Nada Surf Biography

Alternative rockers Nada Surf teamed singer/guitarist Matthew Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca, longtime school friends who played together in various bands throughout their formative years. After Lorca spent a year in Spain, he returned to New York in 1988, where he and Caws eventually formed Because Because Because; by 1993 the group had mutated into Nada Surf, issuing an indie label single which won them a contract with a European label.

After recording an LP, the band's original drummer quit and was replaced by ex-Fuzztone Ira Elliot; the European deal then fell through, but a demo copy of the completed album was passed to Ric Ocasek (formerly of new wavers The Cars, who agreed to produce the sessions if Nada Surf wished to re-record the material. The trio soon signed to Elektra, and with Ocasek at the helm they cut their 1996 debut LP, 'High/Low'; some of the completed European tracks also made their way onto an EP, Karmic.

Nada Surf returned in 1998 with their second full-length, 'The Proximity Effect'. The band's third album, 'Let Go' followed in 2002; it was reissued with additional tracks on Barsuk in 2003. Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla produced Nada Surf's second album for Barsuk, 'The Weight Is a Gift'. The band's fifth album, 'Lucky' was released in February 2008.