Surf Rider – The Opening One

The instrumental track Surf Rider is the most popular song from the band The Lively Ones. They were a southern California-based band that was active from 1962-1965. Most of the songs they played were covers of popular songs from the era but the song that stuck with us all is Surf Rider which was written by Nookie Edwards of The Ventures and recorded in 1963..

The song’s energetic performance offered a different approach to the surf rock movement of the time. The deep-reverb guitars are melodic, almost hypnotizing, but what stands out is the saxophone solo as well.

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino who used the song in his most famous film and soundtrack “Pulp Fiction” Surf Rider was reborn in 1994. Whenever you hear the track, you have to think of Tarantino.

When I formed my band Pacific Bullets in 2011 I wanted to play a bunch of songs from Tarantino’s films and old-school stuff like rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, and some new songs that had that “vibe”. When I started gathering songs for the setlist the first one I thought of was Surf Rider.

Since 2011, we have opened almost every gig with Surf Rider and it has always been a favorite with our audience. The surf wave that Surf Rider started has inspired us to add more surf songs to our setlists throughout the years. 

May you ride your waves safely Surf Rider!