"The Fathoms delight with reverb-drenched Fender guitars and moody sax solos." -- Washington Post It's time once again to quiver and shake with the East Coast kings of surf `n' stomp, as The Fathoms return with their firs... more »t album in almost ten years! Known to many as one of the best modern surf bands in the world, The Fathoms take the classic 1960s surf sound (think The Astronauts) and infuse it with early UK beat (think The Shadows), rockabilly (think Johnny Burnette & His Rock `n' Roll Trio), fuzz-garage (think Davie Allan & The Arrows), and even a bit of '50s Latin rock (think Ritchie Valens' early instro sides). Coming from Boston, a city known more for clam chowder than for "hangin' ten," the group is the brainchild of guitarist Frankie "Crankie" Blandino, whose infectious guitar picking is simply amazing with its wet-reverb tones and southern-fried twang. Blandino is joined by the rest of The Fathoms, who are all musicians of the highest caliber: Jerry Miller on rhythm guitar, Paul Tomasello on bass, Doug Hinman on drums, and the band's secret weapon: Dave Sholl on saxophone. Sholl's distinctive sleazy sax gives the band a layer of R&B that not only sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill surf groups, but also makesit the most authentic-sounding band in the genre. You'll swear it's the summer of 1963 all over again!« less
"The Fathoms delight with reverb-drenched Fender guitars and moody sax solos." -- Washington Post It's time once again to quiver and shake with the East Coast kings of surf `n' stomp, as The Fathoms return with their first album in almost ten years! Known to many as one of the best modern surf bands in the world, The Fathoms take the classic 1960s surf sound (think The Astronauts) and infuse it with early UK beat (think The Shadows), rockabilly (think Johnny Burnette & His Rock `n' Roll Trio), fuzz-garage (think Davie Allan & The Arrows), and even a bit of '50s Latin rock (think Ritchie Valens' early instro sides). Coming from Boston, a city known more for clam chowder than for "hangin' ten," the group is the brainchild of guitarist Frankie "Crankie" Blandino, whose infectious guitar picking is simply amazing with its wet-reverb tones and southern-fried twang. Blandino is joined by the rest of The Fathoms, who are all musicians of the highest caliber: Jerry Miller on rhythm guitar, Paul Tomasello on bass, Doug Hinman on drums, and the band's secret weapon: Dave Sholl on saxophone. Sholl's distinctive sleazy sax gives the band a layer of R&B that not only sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill surf groups, but also makesit the most authentic-sounding band in the genre. You'll swear it's the summer of 1963 all over again!
CD Reviews
Fathoms resurface from the depths with a rousing 3rd helping
Alan Hutchins | Denver, CO | 01/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Fathoms are an on-and-off again Boston surf instrumental group spear-headed by "Cranky" Frankie Blandino. Although often fronting Rockabilly or Western Swing bands, Frankie took the post-"Pulp Fiction" plunge and assembled the first Fathoms lineup in the mid-90's, releasing a debut disc "Fathomless" on the Atomic Beat label in 1996. This (currently out of print and very expensive on the aftermarket) disc was a total retro trip back to the sound and spirit of reverb-drenched, sax-honking west coast surf instrumentals circa 1963. (The sax was provided by ex-Barrence Whitfield and the Savages cohort Dave Sholl, who also had a concurrent instrumental project going called Four Piece Suit.) Frankie demonstrated an uncanny ability to write great surf melodies, some of which almost sounded like instrumental versions of songs bearing lyrics. A great example from the first disc is "Shadow Of A Doubt"--it sounds like a lost latin-tinged, pre-British Invasion single from the likes of Bobby Vee, but with Frankie's Fender Jaguar providing the melody line instead of a voice.
Sometime after releasing a nearly-as-fine follow up disc called "Overboard" in 1998, the Fathoms were put on ice as Frankie focused on his other projects. In about 2005 though, a new lineup of Fathoms was resurrected and began gigging in the Boston area. We finally have a studio project from this band in the form of "Fathom This!", and it's clear from the get-go that Mr. Blandino has lost none of his ability to churn out those memorable surf melodies and whammy-bar workouts. Other than Frankie, Dave Sholl is the only returning musician from the old days, adding his familiar gritty sax riffs to around half of the tunes here. Former Fathoms (and Cranktones) bassist Johnny Sciascia shows up with a "mastered by" credit, but otherwise it's a new rhythm section and second guitarist driving the proceedings behind Frankie's leads and tasteful instrumental coloring, which even includes piano and organ on a song or two.
The fourteen song menu has a smattering of strictly-surf-sounding songs, but "Overboard" demonstrated a branching out to other instrumental styles, and that trend is continued here abundantly. Throughout the disc, one can spot non-surf influences such as the Shadows ("Dark Secret" and part of "Pony Express"), Les Paul crossed with Boots Randolph ("Leap Froggin'), Davie Allan & The Arrows (the FuzzRite pedal is switched on for "Rat Bike") The T-Bones ("Tail Waggin'") and Duane Eddy ("Mimi's Theme" and part of "Pony Express"). The Latin stylings demonstrated in previous Fathoms songs such as "Turquoise Blue (And Primer Gray) " or "El Toro" are reflected here in "Panito".There's another "wasn't that a song from Bobby Vee?" moment with "She's The One".Trumpet shows up for the first time on a Fathoms song with "The Palomino", which could have accompanied a horse-galloping scene from a Sergio Leone spaghetti western.
This is a rousing, uptempo menu of instrumental stylings that are, above all, just plain fun to listen to, and stand as a further illustration of the quality one can expect when the Fathoms name is attached to something. This disc comes highly recommended for those with who get a kick out of retro-sounding instrumentals. Welcome back, Fathoms---missed ya!
"
Return of The Fathoms
M. Overberg | Scuba Ville | 12/24/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"After almost 10 years the Fathoms return. Hooray. For Some Reason a Seller here is selling this for $50+ dollars. Um just came out. Readily available!!!. The sound is a little different than there two previous discs. They aren't as dripping wet but the songs are still fantastic. They incorporated some styles that they did with other bands The Cranktones and the Spurrs.
Again why this is being sold for $50+ who knows.
I recommend this disc if you love the Fathoms. Hoepfully their other two discs will come back into print and there will be no need to pay $80+ dollars."
The Fathoms go deep!
J. szalwinski | Deep South, U.S.A. | 06/30/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Frankie Blandino and gang offer up some classy 60's style instrumental guitar music ala The Shadows and Ventures and Takeshi Terauchi. You can't go wrong with this disc. Great songs, awesome tone, tremolo and reverb.......what else do you need? I'll tell you. Frankie's playing which will inspire you to pick up your guitar and play or pick up a guitar and learn. Highly recommended!"
Fathom
G. Moore | Burnie, Tasmania Australia | 09/30/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a very good group of musicians and this is a good album in my opinion. The music is strong and every track is easy to listen to which for an instrumental album is pretty important. I particularly like the title track but as I said before every track is eminently listenable. I like the strong use of the growling sax in a number of the tracks and the strong percussive beat across most of the tracks. Good album by a good group. Well worth a listen."
Just When You Thought They Were Gone Forever...
Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 01/29/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"..surf guitarist extraordinaire Frankie "Crankie" Blandino, resurrects The Fathoms and spits out a new album. Blandino is working with a(mostly) new lineup, but the sound is of course, undoubtedly Fathoms. 1998's Overboard is bar none one of the finest modern surf albums out there, so the bar is set pretty high for this group. Oddly enough, upon first listen I was a tad disappointed in this album, but after another listen or two, that notion went right in the trash. Fathom This, while not as good as Overboard, is some very, very good modern surf music. The Fathoms have always incorporated elements of other music styles to their surf sound-rockabilly, Latin, and Middle eastern to name a few, and this is no exception. In fact, to call it an all out surf album might not be accurate, but all of these styles are run through the surf filter.
Great, great stuff from a great band. Hopefully we won't have to wait as long for the next one."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1