In mid eighties a pastor in the UK handed me a cassette tape and told me the story of a hidden rock legend. The cassette had been given to him by a friend who once worked as a studio hand in Arizona and the story went that one day three unnamed musicians booked a recording session at the studio. They came in, set up and in just one day they recorded an entire album of classic 70's rock material from start to finish. At the end of the day they packed up their kit, walked out of the studio and just dissappeared into the desert never to be seen or heard of again- leaving behind just the one tape of their days work. The band had identified themselves as being called 'Joshua' and as the material they recorded was 'christian' rock the material gradualy spread among the churches where the tape was copied again and the 'legend of the band who dissappeared into the desert' was passed on and repeated again and again.There was something inspiring and special about that story which, as a young songwriter on the verge of making life changing decisions, captured my immagination. It was the stuff of legends. The music itself had a 'country' edge to it's rock and even though exceptional at times, to me, it was the legend itself that was far more entertaining.
In 2005 that legend was repeated in a new modern format when three young men identified as Shane, Sean and Colm or 'Charlie Don't Surf' set up their own contemporary legend by wandering into a studio in Cork, Ireland to record a non stop continuous and classic 'funk rock' instrumental jam. In just 'one take' , well over an hours worth of incredible instrumental rock was layed down as one continuos concept piece. But what realy set this one session apart as something truly unique was the fact that many of it's musical phases, pauses and changes in tempo were interlaced and brought together by sound from the legendary film 'Apocalypse Now' . The session was never officialy released as an album, though it was later parcelled up into nine named segments and only four segments of the entire session were ever made accessable beyond their own Cork fanbase when they were later uploaded to MySpace.Of the four segments made public via the bands MySpace page the films classic lines are heard to weave magically throughout one of the most unique unreleased rock recordings of recent history . The iconic line 'Charlie don't surf!' sets a sudden tempo change on 'Melody Green' while the phase that originaly joined 'Goblet Cell' to the overpoweringly emotive' Waltz Of The Wildebeest' features the famous rant of Hopper himself as the 'LSD and drug crazed photographer' in the closing phases of the film.
For three years between 2005 and 2008 the band were a regular feature of Corks rock underground and were often found playing their brand of instrumental rock throughout the city. They had one review as one of the very first Irish bands to be featured on theryanoriain22.com in 2006 and, after announcing their final gig in 2008 just after recording another albums worth of 'unreleased ' tracks they suddenly dissappeared and went their seperate ways.Even though a video was later released of 'Djogo' from their second recorded session a promised album release never materialised and apart from a and few fans and friends from Corks underground rock scene even their identities have remained a mystery. One thing is certain and that is the fact that Hopper himself would have been proud to have had those lines immortalised in such a moving way...and the fact that the entire piece was played and recorded from start to finish in just one take while the film played out in the backdrop itself makes the session a legendary piece of music and timing more than worthy of such a legendary actor whose films were often themselves champions of the very best of a musical generation and culture from that very first opening scene in Easy Rider on. Waltz of the Wildebeest is also featured on TheRyanO'Riain22's ' best of playlist ' on MySpace where it has been a main part of the continuous top 40 UK rock and indie myspace chart playlist on and off scince August 08. Shane, Sean and Colm may well have dissappeared into the desert, but their music remains, just like Hoppers characters , films and skill, a part of the promised land and a legend that will continue .
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