Since The Surfin' Birds reformed in late summer 2020 they’ve been on an interesting and emotional journey. The Sharod brothers, Paul and Liam, rejoined forces with the bare bones of vocals/guitar/harmonica and a small 60s drum kit. The result was a sonic-primal garage rock sound, reminiscent of the early days when they would blast out fuzz riffs at high volumes above their parents’ garage. They were on a mission to get back out there with new music that represented their homegrown roots. They worked on new material while gigging and busking on the streets of their home town, Weymouth. In the wake of the first lockdown, Paul was also working as a bin man and spending every last penny on mics, amps, guitars, speakers and recording equipment with the aim of putting together the best portable D.I.Y. studio he could. The brothers learnt engineering techniques from 70s/80s music magazines found in a storage box in their mum’s attic, and also studied British R&B, Psychedelic and rock record producers, Mickie Most, Mike Vernon, Jimmy Page, Gyn and Andy Johns, to name a few, listening intently to pick apart the sounds that excited them. 

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Midway through recording this new duo album in 2021, they encountered a tall, dishevelled gent wearing a green 'Rodney Trotter' style parker at their local pub, The Belvedere. Robert Simmonds, a.k.a. Bobbie Sparks (taken from his mums maiden name) was picking away on his Rickenbacker bass. This unscheduled meeting was to change the course of the band. Paul and Liam found a friend with an encyclopaedic mind for a soundscape of music both new and old, who shared their disdain of modern music production for its slickness and lack of live energy, but most importantly, they found someone who was as serious and passionate about making music as they were. With this in mind Paul invited Bob to come jam at his flat in the heart of Weymouth. Bob was impressed with his vintage guitars and array of fender & vox amps, as well as Paul's pedal and vinyl collection. Joints were smoked into the early hours and jamming commenced. Liam joined on drums later and they started practising every week, twice a week. Little did they know, a local fanbase of homeless people, who were initially waiting for free fish and chips donated by the local chip shop, began to form outside the flat, anticipating the music that escaped from the two hundred year old sash windows above.

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The summer of 2022 passed and with nearly 40 gigs under their belt, the band were well-rehearsed and ready to start recording in mid-October. Liam and Paul's step dad Pete left them in charge of his bungalow while he and their mum Jacqui left on their holidays. This gave them the perfect opportunity to record a range of new numbers, plus re-record some old ones as a trio that they hadn’t perfected during their previous lockdown sessions as a duo

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Immediately following the live recording sessions, they moved the studio to Bob’s parents’ home for the next five months, while they were away fishing in Mexico. The band worked Monday to Friday, 8 hour days (sometimes even weekends when they weren't gigging) to craft the songs into shape. Though the sessions were recorded live, they still needed to record vocals, as well as guitar & bass overdubs. Bob was keen to take on the mixing and editing duties (with the help of Paul) and with limited knowledge on how to mix and no musical production training, he spent hundreds of hours experimenting with EQs and compression whilst listening to the entire discography of his favourite producer, Todd Rundgren, to gather ideas. By now they'd managed to slim the album down to 10 tracks. They settled on the name, “Blue Room”, named after the band that the brothers’ parents had formed in the early 1980s

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After almost three years of gruelling work, the album was finally coming to an end and Paul and Bob were making the final adjustments to the master tracks at Paul’s flat. Out of nowhere, a fire broke out in the chip shop below. Driven to action, they rushed down to help put the fire out with wet towels, but the black smoke became overwhelming and they had to vacate the building. As they sat outside, watching the fire quickly get worse, the realisation set in that all the recordings, equipment, and studio gear that they’d spent years of hard work on were about to go up in flames. So they did the unthinkable and ran back into the building to save what they could. Paul managed to leave with his late friend Tom’s Fender Telecaster, his dad’s 1983 Washburn acoustic and 1979 Gibson The Paul, while Bob slung his Rickenbacker bass over his shoulder and cradled the PC tower with all the music they’d recorded like a new-born baby and bolted towards the exit as smoke rose through the stairs. Thankfully, no one was hurt, nor was any music lost

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Blue Room is the amalgamation of thousands of hours of hard work, endless gigging and the birth of a DIY band that had a vision of becoming their own government. If the fire had had its way, the album would not be here today, although maybe it would in another three years. Though the album was not recorded in a high-tech studio with experienced industry producers, it is an honest reflection of the band’s infectious energy and excitement that has impacted their audiences time and again over the past few years. Take it for what it is in all its rawness and passion and enjoy this record as much as they have enjoyed creating it for you.