INTERVIEW with Beach Slang.

Photo: Dom Meason

Beach Slang might have had a charmed run so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. Despite gathering an insane amount of momentum (and a legion of dedicated misfits and weirdos) since the release of 2014’s EP Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken, the the Philadelphia punk-rockers have suffered lineup change after lineup change, with members leaving due to everything from onstage tantrums to long dead allegations.

However, for frontman James Alex, things have never looked rosier. Buoyed by the success of 2016’s A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings, flanked by new members and halfway through a relentless nine months of non-stop touring, it is clear that Beach Slang are back and ready to push harder than ever before.

“This is the year.” Says Alex. “By design. I mean, there’s no record this year; it’s just work. It’s just the road.”

With his sunglasses and leather jacket despite the 27 degree heat, he’s the picture of disenfranchised cool, but his childlike enthusiasm betrays him. Permanently leaning forward, he flits from one anecdote to the next in his eagerness to answer any question put to him, but when asked about the bands he’s had the opportunity to work with, he can’t get his words out fast enough:

“I’ll be cliche and say they were all [Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, The Dropkick Murphys] amazing, but I promise you that’s true- they’re as sweet as they are brilliant.

But Jimmy Eat World, we toured with them for like a year. We lived with those cats for a while. I’ll make a confession: I was kind of nervous about the Dropkick shows because I wanted to do those shows because I love that band so much, like I'm an Irish kid right? As soon as we got there though, I won't even say I felt welcomed, I felt like we were family. So I went from being afraid to wishing it was a full long tour.”

That’s not to say the whole thing was a cakewalk, as there was a lot of insecurity regarding how Beach Slang would be received in such a different environment.

“I was thinking during those Dropkick shows,” Alex explained “there’s going to be character building here. Like, if I can step out on that stage if in front of a group that I'm convinced at this point isn't going to care about what we do, I'm going to be stronger later.” Even outside of the tour, he seems a little taken aback by his success, something that comes out when talking about the festival circuit. Talking about 2000 Trees in particular, and his headline slot on the biggest tent available, he admits:

“I remember finding out [about the headline slot] and even getting the poster, and I always always start at the bottom of each line and go upwards. And I called the guys and I was like ‘holy - the fonts getting so much bigger!”

Alex’s tentative approach to the acclaim they receive might be endearing, but it’s also surprising, because given the amount of work they’ve put in it’s hardly undeserved. Their tour schedule is more intense than most, but it never feels grueling for one reason: being on the road is an integral part of what it means to be in Beach Slang.

“Touring is the most honest affected human way to connect.” He says. “It's like you can make a really brilliant record, but there is something that matters so damn much about being in the same room, and exchanging energy and sweat and bombast and danger together. It just feels like that has to happen to really have somebody come into the world that you write.

It's like without that it's kind of like you're painting on the wall. You're a piece of their aesthetic but you haven't affected each other in a real way.”

That’s not to say that touring isn’t difficult, as even Alex calls it “a weird way to live”, but according to both him and Beach Slang’s drummer Cully, it was the solid bonds formed in the new line-up that made the “pressure cooker of living together in a van” bearable. That was no accident either, because when it came to choosing new musicians to join the gang, compatibility was top priority:

“It's like when we looked for new people it wasn’t ‘how well do you play?’. It was ‘what's your caliber as a human being?’”

If anything, those choices ended up working a little too well.

“The vibe between us right now is achingly lovely. I mean it's like, so sugary sweet that I think people think we’re making it up.” Alex explains. “You know and people actually say that for sure - Like are you guys full of shit?” Cully chimes in. “And we have to be like, no! We just love each other!”.

Even as they’re joking that they have to “schedule a fistfight on stage to prove [their] legitimacy”, the camaraderie is obvious. They seem as loved up and excited as any new band, and in many ways they are. It’s clear that as long as, as Alex puts it, “we’re still saying that we’re glad we got hitched”, there’s no limit to what their optimistic brand of punk rock can offer the world.

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