Surf music’s new wave

Beginning this Sunday, the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum will crowd the corner of Olive Avenue and 5th Street with a heavy dose of surf culture.

The museum and its volunteers are pumped to start the 10th anniversary season of its popular Surfin’ Sundays concert season.

The museum, opened in 1988 by Natalie Kotsch, began holding Surfin’ Sundays eight years later to satisfy crowds hungry for instrumental surf music. The concert series was started to boost sales and donations to the museum, said Gary Sahagen, the chairman of the museum.

Surf musicians also enjoy the event, coming from all over the world to play in the parking lot across from the surf.

“Of course we wanted to play here,” said Dan Looney, who will be playing with his band The Relics on the inaugural day. “This is the place for surf bands to play.”

The Relics have never played the museum before, but their excitement is shared by seasoned professionals. Bands that have toured Europe and Japan still look forward to the Surfin’ Sunday season. John Daffron, lead guitarist of the Fabulous Nomads, has played the concert series for 10 years, and wouldn’t give it up, even after playing all over the world.

“We were playing here right away,” Daffron said. “This little building is responsible for, or at least has a hand in, keeping surf music alive.”

Linda Miller, the volunteer who books the band for these events said that she gets a huge influx of bands requesting to play a day of the series. This year she had to double-up some days to accommodate 36 bands, and she still had to turn away about eight.

“Since the very beginning the support of the bands has been incredible,” Miller said. “The bands really look forward to this.”

Surf music was pioneered by Dick Dale and has been evolving ever since. Bob Frederickson, former chairman of the museum and a museum trustee, said surf bands can be classified as first wave, second wave and third wave.

The first wave bands sprung out of the 1950s and 1960s with acts like Dick Dale and The Chantays. The second wave came from the 1970s and 1980s with bands like the Surf Kings and Pollo Del Mar, which are both playing this year’s series. Then the third wave of bands are more contemporary like The Relics, which have been together for eight years.

“Surfing and surf music is Americana,” said Mulu Iakopo, bassist for The Relics. “It’s a whole culture.”

Looney added: “It’s culture, subculture and counterculture all in one.”

The all-volunteer army that is the staff of the museum has worked day and night to put on the unprecedented 22 shows of the season. The bands also volunteer their time to play and some donate money made from the gift shop’s CD sales back to the museum. All but two days of the concerts will be held in the parking lot, with the other two at the Pier Plaza. Fans who come out to watch on the Sundays have a love of surf music and culture, which the bands love, Frederickson said.

“People who walk through the door have a love of surfing, or an interest or a craving,” Frederickson said. “Everybody has a story to tell.”

The lineup for the series has some of the biggest names in surf music such as the Surf Kings, the Breakaways and the Slacktones. The concert series will run through October almost every Sunday.

The free concert series will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the museum is $2 for adults and $1 for kids under 6. For more information about the Surfin’ Sunday series, call the museum at (714) 960-3483 or visit www.surfingmuseum.org. hbi.30-surfinsundays-CPhotoInfoNC1PDK4320060330iwv59qknJAMIE FLANAGAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)The Relics band members Joe Winder, Mulu Lakopo, Dan Looney, and Dan Jette (not pictured) will perform this Sunday at the Huntington Beach International Surf Museum as part of the Surfin’ Sundays concert series.