Co-writer of surf classic ‘Pipeline’ dies at 69

LOS ANGELES — Maybe he should have been studying — or even surfing.

But Brian Carman had a guitar — a $40 Montgomery Ward’s Airline that he bought with his mom’s credit card. And he had a little group called the Chantays — five guys from Santa Ana High School who thought they could maybe play for dances at the community center.

One afternoon in 1961, he and his pal Bob Spickard got together and traded licks after school. By the end of the day, they had composed what would become one of Southern California’s most recognizable musical exports — an instrumental anthem to riding the waves and living the life, a hard-driving song that begins with a dive-bombing set of notes cherished by virtually every kid who has picked up a guitar in the last six decades.

Carman, who with Spickard co-wrote “Pipeline” when he was 17 and continued to play with the Chantays even as the popularity of surf music hit some deep troughs before cresting again, died Sunday at his Santa Ana home. He was 69.

Carman, who had been ill for some time, had Crohn’s disease and an ulcerated colon, Spickard said.

Carman and the Chantays had no other hits as big as “Pipeline” — but “Pipeline,” while never topping the charts, became bigger than merely a big song.

“It’s like the melody of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy,’” said Tim Cooley, a music professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of a 2014 book, “Surfing About Music.” “It’s there, it’s in your head, it’s unforgettable.”

With its hard-driving rhythm and Carman’s cascading introduction, “Pipeline” became embedded in the national consciousness. It has been used in a host of movies and TV shows. In an episode of “The Sopranos,” it was the background music for a cannoli-eating contest.

In 1963, it brought the nervous young Chantays to “The Lawrence Welk Show,” where they strummed and drummed to their pre-recorded “Pipeline” as the old pros in Welk’s regular band sat stolidly behind them. The musical bastion of Middle America had never before featured a rock ‘n’ roll group. For years afterward, Welk thanked them at Christmas with cheese logs and gift baskets.

“Our parents absolutely loved it although we might have thought it was somewhat corny,” Spickard said. “But Welk was an absolute gentleman.”

Born Aug. 10, 1945, Carman grew up in Santa Ana. His father worked at the Department of Motor Vehicles and his mother was a legal secretary. His older brother Steve, who played saxophone in a local band called the Rhythm Rangers, inspired Carman and his friends to get into music.

“They were making some money and attracting the girls,” Spickard said. “We thought, ‘Hey — that’s a pretty good idea.’”

While the Chantays became known for surfing instrumentals, Carman was not an avid surfer. In fact, “Pipeline” was initially called “Liberty’s Whip,” after actor Lee Marvin’s whip-flicking bad guy in the film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.”

The band changed it after Spickard and fellow Chantay Warren Waters went to a Bruce Brown film and saw surfers riding the famous Pipeline wave off Oahu’s North Shore.

It was good timing. California surfing was taking center stage. The Chantays joined with the likes of guitarist Dick Dale, the Ventures, the Surfaris and the Beach Boys in providing the theme music.

The Chantays’ other well-known tunes also have surf themes, with titles like “Killer Dana,” “Bailout at Frog Rock” and “South Swell.”

With the coming of the Beatles and the other bands in the British Invasion, surf music receded. As Vietnam protests and the counterculture mushroomed, it began to seem quaint. On his debut album in 1967, Jimi Hendrix promised his listeners that “you’ll never hear surf music again.”

For a while, the Chantays played under other names to capture the changing spirit of the times. They were the Ill Winds and the Leaping Fearns, but came back as the Chantays — a name chosen over Montays and Zantays only because it sounded cool. Their name was memorialized in their hometown, with a street beside Santa Ana High School renamed Chantays Avenue.

As they got older, the Chantays started families and picked up day jobs with more responsibility. With occasionally shifting personnel they kept playing, veering into lounge-style music and then returning to their roots in the surf.

In 1994, Jim Washburn, a reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, saw the grown Chantays perform “Pipeline” “with gobs of adolescent enthusiasm in it, the thrill of kids getting loud, cool sounds to come out of their shiny new amps.”

Surf music today is “completely happening,” said Cooley, the UC Santa Barbara ethnomusicologist. Surf bands evolved into garage bands and punk bands, he said, but the form over the years has revived.

“It’s not charting,” he said, “but the charts don’t tell the full story.”

Carman played with the Chantays until about two years ago, when health problems sidelined him. He worked as a plant manager for a guitar maker and had other jobs in the music industry.

His survivors include his wife, Suni; son, Brett; and brother, Steve. His first wife, Katie, died of breast cancer.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.