Aqua Velvets are an American surf rock revival band from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, formed in the 1980s by guitarist Miles Corbin. Rather than simply recreate the vintage 1963 surf sound, Corbin set out to add depth and dimension with original songs that included strings, horns, keyboards, and exotic instruments. The result was a cinematic sound more akin to film composers like Ennio Morricone and John Barry. The group released their debut album in 1992, recorded over a period of several years. This album was recorded in the auto repair shop where bassist Michael Lindner worked. They signed to Atlantic Records in 1995 to release '' Surfmania''; subsequent releases appeared on BMG subsidiary

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...

. The Velvets continued to release a steady stream of albums through 2015, most notably ''Tiki Beat'' (2010) and ''El Morocco'' (2015). The Aqua Velvets' songs have been covered by a number of other surf artists. The group performs live mostly on the West Coast.

Members

*Miles Corbin - guitar, songwriting *Michael Lindner - bass, keyboards, accordion *Hank Maninger - guitar (also with the

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and

Bonnie Hayes Bonnie Hayes is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, born in San Francisco, California, United States, and currently lives between Los Angeles and New York City. Her songs have been recorded by Cher, Bette Midler, Bonnie ...

and the Wild Combo) *Donn Spindt - drums (formerly of

The Rubinoos The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" (1977, a cover of the hit by Tommy James & the Shondells), "I Wanna Be Your Boyfrie ...

) *Tim Gahagan - drums

Discography

Albums: *''The Aqua Velvets'' ( Heyday Records, 1992) *'' Surfmania'' ( Atlantic Records, 1995) *''Nomad'' (

, 1996) *''Guitar Noir'' (Milan, 1997) *''Radio Waves'' (Milan, 2001) *''Cool and Waydown at the Beach Chalet'' ( Miles Corbin Music Recordings, 2007) *''Backflip Louie and the Pool Party Pagans'' ( Riptide Records, 2008) *''Reaching Shangri-La'' ( Miles Corbin Music Recordings, 2008) *''Tiki Beat'' (Riptide Records, 2010) *''El Morocco'' (Riptide Records, 2015) Singles: *''The Christmas Single'' ( Miles Corbin Music Recordings, 2006) *''Tropic Isle'' ( Miles Corbin Music Recordings, 2007) Compilations: *''Hard Rock Surf'' (Hard Rock/Capitol Records, 1994) *''Blazing Longboards Soundtrack'' (Mesa Bluemoon/Atlantic, 1995) *''Cowabunga: The Surf Box'' (Rhino Records, 1995) *''Big Waves: 5 Decades of Surf Rock'' (Rhino/Starbucks, 2007)

References

External links

Official WebsiteAqua Velvets entry
at ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' {{authority control Surf music groups Musical groups from San Francisco