Cochabambas confirmados no Floripa Noise Festival na Célula.
Dia 26 de setembro, 23 horas em ponto.

Texto postado numa lista gringa de surf music, repassado para a reverb-brasil, repasso aqui no blog. O autor fez o dever de casa, as informações são precisas.



>> Surf Music- n. 1) A sound representational of the ocean landscape,
>> associated with the late 1950s and early 1960s and created by two main
>> branches of musicians: The Orange County Sound (Dick Dale, etc.), who
>> generally used more reverb, and The South Bay Sound of musicians (The Bel
>> Airs, etc.) who used less reverb; 2) Rock 'n Roll music from California
>> in
>> the early 1960s, characterized by close treble harmonies and with lyrics
>> that celebrated the exhilaration of surfing and the beach life (Beach
>> Boys,
>> Jan & Dean, etc.); 3) Any music you can surf to (Jimi Hendrix, etc.).
>>
>>
>> "Surf music is a definite style of heavy staccato picking with the
>> flowing
>> sound of a reverb unit to take away the flat tones on the guitar and make
>> the notes seem endless. Very heavy guitar strings are used to elongate
>> the
>> sound from the vibration of the strings, not the feedback qualities of an
>> amplifier. It becomes a very in-depth combination of things that, when
>> put
>> together, spells out true surf music." -- Dick Dale
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Roots of Surf Music
>>
>> Surf music's emerged on the scene around 1961. Almost without
>> exception,
>> it was introduced by musicians who had no physical contact with the
>> ocean,
>> themselves. Although this would change quickly in the early 1960s,
>> Southern
>> California surfers, as a group, were quick to adopt the musical sound as
>> their own. The adoption would spread throughout the surfing world, but
>> mostly on the Mainland. The musical genre was an extension of Rockabilly
>> and 1950s Rhythm and Blues compositions. Beginning with instrumental
>> compositions, surf music later incorporated vocal harmonies. As the
>> definition of surf music illustrates, surf music, today, is known as much
>> for its vocals as its instrumentation. Purists, however, who well
>> remember
>> how the genre began, will disagree strongly with any emphasis on vocal
>> harmonies as defining the surf sound.
>>
>> During rock 'n roll music's infancy in the 1950s, "a basic song was a
>> two-to-three minute AABA number, with a saxophone carrying the B part,"
>> wrote Phil Dirt, a surf music DJ who was around in the golden days of
>> surf
>> music and still continues to do a weekly program of surf music. Despite
>> such artists as Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry's accent on the guitar, most
>> rock
>> 'n roll tunes were sax based, including instrumentals. Texas swing
>> musician
>> Bill Haley defined the mainstream sound. The only exceptions to the
>> basic
>> sound, besides Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry's work, were those of the early
>> Rockabilly artists who substituted guitar in the B parts.
>> Link Wray, an early Rockabilly musician, used Bo Diddley's trick of
>> slitting speaker cones with a knife to get a ragged-edge distortion. He
>> wrote for the guitar and developed a sound with a distinctive growl. His
>> compositions "were simple and relied on minor changes to hold interest,"
>> Phil Dirt told me, "like the gradual increase in vibrato toward the end
>> of
>> his piece 'Jack The Ripper'."
>>
>> "Duane Eddy's basic string-of-single-notes melodies focused on the
>> guitar in a voice developed mostly by Al Casey," wrote Phil Dirt.
>> "Duane
>> reversed the standard AABA (GGSG) arrangement, using his lead guitar in
>> the
>> A parts, with Steve Douglas' sax lines relegated to the B parts."
>>
>> Early guitarists who provided inspiration to surf music's beginnings
>> included Link Wray, Duane Eddy, Derry Weaver, Nokie Edwards, Chet Atkins,
>> Les Paul and Fireball George Tomsco. Bill Dogget was also influential.
>>
>> Early groups that influenced the initial surf music strain include:
>>
>> The Fireballs. They were a two guitar-bass-drums unit recorded by
>> Norman
>> Petty, in Clovis, New Mexico. Their carefully balanced lead-rhythm
>> interplay particularly influenced Paul Johnson of the surf band The Bel
>> Airs.
>>
>> The Gamblers were "a studio amalgam" of Derry Weaver, Sandy Nelson,
>> Leon
>> Russell and other Los Angeles studio musicians. The Gamblers issued an
>> influential single called "Moondawg" (c/w "LSD 25"). "Moondawg" was
>> re-recorded by many artists, including Paul Revere & The Raiders.
>>
>> Johnny & The Hurricanes. They used cheap organ or sax leads for the
>> most
>> part. Johnny Paris was the saxophone player and leader. Occasionally,
>> the
>> group let dominante guitarist Dave Yorko's rifts like those illustrated
>> in
>> "Sheba" and "Sandstorm". The sense of melody rather than simple
>> progressions were further developed by Johnny & The Hurricanes.
>>
>> The Storms were heavily oriented around guitarist Jody Reynolds. Their
>> piece "Thunder" was an Al Casey/Duane Eddy styled instrumental that was a
>> direct inspiration to early surf bands.
>>
>> The Ventures had a two guitar-bass-drums lineup and were the most
>> mainstream of all the bands that influenced the early surf sound. The
>> Ventures versions of other people's songs became a staple in the surf
>> band
>> diet, not as a part of the genre, but more like a foundation. Their
>> popularity amongst surf musicians was despite the fact that during their
>> 'surf' period, the Ventures didn't even play the right instruments for an
>> authentic surf sound. They preferred to use Mosrite guitars and reverbs.
>> The lack of depth in their surf stuff is due in part to their equipment,
>> but
>> also to a generally laid back playing style. The Ventures contributed a
>> surf music classic, "Sputnik", after Nokie Edwards joined the group.
>> "Sputnik" later became "Surf Rider" when the surf band The Lively Ones
>> covered it. The Ventures' "Diamond Head" became another famous surf
>> tune.
>>
>> The rockabilly and garage band music between 1956 and 1960 generated
>> thousands of independent 45rpm singles. Most of them are best forgotten
>> by
>> time. However, there were also some great exceptions like "Ghost Train"
>> by
>> The Millionaires, "Underwater" by The Frogmen, and "Typhoid" by The
>> Northern
>> Lights. "Typhoid" was recorded in 1960; a "staccato double picked rant"
>> that was later reissued as "Bust Out" by The Busters. This tune is
>> arguably
>> the first surf style tune recorded. It's main shortfall is a lack of
>> reverb
>> and a surf title, but then again, some of surf music's most notable early
>> tunes both lacked reverb and surf titles (i.e. "Let's Go Trippin'" by
>> Dick
>> Dale and "Mr. Moto" by The Bel Airs).
>>
>> Surf Music "was greatly influenced by the then quickly changing moods
>> of
>> rockabilly and rhythm and blues," wrote Leonard Lueras in Surfing, The
>> Ultimate Pleasure . "Transition artists such as Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy
>> and
>> the inventive oldtimer, Les Paul, had long been experimenting with
>> tremolos,
>> echolettes and other such techno music toys, but these gimmicks were
>> usually
>> utlized for the odd temporary effect. Not until [Dick] Dale began
>> promoting
>> himself as a surf guitarist and calling such sustained electro riffs
>> 'surf
>> music,' was this pecular sound given a popular or proper generic name."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Bel Airs & the South Bay Sound
>>
>> The first true surf band was The Bel Airs. Paul Johnson and Eddie
>> Bertrand met in 1960 and formed the nucleus of the band. They idolized
>> The
>> Storms, Duane Eddy, Link Wray, The Fireballs, The Ventures, and Johnny &
>> The
>> Hurricanes. The Bel Airs formed when Richard Delvy on drums, Chas Stuart
>> on
>> sax and Jim Roberts on piano (sometimes) joined with Johnson and
>> Bertrand.
>>
>> In May of 1961, The Bel Airs recorded "Mr. Moto", a mutual composition
>> by
>> Paul Johnson and Richard Delvy, along with several other tunes. Arvee
>> Records released the single that summer, making "Mr. Moto" the first surf
>> tune recorded by a surf band. Paul Johnson went on to write a number of
>> classic surf tunes, including "Squad Car", "Scouse", and "Chifflado".
>> Johnson's distinctive style became known as the "South Bay Sound,"
>> spawning
>> and inspiring many other bands in the region including The Challengers
>> and
>> Thom Starr & The Galaxies.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dick Dale & the Orange County Sound
>>
>> Playing at this time, also, was Dick Dale. More than any one person,
>> Dick Dale was the man most responsible for the explosion of surf music on
>> the scene in the Summer of 1961.
>>
>> Born in Boston, Massachussetts, Dale started his musical career by
>> collecting empty soda bottles to come up with the five bucks for a
>> plastic
>> ukelele. It didn't take long for the uke to break and Dale progressed on
>> to
>> a beat up guitar he scored from a high school classmate for 50 cents
>> down
>> and 25 cents a week.
>>
>> Dale idolized country musician Hank Williams. He was a left handed
>> musician with a right handed guitar which he played upside down without
>> re-stringing. "The guitar is designed to be played with the right hand
>> plucking the string while the left hand depresses the proper notes,"
>> explained disc jockey Jim Pewter. "The strings of the guitar are
>> designed
>> to allow easy fingering positions for all chords and progressions. If a
>> young guitarist wishes to pluck with the left hand instead, he is told to
>> take the strings off and replace them in reverse order. To play the
>> hands
>> reversed position without reversing the strings should exceed the limits
>> of
>> mortal dexterity, but that is how Dale plays it."
>>
>> Dick Dale played at local country bars where he met 400 pound DJ T.
>> Texas
>> Tiny, who gave him what he thought was a good name for a country singer:
>> Dick Dale. Famed LA disc jockey Art Laboe booked Dale with Johnny Otis
>> and
>> Sonny Knight at the El Monte Legion Stadium. His first singles were
>> recorded on his father's Deltone label and all tunes were of the vocal
>> pop
>> type. In early 1961, Dale and his cousin and future Del-Tones Ray Samra
>> and
>> Billy Barber jammed with Nick O'Malley, who played folk songs at The
>> Rinky
>> Dink coffee house in Balboa. Dale's style was still very country. Nick
>> showed him how to set his tone switch in between positions, which gave
>> him
>> an important element of his trademark sound.
>>
>> Dick Dale and the Del-Tones "were the house band at the Rendezvous
>> Ballroom in Balboa from late 1959 until late 1961," wrote John Blair in
>> his
>> authoritative Illustrated Discography of Surf Music. "His popularity
>> grew
>> immensely during this time until hundreds of teenagers were regularly
>> converging on the Rendezvous every weekend by the fall of 1961. During
>> 1961, and into 1962, he was probably the most popular performer in
>> Southern
>> California."
>>
>> "The 23 year old sensation," touted a Capitol Records promotional piece
>> in early 1963, "first appeared in the famed Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa
>> in
>> 1960. Until his arrival, the ballroom could look forward to only two or
>> three hundred patrons on a weekend night. Dick Dale came in, and
>> something
>> amazing began. Crowds of teen-agers filled the huge ballroom. In only a
>> few weeks, it hit capacity... 3500 to 4000 every weekend night...
>> Thursday,
>> Friday and Saturday. And in the winter months, normally a heavy dropoff
>> period, attendance actually increased. This fantastic box office pull
>> continued for the entire two year period of Dick Dale's booking at the
>> Rendezvous. Then, in January of 1962, he moved to the Pasadena Civic
>> Auditorium. There he broke every existing record by drawing capacity
>> crowds
>> of over three thousand every weekend night for the entire month of
>> January!
>> (And in Balboa, box office at the Rendezvous plummeted from 4000 to 200.)
>> The overflow crowds in Pasadena refused to be turned away, insisting upon
>> dancing in the outer lobbies, on the steps, and in the streets outside
>> the
>> Pasadena Civic. At times, there were 3000 inside the house, and 4000
>> waiting outside! In staid, conservative Pasadena, the phenomenon was
>> unbelievable."
>>
>> Dale's Rendezvous Ballroom gig began a near half-decade run of -- for
>> those times -- massive dance gatherings. "For a time," wrote Jim Pewter,
>> "The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Duane Eddy, and The Riteous Brothers all
>> had
>> turns as second and third on bills which headlined Dick Dale... He... had
>> the number one song in such faraway lands as New Zealand, Australia,
>> England
>> and Japan. At one time, he owned five of the top ten records in
>> California,
>> including all of the top four. The Los Angeles Sports Arena holds
>> 15,000.
>> For his 1961 concert there, 21,000 screaming fans showed up."
>>
>> "The title 'King Of The Surf Guitar,'" wrote Dale, "was first given to
>> me
>> by friends who surfed with me and came to dance to the music that I was
>> trying to create. The picking style I created was a heavy, fast machine
>> gun
>> staccato attack. This provided a fat, full non-stop sound and was
>> achieved
>> with the help of a heavy duty sideman plastic pick. A precise perfection
>> of
>> meter is a must all the way through to the end of the song. The guitar,
>> the gauge of strings, the placement of the pickups, the amps and
>> speakers,
>> and the style of playing all together made up the Dick Dale sound."
>>
>> It was in the Summer of 1961 that Dick Dale first used the term
>> "surfing
>> sound" to describe both the sound and style of his guitar playing. By
>> the
>> end of the summer, he had cut four records -- all of them vocal. He
>> lived
>> near the beach and surfed a little. With his music, he "attempted to
>> musically reproduce the feeling he had while surfing," wrote Blair, "and
>> the
>> result of this somewhat nebulous and certainly subjective approach was
>> the
>> surfing music genre. The feeling was one of vibration and pulsification,
>> which he produced by a heavy staccato sound on the low-key strings of his
>> guitar accompanied by a heavy thunder-like beat."
>>
>> Guitar maker Leo Fender, owner of Fender Musical Instruments in Santa
>> Ana, used Dale as a tester of his guitars. Dale would "road test"
>> equipment
>> modifications for Fender, who preferred Dale because of his "harsh
>> playing
>> style," wrote Phil Dirt.
>>
>> "I first met Leo Fender in the Mid-Fifties," recalled Dale, "and he
>> gave
>> me my first sunburst right-handed Stratocaster guitar which I held and
>> played upside down and backwards. Leo told me to beat it to death and to
>> give him my thoughts on the instrument which I did with glee. Together,
>> we
>> made some improvements such as a five-position switch and adjustments
>> like
>> repositioning pickups.
>>
>> "Leo finally made a jig especially for me that he could use to
>> reposition
>> my controls at the bottom of my Strat to more easily accomodate my
>> left-handed playing. The pattern head of the Strat was then changed to
>> allow left-handed tuning. This caused the 60 guage E-string to extend 6
>> inches past the nut."
>>
>> Freddie Tavares was Fender's research and development laboratory
>> assistant from 1953 to 1964. He told Dick Dale, "the thicker the wood,
>> the
>> purer the sound and the bigger the strings, the bigger the sound. So, I
>> continued to use the Strat," wrote Dale, "and 14, 18, 28, 38, 48 and 60
>> gauge regular wound Fender strings. To obtain the most powerful,
>> fattest,
>> thickest, percussive, penetrating, and driving sounds, the tick wood
>> design
>> of the Stratocaster, together with its pickups, has not been matched by
>> any
>> other guitar that I know of to this date."
>>
>> Dale blew up 40 Showman amplifiers before all the bugs were worked out
>> on
>> his combination of style and Fender guitar. Fender also developed the
>> JBL
>> Speaker because of Dick's playing 60 gauge E strings in staccato style.
>>
>> "Leo and Freddie," wrote Dick Dale, "... never gave up as I blew up and
>> destroyed countless amplifiers and speakers which ultimately led to the
>> creation of the 100 watt Dual Showman with two D-130F 15-inch JBL Lansing
>> speakers. Leo would always say to Freddie, 'If it can withstand Dick
>> Dale's
>> barrage of punishment, it is ready for human consumption.' It was fun.
>> Leo
>> made me feel like I was his number one son and test pilot or, as his
>> plant
>> manager Forrest White would say, his number one guinea pig."
>>
>> During this time, Dick Dale wrote his famous surf song "Let's Go
>> Trippin'" because some kid goaded him by asking Dale if all he did was do
>> vocals as opposed to instrumentals. Dale's offerings, at this time, were
>> mostly Rhythm and Blues standards ala Buster Brown and Bo Diddley.
>> "Let's
>> Go Trippin'" went unnamed for a number of weeks until, at one point, he
>> told
>> his audience he didn't know what to call it. Someone yelled back "Let's
>> go
>> trippin'" or, in other words, "shut up and play; we wanna dance." Dale
>> recorded the instrumental "Let's Go Trippin'" in August 1961 and then
>> recut
>> it for release in September 1961. "Let's Go Trippin' (c/w "Deltone
>> Rock" -
>> both primarily Rockabilly instrumentals) were released on Deltone 5017,
>> followed by "Jungle Fever" (c/w "Shake & Stomp"), on Deltone 5018, March
>> 1962. In April 1962, Dale released "Surfers Choice" from live tapes made
>> by
>> his father at the Rendezvous. Dale's sound soon became known as the
>> Orange
>> County Sound. "Jungle Fever" was the music bed for Bo Diddley's "Hush
>> Your
>> Mouth". Dale "even left some of the lyrics in on the album when he
>> called
>> it 'Surfin' Drums'," pointed out Phil Dirt. "It is unfortunate that Dick
>> still takes writing credit for this song."
>>
>> The two separate developments that catalyzed the guitar-oriented new
>> sound were the new ways of playing the guitar and the new guitar
>> technology.
>> The first, most obvious, development was the simultaneous and
>> unconnected
>> evolution of two very different guitar instrumental styles: Paul Johnson
>> and Eddie Bertrand's delicate lead/rhythm interplay with the Bel Airs,
>> and
>> Dick Dale's staccato double picked onslaught with The Del-Tones. Both
>> were
>> heavily melodic, and both were adopted by the burgeoning surf culture.
>> The
>> other development was technological. Two new pieces of gear: Leo
>> Fender's
>> Showman amplifier, and the defining first outboard effect, the Outboard
>> Reverb helped to create the characteristic sounds of instrumental surf.
>>
>> When the reverb unit came out in 1961, it did not take "The King of the
>> Surf Guitar" long to adopt it to his use beyond the vocals it was
>> originally
>> intended for. "His amplified sound was augmented by an electronic device
>> called a reverberation unit, commonly known as a 'reverb,' wrote Blair.
>> "This was his surfing sound, and he allowed it to take an instrumental
>> form."
>>
>> In 1962, the archetypal surf instrumental "Pipeline" by The Chantays
>> hit
>> the airwaves and continues to be the standard for surf reverb.
>>
>> "Contrary to some accounts," Dick Dale clarified, "the Fender Reverb
>> had
>> nothing to do with the Dick Dale surf sound. My first album, Surfer's
>> Choice, was the first surf album in music history. The Fender Reverb had
>> not been invented at the time the record was made. The reverb was
>> actually
>> created to enhance my singing voice and its use with the guitar was
>> secondary. By the time the Fender Reverb and guitar were combined,
>> Surfer's
>> Choice had already sold over 80,000 copies."
>>
>> "With the introduction of the 'reverb' unit by guitar maker Leo Fender
>> in
>> 1962," wrote Paul Johnson, "lots of lead guitars took on the big,
>> hollow,
>> tubular tone of the reverb. The Fender reverb gave the guitar a
>> slippery,
>> 'wet' sort of tone, which naturally served to solidify the music's
>> identification as 'the sound of surfing.' Some of the most memorable
>> surf
>> sounds (such as the Chantays' 'Pipeline', the Surfaris' 'Wipe Out', the
>> Pyramids' 'Penetration', and Dick Dale's 'Miserlou') were literally
>> drenched
>> in reverb."
>>
>> At the beginning of surf music's emergence, it was not at all about
>> surfing, per se. It was more about the adoption of instrumentals that
>> were
>> extensions of late 1950s Rockabilly and R & B. In a general way of
>> looking
>> at it, anything instrumental was surf music. "That may or may not give
>> surfers the right to redefine it at their convenience," underscored Phil
>> Dirt. However, the definition quickly narrowed at the same time it
>> incorporated the Orange County Sound (ala Dick Dale) and the South Bay
>> Sound
>> (ala The Bel Airs), with the Orange County Sound having the upper hand.
>>
>> The new musical sound that emerged from Southern California in the
>> Summer
>> of 1961 did not take long to be connected with "going to the beach,
>> surfing,
>> girls and cars," wrote John Blair. "It was white, danceable, and
>> non-threatening. Kids all over America picked up on it very quickly
>> despite
>> the lack of beaches and surfboards in areas outside of California. It
>> was a
>> musical phenomenon..."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Posers & Wannabees
>>
>> It did not take long for it to be apparent that the best surf music
>> writers and players were not even surfers; many of them living nowhere
>> near
>> a coast. Although Dick Dale proudly refers to his surfing, Thom Starr's
>> remembrance is that Dale had a hell of a time getting up on the board for
>> the photo shoot for the cover of "Surfer's Choice". Worse, the cover
>> shot
>> for "King Of The Surf Guitar" is rumored to be a photo taken in a pool.
>> He
>> did surf, however, as testified by his friend Gary Martel:
>>
>> "For what it's worth," wrote Martel in an email message in 1996, "I
>> used
>> to surf occasionally with Dick Dale in the '60s (Dana Cove before the
>> harbor). Yes, Dick could really surf (although, as I recall, his real
>> talent was in the parking lot, hustling girls and cigarettes)."
>>
>> "Dick Dale," wrote Leonard Lueras, "who since early 1961 had been the
>> reigning 'King of the Surf Guitar,' pranced and posed as a surfer, but
>> his
>> swarthy, jelly roll looks were, ironically, more pomade than peroxide.
>> Dale, a native of Boston, was a mutation showcast somewhere between Frank
>> Zappa, Fabian and the glitter-shirted regulars who frequented car club
>> dances at the El Monte Legion Stadium (where cats and chicks were invited
>> to
>> 'meet old friends and make new friends, but no jeans or capris, please').
>> His was a strange evolution, but whatever his anthropomorphic or social
>> bent, Dale and his Del Tones packed Southern California ballrooms and
>> armories weekend after weekend during more than three years of exciting
>> surf
>> music nights. Throughout those early Sixties times, when the now nearly
>> institutionalized Beach Boys were still lip-synching to 45 rpm records at
>> summer YMCA 'sock hops,' King Dale was playing to audiences of at least
>> 3,000 to 4,000-plus, three and four nights a week."
>>
>> Interestingly, also, surf music became a sound that appealed more to
>> non-surfer musicians than to surfer musicians. The only exception to
>> this
>> was Southern California (i.e. Ron Wilson of The Surfaris) and
>> Hawai‘i,
>> where, even so, much of the stuff was made by musicians who didn't surf.
>> Noted early surf bands comprised of non-surfers include: The Ventures
>> (Seattle), Eddie & The Showmen, The Trashmen (Minneapolis, Minnesota),
>> The
>> Surfaris, The Original Surfaris, The Bel Airs, The Sentinals, The
>> Astronauts
>> (Boulder, Colorado), and The Royal Flairs (Council Bluffs, Iowa).
>>
>> The Titans and The Treasures were also from Minneapolis. Jim Waller
>> and
>> The Deltas were from Fresno, California. The Clashmen were from Tucson,
>> Arizona. The Fender Four came from Berkeley, California. The Venturas
>> hailed from Chicago. The Citations were from Milwaukee and The Royal
>> Flairs
>> from Council Bluffs, Iowa."
>>
>> "Dale's sound and popularity," wrote Blair, "formed an example for
>> aspiring teenage musicians; it was a shot in the arm for rudimentary rock
>> and roll on a local level. Almost overnight there was a demand for surf
>> bands who could, rather easily and with a minimum of musical invention,
>> play
>> in the style. Huncreds of bands emerged in Southern California, and for
>> several years nearly every suburban area had a large number of garage
>> bands,
>> usually centered around the high schools."
>>
>> "Most of the great tracks from the golden years of Surf Beat were
>> recorded by bands of teenagers. The people (kids in this case) had taken
>> the music back. Band names were mostly innocent period handles like Dave
>> &
>> The Customs, The Pyramids, The Gladtones, The Blue Boys, The Lively Ones,
>> and Dave Myers & The Surftones."
>>
>> Themes of sex and social deviance were also prevalent, along with the
>> beach and surf themes. Songs like The Blazers' "Beaver Patrol" were
>> actually banned from their local airwaves due to their "indecent" titles.
>> There were also ominous songs in the tradition of "Rumble" like "Rumble
>> On
>> The Docks" and "Ray Bay".
>>
>> The bands often could not play in clubs because the band members were
>> under age and were not signed by any labels. Instead, they rented halls
>> and
>> released their own records to sell at their own shows/dances.
>>
>> "Outside, in the parking lot," wrote Leonard Lueras in Surfing: The
>> Ultimate Pleasure , "woodies and Nomads were stuffed full of surfboards
>> and
>> sleeping bags; inside, seminal surf groups -- such as the Chantays,
>> Surfaris
>> and Dick Dale and the Del Tones -- let their tremolos and reverbs run
>> wild.
>> Pendleton wools, bleeding Madras cottons, white Levis, surf shop
>> T-shirts...
>> huarache sandals and black Converse All-Star tennis shoes rose and
>> stomped
>> through anthems such as 'Pipeline', 'Wipeout', 'Miserlou' and 'Let's Go
>> Trippin'."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Beach Boys
>>
>> Where Dick Dale and other primarily-instrumental surf bands tried to
>> recreate the feel of surfing through the music, there arose vocal bands
>> whose forte was to sing about the surfing lifestyle of Southern
>> California.
>> Foremost of this group was the Beach Boys.
>>
>> The Beach Boys, a harmonious quintet from the South Bay town of
>> Hawthorne, and a loosely-related second duet named Jan and Dean combined
>> vocals with music to add yet another element into surf music. "Their
>> contribution was mixed harmonies and documentary (some say poetic)
>> lyrical
>> treatments," wrote Lueras. "Unlike Dale and guitar-slashing others who
>> initiated the sounds and feelings of surfing instrumentally, the Beach
>> Boys
>> and Jan and Dean communicated what they felt about surfing -- and
>> Southern
>> California's youth culture -- by singing about it in lilting two, three
>> or
>> four part harmony. Their choral stuff was simple, a la the Four
>> Freshmen,
>> but pretty, catchy and, most important, relevant to the times. Cars,
>> waves,
>> and girls were 'happening' in Southern California then, and these two
>> groups
>> interpreted that adolescent era perfectly." An example is found in the
>> Beach Boys' first surfing hit:
>>
>> I got up this morning, turned on the radio,
>> I was checkin' out the surfin' scene to see if I would go.
>> And when the deejay tells me that the surfin' is fine,
>> That's when I know my baby and I will have a good time.
>> I'm goin' surfin'...
>>
>> "Indeed," Lueras continued, "when the Beach Boys advised us that
>> everybody was 'goin' surfin', surfin' U.S.A.,' and Jan (Berry) and Dean
>> (Torrance) assured us that in Surf City there would be 'two girls for
>> every
>> boy,' we believed their every word. We 'War Babies' were more than
>> ready.
>> We waxed down our surfboards, couldn't wait till June, and from San
>> Onofre
>> to Sunset we prepared to cruise Colorado Boulevard in little deuce coupes
>> and 409s. Fast cars -- and tasty waves -- were there for the taking --
>> if
>> we stayed away from 'Dead Man's Curve'."
>>
>> The Beach Boys introduced mass market pop vocals to surf music. The
>> "Doo-Wop styled syrupy harmonized songs with sappy lyrics about surfing"
>> bore little to no instrumental resemblance to actual surf music. Even
>> though it became nationally synonymous with surf music, the type of music
>> the Beach Boys performed can more correctly be labelled Beach Music or
>> Surf
>> Pop. Not a small number of surf music officiados consider the Beach Boys
>> an
>> embarrassment to the genre.
>>
>> Reclusive Beach Boy Brian Wilson wrote many of the most memorable
>> lyrics
>> for both the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. As such, he became very
>> influential in surf music in the mid-1960s. From his room in the Wilson
>> home on the corner of Hawthorne Boulevard and 119th Street, Brian Wilson
>> composed some of surfing's most successful songs.
>>
>> A story is told of Wilson and his composition, "Surfin' U.S.A." "It
>> was
>> about 1960 that Brian... then a student at Hawthorne High School, began
>> composing the tunes that were to make the group famous... Then, however,
>> his
>> music was not universally popular. Fred Morgan, the high school band
>> director, recalled flunking Brian in music composition for writing 'a
>> song
>> with a bunch of chords in it' rather than the sonata he'd requested. 'I
>> gave him an F on a composition that later became known as 'Surfin'
>> U.S.A.'
>> Morgan said."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Early '60s Youth Culture
>> "The lifestyle," wrote Blair, "that formed the basis of, and a casual
>> relationship with, surf music had been developing since the 1950s and
>> was,
>> in retrospect, a sociological and cultural phenomenon somewhat exclusive
>> to
>> Southern California. The combination of mobility and recreation played a
>> large role in this cultural lifestyle. There was, and still is, a
>> psychological necessity for a car in the mind of the teenager (in some
>> cases, an economical necessity as well). It was through the use of his
>> car
>> that the teenager sought his identity. If the car was the means, then
>> recreation was the end of that means."
>> Surf music not only emphasized the teenage beach lifestyle, but
>> represented it as well -- including attire and language. "The surf
>> vernacular was extensive," noted Blair, "using cute little slang words as
>> a
>> private language to further support the identity of the youth culture. A
>> number of these words or phrases were often used as titles for recordings
>> or
>> as part of the liner notes on some record albums in a 'surfing
>> dictionary'
>> section of the back cover."
>>
>> "Since there wasn't any real nightclub activity in Hollywood or Los
>> Angeles at the time," continued Blair, "the early surf bands performed at
>> high schools, civic auditoriums, National Guard Armories, and practically
>> any large meeting hall sanctioned for dances by the controlling
>> organization. Many of these often-used locales were in Orange County
>> (such
>> as the Retail Clerk's Union Hall and the Harmony Park Ballroom)."
>>
>> Vocal groups like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean attempted to capture
>> the essence of being a teenager and living in Southern California with
>> its
>> surf and culture that emphasized mobility. Their recordings achieved
>> national and international exposure. In this way, surfing was able to be
>> vicariously shared with people in other parts of the country and oversees
>> who neither lived near a beach or ever touched a surfboard. As the music
>> became popular, so did surfing, itself, become even more so.
>>
>> In this spreading out of the genre, of special note is Australia.
>> Slightly behind developments in the U.S., surf music hit the Land Down
>> Under
>> in 1962. The genre took hold in Australia in the form of The Stomp.
>> Although there were uniquely Australian elements to the surf music
>> movement
>> within that country, the developments, themselves, wrote Blair,
>> "paralleled
>> the California scene in nearly every way."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Surf Music Industry
>>
>> The typical composition of the average surf band involved five
>> instruments: two guitars, a bass, saxophone and drums. Most bands used
>> a
>> reverb on the lead guitar and Fender amplifiers (particularly the Showman
>> and Bandmaster models) and reverb units were standard accessories. The
>> Fender Jaguar, Jazzmaster and Stratocaster guitar models became the
>> "accepted" choice for surf music officiados.
>>
>> "Scores of small, independent record labels sprang up," wrote John
>> Blair,
>> the foremost authority on surf music pressings during the golden age of
>> Surf
>> Beat. "Some of them issued several different recordings concerned with
>> surfing. The majority, however, were single release efforts. All that
>> was
>> needed was a little money to pay for a recording studio (in those days,
>> an
>> inexpensive two or three-track studio might have cost $10 to $15 per
>> hour!),
>> print some labels, and press a couple of hundred copies of the record.
>> Although there were a number of bands across the country who released
>> surfing records, the majority of recordings were issued by local Southern
>> California groups. The movement, for the most part, was restricted to
>> this
>> relatively small geographic area."
>>
>> "Virtually no one made any money from the sale of records," continued
>> Blair. "The intention was to keep the fans and audiences supplied with
>> recordings by their favorite bands, to build that audience for personal
>> appearances, or to generate interest in the group by a major record
>> company.
>> Most surf records were issued in very limited quantities (500 to 1000
>> copies in many cases) and saw only regional distribution. If the record
>> drew the attention of a major label, it was likely to be re-released on
>> that
>> label for national distribution."
>>
>> There was some crossover mixing between surf music and hot rod and car
>> songs. This cross-pollination can be heard in some of the songs put out
>> by
>> the likes of Dick Dale, the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Surf Music's Demise
>> The year 1963 was the nadir of surf music. "America's seemingly
>> invincible youth were swept up in an exciting 'free' era punctuated by
>> drugs, sex, rock 'n roll and politics," wrote Leonard Lueras. "Socially,
>> most young people were sitting on a strange cusp -- somewhere between a
>> frat-rat/jock alcohol-based consciousness and the first stirrings of
>> psychedelia, hippie-ness and what law enforcement officials liked to call
>> 'a
>> false sense of euphoria.' All the above predated an unpopular war in
>> Vietnam... In 1963, petrol cost 19 to 29 cents a gallon at the
>> neighborhood
>> U-Save, so for five dollars split four ways you could check out every
>> surf
>> spot along a good 100 mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway."
>> "Surf music reached its peak during the summer of 1963," wrote surf
>> discographer John Blair, "as evidenced by release dates, chart action,
>> and
>> media attention. Local Los Angeles television dance shows hosted by Sam
>> Riddle and Lloyd Thaxton featured surf bands weekly throughout that
>> summer,
>> and surf music was inescapable on the radio stations. The greatest
>> percentage of surf-styled record releases, most of them instrumental,
>> were
>> issued between June and September that year."
>>
>> Some Surf Music authorities, like Phil Dirt, claim that the reason why
>> Surf Music was so easily killed-off, following the influx of British
>> music
>> by groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones (the second "British
>> Invasion"), in 1964, was because it had degraded to the Beach Boys style
>> rather than continuing to rely on instrumentals with reverb.
>>
>> "Had the Beach Boys not softened the genre with the vocal thing," wrote
>> Dirt, "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 and their ilk. Among
>> the
>> reasons I believe this to be true is the number of surf guitarists that
>> evolved intro really gutsy garage punk and 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!"
>>
>> The average 8-to-10 year pattern for a musical genre has been outlined
>> as
>> follows: two to be born, two to coalesce, another two for adolescence
>> and
>> to break out of the narrowness it was initially defined under, and then
>> four
>> or five to bust out onto the scene. If this is the case, then surf music
>> was surely struck down in its infancy, possibly "by its own childish
>> sappy
>> vocals and the raw edge of the British Invasion."
>>
>> "The effects of this stoney 'British Invasion' were so profound that
>> once
>> glamorous [musical] surfers soon found themselves floating quietly in a
>> cultural backwater."
>>
>> "The surf sound," repeated Trevor Cralle in his surf speak dictionary,
>> "peaked in 1963; the advent of the Beatles in early 1964 and the 'British
>> Invasion' marked what is generally regarded as the end of the surf music
>> era. Yet original surf music still has the energy, simplicity, and
>> rawness
>> of the setting that inspired it."
>>
>> John Blair maintains that surf music's decline was due to a complex
>> combination of factors working before its ultimate demise in 1965. "In
>> the
>> summer of 1963, between the peak of the popularity of surf music and its
>> fadeout by 1965, political, cultural, and musical events happened that
>> certainly contributed to its decline. Aside from the musical shift from
>> surfing to hot rods, the genre had an ironic handicap going against it.
>> A
>> strong national acceptance of the form was difficult, since it was tied
>> in
>> so strongly with a lifestyle and geography indigenous to Southern
>> Califiornia. Whatever momentum it had at the time was suddenly retarded
>> by
>> the assasination of President Kennedy and the ensuing changes that event
>> caused in those of us who enjoyed, and participated in, the music. The
>> war
>> in Vietnam grew into more of a social and political issue and, closer to
>> home, the Watts riots in 1965 helped to erode more of the idealism.
>> After
>> all, idealism was a very important part of the local image projected in
>> the
>> music."
>>
>> Blair conceeded to some degree with Dirt's perspective on the British
>> Invasion and the Motown onslaught that preceded it, admitting, "the
>> Beatles
>> and Motown music probably did more to change musical tastes than anything
>> else. Southern California's garage bands reacted by either throwing away
>> the reverb and adding a fuzz-tone to the guitar or by trading in their
>> Stratocaster for a Rickenbacker 12-string. They began to play
>> mod-influenced rock with certain protest overtones or folk-rock inspired
>> by
>> the Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, or Bob Dylan. The music turned away from
>> the beaches."
>>
>> Comments, suggestions, questions, subscription info, history to add,
>> etc.?
>> Email: malcolm@legendarysurfers.com
>>
>>
>>
>> Copyright © 1996-2005 by Malcolm Gault-Williams. All Rights Reserved.