Two records, released 30 years apart, both in their different styles showcasing what their respective generations understood to mean by contemporary, throwaway, dance music and both of them making a virtue of repetition.
Surf-Breaker was a b-side to an August 1963 single by The Breakers called Kami-Kaze. If you’re reading this before listening to the video and I tell you that it’s a surf-rock instrumental, I bet your imagination is already defaulting to the Wipeout guitar pattern as a sort of mental shorthand for surf rock. Trust me, when you start listening to the main riff on Surf-Breaker, not only will you be singing along to it, but you’ll be singing ahead of it too because the track goes exactly where you’d expect it to, even incorporating a ragged saxophone solo and a ritardando ending. While Surf-Breaker’s debt to Wipeout is clear, their principal influence appears to be Paul Johnson, guitarist with The Bel-Airs and author of of Kami-Kaze. Surf-Breaker was written by The Breakers own Joe Kertes and the Kami-Kaze single was their only release. It was put out on Brana Records as a one-off release and my favourite theory that I’ve seen while carrying out my research is the one put forward by Mickey Rat on 45Cat that the label was named after the surname of a record promoter’s daughter. The Breakers owed their appearance on this edition of Peel’s show to the fact that both sides of their single had been included on a Romulan Records compilation album called Surfers Mood Volume 2, the sleevenotes of which declare the Kami-Kaze/Surf-Breaker combo as one of the greatest double-siders in rock ‘n’ roll history.
As for Nottingham’s DiY Sound System, having spent 3 years staging club nights and free parties, the collective now started to look at releasing their own music. Hothead was their first release and would be followed by others over the next 10 years including a collaboration with Chumbawamba. Hothead is hypnotically repetitive and if the surf guitar licks make Surf-Breaker a charming period piece, then the “Baby!…Breathe.” vocal samples on Hothead do the same service.
Videos courtesy of Surf Music Madrid (Breakers) and Scubadevils (DiY)
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