As Flaming Wrekage’s brutal fourth album tickles your earholes, you know this is something special. …
How is it even possible that Theory Of A Deadman, after 16 years in the game, are only just heading on over for their very first Australian tour?
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With an accolade of hard rock hits under their belt, vocalist Tyler Connolly is as stumped by these facts as yours truly. “We’ve always wanted to go to Australia,” he says, “We have friends in bands who say nothing but amazing things—‘It’s beautiful, the people are great’–it’s very similar to Canada, actually.
“It’s interesting, I ran into a friend of mine at a show and she says, ‘Yeah your new song is doing really well in Australia. I’m like, ‘Oh! First time ever! We don’t really hear stuff unless people give us information.
“I called somebody and said, ‘when can we go down?’ Literally the next day we got a tour offer. We’re all like, ‘About time! Better late than never I guess!’”
Connolly has a witty dryness to his tone. His forthrightness is as real as Theory Of A Deadman’s latest album Wake Up Call is a game-changer. As Connolly has said, the band haven’t been complacent in their creative output in the slightest, but this is the Canadian punk-rock outfit like no one has heard them before. “It’s quite different,” Connolly agrees. “We really do feel like it’s a new beginning, a progression, it really felt like we hit the nail on the head with what we want to do right now.
“It’s interesting, there are some fans who did not like it when it came out and I talked to our manager and he loves it, it’s his favourite record now, so that’s good news.”
“I just started writing songs, there was no direction,” Connolly muses, “I think the last record [Savages, 2014] was quite heavy, a heavy rock record with a lot of guitar solos. It was fun to make but I don’t think we were stepping into any kind of territory we were nervous to go into.
“I think this record [Wake Up Call] I wanted to try something new–the songs came first–the first two or three were like, meh. I sent the band Rx (Medicate) and they liked it, they said this is where we should go. It was easier for me to write from then on.”
When I write, the songs are usually about me, or my perspective on something, and when 15, 20 years goes by, that changes. Maybe the song, I don’t have that much attachment to it anymore, which can be sad I guess.
[ Tyler Connolly ]
Fast approaching their 20 year milestone, it’s not just changes in Theory Of A Deadman’s musical direction Connolly has witnessed. There have of course been changes in their audience, changes in the rewards they reap from their work in terms of opportunity. “As you get older it becomes easier … I hate to say it, but this is what we do for a living,” Connolly says with a factual sigh. “We’re regular guys who love what we do for a living. I think we enjoy it more now but the mental side has always been the same, we haven’t changed. It’s always been about the songs and they put us to work.
“We’ve been touring for 16 years and the mindset is always the same–graduate, grow–going to Australia will definitely help!”
Growth is all well and good and it comes with time, but when Theory Of A Deadman hit up Australia, we’re guaranteed to witness some of the more classic songs they have in their arsenal–Nothing Could Come Between Us, Bad Girlfriend, So Happy—all will make an appearance “It’s easy now, we just check our [song] streams. I figured that one out before we went to Europe on a recent tour–I just asked someone to find out what the most popular songs were in France, or Germany. It was easier to make a set list based on that.
“It just seems to be every fan you talk to is like, ‘How come you never played so and so, End Of The Summer?’ I’m like, ‘End Of The Summer?! We never play that …’ We have like a 100 something songs now–it can be tough!”
Though there’s an antiquity to a part of the set list, the sentiment, the delivery, much like the band, has evolved. “It’s interesting, we’re playing Make Up Your Mind which was the second single we ever released back in 2002 and it’s weird, now when we play it, I don’t get the same …. Emotional attachment to it that I did back then.
“We must have played it thousands of times, it doesn’t have the same kind of excitement, whereas our new songs, I think there’s a thing to it, I don’t know if it’s youthfulness, maybe that’s what it is.
“When I write, the songs are usually about me, or my perspective on something, and when 15, 20 years goes by, that changes. Maybe the song, I don’t have that much attachment to it anymore, which can be sad I guess.
“It take’s us back though, a lot of nostalgia,” Connolly continues. “[To] what we were like, what we were doing, we kinda feel like kids I guess. There is something about it that’s nostalgic for sure.”
Theory Of A Deadman Australian Tour dates:
Friday 22 June // Manning Bar // Sydney
Saturday 23 June // Woolly Mammoth // Brisbane
Sunday 24 June // Amplifier Bar // Perth
Tuesday 26 June // Prince Bandroom // Melbourne
