With a free pre-festival gig happening at Off Broadway tonight, we can officially declare that LouFest has arrived -- school and responsibilities be damned! (Well, for the next few days anyway.)
I for one am locked in and ready to squeeze a little more fun out of the waning Summer season.
Perhaps Surfer Blood lead vocalist/guitarist J.P. Pitts felt the same way a few years back when he dropped out of Florida Atlantic U. to create his own endless summer playing rock music for a living.
"It was the best decision I ever made - I never got comfortable at college," said Pitts, who in 2009 played to 'a few families eating pizza' at Lemmons during the band's first Midwest tour. "I thought my parents were going to kill me though."
As it turns out, the empty Lemmons gig may have been the low ebb in Surfer Blood's career.
The accomplished, hook-filled arrangements on their 2010 debut, Astro Coast, propelled the West Palm Beach band to international prominence with nearly bends-inducing speed.
With Astro Coast, Pitts managed to carve out a unique sound, touching on great guitar-based bands through the decades. The Beach Boys, Pavement and Modest Mouse are a few influences. The harmonies are deep and, like Vampire Weekend, these young guys can play.
"It's been the most exciting year and a half of my life," Pitts said. "We've toured 19 countries on four continents. It's extremely life-affirming. But we're trying to build a career and we know we have a lot more work to do."
Of late, the band recorded a Nirvana song for a Spin Nevermind tribute album (free download here), and will hit the road just a few days from now to tour with the Pixies. In October, they'll release an EP, Tarot Classics, as they continue to work on their sophomore LP which will be released by Warner Bros.
Surfer Blood at LouFest
5 pm Sat., Orange Stage
Click here for our full event listing.
UPDATE: ?uestlove's 6 pm DJ set is a good resolution to a bad situation. I've seen the Hold Steady (now headlining at 8:30) blow away a Lollapalooza crowd and they will rise to this occasion, i can promise you that.
On another note, Cat Power and Das Racist both have NYC shows (Fri. and Sat. respectively) before (presumably) flying to St. Louis for their Sunday LouFest sets. Will they make it here given the looming air travel clusterflonk? Hope so.
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