Nada Surf’s high/low

6 months agoby Mark & Thom

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Mark and Thom go for a bit of a deeper 90’s cut for this episode of Once, Every Two Weeks as they revisit Nada Surf’s 1996 release, High/Low.

Welcome back to Once Every Two Weeks, a podcast where long-time friends, Mark and Thom, take a nostalgic trip back to their high school years to discuss the albums that impacted them and, for better or worse (though mostly for the worse), shaped who they are today.

Before diving into the music, Mark and Thom discuss the trailer for the new The Crow movie, its casting choices, and their expectations. Thom shares his experience of taking his daughter to her first concert to see Jimmy Eat World, while Mark brings updates from Burro Borracho Records for Columbia Jones and Regan Ashton. They also talk about how Taylor Swift is monopolizing the vinyl market, to the detriment of literally every other artist in the world.

Then they delve into the evolution of Nada Surf, covering Matthew Caws’ childhood, his first band Because, Because, Because, their disintegration, and what led to the formation of Nada Surf. Listen to how a fortuitous meeting with Rick Ocasek, frontman of the band The Cars, fast-tracked their journey. Mark and Thom talk about the band’s early days, including how Ocasek helped them produce their first album, which was recorded at Electric Lady Studios. Mark and Thom spend some time discussing their biggest single “Popular” and how a song that resonated with diverse audiences for different reasons had a distinct resonance with the 90’s music scene but also eclipsed some of the genius of the rest of their album.

And, always, they’ll do a play-by-play breakdown of all songs from high/low and give you their top 3 songs from the album.

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Mark & Thom

MARK:
Mark is the creative director and co-founder of Burro Borracho Records. After high school he spent a few years working as a manager with Wherehouse Music. He occasionally plays drums and has been in such non-productive go nowhere band start ups that no one has ever heard of like The Unsex, Avenue C, The Reaganauts, and Next Time I See Murphy (which also saw him play some guitar and take on vocal duties). He was the original drummer for Quiet Morning & the Calamity but left the band to pursue a degree in Motion Graphic Design.
During his college years, as photo editor of his school newspaper, his review of Radiohead's Kid A won first prize for Critical Review in a California statewide collegiate journalism contest. After graduating with his degree he filled in back on drums for QM&TC's first national tour in support of their debut EP Son of the Sad Soul, which features the song Gambling On Old Tires which Mark co-wrote.
Thanks to the influence of his mother who spent all her years playing guitar and singing folk songs, as well as three older brothers with drastically differing musical tastes, Mark has always known the important role music can and should play and has been a music fan all his life but he's only been a stubborn overly opinionated asshole about the superiority of his on musical tastes since his early teenage years. At the last count he had about 1,200 compact discs. Yes, he still collects cds.

THOM:
Thom's a digital marketer by day and armchair theologian, podcaster, writer, amateur home chef, and beer aficionado by night. When not working, he's a typical family man with a propensity to create.