Post #795359 by The Pupu Platters on Sun, May 26, 2019 2:36 PM

Aloha friends!

This is Damon from The Pupu Platters! We are an exotica three piece from my living room in Tustin, California, coming soon to a tiki bar near you.

I have been lurking on Tiki Central for about 10 years, until yesterday. I think part of the reason I kept to the shadows was I felt like I did not have much to contribute to the community. Now that I have a band, that's changed.

I was born in the 70s and grew up on reruns of Brady Bunch, Gilligan, Scooby Doo, and The Disney Channel. I turned a blind ear to the lounge revival in the 90s, but after some friends turned me on to drum & bass music (aka JUNGLE) I began digging through thrift store record bins looking for records to sample for my own sonic experiments. I would buy any record that alluded to jungle, percussion, or just looked cool! I was listening to exotica unaware it was a genre.

It wasn't until I heard Hawaiian War Chant in the Enchanted Tiki Room 10 years ago, that these seemingly disparate sights and sounds came together as "tiki" for me. Tiki Central was a fantastic resource for helping me catch up for lost time pretty quickly. All you artists and collectors have been so inspiring! Needless to say, by the time Trader Sam's opened, I was hooked!

Since then however, I have completely given up alcohol! Part of the motivation to start a tiki band was to find my way back into the tiki bar.

See you there!