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Suicide Surf [Re​-​recording]

from Almost Night by The Palisades

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We often started our shows with this great James Deely surf instrumental. I believe if “Suicide Surf’ had been released in the surf era it would have been a great classic right up there with “Pipeline”, “Wipe Out” and “Mr. Moto”. Surf music (along with rockabilly) had made a strong revival in the early ‘80’s. Though the Palisades were neither a surf or rockabilly band (though we certainly had elements of both in our sound) we often played with groups that were. With JD’s Tele/Strat and Fender twin reverb amp, he already had a natural “surf’ sound.

The song is kind of “Proud Mary” meets “Pipeline”. I came up with the idea for the wave sounds on the cymbals which I heisted from the Beach Boys “Catch a Wave”. I love the part where the music breaks down and the monster wave crashes (turn up the bass!). Beyond the “top of the world and heading down” part, I also worked on some other vocal ideas for the song but decided to discard them to leave room for the excellent music.

For me, this song truly captures the danger and exhilaration of riding a monster wave. The fact that JD actually did surf and looked the part gave the song even more credence. The Palisades originally played the song like a standard surf song but JD rearranged it in 1983 and added some heavy punk influence to it – which is the arrangement you hear here. True surf punk music!

lyrics

[instrumental]

Top of the world and heading down

credits

from Almost Night, released July 17, 2020
James Deely

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The Palisades Hawthorne, California

Dominating the South Bay music scene for two years (1982-1983), the Palisades were from Hawthorne CA (the same home of the legendary Beach Boys). Punk, Power pop, surf music, ska! No one sounded like the Palisades in 1982 and 1983. The music they wrote and performed was the music of being young – a celebration of youth.
It was a magical time in a magical place…come on in ... more

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