“Go ahead, call us a bunch of culture-less, lily-white suburbanites with a partiality to flip-flops and right-wing politics. Those kind of labels never cease to amuse us. Because one thing that instantly dooms most of the tired cliches ascribed to OC is the music–the one-of-a-kind frustration, aggression, soul, righteousness, smartassery and freaky hallucinations that erupt from our niche in pop culture's ever-changing iPod shuffle.” - OC Weekly
Growing up in Huntington Beach, California, I was heavily immersed in the culture of surf, live music, and a tightly-knit community. Whether I was practicing piano, watching surf bands play in the International Surfing Museum’s parking lot, or going to small concerts around the county, music is just what I did. My musical influences however, go back even before I was born. My whole family was part of the local music scene some way or another. The variety of music they exposed me to showed me the versatile impact it can have on the performers, audience, and a person’s way of life.
Orange County has a long history of music with iconic artists and bands such as Dick Dale, Social Distortion, The Offspring, No Doubt, and The Adolescents who call this place their home, playing at well-known venues in the area including the Golden Bear, the Cuckoo’s Nest, Concert Factory, and Safari Sam’s. Over the years, OC has been a hub for live music from its earlier surf rock age of the ‘60s to punk era of the ‘80s, all influencing the kind of music that is being created and played today. Now you can find anything from surf rock, surf punk, and punk rock to dream pop, bedroom pop, and soft indie rock. This music scene, which I’ll call the “Orange County Garage Band Scene,” has developed for decades, all influenced by the eras before, and I want to take a look at the evolution of where it came from, where it is now, and where it’s headed.
Now, you may be asking yourself why “garage” band specifically? Though not all of these bands are considered garage rock, their influences stem from a similar place. It’s defined as “raw and energetic style of rock and roll that was popular in the '60s,” but as time has progressed, the term adapted to the changes in musical genre to encompass punk, surf rock, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, and blues etc. Because so many of the groups that have grown out of Orange County started out as bands in high school that were practicing in garages and playing house parties, the term “garage band” encapsulates this DIY, chill, and more unpolished type of vibe.
Check out the link above for a video with more backstory on the garage band scene in OC!
Venues Then and Now:
The Golden Bear
Originally just a restaurant in 1923 located in downtown Huntington Beach, the Golden Bear then rebranded in 1964 to become a nightclub. This world-famous venue had stars like Janis Joplin, Neil Young, B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, Dick Dale, and Big Mama Thornton. Even Robin Williams performed a comedy show at one point. Unfortunately, the club came to a close in 1986 when it got torn down due to earthquake building protocols and never resurfaced as a venue. Although the club shut down 35 years ago, the impact it had on the music scene is something that is still felt today because of the exposure and reputation it brought to the area. For some more insight, stories, and history about this legendary nightclub, check out this episode of “Hidden Huntington Beach,” a television series by Chris Epting.
The Observatory OC
In my own experience going to shows around Orange County, the Observatory is usually where I ended up. In 2012, the Observatory had a full makeover from its predecessor, the Galaxy Concert Theatre. With doubling capacity in the main room (up to 1000 people), and adding a 300 person smaller room called the Constellation Room, the Observatory has made a name for itself and has consistently hosted a number of well-known bands/artists as a stopover when they’re playing in LA or San Diego. But what has drawn me to this venue dozens of times is all of the local bands that have the opportunity to play on these stages. What I found most fun was unintentionally coming across a new band to listen to, following them around to different shows, and discovering more new bands. And the cycle is still continuing. Having the opportunity to go see 6 bands play for $5-$10 just made it so easy; the more I went, the more people I met, and the more sounds I fell in love with. The Constellation Room holds a special place in my heart because although it can hold 300 people, usually fewer people show up, making it a more intimate experience. It’s the coolest thing seeing these bands grow from playing the Constellation Room to the main room as it feels like I was part of that journey.
Now, all of this experience is really from an outsider’s perspective because I’m an observer, right? But I’m curious to see what this garage band scene is like from the perspective of a performer, so I got in contact with someone who I’ve seen play at The Observatory and other venues on numerous occasions . . .
What was your first experience with music?
"Well, you know my dad, he plays guitar so there were always guitars in the house growing up. And as a kid, you just want to mess around with stuff like that because it's very primal. You hit something and it makes noise and it's like 'oh, that's cool.' It starts with 'this is fun,' and it becomes a personal challenge to see where you can take it, especially when you have peers who are impressing you. It started earlier than I can remember because it was that physicality, that immediate kind of playfulness. And then it evolved."
Tell me about the origin of Skin Mag. How did you all get started?
"By high school I was writing my own songs, and even recording them simply over GarageBand, very basic programs. I thankfully had a lot of friends (I don't know if I made these friends because I was into music, or if I'm as into music as I was because I had these friends). But, most of my friends play music so it was really easy to just be in a room together and want to create something. And my family's playing music, you know my dad and my brother are playing music so there was never really a time early on when I didn't have a jam buddy."
"When I got back from college it was a mix of this: my friends missed playing live, they knew I could play music, and they knew that I had songs I had written that I was hoarding. Davis, who ended up being our bassist, very much was like, 'We gotta capitalize on this. Shane you're playing a show even if it's just one. We're going to record like two songs, and we're going to play a show.' And I agree to this because I couldn't not try to put those out there. I was proud of them. But, I didn't really believe that a show would happen."
"It wasn't necessarily the merits of our music that got us that first show, it was Davis' tiny industry play. But, it legitimized us pretty early on! I mean 300 people showed up to my first ever show. I made it through and people seemed to like it. And once we were on one show it was just a matter of calling up other places. I mean, you start playing around with other local bands, so every now and again we were getting shows with more legitimate acts. It was kind of just like building a resume of 'Hey look, we've played with these guys. We're not nobody.' We're kind of used that as credibility, it snowballed, and we got more and more legitimate shows."
How did other bands in the area influence you?
"Although I'm not a fan myself, I saw the Growlers as weirdly accessible because they were around locally, and they would put on this festival, Beach Goth, all on their own. Big acts like Die Antwoord and King Krule, would play there. Those would be at the top of the billing, but then we'd go down the list and you'd get to local bands that we played with. And it's like, 'oh, this doesn't seem that far out of reach,' you know? So in a weird way, the Growlers were pretty inspirational. We also became friends with other bands, or our friends joined other bands too."
"You know, playing dream pop, when we would get lumped with some of these other local bands, we would stick out as being kind of weird because of all the punk acts. I think sticking out helped us in some cases, but I do think people got angry at us too. Especially during a mostly punk show we go up there and play something soft and I'm singing really high. I can see some people are like, 'I'm trying to mosh' and yeah, moshing has its place and I understand wanting to like dance and mess around at a show versus chill. I guess that's the influence of the local scene on us. It was driving us, and it was a little competitive."
"It's tough when you're a small musician, because that scene can be easily abused and when you're an up and coming band like we were/are, sometimes you have to play the shows that you can. But sometimes you have to say 'Even though this is a good opportunity, we can't play with these guys, because we've heard some bad stuff, you know?' That's kind of a weird dynamic, and it's so funny because nobody involved is super big, but you still have to have a moral code. That was kind of a strange thing to balance."
What kind of guitars, pedals, and vocal effects do you use?
"In the band, I use a Fender Stratocaster, and it's funny because I'm mostly playing rhythm, so it's not actually the best guitar for me to use. It’s better for soloing and it’s got a cool tone if you want to do some jazz stuff. The other main guitar I have is a Viking Hagstrom and it’s this really big, really heavy, hollow body baritone guitar. It still has six strings but the strings are a lot thicker and I want to say it was popular in the 60s. It's got almost like a Spaghetti Western feel to it and I love that thing. It's got just the warmest, deepest, weird tone and I'm definitely really partial to that. I think it helped steer our songs in cases because it was more of ‘let's use that guitar to find a sound’ instead of ‘let’s write something and then play it on that guitar.’ It helped carve a little niche for some of our songs. Both guitars were gifted to me by my dad, which it's pretty weird for someone who's as into guitar as I am and not to have really chosen a guitar for myself, but it helped me branch out."
"As far as pedals, I have a really basic setup. I have my tuner, a little red reverb that only has one button, a chorus pedal, and then a boost to make my guitar a little more rockin’ if I needed to. For vocals it’s usually reverb and a little bit of slapback delay. I definitely appreciate a cleaner tone. So my tone probably has more to do with my amp than my pedal board setup, or at least equal parts."
Do you see an environmental/geographic influence on the bands and in their music?
"I think as far as genres in the local scene, surf rock grabbed me because it's a bit of a throwback to the surf sound of the '60s that thrived in the area. It really felt like when I was in high school, the bands that were being signed were surf rock acts and were being signed to Burger Records [Fullerton-based], and that seemed like an aspiration. And then I know Huntington Beach specifically had a big punk scene in the '80s and I do think a lot of kids growing up now around here were growing up with parents who listened to punk music which would have influenced them."
So, taking everything into consideration here, where do you see the scene going in the future?
"I don't know the health of the scene right now actually, especially in a post-COVID sense. I know people are eager to get back there and that other bands have started to play shows in the past two months or so. But I know The Observatory was bought by Live Nation. That was kind of the last independent, legitimate music venue around here and that's going into a more corporate direction. We were playing shows after it was purchased and we saw staff and management change. We're not like, 'Oh they sold out', but the changes that happened amongst the staff and the way that place is run now, led us to be like, 'Oh, we might not play as many shows at The Observatory anymore.' It's a shame because it's the closest, legitimate venue to us. I know the Live Nations of the world, some of these smaller places, are getting bought up, and you would hope that doesn't hurt the local scene."
“The Observatory (before when it was called The Galaxy once upon a time) was always good at getting actual real acts because, LA adjacent, people are on tour in LA, and maybe they want to play another show. They were good at balancing that with local kids because you don't have a huge act rolling through all the time. It felt like that was a really good place to get into as a small band. You might be playing the Constellation Room when someone huge is playing the main room at the Observatory. That felt like a networking opportunity, and it felt like it legitimized you a little bit even though you weren't even on the same bill sometimes. Sometimes you were just in the same building.”
"I hope I'm not just saying this because I'm getting older, but I guess I'm worried about the scene. But maybe it's the genres I'm worried about. Maybe there are still kids going to see cool acts in places like this, that I'm just not plugged into because maybe my genre is on the way out or something, which I welcome. So I guess for the future of the scene, change would be better than stagnation or death."
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Today, Orange County is home to an eclectic music scene that has been influenced by decades of different genres stemming from similar geographic location, environment, and culture. Because of the accessibility that all-ages venues provide the youth, Orange County has produced a variety of young artists and given them a space to discover their love for music — beyond their garage. If you, as a reader, take anything away from these stories, I would hope that it’s to look into your local scene, no matter how small, and learn a little something new.
Written by: Danika McKee
References
https://www.surfcityusa.com/
http://www.stockteam.com/hbpix18.html
https://www.ocregister.com/2012/06/11/santa-anas-observatory-rises-from-the-ashes-2/
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/where_slamming_in_the_pit_began_southern_californias_notorious_cuckoos_nest