Venet, with the help of guitarist and songwriter Derry Weaver, assembled a studio group of Los Angeles session musicians to form the Gamblers.
[1] Another instrumental on the flip-side, titled "LSD-25", was written by Weaver and Sam Taylor after the pair read about the hallucinogenic drug in a magazine; the song marks the first time LSD is referenced in a musical recording.
Despite failing to chart nationally, the single found an audience in Southern California where it reached number 12 on KFWB's music listing in July that same year.
[4] As the first band to cover it, the Beach Boys helped solidify the track as a staple of surf music on their studio album Surfin' Safari before more renditions by the Challengers, the Tornadoes, the Ventures, and others followed.
Johnston subsequently joined the Beach Boys in 1965 on tour to replace Brian Wilson who excused himself from performing to concentrate exclusively on songwriting and record producing.