In 1960, three young friends, Al Valdez at the piano, Mike Biondo on drums, and Richard Lippy played at the
8th grade graduation dance of
St. Mary's Elementary School in
Fullerton, California. In the summer of the same year, Valdez, Biondo, guitarist Bobby Esco, and
sax player Bob Bernard formed
The Vogues and started playing at school assemblies. In late 1961, a Sunday morning all-Mexican television show on
KCHOP channel 13 announced that they were looking for musical groups to play on the show, and Valdez's mother phoned the show to submit the candidacy of the band her son was playing in. The Vogues, with Doug Wiseman having replaced Bob Bernard on sax, were contacted by Victor Regina, owner of a
pizza stand on Western Avenue, also doubling as a
music agent, who helped them, under the new name he gave them,
The Customs, record their first single, "Steppin' Out" and "Hi Hat", both written by former member Bobby Esco. Bassist Jim Tran, who was playing in a
Yorba Linda musical trio at the time, was added to the band, soon after the session. Around the early summer of 1962, they started appearing regularly at a bar near
Big Bear, with Wiseman's and Biondo's fathers driving them there. Soon after, with Chuck Vehle also on guitar, they changed their name to
The Surfaris, which was a
word play between "
surf" and "
The Safaris", a music group well known at the time for their
hit "
Image of a Girl". Between October 1962 and through January 1963, they recorded in the studio of producer
Tony Hilder a number of songs written by Larry Weed, such as "Moment of Truth" and "Delano Soul Beat", also recording covers of "
Ghost Riders in the Sky" and "
Pipeline". The tracks "Moment of Truth" and "Delano Soul Beat" were released on Hilder's own
Impact label, as part of a surf music compilation album titled
Shake, Shout and Soul. and "Surfari" were leased to
Del-Fi Records, which sent them out as a single. But the record, even though it started selling well in the state had to be pulled from the stores because of a lawsuit. It was in early 1963 that, while the band was on the road, the surf instrumental "
Wipe Out" came out and
broke big nationwide. It was written and performed by a
Glendora, California band who also called themselves
The Surfaris. The Glendora group's management sued for the
exclusive use of the name and, in the trial that followed, the judge awarded them sole use of "The Surfaris". However, the judge also allowed the Fullerton band to carry on under the name
The Original Surfaris, although they continued to be billed in the various venues they played as "The Surfaris". After recording
hot rod tracks, such as "Gum-Dipped Slicks", The Original Surfaris started changing their musical
style, and Jim Tran along with Al Valdez left the group. The Original Surfaris started doing more vocals, in the
soul and
blues vein, until eventually breaking up in May 1965. ==After the break-up==