HATE DRUGS brings tropical surf rock from California to Local 506

California-based indie/surf rock band HATE DRUGS will be performing Wednesday night at Local 506. Staff writer Amelia Keesler spoke with the members of HATE DRUGS about their music, life on tour and the importance of a good burger after jamming on stage. 

The Daily Tar Heel: Tell me about the origins of the band. How did HATE DRUGS form?

David Caploe, (lead vocals, guitar): In 2014 I was jamming with some guys – Josiah and Norman, who are in the band. We were just making music for fun and then the two other guys ended up moving out of state and it was a bummer because we were making some cool music. We weren’t really a band yet, although the name HATE DRUGS was being thrown around as a joke. 

I ended up making an EP which was “Rough Daze,” our first EP. I just put it out on Soundcloud and I didn’t plan on doing anything with it other than putting it on the internet, but people started listening to it and liking it. I was like, "I want to play this stuff." I thought it would be cool to put a band together. 

I ended up getting in contact with (future bandmates) Adrian and John through one of the guys that was jamming with us before he moved. Josiah is my brother and Norman is his best friend, so that’s how that came about. Adrian and John were best friends from high school so they came as a package. It was like two families coming together and ever since then it’s been the same line-up. 

DTH: How did you come up with the band's name? 

DC: That was actually Josiah who came up with that. We just threw band names around for fun and that was one that just stuck out to me. It was kind of complex — it made you think about it. It was different, so we ended up just starting to call the project that and it stuck. 

DTH: Who are your music inspirations? 

DC: Personally, I like a lot of Casanova and jazz stuff. That is really inspiring music for me — not necessarily for this project. For the project I listen to Bon Iver and Local Natives and Fleet Foxes, The Drums, Mac DeMarco — a lot of different stuff. 

Norman Lee (lead guitar): I would say my inspirations are people that are really knowledgeable with their gear as well as their musicianship. So I love artists like John Mayer, and some of the jazzy-rock kind of guys because they’re typically really innovative with the way they play, and with their equipment as well. Bands like Entheos and The Zenith Passage — I like electronic artists like Baths and people like that. I just like music, what can I say? 

Adrian Diaz (drums): I think a couple bands inspire all of us collectively. I know John and I are inspired by Kings of Leon rhythm section stuff. It ranges to fusion jazz like Snarky Puppy kind of stuff and even listening to D’Angelo and Ginuwine for some of that hip-hop stuff. It’s all over the place I think. 

John Irwin IV (bass): I would say some of my inspirations are classic rock artists like Eagles and other newer artists such as Vampire Weekend and Kings of Leon, as Adrian said. I think Kings of Leon is probably my biggest inspiration in music. Everyone’s pretty on the same page when it comes to music. 

DTH: Tell me about your latest album, "Tsunami Soul II."

DC: So, "Tsunami Soul II" is our debut album. We spent about 10 months recording the album and that was a lot longer than we thought it was going to take. There is actually a little documentary series about the making of the album on YouTube because our friend was filming the process and it ended up during into a really long, big thing because of a bunch of stuff that happened.

A lot of the songs have a huge range of when they were written and stuff. Some of the songs were some of the first songs that we made as HATE DRUGS, and some of the other songs on the album were made in the recording process. So, even just the songs on the album span two and a half years, so it’s kind of an expansive project. The album is part of a series of albums. 

DTH: What's it like going on tour, getting to play your music for your fans live?

DC: It’s super, super fun. Making music is awesome — I think playing music might be even more fun. Especially sharing it with other people and watching them enjoy it, because a lot of times when we make a song we’re so excited about it, and it’s a really fun, special thing. And then we play it a lot, and so sometimes it loses a little bit of that original spark. But seeing fans enjoy the music brings that light back into the song. It’s exciting. Being on tour is super fun, too, because we all get to be together and see the country and have all these crazy and weird experiences together. 

DTH: What's your favorite song to perform?

DC: I would say our number one collectively would be "So Cruel." I think we could all agree that we get the most down on that songs. Technically it’s a newer song because we haven’t recorded it yet, but it’s actually been out for a long time. 

DTH: Do you have any pre-show or after-show rituals?

DC: Back home we go to In-N-Out a lot of times after our shows, even if we’re playing out of town in California. We’ll go to In-N-Out and invite any fans who want to come have dinner with us. So yeah, probably we’ll go eat after shows and invite people to come with us. And then pre-show rituals, we always do a little huddle before we play and we go through the set list and do a "three, two, one, let’s get tropical."

DTH: Do you have any new music in the works? Can we expect a new record soon?

DC: Yeah, we actually have demoed our second album already, and when we get home from this tour we are going to try to wrap that up and have it out by summer. 

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