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SUSAN & THE SURFTONES
Biography
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Susan & The
SurfTones
Biography |
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The band started out in the fall of 1993 in Rochester, NY
as The SurfTones. A DIY cassette recording found its way to Gerd Dietrich in
Hamburg, Germany. Gerd signed the band to his label, Gee-Dee Music, in 1995
and changed the band's name to Susan & The SurfTones. Our first CD, "Without
A Word" was released in November 1995. In April of 1996 Dave Anderson (bass)
Judd Williams (drums) and I made a trip to Hamburg to play at Grosse Freiheit
36 with The Looney Tunes and The Space Hobos.
"Thunderbeach", our second Gee-Dee release came out
in September of 1997. We went back to Germany for a tour with The Looney Tunes
and Husky & The Sandmen. Brian Goodman was the drummer on this tour. After
the 1997 European Tour the band "relocated" to Albany, NY. when both
Brian and I moved there from Rochester. Kim13 joined the band on Farfisa and
Vox organ and Buck Malen joined on bass.
This line-up recorded our third Gee-Dee release, "Bitchin'"
which was released in December, 1998 and did a month-long European tour in February,
2000. A four-song EP, "This Ain't No Beach Party" was released for
that tour on Freddy Spaepen's Surf Waves label. Our live CD "All The Beat,
All The Best" was recorded in April of 2000 with Dave Anderson back on
bass and released in October, 2000 by Surf Waves.
Immediately after that recording I moved west to Portland,
Oregon. I joined up with Kim, Brian and Dave for yet another month-long European
tour in February 2001. Our versions of "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance"
and "Runaway" appeared on OmOm Music's "That's New Pussycat"
and "American Grafitti Revisted" compilations.
Our next release was a full-length compilation CD of all our
original material to date (2001) on Acme Brothers Records. The title of this
CD is "The Originals," perhaps a bit unimaginative but certainly to
the point.
My move west was made with the idea that it would be temporary.
That turned out not to be the case. When it became evident that I would not
be going back east it was time to re-form S&ST on the west coast. Avory
Gray joined on combo organ. Avory's got an arsenal that includes a GEM, a pair
of Whitehalls, and an Ekosonic.
In July 2002, we went to California for a short tour with Bob
Becker on drums and Jim Fritz on bass. Jim and Bob joined us for the recording
of "Wrap-Around," our full-length CD which was released by OmOm Music
in December of 2002. We also have two tracks on OmOm's "Jesus Christ Surferstar"
compilation. Bob and Jim were with us for "King Herod's Song." Avory
and I tackled "Everything's Alright" by ourselves after a phone call
from Rob at OmOm looking for a speedy recording of the tune so he could get
the comp released in its entirety.
In 2003 Avory, Dan Ferguson (bass) and Matt Miner (drums) and
I traveled to San Francisco to play at the Hotel Utah with Pollo Del Mar and
Surf Cinema. We also appeared on Phil Dirt's radio show at KFJC. We had a great
time at both gigs.
2004 brought our next full-length CD "Night In Old Town"
on Acme Brothers Records as well as some great comps... KFJC's "Curl Rider"
and Rickshaw Records' "Charlie Does Surf," a tribute to the Clash.
Marky Kelly joined us in the studio in 2004, lending her lead keyboard to a
few songs on "Night In Old Town." John Abel joined us on drums in
2005. We played at a "Beach Night" game for Portland's NBA team, the
Trailblazers, to a crowd of about 15,000. We also played the NW Tiki Crawl in
2005. We had a great time playing with the Surf Coasters (Japan) during their
visit to Portland.
As far as recordings go, in 2005 we had the title track on
OmOm's "Hair" tribute compilation. Our version of "Chinese Rock"
was included on "Ramoneskidz" a Russian, you guessed it, Ramones tribute
comp. In November 2005, we traveled to Seattle WA to play at the Rockrgrl Conference.
2006 finds Susan, Avory, Marky and Matt back in the studio
working up a digital-only release called "Fluid Drive." Susan's playing
bass on this one as well as lead and rhythm guitar. Will we do any more live
gigs? As the magic 8-ball says, "Reply hazy - try again later."
Susan L. Yasinski
The first sign of trouble appeared when I was about seven.
I played "guitar" on a tennis racquet to Elvis songs and flipped my
collar up just like the King. A few years later Ed Sullivan booked The Beatles
and I found my one true love... a piece of wood with six strings. I started
taking lessons with a great teacher who introduced me to The Ventures and there
was no turning back now. There was one problem, however; in 1966 the boys wouldn't
let a girl play guitar in their garage bands... at least not in Hudson, NY where
I grew up.
Off to Smith College I went with guitar in hand but still no
band. After graduation from Boston University School of Law my first job transferred
me to New York City. After years of musical frustration I started my first band
which had a vocalist. There was a second NYC band with vocals and then I moved
to Rochester, NY. There were two more bands with vocalists and then I got it
right...
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Susan & The SurfTones
are:
Susan L. Yasinski - guitar, bass
Avory Gray - gem organ
Marky Kelly - Gem organ
Matt Miner - drums
Dan Ferguson - bass |
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