Back around 2004, pre Facebook, and in the midst of the Myspace and blog onset, certain bands suddenly got hyped really fast and for their later misfortune, it carried a price –called the sophomore slump. How do you follow-up such a big debut record? You know who they are… cough cough…Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tapes N Tapes, Cold War Kids, MGMT and Vampire Weekend. Although some had more success than other, (yes, Ezra Koenig you’ve done well for yourself) others have struggled to maintain the level of buzz and acclaim their first records so quickly afford them. Surfer Blood certainly deserves not to fall into that category.
South Florida’s Surfer Blood was widely considered to be the breakout band of 2009’s CMJ Music Marathon, when their youngest member, guitarist Thomas Fekete was just 20. Pretty soon after with the strength of their forceful single “Swim”, they were certainly almost the next big thing. Combining the noisy melodic rock of the Pixies and whatever other 90’s buzz bin counterpart (Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets,etc), Surfer Blood, let by the emotional vexing front-man John Paul Pitts.
Now with this year’s Pythons (released 6/11/13) Surfer Blood have established their dreamy surf rock sensibility and buffed their pop dynamics gems into a loftier perch of polished finishes. Produced by Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters) and recorded at Los Angeles’ EASTWEST Studios, famous for producing The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds among others, Pythons is a similarly timeless collection of songs that come together in a cohesive sound, making like MGMT’s Congratulations, a sophomore album worth the repeated listens. We recently had the privilege of speaking with Surfer Blood lead guitarist and Thomas Fekete who wasn’t afraid to admit he’s not too thrilled with everything that has happened with Pythons..
I enjoyed your recent cover of The Clash’s “Spanish Bombs.” How did you decide on that track verse any other track in The Clash’s songbook?
We had already been covering “Train in Vain” for years, but we decided to challenge ourselves and attempt to tackle “Spanish Bombs” instead. However, we misunderstood how the entire thing would go down, and we thought we would have studio time to sit and figure out the parts/overdub extra vocals etc. When we showed up it was the exact opposite. A full crew was there all set up with cameras and they were ready to use the first few live takes. These are the types of situations musicians have nightmares about. Showing up to play and having no idea how to actually play what they’re expecting. We ended up winging it, and if you look closely, you’ll notice John is reading lyrics off a piece of paper in the video.
Pythons is an accomplished recording and a solid follow-up up to Astro Coast, but like most second albums after well received debuts, it’s always a challenge to build upon on that debut buzz. Are you satisfied with the reception to Pythons and how do you personally feel the album stands up to Astro Coast?
I guess I should be honest here? I can’t really say I am thrilled with the way things are going with our second album. To be honest, the entire process was a huge step out of our comfort zone, and some of us handled it better than others (I did not handle it well). We had about 5 times the people involved with this record and as a result things got sort of whacky and way out of our hands. When you have 20 people who each have a supposed plan for your band, each one being drastically different, it’s going to be a mess. And then it seems everyone sort of throws their hands in the air and says “oh well” when your album isn’t a smash hit right off the bat. As far as the album itself, I do love the songs. In my opinion it’s lacking some of the sonic personality that Astro Coast had, however, the songwriting has matured to a new level. The thing is, now that we are touring on this album, we are just playing the songs how we originally wrote them. Some of them come off very different live, and that’s very exciting to me. I have to say, regardless, I am very proud of what we have accomplished.
What songs on Pythons do you feel could not have been recorded with the band circa 2010 and musically how would you describe your change in direction from more primal rhythms to angular chord movements?
“Prom song” was actually written in 2010. It was originally an idea I had brought to JP at a practice, but really fleshed out backstage in Australia later that year. We ended up playing it live for about two years, but we wanted to save it because we felt it didn’t really fit on the EP. I have to say that any kind of change in our songwriting or sound has been very organic. It’s something we don’t even talk about. I feel like we are constantly growing as musicians, and luckily we haven’t had much of a struggle writing new music together whatsoever.
It is important to remember that throwing a producer into the mix changes a sound drastically. It’s essentially adding a new member to your band who has an immense amount of control.
Surfer Blood has a true knack for melody. What do you credit yourselves for being able to harmonize so well and hook in the listener while still maintaining a sense of urgency in your vocals and music?
All four of us have always gravitated towards melodic music. We were raised on bands like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane and Patsy Cline. Later on in high school, discovering bands like Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. had a huge effect on us. So I’d say we have to thank bands of the past for what we are able to do now. Many bands of the present as well!
Now that Surfer Blood is a full fledged touring band and headlining tour act- do you look at yourselves any differently than a few years back in terms of responsibilities and upholding the Surfer Blood name?
When Surfer Blood started I was 20 years old and didn’t have a care in the world. I’m now 25, engaged, and supporting myself like any other adult eventually has to. This band is very much a serious career to each and every one of us, and we all depend on it for our own well being. I now take music more seriously than I ever have, and I have always taken it seriously (at times to a fault). Some people say “oh you guys are so silly on twitter,” but twitter is ridiculous and silly itself. Someone once told me that “content is more important than music,” but honestly if that’s the way things are headed, I’m not interested in taking any part in it. I’ll go broke and work another job while making music if it comes to having to be more focused on online content and image than music itself.
At one point JP was drawing cat whiskers on his face during our sets at SXSW and a journalist wrote that we didn’t take what we were doing seriously, but they don’t realize it’s just our way of showing fans that anyone can do this; that we aren’t cool guy rock and rollers with negative, shitty attitudes. There is so much posturing in music today and I feel like there isn’t much within this band at all. We’ve actually been criticized because of it.. for the way we dress, how we carry ourselves, like we’re expected to perpetuate this cool kid club everyone is so concerned with being a part of.
I will say, after four years, this is the happiest our band has ever been. At times, also at times the most stressed. It can be extremely frustrating to have a clear vision for your band, yet constantly have to make compromises in order to keep things moving. And I mean that not only in an artistic way, but a personal way as well. When something that is literally consuming your life isn’t going exactly the way you’d like it to, it can be extremely difficult. But we’ve made it a point to eliminate negativity all together and just enjoy what we are doing. It usually only takes a few deep breaths and a look around to realize we are living beautiful lives surrounded by wonderful and inspiring people. We are very lucky.
Do you feel South Florida gets a bad rap about cultivating indie rock bands? Was it difficult for Surfer Blood to gain credibility because of that?
Florida has some serious talent. I’d say most of my favorite musicians are actually from Florida. We are on tour with Andy Boay right now. He’s signed to Arbutus and I highly recommend tracking down some of his releases and giving them a real listen. I really feel like he is one of the most creative, brilliant dudes I have ever met. He’s from Orlando. Our friends Cop City are from West Palm, the Jameses are out of there as well. You have Hundred Waters out of Gainesville who are brilliant. It’s so silly how quickly people will shut Florida down. It’s such a backwards, fucked up way of looking at things. It’s crazy how many professional journalists will jab at us for being from Florida…some corny ass behavior. Do I have any desire to live in Florida again? No.. However, I am extremely grateful for my time there. It made me the artist I am today.
What do you credit the most for being able to breakthrough at CMJ in 2009 and afterwards?
I give credit to our booking agent at the time. She runs Panache booking and is responsible for the 12 shows we played. We told her we were very serious and wanted to work as hard as we possibly could, and she made that happen. She really believed in us from the get go. She is brilliant and in my opinion has the best roster of musicians today.
You had the privilege of opening for the Pixies in 2011 for their Lost Cities/Doolittle tour. With all due respect, Surfer Blood sounds a bit like the Pixies- do you feel this worked to your advantage in gaining new fans from a relatively older fan base? What complements or accolades do you most remember?
When I was in 8th grade my close friend and I ordered Chinese delivery and sat down to watch Fight Club. When the credits came on and I heard “Where Is My Mind” for the first time, I literally dropped my fork and sat in silence through the entire song. I was paralyzed, like I had just heard music for the first time all over again. The Pixies tour is still somewhat of a blur because the entire thing still feels too good to be true. I remember sitting in a dressing room with Kim and her sister, two of my biggest inspirations musically, and having a casual conversation with them like it was nothing. Two days later it hit me while I was in the van and I had to call all of my friends to tell them about it. The entire thing was surreal. They have such a loyal and respectful fan base. Seeing that was very inspiring. We all watched them every night from the first song all the way through their encore. As soon as we finished playing and we walked into the crowd it felt like we hadn’t even played. Like we were just showing up to see the Pixies.. and it never got old.
What bands out there currently do you most admire and if you were to curate your own festival who would you invite?
We are massive music fans, so the lineup (and the budget) would have to be huge! As far as recent bands, we’ve been listening to a lot of Parquet Courts. I feel they have something very special, and their music is weirdly perfect to me. I am still listening to Women’s Public Strain on the regular. All of their new projects are great as well. The singer has Cindy Lee and the rest of the guys started a band called Viet Cong. I cannot recommend those enough. I feel like Angel Olsen is one of the best songwriters I’ve discovered in ages. There’s something very special there. I was working for Julianna Barwick’s manager during our time off earlier this year/last year and I haven’t stopped listening to her since he turned me onto her stuff. Connan Mockasin is brilliant and from another planet. He also backs Charlotte Gainsbourg, who is one of my favorites. I saw Danny brown in the Netherlands and haven’t stopped listening since. We are all really looking forward to a new Twin Sister record. Then there’s Yeezus, which is just on a whole nother level and excites me in ways I haven’t felt for years. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, Andy Boay and his band which he has with his brother, Tonstartssbandht. There’s so many more but I’ll leave it at that.
You are kicking off a tour later this month. With two albums and an EP some songs have to be cut out of the set from your discography. Is that a nice problem to have and how are you leaning to make the set-list?
It is really great to have more than ten songs. Our first two years of touring quickly became extremely monotonous because we only had ten songs to play. Now we have around 30. Each night is different and songs shift in mood each and every day, it’s always evolving.
What cities and venues on this tour are you most looking forward to visiting?
All of them and I know that’s a cheap answer, but the U.S. is huge and every area is so different/equally exciting to me. Although I will say it’s very difficult to leave the northwest once I’m out there.
