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Sep 13, 2024 Web Exclusive By Mark Redfern Photography by Paloma Bomé

To end the week, we ask Matthew Caws of Nada Surf some questions about endings and death.

Nada Surf’s new album, Moon Mirror, is their first for New West and is released today. It comes out as the band celebrates the 30th anniversary of their debut single, “The Plan”/“Telescope.” The band produced the album with Ian Laughton (Supergrass, Ash), recording it at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales.

For the past three decades Nada Surf’s main lineup has remained: Caws (vocals, guitar), Daniel Lorca (bass, vocals), and Ira Elliot (drums). Longtime collaborator Louie Lino is also part of the current lineup. The band formed in 1992, initially under the name Helicopter. Ric Ocasek of The Cars produced the band’s 1996-released debut album, High/Low. Ever since, Nada Surf have released a steady stream of beloved power-pop albums.

Of the new album, Caws said in a press release announcing it: “Every time we make an album, I’m asked (and ask myself) what it’s about. I never know how to answer that question. I’m still trying to figure everything out, and that’s probably as close to a theme as there is. Looking back over the years, I know what our songs are about in theory: trying to reach acceptance (of circumstances, of oneself, of others), connection, a constant search for possibility and the bright side, a willingness to change, forgiveness, curiosity, checking in with one’s mortality, motivations and judgements, etc. But in the moment when making one up, I have no idea what I’m doing and maybe that’s okay. I’m just trying to stay honest with myself and take my best guess at making sense of the world.”

Read on as Caws talks about the songs he’d want played on his deathbed and at his funeral, his favorite movie ending, doubling up on the jam, and why hell is a nasty email.

How would you like to die and what age would you like to be?

100? I’d like to just expire in bed, but I’d like the end to come really quickly, from still being able to walk with a walker to dying.

What song would you like to be playing at your deathbed?

“Thursday Afternoon” by Brian Eno. It’s music, but it’s also just feeling and atmosphere. It’s an hour long, piano notes appearing here and there, little unidentifiable swells, some nature sounds. I put it on when I’m driving into London, or doing something else stressful. It makes me centered and content. I’d like to feel that on my deathbed, so that I can be at peace and let go.

What song would you like to be performed at your funeral and who would you like to sing it?

I just went to a beautiful funeral yesterday, for a neighbor. Had me thinking about my own. On the one hand, the most obvious choice is for it to be an emotive song, but I think I’d rather help people be in a good mood. “I Can’t Explain” by The Who is the first song that got me deeply excited and made me happy. So maybe just a record playing. I wouldn’t want to ask anyone to sing at my funeral. Songs with unclear lyrics or lyrics that are hard to understand would be good too, so that people could think about whatever they wanted to think about. Two of my favorites like that are R.E.M.‘s “Shaking Through” and New Order’s “Dreams Never End.” I love when I can only understand a few lyrics in a song but really like them, so that my subconscious can assume I’d like them all. It feels good to be in that psychic space.

What’s your favorite ending to a movie?

At the end of Jojo Rabbit, Elsa comes outside and realizes that the Nazis lost. She slaps Jojo for lying (he wanted her to stay in hiding so that they could be together longer so he convinced her the war wasn’t over). He then asks her what they should do now. She starts swaying a little and they both start dancing to “Helden,” Bowie’s German-language version of “Heroes.” There’s so much relief and hope in the scene. There’s also something very moving about hearing those lyrics in German, as if you’re hearing the language and the country starting to be reborn, finally free from the monster within it.

What’s your favorite last line in a book?

I don’t have one in my mind. I’m going to assume that it’s in a book by Kurt Vonnegut. I love how he can be so emotional without being sentimental. I have often thought that his paragraphs have great last sentences.

What’s your favorite series finale last ever episode of a TV show? (Or what’s your least favorite?)

Again, I don’t remember any enough to say? I think I forget a lot of things I experience. On the subject of last episodes, I was reading so much on social media at the time about the last episode of Breaking Bad that I started watching the show. But I’d just been watching Homeland and it had taken over my life. I was really getting into Breaking Bad but it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have time to binge-watch another show, so in a fit of self-preservation I went onto Wikipedia and read the whole plot. It worked, I was saved! I’m sure it’s a great show, but sometimes we have to make choices.

What’s your favorite last song on an album?

My current favorite is “Good Night,” the last song on The Beatles’ White Album, because I’d somehow never heard it until last week. I adore them, and their songs hold some of my best memories of discovering music, but I’m not an obsessive, but it was still a big surprise to me that I’d never gotten to the end of the album. I love how different it is, like a film soundtrack. Also, what a kindness it is to make sure you get some sleep when the album’s over.

What’s your favorite last album by a band who then broke up?

Even though they have since reformed, I’d have to say Trompe Le Monde by the Pixies. It’s an incredible album. I saw Black Francis play a solo show at Maxwells in Hoboken right before it came out. He played electric guitar through a cranked Marshall amp, just like it was a full band show, but one where he just happened to be alone. It was extremely loud and extremely fantastic. I remember “Planet of Sound” being one of the most exciting things I had ever heard.

What’s your favorite way a band broke up?

Though it must have been such a bummer for Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler, I can’t help but think there is something romantic about The Jam going out on top, just like the end of The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” just cutting out, no reverb trail, no nothing. Of course now I’m reading about it and it turns out that they tried to talk to him after and he wouldn’t. That’s not so great if true. Well then R.E.M., no fight, just turning off the light.

Whose passing has most affected you?

John Lennon and Elliott Smith. I learned about Lennon having been shot by seeing the headline on a newspaper in someone’s hands on the downtown bus after school. It was my sister’s sixteenth birthday. I lived almost directly across Central Park from him. The shock hung in the air like fog. When Elliott died there was that same shock in the air. You could feel sadness on people like they were suddenly wearing a second coat. Oh, and Adam Yauch. He just seemed like the very best person.

If you were on death row, what would you like your last meal to be?

Peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich, with more jam than I would normally use. Both the chewy texture and the jam sugar kick might be just distracting enough to give me one more second forgetting where I was. I like a PBJ so much I’d often order it in a restaurant if it was on the menu.

What’s your concept of the afterlife?

I don’t think there is one, I think everything just stops. Blank. Suddenly never forever.

What would be your own personal version of heaven if it exists?

Early morning, empty city. I’m not saying I don’t want people to be there, I’d like to think of them home, asleep and content, but I like empty streets. Maybe meeting a friend for a muffin and coffee.

What would be the worst punishment the devil could devise for you in hell, if he exists?

He would have me send out a series of ill-conceived emails that were unkind and offensive, and then read the justifiably hurt and incensed stinging replies.

If reincarnation exists, who or what would you like to be reincarnated as?

I’d like to come back as myself, just much smarter, calmer, and more focused.

What role or achievement would you most like to be remembered for?

I’d like to be remembered as having had a net positive effect on any group or organization or gathering I was in or part of. I’m not saying I am, but I’d like to be.

What would you like your last words to be?

I’m not sure, but I know what I would like it to say on my tombstone: “Sorry I’m late.” I’d be fine going out with a pun.

www.nadasurf.com

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