The old wave – Boatshed sixties’ reunion
Music has long been synonymous with the surfing culture. But like the trends in surfing styles and the lifestyle surrounding it, music styles in the genre have also changed.
For next weekend’s first Festival of Surfing in Manly the evolving beast of surf culture will be revisited and celebrated.
Possibly the most broad representation of this is the three bands over three nights at the Old Manly Boatshed. They’ll be hanging from the rafters like the old days,” organiser Heritage Surf’s Chris Moss joked. The reason it’s at the Old Manly Boatshed is because it brings back together the guys who worked on the Delightful Rain project. So Delightful Rain does the Boatshed”.
It’s on for three nights in a row, beginning on Wednesday with the Celibate Rifles, The Atlantics on Thursday and Tamum Shud on Friday. The Atlantics are known internationally as a surf band, especially with their massive hit Bombora. In Sydney, it was number one for eight weeks in 1963.” guitarist Martin Cilia said. “Then after a couple of singles the disc jockeys who were playing our songs realised we were Australian and stopped playing our records. They thought we were American. They thought ‘we shouldn’t be playing them because they’re from here’.”
Cilia said he was looking forward to playing in Manly. He could not remember when the Atlantics had played here last but was adamant they had. We’ve noticed a resurgence in the great surf bands over the last four-or-five years.” he said. It’s a fresh sound to young people,. something new.” For the gig on Thursday, Cilia said he is expecting a cross-section of ages in the audience. “Certainly people from the 1960s, but also younger people coming along to check it all out,” he said.
Surfers, especially of the late 1960s-early 1970, will remember Tamum Shud for their inclusion in surf films of the era, such as Abe Falzon’s Morning of the Earth. The band, now based in Queensland, have not played in Sydney for “no one can remember how long”. Tamum Shud guitarist Tim Gaze said the band’s founder wrote music that really tapped into what the young people of the era wanted. Lindsey Bjerre knew how to write the kind of music pertinent to what was going on at the time,” Gaze said. “Some of the Shed stuff can get a little psychedelic.” Gaze said the four-piece was really looking forward to coming to Sydney to perform.
Written by: Rod Bennett
Picture: Simon Dean
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/surf-bands-boatshed-reunion/
