619 The Chantays “Pipeline” 1963

“Brian Carman had a guitar—a $40 Mongomery Ward’s Airline that he bought with his mom’s credit card. And he had a little group called the Chantays—five guys from Santa Ana High School who thought they could maybe play for dances at the community centre. One afternoon in 1961, he and his pal Bob Spickard got together and traded licks after school. By the end of the day, they had composed what would become one of Southern California’s most recognizable musical exports—an instrumental anthem to riding the waves and living the life, a hard-driving song that begins with a dive-bombing set of notes cherished by virtually every kid who has picked up a guitar in the past six decades…Although the Chantays became known for surfing instrumentals, Carman was not an avid surfer” (Steve Chawkins, Toronto Star, 3/14/2015). 

The Chantays “Pipeline”