Assistant Music Director Carrie tells us about her experience at the D.C. Surfer Blood gig last weekend.
In the week leading up to the Surfer Blood/The Drums show at 9:30 club, I had many internal arguments regarding my attendance.
“It’s a Sunday! And you’re poor! You have so much work to do!”
“But Surfer Blood rules! And it’s only $15!”
I ended up going, figuring I’d regret it if I didn’t. I went by myself –since any friends who were interested– decided with their more rational selves. I got to 9:30 club when opening band The Young Friends was halfway through their set. They were a little amateurish and the vocalist sounded too tone deaf. Maybe they’d be better with experience?
After The Young Friends, I got talking with a guy who had also decided to come last minute for Surfer Blood. He was a student at Johns Hopkins and was taking a 3 AM train back home, now that’s dedication.
I didn’t know too much about The Drums prior to the show, but I was sold by their theatrical interpretive dancing and 80’s pop revival sound. Band leader Johnny Pierce sings and moves like a David Bowie/Morrissey hybrid with a little bit of vogue dancing thrown in.
Waiting for Surfer Blood, I made friends with some self-described “Georgetown indie kids in the closet” and a girl from Corcoran. We all bonded over music and a mutual disregard for the next days classes.
When Surfer Blood came onstage to the score from Jurassic Park, I knew that being irresponsible on a Sunday night had been a good choice to make. I had seen Surfer Blood twice before their 9:30 club show: once at The Black Cat, and another time at Siren Fest. Both times the band had played kind of like a band you would watch from your basement couch. This is not a bad thing, by any means it fits their accessible-and-sometimes-bro-ish sound very nicely. But non-stop touring and exposure has done Surfer Blood well. They looked and sounded significantly tighter and more confident. This time the band performed instead of just playing. The guitars seemed to break free, and the songs were crisper and bigger.
Front man JP Pitts has a great pop star voice both on “Astro Coast” and off, but live, there was some added harshness and growl that gave their songs an extra punch. He also seemed to have taken notes from The Drums when he showcased some awkwardly endearing dance moves. After eight tracks from “Astro Coast” and two new songs, Surfer Blood came back out with a cover of Pavement’s “Box Elder.” Not satisfied, the crowd brought the band back onstage for what they claimed was their first ever double encore. They ended the night with “Slow Jabroni,” my favorite Surfer Blood song that I had never seen live. It ruled.
I headed to Rogue States, a burger grilling company in Dupont, with the four future Facebook friends I met at the show. I proceeded to eat an amazing burger that was roughly the size of my face, and then, back at home, I stayed up until 4:30 to finish all of my work. Without hesitation, I WOULD DO IT ALL AGAIN.
-Words by Carrie Walters, pictures by Jasmine Wee, edited & posted by Louise
