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Hi,
The Phantom Surfers are kind of the clown princes of Surf Music. Their stuff
is very lo-fi and basically sounds like it was produced on a boom box. If
you like wacky humor and your surf with tongue firmly in cheek, then I
recommend "The Exciting Sounds of Model Road Racing" (its a slot car racing
concept album!) and "The Great Surf Crash of '97". They also put out an
album featuring the Legendary Davie Allan (King Fuzz) called "Skaterhater"
which is quite good (if you like fuzzed out guitar thanks to Davie) but not
totally representative of The Phantom Surfers. Their stuff will crack you up
and its a lot of fun. Your jaw won't be on the floor like it would be for
Slacktone or The Space Cossacks, but never the less I find them enjoyable.
Avoid their "XXX Party" CD, unless you like X rated comedy albums (not a
whole lot of music on that one). I have to give them props for having the
coolest guitar I have ever seen. Its a double neck guitar....Jaguar AND
Jazzmaster!!!!
I only have one Boss Martians, and I didn't care too much for it. The
instrumentals are quite fine, but more than half of it is frat rock/hot rod
style vocals. But I don't usually go for that style anyway. Your mileage may
vary. I think they have moved away from surf/hot rod music recently.
Never heard of Jodie Foster Army...what are they like?
There is lots of great "new stuff" to try out: Jon & The Nightriders, The
Bambi Molesters, The Space Cossacks, Slacktone, The Nebulas, The
Penetrators, The Treblemakers, The Bomboras, Los Straitjackets, Satan's
Pilgrims, and many many more. Don't forget Splashback and The Varatones.
Of all the newer stuff I have gotten lately, The Nebulas are really kicking
my ass. Thats a damn fine album. Keep your eyes peeled for a new live
Slacktone disc too.
Here is an idea if you haven't tried it yet. Go to Phil Dirt's Reverb
Central and browse his reviews. An incredible resource...I usually agree
with Mr. Dirt, although he hates The Phantom Surfers.
Good luck,
BN
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Hawes [mailto:]
> Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 6:57 PM
> To:
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] All the surf bands you can think of...
>
>
>
> Ok, I thought I could call myself a surf fan
> before...but I realized after hanging around this
> board and a few other places online that I'm only
> touching the tip of the iceberg. There are a few
> other bands I want to check out, mostly newer ones
> like Phantom Surfers and Boss Martians, Jodie Foster
> Army...the list is so long, and I've actually started
> saving mail from this list to keep up with it. If I
> were to buy one release from each of these bands, or
> any other bands (except for the old stuff, I'm pretty
> well versed unless it's just real obscure) which ones
> would you recommend? Surf fan on a budget and all...I
> want to hear what you guys think and your
> recommendations.
> ~R
