The Astronauts - Firewater

[GuitarBobMonterey]

Tulagis', lol. Must've been a gas!

[risingpower]

best music

[diesel1344]

Haven't heard this in soooo many years. Takes me right back to Tulogi's. After they were done we'd just roll down to the Sink for the rest of the night.

[jeshualivesforever]

sounds great and epic face at 1:41



[bbabylee33]

hey! it's the pee wee herman dance

[Fiddlerforever98]

That's my grandpa Dennis Lindsey he is the one on the right the one goofing off lol!!! But sadly he died before I could meet him we still have his old guitar!!!!

[maveric23100]

lame...

[fijiboy68]

@maveric23100 Thanks! 

[maveric23100]

I BELIEVE ONE OF THE DANCES WAS THE PONY.

[fijiboy68]

Can anyone tell me the names of the different styles of dancing in this video? I see a variation/s of the twist but that's all I know....Thanks!

[IndianaSurfGuitar]

The more I hear bands like The Astronauts, or even Chicchi with Sweet Pappa, the more I'm becoming a sucker for the certain umph of a band having 3 guitars, bass and drums!

[clarkewi]

This is great - real "surf".

[bj42alberta]

Sad news. Bob (far right) died Saturday. He was a classy his whole life.  RIP, Ho-dad. Google "Robert Graham Demmon"

[elreydecaracas]

LA LEY DEL GO GO

[gunjeep444]

Used to see them play at University of Wyoming. I have most of their lp's and 45's, including the ones only released in Japan.

[pixielinux]

In the typical video "lip sync" filming of the era none of the guitars have cables plugged into them.

[jdoggybizzle]

viva le surf

[swann62]

A surf band from Colorado? Hmmm...

[immutabledude]

I have a feeling that this is the only scene worth watching in this film.

[TrentAlkaline]

Just scored the Surf Party original soundtrack on vinyl from my dad's collection. Easily one of the coolest records I own now--purely for Firewater off side 1, and the whole of side 2 with JImmie Haskel and The Routers.

[brokenbeard1]

along with the surfaris,the Astronauts were one of my fave instro bands at that time and "fire water" was the first track i;d ever heard of them off "Surf Party" album if my memory serves me well??they had a great "Wet" sound the lp was;nt up to much but at the time worth buying 4 the two Astronauts tunes/good to hear again//

[dionkraft]

Jeez...did we dance like that in those days!! YIKES!!!

[modspell]

That drum beat looks like a muscle-burner-- he never lets up on that left hand.

[khkartc]

Great continuity--Rich Fifield has a sweater on in all the "front" shots, and shirt sleeves in the "rear" shots.

[cowabungabra]

@khkartc Too funny... As many times as I have watched this I never picked  up on that....

[SurfBandFan]

@khkartc I dig the way he holds the left drumstick

[latexkat1]

I found all there CD's on E-bay ... 

[cowabungabra]

Has to be "was" cause they haven't been together in many, many years. What is his name?

[Luluzr]

my history teachers dad is in this band! or was

[Building529]

...boring song. I like surf instrumentals, but this one goes nowhere,,,

[stars1776]

I have one their almost unknown albums still unplayed. I have two of the Capital 'Surfin" albums, one is in Cherry condition. The other.well it has been played a lot. I grew up in the Denver / Boulder area, even one of my grade school teachers knew them at CU. They were a pretty good surf band to have never been to the ocean at that time. If you read the liner notes on the back of the Surfin album they talk about inventing snow surfing..SNOWBOARDING.. Really!

[toltec19]

kicks all rap music in the guts

[precisionbizzle]

I've got the Surfin' with/Competition coupe album, but I can't find an album with this song on it!

[jackofalltrades156]

Is it possible to get a record with the band anymore?

[cowabungabra]

Sure, vinyl available on ebay as are CD's including a box set. "Surfin' With" is the best IMHO.

[myeckwaters]

Doesn't "Surfin' With" have the song "Kuk"? I remember liking that one, so silly.

Is that possibly the weirdest job of miming a band has done on film? The drummer in particular seems to be having a muscle spasm.

[slw435]

@jackofalltrades156

you can find CD's at Oldies.com

[SpeedTriple59]

Sweet ..

[eshewerethin]

cleant cut kids!

[Surfboard365]

these guys were so good they didn't even need to plug in their guitars, now that's talent! =)

[longboardssurf]

the best band in the history....

[claudiofimiani]

Ideal para disfrutar de este hermoso veranito que vivimos en la Argentina

[AudioAndroid]

I love it :) ty for putting this up :)

[canival1salvaje]

son de las mejores rolas de surf de antaño

[santansurfer]

Badass 60s music! Astronauts fucking great!

[rockinjohn89]

Great Video. I've been playing The Astronauts on my radio show for years! They put the Reverb in Reverb ! Whenever I play their music, the studio speakers at the station shake! One of the greatest surf bands of all time, if not THE greatest!

[Salooon101]

Stupid Dance....

[dzava]

The only stupid thing is your washed up brain...

Is the Wiener Waltz stupid because it was popular 200 years ago?

what an ignorant person you are

[patrat2000]

all that reverb must have sounded cool echoing off the rockey mountians

[cgravier]

Dudeman is actually using the mute on his Jaguar. That's pretty cool!

[marcoftheshaw]

apparently this number and many of their others were recorded i a BIG studio at RCA...........hence the natural reverb on top of those old spring units

{thank god we can achieve the same for much less cost these days]

[latexkat1]

Well they are not pluged in cuz its a Movie set Duh ... AMAZING song

[blackknight48]

Must be hard to get that sound. None of them are plugged in.

[gtgene]

Notice no one is touching the piano. Most every living room used to have one.

[surfinjohnnyq]

man i never get sick of this song .  check out the surf demons version on myspace

[bigguy4570]

Love those Fender Strats

[cowabungabra]

Thanks for the comment about the video. The guitars are actually two Fender Jaguars and a Jazzmaster. Beautiful indeed.

[fmiller747]

There isn't a single Strat in this video.

Quite the Fender expert, aren't we?

[dzava]

There arent strats.... there are two Fender Jaguars and one Jazzmaster which is the lead guitar (i guess)

[nvr2tallluvr]

AND Jazzmasters.

[bigguy4570]

Yes I did make a mistake and call them strats sorry about that.

[cgravier]

2:14 dude downs whatevers in his highball glass

[VEGASTOLLY]

Thing I remember the most about The Astronauts on stage around 63' in front of a crowd of a couple thousand at Kearney State College was the four twanging guitars lead by Rich Fifield and the big drivin' beat of Jim Gallagher their young drummer. It was a time of C.U., Tulogi's, Estes Park, The Sink, girls, beer and cool guys in the band. Stormy was like the jock, Bob the slightly older cool guy and Denny the steady one. The KSC college kids loved them in person and they were cool!

[TrailerNo9]

I bought their LP, "Surfin' With The Astronauts" 40+ years ago along w/Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve"! Still sounds "cool"!

[froggeymonkey]

OMG this brings back memories! Rich Fifield - such a hottie! Met them at a radio station in Denver before we went to Red Rocks for the Beatles' concert!

[randestuart]

elvis would be proud of these guys

[dumbusernames]

Where do you surf in Colorado? lol

[SurfThrashGuitar]

snake river :)

[Simehiri]

In the snow! Lotta surf bands used to play at Colorado snowboarding events. Dick Dale sold out every time he played Boulder when I was growing up.

[hodadsmusic]

I wll probably be the only one ever to say this in the whole world...the greatest Rock n Roll Band ever!

[SurfThrashGuitar]

right on...IMO definately the best sounding Surf band ever.

[9205connection]

wow listen to that finale!! @ 2:38

[Wryter47]

They also played at the famous Tulagi's bar in Boulder the summer of 1961 and I must have heard them 50 times! Fabulous for their time.

[cowabungabra]

Both of their "Live" albums.. Club

Baja and Tulagi's are favorites. Not many instrumentals but some great classic vocal tunes. Perfect for chugging down that 3.2 beer.

[VEGASTOLLY]

WOW...I remember The Astronauts when they played at Kearney State College (Nebraska) in 1963 or 1964 before a HUGE crowd and also at the Kearney Airport a year or so later. I was a sophomore or junior in college and before the airport performance they were drinking beer, talking to us and they had brought a couple of college-age black girls with them from Boulder. Rich Fifield was the "cool" guy in the group and I have their CD Surfin' With The Astronauts"! Best song...KUK.

[latexkat1]

AMAZING !

[Psmag0]

Astronauts before that "british invasion" was great!

[surfinjohnnyq]

yea this rules. the astronuats just plain rock

[Viktnt]

3 fantastic wet fender guitars!!!and bass!!

[claudiofimiani]

Cool! this music is so funny, even now!

[9graff9]

Damn, i wish i could be there, having fun and listening to surf...

[Valizan]

This might be a stupid question, but did these Astronauts appear in a surf movie to do a cover of Tom Jone's It's Not Unusual?

[insaneblackrose]

These guys are so cool!

[ZoneIII]

Thanks for posting this. Hearing the Atronauts brings back such good memories of a more innocent time. I lived (and live) in Illinois but they were one of my favorite bands in the mid 60s. Great stuff!

[cowabungabra]

There was a contest on a local AM station back in the early 60's and my high school "won" the Astronauts for one of our dances. Too cool for school. I also spoke with Rich Fifield a while back, who is in the Denver area. Very nice guy and had some wild stories. I am now a 60 year old drummer in a local "Surf" and still think the Astronuts were one of the all time greats.

[WilliamCWilson]

Was glad to find them on youtube. I was born, raised and went to school in Boulder. I remember as soon as I turned 18, I was 3 blocks down the street that Tulagis to see them when they played live there. Oh, the good ole days. Glad to hear Jim is still in the area. The "Hill" has changed a lot, but was good to be back there for my 40th at Boulder High, last year.

[cbiscuit505]

my dad is good friends with the drummer Jim, he is such a nice guy

[cowabungabra]

Indeed he is. He is still here in Colorado and I spoke with him a year or two back. Just listened to their "Live" at Tulagis and Baja albums yesterday and his drumming on those knocked me out.

[BayAreaThrash]

excellent video, i never knew the Astronauts wrote this tune, good stuff!

[ANICON2006]

..loved the ASTRONAUTS when they first came out.. if I'm not mistaken their 1st big hit was HOT DOGGIN, the best version of it ever played by any group back then.. bought every one of their LPs, now u can get them on compilation CDs from AMAZON.. my 1st guitar back in '67 was a Fender Jazzmaster bcuz of the sound from this groups lead player had one!

[brutaltiger]

Love the "wet fart" sound of those old Fender reverbs.

[milesgehm]

5 stars for sure. Thanks to Ms. Tiki Tina for the link.

Miles

[playdeadrecords]

Out of my enormous vinyl collection, Surfin' With The Astronauts remains my favorite - Al Schmitt got a GREAT sound on that record. Best band EVER from Colorado, hands down!

[Kkrnbrcht]

I saw them at the Baja club in with Dick and dee dee.

[Yourong18]

Bombe

[ctaesque]

Oh Yeah. It's on, baby. VERY 1964! Those drop-dead beautiful white Fender guitars are to die for.

[sunfrostsurf]

Yea,talked to him yesterday...my son..his grandson wants to play like grandpa! Rich says he'll do his best to talk him out of it.lol..Mom used to have all his movies and letters he sent home...she passed a couple years ago and i can't find it. anything you post video wise would be great...all 3 of my kids are music fanatics and they search constantly for his stuff. Wish i could find some Japan tour footage or photos. Take care

[sunfrostsurf]

wondering if you had any more footage of the Astronauts..my dad is the lead guitarist..trying to find more of his stuff...long live the sound!

[cowabungabra]

Rich is your Dad? I live in Denver area and saw the Astronauts live several times. I play in a local surf band which covers a number of their songs and spoke to Rich a couple of times last year... great guy. Yes, I have copies of all the movies they were in and plan on adding more some day.

[rax134]

I've been looking for the names of their movies so I can get hold them. I have "The Surf Party", bought it just for the Astronauts clip. Can you maybe list the others here?

[nwerle1]

and who opened for the monkeys in denver?

[ANICON2006]

..wow, what's ur dad doin these days, i think he's just a few years older than me now! Some of these old surf bands are back together playin on the West coast today, the Vara-Tones are a good example of a group that played together in the 60's and are back together & doin what they love best, playin the 'surf sound' the way it used to be played!

[mcrenshaw]

The bass player looks like Lawrence Welk..

[dsimonen122]

Effin'cool ! great post!

[thetormentos]

Awesome!!!! nothin' can beat The Astronauts wet sound!

[crimedontpay]

Fantastic, 5 stars.

[InteriorCommando]

You should hear their version of "the hearse"talk about a boss surf sound!

[kevsongs]

It sure gives them a cool sound...a tidal wave of reverb!

[nvr2tallluvr]

Y-e-a-h..I love the Reverb they use on insrumentals. Similar to the reverb. that the "Trashmen" (out of Minnesota) use.

[kevsongs]

Wow, do I see 3 Jazzmasters? No wonder they have such a strong surf sound!

[cowabungabra]

Nope, two Jags and a Jazzmaster(the lead). Tough combo to beat.

[perrimeno]

...and a Jazz Bass.

[nvr2tallluvr]

Thanks for the correction. On the back of MY album cover (the ONLY album I have OF The Astronauts) "Surfin' with the Astonauts"..in the photo on the back..all the guitars LOOK LIKE Fender Jazzmasters,plus the Bass player ,playing a Fender Jazz Bass.

[surfguitar101]

Very cool! Long live The Astronauts!

[surfraptor]

Great stuff! some party eh?

[granitsky]

Nice find, I love these guys.