Wow, that was a blast from the past! They were pretty popular in SoCal back in the early eighties when I was in high school.
Bombón is an all female surf/garage rock trio from San Pedro. They put out an ep Las Chicas del Bombon in 2010 and after that a couple of cassette eps on Burger Records so you know those are out of print. They sounded a bit raw probably through inexperience but they were lots of fun to see live. Heck seeing any of the bands listed on this thread live would be a blast!
Good stuff. And surf music is all about fun, right? That's why we love it. A copy of Bustin' Surfboards just came up on eBay being sold by someone who is not a record person. Every record and sleeve they listed is graded F. The pictures didn't look too bad though. But it's definitely not mint. Made a reasonable offer and they accepted! Been after a reasonable copy of that for years.
Got it, and just finished playing it all through! Think it's great - even though I've already got a fair few tracks on the first two volumes of The Ventures EP Collection!
Y Niwl are a surf instramental band from North Wales. They've been around for about 10 years although been quite quiet of late. Y Niwl - Undegpedwar (official video): https://youtu.be/hLZPdHn0RQo They're on Bandcamp if you want to hear more.
Just came across The Neptunas. Formed in the 90s surf revival but hadn't done anything since '98. Just put out a new album last year.
Another great one, fo sho! I was in the audience at the Whiskey for one of the two nights over which that album was recorded.
From 1963, ‘The Cruel Sea’ by The Dakotas (Billy J. Kramer’s backing band) and later covered by the Ventures.
Great record! Not everybody would call it "surf music" - but when issued in America, the title was changed to The Cruel Surf, to cash in on the trend!
Yeah, I’ve always heard it was retitled in the US as ‘The Cruel Surf’, but I can’t seem to find any record label or cover with that title. All I can’t find is ‘The Cruel Sea’ by The Ventures. If there are “Cruel Surf” titled 45’s out there, they must be rare. The Ventures version, live.
This is shocking to me. Love the Live in Japan 1965 album. It has great energy (including this very song). Seeing them stand there like statues is not what I had imagined the show to be like.
For some great surf music with a different flavor, try some Japanese eleki, inspired by the Ventures tour of Japan.
I know most of the surf bands were as short lived as the genres popularity. But what were some of the best albums to come out of the 60s surf craze ? ( excluding Beach boys and Dick Dale?
A rarity, but a classic none the less: "Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA Johnny Fortune - Soul Surfer This is essential listening! Johnny Fortune was already a successful session musician before the surf sound hit. He'd play guitar on Sam Cook's "Chain Gang" and Barbara George's "I Know." In '63, at the age of 16, he recorded the Soul Surfer sessions at Bob Summers' Sound House studio in El Monte, where the Lively Ones also recorded much of their output. The session musicians were Johnny Fortune (Sudetta - guitar, bass), Jim O'Keith - sax, and Joey Sudetta, a mere 10 years old at the time, on drums. Johnny's band mates John Fisher, who co-wrote many of the tunes, and brothers Vincent Sudetta and George Sudetta did not play on the sessions. Offered a chance to tour England with Johnny Burnette, he had to decline due to his being under eighteen. Johnny's sound is quite unusual within the surf genre. He has a warm and muffled, relatively dry sound with unusual whammy action that sets it apart from the rest, and from the big guitar sound of the Duane Eddy's of the world. Johnny's tunes are melodic and rhythmic, and have a lasting quality about them. Picks: Soul Surfer, Midnight Surf, Chinese Surfer, Surfer's Trip, Lone Surfer, Wild Weekend, Surf Rider, Sunset, Soul Traveler, Moonglow And Theme From Picnic, Siboney, Dragster If it says Johnny Fortune, you need it. A master at the age of 16, already a veteran of hit records by Sam Cooke among others, and his 10 year old brother is the drummer. Great tune, and Johnny had a totally unique sound."
This fantastic, true-to-form surf album was released at the cusp of the first surf music revival, that was roughly concurrent with new wave. It's covers heavy, but they're played with a powerful, authentic vibe. Stripped down rock 'n roll at its speedy best. "Jon and the Nightriders - Surf Beat '80 John Blair's first album from his fledgling surf band. This is a classic of the surf revival John started in 1979 in his living room. Greg Shaw was impressed, and took them into a studio for a whole album. The line up is John Blair - lead, Eddy B. Gianni - rhythm, Nikki Syxx (Jeff Nichols) - bass, Dusty Watson - drums. Produced by John Blair at Black Widow Tracks, Carson CA 5/80 April 1980 Picks: Banzai Washout, Kamikaze, Bombora, Riptide, Rumble At Waikiki, Mr. Moto, Surf Beat, Depth Charge, The Force Of Gravity, Latin'ia, Bombay Beach, Super Jet Rumble, Baja, Moment Of Truth"
First rate comp of a first rate surf band: The Lively Ones - Hang Five " Del-Fi is ridin' the wave of surf consciousness to the hilt. They were thee Surf Label in the sixties, and the Lively Ones was their flagship act. This CD is a very well selected cross section of Lively Ones vintage surf tracks. If you don't own any Lively Ones, buy this, then get the rest of their reissues anyway. This CD even includes their lone Smash Records single which was issued after leaving Del-Fi towards the end of the surf era. Exceptionally good liner notes and great pictures just add to the value of this compilation. Picks: High Tide, Walkin' The Board, Goofy Foot, Surf Rider, Misirlou, Chicken Scratch, Surf Beat, Exodus, Caterpillar Crawl, Telstar Surf, Mr. Moto, Cryin' Guitar, Livin', Guitarget, Crazy Surf, Paradise Cove, Bustin' Surfboards, Rawhide, Shootin' The Pier, Forty Miles Of Bad Surf, Rik-A-Tik, Happy Gremmie, Night and Day, Hey Scrounge"
I have had the records/Cds I posted above long before I came across Phil Dirt's Reverb Central, but I can't recommend his website more highly if you're interested in surf music, which means surf instro, guitar / sax and heavy on the reverb and the staccato picking and glissandos, not Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, Hondells, vocal recordings, etc. Reverb Central: Surf Instrumentals Go to "articles" and hit the link to "What Is Surf?" for the history of the development of the genre. Here are some representative graphs from the first chapter: "In the beginning, surf music was not about surfing, it was simply the adoption by surfers of instrumentals. Anything instrumental was surf music in their minds. That may or may not give surfers the right to redefine it at their convenience. More about that later. The definition narrowed quickly to include only the Orange County Sound and the South Bay Sound, and in hindsight, primarily the Orange County Sound. Very quickly, it became apparent that the best players & writers were not surfers, many not living anywhere near a coast. Thom Starr's remembrance is that Dick Dale was barely able to get up for the photo on the cover of Surfer's Choice, and the shot on the cover of King Of The Surf Guitar is rumored to be in a pool. Surf Music became a sound, and appealed to non-surfers more than surfers. The only exception to this was Southern California and Hawaii, but even there, though many of the surfers won't think so, the best stuff often came from the non-surfers. Bands like Eddie & The Showmen, The Trashmen, The Surfaris, The Original Surfaris, The Belairs, The Sentinals, and the Astronauts were all primarily non-surfing bands playing and creating killer surf instrumental music loved by millions of non-surfing fans. Hell, the Astronauts were from Boulder Colorado, and the Trashmen were from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Royal Flairs were from Council Bluffs, Iowa! The spoiler came with the Beach Boys, and the entire mass market pop vocal thing they spawned. Doo-Wop styled syrupy harmonized songs with sappy lyrics about surfing bearing little or no resemblance instrumentally to actual surf music. This was mostly what the national scene heard and came to know as surf music. It is more correctly labeled California Sound or Surf Pop. This was both an embarrassment to the genre, as well as the very reason that the British Invasion could so easily kill it.Had the BB's not softened the genre with the vocal thing, or had they provided The raw Midwest vocal approach, the raw power of surf music would have been able to hold its own against the roughness of the British R&B of the formative Rolling Stones, Animals & Pretty Things, and even against the pop sensibilities of the Beatles & their ilk. Among the reasons I believe this to be true is the number of surf guitarist that evolved into really gutsy garage punk & psychedelic players later, like the incredible Randy Holden and Dave Myers, and the fact that the only band the Rolling Stones ever had to be subservient to on the bill in the U. S. was Minneapolis surf legends the Trashmen!" Frankly, I'm a huge Beach Boys fan and take umbrage at all the dissing of their wonderful harmony sound, but the point is well taken that despite all the songs with surf lyrics, titles, etc., that was not surf music. In fact, the only time The Beach Boys attempted much in the way of surf music was on the instros from the Surfin' USA album. That was it.
Such a cool surf record: "Dave Myers and the Surftones - Hangin' Twenty This is the classic Dave Myers and the Surftones album reissued in mono on CD by Del-Fi. It should have been in stereo, 'cuz the stereo is quite good. Dave was a music major who studied Jazz, and was also an early guitar student of Dick Dale. His band was among the best. The were around from '61 or early '62, and played continuously until giving up the surf for cheesy instros as the Dave Myers Affect, and later becoming a grand garage punk outfit as Dave Myers & his Disciples. Dave had better mastery of meter than just about any surf player, which meant he could play slow perfect glissandos when no one else could. One day, Del-Fi may find the stereo masters. Until then, this will do! Picks: Frog Walk Part II, Church Key, Smoky Stomper, Kings Surf, Aquavelva, Surferama, Moment of Truth, Road To Rincon, Surfbreaker, Surfers Theme, Passion, Wetwalkin' Honestly, for the longest time I've felt one hasn't lived until they've heard Aquavelva up loud:
