Coast to Astro Coast | livemusic.fm

One of the the many impressive things about Surfer Blood is their phlegmatic presence on stage. I mean these guys don't look like they're far into their 20s - yet their breadth of musical influences and their laid-back command of the stage was quite frankly ... unexpected.

It might have something to do with the fact that they have an uncommonly good dozen or so songs to take from their recently released album Astro Coast. It also might have something to do with the fact that they've toured all over the UK and Europe despite only really being together for a little over a year.

The support slot was ably filled by L.A. based, West Coast americans Funeral Party - As one would expect there was plenty of energy and intensity about the band, the crowd warmed up, and the stage nicely set for Surfer Blood.

Hailing from the East Coast of Florida, Surfer Blood has something about them that immediately pins them as an American, jangly, indie-guitar outfit following in the footsteps Pavement or The Shins - coupled with that particular kookiness and idiosyncratic inclusion of British indie influences that only an American, jangly-indie-guitar band seems capable of doing these days ... oh and of course the Beach Boys!

Numbers such as the opener Fast Jabroni followed in the tradition of the aforementioned bands - the jangly, quirky, overdriven, fuzzy guitar riffs  under-pinning the Wilson-esque falsetto vocal harmonies of JP Pitts. Similar sounding Floating Vibes built upon this fusion of influences, and with the gentle friendly banter between songs, the Surfers had the crowd fully engaged.

However, for me, the band came into their own when they navigated into darker waters, on tracks such as Harmonix and the impressively bleak Anchorage. All sorts of moody introverted influences sprung to mind - from Interpol (and therefore I guess Joy Division) to the Jesus and Mary Chain. In fact the second half of the set seemed to paddle around these darker vibrations, with the only patch of fairer weather being the melodic, over-driven, West Coast pop anthem that is Swim.

I have to say I enjoyed these moodier numbers and the finale of Catholic Pagans concluded with a wall-of-distortion reminiscent of the JMC at their height.

The encore Slow Jabroni was probably unnecessary, but gave all the band members a little more time to enjoy the appreciations of the crowd. If you get a chance to see the Surfers (who incidentally don&'t surf much!) then I'd recommend catching them this Summer.

JP Pitts and Tom Fekete (lead Guitar) were actually good enough to do a short interview with the LMFM crew prior to the gig - so keep an eye on the LMFM Blog for an insight into touring as an American band in Europe (and presumably back to America after the festival season!)