The Chantays, sometimes credited as Chantay's, is an American surf music band from

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, United States, known for the

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

Pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

" (1963). Their music combines

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

s and

surf guitar Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a Music genre, genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is in ...

, creating a unique ghostly sound.

History

The Chantays were formed in 1961 by five high-school friends. Bob Spickard, Brian Carman (co-writers of "Pipeline"), Bob Welch, Warren Waters and Rob Marshall were all students at

Santa Ana High School Santa Ana High School is the oldest and largest high school in Orange County, California, United States. The school was established in 1889. Notable alumni * Original members of the surf band The Chantays * Barry Asher, professional bowler * Ton ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In December 1962, the group recorded and released "Pipeline", which peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in May 1963. The track also peaked in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1963 at No. 16. The Chantays recorded their first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

in 1963, also titled ''Pipeline'', which included "Blunderbus" and "El Conquistador". Their follow-up album was ''Two Sides of the Chantays'' in 1964. The Chantays toured Japan and the United States, joining

the Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los ...

and

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

on a few occasions, and they were the only rock and roll band to perform on '' The Lawrence Welk Show''. "Pipeline" (published as

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

in 1962 by Downey Music Publishing) has become one of several surf rock hits. The tune has since been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

by Bruce Johnston,

Welk WELK (94.7 FM) is a classic hits formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Elkins, West Virginia, serving North Central West Virginia. WELK is owned and operated by West Virginia Radio Corporation. References External links94.7 WELK Onli ...

(on the Dot album ''Scarlet O'Hara''), Al Caiola (on the United Artists album ''Greasy Kid Stuff''), the Ventures,

Takeshi Terauchi , also known as Terry, was a Japanese instrumental rock guitarist. His preferred guitar was a black Mosrite with a white pickguard. His guitar sound was characterized by frenetic picking, heavy use of tremolo picking and frequent use of his gu ...

& Blue Jeans,

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...

, Hank Marvin,

Lively Ones The Lively Ones were an instrumental surf rock band from USA, active in Southern California in the 1960s. They played live mostly in California and Arizona. They recorded for Del-Fi records with production from Bob Keane. They recorded mostly cov ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

, Dick Dale with the help of

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

(Grammy Nominated), by the

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary, ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at their most popular during the early 1980 ...

and

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with ...

. "Pipeline" has been used in many

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

s and commercials, and appears on numerous

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s. The Chantays have been honored for their contributions to music. Highlights include being honored on April 12, 1996, by Hollywood's Rock Walk, that was founded to honor individuals and bands that have made lasting and important contributions to music. "Pipeline" is listed as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Along with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers and Diane Keaton, the Chantays were honored by the City of Santa Ana, California, and Santa Ana High School when they named a street after them, Chantays Way. ''OC Weekly'' magazine also named the Chantays as one of the Best Orange County Bands. The Chantays are still playing. Original members Bob Spickard and Bob Welch are joined by longtime members Ricky Lewis and Brian Nussle. More recent albums include ''The Next Set'' (live recording) and ''Waiting for the Tide''. Some of the tracks are the new songs "Crystal T" and "Killer Dana", along with remakes of "Pipeline", "El Conquistador" and "Blunderbus". Brian Carman died at his home in Santa Ana, California, from complications of

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...

on March 1, 2015. He was 69. Another longtime member Gil Orr died on September 19, 2017. He was 79.

Members

*Bob Spickard — guitar: original member *Brian Carman (born Brian Craig Carman; August 10, 1945 – March 1, 2015) — guitar: original member *Bob Welch — drums: original member (not the Fleetwood Mac member). *Warren Waters — bass guitar: original member *Rob Marshall — piano: original member *Ricky Lewis — guitar: longtime member *Gil Orr (July 17, 1938 – September 19, 2017) — guitar/bass guitar: longtime member *Brian Nussle — bass guitar: longtime member

Discography

Albums

* ''Pipeline'' (

Downey Downey may refer to: People *Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US *Downey, Idaho, US *Downey, Iowa, US Businesses *W. & D. Downey, photographic studio *Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Schools * ...

DLP-1002, 1963; Dot DLP-3516/DLP-25516) * ''Two Sides of the Chantays'' (Dot DLP-3771/DLP-25771, 1964) * ''Next Set'' ive(Chantay Productions CPD-3164, 1994) * ''Waiting for the Tide'' (Vesper Alley/Roctopia VRA-80003, 1997)

Singles

* "

" / "Move It" (Downey 104, 1/63; Dot 16440) * "Monsoon" / "Scotch Highs" (Downey 108, 5/63; Dot 16492) * "Space Probe" / "Continental Missile" (Downey 116, 1963) * "It Never Works Out For Me" / "Maybe Baby" (XPANDED Sound 103, 1964) as 'Leaping Ferns' * "Only If You Care" / "Love Can Be Cruel" (Downey 120, 6/64) * "Beyond" / "I'll Be Back Someday" (Downey 126, 11/64) * " Three Coins in the Fountain" / "Greenz" (Downey 130, 1965) * "(I Won't Cry) So Be On Your Way" / "Fear of the Rain" ( Reprise 0423, 11/65) as 'The Ill Winds' * "A Letter" / "I Idolize You" (Reprise 0492, 7/66) as 'The Ill Winds'

Live TV performances

* "Pipeline" (Lawrence Welk Show, May 18, 1963) * "Runaway" (Lawrence Welk Show, May 18, 1963)

Awards

Hollywood's Rockwalk Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various subsidiaries in ...

, inducted April 12, 1996

References

External links

www.thechantays.com
nbsp;— The Chantays official site
OC Weekly Magazine

nbsp;— history and booking
Bob Spikard Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chantays, The Surf music groups Instrumental rock musical groups Rock music groups from California Dot Records artists Downey Records artists Musical groups from Orange County, California