California punk rockers Strung Out exploded onto the punk scene in 1994 with their debut album but it was their sophomore record ‘Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues’ that put the band on the map, making it a landmark record. The band have been touring Australia this past week performing that album in it’s entirety and are set to make their way around the country leading to their final 3 shows in Western Australia so we caught up with guitarist Jake Kiley to talk about the tour, the 22 year anniversary of the album as well as the business of beer.
Andrew: So welcome to the country obviously! How’s the tour being going so far?
Jake: Oh it’s been going very well, the shows have been doing good and yeah, having a great time.
Andrew: Awesome well we are looking forward to seeing you on the west coast of Australia a little later next week. What’s your relationship been like with Australia over the years?
Jake: Well this is our 13th time here and it’s always great shows. We’ve been fortunate enough to come back many times, had a lot of great tours in the past and this one has been a lot of fun as well. It’s also the first time we’ve been here in winter so I think that’s a bit of a different thing but overall it’s been really great.
Andrew: Yeah you’re not in the hot summer this time around, do you enjoy the summer heat or do you prefer the colder weather?
Jake: We like both but it’s nice in the summer because you can go out to the pool and stuff like that. Overall the weather hasn’t been bad but Sydney got a little bit cold and I imagine down in Melbourne it would be pretty cold but it’s Ok, it’s kind of a nice break from L.A where it can be pretty hot.
Andrew: Well obviously you are here to celebrate 20 years or a little over 20 years now of ‘Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues’ which you are playing in it’s entirety. Are you playing it from start to finish or mixing it up or how are you doing it at the moment?
Jake: Yeah we’re going through the whole thing from start to finish and then we have another good amount of songs as well that we’re doing. It’s cool to go back and revisit a lot of songs that we haven’t been playing in a while, it’s been a lot of fun and people are responding well to it.
Andrew: Yeah there’s some quite well known songs on there, which ones are going over well the most?
Jake: Pretty much everything, the whole album is real fast so people appreciate the fact that it takes them back. It seems like everything is getting a great response so it’s kind of hard to single out one so yeah they all just seem to be going over really well.
Andrew: Awesome well as I said we are looking forward to seeing you over on the west coast. I read on your social media that you are involved with some beer company called Astrolux Golden Ale, can you tell me a little about how that came about?
Jake: We’ve been thinking about doing something like that for some time and I was giving guitar lessons to my friend Oscar who has a job working at this brewery and when he tried some of the beer it was really great so he brought us the idea of doing something with them. We happened to be thinking of doing something like that as well so it was really perfect timing and I got together with them and they brought out a few different types of beers that they make and we kind of sat there and I had something in mind so they created something pretty close to what I was thinking and they put in their input as well and came up with something that I think everyone is going to really like. It’s real refreshing, it’s an easy beer to drink, it’s not too dark and too heavy. All in all we’re really excited for it and we will see how it goes but people seem to be responding well to it.
Andrew: Cool and how does it compare to Australian beer? I assume that you’ve had beer in this country over the years so how is it?
Jake: I think you guys will really like it, we gotta work on getting distribution for it over here but I think people will really enjoy it. It’s hard to compare it exactly to something but it’s like a Stellar meets Blue Moon sort of beer so I’m not sure what Australian beers are like that exactly. Maybe it’s the Coopers Green or something like that but it’s real nice and I think people who enjoy beer will definitely like it.
Andrew: Do you have any favorite beers in Australia at all? Any local stuff that you have tried and love?
Jake: All sorts, they’re really good. I like the Coopers Vintage I had the other day, that was nice and liked that one quite a bit.
Andrew: I recommend the Little Creatures pale ale which is a Fremantle local on the west coast. That’s pretty popular among Aussies.
Jake: Oh that’s great! I look forward to it, I love to try something new so I’ll take your recommendation on that.
Andrew: By the way Fremantle is where Bon Scott is from and where his memorial is too which you have probably been to before?
Jake: Yeah well I had known that he was from Perth but he’s from Fremantle, that’s interesting.
Andrew: So you also have a new drummer in the ranks, how has that been going so far?
Jake: Definitely going great! RJ [Shankle] we’ve been playing with him for a few months now and he’s fantastic, great drummer, great guy and brought a whole new life to the band. It’s exactly what we needed was to switch things up a little, Jordan [Burns] was a great drummer for years and years but we had to switch to the next level. RJ has been doing great, it’s been a pleasure and he’s stoked to be over here and having a really good time on the tour.
Andrew: That’s good to hear that it’s worked out. You had an EP that came out just recently but with the new drummer and everything you may be looking at doing a new album at some point?
Jake: Absolutely yeah, we are looking to record at the end of the year and getting it out pretty early next year. So we’ll see, sometimes these things get delayed but really hoping to have it recorded by the end of this year / early net year and then get it out before this time next year for sure. So that’s the plan and hopefully we will be able to accomplish that and then keep the machine rolling and then get back here sometime within the next release.
Andrew: Yeah it’s always good to see bands come out with new music because obviously with the way the music industry is these days, I hear people commenting that whether it’s worth putting out new music or doing full albums. What’s your take on new music these days?
Jake: Well it’s a shame that the industry doesn’t facilitate getting it out there to as many people. There’s actually more ways to get music these days and there’s still interest among our fans and we just like writing the music ourselves, we just like to create it for ourselves first and foremost. You also have to have something to keep your motivation up there and I really love playing the old songs but when you write something new, it means a lot to accomplish something new and create a new record. So even if sales aren’t what they were or even if people stopped buying music completely, we would do it just because we love to create and we like writing together and like the songs we work on in whatever comes out of our collaboration. It’s a really special thing that we have so we kind of want to do it for our own sake but the fans really do appreciate new music. We put out an acoustic EP recently and a lot of people appreciated that we tried something different and it’s fun to do something that challenges what you had done in the past but also takes the band in a new direction and accomplish new things. The next record we want it to be the next level, we want to step up from anything that we’ve done in the past, creatively, technically and hopefully our fans will respond to it well.
Andrew: So with the Suburbans album celebrating the anniversary around this time now and when you look back on your career so far, what are your fondest memories and what do you take from what you have accomplished so far?
Jake: There’s so many great things that have come along and looking back to that record it’s great with the response that it’s received over the last 22 years and just really fortunate to have anyone get it all and to have people say it was a big part of their life growing up and part of their youth and all that. So it’s just an honour to be able to create something that still is considered something that people want to hear, that still has any relevance at all. And just being able to make a third record and fourth record and everything up until now it’s just been an unbelievable experience. I feel fortunate to have a career that has extended this long to where we are still able to make another record coming out so it’s been an amazing ride and we’re trying to get everything we can from the experience and really appreciate it.
Andrew: Yeah and I know the fans will appreciate you coming all the way to Australia as it’s a long flight. I’m doing that myself actually, going to L.A. in a months time so I know it’s a struggle to sit on that plane for 13-14 hours! How do you deal with that kind of thing?
Jake: [laughs] I’m so conditioned to it now it’s not really anything. The flight over here I slept most of the flight, it’s all about preparing yourself in the right mental state for it. Luckily our flight over was at night so you kind of stay up and then sleep on the plane, some people sleep better than others on the flight, I’m pretty conditioned to it now to where I can sleep in almost any position [laughs]. So it becomes like second nature but it was pretty cool, the flight over wasn’t bad and certainly worth whatever it takes to get over here.
Andrew: Well it’s good to see you in the country and as you said the tour has been going well so far so I hope it does just as well when you come around to the other parts of the country. Thanks for your time, really appreciated and good luck on the tour!
Jake: Thanks so much man! Look forward to being there and we will see you soon.
Strung Out Tour Dates:
Saturday 30th June MELBOURNE Croxton Hotel
Sunday 1st July MELBOURNE Frankston Pelly Bar
Wednesday 4th July ADELAIDE Fowlers
Thursday 5th July BUNBURY Prince of Wales
Friday 6th July HILARYS Northside Tavern
Saturday 7thJuly PERTH Hell Hole
Tickets: http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/strung-out/
