THE SONG SOMMELIER

Making a welcome return to the top 40 of “my favourite bands right now” is Nada Surf, the band that first hit my favourites list way back in 2005, thanks to a free compilation CD in Mojo magazine and a fantastic bass line. Lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Matthew Caws tells us all about how to last 30 years without ever making a bad record, or a hit record either. A unique route to longevity.

In this day & age of abundance, you can easily forget what’s precious - like your favourite bands. If you are anything like me the question “what’s your favourite band” now has an official top 40. As in I have a rolling 40 favourite bands. Making a welcome return to the top 40 is Nada Surf, the ‘New York’ (now firmly remote) indie band that first hit my favourites list way back in 2005 (when it was a much smaller list I might add). 

I always remember how I discovered a band, in the case of Nada Surf it was on a Mojo or Uncut free “covermount” compilation CD (do they still do those?). The track ‘Do It Again’ from The Weight Is A Gift Album (2005) has one of my all-time favourite basslines. Indeed, in our Art of Longevity chat, Matthew Caws and myself ended-up riffing on a playlist of pop songs in which the first thing you hear is the bass line. If playlists were still a thing, that would be a good one. It was a pleasant digression from the important matter of surviving the music industry. 

Nada Surf is one of those bands that’s easy to forget about when music is so abundant and that would be a big mistake. Stumbling upon a new Nada Surf record every 4-5 years is a highly recommended balm for modern day life. I can’t think of many bands (or in the case of Matthew Caws, songwriters) who provide the soundtrack to fumbling through life in the way we sometimes do, especially if you recognise the traits of attention deficit, as Matthew does - the origin and subject of the band’s superb new song ‘In Front of Me Now’, which I have adopted as a theme tune for the time being. In my head, if you will, this song is a number #1 hit single. 

Over the years, Matthew’s subject matter for Nada Surf’s songs covers life’s day to day tribulations, the mangled thought processes that cycle through our brains and how to see light from the dark patterns that surround us. We are essentially keeping Matthew company as his life has played out. 

“Most of the time a song is just impressionistically how I’m feeling”. 

His favourite song from new album Moon Mirror is the closing track ‘Floater’ and it’s a belter, a Nada Surf classic from a band that are more than capable of classic song collections and great album closers to boot. Hear also ‘Paper Boats’ from 2002’s Let Go album for more evidence. 

Another example is the title track from Moon Mirror, in which Matthew interprets the moon as a “friend to seven billion people on the planet and a way of connecting us all together”. A beautifully simple philosophy that’s hard to argue with and a song that will keep you company just like “the man in moon” himself. 

“I have always enjoyed obsessing on one song. Finding that song is like catching the big fish. A favourite time in life is finding a song that I love and putting it on repeat”. 

In her superb liner notes about Moon Mirror, the poet Maggie Smith mentions how her young son heard lot’s of themes about love in songs and how “It protects you”. I love the idea that you can use music like that - as a sort of talisman - and Nada Surf songs are like the gift that keeps on giving if you look at a song that way. Alas, not a hit single amongst them. That doesn’t mean Nada Surf songs can’t find their people. The band’s top five streamed songs on Spotify are heading comfortably towards 100 million streams between them. 

Of course, one of the band’s early songs, Popular, achieved a gentle cult status as a college radio hit back in the day, and is such a timeless gem (and one of the best dating themed pop songs ever), it deserves to be a TikTok smash. But as Matthew explains, it was never intended to become a popular song. Indeed, more recently, Matthew has banned the notion that during the recording process someone might suggest the idea that a song “sounds like a hit”, the very idea setting expectations that are bound to let somebody down. 

Alas, that does not stop Matthew always seeking to not only to write that one great song but to discover songs he grows to love as a fan and listener. 

“There are some good additions in life, one of those is the escape and the pleasure and the comfort of repetitive pop songs, and the hypnotic effect of chord progressions. There’s a deal you make in pop music where you, as a listener, pretend this is all new. Then a song will try and show you a good time”. 

Nada Surf is one of those bands that made their way through a 30-year career and 10 studio albums without disturbing the charts. Yet the band has never made a bad record and indeed Matthew, modest to a fault, is somewhat coerced into being proud of never making a dud album. 

“It has felt great in terms of longevity for a very long time. Unbelievably when we were making The Proximity Effect (the sophomore album in 1998) most of the bands that we toured with had broken up and we were sticking together. That felt unusual”. 

In terms of discovery, Nada Surf have found themselves featured on various shows over the years, including the massively popular coming of age drama The O.C. I sometimes feel like what this band should have done is soundtrack the entirety of HBO’s allegorical surf  black comedy ‘Joe From Cincinnati’ - though sadly that show never got past one season, so wouldn’t have helped Nada Surf’s longevity, much. 

Whether Moon Mirror will change the trajectory for Nada Surf remains to be seen of course, although it’s unlikely. That’s just the modern music landscape in the streaming era. Perhaps what matters more, is that not only is the new album very much not a dud, but one of the best indie sets you are likely to hear in 2024. And that’s saying something, since guitars and indie bands are back in fashion, albeit the modern kind i.e. a new crop of cult bands. Let’s hope some of this new crop of indie guitar bands can stay the course the way Nada Surf has done. Turns out surfing on nothing can be a lasting pastime. 

Moon Mirror is released September 13 on New West Records. Get it on Bandcamp. 

Cultural references in this episode:

Matthew has recently been listening to the Been Stellar record. He introduces me too to the podcast The Drummer and The Great Mountain, worth a listen if you live with various forms of attention challenges. His favourite Nada Surf cover is the Kate Bush song Love and Anger (and if you listen you’ll hear that cover versions are something of a Nada Surf superpower). We discuss Nick Cave's superb fan correspondence project The Red Hand Files. Finally, if like me you did not discover Maggie Smith’s poem Good Bones when it had a viral moment during Covid 19, then take a moment to read it out loud at some point soon.