The Surf Coasters (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: ザ・サーフコースターズ ''Za Sāfukōsutāzu'') are a

surf band, started by Shigeo Naka in 1994.

History

The band became known with their stint on the

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

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 ...

'' Ebisu-Onsen'', a show very similar in concept to the

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program, ''

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'' on which the winning band would receive a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. Although the Surf Coasters did not win the competition, their success on the show led to a loyal fan following. They succeeded to make it into the final round of the competition, where they finished in second place; however, they still received a record deal, which led to the release of their debut CD, ''Surf Panic '95'', which, despite being an

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 ...

album, sold well. The band also played that year with surf music legend and "King of the Surf Guitar",

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting with reverb eff ...

, who was on his first tour of Japan. Reportedly, after the tour Dale referred to Naka as the "Prince of the Surf Guitar.". Since then, the band has released upwards of twenty records, for the Columbia,

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

and

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s, and have become the number one instrumental band across Japan. Their sound has varied since 1995, including

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, acoustic arrangements,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and heavy metal. Naka has also gone on to record, with and without the rest of the band, on other musical projects, including

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s for film and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

. Shigeo Naka was a guest guitarist playing the song "Test Driver" and Naka's own composition, "The Clash", with

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 on their 1996 album, ''Catch a Wave''. Kurita has been playing bass with his band Chill.

Other band members

*Nobuhiro Kurita, who joined the band on

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 1997. During the band's first

tour, Kurita was dubbed "Zen Punk" for his cartoonish presence. He began playing the bass after being encouraged to do so by a friend in

junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

school. *Naotaka Seki, a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

who was recruited by Naka into the band in 2001, while touring with Ryouchi Endo. He began drumming after seeing Munetaka Higuchi, drummer for the band

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

, and deciding that he looked cool.

Discography

Albums

* ''Surf Panic '95'' (1995) * ''Surfside Village'' (1995) * ''Waitin' 4 The Surf'' (1995) * ''Surface Impression'' (1996) * ''Surfdelicious'' (1996) * ''Surfin' Elvis / The Pelvis'' (1997) * ''Surfdelic (''Fun House, 1998) * ''NakaShigeo plays Paul Mauriat'' (1999) * ''The Surf Coasters'' (1999) * ''Surf is Dead'' (2000) * ''六人ノ刺客'' (Six Assassins) (2000) * ''Easter!!'' (2001) * ''L'Esprit'' (2002) * ''Surf Attack'' (2003) * ''p.m.'' (2003) * ''Private Recordings Vol.1 / The Surf Coasters featuring 中シゲヲ'' (2004) * ''Samurai Struck (U.S.A. ISSUE)'' (2005) * ''Samurai Struck (JAPAN ISSUE)'' (2005) * ''Live'' (Pullup, 2006) * ''Outside Break'' (Fivenine Factory, 2008) * ''Breakout'' (Fivenine Factory, 2008) * ''Gold'' (Indies House/Finger, 2010) * ''Rising'' (78label, 2016)

Best Of compilations

* ''Fly Up!! Best of The Surf Coasters Vol.1'' (Invitation, 2000) * ''Misirlou 10th Anniversary Best'' (Victor, 2004) * ''Anthology 20th Anniversary Collection'' (Victor, 2014) * ''Extras'' (Vivid Sound Corporation/Steps, 2020)

Singles/EPs

* Intruder (Mini CD single)(Victor, 1995) * ''Wild Cherry'' (12" EP)(Victor, 1996) * ''Astral Circle'' (Mini CD single)(Victor, 1996) * ''Light My Fire'' (Inter, 2002)

Video game soundtracks

* ''Soundtrack from "Runabout"'' (1997) * ''Super Runabout'' (1999) * ''Runabout3 neoAGE'' (2002)

DVDs

* ''On Stage'' (2004)

References

* *

External links

Surf Coasters collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Surf Coasters 1994 establishments in Japan Instrumental rock musical groups Japanese instrumental musical groups Japanese psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups from Tokyo Surf rock music groups