In recording their new album “The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy,” the members of Nada Surf attempted to recreate the experience of witnessing the band perform live.
“We get a lot of comments, over the years, [that] the records are really good, but we’re so much better live,” said Nada Surf drummer Ira Elliot. “You get this sort of energy live that’s very difficult to get on a record.”
Nada Surf performs Tuesday at the 9:30 Club.
| Onstage |
| Nada Surf |
| Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW |
| When: 7 p.m. doors, Tuesday |
| Info: $22; 930.com |
“Stars” is Nada Surf’s first release since the 2010 covers compilation “If I Had a Hi-Fi” and its first album of originals since 2008’s “Lucky.” Elliot explained the band tried to turn back the clock after years of slowing down the recording process.
This approach was in response to fan feedback saying how great Nada Surf’s live shows are.
“You’re sort of having this give-and-take moment where the audience is on fire and the lights are going and it’s really loud,” Elliot said of playing live. “You’re going to get this really super visceral experience.”
Thematically, Nada Surf — which includes guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Matthew Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca — explores aging and looking back on youth in the new album. Songs such as “When I Was Young” and “Teenage Dreams” include insight and reflection only gained by reaching middle age.
Nada Surf formed 20 years ago and blew up into the public consciousness with the mega-hit “Popular,” complete with a video MTV played repeatedly. After some label trouble, the group disproved it’s one-hit-wonder status in the middle of the last decade with albums “Let Go” and “The Weight Is A Gift” and the well-played single “Always Love.”
“Sometimes you can’t really see stuff until you get way, way past it,” said Elliot of the struggles the band faced following “Popular.” “By ’98 we were written off. There were a couple of tentative years there. In the long run, it was absolutely positive. There were some negative things, but those things all faded away.”
And what about “Popular,” still the only Nada Surf song some passive fans can name?
“No one’s bothered if we don’t play that song,” Elliot said. “But when we do play it occasionally, the place goes crazy. Its just blows up. No one’s expecting us to play it. I think a lot of people have the impression we somehow hate or don’t like playing it, which is not the case at all. We don’t play it as a given. We play it when we feel like playing it, like any other song.”
