New Times spoke with Rattigan and guitarist Jacob Rubeck just some days after the band’s large announcement: Surf Curse will help Greta Van Fleet for 9 area exhibits in September, together with a cease at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. It’ll be the primary time Surf Curse performs in an area because the band’s inception greater than a decade in the past in Reno, Nevada.
“I really feel like we at all times attempt to carry this insane, manic power, so it will be a giant problem for us to play one thing that large. I believe it will be actually enjoyable. There’s numerous room for good banter,” Rattigan says.
“Yeah, our personalities can be flowing via the stadium — the Little Caesars Arena,” Rubeck jokes.
The final time Surf Curse was in Miami in 2019, the band opened for Beach Fossils at Gramps.
This time round, the band — now with the addition of latest members Noah Kohll and Henry Dillon — is embarking by itself Mostly Florida Tour in May, with two dates at Gramps. After promoting out tickets for the May 12 present, Surf Curse added one other date on May 10, giving South Florida yet another probability to expertise the band’s energetic reside efficiency, which admittedly sounds means higher in a small intimate venue than an enormous area.
While going via the common motions of an keen indie band — play exhibits, get signed to a small label, launch music, and play extra exhibits — Surf Curse’s track “Freaks” unexpectedly blew up on TikTok in the summertime of 2021, 12 years after the track was written.
“When I inform them the identify of the band, individuals go, ‘Isn’t {that a} TikTok factor?'” says Rattagan. “It’s sort of like having a giant hit on the radio.”
For a second, “Freaks” grew to become the band’s model of Radiohead’s “Creep.”
“It’s humorous as a result of, because it blew up, there was a time interval of not feeling just like the track was ours anymore every time we might play the track reside,” Rubeck admits. “We began seeing within the viewers that they had been ready for “Freaks” to come back up. But extra not too long ago, every time we have been taking part in exhibits, and since we got here out with one other document, youngsters are actually stoked to come back to the present, and so they like extra than simply that track.”
The butterfly impact gained “Freaks” tens of millions of streams and landed Surf Curse a document take care of Atlantic Records.
“It’s been attention-grabbing. We’re so used to DIY, and we have been doing the band for ten years, and our label earlier than Atlantic was simply our buddies,” shares Rattigan. “It’s like working within the main leagues, however I nonetheless really feel like we attempt to lean in the direction of a DIY, impartial form of means of doing issues. We’ve discovered lots within the course of.”
Along with the deal got here a stream of alternatives, together with track placements on the radio, bigger excursions, and fancy deluxe vinyl units.
But, sounding like sincere music geeks, they’re most excited concerning the alternative they needed to document their newest album Magic Hour at New York’s legendary Electric Lady Studios, based by Jimi Hendrix in 1970, plus the prospect to brush shoulders with their idols.
“We’re taking part in Kilby Court competition, and Duster and Pavement are taking part in the identical day as us, so we’re very excited to be on the identical competition as these guys,” Rubeck says. “We simply performed in Boise, and we performed after Dinosaur Jr. We acquired to journey in the identical van as J Mascis, so it was sort of loopy.”
Although the band has some new tracks up its sleeves, Rubeck and Rattigan agree {that a} break to relaxation and deal with their solo initiatives — Rattigan releases music beneath the moniker Current Joys and Rubeck beneath Gap Girls — is required as soon as Surf Curce is finished touring this yr.
“We’re nonetheless younger; we will not burn out too quick,” Rubeck provides.
Surf Curse. With Sour Widows. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, and Friday, May 12, at Gramps, 176 NW twenty fourth St., Miami; gramps.com. Tickets price $25 to $30 by way of eventbrite.com.