Highlighted Band- Surf Zombies

Every scene has local bands that are beloved. I will go so far as extend my local scene to the state of Iowa and by and large the most important musicians to come out of the state are the vastly different Andy Williams and Slipknot. 

Iowa has the usual amount of local favorites but has a few cool Adult alternative artists who have broken through (William Elliot Whitmore, Greg Brown, Pieta Brown). 

The small creative explosion of Ames bands in the Oughts definitely fits in the history as does some of the Minneapolis based bands that played here in those years (and I would include the terrific Sioux Falls band We All Have Hooks for Hands who look to have reunited). My collection is punctuated by terrific local artists like Beati Paoli and HD Harmsen who deserved more attention. 

But when I think of the current Iowa scene, there are two artists that have both a long history and also are currently making music as good as anyone. Ironically, both are middle aged and I think have crossed paths 

One of those is Dick Prall who’s probably a few years shy of 60 and is making this great music as DICKIE

The other is Brook Hoover who is just north of that age and fronts a few bands but the most well known is the Surf Zombies. 

Now, I know there is a sizable crowd in Iowa for rock nostalgia and it’s why the Surf Zombies fill venues but dang if they aren’t a great surf band. 

Surf music is a very niche genre. Though elements of it blend into the oeuvre of more popular rock bands from the Pixies to Agent Orange to the Ramones, more traditional largely instrumental bands in the genre have limited success. 

However, as part of the bigger 90s indie rock movement, some of these bands rode the wave (sorry) to the top. Bands like The Aqua Velvets, the Blue Hawaiians, the Bomboras and others got attention. Surf guitar master Dick Dale played to packed houses and his movie soundtracked our movie theater visits that decade and a couple of bands even broke through to bigger audiences like Man or Astro Man and Los Straitjackets. 

Surf music never truly goes away and seems to be doing well once again in the streaming world - the Space Cossacks, the Insect Surfers, Pollo Del Mar, the Blind Shake and the Vice Barons are some of the many and varied sounds that can be found with albums on Bandcamp and other sites. 

The Surf Zombies has a very modern surf sound and have released six full lengths with the latest 2021s In Color

Watching them open for Southern Culture on the Skids knocked off two bands that I really wanted to see.  Irony being one of the best surf bands on the planet are from landlocked Iowa. 

The band was named to the Iowa Rock Hall of Fame after the first decade of their now almost 20 year career. But like Dale and their most obvious progenitor Link Wray, the band has a sound for multiple generations.