Brad Coley and Peter Westmoreland are friends who spend time together surfing the coasts of New Zealand. As Surf Friends they also set up in small rooms with a guitar, bass and drum machine and produce a buzzing pop that is inspired in part by the classic sounds of Flying Nun, the legendary Dunedin label that they now call home.Their new five-song EP Dreams Are Real sweetens the salty brine with some melodic vocal and guitar harmonies that bring to mind the effortless cool of the Clean and the Chills, mixed with some contemporary sounds such as TV Colours or Wavves.You can stream the EP below and read a quick chat with Brad Coley.Noisey: I take it you are aware of the weight of baggage that comes with a young New Zealand band on Flying Nun claiming to be influenced by the Clean?
Brad Coley: Yeah for sure it's massive. I’m pretty sure that’s been in our bio somewhere from the start though because the Clean is in our blood. It’s both mine and Pete’s favourite band, and the band, which has influenced us the most by a mile. I'd go as far to say that without the Clean we wouldn’t be a band and I would probably be still in my bedroom trying to master the guitar solo for “master of puppets” or trying to make my guitar “talk” like Peter Frampton.You can back it up though as you’ve actually played with The Clean's David Kilgour. What was that like?
It was unreal, I mailed him asking if he was keen to jam along his epic guitar riffs to a couple of tracks and feature in our last album Endorphins and he was keen as. It was sonic and something I'll never forget ever, it was actually a dream come true for me and Pete to be honest.“Dance Tonight” reminds me of Melbourne’s Twerps. I think the vocals even sound like Marty’s. Are you familiar with them? Jules is a fellow Kiwi.
Yeah we've been kinda late to the party with the Twerps. I know they have been around for a long time. Both Pete and I were listening to them heaps before making this EP, so that’s actually cool you can notice a bit of their sound there. Some of their magic must of rubbed off.What/where is Johnsons Street? Is it a surf break?
Yeah Johnsons Street is a lesser known surf spot north of Auckland, it’s not actually called Johnson’s Street but does feature the word “Johnson”. I’ll let the reader try figure it out. It doesn’t break all that much and the song was written after I scored it super fun after a few failed attempts, so returned to a jam session frothing and retelling the story to Pete.
Nov 28 – Auckland at Portland Public House
Dec 4 – Auckland at NZ Psych Fest
Dec 12– Auckland at Golden Dawn
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Brad Coley: Yeah for sure it's massive. I’m pretty sure that’s been in our bio somewhere from the start though because the Clean is in our blood. It’s both mine and Pete’s favourite band, and the band, which has influenced us the most by a mile. I'd go as far to say that without the Clean we wouldn’t be a band and I would probably be still in my bedroom trying to master the guitar solo for “master of puppets” or trying to make my guitar “talk” like Peter Frampton.You can back it up though as you’ve actually played with The Clean's David Kilgour. What was that like?
It was unreal, I mailed him asking if he was keen to jam along his epic guitar riffs to a couple of tracks and feature in our last album Endorphins and he was keen as. It was sonic and something I'll never forget ever, it was actually a dream come true for me and Pete to be honest.“Dance Tonight” reminds me of Melbourne’s Twerps. I think the vocals even sound like Marty’s. Are you familiar with them? Jules is a fellow Kiwi.
Yeah we've been kinda late to the party with the Twerps. I know they have been around for a long time. Both Pete and I were listening to them heaps before making this EP, so that’s actually cool you can notice a bit of their sound there. Some of their magic must of rubbed off.What/where is Johnsons Street? Is it a surf break?
Yeah Johnsons Street is a lesser known surf spot north of Auckland, it’s not actually called Johnson’s Street but does feature the word “Johnson”. I’ll let the reader try figure it out. It doesn’t break all that much and the song was written after I scored it super fun after a few failed attempts, so returned to a jam session frothing and retelling the story to Pete.
‘Dreams Are Real’ is available Nov 27 through Flying Nun.Catch Surf Friends:
Nov 28 – Auckland at Portland Public House
Dec 4 – Auckland at NZ Psych Fest
Dec 12– Auckland at Golden Dawn