by abstamaria » 30 Mar 2023, 05:43
As there are fewer and fewer folks here on the island that know the Shadows (fewer still, those who play their music), two friends and I are getting those musicians together. This is now just a Viber group, but a goal is to have a jam session with all on board, with drums, amps, echo boxes, spring reverbs, and such. Almost all members are amateurs who played instrumental guitar music in high school in the very early 1960s. There are about 30 now, and some never met the others. If we were to all meet each other, that would be an accomplishment in itself.
To keep the focus and theme tight, the group is for 1960s instrumental combo music only. This includes not only the Shadows, but also the Ventures (who were very big here), the Chantays, Surfaris, Dick Dale and the Deltones, the Fentones, the (UK) Eagles, the Spotniks, and their ilk. (It will be great to hear Misirlou through a Fender Showman amp!) Those who like the Shadows, we figure, will appreciate those other bands as well. There will be no vocals or earlier or later music, to prevent the focus from morphing into other genres. We are conscious that, in the over 50 years since guitar combo music fell generally out of favor, each of us acquired differing musical tastes. The only interest we have in common may be the early 60s guitar-band music.
An analogy might be car clubs. There are and have been many car clubs here, but few fail to survive. I think that is because they lose their focus (and core members) in a bid to expand. In 1967, when I was in college, two professors and I founded a sports car club, agreeing that only sports cars will be allowed in. Since the founding, there has been much pressure to admit other types of cars, such as muscle cars and rally cars, which pressure was always resisted. The result is that the club is the oldest car club in the country, older than the next oldest (also a very focused, one-make club) by some three decades. It has been the tight focus that I believe was the critical factor. The club focused on the only interest all the members have in common. (I have a 1948 MG TC, in case you are wondering.)
Looking for examples and experience in Shadows clubs, I trawled the forum and found this interesting old thread, which is instructive
Best,
Andy