Surfer Blood exploded into notoriety in 2010, with the release of their debut album Astro Coast. The album, along with its effortlessly catchy lead single “Swim” were featured in numerous “best-of” lists for the year, and the band found themselves going from relatively unknown to being on everyone’s radar in only a few months’ time. After much touring, Surfer Blood released their sophomore album Pythons in 2013. Pythons was not met with as much critical acclaim and many music publications deemed the band to be in a “sophomore slump,” although fans were in no way disappointed with the release.
Surfer Blood made their way to Madison for the second time, performing at The Sett Friday, October 10 alongside fellow indie-rockers Eternal Summers and We Are Scientists. When I asked lead singer John Paul Pitts how the tour has been going thus far he replied, “We’ve been on tour now for almost two weeks and it’s starting to feel great playing our set on stage. Everyone we are on tour with [has] proven to be very nice.” Having come off a show in Chicago, followed by another in Minnesota before finally arriving in Wisconsin, I was curious how the group keeps up with such a busy schedule. According to Pitts, they take a similar approach to many college students. “We are very caffeinated, pretty much all of the time.”
The band kicked off their set with “Floating Vibes," the bouncy, energetic first track off of their debut. The lights dimmed into a deep red as Pitts sang “If you're movin' out to the west/ Then you'd better learn how to surf.” I asked him earlier how an audience of landlocked Wisconsinites might relate to the “surf-rock” that they make. “The name isn’t necessarily the most important part. Hopefully everyone can get a sense of fun and whimsy, I think that’s what we are going for.”
The originally motionless crowd gradually began moving and dancing as the show went on, clapping along with the beat of “Twin Peaks” as Pitts expertly hit his falsettos. Musicianship as a whole was strong throughout the night, and guitarist Thomas Fekete got a chance to showcase his crisp guitar work during the instrumental bridge on “Voyager Reprise.”
During the following break, Pitts took the opportunity to thank We Are Scientists for letting the band borrow their amplifiers, and he dedicated the next song to Eternal Summers. By the sounds of it, the three groups had been getting along well on tour, having took a detour to Crystal Cave near Eau Claire on the way down to Madison.
The band then went straight into “Take it Easy,” and the camera-phones came out as Pitts stepped off the stage to walk through the crowd. Surfer Blood really displayed how well they work together when Pitts’ microphone stopped working mid-song. The problem was fixed within seconds and the group picked up right where they left off without a hitch. To the audience it was as if nothing had happened, and they continued dancing and singing along as they had before.
Hands went up and cheers went out as Fekete strummed out the first few chords of Surfer Blood’s breakout single “Swim," the song that can perhaps be largely credited for getting their career started. Audience members all sang along with the lyrics they’ve known for four years now.
When I asked Pitts how his high school self would have felt had he known that his band would be as big as they are now, gaining fans across the country, and going on tour with big names like The Pixies, he replied “I would not be able to believe it. That might be as much proof as I need to think that we are on the right track, we are doing something good, you know?”
As for the future of Surfer Blood, Pitts explained “I want to develop a loyal fan base, people who will stick with us. I want to write songs that people will look back on in five years and say ‘Oh, wow that song is still good today.’ I don’t want to be a band that people associate with an era or a period of time, I want to write songs that transcend that, and will be just as enjoyable to our fans who look back on us in five to ten years.”
What I saw Friday night was exactly that—everyone in the room seemed to be having fun. I didn’t see a “sophomore slump.” Instead, I saw a band that was in tune with one another and more importantly, in tune with their fans.
