2016 Southern Surf StompFest!

Presented by The City of Avondale Estates and THE SURF KING Surfwear, Southern Surf StompFest! is an annual festival featuring the best surf, instro, and beyond that the South has to offer. This free, all ages event takes place September 17th at Little Tree Art Studios in Avondale Estates, GA and will also host an artists market and food trucks.

flyer courtesy of James Honeycutt

 Line up:
9pm Daikaiju (AL)
8pm Insect Surfers (CA)
7pm The Mystery Men? (GA)
6pm The Intoxicators! (FL)
5pm The Surge (GA)
4pm Phatlynx (NC)
3pm Caroline & the Ramblers (GA)
2pm The Monterreys (NC)
1pm SEAWHORSE (VA)
12pm The Penetrators (GA/AL)

with special guest emcee: Jet Powers

None of this would be possible without our wonderful sponsors:
The City of Avondale Estates
THE SURF KING Surfwear
The Longboards Show on WREK.org
Sound Space
Green Flash Brewing Co.
My Parents' Basement

A kickoff party will be held the night before on September 16th at Trader Vics Atlanta with entertainment from Kinky Waikiki (GA) and The Dangling Tassels (AR).

Southern Surf Stomp! presents The Space Cossacks, The Mystery Men?, The Penetrators

flyer courtesy of Jamie Galatas

We're beyond thrilled to be hosting one of THE greatest instrumental surf groups of all time, The Space Cossacks, at the Star Bar on July 30th for one of only two East coast dates, as they warm up to play this year's Surf Guitar 101 convention.  For this special appearance they will be joined by The Mystery Men? and The Penetrators T.R.I.B.U.T.E.

Video by Drew Mobley

Highlights from Southern Surf Stomp! on 11/14/15

Revenge Beach

Rondo Hatton

Southern Ska Syndicate

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.

Highlights from Southern Surf Stomp! on April 18, 2015

The Penetrators with (left to right) Jet Powers, Stix Stechkin, Eddie Katcher, Richard Hawes, and Trace Luger

El Capitan on guitar

Johnny McGowan on guitar

Trace Luger

Stix Stechkin

Rodeo Twister

Jay Murphree

Chad Proctor

Matt Sprague

Eddie Angel backed by Richard of The Mystery Men? and Trace and Stix of The Penetrators

MVP of the evening goes to Richard Hawes for coordinating the whole evening

The evening's veritable museum of amplifiers

Video for The Penetrators

Featuring original rhythm section Stix Stechkin (drums) and Trace Luger (bass) along with Ivan Pongracic (of The Madeira, guitar), Eddie Katcher (of The Surge!, guitar), and Robert Huffman (of The High Fidelics, keys).

Southern Surf Stomp! presents Eddie Angel (of Los Straitjackets, TN), The Penetrators (tribute), Rodeo Twister

This is bound to be our biggest yet!  Eddie Angel is a true legend in the surf, instrumental, and rockabilly genres having performed with countless groups such as The Planet Rockers, The Neanderthals, and most notably Los Straitjackets.  With Los Straitjackets, Eddie has performed around the world several times over, released over 20 albums, performed on Conan O'Brien several times, and even been nominated for a grammy!

Without The Penetrators, there would be no Southern Surf Stomp and our little scene here in Atlanta might not exist at all.  We're proud to pay tribute to the progenitors of the Southern Surf Syndicate and our friends Rip Thrillby and Spanky Twangler, who are sadly no longer with us.  The original rhythm section, including Sticks Stechkin on drums and Trace Luger on bass, will be joined by a who's who of the Atlanta surf scene including members from The Surge!, El Capitan, and The Mystery Men?.

Rodeo Twister is comprised of veterans the Atlanta roots rock scene.  The three piece uses electric guitar, acoustic guitar, stand up bass, and their fantastic harmony vocals to create a sound that would make Sam Phillips proud.

We're lucky to once again have The Fringe Factory DJs spinning the sweet sounds of yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

Southern Surf Stompcast, episode 4

Our fourth episode features a couple of sets to get you into the holiday spirit, including a couple of live acoustic tunes from December's Southern Surf Stomp headliner, Chad Shivers and the Silent Knights.

Tracklisting:
Cutback - "The Liquidator",
Cutback - "Atlantico",
The Aqualads - "Snake Eyes",
El Capitan and the Band With No Name - "Across the Plateau",
The Explorers Club - "Forever",
The Fat Man and Team Fat - "Get Back On The Road",
Chad Shivers and the Silent Knights - "Christmas Day" (The Beach Boys),
Chad Shivers and the Silent Knights - "Sleigh Ride" (The Ventures),
Caroline and the Ramblers - "Mr. Teardrop",
Los Straitjackets - "Here Comes Santa Claus",
The Space Cossacks - "Christmas Island",
The Boss Jaguars! - "O Come, O Come Emmanuel",
The Royal Pendletons - "Hot Rod Dissertation",
Sex Wax - "A Little Something For Us Temponauts (live)",
Gravitron - "Stylophone",
The Beech Benders - "Rock 'n' Tug",
King Pelican - "Morocco",
Booker T & The MG's - "Lets Go".

Intro and outro music, "Southern Surf Syndicate Theme", provided by The Penetrators.

Southern Surf Stompcast, episode 3

Our third episode features not one, but two interviews with Ohio's The AmpFibians and Ivan Pongracic of The Madeira and The Space Cossacks.

Tracklisting:
Crazy Aces - "Temple of Cool"
The Del-Vipers - "Tecate Run"
Kill, Baby...Kill! - "Commandments"
Link Wray - "Hotel Loneliness"
Family Dollar Pharaohs - "Oasis"
Killer Filler - "The Bailiff"
The AmpFibians - "Theme from the AmpFibian"
The AmpFibians - "Under my Thumb"
St. John and the Cardinals - "The Rise"
The Penetrators - "Redlined"
Impala - "Rope of Sand"
The Space Cossacks - "The Apes of Wrath"
The Madeira - "The Saracen"
Jeffrey Bützer and the Bicycle Eaters - "Dissimilar to Locusts"
The Mariners - "Hell Hole"
The Broken Spokes - "Overture: Wanted Man"

Intro and outro music, "Southern Surf Syndicate Theme", provided by The Penetrators.

Southern Surf Stompcast

Our debut episode features an interview from North Carolina's Arrows out as well as music from groups that have performed previously at the Southern Surf Stomp.  It can be found streaming below or you can subscribe on iTunes.


Tracklisting:
The Monterreys "Machete!"
The Surge! "Paddle or Die",
The Mutations "Surfer's Dream",
Daikaiju "Flight of Garuda",
Kill, Baby...Kill! "Trioxin Twist",
The Mystery Men? "The Devil You Know",
Arrows Out "Yes, Maybe",
Arrows Out "Tessellate",
MOONBASE "Smoke",
El Fossil "Hair Pin",
Gemini 13 "Chopped and Channeled",
The High Fidelics "Lil' Curfew Breaker",
The Zaratans "Wavos Maximos".

Intro and outro music, "Southern Surf Syndicate Theme", provided by The Penetrators.

Southern Surf Stomp! presents the High Fidelics (AL), the Zaratans (AL), and the Biggie Rats

Birmingham's High Fidelics are quite an eclectic instro group including Edwin Cleverdon on guitar, Jeff Waites on bass/bass vi, Robert Huffman (who played with the legendary Penetrators) on organ/keys, and Ken Adams on drums.  Imagine equal parts Ventures and Booker T. & the M.G.'s being performed by a punk band and you'll have somewhat of an idea on their sound.  Their debut album is absolutely killer and rumor is they are working on a new one.

The Zaratans are also from B'ham and share High Fidelics member Jeff Waites.  These guys (and sometimes gal) play original and classic surf as well as old rock 'n roll and R 'n B.

The Biggie Rats feature members from surf/instro groups in Atlanta (Gemini 13 and Chad Shivers & the Silent Knights) and will perform a smoking set of covers from classic psych, garage, and punk.