Hailing from the suburbs of Sydney, SURES are a talented young band with a penchant for infectious guitar riffs and unrestrained vocals. Forming in 2011, a heavy year of touring saw the four piece quickly amass a loyal fan base.
The 2012 EP Stars proved a popular follow up to their single “Poseidon”, surf-rock with retro taste and elements of Nada Surf’s warm melodic vocals.
Frontman Jonas Nicholls is a personification of the band’s chilled back, humorous ethos. As an example, the band’s twitter handle is @NotSures, mirroring their Facebook address “suresuresures.”
Not to mention the rather quirky title The Night Hero Waste Time Getting Better, which is a marked contrast from the simple title of their debut EP. “It sounds like an ancient proverb,” laughs Nicholls, “we’re thinking of putting the title into a fortune cookie.”
It’s perhaps symbolic that the sophomore EP title is so different, because The Night Hero Waste Time Getting Better demonstrates a more thoughtfully crafted set of tracks that bring together spacey melodies and catchy riffs.
“This year we decided to settle down a bit and get serious.” SURES certainly did, with a bigger range of sounds and textures. The opening track “The Night” is an anthem in itself.
Although clearly happy with the direction of this EP, Nicholls is not to diminish its meaning to the listener though verbose explanations. “It’s hard to explain the meaning without sounding self-indulgent,” he says of “Waste.” Instead, he prefers each song speak for itself, and the variety is there to let each listener make up their own minds.
Working with Dann Hume seems to have played a large part in achieving coherence in the EP. “He brought us into a new sonic area.” Hume has worked previously with Alpine and dream-pop quintet Snakadaktal, with SURES aspiring to capture that brand of pop in their own music.
“Live, we’re not as polished as those bands, we’re a bit looser,” explains Nicholls, “and we thought Dann would be a good match to get those dreamy sounds.”
“Waste”, the first release off the EP, captivates with its haunting lyrics and impressive tone.
“People that are into the music that we play are fans of indie in general, they have quite diverse taste.”Working with director William Colvin led to the creation of the song’s equally impressive video. The opening plain blue backdrop belies the strange visual elements that creep in as the clip progresses.
“He has really wacky ideas,” laughs the singer, referring to the unusual visual cues of hanging fish and burning flowers. “He brought a lot of inspiration for the video.”
Although featuring each member, the star of the video is by far guitarist Matt Hogan, who flails around the set with abandon. But apparently that’s nothing new.
“He goes even crazier in show. I was in a band with him when I was 13 and he was always knocking over stands and stuff.” Certainly a good omen for the quality of SURES’ live performance, albeit with a hint of danger for those in the front row.
The band have had plenty of time to hone their performance since their formation two years ago. “We were pretty much touring off the back of the first single. I think the first one was with The Real Estate,” recalls Nicholls. From then on in SURES took on a run of shows with the likes of Bleeding Knees Club and Best Coast.
Despite all the touring, the band have no problem finding time to write their material and tweak their arrangements. “A lot of these tracks we’ve been performing last year. So we already had our demo from our live shows.” The act of transforming them into the epic rock ballads and riotous becomes a matter of production aesthetic, rather than weeks or months of writing time.
Although, it’s not always easy juggling other commitments back home, each band member knows that they have to do the necessary ‘other stuff’. “I have a job which takes up a fair amount of time. A couple of guys go to uni, but a few of us also work at the same place” reveals the frontman, conjuring up images of an impromptu work place jam session.
In September, SURES will co-headline a national tour with Brisbane all-girl band Go Violets. It’s an unusual mix of styles, with only the broad term indie-pop linking the two bands sonically.
But it’s something that doesn’t faze Nicholls one bit. “People that are into the music that we play are fans of indie in general. I met Ruby at a show with rocky knees club about a month ago.” The two got along so well that it was mere weeks before a tour was arranged.
The five shows will be made up of a musical game of leap frog in each city. “We’ll headline Sydney and they’ll do Brisbane. I think we’re doing Melbourne too and they’re doing Wollongong and Adelaide.”
With the Go Violets known for ending set with the crowd pleasing Powerpuff Girls theme tune, Nicholls simply laughs at having to follow that. “The people into our music have quite diverse taste.”
Never mind diverse, the people into SURES’ music demonstrate excellent taste. The Hero Waste Time Getting Better is out now through Ivy League Records.
Sures Australian Tour 2013
CO-HEADLINE TOUR WITH GO VIOLETS
THU 12 SEP | WORKERS CLUB, MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets available from www.workersclub.com.au| (03) 9415 6558 | Tickets available from venue
FRI 13 SEP | YOURS & OWLS, WOLLONGONG NSW
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545| All Oztix Outlets
SAT 14 SEP | GOODGOD, SYDNEY NSW
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX | All Moshtix Outlets
SAT 21 SEP | ED CASTLE, ADELAIDE SA
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX | All Moshtix Outlets
WED 25 SEP | BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE QLD
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545| All Oztix Outlets
