“Yeah we were just two songs in,” he attempts to recall. “I got a bit over excited and went crowd surfing. There was a circle pit happening, and I happened to fall through. I was out cold for about 15 minutes. The band were all freaking out a bit, but ultimately it was good publicity for us!
Obviously Hayden subscribes to the ‘no pain, no gain’ school of band publicity.
“It’s weird watching it back – looking at myself just semi awake. I was pretty sore for a few days.,” Ing says.
It’s been a wild ride for the band since their inception just five years ago. In the last few years they have had the honour and privilege of joining one of the most massive rock’n’roll circuses in the world, playing with Aussie legends AC/DC across Australia. That tour has been well documented in these pages, and they have also scored other major supports such as Queens Of The Stone Age and the Foo Fighters. It doesn’t get much bigger than that in rock music these days, and it’s all still a bit surreal for Ing and the band.
“Playing with the Foos and Queens of the Stone Age was crazy,” he says. “In fact, it was a dream come true, they’re all time favourites of ours. We grew up listening to those bands. The Foos crew especially were the friendliest ever – we could go anywhere. They just told us not to be dickheads. But I could hardly talk to Dave (Grohl), I was just too nervous.
“In Perth we were standing at the side of the stage,” he continues. “He turned to us and said, ‘Come up on stage’, so we got to get up and have a play with Dave and the Foo Fighters.”
The band are currently at the tail end of their Delirium Tour, which has been traversing the country for the last month or so. The band have two Victorian dates and one date in Tasmania left to complete the tour, including this coming Friday night at The Hi-Fi in Melbourne. Having released and toured this single, fans will be happy to know there is a full album on the way.
“We’re still in the early stages,” Ing confirms. “We want to write as many songs as possible. Our goal is to write 50 songs. We’ve got 15 at the moment, and they’re all going in different directions. Only four sound like something that would go on the record, so it’s too early to tell. We’re writing nonstop.
“Then we’ll take it to a bunch of producers. We just want to keep it going. It’s so easy for people to forget about you these days, with so many bands going around. For us at the moment it’s all about the songs – are they any good? We believe they will speak for themselves.”
Just five years into their career and this ridiculously hard working band have already achieved so much. They are currently preparing their third full length studio album and they have toured with the cream of the crop as far as big international bands are concerned, as well as headlining many of their own tour across the country. One can only see them getting bigger in the years to come.
BY ROD WHITFIELD
