The Surfaris are an American

surf rock 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 ...

band formed in

Glendora, California Glendora is a city in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, east of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 census, the population of Glendora was 52,558. Known as the "Pride of the Foothills", Glendora is nestled in the foothills o ...

, United States, in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" and " Wipe Out", which were the

A-side and B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the same

45 rpm single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

. The Surfaris were inducted into the

Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum (MHOF) in Nashville honors all musicians regardless of genre or instrument. The MHOF timeline starts with the beginning of recorded music and inductees are nominated by current members of the American Feder ...

in 2019 for their hit instrumental song, "Wipe Out".

Career

The original band members were Ron Wilson (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), Jim Fuller (

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Bob Berryhill Bob Berryhill (born December 15, 1947) was a member of The Surfaris and co-writer and recording artist of " Wipe Out" and other Surfaris' hits. In 1960, when Berryhill was 13, he took a trip to the Hawaiian Islands and learned to surf and play uk ...

(

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

), and Pat Connolly (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

). In the fall of 1962, Southern California high school students Jim Fuller and Pat Connolly called friend and guitarist Berryhill for a practice session at Berryhill's house. The trio practiced for about four hours and met drummer Wilson at a high school dance later that evening, whereupon the band was born. "Wipe Out" was written and recorded by the quartet later that winter, with the song reaching #2 nationally in 1963 before becoming an international hit.

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

player Jim Pash joined after their "Wipe Out" / "Surfer Joe"

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

sessions at Pal Studios engineer Paul Buff. Ken Forssi, later of

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

, played bass with The Surfaris after Pat Connolly left.

"Wipe Out"

Wilson's energetic

drum solo A drum solo is an instrumental solo played on a drum kit. A drum solo may be set or improvised, and of any length, up to being the main performance. In rock, drum solos are unique in that traditionally they are minimally or never accompanied, wher ...

made " Wipe Out" one of the best-remembered

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 ...

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

of the period. " Wipe Out" is also remembered particularly for its introduction. Before the music starts, Berryhill's dad broke a board (imitating a breaking surf board) near the mic, followed by a maniacal laugh and the words "Wipe Out" spoken by band manager Dale Smallin. " Wipe Out" was written in the

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

by the four original members (Berryhill, Connolly, Fuller, and Wilson). It was initially issued on the tiny DFS label (#11/12) in January 1963. It was reissued on the tiny Princess label (#50) in February 1963. It was picked up by Dot (45-16479) in April 1963, and later reissued as Dot 45-144 in April 1965. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Following the death of television personality

Morton Downey, Jr. Sean Morton Downey Jr. (December 9, 1932 – March 12, 2001) was an American television talk show host and actor who pioneered the "Tabloid talk show, trash TV" format in the late-1980s on his program ''The Morton Downey Jr. Show''. Early life ...

, news reports and obituaries incorrectly credited him as the composer of "Wipe Out" (as well as

The Chantays The Chantays, sometimes credited as Chantay's, is an American surf music band from Orange County, California, United States, known for the hit instrumental "Pipeline" (1963). Their music combines electronic keyboards and surf guitar, creating a u ...

' "Pipeline"). , Downey's official website continued to make this claim but it has been changed to state he "also played major roles in the production of the hit surf music era songs 'Pipeline' and 'Wipeout'."

Disbanding and reformation

The band released a series of records, with two other singles, "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic" (another group-composed instrumental), having an impact on the charts.

Point Panic Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

is a renowned surfing venue in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

after which the song was named. The original 1963 membership remained intact until August 1965 when Connolly departed before their Japanese tour. Ken Forssi replaced him on bass for the tour. Fuller resigned after the tour and the band folded in early 1966. Forssi died from a brain tumor in 1998. Ken Forssi joined the group and was the bass player for their "It Ain't Me, Babe" LP recorded at Capitol Records in Studio A in late Spring and early Summer of 1965. Pat Connolly left the music business in 1965. Ron Wilson died of a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circul ...

on May 12, 1989, one month short of his 45th birthday. Wilson had released an album of his songs, entitled ''Lost In The Surf'', on Bennet House Records of

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

, which was recorded in June 1987. A very small number of

cassettes Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

of this album were produced. ''Lost in the Surf'' included a

cover 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 ...

of "

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and r ...

", complete with Scottish

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

. Jim Pash, who played saxophone in the earlier formation and was later a guitarist, died April 29, 2005, of heart failure at age 56. Jim Fuller co-founded the Surfaris in 61' with Connolly. The band reformed in 81' with Pash and Berryhill and In 1983 Berryhill left the band because neither Pash nor Fuller wanted Berryhill's wife to join the band as bassist. By the mid-'80s, Fuller's The Surfaris added new players, such as Kelly Lammers, Robert Watson, Jay Truax, Paul Johnson (Mr. Moto), and Dave Raven, among others. These new band members remain in The Surfaris today. Jim Fuller had another band concurrently with The Surfaris "Jim Fuller and the Beatnik", until his passing on March 3, 2017, in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of th ...

at age 69. After leaving the band, Berryhill became a teacher until late 2000, when he created a new band with his family and named it The Surfaris. Now the last original member playing professionally, Berryhill performs worldwide as The Surfaris with his wife Gene Berryhill and sons, Deven and Joel Berryhill. In 2003, Berryhill's band re-recorded "Wipe Out" and eight original songs, which is what he wanted to do for the first "Wipe Out" session in 1962. At the time, the boys just 15 and 17 years old were forced to play other writers' songs, not by The Surfaris, which were later replaced by the company's players while The Surfaris were on tour. Lawsuits ensued in favor of The Surfaris. In 2015, Berryhill recorded and released the album entitled ''The Surfaris Hurley Sessions''. The Surfaris were among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the

2008 Universal fire On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asph ...

Members

* Jim Fuller – lead guitar (1962-1966; 1981-2017; died 2017) * Pat Connolly – bass (1962-1965), * Ron Wilson – vocals, drums (1962-1966; died 1989) * Jim Pash – saxophone, guitar (1963-1966, 1981–2005; died 2005) *

– rhythm guitar (1962-1966), lead guitar (1995-current)

Later players

* Ken Forssi – bass (1965-1966) * Jay Truax – bass (1984 - current) * Rob Watson - Keyboards * Dave Raven - Drums * Dusty Watson - Drums * Paul Johnson - Lead Guitar * Ron Eglit - Rhythm Guitar * Kelly Lammers - Guitar (1973, 81' - 84)

The Surfaris featuring Bob Berryhill

– lead guitar * Deven Berryhill – vocals, rhythm guitar * Gene Berryhill – bass * Joel Berryhill – vocals, drums

Discography

Albums

* 1963: '' Wipe Out'' ( Dot DLP-3535/DLP-25535) * 1963: ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

DL-4470/DL-74470) * 1964: ''Hit City '64'' (Decca DL-4487/DL-74487) * 1964: ''Fun City U.S.A.'' (Decca DL-4560/DL-74560) * 1965: ''Hit City '65'' (Decca DL-4614/DL-74614) * 1965: ''It Ain't Me, Babe'' (Decca DL-4683/DL-74683) * 1983: ''Surf Party! The Best of The Surfaris Live!'' ec. 1981(Koinkidink KWK-102; CD reissue:

GNP Crescendo The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

GNPD-2239, 1994) * 2003: ''Basic Tracks'' by Jim Fuller's Surfaris (Got It Records #0101) * 2005: ''Wipe Out'' by Bob Berryhill's Surfaris (Calvary Chapel Music #6021) * 2006: ''Street Party'' by Jim Fuller's Surfaris (Heyday Records #35753) * 2015: ''Hurley Sessions'' by Bob Berryhill's Surfaris (Salt Talk Music #41662)

Singles

* 4/63: " Wipe Out" // "Surfer Joe" (DFS 11/12; Princess 50; Dot 16479) * 9/63: "Point Panic" // "Waikiki Run" (Decca 31538) * 11/63: "Santa's Speed Shop" // "A Surfer's Christmas List" (Decca 31561) * 12/63: "Scatter Shield" // "I Wanna Take a Trip to the Islands" (Decca 31581) * 3/64: "Go Go Go for Louie's Place" // "Murphy the Surfie" (Decca 31605) * 6/64: "Dune Buggy" // "Boss Barracuda" (Decca 31641) * 10/64: "Karen" // "Hot Rod High" (Decca 31682) * 1/65: "Beat '65" // "Black Denim" (Decca 31731) * 5/65: "Theme Of The Battle Maiden" // "Somethin' Else" (Decca 31784) * 7/65: "You Can't Sit Down" // "Surfer Joe" (Dot 16757) * 8/65: "Catch a Little Ride With Me" // "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" (Decca 31835) * 4/66: "So Get Out" // "Hey Joe Where Are You Going" (Decca 31954) * 8/66: "I'm a Hog for You" // "Wipe Out" (Decca 32003) * 10/66: "Show Biz" // "Chicago Green" (Dot 16966) * 4/67: "Search" // "Shake" (Dot 17008)

Compilations

*1973: ''Yesterday's Pop Scene: The Surfaris – Wipe Out!'' *1974: ''Wipe Out, Surfer Joe and Other Great Hits'' *1976: ''Surfers Rule'' *1977: ''Gone with the Wave'' *1982: ''The History of Surf Music – Vol. 1: The Instrumental Hits 1961–1963'' *1984: ''Wipe Out: 20 Instrumental Greats'' *1987: ''Wipe Out (The Singles Album 1963–1967)'' *1987: ''The Best of 60s Surf (Original Master Recordings)'' *1989: ''Surfin' Hits'' *1989: ''Surfin' Sixties (Baby Boomer Classics)'' *1990: ''Fun City U.S.A. / Play'' (Repertoire) *1991: ''Guitar Player Presents...Legends Of Guitar: Surf – Vol. 1'' *1994: ''Wipe Out! The Best of the Surfaris'' *1994: ''Rock Instrumental Classics – Vol. 5: Surf'' *1995: ''Pulp Rock Instros – Vol. 1'' *1995: ''Surfaris Stomp'' *1995: ''Revenge of the Surf Instrumentals'' *1996: ''Cowabunga! The Surf Box Set'' *1996: ''Teen Beat – Vol. 3'' *1996: ''Let's Go Trippin' (Classic Tracks from the Surf & Hot Rod Era)'' *1996: ''Surf Crazy: Original Surfin' Hits'' *1996: ''

Jenny McCarthy Jennifer McCarthy Wahlberg (' Jennifer Ann McCarthy; born November 1, 1972) is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for ''Playboy'' magazine and was later named their Playmate of ...

's Surfin' Safari'' *1997: ''Guitar Heroes'' *1997: ''Hot Rod Presents...Big Boss Instrumentals'' *1997: ''Kahuna Classics: A Collection of Surf Music'' *1998: ''Hard Rock Cafe – Surf'' *1998: ''Surf! Sand! Sun!'' *1998: ''Surfers Rule / Gone with the Wave'' (BGO) *1999: ''Wipe Out / Play'' (BGO) *2000: ''KFJC 89.7 – Water Logged'' *2000: ''Teen Beat – Vol. 5'' *2003: ''Lost Legends of Surf Guitar – Vol. 2: Point Panic!'' *2005: ''Hit City '64 / Fun City U.S.A.'' (BGO)

References

External links

The Surfaris, Bob Berryhill official website
* Allmusic Entrybr>The Rock and Roll Hall of FameHollywood's Rockwalk Surfaris page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surfaris, The Surf music groups Musical groups established in 1962 Musical groups from Los Angeles Rock music groups from California Decca Records artists Dot Records artists American instrumental musical groups 1962 establishments in California