Pop-Break.com is proud to be an official sponsor of the first annual Asbury Park Surf Music Festival which takes place on Saturday, July 12th at The Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
One of the cool perks of sponsoring a festival like this is discovering great new bands like 9th Wave. They’ll be bringing their classic surf sound to the middle of the festival and we can’t wait to hear them rip through some barrels with their reverb.
When we spoke with festival organizer Vincent Minervino, he said this about the band: “9th Wave first and foremost are a great surf band. With go go dancers and a sax and flute, these guys really capture that classic surf vibe we all love. Also, guitarist Mike Rosado founded APSMF sponsor NESMA – the Northeast Surf Music Alliance – which is a network of east coast surf bands.”
We caught up with Mike Rosado from 9th Wave to learn more about the band as they prep for tomorrow’s Asbury Music Fest.
Pop-Break: You started writing surf music in Connecticut, miles away from actual waves. What was it about the genre that first inspired you to create the type of music yourself?
Mike Rosado: For me, the instrumental surf genre is action-packed and provokes an emotional response. This genre doesn’t dictate what you think (no words), but lets you feel. When I was a kid, my family had The Ventures “Batman” album and I was always fascinated with it.
Pop-Break: Who comes up with the interesting titles for your tracks?
Mike Rosado: Mostly me. The track titles are an extension of the soundtrack of our lives.
Pop-Break: If someone’s coming out to the Asbury Surf Music Festival and has never heard of you before, what song or songs would you recommend they check out in order to get what 9th Wave is all about?
Mike Rosado: One surf tune – such as “Surfing with Poseidon”
One hot-rod tune – such as “Last of the V8s”
One spy tune – such as “Sci-Fi Spy”
One spaghetti western – such as “Mule Train”
Pop-Break: When people see a 9th Wave show, what can they expect from you guys as a live band?
Mike Rosado: In a live performance you will hear us play a wide-ranging, diverse mix of tunes including surf, hot-rod, spy, spaghetti western, tiki/exotica, sci-fi and more, using a variety of instruments as appropriate. In addition to guitars, bass & drums, various tunes include Farfisa organ, flute, saxophone, piccolo, conch shell and more. You get the same thing whether you see us live or get one of our 6 original CD recordings – we record live in-studio, to capture the same energy and passion of a live show.
Pop-Break: What is it that you love most about being in 9th Wave?
Mike Rosado: We love the freedom of playing a diversity of original music as well as classic covers done in our own style.
Pop-Break: You’ll be performing at The Asbury Surf Music Festival — what drew you to come play this show?
Mike Rosado: As both a long-running surf band (since 1995) and the founders of NESMA (www.nesmasurf.org – a sponsor of this event) we were excited to be asked to play to support the growth of the genre through events such as this. We also like playing in bowling alleys.
Pop-Break: You’re deserted on an island and you can only play one surf song and watch one surf movie for the rest of your life. Which ones would they be and why? (And if you’re wondering how you can listen to the song or see the movie, let’s assume you’ve created something amazing out coconut shells, palms trees and sand).
Mike Rosado:First of all, I would try to make everything out of bamboo.
I would pick Horror of Party Beach for the movie – it’s got the beach, it’s got horror, it’s got a New Jersey surf band, and it was filmed in Stamford CT in 1964 – many points of connection for us.
For the song, I choose “Mission Impossible” – because it would be the perfect soundtrack for this existence, and it’s a really cool tune, with variety in instrumentation and rhythm, and it would inspire me to figure out a way off the island because they always succeeded with their missions.
Pop-Break: What are you most excited about for the band for the rest of 2014?
Mike Rosado: We have high hopes for finishing our seventh CD this year; we also have a bunch of cool shows still to play this summer, including many car shows. All our upcoming shows can be found on our website or we also have a Facebook page.
9th Wave performs at 4pm at The Asbury Surf Music Festival at The Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Click here for tickets.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Bill Bodkin is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Pop-Break. He can be read weekly on Trailer Tuesday and Singles Party, weekly reviews on Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal, Law & Order: SVU and regular contributions throughout the week with reviews and interviews. His goal is to write 500 stories this year. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Journalism & English and currently works in the world of political polling. He’s the reason there’s so much wrestling on the site and is beyond excited to be a Dad this coming December. Follow him on Twitter: @PopBreakDotCom
Comments are closed.