Hey, surf-music fans! Welcome to our page. We're the Windermeres, and we've been playing surf music since before they invented baggies. We believe that long boards rule, that Dick Dale will live forever, and that God loves us because he gave us reverb. We really hope you enjoy our tunes. You can learn more about us, including news about our upcoming gigs and blog entries, by going to our MySpace page at www.myspace.come/thewindermeres . If you like the music, let us know! Nose up, hang loose, and see you under the pier at midnight. Your pals, The Windys
Greetings all! I'm Scotty Westbrook, lead guitarist and spokesmodel for The Windermeres, including Blake Wellborn on rhythm guitar; Sleek Sleezix, also on rhythm; Kip Henry on the Fender bass; Lance "Trippy" Forsythe III on organ; and Chuey "El Loco" Esperanza slamming the drums.
First off, thanks to all of you who have hung with us, at least in spirit, these past 44 years. We made our debut on the schoolyard stage of Neff High (La Mirada, California)(Go Trojans!) on September 27, 1964, playing every surf song we knew. The response was muy fabuloso, and we knew then that we would always be a band. And although that didn't come true, we always thought about those happy days when we were gigging constantly around the Southland: Surf Nights at the El Monte Legion Stadium. Luau parties and barbecues and hukilaus throughout the greater La Mirada/La Habra/Buena Park area. Battles of the Bands in Pacoima, El Segundo, Fullerton, Stanton...and sometimes we even came in second or third. And of course, we'll never forget our year and a half as a recording group on Hi-Bev Records.
Thanks to our new producer/manager Mark Orwoll, who shall we say "rediscovered" us (his words; we never knew we were lost!), we're totally stoked to be seeing some of our original LP's made available in the CD format. These recordings have been mostly remixed and remastered, which as Mark says wasn't easy, considering the original records were done on two mics in the sound-proofed garage-studio owned by Hiram and Beverly Shtetl (the Hi and Bev of Hi-Bev Records) (Hi, Hi! Hi, Bev!).
For those of you who have lost track of me and the gang, let me catch you up on things. Blake finished law school and joined his Dad's firm on the condition that he cut his hair and "stop wearing shirts with competition stripes," as his old man said. His career is rocketing, and he assures us that the indictment is a load of B.S. and will never stick. Sleek got out of the automotive business about twenty years ago (when they repossesed his shop! Sorry, Sleek. Had to say it, ha ha!), and since then has been giving guitar lessons in Seal Beach and Signal Hill. Kip turned out the most normal of us, and since 1975 has been an accountant. Yawn! (Oops, the Kipster's gonna cream me for that one!) Trippy, as most of you know, has a recurring role as "man in sports coat eating hot dog" on the Law & Order franchise. He figures he has eaten something like 375 franks on TV since he became more or less a regular on the series in its first year. Chuey continued playing drums after the Windermeres broke up, first with the soft-rock group The Fly Boys, then with the punk rock band Stickup, then with the New Wave group The Pop Tops, then he moved to Seattle where he single-handedly started the Grunge Scene as drummer AND singer (go, Chuey!) with Vermin Angst. He runs a fine fine super-fine recording studio now in Bellingham, Washington, and says he will give The Windermeres a great price on studio time if we ever decide to go back into the studio.
And me? Thanks for asking. I'm doing fine. The wife and kids and I finally left dear old La Mirada and moved down to Mazatlan--actually La Playa Borracho, a little village about ten miles down the beach from there, with some bitchen waves that glass off nicely every day around 3:30. I run a little beer shack on the beach. Whenever the kids bring in some fish I make fish tacos and sell them to the tourists along with any sort of Mexican beer they want. Presidente, Dos Equis, Modelo. No wine, no hard booze. Just cerveza and, occasionally, fish tacos. I'll never make it rich, but we do okay. And now that I'm temporarily back in California playing some gigs with the guys, I'll be bringing mucho dinero back to my mujer and ninos. And then I'll get back under the palapa roof of my beer shack, turn up the sounds (Belairs, Dick Dale, Surfaris, Lively Ones, all the greats), and chat with the surf rats and tourists who like to hang all day, getting plastered and sunburned. Come on down. I'd love to have you. But if you stop by around 3:30 and I'm not there, just look across the beach to the waves and you'll see me. Yeah, the blissed-out old guy on the long board. Hey, I told you, the afternoon glass off is da kine, bro! Kuaku!
As long as there is room for our electric wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, we'll hobble onto any stage that will have us. But be prepared to be transported back to 1964.
Dick Dale, The Astronauts, The Challengers, The Ventures, The Surfaris, The Lively Ones, The Revels, The Tornadoes, The Chantays, The Bel-Airs, The Pyramids, Jim Messina and the Jesters, The Shadows, and all the other original "first wave" surf bands, known and unknown, who kept the faith and set the bar high.
The Windermeres use Fender guitars exclusively (although they are open to offers).
