The Satans

“Satans Surf” / “Surf Rat” (Estrus)
by Mark Phinney

The backlog at Estrus must be chock-full of swinging surf and underground rockabilly, and now these gems are being released to the hip, hungry masses. The Satans were a high school surf band out of Oregon in the early sixties that had a slick sense of what made surf new and different, and, for the time, even dangerous. I mean, who the hell would call themselves the SATANS, in the ’60s, in OREGON?!! Regarding the first ditty, “Satans Surf,” I can only picture these Phinney-lookin’ nerds at the hop breaking into surf hysteria, praying their parents don’t find out they’re tearing up the gym floor with the devil’s music. Fun, trashy, and a bit psychotic, the Satans were definitely ahead of the mediocre wave. The Ventures they were not.