With all due respect...one of the main reasons I gravitated to playing surf and instrumental rock and roll was to get away from the too serious and boring Americana songwriters and self absorbed artists.

Don't get me wrong, I take what I do seriously and spend a lot of time practicing and crafting original songs but at the gig its time to ENTERTAIN . I want our audience to have fun dancing, drinking, talking with the band etc., and everyone is invited...GO GO dancers, kids, lawyers in Hawaiin shirts and our hot rod tatted friends.

And with any luck the audience will pick up a CD and appreciate our artistry at home on their iPod.

So I say, bring on the GO GO dancers!

https://kingpelican.bandcamp.com/

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Last edited: Sep 23, 2009 18:24:12

JakeDobner

Rio
Think about this, do you think Dylan, Radiohead, Beatles, Neil Young, et al... are good time party bands? No, they are serious artists who create good music and present it in a serious manner.

Man this is enlightening. I had no idea there were bands out there that didn't want their audience to have a good time and just wanted to be appreciated in a serious manner. What do you do if someone is having a good time?

Personally we create more complex and dense surf songs that we want the audience to react to.

Kind of like Rush, or Yes?

Think about this, do you think Dylan, Radiohead, Beatles, Neil Young, et al... are good time party bands? No, they are serious artists who create good music and present it in a serious manner.

Actually, the Beatles did get there start as a party band and they made film clips with dancing girls (check out clips of "Hello, Goodbye"). It's when they started taking themselves too seriously that they became boring and no longer as signifgicant as they once were. And Neil Young's early 1980's band, The Shocking Pinks; now, there's a serious band!

Should surf musicians not strive to be on their level of artistic integrity?

Sure they should. They should not, however, be pretentious and boring. Dancing girls? Sure, why not?

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Last edited: Sep 23, 2009 18:24:52

I don't even know why everyone is arguing. I liked seeing say, the Bomboras with their Go-Go girls and fire and the next night I liked seeing another band without. Party bands are fun in this place and serious bands are fun in that place. But in overreacting in saying some of us must not want our audience to enjoy the show because we think we are so important...no one has said that. Not one. Someone mentioned Rush. Great example. Not a party band. Anyone come away saying they didn't like the show? Neil write a lyric about cold fusion hoping people don't like it? That's silly.
And someone mentioned this isn't jazz- just surf. That's my background, big-band and combos as a bassist. If I get a combo together and play Autumn Leaves it is more acceptable to take it more seriously than when I play Polaris? Why? I just can't believe WITHIN the surf forum there are those that think we must accept that we are <u>just</u> playing surf. And yes, much of the time I do say this or that is just a goofy surf tune, but it doesn't mean it has to be either way all the time.

www.jetpackband.com
https://www.facebook.com/JetpackTheBand

bots
No one is going to revolutionize surf.

But they should. But it wouldn't be a true surf album.

snoody art majors

Hey, I graduated from art school and only a few of us were snoody.

I think there's something to be said for serious surf music. There isn't that much of it out there, but what little there is I like very much. I would say that a lot of the stuff by the Madeira, Tomorrowmen, Pollo Del Mar, Slacktone, Bambi Molesters, Mermen falls under the "serious" category. Funny, that comprises a major chunk of my list of favorite bands.

I think surf can work really well in a serious sort of context, even if the genre has a history of being primarily fun and lighthearted. I think the playfully hedonistic "fun in the sun" associations in surf have created a bias against more serious stuff (oftentimes in other genres, not only surf). I sometimes get the feeling that the surf crowd automatically associates "serious" with "artsy fartsy and pretentious," which I disagree with for the most part. I've perceived little pretense in surf, even in some of the most serious stuff. (It is there, though. The Mermen are still one of my all time favorites, but plenty of their stuff--gag me.)

I think the serious of some of the genre can even be used as leverage in gaining new fans who would otherwise dismiss surf as a nostalgia act. Instead of just being "that music from the sixties," or "that music copying that music from the sixties," having some serious material with extra density really gives the message that, "oh shit, these guys really mean it" and disassociates from the kitschiness that surf sometimes carries with it.

I'm not trying to discredit the overwhelming majority of surf bands out there. Yeah, for the most part the genre is just a whole lot of fun and I love that. There is a place for fun and a place for go-go dancers, and I gladly welcome that stuff, but why not also a place for chilled out slow numbers, gasp--psychedelia, and musical density from time to time? It doesn't have to be revolutionary, it's just cool to have it there. It's great to have surf to listen to when you're in a good mood, but why not have some to listen to when feeling angry, depressed, or maybe introspective? I say having the serious stuff there provides a refreshing balance within the genre, and keeps me from getting bored with one or the other style too quickly.