december 2011 aqualads

The Power of East Coast Surf

Feature for December 2011

Aqualads

Name: Aqualads

Genre: Surf

Geographical Area: Southeast U.S.

Interview with: Jeremy by email on 11/28/11

1. What is the current line-up of your band?

Jeremy DeHart - Guitar

Jimmy King - Bass

Greg Walsh - Guitar

Darrell Ussery - Drums

2. How and when did you get started with your band?

Jimmy started the band while studying recording at a local college. He did a few tracks with Darrell and a guy named Jake under the name the Big Swinging Hammers, however this quickly morphed into the Aqualads after they found Greg Walsh from a newspaper ad. Darrell ended up moving away before they played their first show so they recruited Tattoo Artist and drummer Colin LaRocque. The line-up in 1997 when they played the Surf Festival with the Space Cossacks down in Spartanburg was Jimmy on Guitar, Greg on Guitar, Jake on Bass, and Colin on Drums. They played several more shows with this lineup until they met up with Jeremy DeHart who ended up taking over on bass. With this lineup the Aqualads did their first 7" recording "Aqualads Xmas", then the following 2 albums after that "Hotbox " and "Revenge". Greg Walsh ended up leaving the band when he moved to Charleston, SC, wherein Jeremy moved to Guitar alongside Jimmy, with a myriad of different bass players. Ultimately Colin left to move to California and Darrell re-entered the lineup on Drums along with "Charlotte" Bob Nelson on Guitar, with Jimmy moving to Bass. This was the lineup for the 3rd CD "Surf Surf Surf" and continued for several years. Bob ended up leaving the band, and Greg Walsh re-entered the Aqualads for the latest CD "Treasures". The final lineup of the Aqualads at this time is Jeremy and Greg on Guitar, Jimmy on Bass, and Darrel on Drums. Take that, Spinal Tap!!

3. What bands or music have influenced you most?

Jeremy - When I first met Jimmy King in the early days of the Aqualads, it was at a record show. I had just moved up from Florida where I had happened upon some surf recordings at a local music store in Ft. Lauderdale. I was listening to Man or Astro Man, Impala, and Laika and the Cosmonauts at the time. I had found several vintage looking Surf records at the show and Jimmy approached me to look at them. He asked me if I was going to buy them and I said "yeah I love surf". He told me his band the Aqualads were playing that night and I should come check them out. I told him I would. I didn't have cash on me so I had the guy hold the records for me until I could go get some cash, however I ended up getting lunch and taking about an hour to get back. When I got back Jimmy had bought the albums out from under me!!!! I went to see the Aqualads that night at Jack Straws and brought some blank tapes meaning to ask Jimmy if he would just copy them for me as all I wanted was to hear them. He said they sucked and I could have them both, which got us talking (and eventually got me in the band!). Jimmy got me interested in a lot of vintage surf recordings, but we kept an eye on what was coming out too. At the time we were listening to:

The New Dimensions

The Lively Ones

The Challengers

Eddie and the Showmen

Sandy Nelson

The Champs

Deadbolt

The Ventures

The Shadows

And of course. Jimmy had the Cowabunga Box Set

4. What is the break down of cover vs. original material in your live shows and/or recordings?

Our live shows we strive to do 100% originals for most headlining spots. When we play weddings or events where the surf band is somewhat of a novelty, we'll throw in a good dose of covers. Our last 2 CD's we've refrained from doing any cover material at all.

5. What recording have you done?

Vinyl:

Aqualads XMAS 7"

CD's:

Hotbox

Revenge

Surf Surf Surf

Treasures

Comps:

What's New Pussycat - The Blob

Jesus Christ Surferstar - John 19:41

6. What kind of gear do you use?

When we first started out Jimmy was playing a 1992 Vibroking with a 60's Jazzmaster someone had spray-painted black. Greg was playing a Roland JC30 with a 1985 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster. Jeremy was playing a 1990's Surf Green P-Bass through a Kustom 250 black tuck and rolled head with matching 2 X15 Cabinet. Colin always played a Rogers drum set from the 60's, until he upgraded to a full DW kit. We ended up buying Greg a 70's 100 watt Twin Reverb that had factory orange JBL's in it, called "the eliminator". We once played a show where they had a chalk board in the bathroom and after the show some had written "Louder does not mean better" on the chalkboard alongside "My ears are bleeding".

Now we use Fender Super Sonic 20 watt combos for guitar with a myriad of pedals including a Carbon Copy delay for Greg, and a Boss Roland Space Echo for Jeremy. Jimmy plays an Ampeg SVT Classic through a 4x10 cabinet, and Darrell Plays whatever drums are lying around at the time.

7. What is your band�s favorite food/beverage?

Miller Light on all accounts.

8. How do you get gigs?

We have been networking with surf bands more and more these days. Before we would just rely on the local scene to get us a few gigs here and there. Back in the late 90's we played a lot with different rockabilly bands as the scenes seemed to be complimentary at the time.

9. What are the difficulties you find playing your kind of music in your area?

Being land locked in Charlotte (NC), nobody really ever gets inspired to listen to surf unless it's in the summertime. When we end up booking a gig in the dead of winter and try to make it a luau or something, it's very hard to get people out. The best shows we find are ones where there is already good foot traffic in the area due to the bars/shops in the neighborhood. Then when people are walking by, they come in to listen; we get a lot of people showing up this way.

10. What positive attributes does your band have that sets you apart from other bands (of any genre)?

We have always played traditional surf and promoted it as roots Americana, but we vary our performance based on the accompanying act. We play retro but we can play it hard so we can open up for any punk band or heavy act, but on the flip side if we're playing with some new hipster band, we can play it more tame and do some mid-tempo covers. The only thing we don't do and have never done is sing.

11. What have you found to be the single most effective promotional tool you�ve used to further your band�s musical path?

Really I would say doing compilations and getting involved in the online surf community like Surf Guitar 101, and NESMA. The other really great promotional tool is doing benefit shows. Usually there are no other surf bands on the bill, however you end up getting a lot of exposure in different markets.

12. What�s the most interesting performance experience you�ve had?

Jeremy - Probably opening up for the Reverend Horton Heat at the Visulite. He had some real whack roadies that wouldn't let us move any of the equipment, and at the time we had a 5 piece band with 2 go-go dancers. We were forced to play on huge speaker cabinets overlooking a good 10 ft drop into a sub flooring. They ended up forcing us off the stage after about 4 songs, at which point Jimmy went up on the mic and said "Well I guess we have to get off the stage so the Rock Star can get up here". The promoters didn't like that so much and so Jimmy got kicked out, and I of course, never content being second best, immediately got into a fist fight with the roadies and got kicked out. I think at this point our bass player unplugged the speaker cable from the cabinet of the Reverend's guy, and the other guitarist slashed the tires on his tour bus! Ultimately all of us ended up getting banned from a local venue!!!! After a few years though we patched it up with the owner and now we're playing the same place with Southern Culture on the Skids, whom are very accommodating and awesome!

13. What do you hope to get out of being a NESMA member?

We are proud to be part of the largest surf consortium in the world, and hope to get a lot of other surf bands contacting us on their way through Charlotte. Our whole goal lately has to been to get gigs for other surf bands and have them get gigs for us, which is the whole point of (part) of NESMA!

14. Anything else?

Thanks for showcasing us! And Merry Christmas!

Back to NESMA website