Surfer Blood Is Palm Beach County's Great Indie-Rock Hope

Immediately, the number of song plays on the band's MySpace page went from a hundred a day to a thousand. Its songs were played on BBC 1, and Rolling Stone's December 10 issue gave three-and-a-half stars to the single "Swim (to Reach the End)," a song that marries echoing guitars and vocals, Weezer-style pop, and an anthemic garage sound.

In a symbolic turn, the band soon shared live dates with indie darlings Japan­droids and Art Brut, two acts that have survived similar onslaughts of early hype.

Ian Witlen

Surfer Blood rides a blog wave of success.

Details

Surfer Blood 10 p.m. Friday, December 18. The Vagabond, 30 NE 14th St., Miami. Admission is free before 11 p.m., $5 after. Age 21 and up. 305-379-0508; click here.

Also 8 p.m. Saturday, December 19, with Holiday Shores and Starmaker. Propaganda, 6 S. J St., Lake Worth. Admission costs $5 before 9 p.m., $8 after. Age 21 and up. 561-547-7273; click here.

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More About

• John Paul Pitts
• Thomas Fekete
• Steve Rullman
• Indie Rock and Indie Pop
• Surfing

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Considering there are probably fewer fish in Florida than there are aspiring indie rockers across America, Surfer Blood will hopefully help shine a light on the quality of work coming out of South Florida's burgeoning musical community. When they stop touring at the end of January, the bandmates plan on coming home to work on their next album.

"We have so much material that needs to be shaped, lyrics that need to be tweaked," Pitts says. "But we definitely have a lot of ideas ready to go, and we can't wait to get home and start writing." Until then, he says, there will be a lot of nights spent sleeping in a maroon 2001 Dodge Caravan, crashing on floors, and playing to meager audiences.

"There are still definitely shows where it's miserable," he says. "And there are no guarantees, obviously. But ever since [the New York Times] article, my mom seems to be OK."