As summer takes its last gasp, the nights get longer. School buses go back on the road, storm windows come out of storage and the wind takes on a chill. Football games play on television sets across America. Halloween is a ways away, but that doesn’t mean the freaky won’t come out to play.
During this twilight time between a hot summer and chilly fall, the beaches near colleges see coeds building bonfires to usher in their Friday night. At beaches without nearby colleges, with the kiddies and families moved on, the local teen scene comes out to the beach to drink beer and do whatever kids do. Not everything out there is Leave It to Beaver wholesome.
Introducing: the Psychedelic Haunted Beach Party — a genre / non genre that mixes summer surfing sounds with something slightly more sinister. It’s garage rock for nighttime by the sea when the creepies might crawl. The sound is heavy on creepside organ, twangy surf guitar and flam-bam, thank you ma’am Rocking McDrumming. Sometimes there are vocals, other times nothing but instrumentation. Across the board, the tunes are lo-fi played on aging equipment and mixed dirty. Originally conceived as spacey and futuristic, the genre is now a blast from the past.
Its origins take place in the mid 1960s with groups like 13th Floor Elevators, the Sonics, ? and the Mysterians and Electric Prunes — but it’s the Ventures who truly get the vibe with tunes such as 1964’s “The Bat”:
The genre goes dormant through the 1970s only to enter its golden age in the 1980s behind such groups as the B-52’s (“Planet Claire”) and the Cramps. But it’s amazing and spine-tingling groups like the Fleshtones (“Hexbreaker!”), the Miracle Workers and the Chesterfield Kings as well as the edgier, early incarnations of the Go-Gos and the Bangles that take the concept of a Psychedelic Haunted Beach Party and make it their own. The group that nails the vibe hardest is The Pandoras led by Paula Pierce on their timeless It’s About Time album — that came out in time for record buyers to pick up at their local shop in 1984.
The Pandoras – “Haunted Beach Party” (1984)
The Chesterfield Kings – “Expo 2000” (1982)
The Fleshtones – “Hexbreaker!” (1983)
The Miracle Workers – “Psycho” (1984)
It’s September and the moon turns from purple to orange. Grab your pals and boombox and head to the shore or coast. Gather some driftwood and set it ablaze while the night conjures its creepy magic to this soundtrack.
Check out our Psychedelic Haunted Beach Party playlist on Tidal. Some of the best songs are not available on streaming services, so be sure to check out these bands on vinyl.
