It’s a few minutes before eight on a Tuesday night, but Midriffs are just coming alive.
Felix is in a corner of their practice space at Theives Grotto, groggily tuning his bass in the midst of waking up from a nap. Nick, the band’s drummer, is the only member that isn’t half asleep after getting back from a Tall Juan show in Providence in the early hours of the morning. Felix and Nick join the rest of band upstairs and immediately begin fishing through “the Graveyard”, a cardboard box of loose tobacco and fuzz where, as Felix states, “cigarettes go to die.”
Considering the fact that the surf punk four piece solidified their lineup as recently as this winter, Midriffs are the kind of band that exude a welcoming kind of camaraderie, even when woken up from a collective nap.
Erica, the band’s guitarist, credits herself as the “comic relief.” TJ, the singer, guitarist, and sole original member, also mentions the fact that he is a Virgo with “good eyes.” Felix claims his primary roles as “senpai, fiscal advisor, and driver,” additionally boasting that he is a five-star-rated driver according to Lyft. Nick, meanwhile, simply insists on being referred to as “Aruba Grandpa” for the remainder of our conversation.
The original iteration of Midriffs came about in 2014 after TJ and friends from home recorded Subtle Luxuries, an incredibly promising LP that makes conscious meeting points between psych rock, lo-fi, and surf punk tendencies. To potentially add some credibility, the band included a screenshot in the album’s digital release of a disgruntled landlord’s email, banning the band from recording in the apartment’s attic.
The band spent the next year building on that promising-yet-smirking talent, becoming integral members of Boston’s fuzz scene and eventually getting a feature on last year’s House of the Rising Fuzz compilation. Amidst this, the Subtle Luxuries-era Midriffs largely went back to college, leaving TJ to assemble Midriffs 2.0 with members of local bands Littlefoot and Puzzle Mansion.
“We just weren’t spending enough time playing together in my band, [Littlefoot],” Erica adds, “so I just joined Midriffs. We’re slowly merging into one person at this point.”
After picking up Aruba Grandpa on a tour stop in Philadelphia and adding him as their drummer, Midriffs’s shows have continued growing in crowd-surfing fervor, but will be tested on Monday when the band opens for psych rock demigod Ty Segall at the Royale. The band will be joined by CFM, the new band of Bay Area psych rock stalwart and Segall band member Charles Mootheart.
“I can’t think of anything as big that we’ve played [as this show],” TJ states.
“Actually,” Felix recalls, “TJ, [our friend] Sam, and I played this big school show at my school, MassArt. It was one of those shows where everyone’s parents and sister basically had to come and watch each other’s kid be ridiculous. We were called The Lunchbox, we did two Pink Floyd covers and I rapped. We peaked before we were even Midriffs.”
As each member discusses expectations for their first rider (TJ is simply requesting “snacks”, Erica wants Darude’s “Sandstorm” playing in the green room, Felix wants everyone attending to bring a bottle of ginger ale, and Aruba Grandpa wants to be carried to and from the show like a baby), it becomes clear that if any band should represent the reckless talent of the psych rock scene bubbling up from Boston’s basements, Midriffs are undeniably solid candidates.
“We’re gonna rock,” TJ concludes about the show.
“We’re probably gonna nerd out so much,” Erica adds as the band devolves into planning how to get a thousand cap room to throw ginger ales on stage.
Midriffs will be playing alongside CFM, and, of course, the great Ty Segall & The Muggers at the Royale on 3/1. Tickets are nearly sold out, but are still available here. Or, if you like your chances, enter our contest before 2/29 to win comps!