The Growlers are riding a
wave. That may sound like hyperbole, but we know it’s easy. Their music is of
the beach, though: The Beach Boys, beach babes, surfboards and golden tanned
hands strumming guitars to the nah nahhhh
nah nah nahh nahhhh! The Growlers represent the golden gem that has been a
beach-born mystic money mint for major record labels of the past.
Yet things are changing. Nah nah nah nah nah nahhhh! has now
become a twisted snarl of acid-fueled classicism and punk-torn fury, paddling
right alongside the mutual urban beauty produced by the exponential number of
humans multiplying on every inch of North American coastline.
Does California even exist?
I can’t help but ask. I hope it does, though — just like I hope The Growlers are as legitimate
as their sound. From time spent on the phone with their lead singer Brooks
Nielson, we concluded that they are. The questions that we asked didn’t
redirect or run around — not once were we blocked or slapped with a
“screw you” by the advanced artist who will never be understood. Instead, we
were granted a look into the mind of a group just working to get by.
The
Growlers live like the rest of
us. From their own perspective, they may sound like a drunken version of us,
too. Struggle and strife and chicks on rollerblades — these are things we all
love. Their Dana Point, CA, dignity held high alongside their love of honest
sounds and very few other items made for a hell of an interview. The Growlers are
on the verge of releasing a profound second LP, Hot Tropics, on October 12th. And they’re
bringing their wild salt-stained live show to numerous stops on the East Coast
throughout October. Luckily, we caught up with them just before they set out to blow minds.
ESM: Can
you give us a concise history of Los Growlers?
Brooks Nielson: Well, we’re all from Dana Point, and we sort of knew each other but
didn’t always hang out. But we started getting into the same music around the same
time. Matt Taylor and I started writing songs, and we had a simple idea in mind:
“Let’s move to Long Beach, make music, and try to get away from people. We can
take whoever wants to come with us.” So the four of us took off and started
writing songs.
ESM: What
kind of music were you into at that time?
BN: Mostly
‘70s rock ‘n’ roll and punk, but also Grateful Dead. Matt and Brian Stewart
were into straight edge for a while, and they listened to hardcore music before
that got out of hand.
ESM: How
old were you guys?
BN: We
were like 20 or 21. I wasn’t seriously into music, but I’d listen to it enough
and got into singing. I’d just sit around and get drunk with friends and
freestyle rap. One of the guys who we hung out with started playing guitar and
doing sloppy recordings, and we’d listen to it and thought it was pretty funny.
We figured we could do this, so Matt started playing guitar and I’d sing with
him and we were like, “Shit, let’s start a band.”
ESM: You
have that same “bent sound” aesthetic during live shows as you have on the
album. How did you perfect that?
BN: Just
practicing and playing with each other all the time. I was actually just
talking to Kyle about it the other day — it’s different, because I’m not
playing an instrument, just singing, so there are a couple seconds of focus
here and there. But honestly, I just try not to think about it. Kyle was saying
that he relies solely on muscle memory, and he just learned the songs since he
was the last addition to the band. He also said that if he thinks about it he
doesn’t know what the song is. I guess they play so much that their fingers
just do it, which makes sense. For us, it’s just about playing a lot, and it
seems to work itself out as long as we don’t think too much. None of us have
played music all of our lives, and a lot of bands have. So when we started out we
sucked. We called ourselves The Growlers because we were shitty, and "growler" is
a term for taking a dump. And when we first started playing live we were super
sloppy, so we’d just get wasted to make up for it. But the more we play we
don’t get to do that as much.
ESM: Where
did you get all the analog recording gear?
BN: We
always had old tape recordings, so that’s what kind of sound we wanted to have.
Some friends recorded us at first onto a computer because they went to school
to learn how to do it, and it just wasn’t cool, so we recorded onto tape. But
all the banter over the topic gets annoying sometimes — I don’t really
find a lot of importance in equipment. Since there was a choice, we just
decided to try and record ourselves, buy old tape machines, and do something
cooler than just clicking on ProTools. I really don’t see any debate, though. People
start talking about gear and I just want to bail as soon as I can. But our
bassist Scott Montoya is definitely a mad scientist when it comes to that kind
of shit. When we had the idea to record on our own, he went out and started
buying all the gear and really made it happen.
ESM: Do
you guys make it up to Los Angeles a lot to play?
BN: No,
not that often. Once you’re away from the beach for too long you start to get anxious
and freak out, waking up in cold sweats. There’s a lot of cool stuff up there,
and you have to know what you’re doing. Since we don’t really know what we’re
doing, we’re like tourists.
ESM: You
guys played a show on the sand in Laguna Beach recently. How was that?
BN: It was
a pain in the ass. We had a friend who was supposed to let us use his driveway
to get down there, and he bailed last minute, so we had to bring gear down like
200 stairs and then walk it across a quarter-mile of beach. But we still
had a blast, got drunk, and played on the beach. And the cops didn’t come until
after the fact, so it worked out.
ESM: We’ve
gathered that pretty much everyone in the band surfs. What kind of shapes do
you like to ride?
BN: Everyone
in the band surfs for the most part. Our drummer Brian sometimes says he can’t,
but he’s lying. I surf whatever I have and whatever isn’t broken. I have this
one thick, ugly, weird board that has a fish tail with a big ugly single fin that’s
5’6” and super heavy. I surf it on any wave, when it’s overhead or really
small. That’s pretty much the only board I have that works right now. We have a
big collection of broken boards. I’m actually headed to the beach right now,
and I packed a boogieboard. My roommate made fun of me, but I frickin’ love
boogieboarding.
ESM: Nice.
How did you meet Al Knost, Robbie Kegel, Tyler Warren, and all of those groovy
SoCal guys?
BN: I’ve
known them for a while — when I was young, I was a bodyboarder at Salt
Creek, and I would never go up to Newport. I’d only surf Laguna, Salt Creek, or
Strands. But when we started making music, I met Alex when he was playing with
the Japanese Motors. We played with them and I met their whole surf crew. I
grew up with jocky, “I’ll kick your ass” surfers, and they’re all tweakers and
junkies now so it’s pretty funny. But when I met Al and all those guys I was
like, “Wow, they don’t want to kick my ass. They’re mellow and they’re always
making cool shit, shaping boards, doing artwork.” They’re crazy in a really
creative way, so I was stoked to meet all those guys.
ESM: Rhett
Boyd, who runs Rogue Wave Surf Shop in South Carolina, distributes Robbie’s
boards here on the East Coast and says it’s always really difficult to talk to
him on the phone because he’s so crazy.
BN: Yeah,
with Robbie you’ve got a straight-up orphan story. He’s really creative and
completely out of his mind, but he always gets his shit done. It’s a good
balance — plus, he’s a really good-looking dude, so he’s all over the
place with chicks, traveling, getting his ass kicked all the time. It’s so
funny — he always starts fights when he’s out at a bar or something, but he’s
definitely not the best fighter. And he’s usually drunk, so he just kind of
wiggles and flails his arms about.
ESM: Who
makes all the props and costumes you guys wear during your live show?
BN: I’m a
major hoarder — we live in a warehouse that’s completely full of shit, so
we just grab weird items to take to shows before we leave. There are six of us
living in the warehouse, plus our girlfriends, two cats, a dog, and a turtle. So
it’s like a big arts and crafts thing here all the time.
ESM: Do
you guys record in the warehouse too?
BN: Yeah,
we have all the rooms and beds and kitchen upstairs, and then downstairs we
have a stage area and a bar. So it’s kind of like a music venue, plus a control
room for mixing.
ESM: Tell
us about some of the bands you’re into these days.
BN: Down
the street from us is Levi Prairie; he’s in a really good band called Gantez
Warrior. He’s a super talented young man, a really good surfer, and his older
brother Tanner heads up Tanner Surfboards. He’s making some really awesome
boards right now. There’s a good punk band named Tremors, plus Tomorrow’s
Tulips, which is Al Knost’s second band after Japanese Motors. Then My Pet
Saddle and Audacity are really good — they’re from the Fullerton area.
There’s a bunch of good stuff in the lo-fi punk world right now. But people try
weird shit with country and don’t really pull it off right.
ESM: Do
you guys have day jobs back home, or is music paying the bills?
BN: I
worked a day job for 10 years and got laid off, so I’m currently on
unemployment but also working construction under the table with a neighbor. The
other guys have full-time jobs working at an art gallery — they sit there
all day jerking off and get paid well.
ESM: Awesome.
Alright, we’re going to give you a series of “And go’s,” like James Lipton on Inside The Actor’s Studio.
BN: Cool.
ESM: Beach
babes, and go!
BN: Binoculars…
it’s tough on me staring all day and what not. I feel like an old scab. I
almost have to avoid them. In Newport, I don’t see much of it, but in Laguna
there are babes all over the place with real buff guys who have no hair on
their bodies and like to wrestle and throw footballs.
ESM: Petty
theft, and go!
BN: We’re
making our $15 a day on tour, which doesn’t really cut it, especially when you
spend it all on beer. Sometimes you come back to the van with some goodies. There’s
a lot of bogarting going on, yeah, so someone will snag something one day and the
next they’ll be like, “Hey man, we gotta stop doing that.” Or sometimes we’ll
go into a thrift store and walk out with like 50 pieces of clothing wrapped
around our bodies. You can get a bunch of sweet gear that way.
ESM: Cactus
farming, and go!
BN: [Laughs]
We just tried to pull that off again. We got a San Pedro cactus, cut it up into
ninja stars, blended it, boiled it, strained it, drank it, threw up, and didn’t
get high. Right afterwards, I was like “Dude, my stomach is horrible, pull
over.” We had one batch that we thought was good, but we spilled it in the van.
It was gross.
ESM: Kingpins,
and go!
BN: Brian
Stewart, our drummer. Also, Hot Tropics comes
out in October and we’ll be finishing our next full-length sometime in the
beginning of next year. Check it out. I’m unemployed. Peace.
THE GROWLERS TOUR DATES:
10/1 Starry Nights
Festival………………………………….. Bowling Green, KY
10/2 Rumba Café……………………………………………. Columbus, OH
10/3 Zanzabar………………………………………………… Louisville, KY
10/4 The Bishop………………………………………………. Bloomington, IN
10/5 Empty Bottle…………………………………………….. Chicago, IL
10/6 Bakery Loft………………………………………………. Detroit, MI
10/7 Wrongbar………………………………………………… Toronto, ON
10/8 Bug Jar…………………………………………………… Rochester, NY
10/10 Beachland Ballroom…………………………………….. Cleveland, OH
10/11 Garfield Artworks………………………………………… Pittsburgh, PA
10/12 North Star Bar……………………………………………. Philadelphia, PA
10/13 Knitting Factory…………………………………………… Brooklyn, NY
10/14 Asbury Lanes……………………………………………… Asbury Park, NJ
10/15 The Surf Lodge……………………………………………. Montauk, NY
10/16 Plaza Bowl…………………………………………………. Richmond, VA
10/17 Snug Harbor……………………………………………….. Charlotte, NC
10/19 Caledonia Lounge………………………………………… Athens, GA
10/20 Engine Room……………………………………………… Tallahassee, FL
10/21 Back Booth w/ Xiu Xiu……………………………………. Orlando, FL
10/23 Jack Rabbits………………………………………………. Jacksonville, FL
10/26 The Earl……………………………………………………. Atlanta, GA
10/27 Circle Bar………………………………………………….. New Orleans, LA
10/28 Continental……………………………………………….,,, Houston, TX
10/29 Double Wide……………………………………………….. Dallas, TX
10/30 Mohawk…………………………………………………….. Austin, TX
For all things The Growlers, visit www.losgrowlers.com
