will_dup4 Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 Who was the drummer on that? What was so great about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix stein Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 I don't know who it was but the song defined a culture. A moment in time, a craze if you will and yes there are still surfers and surfer guitars but quite simply "Wipe Out" is a classic! Just because YOU can play something doesn't take any of it's power away. When people start playing YOUR stuff; well, you might have something. felix's band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 The drummer's name was Ron Wilson (the band was the Surfaris) and he was only about 15 when "Wipe Out" was recorded. He and his bandmates came up with it spontaneously in the studio and it was written and recorded in about 15 minutes. It was supposed to be the B side of "Surfer Joe", the Surfaris' first single which did do quite well in its own right (and incidentally was also written and sung by the drummer), but "Wipe Out" quickly took on a life of its own and became a classic. The drum solo was based on a cadence that Wilson played in a Scottish marching band at his high school. Ron Wilson died of a brain hemhorrage in 1989. A lot of drummers nowadays just roll their eyes if you request "Wipe Out", kinda like us guitar players do about "Stairway to Heaven". It's not like the solo is that difficult or anything, although millions of beginning drummers have aspired to play it. It's just a moment, like Felix says. A burst of youthful energy at a time when drummers really weren't getting much time in the spotlight. Listen to Ron Wilson and other surf-band drummers and you can hear a lot of what inspired Keith Moon. Surf drummers were probably the very first to bring the drumming out front in rock'n'roll - and Moon took it to the next level. Well that's probably more than you wanted to know, but just listen to the song sometime and decide for yourself what's great about it or not. --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 Well, Miss Lee: Leave it to you to impress the pants off of me! (putting my pants back on now) That was a tremendous wealth of information. I, like many drummers, have always cringed at the thought of a wipe-out request. Now, I will take a more open minded approach. Thanks for the education. DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix stein Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 It's fun actually. I used to always double bass it and go nuts. felix's band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 Originally posted by djarrett: (putting my pants back on now) Awww man - do ya HAVE to? Glad to see you are still around, DJ... and glad for any enlightenment I can offer. And don't worry, I think "Wipe Out" has a valid place in history but I would never ACTUALLY request it of anyone! Our drummer and I pretend to request "Stairway" or "Freebird", and "Wipe Out", respectively, whenever we want to pretend to piss each other off. We were at a gig one night and somebody requested something lame, so I turned and whispered to him: "Dude! Can you play 'Wipe Out'?" He says, "Yeah, I can play it with my pecker! So what?" LOL... --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzman Posted January 9, 2002 Share Posted January 9, 2002 Well I remember the first time I saw the real group playing in a small sweaty dance hall in Geneva on the Lake, PA. My parents always went up to Lake Erie and rent a cottage every year(I'm originaly from Pittsburgh). I think I was 13 or 14 years old in 19.........ah nope I'm not going to say the year, but it was a L O N G time ago. But that was the song that they played.......maybe they were on tour!! DJ.......your here! Cool....thanks for stopping in, nice suprise my friend! My fade out........... Jazzman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorro Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 For some reason the layman seems to judge how good a drummer is iby how good he can play wipe ut. I get asked to play it all the time. What I did to prevent boredom while playing the song is to create another solo within wipe out. I do the wipe out thing, then around the end of the song I'll break into a funky type groove, and build a solo out and beyond the groove. Thus i can work out some nice solo's and use a request for wipe as a spring board for my ideas. Thus wipe out serves as a use full song and show something else than a typical wipe out drumming song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix stein Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 Geneva on the Lake is in beautiful Ohio (garbage pit for ny and nj) btw. I remember my youth there, cruising for chicks, getting blitzed and skinny dipping in the lake, playing gigs at Annie's and the Cove and all in all having a great time there. "Memories" da da da-da da felix's band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzman Posted January 14, 2002 Share Posted January 14, 2002 Felix.............aaaaaaaaaaaayes the cove! I do remember that place. Auctions, bingo's, babes.......a hum!!! I remember a time when I was in a swimming pool at a local establishment, when a lighting bolt came out of the sky from nowhere, went over the pool and my head and hit a nearby tree. HaHa, I think the water level went up an inch........if yo know whata mean! Memories.............. Jazzman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passeist Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 "the layman seems to judge how good a drummer is " Isn't that the whole point of popular music? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted January 28, 2002 Share Posted January 28, 2002 Originally posted by Zorro: For some reason the layman seems to judge how good a drummer is iby how good he can play wipe ut. I get asked to play it all the time. What I did to prevent boredom while playing the song is to create another solo within wipe out. I do the wipe out thing, then around the end of the song I'll break into a funky type groove, and build a solo out and beyond the groove. Thus i can work out some nice solo's and use a request for wipe as a spring board for my ideas. Thus wipe out serves as a use full song and show something else than a typical wipe out drumming song. It seems to be the same with guitar players and the song "House of the Rising Sun". I think it's because everyone has had a cousin or uncle or whatever that could play these tunes...(in some cases perhaps the only tunes they knew how to play) and these people want to see if you're "as good as Uncle Fred". Know what? I think we should all work up some bizarre montage of tunes we all hate to play...for example...the Wipeout drum lick with House of the Rising Sun chord changes and maybe a "Freebird" solo over it (although "Stairway" would work better over those changes). One thing we've done when drunks bug us for "House" is play it with a Reggae beat. It actually makes a great Reggae tune. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passeist Posted January 28, 2002 Share Posted January 28, 2002 But, then again, what song doesn't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boose44 Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 "For some reason the layman seems to judge how good a drummer is by how good he can play Wipe Out" Hey, let's just be glad it's Wipe Out and not Moby Dick, or Buddy Rich, Neil P. Bozzio, etc.! -bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougP Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Originally posted by Lee Flier: A lot of drummers nowadays just roll their eyes if you request "Wipe Out", kinda like us guitar players do about "Stairway to Heaven". It's not like the solo is that difficult or anything, although millions of beginning drummers have aspired to play it ... OK, which of you jokers was at the gig I played this past weekend? The crowd at Smiley's in Bolinas was requesting "Wipe Out" from a free-jazz-improvisational-psychedelia-with-electronic-enhancements band ... was it because there were two drummers? (Yes, we played it!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 ROFL DougP!!! That's classic! And I can't believe you played it! It wasn't me, I swear! --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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