GET IN THE VAN: STEPSON // Get Out Of The Van If You Want To Live

Jayden Ridley is living the Australian dream. The Stepson guitarist currently balances out his insane touring schedule with working at a convenience store “slinging durries”. Yep; the Winnie Blues are keeping your bands alive and killing them on tour at the same time.

Fans would likely agree with Ridley that Come With Me is “probably the best song [they’ve] done so far.” Throughout the tour the band have been saving their best for last (“it was out for just over a month before we started the tour, and it was like it’s been out for a year” he says of the crowd reaction). Unfortunately, that may not have been the best decision for their wellbeing. “We changed the set list around for once, which was nice,” says the guitarist. “Added in a few older songs, tried out a few new things, and played the new song. So we played it last on this tour, which I feel may have been a mistake because it is definitely the hardest and most taxing on the body. I’d get to the end of the set, I’m like, ‘Oh no!’” he laughs.

It’s not the most tiring part of the job either. When it comes to roadside disputes like whether barbecue or pizza shapes are better for a road trip (it’s the former, and we’ll fight to the death with those who disagree), the band are all ready to punch on. With their words of course, says Ridley. “We fight like cats and dogs,” he laughs. “My friends ask me what it’s like being in a band, and it’s pretty much just having four girlfriends that you just fight with all the time. We’re all best mates when it comes down to it, so everything’s resolved pretty quickly. But there definitely are a lot of heated moments, especially when we’re tired, and shit like that.” So how do they manage to resolve these incredibly heated disputes? Ridley’s hammer (he’s also the band’s manager) comes swinging. “The strategy usually is I’m band mum, so I sort of look after them all, and when they’re fighting I’ll tell them that they’re both wrong, and I’m right, pretty much… Mum’s the one that raised them, and looked after them!”

This is all happening in a tight enclosure too. It may ruin the name of our feature but there’s no fancy van for these lads; just five guys “packing into a shitty old Commodore with a trailer on the back.” Ridley’s managerial status doesn’t extend to having final say on the tunes. Luckily enough in such a claustrophobic nightmare, they’re all pretty diplomatic. “We’ve got this monster, three-meter auxiliary cord that reaches anywhere in the car,” says Ridley, “and we call that the fire hose, ’cause it spits some fire. And yeah, we all take it in turns, and it’s pretty cool. It’s nice and diverse, ’cause we all listen to very very different sort of stuff. We drive along listening to some weird southern metal shit, and then come onto some ambient R&B stuff. And it’s weird ’cause we can pretty much sing along to all of it?” His favourite? “We’re pretty big on the current Aussie bands that are killing it… but Brock [the band’s lead singer] and I will bop along to some Justin Bieber or Ed Sheeran.”

Munchies though, what have they got going on? “The thing that keeps me going is just 7-Elevens. Just smashing those five dollar sangers.” So $2 Wednesdays were a godsend? “Oh man. I’d buy like four at a time and that would keep me GOING.” Guzman Y Gomez is also a pretty popular choice for the Brisbanites. “We love to smash a good bit of Guzman… I’ve got my loyalty card so every now and then I get that free burrito.” We quip it’s the small Aussie bands version of frequent flyer miles. “Guzman loyalty cards: absolutely!”

It’s not all sunshine once the disputes are settled and the stomachs are full. Stepson are apparently a band cursed by bad luck on every tour. They do have some wins, like their trip to Melbourne for Invasion Fest last year: “There were like 450 people just packed into this little small room, and half that room was singing nearly every word, and we’re like, “Woah, what is going on?!” reminisces the singer. But take their most recent jaunt for example. Not only did Brock contract such severe bronchitis his throat nearly closed up, and guitarist Nick Bennett found himself in hospital with pneumonia leading to “devastating” show cancellations.

The band also came close to rocketing off the highway slamming over 100ks an hour without any method of stopping. “Every time we tour, it’s becoming more and more apparent that this band’s cursed,” says Jayden. “We have so much bad luck. This tour it was pretty rough. To kick it off, driving to Brisbane, I had the whole back line with my car and trailer combo. I was driving up to Brizzy and my brakes just failed. So as you can imagine, going 110ks down a motorway and going through windy little bits prior to that without brakes is not fun. I’m like Mr. Fix It when something goes wrong, so I sort of just like stepped inside, and they’re like, “Yeah, that’s right, Jay’ll work it out.” But we ended up having to pull over because it’s way too dangerous to drive without brakes.” Luckily for them Jayden’s little brother lived nearby in Byron Bay and managed to hook them up with a car to continue on the tour (still making the show on time mind you).

My friends ask me what it’s like being in a band, and it’s pretty much just having four girlfriends that you just fight with all the time.
[JAYDEN]

Their worst so far though? Well, Jayden tells it best.

“On our July tour last year, we were driving down the Hume Highway, and I just felt a bump, and then all I could hear was grinding, and I looked over my left shoulder, and I saw this wheel rolling along the highway. I was like, “That kind of looks like our trailer wheel.

I turned around and looked behind us and there’s just sparks flying out from the trailer. And what had happened, was the wheel just ripped off the whole thing. It wasn’t like the wheel just fell off, the whole hub that connects to the axle ripped off, and the trailer dropped down onto its axle. And we’re trying to pull over and we’re freaking out, like “Holy shit, what’s going on?” Trying to pull over, and we couldn’t pull over because our tyre was rolling alongside us, so we had to wait for it to overtake us before we could stop. And I was trying to work out what to do with getting a tow-truck and all that stuff to come get our shit. Meanwhile, the other boys walked like a K and a half down the route to find the tyre!”

That’s right. The tyre itself took life and gave them hell all on its own. So what’s a young band to do for a looming 12 hour drive ahead?

“We were like, “Alright, fuck it.” We all took the clothes we were wearing, and one spare set, put into my little backpack. We just filled the boot of the car full of merch, ’cause we we’re like, “We just need to try and sell merch at these shows.” And left all the gear, left all our clothes in the trailer in Gundagai, and we just put guitars on our laps, and drove from Gundagai to Adelaide just in this car packed full of the essentials we had. We rang forward to our friends in Ambleside and like, “Hey, can we borrow some gear for our shows?” They’re like, “Yeah, sure! What do you need?” And we’re like, “Uhhh, pretty much everything!”

“If you want shit tour stories, Stepson are the guys to ask!”