Inspired by the California coast, Beach Drive is an indie/alternative/surf pop rock band based in Long Beach. Its members consist of Roxanne Ortiz on guitar, Brooke Bernard on guitar and vocals, CK Clement on bass and vocals, and Chloe Pullman on drums.
The band is releasing their debut EP titled “Feed Your Ears” on Feb. 22, 2022 on all major music streaming platforms. Despite this being their first music release on any digital platform, the group had already gained an impressive cult following back home.
“Back in Long Beach, when we started playing gigs around, we just started our own little ‘groupies’ if you will,” Ortiz said. “Our homies knew all the words to our songs so it feels like we’ve been out for a minute, but we actually never came out yet.”
Bernard elaborated on how the group started doing shows. “We just did anything we could find. We did a lot of backyard shows, we’ve played local gigs at Dipiazza’s (a local pizza spot) and a lot of the songs on this EP are songs that we’ve been playing for 3 years. It’s really exciting to have a physical thing that we can listen to and come back to.”
When the band formed back in 2019, their original name was White Noise. Clement explained that he was a senior at the time while Bernard, Ortiz and Pullman were all sophomores. However, the group members changed around a bit before Pullman joined the group.
“It wasn’t Chloe at first, it was another guy named Isaiah [who] was our drummer,” Clement said. “We also had a pianist named Nick, but he also fell through. When we finally got Chole in there, I felt like we needed to change our name from White Noise, our old high school selves. Like this is our band and now we’re gonna actually be out there and brand ourselves.”
Their new name, Beach Drive, comes from a street in Long Beach near Pullman’s house where they rehearse. It’s meant to be a tribute to the city they came up in. Ortiz said “[it] has an amazing scene. We used the scene to our advantage and Long Beach is a great place to network and connect with music lovers everywhere”.
Bernard continued by explaining the kind of love there is between artists in the subculture. “[It’s] this very cool community and it all feels very inclusive and it’s not a weird thing [where] people feel competitive like ‘we have to be the best.’ Everyone’s just super supportive and wants everyone to share their music. I feel like there’s a good amount of female-fronted bands which is also really important. It’s a really cool community to be a part of and I think it really shaped a lot of our music and performance.”
Ortiz expressed, “it means the stinkin’ world. Personally, I feel like it’s hard to find people that you click so well with [and] you could pour your whole entire soul on and to find a group of fellas who want to do that all the time and don’t care how crazy you sound. And to have them be recorded, mixed, mastered and on Spotify just means so much.”
Bernard agreed, describing their connection as rare and trusting.
“I never feel shy or insecure about bringing my songs or ideas to them because I know they’re gonna be so receptive and honest,” Bernard said. “It’s a really good environment to create music in and I’m so proud of what we’ve created and that we’ve done it all together. We have a great collaborative process and everyone has their own spice that they bring to each song. [I am] really excited for people to hear it.”
Instagram: @beachdriveband