Founding members John Paul Pitts and Tyler Schwarz started playing music together in Orlando, Florida. They met Thomas Fekete at an Ultra Music Festival after party in Miami and the group was formed with the immediate goal of releasing a record and touring nonstop.
The band was originally called Jabroni Sandwich. Schwarz randomly came up with the name Surfer Blood during a conversation with Pitts about his surfer backpack from high school.
The band's 2009 debut single "Swim" gained much critical acclaim and was named as the 37th best track on Pitchfork's 100 Best Songs of 2009. They released their debut album Astro Coast in January 2010.
The band were widely considered to be the breakout band of 2009's CMJ Music Marathon. In March 2010, playing songs from their debut album Astro Coast, Surfer Blood made quite a splash at the SXSW NPR music party (and returned to SXSW in 2011). In May 2010, the band played at the ATP music festival curated by Pavement along with other groups such as Broken Social Scene, The Walkmen, and Atlas Sound. Later that month, Surfer Blood headed over to Spain to join the lineup at the San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival. In August of that year, Surfer Blood finished out the summer playing two more festivals; Splendour in the Grass in Australia and Summer Sonic in Tokyo.
The band was chosen by Les Savy Fav to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England.
On October 25, 2011, Surfer Blood released the Tarot Classics EP on Kanine Records. The EP's first single "Miranda" debuted on Pitchfork on August 30, 2011 and "I'm Not Ready" was named NPR's Song of the Day on December 8, 2011. Artists that contributed remixes to the EP include Totally Sincere (Connor Hanwick of the Drums and Peggy Wang of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), Speculator, School of Seven Bells and Allen Blickle.
The band opened for the Pixies during their Doolittle Lost Cities Tour in 2011. The tour came about after Pitts met the Pixies in an airport in New Zealand and they said they were already familiar with Surfer Blood's music. Surfer Blood performed a cover of their song "Gigantic" for the AV Club's music-video series "AV Undercover" which Pitts says he'd like to think that was "the needle that broke the camel's back when it came to the decision" to tour with them.
On January 9, 2012, they appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where they performed the single "Miranda" off of Tarot Classics. The next day, news spread that the band would be entering the studio in February 2012 with producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Built to Spill) to record their highly anticipated second album which was released on Warner Bros. Records.
In May 2012, the band confirmed via their Twitter account that they were moving to California on May 12, 2012 to record their second album with legendary producer Gil Norton.
On January 21, 2013, they uploaded a new song off their next album, Pythons, called "Weird Shapes".
In February 2014, the band announced that work on their third record had begun.
On May 20, 2014, the band debuted a video of them playing a new song titled "Island". The song has been played before back in 2011, during various radio sessions.
On September 16, 2014, a new song titled "NW Passage" was debuted on Soundcloud, as part of their split single with We Are Scientists.
On February 17, 2015, the band announced their third album "1000 Palms" and that it would be released on Fierce Panda / Joyful Noise Recordings on May 12. The lead single, "Dorian", was premiered on BBC Radio 1 at midnight.
Original guitarist Thomas Fekete left the band in 2015 shortly after the announcement of their third album, "1000 Palms," due to a medical diagnosis for a rare form of cancer (Sarcoma) that had spread to his lungs and spine. The band announced a fundraising effort to help alleviate Thomas' medical bills through the site GoFundMe on April 20, 2015. On May 31, 2016, Fekete's wife Jessica announced that he had passed away.
In April 2015, the song "Swim" was featured in an episode of the Netflix series "Daredevil."
Surfer Blood shared the video for album track "Island" in June 2015, in support of "1000 Palms".
In October 2015, the band announced that their longtime bassist, Kevin Williams, was leaving the band to pursue a new job in Austin, TX. The band later announced that their long time friend from high school, Lindsey Mills, would be replacing Kevin on bass.
Discography
Albums
Astro Coast (2010) #124 U.S.
Pythons (2013) #127 U.S.
1000 Palms (2015) #160 U.S.
Snowdonia (2017)
EPs
Tarot Classics (October 25, 2011)
Singles
"Swim" (2009)
"Slow Jabroni" (2009)
"Take It Easy" (17-04-2010, Kanine Records)
"Swim" (01-05-2010, re-release on Rough Trade)
"Floating Vibes" (28-09-2010, Kanine Records)
"Miranda" (2011, Kanine Records)
"Demon Dance" (2013, Warner Bros. Records)
"Spanish Bombs" (2013, Warner Bros. Records)
"I Can't Explain" (2015, Joyful Noise Recordings)
Appearances in media
The band's song "Swim" is playable in the video game Power Gig: Rise of the SixString. "Swim" and "Floating Vibes" have also been released as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series through its Rock Band Network service. "Floating Vibes" also appears in video game "Test Drive Unlimited 2". The band's song and music video for "Demon Dance" appears in the video game "Guitar Hero Live".
Dorian
Surfer Blood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From the cliffs of Oahu, a hymn for a holy fool
From a peeling mountain in our final days
Said Im sorry but I can't stay, I'm tangled up in power lines
There's no glory and there's no blaze
Do you still have some part to play?
Do you have anything to say before you take this leap of faith?
From a great volcano in a final blaze
But we weren't better off in paradise
All we ever got were parasites
We weren't better off in paradise
All we ever got were parasites
Say to me we're going home
Say aloha, we're on our own from now on
In a breath he vanished
He just flew away
Now he's tangled up in power lines at the margins of the Earth
The lyrics of Surfer Blood's song "Dorian" evoke emotions of sorrowful contemplation, confusion and loss. The first line "What fire possess you to live the way you do?" implies a sense of bewilderment towards someone's life choices. The reference to "cliffs of Oahu" in the following line, however, imbues a sense of spirituality and rebirth into the song's theme. The line "From a peeling mountain in our final days" portrays a sense of foreboding and impending doom, and the subsequent "I'm tangled up in power lines" conveys a sense of entrapment and surrender to external forces.
The second verse of the song depicts a scene of disillusionment and disdain towards what is considered idealistic ("we weren't better off in paradise, all we ever got were parasites"). The chorus shifts back to a more spiritual feel, with the singer urging for a sense of belonging and closure ("Say to me we're going home/ Say aloha, we're on our own from now on"). The last line, "Now he's tangled up in power lines at the margins of the Earth", brings the song back to its initial theme of helplessness and surrender.
Line by Line Meaning
What fire possess you to live the way you do?
What motivates you to live your life as you do?
From the cliffs of Oahu, a hymn for a holy fool
The song is about a foolish person living near the cliffs of Oahu
From a peeling mountain in our final days
In the end of our lives, we will come from a decaying mountain
Said Im sorry but I can't stay, I'm tangled up in power lines
The person is apologizing for leaving, but they have become stuck in power lines
There's no glory and there's no blaze
There is no honor or fame to be gained in this situation
Do you still have some part to play?
Do you have a role or function to fulfill?
Do you have anything to say before you take this leap of faith?
Do you have any final words before making a risky decision?
From a great volcano in a final blaze
We will come from a large volcanic eruption, as our lives come to an end
Now we're strangers in a strange place at the margins of the Earth
We are now unknown people in a foreign place, at the edges of the Earth
But we weren't better off in paradise
Our lives were not better when we were in paradise
All we ever got were parasites
All we ever received were unwelcome guests and leeches
Say to me we're going home
Tell me that we are returning to our original place
Say aloha, we're on our own from now on
Say goodbye, as we are now independent and alone
In a breath he vanished
He disappeared in the blink of an eye
He just flew away
He departed quickly, like he was flying
Now he's tangled up in power lines at the margins of the Earth
He is now caught in power lines at the fringes of the planet
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
moderndrunkard
Great sound, brings me back to listening to my parents old records... In a great way.
Elizabeth Cabrera
RIP Thomas, Amazing album, beautiful instrumentals, so excited for their new one this year, oh and JP youaresohot
明日のジョー
first
Stose
who cares