Surf Coasters

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The Surf Coasters are a Japanese surf band that was started by Shigeo Naka in 1994. They currently continue to tour often in Japan and abroad, where they have acquired a sizable fan base.

1 History
2 Other band members
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The band's became known due to their stint on the talent show television program, Ebisu-Onsen (which was very similar in concept to the American program, Star Search), on which the winning band would receive a recording contract.

The Surf Coasters had much success on the show, which led to a loyal fan following. They succeeded to make it into the final round of the competition, where they finished in second place; however, they still received a record deal, which led to the release of their debut CD, Surf Panic '95, which, despite being an instrumental album, sold well. The band also played that year with surf music legend and "King of the Surf Guitar", Dick Dale, who was on his first tour of Japan. Reportedly, after the tour Dale referred to Naka as the "Prince of the Surf Guitar."

Since then, the band has released upwards of twenty records, for the Columbia, Victor and BMG record labels, and have become number one, Japan-wide, for instrumental bands. Their sound has varied since 1995, including dancehall, acoustic arrangements, blues, ethereal, and heavy metal. Naka has also gone on to record, with and without the rest of the band, on other musical projects, including soundtracks for film and video games.

Though not officially broken up, the band played its last shows together in November 2005. Naka has been performing with an assortment of bands, including Ryouchi Endo and The Southern All Stars. Kurita has been playing bass with his band Chill.

[edit] Other band members

Nobuhiro Kurita, who joined the band on bass in 1997. During the band's first American tour, Kurita was dubbed "Zen Punk" for his cartoonish presence. He began playing the bass after being encouraged to do so by a friend in junior high school.
Naotaka Seki, a drummer who was recruited by Naka into the band in 2001, while touring with Ryouchi Endo. He began drumming after seeing Munetaka Higuchi, drummer for the band Loudness, and deciding that he looked cool.