Mel Taylor; Drummer in the Ventures Rock Group

Mel Taylor, original drummer of the durable Ventures whose pioneering instrumental rock style became known as surf music, has died. He was 63.

Taylor, who lived in Thousand Oaks, died Sunday night at Tarzana Medical Center of lung cancer, said his wife, Fiona.

She said that he had been in Japan performing with the Ventures as recently as Aug. 1, and that he flew home the following day for medical tests, which revealed the fast-growing cancer.

The Ventures began when guitarist Don Wilson and bassist Bob Bogle teamed up in Tacoma, Wash., in 1959. Taylor became a member of the group in 1962.

Known for their signature adaptation of “Walk, Don’t Run” and a decade later for the theme of the television series “Hawaii Five-O,” the Ventures enjoyed American popularity in the 1960s and were an ongoing hit in Japan. They were greeted by 15,000 fans at the airport on their first visit to Japan in 1963, and continued to perform from 80 to 100 shows there each year.

“There was no language barrier, and it was high-energy music,” Taylor told The Times in April.

Although the Ventures were never superstars in the United States, they had staying power and, with about 90 albums, became the best-selling instrumental rock band ever.

Among their early albums after Taylor joined were “Dance With the Ventures,” “The Ventures’ Beach Party,” “The Ventures Play Telstar,” “The Ventures Surfing,” “Walk, Don’t Run Volume Two” and “The Ventures in Japan.”

Before joining the Ventures, Taylor was a Los Angeles-area session drummer. His best-known credit from those days was “Monster Mash.”

Asked about the Ventures’ longevity, Taylor said: “We have always tried to stay with what the industry was doing, then stay ahead of it by taking it one step beyond.”

“We were labeled a surf band, but we’re more than that,” Taylor said in 1992. “We do everything from classical on up. We have one album that has songs on it by Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart.”

They wrote some of their own material but were better known for adapting songs by other groups.

In addition to his wife, Taylor is survived by his mother, Grace Konrad; six children, Rita, Sylvia, Leon, Michael Lee, Michael Richard and Jayme; and 11 grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Mt. Sinai Funeral Home, Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the music program of the Boys and Girls Club of America, 1230 W. Peachtree NW, Atlanta, GA 30309.