Meteorite Shower.mp3 (click the link to download the MP3)
Ghost Train
Polaris
Mojave
Gary Busey
Zuma Slam
Grunion run
Outsider
Halley's Beach
Pleasure Point
Hot n'Glassy
Insect Stop
Bouzouki
Surf Sun And Sand

Picks: Meteorite Shower, Ghost Train, Polaris, Mojave, Grunion Run, Outsider, Halley's Beach, Pleasure Point, Hot N' Glassy, Insect Stomp, Bouzouki

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Meteorite Shower ****

This is an infectious tune with a strong melody. It has a driven magnetism about it. The optimism is clear, but so is the energy. There's something uniquely Insect Surfer about it, with the trademark twin lead guitar interplay that defines the Insects. It displays more watery fun and desert delight than just about any tune on disc. It was originally titled "Electric Dayglow Meteorite Shower."
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Ghost Train ****

This locomotively driven tune sports whistle chords, and a melodic power line that shouts "train a-comin'." Grinding, cool, and ready for the tunnel.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Polaris *****

This is one perfect instro. The melody line features the kind of hooks that stay with you, the arrangement is nearly magical, and the imagery is stunning. This is a mid tempo beautifully written and played tune with subtle drama and picturesque guitar tones.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Mojave *****

This is one of the most spectacular middle eastern surf tracks around. It hollers bazoukies and belly dancers, yet it also displays ample southwest desert edge and mystery. A highly energetic, melodic, and absolutely infectious track.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Gary Busey ***

A choppy fairly unmelodic number dedicated to those who ride without helmets, crash, and then say "shuck, it didn't hurt much" as they drool out of the side of their face. Actually, I think that requiring helmets is stupid. What is needed is indemnity for the other driver against recovering when available protection hardware is not employed. That goes for seatbelts, air bags etc. You can't legislate protection of people from themselves, but you can limit their ability to blame others for their actions. OK, I'm off my soapbox.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Zuma Slam ****

This is one of two vocals here. It's a leftover from the days just after DC, when songs like "Barricade Beach" were still in the set. I usually loathe surf vocals, but the Insects' craft work with the words always transcended my self-imposed limitations. I dearly miss "VOA" and "Up Periscope." Any way, this is a fine song about doing the Zuma slam... as well we all should. It's not a pick because it's a vocal and this is an instro web site, but I love this chunky track.
Desert Surf Vocal Stereo
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Grunion Run ****

A high energy instro with numerous changes, infectious guitar noodleage, dribbling notes, and magnetic joy. The Halibuts have a song called "Grunion Run," but this isn't a cover of that tune.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Outsider *****

This is all about waiting on your board for that long thin dark shadow-line that appears on the horizon, and builds until someone shouts "OUTSIDER!" It shreds, it double-pick pounds, it growls, it groans, and it's killer!
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Halley's Beach *****

This is among the early Insect Surfers instros. It has a truly fine melody, infectious and joyous. The track displays a major amount of coolness, using harmonics perfectly. This is just plain great!
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Pleasure Point ***

Named for the Santa Cruz surf spot, this sax lead track has a more ominous edge than most of their work, but also sports their fun and fluid guitar sounds.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Hot N' Glassy ***

I think this is among the least melodic of the Insect Surfers songs, but even as such, it is a fun jam with plenty of flair.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Insect Stomp ****

A sax lead number, driven by an almost ska backtrack, with an infectious rhythm that almost demands body movement. The guitar leads dribble off perfect notes sputtered at great speed. Bluesy, tropical, and energetic.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Bouzouki *****

This tune is dedicated to the fabled classic Greek instrument that inspired Dick Dale 's double picking. It combines the trad Greek ethic with surf guitar and bits of "Miserlou." A very strong track.
Desert Surf Instrumental Stereo
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Surf Sun And Sound ***

An eighties pop chord structure, an enthusiastic beach lyric, and a bit of surf 'n' spy and blues.
Desert Surf Vocal Stereo
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Insect Surfers - Polaris

      "Thank God everybody's nice and clean together. You know, every band I've heard so far seems to be well disciplined and well put together. Just because it's not blowing me off this Earth... That guy in the movie, Crossroads, that guitarist, Stevie Vai. He blew me off the Earth. Stevie Ray Vaughn. I played with him. He also played with that type of intensity. [listens] I see a guy on the nose of a longboard, sun goin' down, wind blowing through his hair, going across the face of a wave, like in Endless Summer. This is real nice. It's music I wouldn't blow up a building with, but it's music that I'd lay back, shut the lights out, and listen to. It's well done.

The Next Wave: Dick Dale Scores The Surf Sounds Of The '90s, Dick Dale interviewed by Dave Arnson, BAM Magazine, September 9, 1994

    "To end on a local note, the Insect Surfers recently handed me a tape called Reverb Sun. I had heard about this band, but never had the chance to see it in action. Despite the off-beat name, the Insect Surfers -- vocalists-guitarists David Arnson and Danny Sullivan, bassist-vocalist Michael O'Neil, and drummer John Covertino -- purvey an authentic brand of instrumental and vocal surf music, a la the Ventures, Dick Dale, etc. The fourteen tunes, with titles such as "Meteorite Show," "Gary Busey," "Zuma Slam," and "Insect Stomp," are well-crafted and truly boss. Apparently the Insect Surfers originate in the South Bay, so they don't play concerts in L.A.-Hollywood too often. But they do play, so keep an eye out if this type of music is your thing -- they're diggable!"
Los Angeles Reader, February 2, 1990

    "Finally, you can always find the soul of rock 'n' roll among SoCal's handful of crack instrumental groups....Reverb Sun ...Insect Surfers give us 14 twinkling, jangling, vibration-laden original tunes that are wholly authentic, never anachronistic, and ripe with verve. David Arnson and Danny Sullivan's two-pronged guitar whammy never lets up: They're snappy on "Meteorite Shower"; fiesta-like on "Mojave" (which also bears Sullivan's gnarly sax accents); swaggering on "Gary Busey"; poppy for "Zuma Slam"; staccato in"Hot 'n' Glassy"; and rambunctious on "Insect Stomp". They even take a stab at worldbeat surf with "Bouzouki"(a Greek mandolin). This album winds up with the anthemic "Surf, Sun and Sound", which makes even a gremmie like me wanna grab a board and shoot the curls"
BAM Magazine

    "Although promoted as a progressive surf band which mixes influences of the present with the classic surf of the past, the Insect Surfers --originally from Washington, D.C. before they landed in L.A.(surf city) in the mid-'80's are fortunately nothing of the kind. Surf music, as any Ventures record will prove, is eternal. The Insect Surfers fare best without vocals, and rarely attempt them....... For the most part, the band sticks to bumbling (as in bee) twang and reverb guitar and commands a good portion of the established lexicon of surf -- cool saxaphone, motorcycles in the recording studio and drum solos in short, bearable bursts. The dual lead guitarists, David Arnson and Danny Sullivan man their assigned channels -- Dave plays on the and Danny fills out the right-- like a couple of bloodthirsty mosquitos, making nearly the whole of Reverb Sun the surfin' soundtrack of the year, even for those of us in the Midwest, where surf is mostly just a state of mind."
M.M. - Chicago Reader

    "...Danny Sullivan and David Arnson's guitar work show energy and inventiveness. Besides a band who can tell a story without lyrics must be doing something right."
Foster Child

The Insect Surfers are being sponsored by Body Glove.