Some friends were posting links to a gig by the Nashville Ramblers, who rarely play out. They're playing at Tiki Oasis this year. Tiki Oasis is like a convention for people into all that tiki stuff. They have other stuff too, burlesque, exotica and assorted retro stuff and I've never been. The thought of seeing the Nashville Ramblers appealed to me enough to check out the event site. Once there I saw the other bands that are playing. One of the bands was the Toumaliners, who I'd never heard of. There's a old man's surf spot a few miles north called Tourmaline, so I figured they were a surf band, although curious as to why the picked a not-so-challenging surf spot to name their band after. What the hell, I headed to their site to see what they were all about. One song and already dismissed. A "surf" cover of a Coldplay song. What. The. Fuck. Bad idea all around. Then I looked at their photos and saw that their keyboard player had a laptop in here set up. And done.
I started thinking about contemporary surf bands and how the bulk of them always have something that they just get wrong. I don't mind if the equipment's isn't all vintage or how their dressed, shit like that. The real surf bands can still pull it off. And the ones that can't sure as hell shouldn't cover Coldplay. No surf band should. And it's not because it's not a vintage song. It's just so, well, nothing. It has no punch. It's Chris fucking Martin. There are thousands of songs that would make good surf covers. Never mind the band's name, the surf spot or the laptop. The song choice alone invalidates them for me. Adding reverb to a shitty overplayed and overrated song does not work. Unless you're mining for page views.
Here's a couple medleys by two instrumental bands that slay the Tourmalamers. Both irreverent in style (power chords?) and song juxtapositions. But they make up for it in their deal-with-it blasphemy. I'll deal with it, especially if it gets me the hell away from Coldplay.
Tourmaliners - Clocks mp3 at Tourmaliners Orig: Coldfuckingplay
Surf Manchu - Pipeline Über Alles mp3 at Internet Archive Orig: Chantays/Dead Kennedys
Lawndale - Interstellar Caravan (streaming) at YouTube Orig: Pink Floyd/Duke Ellington
2 comments:
Funny about that juxtaposition, Tom. Last Sunday I got carried away (by an online sale) and ordered a bunch of records. Included were both DK's first (w/Cali Über Alles) and a collection of Guthrie's dustbowl ballads. On my way to pick 'em up now.
Come to think of it, Pipeline was one of the earliest songs we covered when I first started a band with my brother – copied off an Australian band called Exploding White Mice. I remember cutting out the middle section/bridge, 'cause I couldn't figure out the guitar part, and shouting out "Pipeline!" for every chorus :)...
e
OMG espen, had you been playing "Pipeline" in southern California and replaced the bridge by shouting "Pipeline!" you would have been laughed off the stage! Just thinking about that cracks me up!
About that first DK LP, I didn't feel the need to buy it for years because it was so ingrained in my head from friends and roommates playing it that I never bothered to pick it up. Plus I'm not all that crazy about Jello Biafra's voice. But when I finally did buy it and sit down and listen to it I realized what a tight, well played and well written LP it is.
The fact that you bought the DKs LP and Woody Guthrie on the same shopping spree says good things about your taste. Never mind the differences in types of music, they're both social commentary, both standing up for the little guy. I salute you!!
T
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