Dani Miller and Adam Laidlaw guide us through every twist and turn of Surfbort’s freaky, furious, fun-loving new album.
Lucky
Adam: ‘Lucky’ was one of the easiest songs that came to us. Dani texted over some lyrics and an a cappella voice memo, and musically, it was about connecting the dots to the words. Sean kept playing disco beats on the riff (which I thought was a joke), but after a while, that groove became my favourite part of the song. It’s hard to not smile and feel happy when we play it. Mainly because I still think he’s fuckin with me.
Dani: ‘Lucky’ is a song I made in my bed really depressed thinking no one liked me but I just had a vision and thought what words do I want to say to get me out of this funk. I sent over, ‘I’m so fucking lucky things just go my way everybody loves me I’ve got all the cake’ because that’s what I wanted to be true and even tho being loved by all and having all the cake isn’t real writing this song helped me blast off into another dimension of being at peace and feeling lucky and healing and I hope the good vibes spread to anyone listening. I wept about ‘God being gay’ bc god should be for anyone to help them get through life there’s no room for homophobia in God’s world : ) And, ‘Your aunt was a metal head back in the day’ is actually about Sean’s Sister. She rules. Anyways, lots of other fun parts, and I hope it’s a healing song for you.
Peaches And Cream
Adam: ‘Peaches And Cream’ was also a very fun and painless tune. There’s a demo that’s probably vanishing in some cloud somewhere that I really like where there’s laughter in the back of every track. Every demo or session we had with the song was a good time. Probably because we later learned that our ideas of peaches and cream are wildly different from one another’s.
Dani: “Hypnotized by the pain love it when you scream my name” “paint the fence, walk the dog” a song about the pleasures and pains of everyday life. Glutinous and selfish and bratty I’m wanting peaches and cream so bad I’m screaming about it but it’s just an ordinary day in Adam’s backyard. Why am I being such a silly brat idk? Also I feel like John Dwyer was on my mind while writing this and I love what Adam and Sean brought melodically. This was one of the first songs done for this record, and it gave me hope and excitement. Also, Adam thought when I wrote peaches and cream I was talking about butts, so I think that’s hilarious and who knows could also be true. John Dwyer and butts.
Hot Dog
Adam: Hot Dog is probably the most philosophical song of the bunch. Dani went deep. What is reality? I didn’t have much involvement with the song outside of a solo and the mix. Producer Trashman presented us this crazy ass song that we all immediately loved. We tried recording the band live over the track, but it wasn’t adding much. While we’re fucking around with drums and guitars, Dani is off with her phone. We threw up a mic, and she’d had it all written and ready. It took us hours trying to record our band and we sounded like ass. Dani lays her performance down in 5 minutes.
Dani: I know this crazy wild guy named the Trashman and him and Chris Mendez wrote this track for fun one day. I heard it and was like yep! Because Adam, Sean and I talked about wanting more dancey tunes, we had no clue this song would find us this way. I originally wrote a girl power anthem and was really serious, and then I was like,’Wait, what makes me feel the most powerful joy and being unserious’, so I just started rapping in my head, and it all just happening in a couple mins. There is no meaning at all except to bring happiness and laughs to your Reality. The weird breakdown in the middle I just wanted to channel Kathleen Hannah energy for a second. I hope ‘HOTDOG’ is a family bbq anthem forever! And the video is insane directed by pooneh Ghana all my best friends are in it !! And my brother X gets a tattoo of a surfbort hotdog at the end, it rules!
Hot Chicks Cold Beer
Adam: Hot Chix Cold Beer. One of my favourite riffs on the album. We have like 20 different structures of that song. There’s a lot to say on the topic. I’m sure it’ll be a staple to our set because whenever we’re sick of it, we’ll dust off an alternate version.
Dani: This song we took on tour with Circle Jerks and Descendants and we had a total blast playing it live. I was really feeling the JFA Circle Jerks vibes, and I wanted to just yell about hot chicks, beer, and big trucks.
MK Ultra
Dani: I watched MK Ultra documentaries and was like. ‘Woah hell no’ and also my mind is blown. Went to Adam’s backyard the next day, and bam, there we go. And the weird scream is because I couldn’t hear the headphones, and my voice broke, and Adam sampled that for the song.
Adam: ‘Mk Ultra’ was written and completed in a day. Sean came by with a voice memo of a drumbeat he made in the practice space. Instead of re-recording it, we put the voice memo in the computer and built on it. Dani came by after all the parts were tracked and pretty much one-take Johnnied it. The voice screech was an accidental bonus. I love that song so much. It’s a collage of noise.
Rebel
Adam: 'Rebel’ was another puzzle. Linda Perry sent Dani a voice memo of her strumming an acoustic and singing a tune she thought could work for us. We threw it through the bort machine and turned it into something that we all had a lot of fun playing.
Dani: Our family for life, Linda Perry sent me a song idea, and it had a first verse and chorus, and the crew and I just ran with it. I love any song Linda touches and we had a blast and made it surfbort songs have so many meanings and I prefer the listener to interpret the meanings for what it means to them but I was definitely thinking this song is for all the rebels out the rebelling against corrupt governments and protecting gay and trans people standing up for family’s and innocent people targeted by ice and also for the 13 year who doesn’t really fit in but can find power in that these were all energies I was thinking as I recorded the song.
FUGOMF
Adam: Dani brought Fugomf to the table fully formed. We played it probably twice before we tracked it live. There’s no clear rhythm to it. Just try to hang on.
Dani: Blast this and scream when you want people to get out of your face muahaha.
USA CHEESE
Adam: USA CHZ was the first in the done pile. Dani started coming by my place often to write. What I’d do is allow myself an hour or so to come up with a demo before she came by. We knocked it out that day, and when the band got their hands on it, it became what it is. Not so fun fact: I’ve had times throughout my life where I’ve been on food stamps. The demo title could have been Government Cheese or American Cheese, but out of laziness, I saved it as USA CHZ. But that’s what it’s always meant to me. Being hard up.
Dani: This song opened the door to making our third record. It was the first single we dropped to kind of be like, Yo we’re back baby!!’ I wrote it just being so frustrated by current affairs people feeling hopeless, and the chorus is a sarcastic play on words that a band such as No Trend would yell in ‘Family Styles’. It’s like, ‘Wow, we’re all doing the thing, but also is this it?’ Nihilism comes quick, corporate piggies ruling the word the worker is sick, family outings, people pleasing. Anyways, hope this makes you feel good and gets u goin. It really helped me when I felt like nothing mattered.
Notorious Brat
Adam: ‘Notorious Brat’ is Sean all day. Sean, Dani and I would fish for songs all the time in my backyard “studio”. Sean picked up the bass, played the opening riff, and Dani stood up, pointed at the bass and yelled, ‘THAT! That’s the music I want to make’. Watching Sean and Dani write together is probably my favorite thing about being in Surfbort. It’s all a joke, but there’s always something sweet and wholesome in there. “Don’t wait till time pass you by” was very funny at the time. We were tired. We never questioned it until after the record was pressed.
Dani: I love writing words. It brings me so much joy. It’s so cathartic. This whole album is just my reaction to Reality, everything I’ve ever known or been told staring straight back at me.
Reality Star
Adam: The music for ‘Reality Star’ was the first demo I had ever showed the group. We tried it once and scrapped it immediately. Didn’t click. We started thinking about album titles a year or so later and naming it Godsmack was a serious option on the table…thanks to Sean. Dani pushed for ‘Reality Star’, and I’m really glad she did. The song hadn’t existed yet. Somehow, that old demo resurfaced, and the song came to be. I probably shouldn’t mention this, but I fucked up big on this one. We were down to the wire, and I couldn’t locate any of our recent sessions of the song. I’m missing vocal tracks, drum tracks, everything. If I could have a do-over, it’d be for this. Whatever tho. We’ll be way more pro by the time our Godsmack record comes out.
Dani: Lyric-wise, I was thinking of all the women baddies like Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton. And really verse one was about Jaynes Mansfield, and verse two was about Kourtney Kardashian, both icons. And then the chorus became a discovery: we are all the reality stars of our own reality, so let’s make it fun, sexy, and cool, and enjoy it while it lasts. Oh, and somehow one of the verses got deleted hahah, but I still love it.
I Need Music
Adam: We got to record this one with Mac Daddy Riff (Raul Cuellar) at the boat. We went in without a song and left with this. That was a blast for me because I’m a total nerd, and seeing Riff operate the studio like a total pro was super inspiring.
Dani: For this song, we went into the studio with Riff Cellular, and he really made it have a fun, good energy. He’s always cheering ya on behind the board! I was really inspired by hardcore for this song. Just wanted a fun big song to party with.
Candy
Adam: Candy was written in an Airbnb in my home state of Michigan. We were out with Descendents and Circle Jerks, and I had packed along a computer for us to record demos on. We pulled it out once. Bee and I sat on the floor riffing, Sean typed in drums, and Dani sang into a knock-off 57. A lot of this record has a demo feel to it. A) We’re not recording professionals. B) I’m super nostalgic. If the session was a good time and has a good memory, document that. Not the 98th guitar take.
Dani: We wrote ‘Candy’ on the Circle Jerks and Descendants tour in Michigan, and we wrote it as a full band at the kitchen table post-show! And Bee, our super-talented live guitar player and bestie, also wrote the song with Adam and Sean. The words I wrote about missing someone, that’s all I will say. Oh, and B52’s ‘Rock Lobster’ is our favourite song. Sean and I both wrote these words together.
Alien
Adam: Alien had some previous lives. Sean and Dani demoed it years ago. The demo is really great too. We recorded it in our first studio session day. I think we recorded the bulk of 8 songs that day. Several didn’t make the cut. In total we probably scrapped 8-10 completed songs. Glad this one survived. I love all of the songs that start with those two.
Dani: I love this song a lot. Sean wrote it. He has an amazing way with words. A super messed-up beautiful poetry to everything he writes. I love it, feeling like an alien in life.
Jessica’s Changed
Adam: 'Jessica’s Changed’ is my personal favourite. I recorded the riff on my phone with a nylon-string guitar with TV sounds in the background. I’d listen to that voice memo every morning on the train. Never in a million years did I think it’d become a Surfbort song. And it almost didn’t. Dani came by one day, and I showed it to her, and she, on the fly, spit out the lyrics and melody perfectly. Our demo wasn’t too well received by the guys, and it was basically tossed on the scrap pile. Dani called out of the blue one day with producer Trashman on the phone asking for the chords. I knew that song was good, and Trashman had some ideas. Talked the rest of the gang into giving it another shot. After all of team Bort was in on it, it became what it is.
Dani: Was such a pleasure making this with Adam and Sean. Adam brought so much to Sean, and I’s Bort World. He really translated our weird brains onto his guitar. I gave these lyrics my all. I wanted to yell the word was mad because every day we all wake up, and it feels like the world gets worse and worse, and yet there is also so much beauty. Also existing at the same time. How do we burn down the evil powers at be without burning down the flowers at the same time? That’s the question. So, anyways, I just let words flow through me, and I loved singing about how I listened to hardcore, soft rock, country, and punk, and being in love with Kurt Cobain’s ghost, which stands for love of nostalgia and holding a love for yourself to get you through hard love moments. People die over broken hearts, and the idea of being in love with the ghost of Kurt Cobain helped me get through to the other side and find my people, so I hope you stay a sexy ass bitch in a world gone mad.
I would love to know your interpretations of the songs, and they mean so much more than all of these ideas as well.
