A few days ago I was listening to Dick Dale and the Deltones first LP Surfers' Choice, and as "Let's Go Trippin'" was playing, a song I've heard exactly fourteen thousand and forty six times, it hit me how awesome it was. Especially considering it was very early in his recorded output (his first record to be accurate), and (this is a big one) recorded without his trademark dripping reverb. It's a simple, yet effective, guitar instrumental with little flash. It is basic, as in basically fucking awesome. There are many people, and I'm not necessarily one of them, that think surf music, particularly instrumental surf music, begins with Dick Dale. But, Dick Dale was the first to get steady airplay, regional though it was. From 1961 to 1963, he was the man.
Dude, are you gonna guard her or what?
As the popularity of surf music dimmed with the onslaught of Beatlemania, Dale kept it going playing in Vegas, and appearing elsewhere when a call would come in. In the early seventies there was an review in Surfer magazine of a Surfer Stomp revival sort of thing, that featured Dale and other surf acts. This was where he first popped up on my radar. I had yet to hear his music, but whatever it said in that review, it wet my whistle. A little later, while on a camping trip, my older sister's boyfriend, who was from Orange County (the epicenter of surf music), told my brothers and I that he had actually heard Dale's music. He was then interrogated at length. Drilled. It would be a couple years before I finally heard Dick Dale's music, when GNP-Cresendo released Dick Dale & the Deltones's Greatest Hits in 1975, which did include a lot of his hits, albeit rerecorded. That made little difference, as it was only about ten years after his initial splash, the sound was there, and my brothers and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference without something to reference anyway. Nevertheless, along with most of our friends from the beach, we were hooked.
During the next few years, we would scour thrift store record bins for his records, and we managed to accumulate almost all of his early output. By the time he played locally, around 1980, we were as familiar as young adults our age could be. I went to a couple of his shows that weekend and met Dale, who was more than gracious with the surprisingly few fiends that approached him. In the weird mix that Dale drew, after one show the fiends included my beach friends and an Elvis impersonator named Kanikie (armed with an old school autograph book). After another show it was myself and my friend, industrial musician Boyd Rice (Non), and again, Kanikie. (I snapped a photo of Boyd with
Dale, and it's been spread about a good deal since then due to
Boyd's notoriety in decidedly non-surf circles). Dale told stories of the old days, and spoke at length about other musicians, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Cochran among them. It was like an older brother filling you in. He was probably the nicest "famous" musician I've ever spoken with. (Not that that's it's a regular occurrence. Joey Ramone is the only one who comes close.) I'll cite two examples that further this case. One is that my brother actually spent a day with him (which I mentioned before here), and came back with the stories. The other is the video below, which I think should be spread far and wide amongst musicians. It's great stuff, advice on how to rule your own game in the music industry. Not only is he giving advice as though he really cares, it's amazingly eloquent when you consider it was a random question asked after a gig.
Give a listen to a few below, and, for crying out loud, get some of his stuff. Most of the new stuff that passes as surf-ish is just crap. And you kids, quit fucking throwing that term around.
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Listen: Dick Dale & the Deltones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Wish I Were There
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Dick Dale & the Deltones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker
Dick Dale & the Deltones - Mr. Eliminator (streaming) at The Notes
Visit:
Dick Dale official site
Dick Dale fan site
Dick Dale at Wikipedia
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