Chocolate Starfish are well underway with their ‘Best of Everything’ tour, with the band hitting the road for a full tour schedule which kicked off on June 21, 2024 and takes in five states nationally. The tour is celebrating the very best of everything Chocolate Starfish – the albums, the songs, and the exhilarating performances with twenty-four high energy shows across four months.
Featuring the hits of their self-titled debut album and favourites from Box, Spider, Primitive and The Beautiful Addiction along with stand-out selections from their Classic Album Series – Bat Out of Hell, INXS’ Kick and Adam Thompson’s Bohemian Rhapsody Concert, this celebratory tour delivers everything and more and has already been receiving rave reviews!
We caught up with charismatic frontman ADAM THOMPSON just before they hit the road, to talk about thirty years of Chocolate Starfish, how they keep things fresh and what fans can expect from the tour…
Adam: Hello mate.
Sean: Mr Thompson, how are you?
Adam: I’m excellent Sean. How are you?
Sean: I’m very well. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
Adam: That’s all right, mate. Always great to catch up.
Sean: You’ve had a busy year so far. And it was great to see you back on the Red Hot Summer Tour.
Adam: Yeah, it’s always great to be on that one – we really love doing that tour. Then we’ve been sort of heads down, bums up, getting ready for this ‘Best of Everything’ Tour.
Sean: Surely there is a misprint. It says 30th anniversary and none of you look old enough [laughs].
Adam: That’s very kind. [laughs] Well, there are some days when that rings true and we feel vibrant and I’m sure there are other days when we look at each other after a big weekend and go that is definitely 30 years. Look, I think it’s interesting you know, because
of the hiatus in the middle ground which I’m sure we’ve spoken about previously. It’s almost like the second coming if you like and that’s been at least a decade and more… more like 15 years of being back as an ever-growing force and it’s the second incarnation where we’ve sort of come back as grown men, that’s probably the most enjoyable part, but it’s also the most resonating, I believe, even though we’re not a radio airplay band anymore, there’s something about the way it’s currently being delivered that people laugh.
Yeah, and I think we’re always going to grow into ourselves, if that makes sense.
Sean: Well, you’ve been labelled as that kind of party band but there’s a certain maturity certainly to the music but there’s still that very much that youthful performance which is just wonderful. The energy is just incredible. Sometimes I’m exhausted watching
you guys warm a crowd up because it’s just such a wonderful set and I have to say that the Bat Out Of Hell show that I saw at the Astor Theatre last time you were here was absolutely phenomenal. I literally came out of that breathless and speechless. It was an
incredible performance that night.
Adam: Oh thanks mate and that’s why the 30th Anniversary shows are going to be so good because it covers all the Starfish material from the debut album and obviously selected songs from the others as well, but also those three classic albums that we’ve done, which is ‘Bat Out of Hell’, the INXS ‘Kick’ one, and the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ soundtrack that I did. So to have all that to choose from, we’ve decided to play support to ourselves so we can be on stage for longer because there’s so much we want to deliver. So we’re doing an acoustic forty minutes scaled set and then I would say we’re sort of doing different incarnations of all the songs, not just tales but even some of the some of the classic golden songs and then the intermission and then after intermission it’s an hour and three quarters of rock and roll.
Sean: It certainly seems to be the festivals where people have rekindled their love for the band because of the wonderful performances you’ve all put out there and then they’ve followed you back to the wonderful venues that you’re playing like the Palais down in St Kilda, and we saw you at the Astor Theatre here. And, of course, I saw you at the Crown Theatre in Perth with Boho, which was spectacular on New Year’s Eve that time.
Adam: It is really fun. But you know, those classic albums we’ve chosen they are not easy to do but we also want to give our own material the reference that they’re all due but you can still have fun with it and like I said we can party like the best of them. We can start the party but then there were poignant moments like when we did ‘Heaven Can Wait’ or ‘Crying Out Loud’ from that ‘Bat Out of Hell’ album – I mean that’s pin drop stuff.
Sean: Oh they were goosebump moments.
Adam: I think it’s that emotional rollercoaster that people go on at a Starfish show that is one of that is one of the big ticks as to why they want to come and come repetitively to see us, because it’s not a one-trick pony. I think that’s probably the best way to describe it.
Sean: Yeah, definitely. And I think the proof in the pudding there is the ‘Beautiful Addiction’ album. ‘Beautiful Addiction’, it was a fantastic originals album that you put out last time and one that probably garnered a few more of the newer fans who got to see what you guys were all about as an original band as well.
Adam: I’m very proud of those songs and for giving us something to do during COVID. We had gone crazy in Melbourne. It gave us time to spend on songs. And I think I remember, I don’t know whether I’ve even mentioned this to you previously, but one of the last things, you know, Zoran said before he passed out, was when he stopped giving to music, it stopped giving back to him. And I just think there’s a lesson there that whether or not your albums sell hundreds of thousands anymore or fill in streams that make you forty five grand… like I think I saw Snoop Dogg the other day post one billion streams of one of his songs and it was forty five grand, which is not a lot to consider. But whether it is that or not, it’s so important.
I’m reading Rick Rubin’s book right now on creativity, moments that remind me of why it’s important whether or not there’s a big uptake in sales or whatever, it’s important to keep creating because that is the essence of your being and hopefully the essence of a band and that’s what I’d like to keep fresh. Whether it’s you new material, an original album or whether it’s searching into other classic albums series, I want to keep moving, keep creating and keep challenging.
Sean: And in this day a 30th anniversary is an incredible feat to reach. Would you put a lot of that down to the fact that there’s the majority of the original faces still there?
Adam: Yeah, you know what, that’s a big part of it. And obviously our collective mate, Zakk, is the only non-original, but he wasn’t the first guitarist. You know, we had a few others that were good, but just not right. And Zakk’s right for us live. He’s just the right foil, and he’s actually added an energy to the band that I think makes a value difference and you know having Darren, John and Norm from the original line-up too, it’s important because when we get together to do songs from yesteryear and from the original album or whatever, we’ve known each other for that long. So we can sort of have those conversations about writing. So what are we going to do with this now? Beautiful Addiction sort of shifted our sound a little bit. Are we going to play it true to the original recording or are we going to add a little bit more beef, like in the keyboards, for example? These are all the questions we’re asking each other as we rehearse now for the show because it’s important just to have the songs heard the best way they can be in 2024.
Sean: When you’re stood there in the rehearsal room with the guys, do you ever have any flashbacks to that first album, those first times in the studio together recording?
Adam: Well that’s a really great question. Maybe not so much when we’re rehearsing but, and I’m really bad at this, that’s one of my things. I try very hard but when I go to bed at night that’s when I start having flashbacks and when I start ruminating and sometimes I’ll… it’s gonna sound a little emotional here… but sometimes I get these little guidance images of Zoron, for example and I’d have to try and decipher them at three o’clock in the morning going, “Okay, is that because you want me to do that mate?” or is that just my brain going into nostalgic mode right now you know?
So yeah it’s like even when we just talk, and Darren and I in particular, we talk every day about the band and the decisions we’ve made and where we are today and we feel very fortunate that we’ve we’ve had the you know the cojones or the balls to make decisions, whether that’s the classic albums or whether it’s making a new one like ‘Beautiful Addiction’, or whether it’s some of the outlandish stuff that I decided. Like, even looking back to when we first started the Red Hot Summer Tours, the very first one we got asked back to play on, I think it was 2013, so maybe a decade ago now, I think I was wearing a singlet and shorts. And I just look at that now and go, that is not Adam Thompson today, right? But we were just coming back and I don’t know, maybe we just didn’t know how far we could push that envelope and anyway it’s all those little decisions along the way that have have grown the band in the way that people love today.
Sean: Well, I’m so glad you’ve toned it down so much more now with the kilts and the feather shoulder pads – it’s so much quieter [laughs]. So looking at the dates, it’s wonderful to see a tour going so far around the country in every nook and cranny you can possibly find. And I think that’s deserving of what you’ve imprinted on this country’s musical landscape as a live band and as a recording group of artists. It’s a fantastic tour.
Adam: Yeah, look, it is. And this is the 30th anniversary tour, but there’s no reason why I look at some of the bands that are doing a different brand. Like, for example, there are bands still doing the pub scene. We cut our teeth on the pub scene back in the 90s. And at the moment, though, we’re doing these in theatres because of the nature of the show. That doesn’t mean in the future we wouldn’t do a real outback one. Like we did the, I don’t know whether you saw it, but we did the Australia Day live from the Opera House with the Aboriginal hip-hop duo Karnage N Darknis and William Barton and that sort of gave us this thing – imagine if we toured in some of the Aboriginal communities because you know how much I’m involved in that world as well so just because we’re currently doing theatres it doesn’t mean that’s where we’re always gonna sit. I think it’s important for us to keep people guessing really. It keeps them on their toes as to what we are going to do next.
Sean: I think the first time I saw you was in a pub, and that was at the Northshore Tavern here, up in the northern corridor of Perth. It’s sadly not hosting live music anymore but you were doing the ‘Kick’ shows back then. That was the first time I got to meet you guys, and, yeah, it was a fantastic night. We brought some friends along and everyone loved it!
Adam: Thanks, mate. Yeah, it was and I love the fact you get what we are about. And we love your support. It’s interesting, too, because doing these theatres now requires a different mindset and people think because they’re seeing this in a theatre that it’s just going to be seated or not, but you know how much I get people up and get them engaged in a show. So, yes, there are moments of reflection, but there’s also moments you’re going to be jumping up and down like crazy as well so that’s what we’re going to bring to all the shows on this tour because you know we probably, if I can be humble enough to say, we’re probably in the best place we’ve ever been in as a band in our 30 years. A lot of bands are just diving in at this point, but that’s not us. We really are at a great place where we’re still challenging ourselves and we’re still performing and singing at a great level.
Sean: I know we can’t look into the crystal ball but with thirty years ticked off, what’s the next thirty years hold for Chocolate Starfish?
Adam: Wow, look, it is interesting because I think sometimes opportunities present themselves, like doing the Australia Day concert and also just before Christmas I did the George Michael Freedom Show with the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) and a bunch of other singers like Natalie Bassingthwaighte and David Campbell and working with an orchestra and a choir was really exciting to me, again, a new level of things that we’ve not done before. I think when you challenge yourself whether it’s that or whether it’s a new album or whatever it is, if you challenge yourself to things that you’ve never done before, it opens up doors of possibility and I try very hard as one of the leaders of the band, I try very hard to keep that open mind and that open heart so that opportunity presents. And I’ve already started writing with different people for another album now.
Sean: I can’t wait to hear it. It must have been difficult because you’ve got such a wonderful back catalogue to go through as well as the classic albums. How was the set list decided?
Adam: I really do want to be able to mix things up so I don’t want to be repeating the same show over and over and I think that keeps it fresh for us too but also for the audience. They might get might get a song like off the ‘Box’ album in Perth, something like ‘Rocking Horse’, for example, but then when we come back east, we might change it up and do ‘Accidentally Cool’ from that album instead. We might mix it up each night so that you’re lucked out if you were there. And I think that’s the beauty of being in a band for thirty years, you can make those decisions and change it up so that the audience are not exactly sure what they’re going to get tonight but they do know they’re going to be delivered a fully immersive concert.
Sean: Has there ever been any though of a Chocolate Starfish Orchestrated tour? I could easily hear ‘Mountain’ with an orchestra behind it. That would be stunning. I saw Kate Ceberano at the Perth Concert Hall earlier this year. I’d love to see Chocolate Starfish at Perth Concert Hall with a full orchestra. uh
Adam: How was that? Was it incredible? I’m sure it would have been.
Sean: Well, I’ve got a real soft spot for Jesus Christ Superstar so she when she did her little JCS bit it was just a huge goosebump moment for me. I’ve also seen The Angels do it there as well with the orchestra and it just blows you away. With your back catalogue it would be an incredible night.
Adam: Yeah, well I think it’s quite possible.
Sean: I saw Russell Morris as well do his orchestrated show at a sold out Crown Theatre here in Perth.
Adam: Russell’s got an incredible back catalogue. Sean, you’ve always been a huge supporter of what we’ve done, and Zakk and I talk about you quite a lot.
Sean: Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say. He’s a lovely guy is Zakk, as you are yourself. I always appreciate your time. I’m going to finish with one last question because I’d like to delve into what’s in your playlist right now. What’s the last album you listened to Adam?
Adam: Well the last album I listened to, and this is literally today, the lady who was on the Australia Day Concert, Mirusia. She toured with Andre Rieu for 10 years. I’ve had a bit of a sneak preview of another opera album and so yeah, a little bit left to centre but that’s what I was listening to today.
Sean: As always Adam a massive massive thank you for your time and we wish you all the best for the tour and of course send our regards to the guys and we will see you at the Astor Theatre when you get here.
Adam: You bet mate absolutely. Thank you so much. Thanks Sean. Take care.
