Hailing from Birmingham, here are the Surf Drums.
I can’t believe I haven’t dedicated a post to this classic mid-80s band yet. I honestly thought I had! But it is never late, right?
The band’s first release came in 1985 on a label from their hometown called Swordfish Records that had released all sorts of music, not necessarily indiepop. On this label the band released “Take It With Me This Seven Years” 12″ EP (SWF 003). It included four songs, “Take it With Me” and “Stone and Silver” on the A side and “This Seven Years” and “Everything” on the B side.
On the album we see David Kehoe singing and playing acoustic guitars (he also wrote the songs), Richard Left on lead guitar and backing vocals, Ann-Marie Taylor on keys and backing vocals, Michael Laffoley on drums and Colin Packwood on drums. The songs were produced by Bob Lamb. Record sleeve was designed by D.T. and the band’s photo was taken by Gareth Owen.
2 years later we see the band releasing “Walkaway” perhaps their most known release. This one came out on 7″ and 12″ and was released by Kaleidoscope Sound (KS-703). This label was founded in 1986 by Joe Foster, who you must know from Creation Records, Rev-Ola… and also for playing as Slaughter Joe and producing so many bands. The 7″ version had “Walkaway” on the A side and “She’s Not Giving” on the B side. The 12″ included “Tell the World” as a second track on the B side. The record was produced by Joe Foster and the sleeve was designed by Rob Boyle.
That same year the band releases “Black Tambourine” again on Kaleidoscope Sound (KS705). This one again is released as a 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had the title track on the A side and “All There Is” on the B side. On the 12″ the song “On My Way” is included on the B side. The songs were produced again by Joe and recorded at Loco Studios Llanhenrock in Wales and Rich Bitch Studios Selly Oak.
Listening to the songs, you notice a clear change of direction of the band sound from their first release compared to their “Walkaway” single. Their first release is rockier.
Looking for info I learn that the band used to play “You Got My Number” by The Undertones at their gigs. I also learn that Michael Laffoley left the band in 1987 to be replaced by Paul Tibetts. A year after Paul and Anne Marie left the band to the Korova Milkbar who released some records on the Subway Organization.
Kehoe and Left carried on and recruited Pete Tweedle, the former drummer of The Primitives. They split from Joe Foster and tried to negotiate with Wayne Morries, The Primitives manager, for a management deal. This never happened though it seems a tour was planned with The Primitives, Birdland, The Impossibles and themselves. This last lineup of the band may have recorded a demo but it is not clear.
What is clear is that Richard Left would end up playing in the final Felt record, “Me and a Monkey on the Moon” and then joining his former bandmates on the Korova Milkbar. Another interesting bit of information I see is that Ann-Marie Taylor married Richard March from Pop Will Eat Itself.
There was a Facebook page for the band to my surprise. It says the band was resurrected? I wonder if they played a reunion gig or something. There are some cool flyers of gigs, see that they played with Mighty Mighty, Bounty Hunters and Filipinos. Also at Dingwalls where they supported Felt, The Jasmine Minks and Bradford. There’s another gig at the Barrel Organ, with just themselves. Then on the Saint Etienne website, we see that Bob Stanley reviewed a couple of their gigs, one from August 15, 1987 at Burberries and another on November 21 of that same year where they played alongside I, Ludicrous at the Sir George Robey in London. Another one dates from May 3, 1987, when they played with The Gun Club and The Highliners at the Astoria in London.
Pete Paphides also mentions them on a post just a few weeks ago.
I keep looking and see that David Kehoe now goes under the name David Keogh. Under this name he has published a book called “The Accidental Gangster: Part 3: Volume 3” that came out in 2016.
It seems they had a good following in Birmingham. So yeah, I am quite curious to know what our friends from Brum remember about them. I am especially curious to know if more songs were recorded, especially with that last lineup, how did they sound like?
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Listen
Surf Drums – Walkaway
One Response to “:: Surf Drums”
The Surf Drums were very well known around the Birmingham music scene. They used to go busking in the city centre on a Saturday which is where I first saw them around 1985/86. I think Dave Kehoe lives in Ireland now. They were influenced by bands like Love and The Byrds, they were never indie pop, I always thought of them as more rocky. They were good musicians and were older than me so I never really connected with them. The local music paper, Brum Beat, used to write about them a lot. People like Mike Davies or Paul Flower, who wrote for Brum Beat, would be able to provide a lot more info. I am pretty sure they recorded a Janice Long session as I remember listening to it, Dave Driscoll might have a copy.