5 Bands that Defined surf culture in LA by Tom Schnabel
Tom Schnabel, KCRW DJ.
When I was fourteen, I started surfing, borrowing my older brother’s longboard. I persisted and eventually became pretty good. I surfed all up and down the coast and rode the big waves in Hawaii too. And of course I loved going to surfing movies and watching impossibly beautiful waves and classic surfers carving them like Baryshnikov. It was always disappointing going out the next day after the movie and find the surf flat.
When I was growing up I liked the normal things: riding my bike, eating ice cream, and selling lemonade at a stand on our block. When I was about eleven I became a fanatical cyclist, idolizing the great Jacques Anquetil and reading about the Tour de France. I was in a cycling club called “Les Voyageurs” (the travellers). We had jerseys, chamois-padded shorts, cycling shoes with cleats, etc. I always wanted an Italian bike with all Campagnolo equipment on it, probably because I have an older brother and always got his beaten up bikes handed down to me after he’d wrecked them. But alas, that fancy bike never came.
And I noticed the music in surf movies, especially the Bruce Brown films that had songs like Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. Smooth music went well with smooth moves by Lance Carson at Rincon, but then there were the big gnarly waves in Hawaii, which needed more aggressive music. In comes Dick Dale’s song “Miserlou” which I later found out was based on an old Jewish song!
Before long, surfing and music were the two most important things in my life, followed by competitive swimming and, or course, girls. I still remember great days surfing and some of the music that provided the soundtrack to those aquatic adventures. Below are some of the bands that moved me.
1. Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (Columbia)
smooth and effortless playing by Brubeck and his saxman Paul Desmond provided a perfect soundtrack to classic and effortless longboard waveriding by Lance Carson, Phil Edwards, and Mickey Dora. Paul Desmond’s alto solos were fit particularly well with the eloquent curves of these surf masters.
2. Dick Dale and the Deltones -
exciting stuff that really pumped you up for surfing. I remember being so excited when hearing this music as teenage surf nut that I wanted to go surfing in the dark after the surf movies.
3. The Chantays –
celebrated the scariest left on the north shore of Oahu, the Banzai Pipeline, which I once rode and even have pictures and footage to prove it.
4. The Ventures -
provided the music soundtrack for Slippery When Wet and other early surf movies from the mid 60s.
5. Bud Shank -
a busy studio musician and multi-reedman who did soundtrack for classic Bruce Brown film Barefoot Adventure
Bonus: Duane Eddy –
his signature twang sound was used by many a surf movie, and songs like Rebel Rouser and Cannonball were surf anthems.
Tags: bands, culture, music, surf
