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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink My surf life, before surfguitar101.com

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I'm a longtime lurker and an excited new member. This is a very long and personal post; I think I wrote it for myself to chart where I’ve come from, in order to know where I’m going.

But maybe you’ll laugh along with the guy who took the slowest, least direct route(s) to get deeper into his favorite musical style.

197? – As a child, I always found Pipeline by The Chantays to be haunting, rocking, amazing. I must have heard it on the radio and I always perked up when it would come on.

197? - Wipeout by the Surfaris is what every kid in the early Sixties tried to play on drums, or on their desks; my dad told me this.
I would not learn that there had been ANOTHER Surfaris until 2016.

198? –I vaguely remember seeing a K-Tel commercial for surf music. It all sounded good to me, but especially the songs without vocals.

1985? - Upon receiving my first guitar amp with built-in reverb (some kind of Peavey), I immediately went for the Pipeline glissando.

1989 - My friend's dad played Wipeout for me on his audiophile system. I was dumbfounded. I had never before heard the cool timbre of every instrument; modern 1989 recordings sure didn't have cymbals sounding like THAT! I realized that I’d loved this song since before I could remember.

1995 - The Pulp Fiction soundtrack came out. I was not immune.

I halfway remember buying it, for Misirlou, after one rental of the movie. Once I had the CD playing in my molten-hot Florida car, and had heard all the surf tracks, I realized I had come across the most exciting music, ever!

Suddenly, my other musical loves sounded somehow leaden and overserious, including lots of my own material - oops!!!

Tellingly, no one I played it for got the same SUPERCHARGE of excitement that everything about this song gave me.

The other handful of surf songs can't be overlooked, especially the absolutely haunting Surf Rider.

also 1995 - I decided to get all of the Beach Boys' albums, starting with the first, on CD. I fell in love with the lesser-known songs and loved how Dennis (who apparently did play on the first album) applied his surf beat to songs like Summertime Blues.

To the annoyance of my musician friends, I started slipping this drum beat into lots of non-surf styles I was playing in various original bands.

When one of these groups formed a splinter group - and I was nominated for lead guitar - and I took every opportunity to play surf melodies - it felt altogether natural, and hilarious.

also 1995 - I quickly found out from various cheap surf comps that lots of surf bands covered each other, sometimes pretty badly - and that comp producers sometimes pick oddball songs that seemingly have little to do with the down-to-earth, obviously homegrown but scrappy qualities I loved in my favorites so far.

also 1995! - Somehow I knew that the Ventures had pre-dated surf, but that they had influenced (and were later influenced by) it. I picked up a "best of" comp and thrilled to the mysteries of the original Walk, Don't Run (which I assumed was their original composition), and all of the other tunes, but notably Walk Don't Run '64 - whose rhythm guitar drip utterly fascinated me!

I can't mention this without also saying that Dick Tracy rocked me upside down with its ferocious tones, playing, arrangement and something that sounded just like Pac-Man dying, decades early.

I would later pick up The Ventures In Space and Surfing, exposing me to their remakes of tunes like Penetration.

ALSO 1995! - As I acquired more surf songs and started to refine my tastes, the comps couldn't cut it, so I'd make my own mix tapes to listen to on the way to the beach. (Not surfing - I live on Florida's WEST coast!)

With surf music having become the ultimate accompaniment to any drive, especially to the beach, I wrote my first original surf instrumental, to commemorate this... AND to make fun of my own landlocked status. The song is Bridge To Longboat Key and (despite its obvious Walk Don't Run inspiration) I still play it.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but I continued to buy the few surf CDs I'd find, like Dick Dale's Greatest Hits, 1961-1976 (apparently re-recordings, but hey... this is where I first heard The Wedge) and Rhino Instrumental Classics Vol. 5, Surf (where I fell in love with the original Pyramids version of Penetration, went Underwater with the Frogmen, and thrilled to the 'every-instrument-on-here-is-badass' classic, Mr. Rebel).

1997 - I bought More Surf Legends (And Rumors) and heard Baja (the drip had me from moment one!) and Mr. Moto (the melody haunted me all year!)

I taught myself how to play Mr. Moto and used to wow my metal friends at small parties. I wondered if anyone, anywhere, knew this song anymore.

1997 - I made a better recording of my lone surf instrumental.

2000 - I bought a Johnson J-Station (an early guitar modeling processor that came out around the same time as the first Pod) and found I could get something nearer to a Fender-amp-with-spring-reverb sound. How little I knew - and know!

2003 - Having moved to a house, where I could record drums, I went crazy recording lots of tunes where the drum track went first – then I'd challenge myself to build songs around the drum improvisations. Roughly a third of these were first wave style surf beats, so I quickly amassed a collection of homemade instrumentals with often-quirky arrangements.

I also bought my first Telecaster at this time, and loved the rawness/realness of its tones; it brought more ragged personality to my already idiosyncratic songs.

2004-present - Still more recording... every time I got the chance... and less often after the late 2004 birth of my son. These off-the-cuff songs were often surfy in nature. I never dared try to 'update' the First Wave sound, because I thought the unachievable sounds of the real songs were better than anything my paltry 90s digital recording setup could ever produce!

2006-2007 - when I first started buying songs piecemeal from iTunes, you better believe I sought out some soaking wet first wave surf. I found some Dick Dale songs I'd never heard (notably, Hava Nagila) and somehow found a Trashmen song called Malaguena - which became a favorite.

However, the quirky side of me also thoroughly enjoyed another Trashmen song, which I love to this day: Sleeper. I would later buy their whole Surfin’ Bird album and enjoy all of it, especially the surf-stoked lyrics of King of the Surf - after I learned that the Trashmen were from Minnesota, and were just as landlocked as myself!

2010-ish - I positively remember consulting surfguitar101.com around this time (via Google search and subsequent lurking) about something surf guitar related. Probably whether 1st wave surf bands used flatwounds, or (more likely) "how exactly did they get that reverb sound???"

2011 - I wrote my most epic original song ever. Deep in meaning, monolithic in execution.

Six months later, I re-recorded it as... a surf instrumental.

2014 - I again consult surfguitar101.com about a better surf guitar sound. I think I was wondering what kinds of amps were used. The Dual Showman comes to mind as a popular result.

2016 - A random request of "play some surf!" at my solo acoustic gig ushers in a massive... wave of renewed surf interest. 'As if I could be much more interested,' I thought. I realized I'd been playing & writing surf music for twenty-one years... and talked to virtually no one with my level of mania passion.

I found a thread on surfguitar101.com that led me to some songs I'd have instantly adored, if only I'd somehow chanced to hear them decades ago!

No exaggerating here; you guys opened up a new (old) world of first wave surf that I'd never heard. Just to give you an idea of how my tastes run, these were the songs I heard for the first time thanks to this site - and which utterly BLEW ME AWAY in 2016:

"Squad Car" by Eddie And The Showmen

"Everybody Up" by the Fender IV

"Ali Baba" by Dave and the Customs

"Pintor" by The Pharos

"Bombora" by The Original Surfaris

"Harem Bells" by the Newport Nomads

I can’t say enough about these songs’ greatness. The writing, the playing, and yes – especially! - the sound quality.

I can barely hear the band behind Randy Holden in "Everybody Up" - it sounds like the recording studio could only capture some semblance of the power that must have been in the room.

Even when I buy an MP3 of Everybody Up, it sounds like it's sourced from vinyl that's been played and played. I can't tell where the distortion comes from - is it everything fighting to be heard in the mix over the lead guitar and drums, or is it surface noise from a sandy old disc?

THIS is what I love about music. THIS is where I differ from those who prefer pristine tone and immaculate execution. Far from being flawed, the sound quality of these recordings is (to me) unapproachable.

Modern recordings are so safe. THESE are the outrageous and rollicking sounds I suddenly had to inhabit, and, at a greater level of commitment that I've ever tried before. On guitar, bass and drums - but especially in the songwriting.

**Surfguitar101.com** had unknowingly set this perpetually-distracted ol' lurker upon a Mission.

I had to get closer to THOSE sounds and THAT inspiration. I had to craft some "classics" of my own, even if they're only barely in the neighborhood of the greatness that I hear in the recordings that I love.

I have to build that inimitable groove, and harness that reverb, and ride all over it... with all four instruments contributing my ideas of what make surf bands work so well.

I started recording an EP, which quickly turned into an album as I kept adding songs. I took some of them on (Everybody Up) knowing full well I couldn't currently meet that level of guitar playing, but I relished the challenge and found indubitably that surf music played badly is still waves and waves of fun.

It's an aspiration that can never go wrong, because I've enjoyed every moment of tweaking tones and replacing tracks and learning more intricacies of the songs themselves.

I really should stop now (I haven't even gotten to the part where I just purchased a Gomez G-Spring from a friendly SG101 member! The sky's the limit now!!!) but I wanted to write and say thanks, with all appreciation, from the loneliest surfer.

Welcome to the site finally! You've found the right place! That was a great read!

SG101!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Thank YOU, Brian - for the site, and for the patience it took to read all of that! Zzzzz

That came out pretty disjointed, so I ought to clarify some important points:

1) Although I knew no one else with such love for this music, I've taken every opportunity to tell people: "Instrumental surf - that's the best music. I never get tired of it, and I'll still be listening to it when I'm 90."

2) I don't think first wave surf music is the best - it's just the only kind that I've welcomed into my life so far. Of course, I had little choice; you might say that the Chantays ripped the first hole, so that Dick Dale and Eddie Bertrand and Larry Weed could come barnstorming in...

3) I am aware that some of the world's most amazing surf musicians post here - people who have kept this music going through blood, sweat and tears - and I look forward to learning more about how THEY'VE kept the torch aflame. Surf music shouldn't be as secret as I've always kept it!

4) I have downloaded the first SG101 podcast and still have all the others to look forward to!

5) In closing - I might have used (The) "Lonely Surfer" in my parting words, but I should point out that the song itself is one of those that bewildered me, from the first time I heard it. I thought my disc had a manufacturing error; surely no one thought The Lonely Surfer belonged on the same album as Penetration!

(I will now brace myself for possible onslaught from Lonely Surfer fans. I really dig the arrangement & production, but it's just so far from what I love about surf!)

Last edited: Feb 13, 2017 15:01:28

You aren't alone. You are one of us now.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Welcome to the world of SG101 Tangentor. And congratulations on your perseverance. I enjoyed reading about your discoveries. It can be a lonely journey when most of those around us haven't "felt" the reverb.

By now you have found that surf music is very much alive in the 21st century and there are many exciting bands to discover. I'm not a player, but I do need a regular fix of live surf music. I've found the many videos from the SG101 Conventions, the Surfer Joe Festivals and Instro Summits, to name only a few, are very helpful treatment. Plus, from the discussions, I've learned much about the history of surf music. Even the gear discussions are enjoyable and entertaining.

Again, welcome "home." I think you will find it a friendly place to be.

Woody D
S3 #148
Henrico Va

THAT was a great read. Thanks for sharing all that - an overt Welcome to SG101.
Cool

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Welcome aboard, Tangentor.
At the bottom of the SG 101 Home Page, is an ad for the Reverbumentary (at least that's what I call it) 'Reverb Junkies'. It's the fastest moving 90 minute flick you're likely to see.

It features interviews and clips of many of our esteemed SG 101 colleagues, including, but not limited to, Brian, Ivan Pongracic, Danny Snyder, Mel Waldorf, Jeff Hansen (aka Bigtikidude), Lorenzo Valdambrini (aka Surfer Joe), Unsteady Freddie, Norm Cabrera, Dave Arnson, Cousin Mary, Dario Gomez, Ferenc Dobronyi, and late Baja Marty (R.I.P.)

It will put the names and faces to words you read here. I lurked here quite a while before I joined, and I actually get more out of this forum because of it.

-Cheers, Clark-

-Less Paul, more Reverb-

Last edited: Feb 14, 2017 00:14:00

Welcome aboard Tangentor, I know exactly how you feel. PM me if you'd like some downloads of a modern surf band i.e. my band Big Grin

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

That was a great read. My feelings of joy for having found this site and community of people who are just as--if not more--into surf than me are still overflowing.

In regard to what you said about the sound of the original stuff--I hear you and agree fully. Though there are a lot of very talented people making surf music these says and quite a number of exceptions, my general feeling is that modern stuff is just too clean or something. I'm extremely picky about the sound and feel and I always measure stuff against the yardstick of all those old recordings. And of course the quality of the old stuff varied a lot. From the Astronauts and Dick Dale's high quality studio stuff to that Everybody Up sound you described--there's a lot of variation. And yet, there's some magical quality to it that's hard to figure.

Check out the Wave Chargers, from France. They're on this forum and their sound is really energetic and pretty authentic. They record to tape live with just 2 microphones and get a bombastic, raw sound out of it. In this era of digital recording, their decision to go old school analog is inspiring and makes me want to go round up a reel to reel somewhere. Just as soon as I get a band...

https://thewavechargers.bandcamp.com/track/tidal-jet

A great post! Welcome to sg101. Very glad you're here. And there is so much more terrific music to be discovered. It's a very big wave, and it goes all the way around the world.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Great post!OK let's all admit it..We are all SURFAHOLICS,here!And there is noooooo cure...

https://www.youtube.com/user/jamess1400

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