Surf Coasters

The Surf Coasters are a Japanese surf band, started by Shigeo Naka in 1994. They continue to tour often in Japan and abroad, where they have acquired a sizable fan base.

History

The band became known with their stint on the talent show television program, "Ebisu-Onsen", a show very similar in concept to the American program, "Star Search"), on which the winning band would receive a recording contract.

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 album, sold well. The band also played that year with surf music legend and "King of the Surf Guitar", Dick Dale, 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 and BMG record labels, and have become the number one instrumental band across Japan. Their sound has varied since 1995, including dancehall, acoustic arrangements, blues, ethereal, and heavy metal. Naka has also gone on to record, with and without the rest of the band, on other musical projects, including soundtracks for film and video games.

Though the group has not officially disbanded, they played their last shows together in November 2005. Naka has been performing with an assortment of bands, including Ryouchi Endo and The Southern All Stars. Kurita has been playing bass with his band Chill.

Other band members

*Nobuhiro Kurita, who joined the band on bass in 1997. During the band's first American 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 school.
*Naotaka Seki, a drummer 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, and deciding that he looked cool.

References

*cite web
url=http://poprecords.com/surfcoasters/linernotes.html
title=Liner Notes for the Surf Coasters "Tsunami Struck."
first=Ferenc
last=Dobronyi
date=January 2005
*cite web
url=http://nippop.com/artist/artist_id-171/artist_name-the_surf_coasters/
first=Bill
last=Haw
publisher=Nippop
title=The Surf Coasters: Profile

External links

* [http://www.surfcoasters.com Surf Coasters official site]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/SurfCoasters Surf Coasters collection] at the Internet Archive's live music archive