When we chatted with “y’allternative” rocking honky-tonker Opie Hendrix about his latest single “Surfside,” and its accompanying video, we pondered its “song of the summer” possibilities. After all, an ode to a cozy beach town where one can escape the rigors of big city life sounds pleasant as a toes-in-the-sand, cold-drink-in-hand summer evening.
Since the single released in late June, Surfside Beach was hit hard by Hurricane Beryl. Homes and power lines went down in the beach city making it too dangerous for residents and visitors just after Beryl’s massive storm surge. As life after the hurricane takes shape, Hendrix’s breezy tune may also prove anthemic, something to inspire the city’s residents and business owners as they work put things back together.
“I like to go to Surfside. I was there in the water and the chorus just kind of hit me, so I ran to the truck and sang into my phone on my voice recorder to capture the moment,” Hendrix said of the song, which is the first single from his upcoming album Monsters & Robots. “As far as the video goes, I just wanted a pretty mermaid. We just all got together and embraced the chaos. It was windy and crazy weather and we went ahead and shot the video on the beach there with all our family and friends.”
Hendrix tabbed filmmaker Raul Rodriguez to direct the video, which was shot in a day at Surfside Beach. His “pretty mermaid” was played by Nissa Nicole “and then we had our family and friends. Scott and Christy, some of the Last Concert Café, Dan Electro’s crew were there. A bunch of different friends. Greg and Cheryl Patrick. It was all kind of spur of the moment and we shot it in a day. It’s like herding cats trying to get everybody together at the same time and on the same page and everything.”
The day of the shoot was overcast and windy, but Hendrix was pleased with the outcome.
“I think the video came out nice. We got some pretty good shots and from just the general chaos that was, I think we came out with a pretty coherent video.”
Hendrix has been hard at work on his new LP, so we asked for an update on its approaching release.
“We’re in the final mix. We’ve got over half of it mixed. There’s a couple of songs we’re still working on but this is the leadoff single for Monsters & Robots, is the album title, produced by John Evans, recorded at Signal Hill. Got some of Houston’s finest playing on it. Pat Kelly, Liam (Haney), Randy Wall plays the keyboards. I got the girls from Shame on Me to do some backing vocals and even got Josh Baca, a bigtime accordion player out of San Antone, plays on a track. And, of course, John Evans and Patrick Herzfeld is playing some drums and singing. Patrick was also the engineer on the record and John’s producing the record.
“We’ve got some bangers. Banger after banger, all just upbeat, good, danceable y’allternative rocking honky-tonk,” Hendrix said.
At the time of our interview, Hurricane Beryl’s winds of change hadn’t blown over Surfside Beach yet. But hearing Hendrix talk about how the vibe of the song would suit folks who couldn’t get to the beach or how he and his video crew rallied against the weather on their shoot, there was something almost prescient in his words.
“I think if we could get it into the right hands, get the right people to listen to it, it could be an essential part of every summer vibe playlist. I’m hoping people dig it,” he said. “It seems people are paying attention to it. It’s hard to really gauge. But like I say, if we could get it into the right hands and the right people hear it, it could be on everybody’s playlist. People could be feeling that vibe, even if they can’t make it to the beach.”
“We just have fun and hope that we can get something coherent out of it. It seemed to flow pretty easily together, you know, different locations of Surfside and just the party,” he said of the video shoot. “We didn’t know if we were going to be able to shoot on the beach because it was so windy and the high tide, but we persevered.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
