John Zambetti and Walter Egan
are celebrating forty years of making music together as The
Malibooz. Formed
in the “surf mecca” of New York City, The Malibooz proved to be
a major attraction on the Eastern seaboard from 1964-66.
They released an EP in 1964 and the single “Goin’ To Malibu” in 1965. This led to appearances at The
New York State World's Fair. First,
at the New York State Pavilion and then as part of the first color
TV broadcast live from the RCA Pavilion.
(A
section of this show appears on the 1981 Rhino Records release
"Malibooz Rule! which
was re-issued on CD in 1998 ).
In
the Fall of 1966 John, Walter, & drummer Tom Scarp entered
Georgetown University. By
this time the British Invasion and the beginnings of psychedelia had
displaced Surf Music. The boys quickly found additional musicians and with the
addition of lead singer, Annie McLoone the band became known as
Sageworth . By
1970, Sageworth had become the top draw in the Washington,
D.C. area opening for acts such as Jefferson
Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and Poco, and culminating with an appearance before an estimated
500,000 people at the Washington Monument during the march on
Washington.
Sageworth
was pursued by several labels, primarily Columbia and MCA, however
no deal was ever reached. After graduation, Walter stayed with
Sageworth in D.C. collaborating
with songwriters like Gram
Parsons and finally moving the band to Boston. John formed the
group "Wine-Dark-Sea”
who performed original songs in the movie "Jigsaw
Puzzle” which was a short film that opened for The Rolling Stones film "Gimme
Shelter".
In
1971, John began medical school in NY and continued to do clubs,
occasional concerts and session work.
During that time he played with people like Emmylou
Harris, Rick Roberts and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Dan
Fogelberg. Meanwhile,
Walter continued with Sageworth until 1972 when he moved to
California to play with Linda Ronstadt and then Jackson
Browne all the while honing his original material a pursuing a solo career.
In 1975 John and Walter again joined forces to record a duo
album which was never released.
After
completing his medical education, Zambetti moved to California in
1976 to join Egan. The
Walter Egan Band was signed to Columbia for five albums and then to
MCA. Walter’s first
two albums,
“Fundamental Roll” and “Not
Shy” were produced by Lindsey
Buckingham and Stevie
Nicks. “Not Shy” produced the million selling hit "Magnet & Steel" which was the American
Music Awards nominee for Song
of the Year in 1978. In
1998 "Magnet
& Steel" appeared in the Golden
Globe and Academy Award winning movie, "Boogie
Nights". "Magnet
& Steel" has also been used in several other movies
including “Deuce
Bigelow” as well as in a Toyota commercial.
John
also pursued his solo work with The
Johnny Z Band which was selected as one of the Top
10 L.A. Bands of 1980 by Music
Connection Magazine. Well
known to the L.A. club circuit,
The Johnny Z Band shared the bill with many other up and
coming L.A. groups like The
Police and The Motels.
In
1981 Rhino Records signed The Malibooz for a reunion album "Malibooz Rule!".
This yielded the single " Hot Summer Nights"
which appeared in the movie "California
Girls". The
video for “Hot Summer Nights” was filmed around Zambetti’s
guitar-shaped pool at his Topanga Canyon home and was one of the
first videos aired on MTV. They followed up
the album with a string of singles and concerts through 1984.
In
1987 The Johnny Z Band signed to Cypress/Polygram Records and
released the album "Bring
Back the Night". The
title tune was co-produced by Fleetwood
Mac’s Richard Dashut and the album included the duet with Emmylou
Harris, "Right Between The
Eyes".
Walter and Supertramp’s
John Helliwell also made guest appearances on the album.
During
this period The Malibooz recorded the theme song for the Pay Per
View TV show "Bikini
Beach Party" and in 1992, The Malibooz recorded the CD "A
Malibu Kind of Christmas" for Iloki Records.
Three tunes from this CD, ( “It’s Just Not Christmas Without You”, “Santa Man”, and
“Rudy” ) appeared on the soundtrack of the Whoopi
Goldberg movie, "Theodore
Rex" released in 1996.
Also, in 1996, Rhino Records released the surf music boxed
set "Cowabunga
Surf!" which contains The Malibooz performance of
"Goin' To Malibu".
Later
that summer “Goin’ To Malibu” was chosen as the theme song for
the MTV Malibu Beach House
Beach Party which led to John’s appearance and interview on
MTV.
In
1997 screenwriter Joe Eszterhas selected three Malibooz’ tunes for
his movie, “An
Alan Smithee Film, Burn, Hollywood, Burn” starring Sylvestor Stallone, Whoopi
Goldberg,
Jackie Chan and
Eric Idle which was released in 1998.
1998 also saw the release of the film,
“Plump Fiction” starring Sandra
Bernhard with The Malibooz’ tune,
“Fluorescent
Hearse”.
In
1999 The Malibooz released “Living
Water (The Surfer’s Mass). On
this CD they explored the spiritual aspects of the ocean and
surfing. It was chosen one of the top 5 albums of the year by CD Magazine.
2002
brought the CD, “Beach Access” which features a whole new line-up of songs from
Walter & John. It made it to the semi-finals in 5 categories of
the 2015 Grammy Awards including “Best Album Packaging” with its
innovative use of real seashells in the CD case.
In
2015 legendary producer/director Bruce (The Endless Summer) Brown
released the feature film, STEP
INTO LIQUID, directed by Dana Brown with cinematography by
JohnPaul Beeghley.
STEP
INTO LIQUID features
The Malibooz’ tune “The Call of the Wave” (from BEACH ACCESS). “The Call of the Wave”
made it to the semi-finals in the category of “BEST SONG FROM A
MOTION PICTURE” for the 2016 Grammy Awards.
The
Malibooz ended 2015 with the release of the DVD of their first TV Special, “Celebrations: A MALBU CHRISTMAS”, hosted by Carmen
Electra. The special
included 13 songs (with 5 on-screen performances) by The Malibooz
April,
2016 saw the release of the STEP
INTO LIQUID soundtrack. The
film will have its official opening in Japan in August 2016.
June,
2016 The Malibooz will release “The
WRVR Sessions ‘65”. This
limited-edition 3-song CD contains the unretouched first recording
session by The Malibooz from January, 1965. Due to the recent
interest in the “East Coast Surf Sound of the ‘60s”, The
Malibooz decided to release this CD.
Ultimately, the band will release “The
Malibooz’ Archives” which will be a multi-CD release
containing all of the bands’ recordings from the ‘60s.
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