Slacktone

If your idea of surf tunes consists solely of Jan & Dean, "Wipeout" and "that Pulp Fiction song," then buckle up, because Slacktone is not your father's surf music. At various times throughout rock history, waves of surf bands have crashed onto the shores, and Slacktone is widely considered by...

By Dave Meyer

September 6, 2007

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If your idea of surf tunes consists solely of Jan & Dean, "Wipeout" and "that Pulp Fiction song," then buckle up, because Slacktone is not your father's surf music. At various times throughout rock history, waves of surf bands have crashed onto the shores, and Slacktone is widely considered by instrumental aficionados to be among the very best of the third wave, the era from 1994 to the present. Its members — guitarist Dave Wronski, bassist Sam Bolle and drummer Dusty Watson — are virtuosos on their instruments. All have decades of surf under their feet — either traditionally, via Dick Dale's backing band, or through the surf-punk route in outfits such as Agent Orange. Together, united under the reverb, they have contributed sacred melodies such as "Tidal Wave" and "The Bells of St. Kahuna" to the surf community, transcending the limiting constraints of the genre in the process and providing a soundtrack more complex than most. Catch a wave.

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