Surf Guitar

I wrote a while back that I was getting into some roots rock. In addition to a Link Wray album, I also purchased a CD called War of the Surf Guitars. It's a compilation of contemporary surf tunes from two different record labels: Golly Gee, and Double Crown.

Surf music started in the late fifties, and is typified by two things--a connection to the lifestyle of the Southern California surfer, and the use of the reverb amp, which was invented by Les Fender. The first to use this sound was Dick Dale, who was dubbed King of the Surf Guitar. The use of the reverb, along with the heavy gauge strings Dale used, was reminiscent of the plink-plink sound the waves made as the curled. Dale was a huge surfer, and the style was born.

Surf music was very popular in the early sixties, most especially so the songs of the Beach Boys. They didn't use the reverb sound, instead capturing the laid-back lifestyle of the California teen through use of harmonies. The Ventures were also big, and there many one-hit wonders who made classic surf tunes.

Beatlemania and the British Invasion knocked surf music off the pop charts, but they didn't kill it dead. Musicians have continued to use that sound, even if it isn't connected with surfing anymore. The sound received a spike of popularity again with the use of some classics of the genre on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, including Dale's Misirlou.

My favorite contemporary surf band is Los Straitjackets, a quartet who perform while wearing Mexican wrestling masks. I caught them serendipitously one night when they were an opening act at Maxwell's in Hoboken. They have put out about a half-dozen albums, including a record of Christmas songs. I may have even indirectly helped their career. I turned my friend Steve onto them, and when he was working for a show on MTV called Oddville he got them booked on the pilot episode. I have to believe it was the first time Los Straitjackets were on national television.

The War of the Surf Guitars does not feature Los Straitjackets, but does have many other contemporary bands like The Boss Martians, The Suretones, The Coffin Daggers and The Penetrators. I love listening to the sound, and am glad that these guys are continuing the tradition, even if I have never been on a surfboard in my life.