The Growlers are the surf rock band shaking up California’s soundscape with their bad boy antics and beach goth sound.
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In The Hedonist Issue, i-D met lead singer Brooks Nielsen, who’s responsible for blending 60s rock’n'roll, surf, psycho-billy, swamp blues and garage into a hip wiggling new sound. i-D online scooped a session with the chaps as they performed their track ‘Gay Thoughts’ .
Your lyrics walk the line between being poetic and tongue-in-cheek… Yeah, it’s a macho problem or somethin’. Nah, I find it kinda hard to be serious in any aspect of my life. I never like it when you catch yourself being serious and trying too hard. If it’s too serious I’ll put some joke into it and feel more comfortable singing it.
Do you have any heroes in or outside of music? Not really. The closer you come to your heroes, it’s never as cool as it seems. I like people’s music, I don’t need to go and read a book about ‘em. It’s enough just getting used to what I’m doing right now, having people start recognising you…
Are there any British bands you’ve been inspired by? Yeah, early on I listened to a lot of English blues and R‘n’B. I really liked the Animals and the Kinks; I still love to listen to them.
See more from The Growlers in The Hedonist Issue.
thegrowlers.com
facebook.com/losgrowlers
Text: Jay Rodin
Photography: Kayt Jones
Head here to see more from i-D online’s i-N Session series.
