Surfin’ To The Sound Of The Lively Ones

Several of the California bands performing ‘surf music’ in the 1960s have made appearances here, beginning with the Ventures, featured on one of our earliest posts (almost six year ago). Later pieces explored the Bel Airs, the Rivieras, and Dick Dale, whose name became retro-cool when his “Misirlou” was memorably used in the movie, Pulp Fiction. But another band from the era also had a song featured in that film, and it’s a good listen even if it didn’t cause quite such a stir. Does anyone recall “Surf Rider” by a very good combo that called itself the Lively Ones?

It wouldn’t be surprising if the group’s name is unfamiliar. Although there appears to have been (and continues to be) various groups using that name in oldies shows, facts about the original Lively Ones are a little more elusive. What is known is that the guys came together in 1963 in Southern California and did well for a while, scoring minor hits with “Surf Rider” and “Rik-A-Tic”, but mostly operating as a cover band doing established songs like “Pipeline” and “Telstar”, along with occasional updated standards.

There’s not a lot of info around about the Lively Ones, but original band members included Jim Masoner and Ed Chiaverini on guitar, Ron Griffith on bass, Joel Willenbring on sax, and Tim Fitzpatrick on drums. And even though the band dissolved later in the decade, it left behind a surprisingly large number of recordings, including “Surf Rider”, “Surf Beat”, “Surf City”, “Crazy Surf”, “Soul Surfer”, “Surf Fiesta”, and “Forty Miles of Bad Surf”. Sounds like a group that knew its audience’s tastes.

The Lively Ones – “Surf Rider”