We gave Dale the master tape and he took it to Hollywood, and by July 1963 it was #2 on the Billboard top 100.īefore they knew it, the teenaged Surfaris were touring Japan, Australia, and the U.S.

We needed a gimmick introduction so my Dad broke a plaster soaked board close to the mic and Dale Smallen let out a laugh and screamed wipe out. Ronnie started playing the famous Wipe Out solo and in about 10 minutes we had the song together. We had not written a song before Surfer Joe so I suggested a drum solo type of song with simple guitar breaks. In those days 45’s required a B side so Dale asked us to play another song. We met at a place in the California desert called Cucamonga, and recorded Surfer Joe. (Their sax player, Jim Pash, was 12 when he joined.) They played teen dances and talent shows, and by January the following year, they had an original, “Surfer Joe.” They had their parents drive them to a studio owned by a man named Dale Smallen. At the time of its recording, Wilson wasn’t even old enough to drive.Īccording to guitarist Bob Berryhill, the Surfaris formed in 1962 while the members of the band were still in high school. The song, a 12-bar blues driven by Ron Wilson’s drum solo, produced “the yardstick for every aspiring young drummer in the early 60s” and beyond.

Where hardcore is aggro, surf is mellow and joyous, even when it’s sinister and dangerous hardcore thrives on bashing three-minute attacks, surf shows off its technical chops, even when it sticks to three chords, as in the Surfaris’ classic “Wipe Out.” Surf rock melded with hardcore punk, another genre that does what it says and has scored many a board sport.

Waves of indie surf bands continue to wash ashore.

It found its way into the Pixies and the B-52s. From its niche origins, surf rock invaded garages around the world. Its “ wavy guitar sounds” and rollicking beats are a musical onomatopoeia for the thrills of a sun-drenched sport. With surf rock, however, it’s pretty much as advertised.” This observation gets at what makes surf rock so refreshing. “Not all genres in music are self-explanatory,” writes Mark Stock at The Manual.

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