The Power of East Coast Surf
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The Power of East Coast Surf |
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Featured Band forDecember 2004The Reluctant Aquanauts
Band
Name: The Reluctant Aquanauts Genre:
Surf Geographical
Area: Interview
with Bill Pekara on 1.
What is the current line-up of your band?
Matt Brashinger: Bass Guitar
Alex Hall: Drums
Bill Pekara: Guitar 2. How
and when did you get started with your band? Alex
and I have been playing in bands since we were in grade school. I met Matt
during college and started a few bands, but nothing was serious. I had always
been interested in starting a surf band and really didn't know Matt was either.
After talking about it we decided to start the band. We played with a few
different drummers and realized things weren't working out the way we had
planned, so we decided to ask Alex, who was producing our album at the time, if
he'd join up. Alex really fit our sound with his traditional style of playing. 3.
What bands or music have influenced you most?
Our
biggest influences are the original early '60s surf bands. The Fender IV, The
Jesters, Eddie and the Showmen, and of course Dick Dale. For me, on the guitar,
Eddie Bertrand has probably been my biggest influence. As for newer surf bands
the Treblemakers have been a big influence on me and Matt's writings. 4.
What is the break down of cover vs. original material in your live shows and/or
recordings? For
our live shows, I'd say our covers are about 60% and the originals would make up
the remaining 40%. For our upcoming album, it’s all our own stuff aside from
three covers. When we do covers we
try to make them rarer ones. 5.
What recording have you done? We've
recorded about 98% of our first album; we are just finishing the last couple of
songs and we've just started to mix everything down. Hopefully it will be ready
to sell early this spring. 6.
What is your band's favorite food/beverage?
Bill: Drink - PBR. Food -
Carnie food.
Alex: Drink - Whole Milk. Food
- Corn Dog
Matt: Drink - Gin.
Food - Dry White Toast 7. How
do you get gigs? So far
we've been lucky and the few surf bands in 8.
What are the difficulties you find playing your kind of music in your area? I'd
say the biggest problem would be people not knowing exactly what surf music is.
We're constantly telling people, "No, not like the Beach Boys." 9.
What positive attributes does your band have that sets you apart from other
bands (of any genre)? I
think we are probably the youngest traditional surf band around, and I also
think that being traditional is a positive attribute. We've made an effort to
sound traditional by sticking with Fender equipment, using flat wound strings,
and staying away from any sort of progressive instro rock music. We do try to
look the part as well by dressing in matching cardigans. 10.
What have you found to be the single most effective promotional tool you've used
to further your band's musical path? So far
live gigs - hopefully our album will spread us out a bit, but nothing beats
getting out and playing for people. We hope that when people come out to our
shows, if they don't know what surf music is already, they will leave with some
vague idea. Matt's history lessons on stage help as well. 11.
What's the most interesting performance experience you've had?
The
Hunnert Car Pileup. We played a pre-party show, the night before the actual car
show, and the bar was packed with people and everyone seemed to be getting into
our music. The very next afternoon we played at the actual car show, which was
on the local fairgrounds and the bandstand was in a very large shell of a barn.
We had, for the first time, people requesting surf songs that we hadn't even
heard of. It was nice playing for people who appreciated the music.
12.
What do you hope to get out of being a NESMA member?
We'd hope to make more friends in this genre of music, and so far it's been great.
Bill Pekara |
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