Singer-guitarist Chuck Betz, drummer-singer Ryan Naideau and bassist Jimmy Shelton all grew up on Long Island’s North Shore, but they began playing music together in Brooklyn. At first it was “just a really fun way to get together on the weekends and get drunk and play music,” said Naideau. But it eventually became something more. In 2008 the power-pop trio took the name Nude Beach and began making rock music in the vein of Tom Petty, the Replacements and Elvis Costello, or as Consequence of Sound puts it: “Nude Beach echoes the past without drooling in the rearview mirror.” This becomes totally clear upon listening to last year’s II (stream it below) just once. Check out Nude Beach, above, doing “Walkin’ Down My Street,” and then do yourself a favor and go see them play the late show tomorrow night at Mercury Lounge.
