When you hear a song from Southern California, you know it. 

For me, one of my first introductions was probably family car rides with The Ventures’ “Walk, Don’t Run” on the radio. The riffs just scream the sun and waves of SoCal, much like The Beach Boys.

As I grew older and music became more accessible, I discovered Wavves. As I listened to more and more of them, I joined a streaming service which caught onto my trend and introduced me to songs from Together Pangea, The Frights, Beach Goons, Jurassic Shark, Tijuana Panthers, and The High Curbs.

Well, lucky for me, The High Curbs are making their first trip to the Midwest, and that trip includes The Brass Rail on Saturday, June 8, with our own Loveseat!.

Close-knit group

Upon seeing The Rail’s event posting of The High Curbs being in town on June 8, I was initially bummed because I already had tickets to see another band I’ve been wanting to see in Detroit that night. However, making the decision to see these guys at home was an easy one.

Besides, I already went to Michigan in the fall to see one of the aforementioned bands, Together Pangea.

And when speaking with High Curbs frontman Ed Moreno by phone, it appears the bands near Southern California’s area known as Inland Empire are pretty well acquainted. 

“I would say Together Pangea was one of those bands that I grew up going to their shows,” Moreno said. “We were trying to get as close to sounding like Pangea, but kind of just ended up with our own mix. I grew up playing house shows with Jurassic Shark and even played a few house shows with The Frights.”

Moreno and drummer Aaron Korbe formed The High Curbs in 2013. Guitarist Aaron Alvarenga joined in 2016, with bassist Kenny Huerta and guitarist Taylor Hecocks joining in recent years.

“It started off high school buddies and a couple other bandmates that are no longer in the band — just kind of got over it,” Moreno said. “My buddy Aaron and I are the last remaining OGs. It’s been a ride, for sure. It was never meant to be this serious.”

Getting serious

Instead of being too serious, The High Curbs were content with playing house shows. They did record a 2013 EP, but their debut album kind of came out of the blue.

“We were just recording on our iPhones and putting those recordings on Soundcloud,” Moreno said. “That was kind of it, and we never thought past that. Then somebody was like, ‘I know so-and-so and they’re down to record you.’ We were kind of thrown into it. Now, 10 years later, here we are.”

That “so-and-so” was Chris Magallion, who produced their debut album, Weight Problems. 

“We just went to one of his buddy’s apartments and just recorded it in there,” Moreno said of the 2014 album that includes catchy gems like “Eviction,” “Nicole,” and “Weirdos.” “It was just a live recording. Like, no plan really. We were like, ‘We have this many songs and we’re going to record them live all today.’ I think we did it all in one day.”

A couple years later, they were back with Marcelo, Cleveland, which has a bit of a different feel with the introspective “Leg” and a rocking “240 Miles.”

“We went in with the same idea where we recorded live, but it was just in a studio,” Moreno said. “That album kind of had a shift lyrically maybe more than anything, as well as it being more psych rock-ish.”

With two albums under their belts, The High Curbs were feeling optimistic about their third release, Happy Daps. However, despite the album having the uber-catchy “Want,” it was released in August 2020, a truly brutal time for bands.

“It was the biggest flop,” Moreno said of the album released at the height of the pandemic. “It’s the record we were most proud of, then it didn’t do well at all. Touring was not an option anymore. 

“I feel like the industry has changed so much. Now, it’s about TikTok. Social media kind of blows up a song and it’s about just putting songs out. At the start of the pandemic, we didn’t know that was the thing to do. Our whole thing was, ‘Here’s an album, let’s play shows around it.’ ”

Something new

Following the disappointment of Happy Daps, the band began to just release singles.

“Post pandemic, we weren’t even sure if we wanted to do any more records,” Moreno said. “It’s a lot of money to make a record. Especially after our last one flopped, we were like, ‘Is it worth it?’ So, we were just going to do a bunch of singles for the rest of time. We got bored, so just decided to make a record.”

That record is THC, which was released May 24, days before they began their tour May 28 in Houston.

In preparation for the album, they released three singles, including the Spanish “Besos.” It’s not the first song they’ve released that’s entirely in Spanish and hopefully won’t be the last.

“I do want to write more in Spanish, I just kind of forget,” Moreno said. “I think in the future, a whole EP in Spanish would be cool.”

For now, the guys are focused on the 16-date tour that will keep them busy from May 28-June 16.

“We really wanted to do a support tour and open for another band, just to not have that pressure on us,” Moreno said of heading out on the road. “But we ended up saying, ‘(Screw) it.’ We’re just going to do it.”

And with this being their first venture away from the SoCal stomping grounds, Moreno has no idea what to expect.

“My expectations are not very high, because I have no idea if we have fans in the Midwest,” he said. “We’ll find out.”

My recommendation is for my fellow Midwesterners to show The High Curbs that they do have fans. And for those unsure, follow Moreno’s recommendation and say, “(Screw) it. We’re just going to do it.”