. Wow! The King Of Surf Guitar - LIVE. . You have to REALLy turn up the volume when you listen to this as that is the only way to enjoy Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. Dick was never satisfied with the volume he could get out of his kit. Luckily he forged a relationship with Fender who produced bigger and louder amplifiers for him - he destroyed most of them until he got his hands on the first 100 watt amp. He was also instrumental in them producing the reverb unit. . He was, like Hendrix, a leftie but played a right-handed guitar upside down. But unlike Hendrix he didn't re-string the guitar. He left the strings where they were and also put on much thicker strings which might survive the extra heavy pick he used . He was quite successful until the British invasion arrived. A comeback took a while but when it did he got a brand new audience. Listen to the music played over the opening titles of "Pulp Fiction" - that is Mr Dale's "Miserlou" playing. After the release it only took a week brfore he was on "Letterman". He toured the UK, Australia and elsewhere in the following years. . He was still gigging until shortly before his death in 2019 at the age of 81 - more gigs were booked. He said he had to keep playing to pay all of his medical bills. . Enjoy a bit of surf rock it makes the Beach Boys sound so tame . |