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\u2014—————————————————————————————————————<\/span><\/p>\n Julian: Hello, I am Julian Gutierrez and I am here interviewing Surf Machine. Would you guys care to introduce yourselves?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: I\u2019m Maric, hello.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: I\u2019m Floyd, I play guitar and sing.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Oh yeah, and I play guitar.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: You guys are missing Camden right?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, we\u2019re missing our buddy Cam, he plays bass. We play drums with a guy named Luke, he\u2019s also not here.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric, Camden<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: In December you released the 5000 EP, could you tell me more about why you decided to make the EP?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Like how we decided to record it and stuff?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Yeah, like the process behind it and what led you to decide to make an EP.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Back in the beginning of 2023, we started working on original stuff and once we\u2019d written about 3 songs, we started thinking about doing an EP because we had been around for a while we felt. I asked Nico, who’s one of my friends that plays in a band. I asked him if he could recommend someone that could record us super clean. Because we really like 90\u2019s emo stuff, we just wanted a really clean, raw recording and he told us to go with Paul Digiovanni from Ferris Wheel [Regulars]. Coincidentally, the best producer is in the best band.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, it was a pleasure working with Paul.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, it was really fun. So yeah, I just texted him and we figured it out and he had me send him a bunch of records that we liked. Then we went in during the summer. I think it took 3 or 4 days?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, but it was all day, like 8 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n F -Yeah, we\u2019d be there for 8 hours, but it was such a blast. Camden will text in the groupchat that we made for the recording process, he\u2019ll text in there every other week, \u201cI miss recording with you so much Paul\u201d because Paul is such a joy to be around.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: We genuinely just miss it, he was fun to work with.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: That is all wonderful to hear. So, as people listen to your music, what do you hope people feel or take away?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Probably a good emotion, I would say. Maybe take away that it\u2019s good.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, I just hope they don\u2019t think it sucks.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, I guess that\u2019s it. I can picture someone, maybe not because it\u2019s a bad album or bad EP, I think it\u2019s good. Just the idea of someone listening to it and not liking it I guess.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: I think it\u2019s good every other listen and think it\u2019s bad the other every other listen. So, I hope other people only have the good listens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, I don\u2019t listen to it often and I don\u2019t listen to it after I like it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, the songs can be received a couple of ways and you can attach different emotions to them. Maybe inspire someone? I\u2019m into that. It would be cool if, for us, and this kinda ties back into the last question, that we got super close to these guys that play in Delirium, some other bands too, so that was really inspiring to us to see that we can just go out and record our songs and put them out before we\u2019re even adults I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Do you feel like the Wichita music scene is what helped shape all of that?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, everyone\u2019s really nice.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Honestly, yeah, I think we have such a great scene and I think it\u2019s really exploded in the past couple years because it really lulled when COVID hit, and I just think so many people are doing so many great things. Like Delirium, Ferris Wheel Regulars, and Nothing Special who we watched last night, those are three of the best bands I\u2019ve ever seen play. It is just ridiculously good, so yeah the scene is really, really inspiring and kind to us.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: I\u2019d agree, yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: So in your music, from performances to songwriting, who do you look up to or draw inspiration from?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yesterday, I told Nico that to have a good band you just have to copy The Beatles and Fugazi as much as possible, then your band will be good, so that\u2019s like maybe a part of it, at least in terms of new stuff. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d have made that genius adage back when I was writing the 5000 songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: It is pretty genius though, if you think about it. The Beatles just have good songwriting and Fugazi got that edge you know. It\u2019s all you need.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: I think my biggest songwriting inspiration is Elliott Smith, I just really like his songs.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Why?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: I think that they are worded so perfectly and the melodies are so creative and catchy at the same time, and he was the craziest guitar player. Everything about it is so technically impressive on the first level and so emotionally touching I guess. He was just a genius with words I feel like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: [laughs] Then the guitars play a big part and we just cared a lot about Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Sunny Day, and Hum. Just like super huge fuzz.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, pretty much<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Could you guys describe what the typical songwriting process looks like for you guys?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: I kinda just play acoustic guitar for hours everyday and I\u2019ll just write something and I write a lot of stuff that never turns into a Surf Machine song.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: There is a fair amount of things that we tried, like recordings of songs, that just didn\u2019t work out.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: It\u2019s not necessarily that they were bad, it\u2019s just that we only go with certain ones for some reason.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Like ones that are easier to turn into this loud monster of a thing I guess. So yeah, I\u2019ll usually just write a verse and a chorus then I\u2019ll show it to them. For example, in one of the new ones we\u2019re doing I wrote this whole song before we even had \u201cU see it too\u201d, which was the last one for the EP. I wrote that whole song and we kinda forgot about it because the second one that we wrote was way better. I kinda just scrapped the whole thing and turned it into something different, and now we\u2019re doing that. Maric said it was his favorite song that we have when I played it.So, it\u2019s kinda slow sometimes with some of the songs and fast with others, but usually I\u2019ll write half of a song then show it to them, then we\u2019ll see how we can make it into a dynamic loud thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah pretty much.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: So the Surfheads or Surfcels want to know, how did the band start?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Surfcels?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: How did the band start?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Me, Cam, Floyd, we\u2019re all just really good friends and like jamming out together and making music.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: In 4th grade, I started getting into Pink Floyd, so we just started getting into all that born in the wrong generation music when we were like 10.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: [giggles]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: So basically from there me and him [Maric] started taking guitar lessons and we started hanging out with Cam in 6th grade. I don\u2019t remember what year it was, but one night we were having a little sleepover, this shows how young we were – we were having a sleepover, and I taught Camden \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d on bass or something just because I thought it would be funny if he could play some random song on some random instrument. He just learned it surprisingly quick. I expected there to be a lot more learning curve, I mean it\u2019s an easy song, but he just kinda stuck with it and him and Maric started fooling around with surf stuff. Eventually in summer 2022 maybe, we were like we should probably be a band now.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, that\u2019s pretty much how it happened actually<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: So, given the band\u2019s young age, as you said with the whole sleepovers thing –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: [giggles] Bruhh<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: We\u2019re not still having sleepovers [laughs]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Alright, where do you guys see yourself in one or two years?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Hopefully college<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: That\u2019s like the worst thing I think about everyday.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah [laughs]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Because we\u2019re like a local band thing that we\u2019re doing, but I just really enjoy it. So, I guess I have to go to college, I probably should.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah, pretty much same way of thinking. It\u2019d be cool to do this as long as I could, but I\u2019m probably gonna have to go to college.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: We might go to WSU (Wichita State University), if we both go to school here then we\u2019ll definitely still play, and if we don\u2019t I guess we\u2019ll take a break. In one year, we plan to do a tour the summer after we graduate, which will be summer 2025. We were thinking and like trying to play at venues that our friends have gone and done runs to that they really liked. We\u2019ll also have an album, maybe like a split out.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: When do you expect for that to possibly end up coming out?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Album, we want to record that this summer. We recorded the EP this summer and it didn\u2019t come out till December. So, I just want it to line up like we did something in 2023 and we did something in 2024. But it might, because the mixing process and stuff, especially for a guy like Paul where we\u2019re not the only band he\u2019s recording because he\u2019s good.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Maric: Yeah and he\u2019s probably doing more now.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: So, yeah it took a while so maybe like early 2025 or maybe we\u2019ll luck out and it\u2019ll be a Christmas time thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Do you guys have any advice for people wanting to or starting a band?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: For one that\u2019s already in a band, just text a venue to play a show.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, I\u2019ve been asked by a lot of people how you get started booking shows. I just say, actually go to them and it\u2019s really easy to be friends with people, and once people find out you play, like it’s hard to get a bill full a lot of the time. You\u2019ll get called. I remember we were not a good band when we started playing. We didn\u2019t even really play with a drummer that often. It was just having fun and people still asked us to play every week at that point. My second advice is to just get a really big amp.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah get a really nice, big amp. It matters more than your guitar.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Why is that?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: You can\u2019t really blow someone away unless if you do, honestly. When we were playing with the same amps we had to learn guitar, like that little Peavey and Mustang LT60, I think it was called. We\u2019re using these little puny things and it\u2019s fine for a little small room and you play clean guitar, just fun stuff, but once it\u2019s a real band I just had those experiences of seeing another band and it\u2019s like standing there absolutely amazed. It\u2019s usually because their guitar is really loud.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Yeah it helps to be really loud.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Do you guys have anything that you would like people to know about with Surf Machine? Or just in general?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd, Luke, Camden<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: I guess just listen to whatever we have out.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, shows are fun, we play new songs there a little bit better I think. [laughs] That\u2019s about it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Just come to shows.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Go to other people\u2019s shows too.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: Buy merch.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Not from us because we don\u2019t have any but.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Are you guys expecting to get merch soon?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: Yeah, I can show you. We actually just did our first screen printing test prints. We talked to a couple actual print shops, and they kinda all ghost you eventually for some reason. We have the most simple black line art on a white shirt. We\u2019re in this art class and we\u2019re doing printmaking, learning how to do screens and stuff, so I think we\u2019re going to have shirts soon.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julian: Well, it was nice talking to you guys.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Floyd: You too, Julian.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maric: It was a pleasure, Julian.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Julian Gutierrez Surf Machine is a Wichita based emo band that recently released an EP entitled 5000 on December 22, 2023. I had the opportunity to meet this young band at their homebase IHOP some Saturday morning. After chatting with two Surf Machine members, Floyd and Maric, the waiter came to our table and asked Maric what he wanted to order. He politely declined, then the waiter moved on to me. Not thinking anything of this situation, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":80156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4,3234],"tags":[8765,8766],"class_list":["post-80150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music","category-music-interviews","tag-ihop","tag-surf-machine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/SurfMachineCover.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80150"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80162,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80150\/revisions\/80162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/SurfMachine1-300x200.png\")
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