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Return of the Jaguar

(the 40 year journey of an Australian guitar)

Martin Cilia is guitarist with the legendary Australian surf band  The Atlantics. He is also regarded as one of Australia's finest.

Around 2006 Martin got a phone call to demonstrate some guitar sounds for ABC’s The Collectors TV show. He had original versions of all the guitars they wanted to demo, except for one - a Fender Jaguar. Steve Jackson of Jackson's Rare Guitars sent over one of his Jaguars to use.

Check out this great article on Dick Dale at MyDesert.com. Dick is going to be inducted in the Musician's Hall of Fame in Nashville! Congratulations Dick!

Sorry to remind that today 26th February there will be the funeral of Mr. Louie Bellson in Los Angeles.

Not exactly a surf music news - I know - but I have to say that it is a critical news for all musicians and drummers as Louie Bellson has been an amazing inspiration for many music styles and he developed new drumming techniques during his career. He has represented a basic teaching on how to play drums!

Louie Bellson was one of the first drummers experimenting the use of the double bass drum and developed the so-called "finger technique" more than anyone else, opening new doors to modern drumming and, of course, jazz playing. He was one of the best drummers in the world an much fun to see, more elegant than Gene Krupa and nothing less than Buddy Rich.

I'm sorry that I never had the chance to see him playing as he has been doing concerts up to a few months ago.

Image In the photo: Linda, Craig and Conrad Mathews photo: Dennis Fugimoto 

Jeff "Bigtikidude" tipped me off to a two part "Surf Summit" interview from the October and November 1995 issues of the email-zine Cosmik Debris. They are archived here at ETEXT.org:

Cosmik Debris October 1995 - Part 1
Cosmik Debris November 1995 - Part 2

They contain interviews with a veritable who's who of the 3rd wave of surf music: Dave Arnson, John Blair, Todd Damnit, Joe Emery, Ferenc Dobronyi, (Halibut) Rick Johnson, Mel Waldorf, Allen Whitman, Pepper Wilson, Bernard Yin, Bob Dalley, Rick Escobar, and Phil Dirt.

Check them out for an interesting snapshot of the mid-90's surf scene!

Tiki Lounge Party Enchants Downtown Phoenix

The sandy specter of our own beloved surf music legacy reared its tiki-carved head in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday night, July 25, as Fender co-sponsored what will hopefully not be the last Tiki Lounge Party.

Though miles from any ocean, popular Phoenix nightspot the Rhythm Room echoed with the kind of reverb-drenched sonic SoCal bliss that could only come from Candy Apple Red Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars plugged into Dual Showman and Twin reverb amps. A couple hundred guests swilled rum punch as hot rods filled the parking lot, where a live tiki-carving demo (involving, um, chain saws) was under way. Cowabunga, dude …

How the Fender Bass Changed the World - Chapter 6, Ride the Wild Bass As the 1950s drew to a close, the low end was getting more and more attention. Quite a few hit songs from that era were based on twangy licks played on Fender or Danelectro basses - or, sometimes, just by whacking the low E string on a standard electric guitar. That's what Eddie Cochran did on "Summertime Blues (1958), which has sometimes been described as a song with electric bass. Not true–but clearly lots of low-end presence didn't hurt.

Nokie Edwards gave the punchy sound of the Precision Bass a big boost on the immortal instrumental "Walk Don't Run," a hit for The Ventures in 1960. (Edwards, originally the group's bassist, later switched to lead guitar). The tune was highly influential, especially among 1960s California surf bands–many of which were equipped top to bottom with matching Fender instruments.

In a 1997 article in Vintage Guitar Magazine, Peter Stuart Kohman wrote: "The surf/instrumental rock genres of the early 1960s were crucial proving grounds for the still-newfangled electric bass, and many of the seminal records in these two interrelated styles are also showcases for the Fender bass sound. You can't really imagine surf music without a Fender bass–this is not true of any earlier rock & roll style. During this era, the bass guitar went from optional to essential equipment and set up the electric bass for its dominant role in the British Invasion, folk rock, and all that followed."

Kohman goes on to pointo out that bassists in budding surf bands played different types of electric basses, including Harmony and Danelectro instruments, but it was a sign of success to have a shiny new Fender bass, usually in a custom color like Candy Apple Red or Lake Placid Blue. The musicians who played these flashy Fenders approached them like guitars rather than uprights, playing downstrokes with a flatpick and going for a tighter, more focused sound than the thud of an acoustic bass. The instrument's potential was just beginning to be tapped.

pgs. 56-57, by Jim Roberts. Contributed by Gavin "Windansea Beachboy" Ehringer, June, 2007.

Inland though it is, the Rec Center at Barnes Park in Monterey Park CA was a hot spot for instrumental surf bands in the mid 60's. The Lively Ones and The Surfaris traded off weeks as the main event of the night...Dick Dale even played there now and then.. Sometimes another band or two would be brought in to fill when they couldn't make the gig. One night I remember a three piece band played that consisted of a very nervous young man with a brand new pearl white Jag, a drummer and...the guitarist sister on the.....accordian! The young guy on guitar was having a rough time of it trying to get tuned up...after a bit his Dad came out on stage, took his guitar and tuned it up for him. As you might imagine the band started their set with two strikes againist them. As they broke into the first number, the crowed booed, heckled and otherwise would not give them a chance. At last, the promoter came on stage and after the band left, told everyone to sit tight as they were trying to get The Lively Ones to come in.....no luck. Announcing the situation to the unhappy crowd our moderator stated that there was no one else to call and that the young band wanted to come back out and "do their best" to entertain. Now, how many of us would have the guts to do that? To end this long recollection, they came back out fired up and rocked the place...they had the crowd yelling for more when they were done..the kid played a cover of Miserlou that burned up the joint. They left the stage to cheers not jeers. I don't remember their name..never saw them play again...but anytime I want to feel sorry for myself for dropping a note or two I remember these guys...it's why we play.

This appeared in the on-line edition of Fender News. Interestingly, Dick claims to be the inspiration for the name "Showman," which was a new one to me!

Today, I had the time and the inclination to sort through the sacred-old-milk-crate-full-of-surf-LPs and the Converse shoeboxes full of old cassettes. As I started spinning some of the contents on the record and cassette players, I thought to myself: "Man, there were quite a few surf bands back in the 1980s, maybe I should share this info with my pals up on SG101." So here I am at the keyboard, attempting a brief essay on 1980s surf rock in hopes of offering something of value to those who might not otherwise have heard about this often-overlooked decade in the development of surf music.