However, a reprieve came within a very short time span from a very welcome source. Frontman Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell, speaking to Beat from their tour in Bloomington, Illinois, takes up the story.
“We had to unfortunately cancel an Australian tour that we had on for December,” he recalls, “which is a decision that we certainly did not take lightly. I literally lost sleep over it; I was having nightmares and waking up upset about having to cancel that tour. It was just for a lot of things out of our control; things were not organised the way they were supposed to be, and it felt a lot like a disaster. So we had to pull out, and I was torn up about it, I was really bummed.
“We flew to a show that weekend, and our agent was like ‘hey, not to get your hopes up, but AJ (Maddah) from Soundwave is here, and he’s going to watch your set’. So we played our set, and I walked off stage, and our agent was the first person there, and he said ‘we got an offer from Soundwave while you were playing!’ So to be able to make it up to our fans within 48 hours, to be able to say ‘yes we cancelled, and that’s terrible, but we’re actually still coming, and really soon!’, was really awesome.
“AJ really bailed us out of a big jam there, we appreciate it!”
This will be the band’s fourth trip to Australia, and Campbell has a very funny (although possibly somewhat questionable) story from one of their previous tours Down Under.
“One funny memory is, maybe this won’t be that funny to you,” he begins his story somewhat tentatively. “We went to Perth, we went to the beach, and we went with two bands that we’re friends with. A band from England, who recently broke up, they’re called The Sharks, and another band called The Polar Bear Club, we were all going to take a big group photo in the water.
“I was trying to get the attention of the guys in The Sharks, we were in the Indian Ocean in Perth, and I was screaming ‘SHARKS! Hey, SHARKS!’ It took me a minute to realise that I was like that asshole screaming ‘FIRE!’ in a crowded theatre, and scaring the shit out of everyone in the ocean. So then it was like ‘No no! The band, the band ‘The Sharks’! Sorry!” he laughs.
Campbell is very excited to be coming here for Soundwave, and like many other artists we’ve interviewed, there is one band he is hanging out to see live.
“Personally, I’m most excited that Fireworks are playing,” he says. “They’re my best friends, and I can’t wait to hang out with them in Australia. But I’m also really excited to see Slipknot, I’m not going to fuck around about that!”
Aside from thanking AJ for bailing them out of the abovementioned bind, Campbell has another message for him concerning their upcoming appearance at Soundwave.
“We haven’t been told yet, it’s up to AJ,” he says when questioned on whether the band would be doing any of the ‘Sidewave’ side shows while they’re here. “We did them last time, and they were so much fucking fun! Just a total blast. So I hope we are.
“The last time, we headlined. I don’t know if that’s going to be the same again, or whether we’ll support somebody, or what. But I just know we did it before and we had fun, so we’re way up for doing them again. So hopefully AJ thinks that we’re worthy of it again. Let’s do it!”
And Campbell also tells us that they’re not wasting the time that they now have free through not coming to Australia this year. It has been around a year and a half since the release of their last album The Greatest Generation, and they may possibly have something brand new out by mid-next year.
“Yeah, we just started writing,” he reveals. “We decided that we were going to use that time when we should’ve been in Australia constructively. We’ve got about four songs that are just about done, and we’re going to keep writing. The plan is to record a new record right after Soundwave, that’s obviously going to be dependent on if we get all the songs written in time.
“But they’re feeling really good right now,” he enthuses. “We’ve never had a time where we’ve gone in [feeling] so right, and had this much quality output in only two weeks. So, we’re excited, and we’re hoping to have something out by (northern) summer next year.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
