Official Laramie Dean

Interview with Texas Punk.net!!!

2011-10-04T16:30:00.001-07:00

Did an interview with Texas Punk last week! Check it out here:

http://www.txpunk.net/4/post/2011/9/interview-with-laramie-deanagent-orange-dick-dale-and-many-more.html

Some great press from my summer tour with Dick Dale!

2011-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Review from the Continental Club, Houston TX!

" The King of Surf Guitar, Dick Dale, and Surf Punk Legend Laramie Dean have joined together! They came to rock Houston and they did that, and much, much more. "

" Laramie Dean put on a ripping show. With skulls, and eery red lit fog covering the stage, it was a perfect site to back up the music. Authentic reverb heavy surf music, but with crunchy distortion, and a Punk attitude, it makes the term " Surf Punk " well warranted. The set featured well known surf staples like "Pipeline", "Penetration". and " Mr. Motot". Along with some great originals like : " Surf Wolf ", " Surf Riot " and the new single " the Creeper " , it makes for an undeniably great, rowdy Surf set. Another special highlight of the performance of " Bonzai Washout ", which wouldn't be played due to the lack of horns in his current line-up. Before completely finishing the set, Laramie passed out his guitar to a few lucky crowd goers, putting the final cherry on top of a great show. "

2011-07-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Had a SICK tour with DICK! Thanks to Jimmy, Trevor, Hideki, Drew, Daniel, Lana, Steve-O, and of course DD! 15 cities! Got some great press too!

" Opening support came from a legendary surf guitar player in his own right, Laramie Dean, who took it upon himself to book the tour without the aid of an agent. His set was composed of originals mixed with some new school interpretations of surf music's mainstays. To solidify his street credit, Dean has recorded with Joe King of the punk band, The Queers, as well as toured with surf-punks Agent Orange. "

-Brian Mahar, St Pete Fl

2011 Tour with Dick Dale update!!!

2011-06-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Been out for two weeks, and now we start for home! Been getting some great press, and selling out shows! When I get home, I'll post some photos. Here is one from a sold out show in St. Pete FL!

-LD

2011 Tour with Dick Dale!!!

2011-05-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ok! So I just finished up just over 400 shows with Agent Orange, and I am very proud of the time I spent with Mike, Perry and Dave on the road! I got some great press too! Miss those guys already!
TWSS! Perry knows whats up!

For a few years, I have a few key promoters wanting Dick and I to do some shows together. What started out as a weekend fly in gig turned into a full on tour! Stoked beyond words! The dates keep coming in! Keep an eye here for the latest info!

Also, returning for another tour is Dicks son Jimmy! AND my buddy Trevor on bass! We have done most of these cities last year. Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces out there!

This tour will be a blast, get your tickers now!!!
Here is a great pic that Dick signed for me last week at our rehearsal !!!

Thanks!

-LD

More press for 2011!!!

2011-03-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some nice write ups from my winter tour with Agent Orange :

" During the set the trio were joined by guitar icon Laramie Dean, who honed his surf guitar skills studying under surf guitar pioneer Dick Dale, as well as performing and touring with Punk Rock royalty ( The Misfits, Fishbone, the Queers, Anti-Flag and more) ever since"

-Take Cover and Shoot! 01-01-11

"To be sure, when surf music savant Laramie Dean jumped up and helped ignite "Miserlou" into a monster sonic wave for the last song, the crowd drank it in, dizzy and deep"

-The Houston Press 01-10-11

" I enjoyed everybit of the show, but the stand out moment(s) for me was when surf guitar legend, Laramie Dean joined Mike, Perry and Dave on stage for some classic surf tunes.

Laramie ended his performance by holding his beloved guitar over the crowd and encouraged their outstreched hands to play it, making for a most righteous photo op "

-Tatto Artist Magazine 02-11-2011

Many thanks to Agent Orange, and to the reporters covering these shows!

-LD

Another Sick Year!!!

2010-12-30T16:52:00.001-08:00

2010 update! 200 days on the road! Another 50,000 miles on the van! Got to headline 23 sh0ws!
From Los Angeles to Seatlle, down to San Diego, over to Ft. Laduderdale, up tp Atlanta, and back through El Paso and Tucson! Gotta thank all the great promoters, and friends that made this possible! Great band memebers too! Korey Kingston, Jeff Bennett, the Mattson 2, Trevor Lucca and Jimmy Dale! 2011 is starting out great, doing NYE with Agent Orange in Cocoa Beach, and staying out with them through January 16th. Come see me, and pick up my latest 7". Speaking of, gotta thank my great friends Greg and Mike of the Reigning Monarchs! Down load our split single on iTunes, and buy the vinyl too!!! Ok, see you at the show! -LD

New Press! El Paso TX this weekend!

2010-10-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Home » Headline

Laramie Dean plays a ‘Hella’ Surf Riot

3 October 2010

By Maribel Santoyo

Very few in history can boast about a “Grade A” caliber apprenticeship. Plato. Aristotle, maybe—and a few others that just elude the memory right now. But with absolute certainty, Laramie Dean can. He was, after all, indoctrinated by the “King of Surf Guitar” Dick Dale.

If at this point you’re wondering who “this Laramie Dean character is”, you’re forgiven. But if you must ask who Dick Dale is, we might have to backhand-smack you and explain how he essentially pioneered and popularized “surf guitar” in the 1960’s, turned it into a cult genre, and made excessive guitar reverb the “cool” effect it is today. Reverb is, frankly, always welcome anyway.

See, years before Quentin Tarantino put Dick Dale’s surf hit “Misirlou” back onto the hipster radar with his 1995 cult film Pulp Fiction, a very young Laramie Dean was still holed up in his room learning the staccato chords to an elementary version of “Pipeline” by The Chantays.

And, much like most other New Yorkers then, the then aspiring guitarist said he was still relatively oblivious to the sunny, west coast sounds of surf rock, surf punk, or any other member of the “surfus genus” gene pool until he incorporated it into his own performance repertoire. That is, when the guitarist got his claws on some new music.

“I knew some guys who were working with Rhino records, original owners, friends of those guys…. first thing I was exposed to was a Link Wray tape, some Ventures, and surf guitar comps,” said the surf guitarist from L.A.

After a little over a decade, Dean has shared the stage with just about every notable punk act to include Agent Orange, the Queers, Fishbone, the Misfits, and Anti-Flag, to name a few. But it was when he began collaborating with Joe “Queer” of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire punk group The Queers (of “Noodle Brain” fame) that he and Joe (Queer) decided to take a drive to Portland, Maine to catch Dick Dale at a show, he said. After paying a second visit to Dale’s ranch with his wife, Dean finally befriended the maestro and the rest is history.

After 100 shows under the scrutiny of the legend himself, Laramie Dean put together an LP titled “Surf Riot” with probably a similar, furious inspiration that possessed Jack Keraouc to pound out “On The Road” on a roll of telegraph paper in a few days.

“I wrote it in my friend’s room over a Friday and a Saturday… right after touring with Dick Dale, sorta like he used to do when he was touring with the Deltones,” he said.

And if the hairs on the back of your neck aren’t standing on end by the end of a Laramie Dean set, then maybe you should seek meaning elsewhere. But his surf punk reinterpretation of classic tracks like “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and “Pipeline” will make the show at Badland Billiards next Saturday, Oct. 9 more than worth it. Important to note is that Dick Dale’s son Jimmy, who’s been playing drums with his dad since he was, as Dean puts it, “a little freakin baby,” will be playing, too. Local openers The Slicks, The Rusty Bishops, and Pushback! come on first.

Shoot some pool, crack open a Pabst Blue Ribbon before the show you hipster you, and have a grand old time “79915 Style”.

What: Laramie Dean

Where: Badlands Billiards, 7792 Franklin Dr

When? Oct 9, 2010

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2010 US tour update and Finksville 5 news!

2010-09-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ok! Made it home from another tour!
11 cities form Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Alburquerque, NM. Had a blast with Trevor and Jimmy! Here is a picture of us at one of my favorite diners, the Owl Cafe in " Owlburquerque " NM!

These guys were a blast to travel with! We drove straight from Los Angeles to Gainsville FL for our first show. Thanks to everyone that helped out.

We are heading back out to make up some dates that I had to push back to October. El Paso TX and Tucson, AZ!

Looking forward to it!

Also, I started playing with a new surf band in Los Angeles! We are called the Finksville 5!
Playing with Norman and Ryan from the Ghastly Ones, Dan Moses from the Dynotones, and
Danny Mangana, formely of Big Sandy! Our first show is this Saturday
with the Woggles from Atlanta GA!

2010 US tour update!

2010-08-29T21:57:00.001-07:00

Ok! Been super crazy here at DE*FI industries! Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to re-schedule some dates from last week. My apologies to the promoters and clubs.

The great new is, I am making the last 12 days of this tour insane with some new surf punks on tour with me! The first guy to come on board was a real deal California surf punk by the name of Trevor Lucca! He is an 18 year old surfer from Long Beach that will be playing bass for me! Great kid! His first concert was a Dick Dale show! Speaking of the King, the next guy to help me out with this tour last minute is Dick's son Jimmy! He has been playing drums with his dad, on stage, since he was a little freakin baby! Jimmy is an amazing musician, entertainer, and I am honored that he is doing this!

Check out the Dick Dale billboard in Long Beach! The whole world is Dicks!

Ok, spread the word, I need tenor sax or trumpet at each gig! I am serious! Email me :

Laramie@LaramieDean.com

thanks!

-LD

Nashville added!

2010-08-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Leaving this week on my second leg of my solo tour!
Just confirmed Nashville for September 7th! Check out
the picture courtesy of Pauly Mecham!

1st leg of my solo tour done!

2010-07-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

9 city west coast tour completed! 2,700 miles and alot of laughs!
Great band of guys I had on this tour.
Jeff Bennett, sax
Jonathon Mattson, keys and a drum solo!
Jarrod Mattson, bass
Korey Kingston, drums and a keyboard solo!

Thanks to all the promoters and friends that made this happen!

Leaving August 21st for the next tour, Cali to Florida and back!

7" Record Release Party's this weekend!

2010-07-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Just got back from 16 shows across the U.S.A. with Agent Orange! Getting ready for my two shows this week. Details on my "Shows"
page!

Limited Ed. colored vinyl, first come, first serve!

El Corazon Seattle show!

2010-06-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Gonna be in Seattle on July 21st! Returning to El Corazon! Special thanks to Paul from Rude Tuna for getting me on this show! Gonna be great! More tour dates coming in!

El Paso Texas is on!

2010-06-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, the southern tour is coming together, leaving San Diego in late August and heading south to Florida. Special thanks to Stefanie for all her hard work on this one!

Got more dates coming, and if you have any requests, hit me up at the site,

Laramie@LaramieDean.com

thanks!

-LD

Split 7" Release Party Part 2!!!

2010-05-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, Here it is, the news you have been waiting for!

yours truly with the Reigning Monarchs will be at :

The Cat Club! Saturday July 10th on the Sunset Strip!

This is Slim Jim Phantoms place ( of the Stray Cats!)
and it is a blast to play there again! Gonna crush it !!!

More details to follow!!!

I need more of these exclamation marks!!!

-LD

Hell's Kitchen!!!

2010-05-26T11:23:00.001-07:00

Tacoma, here I come! Been to the old location 3 times with Agent Orange, and just came through with them again last March. Now, I am playing there with my band! Looking forward to it!

Here is a review from the Weekly Volcano :

"Agent Orange formed in Orange County in 1979, blending the guitar influences of Dick Dale with the aggression of the Ramones. On Saturday night at Hell's Kitchen Laramie Dean joined the band as they tore through an hour of earsplitting surf rock, both old and new. It was great to hear pretty much all of the gems off of Living in Darkness. "

-Forest Longwood

Split 7" Release party part 1!!!

2010-05-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ok!

Got the first location for my release party(s) with the Reigning Monarchs!

Our new split will be available July 9th at the Doll Hut in Anaheim!

Will have a show here in Los Angeles on July 10th. Location to be named
shortly!

Also, got some new dates for my solo tour coming in. San Francisco, Redding, Portland Or,
El Paso Texas, Ft. Lauderdale Fl, Jacksonville Fl, and more coming soon!

-LD

On the Road again!!!

2010-05-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Heading out with Agent Orange again for a few weeks in June. Just posted the dates!

Heading out from SoCal to the Mid-west, down south and back.

Started booking my solo tour for the summer, so keep checking for more dates.
New split single with the Reigning Monarchs will be done VERY soon! Booking
release party this week!

Ok, more news coming soon,

-LD

www.LaramieDean.com gets a major overhaul!

2010-04-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!

Been waiting a long time to get my site updated!!! Special thanks to John Rivas for the great
job!

You can now hear, and buy music and merch here. I can do alot of updates myself now too!
Really excited about it!

If you want to get in touch with John, contact me and I'll get you his info!

-LD

New T-Shirts coming!

2010-04-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Got some new T- Shirts coming! Check the merch page out!

2010-04-21T18:26:00.001-07:00

Sent the music and art off for our new split 7" with the Reigning Monarchs!
Will be posting a new date for our release party!

Mixing new single!

2010-03-12T10:37:00.001-08:00

Sounds great!!! Can't wait till this is out!

FISHBONE show!

2010-03-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

Just put up the pics! Huge honor to support the legendary FISHBONE! Check out the pics, and please comment!

Thanks to FISHBONE, Silverback MGMT and Adrien for filling in last minute, with a one hour practice session! Great job!

-LD

Surf Riot! Sold out! Now on iTunes!

2010-03-10T22:59:00.000-08:00

WOW!

Been a whole year since I blogged!

UPDATE:

Ok, we moved to Los Angeles last December!

Did US, Canada and a massive 40 plus day tour of Europe with
Agent Orange! another year of over 100 shows!

Sold out of the 1st pressing and ONLY cd copies of Surf Riot!

Started playing here in LA with some great guys. Did a couple
of local shows that went well. Gonna have a new record out
in 2010!

Now, I am driving back to Florida, doing some re-union shows with
my old band there, and doing a big east coast/mid-west tour with
my BFF's AO!

Thank you, my friends!

-LD

http://www.facebook.com/LARAMIEDEANSURFPUNK#/pages/Laramie-Dean/37406715732?ref=ts

www.twitter.com/LARAMIEDEAN

iTUNES too!

2010 winter tour with Agent Orange!!!

2010-03-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

Yo!

Well, started the new year with another tour with AO. Got some pics up!
Having a blast out here, best tour yet by far. Dave Klein is killing it on drums!
Mike and Perry are crushing it every night too.

Ok, if you have any photos from our shows, please send em to:

laramie@laramiedean.com

thanks!

-LD

Mixing new single now!

2010-03-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Got a split 7" coming out soon with the Reigning Monarchs! Check em out at www.thereigningmonarchs.com

New Blog!

2010-03-01T23:20:00.000-08:00

Updates are coming to www.LaramieDean.com !!!

Press: Folio Weekly

2009-12-29T22:44:00.000-08:00

California Dreaming

Surf rock disciple Laramie Dean goes the distance in pursuit of his musical ideal.

Laramie Dean had to get to California. In 2004, the surf rock guitarist received an inside tip that Dick Dale had an opening for a guitar tech. For Dean, this was an opportunity to work with the undisputed King of the Surf Guitar, the man whose wild take on "Misirlou" achieved pop cultural prominence as the theme for Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." Even though Dean had met Dale only briefly and was taken aback by Dale's no-nonsense attitude, he had to give it a shot. Within a week of hearing about the job opening, Dean, his wife, and his three cats drove from New Hampshire to The Golden State, cutting diagonally across the country.

When Dean and company arrived in California, they met a "crazy guy in a parking lot in the desert" who took them out to Dale's ranch in Twentynine Palms, where Dale was "dressed up in his gladiator outfit." ("Long story," adds Dean.) After Dean completed an interview with Dale's operations manager, the surf-rock virtuoso walked in to tell his visitor, "You better know your shit!" Dean was hired.

While taking a massive journey on such short notice might seem insane, Dean knew that the chance of touring alongside Dale and witnessing his guitar prowess nightly would prove beneficial to his own playing. "It's funny," he says. "Not a lot of people drive 3,000 miles to meet somebody, but that's what I did."

Twelve years before he got the gig as Dale's guitar tech, the surf rocker was intrumental in Dean's musical evolution. At a time when Dean was interested in "spy" guitar (music in the vein of the "Dr. No" theme), a clerk at a New York record store recommended The Ventures, Link Wray, a Dale compilation and a then-fresh Agent Orange reissue. The guitarist was attracted to the instrumental sound and fell comfortably into the genre, delving into the likes of The Phantom Surfers and The Mummies.

In spite of an appreciation for surf music, he initially had no interest in surf culture. Having grown up in New York, he envisioned the scene as made up of "guys saying 'dude' all the time." Even as his playing gravitated toward surf rock, he had an aversion to the name. "I avoided the 'surf' tag," he says. "I wanted 'instrumental.'"

By the time he moved to New Hampshire in 1995, he had come to terms with the label. An engineer at a studio enjoyed what Dean was doing and referred him to Joe Queer of pop-punk band The Queers. The two struck up a friendship, and it was Joe who secured Dean one of his early gigs.

From there, Dean grew committed to his playing, gradually shifting from being a lead guitarist in a surf band to performing solo. Noting his carefully overdriven guitar tone, he describes his all-instrumental work as having "an old-school sound with the driving rhythm." In addition to sizzling original compositions, he ably rolls through classics of the surf canon: "Pipeline" by The Chantays, "Mr. Moto" by The Bel-Airs, "Penetration" by The Pyramids and "Banzai Washout" by Dale.

To add an extra jolt to his musical persona, Dean throws in some lighthearted theatrics. One of his recent 7" records is designed around '60s-style drag racing ("I have a tape loop that sounds like you're on a race track," he mentions). Tying in with that theme, breaks in his live performances are accompanied by sips of water from a gasoline cap. His show also features smoke and aural snippets from classics like "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon." Taking inspiration from the antics of '90s surf band Man or Astro-man?, Dean says, "I want to entertain people the way I want to be entertained."

Away from the stage, his personal life is now dedicated to the aesthetics of surf-rock culture - a distant cry from his early opinions. "Surf culture is like sand," says Dean. "It gets in everything!" From driving a 1950 Oldsmobile with an Astro Turf floor and bamboo-covered interior to his sizable collection of old albums, toys, flicks and comic books to his home in Southern California, he and his wife revel in kitsch and nostalgia for a period when surfing ruled American culture.

But the music is what pulled Dean toward the style and what keeps him going. He just completed a new single, and after finishing his extensive run alongside Agent Orange, he'll join ska drummer Korey Kingston in a new band that should hit the road early next year.

Now that Dean's immersed in the surf, is there any turning back? "No, this is it. It's the only thing I can see myself doing," he says with a laugh. "It's the only thing I want to do."

- Reyan Ali

Press: Camden Underworld, London

2009-04-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

“The punk momentum is broken up momentarily with more instrumentals; The Bel-Airs “Mr Moto”, and a belting version of “Miserlou” where they are joined on second guitar by the very dapper Laramie Dean… this is easily one of the highlights of the set."

- Pete Craven

Press: Miami New Times

2008-11-16T22:44:00.000-08:00

Agent Orange with Laramie Dean
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Churchill's Pub, Miami Nov. 16 2008

SoCal surf/skatepunk legends Agent Orange gave an all-out performance last night to a packed crowd at the colorful Churchill's Pub in Little Haiti. The trio of forty-something-year-olds came on at around 1 a.m. and kept the party rocking like it was 1989 after a solid set by surf punk guitarist Laramie Dean.
Laramie Dean, the self-proclaimed surf-punk machine, disciple of surf-guitar god Dick Dale, came on next with his (louder) brand of classic surf punk. Though Dean’s set was a bit removed from the gutter punk bands that played before him, his virtuosity definitely kept the crowd’s attention, while providing a great segue to the main act.

Agent Orange, though old enough to have fathered most of the audience, showed no signs of slowing down. Lead singer and guitarist Mike Palm had a smile on his face the entire time, as he led the band through countless classics including "Everything turns Gray," "Bloodstains," "Pipeline," "Too Young to Die," and finishing the night off with punk-rock anthem "The Last Goodbye."
Despite decades of touring, Agent Orange keeps a D.Y.I. attitude, wearing the various hats of tour bus driver, merch salesman, roadie/sound tech, legendary songwriter and world-class performer.

A punk show at Churchill's is always an experience, from avoiding the crackhead parking lot supervisors, to dodging fists and spikes in the pit. You leave stinking like sweat, smoke, beer and possibly vomit, and with a serious ringing in your ears. But you go home with a sense of camaraderie toward your fellow man, a feeling of having taken part in something real. Seeing a band like Agent Orange play there adds a kind of historic relevancy, a connection with the past—back to the days when punk kids were doing pretty much the same thing they are today, paving the way for future generations of noise and filth and fun.

- Ben Thackeri