciting festival and preparing already for 2019. Hopefully we will go back to have a larger space to use (as explained to someone this year's restrictions are due to new laws about security in public spaces).

I had much fun with Tikiyaki (thanks for inviting me and Luca to join you guys) and with the Bradipos (my ears are still hurting from that volume with my little Roland Jazz Chorus set at 10!).

Ciao!

Lorenzo "Surfer Joe" Valdambrini
(www.surfmusic.net)

Fantastic news!

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

simoncoil wrote:

I am relieved to hear the festival will again take place in Livorno!
At the same time I'm tense to learn about the line up and schedule...

Me too!!! Cause we've applied to play there)

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

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