Five Minutes with SURGE
Surge graced the Black Heart in Camden with their British spin on surf rock. Instead of basking it on the beaches of Miami, unfortunately we're in a dark room in London, where the closest shore is probably the Thames. But with these boys it's no struggle to ride out the wave. I caught up with them in their famous black van before the gig, after firstly being introduced to their mascot, Ainsley Harriott, of course...
Everyone, introduce themselves!
Hi, I'm George, I'm the frontman of Surge.
Hi, I'm Billy, I play the drums in Surge.
Hi, I'm Will, I play the bass, synth and sing (a bit) in Surge.
George: Alright mate!
Alan (guitar): I'm just an all round nice guy!
So, how did the Tour de Surge go?
George: The Tour de Surge - this is where I go on a rant again, but I'm not going to!
I want some ranting, go on!
George: Birmingham... Well, the first gig in Sheffield was a really good gig. But they mugged us off because they said they'd give us free drinks but they didn't fucking give it to us! LIARS! Second gig in Manchester was actually the best one.
Will: Even though we were playing with metal bands!
Alan: I ended up in a nightclub.
George: Yeah! So basically we drove through the Peak District, and got to Manchester. We were a bit skeptical about the venue, because it looked like it only ever put on heavy metal bands, and some of the bands who were playing looked pretty heavy as well. So we didn't know if we were going to fit in! But it was actually really good!
Will: The bands were playing like Bullet For My Valentine covers, and stuff like that...
[Laughter]
Jesus, how did you do it then?!
Surge: We just did it!
George: We're that good that we can convert metal fans! That was good actually, it was probably the busiest one we did, I think. Manchester was good, we didn't really go out after Sheffield, because we wanted to be fresh.
Billy: We went to Club 42 in Manchester, didn't we?
George: Yeah! Alan got his top off in the middle of the crowd! I have a video of that but he won't let me post it anywhere! And then the next day we did Birmingham which was pretty fucking awful. We were a bit delirious because we'd never done three gigs in a row: we were a bit tired and a bit hanging.
Billy: We were feeling lethargic!
George: Yeah! Basically, we turned up and there was no organisation.
Will: No one knew what was going on.
George: No one had a clue what the fuck was happening - and that's no exaggeration - but we'll leave it at that.
Will: And then we did This Feeling, which was really really good!
George: Ah yeah! That was the best gig we've ever done.
Loved that gig! We'll come onto that later though!
[Laughter] Surge: AHHHH, later?
So, tonight you're playing with (I can't even say this properly) Deux Furieuses and Sisteray.
Billy: Deux Furieuses means 'too angry' in French.
George: I thought they were French, you know.
What are some of the best bands you've had the chance to play with?
Will: Best band is probably when we supported Space last night!
What? You played with Space? Oh my god, that's mad!
Alan: We just got fucking hammered in the room afterwards with them.
George: We'll tell you the weirdest band! It was this Birmingham band, I can't remember their name!
Billy: They brand themselves as the 'shittest band in England'.
Alan: And if you clap them they're like, "fuck off, don't clap us!"
Will: They're like, "you cunts!" at the audience!
Billy: Something like Shaun Gambowl Walsh & The Plagiarists.
Alan: Yeah, that's the one!
George: They call themselves 'the most hated band in England', they call the audience cunts, but I like them! I LIKE YOU!
Will: But like people were honestly scared. People in the crowd were like, "fuck off!" and stuff like that. I thought a fight was going to break out!
George: I liked it. But if I say that and they read it they'll probably be like, "no, don't fucking like us you cunt"! But, the second best band is probably The Extons, we played with them in Norwich, but the actual gig was a bit crap, but they were really good.
Billy: What about The Cribs?
You played with The Cribs, too?
George: No, not really! We played Camden Rocks last year and they were on the bill too.
That still counts!
Surge: It was a festival, we'll take it!
So, you already know that I was at your This Feeling gig at Nambucca a few weeks ago. I saw a lot of your fans sporting a football T-Shirt with 'SURGE' on the back! I loved that! Who thought of it, and where can your other fans get their hands on one?
Alan: Billy designed it! He's the graphic designer.
Will: We got them printed at our uni.
Alan: They're limited edition ones!
George: I've had people asking me for one too! We're going to get them printed again.
Will: The logo was on the wrong side anyway, so we need to do some more.
George: They're a bit makeshift.
Alan: When you put them in the wash they get fucked.
[Laughter] Do you guys follow the football then?
Surge: Yeah. Hahaha, the ball of foot! The soccer!
So, on the topic of This Feeling: you were featured on their 'Sound of Youth' Spotify playlist. Were you all pretty chuffed with that one?
Surge: Yeah, it was wicked.
George: We got an email, from Mr Mikey Johns himself. We weren't really expecting to be put on it. We're always quite happy with anything!
Will: Yep!
[Laughter]
George: We wear our hearts on our sleeve, so to speak - we have to try hard to impress Mike. You know what I mean? We've done two London gigs and on each occasion we've pushed it as much as possible, as you saw the other night at Nambucca, when we took fuck loads of people. That makes you look good. I think we've achieved that, and impressed him (hopefully!) And obviously we got some Radio X play from him - that was the bigger thing! But the playlist thing was really good because to be considered as the first fifty of the hundreds of bands that he's put on, that was really cool.
Great! They have got some tunes on there as well.
Surge: Yes! They've got some BANGERS!
George: Yeah, I think he said something like it was going to be on an Oasis blog or website, which has like two million followers or something as well.
Alan: There's a lot of people on there who are cooler than us as well!
[Laughter]
I watched the Surge documentary, and George, you said that a Surge gig is like "thirty minutes of endearing-ness". What do you think makes an ideal gig?
Billy: It's good sound!
Alan: I actually don't worry about playing or anything like that, I just worry about things fucking up, or the sound being shit.
Will: Not being able to hear yourself is just a disaster as well.
That's not your fault though! What about audience-wise?
Alan: I don't think we really care!
Billy: The This Feeling audience was good.
George: The only thing that pisses me off is if you do a song and no one fucking claps. It's like come on.
Will: Last night was good because there was a group of like -
George: Youths!
Will: Yeah, eighteen or nineteen year olds.
George: If the sound is bad, then the gig can start off shit straight away. Like if you do a song and the sound's crap, sometimes I like go in on myself. At Nambucca, I was really confident because it was great, but then you do another gig and the response might be a bit lukewarm and the sound's shit and you think, 'oh this is shit' and I start to get embarrassed, even though there's nothing to be embarrassed about because I know we sound alright, but you just get hypercritical.
Alan: Yeah, we always perform well.
George: No matter where we are we always try and give it 100%.
Alan: 110%!
Billy: 121!
What is the biggest motivator for all of you?
Alan: Getting on the beers.
[Laughter]
Will: Just that feeling that you get when you've played a sick gig, really.
Billy: Yeah, I guess it's because you want to be in a band and not have another job.
George: Yeah, we strive towards making this a full-time thing.
Billy: So that we don't have to have a normal job.
Why did you start playing music in the first place?
Will: Blow jobs. For everyone, isn't it?!
[Laughter]
Will: I was watching Glastonbury when I was like twelve, and I saw Kaiser Chiefs playing, and I was like, 'I wanna do that!'
Billy: I got to Year 8, and there was the last drum space for lessons, and for some reason I just started playing. One morning, I walked in and I said "I'm starting drum lessons today!"
Alan: Born with it in your blood!
George: I was the same, I just thought it would be cool to play guitar, and the first band I fell in love with was Arctic Monkeys! Before that I just used to listen to fucking Leona Lewis! And that's not even a joke! I had a Samsung D100 and I'd be on my way to school listening to 'Bleeding Love' by Leona Lewis, and then I went onto Scouting For Girls which is a little bit better...
I'd argue that one.
Will: When you were younger everyone listened to them!
George: I'll be honest, I saw them at V Festival and they were pretty good! But yeah, I just think there's no real reason. My Grandad played it, maybe that was the reason! I'll say that!
Alan: I just like the attention.
[Laughter]
What are the next big plans for the band? Any new tunes, or any festival dates?
Billy: We wrote a banger! That's it, we're not saying anymore...
Alan: We've got a few things in the woodwork.
'Lemonade' has to be my favourite Surge tune. I heard it for the first time live and by the end of it I was already singing along. What was the inspiration behind it?
George: That's why I love it, because by the end of it everyone's singing along.
Will: And the drop, and then you just see everyone singing along.
George: I just wrote that in the bedroom, and I was playing it for hours to the point where I was almost sick of it. Then I went downstairs and my Mum said, "what's that song?", and I told her it was a new one, and she looked at me and she was like "I don't think it's that good, it's a little bit annoying"! I was, "no! It's gonna be fucking good!" And now she can see it for what it is with the whole band - an absolute banger!
Alan: I like 'Shame'.
Billy: I like 'Lemonade', it's my favourite. I get drum solos and shit!
Will: I like 'Tears of Joy'. And I like the new one.
George: I think 'Shame' as well because it's the first song and it's good, I think.
Who are your biggest influences? Think about this carefully!
Alan: Alright... Who do I try and be like on-stage?
George (in a Manc accent): Noel Gallagher mate!
Alan: I like The Vaccines, big fan of them!
George: I like The Vaccines!
Billy: Their first album is amazing.
Alan: The Wombats!
Surge: Catfish and the Bottlemen!
Okay, pick a band each and we're gonna play a game!
Alan: I'll go Catfish.
Will: Paramore.
Billy: I'm going with Kasabian.
George: Arctic Monkeys, I have to say! I'm sorry!
Cool. Alright then - fuck, marry, kill. Pick! The rest of the band members can just be your mates.
Will: Marry Hayley Williams.
George: I'll have sex with Alex - no! Actually, yeah. This is such a cliche, I'd marry Jamie Cook because Cookie - my best mate Cookie! [Laughter] He has actually got a wife I think.
Alan: That ain't the game! We don't want a biography mate!
George: What's the other one, kill someone? Ah, I can't kill Nick. I've got to, sorry, I'll kill Nick. I'm really sorry Nick, but you're the bass player!
Surge: OHHHH!!!!
George [points at Billy]: Right, Kasabian - there's only two members isn't there?
[Laughter]
Billy: I'm not sure...
Will: I know mine! I'd marry Hayley Williams, fuck Taylor York and kill Zac Farro. There's only three members of Paramore!
Alan: I only know Vann McCann! [Laughter] I'll just marry Vann, I'll fuck the guy with the curly hair because it would be jokes to hold onto! And I'll kill the guitarist because he wears a silly hat!
Billy: I'd marry Ian Matthews because he'd keep you warm. I'd probably fuck Serge.
Will: He'd be a freak in the sheets!
Billy: I'll kill Chris Edwards.
Last one: what's the best thing about being in Surge?
Will: Hanging out with your mates.
Alan: The fuckin' banta!
George: Hanging out with Ben, our driver!
Alan: He's the tall, dark, mysterious one.
George: He's the one who keeps it together!
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Interview by Alicia Carpenter
Photo Credit: Francesca Blakeburn