After more than 10 years as a band, the world of Nada Surf has remained constant.
The band has moved from smaller stages to larger venues, from a major label to an independent record label, but like their name suggests, there haven't been many waves in their brand of alternative indie rock.
Nada Surf will be playing for the first time in Gainesville, with Sea Wolf and Emperor X, in the Rion Ballroom tonight.
The show is free for UF students with a student ID, and there are only 550 tickets available.
Nada Surf is on a national tour promoting its fifth album, "Lucky," which will be released in February.
"Lucky" is a continuation of their music and is similar to the past two albums, "The Weight is a Gift" and "Let Go," drummer Ira Elliot said.
"We don't make stylistic decisions when we are making a record," he said. "We take what we have and make it into songs."
Elliot said he enjoys touring because it's fun to meet fans and interact with the audience. He also likes to gauge the reactions of the audience while the band is playing on stage.
"It is great to play shows and call that your job," he said.
When Chad Matheny, also known as Emperor X, attended graduate school at UF, he imagined performing in the Reitz Union. His dream is about to become reality.
Matheny, 28, sings and plays guitar in his one-man band. His most memorable shows have been in Gainesville because more people know his songs, he said.
"Something about the weather in Florida makes me write and perform differently," he said.
He spent a semester of graduate school in physics, but he didn't enjoy it. As Emperor X, he has found a way to combine physics and music.
"It has given me a frame of mind to view the world in, and it comes out in my songs because I look for definite things," he said.
Matheny added that he doesn't agonize over lyrics because songs usually just come to him.
"I write them and sing what comes off the tongue," he said.
Matheny usually writes about concepts he reads or things he has been obsessing over, he said.
"Sound is very important, and I think of words as another instrument," he said. "The melody is improvised, and there are an infinite number of notes possible but so few words."
He hasn't been very busy this year, but he will be touring next year and releasing a series of albums on the label Burnt Toast Vinyl.
"The important thing is to live life and not get caught up in a project," he said.
