The Malibooz - Malibooz Rule! (1981)

The New York-bred surf outfit the Malibooz play a laid-back mix of twangy surf music and AM-style pop informed by the solo work of bandleaders John Zambetti and Walter Egan. Following the group's initial work in the mid-'60s, the band formally reunited for 1981's Malibooz Rule! They have continued to come together, issuing albums like 1999's Living Water (The Surfer's Mass), 2002's Beach Access, and 2020's QE 2.
Inspired by their dreams of West Coast living, New York surf buffs John Zambetti (vocals/guitars) and Walter Egan (vocals/guitars) formed the Malibooz while still in high school in the mid-'60s. The band gained a following on the East Coast, releasing a 1965 EP and single, "Goin' to Malibu." However, with the decline of the popularity of surf music, the group eventually disbanded. After high school, Egan and Zambetti both enrolled at Georgetown University and continued to make music, forming the rock outfit Sageworth with drummer Tom Scarp and singer Annie McLoone. After graduating Georgetown, Egan continued to play with Sageworth in the D.C. area and around Boston. After a period leading the band Wine-Dark-Sea, Zambetti enrolled in medical school and continued to play music, gigging and doing session work.
By the mid-'70s, Egan had moved to California to pursue a solo career. Having completed his medical studies, Zambetti soon followed, and together they formed the Walter Egan Band. In 1978, Egan scored a Top Ten single with "Magnet and Steel" off his sophomore album Not Shy, recorded with future Fleetwood Mac bandmates Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Zambetti also stayed active, playing around the L.A. circuit with his Johnny Z Band. Buoyed by their success, Egan and Zambetti re-formed the Malibooz and in 1981 released throwback surf album Malibooz Rule! on Rhino Records. Included on the record was the single "Hot Summer Nights," later featured in the 1985 TV movie California Girls. The group picked up a following of legacy surf aficionados as well as younger acolytes of the genre.
Over the next 20 years, the bandmembers continued to balance their other projects with work in the Malibooz. Egan released more solo albums, while Zambetti recorded with the Johnny Z Band and moved into film work, scoring soundtracks in the '80s and '90s. The Malibooz returned in 1992 with the holiday album Malibooz Yule: A Malibu Kind of Christmas. The group's inventive surf-style reworking of the Catholic Mass, Living Water (The Surfer's Mass), was released as the Malibooz' third album in 1999. In 2002, the Malibooz again reunited for Beach Access before issuing the archival set The WRVR Sessions '65. Another studio album, Queen's English, arrived in 2010. In 2020, the Malibooz were back together for QE 2.