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Just to pile on the Eric Johnson string...
I wonder who really considers Gary Hoey to play Surf guitar???
He's a great guitarist, but I don't hear anything exotic or reberb drenched
like most other surf.
So
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> I wonder who really considers Gary Hoey to play Surf guitar???
>
> He's a great guitarist, but I don't hear anything exotic or reberb
drenched
> like most other surf.
>
I think he's done some great updates to the classic surf songs which
are more exotic than the basic two-fingered blues runs of 99% of surf
artists.
His reggae version of 'Endless Summer' is a creative take on a
classic, and it's well done. It vastly improves on the Sandals'
original version; it's bright, sunny, and has such a sweet warm, laid-
back vibe.
I consider it an honor that such a great guitarist has such a deep
love of the surf genre that he would devote time and effort to put a
fresh, contemporary twist on the classics. Gary Hoey is not going to
stand around and let people miss out on those great old songs just
because they sound antiquated. If he has turned even one young
listener on to the classic surf genre, I am more than thankful for
his efforts.
I'm increasingly more disappointed with this group taking an
exclusionary and elitist attitude towards artists who are considered
shred. Like it or not, the 2nd great age of instrumental guitar rock
was in the shred area of the 1980s. Yes, the hair was big, the jeans
ripped, and the guitars were pointy, but the period did produce some
fun musical gems, and certainly escalated the fundamental level of
technique to new heights. Remember, not all reverb-drenched
instrumentals of the '60s were classics; surf definitely has its pile
of forgettable stinkeroos too.
> I wonder who really considers Gary Hoey to play Surf guitar???
I think Gary Hoey is a rock instrumentalist who plays some surf music. I think
the Pixies
are an alt-rock band that plays some surf music. But Gary has done surf movie
soundtracks and cut an album of classic surf music, Monster Surf, so he's deeper
into the
pipe than the Pixies or, say, Chris Isaac.
Here's what Hoey had to say about what surf music is:
"It's the way you slide down the neck, tremolo-picking the strings through echo
and
reverb, which depicts the surfer coming out of the tube on a wave. A lot of
times the
melody on a surf song is stagnant for a moment, just staying in one spot before
it moves
to the next phrase, like the space between waves. It's very minimal, not always
a wall of
sound; it can be a simple bass, drum, and guitar, with a tiny melody coming
through, with
plenty of space. Surfers can relate to space: It's like being out on the ocean.
It's almost a
religious experience, at one with the water and yourself. You escape from all
your
distractions. Surf music, in that same way, doesn't hit you with too many
distractions; the
sheer space in it lets you breathe, which is beautiful."
Well said.
