Viewing: Surf music - View all posts

Waiting For Spring

Sometimes, you gotta sit still. Last year was a relentless flow of performances. I loved it, but by December I felt exhausted and burned out. In addition, El Borko's drummer Cam is in New Orleans until April so No surf…

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A Tool For Living

Do you write for yourself or for others? Does it matter? As a kid, before I could play an instrument, I would make up songs. There was "That House Is Haunted" which sounded a lot like "These Boots Are Made…

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Never Too Late

I started learning B♭ clarinet in fifth grade. I hated it. I wanted a trumpet, but my folks had a problem with the volume. Anyway, it's hard to learn music when you dislike the sounds you're making, so I gave…

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Artificial Stupidity

An encounter with "Artificial Stupidity". I posted on an event for a gig today and facebook took the post down calling it "hate speech". What?! I gave the dates and band names and put up a drawing. Did the algorithm…

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Back In The Pleistocene

I attended high-school back in the Pleistocene Era and played electric guitar in a garage band. After graduation, I left the city and moved to a small town to attend college. Alas, there was no real rock there, just a…

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El Borko ¡Surf!

It's here! The new album is finally done!

El Borko ¡Surf! is the first album with Cameron Wick on drums and James P. Daley on bass. I've been around the Pacific Northwest with these guys, they're fun to hang out…

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Mucho Trabajo

Most people who have recorded an album know how much work it is. You have to write the songs, then play the songs, then record the songs. Then you gotta mix the songs, master the songs, make an album cover…

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About Surf Part II

It's fun to break down a genre into sub-genres and see what they bring to the whole. Here are four possible sub-genres for surf music; cinematic drama, barefoot beach party, hotrod hoodlum, and sensuous jungle tiki.

Cinematic drama is the…

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About Surf part I

Ask someone for an example of surf music, then get ready for many different answers. Some will say "Beach Boys", some will say "Dick Dale", some will talk about the Ventures or Duane Eddy. They are all correct.  

Surf music…

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Looking Ahead

I spent 2021 releasing and promoting two albums (Surf Monster & Surficana) and putting together the current line-up of El Borko ¡Surf!. I spent 2022 booking and playing gigs with El Borko ¡Surf!. Here at the end of the year…

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Thank You All

Thanks to everyone who came out to see El Borko or The Miller Brothers or any other shows this past year. Your support means a lot. Special thanks to Celeste from Yeti Set Go, Rob Tobias, Lisa Rennie, Beau Eastlund…

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New All The Time

Everything has to be new all the time. Does everything have to be new all the time? Why does everything have to be new all the time? Everything new happens all the time. So every time a thing is new…

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New Songs!

If you've seen El Borko ¡Surf! in the last two months then you've heard some songs from our next album. I doubt if anyone pays such close attention that they'd notice and of course, we don't always announce the titles…

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A Thick Weekend

Sometimes we do things just to see if we can. This week was an example of that where I played an El Borko show in Seattle on Thursday, a Miller Brothers show in Eugene on Friday and tonight it's up…

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El Borko ¡Surf!

I have been so lucky to find such a great band. Jon Neher is a loyal friend and a great musician. He brings intensity and life to everything he does. James P. Daley illustrates the maxim, "still waters run deep"…

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You Gotta Hear It!

I spend a lot of time promoting my band on various calendars, websites, and other Public Relations-y sorta things. You have to write descriptions of the band... over and over. Go to any events or band website and marvel at…

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No Expectations

It's no secret that our expectations can affect our outcomes. But it's so obvious that we often forget, and then undermine our own projects. I had some recent reminders of this. Here are two examples.  

I just returned from a…

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I Love Making Demos

When you compose music, you might write down chord changes or lyrics. Some people actually write out a score. I do a little of each, but no matter how often I play it, I wanna hear what the finished product…

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Exile on Vain St. Part III

There's no such thing as an "unknown" band. If you're a band, and you play out, then someone must know you. I've played gigs where it was us and the bartender and two drunk people who left after awhile. So…

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Bands Are Teams

Playing in a band is similar to playing on a sports team. Each member has a particular skill. You have a practice schedule. You have gigs/games. At the gig/game, things don't always go the way they did at practice. The…

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Personality of Songs

When making setlists, I imagine each set as a one act play where each song is a character or an event. In this context, a song has a role and a personality. The opening song is vivacious and engaging. The…

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Whatsa Genre?

I saw a facebook post today which said... "What about changing the name of the group to ... No Strictly Surf Music Appreciation Society?". Right away I started thinking about what makes a musical genre. I realized that in any…

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Headmixer Larry

In the 90s, my wife and I worked at a private school in Arizona. There is a campfire story about an unfortunate student called 'Headmixer Larry'. I love this story, it's many variations, and it's place in the memories of…

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About Surf

I have been an afficionado of surf music for 4 or 5 years now. I spent this time becoming familiar with the repertoire, reading about its history, and above all, learning to play it. To play and write music in…

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What makes a band?

Some bands are famous, we all know about them. Some bands are only known in their locality or genre. This second kind interest me more than the famous ones. A few  of these groups actually make a living at it…

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