Surf City
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Surf City

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Alternative Rock

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"Surf City"

Coming on like Mary Chain and Animal Collective fightling over the last beer at David Kilgours flat, Surf City tweek the best bits of every guitar band that changed your life and re-assemble them into slabs of melodic euphoria. Just when I thought know one had any interest in making this kind of music anymore some kids from Mt Roskil come along and make quite a few people breathe a collective sigh of relief. Nice work lads, its better than we dared hope. A classic after only a few listens, may it be huge. DB - Manual Magazine


"Kill Surf City"

I’ve been waiting forever for a band like Surf City. It seems like decades since any New Zealand band has managed to evoke the same felling that The Clean or Straitjacket Fits did. So who are these guys and why have you never heard of them? Like many young bands in the Auckland scene, Surf City have been busy collecting there stripes by playing regular Thursday night shows at Eden’s Bar. “It was a good year for us. We got to do a lot of things that we didn’t expect to do,” enthuses singer / guitarist Davin Stoddard. “Going to Wellington and playing with Die! Die! Die! Was really cool.” The band also recently played a series of dates as part of the famed A Low Hum tour. And the sound? Expect to be reminded of all the things you loved about Flying Nun once upon a time. Mix that with how you feel about Interpol and maybe even Sonic Youth and you have a fair idea. Stoddard is keen to express how much he loves the band, despite being unconvinced of his own lyrical talent. “I think music is a little more important, and that’s what comes first. I don’t know if my lyrics mean anything. I really do wonder what the fuck I’m on about sometimes.” - Pavement


"One to Watch"

“I’m gonna Kill Surf City. I hate honey and she hates me but that's the way it's supposed to be. I'm gonna run, gonna run till I hit the sun. Some evil cunt's gonna get my gun,” proclaims Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain. The song is titled ‘Kill Surf City’ and it’s taken from the album Barbed Wire Kisses. Not only did Auckland band Kill Surf City take their name from this song but the sentiment of the lyrics and sound of the song seem to epitomize the attitude of the band. Young punks with nothing to prove and a fascination with loud guitars.

Rip It Up caught up with Kill Surf City at the Kings Arms over a pint of beer. In perhaps typical style the majority of the interview was based around the groups drinking exploits the previous evening; a vodka fueled escaped resulting in front-man Davin Stoddard sleeping in the Symonds St graveyard. Yay, sweet dreams. The band is made up of the Kennedy brothers Josh and Jamie on guitar and bass, drummer Logan Collins and front-man Davin Stoddard. They formed two years ago after old friends Josh and Davin became reacquainted at a party. During these two years the band has played around Auckland solidly and amassed a healthy following from the local indie scene.

While there are many talented young bands in New Zealand few have quite the same specific taste and vision of Kill Surf City. Sighting The Clean, The Chills, Pavement and The Animal Collective as influences they’ve developed their very own brand of fast guitar pop. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind being called an 80’s Dunedin throw back group but there are striking similarities between Kill Surf City and the early work of Martin Phillipps.

Until recently the guys didn’t even own their own equipment and so recording let alone playing gigs was always difficult. However with the recent acquisition of a manager, new equipment and a flat to record in, the songs they have been working up over the past two years have finally been captured and completed. All the material was recorded with only two mics making the final sound particularly raw. The result is a 6 track EP of catchy guitar pop. Some of it purely instrumental and some accompanied by Stoddard’s sarcastic slacker stories. “Late night drunks, everybody’s been one. LSD, everybody drop some. Hippy kids, never really been one,” he announces on the song The Dickshakers Union. While they’ve done a fine job recording themselves and maintaining an unpretentious lo-fi attitude their live shows fluctuate form raucously fun to fantastically loose. That genuine vulnerability and intensity is what makes them engaging not to mention entertaining.

Once they’ve released the EP in New Zealand the band plans to travel overseas to broaden their horizons. Look out for the release of Kill Surf City’s debut EP very soon.
- Rip It Up Magazine


"Fresh Talent"

How’s this for rock cred? Young Auckland band Surf City got props from Dinosaur Jr. Sort of.
“Lou Barlow stuck his head in and said; “Great Set” J Mascis was kinda staunch as.,” laughs Josh Kennedy as he and fellow guitarist Davin Stoddard recounts memories of their daunting support slot for the legendary Massachusetts noise merchants.
Recommended to the promoter by those in the know, Surf City were certainly an apt support for Dinosaur Jr. By their own description, they play a brand of “nois pop with loud guitars.” Sounds like an oxymoron to be sure, but behold one of their live shows and you’ll agree that its an appropriate description of the sound these guys create. It’s indeed noisy yet simultaneously engaging in a pop sense.
Completed by bass player Jamie Kennedy and drummer Logan Collins, Surf City was formed by long time friends Davin and Josh, who reunited at a party and decided to give the band thing a shot. And although the implication of surf rock that their namesake gives its not entirely inaccurate. I’m sure I picked some surf rock licks in there somewhere.
“We got the name, and then we got into surf music as well,” explains Josh. Currently the band is recording their debut EP. An untitled six or seven song release. Aside from recording, Surf City has joined the privileged ranks of south by south west invitees in 2007. However due to lack of funds the band have had to decline the invitation and instead will focus on playing shows in New Zealand and hopefully abroad.
- NZ Musician


Discography

Surf City EP

Photos

Bio

2007 has been and exciting year for Surf City. The release of their debut EP has seen a host of exciting opportunities arise. The first single 'Records of a Flagpole Skater' has been number one alternative radio in New Zealand for months and even in the commercial charts. The same song has been nominated for rock song of the year at this years New Zealand b-net music awards. Then there were the shows with Battles, Shy Child and the Australian tour in September.

Surf City first came in to existence when bored friends Davin Stoddard and Josh Kennedy met at a party in Mt Roskill, Auckland, New Zealand in 2004. Tired of the heavy avant-garde music that was prolific at the time Stoddard and Kennedy teamed up with Josh’s brother Jamie and Logan Collins to form the band. Originally called The Fibs and then Kill Surf City their fascination with fast guitar pop and the early 80’s sound of Dunedin soon saw them develop their own unique and catchy sound.

Known as Kill Surf City for the last 3 years they recently shortened their name to just Surf City. As the name is a throw back to an old Jesus and Mary Chain B-side a couple of other bands in America and the UK had adopted the same alias. With the likelihood of overseas travel in the future and to avoid subsequent confusion the name was changed.

Following a couple of tours of New Zealand, a support show for Dinosaur Jr, numerous day jobs and several flat evictions Surf City released their debut self titled EP on Arch Hill Recordings in New Zealand on August 6th 2007. The majority of the six song EP was recorded in 2006 in various lounges and bedrooms around Auckland. Some in Eden Terrace and Kingsland and most of the vocals at Davin’s mum’s place. After the mixes were finalised by Murray Fisher, Davin hunted out infamous American artist Steve Keene to produce the EP’s artwork. Keene has created paintings for bands like the Silver Jews and Pavement and was more than happy to design for Surf City. With the direction of ‘chickens, guns and the desert’ Keene has created a perfectly colourful haphazard scene.