Formed 12 months ago, the array of accomplished Newcastle musicians, who fly under various monikers in the band, plan to bring the surf sounds of the iconic Fender Statocaster back into vogue.

Guitarist and chief songwriter Riff Carnage said the band is based on the idea that Novocastrians are “basically a coastal species.”

“Surf music is not fashionable,” Carnage said. 

“We need to bring it back, front and centre into people’s consciousness”. 

The line-ups see Carnage joined by Groove Frenzy on bass, Tempo Tantrum on drums and Sid Fishes on rhythm guitar and vocals.

However, vocal duties in this band are sparse. They primarily play instrumentals.

“It’s the iconic surf guitar,” Carnage said. “I have just always loved it since I was a kid.

“I remember hearing Hank Marvin, he was in the Shadows, at an early age. 

Carnage said instrumental music meant listener’s could attach “their own meaning to it.”

“It’s also a lot of fun,” he said. “It just makes you want to go to the beach and evokes those memories.”

He said band members had chosen pseudonyms because it was something of a tradition to do so in the surf punk scene. 

“The surf punk scene, mostly overseas, is larger than life and always has a comic-book, fantastic element to it,” Carnage said. 

The band plays original tunes that draw on the sounds of Dick Dale, The Atlantics and Taman Shud. 

“It’s a little bit tougher, but we are trying to drag it into the 21^st century, so there is a few modern influences,” Carnage said. 

More contemporary influences include 70s post-punk such as Radio Birdman and Celibate Riffles.

Carnage said he had wanted to put a surf band together for some time, but pulling the right line-up together had proved elusive. 

“I just started going around recruiting people,” he said. 

Punkfish debuted in July at Lizotte’s and already has a six-track EP If It’s Rock’n… under its belt. The recording features five instrumentals tunes and one with a vocal track. 

“It’s taken a while, we actually knocked over the recording in two or three days,” Carnage said. 

“There has just been lots of hold-ups with everyone being available to mix it and all that sort of stuff.” 

If It’s Rock’n… is due to be released before the end of the year. 

Follow Punkfish: facebook.com/punkfishoi