On this day (March 3) in 2017, Jim Fuller died in Arcadia, California, at the age of 69. Dubbed the Godfather of Surf Rock, he was the lead guitarist and principal songwriter for The Surfaris. The band composed and recorded two of the genre’s most recognizable songs–“Wipe Out” and “Surfer Joe.”
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The instrumental surf rock wave began in the late 1950s with Dick Dale and His Del-Tones. Soon, the genre marked by heavy reverb and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences was dominating Southern California. The Surfaris, a group of high school students, came together to ride that wave in 1962. Later that year, they brought national attention to the regional sound with their now-classic single “Wipe Out,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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“Wipe Out” was written on the fly. The band went to the studio to record “Surfer Joe” as their debut single. Then, they learned they needed another song to put on the record’s B-side. That evening, a marching band drum cadence and a riff Fuller had been toying with for a couple of weeks became an iconic hit.
Jim Fuller Reflects on “Wipe Out”
“Not even close,” Jim Fuller said when asked if The Surfaris planned on “Wipe Out” being a hit single. “It was a fluke. We needed a B-side,” he explained.
The song “Surfer Joe” came to drummer Ron Wilson in his sleep. The band’s manager, Ron Smallen, told the band that if they recorded a single and it sold well, they could buy a van to drive to gigs and new equipment. So, they went to a studio in Cucamonga in December 1962 to cut “Surfer Joe.” Then, they famously came up with “Wipe Out,” a major hit, before they left the studio.
“Ron Wilson was in the high school marching band, and he had this drum cadence that he speeded up,” Fuller said of the iconic opening drum solo. When asked about the riff he played for the song, he said, “It was just something I had in my head. Something I had been working on for a couple of weeks.”
He played a Fender DuoSonic during the session. “When ‘Wipe Out’ became a hit, The Surfaris cut a deal with Fender. We did some ads in music magazines, and they gave us a lot of equipment,” Fuller recalled. These ads and Fuller’s attachment to Fender guitars helped popularize the instruments early on.
“We knew it was a hit when we turned on the radio, and they were playing it non-stop,” he recalled. “I was surprised. The band was surprised. My mom was surprised. I was still living with my mom, and she was mind-blown. I paid off her house.”
Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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