The Growlers didn’t just play music. They built a whole aesthetic that felt like a saltwater-soaked fever dream. If you were hanging around Southern California in the early 2010s, you couldn't escape the "Beach Goth" label they pioneered. It was messy. It was reverb-heavy. Most importantly, it was the product of a specific group of guys who managed to bottle the feeling of a hungover morning at the Huntington Beach pier. But if you look at the lineup today, or what’s left of it, the story of The Growlers band members is way more complicated than just a few friends playing surf rock.
It started in Dana Point. Brooks Nielsen and Matt Taylor were the core. Brooks had that raspy, Dean Martin-on-acid voice, and Matt provided the twangy, psychedelic guitar lines that defined their sound. They weren't just the faces of the band; they were the primary songwriters. For years, the lineup felt like a revolving door of surf bums and talented multi-instrumentalists, but the "classic" era usually points to the guys who stayed long enough to record Hung at Heart and Chinese Fountain.
The Core Duo and the Early Days
Brooks Nielsen is the undisputed frontman. You can’t talk about the band without his stage presence. He’s got this weirdly charming, shambolic energy that made people want to join his cult—or at least buy a ticket to his festival. Then there’s Matt Taylor. If Brooks is the soul, Matt is the skeleton. His lead guitar work isn't about shredding; it's about atmosphere. He used these dripping-wet reverb pedals and specific scales that made the music feel like it was recorded underwater in 1966.
They weren't alone, obviously. For a long time, Scott Montoya was the heartbeat of the operation. He didn't just play drums; he was their engineer. He ran their studio, "Tavern by the Sea," and he’s largely responsible for the lo-fi, "dusty" production on their early tapes. When Scott left the band in 2016, it was a massive shift. Fans noticed. The sound started to get cleaner, more polished, especially when they started working with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes.
Anthony Braun Perry and Kyle Straka rounded out that mid-career peak. Kyle was the secret weapon, swapping between keys and guitar depending on what the song needed. Anthony brought a solid, melodic bass line that kept the psychedelic stuff from floating off into space.
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Changing Guards and the Julian Casablancas Era
When City Club dropped in 2016, the band looked and sounded different. This is a point of contention for a lot of "purist" fans. Scott Montoya was out. Anthony Perry was out. In came guys like Brad Bowers on bass and Adam Castelli on drums. The shift wasn't just about the people on stage; it was about the influence of their new producer, Julian Casablancas.
Suddenly, the "Beach Goth" kids were wearing suits.
The music got tighter. It had more of a disco-punk edge. Some people loved it; others felt like the band had lost its grit. But through all those shifts, Brooks and Matt remained the pillars. They were the ones driving the van, both literally and figuratively. It’s rare for a band to survive that many rhythm section changes without losing its identity, but Brooks’ voice is such a specific instrument that it masked a lot of the internal turnover.
The 2020 Controversies and the Fallout
Everything changed in 2020. You can't discuss The Growlers band members without addressing the "Black Lives Matter" era and the subsequent "Burger Records" collapse. Allegations of sexual misconduct and a toxic band culture surfaced during the #CleanupBurgerRecords movement. While the band initially tried to weather the storm, the internal pressure and public backlash were too much.
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The band went on an indefinite hiatus.
Matt Taylor essentially vanished from the public eye. Brooks, after a period of silence, eventually emerged as a solo artist. It was a messy end to a decade of dominance in the indie scene. Many fans felt betrayed. Others were just sad that the annual Beach Goth festival—which had grown into a massive event featuring everyone from Bon Iver to Gucci Mane—was effectively dead.
The lineup that people remember most fondly—Nielsen, Taylor, Straka, Montoya, and Perry—represents a specific moment in time. It was an era of house parties in Costa Mesa and DIY warehouse shows. By the time the legal troubles and allegations hit, the band was already a corporate entity far removed from those roots.
Where are they now?
Honestly, if you're looking for a reunion, don't hold your breath. Brooks Nielsen is touring under his own name now. He plays a lot of Growlers songs in his sets, but the vibe is different. It’s professional. It’s a "solo project" in every sense of the word.
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- Brooks Nielsen: Actively touring and releasing solo albums like One Match Left. He’s kept the signature vocal style but moved toward a more refined, polished production.
- Matt Taylor: Mostly quiet. He hasn't pursued a high-profile solo career like Brooks has, which is a bummer because his guitar style is so unique.
- Scott Montoya: He’s been involved in various production projects and has stayed active in the SoCal music scene, often working with smaller, more underground acts.
- Kyle Straka: Has popped up in various musical projects but maintains a relatively low profile compared to the band's heyday.
The legacy of the band is a bit tarnished, let’s be real. It’s hard to listen to "Going Gets Tough" without thinking about the way things ended. But from a purely musical perspective, the chemistry between the original The Growlers band members was undeniable. They created a genre. Not many bands can say that. They took the surf rock of their parents' generation, slowed it down, added some cheap tequila, and made something that resonated with an entire subculture of kids who felt like they didn't fit into the "clean" OC surf scene.
The "Beach Goth" Aesthetic as a Member Itself
In a weird way, the "Beach Goth" brand was almost a sixth member of the band. It dictated how they dressed, how they played, and who they hung out with. It was an umbrella that allowed them to be weird. They could play a country song followed by a reggae-infused psych-rock track and it still worked because it was all "Beach Goth."
When that brand became too big—when it became a legal trademark and a massive festival—the pressure on the individual members changed. Being in a band is hard enough; being the face of a lifestyle movement is exhausting. That pressure is often what leads to the kind of internal friction that causes members to walk away.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're trying to dig deeper into the history of the band, here is how you should approach it:
- Listen Chronologically: To understand the impact of specific members, listen to Are You In or Out? (the Montoya era) and then jump to City Club (the Casablancas era). The difference in the rhythm section is staggering.
- Check the Credits: Look at the liner notes for Chinese Fountain. That’s arguably the peak of their collaborative period where the "classic" lineup was firing on all cylinders.
- Support Local Scenes: The Growlers came out of a very specific DIY scene in Orange County. If you like that sound, look into the current bands coming out of the "Burger Records" ashes—many are doing things the right way now.
- Brooks Nielsen’s Solo Work: If you miss the voice, his solo albums are the closest you'll get. Just know that the "surf" element is dialed back in favor of a more singer-songwriter approach.
The story of the band members is a cautionary tale about fame, culture, and the cost of building a brand. They were a group of friends who caught lightning in a bottle and then had to deal with the heat when the bottle started to crack. Whether you still spin their records or you've moved on, there's no denying that for a few years, they were the coolest guys on the coast.