Feature for 

October 2005   

The SURGE!

Band Name:  The SURGE

Genre:  Instrumental Surf

Geographical Area:  southeastern U.S.

Interview with:  Eddie Katcher by email on 9/22/05

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

Eddie Katcher (lead guitar)

Mitch Matrix (bass)

Sticks Stechkin (drums)

And announcing - Rich, "the Kid", Hawes, (guitar)

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

The Band started out in 1997 as The X-Rays but was changed to The SURGE! two years back when Sticks was recruited from the Penetrators (with whom he still performs). 

3. What bands or music have influenced you most? 

Most of our influences go back to the Ventures, the Shadows and the Astronauts - who could not a been influenced by these guys? Rich Fifield is by far my biggest influence. I met the Astronauts here in Atlanta in 1965 and heard them play here twice in one weekend in June 1965.

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

As of now, most of our shows are about 70% covers and 30% originals. We are on a mission to bring more originals on line and to record a new, all original CD before 2006.

5. What recording have you done? 

We recorded "Senseless Acts of Surf" about four years ago as the X-Rays, and sold (or gave away) almost 1000 copies. As The SURGE! we recorded a live CD, "Who's Idea Was This?" and just last winter released "In Search of Retro", which is a mostly cover/demo kind of record.

6. What is your band’s favorite food/beverage?

We pretty much agree that malted beverages (Ales) rock; as a matter of fact,  band practice is on Wed. nights and we all show up with food and beverages in rotation. You never really know what libation will be presented, but we are pretty much snobs. This week Rich showed up with Dale's Ale and a pumpkin/cinnamon brew (he works in a beer store, and no,  that's NOT why he's in the band! But he does have a white Jazzmaster and a great taste in beer…)

7. How do you get gigs? 

We pretty much beg to get our gigs and we've found that blasting out nothing but "Traditional Surf" is a great way to run off a crowd, so we lace our sets with lots of Ventures and Shadows style covers to keep the ladies in the crowd happy; ‘cause if Momma ain't happy... .Sad state of affairs we know.

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

Mostly our biggest obstacle is the same as everyone else here in NESMA,  the inability to fill venues with paying, drinking party animals. Most club owners are always looking at the bottom line and when they give you a show on Thursday night and nobody shows,  what can they expect? 

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

What sets us apart now is that we are working hard at playing at a much reduced volume. We don't want to fatigue the crowd and we are cheap whores: we WILL pull out almost anything. We even had a ten song country medley we called the "Trailer Park Surf Suite". It had Ring of Fire, Stand by Your Man, San Antonio Rose, Wildwood Flower, Rawhide, etc, all in different keys! We WILL try almost anything… .

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

I think the internet has helped us promote the genre as much as anything because it lets us reach a number of people in a hurry.

11. What’s the most interesting performance experience you’ve had? 

As far as performing at great shows is concerned,  We opened for the Beach Boys, several years back at the Intelos Pavillion near Virginia Beach, VA, and did five of the last six years at the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virginia Beach, VA. (Eat your hearts out, NESMA dudes!!!!) 

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

We hope that being a part of NESMA will allow us to network with and play on some great shows with some great bands and mutually promote surf and instrumental rock. Thanks NESMA for giving us this opportunity to be featured.

13. Anything else?

Surfguitar101 has several videos of the show we played up in Indianapolis. Great, great guys and great, great bands.

Eddie Katcher

          Back to NESMA website