One of the coolest things about the Surfguitar101 Festival is the burst of new releases occurring in advance of a band's appearance. For instance we've got fun LPs from The NovaRays, The Bloat Floaters, a live LP from The Delstroyers (who you will see mentioned in the next paragraph), I've heard there's likely an LP from The Other Timelines, I've been let in on a sneak peak at some new Frigidaires, a single from The Surf Coasters, DVDs of The Sound of The Surf (and some copies of that great new Legends of Surf LP if that counts), maybe a CD EP from The Fuzziyama Surfers, and those are just the ones I know about! Almost every year I walk out with a record I expected to hear months later, or sometimes something I didn't expect at all!
But one that I expect to make an impact is The Woodhavens. They're a bit of a known entity: lead guitarist Mel from The Evanstones, bassist Lukas from The Delstroyers, and they've been playing shows in the Pacific Northwest for a few years now. But for those of us not in that area, they are a bit of an unknown: all we have are a few singles from 2021 made by Mel alone. And what even is a Woodhaven? I suppose a haven in the woods is nice but I don't know what it sounds like as a surf band.
So when Lukas slipped me a few preview tracks about two weeks ago, maybe I should have expected something great, but I felt sucker-punched nonetheless. These are hot! They are self-ascribed "a reverb-drenched surf party bound in punk-inflection", and while none of that is untrue, there's a bit more to it than that, which is a good thing for somebody writing a review. First of all, surf purists may approach without fear of disgusting punk distortion pedal: this is 100% drippy surftone, the sort where sometimes it feels like the rhythm guitar's job is to keep it wet while the lead works. The punk influence is mostly just in tenacity, sort of like how The Nebulas can sneakily play trad surf if you want to look at them that way. That said, they cross a little further in two instances: "The Tunnel", which changes drumming patterns and becomes a lot more directly punk, and the cover of Operation Ivy's "Bankshot", a song that has been waiting for a surf band to cover it for over 30 years.
Speaking of that tenacity, a lot of them teeth comes from the engineering, which was done by Evan Foster at his No-Count recording studios. According to a social media post, he lent his guitar talents to the record as well, but I found no notes as to which song, so I'm going to take a swing and say either "The Eruptors" or "The Warden" because those are two songs where the sound of it made me think "Oh yeah, this reminds me of that recent Boss Martians record". I will edit this post later when I find out how I did. UPDATE: WRONG! "Andiamo" and "Jojo & The Seven Seas". I had considered "Andiamo" as it sounded like there were more guitars, but I decided to go with my gut. And my gut was WRONG.
But with all this talk of toughness and a cool jacket on the cover and all, it's also a record literally named after friendship (barkada is very loosely a group of pals, I had to look it up) and that sweetness isn't hidden at all. The title track, second one in, has such a warm & fuzzy riff despite the rumbling tone, and the next track "The Heat" similarly has a tone of open and inviting summer fun. and "Andiamo" has a great nostalgic vibe to it. That ability to mix good feels with grit and sharp, concise riffs is something I've always ascribed to The Volcanics, and I suspect fans of that band will feel at home here.
Barkada is a knockout of a debut, and while I was approaching seeing them at SG101 with eager curiosity, now I'm thrilled at the chance to hear these songs loud and live. This is a big and proud record with smart and simple surf riffs full of heart. What else could you ask for?
You can get it analog (vinyl), physical digital (CD), or digital digital (bandcamp and whatever), and it's a Double Crown release if you wanna grab it from them.
