$8.99
Sold by music on Tradebit
The world's largest download marketplace
3,251,668 satisfied buyers
The world's largest download marketplace
3,251,668 satisfied buyers
MP3 The Vara-Tones - Jetty Subject To High Surf
14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Surf Rock, ROCK: 60''s Rock
Details:
The Vara-Tones originated in the early sixties when instrumental surf music made its debut. Leo Fender and Dick Dale were experimenting with the outboard reverb unit in conjunction with the Stratocaster and Showman amplifier to create what would be the forerunner to the "heavy" rock sound. Rich Campbell and I were students at Wilson High School in Southern California. The Fireballs, The Ventures, and Duane Eddy were some of the names on the charts and on the radio at the time and Dick Dale and The Del-Tones had just come out with their first record called Let''s Go Trippin''. We saw them play at the Pasadena Civic and from that moment on, we dreamed of starting a group of our own. Only one small problem - neither one of us could really play anything! Well, that''s not quite true - we both played the accordian, but we were eager to leave that beloved instrument behind. We faithfully attended surf band shows at all the local places: Harmony Park Ballroom, The Rendezvous Ballroom, Retail Clerks Hall, etc. The surf scene was booming! Every week we saw great bands like The Chantays, The Lively Ones, The Bel-Airs, The Rhythm Rockers, Dave Meyers and The Surf-tones, and countless others. We desperately wanted to learn how to play this kind of music. We would watch the players in these groups just hoping to pick up whatever the magic was that allowed them to get "that sound". I bought an electric guitar and amp, and Rich finally decided to become a drummer - and the Vara-Tones were born! Now all we needed were some drums! Since Rich didn''t have money for drums, he got some chemical fertilizer boxes from his dad''s work. These things were just round boxes made out of thick cardboard. Fortunately for us, they didn''t smell like fertilizer! Next he bought some drumsticks and -- we were ready to rock! After he honed his chops on the boxes, he rented a real set of drums. We were still only a duo when we played our first "gig" - a New Years Eve party for a friend. We were a big hit -- we played all seven of our tunes and everyone was real impressed that just two people could be so loud!! After this astounding success, Rich bought his first set of drums (Ludwigs) and the search was on for more players. Pete Peterson and Gary Sunda joined us on guitar and bass, and we started practicing a lot and playing gigs whenever and wherever we could find them - at high schools, roller rinks, parks, etc. During the course of the next year, Pete was replaced by Randy Aiken, Gary was replaced by Terry Zimmerman, and Dick Smith was added on sax. Shortly thereafter we came across a singer who was looking for a band to back him up on his next record. We were allowed to do an original of ours on the flip side of his single. So we recorded `Repeto'' which was written by Dick. The record was released on the Kay label in 1964. It bombed! But we continued to gig around Southern California and had a really good time. Then, in 1966, for all the usual reasons bands break up, the group disbanded. Then around 1994, due to the resurgence of surf music the band members who could be found were coerced into getting together for a reunion. This led eventually to the recording of our first album - Jetty Subject To High Surf. This album contains 13 new tunes plus as a bonus track, our 1964 single "Repeto". If you like the vintage guitar-driven
surf sound, you will love this album!
File Data