Famous for leaving a trail of exhausted, boozy, sweaty and supremely satisfied bodies in their wake The Bronx will be unleashing a reckless level of energy; no barriers, no pause for breath, across regional Australia this October. Don’t worry, the big cities will be included too including Perth and Adelaide but The Bronx are making sure to spread the heavy riffs and moshpit inducing craziness all across Australia this time around. We speak to frontman Matt Caughthran ahead of the tour to find out what fans can expect at each show as well as discuss the past 15 years of the band.
Andrew: So hows things with the band at the moment? You guys been hitting the road pretty hard this year?
Matt: Yeah we’ve been hitting it pretty hard, it’s been awesome though. We’ve been all over the world pretty much and we’re about to do it again, we just got back from 2 months in Europe before we did Splendour and then came home for a little bit and then we went back to the UK for a little bit. Now we’re home and we start a US tour here in September and we’re back over in Australia and then back in the US and end the year in the UK. So busy but it’s all good!
Andrew: Yeah definitely and it’s good to see you back in Australia again, it doesn’t seem that long ago when we saw you last with Pennywise so how did that tour end up going for you guys?
Matt: Oh it was great, it’s just it felt like we were teasing ourselves the whole time because coming over there with Pennywise was great but you’re still just playing a support slot and coming over for Splendour was great but it was just one show so we really wanted to set it up and do something to come over there and let it go full blast.
Andrew: Well it’s good to see a headlining show with you guys for sure and this time around you are playing a lot more shows with some regional stuff in between the bigger cities so I guess the idea is to hit all pockets of the country this time around.
Matt: Yeah it’s something that we’ve wanted to do that we’ve never really done. Every time we’ve come down there we try to do something different whether it’s a festival we haven’t played or bands we haven’t played with or switching it up between Bronx and El Bronx. But doing the regional stuff is a lot of fun and we’re kind of taking the Stateside approach to touring or the local approach to touring and just jumping in the van when we can and just cruising up and down the highway so to speak. Of course there will be shows that we have to fly to and from but for the most part we’re going to be going old school on this one.
Andrew: In your previous tours down in Australia have you seen much of the country as far as in between the cities and things like that?
Matt: Yeah but not like a lot and honestly not lately. The last couple of tours we’ve done they’ve all been fly in dates and stuff like that and they’ve been super quick trips and there hasn’t been much time to relax or enjoy the stuff you haven’t seen before so that’s definitely on the schedule for this tour and we’re really looking forward to it.
Andrew: How do you find the smaller regional shows compared to bigger cities, at least in the US? Do you find the fans are a little bit more passionate about the fact that bands like yourselves are coming to their smaller towns?
Matt: You know what, I’ll be honest with you, it’s kind of a hit or miss in my experience. You want it to be that way, you expect it to be that way but some towns just can’t put it together, some towns just don’t have it. So I’m hoping that’s not the case on any of these, I think all these shows are going to be awesome but you never can just assume that because you’re playing a small club in a small city that it might not necessarily see a lot of action that the whole town is going to assemble and go apeshit. Sometimes people just want to stay inside [laughs].
Andrew: I would imagine that would be pretty hard to do at a Bronx show surely! It’s one of those things where you guys bring so much energy to the show that it’s hard to not headbang and move around a bit!
Matt: Exactly that’s what I’m saying! I’m just trying to say anyone that misses these shows, anyone that chooses to stay inside to go to work or watch TV or to not come out and have a good time, is making a big mistake.
Andrew: Definitely! So the last time you came here you had just put out your latest album and I remember speaking to Joby about the setlist at the time and he wasn’t sure if you were going to be playing a lot of the new stuff at all. So now a year later has the setlist changed much at all?
Matt: Yeah it’s changed a lot actually. Coming up for this tour specifically we’re going to be playing a lot of songs off Bronx I that we haven’t played in a long time, so we’re looking forward to doing that. We’re also playing a couple songs off Bronx III that we haven’t played in a long time. So we go back and look at the set before each tour and kinda say, ‘OK what do we want to do that’s different, what songs do we feel like playing? Do we feel like cutting any of these songs? Last time we were here is this what we did?’ So we tweak it everywhere we go but for this tour we’re really going over it because we want to make it special.
Andrew: Speaking of special I guess you guys are celebrating 15 years as a writing and touring band so how does it feel to have that milestone already?
Matt: Oh great man. 15 years, I would like to say it has flown by and for the most part I think it has but when you look back at the time span and when all the memories come rushing back, it feels like 15 years! It feels like 15 years of just awesomeness, crazy adventures, high highs, low lows, just pouring everything into making music and supporting each other. I’m very thankful man, I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’re very fortunate individuals and we’re very happy to still be around and relevant and having fun.
Andrew: Sure and I know this is probably difficult to answer but has there been a particular moment that has really stuck out for you over the years that you look back at and think that was probably one of the best moments of the band’s career?
Matt: Yeah there’s been a bunch. The Bronx did a show at Hellfest in France on this last European run, that show was massive and insane. Just pure chaos from start to finish, huge festival crowd just going nuts, that one was pretty special. Honestly playing Big Day Out as Mariachi was pretty unbelievable, doing the ACL fest as Mariachi was unbelievable. There’s been so many shows as both bands that have just been life reaffirming, the one great thing about touring is I understand that people just go through the motions and stuff like that but if you can stay connected to what you are doing, you can have an epiphany every single night. I think sometimes people that go through the motions for whatever reason are tuned out but if you make a conscious decision to stay engaged with what you are doing and to care and to be connected to it, it can be completely insane night after night. So we pour everything we have into what we do whether it’s in the studio or on the stage and it’s rewarded us with honestly, multiple lifetimes of great memories.
Andrew: Sure so do you think that’s the key to the longevity of The Bronx then?
Matt: Yeah I do, I think at the core of it we still love what we do and we still care about it. We still want to get better and we love it man, we’re still 100 percent engaged and I think that’s the way to be.
Andrew: Yeah I think you definitely have to love what you do, especially if you are doing it for 15 years!
Matt: [laughs] Yeah!
Andrew: So before I let you go I do want to ask if you have any last words or messages for the Aussie fans waiting to come see you in October?
Matt: Yeah I just want to say thanks for 15 years of support and these shows that we’re doing in October are going to be the nastiest, craziest shows that we’ve ever done in Australia. We got Joey Castillo coming back with us on drums and we’re going to show up and just lay waste to every club that we step foot in, so if you want to have a good time and you want to be part of something special, come out to the shows and have a good time.
TOUR DATES
THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER: THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE
FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER: COOLANGATTA HOTEL, GOLD COAST
SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER: THE NORTHERN, BYRON BAY
TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER: CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE
WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER: MOLO LIVE @ ANU, CANBERRA
THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER: METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY
FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER: CAPITOL, PERTH
SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER: THE GOV, ADELAIDE
MONDAY 29 OCTOBER: KAROVA LOUNGE, BALLARAT
TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER: BARWON CLUB, GEELONG
WEDNESDAY 31 OCTOBER: CROXTON BANDROOM, MELBOURNE
Tickets on-sale Thursday 9th August at 9am (AEST)
From: http://www.destroyalllines.com/
