The Vara-Tones originated in 1961 when instrumental surf music made its debut. Leo Fender and Dick Dale were experimenting with the outboard reverb unit in conjunction with the Stratocaster and Showman amplifier to create what would be the forerunner to the "heavy" rock sound. Who were some of the names on the charts at the time? The Fireballs, The Ventures, and Duane Eddy were firmly established on the charts and the radio, and Dick Dale and The Del-Tones had just come out with their first record called Let's Go Trippin' (at that time Dick had a 7-piece band!). Surf bands were the big thing and groups such as The Chantays, The Lively Ones, The Bel-Airs, The Rhythm Rockers, Dave Meyers and The Surf-tones would pack places like: Harmony Park Ballroom, The Rendezvous Ballroom, Retail Clerks Hall. Me and my high school buddy, Rich Campbell, desperately wanted to learn how to play this kind of music. We would watch the players in these groups just hoping to pick up whatever the magic was that allowed them to get "that sound". I bought an electric guitar, Rich decided to become a drummer - and the Vara-Tones were born! Now all we needed were some drums! Since Rich didn't have money for drums, he got some chemical fertilizer boxes from his dad's work. These things were just round boxes made out of thick cardboard. Fortunately for us, they didn't smell like fertilizer! Next he bought some drumsticks and -- we were ready to rock! After he honed his chops on the boxes, he rented a real set of drums. We were still only a duo when we played our first "gig" - a New Years Eve party for a friend. We were a big hit -- we played all seven of the tunes we knew and everyone was real impressed that just two people could be so loud!! After this astounding success, Rich bought his first set of real drums and the search was on for more players. Pete Peterson and Gary Sunda joined us on guitar and bass, and we started practicing a lot and playing gigs whenever and wherever we could find them - at high schools, roller rinks, parks, etc. During the course of the next year, Dick Smith was added on sax. Shortly thereafter we came across a singer who was looking for a band to back him up on his next record. We were allowed to do an original of ours on the flip side of his single. So we recorded `Repeto' which was written by Dick. The record was released on the Kay label in 1964. It bombed but we continued to gig around Southern California for the next two years. Then, in 1966, for all the usual reasons bands break up, the group disbanded. In 1994, due to the resurgence of surf music, the band members who could be found were coerced into getting together for a reunion. This led eventually to the recording of our first album - Jetty Subject To High Surf. This album contains 13 new tunes plus as a bonus track, our 1964 single "Repeto". If you like the vintage guitar-driven surf sound, you will love this album!
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.angelfire.com/music3/varatones/Track List:
1. Surf Blaster
2. Over The Edge
3. El Sereno
4. Invasion Of The V-People
5. Midnight In Mazatlan
6. The Jetty
7. Rendezvous Run
8. Vara-Tone Stomp
9. Varafied
10. Repeto 2000
11. Sunset At The Wedge
12. Groo-V-Chicken
13. Drumbox
14. Repeto ('64)
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