Photos by Frank Maddocks

Surfer Blood frontman John Paul Pitts is resigned to the fact that people are going to hate his new record because of his other record. No, not Astro Coast, the Florida band's breakout 2010 debut, but rather his arrest record. In March of 2012, the 26-year-old was arrested for domestic battery after a night with his live-in girlfriend turned ugly and possibly violent. The case was eventually dropped and no charges were filed. However, he is fully aware of the judgment that awaits him as he tries to clear his name.

“People are going to make up their own opinions about this regardless of anything that I really can say,” he confides. "I’m not guilty of these crimes, so it’s just an awful situation, the worst thing I’ve ever been through. The idea that I hit someone is definitely not true. I’ve never been in a fight in my entire life, I’ve never been a violent person." It’s one of the first times he’s spoken publicly on the matter, and yet he already sounds weary of having to explain himself and ask forgiveness despite having been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Surfer Blood chose to keep quiet during the fallout, but there have been tangible effects. Though Pitts and guitarist Thomas Fekete, 24, aren’t at liberty to say who, numerous bands have refused to tour with them. "Certain people started looking at us like we were strangers again," says Fekete, "which is obviously a bit heartbreaking, but it was expected as well.” During the interview, Fekete quickly reveals a hair-trigger bullshit detector and a fierce loyalty to “one my best friends.”

But even if they've still got each other's support, Surfer Blood are facing a metric ton of backlash for a record that sounds completely incapable of handling it-- largely because it didn’t prepare itself to do so. Pythons, out June 11 via Warner Bros., just sounds exactly like what we’d expect from Surfer Blood’s major label debut, siphoning out the wiggly, post-Vampire Weekend guitars and Pacific Northwest grizzle of Astro Coast for 10 polished, hook-filled songs that could fit on any modern rock format between 1995 and 2005. The album was produced by Gil Norton, a guy whose work with the Pixies, Foo Fighters, and Jimmy Eat World has made him synonymous with alt-rock slickness. “I think the production, and the fact that it's more glossy, will make people miss some of the emotion and grit that we injected into it,” Pitts admits.

Based on our phone conversation, Pitts' most obvious shortcoming may be a surprising naivety; he worships Modest Mouse but had no idea Isaac Brock confronted a similar situation, facing accusations of date rape in 1999 that were eventually withdrawn. Sometimes, this can manifest in a sort of tone-deafness. You look at the cover art for Pythons, a boy flexing his muscles, playing off the Hulk Hogan reference of the title, and you can understand why Pitts says “it embodies a leap of confidence, of escapism.” But you also wonder why he’d tempt fate using a joke about physical brawn in light of the arrest. He may be innocent in the eyes of the law, but sometimes the court of public opinion can be even harder to sway.

Pitchfork: The police report for your arrest suggests some troubles with substance abuse or mental illness. What were you experiencing at the time?

John Paul Pitts: Well, I was in pain a lot of the time. I don’t think I’m mentally ill or unstable, but I’m definitely a very moody person. I was in a very toxic living situation with someone that I loved, but we didn’t really bring out anything good in each other. And one night we got into a terrible argument. That’s the story. As far as dealing with it, it’s been really hard. I definitely learned a lot about what’s not good for me.

Pitchfork: Did you consider AA or some other kind of rehab?

JPP: No charges were brought against me in this thing. I was remanded to take an anger management course, which I was happy to do. That was helpful. I still drink, but I think I’m a lot better now and I have some control. But there have been times when I haven’t.

Pitchfork: What did you tell your band and your family after you were arrested?

JPP: I couldn’t even process it. I remember the first time I saw Tom and [drummer] TJ [Schwarz] after, it’s just so hard to talk about. We didn’t talk about it for a few days. I was heartbroken and scared to death.

Pitchfork: Tom, when the band heard about this, were you tempted to quit?

Thomas Fekete: If either of us felt that he was a really dangerous person, none of us would be in a band with him. Most importantly, that has to be expressed. This is a relationship that we observed from afar for quite a long time and it was really unhealthy. There wasn’t a second where we thought, “Oh well, this is it.” Of course, it was very possible that it could have broken the band, and we’re grateful that people are still willing to support us. Even the police reports are very telling, you know? I don’t feel comfortable talking about this-- it’s not about me.

"People take take this incident as a reflection on my character, even though it was a mistake and the outcome of a horrible situation.

I deeply regret everything that happened that night."

Pitchfork: There was about a three-month lapse between the time that you put in for the plea and pass agreement and when news of the arrest went public. During that period, were you prepared for the story to break?

JPP: I really didn’t know what to expect. I realized pretty soon after it happened that I couldn’t have a relationship with this person for a whole host of reasons. And it was before we had to record [Pythons], so I was focusing on performing, arranging, and setting up songs. I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t have done that-- I was doing something that makes me really happy. So in one way it was one of the best times of my life, but it was also really scary and sad. It was something I would think about every hour of every day.

Pitchfork: When the story broke, you guys didn't comment on it. At some point, did you just want to address people on Twitter or Facebook?

TF: We were told to stay quiet about it, which was probably the most difficult thing. The idea of perpetuating the drama really freaks us out.

JPP: And we didn’t want to talk about it in the press, because I was worried about how that would affect the situation. We had a post up on our fan website that maybe three people saw, but for me, it was about not going directly into such a delicate situation that affected a good number of people. So I did stay quiet. I mean, it’s been hard to watch people on the internet speculate about it-- I had to turn off my phone and my computer for a long time afterwards.

Pitchfork: Do you feel like the implication of domestic battery as opposed to some other type of criminal offense led to your arrest being singled out?

JPP: With other types of arrests-- especially drug or alcohol related-- people tend to be more forgiving. Domestic battery is a broad term that covers a wide range of incidents, which can enable people to exaggerate or oversimplify the statements in the police report. Domestic battery implies that someone is a bad person, or that they are morally flawed in some permanent way. Abuse is an awful thing. I deeply regret everything that happened that night. I think people take take this incident as a reflection on my character, even though it was a mistake and the outcome of a horrible situation.

Pitchfork: Did the incident make it more difficult to concentrate on the record?

JPP: The truth is that most of the record had been written before that, and I honestly couldn’t even write for a while afterwards. It’s so weird to look back and see a lot of the lyrics I was writing-- [they] seemed prophetic, like this was a breakup that was going on for months.

Pitchfork: Knowing what the songs led to, is it hard to revisit them every night?

JPP: Even though many of these songs were written about a tumultuous relationship, I don't think it’s fair to reduce them to that. While its incredibly painful to revisit these memories, there is a lot more to these songs than the experiences that informed the lyrics. Writing songs for me is a very creative and cathartic process and brings me a lot of peace in spite of the painful place they can come from. I am very proud of these songs and the memories of recording them are much brighter than the memories of writing them.

Pitchfork: Some of the song titles, like “I Was Wrong”, and lyrics, like “damning allegations have come to light” and “we can’t feel the blowback from yesterday” on “Squeezing Blood”, are likely to be heard as after-the-fact.

JPP: People will definitely see it as a response, but that’s not really what it is, truthfully. I write from a place of pain, longing, and frustration, that’s where I tend to come from.

Pitchfork: Even though the charges were dropped, the police report does bear some implication of violence. How would you respond to a woman who said, “I can’t listen to Surfer Blood because there’s no excuse for anything like that.”

JPP: That’s really unfortunate. I understand where people are coming from, but I just want to mention that I never hit anybody, and nothing I did was ever with aggression or malice. I understand why people would think that, but I just want people to know that there is another side to that, and I never acted in anger. Not even then.

Pitchfork: Have you spoken with the accuser since the arrest?

JPP: I haven't seen her since the incident. We spoke on the phone for a period after, and there was a lot of back and forth.

Pitchfork: Have you been in a relationship ever since that previous one ended?

JPP: Yes, I’m in a relationship right now with a girl that I love a lot, and she makes me happy. We’re a really positive influence around each other, and that’s been great. I’ve learned a lot of lessons about myself and what I should or shouldn’t look for in a partner. I’m very lucky that I’ve found someone who makes me a better person. We don't have to try to make each other happy, we just do. There is a level of trust and solidarity that I've never had before.