The Gladiators of 2037 Preform at JTHS

Last Thursday my group, The Gladiators of 2037, delivered our unique brand of Surf Rock to our local high school. We played second in a line-up of great acts.

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.

Perceus Interview

Boss FRV-1 '63 Fender Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal

I ordered this pedal a few days ago after hours of painstaking research on surf forums and, of course, YouTube. This pedal is a digital recreation of the vintage analogue tube, spring '63 Fender Reverb Unit, which is the wet, dripping, natural reverb sound which brought life to Surf Rock.

I have never played either the original unit, or the pedal, but I have listened to both on Youtube; grant it, there is nothing like getting the feel of something's response to your actual playing, but this was the best I could do. Oh wait. Just got the pedal in the mail. Time to play.

...

Actual Tank

Pedal

I am one who believes in buying in person, just to know exactly what I'm purchasing, but to my belief, this pedal has been discontinued (for reasons unknown), so I was forced to resort to ebay, where I picked it up for $99 (plus $7 shipping), which is a bit easier on the wallet than the $630 price tag of the reverb tank.

The FRV-1 gets the sound of the tank, and that's it. To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with the capabilities of the pedal, due to its one achievable sound, but that sound is good. Playing surf with the pedal is as natural as breathing, but I was having difficulties provoking a light 'verb out of her, like I was expecting to be able to do. My music is not straight up surf (a good deal of it is, so I am fairly satisfied with the pedal), so it would be nice to have a slight spring effect to act as gray area for different-ish styles, but I guess you can't win them all. Overall, for Surf rock, you can have a Fender tank without having a Fender tank, which I like.

My only real complaint, is that the spring reverb overpowers and conceals the unique tone of my Casino. With my Strat, it plays like a dream, but it hides my Casino's beautiful tone, which is bad, because that's my main guitar.

I'll try and get my own demo up sometime.

"Walk Don't Run" - The Ventures

"Single Fins & Safety Pins" the Japanese Motors (Podcast)

"Single Fins and Safety Pins" - The Japanese Motors

The first thing that i would like to do, is apologize for my lack of "podcast." This is a result of two main events, the loss of my camera charger (which was a great disappointment because I had wanted to make a video this week), and the failure of my microphone (also extremely frustrating because I found out that it was broken after trying to record with it). Both of these inconveniences are being dealt with (I'm ordering a new mic shortly, and my cousin has an extra charger for an identical camera and will be sending that to me). I promise that in the future my podcasts will be quite entertaining; I have some plans floating around in my head. That being said, here is my Script.

This song is "Single Fins and Safety Pins" (catchy tittle, huh?) by the Japanese Motors, off of their 2008, self titled record, "The Japanese Motors." Well if you've listened to the song, and you are a major follower of "traditional" Surf-Rock, you are most likely cursing me for categorizing this as surf. To respond; I'll admit that this was probably a bad choice for a first(ish) post as to, it might turn off a traditionalist, but to a general lover of music, this is a ruby in a mountain of rocks (no that wasn't a Meatloaf reference--well, maybe it was).

What says summer time better than seagulls and the sounds of waves crashing? Maybe some delay on a high D chord? Musically, and structurally this song is very simple following the progression of D (barred on the tenth fret) and slid down to a G (on the third). This is broken only during a bridge which drops the final G of the chorus to an E, to an A, back to an E, which then raises to a G for two beats and then to an A, creating a generic build leading us back into a final chorus.

We can differentiate the chorus from the verses because the verses make use of a simple staccato ed half note version of the progression, which sounds like a delayed effect which really gets one to nod their head along with it. Also, in the chorus we hear a very (very) quiet tremolo D note played throughout. To someone without knowledge of music, this might go by unnoticed, but someone who listens for these nuances will tell you that it is what makes the song. It's incredible how one near silent ringing note can drive a song forward and give it a summer feel.

So, okay, it takes more than just one note to make a song feel like summer--enter the "ahhs." As any backup singer will tell you, the correct combination of "oohs" and "ahhs" will add a beautiful fullness, and catchiness to any song. These really bring the chorus home; these and the utilization of references to "the beach where the summer shines." "Single Fins..." is chock full of summertime imagery. "Kick your shoes off and drink some wine... in the summer, the summer time,"sounds nice, doesn't it? One lyrical aspect that adds a constant drive to the song, is the second half of the chorus, which contains a new set of lyrics every time. One very memorable section of the verse is the "answering" of  the call "hey dudes." It just is really cool, and wakes you up every time. If there is one song that could exist to blow away any winter blues and leave you begging for summer, it's "Single Fins and Safety Pins," (damn that's a catchy title!).

The solo to this song is very fun and it's hard not to dance to. It's very simple, but after the first listen, i found it to get old, but nonetheless , still a joy. It sounds slightly out of key, but that is the nature of the Surf-Rock guitar solo (not always, but it is a classic trait of vocal surf groups). The off-ish sound is coming from a hammer on and pull off of the 6th and minor 3rd to the D chord, followed by the hammer on, pull off, and bend of a G chord on top of the D. Maybe I'll write a post about how to play this style of soloing. That was too much talking wasn't it?

Okay, so i still have not given my justification for classifying this as a surf tune; mainly, summer time. A sub genre of traditional surf is the newer "Garage-Surf," which is (obviously) a combination of surf and garage elements. Surf-Rock is (or was traditionally) all about having fun in the summer time, which is a message this song gets across. This song encompasses main traits of the surf genre aside from subject matter, these being some of the effects used, the simplicity of the chord structure, the overall vibe, and most importantly, the solo!

Well, go out and listen to this song while driving around and wishing for summer to come and never end. Oh! The joy of Garage-Surf. The Japanese Motors have only one record released, which has some good tracks, this and "Better Trend" being my two favorites (go figure, the two singles off it. Now how can I be hipster?).

I will be returning in video form as Spartacus of the Gladiators of 2037, just as soon as I get my equipment working again.

Epiphone Casino

I've had an Epiphone casino since over the summer. It's good for what I play (Beach Boys-ish surf rock with other influences such as the Beatles [so of course a Casino is perfect], Dinosaur Jr., Simon and Garfunkel, and Vampire Weekend), but it was never exactly what i would have wanted for straight up surf songs.

This guitar is not very twangy, which is a must for surf, but the only real problem I had with it was the lack of vibrato bar.

As you might have noticed, my Casino has a Bigsby vibrato mechanism. I have wanted to get one installed since almost before i got it. It took long enough, but it is finally installed and I love it. It is the greatest guitar in the world.

When I went to the store I was in the market for a semi-hollowbody, leaning towards a Gretsch Country Gentleman, and leaning away from the Casino (I already have a Hofner knock-off, so I figured a Casino would make me seem too Beatles obsessed; which i might be). I played many guitars including the Gretsch, Epiphones such as the Dots and Sheraton II, and the salesmen even let me play one of the cased Ricks, but obviously i couldn't afford that. Then he insisted I try the Casino--SOLD. 

The Epiphone Casino has a very unique sound due to its hollow body and P-90s. It has a jangly sound which is perfect for Beatles songs. It is often regarded as just a rhythm guitar, but for the right style, it plays the most perfect leads. The best example I can give is "Get Back" by the Beatles. It's so smooth and warm in the higher registers, and down lower it produces a very short and defined punch.

The Beach boys never used a Casino (they did ocasionally use an Epiphone Sheraton), but i find that a Casino produces a nice soft tone for some of their songs, which is nice because it doesn't over power the vocals (one of the most important instruments the Beach Boys used).

I could go on and describe all the music that the Epiphone Casino is good for, but I'd rather let you experiment on your own. Mainly I was just excited about finally getting the Bigsby on. Not only is it functional, but when I took it out at my gig last night, the compliments on the look, sound, and feel of the guitar just came flooding in. It is more than just an amazing guitar, it's a work of art. I can't wait to play again; all of my songs had a drastic increase in surf vibe thanks to the vibrato effect. We sounded more surf than ever, all thanks to my new Bigsby (well, maybe it was our matching sweaters).