We opened with our instrumental piece, "Last of the Lost Argonauts," which we had released previously through our FaceBook page. From the moment of our arrival, we were swarmed by people familiar with our work asking for us to play it. The curtain drew as we emerged with our fender reverb, tremolo picking, and matching sweaters, in the name of Surf Rock, which sent the crowd into a roar of aplause and dancing.
We looked next to Vampire Weekend for inspiration, with our cover of Kay Perry's "Hot n Cold," which is done in a style resembling Vampire Weekend. The crowd cheered and sang along, and although I pleaded for someone to come on stage and sing it for me, I was left to sing it alone (with my group on backing vocals of course).
"Kali Ma!" Oh, Indiana Jones. "Kali Ma (Temple of Doom)" was next our our set-list. This song features a laid back beach style, while still maintaining the energy of a surf piece. Harmony is the key to this song, and thanks to Achilles, our cousin (who is sitting due to a broken collar bone), and rhythm guitarist/back up singer, it was pulled of quite well.
Speaking of surf, we followed up "Kali Ma" with a cover of "Surf Wax America" by Weezer; this was in my mind, without a doubt our best song of the night. Due to under rehearsing Achilles came in wrong during the break down/harmony part, and ruined it, but other than that it was a big hit.
My favorite song we do is "Zombie Dance Party," a fast-paced dance-surf song with a killer dance break featuring a great guitar solo followed by a bass break down, which could not have been played by half of the other bassists to play that night due to the enormous stretch, but it was executed flawlessly by none other than twelve-year-old guitarist (not a bass player) Andromeda. When I inquired the audience as to their opinion of his bass skills, he received, unarguably, the loudest applause of the night.
After our set was completed, we felt the need to give Andromeda his chance to really shine; we switched guitar and bass and played one more song, a cover of Dinosaur Jr's "Start Choppin'." This was my weak point of the night vocally, but it was made up for by some of Andromeda's best guitar improvising ever; move over "School of Rock," Andromeda of the Gladiators of 2037 is here to blow people's minds with rock.
Overall it was a great night with great acts. Our set went well, aside from some mishaps, mostly on my part, but we look forward to playing again, to show the world that surf rock is here to stay.
