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| photo courtesy of Dean Torrence |
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| designed by Dean Torrence |
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Showing posts with label Jan and Dean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jan and Dean. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Happy Birthday Dean Torrence
Saturday, June 28, 2014
50th Anniversary of classic Jan & Dean albums and new EP featuring Dean Torrence
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| Photo ©2014 Lee Dempsey |
"LOL" may reference "laugh out loud" these days among our Twitter, Facebook and texting generations. In 1964, it referenced a "Little Old Lady" with a certain brand new, shiny red, super stock Dodge! With Summer officially kicked off in high gear, it's only fitting to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of 2 vintage Jan & Dean albums! Endless Summer Quarterly's (ESQ) David Beard recently sat down with Dean Torrence to discuss both Ride The Wild Surf and The Little Old Lady From Pasadena as they hit the 50 year mark. The interview and track by track account will be available mid-July in their Summer 2014 publication! If you're a fan of Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys and just great music, you absolutely must have this publication!
More info on ESQ- www.esquarterly.com
Dean Torrence Facebook page ("like" and follow all exciting news)- www.facebook.com/jananddeansbeachparty
Also, while we continue to celebrate the Jan & Dean classics, how about something new from Dean Torrence this Summer? The Bamboo Trading Company has a new EP coming July 4th featuring Dean on “Star Of The Beach.” Torrence provides lead vocals on the chorus to this little gem about an aged surfer who waxes nostalgic about his younger days. As an added bonus, Matt Jardine (son of Beach Boy Al Jardine) provides lead vocals on the verses. This version of the recording made its debut in the film “Return Of The Killer Shrews” in 2012, but wasn’t officially released until December 3, 2013 on The Bamboo Trading Company’s CD, From Kitty Hawk To Surf City. Dean and Matt are joined by David Marks (original founding member of the Beach Boys) and Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson band) on guitars and backing vocals, and the track was arranged by Gregory. This will mark the first time the song is available for digital download. And to make another connection, ESQ's David Beard serves as Executive Producer, Packaging Designer and co-writer of the tracks!
Dean's involvement and influence is felt on the other tracks on the EP as well. The special edition EP also
includes an exclusive “Star Of The Beach” downloadable artwork. The Harry
Nilsson-inspired “Drinkin’ In The Sunshine” (with Torrence on backing
vocals) should be the song of the Summer with a guarantee you will sing along. Don't be surprised if you reach for your favorite Nilsson projects after wondering if this was a cover. Yes, it's that good! The Jan & Dean-inspired “I’ve Always Loved The Ocean” (with
Matt on lead) will make you believe you love the ocean even if you don't. That has always been the appeal of artists like Jan & Dean and The Beach Boys. Our idea of the ocean and beaches were shaped by their visual lyrics and infectious harmonies. The anti-social media skewering “Tweet (Don’t Talk
Anymore)” (with Dean on lead) is a very clever play on words incorporating the Twitter craze. This in particular makes me think of what Jan & Dean would have sounded like if they had started in 2014 with catchy tunes, play on words and just overall fun (fun, fun)!
The Bamboo Trading Company are: Gary Griffin (Beach Boys band, Brian Wilson band, Jan & Dean band, Surf City
Allstars), Matt Jardine (Beach Boys band, Surf City Allstars, California Saga), Philip Bardowell (Beach Boys band,
Jan & Dean band, Surf City Allstars), Randell Kirsch (Beach Boys band, Jan & Dean band, Surf City Allstars), and
indie
artists Chris English & Miami Dan Yoe. While you're drinking in the sunshine, join this new six-member
all-star cast as they head out toward the sandy & sunny shores of
California, and pick up these releases today!
The
promotional music video for “Shrewd Awakening,” from the film “Return
Of The Killer Shrews,” features guest appearances by Dean Torrence and
actors James Best (Dukes Of Hazzard) and Bruce Davison (X-Men, Willard,
Deadman’s Curve).
The Bamboo Trading Company is mixed & engineered by Gary Griffin
and mastered by Grammy Award Winner Mark Linett.
Official page with music video — killershrewsmovie.com/bambootradingcompany.html
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Drinking in the sunshine with The Bamboo Trading Company!
If you’re wondering what will be the new summer album of choice for 2013, then look no further to The Bamboo Trading Co with their self titled release. I bring up The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean influence because if you’re fans of these great artists you’ll most likely recognize many of the names involved with this project. Dean Torrence himself guests on five tracks. Gary Griffin, Randell Kirsch, Matt Jardine (Al’s son), Philip Bardowell, Chris English and Miami Dan Yoe are all involved. David Beard serves as executive producer and the brainchild behind the project. If you read Endless Summer Quarterly, you’ll recognize David as editor and publisher of that great publication. "Drinkin' In The Sunshine" is not only one of the highlights from this project, but it says all that you need to know of what to expect musically. Close your eyes and escape to a tropical paradise with The Bamboo Trading Company!
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| Front L-R: Chris English, Gary Griffin, Miami Dan Yoe, Philip Bardowell, Matt Jardine Back: Randell Kirsch |
This project has been described as a musical journey from coast to coast so I wanted to delve into each track by the people involved. First, it would be good to get a little back story and the concept for this project. David Beard explains how this came about:
after he had listened to a demo of the Beach Boys-esque “Don’t Say It’s Over.” The new film, a send-up/sequel to the 1959 cult classic “Killer Shrews” (also featuring Best), called for Exotica music with a Martin Denny twist. I suggested Gary Griffin, because he’s everyone’s go-to-guy (including Brian Wilson’s), and his musical touch is unsurpassed. After reaching out to Gary to gauge his interest, and putting together an idea of what we wanted to do, Steve commissioned us to write two new tracks for the film. After the remainder of 2011 went by, and I had time to really listen to the completed tracks, it was pretty clear that we had caught lightening in a bottle. As fate would have it, Randell Kirsch was not touring with The Beach Boys for their 50th anniversary tour. He was asked to join in on the fun, and he said, “Yes.”
David also explains how the group name evolved:
Several group names were tossed around, but we all seemed to like The Bamboo Trading Company the most. The name was inspired by Torrence’s Jan & Dean memorabilia company. The album concept, from the beginning, was always going to be a road trip. Initially titled, Coast To Coast, and then From Kitty Hawk To Surf City, we decided on a self-titled collection. “Kitty Hawk Graphics” was the name of Dean’s Grammy Award-winning graphic arts company, and “Surf City,” Jan & Dean’s only number one hit, was co-written with Brian Wilson. While these obvious homages exist in name and content, there was no attempt to replicate or re-record anything that had been done before. It was my way of saying, “Thanks for the inspiration.”
Now, let’s take this journey with The Bamboo Trading Company and examine each of the tracks.
Airborne
David Beard: The track is so perfectly “airy” that the lyrics came instantaneously. Gary had suggested breaking the song into two parts earlier in the year, which lent itself to lyrics about taking off and landing. There it was, right in front of us, a lighthearted concept album that takes the listener from coast to coast.
Chris English: “Airborne” started out as an experiment to take a simple melodic piano line and create a lush cascade of non-lyrical vocals over the piano; kind of a Coldplay meets Brian Wilson thing.
Philip Bardowell: We just got around the microphone and improvised. Since we’re old friends, the dialogue just flowed out naturally among us. The hard part was getting us to shut up!
Miami Dan Yoe: “Airborne” has a very airy type of feel to it. David Beard had the idea of using it at the beginning and end of the album and adding some chanted lyrics over Chris’s wordless vocals that went along with the album’s theme of taking off in Kitty Hawk and landing in Surf City. I thought it worked out great, and it brings the album full circle.
Kitty Hawk
David Beard: Randell (Kirsch) and I discussed a few song ideas that I had, and decided to
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| Chris English |
Gary Griffin: I love working with Randell. We don’t get the opportunity to do this near as often as in the past. He actually used to live right down the street from me back in the 80’s, so it was easy to collaborate on things. We fell right back into our musical groove on this project and came up with some very cool ideas. He and I work very well together, very quickly – which I love!
Chris English: “Kitty Hawk” is where the journey really begins for the listener. I was really inspired as I worked on this piece.
Philip Bardowell: I love the song and I have an affinity for the Kitty Hawk story, because of Dean. I just tried to use my “sweet” voice and give the song some air and a feeling lightness-of being airborne. I like how it turned out.
Miami Dan Yoe: “Kitty Hawk” turned out to be a really nice track. David Beard had a set of lyrics he had written for it. While Gary was inside the studio working on one of the mixes, David, Randell and I were enjoying the weather on the deck outside the studio, and Dave suggested that we take a stab at finishing the writing of “Kitty Hawk.” He put the lyric sheet down on a little table and we all looked at it for a few seconds. Then, Randell picked up his acoustic guitar and started singing the words, “Won’t you come with me…” to a melody line. Within a couple of minutes he had the entire chorus melody line. Dave and I came up with the verse melody line then we made a couple of minor adjustments to the lyrics to make them more easily singable. We went back into the studio to record a demo version of the song. The entire process, from first sitting down at the table to beginning the recording of the demo, took about 30 minutes. I think the final track was recorded a half scale up from the demo, and Randell’s idea of using the electric sitar came a few days later. The lead vocal was pretty much a group effort.
Randell Kirsch: Writing “Kitty Hawk” with David was like riding a bucking bronco in a rodeo. (There were) so many ideas and lyrics flying out of him, all I had to do was hang on, slow him down and sing a little, “Won’t You Come With Me.” Easy as pie. David is very visual – which is a perspective we share. I like visual lyrics. Philip, Gary and Miami Dan really deliver the vocal on the verses on that song.
Tweet (Don’t Talk Anymore)
David Beard: At its essence, “Tweet (Don’t Talk Anymore)” is as much a dialogue on our society as the Monkees’ “Pleasant Valley Sunday” was in 1967. The emboldening of online statements without remorse is slowly chipping away at our society’s soul, ability to communicate with one another, and our desire to treat one another with respect. While quirky and fun in its presentation, “Tweet” has a deeper message. Jez Graham had approached me about writing lyrics for this track in 2009, and the words came to me in a flash… it was hard to keep up when writing it. It was Wednesday, March 21, when Dean dropped in and recorded his lead vocal for “Tweet (Don’t Talk Anymore),” and his backing falsetto for “Drinkin’ In The Sunshine.” It was memorable to watch him sing in his old vocal range so effortlessly. He really knocked it out of the park for us.
Dean Torrence: I don’t appreciate social media. As a matter of fact, if I had my way, all the Smartphones and stuff would be taken away from young people. From my perspective, it has hurt them in so many ways with texting, emailing and all that shit. Anybody that wastes his or her time reading what someone else is doing is pathetic. Pathetic. I’m just opposed to the whole thing. Musically, I suppose that if Jan and I had been approached in the 1960’s, and say tweeting was something that was popular at that time, were always reactionaries to cultural stuff, I suppose we would have given it a good look. Gary Griffin: Well, I’m as guilty as anyone, I suppose. Sticking my face in my iPhone way too much. I don’t tweet but I’m always checking sports scores or whatever. Everybody seems to be somewhere else these days.
Chris English: "Tweet"...says it all, doesn't it; the loss of physical community to technology. But it does it in a really lighthearted and playful way. I love that song. Dean is a living legend. He didn't have to do that song but he did. That says a lot about the character and spirit of the man.
Philip Bardowell: I love it. I just got off Twitter and Facebook because I agree wholeheartedly!
Miami Dan Yoe: It’s definitely a modern day pop culture statement. The original concept of the song was Jez Graham’s. Beard wrote a set of lyrics around Jez’s idea. Like many of the songs on the album, the basic track was started at another studio (Jez’s home studio in Stone Mountain, Georgia) and finished beautifully at the Supreme Hall of Sound (Gary Griffin’s studio in Panorama City, CA). The track contains one of my favorite vocal moments on the album at around the 1:29 mark, channeling the Sunflower era Beach Boys sound perfectly.
Drinkin’ In The Sunshine
Gary Griffin: I love this song. Dean has a unique tone – we were actually able to get him back up there singing in his high register, that classic falsetto sound from the old J&D days. I had originally wanted to use Peter Lacey’s track as a backing, but decided to re-cut everything – I did use his guitar track. I used “beachy” sounding accompaniment with ukulele and marimba and lots of percussion. Phil does a great vocal on this and, yes, it does feel like Harry Nilsson to me.
Chris English: "Drinkin' in the Sunshine"? That's a great analogy. It's what made so much of the music from the mid-60s to mid-70s so wonderful: the absolute dedication to melody and harmony. Great stuff!
Miami Dan Yoe: Dean can be heard doing his classic falsetto on this track. Phil Bardowell does a wonderful job on the lead. One of my favorite lyrics on the tune is, “Like a cool glass of shade…” That lyric creates a very soothing image, and I really dug the way Phil sang it. The track has a definite Nilsson vibe to it.
Star Of The Beach
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| Miami Dan Yoe |
Gary Griffin: Miami Dan is great at capturing the feel of the “maturing” male! He writes very insightful, reflective lyrics. Probyn Gregory cut a very tight track and then Matt did a great lead vocal.
Chris English: First of all, Dan Yoe is a dear friend, and a fellow Carolinian. And, as a child of the seventies I can certainly relate to the aging protagonist. I love that song. Hopefully I can be a mentor to my younger peers as well...Just not a surfing mentor.
Miami Dan Yoe: I had never deliberately attempted to write a Beach Boys styled song before, but in writing “Star” that’s exactly what I set out to try to do. I wrote the music to “Star” in one sitting, but the lyrics were initially just a single verse and a chorus, and I got stuck writing additional lyrics for the tune. Jemi Blue wrote two additional verses, which originally had the song’s character getting married and having children. I liked the flow of the lyrics Jemi had written, but not so much the course that they had his life taking, since my vision of the character was that of an aging loner who was wedded only to surfing and the thrills it brought him. I made a couple of changes to the lyrics to the second verse she had written to more closely reflect the way I saw his life developing, and decided to drop the third verse altogether in favor of repeating the first one. The song was very loosely based on the life of Dennis Wilson, and was initially intended to be an unauthorized follow-up to the Beach Boys' song “Still Surfin’,” from their much maligned album, Summer In Paradise. In order to bring as much authenticity as possible to the song's Beach Boys connection, I asked David Marks and Probyn Gregory to play and sing on it, and was thrilled when they agreed to do it. Probyn also produced the song, and understanding my desire to give the song a 60’s type sound, he fashioned the song’s baseline after Phil Spector’s, “Then He Kissed Me,” gave a nod to Brian Wilson with the tune’s backing vocals, and paid respect to the Ventures by playing the guitar solo in their style. All the other final guitar parts on the track were played by David Marks. The original track was recorded in a 24-track studio so we were limited on how many vocal parts could be done. In fact, David and Probyn sang their backing parts together on one microphone to save tracks.
The Bamboo Trading Company version of the song uses most of the basic track, but the production and vocals are quite different from the original recording in several respects. When the track was re-worked for the Bamboo Trading Company album, Matt Jardine and Gary Griffin re-cut the lead vocal, and Alan Boyd and Dean added additional vocals. Gary also added some percussion and piano that weren’t in the original track to give it a little fatter sound. Some of the original lyrics were also revised by David Beard to better fit the “Return Of The Killer Shrews” film and Bamboo Trading Company concept. Beard’s lyrical changes included having the choruses sung in the first person, while leaving the verses in the third person. The ending of the song (a capella, with Matt sustaining the word “hell”) is also dramatically different from the original track.
Haulin’ Cargo
Gary Griffin: This piece was based on something I wrote with electronic percussion wizard
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| Gary Griffin |
Chris English: "Haulin' Cargo" is pure Gary Griffin magic. I never cease to be amazed and inspired by the guy...and, as it turns out, my dad and his flew the same aircraft in WWII, for the same commanding officer but at different periods during the war.
Philip Bardowell: Gary is a wonderful composer and arranger. I’ve been a fan of his work for years. I think it really adds to the temperament and landscape of the album. It adds some nice tension and really paints a picture of movement and action. He’s really good at that.
Shrewd Awakening
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| Dean Torrence |
David Beard: With “Shrewd Awakening” Gary had a flash of brilliance and sent me the title. We discussed Exotica: mysterious music with obscure lyrics. Steve Latshaw perfectly cast the imagery, and Gary ran with it. Lyrically speaking, the songs wrote themselves. After watching a CGI-less version of the film (viewing for pacing of the film), the lyrics, “Shrewd a-wakening, pain-stake-enly done… Shrewd a-wakening, now they’re chewin’ for fun…” crept out. Then, “The calamity, of monstrosities… A cacophony, of altered humanity…” Then, “They go out for a bite in the dark…” Next, the bridge: In this jungle of life, they go to attack… A human smorgasbord… Their late night snack… With their razor sharp teeth… They’re having a feast… Seems it’s the only way to tame the beast.” Now, it was fun and easy. The imagery was coming to life with Gary’s music. His music captures the sensibilities of the tongue-in-cheek humor.
Gary Griffin: This is probably my favorite track. Dave wrote some odd lyrics about the hungry vicious shrews. The title just came to me in a serendipitous flash of lyrical brilliance! Martin Denny’s “Quiet Village” was a major influence for the bass figure and the percussion. My lovely wife Elizabeth provided the seductive intro lines for each chorus and with the release of the video she has now become widely known as the, “‘You’re in for a’ Girl.”
Talk about how you got involved with the music for “Return Of The Killer Shrews.”
Dean Torrence: Songwriter / producer David approached me about recording a song for “Return of The Killer Shrews.” David, and film writer & director Steve Latshaw are both Jan & Dean fans, and they laid out the idea of what they wanted to do, which included me working on a new recording with Gary Griffin and my daughters Katie and Jillian.
David Beard: It was on Wednesday, Oct. 5, that Dean, Katie and Jillian, recorded vocals for “Shrewd Awakening” and “Tonga Hut. Footage of these recording sessions was filmed and later used for the “Shrewd Awakening” music video (now online).
Dean Torrence: It was fun to see him in person. It’s kind of odd when you don’t particularly miss a person when they continue to be in the media (somehow). So, it wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen him in 30 years. It felt as though I was still connected to him after all these years. It was great to see him, great to catch up… He looked healthy and happy, and that made me feel good.
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| Dean Torrence, David Beard, Bruce Davison photo by Steve Latshaw |
During the shooting of the music video, when he spontaneously leapt over and attacked your neck, you two were totally in sync with one another’s comic sensibilities.
Dean Torrence: That’s probably one of the reasons Bruce was chosen to portray me in “Deadman’s Curve,” because he was a good spontaneous actor. I don’t think Richard Hatch quite was as spontaneous as Bruce was, but it was more important for Bruce to be the spontaneous / comedic character when needed. I wasn’t surprised that he would do something like that. It just seemed perfectly in character to me after all these years. Some stuff never changes.
Tonga Hut
David Beard: “Tonga Hut” was written from inspiration provided by the bar of the same name
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| Philip Bardowell |
Gary Griffin: Another piece using Martin Denny and Esquivel as influences. Dave and I wrote some lyrics that include many of the unique names of the cocktails from the Tonga Hut menu – or the “Grog Log” as they call it. Phil’s last verse is truly inspired. I simply told him to improvise away from the melody and one take later we had this incredible verse. This guy can sing, I tell ya!!
Philip Bardowell: That was fun. I enjoyed “letting my hair down” on that one. That Island feel comes naturally to me being born in Jamaica and all. I tried channeling Sting at that tag! Fun tune…
Chris English: Same thing goes for "Tonga Hut." It's kind of a period piece-and a location piece-that really draws the listener into an intriguing story.
Miami Dan Yoe: “Tonga Hut” to my ear has a bit of a Jimmy Buffett vibe to it; a really fun track that showcases Phil Bardowell’s vocal chops.
Jericho
Gary Griffin: Another glimpse into the world of Miami Dan! He has created a musical mystery right up there with “What did Billie Joe McAllister throw off the Tallahatchee Bridge?” What really went on in Jericho that changed him so very much?? We may never know. I’m sure Dan doesn’t remember anyway. Too bad.
Chris English: "Jericho" is one of my favorite songs on the record. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that Dan is singing it. Great voice and delivery on that guy.
I’ve Always Loved The Ocean
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| Matt Jardine |
Miami Dan Yoe: I originally wrote that song in the late 70’s and when I would sing it I always made a conscious effort to sound like Alan Jardine in my vocal. I never dreamed that over 30 years later Al’s son would be recording a vocal for it. I’m a long time fan of Matt’s and couldn’t be happier that he does the vocal on both “I’ve Always Loved the Ocean” and “Star Of The Beach.”
Gary Griffin: Great vocal by Matty – another great track that Probyn cut and we sweetened here in L.A.
Chris English: Matt brings a lot to the table on everything he's a part of. I really loved working with him. "I've Always Loved The Ocean" highlights his incredible vocal skills.
Philip Bardowell: For me, the song should be called “I’ve Always Loved Matt’s Voice.” His performance is stellar; it’s such a sweet tone.
Don’t Say It’s Over
Gary Griffin: Randell did a marvelous vocal on this and great harmonies with Matt on the
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| Randell Kirsch |
Chris English: Randell really brought his A-Game to "Don't Say it's Over." He has a gift for performance that more people should be aware of.
Philip Bardowell: Randell is one of the most gifted vocalists and songwriters I know. Everything he sings sounds great. He’s a complete natural.
Miami Dan Yoe: “Don’t Say It’s Over” is my favorite track on the album. Randell nailed the lead. Chris, Matt and Randell all did fabulous jobs on the backing vocals. I think Dan Houck played the instruments on the basic track and did a great job, and Gary’s sweetening of the track took it up a notch as well. It was a home run all around. It’s a perfect summer song.
The Bamboo Trading Company (Theme)
David Beard: The last song written for the collection was, “The Bamboo Trading Company (Theme).” The track is a rollicking cross-hybrid of the Monkees, Dave Clark Five and the Traveling Wilburys, which was perfect. The vision for The Bamboo Trading Company had always been a surf pop genre hybrid of a bunch of friends gathered around a microphone, cracking jokes, making it look effortless, hanging out together and just having a great time. We believe we captured that ambiance.
Gary Griffin: Dave had written some “theme song” lyrics and had a rough idea for the melody. I wrote a snappy little piece to accompany it. I think it took about 45 seconds to write. Cute. I wanted to do one of those crazy chaotic tags like something from a Beatles record from the late 60’s – in fact there’s a Beatles musical “quote” in there. Did anyone hear it? Randell simply showed up at the session with his baritone electric sitar. How could I say no? I love it!!
Airborne (Reentry)
Chris English: The musical journey from coast to coast brings so many memories for me, literally. I've lived in SoCal and, for the most part, on the southern east coast. I know the journey by air and by road. I hope the listener will get the sense of joy that the imaginary trip (and recording process) conjures up.
Philip Bardowell: It conjures up a journey-like a short film without dialogue. I like the conceptual approach this album embraces.
Miami Dan Yoe: For me, listening to this album will always bring back the memories of being in the Supreme Hall of Harmony working on the tracks. The studio is located in Southern California, so the weather was always sunny and warm. Using the “Airborne” track to bookend the other songs was the perfect way to begin and end the record.
How would you describe The Bamboo Trading Company CD to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?
Gary Griffin: Reckless abandon. Fun. Just following wherever the music takes you. A musical potpourri… Impossible to pigeonhole. I suppose there are “summertime” influences there which make it easy to describe as a “BeachBoys-ish” type record. I don’t really hear that though.
Matt Jardine: David and Gary did a fine job putting it all together. I would describe it as a throwback kind of project. It has a lot of 70’s feel to it… A few tracks sound quasi Beach Boys. I think that fans who like that era of music will probably enjoy it.
Philip Bardowell: It is very unique, fresh, adventurous, brave…and yet still very palatable.
Randell Kirsch: It is written in the scriptures that Rock and Roll came from the Blues, the saddest of all music (especially if it’s in D minor), but all we did was laugh our butts off making this record. It was really fun. … David Beard is just brimming with ideas, concepts, plans for World Domination, etc. If only .0001% get done, we’ll be busy every summer for the rest of our lives.
Chris English: The Bamboo Trading Company IS the consummate summer record, and was (and remains for me) a labor of love. It will always hold a special place in my heart. The individual and collective songwriting on this album is some of the best pop songsmithing I’ve ever been a part of.
Miami Dan Yoe: Well, it’s for sure a summer album and I’ve seen a couple of reviewers call it that. I think if it were to catch on and get enough airplay and other exposure it could become the soundtrack album of the summer. Much of the album is pure, summertime pop, but several of the songs, primarily in the middle section of the record, are a little darker in their sound and a little more mysterious in their lyrical approach. Production and performance account for much of the success or lack of success for any song, but if a tune is going to have any chance at being successful, it has to have good bones. To my ear, there’s not a throwaway track on the album, which is a tribute to the strength of the songwriting.
Dean Torrence: From an “old school” perspective, the CD has enough good music on it, so I’m very proud. The packaging was dead on… Absolutely perfect! Overall, as a complete package, it’s pretty darn good. If enough people say they are good with it, then I’m good with it.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheBambooTradingCompany
Official Page: http://killershrewsmovie.com/bambootradingcompany.html
Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/TheBambooTradin
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheBambooTradingCompany
Official Page: http://killershrewsmovie.com/bambootradingcompany.html
Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/TheBambooTradin
"Shrewd Awakening" music video
"Return Of The Killer Shrews" movie trailer
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Jan Berry of "Jan & Dean" died this day in 2004
Jan Berry of "Jan & Dean" fame died this day in 2004. Berry had a severe car crash in 1966. He had a long road toward recovery after the wreck left him with partial paralysis and brain damage. Even with his physical limitations, he eventually reunited with Dean after the success of the TV movie Deadman's Curve. Berry is sometimes overlooked for his contributions in the studio as producer. Even Brian Wilson, who collaborated many times with Jan, said "I learned to make cleaner background tracks (from Jan). I learned how to be ambitious from Jan. He had a very strong spirit for recording music." Read more from his former partner Dean Torrence from our interview last December at this LINK. Enjoy some great moments of Jan's career below-
"Sidewalk Surfin"
"The Little Old Lady From Pasadena"
"Deadman's Curve"
"Baby Talk"
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Dean Torrence: garage doo-wop with Jan, football with Elvis and living in Surf City USA
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| photo by Jillian A. Torrence |
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| Jillian with her custom painted surfboard. Photo by Dean Torrence in Surf City USA. |
I spoke with Bruce Johnston of The Beach
Boys a few weeks back. He went to the
same University High School in Los Angeles with you and Jan Berry. What music were you listening to in high
school?
Probably doo-wop.
Yeah, I think Bruce was a fan of doo-wop. Jan certainly was. Bruce was a little younger and a neighbor of
Jan’s. He probably liked anything that
Jan liked.
You and Jan were in a group at that time
called The Barons. Was this primarily
doo-wop?
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| early publicity shot |
Yeah, I think that’s about all we knew. We probably did hear some of Elvis’ stuff but
we considered that kind of country. We
appreciated it but it wasn’t what we particularly liked. We liked vocal groups and that was a single
artist. Single artists weren’t quite as
interesting to us as vocal groups.
Do you remember what you liked later that
was not in that style?
No we were totally focused on doo-wop in the
beginning. It probably wasn’t until many
years later that we started to look for our own identity.
You mentioned Elvis earlier. Many people have musical connections with
Elvis but you and Jan connected with him on the football field!
We were just sports friends. We didn’t hang out musically at all. When we were around him we talked
sports…never mentioned music. He was
more or less a neighbor. He lived about
10 minutes from my house and about 10-15 minutes from Jan. He liked to go to a park that was up Beverly
Glen. I think it was called Beverly Glen
Canyon Park. It was an odd little
park. It wasn’t huge but it was big
enough to lay out a football field more or less. Teams would meet there starting in summer and
then into fall and winter. A lot of the
guys that played on these weekend teams were guys that were playing college
ball. They were already practicing and
stuff through spring and summer and just wanted to play more.
Sundays at Beverly Glen Canyon Park was kind of open to anyone that showed up. Most had their own teams. It wasn’t pick-up kind of stuff. Elvis obviously had his own team. He wasn’t about to put together some team of
people he didn’t know and didn’t know their abilities. He had ringers. Jan & I also had a team called the Bel Air
Bandits. We had a bunch of ringers
too. Rick Nelson had a team. Of course he had ringers (laughs). We were a pretty damn good team with real
college athletes. The games got pretty
competitive. There was only room for one
game at a time. People would show up and
informally sign up to be next. Basically
you’d play a game and the first team to score 2 touchdowns was the winner. They’d stay on the field and the next in line
would come on the field and play their game.
Games weren’t all that long.
There usually were a bunch of people that wanted to play. Everybody wanted to play against Elvis or
Rick or somebody…mostly against Elvis because his team never lost. I don’t remember ever seeing them lose. We knew if we went to play there we would
probably be on long enough to score a touchdown and Elvis’ team would score 2
and then you were done. You could
re-sign back up but you’d have to wait another hour. It wasn’t that we went there that often. It was kind of a last resort thing. If you didn’t have anything better to do and
didn’t have enough to divide into 2 teams then we would opt to go to Elvis’
game and at least get in some playing.
It was fun. He was a good guy and
very athletic. He didn’t expect to be
treated any differently than anybody else.
We would go out of our way to make sure we didn’t coddle him and we did
bump him around. He didn’t mind at
all. The rest of team didn’t come after
you to protect him. He was just on his
own. I thought that was pretty cool.
Do you remember the first Jan & Dean
song that not only you were excited to hear on the air but that your friends gave
you good feedback on it as well?
 |
| Drag City- 1963 |
That’s an interesting question that sounds like it would
have an obvious answer. One of the most
exciting was of course hearing your record on the air for the very first
time. That was your own personal
excitement. Then from there it may
branch out to be curious as to what others think of it as well. A very interesting dynamic was our doo-wop
records. We were still considered teen
idols and not doo-wop musicians.
Especially the white kids…they were in a teen idol category. We wouldn’t get played alongside the real doo-wop
artists…you know, the black guys who weren’t teen idols. Consequently, for better or for worse, we
thought we were competing with doo-wop artists and selling to the same
people. But that wasn’t true. Our audience quickly became teenage girls who
weren’t necessarily listening to The Coasters, The Drifters, or any of those
groups. They might be listening to
Elvis, Frankie Avalon and people like that.
So the bottom line is we were making records for 12-16 year olds…17
maybe. So quite honestly my friends who
were 19, 20 and 21 didn’t think we shouldn’t be doing that. They thought we should be making hipper
records that maybe would even fall into the folk category or something. Most of the guys my age were listening to
Peter, Paul & Mary and just becoming aware of Bob Dylan. They just thought we were selling out. I didn’t get a lot of feedback from my
immediate friends so the subject never came up(laughs). Once we found our way into the California
culture records…surfing, beach and cars…then it was perfectly acceptable and
were at least mainstream to our friends.
Was taking that next step to California
culture records on purpose?
 |
| designed by Dean Torrence/Kittyhawk Graphics |
No. Quite honestly
we ran out of subject material to sing about.
If you’re singing to girls, you’re singing about boy-girl situation
songs. We just kind of ran out of stuff
to sing about because we didn’t know much about boy-girl relationships except
puppy love. Once we found a whole new
category to sing about and actually had as much passion for, we did it. I don’t think we were sitting there thinking
what our fan base was particularly. It
was just something we enjoyed and something we could tunesmith stuff
about. I’d like to say we figured it out
and then executed it but we just did it because we enjoyed it and then it
worked out.
Sometimes not planning and letting it happen
naturally is the way to go.
Nothing really ever goes the way you plan anyway. I guess that’s what you learn as you age.
I was watching the Deadman’s Curve movie
from 1978 and my 11 year old son had a question. Did you record the skateboard sound for
“Sidewalk Surfin’” while holding a tape recorder as portrayed in the movie?
We may have fudged a little bit with that. We had an engineer do it with the tape
equipment because he knew how to use the tape machine. It wasn’t our machine and he probably didn’t
want us using it. We wanted to
skateboard anyway. We didn’t care if we
took the machine around. Other than Jan
wasn’t carrying the machine, we did it right outside the studio on the
sidewalk. We have always loved using
sound effects records. We were very
familiar with the library that had all the sound effects in it. We kind of went through the sound effects
library looking for a skateboard sound but we were pretty sure there wasn’t
one. Of course there wasn’t one. It was too new for anyone to think about for
sound effects records so we had to do our own.
I love the simplicity of that.
It was pretty primitive.
Speaking of the Deadman’s Curve movie, were
you surprised by the response?
Yeah. I was very
surprised with the net result. It
obviously did mean if we chose to give it another try we didn’t have to start
from ground zero. I still didn’t trust
that the afterglow of the 1st airing of Deadman’s Curve would
last. I waited until it was shown a 2nd
time and then the numbers held up. As a
matter of fact, the numbers even got better the 2nd time. And then combined with Mike Love (Beach Boys)
calling me every other day saying I’d be stupid if I didn’t try to take
advantage of the newfound publicity we were getting. That was mainly because he was in the film so
he was getting a lot of people’s reaction to him directly. I wasn’t quite as accessible because I was in
the graphics business. A few people did
figure out the name of my company and connected the dots and called my company to
find me, butMike was out on the road along with the other guys and talking to
people every day. He kept calling me and
saying “you really need to rethink this whole thing and come out and try it one
more time”. He finally invited me to go
on the road with them so I didn’t have to put together a band right away and could see for myself. Besides, they had their own airplane and that
kind of sounded like fun. I thought,”oh
if you put it that way.” (laughs). Once
we saw it for ourselves, we really did feel the energy. Especially when I calculated that I could
make more in one night then I was making in a month doing graphics. I love graphics but trying to get paid was
really difficult. People enjoyed what
you did for them but when it was time to write a check, graphic artists were
always the last to get paid. I guess
it’s more important to keep the lights on.
“Ah, it’s just graphics…if this guy get’s pissed off at me I can just
find another one. There are plenty of
them out there” (laughs).
You’ve had a long relationship with The
Beach Boys. In fact, you walked down the
hall from a Jan & Dean session and sang on a Beach Boys session of “Barbara
Ann” from their Party album.
 |
| The Beach Boys- Party 1965 |
I’m looking at the gold record right this second with a
nice little plaque that they did for me that says “Thanks Dean for bringing
Barbara Ann to our Party”. I guess it
was my idea to do “Barbara Ann” since Jan & Dean had done it maybe a year
before. I just thought with the kinds of
songs they were doing it would be a fun one to do. It was enough to record. I suggested it and they thought it was a good
idea. It was done in about 20 minutes
and then I went back to the Jan & Dean studio pretending that I didn’t
really do anything. I was told not to.
Was there a competitive nature between the 2
groups?
I don’t think it was competitive. It was more inspirational. We had inspired them to some degree and once
they started making really special records they inspired us musically. We didn’t really need to compete with one
another. As a matter of fact, if we just
matched them and they matched us we were happy with that. Consequently, the whole learning curve would
be shortened by a bunch if we just collaborated with stuff
The Who did a cover of “Bucket T” in the
mid-60’s. How did you like their
version?
I loved it. I
absolutely loved it.
Were you surprised they picked that song and
maybe not one of the more obvious hits?
I never even thought about that. I guess I liked it because it wasn’t. I would have expected them not to just do a
straight cover of something that we had some sort of national success
with. So the fact that they really
looked for a gem that was lost as a filler piece on an LP was perfectly natural
by creative people. They did exactly
what I thought they would have done.
There were plenty of others that were just as buried and just tongue-in-cheek
but that was a good choice.
You and Jan had a lot of hits but were there
any songs that you were surprised didn’t become a bigger hit?
No. I never really
blamed it on the execution or the particular song or anything. Usually, we could backwards engineer the
whole thing and it was pretty easy to blame it on the company for one reason or
another. A lot had to do with the timing
with putting stuff out and having the full attention of the record company. They had to be totally on board and focused
or you’re going to lose something. We
weren’t on the best of labels. The
company we were on was certainly not a big powerhouse. They were an independent company that was
just kind of plodding along. We could
have a top 10 song and sell 2/3 of what our friends The Beach Boys were selling
on a major label. I never took it
personally in terms of our creative abilities.
Some of the songs were exactly like the song we just had a top 10 with
but it didn’t make sense why the next one out did nothing. Well actually, we never had one that did
nothing. We had a ton of chart
records. But if you’re getting on the
charts in the 40’s or 30’s or 20’s and the creation was just as good as the one
you just had in the top 10 but it was pretty obvious to me it was the companies
lack of promotion, lack of focus, lack of marketing, distribution.
Timing is key!
At the company level, you’re also losing key people and
key positions. Either they move to a
different position,someone lures them away, or they quit or get fired and the
whole continuity is messed up. If you
just happen to have a release coming out at that time and there’s turmoil in
the company, there’s not much you can do about it.
I love the concept record you did called
Save For A Rainy Day. Can you tell me
about that?
 |
| originally released 1966/re-released 1996 |
Most of our records were about spring and summer. We refused to do a Christmas record. We didn’t want to waste our time with a
Christmas record. It seemed like a cop
out. The company wanted to sell a big
chunk of records during Christmas based on a certain artist doing the same old
“Jingle Bells” song. That didn’t seem creative to me. Now if you’re writing your own original
songs, I kind of like that. I thought
the Beach Boys were very clever with that and not falling into the trap in the
“same olds” and then writing some really good songs. We didn’t have a lot of time to write so when
we did have time to write, we really made sure it was stuff that was
meaningful. We thought instead of doing
a Christmas record, maybe we should think about some off season record that
doesn’t have anything to do with spring or summer. So that was our kind of idea to sing about
winter and fall going into spring. We
never really, we meaning “Jan & Dean”, never got really far with this. Jan had his accident. So at that particular time, I thought it was
a neat concept. I didn’t want to compete
with the traditional Jan & Dean concepts so I decided tojust go ahead and
work on that project and just wait and see what happened to him medically. Since we got let go from our record company, we
had fulfilled our contract with them, we were going to be moving on to our own
label and be distributed by our old partner Lou Adler who had just started Dunhill
Records. So we would have been
distributed by Dunhill. We hadn’t gotten
to that point yet with Jan in the hospital.
We were kind of on hold so we had no record company and no recording
budget. I had a couple of old studio
musician guys who had always appreciated all the work we had thrown their way. They said “we got this little home studio,
why don’t you come over here and do it on our home studio”. It was very low budget. It was ok for what it was. It wasn’t anywhere close to be as good as I’d
hoped it would have been had I had a real budget to work with. It was better than nothing I guess
I really liked it. I liked you were doing something
different. Speaking of something
different and in light of the recently released SMiLE album from the Beach Boys, you had a much talked about unreleased
album that came out last year called Carnival Of Sound. Was it cool to see it come
out?
Not particularly.
I had hoped after all these years that it had actually been lost and
gone away. I wasn’t into the psychedelic
crowd particularly. I liked some of
it. The post-accident Jan was not as
creative as the pre-accident Jan was. I
just felt it wasn’t as good as it should have been. He barely sang on it at all. I just never connected with the dang
thing. The reason why I was happy to do
the packaging was I was afraid Rhino would try to make it look like a
traditional Jan & Dean project, which was cars and surfing and that kind of
thing. I didn’t want it to be misleading
that it was one of those. I just thought
if I controlled the packaging I could at least one way or another give the
consumer an idea of what’s inside the packaging by looking at the outside of
the package. I tried to do my best to do
as much of a psychedelic looking cover that I could possibly get away with. The first couple of covers I did, they didn’t
really like. They were too psychedelic
for them (laughs). I got away with some
of it. My original stuff was even more
tie-dye. I just wish a real collection
of old Jan & Dean hits catalog would come out in such a nice package. I’m always scratching my head. To me, almost everything is 180⁰ from where it should be. But I’ve learned to live with that. That’s been going on for 30-40 years. I’m used to it now. Why would you spend that much effort for that,
when that effort could be hit for a real hits package? We’ve never had a box set. I’m too stubborn to go and try to force it
down anyone’s throat because I’ll waste a bunch of time and it won’t happen
anyway.
 |
| final album cover |
 |
| early album cover concept |
Did Rhino do this project because it was
Warner material?
Jan had signed a 1 LP deal. I signed off on it knowing that I probably
wasn’t going to sing on anything. I
don’t think I did. It was all
Jan’s. I think I said that in the
packaging that it was my gift to him. He
was always pissed off at Save For A Rainy
Day so this was his way at getting back at me…but needing my
signature. Again, the brain-damaged Jan
was not even close to being pre-accident Jan.
I never held it against him. It
was all he was capable of doing.
The surf music collecting crowd is crazy
about anything rare or unreleased from artists like you, The Beach Boys, Dick
Dale and others.
Yeah, but those are the nut-jobs. That’s what Rhino was shooting for. They only made 2,500-3,500…5,000 at
most. The only difference is a Brian
Wilson throwaway is better than most peoples’ 100 percent of energies put into
something. Jan’s was made for the
hardcore Jan fans that would buy just about anything he would do and/or those
nut-jobs that absolutely love something that’s unreleased. Quite honestly , the reason why most things
aren’t released is because it ain’t very good.
They don’t see it that way.
 |
| designed by Dean Torrence/Kittyhawk Graphics |
That’s the thing about the collector
mentality though…the harder and more obscure it is the more they want it.
On my website, I put some one-of-a-kind stuff in the
merchandise section. The fans are
scratching their heads…the majority of the fans just just want a t-shirt, CD, a
picture. I made sure that everything in
our merchandise section was one of a kind or very rare. Nothing is under $500. There’s a surf board for $3,500. So you sell 1 or 2 a year, that’s fine. Then the nut-jobs are very happy about
that. Unfortunately, the nut-jobs don’t
have a lot of money (laughs). It’s not a
very good business idea. I just like it
because it’s visual and kind of fun.
Whether or not I actually sell anything is irrelevant.
 |
| Dean at his Kittyhawk offices. Photo courtesy of Dean Torrence |
Let’s talk about Kittyhawk Graphics that you
started shortly after Jan’s accident. Do
you still do designs with that now?
Yeah, it seems that I do.
I probably do 4 or 5 projects a year.
It’s most old friends. I have had
people that emailed. I’m pretty
reluctant to start all over with somebody.
It’s hard enough working with my friends let alone for strangers
(laughs). Most of the time, it’s for old
friends or Jan & Dean related. The
people that have Jan & Dean product have been nice enough to give me a call
to do my own packaging.
You designed that iconic Beach Boys logo.
 |
| designed by Dean Torrence/Kittyhawk Graphics |
Yes, I did. I’ve
been very pleased that they continue with that thing. It was done for 15 Big One’s album. I never
meant it to be a logo. It was done for
that one package and it kept showing up.
It was a Warner Brother package so Capitol has never used it to my
knowledge.
You helped Huntington Beach get trademarked
as Surf City USA. That has to be pretty
cool.
|
| designed by Dean Torrence/Kittyhawk Graphics |
Yeah, it’s very cool.
I love that. Every day I love
that. Every day I get in the car, I
can’t go 2 blocks without seeing Surf City on something…or even on a decal on
another car or license plate frames…and then businesses. There seems to be a business on every block
that has Surf City on it. Again, I’m
looking at my degree. It’s from a school
of architecture but it was in advertising design. I just converted all the advertising design
for recording artists to applying it to the city. The city is a product as well. We’re competing for space out there in terms
of being recognized as a destination that people should want to come to. People come to California and look on the map
and want to go to the beach. When there
are 100 beach communities, how do you pick?
Well hopefully the one called Surf City.
It’s just marketing and branding.
When I first started in the mid-90’s, I was always talking about
branding and they had no idea what I was talking about. About 6-7 years ago someone put out a DVD
about branding. I finally sat a bunch of
people down and played it for them. “Ah
that’s what you’re talking about. We
didn’t have any cows so we didn’t know what the hell you were talking about”
(laughs). It’s been a long, long
process. I’m already thinking 10-15
years ahead and they’re still 10 years behind.
They still have not even come close to taking full advantage of the Surf
City name.
Jan passed away in 2004. What do you miss most about Jan?
I kind of lost Jan in 1966. At the time of his accident, he had invited
me to live in his house. I had been in
his brand new Bel Air house for about a year.
We still got along. We were still
good friends. We based our friendship on
a bunch of other things besides music early on and it continued. We argued over music from time to time and had
disagreements over concepts and things.
But we were good friends. After
the accident, it was a totally different thing.
As my wife likes to say, I lost him twice. After his accident, he got another 30 years
of still being able to go out and perform.
He was always frustrated. He was
happy in the moment at times. But it was
very frustrating for him. In a way, I
was almost relieved for him and hopefully he is in a better place. He did get to relive some of the stuff and
hoped that he appreciated it in the moment.
All in all, life for him was extremely difficult.
I am still hopeful that someday soon, you
and Jan will be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Why do you think that hasn’t happened yet?
|
| Dean with his Surf City Cruiser Woody Bike. Surf City Huntington Beach Pier in background. Photo courtesy of Dean Torrence. |
Every other hall of fame is based on the numbers so just
based on numbers I don’t get it. We were
outsiders and I can understand that part of it.
We never really respected the media and the other folks in the
business. We made our own
decisions. Jan was brighter than any
record company president I ever knew.
And between the 2 of us, we were a hell of a lot more creative than the
suits we worked for. I don’t know if
that had anything to do with it but that’s the only thing I can come up
with. We were outsiders and not kiss-assers. And plus, we didn’t even really respect the
business because how could we respect if we seemed to want to go out and get
degrees and keep going to college. That
might have been a slap in the face to the music people. I don’t know.
I don’t care at this point. The
brain-damaged Jan would have gotten a kick out of it. He deserves it. He made top 10 songs in his garage for God’s
sake. If that’s not hall of fame
material, I don’t know what is. At the
very least, we’re guys who co-wrote most of our songs, performed them, arranged
them, produced them…even did the packaging.
What else do they want you to do?
And we still went to college 5 days a week. I’m looking at my degree right there. The Beatles didn’t even do that.
What do you see happening for you in 2012?
 |
| designed by Dean Torrence/Kittyhawk Graphics |
Oh heck, I don’t know.
I have no idea. None
whatsoever. I’m following all the
economic stuff and all the political stuff and that will have a lot to do with
it. I can’t sit here and think about
creative stuff. There may not be any
money in the economy to be able to afford creative stuff. Who the hell knows? Meanwhile, I just do what I can do and get
creative when I need to. Other than
that, I don’t know what the future is.
It will be interesting. It might
not be a whole lot of fun but it will be interesting.
"Baby Talk"
Live medley
"Surf City"
Mike Love & Dean Torrence interview
"Vegetables" (Dean as Laughing Gravy)
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