Surf's Up, the Sentinals rock the Central Coast
October 7, 2008 – 5:26 pm
March 16, 1963
They are arguably the biggest band ever to break out of San Luis Obispo.
Here is the lede of the story by Tom Valentine published in the Central Coast Living section:
Six dynamic young men give San Luis Obispo a claim to modern musical fame.
A group of San Luis Obispo high school musicians, known as the Sentinals, have found nationwide favor with their spontaneous showmanship and rhythmic stylings.
The surf band started playing in 1961. I wish I could find the negatives but before 1970 the Vault is fairly scrambled.
In addition to playing local halls like the Elks Club and the Fremont Theater they toured with headliners the Four Seasons. They set an attendance record in Fresno with a concert that drew 4,000.
The band included Tommy Nunes, lead guitar; Kenny Hinkle vocals; Johnny Barbata, drums; Ben Trout, bass; Harry Sackrider rhythm guitar; and Bobby Holmquist saxophone.
The Tribune ran a story August 14, 2005 about the drummer when he published a book about his rock and roll life.
By Patrick S. Pemberton
The TribuneAt the peak of his career, Johny Barbata played drums on dozens of albums, performed in packed stadiums and rubbed elbows with rock’s most recognizable superstars. Yet his fondest memories are with a little-known Central Coast surf band.
“That’s where my roots were — San Luis Obispo,” Barbata said.
The Sentinals never experienced the success of Barbata’s later groups, but the band did have a single, “Latinia,” that garnered lots of airplay in the West.
“Our friends couldn’t believe that we were in high school and had a hit,” Barbata said.
The drummer recently returned to San Luis Obispo to perform with one of his old bandmates, local musician Tommy Nunes, and to pitch his book, “Johny Barbata: The Legendary Life of a Rock Star Drummer.”
As the title suggests, Barbata isn’t overly modest about his accomplishments, which includes stints with Jefferson Starship and Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
Barbata’s father, a Snap-On Tool salesman, moved the family to the Central Coast from New York State for better job opportunities. While attending San Luis Obispo High School, Barbata hooked up with the Sentinals. The modest success the band had was enough to convince Barbata to move to Los Angeles and delve into the music scene.
There he sat in with musicians until he was noticed. Eventually, he was invited to join the Turtles. Barbata’s drums can be heard on the group’s biggest hits, including the harmony-laced “Happy Together.”
“I remember one time, spinning the dial, I heard it three times on three different stations at the same time,” Barbata said in a telephone interview. “That was a good sign.”
One Response to “Surf's Up, the Sentinals rock the Central Coast”
By Patrick S. Pemberton
The Tribune
Chet Hogoboom and Tommy Nunes have both had their brushes with fame.
Hogoboom once talked to Keith Richards, though he couldn’t understand much of what Richards said. And Nunes once had a hit record that still appears on surf music compilations.
Over the past three decades, the two have played with various bands, tuning their guitars before hundreds of gigs.
Now that they’re older, they say, they don’t stress out about becoming rock stars; they just like to jam.
They recently recorded an eponymous CD (”C.T. and Tommy Lee,” available at local record stores), which is a collection of dreamy, melodic rock. On the CD, the two switch off lead vocals and share songwriting credits while friends add percussion, banjo, dobro, mandolin, flute and harmonica.
We caught up with them at Uptown Espresso in San Luis Obispo.
Tom, you were in a surf band (The Sentinels) before. Does that mean you surf, or are you like the Beach Boys — just playing surf music?
TN: No, I’m like the Beach Boys. We were a rhythm-and-blues band, and we got hooked up with a guy around here who was in a band called the Rebels. And he kind of managed us and took us down to L.A. and recorded us, and we recorded a song that somehow became a surf anthem “Latina,” and to this day I get royalties for it. I get checks in the mail from Finland and Germany — places you wouldn’t really associate with surf music.
You guys have been doing gigs for a long time. What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened?
TN: I was on tour with the Sentinels and we were just outside of Baltimore… I was in the bathroom, and a guy knocked down the door. He was a federal agent. They thought we had robbed a bank. They barged in the room, and I happened to be on the can. Of course, we were quickly cleared.
Another one was, I was playing a gig down in Balboa (in Orange County). It was the closing of the club, so it was a party for the employees. We were in the middle of a song, and they dropped live chickens down from a trap door above the stage. They fell in front of us in the middle of a song. A couple of them broke their necks on the ground. It was terrible. I was like, “Whoa.”
What was the closest you got to the big time?
CH: With different bands, I opened for the Chili Peppers, Junior Walker and the All Stars. When we were recording at Wally Heider’s, I met John Denver. And then the Stones were in there on the same night. I met Joni Mitchell in the same studio. You think you’re close — you’re rubbing elbows and stuff — but things happen and life is what it is.
TL: I had a small taste of big-time rock-and-roll. I went on tour with a guy named Ian Matthews. We went back East and played with Linda Ronstadt, opened for her and America and played with Boston. That was kind of neat: dressing rooms, the spreads and the limos. When I was with the Sentinels, we would play these shows down in Huntington Beach or Bakersfield that were put on by the big radio stations back then. And they would have Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, Righteous Brothers, the Coasters, and we would back them up. For us — 16, 17, 18 years old back then — that was pretty cool.
Okay, now I have some more general music questions: Beatles or Stones?
CH: That’s a tough question. I think overall Beatles because I think they’re better songwriters. But when the Stones came out, I really liked that rough side.
I’ll give Tommy this one: CCR or Eagles?
TN: I wish you would’ve given me the first question. I like them both. Geeez. I guess if I had to pick, I’d probably go with the Eagles.
Are there any new bands that you guys like?
TN: I think John Mayer’s great.
CH: I like Jack Johnson. He’s not brand-new now, but that style is kind of cool. Kind of laid-back and not real presumptuous.
Do you guys have any guilty pleasures?
TN: I tend to like kind of sweet music sometimes, which some people kind of cringe at. To me it’s candy, you know? I love the two-part harmonies and the beauty of the old Everly Brothers’ harmonies. I think I like a lot of country music because of that. Some of it is very melodic. And I think country music has got some of the best guitar players.
What’s your favorite guitar song?
CH: I would have to say some of the Duane Allman stuff. First hearing it was like ‘Wow! What was that?’ The combination of two guitar players going together was kind of new and different.
TN: When I grew up, a guy named Freddy King was one of my idols — an old blues player. At the time, I had an album of his that was all instrumental. One of the songs on there that I still play is called “Hideaway.”
All right, Tom, Beatles or Stones?
TN: The Beatles, definitely. I actually got to see them play. For me, they just changed the whole music world.
CH: I saw the Stones in ‘65. My dad ran the stadium there in Fresno. As they did in those days, the girls stormed the stage at the end, and they took the Stones away in, like, a Brinks truck. And Charlie Watts left his snare drum. My dad gave it to me, and then I started taking drum lessons on it. Like an idiot, I sold it a few years later and bought a drum set.
By Pat on Oct 8, 2008