Barry Rudolph was always interested in electronics and music. During high school he played drums in a surf band and worked full time in the aerospace industry while putting himself throug...

Mark Guerrero has had a passion for music ever since he was a young boy growing up in East Los Angeles. His father was singer/songwriter Lalo Guerrero, who inspired a generation of Chican...

Don Wilson was a founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures! He formed the band with his friend Bob Bogle. Shortly after their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” Nokie Edwards,...

Rob Joly was playing in a surf band in 1966 when Leo Fender hired him to work at a teenage fair. The fair attracted young students and Leo felt the event would be great to introduce his n...

John Blair grew up during the first wave of the Surf Music craze in America during the late 1950s and early 1960s. John later formed his own surf band and again, years later, in the 1970s...

Will Glover was among the first wave of surf rock guitarists when he formed a band with several friends from high school in 1961.  The Pyramids, the Long Beach, California based rock grou...

Bob Spikard formed an instrumental rock band with his high school buddies and they called themselves the Chantay’s.  The band’s greatest hit, co-written by Bob, was entitled “Pipeline”!  ...

George Tomsco formed the influential rock band The Fireballs with several of his high school friends.  The band became known for its instrumental recordings, which were very popular in th...

Randy Holden was a teenager when he formed a rock and blues band in Pennsylvania called The Iridescents.  The core of that band moved to California to follow the wave of emerging Surf ins...

Mike Vernon formed an instrumental rock band inspired by George Tomsco called The 3 Balls of Fire (the name taken from the first song they learned to play "Great Balls of Fire").  During ...

Bob Berryhill was the original guitarist for the surf band the Surfaris. The group of teenagers had a pop hit with "Surfer Joe," which was followed up by the 1963 chart topper "Wipe Out."...

Gil Orr played a part in the era of popular music known as the Surf Sound. With the steady growth of instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Orr performed and recorded his gu...

Paul Johnson formed one of the early surf bands in Southern California during the golden era of instrumental music. As a guitarist and songwriter, Paul performed and recorded in the days ...

Dick Dale was the King of the Surf Guitar whose driving style redefined instrumental music in the early 1960s. His music conjures the mood of the era so successfully that many of his tune...

This audio only interview was conducted by David Schwartz and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Carl Wilson co-formed The Beach Boys with his brother, Brian, and school friend, Al...

Bruce Johnston has been a member of the Beach Boys since the mid-1960s, first singing with the group on the hit "California Girls."  He appeared on most of the groups albums, including th...

This audio only interview was conducted by David Schwartz and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Al Jardine can be heard on the very first Beach Boys recording. The song, “Surfin’”...