KISSCHASY
After two extensive 2007 tours - both big city and regional jaunts - promoting 2007's 'Hymns For The Nonbeliever', Melbourne rockers Kisschasy are planning to do some 'hard yards' in the US later this year in the lead up to writing their next album. Singer and guitarist Darren Cordeux checked in with Tsunami.
By Steve Tauschke
Do you feel you'll have toured 'Hymns ... ' to its completion after this domestic run? Definitely in Australia. I think an important part of being in a band is you really want people to look forward to your tours, and [over-touring] is a very easy thing to do in Australia. There is only so many places you can go, so we put our foot down and decided that this will be the last tour for the album, and then we'll have a bit of break.
Do you talk to bands like Eskimo Joe and Gyroscope and pick their brains on how they reached the next level? Definitely, bands like Gyroscope have been our best friends for a long time. We've done tours with them and we're very much from the same kind of level. So we talk to them about a whole range of issues from touring to administration and management. It's always good to get ideas from other bands, because at the end of the day we're all here to support each other and we all love music.
So what's coming up for you guys in the second half of this year? We agreed that, before we do another album, we really need to start over and go back to a place where we're basically unknown and work from the grassroots up again. Then we can come back with some inspiration and stories for the next album. I think that's the best way the next album's going to come out. It's looking like we're going to be heading over to the States for the second half of the year.
It must be exciting starting all over again? It's kind of cool but this time around we know a lot more and we're much more experienced. It's like we're starting afresh as a new band, but we have all this experience so it's a really good position to be in. I mean, we know we're going to lose money but it is exciting.
You've toured the US previously - did anything wacky happen on that tour? I remember when we were in the States a guy called Seymour Stein, who runs Sire Records and is a very famous old dinosaur in the industry, came to check us out and actually followed us all around South By South West. He was very into us and wanted to do a deal. Anyway, he came to see us in New York and I remember us playing a really loud, big rock set and I looked out into the crowd and I could see him sitting on a seat right in front of the PA. It must have been sooo loud but he'd actually fallen asleep! That wasn't really good for our egos and, funnily enough, the deal kind of fell through.
Tuesday May 20 at the Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast, Wednesday May 21 at The Events Centre, Caloundra, Thursday May 22 and Friday May 23 at The Tivoli, Brisbane.
|
