Wednesday, September 23, 2009
{The Blue Banner}
Page 11
Student band tackles the surf rock genre
By Katherine Lancaster
Staff Writer
KELANCAS@UNCA.EDU
It isn’t unusual that there’s a student rock
band on UNC Asheville’s campus, but the
Dick Dale Earnhardts have something dif
ferent to offer: they play surf rock.
The Dick Dale Earnhardts are a four-
piece group with junior Andrew Barger
on dmms, junior Jake Francis on guitar,
senior Gabe Karabell on guitar and junior
Peter Mencher on bass. They formed last
October around Halloween.
“Peter, Andrew and I got together to
play a cover show last Halloween dis
guised as Dick Dale & the Del-Tones. Af
ter the Halloween show, Jake joined the
band,” Karabell said.
Some members experimented with the
surf rock genre before forming the band
last year, and the style eventually came to
define their sound.
“There have been a couple of incarna
tions of some of us playing surf music in
the last couple of years. During our fresh
man year, Gabe, Peter, Adam Edwards
and 1 got together and played some surf
songs, just sort of piddling around,” Fran
cis said. “Then last year, Gabe asked me
if I wanted to play in a Dick Dale cover
band for Halloween. Andrew, Peter and
Gabe made for an awesome Halloween
party. At the next show, I jumped in on
rhythm guitar and Peter started playing
the bass.”
When discussing what type of music to
play, Karabell said it was a quick decision
to do surf rock.
“We were all sitting around listening to
the Ventures one day and just decided to
-V,.
-Vi;-;
Photo courtesy of The Dick Dale Earnhardts
The UNCA surf rock band. The Dick Dale Earnhardts, formed last Oc
tober and have played at a handful of local gigs and parties.
do it. There really wasn’t a whole lot to
it,” he said.
The band finds their inspiration through
many instrumental surf bands, from
groups such as Dick Dale & the Del-
Tones, the Tornadoes, the Lively Ones,
the Trashmen and the Phantom Surfers.
Dale is considered the father of Ameri
can surf rock and instrumental rock ‘n’
roll. Dale, along with bands such as the
Ventures and the Lively Ones, made the
genre popular in the 1960s.
The genre is a mix of rock ‘n’ roll, pop
and surf music styles. The genre was re
vived in the 21st century when Pulp Fic
tion was released, and it had both Dale’s
and the Lively Ones’ songs on its sound
track.
The band covers 1960s surf songs and
writes their own music. Some titles in
clude “Hot Dog King,” “Empty Quarter,”
“Ash Tray” and “Taco Wagon.”
“We pick covers that are good to dance
to and try to write songs with interesting
melodies and changes that aren’t too com
plicated. We want to stay simple, fun and
exciting. Surf music is fun music,” Kara
bell said.
While balancing schoolwork and mu
sic, Francis, a biology student, said school
always comes first for him.
“The most important thing to me is
school because that’s what I’m here for,
and the great part about this band is that
we’re really low-key. We practice when
ever we play for an upcoming show, and if
you can’t make a practice you don’t play,”
Francis said. “We have really good com
munication, and everyone’s really good at
improving and performing on the fly that
we don’t have to practice as much.”
The Dick Dale Earnhardts played a show
Friday night to a full house of nearly 100
people. The band planned the event and
played along with other local Asheville
bands in the area.
They closed the event with a mix of
cover songs and some of their new mate
rial.
Gillie Logan, a junior, attended the con
cert and said she likes their music because
of its “danceability.” She said she’s also a
fan of the band because she likes the Dick
Dale concept.
“They were on Friday night because it
was electric and energetic, and they really
captured the Dick Dale vibe,” she said.
Sophomore Sabine Moses was also at
the concert and said she thought the band
was good, but she had not heard of the
band until they played that night.
“They were really interesting and the
songs were fun and exciting,” she said. “I
wasn’t familiar with the Dick Dale Earn
hardts until Friday night, but they all had
a pretty cool sound and made for great
party music,” she said.
Besides the concert last Friday, Francis
says they’r? going day by day. They have
no uprcoming shows.
HOLA
Continued from Page 9
last year. Many families still have court
dates in Charlotte, and Nuestro Centro of
fers rides. This is important because we
don’t want people going to court dates
driving without licenses to Charlotte,”
Garcia-Robles said.
HOLA said they sell paintings, pottery
and prints that UNCA students donate on
the night to help raise funds. They also
hope to collaborate with the Tango club
soon to help promote another student
group on campus.
“Nuestro Centro also monitors road
blocks and license checkpoints to make
sure officers are working within legal
bounds. This cuts down on racial profiling
during the stops. Nuestro Centro makes
sure undocumented people are treated
humanely, especially when going through
the deportation process and make sure
that under-documented people are being
paid at work. They are almost always
the first line of defense for people of the
under-documented community,” Garcia-
Robles said.
HOLA said they e-mail more than 500
people, but have about 20 to 30 active
members during the semester. Members
say anybody can join HOLA, since there
is no Spanish language prerequisite.
“All are welcome to join. It is not a lan
guage club, although we do have a weekly
Spanglish hour. Anybody who is interest
ed in tutoring, human rights, the Spanish
language, college access for all, dancing
and so many other things is encouraged
to check us out. The people I have met
through HOLA and the experiences I have
had with those people make some of the
best times I have had since I began attend
ing UNCA,” Villegas said.
HOLA hosts a range of events, includ
ing Spanglish conversation hours on
Thursdays and ESL tutoring and childcare
every week. HOLA will host a conference
and scholarship festival and are collabo
rating with Defensa Comunitaria to start a
“Know Your Rights” fomm.
“I joined HOLA because I like to help
out in the community, especially the His
panic community. I really enjoy the salsa
parties because I love to dance. The night
was a success because everybody was
having fun,” said Patricia Tomas, fund
raising vice president of HOLA.
“The new goal for HOLA is to be an ac
tive group with issues that extend past our
campus. I saw how many concerned (un
documented) people there were and knew
we could make some kind of a difference
in these local people’s lives,” Garcia-
Robles said.
The next salsa night is on Nov. 20.
layes - Statt Photographer
Nick Renehart and Marcela Garza dance
at salsa night.