Surfer Blood

Also releasing a new album today are another American band. Hailing from Palm Beach, Florida, the music of Surfer Blood sounds as gloriously sun drenched as you would imagine the band’s home environment would be.  Releasing a debut LP today titled Astro Coast, we Q&A Surfer Blood’s lead singer JP Pitts about surfing, music and summer.

Describe your music in five words
 Rock and roll high school.

Can you explain the band name Surfer Blood?  Do you have a vendetta against surfers?
 Not at all.  I’m a really live and let live type of guy.  The name was kind of something we stumbled on by accident.  Tyler [Schwarz, Surfer Blood's drummer] was totally into surfing in high school, he had the spiked hair with the bleached tips and everything.  Him and I were on a road trip to Gainesville one time and he had this tacky surfer bag from his surfer days.  I was making fun of him for it and the name surfer blood came up.  We immediately liked it and knew we wanted to use it as a song title or something, when everything came together with the band last year all of us agreed that it was the best fit.  Its a cool twist on some classic imagery and it has this sense of invulnerability and youthfulness that really comes through in our music.

Can any of you surf?
 I can but I’m not great.  Tyler is still pretty good, he always tries to get me to go out with him but I always find a way to excuse myself.

Have you had any memorable encounters with sea life?
 Jellyfish are evil critters that live in the ocean near my house.  They have no brains and no hearts and are composed of 98% water.  They also have super long tentacles that will hurt you really badly if you come into contact with them and you will be out of commission for days.  There are hundreds of myths about how to treat a jellyfish encounter, but I have never known any to be particularly effective.  Sea lice are annoying too, they are “marine ectoparasites that feed on the mucus, epidermal tissue and blood of host marine fish” according to Wikipedia.  They leave little bumps on your skin that kind of look like mosquito bites.

What are your main influences when making music?
 My friends, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, nature, not having fun in college and wondering why, other bands, the future.

Which other artists do you most admire?
 I really admire Kim Deal, she is still so excited to play shows and make records after all the years she’s been playing with the Pixies and the Breeders.  I really appreciate her zest and energy.  I also look up to David Bowie and David Byrne, they always have an ear to the ground and are constantly collaborating with young artists.

Which musicians would you most want to collaborate with?
 I always say Jeff Mangum, even though I would be so intimidated.  I am just curious about his creative process, his music just seems to erupt from inside him.  I was so shocked when I heard that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was recorded in a week or something, that’s nuts!  I would love to spend some time in a studio with him writing and recording.

There is a very summer feel to the LP, what are your plans for summer 2010?
 Surfer Blood is doing a ton of festivals in the US, Europe and Japan this summer, so I’ll be doing a lot of traveling.  I am getting to see the world!  When I’m home I’m going to try and start an exercise regiment, Tyler and I used to go running on the beach, I want to get back into that.  I also want to work on some new songs.

What has been your most memorable gig to date?
 On one end of the spectrum, our show at Market Hotel was a total blast.  It is an abandoned building in Brooklyn where they put on shows, I heard it shut down recently, which is a real shame.  There were nine hundred people at the show that night and the floor was starting to bow.  Absolutely nuts.  On the other end of the spectrum, our first show at Koko in London was also insane, it was really cool to play on the same stage as The Clash.  That theater is really beautiful, I hope we can play there again soon.

Swim shorts or Speedos?
Swim shorts. I’m not ready for a speedo.


[Originally published o wonderlandmagazine.com/blog June 2010]