kahuna kawentzmann on stage

People All Over The World Love Surf-Music

Even if they don't know it!

My old band The Looney Tunes (vinyl avail­able here!) were more or less a tra­ditional Surf-band, fea­tur­ing the prop­er vintage equip­ment and line-ups from three to five members. I wrote about a third of the tunes, one third was Surf classics and one third oddities - like german 60s soundtrack themes channeled through my re­v­erbed Fend­er Jaguar gui­tar.

The range of influ­ences in my solo projects is a good deal wider. While I still aim at an early/mid 60s sound im­pres­sion, I also incorporate Space-Age Bach­e­lor-Pad mu­sic, Exot­ica, Soul, Funk and sometimes dub echos.

A few people that influ­enced my approach to mu­sic are the classic Surf and Rock’n’Roll heroes I grew up lis­tening to, like Elvis, Link Wray, Dick Dale and Cliff Gallup, but also gui­tarist/produc­ers like Les Paul, Vin­cent Bell, Al Caiola and Ladi Geisler. Oth­er long running influ­ences on my production-style come from Joe Meek and Phil Spector on one side, and Jazz (e.g. Cal Tjad­er) and 60s big bands (e.g. Bert Kaempfert) on the oth­er. The nat­urally bal­anced soundscapes of the lat­ter two are increas­ingly reflected in my re­cent record­ings, while The Tiki & The Gui­tar is more freeform.

click the records for more info an all my releases

magic fly by kahuna kawentzmann 8 track armchair travelling in the world of tiki original soundtrack recordings 12 track debut album gogo sitar vinyl and mojo club releases my contributions to surf music compilations