Checking the Pulse of Surfer Blood

Artrocker sat on a park bench in north London with guitarist/vocalist JP Pitts and bassist Brian Black of Surfer Blood, right before their show at the Relentless Garage.

Touring the UK to promote their album Astro Coast, the pair spoke of growing up as ‘crusty punks’ in West Palm Beach, Florida; coastal influences; and rather importantly for a band with a song called ‘Twin Peaks’, just who killed Laura Palmer…

Is it true that you all met in university?

JPP: Not at all. Tom [Fekete, guitar] and I met while we were going to college. I was studying music and education, but I hated it. I was not happy. I wanted to play in a band!
BB: We swept JP out of university. We came to save him. We rode in on a white horse.
JPP: And I came to save TJ Schwartz [drums] from his job at UPS. From the very beginning it was very purposeful and we all knew that we were doing the right thing.

What’s the music scene like in Florida?

BB: It’s definitely clubs, clubs, clubs. There’s a lot of punk rockers in Miami, but as far as a rock scene, it’s small. There’s so many cultures and sub-cultures in Miami that it’s really hard for any kind of music to thrive there.
JPP: DJs are big in Miami. Everyone there’s a slave to the rave.

Do you ever get tired of music critics and their surfer clichés? NME said you’re ‘set to swallow 2010 in your almighty swell’.

BB: I think it is just people’s stupidity, and not being able to get past ‘surfer’ in our name.

How would you describe it then?

JPP: Lush, idiosyncratic pop music that’s guitar- and vocally driven.

That’s very succinct. Have you used that before?

JPP: Yes, I have used that before.
BB: It’s in love with the 90s!
JPP: It sort of has a nostalgic feel to it, in a way. It’s emotive, and sometimes dark, I guess.

Maybe it is just the surfer name, but would you say your sound is particularly ‘West coast’, rather than ‘East’?

BB: I don’t think JP considered a ‘coast’ when he was writing.
JPP: Yeah, it kinda came out sounding the way it is.
BB: He wanted it to sound ‘Astro Coast-y’!
JPP: Maybe I’m just a West coast kinda guy. Laidback. Look at me, relaxin’ here…

Maybe. On the other hand, your lyrics have been described as rather landlocked and lonely…

JPP: Who said that? That’s a very good way to describe it.
BB: He didn’t write it about the beach.
JPP: They’re very personal relationships. A lot of them are about insecurity, loneliness, feeling trapped.
BB: it’s not a political album.

You have a song named ‘Twin Peaks’. Who’s your favourite character?

JPP: I’ve never actually seen the show. I’ve only seen the David Lynch film.

Really? Do you know who killed Laura Palmer?

JPP: No.

So it was the film that inspired you? That shit was scary.

JPP: It is. That’s exactly why I wrote the song. It’s about one of the craziest and most miserable weekends of my life. I went to visit my on-again/off-again girlfriend in Syracuse, and it was kind of a litmus test to see if anything would resolve between the two of us. And it just went to shit, basically. We watched that movie the first night we were there, and it was just perfect for that occasion. We ended up breaking up. I wonder if she knows it’s about her?
BB: Her brother knows.
JPP: Yeah, he contacted me. So she probably does, at this point.

I’m guessing she does. What’s next for you lads?

BB: We’re about to step out of boundaries and go to mainland Europe. We really don’t know what to expect… we didn’t know what to expect the first time we came to the UK either, and it turned out alright. So hopefully the same thing applies.

Finally, what can we expect from a Surfer Blood show?

JPP: Expect? I say expect nothing.
BB: And be pleasantly surprised.
JPP: It’ll go really well if we don’t fuck it up.