The Ongoing Story of
the Aquatudes...

Happy Autumn from The Aquatudes!

10/19/2022 - We had a great season this year and already have one gig booked for 2023.

4/19/2022 - We're getting some gigs together for 2022. See the Gigs page for more info!

6/16/2021 - The Aquatudes were honored to be included in the Press Play Virtual Concert Series, presented by the Greater Hartford Arts Council, in partnership with Travelers. The 'Tudes were video-recorded playing a 20-minute set atop the press box at Dillon Stadium in Hartford on Wednesday 6/16/21. We can't wait to see our video, plus those of the other acts selected for this program!

1/1/2021 - Like many folks, we had a quiet 2020, gigs-wise. We did play out (and outdoors!) a few times in socially-distanced setups that actually worked out well for everyone. We look forward to better days and more gig opportunities in 2021. Remember that tracks from our latest release, "To Surf, With Love" are playable on Spotify, Tidal and other online streaming platforms.

1/1/2020 - New CD Update: "To Surf, With Love" is now available as a physical CD or digital download at CD Baby, Amazon, and many more, plus streamable on youtube, Apple Music, Spotify, and others! Of course, you can buy it from us at gigs, too!

12/26/19 - The 'Tudes have contributed a non-album track, "Lead Sled," to the Surf Guitar 101 2019 annual member compliation - track #21. Mike wrote the tune. The comp is a free download HERE.

12/2/19 - New CD Update: "To Surf, With Love" is in production at CD Baby and should be available in a week or so.
It's also time to revisit our Holiday Tunes: "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night." Both free downloads for your holiday mix here: Get them for free HERE.

11/7/19 - New CD Update: We're pretty sure we'll be finished with the mastering of the new CD today. Tom will be working with Rich Silva at RASer Studios to put the final gloss on the album's 13 tracks.

8/28/19 - New CD Update: We're THAT CLOSE to releasing our second CD, "To Surf, With Love." The album has 13 new original tracks, including four vocal tunes and nine instrumentals. See the album cover art on our Music page.

2/3/18 - New CD Update: Dick and Mike have finished tracking all the drum, bass and backup vocal parts for the 13 new songs. Now it's up to Tom to finish all the guitar parts and a few lead vocals, then mix them all.

1/1/18 - New Toys: Dick has scored a vintage Slingerland Cocktail Drum, complete with carrying case. Very cool and he'll bring it to our next gig at the Roaring Brook Nature Center on Saturday, 1/27.

12/1/17 - Holiday Tunes Again - Remember to download The Aquatudes rocking holiday tunes, Silent Night and Jingle Bells for your holiday mix. Get them for free HERE.

3/14/17 - Duo plus digital Dick: Mike and Tom will play as a duo on Saturday, March 25 at The Dirt Salon in Hartford for their "Le Salon Cinq Rouge" five-year celebration and art opening. They've been recording Dick's bongo and drum parts in rehearsals to use at the gig. We'll see how much hand percussion Tom can add to the drum tracks.

2/19/17 - Studio News: The Aquatudes now have 10 new drum tracks recorded and awaiting the rest of the instruments and vocals on the multi-track. The songs are all original and four are vocals. New release this year!

4/16/16 - The 'Tudes have added some more gigs for June and September. See the Gigs page for more info!

1/21/16 - The 'Tudes have once again booked the 9 p.m. slot in the April edition of Unsteady Freddie's Surf-Rock Shindig at Otto's Shrunken Head in NYC. See the Gigs page for more info!

11/20/15 - The 'Tudes have enjoyed a great year so far with several gigs in new and interesting places, in front of new and receptive audiences! They look forward to recording some of their newest original material in the near future, with the hope of releasing another CD in 2016. This time, it will probably be a combination of instrumental and vocal tunes.

9/1/15 - The Fall calendar is shaping up with another appearance at the Easter Seals/Goodwill Lobsterbake at Lighthouse Point in East Haven, CT on 9/18; an afternoon set on the Green Stage at the Durham Fair on 9/25; an outdoor gig during Homecoming at Central CT State University on 10/10; and wrapping up with the year's second appearance at Otto's Shrunken Head in NYC on 11/7. Come out and see the 'Tudes if you can!

7/7/14 - The Aquatudes are super-excited to be booked for a Saturday afternoon at Daryl's Restaurant and Live Music Club in Pawling, NY. The Daryl of Daryl's Place is none other than Daryl Hall!

7/5/15 - 'Tudes on the Telly AGAIN! The guys appeared in a recorded segment on the WFSB Sunday Morning Show. Dick gave a quick interview about the upcoming Sunset Sounds Concert at the Butler-McCook House and then the band ripped into Shim Jambs (Before Cutting Bands).

5/23/15 - More Upcoming Gigs! We're filling out our summer schedule. Check the Gigs page for more updates.

3/23/15 - Featured Video! As the 'Tudes get ready for this year's appearance at Otto's Shrunken Head in NYC on 4/4/15, here's a video from last year's gig. The guys play the exotica classic, Quiet Village, with Dick on the bongos. Video by Unsteady Freddy himself.

1/16/15 - NPR Tiny Desk Concert Contest! The Aquatudes have entered the contest with a video of their song, Mosquito Dance, shot in Dad's Noisy Basement in front of an antique child's roll-top desk. We understand that our video has been officially accepted as an entry. We'll let you know if we hear anything more!
UPDATE: The guys congratulate the winner and are happy to have participated.

1/3/15 - Featured Band! The Aquatudes are the featured band for January 2015 on the NESMA (North East Surf Music Alliance) website. NESMA exists to "...promote recognition for the surf bands in the north, east, southeast U.S. on a national and global level." The Aquatudes have been members since we started and have met and gigged with a lot of great surf bands through the organization. We were the featured band once before in February 2008, so a few things have changed and evolved!

1/15 - New Site Feature! We've culled all our past gigs, organized them by category, and listed them in an easy-to-understand page called Where We've Played.

11/14/14 - Back in the Studio! The Aquatudes have begun to record some of their newer originals. The first order of business is to complete a track for this year's SurfGuitar101.com member compilation. So far, it looks like Striped Umbrellas will be the winning track there, but stay tuned. We'll let you know when the comp comes out.

10/15/14 - What a Season! After a flurry of activity over the summer, the Aquatudes' schedule has slowed down enough to re-enter Dad's Noisy Basement to lay down some new tracks for the next release.

9/13/14 - Cocktail Set! Returning to the scene of the inspiration to create a Cocktail Set, the 'Tudes once again played the Easter Seals/Goodwill Lobsterbake at Lighthouse Point in New Haven. Reaction to the subdued pre-dinner set was very positive and hopefully will lead to more, well, leads for other Cocktail Set opportunities. The attendees had a great time during the two dance sets, too!

4/24/14 - Second Place! The Aquatudes placed second at UConn's Got Talent, Faculty/Staff Edition. This was one of the kickoff events for this year's Spring Weekend. See photos and video links on the Gigs page.

2/20/14 - Happy New Year from the Aquatudes! For 2014, we are pleased to introduce our Cocktail Sets - low-volume background music for settings where conversation is the main ingredient. We've added a bunch of exotica favorites and have adapted many of our regular tunes for this purpose. View a video sampling some of our cocktail set HERE.

12/7/13 - Happy Holidays from the Aquatudes! For you listening pleasure and/or addition to your holiday music mix, the 'Tudes present rocking instrumental versions of Silent Night and Jingle Bells. Both are available for free download at these links:

• Silent Night Features maniacal Ho-ho-ho's from Dick and a cool organ counter-melody from Dr. Dave!
• Jingle Bells Features - well - just a rockin'-good Aquatudes arrangement!

11/9/12 - Album News - Unsafe at Any Speed! has been (favorably!) reviewed by the folks at surfrockmusic.com. We couldn't be more pleased! Check out the review HERE!

8/16/12 - The Aquatudes are mentioned on a Wikipedia page about Punaluu Beach in Hawaii, in regard to our youtube video of the song, "Black Sand Beach," by the Japanese musician Yuzo Kayama, apparently written about that beach. Who knew?!

7/1/12 - Album News - Unsafe at Any Speed! is now available from CD Baby and from the Aquatudes at gigs (of course!). It's also available for digital download at iTunes and Amazon. Get more info on the Music page!

4/28/12 - Album News - Our forthcoming CD, titled Unsafe at Any Speed! is at the mastering studio as we work out the details of the cover art.

Also, Radical Waves CD from Deep Eddy Records is finished and we have received our shipment of CDs. You could order the disc from Deep Eddy or just buy one from us at our next gig - we'll give you a deal!

February 2012 - A new track from the 'Tudes (Aquatudes Theme) will be included on an upcoming compilation CD release on Deep Eddy Records, to be titled Radical Waves. Another east-coast band to be on the CD is Blue Wave Theory from New Jersey, with whom the Aquatudes shared the bill at the March 3 Surf Rock Shindig at Otto's Shrunken Head in NYC. We'll let you know when the CD is available. Note that this version of Aquatudes Theme will differ slightly from the mix we will include on our own CD, to be released later this spring.

1/1/12 - The 'Tudes have been adding new originals to the mix- vocal tunes such as Our Way Back, Cute Girlfriend, Fool for Love, and Just Love Ya'. A new instrumental tune called Roadtrip! has also shown up in setlists. The recordings continue - Puncture and Incinerate, Shim Jambs, Sand in my Groove. There's a CD on the horizon for 2012.

9/7/11 - The 'Tudes have finished recording four of their original tunes - Corvair 500, Cindy in the Sun, Aquatudes Theme, and Dr. Why. We'll keep you posted as final mixes are created and downloads are available. They also have a couple gigs coming up that will include the amazing Dr. Dave on combo organ. See the Gigs page for more info!

6/19/11 - Yesterday was a double-header: A party gig in the afternoon and the Cypress Grill in Middletown in the evening. We made it through and had a great time blasting through our reverberated songlists. Mike the bass player has fit in perfectly and has brought added vocal talent to the lineup. Now we're filling out our gig schedule for the rest of 2011. We've also been hard at work on studio recordings of our original material and expect to have a completed CD and digital downloads available before the end of the summer. Stay tuned!

2/24/11 - The 'Tudes are getting ready for a private party gig on 3/26, and we're debuting our redesigned website. We've also added some of Tom's vocal tunes, such as Groovy Thing and Just Love Ya' as well as a host of vintage surfy vocal hits, to our setlist.

12/21/10 - We've found a fine bass player, Mike Rocchetti, to once again round out the personnel of the Aquatudes! Mike comes from the eastern side of Connecticut to add his driving bass and vocal talent to the mix. We're looking forward to some great performances in 2011!

12/2/10 - We've been lax reporting the news - here's a quick recap of 2010:
We played roughly a gig a month from January through September, ranging from clubs to outdoor events; Our new part-time Aquatude, Dr. Dave, played combo organ with us during some summer gigs; We laid down drum tracks for our upcoming CD of original tunes; We finally got a non-raining day to play at the Durham Fair in September; We said so-long to bassman Fred and are seeking a new bass player; and we contributed another recording (Dr. Why, live, from the Durham Fair) to the 2010 online compilation at surfguitar101.com.

1/30/10 - We played the Roaring Brook Nature Center for the third consecutive year, this time with guest musician, Dave Bittel (Tom's brother!) sitting in on combo organ for several songs. See the Music page for links to youtube videos from this fun show! We hope to have Dave sit in again in the future.

12/23/09 - Our original song, "Mosquito Dance" is part of an online compilation via the Surf Guitar 101 web site. Our song is track 20, but listen to all the tunes submitted by members of the site! Here's the link: http://www.archive.org/details/Surfguitar101.com2009Mp3Compilation.

10/22/09 - We just played another bunch of gigs in September and October, including our second appearance at Otto's Shrunken Head in NYC, courtesy of host Unsteady Freddie. The Unsteady One shot three videos of us that are posted on youtube HERE, HERE, and HERE.

8/9/09 - After a few more gigs in June and July, we're working on some new original tunes for our September and October dates. Also, if Facebook is your bag, we now have a presence there, too - become a fan!

5/24/09 - Another flurry of activity in early May - three gigs in a week! Now we're back in the studio working on that CD. Notice the groovy new Aquatudes logo gracing our site and our myspace page!

3/1/09 - After a nice flurry of activity in January/February, we're back in the studio in March to record some more of our original material.

2/20/09 - Other folks have been posting videos of us on youtube. Go HERE to see the collection!

12/21/08 - The Aquatudes have an original tune in an online compilation via the Surf Guitar 101 site. Here's the link: http://www.archive.org/details/SurfGuitar101.com_2008_MP3_Compilation
The song title is "Corvair 500" by Tom, recorded especially for the comp. There are 37 songs in the comp, all submitted by SG101.com members. Check it out!

12/20/08 - We've gotten a few gig dates together for January and February- see the GIGS page.

12/13/08 - We've finished a group of recordings for gig-hunting. A bunch of cover tunes and "Take the Pipe." It'll be part of an upcoming promo-kit. In the meantime, we've dug up a couple more gigs (see the Gigs page, link to the left).

9/29/08 - Well, it's been a few months since we've posted any news - most of it has been taken care of on the "Gigs" page. We've been fortunate enough to have averaged a gig a month since February, which has given us the opportunity to tighten up our stage act and expand our repertoire to over 50 songs (including a dozen originals!). We played our first four-set night at the Cypress Restaurant in Middletown in July, and shortly thereafter played another four-set gig at a private party. On 9/26, we were to play a headlining set on the Town Green Stage at the Durham Fair, but hurricane Kyle brought enough driving rain to cause the cancellation of ALL of the day's entertainment - dang! Now we have a slight lull in the action, which gives us the opportunity to take a look at where we want to go next. We'll also catch up on some recording of our original tunes, with the object being to finish an album's worth of material in the next couple of months. Of course, we're looking for the next gig(s), so keep checking back to the "Gigs" page periodically!

2/25/08 - Check out this video from the Roaring Brook Nature Center on 2/2/08. The Aquatudes play Tom's original tune, "Take the Pipe." Click HERE.

2/1/08 - The Aquatudes have the honor of being the featured band this month on the NESMA site (http://www.nesmasurf.org/featurearchive/feb%202008%20aquatudes.htm). There's an interview and everything! Check it out while it's up and also check out the past featured bands which are archived, along with their interviews.

1/1/08 - As we get ready for Otto's on Saturday, we've also booked a date at the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, CT, on Saturday, 2/2/08. We have the Crustaceans opening for us - should be a fun gig! See the Gigs page for more info and a link.

1/1/08 - Check out this video from the Zen Bar. Here we are playing Sand in My Groove, one of Tom's originals. Click HERE.

10/15/07 - We have another gig scheduled in Farmington, CT at the Zen Bar in the Exchange. Gig date is 11/17/07 and we go on for one set at 8 p.m. as part of a four-band show.

10/1/07 - We have a gig scheduled in NYC on 1/5/08! See the poster on the Gigs page.

9/14/07 - The Aquatudes are now officially a trio as Fred Magetteri has joined to contribute his groove-pumping basslines to the songlist. Check back to the Members/Bios page for more info on the members of central Connecticut's newest surf combo.

8/18/07 - The 2-piece Aquatudes have played their first "gig" on the patio of Dano Clam's suburban paradise in front of a gaggle of NESMA members and sympathizers. The whole group later adjourned to the Zen Bar in Farmington, CT, for a wild night of twanging surf madness, courtesy of the 9th Wave, The Octomen from the Hudson valley, and the Clams. Tom and Dick got a warm welcome from the NESMA crowd and were mentioned multiple times during the Zen Bar show.

6/24/07 - The Aquatudes are now officially a duo as drummer Dick Bascom has joined forces with Tom. The two 'Tudes are now actively seeking the bass player who is destined to round out the group.