Sunday, October 11, 2015

Southern Surf Stomp! presents Southern Ska Syndicate, Rondo Hatton (LA), Revenge Beach (Athens)

 

Athens, Georgia seems to have been churning out great surf and instro groups as of late.  Although I've only had exposure to one tune, Revenge Beach seems to be no exception.  Thunderous drums drive a refreshing modern take on the classic surf formula.  I believe members of the band formerly to be in another Athens combo, The Curl, and I'd like to thank Richard of The Mystery Men? for bringing these guys to my attention.

Rondo Hatton is one of the few surf bands to come out of Louisiana, and the only from Baton Rouge as far as I can tell.  Not unlike Los Straitjackets, I'd categorize them more in the instro camp, drawing from a vast array of influences from pre-surf instrumentals (a la The Ventures, Fireballs, Santo & Johnny), blues, Tex-Mex, Spaghetti Western, and of course classic surf rock.  The group regularly releases albums of mostly original material, with excellent compositions, production, and striking album art.

November's Stomp will be the official debut of the Southern Ska Syndicate.  The nine piece(!) band is a super group of sorts, comprising members from several acts with which our readers might be familiar like The Penetrators, The Mystery Men?, El Capitan and the Band With No Name, and Gemini XIII, along with several members of the legendary Atlanta ska group The Robustos.  They'll be performing many of the ska, reggae, and rocksteady classics.

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