Ben Stapelman – Guitars, Vocals
Nick Panken – Guitars, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Jacob Sloan – Bass
Justin Aaronson – Drums, Backing Vocals

It’s a Saturday night, and I’m sitting in my apartment in the Lower East Side, waiting for Surefire, New York’s youngest buzz band, to arrive. Ben calls me. “We’re lost,” he says, “so we came to Pianos.” I give them directions, and a few minutes later, they’re coolly bounding up the stairs. Nick is the first one in, and he informs me that Justin is running late. They take in my apartment, and Nick wrestles playfully with my dog. Ben flips through my CD collection and finds a Sugar Ray album. “Awesome,” he muses, and tosses it back. Jacob is almost too quiet, leaning against a wall, arms crossed, an awkward smile on his face. Then Justin arrives, perhaps overly concerned with the appearance of his blazer, yet all smiles and gestures towards the rest of Surefire. They are playing shows and sharing bills with bands twice their age, they are further along in their musical career than most bands who are much older, and their taste and songwriting is beyond their years (they reference the Beatles’ inside jokes for Christ’s sake!) Yet, above all, one thing is clear: before being a band, these guys are best friends. For lack of better illustration, they are the kind of friends you have in high school. They are playful, they joke around and jab each other’s musical tastes, and they are all convinced they are in the best band in the world. Lately, the opinions of New York scenesters agree…

Cityzen: Lately, a lot of the bloggers and promoters around New York have been giving you guys great press. Dennis Cahlo of the Realistics is constantly singing your praises. Do you feel pressured to keep things as “indie” as possible, or is it okay to delve into the mainstream current a bit and soak up the attention?

Nick:  "Well, we’re not an indie band. We don’t try to mess up our songs to get credible. We like and definitely want press, and we want people to encourage other people to go to our shows. At the same time, we don’t want to be the best “New York” band, because you can’t really go somewhere from that. It’s a stepping stone."

Ben: If the people are gonna come and see us, and they like the music, then who the fuck cares where they heard about us? It doesn’t really bother us – we don’t even really hear all of this press. All we see are other bands getting the reviews we deserve.

Cityzen: There’s also been a lot of attention drawn to the fact that this band is quite young.

Justin: I think until people come to a show, they don’t take us seriously.

Ben: 21+ shows have been hard for us. We just can’t reach the 21+ crowd as much, yet – we’re not on the same age level, so we can’t just say, ‘Yeah, you’re our friend, so come see us.’

Nick: On the other hand, there’s no other band our age in New York that’s doing the same thing we are. It seems like everything’s been done, and this is the only void left to fill.

Justin: Most bands our age are just playing high school shows, which is where we started. But they haven’t progressed past that - they’re not playing clubs.

Ben: "People tend to be really unmotivated. And we’re a really hardworking band. I mean, we’ve played forty shows in the past year, and you can’t do that unless you’re constantly throwing yourself out there and working your butt off."

Cityzen: So take me behind the genesis of the band.

Justin: I love Genesis by the way!

Ben: And that almost broke up the band. (laugh) No, it started with me just playing guitar and singing by myself. And that was kinda lame.

Nick: And he was calling himself Surefire, and that was really lame! (laugh)

Ben: Justin played drums in the school band, and he was good. So we got together with a few other guys, but as it progressed we realized the other kids sucked. So we kicked them out. And then Nick, well, Nick couldn’t play. But he looks so cool.

Nick: So I pretty much learned the instruments. I’m in the process of learning the oboe now. (laugh) And then we met Jacob on the internet, through Craigslist. There were three bass players before him.

Justin: Not at the same time though. (laugh)

Ben: We played with another kid for a while, but he was a prick. And Jacob, have you heard him play? It took like two rehearsals and he nailed everything.

Cityzen: Is it cooler to be a bass player or drummer in the city being that most people prefer to be upfront?

Justin:  (snarkily) I have to disagree with that, because I think most people do want to be drummers but they can’t do it. So they settle for playing guitar.

Cityzen: Any common influences?

Nick: Starsailor and The Thrills!!

Justin: No. These two like the Thrills. Let’s make that clear.

Nick: Really, we agree that we like Starsailor and The Verve. Pink Floyd. Oasis and Coldplay.

Jacob: Everything is influenced by Pink Floyd, except the basslines. I don’t like their basslines.

Justin: I like Genesis. I listen to The Who. I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music. Dvorchak, his 9th Symphony is the best symphony ever written. I got to play timpani on it in the New World Orchestra. Jacob’s really into The Smiths and The Cure.

Cityzen: Given all those influences, how does the songwriting work in the band?

Jacob: Basically, Ben comes in with an acoustic version of the song.

Justin: Yeah, he comes in with the chords, lyrics and melody. Then it’s our job to make it sound Surefire.

Nick: And then we just take the song and sorta drive away.

Cityzen: Besides the instruments you play, are there any character roles you feel you take on in the band?

Nick: (points to Justin) Cranky. (points to Ben) Prince. (points to himself) Peacemaker. (points to Jacob) Quiet one.

Justin: If someone plays a wrong note, then I’m usually the one who…

Ben: (imitating Justin) “SHUT UP, YOU’RE WRONG!!! I’M NOT YELLING!!!”

Justin: (sheepishly) Yeah, I’ve said that before. Basically, I’m the one who tells people that something doesn’t sound good.

Ben:  "Well…okay, I’m going to reveal something big. Basically, I hear things that go wrong, but Justin and I will lock eyes, and I’ll just look at him, like, “That didn’t sound right, but I’m not going to say it. You’re going to say it.” Because it won’t sound right if I say it because I brought the song in. So now we’ve said that. We’ve blown it."

Cityzen: Pardon the cliché, but what is next for Surefire?

Nick: We wanna get back in the studio. We recorded this EP, and it got us attention. But we rapidly mature. From show to show, we are constantly changing and improving.

Ben: Jacob wasn’t even in the band when we recorded the EP. We’ve got a bunch of new tunes, and we want to get them down. As far as the end all, it’s the world. We want to take over the world. The industry has changed so much, so we just sort of take it as it comes and try and make the best music we can.

Cityzen: Cool. Well, that’s it.

Ben: We’re done? Oh, okay.

Nick: This is Jacob, by the way. He didn’t say much.

Final count? Over forty shows, hundreds of fans, five songs on an EP that’s garnered favorable comparisons to the best of Britpop, and four guys, who are the best of friends, who know how to laugh with each other, and who won’t settle for less than everything.

Surefire are playing a slew of shows throughout April and May, including an ASCAP Songwriters’ Showcase and a free show at Luna Lounge. They will also be sharing the bill with the GoStation at ‘Tiswas on May 15th.

For more information, visit www.surefireband.com