Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA The Vi-Counts - Vi-Tone VT-101 (Wipe Out c/w Shootin' The Pier)
 | This is an extremely early single to carry surf titles, and it's very much before the genre coalesced around an identifiable style. The sound is somewhat crude, and the band is clearly very young. The Vi-Counts were an early version of what became The Nocturnes.
The Vi-Counts were Kurt Steinbeck - guitar, Danny O'Steen - bass, Bruce McCoy - horns, Joe Millot - horns, Bill Greene - keys, and Artie Perez - drums. Kurt Steinbeck and Artie Perez wrote both sides. |
Picks: Wipe Out, Shootin' The Pier
Track by Track Review
Surf (Instrumental)
This is a raw sax instro of the riff rock variety. The performance is loose but primal. Piano, horns, guitar, bass and drums pound out pre-frat rock that's not far from the fifties in time or style. This is not the same song at all that The Surfaris or The Impacts did.
Surf (Instrumental)
"Shootin' The Pier" is stylistically the same as the a-side of the single, but the song is more cohesive. The melody line is more complex and circular. The plinking piano and raspy sax are pretty cool!