Spring Break Special: Nada Surf in Portland

If you’re in Portland for spring break, you might want to be at the Crystal Ballroom on March 26. New York-based Nada Surf will be in Portland touring for their new album Lucky. The tour kicked off Friday, March 14 in Texas and the band will tour the U.S. and Canada before crossing the Atlantic to play in Europe and the UK.

The indie-rock group first made it big 12 years ago when they signed with Elektra. Despite their overnight success, the band’s relationship with the record company was sensitive. “We thought of ourselves as an indie band...we were suspect and it took us a year and a half to realize it,” said drummer Ira Elliot.

Elliot joined the band just before they were signed while guitarist and lead singer Matthew Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca grew up together. “The other two have a crazy long relationship,” said Elliot. “All things considered, we get along like brothers. We drive each other crazy but we’re forgiving. We like making music together. We’ve got chemistry.”

Lucky was released February 5 of this year. It was produced under the Barsuk Records label, the independent record company responsible for Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley and They Might Be Giants. It’s no surprise then that Lucky features guest performers such as Ben Gibbard of Death Cab and Martin Wenk of Calexico.

The band sticks to the “write what you know” mantra. Elliot explained that that is easiest and more meaningful—“We tend to write about personal things,” he said. The song “Ice on the Wing” references Caws’ grandfather’s time as a fighter pilot and ambulance driver in both world wars, as well as his father’s involvement with a religious cult. The song “Here Goes Something” deals with the excitement and trials of parenthood, a subject familiar to Caws, a recent father.

The band also sometimes goes outside personal experience to discuss political concerns of the day. “We’re fairly political,” said Elliot. “Politics and music are hard to combine… ‘The Fox’ was an experiment…the genesis happened two years ago in the midst of the reelection.” The song uses the misapprehensions of a relationship to reflect the lies of the government: “The fox, the fox lied / Eyes under my prize / We’re in a different war / With ourselves and some of you / So many things that don’t hold true.”

Nada Surf’s lyrics are sometimes sappy, often fatalistic and quite characteristic of the love-struck sentiments and angst felt by many in the indie-rock movement. The rhymes aren’t too far-reaching, but the melodies are catchy. They combine syncopated rhythms, dark chords, overlapping melodies and harmonies that create a satisfying listening experience.

The band will be on tour for the next four months. “It’s weird—you don’t look back and you transition into a whole new world,” explained the recently-engaged Elliot. “I’ve been doing it 20 years as a traveling musician...text messaging is a godsend.”

He’s equally thrilled about the technological advances in music sharing. “I think it’s kind of fascinating. I really respect [Radiohead]—only a band of their size could do that,” he said, referring to Radiohead’s online-only release of their latest album In Rainbows last summer. “They’re just pointing the way to the next thing.”

Elliot understands people wanting to get the album for less than store value, if not for free. “I don’t expect people to run out and pay $12.” He knows that people share music through CD ripping and peer-to-peer software such as Limewire. “I really like iTunes, except for their digital rights management. I bought it, it’s fucking mine and I should be able to do what I want with it.”

Elliot also likes the convenience of digital music, even if it doesn’t have as high sound quality as vinyl. “For me it’s like a library,” he said, adding that it’s easier to read track names on a computer than looking at the spines of records and figuring out which album is where.

Elliot’s favorite thing about being in Nada Surf is that it is “not really limited by anything.” “We’ve never put ourselves in a box,” he said. “We’re a ’90s band playing in the post-’90s era. We’ve never really constrained ourselves creatively…the future is open.”

Nada Surf at the Crystal Ballroom on March 26. 8:00 p.m. show.