The long wait is over as Michigan’s Chiodos are returning to Australian shores this January / February 2015 for their first visit in over 5 years and in support of their stunning 4th full length album ‘Devil’. We caught up with keyboardist Brad Bell to discuss the new album and the upcoming tour.
Andrew: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. First thing we gotta talk about is your tour that you are coming over for next year, what can we expect on this tour?
Brad: It will be a lot of fun, we haven’t been to Australia in 5 years so it will be cool to see how much word has spread since then and just to get back to the country. We really appreciate your culture and love all the shows that we did play there. We can’t wait, pretty excited!
Andrew: That’s great! Is this your 2nd time coming to Australia or had you been here before?
Brad: Yeah this is only our second time.
Andrew: How was it last time? How was your experience and how did you find the crowds?
Brad: It was great! We were down there for Soundwave in 2009 and the crowds were awesome. We found a great environment doing that festival and we played a couple of sideshows, I think 2 and they were great as well.
Andrew: It’s great to see you come back again. It’s a big trip to come all this way so I think the fans appreciate it. As far as the setlists, I know you got a new album “Devil” so can we expect a few songs off that album on this tour?
Brad: Yeah definitely! We came out with “Devil” in April and the tour cycle for it has been kinda wrapping up over here but obviously we get to play it over there. So we have a handful of songs from the album that we will be playing live over there as well as a lot of our older catalogue stuff. It will be a mixed variety.
Andrew: The album has received a lot of good reviews, critics love it. How has the fan reaction been towards the album?
Brad: Oh it’s been great! We had the opportunity to go out with A Day To Remember and Bring Me The Horizon over here and I feel like it went over really well even before the album came out. They were singing it just as loud if not louder than a lot of our older songs so it’s been very good.
Andrew: So I assume the songs fit very well with the older songs? The crowds react to it the same way?
Brad: Oh yeah if not even more! It’s going good, it’s just a lot of fun to play songs that are a lot more fresh to you creatively.
Andrew: As far as creative goes in making the album…this being your 4th album?
Brad: Yeah 4th album.
Andrew: …do you find that you have matured or expanded your writing skills and your playing skills along the way?
Brad: Yeah this was the first album when we got back together because we had split up for a little bit and during that time everybody kind of expanded their musical abilities like starting other projects and doing various things like that and then we grew as people and our musical tastes had changed individually as well. So once we were able to apply all those things together you could really tell how we far we have come as musicans.
Andrew: Who are your main influences in the music?
Brad: Well when you try to go back to within roots of a band and why people have hung onto us through inlets and obviously that’s music that we enjoy, it’s what we created. So I would say just trying to achieve a lot of that would be our biggest influences. I would tell that would be our biggest influences because of that. Personally I was listening to a lot of pop music at the time, other people would listen to a lot of heavy, old school hardcore but it varies from each person. But I think it was more circumstances of getting together that was our biggest influence.
Andrew: There’s a bit of variety in your music, in once instance it’s very melodic almost poppish quality but then you get into the sort of heavier hardcore part. So it’s interesting that you blend the two together.
Brad: Yeah it’s a risky manoevuer but it’s kind of always been our thing anyway. But I do feel that this album is a little more extreme a lot of times too like our poppy songs are probably poppier than ever and our heavier songs are heavier than others. So I guess we kinda pushed the envelope with that a little bit but at the end of the day as long as we’re satisfied with the songs. First with what we’re playing, that’s whats going to really keep us going as a band and keep us with what we’re doing.
Andrew: I had read recently that I think it was your lead guitar player had left the band recently?
Brad: Yeah Thomas Erak had left the band. He had some issues he wanted to deal with on his own end and some of the time doing his original band The Fall of Troy. So best of luck to him but we’re all still focused on what we’re doing.
Andrew: Do you find it easy or hard to adapt to changes like that where a band member leaves or a new band member comes in? I mean how hard is it to deal with that kind of stuff?
Brad: Not as hard as it seems to be honest. I feel that everything happens for a reason so all you have to do is keep your head up and keep moving forward and adapt to a situation the best way that you possibly can. We got some great replacements that bring similar aspects to the table, maybe even something new to the table for us. I think it’s good to have a prominent approach with that but the guy that we do have playing is doing great and we’re having a great time and everybody is getting inspired to play music and enjoy ourselves. I think that’s most important for us with these issues.
Andrew: Yeah that’s right. If you’re not having fun then it makes it more difficult I suppose.
Brad: Yeah there were a lot of problems that we were coming across and I think it was better for both parties to just go their seperate ways.
Andrew: So like we mentioned before you guys are coming over here next year for all the shows around the country including Perth which is where we are based. Do you remember coming over to Perth last time?
Brad: I can’t remember what cities there were exactly.
Andrew: It’s on the other side of the country so Sydney and Melbourne and the others are all on the east coast and Perth is way on the other side.
Brad: Oh yeah we were over there as well yes.
Andrew: Because I was wondering like I know there are probably differences between different countries as far as crowds are concerned but do you find there are differences in different cities as well?
Brad: Oh absolutely. I mean anywhere you go like even here in the States like the midwest or east coast there’s always a big difference attending. When we started I noticed everywhere we go there were some differences but we’ve always found that it’s a universal appeal for us.
Andrew: Yeah one of the good things about music is that it’s universal worldwide and if people like it, it’s going to be a fun show I suppose.
Brad: Absolutely. Parts of Europe we never got a lot of success but other than that it’s been generally pretty well.
Andrew: Speaking of influences, if you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any classic album in history what would it be?
Brad: I would have to say Queen’s “A Night At The Opera” even though I’ve watched the making of video. That would just be a different experience to be right in there and actually watching what goes on and having such a diverse sound like that.
Andrew: That’s a pretty good one there actually. And for you what is the meaning of life?
Brad: The meaning of life is to impact as many peoople around you as possible and have a positive change. And once you can do that and feel that you’re making other people happy, you can enjoy yourself and just to keep going through it all and no matter what transgressions, just keep fighting until the end.
Andrew: Well it’s been a pleasure chatting to you and we look forward to seeing you in Australia next year. Thanks again!
Brad: Alright man thanks for the interview!
