Tuesday 3rd of August, 2010
The Manning Bar, Sydney
Florida five-piece Surfer Blood certainly haven’t been wasting any time. They released their first single, ‘Swim’ last year, and their debut album Astro Coast emerged in January. Following favourable reviews by influential Internet tastemakers Pitchfork, the band were promptly booked for tours and festival appearances across the USA, UK, Japan and, of course, Australia.
Surfer Blood brought their surf-pop tunes to the Manning Bar on Tuesday, following a reportedly successful performance at Splendour in the Grass, although one must assign some blame to the festival for the withered turn out. That, and the fact that no fewer than four other Splendour sideshows were taking place in Sydney on that night. Despite the disappointing atmosphere (a smaller venue could have solved the problem), the young band proved they were much more than a flash in the indie/surf/rock pan, playing a tight set of album songs plus one new one they’ve written since being on the road.
They opened with a trio of strong album tracks: ‘Fast Jabroni’, ‘Take it Easy’ and ‘Floating Vibes’ in an attempt to get the crowd going. They’re objective however was not realistically achieved until the second half of the set when they played ‘Swim’ – arguably their best, and certainly their most recognisable tune. The band did not engage in a wealth of stage banter, although the performance was highlighted by lead vocalist John Paul Pitt’s unique, straight-faced dance moves, as well as his insistence that the crowd chant “Ed” in honour of Ed’s birthday. The audience’s moderate enthusiasm matched perfectly Pitt’s dead pan request.
Surfer Blood finished very strongly after rocking out with an effects pedal-heavy ‘Anchorage’ and, post-encore, the aforementioned new track as well as their self-proclaimed “darkest song” (spot on) ‘Slow Jabroni’ – featuring Pitt’s Isaac Brock-esque vocal delivery, before the track’s major key change flowed into a wonderful extended ending.
With such a fantastic debut under their belts it was expected that Surfer Blood’s live show would be at least come close to living up to the hype. Despite the weak crowd, they went above and beyond this mark and were especially impressive considering their youth both in band and real life terms. A return to Australia for the summer festivals is reportedly on the cards – let’s all hope the powers that be can make this happen.
by Jonathan Borger
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