There are many surf festivals around the globe, more than I can enumerate, but Surfer Joe Summer Festival is so special. I mean, there's a baseline of special at any surf event: you see these performers that are so exceptional, legendary even, but only within this tiny genre. It feels like a secret. But to converge upon Livorno, a charming Italian town scarcely mentioned by the rest of the world, with roaring waves behind you, and for every person you meet to be sporting a different accent, and to be immersed deeply in this for four days... it's dreamlike.
That said, I was a little more grounded in reality than I was when I last attended in 2019. I traveled with my wife, my one-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son on the first leg of a trip that would later take us to Bulgaria, Greece, and London. Some may call it brave, some may call it foolish, I say those aren't mutually exclusive. But that meant a lot of leaving the festival grounds to meet up with them, more allowance for sleep (kids don't care how late the festival ended, particularly the one year old), and ultimately a very incomplete experience. I don't mean to present this as a woe-is-me sort of thing. It was either this or not come at all, and I'm very glad I came. But I've "covered" other festivals as if it were my job, and if I even attempted to do that this year I would have failed. I missed bands I considered can't-miss because I had to help with dinner or bedtime. I got about 14 hours of sleep total throughout the whole thing and felt pretty sick by Sunday. And I wasn't even jet-lagged, I had already been in Italy four days!
All of this is to say that this is not going to be a "felt like I was there" sort of thing. This is not a travelogue. I'm going to cut out a lot of personal experience because I don't think you want to hear about me attempting to convince my son that most Italian food is VERY yummy, and if I told you when and why I left a band's set at whatever time it's going to sound like a repetitive bummer. My time was not a repetitive bummer. I'm going to do my best to recount my experience in abbreviated form, but there were many more complete experiences out there. In fact, most of it was caught on video!
Thursday
The first night was compact but an absolute thrill. Even on the walk from my AirBNB I found my first tear in the fabric of the real world leading into the surf world, as I bumped into the members of Pollo Del Mar halfway to the festival grounds, including their drummer who I learned was a lot of the work behind the Now That's What I Call Surf albums. We're both 38, which absolutely checks out given the track listing.
The configuration of the festival had changed from when I first/last attended in 2019, and I gather from last year's as well. 2019 had a stage pushed up against the back of Surfer Joe Diner (host Lorenzo Valdambrini's American-styled diner), which I thought worked well at the time. It looked great in my photos, wasn't too big or too small. I liked it. I'd heard grumblings about how small the festival was versus when the locals could enter freely, but as I understand it that's out of the festival's hands. 2023, as I understand it, brought back a large, more traditional festival stage with its back to the sea, with smaller satellite stages. This year was somewhere in the middle. Literally, I believe they took the stage from 2019 and stuck it in the middle of the area behind the diner, with a large area for vendors far in front of the stage, and room to gather and buy refreshments behind the stage. I think it worked reasonably well. I got great photos from it, it let us get close to the action. I'm not sure what it improved upon from 2019, but I do think a smaller, more intimate stage was a good call from the year before, not that I experienced that one.
I'll also add that the iconic Ferris Wheel is still right outside the grounds. It has cool (as in color) white bulbs now. I hated that at first, but it grew on me.
Let's jump into it.
Operation Octopus were a nice way to start, seeing an Italian quartet with a modern-traditional sound. I enjoyed their El Calavera LP from 2018, though admittedly I was still checking in with friendly faces and not absorbing it completely. I was hoping to at some point ask them where their follow-up LP Space Pheasant went, as it was seemingly sold at last year's Surfer Joe and never again, but at the moment that remains a mystery.
Then it was The Longboards. Only two bands in and I was transfixed, thinking to myself "goddamn I love surf music". I had only recently picked up their insane 2011 LP Gnarly Surf and was absolutely struck by their way of playing surf music. Their rhythms and songwriting are so unpredictable and buzzing with energy, but never a mess, always purposeful. There area a lot of active guitarists out there, ones that are bouncing back-and-forth across the stage (and I'd even say it was a great year for that mold), but it's especially great when coupled with their sound. Despite being so early in the festival, it remains a highlight.
The Tremolo Beer Gut were next. I believe it was my third time seeing them, including Surfer Joe 2019, but they're somewhat of a landmark band in my surf music journey and I'll never miss them if I can help it. Equipped with a harsh red light and smoke machine, they're a band whose visual component complements them so well when seen live. Just take a look.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Here's actual photos.
Apparently their smoke machine was having a bad night, so the atmospheric aspect of the band was toned down. Which was honestly fine, it's probably going to be a diminished effect compared to an indoor performance anyway. But they seemed amped to be there, and what they lost in mood they made up for in muscle. They sounded so impactful and full of oomph. Great way to round out the night. In fact, I rounded it out a little early so as not to turn into a pumpkin awakened by two smaller pumpkins at the crack of dawn.
Friday.
I know I said this wasn't a travelogue, but I thought the aquarium, located next door and physically attached to Surfer Joe Diner, was better than I remembered it. Better than the recently renovated New Orleans Aquarium. Low bar though.
Anyway, the day started with a symposium from Don Diego entitled "Surf, country & rockabilly with Don Diego". I believe he gave a similar talk in 2019 but my memory is pretty fuzzy, but I think it was all pretty off-the-cuff anyway, basically a run-through of the great rockabilly guitarists and playing examples of their styles, backed by upright bass and a very minimal drum kit.
Santa Anna Bay Coconuts started off the music. I've enjoyed their albums and always thought they were recorded particularly well, and I was impressed to find they had quite a thunderous sound live as well. Their first two records were a little more straightforward, but songs from their newly released "The Pineapple Parade" added a bit more wildness to their set. Speaking of wild, they were the first of many outrageous getups seen at this show, though Saturday was arguably when that really kicked into high gear. I also want to give these guys some props: some bands show up and play, then dip in and out, but I think I saw a Coconut or two right in the middle of the crowd for every other band. They should have written this!
I only caught a brief moment of Molokai Cocktail's set before pulled away to help my wife with kiddo dinner and bedtime. They were mostly playing classic surf covers and it seemed like a good time. I remember talking to someone who said they really enjoyed hearing these songs played really well.
The real bummer was that I thought for sure leaving that set would give me enough time to catch most of Mark Malibu & The Wasagas. I love their work, I've spoken to Mark online many times, we had just met earlier that day, it was a priority. And I missed the whole set. It sucks.
I did manage to get back in time for King of Hawaii. They have an unexpected, far-from-traditional sound but not in a way that feels quirky or intentionally odd, and it's always justified by the songwriting.
The Tourmaliners were up next. I'll admit that their latest LP Surfidia didn't click with me like it did for, say, Pipeline Magazine (Album of the Year!), but I had no issues enjoying them live. Their set was electric, guitarists moving all over the place, coordinating moves with each other -- it felt like there was always something going on and the music jumped out to meet it. I'd love to see them again, and it made me more excited for seeing The Surfaris at SG101, as Deven Berryhill is also a member of the current lineup. I wish I had better photos -- the downside to active performers is they give you plenty to photograph, but plenty of blur too.
I had seen Pollo Del Mar at SG101 just last year but I loved seeing them in an outdoor setting (in fact, I think I mentioned a live, outdoor feel in my review of the record). They seemed jazzed as hell to be playing in Italy, and I think they were playing a little faster than LP speed as a result, which sounded great to me.
And then it was Slacktone time, and people definitely crowded the stage a bit more. I've never seen Slacktone, and I have to admit I also appreciated seeing Dusty Watson and Sam Bolle on stage, as it brought back fond memories of Dick Dale shows. But all thoughts of that were purged quickly to make room for an absolutely blistering set. Now, I don't play guitar, I don't scrutinize how people play, but watching Dave Wronski's fingers move is wild -- most of us have human fingers that you can watch push in, stretch, etc. Dave's seemed to move with robotic efficiency and speed, basically either on the string or off with no in-between motion. Also I feel it necessary to point out that while Dave may not be the style icon of surf music (Do we have any? The Surfrajettes I guess?) the aqua shoes that matched his outfit were a nice touch.
I left early to allow for some sleep, given the kids. I saw Don Diego's Los Coguaros last time and loved it -- real raw and muscular surf party. In general I really love that it feels like Surfer Joe builds in its afterparty. But I did not get the opportunity to enjoy such things.
SATURDAY
I started a bit later than opening as I wanted to accompany my family to the Livorno Market, so I missed I Surfoniani's grass skirts and came in towards the end of The Bradipos IV's set with Annette. What I saw was fun, though.
Today's symposiums were Martin Schmidt of The Razorblades talking and answering questions about his Surf Guitar Book and a Meet & Greet with The Phantom Surfers. If you were hoping for some insightful history of The Phantom Surfers and their experience in the midst of the 90's surf revival, you were instead treated to such quotes as "Dick Dale had a baby and they named it Leo Fender". I like jokes, I had fun.
And then it was music time. The Leonites were a band I was surprised to find on the lineup -- fairly unknown and offbeat. I didn't get to see their whole set, though I was surprised to *not* find much accordion, a prominent feature of their LP "Age of Lotharius".
Unkle Kook was a surprise knockout. I was excited about seeing them, enjoyed last year's record Coming in Bunches, and though it certainly was a record that had a bit of fun and messed with things, I didn't expect this. First of all, almost everybody had zebra-patterned outfits, with the exception of the drummer who, as a friend put it, looked like he was in the Matrix. Which sounds disparaging, but that dude was genuinely pulling it off, so he can go right ahead and buck the uniform. They reminded me a bit of Durango14, who I saw in 2019, with their high-energy, unafraid-to-sax way of tweaking surf into their own thing. They also felt like Italian Les Agamemnonz, with a sense that the band was having just as much fun, if not more, than you, plus one member was barefoot. They're probably the only surf band I've seen where 4/5 of the band was smoking cigarettes mid-song. The crowd was still fairly slim at this point in the day, and I think a lot of people missed out one of the most enjoyable shows of the event.
As they left the stage, Lorenzo made a comment about this festival being a fashion show, and perhaps he said it too soon, because the next group was wearing eye-burning nudie-esque suits. Werner Brown & the Rocket Flames are a group that had completely escaped my radar despite a record in 2022. All anybody could tell me was that they had the bassist from The Kilaueas (Jacques). They were good as a trio, but then they brought out their "secret weapon" saxophonist, and I agree that that really kicked it up a notch. The lead guitarist made the goofiest faces of the whole festival too, which is fun when you have your camera out.
They mentioned that they were going to play a song, but that Unkle Kook had beaten them to it. Of course, this is surf, that happens. Three bands in a row play "Misirlou", whatever. Except this time it was the Turkish tune "Cicek Dagi". And I've been wanting to ask: where is this song coming from? I noticed a few months ago when I thought Unkle Kook were doing an obscure cover of Boom Pam, but then I looked into the song more. It's a wonderful song, but where did all three of these groups first hear it? Is it on a compilation somewhere? Is it because it's like the one instrumental tune that Erkin Koray does?
So anyway, 8pm would prove to be the slot of death for me. Just about every night I cut loose partway into the 7pm band to help my wife with dinner and bedtime for the kids, hoping that missing part of the 7pm band would spare me enough time for a good chunk of the end of the 8pm band set. This was the fate of The Wasagas. Tonight it was The Frigidaires, who I sprinted back from the AirBnB to catch two songs of, ending with their fuzzed out instro "Draggin'". I had hung out with members of The Frigidaires several times at the festival, it killed me to miss so much of it, but that's how it ended up. And it would happen again too, but we'll save that for later.
I remember in 2019 I saw The Atomic Mosquitos play Surfer Joe and thought "Whoa, more people like this band than I thought. I thought it was just me!" That's how I felt about The Razorblades, who seemed to draw an audience out of thin air. And it was deserved, with a truly frantic set. Not only was Martin off-the-wall, moving all over while playing and employing a lot of audience participation tricks, but I could barely recognize the songs I knew because their already fast tempo was cranked up even further. Wild stuff.
I had seen Sir Bald Diddley just last year at Surfguitar101 -- one of the acts that I was most excited about seeing at that show. This was surprisingly different. Well, not that different, but he had an almost animal-like presence there, roaming and mugging and the crowd. Here, backed by who I believe are his typical members, it felt like more of a show, more in control, and generally just more. Not an entirely instrumental set, but a good enough balance to make the crowd very happy.
Speaking of different than I remembered, I've seen The Bradipos IV at least twice before, at Surfer Joe in 2019 and Surf Guitar 101 in some year that I'm too lazy to look up. There was one tweak right off the bat here: this was the only time during the festival (unless I missed something) where Lorenzo/Surfer Joe played guitar. I thought they came out HOT! They felt louder and more aggressive than I recall, even if they were mostly the same songs. I'm sure an extra guitarist had something to do with it, but there was also something about this extra-windy day, blasting at the performers and whipping at the canopy above, that added an intensity to everybody's set, especially theirs.
The final show of the night was The Phantom Surfers. My photos suck because the stage was packed and I could barely find a spot. This is a band that means so much to so many, and they played a set that fulfilled many people's dreams while also giving little room for the legend to breathe, downplaying it all with gags. I was a little worried that this lo-fi group wouldn't sound shitty enough in person, but they sounded great, and it was great. They mostly just sounded loud enough to be crude, and crude enough to be fun.
Speaking of being shittiness: It had been a very long day for me, my nose was starting to drip, my throat felt scratchy. I really wanted to catch the "Wasagas Night Party" since I had missed their earlier show. So I left Phantom Surfers early just in case The Wasagas would finish the moment things were done outside. By 1:30 AM it was time to admit defeat. And I'm glad I did because my littlest one was apparently screaming her head off back at the airbnb. I felt like shit, I would continue to feel like shit for another hour back with my family. And I'd feel like shit after not sleeping enough the next morning.
Sunday
I decided to take Sunday very easy, as I was definitely not feeling 100%. More like 40% upon waking up. I had hoped to attend the brunch for weekend pass attendees, but it wasn't happening. In fact, I didn't show up until roughly 6pm, giving myself enough time to "rest" as you can with two kids. See demonstration of resting below:
That also regrettably meant missing Surfnado Tiki Squad and another set of The Tourmaliners.Things were a bit different on Sunday. The intense winds on Saturday lead to a threat of rain on Sunday, which as I understand meant some cancelled sets and, most importantly, moving the rest of the shows to the indoor tiki room. This move was certainly a bit of a bummer. Smaller stage, less unique environment, much less light for my camera, a lot warmer, and in my case, feeling like I need to wear a mask for the rest of the night. For the record, I had a negative COVID test that morning. They cost 2 euro, fellow Americans.
I believe Los Wet-Tones had to cancel, so my day started with The Biarritz Boys, who were unafraid to let a congested (as in proximity, though in my case nasally) audience by a small stage dampen their synchronized high kicks. I believe almost all of their songs were off of last year's Inside Clean Waves. Really fun set, with some fun gags like suggesting a surf wall of death, except actually just an aggressive group hug of a friend of theirs. There was a mention before a song that none of their synchronized moves were premeditated, so you know that they have some synchronized moves prepared.
Frankie and the Pool Boys would be the final victims of my 8pm family hour. I try to tell myself I've seen them before at SG101, but I really like Frankie and the Pool Boys and I hadn't seen them in a long time. I practically sprinted from our AirBNB back to the festival grounds, only to see everybody filing out of the tiki room.
And then it was Langhorns, who I very recently hadn't been very nice to on this site, but that frustration came out of a love for this band. I was not disappointed by their live show. Songs from Showstopper sounded better live (and that includes the title track, which didn't feature that grating electronic noise throughout). Sure, songs like "Camel Ride" were stripped down to what was manageable by a live trio, but they picked a good mix of songs throughout their entire discography and generally sounded excellent. They weren't the most lively stage presence, but the drums really stood out to me -- very lush and a part of the mood themselves rather than just there to push.
LHD. I haven't talked about this band here much despite the fact that they're comprised of 3/4 of Bambi Molesters. And that's because I didn't really like what I'd heard from them. Bambi Molesters are great, but they don't sound like Bambi Molesters. However, I had listened to Pi Records' interview with Lada beforehand and the hype worked on me, I was feeling optimistic. I ended up thinking they were one of the best bands of the festival. First of all, more than anyone I think they benefitted from the more intimate, cramped setting. One band, one crowd together. I felt that while they were playing something that sounded enough like surf music, there was a deeper undercurrent to it. There was something less disciplined, perhaps a little more post-punk, and I felt connected to it. It's very hard to explain, but I thought "man, I've gotta give that record another shot."
Well, I still don't love that LP, but I do hear scraps of what I heard that night. And I still think knowing that this is most of Bambi Molesters will set you with the wrong expectations (though they threw us a bone by playing "Wrong Turn" and "High Wall"). Anyway, it ramped up a little bit as they invited Nacho Romantodo from Los Freneticos/Los Baby Jaguars onto the stage to join them towards the end. The five of them barely fit, and that made it all the more fun.
Finally, just like in 2019 the event closed with Les Agamemnonz. That 2019 show was one of the most fun sets I'd witnessed from any band ever, but I wonder if they had larger plans for this show that were cramped by more cramped quarters than they expected. So this set was much more straightforward, but one thing had occurred to me as they got started: I hadn't seen them since they released Amateurs in 2021, so not only was I thrilled to hear those songs, but we were treated to a few new tracks from an uncoming record as well. This included a tune called Compressor, which had them advancing on the audience and literally compressing us -- shades of Daikaiju antics. While this wasn't the most playful set I'd seen from them, I always find their unique sound to be a delight. Gotta call out the spiffy new togas too.
I wrapped up the night somehow feeling more energized and overall better than when I first got there, as if healed by surf music. Corny. But there is something magical to this festival. I don't feel like this was a big year for them -- numbers felt roughly on par with SG101, but it truly feels like stepping into an alternate dimension that only I, the other attendees, and you dear reader, can see and appreciate. This wasn't my best outing for reasons that nobody can fix and thankfully will likely be alleviated as my kids get older. But I was still there, witnessing moments in the secret history of a hidden music.
