July 26, 2003 - 9th Wave, Swiv-o-matics, Fisherman in New London, CT

The weekend has come an end and the North East Surf Scene has once again proven its surf strength.

To start:
Saturday - (NESMA) Swiv-o-matics (from Baltimore) Fisherman (from NYC, formerly of San Fran), and 9th Wave (from the quiet corner of CT) in New London, CT at Station 58

July 26 - Saturday late afternoon, the bad boys of Baltimore "The Swiv-o-matics"(330 miles) and "Fisherman" (130 miles) arrived at the 9th Wave Beach House for cocktails, dinner (surf-n-turf) and friends; it was a nice start to the long evening. The Swiv-o-matics rode down in the 9th Wave comfort coach (VW Van) and Fisherman followed taking a quick tour on the way to the club (including the famous Frog Bridge in Willimantic CT (see it at http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/br-frog.html). Both bands shared our backline to make their trip lighter.

At Station 58, New London, CT, Fisherman took the stage at 10pm - wow! They played tunes like Caravan, Pipeline, Miserlou and many more classics interspersed with originals. Brian Lease, classically-trained percussionist played his vibraphone and special log drum (complete with monkey vocalizations) for a great and memorable show, accompanied by Eric on traditional trap set & Kyle on electric bass. The crowd was great, and was ready for The Swiv-o-matics.

11pm - Swiv-o-matics hit the stage with a fast and aggressive set, playing cuts off their new Charm City Surfer CD. A crowd of over 40 people cheered and danced through their set. Helmet Walker played our backline drums like he owned them, smooth and making it look all too easy. Damien Walker played his signature-style attack bass, while Dave played his blue / green sparkle Jazzmaster - lots of tone, love and melody flowed from that guitar.

We (9th Wave) played some time around 12:15 am, much too fast and definitely too loud - the cops should have stopped us. We couldn't help it; the Swiv-o-matics had set the pace earlier!

Over all, it was great night of surf /instrumental music with good merch sales and promotional effort on everyone's part. Four large area newspapers mentioned the show in their columns, a bunch of college radio stations also played The Swiv-o-matic's and Fisherman's new CD and pushed the show. The evening ended back at the Beach House as the sun was rising sometime around 5:20 am. Both bands drank coffee and breakfasted, ready to hit the road by 9 am, after more surf chit chat and catching up on the latest. You know you're having a great weekend when you wake up with 3 hours of sleep and surf music is already playing on the living room stereo.

July 28, 2003 - The Infrareds at CBGBs in NYC

I drove down to the city (3 hour trip) to catch these guys play at 8:30. Rory played with intensity and fury. Drummer Matt and bass player Keigan play hard / fast giving Rory a solid platform to shred his strings. On Sunday night, my reverb senses told me that I should bring my reverb tank to CBGB's, just in case. Well, I should have listened - Rory's reverb tank had stopped working earlier on Monday, so he had to execute his style of surf with his amp's reverb and some overdrive. So, I missed the true reverb-soaked performance. The band gave me a copy of their new CD which I played for the long ride home - it was definitely a power ride. 

By the way - front man and lead guitarist Rory Fortune lives in sunny San Diego while Bassist Keigan Skydecker and Drummer Matt Glasby continue to live on the Monterey Peninsula, 8 hours away - how's that for a commute! They practice "remotely", learning tunes through recordings sent back & forth. May the surf gods be with them on their long trip home. 

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