SOUTH SURREY — It's hard to believe that the guys in South Surrey hard-rock band Switch to Black are just 16.
The way the trio — singer-guitarist Curtis Heimburger, bassist Slade Brown and drummer Adam Keane — held the audience's attention during the city's second-ever PechaKucha Night Feb. 4 at Surrey's City Hall suggested they'd been a band for years. And, their stage presence screams — literally — that they're beyond their years.
But maybe that's because they're used to playing for audiences outside of their age group.
"We don't have very many places in Surrey that we can easily play that's actually a good place for an all-ages show," Slade explained at the band's jam space, a room in the Heimburgers' basement, adorned in The Who posters, a Beatles mural and photos of The Sex Pistols and Ozzy Osbourne.
"So we have to, for a lot of shows, go somewhere outside of Surrey because they don't have very good venues for young people in Surrey."
Frontman Curtis agrees with his bandmate, saying the trio often has to make the trek to Vancouver to play their brand of hard rock and punk.
"Unless you're a girl with a guitar, you can't really find much action around here," he quipped.
Curtis also performs as a solo artist at places like the Wired Monk and Roadhouse Grille. Last spring, he won the Diamond in the Rock contest, an annual youth talent search on the Semiahmoo Peninsula.
But, as a group, the teens don't get much of an opportunity to play for their peers in Surrey.
"(In Vancouver), this volunteer organizationcalled Safe Amp keeps it (Astorino's, an allages venue on Commercial Drive) going, lets bands rent it out for a night and do shows, and it's really cool, but there's just nothing out here. And if you want to do something at some sort of hall, you have to pay a certain amount and you have to have a lot of parents keeping security," Curtis says.
"If you want to play here, you have to do it for the City of Surrey, basically. You can't just put on a show," Adam added.
Switch to Black has performed as part of the Cloverdale Youth Fest, White Rock's Sea Festival, Surrey's Canada Day event — all of which the group were happy to play. They say, however, there are certain sensitivities to consider.
"We can't play most of our heavier songs out there. The energy is different," Slade said.
"As a rock band, when you go to East Vancouver and play in a little hall place, everybody is into it. You can really get into your full energy when you're throwing your body around, screaming into the microphone, but when you're doing it on the beach on a sunny day, it's not cool."
When they are able to thrash about the stage and give it their all, that's when the boys can really act their age. Maybe it's not so hard to believe they're still teenagers, after all.
When asked what their music's subject matter is mostly about, Curtis jokingly made a fist and said with a growl, "Teen angst!"
He then laughed and answered more seriously.
"People, and today's culture and society and all that. Random things. Most of the general sense of the songs are just making fun of people," explained Curtis, who begins work on most of the band's songs, with Slade and Adam adding in their parts during jam sessions."
Usually if someone's listening to my songs, they'd be like, 'What? That's not him,' and its like 'Yeah, because I'm being super sarcastic about it,' so that's the general sense of most of my lyrics," he admitted.
The three-piece recently released Nascent Noise, a five-track debut EP that blends punk, grunge and desert rock (see link below). The album was produced by Chris Young of the White Rock band Hawking, formerly known as Tommy Alto.
For the 19-plus crowd, Switch to Black performs at Joe's Apartment this Saturday (Feb. 21), along with The Travis James Band, Marry Me and Out Of The Nowhere. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance from the bands or online, $12 at the door.
kalexandra@thenownewspaper.com
<a href="http://switchtoblack.bandcamp.com/album/nascent-noise" _cke_saved_href="http://switchtoblack.bandcamp.com/album/nascent-noise">Nascent Noise by Switch to Black</a>