Over 30 bands played Fuzzstival 2015, but one of its more memorable highlights came on the last night when Black Beach held the stage.
As the band assumed post behind their instruments, it was hard to guess what the trio, well-dressed in short sleeved button downs and tidy haircuts, was about to perform. They looked neat and calm—you mostly expected them to invite you to a bonfire on a beach later that night; certainly not play a destructive, punk-inspired rock set that climaxed with the gnarliest version of “Surfin’ Bird” anyone in attendance had ever heard.
Steve Instasi laid his moaning vocals and feedback-laced guitar work atop a rolling boulder of a rhythm section, made up of bassist Ben Semeta and drummer Ryan Nicholson. You almost got the feeling that each member was on the verge of detonation. There was something under their tense veneer that was going to be let out, one way or another.
Maybe it was the fact that their bassist has become a local legend of sorts after putting out House of the Rising Fuzz, a compilation of garage-rock bands representing Boston’s most prominent music scene. Maybe it was the fact that the new songs they played were wild, untethered in a way that just felt right.
During the final moments of the set’s conclusion, Instasi flung his guitar over the stage’s side railing, leaving it to bombinate as the rest of the band concluded the surf-rock anthem.
Not many bands can boast the kind of reputation that Black Beach has already amassed, and without even putting out a full length. This week, that’s about to change. Friday, Black Beach is releasing their first LP, Shallow Creatures, and it feels more like a victory lap than a debut.
Instasi, Semeta, and I are chatting as we repackage vinyl records in Semeta’s apartment. There was a problem with the printing of the album’s artwork on the first batch, so four days before its release we’re pulling the discs out of the old packaging, placing them into the newly designed sleeves, aligning corners and delicately slipping them into their respective plastic tissues.
Erica from Littlefoot and Midriffs is watching Workaholics in the living room and a few members of Nice Guys are on their way over to help. The smell of freshly delivered pizza blankets the entire apartment. Everyone is in warm spirits.
I joke about the value as collectibles the original misprint may have in a few decades, which seems to surprise the two.
“I’ve never had the mentality that we were going to put out a record,” Instasi admits. “It just so happens that we have this many songs.”
“In the past, it was all just us writing a song apart,” Semeta adds. “That’s why we have all these three-song releases… Eventually, we just realized we had eight new songs.”
The three have been playing several of these for upwards of a year, allowing them to hone in on what they want, fitting to each others’ grooves, making the knocking of an album out in one charge seem effortless.
Shallow Creatures was recorded in just one eight-hour session at Q Division records. The opening track, “Self Portrait,” was done in only one take.
“You’re your own worst critic,” Semeta says. He has meticulously mastered the album for what seems like ages to him.
“After putting out House of the Rising Fuzz, I kind of got the gist of what it was to put out a record. And I was like, I can’t wait to do this for my band. But selling yourself isn’t as easy as selling, like, this project that everyone’s a part of.”
He adds that taking themselves more seriously as a band—touring, putting out a full length—really “helps with that anticipation of a record.”
The three have known each other for most of their lives, having played together in a lazy-susan-style rotation of many different, but still very much the same, bands.
“I’ve never had the mentality that we were going to put out a record… It just so happens that we have this many songs.”
After losing a lead singer of one of these when he moved to Florida, the band eventually re-settled just writing what they wanted to hear. They adopted the moniker Black Beach as an homage. “Black Sabbath, Beach Boys, Black Flag—all the coolest bands have at least one of those words, so I figured it’d be helpful to have both,” Instasi beams.
The influence shows. Black Beach manages to be simultaneously inspired by surf-rock riffs as well as the punch of hardcore punk in a sound that makes their cover of “Surfin’ Bird” not too far-fetched.
Shallow Creatures takes this to a new plane. The record is at once fast-paced and doomy, distilled with as much punk as psych-rock. Raw tempo changes and Instasi’s echoing, anxious lyricism make it complex in ways that are by no means overt.
Though the eight tracks conclude just shy of half an hour, they are the band’s most patient work. There is an air of violent restraint to Shallow Creatures. The instrumentation is spacious, spare but never empty. Each repeated phrase or frantic solo is given the attention it deserves.
“I’ve always wanted to put out a record. I’ve been playing guitar my whole life, I’ve wanted to be in a band my whole life, I’ve wanted to put out a record my whole life,” Instasi says. “Now they’re here… It’s a personal milestone.”
The album may be a milestone for the three, but, despite it not even being released, they’re already eager to craft the next. Black Beach is currently working on a handful of skeletons that may soon work their way into an upcoming performance.
Allston Pudding is proud to premiere the full stream of Shallow Creatures. Listen below. If your face begins to amorphously drip upon contact, do not be alarmed. This is normal, expected even.
Shallow Creatures is out Friday, March 4 via Basement Sounds. Be sure to catch the album’s release show the same day at the Middle East Upstairs with Dent, Steep Leans, and The Mardi Kings, presented by Illegally Blind. The show is 18+ and tickets are available for $12 here.