Unlike the last time FIDLAR vanished for a stretch of nearly five years, the span of time since 2019 has featured plenty of hints at new material from the West Coast garage-punk icons and cheap-beer marketers. There was the three-part Don’t Fuck With EP series, dredging up archival material annually between 2022 and 2024, with an EP of new recordings titled That’s Life landing somewhere in between. There was also a full-length record of acoustic versions of their own songs and covers, while, of course, their rowdy live shows also kept them busy.
Yet all of that doesn’t make it any less exciting to see the band return with their first LP since Almost Free, a return to form of sorts for the DIY-minded surf imps who opted to forgo the pricey studio trappings and instead recorded Surviving the Dream entirely on their own. There’s no overthinking it on these 13 raw recordings, which generally saw the band following their immediate instincts to bring fragments of songs to fruition—even building layers upon demos rather than re-recording them in order to clean up the sound. The result is precisely what turned us on to their fuck-it-dawg attitude over a decade ago: “top-down, soaking-in-the-rays song about being bummed out and needing to party through the sadness,” as bassist Brandon Schwartzel puts it.
With the self-released Surviving the Dream out today, stream the record and check out Schwartzel’s full track-by-track breakdown of it below. Additionally, you can order the album and find the band’s upcoming tour itinerary here.
1. “Fix Me”
Zac [Carper] had this one swimming around in his head for a little while, and then the three of us jammed it out and got an arrangement in the rehearsal space. I feel like this one really found its identity in the studio. Zac had been into this guitar called the Sustainiac (listen to our cover of The Vines’ “Get Free”) that just holds a note forever. That effect became the bed that we then built upon with Zac’s absolutely shredded vocals being the cherry on top.
2. “Low”
This song we actually came up with in a soundcheck. It was the first time we’d ever done a show as a three-piece, because our touring guitarist at the time was unavailable. It was this random rally car race in Las Vegas called Nitro Cross. Kind of a weird set, as we were just performing as people were walking to their cars after the race, but we got this song out of it so…totally worth it.
3. “Sad Kids”
The ukulele, the four-on-the-floor drum beat, more hooks than a tacklebox—this is just a top-down, soaking-in-the-rays song about being bummed out and needing to party through the sadness. Pretty on-brand for us.
4. “Down n Out”
This was one of the few songs off Surviving the Dream that we got to play live before going into the studio. I think the first time we played it was at Pappy & Harriet’s for our second annual FIDmas show. We were all in Santa suits in a way-too-packed room of sweaty FIDiots (our fans) and decided to give it a go. The response was insane, so we knew we had a keeper. Also, our buddy Killian was hanging at the studio when we were recording, and we had him record the voice message part after one or maybe six beers.
5. “Orange County”
This is probably one of the oldest songs on the record that we had in our back pocket. We tracked this one in the same session we did “Nudge,” before we had the plan to do a full record. We had it pretty much recorded and ready to go since right after the That’s Life EP. Then, when we got around to getting tunes together for the album, we were like, “Well, this song’s sick, and it’s already done and works with the others, so fuck yeah...one down!”
6. “Break Your Heart”
Our chill moment on the record—which is pretty rare for us, but I think we’re pretty good at it. We usually have that discussion when working on new songs, and usually the instinct is to make it louder, faster, bigger! I think that just comes from our live shows and the energy exchange that happens in that space. But we decided to keep this one chill, more like our Unplug EP. I think it’s a nice break in the record and it just made sense to do that with this one.
7. “Get Off My Wave”
I mean, this is about as straightforward of a FIDLAR song as it gets. High-energy, surfy guitars, barking vocals. This one was made to go off live. We haven’t unleashed it yet at a show, but I feel like it’s gonna be a psycho one.
8. “Change”
A song that had been cooking for awhile, maybe even pre–That’s Life. It’s another one I can see going off live. Just the tried-and-true FIDLAR formula: loud, louder, loud. We did, however, end it on a kind of indie/Modest Mouse–esque outro, which made the little emo boy inside me very happy. Or sad. You know what I mean.
9. “Making Shit Up”
This track Zac had the demo for forever. I think the usual instinct is to re-record everything for a song when you’re making a record, but for this one, the demo was great. We kinda just opened up the session and built on top of it. If it’s not broken, why fix it, ya know?
10. “Dog House”
This song’s about when your partner finds some non-prescribed “bad medicine” and is mad at you and makes you sleep on the couch. Probably one of the most fun to record for me, as I did about seven vocal takes doing different kinds of dog barks and howls.
11. “I Don’t Want to Do This”
To me, this is the pure, raw essence of FIDLAR: simple lyrics, simple song, pure energy. Being in a band, making music, and playing shows is fucking amazing, but just like anything, it also requires you to do a lot of things you don’t wanna do. This song’s about that.
12. “Nudge”
This song was inspired by something the owner of Balboa Recording (where we did the bulk of recording for Surviving the Dream), Danny Nogueiras, said regarding someone getting a DUI and getting a “nudge from the judge.” It kinda just fertilized that seed and let it grow from there.
13. “Hurt”
This one was a bit of a last-second “fuck it” decision we made in the recording process. Zac had this one with two others and showed it to Max [Kuehn] and I while we were in the studio. We loved it, and I remember Max being like “Fuck it, I’ll play on it right now,” and then we did our thing to it and boom. Sometimes not overthinking or being too precious can allow for some true alchemy.
