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Wonderland.

The LA indie-rock band are returning with their upcoming fourth album Magic Hour.

The unstoppable Surf Curse are entering a new epoch in their already storied career. Not only have they doubled their personnel, with the addition of guitarist Noah Kholl and bass-player Henry Dillon, they’ve recently infiltrated speakers of TikTok users the world over with viral, platinum hit “Freaks”, and now count over eight million people among their monthly Spotify listeners. With a vast audience now following their every move, plus a label change to Atlantic Records – home to the likes of Lizzo, Ava Max and Ed Sheeran – it’s evident that the pinnacle of their success is still yet to come.

Magic Hour, recorded at renowned New York studio Electric Lady, is “our excitement about rock music and being in a band,” says guitarist, Jacob Rubeck. From plaintive blues rock to ferocious cuts, the record’s already spawned defiant singles like “Lost Honor” and the reflective latest release “Self Portrait”, all of which are set to be showcased on their upcoming headline tour, including a stop at the first LA Primavera Sound, in a matter of days.

We chat to them about everything from dream journaling, why despite their name they aren’t a ‘surf-rock’ band, Magic Hour, and that upcoming tour.

Head below to read our chat and watch the “Self Portrait” video, right now…

Hi Surf Curse! How are you all doing? What was the first thing you did this morning when you woke up?
Nick: I’ve been keeping a dream journal and every morning I wake up I try to write down what I remember from my dreams. Today it wasn’t much. I just wrote down “Scary carnival ride. My dad was there.”
Jacob: I was forced to go on vacation, so I’m literally on a beach in Rhode Island answering these questions.
Noah: Currently I am on tour with my other band, Color Green. I had breakfast with my mother this morning and watched a documentary about orangutans.
Henry: I am…. awake…

First of all, how did you all meet?
Nick: Jacob and I met in middle school. I was intimidated by how cool his MySpace page was because the background was all The Velvet Underground. Noah and I met playing shows together in New York. The first one was a brunch show at Baby’s All Right. It was a pretty bad show, but that’s brunch! And I met Henry when he was working the door at Non Plus Ultra in LA and I was a big fan of his music.
Noah: Henry and I met on Valentine’s Day at a Current Joys show. We celebrate our friendsiversary that day.
Henry: I have known these guys for my entire life.

Let’s also talk your name! What inspired this name? Is there a story behind it?
Nick: We used to be called Buffalo 66 and when we needed to change it, Jacob came up with Surf Curse. Back then we were very into Wavves and all that lo-fi, garage rock. These days it’s very challenging having Surf in the name because most write ups tend to box us in as a “beach lo-fi, surf-rock band” which is not really what we do anymore. And that is the true curse.

You guys are based in LA, what would you say inspires you most about the city?
Nick: Its not a walking city, at all! But I like to go on walks and listen to music. Sometimes it feels like you’re in the apocalypse with the heat and the trash. LA can feel like a paradise but there is darkness that exists just below the surface. Like that scene in Mulholland Drive where that freaky monster pops out from behind the gutter. That’s extremely LA.
Jacob: For me personally, I live in LA but I don’t love it. The city makes me upset in so many ways. I don’t drive so when you’re forced to walk, you’re forced to really experience the trash, the smell, and the reality of the city. It’s good though because it keeps you humble. For me, it’s the people who really bring me to life and inspire me. There’s songs I make just cause I know my friend or bandmate would dig it cause it’s right up their alley.
Noah: The way the sunlight hits my curtains in my room in the morning, and watching the wind blow in palm trees is inspiring, as well as all the beautiful creative people that are around killing it.
Henry: There is a low frequency hum that emanates from downtown Los Angeles at all hours of the day and night. I find this very inspiring.

Congratulations on the release of “Lost Honor”! You guys also wrote the song, talk to us about your writing process!
Jacob: Nick and I did this interview that left a bad taste in my mouth. The feeling really reminded me of this film called The Lost Honor of Katharine Blum. I kept thinking about Nick and the years of us bonding on the road, creating songs, and the hard work we’ve put it in. Nick has such a sweetness, purity, and talent within him that I’m lucky to have experienced. It’s just something that I’m protective over.

And, the single is taken from your new album, Magic Hour! What can we expect from this album? More tracks like “Lost Honor”?
Nick: We call this album our collage of rock and roll, so every song has a different flavour of influences behind it. I’d say it’s full of surprises – twists and turns. Definitely unlike anything we’ve made before. It’s a rock n roll odyssey.
Jacob: A lot of influences from Sonic Youth to The Rolling Stones. It’s an album we hope and feel like will always be a part of peoples lives. Something to return to at whatever age or time.

Do you each have a favourite track from the album?
Nick: I’d have to say probably “Self Portrait” because it’s my favorite to play live or “Fear City” because it’s the craziest song we’ve ever made.
Jacob: Nick wrote this beautiful song “Unwell” that I’m excited for people to hear. It’s so sweet and heavy, a beautiful combination that Nick perfected. It’s just a good spotlight on everyone’s playing. It feels like us all, together.
Noah: I think my favorite track is “No Tomorrows”. I really think it sums up what we can do as a band sonically and I really felt our spirits engraved forever into that one.
Henry: My favorite track is “Cathy”. It’s super fun to play live, and Noah’s guitar solo in the bridge gets me excited.

You recently announced your North American headline tour! Describe to me in a few words how being on stage makes you all feel!
Nick: It’s one of the best feelings in the world. I love our crowds and feel very blessed to play to such enthusiastic fans. Also just love playing music with these guys. Those sound like generic answers but it’s all the truth.
Jacob: There’s a beautiful connection with the people who come to the shows where our energies collide and all of are in it together. It really is a special feeling.

Apart from all of the exciting things covered above, what else are you all looking forward to in the coming year?
Nick: I’m very excited to go to Mexico City and play Corona Capital. I’m aso Excited for 100 Gecs to hopefully release their album.
Jacob: For me, it’s just sharing all these songs we’re so proud of with the rest of the world. Just already seeing people’s reactions at these shows puts us on full bliss mode.
Noah: I’m excited to eat every single sandwhich known to the regions I am in.
Henry: I can’t wait for Christmas!

Surf Curse: Magic Hour, the mental toll of touring, and collective creativity

Earlier this month, Surf Curse – composed of Nick Rattigan (Current Joys), Henry Dillon, Jacob Rubeck (Gap Girls), and Noah Kholl – released their fourth record, Magic Hour. Apathy clashes with joy in Magic Hour, an album that simultaneously serves as a channel for catharsis and a deep look in the mirror. The tracks challenge listeners to look inward, yet rather than picking apart conflicting feelings or becoming numb in pursuit of escapism, encourages them to feel everything all at once. It’s a tender testament to love and the act of loving – the ability to feel joy even through confusion and the desire to run from a feeling’s intensity. A beacon of hope shines through on the tracks, such as on "Lost Honor," where the group sings, "It's a cruel world, world / But I know you believe in me." Their shows – populated by mosh pits and crowd surfers – achieve this feeling of blissful exuberance, an overload of emotions that leaves behind only goodness. Lyrics like “Can you tell? / I'm so unwell / I'm so worried to be myself / In the age of the personal hell / But I know that I'm doing it right / When I'm screaming, I'm gnawing / I'm drifting away and I'm losing my goddamn mind” are paired with explosive drums and guitar, providing “an outlet to scream at people in a healthy way” and “experience that frustration together with other people,” vocalist-drummer Rattigan tells Sounds of Saving.

While their music explores themes of underlying sadness, anxiety, and feeling complicit in your own helplessness, the band is equal parts emotive as they are whimsical. Each of the band members have their own creative projects outside of Surf Curse, yet are bound together by friendship, love, and the ability to create something entirely different from their other work through collaboration.

Ahead of the release of Magic Hour, Sounds of Saving caught up with Surf Curse before their invigorating hometown set at the inaugural Primavera Sound Los Angeles – where we chatted about the mental toll of touring, developing both as creative individuals and collectively as a band, and the cathartic power of performing (with some alliteration mishaps along the way).

SOUNDS OF SAVING (SoS): So on the new album coming out, how long have y'all been working on that?

NICK: We made it all last year in the span of a few months and mixed some of it this year.

HENRY: It's been about a year since we began this journey.

NICK: Yeah, it's been about a year since we began. Yeah, a year.

JACOB: Don't confuse that with eight years. It's just one.

NICK, JACOB, HENRY, and NOAH: A year.

JACOB: One year.

NICK: Yeah, so now it's finally coming out. And yeah, we're very excited about it.

SoS: Is there a song that resonates the most with y'all that you're excited to play live tonight or put out?

NICK: We have a new song we just wrote that I'm really excited to play tonight. It's not even on the record. No one's heard it before.

HENRY: I'm excited to play the song “Unwell.” That's the first time we're playing it live tonight.

NICK: Second time. The first time we played live it didn't go too well.

NOAH: Where was that?

NICK: Hollywood Forever.

NOAH: We played it live that night?

NICK: Yeah.

NOAH: Interesting. Well, I'm excited to play it tonight.

NICK: So you don't even remember.

SoS: Let's hope it goes better then, if it didn't go that well the first time. Do you guys get nervous when you play a new song for the first time that people aren't gonna respond well?

NICK: No, it's the best. It's honestly the best feeling to like, well, it's always a gamble. Because you don't know if the crowd is gonna pop off or not. But when they do, and it's a new song, then you know you got something there.

NICK: Well, it's funny because when we first started playing like, "Disco" or something, I remember we'd put it at the end of every set, and it was before it was even out and people would just go crazy to it. Then we were like, okay, we got something here. So, when people still go off to something that they haven't heard, that's a good sign.

SoS: Yeah, that's very true. The song that you just wrote that you're gonna play tonight, is there a favorite lyric in it that means a lot to y'all?

NICK: We're still writing the lyrics.

SoS: So you're gonna improvise tonight?

NICK: I am. Yeah, it's kind of like "in-prove" until prove. You know?

NICK: Don't confuse that with improv. It's "in-prove."

SoS: What does that mean?

NICK: In-prove until it's proven. You know what I'm saying? Improv until it's proven.

HENRY: "In-prove" is improv by a professional.

NICK: But yeah, excited to play that. Excited to play "Sugar." People go off during that song, it's pretty crazy. It definitely feels like an EDM, like drop song, which is pretty fun.

NICK: (as an aside) Jacob sitting over here like Lou Reed in the corner.

JACOB: I'm excited to play the new song. I think that's gonna be a lot of fun, and all the ones that we haven't been playing. That's exciting to show. "Hour of the Wolf," yeah, that sounds incredible. It's an older one, but we've revamped it a tiny bit, and it's a lot more fun.

SoS: Yeah, cause this is the first time that y'all are putting out [new music] in a few years.

SoS: (To Nick) I'm trying to think, have you put out a new album in the meantime?

NICK: I put out a record last year. But that was done for like four years already, so I didn't even care by the time it came out.

SoS: Oh God.

NICK: Just kidding, I love it.

SoS: Oh my god.

SoS: (To Nick and Jacob) I was at the Gap Girls / Current Joys show, the Valentine's Day one back in 2019 at Market Hotel.

HENRY: (Gesturing towards Noah) That's where we met!

SoS: Oh, no way! That's where you two met or where you all met?

NICK: No, that's where they two met.

SoS: That's crazy. I was at that show. Okay, like, weird side tangent. So I went to [Nick's] Market Hotel show in September, and I was like, I recognize this venue. Like when have I been here before?

NICK: Yeah, the last time.

SoS: And I realized the last time I was there, I was with who I was dating at the time on Valentine's Day. So it hit me at that show that the last time was on Valentine’s Day with my ex.

NICK: A lot has changed.

SoS: Yeah, I posted a thing with like, "I'm no longer a kid and everything has changed." I just put the lyrics in there.

“You can sort of channel anxiety or depression or complicated human emotions and you can experience that frustration together with other people. And then you feel a little less alone. Or you can like, move some of that inside of you. Because it is unexplainable and frustrating.”

SoS: But for the two of y'all, you have kind of diverged, like you've had your solo projects throughout time. Do you feel like being able to break off and make your own music, and then be able to come back together . and even, like, you're still kind of creating together because you've been doing shows together … Do you feel like that helps make you stronger as a band?

NICK: Yeah, I think it just makes this project all the more unique. You know, because it's a place where we can come with alternative ideas to our own projects. Also with Henry and Noah in the band, it definitely feels like a different beast, if you will. We have a lot more range to make different sounding things, you know, which is why I feel like the new record sounds a lot different. Especially moving forward, I think I'm just really excited to keep making music with these people and explore what that could look like. But yeah, having different projects, it's just fun to be collaborative. This is the most collaborative thing, I think, that I do.

JACOB: Yeah, the thing that's nice is that all four of us, too, we all have our own projects. We all have these, you know, creative outlets. With this project, specifically, there is intention and ideas. And sometimes, for me at least, I create rules for myself for this band as to what I want to accomplish with this. But there's also the different ventures that all of us creatively want to explore ourselves. So, it's great, because we all can listen to each other and be together on this, but all three of these people are very creative and unique people who make incredible music on their own and it's all different from what Surf Curse is. It's nice to see the different outlets that everyone explores in this project and other projects.

SoS: For all of y'all, when you have a creative idea of something that you want to write or make, how do you decide when it's gonna go towards a solo project or when it feels right for Surf Curse?

NICK: I think it decides itself, the song decides itself.

NOAH: I think there's just a particular element and an intention of writing and when you're writing something, you kind of figure out what umbrella it falls under. You know, it's like magic.

HENRY: Totally.

SoS: In the new single, "Self Portrait," there's a line that goes, "My brain is automatic, it always shifts with no break." How does writing and creating music help calm the noise in your brain and make sense of your emotions when you're overthinking?

NICK: I mean, it just gives an outlet to scream at people in a healthy way. Or, you know, you can sort of channel anxiety or depression or complicated human emotions and you can experience that frustration together with other people. And then you feel a little less alone. Or you can like, move some of that inside of you. Because it is unexplainable and frustrating.

SoS: When you're on tour, what do you guys do to stay grounded as you're on the go?

NOAH: I don't think I've figured it out.

NICK: No one has figured it out yet.

NOAH: (In the background) Dissociate.

NICK: Touring is very horrible on the body and the brain. So, just try to keep as healthy as possible. I started meditating twice a day. Once you start drinking on tour one night, you're gonna drink the rest of the tour. So, be careful.

NOAH: Two beers, two beers a day.

NICK: Or none.

NICK: Oh, and also, make sure to be communicative with your feelings and your emotions. No passive aggressiveness on tour. That is the monster that will destroy you.

NOAH: I think clarity is key. Being clear is key, especially with people that you have a working and loving friendship with as well.

HENRY: Also, make sure to take time for yourself. You know, there's this pressure to always be on and always be socializing. But it's important to just get away for a minute. Even if it's a five minute walk around the block, it helps to clear the head a lot.

NICK: Also maybe talking to your therapist if you have that. Drinking a lot of water. Water is so important.

NICK: Bring a freakin book dude. Bring a book on tour. Get lost in that, it's a good escape. And it's a healthy escape. Don't be on your phone all the time. That's bad.

NOAH: Yeah, Nick read all of Dune.

NICK: Yeah, my books I bring on tour fucked up super hard.

SoS: Isn't Dune a long book?

NICK: Yeah, I remember that, that was a few years ago. There was the Dune book. That was infamous.

NOAH: You were in it.

NICK: I was pretty in it, yeah. I get really sucked into books on tour.

SoS: Do you have a book picked for the next tour?

NICK: I have a couple that I was gonna bring. I have this Altman book where he's like, interviewing himself or like, it's a bunch of interviews he did on his films. And then I bought that new book Bones and All, which is the new T. Chal (Timothée Chalamet) movie that's coming out and I wanted to read it before it came out.

“You know, there's this pressure to always be on and always be socializing. But it's important to just get away for a minute. Even if it's a five minute walk around the block, it helps to clear the head a lot.”

SoS: I'm sure you guys probably talk about this quite a bit, with your music blowing up online. But I know "Freaks" obviously had a resurgence on TikTok. As a band, you guys have been around for a really long time, but now you've hit this younger audience. Do you feel like your music has developed with your audience? Or do you feel like it's cool that it keeps resonating with other crowds as y'all stay kind of the same?

NICK: I think our music has changed in comparison to our audience. I don't know how our audience is going to accept the new tunes, we'll see. But yeah, I think our music has transcended any sort of, like, marketing. It's sort of just become a monster of its own success. You know what I mean? Like, we didn't try anything with "Freaks," it's just a song we wrote 10 years ago. So anything that really happened is out of our control and kind of out of our sphere of influence. Like, we don't even know what's going on, really. It's its own thing. So, you know, we wrote the song 10 years ago, and I feel like we've had a lot of changes in ourselves and as a band and musically, so it'll be interesting to see how people react to the new songs. We've also put out multiple albums in between them that are pretty different from that. So, let's hope you like it. Or not. We're happy. The new song we're gonna play tonight's pretty sick.

SoS: When y'all play your older songs, have the meanings changed?

SoS: (To Noah and Henry) And I know you guys joined the band later on, so I'm curious if you resonate with the older songs from before you were part of the band?

NICK: I've had this really interesting thing lately while performing, that I'm actually able to tap into that memory of writing the song. And like the feeling that it gave me then. Cause I used to just play the songs and just like, be in the moment, but I've actually been like, transporting myself back to the feeling I had when I wrote like, "Heathers" or something. I'm like, 'Oh, I can remember what this song felt like 10 years ago,' and then I try to tap into that. And it's actually a lot better of an experience than trying to recreate the meaning of the song. It's nice to just like, have a memory of it, you know, because that's how people are enjoying it, too, is through their own memories.

SoS: Yeah, wow. I love that.

HENRY: Maybe for Noah and I, the first tours we did, we played the older songs. It was before we had written any of the new material. So, my context for the older material is those tours that we went on and just the amazing times that we had.

NOAH: Yeah, and that time is when we all fell in love with each other. So there is this kind of –

NICK: Beauty.

NOAH: A renewing of vowels.

NOAH: (Louder than before) Vowels.

NOAH: Not to be confused –

NICK: Not to be confused with vows. He said vowels and that's going on print.

Listen to Magic Hour:

Alyssa Goldberg is a writer and photographer living in New York. Read more of her work at alyssaegoldberg.com and find her on Twitter @alyssaegoldberg.

Video: Surf Curse, ‘Sugar’

Surf Curse (sort of) made their late night debut this week with their video for “Sugar,” which finds the indie-rock quartet performing a new banger on the set of “The Knight Show,” a fictitious program hosted by Max Knight.

Currently based in L.A., the band came “all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada, except the guitarist who’s from Nebraska and the bassist who’s from Oklahoma — an important distinction,” says Knight as he introduces the group. Led by drummer-vocalist Nick Rattigan and guitarist-vocalist Jacob Rubeck, Surf Curse is rounded out by bassist Henry Dillon and guitarist Noah Kohll.

Rattigan and Rubeck have both kept busy with other projects (namely Current Joys and Gap Girls), but “Sugar” proves that they continue to save their most combustible material for Surf Curse, the band that’s earned them an ever-growing cult following. Produced and mixed by Chris Coady and recorded between New York and L.A., “Sugar” moves from heart-on-my-sleeves verses to cathartic, hook-driven choruses, then snaps into a very-Surf Curse emotional outburst-as-crescendo. Lyrically, it’s a track about yearning for affection: “My god you are such a looker / Tell me you love and give me some sugar,” Rattigan cries.

“Sugar” is Surf Curse’s first new single since their 2019 album “Heaven Surrounds You,” which followed 2017’s “Nothing Yet” and 2013’s “Buds,” both of which were recorded at the Smell. Last year the local lo-fi favorites blew up on TikTok and re-released “Freaks,” which originally appeared on “Buds.” Now they’re prepping their fourth album, which will arrive as their major label debut for Atlantic Records.

||| Watch: The video for “Sugar”

||| Also: Check out the 2021 video for their 2013 song “Freaks”

||| Live: Surf Curse will perform Sundays (April 17 and 24) at Coachella.

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