Category: rock

We’re not done with the Flexible Flyer, not by a yard.

Brixton Riot spices up the kid-venture with some gnarly garage in their “Flexible Flyer.” There’s no way you can beat me!

Bender Melon makes his bluegrasss stummin’ “Flexible Flyer” all about that memory that keeps you from losing it as a gr’up.

Ed Riegler is a bit more upbeat with his folk “Flexible Flyer.” Three on a sled!?

Hüsker Dü’s “Flexible Flyer” is a hard rock metaphor for childish dreams. How fast? How far? How successful??? Heavy. [Grant Hart does this more gently.]

Loop Line nails The Beach Boys’ vibe with “I Want a Surfboard (For Christmas).” I love when novelty concepts back up actual, cool music.

Surferfluous challenges the senses with their recorded-in-a-tin-can rocker “I Want a Surf Band (for Christmas).” It’s from the Something Awful collection, so there you go.

Jump5 rocks out with “Christmas Like This.” It contrasts snow and sand for holiday options. They may both have boards, but only one has surfing. (Doanchew wanna?)

“Surfing on Christmas Day (Santa Won’t You Bring Me Some Waves)” by Southern Culture on the Skids is probably the surf rock reason you’ve been scanning these blog pages. It’s the real deal, McNeill. (Despite its 2020 birth!)

“I’m Going Surfing for Christmas” by James and Ellen Samaha for Cherry Grove Pier Surf Club mocks ‘Gettin’ Nuttin” in a mild, reverent way. Nicely done, fellas.

Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler bring the house down with “Christmas Day (I Wish I was Surfing).” Retro surf pop-rock amps up the beach blanket party to the max. Totally tubular.

Some songs tribute Christmas and then get around to surfing.

I recall Brave Combo’s wild zydeco “Christmas in July.” Santa wants to rethink the whole cold weather thing. And, plus which, if the Son of Man was born then, You’d see the Lord could surf Without a surfboard. Convinced?

The Kinks go travel agent with their rocking “Australia.” We’ll surf like they do in the U.S.A.; We’ll fly down to Sydney for our holiday On sunny Christmas Day. Not a surfing song, per se. Nor carol. But… The Kinks!

Another day for Santa surfing.

Darrin Mazzilli and The Alpha Waves return and get the sound down cold on their “Surf’s Up, Santa!” Points for jargon, too. But the nasal vocals make me pause.

“Santa’s Gonna Come on a Surfboard” is twangy western music, oddly enough. But Adam Brand slings it, swings it, and brings it.

The Hollyberries top the crest with “(I Wanna Go) Surfin’ with Santa,” wild and wet surf rock with all the right guitar riffs. I’m on the edge of my board to find out if they got to go.

A day for “Surfin’ Santa.” Let’s start with a reprise of Lord Douglas Byron’s odd-rhythm tribute from 1964. Cool cool cool.

The Olds play “Surf’s Up Santa!” like a boogie woogie dance number. Falsetto city.

Youth on Track deliver with “Surf’s Up, Santa Claus” for my money. Less clever, perhaps, but on point. It’s surf rock.

The Bad Detectives encourage “Go Go Surfin’ Santa“–but he’s not on an island interlude; he’s riding his board through the sky to deliver toys. Or is that Norrin Radd? Boss rock, mostly surf.

The Beach Boys definitely surf up the rock with their “Melekalikimaka.” Almost not racist.

Wenatchee Valley Boys (NightHeart) bring it in for a smooth landing with the surf-rocking “Surfside Somerset Sunwavz.” Then it gets angry. White privileged angry.

Surf music is inescapable whether you’re a hodad or a monndoggie, and i’ve dropped a few curls before now. It’s refresh time for the great ones, so I’ll re-introduce as needed for each of these days. F’rexample, Soupy Sales rocks out of his comfort zone with “Santa Claus is Surfin’ to Town.” Dig it.

The Click Five got a surfboard as a gift, but “My Girlfriend (Forgot Me This Christmas)” in a kooky retro rock powerhouse. So, no waves?

The Barbary Coasters add surf rock to most of their Christmas caroling, but the tune that addresses the milieu is “Frosty’s Beach Party.” Crazy guitar solo seals the deal.

Grab your baggies, fire up the Woody, pack your blade, and head for the waves–they’re mackin’. It may be Xmastide, but the surfing is great in Fiji and Morocco about now. So let’s show those Barneys (that’d be me) how it’s done with some tubular tunes, and music that makes the drop. Shaka!

Album alert! We visited with Malibooz last year, A Malibu Kind of Christmas even got a shout out for an album of the year. These New Yorkers hit the chunder running in the ’60s, so they got the original sound.

Some of the album is wallpaper, or what i call the instrumental update on traditional Christmas carols.

More of the original songs (what i haven’t already featured), though, bear featuring, like the laconic “A Quiet Little Christmas,” the party sing-along “When Santa Comes to Santa Cruz,” the psychedelic “Seashells and Coral,” and the rocking parody “Rudy.”

Since i’m posting this one New Years Day, howevs, let’s back out with “And a Happy New Year.” Soft, soothing, like the afterglow by the bonfire.