https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2014-06-06/more-x-games-austin-music-wavves/
Wavves can kick it with a skateboarding alien. In the video for "Post Acid," lead single from third LP King of the Beach, the San Diego crew trails a green-faced skater through a kaleidoscopic afternoon of partying and bromance. Turns out that the Martian mask concealed pro skateboarder Kevin "Spanky" Long.
In fact, his kind graced the artwork of the band's first two albums, full of beach-punk jams tailor made for rollin' down the boardwalk. Then there's frontman Nathan Williams powering through shows in 2009 despite a broken wrist from a skateboarding accident. Not every member, however, has a deck.
"I don't skate," admits bassist Stephen Pope. "I'm too fat to skate. I'm top heavy, so I topple over if I stand on top of a skateboard."
And yet, OG skate pro Tony Hawk's video games had everything to do with Pope's musical leanings:
"I got [the first Playstation] because of Tony Hawk, and that introduced me to a lot of music – the Tony Hawk soundtrack. I think it's still associated. Maybe it's just because I moved out to California, but skating seems way bigger now, or more accepted. I think it's still an alternative thing to be."
Wavves, rooted by Pope and Williams, begins work on a fifth studio disc soon this year, one that the rhythm section anchor hopes will yield a switch-up from the glossy production and control that pop producer John Hill (MIA, Rihanna, Wu Tang) provided for 2013's Afraid of Heights.
"We got out of our comfort zone for that record," says Pope. "John wasn't doing things the way he was used to and neither were we. It made us try new things. I think that made it better."
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