The Big Tiki Dude has been a strong supporter of North East Surf Music Alliance from the start (2002). He is well known on the west coast as a Super Surf Music Fan and promoter / organizer of surf music events, including having a big part in the Surf Guitar 101 annual conventions, now in their 4th year. Mike & Sandy from NESMA have had the pleasure of meeting him in person in the past year, and we would like our NESMA colleagues and others to learn more about him as an important figure on the national and international surf music scene.

Name: California's "Big Tiki Dude"

Activity: Promoter and Surf Music Supporter (and bass player)

Interview with: Jeff Hanson aka The Big Tiki Dude by email on 3/28/11

1. How did you get your name, The Big Tiki Dude? 

It's really quite silly, and simple. Back when we first got our home computer in 2000 or so, I was trying to think of an e-mail address and couldn't. My Dad is in Cowboy action shooting sports, and his name is "Big Jake", one of John Wayne's  movie names. So my brother said "You like tiki, and you're big, why not Big Tiki Dude" - and the dude is the surf part. So there you have it, nothing amazing.

 

2. How did you get interested in surf music?
 

My Dad had a few instro surf 45s from his teen years- Pipeline, Penetration, and Wipeout.  No Dick Dale, and no Ventures. I used to play those when I was a kid; I was fascinated with the sound of the reverberated guitar. And also, my Dad would watch all the old spaghetti Western movies, and I loved that music too. The first "surf" band I saw was the Insect Surfers in November of 1996, and I was like WOW!!! - a surf/spaghetti hybrid; I loved it. To be honest, I did see Jan and Dean at a County Fair in 82 or so. But it didn't really light me on fire, for the instro scene, wonder why? Ha ha ha.....
 

Shortly after I saw the Insect Surfers, I started going to all the Sunday night surf shows at the Doll Hut in Anaheim. Then through that I found out about the Sunday surf shows at the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, and went to most of those. I was really coming into the scene as all the "cool kids bands" were dying out. But there was no end of the scene from where I saw it. I have been going to 100 or more shows a year for the last 13 years. I really am spoiled living here in southern California. It's the Mecca for local and traveling surf bands. And there is something like 15 tiki bars in So. Cal. too. And tons of tiki events all the time. I am always trying to merge the 2 scenes together a bit more. But there is resistance from some hardcore enthusiasts from both scenes.

 

3. What music has influenced you the most?
 

I really grew up listening to hard rock and heavy metal, but I do like lots of different music forms. (I know that's what everybody always says.) I have quite a wide array of music in my collection. Admittedly I don't listen to a lot of Albanian goat herding folk music, but I enjoy jazz, exotica, Hawaiian, and some lounge music.

One of the things that I enjoy about surf music is all of the sub-genres of it: space, spy, spaghetti, tiki, Middle Eastern, Spanish, Mexican, spooky, psychedelic, heavy, garage-y, etc... If it all sounded like Pipeline, Wipeout and Penetration, it would get old fast. But I just like good music. Sometimes if I am at Disneyland, and walking around, and I see the Dixieland Jazz band, or the bluegrass bands playing, I will sit down and watch that, instead of going on the rides. Good music is good music, no matter what style it is.
 

4. In what ways do you promote surf music?

Well, if you mean what kinda stuff do I do to promote surf as a genre, I sometimes help bands find other bands or venues to play at and occasionally I put together big shows with 6 to 8 bands, such as benefit shows (such as the Eddie Bertrand benefit in Feb. 2011 - ed.), and the Surfguitar101 Convention (SG101) in So. Cal. the last 3 years (4th annual event coming up Aug. 13, 2011 - ed). 

If you mean in what format do I use, I would say email, texting, and phone calls (to some people that aren't tech savvy - there are a few who don't have computers and cell phones.) I post on www.surfguitar101.com if its a really big show, that I want to really spread the word about. I will also post shows on about 15 different Yahoo groups that deal with surf and instro music. I know that Facebook and MySpace and Twitter are great ways to promote, but I have always been kinda hesitant to join those social networking sites. Not that I am afraid of the Government knowing what I am up to, just because of some of the Junior High-type stuff that happens on there. But I do have people who will promote the big shows through Facebook and MySpace.


5. What geographic region do you cover with your activities?

California - mostly Orange County and South LA. Occasionally I get my hands involved with stuff going on in San Diego, but usually I just go down there to see shows that others have put together on their own. 

6. Can you rank the importance of the various promotional activities that you do?

I know that surf isn't going to change the world, but it makes some people happy. And if the scene dies, I think that would be a bad thing. So I try to keep it going by letting people know about stuff I do, and what some of the bands are doing.

 

7. Who are you in contact with that's important to your surf music activities?

First I would say that some of the bands that have helped me a lot by putting shows together are:

Kristena (Tiki Tena, and her boyfriend Sean) have helped me by running the MySpace and Facebook pages for the SG101 Conventions, and the Eddie Bertrand Benefit show.

As for internet radio, Whorehay from http://radiofreebakersfield.com does a weekly podcast, and if I have a show going on, he's pretty good about announcing it. If its something really BIG, I ask some of the other internet surf shows to help out:

And there are Surf Legends living in So. Cal. of course - I usually have a few at each SG101 Convention in the "Legends Jam"; Paul Johnson is usually always there. (SG101 2010 included appearances by Jim Frias, Paul Johnson, Jon Blair, Bob Spickard, and many more - ed.)

 

8. Do you surf?

No, But I want to learn. I used to ride a boogie board in the 80's and early 90s. but I kinda, uhhhh, outgrew it... I went to Hawaii in summer of 96, and the water was so clear and nice. Here in So. Cal. it's either dark green or murky brown. I don't like to go in the ocean unless I can see my feet, and then all the threats of stingrays and jellyfish don't help matters. I have a pool at home - if I want to make waves, I jump in there. :-)

It's kinda ironic that most surfers don't listen to surf music, and most surf musicians don't surf. But I would say there is a bit of crossover. I am not a fan of the Jack Johnson style of "Surfer Music" that most surfers listen to.
 

9. How do bands get on one of your shows?

Ha!! Well, good question.

1. Be good. I don't usually want bands that are bad, and there are some bad surf bands out there unfortunately.

2. Be willing, and flexible on pay. As much as I wish that all surf bands could take home huge bags of cash, I can't guarantee what the turnout or take home will be. But whatever we get at the door, I divide among the bands evenly, and I don't take any of it.

3. Send me an email, with a link to your website or MySpace, or send me a CD, or let me know about a show you are doing if I haven't seen you yet. But as far as SG101 goes... I am booked up for the 2011 Convention, and almost booked up for the 2012 Convention. But I am always open to suggestions.

10. What percentage of covers vs. originals do you prefer to hear when listening to a live band?

It depends on the band. If they do obscure covers, and do them really well, like Outerwave, or a few other bands, I can watch a whole set (or 3) of them. But if a band is playing all the standards (Pipeline, Wipeout, Penetration, Misirlou, Surf Rider, Mr. Moto, Squad Car) I'm gonna be a bit underwhelmed. I've seen / heard those songs hundreds and hundreds of times, and even if they are done really well, and / or with a new twist and lots of energy, it just seems unimaginative to me. For the average band, I would say 20% or 25% cover songs is OK.


11. What's your favorite food and/or tiki beverage to fuel your surf music passion?

Well call me boring, but I love hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and Mexican food; not really into exotic stuff, or fufu French cuisine. As for tropical drinks, if done well, I love the traditional Zombie, Navy Grog, and Mai Tai, but it's hard to find them done right. For the last couple years, my "go-to" drink at Don the Beachcomber has been the Rum Barrel - 4 oz. of different rums, and other juices and flavors added to that.

12. How did you discover NESMA?

I remember seeing the start of NESMA on the old Cowabunga Yahoo group and thought that is was a good thing. Perhaps we will have a similar thing out here at some point.

13.What do you hope to get out of your NESMA affiliation?

Tons of Money and Chicks!! Oh wait, this is surf music, never mind. ;-)

Contacts with east coast bands so that if they want to come here (to CA), I can try to help them out. And if any of the bands from So. Cal. want to head to the east coast, I will know who to put them in contact with.

14. What's coming up in the next year or so for you?

Well lots of stuff. After the hugely successful Eddie Bertrand Benefit (thanks again to Sandy and Mike of 9th Wave for helping out so much with that), I did another benefit show, this one for Victor Vector of "Man or Astroman" back in March. He was very ill and had no medical insurance.

Then I had a few big tiki events, that I was DJing all weekend between band sets: Mojave Oasis in April, and Tiki Caliente in May.

The SG101 convention is Sat. Aug 13th, and there are pre- and post- shows
with the big Sunday Aug. 14th Huntington Beach pier show, and the following weekend in San Diego is the huge Tiki Oasis weekend (http://www.tikioasis.com/2011/). I've wanted the 2 events to be back-to-back weekends for the last 3 years, and its finally going to happen - for anyone that can take off a whole week and do both it's now possible.

And my 40th B-day is in October and I am wanting to do a big party, with a bunch of bands for that. And there are bands playing Sundays at the Surfing Museum and Huntington Beach pier, so that fills up a lot of my Sundays from April to September.

 

15. Anything else?

Thanks for doing the Spotlight on me, and looking forward to working with 9th Wave and some of the other NESMA bands.

Jeff (bigtikidude)
bigtikidude@yahoo.com