INTERVIEW: Dick Dale, 75 and still going strong

Watching Dick Dale on stage can be downright inspiring. The 75-year-old guitarist is often called the “King of Surf Rock,” and he still sells out venues around the United States, tearing into sound systems and rediscovering his classic tunes. At a recent tour stop in Sellersville, Pa., Dale came onto the stage, backed by a bass player and his son Jimmy on drums. He earned the inevitable applause from the capacity crowd, and then proceeded to bleed their ears with challenging, pulsatingly beautiful guitar riffs.

Dale slipped into and out of songs, like a person changes clothes in front of the mirror. He coupled his own tunes — “Miserlou” and “Let’s Go Trippin” — with selections from Johnny Cash and other music legends. It was an unconventionally interesting concert that went in a million directions, eventually settling on a balance between nostalgia and present fury.

Audience members could close their eyes and easily get transported back to the late 1950s, to the days of Dick Dale and his Del-Tones. Cars and beaches, good weather and surfboards. Dale made it look easy.

“(My wife and I) always tell ourselves that we’re blessed that we can see every bit of land as we travel across the United States,” Dale recently said during a phone interview. “The last seven years I’ve been dealing with cancer, and diabetes on top of that, renal failure, a completely blown up bladder. It’s completely gone.”

Health issues have been difficult for Dale, but he perseveres and shares his triumphs with the audiences who turn out for his concerts. He credits his wife — a nurse — with giving him the strength to survive. “Lana is a nurse, and she’s the one who does all the medical research,” Dale said. “She really keeps me alive. … We talk to all the other people who have the same problems, and they see me on stage bouncing all over the place at 75.”

Dale said his philosophy doesn’t center around drugs or alcohol, one of the chief reasons he’s able to muster the energy to keep on touring. “We’re advocates on treating your body a certain way,” he said. “Our music makes people feel good, the music that I do. From the little kids that they bring to see me, from 5 to 105. It’s all styles of music. And they enjoy it. And then they tell me at the end of the show, when I’m signing (autographs), about their problems and how they cope with them. We just try to make them laugh, and laughter is the greatest healing. Help someone else, that way you don’t think about the problems you have. It’s all one big storybook here.”

Offering his thoughts while his small band travels the road, Dale emphatically said he keeps each gig unique. “I’ve never followed a list in my life,” he said. “I’ve been performing since 1955. I never go and follow a list. So what I do is I play to the audience. I don’t play to musicians; I play to people. And I play every style of music that there is. So every night I’ll be playing along, and all of a sudden I’ll just — bam — go into another song, right in the middle of that song. And — bam — do it again into something else. I tell the audience, ‘You know why I do that? It’s because I can’t remember how to finish the first song I was playing.’ But we do it. I’m always changing into different songs and different rhythms. I never play the same song the same way twice. Never.”

A special pleasure for Dale is playing with his son Jimmy on drums. “He does things on drums that would make your jaw drop,” the proud father said. “People in the audience they go wild because they can’t believe that we’re changing songs like we do, back and forth. There’s never a dull moment.”

An early prodigy of Leo Fender, Dale has sailed his way through many triumphs, both professionally and personally. With his slicked-back ponytail and penchant for furious guitar playing, Dale appears 75 years young on stage. Using the power of nostalgic hindsight, he’s able to look back on his career with great fondness.

“I’m the guy responsible for what they call loud.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Click here for more information on Dale’s upcoming tour stops.