The new Album from Strange But Surf will be released in a few weeks at Twangstock. Officially June 3rd when we play it Otto’s Shrunken Head for the event. It is a Surf Music Festival that I have been putting on for a dozen or so years. This year it is in NYC at Otto’s. It starts at 5pm, we go on at 10pm and it goes all weekend until Sunday night, June 4th 10pm.
This new Album is special. They all are, I know but this one truly is. It is our 4th Album. They all were great in their own way, but they didnt always capture the sound that is unique to our band. Our band is now a Trio and of course that changed our sound somewhat. We worked very hard to become that Trio. The change came during the Covid times and everybody’s world changed. Time was on our side and we used it to perfect our sound. We do not play as much on our native Long Island, because the LI Music World also changed during Covid. Many Venues closed or stopped having Live Bands. Many just have Open Mike and Karaoke now.
We came into this year with a bunch of shows at Otto’s in NYC including Twangstock. Making an Album was not really a priority. As some of you may know by now, my priorities changed soon enough. A week after the new year was rung in, I was in the Hospital. My famously broken Heart was really broken this time. Bypass surgery was called for and my whole Musical existence was put into question.
Having already having had a Heart Attack in 2005, I knew this was going to knock me off my beat. The Clock was also ticking. Twangstock was in 4 months and I was going to spend most of it recovering from major Surgery. My infamous Sicilian will kicked in. I used it to insist we record an Album immediately, no matter what. I knew I had it in me and knew that I would not have it in me after the surgery. Recording takes many takes and can be a grueling process that is physically demanding on a drummer. My brothers of musical mayhem, Ed & Greg in Strange But Surf had no complaints and understood the need.
If I didnt survive the Surgery, there would be no Album, If I did, there would not be another Album until who knows when. We got together over just 2 long days to record the basic tracks. Knowing that this might be the last time I ever got to capture that Strange But Surf sound, I played my heart out, pun intended. We all did. We planned on doing 8-10 songs, we did 21. We also did this in the comfort of our own studio, with our own equipment. The results have been astonishing. I played like my life depended on it.
It would be disrupt my Modesty (LOL) to say it, but…
This is the best recording we have ever made. Not only does capture our style but it also captures each of our talents as a Trio. The Trio is different than our traditional line up and plays a more progressive & aggressive type of Surf Music. We always were, but this change, amongst all of our others, has been the most major since our creation in my garage, almost 20 years ago. It is very dynamic and the playing is more technically precise that ever. The Album features Surf Classics and some cover songs that we like to play. Stay tuned for all the 411 about how to get yours soon enough. We are working on the final tracks and mastering as this is being written. In 3 weeks, the world is going to be a lot more strange but surf.
Carry On… Marbles Mahoney
Marbles Mahoney 