Hendrix’s famous quote ‘You’ll never hear surf music again”, which is routinely taken to be a put down of the music, was, in fact, a tribute to Dale when the influential guitarist was forced into a temporary retirement because of a bout with cancer late in the ‘60s. To get the necessary volume to be heard over the crowd, Dale has worked with the legendary Leo Fender to create what became the first 100-Watt Amplifier, which not only took rock music to previously unheard volumes, but in turn created new tonal qualities that would later influence guitarists from Jimi Hendrix to Eddie Van Halen and beyond. Pulling 3000 kids a night, Dale whipped the primarily surfer audience into a stomping frenzy which resulted in the shows being known as “Stomps,” a name that would soon be used for similar events in also surf-mad Sydney. A phenomenally successful run at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California took Dick Dale and his band over the top.
Of Lebanese descent on his father’s side, Dick incorporated Middle Eastern scales into his music, which can be clearly heard in the likes of “Miserlou.”ĭick Dale & the Del Tones' second single, 1961’s "Let's Go Trippin'" is regarded as the first surf rock song. The “wet” sound of excessive reverb on his guitar sound was part of that. Moving with his family to California, he started surfing in the late 50s and decided to create a style of music that invoked the feeling of riding the waves. His classic hit “Misirlou” featured in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack three and a half decades later, prompting a career revival that saw him playlisted on Triple J and touring Australia.ĭick Dale was born Richard Monsour in Boston.
His loud and pulsating guitar style prompted technical advances in amplification that led to him being considered by some to the father of early Heavy Metal. Known as “The King of the Surf Guitar,” Dick Dale influenced numerous other surf guitar groups like The Surfaris, The Chantays, and Sydney’s Atlantics.
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