Hailing from Santa Ana, California Surely Tempo is a 4 Piece indie rock band that consists of the following members. Alex Johnathan Martinez (lead Vocal / Rhythm Guitar), David Pardo (Lead Guitar), Raymond Pardo (Bass Guitar), and Paul Florindo (Drums). Surely Tempo was formed in the early summer of 2020, during which time their debut single "I Don't Talk" was recorded, as well as writing the foundation for their debut record "Days So Bitter, Yet So Sweet" which would later be released in the fall that same year. During 2021 as Pandemic restrictions began to lift, Surely Tempo would begin playing shows in the greater Orange County area. 2021 was also the year the band released a series of singles "Ghost Girl, Late, Chris Ray" allowing them to both experiment, and expand the complexity of their sound. This sonic exploration would eventually lead to their follow up EP "Gray Skies". Sonically Gray Skies is more grunge/garage influenced, however it lead to a better understanding of melody, tone, and avenues of music Surely Tempo continually explores today.
The "sound" of Surely Tempo is hard to classify, echos of formative rock bands such as The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Sublime, The Hives are frequently mentioned. There is also a Latin influence in their sound, and with songs such as "El Metro Tumbado, Japan, And PAZ" these influences echo through to create something new. Around late 2022 the discussion of making a full length album began. Surely Tempo's producer (Bryan Farrell) posed an interesting experiment to the band. Each member of Surely Tempo was tasked with writing 2 tracks independently and then to bring those into the writing sessions as a collection of ideas that represented each member's own personal relationship with music. This experiment acted as the building blocks for what would eventually become the band's self-titled LP "Surely Tempo" released in spring of 2023. Spring 2023 would be formative time for Surely Tempo, by going on their first national tour as direct support for Archer Oh's "Channel Surfing tour". "Dissonance" off of "Days So Bitter, Yet So Sweet '' received its first 1 million plays and became the bands first "hit". Surely Tempo would later that same year go on to perform their first headlining tour "Time I$ Money" named after a lyric within their song "PAZ" which was released in summer that same year. The "Time I$ Money" tour was a success and ended with a sold out show in Pomona, California at the Glass House.
In early 2024 a new record was recorded. Surely Tempo concluded their second national tour, this time as direct support for the band Enjambre after playing a series of sold out shows and making new friends along the way. "At The End Of The Day Tho..." (to quote Surely Tempo's Drummer Paul) what is Surely Tempo? At The End Of The Day Tho... Surely Tempo is a rock band. "At The End Of The Day Tho..." is a new 4 track EP stating just that. "At The End Of The Day Tho..." is Surely Tempo's first national headlining tour. At The End Of The Day Tho... the rest is history.MEET THE BAND
Alex Johnathan Martinez (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar)
What is one of your earliest memories of music?
One of my earliest memories of music would probably be growing up with all different kinds of music in my household and my mom doing chores blasting music.
What are some of your favorite albums?
One of my top favorite albums is the humbug album of the Arctic Monkeys to me it’s my favorite sounding record from them
What is one song you want to mention of your own?
One of the songs of ours I love is Dissonance because although we released it a couple of years ago it really shows how a song can change things for an artist at any given time
What is a memorable moment from your career as a musician?
A memorable moment in our career so far in my opinion has been touring especially right now we are lucky enough to even be able to travel the country playing our tunes for our fans from all over the country and that in itself is crazy . But I would say playing a sold out glass house show is definitely up there and the upcoming Belasco theater show will most likely be one for the books as well , really excited for that.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your musical career?
For me there are still many things for us to accomplish as a band and for us to do . One of those id say is going on our own headlining tour hopefully soon , since we’ve finished up our first full length album, and especially since Archer oh has really taught us a lot about the tour life ,the what to dos and the what not to dos. It’s been a fun and rewarding journey and we appreciate them for giving us those opportunities, opening doors, being great friends , and showing us the way , we hope we can do the same for another band someday. Much love for Archer oh we love y’all
What are some of your musical influences?
My influences of course would have to be the Arctic Monkeys, and The Strokes, primarily. But I would also include Chicano Batman and the Growlers on that list. But then again the list is endless as I do not solely listen to just those artists I also listen to completely different genres of music that ultimately influence the end outcome of what we call Surely Tempo
David Ismodes (Lead Guitar)
What is one of your earliest memories of music?
One of my earliest musical memories would be a collection of my family showing me and also playing different kinds of music. Especially in the car and would range from The Beatles , Bob Marley, The Doors and a bunch of other great artists
What are some of your favorite albums?
My top 3 favorite albums on apple music would be The Smiths by The Smiths, A Hero’s Death by Fontaine’s D.C and In Rainbows by Radiohead. I would say these are my top 3 because I formed a bond and a connection through these albums and also help shape me into a better person.
What is one song you want to mention of your own?
I Can’t Remember is a song of ours that I love and what makes it special is the process of how we wrote it. It was collaborative and we tried different ideas and shaped something that I believed changed our sound and improved out songwriting together as a band.
What is a memorable moment from your career as a musician?
One of the most memorable moments in my career would be touring. It always comes in conversation with the band and we always have great memories to reflect on and laugh about.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your musical career?
Having unlimited studio time and resources to write and record the best albums we possibly can is definitely on my bucket list. Being able to experiment and really take our time and try out different things with an open mind as band is something that always excites me. Studio time is always a special moment for me to express who I am and who we are as a band and to put out a work of art into the world especially to our fans as well as ourselves.
Paul Florindo (Drums)
What is one of your earliest memories of music?
one of my earliest musical memories is going to a metal festival as a kid and being amazed by all the bands and wanting to do what they did.
What are some of your favorite albums?
My top 3 albums would be Eternal Grey by $b, the lágrimas demo ep, and I brought you my bullets you brought me your love by My Chemical Romance. I think what attracts me to these records are their emotional nature and the rawness of how these artists express those emotions.
What is one song you want to mention of your own?
One of the songs that I love is called “Reminisce” because it resonates with me on an emotional level. It also happens to be a song we’ve played for a long time but we just didn’t release it until now.
What is a memorable moment from your career as a musician?
So far one of the most memorable moments in our career so far was going on our first tour and seeing other states, and the turnout for those shows. it’s really dope and validating seeing people from other parts of the country being excited about our music and seeing us perform.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your musical career?
I think the main thing on the bucket list right now is to play our first festival or going on our first international tour. creating music with Surely Tempo has been a lot of fun and I would love to see where this line of work takes us, the other artists we will meet and the experience we will gain over the years as musicians.
Who are some of your musical influences?
My Chemical Romance, Glassjaw, Basement, Citizen, Slipknot, Deftones, Los Crudos, System of a Down, Animals as Leaders, Show Me the Nody, Cage the Elephant, Gorillaz, Tame impala, Of Mice & Men, Scarlxrd, $uicideboy$, Lil peep, Xxxtentacion, Bones, Joji, Mac Miller
Raymond Pardo (Bass)
What is one of your earliest memories of music?
My earliest musical memory would have to be as a child, I would listen to all kinds of music, whether it would be on Radio, TV, or Film.
What are some of your favorite albums?
My top 3 favorite albums on Apple Music would be Murmur by R.E.M., Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden and Meantime by Helmet. Each album has a different sound and feel, but ultimately they’re unique in their own way.
What is one song you want to mention of your own?
A song of ours called “I Don’t Talk” is really special to me. Not only because it was the first single we put out, but it was the beginning of something truly special.
What is a memorable moment from your career as a musician?
One of the most memorable moments was creating and recording music for our self-titled debut album. Each song on the album is definitive as we each worked together creating great music.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your musical career?
On our bucket list, we will continue to make great music and perform for our fans and many other people who may be interested in our music. I would also love to continue playing shows, touring and performing alongside many great bands.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Soundgarden, Helmet, R.E.M., Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead, Rush, Coheed and Cambria, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., TOOL, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Junior Reid and many more artists/bands in the Alternative Rock/Metal, Punk and Reggae genres.