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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
The way the crow flies, Fort Worth is 300 miles from anything that might resemble a coast. That coast, of course, being the murky-watered seashores that rest just outside of Houston. If you want to experience the palm-tree laden, white-sand scenes that inspired the likes of the Beach Boys and Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, you’ll have to trek a solid 1,400 miles. But such daunting distances haven’t stopped engaged couple Amanda “Panda” Cuenca and Will Rakkar — a pair of Fort Worthians, along with drummer Jeff Gerardi, who make up Phantomelo — from diving head-first into surf rock. Or surf-rock-inspired indie electro pop punk — or whatever category fills your heart’s desire — I should say.
“Back in 2017, I really, really, really wanted to start a surf rock band,” Rakkar says over a phone chat. He tells me that his favorite band at the time was Wavves, a San Diego-based rock band for the unaware. “Their lead singer, Nathan Williams, comes up with some of the most catchy, most melodic songs that I’ve heard in a really long time. And he puts it on top of a surf rock soundscape. So, when I initially started, I brought [the music] to Panda, who’s the bassist as well as my fiancé, and said, ‘I wanna do something like this.’”
After winning Cuenca’s enthusiasm, the pair recruited a drummer, Gerardi, who’s more pop and electronic focused. When the three instruments combine, it creates a sound that “dillies and dallies throughout the spectrum of rock.” Seeing the band live can seem like a Spotify playlist on shuffle as the band dabbles in indie, punk, electronic, and gothic.
“I’m kind of proud of the fact that we’ve defied genre so far,” Rakkar says. Heck, he tells me they even wrote a bossa nova song that appears on some of their setlists.
And on the stage is where the band has garnered a substantial local following. Playing the metroplex circuit of hip music venues that include Tulips, Lola’s, Denton’s Rubber Gloves, and Dallas’ Double Wide, the performances are high energy and frenetic yet undeniably tuneful. The distorted guitars and quick palpitating rhythms can get flat-out metal. But the band will quickly course-correct with a mid-tempo ballad about a seductive killer on the run. They have the bounce of a garage band and the stage presence of rock stars, all emphasized by Cuenca’s flair.
“For our live shows, Panda brings an element of dance,” Rakkar says. “If you ever come out, she’s swinging her hips and doing one-legged squats on stage with her Rickenbacker up in the air. The crowd goes crazy.”
Rakkar grew up in the Plano area and moved to London — yeah, England — when he was 18 to escape a few bad habits (mostly smoking too much weed). “Some people join the Army. Me? I move to London and do construction.” But his childhood included plenty of stints on large bodies of water — oceans and lakes — sailing a 40-foot boat his dad had bought in Texoma. Something that led to his affinity for surf rock.
“I always sort of had this balance between love for the ocean and just complete terror,” Rakkar says. “Because there’s two miles of pitch black salty, briny unknown below you. Probably full of sea monsters. “I find my mind is at the beach, you know? Frequently, it’s on the ocean.”
Rakkar would return stateside, take a few college courses, and eventually move to the Arlington area, where he started Phantomelo with Gerardi and Cuenca, who was then just a bandmate. As Rakkar puts it, their attempts to keep things strictly platonic ended abruptly following a Pearl Earl show in Deep Ellum.
“I thought it would be tough,” Rakkar says of being in a band with his significant other. “And I think for a lot of people, it would be. But for us, I think it’s cemented the whole relationship as both romantic partners and bandmates.”
In 2019, a torrential rainstorm destroyed the band’s house, flooding the jam room. This act of God led to the band taking refuge to Fort Worth, thanks to the recommendation of his former bandmate, Sam Culp of local electronic duo Yokyo.
“Fort Worth has a great scene,” Rakkar says. “People here have your back. Other artists have your back. It’s not all cutthroat like it is in a lot of scenes across the nation. So many places that you expect to have great scenes are kind of underwhelming. Fort Worth is this amazing surprise.”
The band has had a steady stream since its debut EP, Pet Your Dog More, in 2019 — with phenomenal music videos to boot. And with near-monthly appearances at some of the metroplex’s best venues, the DIY band is unlikely to slow down any time soon.
Yet, all of this still begs the question: Can you be in a surf rock band in a place where there’s no beach to, I don’t know, surf? “Well, we surf the internet every day,” Rakkar tells me. “So that’s our beach.”
Touché.
Rakkar’s Top Five Albums
(taken from his “brain pile,” not his Spotify playlist)
1. In Rainbows by Radiohead
2. King of the Beach by Wavves
3. America’s Most Wanted by Ice Cube
4. Parachutes by Coldplay
5. Lonerism by Tame Impala
