Tidal Wave — “Spider Spider”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — October 28, 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

994) Tidal Wave — “Spider Spider”

This soaring ‘69 A-side reached #1 in South Africa. Jay-Z, you need to sample this one!

Brian Currin tells us:

The Tidal Wave was one of South Africa’s foremost exponents of psych-influenced pop music in the late ’60s and early ’70s with hits like “Spider Spider”, “Mango Mango” and “With tears in my eyes”. They also experimented with both brass and prog rock influences and although they existed for a relatively short time the band is regarded by many as the bridge between pop and the then developing ‘underground’ rock scene. . . . Tidal Wave is probably best known for their bubblegum pop hits ‘Spider Spider’ and ‘Mango Mango’ in 1969 and 1970 respectively, but they were so much more than that. Yes, they did play pop and they had a few hits, which were featured on the top radio stations at the time. . . . However, Tidal Wave also played some very interesting psychedelic pop rock enhanced by the fuzz guitar sounds of Mike Pilot, who formed the hard rock band Stingray in the late 70s. . . . It all started with a man named Terry Dempsey, songwriter and record producer. . . . [who was] born in England and came to South Africa in 1968. He wrote and produced The Staccatos first song, ‘Butchers And Bakers’ in 1968. This song had originally been recorded by UK freakbeat band Les Fleur De Lys in 1967, though they called themselves Chocolate Frog at the time. Dempsey recalls; “Early in 1968 I met Roy Naturman at Gallo studios . . . . Shortly thereafter Roy invited me to a popular night spot to hear the band he was playing with, The In Crowd . . . . A few weeks later Roy . . . phoned me to tell me that the band was breaking up and would I be interested in recording a new band he was putting together with the drummer from The In Crowd, Mike Koch, Ken Haycock as bass player and lead guitarist/singer Mike Pilot both of whom came from The Brackets. . . . What a hot unit this proved to be,” says Dempsey about Tidal Wave, “they were the first band to be released on my newly formed independent record label STORM with the title ‘Man On A String’.” . . . [which] was released in 1969 but failed to make an impression on the radio charts at the time . . . . [It] was followed by ‘With Tears In My Eyes’ which also failed . . . . ‘Spider Spider’ [written by Dempsey] saw Tidal Wave go to number one for the first and only time, although ‘Mango Mango’ outsold ‘Spider Spider’ by a long way.” ‘Spider Spider’ hit the number one spot on the Springbok Radio Charts in April 1970 and also achieved number eight on LM Radio. . . . Mike Koch and Roy Naturman left Tidal Wave and the last single was released in 1971 titled ‘Money Baby’ (b/w ‘I’ve Got To Get Away’) . . . . This song went to number 15 on the Springbok charts and did even better on LM Radio going to number nine. After a couple more line-up changes, sadly, Tidal Wave was no more. . . . Tidal Wave is fondly remembered by many . . . .

https://www.retrofresh.co.za/retro-artists-o-z/tidal-wave/

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