Surf’s Up For Local Musicians
	Daniel Burnette staff writer Surf guitar music is now some 40 years past its heyday, but at least the Valley’s Swamp Coolers have one thing in their favor in attempting a revival: As far as they can tell, they’re the only surf guitar band in town. “Nobody else seems to be playing it right now, and hardly anybody who plays it outside Arizona ever seems to make it to town,” lead guitarist Terry Keel said. “So we’re ready to make an all-out assault and see whether Phoenix is ready for surf.” There were so few musicians in the Valley who could play or had any interest in playing surf that Keel and band co-founder Steve “Cherndog” Chernek had to put out their first collection of recordings, Dry Heat, by themselves. Chernek played rhythm guitar; Keel played lead guitar, drums, bass and the occasional bit of ukulele. The 12 songs include several originals as well as covers of surf standards. Only in recent weeks has the group found a drummer, in Larry Smith, and a bassist, Steve Worden. “We’ve been working together a couple of weeks now, and the band is coming together quickly,” Keel said. “I think we’ll be ready to rock ’n’ roll about January or February.” Although they’ve yet to play their first show — that will be a free event on March 3 at the Borders Books and Music in Tempe — The Swamp Coolers are winning critical acclaim for Dry Heat and some of the songs that were completed before the album’s release. The band covered a surf guitar standard, the theme to the television series Hawaii Five-O, which wound up on a two-disk compilation, Surf Guitar 101, put together by some enthusiasts at http://www.surfguitar101. com. The group’s cover of “My Favorite Things” — yup, the song from Sound of Music — is the lead track on a two-disk surf guitar compilation, Beyond the Sea, put together by United Kingdom-based Cordelia Records. The 30-plus songs on the collection are pop songs played in the surf guitar style. What is and isn’t surf guitar music is subject to considerable debate among its practitioners, fans and music historians. But whatever surf guitar is, the inspiration clearly was the sensation of riding the waves on a surf board. The West Valley View recently caught up with Chernek and Keel at a Glendale coffee shop, where the lead guitarist most appropriately was dressed in shorts, to talk about their music. West Valley View: Tell me what you think surf guitar is. What are the elements? What makes surf guitar different from any other rock ’n’ roll instrumental? Keel: When we recorded “My Favorite Things” for this compilation, Beyond the Sea, the main criterion was that it had to be a surf cover of a popular song. So that got me thinking about, what makes it surf rather than just any other instrumental cover? The basic element is the melody is going to be real clean, not distorted, and it probably will be a bit trebly and with some reverb on it. It’s going to be based in the early rockabilly sound; there won’t be any synthesizers, any of that later rock stuff. It will have a simple, direct beat, generally. The classic surf sound is played on a Fender guitar played through a Fender amp. Most of the original guys who are still playing still play on [Fender] Stratocasters. WVV: How about Flamenco music? I hear some of that in surf guitar sometimes, especially in [self- proclaimed surf guitar inventor] Dick Dale’s music. Chernek: Well, he also used some Middle Eastern sounds on stuff like “Miserlou.” I think he used that because he picked that and some other sounds up when he used to play in Greek restaurants. Keel: The guys in the early days were making it up as they went along. There wasn’t anything known as “surf guitar” then, of course, so they didn’t have any rules about what was and wasn’t surf. Country’s in there and rockabilly definitely is in there. A lot of the early guys who played surf were studio musicians, so they knew all kinds of music. There’s even a big band feel to some of the drumming, and that’ s because some of those early drummers, I’m sure, had played plenty of big band. They weren’t afraid to throw in some things like that. WVV: I think there must be a law that every surf guitar band has to play “Pipeline.” It’s a great song, for sure, but why is it considered the surf guitar song? Chernek: [Chuckles] It’s the quintessential surf song. It’s got the glissando …. Keel: It’s got the gliss. And it’s got that underlying great beat that’s so infectious. It’s a simple song, and something that’s simple can be played a lot of ways and still keep the essence of what it is. Chernek: A lot of people think “Wipeout” is the surf song, but for the people who play surf, it’s “Pipeline.” Keel: I think it’s [popular] also because it was one of the first surf songs to hit the radio. When you hear it, you say, “That’s surf music.” WVV: What inspired you to record “My Favorite Things” as a surf guitar number? Keel: I always liked it. When the label [Cordelia Records] put out the call for surf covers of popular songs, I began to brainstorm: “Well, what would be a really off the wall song you would never think of as a surf song?” So I e-mailed the owner of the record company with some ideas, and he jumped all over “My Favorite Things.” It was a real challenge, making it a surf song, because it’s in 3/4 time. But I like the way it came out and it’s gotten a lot of good reviews. Chernek: It’s been played on a surf guitar radio show in California …. Keel: … and probably other places we don’t even know of. WVV: It’s amazing that so many kinds of American music remain popular 30, 40 or more years, long after they’ve faded from the attention of the American audience. You take bluegrass, blues, rockabilly, surf guitar and other styles and they’re still tremendously popular elsewhere in the world. Chernek: The two biggest surf bands right now are from Japan and Croatia. Keel: Surf guitar is the rage right now in Eastern Europe. WVV: Who came up with the laid-back first verse to “Hawaii Five-O”? Was that based on something you heard in one of the TV episodes? Keel: That was my idea to have it start slow, and then kick up the tempo. But it wasn’t entirely my idea. There’s a cover that was done at about half the speed of the original. It doesn’t necessarily sound like the intro I did, but I thought about that cover when I was trying to figure out how to make ours different from the original. WVV: When’s the next CD coming out? Keel: I’m thinking next summer. This one took a little over a year to make, but the band is really coming together, so I think we’ll get the second one done much quicker. And we’re going to do all originals this time; no covers. Daniel Burnette can be reached by e-mail at dburnette@westvalleyview.com.