WEB & FAN CLUB

Chris Pearce: Lead vocals and guitar
 Steve Dean: Bass guitar and vocals
 Clive Gilling: Farfisa organ keyboards, guitar and vocals
 Ray Webb: Drums and vocals

The Surfin' Lungs are THE BEST SURF BAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! (with the Beach Boys historical permission and without it nowadays). hey mix the catchiest of surf vocal harmonies with a very powerful instrumentation typical of bands like The Ramones. Their instrumentals are brilliant and their live performances are astonishing!. I wasn't interested in surf music until I found these guys, and this is a great example to demonstrate that you don't have to be a Brian Wilson fan to enjoy the 'Lungs. They sing and play really well and they're great fellows. Get ready to surf over the Surfin' Lungs melodies!.
 

"Mickey's Car" was the band's first single, and the 2 songs included on the EP ("Mickey's car" and "Yesterday's summer"), were a perfect clue to discover the band's equation: melody+choruses=great songs.

"Mickey's Car" became a big success pretty fast, getting airplay on Radio 210 and excellent reviews on the british musical scene papers, like Zig Zag, Sounds or NME.
 

   With the increase of their popularity they became habitualat London's coolest place of those days, Alice in Wonderland. Chris and Steve even appeared on the film "I keep thinking it's Tuesday".

   Robin Wills, from the Barracudas, produced their second single on Lover's Leap, "Pray for Sun". Robin cheered the band to record more tunes and do a mini-album for a french label, but things screwed up and finally Big Beat Records made them an offer that was accepted.

The record became "Cowabunga!", released in 1985. "Cowabunga!" was a big success, and later came "Surf-Jet Girl", another EP where Roman Jugg (The Damned) contributed. The song entitling this 7" is one of the best pop ballads that I have ever listened to.

It may seem untrue, but it was in cold Switzerland where the 'Lungs got more popular. François Mouner, a local DJ there, gave them loads of airplay and "Surf-Jet Girl" became a hit. Big Beat was unable to capitalize the band's success there, and the label's poor plans for the band made them look for someone else.

  On 1987, "The biggest wave" was released by Satel·lite Records. Even when some musical journalists situated the record on the Top 5 albums of the year, the lack of promotion and support that Big beat gave them in the early days made the album sink in the charts and it was largely ignored by the press.
This record includes surf hymns like "1/4 mile machine", "Girltrouble", "Jimmy's Pad" or "That special summer".

   Another album was recorded, the third, entitled "The Beach will never die". I can assure you that the vocal works in this album is simply brilliant!. Great poppy melodies and ultra catchy choruses.

   The band did some marathonian tours that took them to Switzerland, Austria and Germany (what a place to sing about beach, sun and girls!) with a great success.

  Javi, from spanish label No Tomorrow was very interested in the Surfin' Lungs even before creating his label. But it was after "The beach will never die" when he made them an offer to release a single, that later became the excellent "Beach Bound". To me, this song is one of the band's biggest hits, and includes another great song on the B-side, "Camaro Custom".

The "Beach Bound" EP was a big success in Spain, so after it a new album was released on No Tomorrow. "Hang loose with the Surfin' Lungs!" includes a bunch of great songs. Brilliant instrumentals like "Big Kahuma" and "Vostok 1" and surf-punk hymns like ""Summer starts here", "I dreamt about her friend" and "I don't wanna ride that rollercoaster".

   Something spooky happenned shortly after this album was recorded: a strange fire burnt the studio down along with the original master copy, so we'll never be able to listen to any kind of alternative take...

"Hang loose with..." got great reviews in every spanish musical magazine, like "Mondo Sonoro", "Ruta 66", "El País de las tentaciones" and many others.

   Juan de Pablos, DJ on national Radio 3 and master of surf/pop/ rythm'n'blues/rock'n'roll etc., had become a 'Lungs maniac after discovering the "Cowabunga!" LP on London's Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill Gate. This way the 'Lungs got loads of airplay on his radio show, "Flor de Pasión".

   June '97. No Tomorrow's efforts to promote this record and the band in Spain, along with Juan de Pablos' support made their first spanish tour possible.  Click here to read all about it.

   The Surfin' Lungs early recordings were almost impossible to find anywhere. "The beach will never die" was released on a label from Switzerland that later broke up all contact with the band and disappeared. So the only way to get the CD was through the band itself.

   After releasing "The biggest wave" a Surfin' Lungs compilation named "Let'em eat surf!" came out, including all the band's recordings until that moment. Again, this CD became a collector's piece. So it was very hard (if not impossible) for the new fans to have access to what the Surfin' Lungs had been doing for 15 years, before signing for No Tomorrow...
And again No Tomorrow solved this problem!.

   Javi NT, realizing that something had to be done, suggested the band to release a Surfin' Lungs Greatest Hits, recovering all of the band's best stuff to date. The project ended up becoming "Splashback!", 20 surf jewels on a "must buy" CD.

    As if it wasn't enough to get their 20 best songs, they go and re-record "Pray for sun" and "Quasimodo a Go-Go", originally included on the "Cowabunga!" LP.
I'm not gonna say that these songs sound "better" than the original takes, as I love the atmosphere that Robin Wills created on "Cowabunga!". But maybe the sound was simply far away from what the band offers when playing live. The new recordings on "Splashback" do capture all of the band's live energy. Absolutely brilliant!
 
 

Once "Splashback!" was finally released in Spain, a second Surfin' Lungs tour was scheduled. Again, click here to read all about it.
 

   The 4 tracks that were recorded with Shock Treatment during their second spanish tour will be released after summer of 1998. of course, the EP including 4 covers (Rubinoos, Elvis Presley, Tradewinds...) will be released on No Tomorrow, on limited coloured vinyl edition.