Music

Taking Back Sunday tell us why touring Oz is the rock ‘n’ roll dream

Taking Back Sunday kick off their Australian tour in Sydney today, with a week-long stint taking them across Oz.

Ahead of their arrival down under, we caught up with frontman Adam Lazzara to talk about the upcoming tour, their new album, Tidal Wave, and stepping outside of your comfort zone.

You can catch Taking Back Sunday live in Australia this month with shows in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and two nights in Melbourne.

Book remaining tickets now.

Scroll down for our chat with Adam…

Hey Adam, how’re you feeling about this Australian tour?

“I really can’t wait. We don’t always get a chance to go down there, so any time that we can make the trip is always an exciting time for us. We already feel so lucky to do what we do so when you add the fact that we get to be on the other side of the world, and there are people that are familiar with our songs and the music we’re working on, it blows my mind. It’s a real nice thing to have somebody appreciate us, and any band, making that trip and it’s a mutual thing; we appreciate them being at the shows!”

Do you have any particularly fond memories of touring Australia before now?

“When going to Australia, particularly, we mainly fly between the different cities, so even that, you feel like you’re in some kind of rock ‘n’ roll movie. Like it isn’t your real life.”

Taking Back Sunday - Call Come Running (Official Music Video)

On the new record, Tidal Wave, you wrote while in the studio for the first time?

“It just kind of happened that way, we didn’t plan it like that. We all live in different places so we always try to find a central location where we can all meet up to write. With this, John had another baby on the way so we wanted to be close to his home base. There happened to be a studio right by his house and it turned out we had a buddy who runs it. That’s where we started to hash ideas out and what we found by doing that was that it made for a much smoother process. We could all try an idea and immediately go into the next room and listen back to it. It meant that everyone could automatically hear what was and wasn’t working.”

How important is it for you to step outside your comfort zone as a musician?

“I actually think it’s really important because it’s very easy to fall into people’s expectations of what your band should be. But if you’re mixing it up and just giving yourselves a new perspective each time, it almost feels like you’re making the first record all over again. It frees you up and, at least for us, [means] you don’t fall into [doing] the same thing. You don’t just go for the safe decision, but go for a decision that will be a bit more challenging for you.”

Taking Back Sunday - You Can't Look Back (Official Music Video)

Any bands you’d still love to tour with, new and old?

“Yes, I want to tour with the Foo Fighters! There’s also a [new] band from New Jersey called Modern Chemistry and I think they’re just great. I got to work with them a little bit in the studio – now when I say that it sounds like shameless self-promotion but that’s not how I mean it. They’re really great; they don’t sound like anything else that’s happening right now and that’s really refreshing for me.”

Taking Back Sunday play the following Oz dates:

March
18 – Newstead, The Triffid
19 & 21 – Melbourne, 170 Russell
22 – Adelaide, The Gov
23 – Perth, Metro City

Book final Taking Back Sunday tickets now at Ticketmaster.com.au