Surfer Blood: Thomas Fekete, Tyler Schwartz, John Paul Pitts, Brian Black and Marcos Marchesani. (Photo by Ian Witlen)

There’s a centaur on stage with Surfer Blood.

And he’s playing tambourine.

Actually, it’s local artist Norman Gitzen in costume, helping the young band as they play a loose, fun set during the recent Moonfest on Halloween in front of O’Shea’s Irish Pub.

The smiles on the quintet’s faces say it all — it’s been a wild couple of months for these guys, and they’re clearly happy to be home, playing in front of the people who’ve seen them from the start.

But even the loose atmosphere doesn’t mean Surfer Blood gets sloppy — their music retains a winning formula: big, but not pompous; upbeat without being cheesy.

On this night, Surfer Blood is between two huge opportunities. They have just returned from New York, where they played 13 shows in five days during the College Music Journal Music Marathon & Film Festival.

They are also getting ready to go back on the road and be the support act for one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic bands, Art Brut, followed by another support stint, this time for Canadian garage-rock duo Japandroids.

“We were looking for a band to tour with, and I don’t know if the stars aligned right, or what,” said lead singer/guitarist John Paul Pitts about touring with Art Brut. “It’s going to be insane. I hear they’re fun guys to be around. They’re one of the older bands touring, and we’re one of the younger. I think it’s going to be really fun.”

And, let’s not forget, their first LP is coming out in January. Astro Coast will come out on the Kanine label, home of high-profile indie bands like Grizzly Bear and Chairlift.

The future for this Palm Beach County group could be considered a series of fun events, provided Surfer Blood actually gets the time to take a breath and enjoy it.

New York has been kind for this group, which played 13 CMJ shows in five days. (Photo by Ian Witlen)

Surfer Blood — none of the guys in the band actually surf, the name is fairly random — was formed in the wake of another band’s end after TV Club had called it a day. Pitts and drummer Tyler Schwartz found Brian Black and guitarist Thomas Fekete following an afterparty at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. (Percussionist Marcos Marchesani recently signed on before the band’s CMJ dates and upcoming tours.)

“We realized we all wanted to do the same thing,” Pitts said. “So we decided to get together.”

The group began locally, plugging away for nearly three years in South Florida’s bars and clubs and building a good regional reputation. In August, they decided to take their chances in New York.

It didn’t exactly go well at first.

“We played a bunch of just terrible shows,” Fekete said. “I think we played once in front of two people. It was really hard to keep our hopes up when you’re booking shows and they all end up terrible. But then things slowly started happening.”

They met a booking agent, who began to inquire about dates during the key CMJ festival. The festival got its start in 1980, and has introduced the world to bands which turned into some of the biggest ever — like R.E.M., The Killers, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Modest Mouse.

“We were freaking out, hoping to get one CMJ show,” Fekete said. “We ended up having to deny a couple. That was bizarre.

“It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. We couldn’t have asked for better shows.”

And they got noticed. Pitchfork, one of the Internet’s best-known music news sites, fell head over heels with them, along with influential New York scene blogs like Brooklyn Vegan. Critics were comparing their sound favorably to acts as far-ranging as Weezer and Velvet Underground; Rolling Stone said it sounded like something straight out of “late-’70s FM radio.”

And along came The New York Times.

The paper’s influential music writer, Jon Pareles, happened upon the band during their stint in New York and made the band his lead in an article about the festival. He called them “self-starting and hardworking in the ways that fledgling bands have had to learn in order to survive,” and “emblematic” for the festival.

“I bought my mom and grandma copies while I was up there,” Pitts said.

Through it all, the band has kept an even keel. The chemistry between the guys in the group is quite strong, and even new face Marchesani fits nicely. His cowbells and keyboards give a lot of texture to what was already a pretty dense sound.

“The whole thing can be nerve-wracking at times,” Pitts said, “but we’ve kept our heads about it.”

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