Review: Les Agamemnonz Keeps Surf Music Alive With Amateurs

Les Agamemnonz released their latest album Amateurs on June 11th. The instrumental surf band from Rouen, France is comprised of Benjamin Bonaventure (lead guitar), Simon Ripoll-Hurier (rhythm guitar), Grégory Bonaventure (bass), and André Pasquet (drums). Additional musicians featured on the album include Michael Jacques (french horn, trombone, trumpet, flugelhorn), Frédéric Jouhannet (violins), Antoine Berland (medium grand piano), and Zach Robbins (field recording). This is the band’s third album. Previous releases included Les Agamemnonz (2013) and De A a Z (2015).

Growing up in the Upper Midwest region of the United States, I used to dream of the West Coast with its warm weather, beaches, and scenic ocean views. Surf music always appealed to me during cold, snowy winters with musical artists like the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean being my favorites. Occasionally instrumental surf bands like The Ventures make it on to the turntable.

Instrumental surf music peaked during the ‘60s showing up not only on the beaches but also in spy movies like James Bond and spaghetti westerns. Until recently I thought the days of this musical style popularized by Dick Dale, The Ventures, The Chantays, The Shadows and The Surfaris with songs like “Miserlou”, “Pipe Line”, “Apache”, “Walk – Don’t Run”, and “Wipe Out” were a thing of the past only showing up occasionally in movies like Pulp Fiction and new James Bond movies. That is until I was forwarded a copy of Les Agamemnonz’s Amateurs. After doing some research I found out that there has been a revival of surf music.

Rouen, France would not have been my first guess for the origins of a surf music band. However, for the past decade, Les Agamemnonz have performed hundreds of gigs, in concert halls, art centers, apartments, on village squares, beaches, boats, etc., across Europe and the United States. Looking at the band you’d think a group of ancient Greeks had entered a time tunnel and emerged 2500 years in the future. The band performs barefooted and in Greek chitons, which are similar to Roman togas.

Les Agamemnonz style is influenced by classic band surf bands like The Ventures and The Astronauts, while still imparting their own interpretation to the genre. The originality of their arrangements draws from their deep interest in all forms of electric instrumental music that have flourished all over the world (Eleki music in Japan, Rautalanka in Finland, instro in France, electric Cumbia, Sega, etc.).

On the release of Amateurs, the band says “The making of this album has been a very long process, and we are very excited to make it public soon! Especially during times when gigs don’t exist anymore, it is heartwarming to be able to share new music with people.”

Amateurs is your typical surf music album. It runs the gamut of the surf sound. B. Bonaventure and Ripoll-Hurier’s clean toned Fender electric guitars, with heavy use of spring reverb and rapid alternating tremolo picking, dominate. G. Bonaventure’s bass and Pasquet’s drums provide the timing and rhythm.

“Artemis” sounds like a song straight out of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western with its galloping rhythms. This sound also appears in “Attention”. Most of the songs are up tempo but the pace slows down in “J’avore” and “Redwood Heights”. “Xiphias” is fast paced with pronounced spring reverb and tremolo picking.

On “Xiphias”, the band shares, “the greatest challenge in writing surf music is to keep it as bare and simple as it can be. Sometimes it demands a lot of ‘pruning’. We pruned ‘Xiphias’ a lot so it can swim as fast as a swordfish.”

Great music always finds a way to transcend time and generations. Mozart, Gershwin, Sinatra, and The Beatles have all stood the test of time. Apparently, the surf music genre has survived as well since its emergence in the late ‘50s. With Amateurs, Les Agamemnonz is helping to keep the genre alive and exposing it to a new generation.

Track List