Tag: Surf music

They were acclaimed as pioneers of the surf sound alongside Dick Dale, Link Wray and The Ventures, but The Fireballs (from Raton, New Mexico) - who enjoyed a US chart-topper with Sugar Shack in 1963 - had...

The 1964 single Little Honda was written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson who decided not to release a version they had recorded with The Beach Boys as a single although it did appear on the...

This surf group from Glendora, California are remembered for Wipe Out - the #2 hit from 1963 that ranks as one of the great rock instrumentals, featuring a classic up-and-down guitar riff and a classic solo drum...

Californian surf band The Sunrays began life as The Renegades - and had also recorded as The Snowmen and The Rangers - before being picked up in 1964 by manager Murry Wilson (who was already...

This Nashville-based combo was led by John 'Bucky' Wilkin, son of country songwriter Marijohn Wilkin (Cut Across Shorty, The Long Black Veil). The group's first album, GTO (1964), featured a rockin' surf sound but, for the 1966 follow-up, Sandy, Wilkin worked...

Phil Stewart and Ernie Bringas met while they were students at Inglewood High School in Los Angeles and struck up a friendship based on their musical talents and love of singing. They came to the attention...

Bonafide Long Beach surfers and Poly High students, The Pyramids, formed in 1961 The band scored a hit in 1964 with the single Penetration which spent a total of ten weeks in the US charts, peaking...

Jan Berry and Dean Torrence made it big in 1963 on the crest of a surf music wave created by The Beach Boys. They celebrated Californian beach and hot rod lifestyle in a series of slick records...

Richard Anthony Monsour - known professionally as Dick Dale - was the first real surfer to actually make surf music, attempting to recreate the experience of riding the waves through a choppy playing style and...

The Chantays - from Orange County, California - were launched upon the world by Dot Records after label boss Randy Wood heard their debut single Pipeline (1962) and bought it for the label. The song reached #4...

The Tornadoes (not to be confused with the British beat group The Tornados of Telstar fame) were one of California's earliest exponents of the surf instrumental sound that swept the USA in the 60s. Formed by brothers Gerald and Norm (Roly) Sanders, their...

This Minneapolis rock & roll band evolved from a group called Jim Thaxter & The Travelers, recording one single under that name (Sally Jo b/w Cyclone). Unfairly depicted as a novelty act, The Trashmen were in actuality a...

In terms of commercial impact, Surf Music was a short-lived phenomenon. The vast majority of popular surf recordings were waxed between 1961 and 1965; even then, their success was often confined to an isolated region...

The Marketts' Surfer's Stomp (1962) - produced by Joe Saraceno (who would later work with The Ventures) - was one of the first surf music instrumentals featuring a five-man Californian group. In fact, they were not really...

Original lead guitarist Bob Bogle, alongside fellow masonry worker Don Wilson, founded The Ventures in Washington State in 1958, performing at local clubs and bars (originally as The Versatones). Nokie Edwards joined on bass soon after. They...

The Astronauts formed in 1961 in Boulder, Colorado, taking their name as a tribute to local hero, astronaut Scott Carpenter. After gaining a strong local reputation, the band released their first single, Come Along Baby in 1962...

Rock Historian Glenn A Baker has called The Atlantics "one of the most extraordinarily talented rock groups Australia has ever produced". The band's sound encompassed surf instrumentals and sneering garage-punk and, as well as issuing 18...

The rise of Surf Music in the early 60s, coupled with the general surfing craze that was sweeping the USA, inevitably began to spawn movies, with Beach Party (1963) starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello doing particularly...

Spent the last 55 years with a lost tribe in the Amazon? In that case, here's a band you should know about... Brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson joined forces with their cousin Mike Love, and...

26 March 2004 If Brian Wilson was the king of the California dream regime, Jan & Dean were the crown princes - and the jesters. Composer/producer/lead singer Jan Berry and partner Dean Torrence manufactured enticing, comically exaggerated myths of the...