Although the sunny sound of The Explorers Club seems to evoke spending lazy afternoons on the sandy beaches of Orange County, this septet was born and bred from the southern roots of Charleston, South Carolina. The group of well-mannered men who met in college— comprised of Jason, James, Dave, Neil, Stefan, Chris, and newest member Wally (the only anomaly from Florida)— play a blend of feel good, poppy tunes that recall the Beach Boys.

Hot off the release of their debut album, Freedom Wind (on indie-label Dead Oceans), coming just in time for the summer, psychoPEDIA joined singer and originator of the band, Jason, for a tour of the sights and sounds of the band’s hometown— one overflowing with rich southern heritage, including providing the backdrop for stories like Gone with the Wind and Porgy and Bess:

How did the sunny California sound evolve out of South Carolina?
When I was 10 years old, my mom bought me a Beach Boys 20 Greatest Hits cassette for my Walkman. Here in Charleston, we have beaches, and it’s always very hot. People attempt to surf, and we have a lot of really beautiful weather for that kind of activity. It’s not a hard thing to feel like that music is at home.

What’s the most charming quality about your hometown?
Charleston looks like an old European city, right on the water. Savannah [Georgia] is kind of like it, but it’s a rip-off. For modern art and culture, Charleston’s probably not on the cusp, but there’s some cutting-edge stuff going on here. There’s a history in Charleston— one of the first shots of the Revolutionary War was fired here. It’s not just a bunch of hillbillies and trucks!

Did you ever feel pressure to be well-behaved living in a city nicknamed the "Holy City"?
No, I work at a church. That’s the south for ya— the Bible Belt. We have churches everywhere. One reason they call it the “Holy City” is because there’s an ordinance that there are to be no buildings in Charleston higher than the highest church steeple. The original tenants of the city believed that God is bigger than any business.

Would you agree with an etiquette expert that cited Charleston as the "best-mannered" city in the US?
At restaurants, the waiters are always trying to impress you to get your tip. A lot of them get really personal. For a lot of the South, they want you to feel like you’re at home. Almost all of us [in the band] come from parents with really professional backgrounds— preachers, school administrators— so it’s kind of natural.

With such diversity in the population, what are some of the best cultural offerings?
We’ve got a festival going on right now called Piccolo Spilato— world-renowned, with people coming from all over the world to perform and get together. It has lots of opera, theater, live music, dance, and all kinds of art. There’s another one that’s more African, called the Moja Arts Festival.

What’s the most traditional local meal, and which places serve it best?
Shrimp and grits. And we have fried green tomatoes. There’s a place called Charleston’s Cafe, that’s actually catering my wedding coming up. They have really good breakfast. The best traditional place is Jestine's Kitchen— a really down-home, Southern place, and some of the best food you’ll ever have. If you want spend high dollar, there’s Slightly North of Broad (aka SNOB). My favorite local place that’s really good southern food is Cru Café— in an old house that’s been there 100 years or more. It’s a catering company that decided to open a restaurant around the food they were catering. You can sit either a couple of tables toward the back or watch the open kitchen and see how they’re cooking you’re food right in front of you. It’s a blend of newer cuisine with classic Southern stuff. It’s a little pricey, but man it’s good!

Which places transport you back in time for that true Southern experience?
You definitely have to go to Boone Hall Plantation. Downtown Charleston is a time warp– there’s still people taking horse-drawn carriages. Check out Charles Towne Landing, an early settlement of Charleston. You can take little boat tours around Fort Sumter, down to The Battery where they held off the British. It has these Tom Meadow trees everywhere, great colonial and Civil War-era buildings and houses. Even our visitor center is an old train station. Just take a trip out to Fort Sumter or walk around downtown, and you’ll feel the history.

Best places to score local crafts and antiques?
The Charleston City Market— an open-air market with lots of vendors with knicknacks all lined up.

Where does the band like to kick back and relax?
My favorite place for cheap food and good hanging out is this Mexican restaurant in Mount Pleasant called Uno Mas. If we go out to lunch on a Saturday after rehearsal, we go there. A lot of the guys in the band hang out at the Village Tavern where we’re playing our record release party. It’s small, but they have great bands come in all the time.

As a port town, what are the best waterfronts to spend an afternoon?
Waterfront Park is a little park they built right by the water, where you can walk all the way out on a long dock. It’s a great place to take a date. They have swings where you can sit and look out at the beginnings of the ocean. My favorite places to go and look at the ocean are Sullivan’s Island, and the Isle of Palms. Folly Beach is a touristy kind of place, but it’s so fun when there’s no one out there— just seeing the ocean in all its mighty power.

Any cozy inns you recommend to visitors?
There’s one downtown that’s supposed to be the nicest— Ansonborough Inn. If you’re going for more of a touristy flair, there’s a circular hotel, the Charleston-Riverview Holiday Inn that has a restaurant on top where you can look out over the whole city and see the boats in the harbor and the church steeples. I got eat brunch there sometimes after church.

What's the first thing you do when you get home after a tour around the country?
There’s a part of town called Shem creek that has a bunch of restaurants. I take my fiancé there, and we just go walk around. When you’re sitting on the dock, a lot of dolphins and porpoises will poke their heads through and play.

~Leann Peterson


Don't miss The Explorers Club when they hit New York, playing Bowery Ballroom June 7.

Go There:
Jestine's Kitchen, 251 Meeting Street, (843) 722-7224
Uno Mas, 880 Allbritton Blvd, (843) 856-4868


First photo, courtesy of The Explorers Club
Second photo via Panaramio.com
Third photo by oquendo via Flickr
Fourth photo by zoebug via Flickr
Fifth photo by ryanchristopher via Flickr
Sixth photo, courtesy of Cru Cafe
Seventh photo, via AllCharlestonTours.com
Eighth photo via jandb.net
Ninth photo by megnificence via Flickr
Tenth photo by cbrown117 via Flickr