Brent Rademaker would like to think that GospelbeacH’s Pacific Surf Line is a celebration of our country’s two left coasts—though maybe he would’ve preferred a bit more Old Florida charm to counter the L.A. swagger. “I really wanted to make this album sound like the kinds of music I listened to growing up in the ’70s,” says Rademaker, a native of the Gulf Coast. By and large, though, Pacific Surf Line celebrates Rademaker’s return to Southern California. For a collective ef fort, the LP is surprisingly lean, with more refined nods to the Flying Burrito Brothers twang that informed Rademaker’s former group, Beachwood Sparks. GospelbeacH—Rademaker, Neal Casal, Jason Soda, Kip Boardman and Tom Sanford—isn’t afraid to broach the breezy accessibility of yacht-rock mainstays like the Eagles and Loggins & Messina, either. The band will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on them.
Rademaker: Neil Young just turned 70, so I thought I’d share some of my Neil stories and thoughts. Most folks I know love Neil, and he means a lot to me as well. But sometimes he’s just the dude who sings “Heart Of Gold,” and that’s OK, too.
1. When I met him, the very first thing I did was stupidly take his picture at the moment we were being introduced. Not only did I “blind him,” but I never felt so instantly uncool before. Graciously and only slightly grumpy, he got over it and proceeded to give us a tour of his backstage area and his LincVolt, a fully battery-powered 1959 Lincoln Continental. We even watched him pull out onto the Courtney Campbell Causeway and into the Tampa Bay mist. As we followed, we watched the battery-cell-powered lights flicker through the Spanish moss hanging from the magnolia trees with Neil at the wheel with the top down and video camera rolling in the shotgun seat. He went west toward the beach, and we took a left and headed home in to Ybor City in our Honda. We had to work in the morning.
2. I love when he rants at Farm Aid, “Next time your at home watching the Super Bowl on Christmas,” and, “Unless you send more money, I ain’t playing ‘Heart Of Gold.'”
3. I’ve seen Neil play a bunch of times live. Two contrasting shows were at the Greek Theatre in L.A. from seats in the second row, with the headstock of his Martin swinging over my head as he stalked the stage debuting songs from the Freedom LP in 1989. I have also watched a show with my friends on a blanket from the trees in Griffith Park, Silver And Gold in 2000. But of all the times I was to see him, the show with Crazy Horse and Sonic Youth was the show I was most looking forward to, but Neil got an ear infection and they had to postpone it. No Sonic Youth for the rescheduled show, but Neil and Crazy Horse kicked ass at the Sports Arena, playing songs from the Ragged Glory record and all the hits, even bringing back the stage set up from the Rust Never Sleeps tour. In the bathroom, some kid thought I was Tom Petty. I was so stoned, it freaked me out.
4. After one of the shows at the Greek, my brother, Sleigher and I woke up and drove out to Broad Beach for a dawn-patrol surf session, and as we were pulling on our wetsuits on the the porch of my girlfriend’s beach house, we looked over the ice plant cover dune and saw a figure strolling alone through the fog right along the shore. We all instantly recognized that lurch, and I yelled out, “Hey, Neil!” and he turned without breaking stride and raised his arm to us. We had an amazing morning in the water; I don’t think we ever caught more waves.
5. I don’t care how many records he has made that I don’t really care for or the fact that he even made one with Pearl Jam. (I thought that would make me like Pearl Jam; it didn’t). He wrote “Birds,” so he can do what ever he wants.
6 Happy birthday, Neil. You probably won’t remember me, but I don’t care. I’ll always remember you socking me in the shoulder and beaming while asking me if I heard that low end from his guitar coming from the stage. He said he felt like he was playing the stage. Yes, I heard it Neil.
Video after the jump.
