Ride the Wild (Suburban) Surf
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
When one thinks of classic American surf music, one naturally thinks of Bethesda, Md. At least I do now, after wandering down
Bethesda Avenue of an evening and stumbling upon the Suburban Surfers. The band was set up in the open window at swanky Parker’s Bistro and filling the street with that definitive summer sound.
The group is Landon Banfield (lead guitar), Bill Adkins (rhythm guitar), Rob Fisher (drums), and Tom Phillips (bass), and they not only feature such mainstays of the genre as “Apache” (oddly, a song written and recorded by the British band the Shadows), but also offer suitably retro originals, such as the muscular “Gravitron.”
I must say, I’m quite jealous of Rob’s drums. The kit once belonged to Los Straightjackets‘ drummer Jimmy Lester and was acquired from eBay. Lucky bastard. Anyway, Parker’s has music Thursday through Saturday, another surprise but welcome, and the Surfers are there about once a month. Do check them out, won’t you?
Here Bill and Landon become Santo and Johnny on that gorgeous slow-jam, “Sleepwalk.”
I missed the beginning, but had to record this original/mashup, “Muenster’s Theme.”
As usual, these videos were shot with my PowerShot still camera. Can’t wait to pick up the Canon T2i, so these impromptu vids are more hi-def.. (Videos also available on Youtube.)