Music in the Park Returns to Surf City

Country Rock and Steel Drums are making their way to Topsail Island this summer. The Surf City Parks and Recreation Department resumes their Concerts in the Park series at Soundside Park this month.

Local Band Fried Flounder will be making a rare appearance on July 10 with their mix of rock and roll favorites.

"We do a lot of Southern Rock and Blues. We play B.B. King, John Mayo, ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers, Santana, Beatles, Stones... We'll probably do a couple of originals.  We do about everything but beach music," said Fried Flounder Rhythm Guitarist Trapper Kramer.

Kramer says that the six man band likes to get together every couple of weeks and just "play songs and drink beer" alone at one of their homes. Getting them to play an actual concert is a more difficult task, which will make this show that much more special.

"We play because we love it. It's all about the music. Sometimes it's like pulling a hen's teeth to get us to agree to play a show. We love an audience. But we don't have to have one; we'll play anyway," laughed Kramer. "We're a comfortable group."

Although the band has only existed in this form for less than two years, they all have been playing music together in some form for decades. Kramer and drummer Terry Lee have been playing together for over 30 years, with bassist Tim Powell joining them 12 years ago. Guitarists Leslie Hall and Chris Batt have known each other since childhood and have been in bands together for over 40 years. Fried Flounder's sound is rounded out with Doyle Wilkes on percussion.

Fried Flounder's last show was at Gilligan's in Surf City and the crowd was so enthusiastic that the band was having trouble hearing over them.

"It was a big homecoming of us old boys. The place was so packed with people we knew and everyone was just screaming and I couldn't even get a drink. I've played in front of 150,000 before and that was nothing like this," said Wilkes, who laughed that he is still the "new guy" since he's only been living back in the area for 20 years.

Joining the lineup in the park is Sea Pans, a steel drum group headed by Wilmington resident Vince Stout.

"It's my baby. I make and tune all the drums. Sometimes we have up to twenty people performing in the band, but that's a rare occasion," said Stout. "I think for this show we will have a quintet."

Stout developed a curiosity for the steel drums as a child and took up the art almost instantly. Although the sounds of the instruments make people think of a far away tropical living, the steel drums, also called "steel pans" are actually a fairly modern invention.

"Modern steel drums were invented sometime in the 1940s. It's the latest acoustical instrument invented in the twentieth century. I had some as a kid. I was determined to figure out that sound. It's just a magical sound," said Stout.

After teaching himself so much about how to make and play the steel drums, Stout decided to go to the top and seek the knowledge of a pioneer in the business.

"I studied under Ellie Mannette for eight years. He was one of the inventors of steel pans. He was here from Trinidad, so I made some phone calls and hunted him down. He explained how the drum produces that sound. He now teaches at West Virginia University, of all places," said Stout.

A typical steel drum band usually has six types of pans being played. They are (from lowest tone to highest) the bass drum, the tenor bass, the cello pans, guitar pans, tenor pans and finally, the Lead drum.

"The lead drum is the highest one. It's like the violin is in the symphony. Then there's the hammer used to hit the note. There are ways to hammer to get that sound you want. We play enough that we don't have to rehearse that often. But if we do have to, I'll rehearse one section at a time, or I'll give them written music and have the drum labeled where the notes correspond. Then we all play together for the first time at the show. People who already have musical talent can learn the steel pans," said Stout.

So if you want to see some free shows in Soundside Park, you can see a good band on the July 10 that practices a lot and performs a little, or you can wait until July 18 to see a good band that practices little and performs a lot. Why not go to both. For more information, contact the Surf City Parks and Recreation Department at 910 328 4887.