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What do you need for a Surf Band hopeful? Well, Fender, for one
thing. Does it matter where on earth the kid lives? Of course not!
Which is why in the early days of surf music Jimmie Maddin hooked up
with Chuck Rio and dragged every surf band from the inland empire and
all up and down the coast to little sleepy Santa Monica, California for
the first - and massive- "Surf Music Festival."
"Surf music was coming up big, - Joe Sarencino, Kim Fowley, Murray
Wilson, Tony Asher and Tony Hilder were all producing bands. I was
running AIP's music division at that time and knew these guys through
the studios we all worked in, so I knew what they were producing. I also
worked International Studios (later channel 22) with Joe Lubin. I was
recording rockabilly, different things all the time. I was constantly
working with every kind of entertainment thing you can imagine and Surf
became another thing to work with."
Maddin, of course leverages everything. He uses his clubs to sort
talent and ideas. He might develop a concept or the idea may be inspired
in an early trend, and that's music. Then he puts the product steady in
a club, or on the road. Shellac, Vinyl, CD's or the Internet have
followed, depending on the era..
"I think I had the Beach Boy's piano player working at the Summit -
Fowley brought him in - then I met the Ventures, all of those surf
guys. That's how I put together that first Surf Festival. The Funny
thing is that surf music was coming from all over. The kids in
Bakersfield were playing it and looking for records just like the beach
kids were. I got a lot of these bands because I was on the mighty 690
and on television at KCOP and the signal carried out to them fine."
"I put the Persuaders on the bill with me as I did shows around the
state. I also had them at my club. I owned the Sundown Club in Hollywood
on Sunset Boulevard. I auditioned surf bands there, too. The guys came
into the studio and my club to audition and I liked them. I asked Chuck
if he wanted to make a surf album and he said 'ok'. I called the
Persuaders and we did it at Goldstar Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Everybody recorded there". "The guys in the Persuaders were excited to
work with Chuck. Our promotion man was Don Blocker, who was at Liberty
at the time. Don had promoted my records 'Campus Raid' and 'Tongue Tied'
and had helped me a lot. We put it out on Saturn Records"...
Music Festivals are great to promote because if you do it right, the
kids have fun, vendors sell a lot, the Mayor is pleased and you can make
money. Usually the problems crop up in promotion - or lack thereof.
Without event promotion, a band's leader or agent can't know to apply.
Then advertisers fall away. This is usually followed shortly thereafter
by no ticket sales and disapproving looks down at the chamber of
commerce. Then the poster guy wants to get paid but the phone just
rings. But does a guy who's on radio, in clubs and on television knows
how to promote?"
"The Deauville festival itself was about 50 bands - all the bands
that I knew from the scene and from all over California. There were
bands up and down the coast doing it. We promoted a surf show from my
program on the Mighty 690 and held it right near the Santa Monica pier
at the Deauville Club. Music started at 12:00 noon and ran about 8
hours. We had a couple of thousand people show up and tied up traffic
terribly. It was good business for Santa Monica though, the place was
packed with people!"
"Remember, Santa Monica was small little beach town and there was no
freeway, so it was tied up from downtown LA in one direction, and up to
Malibu in the other. All the bands had a following of their own and the
fans were coming in from all over. Some of the Beach Boys were there,
but they weren't calling themselves that yet. I think Chuck and I worked
with the Persuaders that day, too. It was basically a giant 'Surf Jam
Session'. One band after another went on non-stop for eight hours and
everybody switching around. It was packed and bedlam. The kids loved it
and were all over the place, right there downtown and by the pier.
That's a lot of corn dogs. We brought in a lot of business to the area
that day. I think the Times may have covered it, but I can't say for
sure."
Read Volume #9 |
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Record Convention News is a bi-monthly magazine for
record collectors and other interested folks. An advertising vehicle for
record stores and related businesses, it is now in it's eighth year.
It's FREE at record shops and collector conventions. A subscription
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$18.00 for Canada or Mexico, and $24.00 for all other countries. Foreign
subscriptions are sent via air-mail. Payable in U.S. funds ONLY, to:
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