October 19 - Apache

I think this is where my love for instrumentals started. The band was The Shadows, let by Hank Marvin, and they spawned a whole generation of guitar bands in Norway, all considered to be Shadow bands. All before my time, but very much becoming an influence, especially because my dad really liked them. The tunes were many... F.B.I., Atlantis, and Kon-Tiki, to name but a few, but none of them were as memorable as Apache from 1960. Hank Marvin's guitar tone is front and senter, Bruce Welch played acoustic guitar, Jet Harris played bass, and Tony Meehan was on drums. What I didn't know (provided that Wikipedia actually can be trusted), was that the one drum that is designed to sound Native American at the beginning and end (TAM-tam-tam-tam-TAM-tam-tam-tam) was played by none other than Cliff Richard. The Shadows emerged as Cliff Richard's backing band, but they quickly established themselves as a leading instrumental rock band. Not quite in the American surf tradition, although there are clear elements of it.