Comeback Kid

Met het nieuwe album Symptoms and Cures op zak en de aankomende Never Say Die! tour heeft de Canadese band Comeback Kid een goede tweede helft van 2010 voor de boeg. ROAR E-Zine sprak een bijzonder goedgemutse zanger Andrew Neufeld, op een moment dat je zou verwachten hem niet zo goedgemutst aan te treffen. Want de baggage van de band was een volle dag zoek, geen pretje als je op tour bent. “We are sitting in a gas station parking lot right now by Berlin airport. They lost our luggage so we had to wait around all day to get it. Finally got it sorted tonight and we head to Highfield festival tomorrow close to Leipzig.”

Symptoms and Cures wordt bijzonder goed ontvangen. Dat terwijl men over de voorganger Broadcasting wat minder positief was. Dat moest Andrew wel zwaar zijn, vooral omdat op dit album hij voor het eerst de zang op zich nam. “It’s interesting because on one hand people may say that about Broadcasting, but in general since that album came out the band has been offered more opportunities than ever and we feel like we’ve grown as a band and our audience has grown substantially in the last three years since that album came out. We also really focused on touring to many international destinations that we hadn’t gone to in the past. South America, South-east Asia, more of Eastern Europe, as well as the regular areas we had done before. Though I would say live we play more songs from Wake The Dead and play a select few from Turn It Around and Broadcasting.”

Het nieuwe album verschilt qua zang en muziek behoorlijk van het vorige. Heeft dat iets te maken met het feit dat Andrew de tijd heeft gehad te groeien in zijn rol als frontman en zanger? “Yes. On Broadcasting, I was still trying to find the proper way to execute my voice as the singer of Comeback Kid. Its’ not an easy task being the second vocalist. When I used to play guitar, Scott and I would write all the lyrics together so it was all good timing wise. But just as far as the inflection went, I was new to it y’know? It was good to have another three years of singing live with CBK to realize that it was time to sing on the record how I do live which is naturally a heavier/ aggressive vocal style. I personally like it a lot better. “ Ik ook. ”The direction was pretty intentional. We wanted to write a fun record that would translate more live. Not as technical guitar wise as Broadcasting. A throwback maybe to our older style with the new vocals.”

Het artwork is vrij zweverig en valt wat betreft de andere albums van de band positief op. Maar welke betekenis zit erachter? Andrew legt uit: “The album title comes from the title track which kind of pays respect to those who put their mission and passion first in their life. The very few people who are willing to make sacrifices to make a difference. The title comes from this lyric. ” Can we breathe out new life in the air? Send out a wave. Use this as ammunition against the vultures that prey on the public’s addiction. They’re creating symptoms + cures.” The artwork depicts someone jumping into the unknown. Looking for answers he is jumping headfirst. Kind of like we do or someone would who looking for a cure in their own life.”

Drie jaar. Zo lang duurde het tot de opvolger van Broadcasting uitkwam. Werkte de band ook drie jaar aan dit album? “The songs were written in about a year’s time. We had a few different writing sections blocked off in between tours. A month of writing everyday in Winnipeg… tour a bit, then another month of writing… tour more. etc. The last two weeks of writing we did in Australia before doing a festival called Soundwave. It was great to write then take a break and let it all sink in. Not doing it all at once. Then we were ready to go into the studio after having time to think about the songs.”

Comeback Kid is sinds hun eerste album behoorlijk veranderd als band. Een van de veranderingen is de lengte van de nummers. Na Wake The Dead werden de nummers een stuk langer. Op het nieuwe album klokken slechts twee nummers onder de twee minuten. Was de band het zat om korte hardcore te maken? “I kind of find it harder to write a proper song under two minutes. I like when a song has room to breathe. I like coming back to a verse or a chorus or a cool part in a song. We definitely had to trim some songs down, as some songs could have been even longer than we had them this time around! Fuck it. We do our thing and we’re not watching the clock when something feels right for the song.”

Het album zal voorlopig nog geen zware stempel op de live show drukken. “We hope that we can play a ton of new songs live now. We will have to play them and see how they go over. We just practiced most of the songs last week and our plan is to incorporate them as we go. This weekend we will be playing two new songs, ‘Do Yourself A Favour’ and ‘Because Of All’ live.”

Voordat de band bij ons op de Imperial Never Say Die! tour speelt wordt het nieuwe album natuurlijk aangegrepen om flink te touren. Andrew vat kort het schema samen. “September – Headline Canada w/ Madball, Wilhelm Scream, etc. October – we support Four Years Strong. Oct/ Nov – NSD tour w. Parkway, Bleeding Through, etc. December – Australia w. Architects. Next year we have a Japan tour and a South American tour with Sick Of It All. All seem pretty sweet to me.” Gaat de band nog speciale dingen uithalen tijdens de Never Say Die! tour? “Well Jeremy finally cut his hair off so he doesn’t look like he’s in ZZ Top anymore. We plan to give the best performance we possibly can. Play some new songs mixed with old. Try to stand out as the only non metal band on the bill… so we’re psyched. We’ve played with Parkway, Bleeding Through, Your Demise before. I just met Emmure this summer at Warped Tour and they seem like cool guys. I don’t know any of the other bands though.” Met de plaats net onder Parkway Drive is de band erg blij. “The direct support slot is in my option one of the best slots to have. You have a late slot so everyone is in the room, and you don’t have all the pressure of being the last band of the night. This tour is supposed to be really big so we’re told, so fuck yeah.”

Gelukkig heeft Comeback Kid een zwak voor de Europeanen. “We feel as though our listeners stick with us and we get a younger crowd but what is cool is that the older crowd sticks with us. I find more in America, as people get older they stop going to hardcore shows and supporting live music in general as much. So that is one cool thing to see about Europe. But we don’t really have too much of a difference in reaction from country to country. It seems to stay quite consistent luckily.”

Ter afsluiting nog even wat gezellig gebabbel. Zo vraag ik wat Andrew de afgelopen tijd zelf voor muziek heeft geluisterd. “Right now I’m listening to The National. I love the new Alberta Cross album. Jay Reatard, Deftones, Devin Townsend, Constants, Fucked Up, Patsy Cline, and Our Broken Garden are in regular rotation.” Vrij diverse namen, heeft dat toevallig zijn werk voor het nieuwe album ook beinvloedt? “ Yes and no. All these bands are so different than CBK. We take influence from so many places even subliminally not even realizing it though I’m sure.”

Comeback Kid speelt vaak met diverse band. Welke tours waren het leukst? “Touring with Madball and Sick Of It All in Europe and Australia are highlights. Going to Japan with Propagandhi was great. We’ve had some great times with Bane over the years as well.”

Zullen we nog iets horen van het side-project Figure Four? Helaas is Andrew daar vrij resoluut in. “Not a chance unless I turn my life to JC again, but I don’t see that happening ”

Voordat we afsluiten ben ik toch benieuwd naar de relatie met de oude zanger Scott Wade. Ziet de band hem nog wel eens? “Yes, Scott is one of my best friends. We both live in Toronto and hang out all the time. He is doing great and has a lot of cool things going on. Scott is a very vocal guy so he let’s us know what he thinks. Tells me songs he liked more than others on both Broadcasting and Symptoms and Cures. He has done guest spots with us in the last few years as well.“

Afsluitend meldt Andrew dat het album uitkomt op 31 augustus en dat het via de MySpace al te streamen is.

Comeback Kid speelt op zondag 7 november 2010 neer in 013, Tilburg tijdens de eerder genoemde Never Say Die! tour met onder andere Parkway Drive en Bleeding Through.