Interview: The Growlers

DotheBay recently got in touch with lead singer and frontman of The Growlers, Brooks Nielsen ahead of their stop in Oakland on Saturday, June 11th. Hailing from Costa Mesa, California, the band has produced a staggering total of five albums and one EP since just 2009. Coining their own musical genre and home-based festival of the same name, Beach Goth, their unique sound encompasses elements of lingering psychedelia, hints of punk, sways of surf rock, reggae and pop, along with enchanting lyrics and Nielsen's rasp-infused vocals.

Brooks Nielsen (vocals), Matt Taylor (lead guitar), Scott Montoya (drums), Anthony Braun Perry (bass), and Kyle Straka (keyboards, guitar) have taken over the rock scene capturing fans of all ages and building a rabid and devoted following. These Orange Country troublemakers have been known to cause debauchery left and right—let’s just say they really know how to party. 

Nielsen gave us some insight into the band's past experiences, future material, and their upcoming 5th installment of their annual Beach Goth Festival.

What's the story about your friendship with Jonathan Richman?

I mean we just love him. It was really hard to get him for awhile, Jonathan does things the way he does it. It took a long time for us to finally get a show and it’s truly a respect thing, you know? He was very warm and sweet and gave us a lot of everything-- given us a lot of friendship and criticism that we are very grateful to have. I mean, he’s a great character.

We heard you're in the process of creating a new album. What can you tell us about it?

Not a whole lot right now. The producer on the record is the owner of the record label we just signed to, and I guess there’s no reason I can’t tell anyone, but I just want to wait. I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a golden moment to say it, but at least I want to have it finished... I want to have it in my hands before I start talking about it. I don’t want to jinx it. But it’s going to be a heavy sounding Growlers. We didn’t get too far off from the old Growler-style but it sounds like a bigger, badder Growlers.

So, your annual Beach Goth party has become a huge success for you guys. Where do you see it going in the future?

Turning into a monster that I can’t control and me getting kicked off of the partnership. I don’t know, I’ve already become much more in love with the idea which is a big step considering I’ve always hated festivals and I’ve never felt good at them. It’s a fun art piece for us. But you know, it’s actually no fun for me right now because it’s just too much work, but when it’s all over and done with and I see what impact it made, that makes me happy.

Any new bands you'd like to recommend to us?

Oh, well I haven’t really been listening to anything but Growlers a bunch because I’m fuckin' crazy. We’re still working on this record. But I went and watched Broncho play the other night, they were amazing.

The band makes a very brief cameo in the film "Inherent Vice." What was it like being on set with PT Anderson?

PT is cool to watch, he reminded me of myself in situations like that. He’s just, he seems like a bit of an asshole but he’s not, he’s in the zone, working. And I mean, it’s just a different world for us to see movie stuff. It’s even worse sitting around on tour and we just stand around and try not to get in trouble because everyone else there-- it’s a hierarchy and we’re kind of a union thing. Everyone’s walking on eggshells and we’re not used to that at all, just tryin' to sneak our liquor without them catching us and not fall asleep.

What's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you on tour? Any run-ins with the law at all?

Yeah, many when we were very young. I guess we’ve been lucky, but sure there’s been some incidents where the guys had to go to jail for the night. But someone was like, “Yeah, do you still have the school buses [to tour in]?” and we we’re like, “No, we uh, we got rid of those.” And then we realized, no actually we ruined all of them, we blew them all up. But we just rode dirty for a long time. You know, no insurance or registration but we got away with that. But I don’t know, it’s the same antics. Most of them I just can’t remember or chose not to remember or I don’t want to talk about so I don’t get in trouble.

Yeah, of course. And what about a pre-show ritual?

Um, we drink too much… I think mainly, yeah. And just trying to find everybody. Seems like everyone is right in your face the entire tour until about five minutes before the show we go, “Where the fuck is everybody?!”

What about your best hangover cure?

Drinking more, that’s the only one there really is. I mean that’s what they call a bender… and I guess that’s why we’re all alcoholics.

So how many packs of cigarettes did it take to develop that perfect amount of smokiness in your voice?

Well, I think I was born raspy! But [the smoking] is definitely not helping. I keep trying to tell people, “No, I like it that way.” Because they’re always like, “Why do you sound like shit all the time?” But I don’t know, I started really early. I feel like I’m an old soul in that way. I used to smoke when I was a kid, I knew it was bad and I always wanted it. I don’t want to get rid of it even though I know I should.

Well it creates a perfect thing for your band, so it works out.

Wonderful, I’ll tell my doctor that.

What can we expect from your show at the Fox?

We’re putting some work in, which is kind of rare for us. Doing some rehearsals, so we’re going to bring out some more material, maybe a couple covers but we’re doing a collaboration with some friends. And we have a lot of beautiful art that we’ll be decorating the stage with and some kind of custom surf film we’ll be showing. Just a whole lot of projections and stage art. And then I don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s a Growlers show. Today’s a new day.

Could you tell us about the most interesting place you guys have played?

Ah, this is hard. Well, to me the nostalgic ones are the home shows we’d do in illegal warehouses when we were kids. But as far as traveling, I’d have to say Mexico. But it’s all exciting. It’s just cool to see everybody doing the same dancing.

Any favorite go-to places to eat/drink/hangout in the Bay?

I just like to try and get over to the beach… hangout on the dunes and try to surf, but when we started off we were just like, “We’ll just go down to Haight-Ashbury, I guess? And then go to the park? Drop acid?” But now we kick it there all the time, it’s where we have all of our friends. And sometimes we’ll end up skipping San Fran and spend time with friends in Oakland. It’s always changing and it’s always new to me. It’s a pretty small city with a lot of people, but it’s big to us little Orange County boys.

Written by Dominique Gomez

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