The demise of an icon.
The demise of an icon. Canadian deathcore stalwarts Despised Icon are giving up touring the world to live the quiet life in the ‘burbs. Which begs the obvious question to be put to vocalist Alexandre Erian, why?
“We’re not getting any younger. We’ve been a band now for almost 10 years and what’s going on right now is that half of my band are expecting children next year, and you can’t really compete with that. I think it’s all a matter of ending things right, being able to call it a day the right way.”
This year’s announcement that Despised Icon would tour Australia for the first time in their storied career was, if nothing else, bittersweet. The six-piece slam outfit, one of the driving forces behind the popularisation of the deathcore genre, disseminated the news of their maiden Australian tour on the back of an announcement that they would break up in December, ending their nine-year career that culminated in last year’s bruiser of an album, Day Of Mourning.
“We’ve been wanting to tour Australia forever,” affirms Erian. “And, shortly after the announcement that we were going to go our separate ways, we got an offer to finally come your way… and we figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to come your way and hang out for the first and last time.”
Describing Australia as the last country on their touring wish list, Erian also feels that their upcoming run of shows will be a chance to finally appease disgruntled Australian fans, “we had reached a point where we were getting hate mail from people in Australia saying ‘why the fuck haven’t you toured our country yet?’” Erian laughs.
The tour will also serve as Despised Icon’s last-ever international run of shows. The finality of the tour hasn’t escaped the vocalist and the rest of the dudes.
“Once in a while, one of us will go through this phase where we realise ‘oh shit man, this is coming to an end’, and with every day that passes by, there’s one less day that separates us from the end. But we’re all cool with it. We’ve made peace with it and we’re just trying to make the most of what’s in front of us.”
So what’s next for the guys in Despised Icon? Erian has gotten his first day job in four years and the rest of the band are looking to settle down and enjoy the fruits of the suburban ‘good life’. Will the guys be able to deal with the massive change that lies ahead? Will the accursed itch of the touring musician simply subside in the face of a newfound domesticity?
“It’s hard to say. We’re just focussing right now on doing these final tours and ending things right. After that, who knows man? I’ve got my first real job in four years, which is cool and unsettling at the same time, I don’t know if I’m ready to do the whole nine to five but it’s just seems like that time for Despised Icon. A couple of us are having kids, a couple of the guys just bought houses and got engaged. They’ve gotta provide now, for their families and do that whole adult lifestyle. So we’ve kind of got to make it work.”
DESPISED ICON play The Hi-Fi this Thursday November 11 with The Red Shore and Thy Art Is Murder. Tickets from thehifi.com.au. Day Of Mourning is out now through Century Media/EMI.
