Words - Kelly Jones
Fresh from their tour with heavyweights Brand New, The Xcerts’ bassist Jordan Smith takes time out of their hectic schedule to talk with Noise Addiction about how it feels to tick off sharing a stage with Brand New from their ‘to do’ list, touring across Europe, how Glasgow needs to represent on their tour and what the future holds for the ‘distorted pop’ trio – if they remember to take time off from being on the road, that is.
Hello! You’ve recently finished touring with Brand New, how did you find that? How have the crowds reacted?
The crowds were great. I think BN fans have this weird stigma around them – like they’re just these feral, rabid kids that worship everything the band’s ever done and any band opening for them is basically doomed from the beginning, but it was really the perfect vibe; if they hated us they were certainly very polite about it!
In an old interview you stated you’d like to tour with Brand New – How does it feel to have actually done it?
Erm, weird? Yeah, pretty weird. Making the record with Sapone meant that pretty much every Long Island band heard about the record in someway. The TBS and I Am the Avalanche boys are touring buds now too and it really feels like we’re part of this family.
What are the differences between a show where you’re supporting a band like Brand New and your own shows? Do you prepare differently?
Well first off you don’t prepare on a support tour, at all, really. Soundcheck is usually right before doors open and you’re onstage half an hour after that, so it’s just kind of like “go! go now!”. Playing your own shows is great cause you get to be that band for a change – take big long sound checks making sure every little thing is right, and you can actually sit down and eat dinner at some point! That’s always nice.
You’ve just announced an eighteen date headline tour that will see you everywhere from York to Thurso. You’re playing some bigger venues, like Glasgow’s Garage, how are you feeling about that?
Ha! Definitely not nervous! There’s only so many times you can sell out Tuts before people get pissed off that they can’t get into your show, you know? So we did feel like we had to step it up a little. Hopefully Glasgow represents on the night!
It’s a pretty long tour and you’ve just finished on the road with Brand New. You seem to tour almost relentlessly. Do you feel there’s a constant need for bands these days to be on the road and playing live gigs?
Sort of. I mean, on paper, that’s the safest place for a band to be, financially, rather than sat at home in the practice room, or spending money in the studio making a record. But that doesn’t mean they should be on the road 300 days a year because of that. We do tour a lot, but I think we’re getting much better at picking select shows and not playing every gig, ever. It’s tough.
It must begin to get boring when travelling so much, how do you pass the time on the road between gigs?
Day off’s will usually involve some group activity, kind of like team-building. You can get really insular after a while on tour and it’s good to do something together that isn’t playing music (bowling is a pretty regular occurrence).
Several years ago you did a co-headline tour with This City; what do you think the benefits are to a co-headline tour?
I guess you’re sort of pooling your resources together to get more people to the shows. If you don’t announce who’s headlining which night kids will have to come down early to catch both bands. There’s always a better vibe between bands also, less of “we’re-headlining-and-you’re-supporting” kind of hierarchy, more brothers-in-arms.
Are there any downfalls to it?
Well if it’s a band you don’t know, who maybe aren’t cool to get on with as people, say, that could suck…!
You supported Frank Turner in Europe late last year and went back to Europe with I Am The Avalanche early this year. What are the European crowds like compared to crowds at home?
Really cool. Obviously every country has a different vibe; Italian crowds are nothing like German ones etc. But you learn early on that there’s way less segregation of scenes. People aren’t just into one specific thing that affects who they can and can’t listen to, they just like good music.
What are you listening to right now? What band(s) do you think deserve more attention?
I haven’t stopped listening to White Denim’s last record. It’s called D and it’s the most exciting thing I’ve heard in a long time. It has this super technical zeppelin-sabbath thing going on, but really sunny and poppy and awesome and they’re from Texas and you should totally buy the record.
You’ve already announced to attend 2000trees Festival, any other festivals this year?
Festivals always kind of trickle in really slowly and then they all get confirmed a week before you play them. So you don’t really look at them, you just hope to play as many as possible!
It seems like 2012 is already shaping up to be a massive year for you, so what does the future hold? Can we expect any new releases for 2012?
Absolutely. The record’s taking shape really nicely, we just need to stop booking shows so we can finish it!
You can find out what town’s The Xcerts will be dropping by on their mammoth tour in May by checking out the news RIGHT HERE.
