Updated: 02/18/02

With instant overnight success with just one song, Popular, playing on the radio and due to the playing of the video, I got the chance to catch up with Daniel Lorca from the band at Electra Records in West LA. At the time of this interview Nada Surf was the opening act for the Elektra Records recording artist Super Drag.

HD: So where did you guys get your name from and what is the meaning behind it?

Dainiel Lorca: Finding a band name is really hard because there is a gazillion of them out there already. We wanted to find something for our name that was really cool that also meant something as well. It is such an emotional process trying to find a name. So I came up with Nothing as our name. So with my being from Madrid the name became Nada. However, in San Francisco there is already an experimental group called Nada. So Mathew after finding out about the other band name called me and said how about Nada Surf for our name. I said that was terrible for a name. But, Mathew said it could mean Surfing on Nothing. To me it means the way that you can go through something but not feeling anything – hallow – but you are just going through the waves. A special side effect, because it is kind of cool, but not by design though, because of surfing the internet waves nowadays.

HD: Describe you music without using the word Alternative?

Daniel: Tension, velocity, changing tempo and contrast happening between musical parts. We are really big on melodies. We use lots of energy and we try to keep it simple. It is more feeling than style or technique. We stay away from cliches. As far as our music we are critical of ourselves as well. With all of this we are very much attached to each and every song. Every song by itself stands individually. Sometimes each song can also find itself going into its own special world. Well, the album was produced by The Cars lead singer Ric Ocasek. The music heard on High/Low blurs the fine lines between art and pop with songs that are fast and sleek, loud but subtle, and melodic but dissonant, all the while casting a wickedly keen eye on life’s dark little details.

HD: You wrote and sing lead on the song Sleep Off on High/Low. Describe the meaning behind Sleep Off?

Daniel: It is about total dysfunctional relationships. I was actually part of that equation. All that this relationship needed was for one of us involved, to take a little step forward, to save this thing, that was started by us. But neither of us took that little extra effort of a step at all. So Sleep Off (to go to sleep) is a way of being frozen within the moment, of that relationship, where nobody takes any step of resolving or dissolving the relationship that is going on.

HD: Where did the concept come from for your current video and hit single Popular?

Daniel: Jessie Pertez. He wrote the best treatment. We were concerned however that we had to act in our own video. I spoke to Jessie and said that I thought it was weird for us to be acting in our own video. Strange weird because nobody knew us and we were all ready doing cameo’s in our own video. Jessie said that we did not have to do it or if we did act i it, it would be a very cool thing, so why not just do it. So we were kind of dared to do it. Ironically all of the adults were played by one of us in the band. Having early on problems in my life dealing with authority figures, I could see the art in the video, so I did it.

It must be easy now for Nada Surf to be more than just Nothing (Nada) when you have got such a big wave (surf) of commotion and hype building up as well for the group. Caroline Records has an old single of the bands called Telescope. Call Elektra Records and ask them to re-release the single and get it played on the radio cause it is a hit too.

This interview appeared in the November/December issue of Highwire Daze magazine in 1996.