Guantanamo Baywatch

Conjuring up a swampy fusion of surf, garage rock, and rockabilly that suggests the Cramps hitting the beach midway through a drunken bender, Guantanamo Baywatch are a trio from Portland, Oregon determined to bring good, trashy fun back to rock & roll. Guantanamo Baywatch were formed in 2009 by guitarist Jason Powell and bassist Chevelle Wiseman; Powell, originally from Seattle, coined the name for a fanzine piece, and liked it enough that he asked his friend Wiseman (who had moved to Portland from Palo Alto, California) to join a new band that would use the handle. Wiseman, who had taken cello lessons as a girl, was drafted to play bass, while their friends Nina and Cole filled out the lineup on second guitar and drums. However, Nina and Cole's presence in the band was short-lived, and after Devin Trainer became the band's new drummer, they opted to continue as a trio. By the fall of 2010, Trainer was out of the group, and with Chris Scott (another California transplant and a former surfer) behind the drums, Guantanamo Baywatch finally had their definitive lineup. Releasing a self-titled album that quickly went out of print, Guantanamo Baywatch began touring aggressively through the Pacific Northwest and up and down the West Coast, earning a reputation for their manic live shows, gloriously tacky stage wear, and enthusiastically greasy approach to surf music. In 2011, they signed with Portland garage-punk label Dirtnap Records, and the band's first album for Dirtnap, Chest Crawl, appeared in the spring of 2012.