John Blair Joins the Eliminators!
Submitted by
Brian
on February 05, 2009.
Surf guitar legend John Blair of Jon & The Nightriders, who is responsible for starting the second wave of surf music, has joined The Eliminators Surf Band.
Jon & The Nightriders electrified music lovers in 1979 when their maiden effort "Rumble At Waikiki" exploded on to the Hollywood scene and ignited what music historians now call the "second wave," or modern school of rock & roll's first electronic revolution: "instrumental" surf music.
In addition to reintroducing the nearly-forgotten style of guitar-based, instrumental surf music that laid the groundwork in the late 50s and early 60s for heavy metal and fusion styles, Jon & The Nightriders inspired classic "first wave" bands such as The Ventures and Dick Dale to resume touring.
Between 1981 and 2001, Jon & The Nightriders continued to record, perform locally, and tour Europe. The band has recorded eight studio and live albums to date, and released a retrospective collection in addition to appearing on numerous compilation albums including Rhino Records' 1996 box set of surf music, "Cowabunga." The band's music has been heard in several theatrical film soundtracks and in two surfing documentaries from filmmaker Bud Browne. They have made five successful European tours, performing in nearly every major European country.
Thirty years after the formation of Jon & The Nightriders, John Blair remains one of the most respected and popular surf instrumental guitarists and performers on the planet. The pairing of John Blair with The Eliminator's Joe Kurkowski combines two of the foremost guitarists and composers in history of surf-rock instrumental music.
The Eliminators are well known for their scorching reverb drenched instrumentals that have been featured on such shows as Beverly Hills 90210, Providence, The View, Battleground Earth, The Mark and Brian Show on 95.5 FM KLOS and the IMAX movie, Hawaiian Watermen. The Music of The Eliminators was also featured in the Bud Light “Left Coast, Right Beer” commercials. The Eliminators have opened for numerous major touring acts such as Dick Dale, Midnight Oil, Jimmy Buffett and Chris Isaak.
The Eliminators are currently in the studio working on a new CD due out by summer 2009 and will be doing several live appearances and tours in 2009. If traditional reverb drenched, scorching hot dueling lead guitars and sax is your idea of what surf music should sound like, get the fire extinguisher checked, because you’ll need it when these guys come to your town to play. See www.theeliminators.com and www.JohnBlair.us.
This story has comments.
Comments are closed for this story. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this story
with the site staff, you can contact us directly.
Was there actually a year that the Ventures didn't tour (somewhere)? I didn't think those guys ever slowed down...
So will there be 3 guitar players now in The Eliminators?
Great news..Go John!!
Legend has it that Jon & The Nightriders' success in LA prompted the Ventures to start gigging in the States again in the 80's.
John Benton stepped down, and John Blair joined.
it was great to see John rippin it up again last weekend. played lead on 5 or so songs.
The Ventures never stopped touring....