Featured Band for
November 2004
Band
Name: The Supertones
Genre:
Surf / Surfabilly
Geographical
Area: N.Y.C
Interview
with: Tim Sullivan by email on 10/24/04
1. What is the current line-up of your band?
Tim Sullivan, guitars; Mike Mandia, guitars; Presly
Acuna, drums; and Simon Chardiet, Fender bass and upright bass.
2. How and when did you get started with your band?
The Supertones was formed on 11/22/89. We got together
for the first time as The Supertones at a place called Memphis Studios on West
24th St., which was owned by Ted Lawrence (who was one of the original members).
Both Marc Lipscher and Tim Sullivan were playing in another surf band called The
Dragster, who were originally from Ohio. Mike (Mr. Action} Arcidiacono, who
played drums with the Tidal Waves, joined in.
Mike, Ted, myself, and Marc all wanted to do more
retro/traditional style – kinda surf music with matching suits and all, as
well as playing all the classic tunes with a new, updated sound, like Jon and
the Nightriders. Plus, writing new songs that were like our heroes – like Link
Wray, The Ventures, and The Shadows, etc. We put the sharkskin suits on and the
rest is history!
3. What bands or music have influenced you most?
The Ventures, The Shadows, Jon and the Nightriders, The
Sandels, Dick Dale, The Superstocks, Paul Johnson and the Belairs, The
Fireballs. I love them all!
4. What is the break down of cover vs. original material
in your live shows and/or recordings?
Our first recording (4/11/89) was covers (Switchblade,
Apache, Rumble Witch). Soon after that Ted and I wrote and recorded “I Surf in
Black” and “Pudakook”. I had been writing surf instrumental tunes the
early 60’s, so I had a few tunes in my pocket ready to explode; tunes like “Wingnut”,
“Victory at Sea”, “1000 Ft. Rd.”, “Kingsize”, which were all on our
first record, The Big Wet Twang (1990). In our live sets we would usually do
half cover and half originals.
5. What recording have you done?
Live and Wet (1989)
The Big Wet Twang (1990)
Ride the Wild Twang (1992)
The Wet Set (1994)
The Supertones are go (1998)
Surf Fever (2000)
Vintage Surf (2001)
Surfside Twang (2001)
Original
Music (1989-2003)
Greeting from The Supertones (2004)
Cinema
Surf (2004)
Twango (2005 – soon to be released)
-
as well as more unreleased stuff from The Supertones vault…
A big THANKS goes out to Mel Spinella of Golly
Gee Records for all his help & support of The Supertones music, most of
which is for sale at www.gollygeerecords.com.
6. What is your band’s favorite food/beverage?
Tequila and beer and pizza. And easy cheese and white
bread…
7. How do you get gigs?
Early on it was Ted who did all the work at promoting
and getting all the gigs; then Danny Gatton’s manager Elis Duncan helped us
out for a while. Then Gary Balaban (The Strip, and The Continental Dived) was
helping out as well as a few others. These days I have been doing it but we all
help out now. I do believe over the year we played just about every club or bar
that had live music in NYC.
8. What are the difficulties you find playing your kind
of music in your area?
In the early 90s, there were a lot of bars that would
have live music, like McGoverns on Spring St., and we were lucky enough to play
there once or twice a month for about 6 years. All the bars on Spring St. at
that Time were having live music – The Ear Inn, Don Hills, McGoverns… There
was a groovy little retro music scene going on down there, with bands like the
A-Bones, The Blue Chieftains, The Supertones, and The Dragsters. These days
there is not much of that kind of scene going on in NYC, but now it seems to
have moved to Williamsburg (Brooklyn). We’ve been playing a lot at Hurricane
Hopeful on North 6th St. All I can say is, if you want to play this kind of
music, you have to do it because you love to play it. The rest will fall in
place. It’s not an easy thing to do – it’s like playing jazz. People take
music for granted, so hang in there and do it because you feel you have to do
it.
9. What positive attributes does your band have that
sets you apart from other bands (of any genre)?
We’re all on the same page these days, which means the
music comes first. Mike, Simon, and myself all love to surf, so surf music has a
very deep meaning to all of us. In the early 60’s, when I started to surf, I
was also learning to play “Walk Don’t Run” and “Pipeline” on my Fender
Mustang with my first surf band, The Surfnomads (1964). My good friend Randy
Laine was on drums in that band, who I still play with when I go out to
California. My motto then, as it is now, is “surf-for-ever”. Surfing and
surf music run very deep in The Supertones; we will ride the wave all they way
to the beach!
10. What have you found to be the single most effective
promotional tool you’ve used to further your band’s musical path?
Getting a record deal - that made a big difference.
11. What’s the most interesting performance experience
you’ve had?
A gig at Don Hills where the girls got up on stage and
started to take their tops off!
12. What do you hope to get out of being a NESMA member?
At
this stage of the game we're the old-timers who have been around for a while.
When we started, people didn't have a clue as to what we were doing. Now there
is NESMA, and surfing the internet, and a lot more interest in this genre.
There's a bigger audience out there and it's easier to get the word out. I'm
really stoked that people dig this music enough to start a band and get out
there and play and have fun. This music has very deep roots in the surf movies
of the early 50s west coast jazz scene, when you added the Fender electric
guitar, it all came together. Check out Bub Shanks' "Slippery When
Wet" (1956) - very cool stuff! It's all there, man. Much love to you all
and "surf-for-ever" 2004!
Tim
Sullivan
