Latest / Mega Rock On Demand / Rock Report with Sharon Stewart: Farm Aid 2026, Nickelback, and James Burton

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Rock Report with Sharon Stewart: Farm Aid 2026, Nickelback, and James Burton · Mega Rock On Demand

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's Friday afternoon, and that means it's time to light the torches.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, for Tiki Talk.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ben Willis with you.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: When you talk about the music of Tiki, you can't these days just restrict yourself to the more traditional sounds of exotica or cocktail jazz or things that would have necessarily been played or performed in original tiki lounges and restaurants back in the mid-century.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: True to the spirit of the big umbrella that is the modern tiki revival, chances are if you walk into a modern tiki establishment something like Max's South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Inferno Room in Indianapolis, and many other establishments that have been built up from scratch or revitalized during the rebirth of Tiki, you'll also hear a good amount of instrumental rock.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about surf rock, the classic stuff, and the modern stuff, because along with the resurgence of Tiki, there has been a resurgence in interest and performance of traditional instrumental surf rock.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the world of Tiki and the world of surf music just seems to go together so well.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It makes sense.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you look back at history in the mid-century, you would have never, ever heard instrumental or even vocal surf rock in a tiki establishment.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, these were actually rather upscale establishments for the adults of the mid-century.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Rock and roll was the music of the kids.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So although it is maybe not an anachronism to have surf rock in a tiki space, it is certainly a departure of what you would have experienced in the mid-20th century during the height of the original tiki craze.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll tell you what, this certainly plays well together, so to speak.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, originally the surf rock sound was birthed out of Southern California, the same place that the Tiki Craze came from.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Late 1950s and the early 1960s saw artists like Link Ray, The Ventures, Dwayne Eddy, and of course Dick Dale and his Deltones of Mr.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Loo fame hitting national attention.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: But like a lot of the trends in the mid-20th century, they fell off as the 60s progressed into the 1970s, heavier sounds maybe took over, and surf vocal groups like The Beach Boys kind of stole the flame that the instrumental surf rockers really established in the late 1950s and early 60s.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, talking about going hand in hand with the Tehee Revival.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: In the early 1990s, specifically 1994, they had a little film that came out named Pulp Fiction.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the director, Quentin Tarantino, knows his music.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And for the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction, he specifically pulled cuts from the classic surf rock and soul library.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The soundtrack to the film became so popular that Dick Dale actually saw some resurgence in the 1990s as a performer.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not to say that surf really disappeared altogether.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was carried along by the punk movement as well through the 1970s into the 80s.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And as I previously mentioned, there's a good number of ex-punk rockers who gravitated towards the tiki revival in the 1990s and early 2000s.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And by the early 2000s, back in California, once again, you saw a revival of not just traditional surf rock sounds, but new genres like indie surf fusion, combining elements of surf punk garage rock, even shoe gaze, and so much more, to the point where you can almost say we are experiencing another revival of traditional instrumental rock.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Including several groups that we've touched on here on Tiki Talk in the past: Man or Astro Man, MesserCups, Los Straight Jackets, just to name a very few of the modern surf groups working out there today.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And just as every personal tiki space is an individual expression, the soundtrack you decide to bring to your tiki space is just as personal.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Surf, exotica, cocktail jazz, in some cases, reggae, Jimmy Buffett, Calypso.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned before, it plays very well, especially with the modern style in the tiki revival.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And something else that's seen a modern revival is the concept of the shandy cocktail.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially a dressed-up highball, except you replace your club soda for a beer.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so we take a look at the Wave Rider Shandy.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually a drink I concocted, believe it or not, back during the COVID era, when I really had nothing else to do than sit around at home and tinker with drinks.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the Wave Rider Shandy is as follows: In a tall glass, we're going to take 3 quarter ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice, 1 ounce of pineapple juice, 3-quarter ounce of philernum liqueur, 1 half ounce of simple syrup, maybe swirl that around in the bottom of your glass, and then we're going to take a 12-ounce lager, pop that open.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: In my original recipe, I actually used Kona Brewing Company's Longboard Lager, hence the name Wave Rider.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Pour this into your glass until it tops up, garnish with a lie wheel, and there you go, the Wave Rider Shandy.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect for when you want to hang 10 in the middle of your tiki lounge.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, until we meet on another island out there somewhere, this is Ben Willis saying aloha.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And speaking of great modern surf rock groups, we're going to leave you with a cut that helped this group go viral back in 2018.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the all-girl surf rock band, The Surf Rajets, and their cover of Britney Spears Toxic.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: On Tiki Talk.