Random musings: The #Surfaris #TBT

Thursday, June 13, 2019

The #Surfaris #TBT

This blog post was originally published 3 years ago:

I'm going to see The Surfaris again in just over a week...Saturday, June 22nd down in Malibu. Much more conducive to surf than Modesto!

As many of you may know, I went to a concert on Saturday night that featured The Surfaris (Wipe Out), The Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) and The Kingsmen (Louie. Louie). It was a really great concert!

On Saturday afternoon I went to the ticket office to pick up my tickets so I wouldn't have to wait in line later. When I walked out of the theater, I saw the Surfaris taking selfies in front of the theater. I walked up to them and said hi. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then they asked me my name. When I told them, they said "We've heard of you. You're the person promoting us on Facebook." I felt famous for a few seconds. Then they invited me to get my picture taken with them.

That's me in the middle (obviously), with Joel Berryhill on the left and Bob Berryhill on the right. And yes, they're related. In fact everyone in the current incarnation of the Surfaris is related. Bob is one of the founding members of the Surfaris, the lead guitarist and the co-writer of Wipe Out. Bob wrote and recorded the song in 1963, when he was 15 years old! Bob is joined by his wife Gene on bass, son Deven on guitar and son Joel on drums and vocals.

Joel stayed behind his kit until he stepped up front to sing Surfer Joe and Deven went back to play drums. Being a fan of surf music I recognized most of the songs. They wrapped up their set with their most famous song:

I talked to them after the concert and bought one of their CDs, called "The Hurley Sessions". It's actually pretty cool. It was made with the four of them in the studio, playing as if they were onstage! And I got their autographs in the program!