Desert Undertones live in Studio 2A on Locals Only
Full session recording on February 10, 2025
Connect with the artist: Desert Undertones
Host: Serpe
Audio: Duncan Hudson, Walter Harrington
Connect with KXCI: KXCI.org
Listen to the live performance + interview here!
About Desert Undertones
Desert Undertones is an instrumental surf rock band from Tucson, AZ comprised of Dylan Oldham (Guitar), Christopher Marshall (Bass), and Curt Pleiss (Drums). The band incorporates the classic 60’s vibe of artists like The Ventures and Dick Dale as well as many of the 2nd and 3rd wave bands such as Jon & The Nightriders, Insect Surfers and Los Straitjackets. There is also a western influence hearkening back to spaghetti western film soundtracks. The seeds of the band were planted in 2005 when guitarist Dylan Oldham was at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. He and guitarist Gustav Wilhelmsson (of The Riptide Rats) formed a project playing surf music around LA. After music school, Dylan headed to New York and put surf music on pause. He relocated to Tucson, AZ in 2020, and began assembling a surf band. Things finally came together in early 2023 with bassist Christopher Marshall, who had been part of an early iteration of the band, and drummer Curt Pleiss, who had recently relocated to Tucson from Denver, CO. Curt also brought recording and mixing skills to the table which enabled the band to self-produce their own music. With the lineup solidified, the band quickly put together a collection of surf covers and started playing a few small shows around Tucson. They found an enthusiastic core audience for surf music and began writing new original material. The first EP “Paniolo” was released in December 2023. They released several singles throughout 2024 culminating with a full length album “The Sentinel” in December 2024.
