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[I've been wanting to write about modern Scando surf music for a
while now, and I finally got around to it. I feel very passionately
about this stuff, so I've written a lot - sorry about that! Hope at
least some of you'll be interested and enjoy it. I've broken it up
into three parts to faciliate digestion. In this first part I'll
just deal with two bands from Finland. The rest to come soon.']
WARNING: LONG!!
Surf music in the early 21st century has definitely taken a bit of a
dip from the glorious highs of mid- to late-nineties, when there were
fantastic new CDs coming out seemingly every month. With the arrival
of the new century many great surf bands called it quits, and there
have been fewer new bands starting up and fewer labels releasing surf
music. It was hard not get somewhat discouraged about the state of
and the prospects for surf music. Of course, there were more than a
few bright spots (for example, the dogged persistence of the Surf
Coasters, Slacktone, the Bambi Molesters, along with many others,
plus the brilliance of some new groups, such as the Nebulas).
Nevertheless, things seemed a bit grim.
But, despair not there is hope!! I have recently become much more
optimistic about the future of surf music, due to discovery of a
series of incredible Scandinavian surf bands. As far as I'm
concerned, the greatest contribution to the early 21st century surf
scene is coming from Norway, Finland and Sweden (and I'll include
Denmark in that list, though it's not in Scandinavia, but close
enough for us Americans!). These are the releases that I want to
talk about:
Finland:
Husky & the Sandmen: Ridin' The Wild Surf (2000)
The Lunatics: Tour De Monde (2004)
Norway:
The Beat Tornados: Mission to Mir (2001)
The Beat Tornados: Scandinavian Interlude (2004)
Sweden:
Langhorns: Club Gabardino (1999)
Langhorns: Mission Exotica (2003)
Denmark:
El Ray: Tick
Tick
Tick
(2004)
Let's start with Finland. Obviously, many fine surf/instro bands
have come from Finland through the years, including the amazing Laika
& the Cosmonauts and the Hypnomen, among many others. But I want to
focus just on Husky & the Sandmen and the Lunatics here. Husky & the
Sandmen seem to have broken up, as I can't find any info about them
anywhere. Their first CD, `Arabian Nights,' came out way back
in '96, but since we're talking about 21st century surf music, I'm
going to leave it out here (it wasn't that good, anyway). Instead I
want to discuss their 2000 platter, `Ridin' The Wild Surf,' a truly
amazing CD. I think the best points of reference for them are the
Fathoms, the Eliminators and Joe Meek's Tornados (of `Telstar'
fame). Husky & the Sandmen were a traditional surf band, with a two-
guitar attack (both Jags, I think) sporting much reverb. The songs
are very melodic and short, with all the power and drama of good surf
music. But then, there were also many happy-sounding songs that very
few modern surf bands can do well (the Woodies, the Penetrators and
Mark Brodie and the Beaver Patrol come to mind). They often
augmented arrangements with sixties-sounding organ and sax, which
gave them an added depth. The highlights of the CD are the opening
track "Extasy", which sounds like it came right off of `Fathomless';
the upbeat "Diamond Eye" with a gorgeous melody and a unique-though-
trad feel; the amazing title track, sounding like a cover of some
long-lost sixties surf gem; and finally, the album closer "Return To
the Ground Zero", which combines a happy-surf melody with Joe Meek's
Tornados-like piano and rhythm. I recommend this CD extremely
highly. It's definitely one of the best surf CDs of this young
century.
The Lunatics sound a lot different than Husky & the Sandmen, but are
no less incredible. The best points of reference are Laika & the
Cosmonauts (circa `Instruments of Terror'), the Ventures (circa `Live
in Japan `65') with a dash of mid-sixties Shadows. Not completely
surf but close enough. The Lunatics have 3 CDs out. Their
first, `No Sleep Til Twang' from 1999, was a live mini-CD of mostly
sixties surf covers (their version of the Nutcraker
theme, "Rocknuts," ended up on Double Crown's `Seasonal Favorites'
CD) plus one original. Though they showed awesome chops and
unbelievable energy (most songs were played MUCH faster than the
originals imagine Miserlou played about 50% faster!), that CD was
relatively unremarkable. I managed to completely miss their second
CD `Beware' from 2001, and I'm desperately trying to track it down
now (anybody have any clues?). But a few months ago I got their most
recent one, `Tour De Monde', from Double Crown Records (Sean Berry
has really done a fantastic job making many Euro-surf CDs available
in the US). It is mind-blowing. These guys have the chops of
jazzbos, but the mentality of a hard-core punk band which is just
fine, cause it's all filtered through their obvious love of mid-
sixties surf/instro music! The lead guitarist plays sans reverb
bone dry! But his Strat (through what sounds like a touch of tape-
echo and a Vox AC30) manages to sound sufficiently retro, and he does
love to double-pick. If you can imagine a cross between Nokie
Edwards and Hank Marvin in '65, when they were both just bursting
with chops and, more importantly, imagination to use those chops
well, that's what this guy sounds like. He rips out amazing, exotic
and middle-eastern-tinged riffs in every song. The song "Ripe Oat"
may have his most amazing performance on the CD, featuring some
extremely convincing and flashy country-guitar stuff that left my jaw
on the floor. The rhythm guitarist obviously comes from the
Wilson/Welch school of hard-strumming and he sounds fat and full and
fast. Very tasty, too, always perfectly complementing the other
instruments. Another major attraction of the Lunatics is their
drummer, who is a monster. Extremely fast, extremely tight,
extremely explosive. He's as good if not better than Laika & the
Cosmonauts' Jaane Haavisto, and anybody that's seen them live knows
that Jaane is about the best there is in surf music (when I asked
Dusty last year which modern surf drummers he likes and respects, he
immediately brought up Jaane). Even with all these chops, the main
attraction is the songs, and the band is very playful and
experimental in their songwriting. The songs are all very melodic,
but sometimes jazzy, sometimes surfy, sometimes countryish, etc.
They bring in a large number of influences, switching between and
combining disparate elements such as middle-eastern melodies with ska
rhythms, Shadows-like moods with be-bop sax incursions, and many
others. And yet with all that diversity, the album sounds very
coherent. A few of my favorites are: the fast "Trans-Siberian
Express" with a great surf-ish melody and some fine double-picking
and muting; "Blue Fidel," a mysterious, haunting ballad with a
beautiful melody played on low strings, some great rhythm guitar
playing and hints of bossa nova rhythms in the drums the song
absolutely soars when the perfect bridge kicks in; the moody, mid-
tempo "Continental Drift," with another incredible melody and chord
progression; and finally, maybe the most surfy track on the CD, the
uptempo album closer "Omaha Beach", which features some great guitar
interplay, more lead-guitar double-picking and a very Euro-instro
bridge but it all fits together extremely well. The CD also has
three covers: two Ventures songs: "Moon Journey (Journey to the
Stars)" and "Action Plus" and a great arrangement of "Dance of the
Sugar Plum Fairy". I would highly recommend this to all, but
especially those of you that are a bit more adventurous in your
tastes. Even though the Lunatics are playing in their own asylum,
trad surf music seems to be played on their radio quite often.
[end of part 1]
