Review: Wild Sandals – “Sandale Grande”

Ramonescore Radio Records, 7 February 2021

Wild Sandals hit all the right summer spots on a cold winter day.

I live in the midwest.  I mostly like it here, but the winter weather can be tough.  Today I woke up to a -26 windchill.  It was brutal to go outside with my dogs.  It sort of made me wonder why I haven’t packed up and left for Belize.  You see, I’ve got this unlikely plan to go to Belize and sell ice cream on the beaches.  All warm all the time.  Anyways, I’m snowbound now, and it’s dumb cold.  

But today (it’s 7 February as I write this), Wild Sandals dropped their debut album, Sandale Grande, and it hits in all the right ways, kicking out some beach-bum covers and a few fun-in-the-sun originals.  The band, newly formed by Beppe Hawaiian (of The Hawaiians) and Florian Favorat (of The Favorats), have a pretty awesome pedigree and are joined by greats of the genre like Joe King (of The Queers) and Hayley Cain (of Hayley & the Crushers).  And Sandale Grande is beach pop punk done right, standing well alongside some of the Beach Boys-inspired music from The Hawaiians, The Travoltas, and The Queers.  But this record reminds me most of Andrea Manges and the Veterans self-titled record, one of my favorites of the style.  Like The Veterans, Sandale Grande mixes some originals with some well-chosen covers.

The originals on Sandale Grande are really fun.  Across the board, the songs have all sorts of great melodies and pop.  The backing vocals could warm up the coldest days, with all the classic “ooh-wah-ooh’s”, “ba-ba-ba’s”, and “mmm-bah-bah’s” that music like this needs.  First single “Butterflies” has bouncy drums, melodic organ, and some gorgeous school announcement-type bells that set the whole thing off.  “Queen of the Surf” has a sort of “Beat on the Brat”-reimagined thing going for it and “All Screwed Up” has a little more pace going as it rips along with some catchy-as-can-be melodies on the chorus.  “How Do You Know” is drenched in organ and gorgeous harmonies and “One Summer Long”, featuring Hayley Cain, is a timeless pop song with some soaring guitar leads and sun-soaked harmonies.  It’s some great feel-good stuff, right when I need it. 

The rest of Sandale Grande is peppered with well-chosen covers.  Their version of Herman’s Hermits “Show Me, Girl” is a fast buzz, with some great vocal melodies and some surfed up guitars.  Same goes for their Beach Boys covers, “I Get Around” (with some great organ and a love of the original that drags me back to hearing the song as a kid when I watched “Flight of the Navigator” for the first time) and “Noble Surfer” (with Joe King vocals that sound fantastic).  Elsewhere, they do The Monkees justice on “I’ll Be True” and ooze fun on the The Tradewinds underrated “New York’s a Lonely Town”.  Even their take on “Back In The USSR” (ahem, The Beatles) is humming pretty right.  But amongst the covers on here, my heart lies with either the classic mid-tempo bounce of Ricky Nelson’s “Teenage Idol” or the throwback pop of The Fantastic Baggys “Anywhere the Girls Are”.  “Teenage Idol” has always been a personal favorite – I love the melodies and I dig that they play it pretty straight.  And “Anywhere the Girls Are” is wonderful – made me look up the original, never heard of the band before.  The falsetto backing vocals land just right, the harmonies are spot on, and the revved up hot rod guitars get me going.  Good stuff all around – and plenty of summer beach vibes.

I just checked – it’s snowing right now and the temp has warmed up to a -13 windchill.  Thankfully, the record is keeping me warm (and a little nostalgic).  I can get by living vicariously through some stuff I don’t want to deal with, and thanks to Sandale Grande I’ve got something else to help me through cold midwestern winters.  This is fun, lovely stuff.  Take a listen.

Favorite song: “Anywhere the Girls Are”

Favorite moment: the simple lead guitar on “Teenage Idol” shoots me through the heart

Favorite whatever else: the way the originals and covers seamlessly blend together – really strikes me how good the original songwriting is to stand so effortlessly alongside the classics