If the Watergate Sandals surf-culture-meets-Nixon name isn’t enough to convince you they’re all about having fun, consider their cranked-up, frenetic mix of garage, surf and punk. Or how about the term they coined themselves to describe their genre: scooter rock.
“There’s surf rock, and some bands like to say they’re skate rock,” explains guitarist Izzy Kaufman. “It’s like, what are we? We’re scooter rock. We tried to roll with that.”
The band started as an outlet for UCSC college buddies, but the more they bashed out tunes, the more “serious” things got.
“We just wanted to get drunk and play loud music, and have music for friends to mosh to,” Kaufman says. “We were jamming one day, and this dude offered us a show. So we kept on practicing. Does that mean we’re a band now?”
They recorded a four-song EP, Sloppy Seconds, which they uploaded to their Bandcamp. It was pretty far over on the lo-fi end of the spectrum—as in, even the four-track they bought to record their newest songs is a step up.
“It’s going to be a little bit more coherent. You’ll definitely be able to hear the parts a little more, but it’s still going to have an echo-y, subtly lo-fi sound,” says Kaufman. “Recently we’ve tried to incorporate elements of psychedelic and folk rock—maybe a little stoner rock in there, too—but in the long run, it’s just music that’s fun to dance to.”
INFO: 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $8. 429-6994.
