Remember Taylor from this article? Of course you do. Well she’s back with another great interview, this time with John Paul Pitts from Surfer Blood.
Surfer Blood are a band who have received critical acclaim since the release of their debut album, ‘Astro Coast’, earlier this year. With Pitchfork slapping their best new music stamp of approval all over it and plenty of other blogs and magazines getting behind the band Taylor went to find out how Surfer Blood came about and what to expect in the future from the four youngsters from Florida.
Taylor Farnsworth: Many people are saying that Surfer Blood has the potential to be huge if you allow yourselves to be, how far are you willing to take your success?
John Paul Pitts: “As far as we can without compromising ourselves. For the next record and stuff it’s one thing to work with a producer, it’s another thing to have someone turning out songs for you. Right now we’re in a position where people are hearing our record, it’s getting a lot of exposure, but we still have control over most every aspect of our band, anything from the writing to our record label, which is just a married couple from Kanine records. It’s pretty personal, hands on, and that’s the way we want to keep it. I’m just glad that people are into the record right now.”
TF: Astro Coast was recorded in your college dorm room at the University of Florida. How much better is it to be touring and having success as a band instead of attending classes and earning your degrees?
JPP: “Umm, well school is school. This is what I’ve always wanted to do and I did too much of this, and not enough of school which is why I wasn’t such a great student.. Touring is a blast, I mean it can be really stressful sometimes, for example, today was a complete mess, but it’s going to happen from time to time. It was really cool that people stayed around, we weren’t expecting that at all.” (The interview took place after an in-store performance that, due to unforeseeable circumstances, the band were 2 hours late for.)
TF: Would you care to explain how you came up with the name Surfer Blood? Although you are from Florida, I’ve heard that none of you actually have Surfer Blood in you.
JPP: “I guess T.J.; the drummer is the closest thing we have. He surfed a lot in high school, and when we’re home he always calls me to go with him, but I would always find an excuse not to go, because I’m not very good. We came up with the name Surfer Blood; it kind of embodies the whole spirit we were going for, and brings up impressions of youth and the invulnerable sensitivity. And we came up with it because Tyler and me were going on a road trip to Gainesville to play a show on the weekend and it was early in the morning, so we just threw stuff in the back, and he had this really tacky surfer bag from back in the day and I was kind of ragging on him, and somehow through that he came up with the name Surfer Blood. We always knew that we’d use it for a song title or something, but when it was time to name the band, the name made sense and stuck.”
TF: Were you expecting Astro Coast to become as much of a success as it has been so far?
JPP: “It’s really awesome that it has done as well as it has. We had honestly no expectations. This was the first time any of us had ever recorded a full length record and actually toured, so it was a first for all of us. I had never recorded a full length record before, so I was kind of learning. I guess it sounds like a quality recording, but every time I listen to it I pick it apart. We knew that there would be people out there that would like it if we just gave them the care and they wanted to come to our shows. We definitely have exceeded our expectations.”
TF: Who has influenced your music over the years (friends, family, other musicians, etc.)?
JPP: “My friend Justin Bonner in high school introduced me to a lot of the bands. We had a lot of classes together, and we became close. He introduced me to bands like Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Bedhead, a lot of really classic 90’s alternative stuff. He’s honestly how I got into a lot of that.”
TF: What are some of your favourite albums of all time?
JPP: “The Smiths, The Queen is Dead. Dinosaur Jr., You’re Living All Over Me. Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. The Strokes, Is This It. Wow, that’s a tough question. Oh, and Sonic Youth, Sonic Nurse.”
TF: Would you recommend any up and coming bands for the readers of Indiescreet?
JPP: “I’d like to recommend a band that we’re friends with from New York, Grooms, they just got signed to our record label, less than a week ago, and we’ve been friends with them and following them for a while. We played with them in October. They’re really good, just kind of a take on Sonic Youth, but it’s really quality stuff. Our friends, Holiday Shores, from Tallahassee are a really talented young band that people haven’t heard of. They actually did the first leg of this tour with us. Real Estate from New Jersey is really good. Ganglians from California are also one of my favorite new bands, we played with them in Minneapolis. There’s a band called The Smith Westerns from Chicago, they’re super young, but they seem really cool to tour with, so maybe someday. Yeah, we would definitely like to tour with them.”
TF: You guys have supported the likes of Art Brut, Japandroids and The Drums in the past. How were those experiences?
JPP: “Before the album came out, we did a few support tours. It was great; I love Art Brut and Japandroids. We did one leg of each of their tours in a 40 day stretch. The guys from Art Brut are great friends, really funny guys. They’ve been doing this forever; touring all over the world, and it was our first time. They really helped us out along the way. And Japandroids, Brian and Dave are really cool guys. They take their music very seriously, yeah, I like them. The Drums are actually kind of how our record label discovered us. I’ve been friends with Jacob Graham from that band. He used to live in Florida, so we’d see each other at shows a lot. And then he contacted me from The Drums on MySpace, and I thought, oh, it’s Jacob. We did a support tour for them recently in England. And we played at the Bowery two weeks ago. They’re just really sincere dudes, and they truly support other band’s music.”
TF: What are the plans for the future? Touring, another album?
JPP: “Right now we have a tour schedule that’s really crazy for the next 5 or 6 months. I don’t like to write music while touring. We have a lot of material together for the next record. We plan on recording it late this summer. I don’t believe in rushing it. The reason Astro Coast turned out so good was because we spent months wrestling with it. I think a lot of bands, where they go wrong for their sophomore album is that they rush it. They want to get it out really soon because people want to hear more. So we’ll release it probably sometime next year.”
A great insight into the band, I’m sure you’ll agree. Stay tuned for some pictures and a review of the in-store performance and gig that Taylor attended in the next couple of days.
