Surfer Blood Expands Tour

Riding high on across-the-board praise for just-released album, bookers lining up to get ‘em before their fees escalate.

By Blurt Staff

Twee-rockers Vampire Weekend may be getting all the attention and the hype over topping the Billboard charts (which ain't hard to do depending on how you time a new release), but Florida's Surfer Blood is getting the real press kudos. New album Astro Coast, which arrived in stores last week, has critics utterly smitten - including our own, who enthused thusly in the BLURT review:

This is gonna be 2010's Shins or Band of Horses, so mark these words. Yes, it may be a little early for such proclamations, but these boys make lofty postulations like this easy. It's safe to assume the members of the band were raised on a steady diet of Weezer, The Pixies, Built To Spill, as well as various influences in the outer regions of indie rock. But they've managed to absorb all of this and more and regurgitate something all their own.

Other, er, tastemakers like BLURT were similarly chuffed. A sampling:

"But even after so many listens, its snowblind-ish reverb is still disorienting-- especially contrasted with its crisp, power-chord hook. It may sound like they're hitting you with their best shot, but after an impassioned "oh oh oh!" from singer John Paul Pitts, Surfer Blood explodes into an even bigger chorus and "Swim" becomes almost overpoweringly fist-pumping." - Pitchfork [Best New Music]

"Crunchy riffs, sunny harmonies, inscrutable humor, occasional strings, and Afropop touches. Adolescent anthems like "Swim (to Reach the End)" and "Catholic Pagans" show latter-day Rivers Cuomo who's daddy." - Spin

"They dress up their guitar-mad escapades in a stadium-echo kick that Nineties indie kids were too grumpy to try. " - Rolling Stone

"They're young, and so is their music, but we all could use a little Vitamin D this time of year." - Vanity Fair

"The way Surfer Blood balances escapism and grit is a neat trick, and one that never really loses its sense of wonder."- The Onion

So anyhow, the band already had a tour set to kick off next week with a handful of UK dates, followed by a U.S. trek starting Feb. 16 that would steer towards SXSW in March. They've now expanded the tour so it's effectively doubled in duration and stretches well into April. Here are the dates:

02-03 London - Hoxton Bar and Kitchen

02-04 Kingston - Hippodrome 

02-05 London - KOKO

02-09 London - Scala 

02-16 Orlando, FL  - Backbooth  %

02-17 Deland, FL - DaVinci %

02-18 Tallahassee, FL - Engine Room %

02-19 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn %

02-20 Nashville , TN - The End  %

02-22  Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor - %

02-23 Morgantown, WV -123 Pleasant Street %

02-24  Washington DC - Dc 9 %

02-26 Hanover, NH - Dartmouth College  !

02-27 Brooklyn, NY - Market Hotel *

02-28 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge *

03-01 Philadelphia, PA - The Barbary *

03-02 Allston, MA  - Great Scott *

03-03 Providence, RI  - AS220 *

03-05 Montreal - Il Motore *

03-06 Toronto - Sneaky Dees *

03-07 Geneseo, NY - Suny Geneseo College *

03-08 Meadville, PA - Allegheny *

03-09 Detroit MI - Magic Stick  *

03-11 Bloomington, IN - the Bishop  *

03-12 Columbia, MO - Mojos *

03-13 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge  *

03-14 Oklahoma City - The Conservatory *

03-17 Austin, TX - SXSW

03-18 Austin, TX - SXSW

03-19 Austin, TX - SXSW

03-20 Austin, TX - Mohawk  [ Panache Booking SXSW Showcase ] *!

03-24 Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space *
03-25 Claremont, CA - Pitzer College @

03-26 San Diego, CA - Bar Pink Elephant @

03-27 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex @

03-28 Las Vegas, NV - The Beauty Bar *

03-29 Isla Vista, CA - Biko Garage *

03-30 Visalia, CA - Howie and Sons *

04-01 Santa Cruz, CA - Metamusic *

04-02 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill * $

04-02 Portland, OR - Doug Fir *

04-04 Seattle, WA - Vera Project *

04-05 Vancouver, BC - Bitmore Cabaret *

04-06 Missoula, MT - The Palace *

04-08 Minneapolis, MN - 7^th Street Entry *

04-09 Madison, WI - Der Rathskeller *

04-11 Columbus, OH - The Summit *

04-12 Ithaca, NY - The Shop (Ithaca College) *

04-13 Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit Soundlab *

04-15 Princeton, NJ - Terrace Club @ Princeton *

* w/ Turbo Fruits

^ w/ Holiday Shores

& w/ Monotonix

# w/ Drums

! w/ Small Black

% w/ Turbo Fruits & Holiday Shores

@ w/ Best Coast

$ w/ Ganglians