Surf Dads’ band origin story has a kinda “absence makes the heart grow fond… Read Full Bio ↴Surf Dads’ band origin story has a kinda “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing going on. Or maybe it’s “absence makes a band get stronger.”

Principles Gage McGuire (guitars, vocals) and Chris Dimas (drums) both have roots in Regina’s music scene dating back to their pre-teen years. They’ve been fans of and guest musicians with Alexisonfire and Billy Talent, respectively, and eventually formed their own hardcore band, Bermuda Love.

Then, after playing together for a couple of years, Dimas moved to Los Angeles to live and study. Was it the end? Durr, obviously not since they’re on the cover of this newspaper.

“We kept in touch and started talking about putting together a more popular project instead of harder stuff,” Dimas recalls. “We made our first EP when I came home for Christmas in 2014. We put it out, and our friends really liked it.”

Dimas returned to L.A. but the two continued to collaborate.

“Gage sent me his vocal, guitar and bass recordings, and I put drums on it and mixed everything on the computer, and we made our second EP,” says Dimas.

As the band’s name implies, Surf Dads was conceived as a surf rock project, an infectious genre Dimas contracted in L.A. But as they’ve continued to record and perform, their sound has continued to evolve — one music journalist recently described it as “Weezer on speed”.