Blog: Indie Surfer Blog

Veruca Salt is an alternative rock group of the 1990s and 2000s, named after Veruca Salt, a character from the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Louise Post (guitar/vocals), Nina Gordon (guitar/vocals), Steve Lack (bass) and Jim Shapiro (drums) formed in Chicago, Illinois, releasing "Seether"/"All Hail Me" on Minty Fresh Records, an independent label, in 1994. The single was a success and Veruca Salt accompanied Hole on a tour, then released their debut full-length LP, American Thighs . After signing to Geffen Records, the band quickly gained in popularity as "Seether" became an MTV hit. The [...]

The Fits are indie-pop band from Oakland, California. The band was started in 2004 by Ben Riesman, who plays guitar and sings. The other band members are Seth Warren (drums), Jason Landry (guitar, synth), Gene V Baker (Rhodes, Trumpet) and Chris Chu (bas) from The Morning Benders who recently replaced Eric Carlson. In 2006 the band has released the debut "Near Fits" for Ufi Records . The record was finished in January 06 and was produced by Ben Riesman (Lead Fit), all 12 tracks recorded in the Ufi Pet studio and [...]

• Ball of Twine
• Set Free The Plants

The long awaited comeback of the 90ies indie rock stars, The Lemonheads , is finally coming true. After a nine-year recording absence, during which Evan Dando , the Lemonheads frontman, performed off and on as a solo act and released a live solo album, it was announced in the summer of 2005 that the band had quietly reformed - with a recording lineup bolstered by Bill Stevenson and Karl Alverez, ex-members of The Descendents - and are working on new material in a studio in Colorado. Recently, the live lineup has [...]

Ben Kweller was originially the frontman for the band Radish, a group compared to Nirvana by Rolling Stone Magazine. The band's popularity grew in the Dallas, Texas music scene from its formation in 1993. However, the band was dismissed by critics as little more than an imitation of Nirvana with the novelty of an extremely young lead vocal-guitarist (Kweller was in his teens for the entire existence of the band). Nonetheless, Kweller and his two bandmates, bassist Bryan Blur and drummer John Kent, were signed to a major record label in 1995 by Mercury Records. Regardless of a much-hyped [...]

Mando Diao are a garage rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. According to the band, the name Mando Diao has no meaning at all, but rather appeared to band member Björn Dixgård in a dream. The roots of Mando Diao date back to 1995 when Björn Dixgård was a member of a band called Butler. Band members came and went and four years later the rest of the current line-up decided to take that project more seriously. Björn Dixgård and Gustaf Norén locked themselves up in a summer house and spent six months writing songs. The now-renamed band [...]

• Mando Diao - Sheepdog » Mando Diao - 01 - Sheepdog.mp3

Slowly, the summer gets over and the concert season begins. To warm you up, I collected a couple of links with the live performances of your favorite indie bands :) Live: CYHSY, DeVotchKa, Elbow, Goldfrapp, Halou, Sigur Ros, Youth Group Live: The Dresden Dolls [...]

The Good, The Bad and the Queen , the act which calls Blur front man Damon Albarn and Clash bassist Paul Simonon members, will have its debut single in stores shortly. The band's "Kingdoom of Doom" is set to hit stores in the United Kindgom Oct. 30 in vinyl and CD single format. No word on an American release for the single, or the band's London-themed album, has been revealed ... Modest Mouse will have its new album in stores just in time to stuff Christmas stockings. The act's We Were Dead Before [...]

A Portland, OR, supergroup of sorts, the Thermals feature Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster of the twee/folk-pop duo Hutch and Kathy and the All Girl Summer Fun Band, Kind of Like Spitting's Ben Barnett, and Operacycle's Jordan Hudson. The group started in early 2002 as a way for its members to play just for the fun of it, but their insistent melodies and punk-inspired urgency won them a local following quickly. Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard was one of the Thermals' first fans and got the group in touch with Sub Pop, who signed them within four [...]

Bel Auburn is an indie rock band from Mid-Ohio. They've been playing together for just over three years. The band consists of Scott, who plays the telecaster and sings the most; Mark, who plays the drums and sings the second most; Jared, who writes all the lyrics and makes noise with his guitar; Justin, who is Jared's little brother, and the guy on stage with the laptop; and their most newest addition, Mark Abrams, who plays bass and helps them work the rest of their instruments. The band's first album, "Cathedrals" was met with quite a bit [...]

Thao Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American folk singer/songwriter out of Virginia. Since the anxious age of twelve, Thao has worked in her mother’s laundromat in a suburb of D.C. Between cleaning, making change, and most notably, folding the linens of strangers, she played guitar and wrote songs. Thao credits her intricate guitar playing to the finite hand move- ments cultivated by years of intense laundry origami.See and hear for yourself how life at the ‘mat has paid off big time in the way of folk and blues. In 2005, Thao released her debut album Like The Linen . She's [...]

I'm having my vacation in the next days. I'll continue posting in the second half of August. You can contact me via e-mail or MySpace. In the meantime, listen to some of my recommendations for the summer: Islands - Return To The Sea Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time The Kooks - Inside In, Inside Out Danielson [...]