Winter Surf Fest: The Surf ‘s Up, Keeping The Winter Hot!

Winter Surf Fest Jan. 18, 2014

It was around 2002 that Carl Schneider of Black Market Magazine turned me on to the revival of Surf music and the burning underground buzz being created by a batch of new Surf Bands here in Southern California. I mentioned this to an old friend, John Stoup, a drummer from the legendary San Diego band Wei Wei T’nango, who then got together with one of his former band mates, Hans Kohls, to form a band called the Sand Devils, that I had the incidental honor of naming. In this 10 plus years Surf music has expanded and grown to the point that Winter Surf Fest, curated by Surf Guitar 101 Convention, is in its’ 3rd year. Jason Lee and the R.I.P. Tides will be headlining this year’s event that starts at 12 noon and ends 7pm in Los Alamitos at the Starting Gate, 5052 Katella Avenue. The venue has a full kitchen and bar. It’s kid friendly and children under twelve enter free and adults are $20. For the Surf fanatics and collectors there will be a special area focused on Surf Music records, CDs, posters, t-shirts, books, magazines, musical instruments and other Surf accessories and collectibles. Live Surf music and great family fun where you can relax, while the bands play on!

Winter Surf Fest will fill the stage with a host of hot Surf bands playing bright reverb-drenched driven guitars, ala Dick Dale, and throb to catchy surf beats blistering with blues, dark alternative and metal over tones. The lineup of opening bands this Saturday at The Starting Gate are High Tide (12:50) Boss Fink (1:10 – 2:00) Volcanics (2:20 – 3:10) Meshugga Beach Party (3:30 – 4:20 ) Sand Devils (4:40 – 5:30) and then Jason and The R.I.P. Tides will close the celebration of all things surf with new material from the new eponymous release on Dionysus Records. The hot tip on Jason and The R.I.P. Tides new release is it will only be available this Saturday at the show. The official release through Dionysus mail order will come early next week. So Saturday’s performance will be the only time you can walk up to buy a copy of Jason and The R.I.P. Tides until its’ official street date set in April, when the LP hits stores and the digital version hits iTunes, eMusic and Amazon. Saturdays’ show gives you a four-month jump on the LP’s official drop date!

The Sand Devils will be returning after a couple years hiatus for those of you who have missed their particularly engaging dark and ominous approach to surf. Meshugga Beach Party should be a fun romp interpreting surf influenced traditional Jewish tunes with their outfits, beards and shtick. Boss Fink will bring the Hot Rod vibe, ala George Barris, to this year’s festivities, High Tide, an all-star band featuring some of the best veteran players and the The Volcanics will bring the straight ahead 60’s sound of Surf, while performing tunes from their recent release of The Lonely One on Double Crown Records. Winter Surf Fest will feature some of the world’s best contemporary live Surf in an incredible seven-hour extravaganza. These Surf giants will be knocking out some amazingly rad tunes with searing reverb-drenched guitars a blazing and balls out heart pounding Surf rhythms that will keep you warm with a sunny disposition till spring!