Florida-based indie act Surfer Blood rolled through Allston last week for a night of infectious tunes and high energy. WTBU DJ William Bauman talked covers, touring, and the band’s new sonic direction with lead vocalist/guitarist John Paul Pitts before their show at the Great Scott on April 23.
William Bauman: Was there a communal music scene in the city of West Palm Beach, Florida growing up? What were the venues like in your earliest days of playing as a band?
John Paul Pitts: Growing up, there was a small group of young people doing really cool and creative stuff. It was a small scene and pretty tight knit, but I grew up watching some pretty great bands. There was only one venue in West Palm Beach. Being in Florida, the fact that it’s a peninsula and that we are all the way down the state, it’s not worth the time for touring national bands to come down here. As a result, we would put on shows in attics, my friend’s dance studio, and random restaurants.
WB: Do you take influence musically by the scene in Florida? Do you have musical influences from elsewhere?
JPP: Everyone is doing their own thing now more than ever, but for me I got really into Dinosaur Jr. when I was in ninth grade. I always loved the melodies, the punk rock-ness to it, how it was fast and loud. The first time I heard You’re Living All Over Me, I fell in love and wanted to write music like that. I was 14 at the time and haven’t looked back since.
WB: Your debut album contains references to beaches and the oceans. It seems to be influenced by the atmosphere of West Palm Beach with the album being titled Astro Coast and containing songs like “Swim” and “Floating Vibes.” Now your new album, Snowdonia, depicts an iceberg on its cover and contains songs like “Snowdonia” and “Frozen;” it’s a direct opposite to the climate of West Palm Beach. Does it represent a reinvention of the band or perhaps a desire to isolate the band from the overused “beach indie” label?
JPP: We kind of got lumped into the surf rock thing early on. We happened to be coming up in that time of music when Best Coast and more bands with that sound were becoming popular. I guess there is something kind of surfy about the music, but it was never my intention to follow the current trend at the time. It all just fell into place like that. I always thought we were like post-grunge kids ten years too late.
Do you think the contributions of guitarist Mike McCleary and bassist Lindsey Mills have unintentionally taken the band into a new sonic direction?
JPP: Yes, the new album definitely has a lot of layered textures to it that are new to our band. All my friends who listen to the record say “This is your Pet Sounds”. In recording this album, we locked ourselves up in a warehouse studio space that Mike has. We recorded so many backing vocals, and I figured we could listen to all of them and get rid of the ones we don’t want.
WB: Snowdonia seems to contains songs focused on relationships, whether it’s Thomas Fekete, a love interest, or even your girlfriend’s great Uncle Eddy. Do you find that human relationships inspire your lyrics?
JPP: Yes, if it wasn’t for relationships I don’t know what I would write songs about. Most of them are in my perspective, but sometimes it’s fun to write from other people’s perspectives.
WB: But it is hard to tell who you are talking about sometimes. Who do you talk about building a kingdom with on “Frozen?”
JPP: “Frozen” is sort of a fun song, sort of me taking light of our time on Warner Brothers which as you can probably guess is a giant aircraft carrier of a record label. Dealing with them was frustrating, but there were times when it was really fun like going to their office in LA and having people show you real original recordings of famous records from the ‘60s. The song is about being on the label and being unhappy about it, but just trying to enjoy those kinds of experiences. We definitely had some good times there. Nothing is all good or bad and it was definitely fun a lot of the time.
WB: What does “Instant Doppelgangers” refer to?
JPP: “Instant Doppelgangers” is about Tyler Schwartz, the drummer of the band. We started the band together ten years ago and people always say we look alike. Sometimes the first thing people say to me is “Wow, you look a lot like Tyler.”
WB: What is your favorite song on Snowdonia?
JPP: I think “Dino Jay” and “Carrier Pigeon” are my two favorite ones. Honestly, my best songs are usually the sweet ones. “Carrier Pigeon” is about my mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer like a year ago, and she was still recovering. And she and I weren’t always that close, but after that I started making an effort to spend as much time as I possibly could with her. We developed this new sort of understanding of each other and it’s been really refreshing for me.
WB: Whose idea was it to do a cover album? How did you decide what songs to cover? Was it simply based on what you had fun playing or were you concerned with whether it would fit the sound of your band?
JPP: We chose songs we have a special affinity to and, honestly, songs that were easy to play. I love to record more than anything in the world, and whenever we move into a new rehearsal spot, I always have our band record a cover just to test the waters. Through the years, I realized the band has like seven or eight really cool live recordings of covers. Again, we just recorded a bunch of songs in Mike’s warehouse studio space. Usually when you record a record you try to make the whole thing really cohesive and glue together. What’s cool about the covers album is that they are all originally recorded in different times in different places with different equipment.
WB: What’s the most fun song to play off of the cover album?
JPP: The last song on the album which is “Hey Sandy” by the band Polaris. It was on the show “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” which most people probably haven’t heard of, but it was a really special and great show. We have been covering that song since 2011.
WB: Who are you going to be touring with? Do you have an opener? What is your relationship with them?
JPP: We are touring with this band Winter from Los Angeles. We toured with them before and they are great. The lead singer, Samira, writes cute and bubbly songs and plays guitar like J Mascis with reverb tones. I haven’t seen them in a while, so I am looking forward to it. They have an album coming out in April that I am excited for as well.
WB: Do you have any favorite venues that you are excited to revisit?
JPP: I’ve always loved Great Scott. I think that was one of the first venues we ever played actually. We are excited to come back. Our last time there, we sold out and had an absolute blast, so I’m just knocking on wood and hoping for another great show.
WB: What’s your favorite song to perform live?
JPP: That would have to be our song off the first record called “Anchorage.” It’s a long, heavy, and groovy song. I consider it my masterpiece and every time I write a song I’m just trying to top “Anchorage.”
WB: Blue Album or Pinkerton?
JPP: I have to go with the Blue Album. Its untouchable; it’s one of those things that’s absolutely perfect. Pinkerton has some of the best songs he [Rivers Cuomo] has ever written, but the Blue Album is one of those things that happens once in a lifetime. It’s impossible to replicate.