Beach Slang’s James Alex Snyder (photo: Alexsandra Wiciel)
By Malcolm Lasky
Beach Slang are a melodic punk band from Philadelphia, PA that got a ton of traction last spring and summer from their two EPs, and have been favourably compared to The Replacements and Goo Goo Dolls. They just finished up their tour with Cursive and are set to head out to Europe in a few weeks. Rice and Bread recently chatted with guitarist/vocalist James Alex Snyder at their show in Cambridge, MA to discuss the band’s upcoming album, all things Fest, and their upcoming album.
It’s the most typical question ever, but how’s tour going?
It’s going great, man. It’s been rad; the shows have been fantastic, but bigger than that, man, the Cursive guys are just awesome. They’ve just been incredibly sweet, incredibly kind, so it’s been rad.
It seems like every week you’re announcing another secret show while on tour.
Well, we’re out here, you know, doing the thing. We could spend time just… sitting around, eating lunch somewhere, or we could play another show. Obviously, because of Cursive, a lot of the shows are selling out, and it started with kids just saying, “We weren’t able to get tickets because the show sold out so quickly.” So we were like, “Well, let’s do another show.” And once we did that first one, other kids saw that and we just kept getting asked along the way, and it’s just been awesome.
How did you get in touch with Daniel [Carswell, who put on the show at Firebrand Saints in Cambridge] and how did it come together?
Well, he saw we’d been doing things like that, and then the Sinclair sold out and he just wrote to me and asked if we’d be interested in doing a second show. And we were like, “Yeah, definitely.” And we never really knew what to expect… it’s been pretty amazing, these kids in different cities; their hustle. In Orlando we got a show put together in an hour, and it was great! And here it was just a couple of days and it was a great show; really fantastic. So the scene is still definitely alive!
You guys are working on a full-length now. How’s that going?
I have it written and demoed out already, so they’re pretty complete thoughts already. It’s just a matter of us getting the time and getting into a room together to make them loud. So, we have this tour, kinda go home for a little bit and then we leave for Europe for a few weeks. When we come home from that, it’s just pedal to the metal, just really sort of boot camp it out, because we’re trying to have Fest this year be our record release show, so in order to do that we’d need to be in the studio recording by, like… mid-June. Which puts a little squeeze on us, which is good, most people operate better when it needs to be done by X, and you’re not just drifting through it.
How do songs get written in Beach Slang?
I just write everything and by the time I send out MP3s to the guys, they’re pretty fleeced out. I’ll have all the guitar hooks and dingers on it; all the harmonies will be there. So they sound like complete songs and we just get into a room and make them… tougher. [Laughs]
You mentioned making Fest this year your release show; I remember your set last year was nuts. How was that experience for you?
Phenomenal! That was my first Fest. Everyone else had been there before several times, but that was my first one. Man, my socks were just knocked off and I just loved every second of when I was down there. And then our show… that sort of buffoonery just made it even better, it was really awesome and I absolutely cannot wait for this year.
Nice! So were there any places you frequented there for food?
There was this taco place called Flaco’s…
Yes!
And the veggie place, Reggae Shack, and then there was a Karma… it’s like a vegan ice cream shop.
Karma Cream!
Yeah! I’d say those were the three spots I pretty much lived in terms of eating down there.
I’ve never been to Reggae Shack, but I live and die for Flaco’s.
Oh, it’s so good! It was the first place I got taken to down there. People who own that spot are really sweet, it’s just a really right on vibe there.
Are there any places on tour that you like to frequent for food? If not, what about spots in Philadelphia?
Well, local places to Philly… when we did our hometown show on this tour at Union Transfer we ordered an insane amount of stuff from Blackbird, a vegan pizza joint. So much that our backstage area just looked like… Blackbird. Just littered with their stuff. So that’s definitely our spot when we’re home. Royal Tavern is another great spot we go to. I like this deli place called Citi Market. But if I was relegated to one place, it’d definitely be Blackbird. Yeah, but we’re in Cleveland in two days; have you ever eaten at Melt?
Yes, I have.
We’re really jazzed up for that, for sure.
Beach Slang‘s two EPs, Who Would Want Anything So Broken? and Cheap Thrills on a Dead End Street, are available on Dead Broke Rekerds. Their new album should be out this October on Polyvinyl Records.
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