Interview with SUR 11/7/17

Nicole: I've listened to your recently released single, “Lean Back” and heard several elements of different genres in your work. How would you describe your particular genre of music?

SUR: That’s a good question because we’ve been trying to figure that out exactly. It’s not currently holding a place within the genres available to us. I personally like native-electric rock. That’s how I’m putting a stamp on it–native being the drum patterns and tones that I use, they’re all very rooted in the native tribal drums. There’s a hip-hop aspect of that too, and the electric is the gritty guitars. I hope we can carve out a new genre of sorts.

Nicole: We’re aware you are originally from California and decided to take on the name SUR. How have your origins on the West Coast impacted your sound?

SUR: SUR comes from Big Sur, which is a place on the Central Coast where I’m from. It has as big of an impact as anything as far as inspiration goes. As a kid, it was the first place where I got spiritual. It’s a very spiritual, zen place. When I leave the city, that is where I go and kick it and recharge and I feel like a better human.

Nicole: Is that what inspired you to start making music?

SUR: Kind of. Yeah, doing mushrooms in Big Sur might’ve just done it (laughs). Just being there–you would know if you went there. Where Redwood meets the Pacific Ocean–it’s this beautiful quiet place. You have to have a lot of respect for it.

Nicole: How does this relate to your writing process? Does your environment have a big impact on your approach as a songwriter?

SUR: For this record, I wrote most of these songs while traveling in the back of an RV. The environment was totally the muse for most of the songs, what I was going through at the time was like an antenna, I was just channeling what was happening and organically firing it out of me.

Nicole: Have any notable artists, past or present, played a key role in influencing your sound?

SUR: Honestly, anyone who I believe is coming from an authentic place, that is more of an observer than a “look at me” artist. It’s more of somebody who has witnessed and gathered information and has a kind of point of view on life and does it in a very interesting way. I think it’s artists who are able to channel the soul.

Nicole: Was there any particular inspiration for your single “Lean Back”?

SUR: No, not one particular event. It was a series of events–once again, [it came from] observing life, observing culture, religion, and what we perceive as right and wrong from one person to the next. It can be very different, as well as we believe in as far as heaven and hell. I believe that we’re currently living in both places and waving in and out of them at all times and sometimes we stay down in the darkness a little longer and then come back up and repeat the process. This song is about being an example of a situation where there is no right answer, it’s when you’re put in a position when there’s only one decision and it’s survival. It’s this savage beast within us that is making this choice and it’s the choice we are willing to make. It has nothing to do with wrong or right–it’s instinct.

Nicole: As far as your own sound, where do you think it’s heading?

SUR: So many different directions, that’s why the record is sort of all over the place, which I think is really dope because I look at each song as a branch of a new direction from one to the next it’s almost like a new art form and there’s so many ways that it can and will go, and I want to keep people guessing and keep it interesting. But the through line will always be there, and as long as it makes people feel what I was feeling at the time or some type of emotion, then I have done my job.

Nicole: You recently shot a video for “Lean Back”–how was it like being on set, and how much creative control did you have over the production?

SUR: We had a lot [of control], actually. Me and Philip Montgomery–the director–really sat down and hashed out the treatment. While I was making the song, I had visions of what I had wanted it to be, and it was kind of like snapshots of what I wanted. So him and I worked it out to the point where we conceptualized the shot list. It was a team effort: we worked hand in hand to get it done.

Nicole: Your social media states that SUR is “music for wild hearts in motion”. Can you explain a little bit about the meaning behind the statement?

SUR: It sounded right, and it feels like what I was doing while I was making the record. I was stuck, and I knew that to unstick myself I had to leave and just go, and not worry about being in the rut and being okay with that–just to, like, submit. Sometimes it’s important to be lost, and it’s okay to be lost. I hope that some of this music speaks to the humans that are a little bit stuck and gives them a little jolt of energy to go onto the next move.

Nicole: Excellent. Speaking of energy, how do you feel about playing here tonight in New York?

SUR: I love the city. It’s a very strange feeling I have in the city because everywhere I’m at I feel like I’ve been there before and I think it’s some past-life stuff. I’m probably more inspired here than anywhere else. As an artist all around to painting to drawing to music, it immediately fires me up, the energy of it and just the people. When I’m walking down the street [in New York] i’m not just seeing blank faces and i’m not burying my head in my phone. It’s a problem I have where everyone that I see I conceptualize a story behind who they are, where they’re going, what they’ve been through–so here is system overload because there are so many characters and I love it. Yeah, it’s a great city and I love it to death.

Nicole: Is that your favorite thing about New York?

SUR: Yeah, just the rawness and power of it. It’s constantly charging ahead no matter what, and the people seem very authentic here. People are just being and they’re living, and it just so happens that they’re charismatic and crazy in all these cool ways. I love it–I love weirdos and crazy people. So, New York is perfect for me.

Nicole: What is the next move for SUR–any big plans for the future?

SUR: Yeah, to breathe (laughs). In and out, in and out, and repeat the process. Stay positive, and hopefully what I do will inspire people or something similar. I want to empower humans as much as I can while I’m here.