Boogie Boarder jamming at Northside Festival. — Photos by Andres Jauregui
As the weather gets sunnier (finally!) and unemployment claims rise, it looks like many of us are cruising for a summer of lazy fun. There are those among us that can afford a severance vacation: rock climbing in Thailand, bungee jumping in Belize. But since most of us didn’t get golden parachutes — federal or otherwise — we’ll just have to get our kicks from loud music and cheap beer.
The great thing about Brooklyn is that there are always a lot of awesome local tunes around to help make summer a splash. Leading the pack this season is Bushwick’s own Boogie Boarder. Their irreverent new album, Pizza Hero (released June 23rd on Famous Class), is a fast ride down a slick wave of fun. Too intricate to be punk, too weird to be pop, and too freewheeling to take themselves too seriously, Pizza Hero is the soundtrack to your summer of funemployment.
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"Boogie Boarder used to be like, ‘How can we sabotage this?’ That was the main idea. ‘Oh! Here’s a great idea — let’s not play it! Let’s count to five, and then change ideas,’" says bassist Willy Meismer.
While things tend to be a little bit more organized now, Boogie Boarder sets still feed off of (and incite) the smiling chaos of Brooklyn’s D.I.Y. scene. Crowds pack into basements. Belly-flop surf grooves meander to heroically dissonant crescendos. Guitar strings snap, beer cans fly, and everyone gets wet and wild. It’s a kind of sonic slapstick — a joke that the band embodies with self-deprecating nonchalance.
"The album is about simple pleasures," says drummer Cyrus Lubin. "It’s like Wal-Mart, or, veal. It’s horrible, but it’s so good!"
"We just realized that a pizza hero is a kind of sandwich. If you go to Wal-Mart, you can get pizza-veal heroes," adds Meismer.
"Ugh! The album’s ruined. I thought we were being clever!" Lubin says.
From the flippant fun of their live shows to their quirky new album, it’s clear that the one thing that Boogie Boarder is serious about is having fun. This outlook manifests itself not only through the band’s joie de vivre, but also through their distaste for all that stands against fun. Their hatred of Washington DC, where most of the band went to college, is a prime example.
"DC stands for ‘Don’t Come,’" says keyboardist Paul Ted Gladstone.
"It’s a miserable place. DC is the worst fucking place in the world," Lubin adds. "People don’t have hobbies. If you’re not into super-scientifical [sic] rap, or go-go, then you’re fucked."
"They jog in DC. They walk their dogs," says guitarist Mark Jack. "Go-go is awesome, though."
While Washington doesn’t make Boogie Boarder’s list of summer destinations, nearby Baltimore does, as the band treks to Wham City’s Whartscape this year. But if a lack of funds precludes making the trip down, fret not: shows are bound to pop up. And even if they don’t, there’s always the power of make-believe — however dulled by booze they may be. Put Pizza Hero on the old iPod shuffle, get a spray bottle, crack open a Coors tallboy, sit down in front of a fan, and open the floodgates to a refreshingly lo-fi summer.
