Previously: Roadie With A Drum Kit
The song considered by many to be the first surf record was released in 1959 and, oddly enough, had nothing to do with surfing. It was about howling at the moon. Here's that record, Moon Dawg by The Gamblers. Give a listen:
Nobody knows for sure who the Gamblers were--the passage of time has added to the legend, and sources conflict as to who did what, but let's listen and try to hear who the players are at the start of our story.
It starts with the drums, of course. [Sandy Nelson? No, that sound is the sound of Rod Schaffer.]
It's a primal, rolling sound...Then the rhythm guitar enters. [Has to be a young Elliot Engber, who was a member of the Gamblers when they called themselves the Moon Dogs.] This is surf music, and we've been hearing it again and again and again.
Except this is a year before surf music, before Dick Dale and His Del-Tones start playing music like this to surfers, gremmies, and even the odd hodad, and before the sound of a reverbed Fender becomes synonymous with the waves.
Then enter the Bass, just a low rumble here from Larry Taylor, no hint yet of the virtuoso who would play with everyone from the Monkees to Tom Waits, just holding the low end down, adding a bit of throb.
And then those staccato piano chords come in [Howard Hirsch? No, this has to be Bruce Johnston, who later wrote "I Write The Songs" and whose distinctive voice is apparent once those harmonies come in, a three chord block following the rest of the track.]
And forty seconds in we finally have the lead guitar, from Derry Weaver. This is the birth of surf guitar right here. It's not born fully formed -it's a thin, wiry sound, without the reverb and distortion that would define the genre- but the phrasing is all there, paving the way for Dick Dale that is to come. And then the final element--producer Nik Venet, howling at the moon.
The Other First Surf Record
Okay, so that record is considered by many pop music historians as "the first surf record" even though it didn't have anything to do with surfing. Then a year later, Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, clearly inspired by the sound of Moon Dawg, cut an instrumental they named Let's Go Trippin' which wasn't strictly about surfing either. But that hasn't stopped other pop music historians from claiming Dick Dale's was the first surf record. Why? Who knows, other than some kids who surfed seemed to feel that the fast guitar and rolling drums of that single gave off a feeling of excitement, risk, and speed. You know, like surfing.
Third Time's The Charm
At around this same time, a garage band from Hawthorne, California with no performing or recording experience who called themselves the Pendletons (because the boys' father hoped maybe Pendleton Mills would sponsor the nascent group) found themselves auditioning for Candix records. They played acoustic guitars and sang in the style of The Kingston Trio, like pretty much everyone else was doing at the time. The producer didn't care for their material and asked if they had any other songs, and one of them said, "Brian and Mike have been writing a song about surfing."
Brian and Mike had been writing about no such thing, but the boys fibbed and told the executives the surfing song wasn't finished yet and made arrangements to come back with it the next month. These guys knew absolutely nothing about surfing, but one member of the group, Dennis, spent a lot of time at the beach, so Dennis helped Mike and Brian with the slang. They came up with a number they called Surfin', which didn't sound anything like the supposed surfing music typified by the instrumental styles of Moon Dawg or Let's Go Trippin'. The song actually owed more to the Kingston Trio and Doo-Wop than anything else ("Bom Bom dit di-dit di-dit" in repeat).
But at least you could tell by the lyrics that it was about surfing. So according to still other music critics, that record was actually "the first surf record." So take your pick. After that the deluge began, and surf music ruled AM radio for almost three years until the Beatles hit the scene, followed by the British Invasion, which spawned the garage band era. Tastes had changed, and the reign of surf music was at an end.
But let's back up a bit and hear from the author of California Dreaming again:
When the Pendleton's new record came out, Candix records had made the unilateral decision to rechristen them. The only question was what to call them. "The Surfers" was considered for awhile, before Russ Regan hit on the perfect name for the band, and had it stuck on the label of Candix single 331 when it was released in November of 1961. The first time the band knew about their change of name was when they opened a box of their singles. And since the song was a big local hit, and a minor one nationally, reaching number seventy five, the name stuck. The pendletons were now the Beach Boys.
(Don't worry. They got better.)
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