CHANTAYS
Pipeline
The instrumental surf music era hit its zenith in 1963 and the cities just south of L.A. proper seemed to be home base for its most popular bands, sandy-toed combos with names like The Challengers, Belairs, Lively Ones, Marketts and Surfaris. Since the late '50s Bill Wenzel had been running a popular record store, Wenzel's Music Town, on Lakewood Blvd. in Downey, California (east of Whittier, west of Hawthorne, north of Long Beach and Huntington Beach and numerous other not-so-secret surfin' spots), right in the thick of the hottest west coast music scene. Jack's record label had the obvious name - Downey - and his recording studio took up nearly half the space in the shop. Two bands came to his attention in the latter part of 1962, the first a hometown quintet: The Rumblers, regular vinyl-buying customers armed with guitars, bass, sax, drums and a name inspired by Link Wray's influential 1958 hit "Rumble." Another similarly-configured quintet, The Chantays of Santa Ana (22 miles southeast in the O.C.), came right on their heels. Bill signed both groups.
That second group's inspiration came from Orange County-based guitar-shredder Dick Dale, a local hitmaker with his Del-Tones ("Let's Go Trippin'" in late '61) and a big draw at party spots like Pacific Ocean Park near Venice Beach, a guy they could never hope to match (though a slightly milder equivalent seemed doable). Guitarists Bob Spickard and Brian Carman were at the core; bassist Warren Waters, keyboardist Rob Marshall and drummer Bob Welch filled out the lineup. They also admired The Rhythm Rockers, who regularly gigged at the Rendezvous Ballroom near Balboa Beach Pier, a hotspot since the Big Band era that had every SoCal surf act on its bill during those years.
Bob and Brian came up with an instrumental tune that cleverly combined electric piano and dual leads (with Brian's bubbling guitar opener several decibels below Dale's seashore-shaking sound) in a way they felt evoked the gliding moves of wave riders. But what should the title be? Filmmmaker Bruce Brown, who directed more than a dozen films on the sport and culture of surfing from the late 1950s through 1970s (including his most popular, The Endless Summer, which had a successful run at the box office in '66 and '67), had released Surfing Hollow Days in 1961, which contained a segment on the Hawaiian Pipeline. After watching the film, Bob and Brian knew "Pipeline" was the most fitting title for their song. They called the group the Chantays, a decision that took far less deliberating than coming up with the song title.
In the summer of '62, they recorded "Pipeline" and "Move It" at the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga. None of the larger labels showed interest, but when they approached Bill Wenzel he took them right away, despite having just committed to the Rumblers. Turned out ten musicians were more fun than five. The Rumblers' "Boss" dropped first; released in November 1962 on Downey 103, it caught on quickly, going as high as number two on KRLA's Tune-Dex in early January '63. Having a hard time keeping up with demand, Wenzel made a deal with Randy Wood at Dot Records to distribute the single nationally.
"Pipeline" came on Downey 104 a few weeks later (its label crediting Chantay's with an unintentional apostrophe!) and broke first at KFXM in surf-loving San Bernardino. In L.A. it picked up steam once "Boss" had peaked; by mid-February 1963 the same issue occurred and Dot took over distribution (not bothering to remove the apostrophe on the new labels). Also a number two hit locally, "Pipeline" performed much stronger in cities large and small from coast to coast, becoming a top five hit on Billboard and Cash Box singles charts in April. It was the best-selling surf instrumental to that point, eventually becoming a million seller (one other song surpassed it that summer: "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, and it had appeared on two small labels before also being sold to Dot, the company that made the most of a hot trend).
The quartet stayed busy the rest of the year, playing regularly in L.A. and touring with top artists including O.C. heroes The Righteous Brothers. They made several television appearances, mainly on teen dance shows; a guest spot on The Lawrence Welk Show in May '63, just as their hit was at its most potent, made them the only surf group to appear on the high-rated, but demographically much older-skewing, entertainment program. Surf music was rising to greater heights, though vocal acts like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean would soon surpass the instrumentalists. The next Chantays disc, "Moonsoon," had a dual release on Downey and Dot (no more apostrophe), but failed to elicit interest, even in L.A.
Four Downey-only singles took them through 1964 and '65: "Space Probe" covered a musical idea the Marketts had explored with "Out of Limits," while "Only If You Care," their first vocal effort, clearly followed the lead of '64's British stars. They returned to the original formula with "Beyond," an infectious variation on "Pipeline," while 1965 single "Greenz" took a more bluesy approach. Two Sides of the Chantays, a follow-up to their Pipeline LP, featured instrumental and vocal tracks, the latter including "It Never Works Out for Me" and a remake of The Crickets' "Maybe Baby." These two were issued on a one-off label, X-P-A-N-D-E-D Sounds, under a bizarre band name, Leaping Ferns. I guess you could call it an experiment that didn't work. Reprise Records signed them (under the name The Cahn Men, which wasn't used) and the result was a strong folk-rocker produced by Lee Hazlewood, "(I Won't Cry) So Be On Your Way." Brian Carman wrote the song, issued late in 1965 as The Ill Winds. One other single came in the summer of '66: "A Letter," penned by Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack, has a lighter sound quite unlike the first Ill Winds tune. It marked the end of the Chantays as we knew them...or didn't know them.
But "Pipeline" lives on. Many cover versions were made in 1963, as other instrumental acts included the instant classic on their albums, The Ventures, Lively Ones, Challengers, Astronauts, Routers, Bill Justis, Al Caiola and Sandy Nelson among them. And let's not forget that appreciator of great music, Lawrence Welk, who released a version too. The song has impacted many a modern musician; in 1987, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Dick Dale collaborated on a harder-rocking version for the soundtrack of the nostalgic, star-studded comedy film Back to the Beach and landed a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. By that time, the original members of The Chantays had decided to reunite and do some touring, realizing there was a demand that was too good to pass up, even as their dreaded 50th birthdays neared. They had so much fun they kept doing it for a few more decades.
