One of the unheralded architects of the Southern Californian surf sound,
Allen (real name Richie Podolor) played a lot of session guitar on surf and hot rod records in the early '60s, particularly for producer
Gary Usher. He also played guitar for drummer
Sandy Nelson on the classic "Teen Beat" and other instrumentals, and recorded quite a few surf instrumentals under his own name, although these were rather placid and routine when stacked up against the best of the genre. Reverting to his real name,
Podolor racked up production credits with
Iron Butterfly,
Steppenwolf, and
Three Dog Night in the late '60s, and remains active behind the boards today. ~ Richie Unterberger