Nada Surf

Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot have been playing music, and listening to it, long enough to know exactly what kind of band they want to be - which, at this point, is exactly the band they are. This is how it happened.

In high school, Matthew and Daniel discovered a mutual penchant for the rock. So they decided to play it. After a few short-lived bands, the two eventually formed a trio, calling themselves Nada Surf. They played around NYC and released a single on a friend's label, which landed them a deal with a Spanish record company. The ensuing album, however, was never released. Around this time, Nada's original drummer split, and the boys drafted Ira (they'd seen him play in the Fuzztones, NYC's premiere garage-rock revivalists, and were smitten by his skill, charm, and stylish chapeau). Then things started happening. In the fall of '95, the boys released the Karmic EP on No. 6 records, hooked up with Elektra, and met Ric Ocasek, who produced their debut LP, High/Low, released in 1996.

The video for "Popular," from which Matthew inherited a nice suit, was played quite a bit on MTV, and the record sold nicely. So they made another. Too bad you probably never heard it, unless you live in Europe... Here's why:

Nada Surf recorded The Proximity Effect in 1998 with Fred Maher (Luna, Lou Reed, Matthew Sweet). It was a mighty fine record. Elektra, claiming they "didn't hear a single," asked the band to go back in the studio to hunt for one. As this was months after they'd handed the record in, the band refused and were dropped. It's pretty safe to say, though, that Elektra didn't appear to be "listening" very hard. The Proximity Effect was released as scheduled in Europe. Critics loved it and fans bought it. Elektra still didn't care, but the band still did. So after wrestling the rights back, Nada Surf released The Proximity Effect stateside in 2000 on their own label, MarDev Records, and toured accordingly, So there.

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