The Ramblers Surf Rock Band ...by John Vanderbeck

The Ramblers Surf Rock Band

...by John Vanderbeck

   My name is John Vanderbeck. I was the Tenor Sax player for The Ramblers. I wrote and played Mozart Stomp and Hanging One found on the CD Surf Legends and Rumors.

The band members are:

Lead Guitar: Mick Meyers
Rhythm Guitar: John Schoellman
Drums: Curley Curry
Tenor Sax: John Vanderbeck
Bass Guitar: Jim Frost

   Mickey Meyers wrote Ticonderoga which is on the CD More Surf Legends and Rumors. We originally released these on the Sidewinder label as a 45RPM. Got some radio play for a while. John, the rhythm guitar player is living on his ranch near Plano, Texas. I don’t know where Mickey Meyers is but Jim Frost lives in Minnesota.

   All the players except for me were in the US Navy at the time of the recording. They were stationed at China Lake, California. I worked for the Navy in Civil Service. Mickey had a 40% hearing loss partly due to working around jet aircraft, so he played really loud. I think he named the song Ticonderoga after the USS Ticonderoga, an aircraft carrier. He also chose the name Mozart Stomp for my song on the other side of the record. I came up with Hanging One because I thought it was not quite up to Hanging Ten quality. The recordings were done in 1963.

   The Ramblers were popular in China Lake and Ridgecrest, California. We played at night clubs there and sometimes in Lancaster, California. Most of the radio play was in Ridgecrest and Lancaster. We didn't know we were a "Surf" band at the time. That was just the style of the music we played.

   I am still playing sax, but I have always had a "day job". I am retired now and playing in an amateur big band, and a sax quintet. I’m also doing some arranging. I didn't know our records were still around, and I was really surprised to find mention of The Ramblers on the Internet.

John Vanderbeck

Seattle, Washington

Contact: John Vanderbeck