The Sounds of Surf Culture: Instrumental Surf Music Riding A Wave of Popularity
By Steven V. Cronin
Staff Writer
When the Art of Surfing festival hits the Ocean City Boardwalk this weekend, most of the attention will be on the paintings and photography celebrating those who ride the waves.
But when the Sharkskins take the stage Saturday night to close out the event, the focus will shift to another celebration of surfing that may be a more integral part of American popular culture than the sport that inspired it.
Instrumental surf music had a brief reign as a top form of pop music in the early 1960s, until the British invasion knocked it from the charts. But the music still had fans, and when film director Quentin Tarantino included the blazing notes of Dick Dale's "Miserlou" and other surf hits in the soundtrack to 1994's "Pulp Fiction," he kicked off a minor surf-music revival that remains in force today.
"People love the sun, they love the beach, they love the summer. That's why they like this kind of music," said Michael Ciaudelli, lead guitarist for The Sharkskins, who goes by the stage name Dash Riprock. "They might not know the name of the song, but when they hear it played they say, 'Oh yeah!'"
Surf music no longer charts like it did when John F. Kennedy was president. But in this age of Barack Obama, it's hard to go a week without hearing the twang of surf's reverb-drenched guitar as the soundtrack to a movie, television commercial or even children's cartoon -- tune in to TV's "SpongeBob Squarepants" and you stand a good chance of hearing some surf-inspired tunes. Even the Black-Eyed Peas have embraced surf music, using "Miserlou" as the basis for their song "Pump It."
"It's gotten to the point that if you turn on any commercial, Pizza Hut or Toyota cars, there's a twangy guitar in the background," Ciaudelli said.
And, like other forms of American music, surf has a devoted following overseas. The Japanese have always been huge fans of instrumental surf music and there are active instrumental surf bands in Mexico, Italy, the former Soviet Union and even in icy Sweden, where a band called the Surfites have issued two discs capturing the tenor and tone of classic American surf instrumentals.
If there's one person responsible for the popularity of surf music in the 1960s, it's generally acknowledged that Dale, the self-crowned "King of Surf Guitar," is it.
A surfer, Dale has said he was seeking a sound that would reflect what he heard in his head while riding the waves.
His music was fast -- and it was loud.
Playing to crowds of other young surfers, Dale would routinely blow apart his guitar amplifiers. Dale's quest for volume led to a friendship with Leo Fender, owner of Fender Musical Instruments. Fender pushed the boundaries of amplifier technology to come up with a product Dale could not destroy.
"Fender finally built him the big Showman amplifier -- that's how loud music came to fruition. It was because of Dick Dale. He influenced Jimi Hendrix and Ted Nugent," Ciaudelli said.
Dale added yet another vital component to the surf sound when he pulled a reverb unit out of a Hammond organ, and asked Fender to create something that would give his guitar the same wet, drippy sound, Ciaudelli said.
Dale, who has resumed touring again after a bout with cancer, has continued playing surf music with the same energy he did as a young musician. The Sharkskins have played with Dale, who enjoyed relating what happened when he took part in the Warped Tour, which usually highlights alternative music by young bands.
"He was the only guy who was told to turn it down," Ciaudelli said.
It's not surprising that Dale was invited to play the Warped Tour. In its time, much instrumental surf was loud, raucous and rebellious. It's no coincidence that the Ramones, the premier American punk rock band, covered "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen.
"It was something that kids could play together in their garage, perhaps the first example of do-it-yourself, 'punk' garage-type music. Crazy teenagers making a racket and having fun," said Brian Neal, the founder and operator of Surfguitar101, a Web site where instrumental surf fans from around the world gather to discuss, celebrate and find good instrumental surf music.
The site has 2,660 registered members and about 250 of them showed up for a convention held in California last weekend. The event featured appearances by members of "first wave" surf bands from the 1960s, including Paul Johnson and Eddie Bertrand, whose band -- The Belairs -- recorded "Mr. Moto," the song considered the granddaddy of all surf music.
Not all surf bands are oldies acts, though. There are a variety of bands writing and recording original instrumental surf music today.
Some stick close to the template set down by the original surf acts. But others are "picking up where 1965 left off and moving forward," Neal said.
"We have bands on the extreme side of things that are updating and pushing the boundaries. Two notable bands on this extreme are The Mermen and Pollo del Mar, known for their psychedelic sound," he said.
Modern surf bands also place a high value on showmanship, with many dressing in costume when they perform. The members of Los Straightjackets, considered among the best of the modern surf bands, wear wrestling masks. The Phantom Surfers dress in Lone Ranger masks. The Sharkskins wear their namesake suits and fezzes.
"It's all about entertaining an audience. Surf shows are fun -- it's not the kind of music that you just stand there, staring at the stage, just trying to look cool or hip. It's music for dancing, drinking and having a good time," said Sean Berry, who runs Double Crown records.
Berry started the small, independent label 12 years ago by releasing a disc by the Alabama-based surf band The Penetrators.
"When I first started there were several labels putting out surf music. These days, Double Crown is really the only label in the world that consistently puts out new surf music," Berry said. "It's my belief that if I make 1,000 CD's I'll find 1,000 people to buy them. Eventually just about every Double Crown release sells out."
The label's biggest seller, The Penetrators' "Locked & Loaded" sold about 2,500 copies, said Berry, who also publishes The Continental Magazine. The magazine focuses on surf music, and each issue comes with a disc loaded with about 20 new surf tunes.
People seeking to explore modern surf music can also check out Neal's Surfguitar101 Web site, which produces podcasts featuring surf tunes.
But folks don't have to follow the latest happenings in the surf music scene to be fans of instrumental surf music. That's what Steve Miller, organizer of the Art of Surfing festival discovered when he first booked The Sharkskins to play the festival six years ago.
"We found them via their website and we invited them down. These guys show up in their sharksin suits, skinny black ties and shades., They go into this retro surf music. It's just a show to look at them, and then they are really good," Miller said.
"A lot of people are on vacation and they are just looking to have fun, and when these guys are playing, it is kind of like 'Wow, there's a band that's just playing this kind of music!' You can just tell that everyone gets into it," he said.
E-mail Steven V. Cronin: SCronin@pressofac.com
Music to surf to
Interested in listening to surf music? Here are some songs recommended by Brian Neal, operator of the Surfguitar101 Web site
Classic surf tunes
The Belairs-- "Mr. Moto"
Dick Dale -- "Miserlou"
The Lively Ones -- "Surf Rider"
The Chantays -- "Pipeline"
The Astronauts -- "Baja"
Tunes by modern bands:
The Madeira -- "Undercurrents"
Slacktone -- "The Bells of St. Kahuna"
Satan's Pilgrims -- "Boss BSA"
The Nebulas -- "Nebula One"
The Mermen -- "Krill Slippin'"
The elements of surf music
What makes an instrumental a surf song? Here's how Michael Ciaudelli of The Sharkskins explains it.
The song is played on a guitar with single coil pickups, preferably one of the "big three" of surf guitars, a Fender Stratocaster, Jaguar or Jazzmaster.
The song features heavy reverb (ideally through a vintage Fender reverb unit plugged into a Fender amplifier).
The guitar playing is very percussive, with fast, staccato picking.
"We have custom guitar picks with The Sharkskins printed on them. We go through them very quickly, because they melt from the staccato picking," Ciaudelli said. "Seriously, they melt."
If you go
The Art of Surfing Festival continues today through Saturday at the Ocean City Music Pier, the Boardwalk at Moorlyn Terrace. The Sharkskins perform 7 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
